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mum said, ‘I hope you’re listening to the policeman, Ludo. We were worried sick.’
    Well, that wasn’t true either. They didn’t even know I was in danger until after ithappened, and they knew I was safe now.
    Then my dad joined in. ‘I think you owe us all an apology.’
    So much for the £16,000 reward!
    But there was no point arguing.
    â€˜Sorry,’ I said.
    Then my mum and dad hugged me and the fat policemen went away.
    â€˜Am I really grounded?’
    â€˜Well,’ said my dad, ‘you stayed in last night, so we’ll say you’ve served your sentence.’
    â€˜Thanks, Dad.’
    â€˜It was really brave,’ he said. ‘Just very silly.’
    I nodded. It was very silly.
    The whole gang met up that evening in the den.
    â€˜I think that’s the best adventure we’ve ever had,’ said Jamie.
    We all agreed.
    â€˜And it was all thanks to Rudy,’ Noah said.
    â€˜It would have been even better if he’d found the treasure,’ said The Moan.
    â€˜Oh, we’ve got all our lives to find treasure,’ I said, ‘but we can only have adventures when we’re kids.’
    Then Jennifer did something very, very strange.
    She kissed me on the cheek again.
    â€˜Any more of that,’ I said, blushing, ‘and you’re out of the Bare Bum Gang for good.’
    And then we were all laughing, and we didn’t stop until it was time to go home.
    You’re probably wondering where Rudy was. Well, I’m going to have to take you back again to those garages.
    The baddies were bundled into the back of the police car, and two of the policemen were trying to round up the escaped animals. Then I noticed that Ray Quasar wasn’t around. And nor was Rudy.
    Noah and I started to look for them. Then I heard a horrible crunching noise. Itseemed to be coming from underneath the pet-stealer’s van. We crouched down to look. The sight was even more horrible than the sound. Rudy and Trixie were both there. Along with Ray Quasar. Rudy was eating his way down Ray Quasar from the top, and Trixie was eating her way up from the bottom. They were about to meet in the middle.
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    Declan never found out what happened to his snake, which was probably a good thing. I let him think that Ray Quasar hadescaped into the sewer, where he would grow to an enormous size and eventually burst out of someone’s toilet one day and eat them. That cheered him up. And I thought the least I could do was to let him share Rudy. The agreement was that Declan would look after Rudy all year except for the summer holidays, when he would come and stay with us. He seemed quite happy with that arrangement. They both did.
    And so did my mum and dad.

THE BARE BUM GANG BATTLE THE DOGSNATCHERS
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 04935 9
    Published in Great Britain by RHCP DIGITAL,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
    This ebook edition published 2013
    Copyright © Anthony McGowan, 2008
    Illustrations copyright © Frances Castle, 2008
    First Published in Great Britain
    Red Fox 9781862303874 2008
    The right of Anthony McGowan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
    This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
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