nose in the bayou. Taught me everything I know about tracking. ‘Trusty’, he’d say, ‘Trusty’…uh…he’d say, uh…” He was stumped. A little amused with himself, he confessed “well doggone, I plumb forgot what it was he used to say!”

CHAPTER 3
Balto and Jenna found Lady and Tramp playing with their puppies near Darling, Jim Dear, Junior, and Aunt Sara, who had spread out a nice blanket on the ground, and were pulling out some food from a large wicker basket. As they approached, there was a great commotion in the direction of the park entrance. Tramp and the others looked in that direction to find a very large, ugly dog with a chipped tooth running past a heavy-set woman, causing her to lose her footing and her fancy wig. She fell rather unceremoniously onto the grass, right onto her bottom. The woman waved her arms and shook her hands anxiously, and sobbed. It was, ironically, a rather amusing scene, and many citizens, in spite of themselves (and the dictates of “proper breeding”), laughed at the woman’s predicament. This was only intensified when a good Samaritan, a short, slight, mustachioed man in a bowler, carrying a book and an umbrella, offered to help her up, only to be pulled right down on top of her in the attempt.

Tramp immediately tensed up. Legs locked and ears perked, he watched the big dog run off through the park and out again, towards the working-class side of town. “Reggie”, he thought to himself. “What’s he doing out of his alley?”

Tramp turned to Balto, Jenna and Lady, anxious concern in his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I need to go see what’s going on. That’s Reggie, and he’s a bad apple around these parts. He could hurt someone! Balto, Jenna? You might want to stay here with Lady. He started off running, and then stopped quickly and turned back to them. “Pige, I’ll meet you at the Chinese bridge after I see what’s happening with Reggie! Wait for me!”

With that, Tramp shot off after Reggie. Lady barely had time to react. “O-okay, dear.”

Balto turned to Jenna, a worried look in his eyes. Jenna understood what that look meant. She nodded to him. He then quickly scanned the crowd, looking for his team members, but couldn’t spot them. “Where could they be?” he asked himself. Then it hit him. He knew what he had to do. Turning his muzzle to the sky, he sent up a howl.

It was a sound which the citizens of Snob Hill had only previously heard about in stories when they were children. These were dark stories about wolves which stalked children and ate grandmothers; stories which were meant to frighten them into behaving and staying close to home. It caught them completely by surprise, and momentarily frightened some of them. Ladies placed their hands upon their hearts, or their lips, flustered by the experience. Some swooned or fainted altogether. Men were caught off-guard as well. Children huddled close to their parents, or jumped to their feet in dazzled curiosity, and dogs all through the park turned their attention to it.

Across the park came, in reply, the barking of many dogs, and very soon a commotion was heard moving in the direction of Balto. It was Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Nulato, Koyuk and Pete. They came bounding right up to him.

Nikki still had white powdered sugar sprinkled across his mouth and nose. Balto noticed it, and raised an eyebrow…a smile playing out of the corner of his muzzle. All Nikki could do was grin and shrug.

Kaltag, on the other hand, could barely contain himself. “What? What? What is it, Balto? What’s going on? Tell us!”

“I dunno,” Balto replied, “but we need to find out. Come on!”

Balto ran off after Tramp, and the team members followed.

Meanwhile, Lady and Jenna started for the Chinese bridge, talking as they went. They had already become friends, and it was a pleasant conversation.

At the bridge, things were quiet. It was a remote section of the park, away from the bustle of the picnic.

“I suppose we should just wait here for Tramp and the others to return. Isn’t this a lovely place? Tramp and I come here sometimes, to gaze out at the river, or watch the stars at night.” Lady sighed. “He brought me here our first night together. It was so romantic!”

Jenna smiled. “That sounds very nice, Lady! That sort of reminds me of a place called Anvil Mountain, near where Balto and I live. In the evenings sometimes, Balto and I take the long walk up to Anvil Rock, at the top of the mountain, to take in the Northern Lights.”

Lady tilted her head. “The ‘Northern Lights’?”

Jenna giggled. “Well, you see, they’re great ribbons of light that appear in the sky at night. They’re beautiful…full of color. And they dance and weave around sometimes for hours!” Jenna was lost in thought, staring out at the river. “Balto’s very cute when he gets in a romantic way. Watching the Northern Lights from Anvil Rock was his idea, and now it’s our own special thing.”

Jenna sighed longingly. “I miss home. We’ve been on the road so long…”

As they talked, they didn’t notice the approach of a group of dogs. There was a sudden rustling of leaves, and then a large Doberman Pinscher stepped out of the bushes near the bridge, followed by four other dogs. He had a very unpleasant grin spread across his face…his eyes fixed on Lady.

