Alpha didn’t seem to be enjoying the game of hide-and-seek very much. He had obviously had enough, and was starting to wag his tail and shake his head so much that Franck had to pull him towards him and tell him to keep calm.

The older man had sensed movement just above. He quickly grabbed the rifle from the car door, positioned it and took aim. The younger guy put the bucket of earthworms he had just picked up back on the pickup, went over to the old man and forced him to lower his weapon.

‘Don’t be an idiot, Maurice, no sense in shooting over there.’

‘It’s wild boar, I swear.’

They stayed still and waited, listening for the faintest rustling sound. They both knew that wild boar never came out by day and you didn’t usually hear them. Yet they had heard something.

Franck had got down as low as possible and could no longer see them, but the bastards obviously thought he was a wild boar in hiding. He needed to stop moving. But then he might be shot at. The dog was staring at him, again waiting for an order, a word, and Franck pushed his head to make him lie down, which prompted more noise.

The men below – who had grown up in these woods and spent their whole lives here – had been right about something moving up above, but it wasn’t like anything they knew. They said nothing, but both were thinking it might be a lynx, or a wolf; they had been making a comeback for a few years and this area of untamed forest was the perfect place for them to hide. What a coup it would be, to shoot a wolf.

The dog shattered the silence by starting to bark. He looked at Franck intently, barking as if ordering him to get up too.

Maurice turned to Julien, shocked that a dog could wait silently, concealing itself as if hunting game, and then suddenly start barking.

‘A dog? What the hell …?’

Alpha ran to the end of the spur and stood there for the men below to see. Franck had no choice but to come out from behind the bushes, aware that the dog had gone out to protect him, sacrificing himself in a way. Maybe that was the animal’s intention, especially as, with a weapon involved, the game could quickly turn dangerous. The men recognised Franck. But they didn’t recognise the big dog running down the cliff towards them. They stared at him as if he were some strange beast. Franck was further behind, feeling sheepish. He tried to get rid of the ropes slung across his shoulders, but they were too tight and he felt restricted by them as he hurtled down the cliff face with the bitter taste of surrender in his mouth.