The waiter had been in the back room with the cook. Now Ollie saw him signal to the manager, and watched the manager hasten back. He closed his eyes. They were onto him; there was no doubt about it. For a moment he considered trying to get out of the front door before they closed in, but there was another waiter present, keeping an eye on the patrons, and he knew that he would never make it. He took a deep breath and waited for the roof to fall in on him. He heard the manager's foot-steps and opened his eyes. The manager said, "Uh--look, bud, about that meal you ate--" "Not bad," observed Ollie brightly. "Glad you liked it." He noticed little beads of sweat on the manager's forehead, and wondered what had put them there. He said, "Only trouble is, it ain't fillin'. I'm just as hungry as I was before." "It didn't fill you up, huh? That's too bad. I'll tell you what I'll do. Rather than see you go away dissatisfied, I won't charge you for the meal. Not a cent." Ollie blinked. This made no sense whatever. All the same, if not for the gnawing in his stomach, he would have picked himself up and run. As it was, he said, "Thanks. Guess in that case I'll have another order of stew. Maybe this time it'll stick to my ribs." "Not the stew," replied the manager nervously. "You had the last that was left. Try the roast beef." "Hmm, that's more than I was gonna spend." "No charge," said the manager. "For you, no charge at all." "Then gimme a double order. I feel starved." The double order went down the hatch, yet Ollie felt just as empty as ever. But he was afraid to press his luck too far, and after he had downed one more dessert--also without charge--he reluctantly picked himself up and walked out. He was too hungry to spend any more time wondering why he had got a free meal. In the back room of the restaurant, the manager sank weakly into a chair. "I was afraid he was going to insist on paying for it. Then we'd really have been on a spot." "Guess he was too glad to get it for free," the cook said. "Well, if anything happens to him now, it'll happen away from here." "Suppose they take a look at what's in his stomach." "He still won't be able to sue us. What did you do with the rest of that stew?" "It's in the garbage." "Cover it up. We don't want dead cats and dogs all over the place. And next time you reach for the salt, make sure there isn't an insect powder label on it." "It was an accident; it could happen to anybody," said the cook philosophically. "You know, maybe we shouldn't have let that guy go away. Maybe we ought to have sent him to a doctor." "And pay his bills? Don't be a sap. From now on, he's on his own. Whatever happens to him, we don't know anything about it. We never saw him before." * * * * * The only thing that was happening to Ollie was that he was getting hungrier and hungrier. He had, in fact, never before been so ravenous. He felt as if he hadn't eaten in years.