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Flatnose ie heard hi the thorns, the prickles, the darkness and the wretched riff-raff he was having to stuht Basta was still standing in the road His face was sharply outlined when he lit a cigarette with a lighter The white sht she could almost smell it

‘They’re not here,’ called Flatnose ‘They ot away on foot Hell, do you think we have to follow them?’

Basta went over to the roadside and looked down Then he turned and looked up at the slope where Meggie was crouching beside Mo, her heart thudding wildly ‘They can’t have got far,’ he said ‘But it’ll be difficult to find their trail in the dark’

‘Exactly!’ Flatnose was panting as he appeared back on the road ‘We’re not bloody native trackers, are we?’

Basta did not reply He just stood there, listening and inhaling his cigarette sie’s heart almost stopped

Flatnose looked round anxiously ‘Nah, let’s get the dogs instead!’ Meggie heard hi somewhere around here, hoe knohether they clilanced at the trees, looked down the road, and trod out his cigarette Then he went back to the van and took out two shotguns ‘We’ll try going down first,’ he said, tossing Flatnose one of the guns ‘I’m sure that fat woman would rather climb downhill’ And without another word, he vanished into the darkness Flatnose cast the van a longing glance, then trudged after hiht before Dustfinger rose to his feet, soundless as a shadow, and pointed up the slope Meggie’s heart was beating in her throat as they followed him They darted fro behind theie ju a fair amount of noise therowth

A time came when they couldn’t see the road any more But their fear did not leave theht have turned back already and was now following them uphill Yet, however often they stopped and listened, all they could hear was their own breathing

‘They’ll soon realise they’ve gone the wrong way,’ Dustfinger whispered after a while ‘Then they’ll go back for the dogs We’re lucky they didn’t bring thes, and he’s right I’ve fed the’s nose All the same, he’ll fetch the bad news back to Capricorn’

‘Then we o faster,’ said Mo

‘Go faster where?’ Elinor was still fighting for breath

Dustfinger looked round Meggie wondered why She could hardlysouth,’ said Dustfinger ‘Towards the coast Wethat can save us Down there the nights are bright and nobody believes in the Devil’

Farid was standing beside Meggie, gazing at the night sky as if he could er had ht to be seen in the darkness except for the tangle of stars sparkling cold and distant in the heavens For atheir presence away, and i, ‘Look, Basta, there they go, down there! Quick, catch theether so that no one would get lost Dustfinger had taken Gwin out of his rucksack and put hi hier had to keep hauling hi scents that their human noses couldn’t pick up Theat the chain