Bud lived with his grandfather in a one-room cabin down by the river. The cabin was small, but Grandpa was an old Navy man--he liked everything neat and close to hand. What Bud liked would be to own a dog, but Grandpa was firm: No Dogs. Then Bud rescued a dog he found in a box, floating down the river, and while he promised he'd only keep the dog until he could find its owner, you couldn't tell how far that dog had floated before Bud found him. Maybe he could find a way to convince Grandpa to keep Mate.