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By Root 5996 0

it won't go through the door after all!' I was laughing so much I could hardly get this out. Then Finn began to laugh too, and we both lay on the floor and laughed like maniacs until we could do nothing more but groan. Alter that we started hunting for where Sammy kept his whisky, and when we had found it we had a couple of stiff ones. Finn showed signs of wanting to settle down to this, but I led him back to the cage. 'Come on!' I told Finn briskly, 'and let him do what he likes with his feet!' We lifted the upended cage from the ground, holding it at each end by the bars. At first Mister Mars began to slip and slither; but it was soon evident that in our anxiety about his welfare we had reckoned without his own intelligence. As soon as he realized that he had nothing to stand on but the bars, he tucked up his legs and lay stretched out along the side of the cage, looking a little uncomfortable but perfectly calm. When we saw this we began to laugh again so much that we had to put the cage down.

'For heaven's sake!' I said at last, and we marched towards the door. The cage itself was very light, and most of the weight was Mars. It wasn't difficult to carry. I held my breath. The thing jarred against the doorway. 'Steady!' I said to Finn, who was going first. He was facing me and walking backwards and I could see his eyes growing as round as saucers. We jostled it and edged it in silence. Then Finn was stepping backwards into the hallway, and the cage was sliding through the door like a piston through a cylinder. There wasn't half an inch to spare. 'We've done it!' cried Finn. 'Wait,' I said, 'there's the other door.' We opened the door into the corridor. The cage slid through it as if it were greased with vaseline. We put it down outside and shook hands. I stepped back into Sammy's flat, and took a last look at the living-room; it looked rather like a battle scene, but I didn't see that I could do anything about that. I was about to close Sammy's front door, when Finn said, 'Look, even if we can get out of the building, how are we going to get this thing away? The police will be asking us what we're doing.' 'We'll get a taxi,' I said. 'This won't go into an ordinary taxi,' said Finn; 'we'd have to find one with a hood that takes down.' 'Then we'll hire a lorry, I don't care,' I told him. 'But where'll we put it meanwhile?' said Finn. I breathed deeply. 'Look,' I said, 'you're right of course. You go out and find a bloody taxi whose bloody hood takes down, or a lorry, or whatever you please, if you can do it in ten minutes. If you can't, come back and we'll carry it out and be damned. I'll wait here.' 'Hadn't you better wait inside?' said Finn. We looked deep into each other's eyes. Then we picked up the cage and carried it back into Sammy's flat. 'I'll wait in the corridor,' I said, 'and if Sammy appears I'll just make off. If I'm not here when you come back you'll know we've had it.' We shook hands again and Finn went away. I stood in the corridor biting my knuckles and listening to every sound. The thought that even at this late moment Mars could slip through my fingers tormented me into a frenzy. I went and looked at him and talked to him through the bars. Then I went into Sammy's kitchen and found a couple of pork chops which I presented to him. Then I went back to my post in the corridor. After about five minutes I heard feet on the stairs and was preparing to fly, but it was Finn. He looked amazingly cool. 'I've got a taxi with a hood,' he said. We lifted the cage and once more slid it out into the passage. I closed Sammy's door. Then we set off towards the stairs. 'We'll go out the back way,' I said, 'and avoid the porter.' 'The taxi's at the front door,' said Finn. 'Well then, we'll carry the damn thing round the outside of the building!' Then Mars dropped one of his chops and I trod on it and we nearly fell down the first flight of stairs. But I was beyond caring. When we got to the ground floor we turned sharply towards the tradesmen's entrance, Finn leading the way. When we reached the tradesmen's door we found