Jack and Martin were walking along the coast. It was typical weather for early September - misty and grey. It felt like the summer days were far behind. The sea was calm and the seagulls flew in the sky monitoring the surface of the water for small fish.

It was a routine view for Jack who had been born in a fishing village and had lived all his life there. He had left it only twice when his parents took him to New York for the holidays. Actually, Jack’s home was not a fishing village any more as there were very few people who really went to the sea to fish. Most young people preferred to work in the city. Jack thought that after finishing school he would probably leave his village too. But, for now, he enjoyed living by the sea. Unlike Jack, Martin was a typical city boy and the walk along the sea edge was a sort of adventure to him. He chased the waves and hunted the crabs only to throw them back into the water. He and Jack were cousins, they even looked alike, but it was the first time they’d ever spent holidays together. Martin’s parents had let him spend a month with his aunt’s family. And both Martin and Jack seemed to be enjoying their time together.

Thanks to Jack, Martin had a black spaniel puppy. The puppy had belonged to Jack’s neighbours and it was Jack who arranged the whole deal. He persuaded the neighbours to give him the puppy as a birthday present, as Martin had just turned twelve. Both Jack and Martin agreed that it was a clever plan - it would be not so easy for Martin’s parents to reject the present when they came to collect their son after the holidays. Martin had never kept cats or dogs and he was not sure what his parents’ reaction would be.

The puppy was cute and it followed Martin and Jack everywhere. Now it was happily running backwards and forwards, barking at the large birds and chasing the small ones. It was a curious dog and was impatient to explore the surroundings.

‘Where’s Pup?’ asked Martin when all of a sudden he couldn’t see him anywhere around. ‘He’s gone missing.’

Martin still called the puppy just Pup as he didn’t want to give him a proper name before he got his parent’s permission to take him to the city. He thought that the trick would help him feel less attached to the dog 1in case the parents were against it.

The boys searched for the puppy for an hour but with no result. Jack looked worried and Martin felt like crying.

‘We should check the rocks,’ Jack said. ‘There are caves in the rocks and Pup could have got lost there. But first we need to get back home.’

‘No! ’ cried Martin. ‘I won’t leave Pup here alone.’

‘We have no choice,’ Jack explained. ‘The caves are a dangerous place and we’ll never find Pup there ourselves. What we need is another dog that could smell and find him. Hurry! I know a dog that will help us.’