Jack and Annie began wandering through the cold, shouting, “Barry! Barry!”
Gusts of wind blew over the pass, swirling the snow around them.
“Barry! Barry!” they called.
Jack kept expecting to see the big dog bounding through the white powder. How could he just disappear?
“I don’t know what to do,” Annie said, hugging herself. They both stopped walking. They were shivering in their robes, and their teeth chattered.
“Maybe we should go back and look through the monastery again,” said Jack.
“No, I know he’s not there!” said Annie. “I can feel it! He’s lost somewhere, I’m sure of it!” Tears filled her eyes. “I really hurt his feelings when I said bad, bad, bad. He didn’t know our book was so important. He thought he was a good dog. I kept telling him he was a good dog. But really he wasn’t a very good dog, Jack. He was just a funny, happy dog! I should have closed the door all the way!” Tears ran down Annie’s red cheeks. “I feel terrible.”
“Hey, hey, it wasn’t your fault,” said Jack. “I feel terrible, too. I could have closed the door. But don’t worry. When the others come back, the dogs can help us find him.”
“That’s a long time from now,” said Annie, still crying. “It’ll be really dark.”
“I know,” said Jack. He put his hand on Annie’s back and spoke gently. “But the Saints can find him in the dark, like they found us. If they can smell people really far away, they can smell a big dog like Barry.”
“I wish we could smell him right now,” said Annie. “I wish we were dogs. Then we could find him.” She covered her face and sobbed.
“You wish we were dogs?” said Jack.
“Yes,” said Annie, sniffling, “so we could find him.”
“Well …” Jack took a deep breath. “Okay. I think I know what we can do,” he said.
“What? What can we do?” asked Annie, wiping her face.
“This is what we can do,” said Jack. He reached into his bag and pulled out the tiny bottle from Teddy and Kathleen.
Annie stared at Jack. “Oh, wow!” she breathed.
“We can use this to turn into dogs and find Barry,” said Jack.
“Jack! That’s the best idea you’ve ever had!” said Annie.
Jack smiled. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” he said. “We’ll each take a sip. Then together, we’ll say: ‘Turn us into Saint Bernard dogs!’ ”
“And we’ll turn into dogs for an hour!” said Annie.
“Dogs for an hour,” said Jack. He took another deep breath. Then he pulled the cork out of the bottle.
“Ready?” said Jack.
Annie nodded. “Ready,” she said.
Jack took a sip of the potion and handed the bottle to Annie. She took a sip and put the bottle down on the ground. They looked at each other.
“Okay. Together,” said Jack. “One, two, three …”
“Turn us into Saint Bernard dogs!” they shouted into the cold wind.
Nothing happened.
Then suddenly, Jack was hurled face-first into the snow. The world went black, and Jack felt his body shaking uncontrollably.
When the shaking stopped, Jack opened his eyes. He wasn’t dizzy. He wasn’t scared or worried or tired. He felt enormously happy. He looked down at himself. He was covered with thick red and white fur. He had four furry legs with big paws.
Something moved behind Jack. He turned and saw a fluffy tail waving. He leapt toward it. The tail moved away! Jack realized the tail was his! Still, it was fun to try to catch it. He turned in a circle, around and around and around.
Jack noticed fat snowflakes floating like feathers through the air. He stopped chasing his tail and bounced around clumsily, trying to eat the swirling flakes. He snapped at the air, until he heard another dog barking.
Jack understood the dog’s language right away: “JACK! JACK!”
Jack looked at the Saint Bernard running toward him through the snow. She was a little smaller, with smoother fur and bright, lively eyes. She barked, “WOW! WOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?”
Jack and Annie laughed with short bursts of loud panting. Their tongues hung out of their mouths, and their breath billowed into the cold. The world was alive with exciting sounds Jack had never heard before. The sounds weren’t loud, but they were clear and distinct.
Along with the HEH-HEH-HEH! of their heavy breathing, Jack heard the swish-swish of the wind-driven snow and the crick-crack of ice on the mountain slopes.
“SMELL!” barked Annie. She and Jack lifted their big black noses into the air and sniffed.
