Free The Black Mountains by Janet Tanner

moment Ted thought the dog would take them and run off with them. But Rosa, squealing with fear, turned to flee, and the dog realized she was a better bet for a little sport. As she ran, in a flurry of petticoats, so the dog went after her, yapping round her heels.
    The long grass parted and closed behind them, and Ted made the bank with a few frenzied strokes. He climbed out of the water, grabbing up the trousers that Rosa had dropped and pulling them over his wet legs. Only when he had buckled his belt around his waist did he give a thought to the girl, and with the rest of his clothes under his arm he set off across the field in the direction she had gone.
    A few yards away he saw her, spread-eagled against a tree, and gazing in mesmerized horror at the dog, who stood guard over her, still barking excitedly.
    â€œServes you right, Rosa!” he laughed, but her terror was so apparent that he knew he could not leave her there.
    â€œAll right, I’m coming,” he called.
    As he approached the dog’s barking lessened, and he cocked an ear in Ted’s direction.
    â€œHere, boy, leave, leave!” Ted commanded, and to his surprise the dog turned to look at him, head on one side.
    â€œHe won’t hurt you,” Ted said to the terrified Rosa, and to the dog, “Here, boy! Come on, here!”
    The dog stood undecided, then as Ted ran a short distance and stopped, looking back, the dog made up his mind. A moving object was more fun than a still one. With one last longing look at Rosa, he galloped over to Ted and the boy patted his head affectionately.
    â€œSee?” he said to Rosa, who cautiously left her place by the tree and edged around behind him. “ He only wants a bit of fun.”
    She watched, still nervous, but beginning to be ashamed of her fear.
    â€œDogs don’t like me,” she said after a moment. “ They always go for me.”
    â€œHe wasn’t going for you, he was just playing.”
    â€œHe was going for me,” she said stubbornly. “And I know why, too. It’s because I’m a witch.”
    â€œWhat?” He laughed out loud before he could stop himself. “You, a witch? Oh, Rosa!”
    â€œI am too!” She drew herself up, a skinny child in a torn, grass-stained smock. “Don’t you laugh at me, or I’ll make you sorry. I know spells that could make your hair stand on end or your teeth drop out. I know …”
    â€œWhy don’t you try them then?” he asked, rolling the dog over to rub its stomach.
    â€œBecause!”
    â€œBecause what?”
    â€œBecause if I did, you’d be sorry. But I do know them, all the same. I know everything.” She paused, then her eyes, deep and tantalizing, held his. “ I even know who let out the Durrants’ pig.”
    â€œYou do?” he repeated with a start.
    She nodded. “ I was down in the hen-pen, and I saw. ’ Twas Tommy Bryant. And I know why. Old Ma Durrant had been after him for shooting peas at her from behind the wall. Mr Davies caned him for it—three strokes on Friday afternoon.”
    â€œAre you sure?” Ted asked, and when she nodded again, he got up, pulling on his shirt. “Will you come home with me, Rosa, and tell our Mam what you just told me?”
    Still wary of the dog, she hung back, and Ted gave him a friendly push.
    â€œGo on now, go on home, wherever you come from, you scamp. You’ve had your fun.”
    But the dog did not go. It stood and watched, head on one side, while Ted and Rosa started back across the field, then began to follow at a distance.
    Rosa, fearful it might ‘go for her’ again, kept looking anxiously over her shoulder, in the hope that it would tire of the game and go home, but Ted could not help feeling gratified. He rather liked the little beast.
    When they reached the corner of the rank it was still there, hanging back uncertainly, but he forgot it in the anticipation of