"How to hypnotize 'im?"
"Don't get cute, now! No; how to get him out of that net. We'll put 'im in the cage net and all, and then while you hammer on the box and poke 'im with a stick I'll hook the net with a piece of wire and yank like Holy Moses!"
And it was done. And in less than two hours from the time of his capture, Gyp the Blood was safe behind the bars. But his fiery spirit was far from subdued. His eyes glowed as fiercely as before, and his blasphemous growling was none the less continual.
During the afternoon two more victims were brought in, and the Big Game establishment of Cane & Tobin began to sound like something. The necessity of a commissary department was also discovered. Plates and saucers were easy enough to purloin, but very hard to fill three times a day.
On account of the lack of confidence usually displayed by parents in the mercantile ventures of their sons, most of the youthful business of our country is run on the basis of a shady enterprise. The catching of cats for the market proved to be no exception to this rule. The strictest possible secrecy was maintained. It is therefore not unreasonable to assume that the commissariat obtained its supplies elsewhere than from the homes of the partners. It was at this particular time that Elder Woodruff's Jersey cow was guilty of an unaccountable shrinkage in milk; and as foraging in the enemy's country is held to be permissible in time of extremity, perhaps— But there was no proof.
Business was good; and by closing time on Wednesday the firm had in stock ten high-grade, hand-picked stray cats. But Thursday passed without a haul. Likewise Friday morning. The conclusion that the stray cat had become extinct was more than once hinted at. And, while no formal campaign against the pet cat was inaugurated, Sube returned from lunch bearing in his arms a hirsute beauty that might easily have claimed descent from the Shah of Persia. A short time afterwards Gizzard carelessly sauntered in with an Angora kitten.
Sube's offering, which was large and portly, instantly reminded Gizzard of Mrs. Rude's Snowdrop; but he reflected that all white cats look more or less alike and refrained from making any mention of the likeness. He also neglected to say that he had found his contribution on the walk in front of Nancy Guilford's house. He reasoned that cats do not ordinarily play around in the street in front of their owner's homes. He had heard that somebody had given Nancy a kitten, but reports are likely to be exaggerated. And while Gizzard had always suspected that there was something between Sube and Nancy, it came to him now with compelling force that he had never been told anything about it; and perhaps he understood that mere inferences are not regarded as the best evidence by the authorities.
And when partners begin to keep things from each other the breakers are usually not far away.