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Anna crawled slowly over the rough ground. She had tried
to stand up and walk but, although she had managed to
drag herself upright, her ankle hurt terribly when she
put any weight on it and after a couple of steps she had
fallen over again. Even when she crawled she
could not avoid bumping her foot,
and the pain was there all the time now. She was very
frightened. Her ankle had swollen so that it bulged over
the sides of her plimsoll, the flesh all puffy and
bruised. She thought she might have broken it. She knew
she needed help as quickly as possible and that although
home was behind her, she could not go back down the hill
even though it was the easiest way. Even if she could
have climbed back over the gate, nothing on earth would
make her go through that field again where that great
black monster was wandering loose. So she had no choice.
She had to go on although she did not know where she was
going, and the nearest house might be miles away.
She had banged her head when she fell over the gate.
It ached and her hands and the front of her legs were
scratched and bleeding where the sharp stones and rough
grass stubble had scraped them. Suppose she could not
reach a house? Suppose she could not find help and the
pain got worse and she had to spend the night here? She
could not think clearly any more, all she could do was
to try and keep moving, and hope.
There was a very strange buzzing noise in her ears
and she shook her head trying to clear it, wondering if
she was going to faint. The noise only got worse,
louder; and suddenly she realised it was not inside her
head at all. She could really hear it. Somewhere close
by was a tractor and it sounded as if it was coming
nearer.
The field was not level and she could not see over
the rising ground in front of her, but she
shouted and yelled until her lungs
hurt, and desperately tried to scramble up the
slope to a higher point where she could be seen. But it
was no good, she did not move fast enough and before she
reached the top the sound of the engine had stopped.
'Help! help!' she yelled despairingly into the
silence, but there was no reply. Slowly she crumpled up,
buried her head in her arms and burst into tears of
exhaustion, pain and fright.
'Hey, steady on!' said a voice. `Tell me what's
wrong.' Still sobbing Anna opened her eyes. Through a
blur of tears she could just see, level with her nose
and a short distance away, a pair of large, masculine
and very dirty wellington boots. She thought it was the
most beautiful sight she had ever seen and did not
bother to look higher to see who was wearing them. At
that moment it did not matter.
'Oh thank goodness you found me!' she said and found she
was crying even harder, though now it was with relief.
She would be all right now. Here at last was someone who
would look after her and take her back to her mother. |
