The Lost Puppy Read Online Free

big stick just out of reach, which he would love to chew. It wasn’t fair! He shook himself crossly, making the tags on his collar jingle.
    “It’s all right, Toby, hang on a minute…” Ruby murmured. But she didn’t even look round at him – she was still fussing over Anya.
    Toby shook himself again, and his lead slipped off the end of the branch and thudded to the ground beside him. He stared at it in surprise. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.
    If Anya hadn’t started to howl again, because Mum had accidentally wiped her face too hard, Ruby would have noticed what had happened and grabbed him. But she was giving Anya a hug to cheer her up.
    Toby eyed them thoughtfully. They were busy. But there was no point in coming out for a walk, and then just sitting on the path the whole time. He pattered away, sniffing happily at the bracken. He expected that Ruby would come and catch him up in a minute anyway. Another dog had definitely been past – perhaps the one he’d heard barking earlier? He would go and find it. He scampered along the path, nose down, following the scent, and leaving Ruby and Anya and Mum far behind.
    “Is she going to be OK?” Ruby asked Mum worriedly. It looked like a nasty cut, and it was still bleeding, even after Mum had wiped it a couple of times.
    “It’ll be fine,” Mum said. “We need to go home and wash it properly though.”
    “It hurts!” Anya wailed. “An’ my fleece! My best fleece!” It was her pink one with the hearts on, and it was stained with mud all down the side.
    “Mum can wash it. It’ll be dry by tomorrow, won’t it, Mum?” Ruby hugged her little sister gently. “Toby didn’t mean to scare you by barking like that. He thought he heard another dog. Didn’t you, Toby?”
    Ruby turned round to look at him. But Toby had gone.

Chapter Four
    The wood was full of birds calling, and squirrels racing up and down the branches. Toby was so little and so light-footed that on his own, without Mum and the girls, he hardly made any noise at all – only the quiet shushing of his lead, trailing behind him through the leaves. So he saw far more of the wildlife than he had before. A robinfluttered from tree to tree – almost as if it was leading him on – and Toby followed, fascinated.
    The wood was old, and some of the trees were very large, with odd twisted roots that made little bridges and holes along the path. It was natural for such a small dog to try to wriggle through these rather than going round them, but unfortunately Toby forgot about his lead. He was hurrying after the robin when he was pulled back with a sudden, horrible jolt. He yelped and turned round, thinking that Ruby had caught up with him and grabbed the end of his lead. He looked up crossly. Why hadn’t she called him, instead of grabbing him like that? But Ruby wasn’t there.

    Instead, his lead was caught on a sticking-out root – stuck fast, as he found out when he tried to pull it away like he had earlier. Toby wriggled, and whined, and whimpered, and pulled, but it was no good. The lead wasn’t budging this time.
    Toby sat down, panting wearily. This was just the same as before – he was stuck, when he wanted to explore. He tried pulling again, but the other way, squirming backwards to pull off his collar, instead of trying to free the lead.
    As usual, Ruby had checked Toby’s collar before they set out, to make sure there was enough space so it didn’trub him and hurt. But that also meant that if Toby didn’t mind squashing his ears and wriggling very hard, it wasn’t actually that difficult to get the collar off.
    He burst out of it like a cork from a bottle, rolling over backwards and landing in a pile of leaves. He picked himself up, and sniffed curiously at his collar and lead. He didn’t like to leave them, somehow. But he was sure Ruby would come along soon, and she could unhook the silly lead for him. He’d let her put it back on him if she’d come and run with him, instead