Strong scents wafted from all directions. Jack stepped forward, sniffing this way and that, his nostrils quivering. The smells changed with every step and every turn of his head. The sky had a scent. The distant chimney smoke, craggy rocks, and mountain slopes—all had different scents.
Jack smushed his nose into the newly fallen snow. The snow held a dozen different smells, all wonderful and amazing. Jack licked the snow like ice cream. It was so cold, it felt hot!
“JACK! JACK!” Annie barked again.
Jack looked up at her, his nose covered with snow.
Annie stood perfectly still, her paw up. Jack sniffed the air. The wind now carried different smells that stood out from all the others: a whiff of fish and crackers mixed with wet fur.
Amid the sounds of wind and ice, Jack heard distant barking.
“BARRY!” Jack barked. He had been so busy discovering what it was like to be a dog, he’d almost forgotten Barry!
Jack and Annie started yapping and bumping against each other. They bolted into the wind and the flying snow, scrambling over rocks and plowing through snowdrifts. Jack’s four legs were nimble and strong. The freezing cold didn’t bother him at all. He didn’t feel a bit stiff. None of his muscles ached.
Jack and Annie ran this way and that, through the fresh mountain air, following sound and scent. As Barry’s barking grew louder, they slowed down.
And then they saw him!
“BARRY!” Jack barked.
Barry stood on a small ridge above them, his tail high in the air. When he saw Jack and Annie, he looked surprised. He sniffed the air. He cocked his head to the side.
“IT’S US!” barked Annie.
Barry began yelping with glee. He leapt off the ridge, half tumbling, half running down the slope to greet them.
Barry’s giant head pushed against Jack and Annie. His eyes shone in the snowy afternoon light. As they all nudged each other and sniffed, three tails wagged in the air. Barry yowled and whined, “YOU’RE DOGS! HOW? HOW?”
“MAGIC!” barked Annie.
Barry sneezed, “OH! OKAY!” Then he went down on his front paws and barked, “LET’S PLAY!” The three of them started play fighting. They stood on their back legs and pushed each other around. Jack nipped at Barry’s fur. Annie nibbled his ears.
Jack, Annie, and Barry bounced and barked and fell and fought, until finally they all collapsed into the snow and rolled over onto their backs, sticking their paws in the air.
Rubbing his furry back against the crunchy snow felt wonderful to Jack. He wiggled and rocked from side to side. Then he and Annie and Barry stood up and gave their wet bodies good shakes. They shook their heads, too, flinging drool and snow on each other.
But Jack didn’t mind drool a bit now. He was completely happy to be a big, furry dog playing in a snowstorm in the mountains. Even though the wind whipped against him and it was hard to see, he felt no fear. He was warm, his body was sturdy and strong, and he could smell and hear a whole new world of scents and sounds.
Relaxed and happy, Jack decided to give Barry some advice: “LISTEN, MAN,” he barked, “IF YOU WANT TO STAY WITH THE MONKS, YOU HAVE TO GET SERIOUS AND ACT RESPONSIBLE!”
Barry turned his giant head from side to side, listening to Jack.
Jack barked: “DO NOT KNOCK PEOPLE OVER, AND WHEN THEY SAY, SIT, YOU SIT! SAME WITH COME AND STAY.”
Barry looked cu
rious. “HUH!” he barked.
“DON’T CHEW THINGS LIKE BOOKS,” Jack barked. “AND DON’T CRY LIKE A PUPPY WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE YOU. YOU’RE A BIG, FUNNY DOG. BUT YOU COULD BE A GREAT DOG!”
Before Barry could answer, Jack felt a distant tremor, and he heard a whumph! He knew that sound! He sprang to his feet and lifted a paw, listening. Annie and Barry scrambled to their feet and listened, too.
Jack heard the sounds of rumbling and ice cracking and snow sliding.
Barry barked and bolted in the direction of the noises. Jack and Annie followed him down the pass. The three of them swerved around rocks and threaded their way along a narrow path. Then they stopped and whimpered and whined.
A pile of avalanche snow blocked their way. With barely a pause, Barry barreled on, his paws and powerful chest plowing through the snow, clearing a passage.
Jack and Annie plowed after Barry. Then they all stopped. A black hat was lying on top of the snow ahead of them! A knapsack with buckles lay next to it!
