Free The Quicksand Pony by Alison Lester Page B

neck and rested for a moment in the afternoon sun. The tide had started to come in. The first flat sheets of water were creeping over the sandbar, but Joe didn’t notice. He slept by Bella’s side.
    A familiar feeling woke him—the touch of whiskers on his face. Devil! Joe opened his eyes, and it was Devil, grinning at him and wagging his tail. His foxy look, Joe called it. He looked like this when he thought he was being very clever.
    â€˜Devil! You followed me! I’m so glad to see you!’ Joe looked behind him and was shocked to see water over the sandbar. ‘Come on, mate, help me dig.’ He sank on his knees into the bog, and dug like a dog, throwing the sand out behind him. ‘Come on, Devil, like this.’
    Devil watched for a moment, head on one side, puzzled.
    â€˜Come on, you dumb dog! Dig!’
    A flicker crossed Devil’s eyes. He knew he’d been insulted. He turned and started to dig beside Joe.
    The first big wave came without warning, flooding into the quicksand. Joe was so absorbed in his task that he didn’t hear it coming. The icy water shocked him. Devil leapt back, and Bella snorted with fright. When the wave receded Joe looked at the bog in despair. ‘We haven’t made any difference, Devil. All that digging, and she’s stuck the same as when I found her.’ He floundered back to Bella’s head and hugged it, crying with frustration. ‘I’m sorry, Bella. I’m sorry.’
    As the sea rushed around them he held Bella’s head up, out of the water. He couldn’t believe this was happening, that she was going to drown. Devil backed towards the shore, whining, wanting him to come out. ‘I can’t leave her!’ Joe yelled at him, ‘I can’t leave her to drow—’
    A wave swept right over them. Water filled his eyes and mouth. He coughed, choking, and twisted his fingers through Bella’s mane to pull her head as high as he could. Only her eyes and nostrils were out of the water now. Joe heaved on her mane.
    What was that?
    She moved! He pulled again, and this time felt a definite shift. The water must be loosening the quicksand! It was releasing her.
    â€˜Come on, Bella, fight! Come on, struggle!’
    He kept dragging on the silver mane. The waves were getting bigger. Each one knocked him down, but Bella was rising, was floating out of the quicksand. He felt her begin to kick feebly. Her cramped and frozen legs found strength and suddenly she was free!
    Joe didn’t let go of her mane. He wasn’t going to lose her now. He guided her as the waves chased them to the shore, where Devil ran up and down, yipping frantically. Bella’s legs wobbled as she walked up the beach. ‘Keep going, Bella. Keep walking.’ Joe steered her towards a gap in the dunes. He had to get her off the beach and out of the wind. He hardly noticed Devil. He had to keep Bella moving. The ocean roared behind them. We beat you, he thought. We got away.
    Bella just made it. Every step in the loose sand was a huge effort. Her breathing was harsh and uneven. Finally they were behind the dunes, out of the freezing wind, and Joe collapsed to the ground. He felt as if he would disintegrate like the sand; just fall into thousands of tiny pieces.
    The sky was darkening. Bella stood where he’d let her stop, her head down, and her sides heaving. Her eyes were very dull. I’ll have to fetch her a drink, Joe thought. I’ll get my billy and bring her some water from the creek.
    â€˜Oh, no!’ He remembered he’d left his bag on the sand where Bella was bogged. The thought flattened him. It was too much. All his things, all his life, everything he’d gone back for, had missed Biddy and her parents for, had run so far for; it was all gone. He put his head in his hands and wept.
    He felt Devil’s whiskers on his arm, and looked up. He was doing that look again, that foxy look he did when he thought