ch. Well, really I mean I
met him this spring when I was hunting for Cat, and this guy was in the
cellar at Forty-six Gramercy, and he got caught and...."

"Wha-a-a-t?" Pop puts down his paper and takes off his glasses. "Begin
again."

So I give it to him again, slow, and with explanations. I go through the
whole business about the filling station and Hilda and NYU, and I'll say
one thing for Pop, when he finally settles down to listen, he listens. I
get through, and he puts on his reading glasses and goes to look out the
window.

"Do you have this young man's name and address, or is he just Tom from The
Cellar?"

I'd just got it from Tom when we were at the beach. He's at a Y in
Brooklyn, so I tell Pop this.

Pop says, "Tell him to call my office and come in to see me on his next
day off. Meanwhile, I'll bone up on City educational policies in regard to
juvenile delinquents."

He says this perfectly straight, as if there'd be a book on the subject.
Then he goes back to his newspaper, so I guess that closes the subject for
now.

"Thanks, Pop," I say and start to go out.

"Entirely welcome," says Pop. As I get to the door, he adds, "If that cat
of yours makes a practice of introducing you to the underworld in other
people's cellars, we can do without him. We probably can anyway."

7

[Illustration: Dave talking with veterinarian while holding Cat.]

SURVIVAL

Cat hadn't got me into anymore cellars, but I can't honestly say he'd been
sitting home tending his knitting--not him.

One hot morning I went to pick up the milk outside our door, and Cat was
sleeping there on the mat. He didn't even look up at me. After I scratched
his ears and talked to him some, he got up and hobbled into the house.

I put him up on my bed, under the light, for inspection. One front claw
was torn off, which is why he was limping, his left ear was ripped, and
there was quite a bit of fur missing here and there. He curled up on my
bed and didn't move all day.

I came and looked at him every few hours and wondered if I ought to take
him to a vet. But he seemed to be breathing all right, so I went away and
thought about it some more. Come night, I pushed him gently to one side,
wondering what I better do in the morning.

Well, in the morning Cat wakes up, stretches, yawns,