Barry, Jack, and Annie yelped and quivered as they sniffed the hat and the knapsack. Jack smelled wool, metal, and leather.
“DIG! DIG!” Barry barked.
Jack, Annie, and Barry swiped at the snow with their huge paws. Bucketfuls of snow flew behind them. Whimpering and whining, they dug deeper and deeper. The more snow they cleared, the more smells Jack inhaled—hair, wool, blood.
Barry yelped. He had uncovered a face: a young man’s face with brown hair matted against white skin, with bloody scratches and bluish lips. Jack remembered being caught in the avalanche and how the dogs had saved him. He barked at Barry, telling him to lick the man’s face.
Barry swiped his warm tongue across the man’s eyes and nose and mouth. Barry snuffled and whined and kept licking. He frantically licked the man’s ears and hair.
Jack and Annie stood back, watching Barry work to save the avalanche victim. Barry’s Saint Bernard instincts had taken over. He kept licking and licking, until the man’s eyelids fluttered open. The man blinked. Then he blinked again. He was alive! He tried to speak, but no sound came from his mouth.
Then something else seemed to grab Barry’s attention. The dog jumped up and held his nose in the air. He barked, “STAY!” to Jack and Annie. “I’LL BE BACK! DIG!” Then he scrambled down the snowy passage and disappeared.
“BARRY!” Annie barked. She started to go after him.
“HE TOLD US TO STAY!” Jack barked. “KEEP DIGGING!”
Jack and Annie dug deeper and deeper into the snow. They uncovered the rest of the man’s body—his blue, white, and red uniform with brass buttons, and his leather boots. They began licking his hands. They licked and licked until his fingers trembled. Jack and Annie barked with joy.
Suddenly Jack felt a shock pass through his body. It shot through his head, chest, back, and four legs. He and Annie were hurled away from the man in the snow. The world went black, and Jack felt his whole body shaking wildly.
Finally Jack was still. He opened his eyes. In a daze, he saw the French soldier lying in the snow nearby. Jack wasn’t a Saint Bernard anymore. He was a person again.
Annie was a person, too. “I guess the magic hour just ended,” she said.
Jack and Annie crawled over to the soldier lying in the snow. “Hi there,” said Annie, gently shaking him.
The young man opened his eyes. “Who are you?” he asked in a hoarse voice. “Where are the dogs?”
“The dogs are gone. We’re Jack and Annie,” said Annie. “We won’t leave you.”
“Thank you,” breathed the young soldier, and he closed his eyes again. He was trembling with cold.
Annie pulled off her monk’s robe and tucked it around the soldier. Jack did the same. Annie began rubbing one of the soldier’s shaking hands, and Jack rubbed the other.
As the snow flew around them, Jack wondered what to do. Where was Barry? How could they get the soldier up on his feet? How would they find their way back to the monastery?
“Listen,” said Annie, as if answering Jack’s questions.
Jack heard distant voices. He heard booming barks. People were coming to help! And Barry was leading the way.
The huge dog bounded down the narrow passage to the young soldier. He seemed startled when he saw Jack and Annie. He sniffed them, and then barked his booming bark.
Jack wasn’t sure what Barry was saying now. He wondered if it might be: “HOW THE HECK DID YOU CHANGE FROM DOGS BACK INTO PEOPLE?”
“Magic,” Jack said.
Barry just panted, but Jack had the feeling he understood.
“Hello!” Brother Michael was hurrying up the narrow passage. Behind him were the two French soldiers who had stopped earlier at the monastery. The soldiers dropped to their knees and helped lift the avalanche victim to his feet. They wrapped Jack’s and Annie’s robes tightly around him.
“Did Barry find you?” Jack asked Brother Michael.
“Yes. We had just met these soldiers on the pass when Barry came running up to us,” said the monk. “How did he get out of the monastery?”
“He escaped when we weren’t looking,” said Jack. “When we found him, he led us to the buried soldier.”
“Amazing!” said Brother Michael.
Barry wagged his tail. It didn’t seem to worry him any longer that Jack and Annie had turned back into people. Dogs accept whatever comes along, Jack thought.
“We must help this young man to the monastery,” said Brother Michael. The two soldiers lifted the rescued man to his feet and helped him walk. “Barry, lead us home!”
