Plague Read Free Page B

too.
    The air outside was full of smoke from the bonfires burning to drive away the pestilence.
    Sam noticed something else. “The bellshave stopped ringing!” he called to the watchman.
    â€œLord Mayor’s orders! Good thing, too!”
    Sam fed Budge some scraps of meat. “This is day eighteen,” he told the dog with a sigh. “Only another twenty-two days to go.”
    Since William Kemp’s death he had been marking the days on the kitchen wall. By now he felt sure he had not caught the plague.
    He went into his master’s deserted workshop and looked around. Pieces of shaped brown leather lay on the table, ready for stitching. On the shelves above were several pairs of finished shoes whose owners had never called for them. There were balls of twine, awlsand needles. None of it needed any more.
    Like me
, thought Sam. I
’m not needed either. When my forty days are up they will let us out, send me away – and kill Budge. We have to escape!
    But how? All the downstairs windows were nailed shut. Upstairs, the window in William Kemp’s bedchamber overlooked the street, and the watchman sat below day and night. It would have to be the window in the little back room where Alice had slept.
    The problem was Budge.
    â€œI can’t go without you,” he told the dog. “But you mustn’t bark. And how am I going to get you down?”
    An idea came to him. The basket!
    That night Sam made himself stay awake till he had heard the dead-cart pass and the streets were deserted and quiet.
    The basket, he reckoned, was just about big enough to hold Budge. He left it in the back bedchamber and went downstairs. He took a handful of coins from William Kemp’s workshop and put them in a purse that he hid under his clothes. In the kitchen he found bread and cheese for himself and a meaty bone for Budge. He wrapped the food in a cloth and filled a leather flask with beer.
    â€œCome on, Budge!” he whispered.
    Budge could smell the meat, and whinedhopefully, wagging his tail, as he followed Sam upstairs. Sam tied the end of the rope to Alice’s bed frame. He opened the window. But as soon as he tried to persuade Budge to get into the basket the dog began to bark. The sound shattered the silence.
    â€œNo, Budge! No! Bad dog!” whispered Sam.
    Should I muzzle him with twine?
he wondered.
    But the stern words had worked – for now.
    Sam grabbed the dog quickly, lifted him into the basket, and tied the handles together. Before Budge could escape he heaved the basket up onto the sill and began to lower it into the yard.

    Budge was alarmed, and whined pitifully. As soon as he was down he sprang out and began barking again.
    â€œBudge!” called Sam. “Here!” He tossed him the bone. At once there was a contented silence.
    Sam grasped the rope and lowered himself over the sill. He slithered fast, skinning his hands, and dropped down beside Budge.
    He listened. All was quiet.
    He pulled Budge’s lead from his pocket and fastened it to the dog’s collar. As they set off he took great gulps of the night air.
    They were free!

7
Alone in the City
    Sam and Budge scurried as fast as they could away from Friday Street. The watchman would report their escape in the morning, and they needed to hide.
    They crossed Cheapside and entered a tangle of streets and alleys on the north side. Sam felt scared. He didn’t know this area at all. He kept walking until he was too tired to go any further, then sat down on a doorstep.
    â€œWe’ll eat our food and rest here till morning,” he said to Budge, cuddling up to the dog to stay warm.
    At first light he heard doors opening, voices, and a clatter of pails. Quickly, he gathered his possessions and led Budge away.
    Further along the street, grass was growing between the cobblestones. Sam saw two houses with the red cross on them, and one with the white cross that meant the house was now clear of infection.