by Laura James
A second, slightly smaller yacht was nearby and Pug padded up to it in the hope of becoming its captain instead, only to discover the yacht wasn’t even in the water!
Then, to his left, he saw a teeny, tiny yacht. In fact it was more like a dinghy. There was a small girl on board.
‘Hello, little Pug,’ she said, looking up at him. ‘My name’s Lottie.’
Pug wagged his tail.
‘My dad is the captain of a big ocean liner that has just made her first voyage. I’m going to sail out to meet her – would you like to come along too?
A big ocean liner sounded scary to Pug, but he couldn’t miss the chance to meet a real captain so he agreed.
It turned out Lottie had a lot to teach Pug about sailing. He listened carefully.
‘We are going to have to tack out of the harbour because you can’t sail directly into the wind in a dinghy,’ she said to him.
Pug didn’t understand, so he tried his best to look knowledgeable.
They started out slowly and Pug thought he was getting his sea legs very well. Then all of a sudden the boat did a worrying thing – it lurched violently to one side.
The water seemed much too close. Pug quickly moved away from it.
‘Excellent tack there, little Pug,’ said Lottie. ‘You seem to know what you’re doing.’
Pug tried to wag in response but he was concentrating on keeping his balance.
Their dinghy made another turn and tipped the other way. Pug quickly scrambled to the high side of the boat. This wasn’t at all relaxing. In fact he was beginning to feel a bit sick. Perhaps that last scone had been a mistake.
Pug couldn’t understand why they didn’t just go in a nice straight line. He looked longingly at the shore and dry land.
Just then Lottie tacked again, but Pug was so busy trying not to be sick that he didn’t get to the high side of the boat.
Oh dear! thought Pug, as he was thrown from the deck and went sailing through the air.
‘Woof!’ he tried to say, as he plunged into the water.
Not far away, Lady Miranda was feeling pretty sick too. Running Footman Liam had got a blister on his big toe, and Lady Miranda had had to carry the back end of the sedan chair herself.
The three of them had reached the seaport, but they had no idea where Pug was and they were tired, thirsty and generally upset.
Lady Miranda put her head in her hands and stared at the ground in despair.
Just then, there was a Squawk from a seagull and the next thing she knew, Pug’s sailor’s cap had landed at her feet.
‘Pug’s nearby!’ she exclaimed with joy. ‘But, oh!’
‘What is it, m’lady?’ asked Running Footman Will.
‘Do you think that seagull has eaten him?’ she asked, her bottom lip trembling.
‘Um . . .’ began Running Footman Liam.
‘Follow that gull,’ ordered Lady Miranda.
Running Footman Will, Running Footman Liam and Lady Miranda soon found the harbour master, who was standing on the harbour wall looking out to sea with his telescope. He was watching for the arrival of the ocean liner.
‘Could I borrow that?’ Lady Miranda asked, pointing to the telescope. ‘I’ve lost my captain.’
This confused the harbour master, but he let Lady Miranda look through the telescope.
Instead of looking at the sea, Lady Miranda scanned the air for the seagull that had dropped Pug’s cap.
‘I’m sorry but I must have my telescope back,’ said the harbour master.
‘I’ve nearly finished,’ Lady Miranda protested.
‘I must insist,’ insisted the harbour master. ‘I think there’s someone in trouble on the water.’
Lady Miranda handed the telescope back immediately.
* * *
‘Don’t worry, Captain!’ said Lottie, fishing Pug out of the water. ‘I’ve got you.’
Pug was relieved to be back on the boat until, suddenly, everything went dark. Pug began to shake.
‘It’s Dad’s ocean liner!’ said Lottie.
The ocean liner was so big that Pug couldn’t even see the sun.
Lottie tied her dinghy to some steps at the side of the liner and carried Pug on board.
At the top of the steps, the captain was waiting for them.
‘Lottie, my dear! What a lovely surprise! And you’ve brought a friend,’ said the captain. ‘Do you think your friend’s hungry?’
Pug wagged. What a nice welcome, he thought, as he was handed a towel.
The captain began to show Lottie and Pug around. ‘This is the biggest ocean liner in the world,’ he was saying. ‘It’s like a small city on the sea. We have shops and restaurants – even a swimming pool.’
Pug was just wondering when they would be heading to one of the restaurants, when they were interrupted by the noise of a helicopter engine. Everyone looked to the sky.
There above them was none other than Lady Miranda herself.
‘Woof!’ said Pug. ‘Is that someone you know?’ asked the captain.
‘Woof!’ said Pug.
Then there was an almighty . . .
SPLASH!
Pug grabbed a lifebuoy and ran as fast as he could . . . towards the swimming pool.
Lady Miranda was right in the middle, her enormous dress keeping her afloat like a big parachute.
With a final ‘Woof!’ of joy, Pug jumped straight into the water!
‘Pug!’ Lady Miranda cried as she grabbed hold of the lifebuoy and paddled them both to the side of the pool. The passengers applauded loudly.
Pug looked around at the crowd of people. Some were taking photographs.
Now I really must be a famous captain, he thought, giving Lady Miranda a big pug kiss.
* * *
Back at No. 10, The Crescent, everyone was busy except Pug and Lady Miranda, who were sitting by the fire in their dressing gowns. Their wet clothes were hanging up to dry.
Wendy was rustling up something yummy for them to eat, and Running Footman Will was bandaging Running Footman Liam’s blister.
‘I won’t ever make you be a captain again,’ Lady Miranda whispered in Pug’s ear. ‘I don’t think all that sea water is good for your fur.’
Pug sighed contentedly. He liked being at home.
Lady Miranda gave Pug a little pat. ‘You’re such a good boy,’ she said.
Pug wagged his curly tail.
‘I’ll just have to think of something else you can be instead.’
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney
First published in Great Britain in May 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
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This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Text copyright © Laura James 2016
Illustrations copyright © Églantine Ceulemans 2016
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ISBN 978-1-4088-6636-8
EPUB 978-1-4088-6637-5
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