Read The Kingdom by the Sea for Free Online Page B

spending the night here. Blyth was bombed as often as Tynemouth; there were a lot of gaps in the streets of houses. And his mam said Blyth was full of roughs and drunks. He knew he was heading for the river all right, because of the towering dockside cranes. But the river was the roughest part of any town.
    And as he turned down the ferry landing, he met two roughs. Men in dirty caps. He didn’t like the way they stopped, and watched him approach. The way they filled the whole footpath, blocking his way.
    “By, that’s a grand dog ye’ve got there. A grand expensive dog.”
    “Worth a pretty penny, that dog. Where did ye find him? Is he lost?”
    “What ye got in the case, laddy? Show us what you got in the case! We’re policemen.”
    “You’re not policemen,” said Harry, with a desperate defiance. “You’ve got no uniforms.”
    “Special constables, we are!”
    “Aye.
Very
special.”
    They laughed together in a nasty way.
    “Plain-clothes men.”
    “Aye,
very
plain-clothes men. Give us that attachè case,son. I reckon you’ve got something
stolen
concealed in there.”
    “If it’s not stolen now, it soon will be.” They laughed again, and one man reached for the case, as Harry backed away against the wall.
    The next second, Don’s leash ripped out of Harry’s hand, so hard he felt his palm had been burnt.
    Don’s black muzzle and huge teeth closed round the reaching hand.
    The man fell down, screaming in pain. “Joe, help me, help me, for Christ’s sake help me.”
    Joe kicked at the dog; kicked it in the hind leg.
    Don yelped, let go, and went for the second man’s face. The sounds he was making were unbelievable, like a wild beast. Harry couldn’t believe it was happening. The second man fell down.
    Then the next thing he knew was that the two men were on their feet and running, with Don in hot pursuit, barking like a fiend. He vanished round the corner, then came back after a minute, the same old friendly Don as ever, wagging his tail.
    Harry grabbed the trailing leash and ran for the ferry. He never knew how he gabbled out his request for a ticket, to the man in the ticket office.
    “Steady on, son,” said the man, nodding at the ferry. “They won’t go without you.”
    As the gap of dark water widened, between him and the men, Harry looked down at Don. Harry was shaking and trembling so much himself, he could hardly hold the leash and the attachè case. But Don seemed quite calm, not even panting. As Harry watched, he nosed for a flea on his hairy flank, making a vigorous gnawing sound. It seemed all part of a day’s work to him.
    The far side of the river was quieter. They were soon out of town and into the countryside, full of hawthorn hedges and rows of electricity pylons. He could hear, in the dark, the sea not far away. The sound of the waves soothed him. It was time to look for shelter for the night. Every time you got out of a mess, there was something else to worry about.
    They seemed to walk a long way, with nothing but hedges. There seemed no way down to the sea, no hope of an upturned boat. Then something loomed up, as big as a house, shaped like a house. No lights showing. Harry walked up to it, and felt it in the dark. He felt a tight strand of rope, and a lot of soft hay.
    A haystack.
    Dad had talked about sleeping in a haystack, when he was a lad.
    Why not? There seemed to be a cave where someone had broken into the stack. Lined with soft hay.
    It was enough. The stack was even thick enough to stop falling shrapnel.
    They sat side by side in the cave, and shared the second-to-last packet of sausage and chips. They should have tasted awful, but neither of them could get enough.
    Mam had always said that hunger made the best sauce.
    Harry was too tired even to undo the blankets. He just pulled hay over the pair of them. Dad had always said you could sleep as snug as a bug in a rug, in a haystack.
    It was warm; only it made your face prickle and your nose tickle. He heaved up