Vlad and Igor took a step back and Duke let off a volley of raw, threatening barks. They stood motionless, Vlad’s grip tightening on the blade. Duke sank low, his belly almost brushing the ground. He crept forward, shoulders pumping like a lion stalking its prey, gathering himself for a spring, all the time a terrible, low moaning tearing itself from deep within his throat. I could see Vlad weighing up the odds. He might manage a lucky stab, but he risked getting his tonsils ripped out.

Slowly, almost imperceptibly, he and Igor began to inch backward, Igor making stupid ‘nice doggy’ noises, neither of them taking their eyes from Duke, who inched ever closer as they crept back.

Without warning, he charged. Both men turned and fled. Duke leapt at Igor, felled him like a tree, then shook him, crushing his forearm in the vice of his jaws. I could hear the bones crunching from where I stood. He screamed out, but Vlad had kept on running, and was already climbing into the BMW.

Duke released his grip, chasing off towards the car. Vlad slammed himself inside as the dog launched himself at the driver’s door, claws slipping, scrabbling against the window as he slathered and snarled through the glass. I heard the engine start up. Sobbing and gibbering in pain, Igor floundered to his feet and lurched across the grass. Vlad reversed sharply, shaking Duke off and swinging the car around so that Igor could clamber in the passenger side. I yelled at Duke to come to me, terrified that Vlad would run him over.

Igor wrenched the door open with his good arm and flung himself aboard. Before the door was closed, the car lunged forward in a crash of gears. There was a crunch of tyres spinning on gravel, a spraying up of tiny stones, and then the car sped off up the road. Duke gave chase for a few long, loping strides, but slowed and lost interest. I stumbled down over the rocky cairn and my legs gave way beneath me. I sat on the ground and sobbed. Duke baulked of his prey, ambled over beside me and lay down in a disgruntled fashion. I threw my arms about his neck and hugged him.

‘Awesome!’ I whispered in his ear. ‘You were awesome!’

It wasn’t me who called the police. I don’t know how long I sat, clinging around Duke’s neck, blubbing into his fur, but after a while he’d endured enough, got heavily to his feet, and snuffled among the gorse where he found and devoured the half-eaten sandwich I had put down on the rock what seemed like a lifetime before.