86 Studies in Rat Catching. [ch. v. 



step, if you keep your eyes open. Don't get 

 disheartened, and above all things never say, 

 " Oh, it is no good looking here or looking 

 there for a rat ; there is sure not to be one. 

 Come on and don't waste time." You often 

 find them in the most unexpected places. 



I once went three times to the house of 

 an old lady, being sent for because there was 

 a rat that came each night and took her 

 hen's eggs and carried off young ducks and 

 chickens. I spent hours looking for it in 

 hedges, ditches, sheds, out-houses and stable, 

 and even put Tinker up on the roof of all 

 the buildings, thinking the assassin might 

 be under the tiles ; but it was no go. 



Night after night the plunderer came, and 

 I began to see that the old lady did not 

 think much of me. At last, one afternoon, 

 I called again and began operations by ask- 

 ing to have a dog that was tied up to a 

 kennel in a back yard led away, as his 



