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Some of the searchers headed to the beach, which I thought was the logical choice but we couldn’t go because there were lots of dogs there. We hunted around the house and the garden, checking any hiding places there might be; under bushes, or perhaps he had found his way into a shed or outbuilding but no, there was no sign of him. By the time we returned to the front of the house everyone from next door were even more upset and Claire was going to knock on all the neighbours doors. Jonathan was charged with looking after the children and feeding them. They perked up at hearing this, because he was going to order them pizza. He offered to get some for the neighbours but they said they were too overwrought to eat. I felt very downcast. I didn’t like to think of Bailey lost and alone and I also didn’t like people being upset. Not at all.

It was starting to get dark, but there was still no sign of Bailey. The neighbours had all looked, in fact most of the village had been searching but there was no dog.

‘He can’t have disappeared,’ I said, scratching my head with my paw.

‘What if he went swimming and ended up in the other place,’ George suggested.

‘Can dogs swim?’ I asked.

‘Who knows?’ Gilbert said, ‘but I think they like water more than us cats, because we often see them running into the sea.’

That gave me an idea.

‘Remember when you were chasing Chanel and she tried to hide from you?’

‘Why are you bringing that up now?’

‘Oh I get you, Alfie,’ Gilbert grinned.

‘Again, why now?’ George stamped his paw.

‘Because she hid in a boat and the tide came in, what if Bailey has hidden in a boat?’

‘But the tide is out now and surely he’d have heard one of the adults calling for him, they were pretty loud,’ Gilbert pointed out,

‘Can’t hurt to look,’ I said, feeling excited now.

We bounded to the beach, which was dog free now thankfully. We started checking the boats, carefully trying to avoid the water. Just as we were running out of boats and patience, there was a family standing by a boat with a small cabin. They were peering inside.

‘’Where did he come frome?’ a woman said.

‘No idea, but someone’ll be worried,’ a man replied, and we then saw he reached in, and stood back up with Bailey in his arms.

‘’That’s him, we have to tell them that we know him,’ I said, excited that the dog was safe.

‘But, how?’ Gilbert asked.

‘Leave that to us,’ I said and George and I went over to them and starting meowing at the top of our voices. Gilbert looked uncertain but he joined in. Bailey barked, thankfully showing he recognised us. He wriggled in the man’s arm and tried to get to us.

We carried on mewing, running in circles and scratching at them, trying to convey to the couple to follow us. We yowled, ran around them, leapt up, and just as it was getting very tiresome, the man spoke.

‘Do you think the cats know where the dog lives?’ he asked.

‘I’ve never seen cats on the beach before,’ the lady added.

‘MEOW!’ I shouted, really, was that relevant now?

‘Do you know these cats?’ the man asked Bailey which was far more ridiculous than asking us, but thankfully Bailey barked again which they took to mean yes.

Finally they seemed to get it, which was a relief because I had sand in places where it really didn’t belong. Gilbert, George and I led the way and the couple with Bailey followed us. We took them to Bailey’s house, where we all stood on the doorstep together.

Helen opened the door, and burst into tears.

‘You’d think she’d be pleased,’ George hissed.

‘They’re tears of joy,’ I hissed back.

‘Oh goodness you found him. Where was he?’ Helen asked taking Bailey out of the man’s arms. He wagged his tail like crazy and licked her face. I couldn’t help but feel very pleased with myself.

‘He was asleep in our small boat cabin, lying underneath a blanket so we almost didn’t see him,’ the woman explained. ‘We found him when we went to clean up before a trip we’re taking tomorrow. All curled up he was. We had no idea who he was but then these cats appeared.’

They all stared at us and Helen noticed us for the first time.

‘Cats? They’re from next door, holiday cottage,’ Miranda said, her brows creased.

‘Well they were on the beach which is unusual and then they made an almighty racket before leading us here,’ the man said, scratching his head. You would think they had never encountered cats that saved the day before, the way they were acting.

‘I think we could go now,’ Gilbert said. He didn’t like too much attention. We started to make our way back to our house, Helen shouting thanks after us, inviting the boat couple inside for a drink and saying she had to let everyone know at the same time.

‘If we’d stayed we might have got a reward,’ George said, although he followed us all the same.

‘When Claire and Jonathan hear they’ll reward us I expect,’ I replied. Paws crossed.