Over The Top: Going Wild

"It won't be long now." said Pundi.

Suddenly, Spotty barked and raced away into the bushes.

"Hey! Come back!" I called.

"Don't waste your breath," said Pundi, "He has gone"

"Where?"

"To live in the wild. He's an animal now"

The drizzle turned to rain and the rain soaked through my clothes. When the teacher came, he told us the day's tramp had been cancelled. We didn't say anything about Spotty and he didn't ask. I suppose he assumed that all was well. We were told to remain in our tents until the weather cleared.

But the rain fell steadily all that day. It trickled under our tents and came through the floor. It dripped through holes above our heads, and it seeped into our sleeping bags.

The sandflies and mosquitoes thought the best place to be was in our tents. They came in two by two.

When the teacher returned in the evening, we told him that Spotty had gone to get some fire wood. He said it was a stupid idea and left.

"Only one more night" he said. Then you'll be home"

Promises promises.

That night, neither Pundi nor I got any sleep. It wasn't the sound of the rain that bothered us, or the wet sleeping bags, or the cold. It was the growling, and the scratching. Spotty came round to sniff, and dig. He overturned his own tent and scattered his things everywhere, then he pulled at the strings on our tents. We yelled at him and flashed our torches, scaring him off. Just like any wild animal he ran off, but he kept coming back, so we had to stay awake.

By morning we were feeling like death warmed up. Pundi and I rolled our things together and packed our tents. We also collected most of Spotty's stuff. He watched us from nearby, peering from behind some bushes. Then we set off for the vans.

"Where's Samuel Spottiswood?" asked the teacher, when we got back.

"He's just behind us." said Pundi.

"Where? I can't see him?"

We waited. Everyone waited. Spotty didn't appear. The teacher was getting annoyed.