WILD CREATURES OF GARDEN AND HEDGEROW 



stopped he was off again. He usually came 

 when called by name, but was shy if there 

 were strangers in the room, for he knew all 

 the family perfectly well. He was also tiresome 

 to catch whenever he thought he was to be 

 returned to his own quarters, for he would do 

 anything rather than be caught and shut up, 

 yet once you got a grip of his slippery form he 

 would give in and not try to get away any 

 more. But how different it was when I went 

 into the room where he was kept ; then his one 

 idea was to reach my shoulder as quickly 

 as he could climb there. 



Twice before the final disaster we thought 

 we had lost him, each time he got up a chimney, 

 but came down again when called. The third 

 time he not only got out of his room but out of 

 the house, and nothing was heard or seen of 

 him for a week. At the end of the week I 

 noticed a dog pointing excitedly, after the 

 manner of terriers when they have found a rat, 

 at an old disused chimney in an outbuilding. 

 Knowing how fond Whiskers had been of 

 chimneys I drove the dog away, and, going 

 down on my hands and knees before the dirty 

 old grate, I called the rat by name, then 

 listened. Surely there was something stirring ? 

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