w. The rope around his neck is about the biggest,
toughest rope you can imagine, with so many knots it would take days
to untie them all.

"Anyway, when you were talking about airplanes, you gave me a good
idea. Now, I'm quite sure that if you were able to rescue the dragon,
which wouldn't be the least bit easy, he'd let you ride him most
anywhere, provided you were nice to him, of course. How about trying
it?"

"Oh, I'd love to," said my father, and he was so angry at his mother
for being rude to the cat that he didn't feel the least bit sad about
running away from home for a while.

That very afternoon my father and the cat went down to the docks to
see about ships going to the Island of Tangerina. They found out that
a ship would be sailing the next week, so right away they started
planning for the rescue of the dragon. The cat was a great help in
suggesting things for my father to take with him, and she told him
everything she knew about Wild Island. Of course, she was too old to
go along.

Everything had to be kept very secret, so when they found or bought
anything to take on the trip they hid it behind a rock in the park.
The night before my father sailed he borrowed his father's knapsack
and he and the cat packed everything very carefully. He took chewing
gum, two dozen pink lollipops, a package of rubber bands, black rubber
boots, a compass, a tooth brush and a tube of tooth paste, six
magnifying glasses, a very sharp jackknife, a comb and a hairbrush,
seven hair ribbons of different colors, an empty grain bag with a
label saying "Cranberry," some clean clothes, and enough food to last
my father while he was on the ship. He couldn't live on mice, so he
took twenty-five peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and six apples,
because that's all the apples he could find in the pantry.

When everything was packed my father and the cat went down to the
docks to the ship. A night watchman was on duty, so while the cat made
loud queer noises to distract his attention, my father ran over the
gang-plank onto the ship. He went down into the hold and hid among
some bags of wheat. The ship sailed early the next morning.

[Illustration]

_Chapter Three_

MY FATHER FINDS THE ISLAND

My father hid in the hold for six days and nights. Twice he was nearly
caught when the ship stopped to take on more cargo. But at last he
heard a sailor say that the next port would be Cranberry and that
they'd be unloading the whe