began.

Tair got up shakily and glared at Josh. “I thought I told you to stay out of my way,” he growled.

“Stay away from Saba, and I’ll stay away from you,” Josh snapped back. “Now get out of here.”

Tair rolled his eyes and walked out of the door. The other dogs followed him. “Are you okay?” Josh asked Saba.

She glared at him. “What was that for?” she asked. “I could’ve handled him. You should have just given me a chance.”

Josh shook his head. “Trust me,” he said. “Tair’s a lot stronger than you think. Don’t you realize that I just saved your life?”

“I know that I could’ve taken care of him!” Saba said. “I’m trying to be independent, but you’re not giving me the chance!”

“You’re taking this too fast,” Josh said, trying to keep calm. “I was just trying to save you from Tair.”

Saba began to stomp angrily out of the room. “What if I don’t want to be saved from Tair?” she asked. “I don’t need your help.” She ran out of the room.

Saba ran to the boiler room. Luckily, she was the only dog there. She found a spot to lie down in the corner. Then she cried.

-----

When Dingo woke up, he looked down and saw tall buildings all around the surrounding area. They had finally arrived in Anchorage. But where would they land?

The pilot continued to fly around for a few minutes. When he caught site of the landing strip, he said something into his radio. He flew around for a while, until someone answered him. Then he braced himself as he landed the plane.

“Welcome to Anchorage,” the pilot said.

Chapter 6

Dingo gazed at his surroundings in awe. The Anchorage airport was more crowded than any place he had ever seen. There were probably more people in the airport than the population of Nome. Dingo gulped as the pilot led him through the crowds on a leash. Was the whole city going to be this crowded?

Dingo soon got an answer for his question. There were people everywhere! Everywhere you looked, there was at least one group of people. In Nome, there would be groups of streets where you would only see one or two people walking around.

The pilot led Dingo to a small, rundown house. He knocked on the door.

Dingo was sizing up all of the dogs that he saw. Most of them looked mean, but there were a few that looked friendly. One dog (Dingo guessed that it was female) even came up to him to talk. But someone had opened the door, so before Dingo or the other dog could say anything, the pilot tugged on Dingo’s leash.

Dingo yelped, but the pilot didn’t notice. The person who had opened the door was a tall man, a lot taller than Jason’s dad (who was the average height for his age). The man took Dingo’s leash from the pilot. Dingo felt uncomfortable while the man was holding his leash. He didn’t trust him.

“Here,” said the man to the pilot, handing him a quarter.

The pilot was shocked. “Is that it?” he asked. “That’s nothing! I have a family to take care of at home, and I need to keep my plane in good repair…”

The man laughed in his face. “Do you really think I care?” he said. “I don’t care if you have a hundred kids in your family. I’m only paying twenty-five cents.”

The pilot walked off in a huff. The man at the door fiercely tugged at Dingo’s leash so that Dingo almost flew through the doorway.

Dingo sized up the man in front of him. ‘This must be Ray Warren,’ he thought. ‘I hope that he’s not always this mean…’

“Hey, Sandy!” Warren called out. “Come and see what I’ve got for you.”

Dingo saw a young girl come charging in from the kitchen. She must have been about Jason’s age, probably a little younger. She was incredibly skinny and apparently underfed. Even though she looked miserable, her face lighted up when she saw Dingo. She gasped in surprise. “A puppy!” she said happily. “You got me a puppy! I love him!” She hugged Dingo’s neck.

Meanwhile, Warren and his wife were talking in the kitchen. “I told them that I was going to use him for the mail service,” he said. “They fell for it!”

“Good,” the wife said. “They won’t suspect a thing. That’ll make our job easier.”

Dingo knew that the Warrens were talking about him, but he didn’t understand what they were saying. Wasn’t Warren going to use him for mail service? Was he just lying? What job was Mrs. Warren talking about? ‘Only time will tell,’ Dingo finally decided.

Sandy was still clinging onto Dingo. “You’re my first pet ever,” she said. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but Daddy wouldn’t let me have one until now. This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me!”

Sandy turned to her father. “What’s his name?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Dingo, I think,” he said.

Sandy smiled. “Okay,” she said. “I like your name, Dingo.” Then she ran back to her room, calling out behind her, “Come on, Dingo! I want to show you my room!”

Dingo enthusiastically followed his new owner to her room. Mrs. Warren smiled as she watched the young girl and her new dog. “I think that she’s really going to get attached to that dog,” she commented to her husband. “She’ll be so miserable after we…” She shuddered at the thought.

“She’ll get over it,” Warren replied unsympathetically. “It’s just a dog. Besides, we have to wait until the dog is fully grown, and that won’t happen for a month or two yet.”

Mrs. Warren shook her head. “Poor Sandy,” she said. “We’ve never let her have a pet before. The only reason that we’re letting her have Dingo is because we need him to…”

Warren hushed his wife. “Sandy might be listening,” he said. “We don’t want her to know about this until she’s ready.” 

-----

Dingo looked around Sandy’s room. It had a stone floor and stone walls. Apparently the heater didn’t work in this room-it was freezing. Sandy jumped onto her bed, which only had one thin blanket covering it. Dingo wondered why Sandy hadn’t died yet in these horrible living conditions.

Sandy showed Dingo everything in her room-there wasn’t much. She had a small nightstand with a black and white picture of the family. Dingo was very interested in the picture. Suddenly he noticed something strange in the photo. Sandy was sitting on her bed, watching him. He nudged her and pointed his nose toward the picture. Sandy understood.

“That’s my family,” she said. “I was pretty young then. I think I was only four years old…I’m nine now. There’s my mom and my dad, and there’s me, and there’s…” Suddenly she couldn’t speak. She was pointing to the strange thing in the picture: a boy. Dingo had found it strange because he hadn’t seen a boy since he entered the house. Where was he?

Dingo stopped thinking about the strange boy for a moment and looked at Sandy. She was crying. “That’s my brother,” she said through tears. “Well, at least he was my brother. My parents put him up for adoption the year after this picture was taken. I’ve missed him ever since.”

Dingo felt sorry for the girl and nuzzled her. She felt somewhat comforted, but she continued crying. “I don’t even remember his name anymore,” she said. “That was such a long time ago.”

For some reason, the boy looked familiar to Dingo. It looked like someone he knew. But who?

Chapter 7

“Come on, mutt,” Warren called. “I’ll show you where you’re going to live now.” Dingo reluctantly followed him out the door and to the backyard.

“Dad, can’t Dingo live in my room?” Sandy asked pleadingly.

Warren rolled his eyes. “It’s a dog, Sandy,” he said. “He should live outside. Dogs belong in the backyard, and growing girls belong inside.”

Dingo suddenly felt angry, thinking about what Warren had said. He didn’t see much of a difference between the cold outdoors and Sandy’s room. ‘They should let her live outside,’ he thought. ‘Anything is better than that freezing, miserable room.’

When they were in the backyard, Warren tied Dingo to a rope that was connected to a stake in the ground. “That should hold him,” he said with satisfaction.

“Dad, do we really have to tie up Dingo?” asked Sandy. “That rope is really short…shouldn’t we just let Dingo walk around the yard and keep