night editor read the bulletin just off the teletype.

"Well, what do you know!" he said. "We just recognized
Mastodonia."

He looked at the copy chief.

"Where the hell is Mastodonia?" he asked.

The copy chief shrugged. "Don't ask me. You're the brains in this
joint."

"Well, let's get a map for the next edition," said the night
editor.

XIII

Tabby, the saber-tooth, dabbed playfully at Cooper with his mighty
paw.

Cooper kicked him in the ribs--an equally playful gesture.

Tabby snarled at him.

"Show your teeth at me, will you!" said Cooper. "Raised you from a
kitten and that's the gratitude you show. Do it just once more and
I'll belt you in the chops."

Tabby lay down blissfully and began to wash his face.

"Some day," warned Hudson, "that cat will miss a meal and that's
the day you're it."

"Gentle as a dove," Cooper assured him. "Wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Well, one thing about it, nothing dares to bother us with that
monstrosity around."

"Best watchdog there ever was. Got to have something to guard all
this stuff we've got. When Wes gets back, we'll be millionaires.
All those furs and ginseng and the ivory."

"_If_ he gets back."

"He'll be back. Quit your worrying."

"But it's been five years," Hudson protested.

"He'll be back. Something happened, that's all. He's probably
working on it right now. Could be that he messed up the time
setting when he repaired the unit or it might have been knocked
out of kilter when Buster hit the helicopter. That would take a
while to fix. I don't worry that he won't come back. What I can't
figure out is why did he go and leave us?"

"I've told you," Hudson said. "He was afraid it wouldn't work."

"There wasn't any need to be scared of that. We never would have
laughed at him."

"No. Of course we wouldn't."

"Then what _was_ he scared of?" Cooper asked.

"If the unit failed and we knew it failed, Wes was afraid we'd try
to make him see how hopeless and insane it was. And he knew we'd
probably convince him and then all his hope would be gone. And he
wanted to hang onto that, Johnny. He wanted to hang onto his hope
even when there wasn't any left."

"That doesn't matter now," said Cooper. "What counts is that he'll
come back. I can feel it in my bones."

And here's another case, thought Hudson, of hope begging to be
allowed to go on living.

God, he thought, I wish I could be that blind!

"Wes is working on it right now," said Coop