Free Barney the Baby Hedgehog by Tina Nolan Page A

straw.
    “Poor little thing – it’s scared stiff!” Eva whispered. She could just see the back end of the tiny creature and heard for thefirst time its high, piping cry.
    “It’s calling for help,” Karl guessed. “Let’s move away and give its mother a chance to come and find it.”
    Eva nodded and she and Karl retreated to their dad’s van, hiding in the back and waiting for the baby hedgehog to be rescued.
    After a while, their dad and Tom wandered back into the yard.
    “Careful, Dad!” Eva hissed, leaning out of the back of the van. “Don’t walk too near the barn. Have you seen a mother hedgehog anywhere?”
    Mark shook his head. “No, but I wasn’t exactly looking. Why?”
    “We often get hedgehogs round here,” Tom said. “Not as many as in the old days, mind you. They’re a lot rarer than they used to be.”
    “There’s a baby one in your barn right now,” Karl explained. “We think it’s lost.”
    “Ah.” Eva and Karl’s odd behaviour became clear to Mark. “You’re hoping the mother will come back for it?”
    Eva nodded. “Is it OK if I stay here and make sure it’s safe?”

    “Yes, if it’s all right with you, Tom?” Mark took his van keys from his pocket.
    Tom nodded. “Fine by me.”
    “I have to get back to Animal Magic with the feed for the ponies. What about you, Karl?”
    “I’ll come with you. I said I’d meet George and go mountain-biking.”
    “OK, Eva, it’s down to you.” Mark got into the van and Karl climbed in beside him. “You can stay. But don’t get in Tom’s way. And another thing – as much as you’d like to, don’t get too close and start handling that young hedgehog.”
    Eva nodded. “I’ll keep my distance, don’t worry.”
    “Good. Because if you touch it, its mother will smell your scent when – or if – she comes back, and she’ll reject it. Don’t forget!”
    “I promise!” Eva took the warning to heart. The last thing she wanted was for the baby to be abandoned by its mother.
    Lost and alone, it would be left to blunder into ponds and barbed-wire fences, wandering aimlessly across busy roads, prey to badgers and foxes.
    “Come back, Mum!” Eva muttered as she settled down outside the barn door to wait and watch. “Don’t leave your baby all by itself in this big, dangerous world!”

Chapter Two
    The baby hedgehog stayed half-hidden under the straw bale for a whole hour.
    Eva looked at her watch, then at the tiny, prickly ball, willing the mother to appear. The sun was going down fast, lengthening the shadow cast by Tom Ingleby’s barn.
    “Any luck?” Tom called as he walked across the yard to his Land Rover.
    Eva shook her head. “No sign of the mother so far,” she replied.
    She waited another half an hour without anything to report, and was about to give up when the tiny hedgehog shuffled backwards, out from under the bale. It turned and raised its snout, snuffling the air. Then it stepped timidly forward, out of the barn.
    So sweet! Eva said to herself. The baby’s dark eyes were set wide apart on its round face, which was covered in soft, greyish-brown fur. It looks so funny – the way it pokes its nose forward and tilts its head back, it looks as if it needs glasses!
    Bravely now, the hedgehog ventured out into the farmyard, just as Missie, Tom’s black cat, came stalking round the corner of the farmhouse.
    “Uh-oh!” Eva said out loud as the hedgehog stopped, realized the danger and rolled into a tight ball.
    Missie walked right up to the prickly creature. She put her nose close to the spikes, sniffing hard. The hedgehog didn’t move – even when Missie stretched out a paw and tapped it gently.

    Miaow! Missie discovered those spikes were super-sharp! She arched her back and hissed.
    “Ouch!” Eva cringed. She watched as Missie did one full circle of the baby hedgehog then stalked off, back the way she’d come.
    But the danger wasn’t over for the all-alone baby. No sooner had Missie beaten a retreat