Star in the Storm by Joan Hiatt Harlow

Author:Joan Hiatt Harlow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

THE HIDDEN SPRING

MAGGIE DROPPED THE BAG OF food on the ground and frantically searched the cave and the surrounding scrubby trees. There was no sign of Sirius.

His food bowl was empty. His water bowl was tipped over. How long had he been without water? That was it. The poor dog was thirsty and had gone looking for water.

Maggie searched for tracks or signs that Sirius might be close by. Had he gone home? Most likely he would have taken the trail she had used to bring him up, and yet there were no clues to where he might have gone.

“Sirius!” she called—then louder, “SIRIUS!”

A faint rustle in the distant bushes caught Maggie’s attention. Running toward the sound, she could make out a black form through the trees. It was Sirius. He barked when he saw her and whacked the bushes with his tail. Then he bounded out of the brush and trotted toward Maggie’s outstretched arms.

“Where have you been, you silly boy? You’re all wet,” Maggie exclaimed, feeling the fur on the dog’s neck and chest.

Sirius pawed her leg and then headed into the brush again, turning back to see if she would follow.

Maggie trailed Sirius through the undergrowth to the base of another hill that stretched up on the north side of the quidnunc. “Where are you taking me?” she asked.

The dog sprang ahead of her, stopping momentarily to give her time to catch up, then climbed up more rocks, through some woods where Maggie had never been before. In places, the thicket was so dense, she could hardly make her way through, but suddenly they came to a small clearing, and Maggie stopped. What was that sound?

Maggie followed Sirius behind several boulders, and the noise got louder—a gurgling, gushing sound. There, through a gap in the mountain rocks, a sparkling brook bubbled its way over the stones and tumbled in little waterfalls to a cave farther down the hill, where it vanished from sight.

“Water!” Maggie cried. “You’ve found water! The brook must come from a spring way up on the mountain.” Maggie did a little jig. “Wait until Pa hears about this. He can come up here and pipe this water down to our houses.” She could hardly wait to tell her folks. She crouched by a prancing Sirius. “I know you were thirsty, poor thing,” she murmured as she snuggled her face in the damp star on his chest. “You knew you mustn’t come home, so you went looking for yourself. And see what you found. You’re my good dog,” said Maggie, hugging him again. “My clever star dog.”

Maggie led Sirius back to his hiding place and filled his bowls with food and fresh water. Eager to get home, she grabbed the empty carpetbag and climbed to the top of the quidnunc. Marcus Kelly, Annie’s father, was standing on top of the cliff.

Maggie gasped.

“So here’s where your dog is hidden,” Marcus said. “Thought no one would find him, eh?” He reached down to help Maggie up the rocks, but she didn’t take his hand.

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