“Well well…lookie what we got over here,” he said. “Hey boys? You know who dis is?”

The other dogs, a shaggy mutt, a French bulldog, and two other mutts (one of them rather older, and one shady female) came up behind the pinscher. “Nope!” “Nuh uh.” “Ain’t seen her before.” “Not that I ever recall.”

The pinscher laughed with blustery overconfidence. “Why dis here is little Miss ‘High Society’ herself! DIS is the girl what Tramp betrayed me for!” Buster looked hard into Lady’s eyes. “Where is he?”

Lady was noticeably frightened, and she backed up as Buster advanced on her. The other dogs began to form a semi-circle around her and Jenna. Jenna also stepped back a few times, trying to keep close to Lady who, as she backed up, bumped into one of the posts of the bridge. She stopped, and mustered up what courage she could.

Turning her nose up at Buster, Lady replied “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Tramp is no traitor to you, Buster!”

The pinscher just rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah, whatever. Well, I guess if I can’t get him, there’s always the one who took him away from me.” His features hardened as he stared down menacingly at her.

Jenna, who was trying to decide what to do, suddenly remembered her encounters with Steele. She realized that, if she could face down a bully like him, this dog shouldn’t be too much trouble. Mustering her own courage, she stepped confidently in between Buster and Lady, and looked firmly right into Buster’s eyes. “Why don’t you just leave her alone?”

Buster stopped in his tracks, staring at Jenna with some surprise. No one had ever challenged him before…certainly not a lady dog. A smile played across his muzzle, and he squinted aggressively at her. “And just who are you, doll face?”

Jenna’s hackles stood up as she glared back at him. “Someone you don’t want to mess with!”

Buster pulled back for a second, eyes wide, and then started laughing. He turned back to the other dogs. “You hear dis, boys? She’s someone I don’t wanna mess wit!” He was laughing so hard, his attention was fully turned away from Lady and Jenna.

Lady leaned up to Jenna to whisper in her ear. “Run!”

She and Jenna leapt onto the Chinese bridge, and ran off into the park, towards another exit.

Buster was now on his back, legs in the air, and laughing so hard, that his forelegs were wrapped around his belly. The French bulldog came up alongside of him. “Ahem. Bustair. Do not look now, but ze ladies, zey have fled.”

Buster looked up, and his expression darkened. “Let’s go!” He got up and ran after Jenna and Lady, and the others followed.

CHAPTER 4
Jenna followed closely behind Lady, who was running hard, looking for someplace to hide. The dashed out of the park and onto the street, running towards the business district. “Lady!” Jenna shouted. “Where are we going?”

Lady kept running, glancing into alleyways as she went. “I don’t know, really! But we need someplace to hide!”

Lady turned a corner onto another street, and then spotted a likely hiding place. With Jenna close on her tail, she leapt some garbage cans into a small alley, and Jenna followed. It was cluttered with trash and old wooden boxes and crates and, as Lady dodged these, she almost missed the solid fence wall in front of her. She came to an abrupt halt. Jenna slid to a stop behind Lady, almost crashing right into her.

“Is this…is this it?” Jenna asked, breathlessly.

Lady scanned the alley. “Oh my! I guess it will have to do!” But I didn’t realize there’d be no exit!

She turned around to find Buster standing at the front of the alley, and the four other dogs behind him. He laughed grimly. “Now dis just keeps gettin’ better and better!” He started to walk confidently, and menacingly, into the alleyway, the dogs forming behind him.

Jenna did her best to appear brave, and stood up next to Lady, baring her teeth. Again, her hackles went up.

Buster kept advancing. He had a dark smile on his face. “Oh, come on now, doll face. What are you gonna do? You ain’t got what it takes to go toe-to-toe wit a junkyard dog!” He laughed and continued to advance. “You ain’t got much to say now, do you, doll face?”

Then, from behind Buster and the other dogs, came a strong, confident voice. “No. But I might…” There, at the front of the alley, stood Balto, his eyes gleaming. Behind him were Star, Nikki, Kaltag, Nulato, Koyuk, and Pete.

Nikki leaned in to Kaltag. “Now where have I seen DIS before?”

But Buster wasn’t deterred. He spun around, and pushed right through his gang, who were now exchanging worried glances, realizing the situation was pretty bad for them. Buster strode slowly up to Balto. “Another stranger, hmm? And I suppose you’re someone I don’t wanna mess wit either, huh? So, who are you?”

And once again, from behind Buster, came a noise. This time, it was the sound