CHAPTER 10 No Man’s Land 90 June 2 1917 CHAPTER 11 The Fight Is ere 102 Early June 1917 CHAPTER 12 Find the Wounded 109 June 6 1917 CHAPTER 13 Zero Hour 117 June 7 1917 CHAPTER 14 A Strange Place 125 June 10 1917 CHAPTER 15 Unfit for Duty 134 June 14 1917 CHAPTER 16 The Final Journey 140 June 14 1917 The History Behind Darling 151
CHAPTER 1 Runaway February 1917 Darling is going to be a nurse Mistress Katherine said I felt a tug on my collar as she pulled me toward her Darling is going to be a soldier Master Robert declared A harder tug yanked me toward him Katherine set a pretend nurse’s cap on my shaggy head The British soldiers need Darling to care for their wounds she insisted No silly goose Robert whisked away the cap and replaced it with a heavy helmet She will be in the trenches on the Front fighting
The three of us were in the fenced yard behind home a small brick house in the village of Cosham in England A pigeon flew from the eaves and flapped over my head I leaped up trying to catch it and the helmet toppled to the ground Katherine grinned See Darling doesn’t want to be a soldier She reached for the nurse’s cap still in Robert’s hand Give it to me please 2
Darling Mercy Dog of World War I Never Robert tossed the cap into the rosebush She will be a sergeant like Father Oh you brute Mummy Katherine hollered as she ran for the back door Another pigeon fluttered from the eaves I jumped and it soared upward Ears pricked I raced after the bird as it glided over the picket fence I dove beneath the rosebush The thorns snagged my fur but couldn’t get through the thick rough of my coat Working furi ously I widened the hole I had been digging for days No Darling Robert grabbed my collar You mustn’t run off Father is leaving for France this morn ing We have to say goodbye Dirt flew from beneath my paws Tugging free from Robert’s grasp I crawled under the fence Rags met me on the other side his terrier whiskers bristling with excitement We raced down the dirt lane Pigeons burst from sidewalks and stoops taunting us No pigeon could escape us Rags and I darted right and left Turning the corner Rags led the way up High Street 3
