The Adventures of Stunt Boy and His Amazing Wonder Dog Blindfold by Lollie Barr Page A

delinquents!’
    â€˜How old are you, boys?’ asked the police officer.
    â€˜Twelve,’ I said, staring at the fuzz of hair at the top of his ears in the light.
    â€˜What, both of you? You look like you’re eight, son, and he looks like he’s sixteen.’
    â€˜Eight!’ I said, totally offended.
    â€˜Sorry, I’m just big for my age,’ said Benny apologising for looking older. ‘You can check with my mum.’
    â€˜What are your names?’ said the police officer.
    â€˜My real name or what people call me?’ I answered.
    â€˜Don’t get smart me with me, son! I’m already beginning to lose my patience,’ he said.
    â€˜That one is Evan Stoked’s boy,’ said Chesterley, pointing at me. ‘They’ve always been a family of troublemakers.’
    â€˜William Stoked,’ I said, looking at the ground.
    â€˜And you?’
    â€˜Benny Henberry,’ said Benny, before adding solemnly, ‘Benjamin. My real name is Benjamin.’
    â€˜So you’re the missing kids from OverWest that I’ve been hearing about over the police radio,’ said the policeman.
    â€˜So are you going to charge them with trespassing?’
    â€˜Barry, they’re twelve years old and they’ve been missing for hours.’
    â€˜Well, at least give them a beating to teach them some respect!’ fumed Chesterley. ‘In my day, a policeman would give us a smack around the head if we were out of line.’
    â€˜You know I can’t do that, Baz!’ the policeman said. ‘They’re just kids. Right,’ he said, turning to us, ‘I’ll let you off this time, boys, but next time you won’t be so lucky. Now I want you to apologise to Mr Chesterley and promise that you’ll never set foot on his property again.’
    â€˜But he might have shot my dog! I heard a big bang and a dog howling and now there is no sign of Blindfold,’ I said, feeling my bottom lip quivering like a jellyfish washed up on the shore at the beach. ‘And I saw him beating a little baby elephant with a big silver hook! Benny here is my witness.’
    â€˜It’s true,’ said Benny, nodding and backing me up. ‘It was a little baby elephant.’
    â€˜We were breaking in an elephant,’ said Chesterley to the policeman. ‘How dare you accuse me of mistreating animals to deflect attention away from the fact that you broke into my premises.’
    â€˜Calm down, Baz,’ said the policeman before turning to me. ‘Making such allegations is called defamation of character, which means saying things that aren’t true about a person. You could get yourself in serious trouble for that.’
    â€˜I’m not leaving without my dog,’ I replied.
    â€˜People are out looking for you. They just want you home,’ said the policeman. ‘You can look for your dog later.’
    â€˜If you’ve hurt a hair on his head,’ I said to Chesterley. ‘I swear –’
    â€˜You swear what, Runt Boy?’ he replied, shaking the elephant hook. ‘See what I mean? The kid is out of control. Get them out of my sight and if I see you here again, you’ll have more than just your mutt to worry about.’
    I just hoped that Blindfold had found his way back on his own, even though he made the entire journey OverEast in a bag. Dogs can remember places by smells and they’ve been known to make their way home from hundreds of miles away, but not if they’ve been shot.

    P.S. The Russian Wrap Technique:
    1. Stand with the rope on your right. Reach up as high as you can with both hands and hold the rope with one hand above the other.
    2. Bending your left knee, lift the leg until your thigh is parallel with the floor. The rope should rest outside your left shin. Point your foot up.
    3. Grip the rope. Lift your right foot up to underneath the rope so that the rope coils under your left foot and