Read Online Waggit's Tale by Peter Howe - Free Book Online

run away?”
    â€œOh, he’d love that. He’d love to chase us. He’d probably invite all his friends. Plus, I wouldn’t like to be the one to explain to Tazar why two of us couldn’t take on one Tashini, would you?”
    The answer to the question was no—even to a dog who had known the leader for only a few days. So Lowdown moved out from the cover of the bushes, stood squarely on the path, growled, and fixed the enemy with an intense stare. Waggit lifted his head and saw their opponent for the first time. He was a large dog, bigger than Waggit had hoped, with a coat of an unusual color, almost golden and very glossy. He stood rigidly, returning Lowdown’s stare, and would continue to do so until one of them broke eye contact, thereby acknowledging the other’s superiority. Since Lowdown acknowledged nobody’s superiority except Tazar’s, Waggit knew this could go on for some time.
    He crawled as quietly as he could for one who was trembling with fear, until he was poised on a rock behind and above his target. He got ready to springonto the other dog’s back, although what he would do next he had no idea. The Tashini had not moved.
    Suddenly Waggit was in the air. Where he got the courage to make the leap he didn’t know, but there he was, on his way down in what he hoped was a fearsome attack stance. He landed on the back of the dog with a bang that temporarily knocked the wind out of him and caused a ringing in his ears. He quickly realized, however, that it was not in his ears but was coming from the dog’s body, which was hard, cold, and smelled of metal. The animal hadn’t moved one inch but was still staring at Lowdown, or would have been had the scruffy little dog not been lying on his back, literally howling with laughter.
    Waggit looked around and realized that the animal upon whose back he now perched wasn’t real at all. It was a metal statue of a dog, which was why its coat had such a strange color and shine. He also realized that he was the victim of one of Lowdown’s practical jokes, part of the entertainment for the day.
    And entertained Lowdown certainly was, rolling around on his back, his legs scratching the air with glee.
    â€œOh, Dear Vinda, that was good,” he wheezed. “Youcertainly fell for that one. Oh, bless my fleas, you scared the life out of him. He’s gone rigid with fear!”
    â€œOh, very funny,” said Waggit. “I suppose this’ll be the talk of the tunnel tonight.”
    â€œYou can count on it,” the prankster replied.
    From the back of the metal dog, Waggit could see some distance along the path. Suddenly his ears pricked, and the hackles on his back rose in fear.
    â€œLowdown, two dogs coming, and they’re not petulants. They could be Tashinis.”
    â€œSure there are.” Lowdown was still laughing. “An army of them, I wouldn’t be surprised!”
    â€œNo, seriously, there are. Take a look around that bush.”
    The alarm in Waggit’s voice sounded real, and it was enough to make Lowdown stop laughing and peer around a large bush that bordered the path. What he saw made him bark urgently to Waggit. “It’s Spotty the Executioner and Tommy Teeth. Get down off that stupid metal monster now; we’ve got to go.”
    Without pausing to think what a silly name Spotty was for an executioner, Waggit half fell, half leapt down from the statue, tumbling to the ground. As soon as he landed they both took off at full speedthrough the woods, neither one of them the least concerned about what Tazar would say if he knew they had fled from Tashinis.
    When they reached a small clearing, Lowdown, whose wind was never good at the best of times, collapsed, panting and making little whistling noises as he breathed.
    â€œThank Vinda you was up there and saw them,” he said when he could talk again. “Those two are the meanest, most vicious of all the