62 Studies in Rat Catching, [ch. hi. 



bet, and the dog not to blink ; and so, one 

 fine day, I had both returned on my hands as 

 hopeless ignoramuses. I could not keep a 

 blinking dog at home in idleness, so I took 

 him with me ratting, and as Jack would not 

 be parted from the dog, he had to come too. 

 Everyone says the boy is " cracked." He is 

 queer, I will allow, but if you will find me a 

 better hand at rat-catching in all its branches, 

 I should like to look at him ; and besides, if 

 Jack is cracked, then I like cracked boys, for 

 I never came across one more obedient, more 

 truthful, or more steady, and I find him a 

 perfect treasure on the other side of the bank 

 at the bolt holes. 



Jack never mentions the past, and I 

 should be inclined to think he had forgotten 

 it, only if he is parted from Grindum for a 

 short time he becomes wild looking about 

 the eyes again and restless. At such times 

 his sister, who mothers him much, will sit by 



