Just then, Georgia grabbed at the lead, yanking it away from Adam. As she reached for the lead’s bulky plastic handle, she overbalanced and it slipped out of her hands. She dived after it, and so did Adam – but it was too late. They watched the lead sliding away as Lucky raced after the butterfly.
“Lucky!” Georgia yelled, scrabbling after the lead as it disappeared down the path. She could just see Lucky’s golden tail, wagging excitedly as he chased after something up ahead. Georgia set off to catch him – just as Lucky made one last desperate lunge after the butterfly, and tumbled over the side of the cliff, his lead bouncing uselessly behind him.
Chapter Six
Lucky scrabbled and scrambled down the steep slope, trying frantically to stop himself by clawing at the reddish side of the cliff as he fell. Sharper rocks were sticking out of the sandy earth every so often, and he whimpered as one of his paws caught against a particularly large stone.
At last, he landed on a tiny ledge, about five metres down the side of the cliff. He sat there cowering and shivering, holding up his bleeding paw and howling with fright. What had happened? All he had done was follow the butterfly! It had disappeared, and the path had gone with it. Where were Georgia and Adam? He wanted Georgia to look after his paw and stroke him, and get him out of this horrible place.
“Lucky!” Georgia screamed, racing along the path to the spot where he’d disappeared, with Adam dashing after her. “Where is he?” She flung herself down at the edge of the cliff to peer over, and felt suddenly sick, her head swimming as she looked at the sea so far below. When they were on the beach the cliffs had looked so pretty, pinkish-red with sandy streaks, but now they seemed menacing and sinister, and very, very tall. The sea was right in at the bottom now, foaming and rushing about in clouds of bubbles. Even though Lucky was a good swimmer, she didn’t see how he could have survived such a terrible fall.
“Can you see him?” Adam asked, his voice quiet and miserable. Georgia shook her head. “No. He must be – under the water…” she said, her voice choked with tears.
But then there was a pitiful wail from below, and Georgia gasped. “Adam, look! He’s there, he’s there!”
She pointed to a tiny ledge below, where a clump of bushes and straggly bits of grass had somehow managed to find some soil to grow in. It was just above the tumble of rocks rising out of the sea at the base of the cliff. Sitting there, staring up at them mournfully, was Lucky.
“Lucky, stay! We’ll come and get you – or – or something…” Georgia’s voice trailed away.
“He’s all right. He’s actually OK…” Adam murmured, gripping tightly on to two handfuls of grass, and leaning as far as he possibly could without going over too. “I can’t believe he managed to fall down there and still be OK.”
Georgia gulped, and tears welled up in her eyes. Adam put his arm round her. They were both shaking.
“He’s moving, definitely. But I think he’s hurt his paw – it’s so hard to see,” Georgia murmured. “I shouldn’t have tried to grab the lead off you. I’m really sorry.” She stared down at Lucky. “How are we ever going to get him back? It’s such a long way to that ledge.”
Adam looked worriedly at Lucky. “I think you’re right, he’s holding it in a funny way. There’s no way he’ll be able to climb back up here! I wonder if I can scramble down to him.”
Georgia grabbed his arm tightly. “Are you crazy? Look how steep it is! You’ll fall!”
Adam shook his head. “Look. Just along a bit – it’s almost like a path, down to where Lucky is.”
“Well, I can’t see it,” Georgia said stubbornly. She sort of could, but it didn’t look like much of a path, and she was scared that Adam was going to fall too. It was only a very thin sort of ledge, weaving its way towards the bigger ledge that Lucky was on.
Lucky howled again, and Georgia called down to him. “It’s OK, Lucky! Don’t be scared!” She looked back up at Adam. “Are you sure you can get down there?”
Adam shrugged. “No. But I want to have a go. It was my fault this happened too.” He went over to the little break in the cliff edge where the tiny path started and gazed at it, chewing his lip. “I’ll sit and wriggle along, I think.” He edged himself down, very slowly, and Georgia watched, her heart racing.
Lucky stared up from his ledge and wagged his tail hopefully. Adam was coming to get him! He stood up, wincing as he tried to put his hurt paw to the ground, and then he had to flop down again. There was definitely something wrong with his leg.
He could see Georgia too, just her face, peering over the edge of the cliff, so very far away. Lucky let out a miserable howl. He wanted to be back up there with her!
“It’s OK, Lucky, ssshhh!” Georgia called out, trying to make her voice calm and comforting. Their obedience class teacher had said that voices were really important. If she sounded frightened and upset, Lucky would be frightened too. She had to keep him calm. He always listened best to her in obedience classes; Adam got him too excited. Now it was more important to keep Lucky calm than ever before. The little ledge he was on was so narrow. If Lucky got frightened and scrabbled about, he could so easily fall into that treacherous-looking sea. And with an injured leg, he might not be able to swim.
Georgia watched nervously as Adam inched down the path towards Lucky. He was going as slowly and carefully as he could, but the path was very steep. Suddenly, Georgia gasped as Adam’s feet went out from under him, and he slid down in a rattle of sand and tiny pebbles. She caught her breath, jamming her knuckles into her mouth to stop herself crying out.
Adam yelled in panic, and grabbed hold of a bush, hanging on even though it scratched his hands.
“Adam!” Georgia called down. “Are you all right? You have to come back up, it isn’t safe. We’ll phone Mum and Dad.”
Adam nodded. “Sorry, Lucky,” he called down sadly. “We’re going to get help, I promise.” He dragged himself back up, going hand by hand and holding on to the scrubby plants that lined the path.
Georgia grabbed him as soon as he got near the top. “We should have called Mum and Dad straight away. Are you OK?”
Adam nodded. “Just a bit scratched.” He showed her his grazed hands. “But it was really scary. Poor Lucky. He fell loads further than me.” He reached into his pocket for the phone, and pressed the menu button to bring the screen on.
Nothing happened.
Georgia and Adam stared at it in horror. “Try again!” Georgia said hopefully, but the phone remained stubbornly lifeless.
“I must have hit it on something when I fell. Mum’s going to be furious…” Adam murmured.
“That doesn’t matter now. What are we going to do?” Georgia looked around, hoping that there might be somebody else walking along the cliff top. But they were all alone.
“I’ll have to run back down to the road – there’s a phone box, isn’t there? I’ve got some money left from yesterday. You stay here with Lucky. You really need to keep him calm, you’re good at that. We don’t want him trying to climb up and falling even further.” Adam frowned. “Georgie, I can’t remember Dad’s mobile number, can you?”
Georgia shook her head miserably. “No. But it doesn’t matter,” she added suddenly. “Dad wouldn’t be able to get down the cliff either. It’s just too dangerous. You’ll have to call the coastguard.”