…how an ordinary schoolgirl became an

INTERNET VOYAGER!

One thing Wiz is good at - that he really LOVES doing - is digging. He puts his head and his paws down and he digs, digs, digs! Usually, of course, it's near Mum's newest and most precious flowers, or it's in the middle of a flower pot that she's just planted out - but whatever, wherever, Wizzie loves to dig.

Which is a bit unusual for a King Charles Cavalier spaniel, really, 'cos they were hunting dogs at first.

Anyway, hunting dog or digging dog, doesn't matter to Wiz. Feathery brown and white tail wagging at top speed, Dot's best friend jumped up on the huge junk pile in the back of the Mopples' dirty old van, pushing and pulling with his front paws, barking away, hunting the squidglet!

Mind you, when Ron had said "Let's get old Wiz on the case", I don't think he rally expected what happened next - which was a kind of shower of all the bits and pieces from the back of the van shooting out behind Wiz and landing all over him and Deirdre.

"Here!" said the Mopple owl, brushing several bits of old newspaper, a length of pipe, and a cloud of torn-up bubble wrap from her feathers. "Take it easy Wizard!"

But Wiz wasn't listening - probably couldn't hear, either. As Dot watched - trying not to giggle - he slowly disappeared further and further into the hole he was digging, so that after a very short time all you could see was his tail and his back legs... then just his tail... then just the tip of his tail, and then nothing at all, just a kind of shape moving under the surface of the Ron's huge junk pile. And then, not even that!

You could hear him though - all that digging went with a lot of sniffling, barking and growling, enough to make any squidglet want to run away and hide!

Dot felt a bit worried. "Will he be all right?" she asked Deirdre and Ron.

"Oh, yes" said Ron. "He'll be fine! Plenty of air and spaces down there - must clean it all out one day though. Really must!"

"Oh yes, I'm sure you will" chuckled Deirdre. "Just like you've been a-saying for about half a year!"

Squish-squelch... squish-squelch...

There it was again! It seemed to be coming from right in the middle of the junk pile now, not far from where Dot had last seen Wizzie's shape moving along under the surface. It seemed a bit quieter too - sounded like a squidglet that was getting a bit worried about what was going on near it - Wiz the Superdigger at work that is!

Yip yap yip yap!

Dot knew what that meant - Wiz had found something. And the something that he'd found didn't like it - not one bit. The squish sqelch noise suddenly changed, too. Zeep-zang zeep-zang ZEEP-ZANG it went.

"Good BOY!" went Ron. "Got him by the sound of it!"

But though Dot still couldn't see anything - Wiz had dug down too deep for that - it looked as though the squidglet wasn't just giving in. The bump under the big pile of rubbish in the back Rob's van suddenly started jumping and twitching about and rushing from one side of the van to the other.

Yip yap yip yap! Zeep-zang zeep-zang!

Dot started to get a bit worried. She knew what Wiz was like - once he'd got into the fun of chasing something, it was so hard to stop him. She remembered the time he'd chased a balloon all round Swanley Park at home. He'd gone after it all the way across the grass, out of the gate, across the road (luckily there weren't any cars going by just then) and into someone's front garden, with Dot and her Mum chasing him all the way going "Wiz... Wiz... WIZZIE STOP IT!". But he didn't, and they'd only caught him when he stopped because the balloon had got stuck on top of the porch of the house. Even then it had been really hard to get him to come away and leave it. Dot could still remember the look on the face of the elderly lady who lived in the house as she pepped through her curtains, thinking she was being attacked by some crazy dog!

"WIZ!" she shouted, making Deirdre jump. "Where are you?"

" 'E won't hear you" said Ron. "Too far down now. Don't you worry though - he's safe as houses in all that lot!"

But Dot wasn't so sure. She just had to find out. She got out of her seat and climbed up on top of the big junk pile to get a better look. "Careful dear!" said Deirdre.

It was difficult climbing on top of all Ron's rubbish. Dot had to go on her hands and knees, trying to work out where Wiz had gone - and even then every thing was a bit wobbly. But then she saw the bump deep in the junk pile moving again - that was Wiz all right, just over there by the big back doors of the van. She started to move towards where she thought he was but it was hard - the rubbish kept moving under her, and then suddenly a big cardboard box she had to go across squashed flat under her. She fell forward and grabbed at the first thing that seemed safe - a shiny red handle just by the door.

"Don't touch that Dot!" shouted Ron.

Too late! Dot had already got it in her hand. But as she held it it moved!

With a hiss the back doors fell open. She heard Ron shout something - she couldn't tell what - and then all the junk started to slide out of the back of the van and fall slowly down through the Search Zone sky.

Dot hung on as hard as she could but everything she was kneeling on was sliding away - falling out of the back of the van.

And then so was she!!