The dog loved the gentlemen of the travelling brotherhood. The men of the road. Redfyre could never work out whether it was the dog who cast a spell on them or they who were able to magic the dog. It was undeniable that not a single tramp’s hide had ever been punctured by Snapper’s awful little teeth, and they never failed to make much of him. The surest way into the owner’s pocket? It certainly worked. Not a week went by without a tap on the door, an ear-tugging and a few kind words for the dog, preliminaries to the handing over of whatever change Redfyre had in his pocket. Half a loaf or a cake from the table usually followed. He had never spotted a tramp’s chalked sign near his door, but had no doubt that one of their secret signals was present and constantly renewed. He wondered which symbol expressed: “Nice dog lives here. Master, easy mark.” In return, he had to admit that one or two of the knocks had alerted him to trouble in the neighbourhood of “Bum-bailiff coming on a bit strong with the little missis at number twenty,” or “Old lag down the Anchor bragging about that robbery at the co-op . . . Just thought you’d like to know.” He recognised that he had become the approachable face of local law and order, and was pleased enough to go along with that.

“Ah! There you are, you ghastly, disobedient little beast! Are you going to introduce me to your new friend? Perhaps he has room in his life for a Jack Russell who’s about to be made homeless. You can wander off into the wide blue yonder together! And good riddance! Hullo there! Anyone at home?”

Redfyre had been talking deliberately loudly to alert the sleeping tramp to his presence. As he approached, he waited for the startled cursing to pour forth, but the man remained silent. Sleeping off a Saturday night drinking bout, he guessed. Quite a binge that must have been if he could remain oblivious of sharp spring sunshine slanting down onto his eyelids, the nerve-jangling yapping and the copper’s bluff nonsense!

But, of course, no sentient being this side of the grave could have done that.