HOW WE FARED. 219 



snakes, lizards, and mice on which he fed. The latter 

 he caught in a most ingenious manner. Walking up to 

 a bush wherein he knew a mouse was concealed, he 

 would strike a violent blow with his wing on one side ; 

 then, as the startled animal ran out in the opposite 

 direction, Jacob would make a lightning-like pounce, 

 and bring down his murderous foot with unerring aim. 

 On the whole he did not fare badly; but of course, 

 after his luxurious bringing-up among the fleshpots of 

 Walmer, it was but natural that he should object to 

 working for a living. 



Even in prosperous days he loved to look ill-used, 

 and no comic actor could have better represented the 

 character of an ill-tempered old man nursing a griev- 

 ance than did the well-fed Jacob croaking under the 

 windows in mendacious pretence of starvation ; but 

 now his part was so absurdly overacted that it became 

 a burlesque. Nature at the same time assisted him in 

 his make-up for the part, and, moulting and tail-less, 

 with bald head and general out-at-elbows appearance, 

 he looked indeed the seediest and most disreputable 

 of old beggars. At the best of times he looked like 

 a wicked old man, but now no longer a sleek, well- 

 clothed old sinner he seemed to have degenerated 

 into a ruined gambler, going rapidly to the dogs. 

 Whenever there was a big rain he would come and 

 stand in front of the windows, wet through and 

 shivering ostentatiously, with the water running in 

 a little stream from the tip of his hooked bill, giving 

 him the appearance of one of the ugly gargoyles on 



