No, Missis!€ But Pongo was shaken. He had forgotten they were now black dogs. Suppose the police did not recognize them? Suppose the Dearlys were never told about them? What happened to stray dogs that no one claimed?

Please, Pongo, I beg you!€ cried Missis. Let us go on with our journey! I know it will be all right.€

They had now reached the road and were on the edge of the village. Pongo was faced with a terrible choice. But it still seemed to him wiser to trust the police than to lead the hungry, exhausted puppies into the bitter winter night.

Missis, dear Missis, we must go to the police station,€ he said, and turned towards the village. They could now see the burning bakery, and at that moment a huge flame leaped up through the roof. By its light Pongo saw the whole village street, with the villagers making a human chain to hand along buckets of water. And he also saw something else something which made him stop dead, shouting, Halt!€ at the top of his bark.

In front of the burning bakery was a great striped black-and white car. And with it was Cruella de Vil standing right up on the roof of the car, where she had climbed so as to get a good view of the fire. Her white face and absolutely simple white mink cloak no longer looked white. From head to foot she was bathed in the red-gold flicker of the flames. And as they leaped higher and higher she clapped her hands in delight.

The next instant there was a wild clamour of bells as the fire engine arrived at last. The noise, the flames, and, above all, the sight of Cruella were too much for many of the puppies. Squealing in terror, they turned and fled, with Pongo, Missis, and Lucky desperately trying to call them to order.

Fortunately, the clamour from the fire engine prevented anyone in the village from hearing the barking and yapping. And after a little while the terrified pups obeyed Pongo’s orders and stopped their headlong flight. They were very shamefaced as Pongo told them that, though he quite understood how they had felt, they must never, never behave in such a panic-stricken way and must always, always obey orders instantly. Then he praised the pups who had stuck to the Cadpig’s cart, praised Patch for staying close to the Cadpig, rescued Roly Poly from a ditch, and counted the pups carefully. He did all this as hurriedly as possible, for he knew now that they must press on with their journey. There was no way they could get to the police station without passing Cruella de Vil.