Rascal's Seaside Adventure Read Free

at the top of the cliff path staring down at the sea, his tail a waggy blur of excitement. They rushed down the steep steps, and suddenly Ellie almost didn’t care that Rascal had thrownup right in front of Gran, it was just so exciting to see the sea!
    The summer holidays had only just begun so there weren’t very many people on the beach. It was a long stretch of biscuity-looking golden-brown sand, with sweeps of pebbles here and there. Ellie looked around thoughtfully, and unclipped Rascal’s lead.
    â€œDo you want to explore? Off you go!” she suggested, and Rascal dashed off at once, his nose to the sand, sniffing eagerly at all the interesting smells.

    Ellie followed him, laughing to herself at how excited he was. He tracked across the sand towards the sea, and then pulled up short, staring at the strange greenish-grey water … that was coming towards him!
    â€œIt’s OK.” Ellie crouched down next to him. “It’s just the sea. It does that.” She slipped off her flip-flops, and paddled in the seawater, wincing a little at the cold.
    Rascal watched her curiously, and poked one paw towards the sea. It looked like water… It smelled a little strange, but he was very, very thirsty. As the tide crept in towards his paws, he leaned down and lapped at it, and then spat it out disgustedly.
    He backed away, looking horrified. What was that stuff? It didn’t taste likewater. He barked sharply to tell Ellie not to drink any. He wasn’t sure about this at all.
    â€œCome on. It’s fun, look,” said Ellie, splashing about in the waves. But Rascal stayed safely on the sand where he was.

Chapter Four
Cat-astrophe!
    â€œI think it’s lunchtime,” Dad said, looking at his watch. “Shall we go back home?”
    Ellie looked anxious. She hoped Gran wasn’t still cross with Rascal. And she’d been planning to impress her with how beautifully trained he was, too!
    But Gran seemed to have recovered – she even patted Rascal and said how sweet he was, and Grandpa thought he was great. Ellie demonstrated how well Rascalwould stay, sometimes even with a biscuit between his paws, and Grandpa was very impressed. Ellie was pretty sure she saw him feeding Rascal a sandwich crust under the table when Gran wasn’t looking, too.
    After lunch, Grandpa took them outside to show off his garden. Ellie loved it. It wasn’t very big, but it was full of secret corners and surprises. Ellie always liked the family of stone frogs – Grandpa moved them around the garden, and when she was little, she was sure they’d moved by themselves when she wasn’t looking.
    Rascal loved it too, and he pottered around investigating the earthy garden smells. Then all at once he noticed a new smell – a cat smell! His tail started towag excitedly. He hadn’t met that many cats, but there was something about them that simply made him want to give chase. There it was! A huge ginger tom cat was sitting on the stone bench on the other side of the little lawn, washing its paws.
    Rascal sprang across the grass, barking so loudly that Ellie put her hands over her ears. Then she spotted the cat too. “Oh, Rascal, no!” she gasped.
    â€œIt’s that dratted cat from two doors down,” Grandpa said. “Nasty fat thing, it’s always pouncing on the birds on our feeders.”

    But Ellie wasn’t listening. She was chasing Rascal, who was chasing the cat – down off the bench, round behind the rose bushes, across the patio, and up on to the little wall that ran along the edge of the paving.
    At least, the cat went up on to the wall… Rascal scrabbled desperately with his front paws, and barked and barked, but it was no good, he couldn’t follow it up there. The cat gave him an insolent stare and jumped from the wall to the fence, and down into next-door’s garden.
    â€œWhatever is going on?” Gran came out of the kitchen