lOO Studies in Rat Catching, [ch. vi. 



to " stand." Ten minutes pass, and Jack 

 gets restless. Fifteen minutes, and I begin 

 to shift my feet, which are planted deep in 

 sticky mud by the side of the pond, and just 

 then the first drops of rain appear. Ah, 

 there is the ferret I Jump up and get it, Jack. 

 But before he can do so, it has drawn itself 

 into the hole backwards, which means that it 

 has killed a rat inside and that it only came 

 out to tell us so, and that it was going back 

 to have a good long sound sleep curled up 

 by the rat's warm body. There is nothing 

 for it but to dig it out ; and oh, what a dig, 

 all among roots and thorns on the sloping 

 sides of the pond, in thick sticky clay, with 

 the rain coming down in a steady pour ! 

 Jack hunches his back and leans against a 

 tree, Pepper and Wasp wander away down 

 a ditch and scratch for an hour at a drain 

 that has a rabbit in it, and the old dogs sit 

 and watch me and drip and shiver. I dig 



