Keeping low on his belly, Mr Dog scuttled closer to the hunters, hoping to find out just what they were up to.
He heard one of the men speak: ‘Poor little thing. Wonder how long it’s been stuck in there.’
‘Be careful not to hurt it,’ said his friend. ‘There’s a split in the neck of the bottle. Try to open it up a bit …’
Mr Dog frowned. What on earth were these people up to? He crept closer and saw the men were gathered round a plastic juice bottle. A small animal – a vole or a mouse – had crawled inside and got stuck. There was no room for it to turn round. One of the men was carefully widening the split in the bottle, trying to let the animal out.
‘There’s so much pollution in this river.’ The man with the rifle shook his head sadly. ‘You know I’d rather be doing something about it than having to stop a hungry seal …’
It’s not too late, old chap, thought Mr Dog as an idea struck him. Perhaps – just perhaps – there’s a way to make everyone happy!
Carefully, he backed away through the long grass. The men would be busy for a little while – would he have long enough to carry out his plan? With alarm, he heard the put-put-put of an outboard engine and turned to find a small boat in the distance, heading upriver towards the men in the reeds. There was a lantern on its prow. Was the boat carrying tourists on an evening jaunt, or were others coming to join the seal hunt …?
‘There’s not a moment to lose,’ Mr Dog declared. Abandoning stealth, he darted off like a racehorse, scattering flies and dandelions as he covered the ground back to the clearing and the sunken crate.
‘Ditzy! Lulu!’ he woofed. ‘Are you there?’
Lulu’s head emerged from the water like a periscope. ‘Is it safe?’ she asked as Ditzy came up beside her.
‘It won’t be safe for long,’ Mr Dog admitted. ‘There are more hunters and a motorboat coming this way.’
Lulu gasped. ‘And Alana and her two friends must still be after us from the other direction.’
‘There’s no way out,’ said Ditzy sadly.
‘There might be – if we can provide the right sort of distraction,’ said Mr Dog. ‘The hunters ahead of us were helping a vole trapped in a plastic bottle. I heard them say they want to do something about pollution in the river.’
‘Don’t we all,’ said Lulu.
‘So let’s give them the chance.’ Mr Dog ran down the bank to the water. ‘That crate full of plastic packaging – what if we could show them it’s here, and that it’s leaking?’
Understanding dawned in Ditzy’s dark eyes. ‘You think the people would stop hunting us while they cleared up the mess?’
‘Exactly,’ Mr Dog declared. ‘They care about this river and the fish in it, and the other animals affected. I think that they’ll get to work at once. And, while they’re busy cleaning up the river, you seals can escape in the confusion.’ He panted happily. ‘It’s a win-win situation!’
‘But it’ll be a bang-bang situation if we can’t move that crate out of the water,’ said Lulu. ‘You know it’s quite big and rather heavy …’
‘So am I!’ Ditzy boomed. ‘Come on, Lu, let’s try to push it.’
The two seals plopped into the river and Mr Dog dived after them. He tried to stand beside the crate on the riverbed and push with his front paws, but it was tricky – the seals were built to stay underwater and he was not.
Spluttering and gasping, Mr Dog returned to the surface. ‘I’ll just have to keep watch,’ he decided.
Minutes passed and the seals pushed and pulled and shoved at the crate. Mr Dog could see their shadows shifting beneath the water. The crate rocked back and forth but couldn’t be budged.
Further down the river, the motorboat chugged slowly into sight.
‘Ditzy, Lulu!’ Mr Dog barked wildly. ‘We don’t have much time!’
‘It’s no good!’ Lulu burst from the water, whiskers quivering. ‘We can’t move it.’
‘It’s stuck in the mud,’ Ditzy added.
Mr Dog growled to see distant torchlights bobbing along the riverbank to his left – the men must have rescued the vole and were now continuing the hunt for Ditzy and Lulu. Then he saw torchlight to his right as well!
‘We’ve got nowhere to go!’ Lulu groaned. ‘Our fate is sealed!’
‘We’ll have to swim for it, Lu,’ said Ditzy. ‘If we dive down, perhaps we can give them the slip.’
‘They’ll keep on coming,’ said Lulu. ‘We’ve been lucky so far, but the net is closing round us …’
‘The net!’ Mr Dog almost howled. ‘Of course – the netting that’s snagged on the crate’s lid. Is it caught there good and tight?’
‘Yes,’ said Lulu. ‘But how does that help us?’
‘We can’t move the crate,’ said Mr Dog, ‘but maybe we can lift its lid.’
‘I see what you mean,’ said Ditzy slowly. ‘If we swing the lid open, it will stick out from the water …’
‘And the hunters will know the crate’s there without us having to move it!’ Lulu finished.
‘Precisely!’ Mr Dog’s tail wagged as hard as it would go. ‘Ditzy, Lulu, you must each take an end of the net and wrap it round the edge of the lid. Then we can all pull up on it as hard as we can to lift it open. Quickly – before it’s too late!’