Barry took the lead with Jack and Annie. The three soldiers and Brother Michael followed.
“I loved being a dog,” Jack whispered to Annie. “I loved all of it. Didn’t you? Didn’t you love it?”
“Of course I did!” said Annie, grinning.
“Playing with you and Barry was one of the happiest things I’ve done in my life,” said Jack. “And we helped teach him stuff, and we helped him save a life!”
“I know,” said Annie.
As he hurried through the snow beside Barry, Jack tried to remember how it felt to be a dog. He moved quickly, keeping in step with Barry’s prancing gait. He inhaled the cold, fresh wind, smelling woodsmoke and falling snow.
By the time they had all reached the monastery, the wind and snow had stopped. Jack held the door for Brother Michael and the three soldiers. Then he, Annie, and Barry followed them inside.
Father Laurent and another man were waiting for them in the torchlit hallway. The man wore a long gray overcoat and a large black hat in the shape of a triangle. He had a pale face, and his gray eyes were deeply set above a long, straight nose. Jack thought he looked familiar.
“So the missing officer has been found! Wonderful!” said Father Laurent. “Brother Michael, please make him comfortable by the fire in the parlor. Bring him some hot soup.” Brother Michael led the soldiers down the hall.
“Jack and Annie,” said Father Laurent, “may I present you to Consul Napoléon Bonaparte?”
Now Jack knew why the man looked so familiar! He had seen paintings of the famous military leader in history books.
Napoléon Bonaparte took off his hat and bowed his head. When he straightened up, he looked at Annie and Jack with a piercing gaze.
“Am I to understand you have saved my man from a snowy grave?” Napoléon Bonaparte said.
“Not us, Consul, sir,” said Jack. “It was Barry.”
The big dog was swinging his tail and panting.
“Barry saved the lost soldier?” exclaimed Father Laurent. “Oh, my! I knew that you were trying to train him. But I had no idea you could work miracles! How did you do it?”
“Well … I guess we know how to think like dogs,” said Jack.
“Delightful! Good dogs! All three of you!” said Father Laurent, laughing.
Barry sneezed. Jack and Annie sneezed, too.
“I think we all need some hot tea and a fire,” said Father Laurent. “Come. Let
us go into my library.”
“Thank you, but I fear I must be on my way,” Napoléon Bonaparte said. “I will allow my three men to rest here, but I must return to camp. I will see you tomorrow with all your dogs. And of course”––he patted Barry’s head—“I hope that this one leads the way. He is a great dog.”
“Indeed he is,” said Father Laurent. “Good afternoon, Your Excellency.”
The French ruler opened the door and stepped out into the cold. He turned back and saluted them, then strode away alone through the snow.
Father Laurent closed the door. He looked at Jack and Annie and laughed. “This has been quite a day,” he said, shaking his head. “I met Napoléon Bonaparte for the first time—and Barry became a true Saint! Let us celebrate with a cup of tea. A fresh pot is waiting in the library.”
“Thank you, that sounds great,” said Annie. She looked at Jack.
“Sure, cool,” said Jack.
Jack, Annie, and Barry followed Father Laurent down the main hall. He opened the door to a large room lit with flickering candles and a blazing fire. Barry flopped down near the fireplace.
Jack and Annie looked around at the room. Shadows played on shelves with rows and rows of leather-bound books. Along one of the walls were glass cabinets filled with displays of butterflies, other insects, feathers, and rocks.
“Wow,” breathed Jack. “This is a great room.”
“I confess it is my favorite room in all the world,” said Father Laurent. “I am a lover of knowledge.”
“So are we,” said Jack.
“Wonderful. I thought you might be,” said the monk. “Come, sit, please.” He led them to a small table. They all sat down, and Father Laurent poured tea from a silver pot into three china cups.
As they each took a sip of the hot, sweet tea, Barry barked. He stood up and wagged his tail, staring at them. He barked again.
“He wants attention,” said Father Laurent, shaking his head. “Quiet, Barry.”
But Barry barked again.
“Oh!” said Annie. “I know what he wants! He wants to show you something! Barry, stay.” She walked to the other side of the room. Barry didn’t move.
Mary Pope Osborne - Magic Tree House 46 Page 4