I saw Chuzzlewit hiss rather than hear him as he realised his position under the hearse was no longer a place of shelter. With the dogs still yapping madly, Chuzzlewit took flight, darting out from under the hearse in a streak of ginger lightning.
The dogs were fast, but not as fast as Chuzzlewit. They seemed surprised at their quarry’s movements, falling over themselves in a scramble of legs and frenzied barking. Despite this, Chuzzlewit’s manoeuvre appeared destined to fail as there was no obvious sanctuary for him to escape to in time before the hounds caught up with him. I moved to the other side of the grave in a forlorn attempt to rescue the cat before the beasts could catch him.
But Chuzzlewit, it seemed, was not to be so easily outsmarted. He doubled back, once more throwing the
