CH. VI.] A November Day. 97 



etc. ; and just to see if you are " real grit," 

 boys, I will show you another picture. 



Jack, get the ferrets while I let the dogs 

 out. We must go and see if we can find a 

 few rats, for it is a week since the ferrets had 

 flesh, and we shall have them getting ill ; 

 and, Jack, bring four in the little bag, and 

 put that inside your game-bag, for it looks 

 like rain, and I don't like to see them half- 

 drowned. Yes, it does look like rain, though 

 as yet it is only a dull, misty, chilly day in 

 mid-November down here in the country, 

 but in London it is a thick black fog, and all 

 work is being done by gaslight. It is bad 

 and depressing here, but ever so much worse 

 there ; so cheer up, dogs, and step out, Jack. 

 We will go down by the beck and home by 

 the clay-pits, for I know of no other place 

 near where we are so likely to find a few rats, 

 and I don't want to make a long day of it. 



Go over the bridge. Jack. You take that 



