his head
with his arms.

He lay in repose for less than ten seconds; for suddenly, out of the
fog in mid channel, came the booming siren whistle of a liner, heading
out of the Golden Gate. "Whoom! Wha-om!"

The Wildcat moaned. "I heahs you, Gabriel, I heahs you! Heah I is,
Lawd--heah I is."

"Whooom! We-ow-oom!"

"It's me. It's ol' Wilecat. What fo' you askin' who? You knows who!
Ghosts got me, Gabriel! Here I is! Lady Luck--Good-bye!"

Then from Fort Miley crashed the report of the evening gun that marked
retreat, and a moment later the clear notes of a bugle floated out of
the fog. For a moment life on earth again claimed the Wildcat, and
instinctively he responded to his army training. He got to his feet and
stood rigidly at attention. Into the fog to an unseen company he yelled
a series of commands. "Come to 'tenshun! Silence in de ranks! Shut up
an' stan' up! 'Tenshun! Lily, come to 'tenshun! Cap'n Jack, suh, de
company is fo'med."

He saluted and made an about-face as perfectly as he could in the
shifting sand beneath his feet.

As he did so he felt his brain rattle. Ten feet above him, tangible as
iron, real as gold, festooned with hair and horns, stood Lily the
mascot goat.

The Wildcat stood fixed for an instant looking with incredulous eyes at
the mascot. Then he made an excess demand on the motor muscles of his
legs, and in six wild leaps he had gained the goat's side.

"Lily, is you back? Goat, hot dam! Lady Luck sho' heard me!" The
Wildcat grabbed the leading string which dangled from the mascot's
neck. "Come heah--I aims to git me some han'-cuffs an' lock one end
'roun yo' neck an' de otheh roun' mah laig. Goat, us sho' is proud to
meet up wid you! Does you leave me once mo' nex' time I knocks yo'
hawns down yo' throat."

Lily evidently approved the arrangement. She looked at the Wildcat, and
then from her skinny throat a faint bleat sounded.

"Say dat again! You sounds noble!"

"Blaaa," answered Lily.

The Wildcat looked around him. His fear of the shrieking ghostly voices
from the sky overhead had melted into the fog. No longer did the
howling devils of mid channel disturb him. No longer did he fear the
raging golf. With his mascot goat at his side, no evil luck could touch
him. Courage returned, and with it extravagant language. "Lily, no
doggone ghos' better git uppity wid me. I'd bus' a ol' ghos' in de haid
did I ketch one."

With Lily beside him, he gained the level ground of the