122 Studies in Rat Catching, [ch. vii. 



up and looks at me. I reverse the long 

 spade and catch the line with the hook and 

 pull the ferret up, and then calling Jack, I 

 send him head first into the well-like pit, 

 holding on to one of his feet myself as I lie 

 flat on the ground to allow him to go deep 

 enough. In a minute a dead rabbit is taken 

 out and two live ones, whose necks Jack 

 breaks as he hangs suspended, and then I 

 pull him up with his plunder, and he rights 

 himself on the surface, very red in the face, 

 very sandy, spluttering and rubbing his eyes. 

 Then the ferret is swung down again by the 

 line, it goes a little way into the hole and 

 returns, and so we know we have made a 

 clean sweep. The big hole is filled up and 

 stamped down, and after filling a pipe and 

 resting a few minutes, on we go with our 

 work. 



On the high sandy part of the field we 

 have several deep digs like the above, with 



