WEASEL. 71 



hand that for a moment he appeared ignorant of our presence 

 within a few feet. Then he paused, stood upright on his 

 haunches, and looked up with a fierce gleam in his bright 

 black eyes that seemed to say, " Don't interfere, there's a good 

 fellow. I've tackled him fairly let me finish the job." That 

 slight pause gave the Rat a chance a very poor one, but he 

 tumbled in a stupid, drunken kind of way towards the hedge, 

 to which the Weasel had been trying to drag him. 



On the other side of the hedge was a " cave " of mangolds 

 upon which the Rats had been committing fearful ravages, as is 

 their wont, and this particular thief had waxed fat upon such 



Skeleton of Weasel. 



fare. The Weasel had evidently caught him in the act of com- 

 mitting larceny, but the Rat had given the little policeman a 

 run through the hedge and across the road before the Weasel 

 had leaped upon the culprit's back and inflicted the deadly bite. 

 So much was told with tolerable certainty by the drops of blood 

 and the footprints on the soft road. Now, getting somewhat 

 alarmed at our presence, the Weasel ran into the hedge ; but 

 immediately rallying his pluck came out of his corner again, 

 seeking his quarry who was at the hedge-foot, dreamily looking 

 for the hole that in ordinary health he would have darted to 

 straight. He floundered hopelessly under the herbage ; but in 

 a second or two the Weasel had him again by the skin of the 

 back, and was trying to haul him up the bank to get him 



