IHE BABBIT. 



become a respectable and valued member of society. House- 

 dwellings, however, were not to his taste. Where he stowed 

 himself all day nobody knew, but as certain as sunset he might 

 be seen prowling on ridges and roofs seeking something to 

 devour. He generally found it. Sometimes it was a prime 

 chick from the hen-roost, sometimes it was a couple of tender 

 " squeakers " from a dormer, sometimes it was a little rabbit ; 

 very often it was a little rabbit — the property of my corre- 

 spondent. 



How the larceny was effected it was hard to tell. Every 

 hutch was furnished with a big wooden button, and every 

 button properly secured at night ; but sure as ever one of the 

 rabbits Uttered, the door of that hutch was found ajar in the 

 morning, and at least one of the little ones gone. The mys- 

 tery was inexplicable to my young friend, and one night he 

 kept watch. The first night all remained secure ; the second 

 night passed with the same result : but on the third night, 

 from the window, the watcher saw stealing up the pathway 

 the grim grey cat. It approached the row of hutches, and 

 going straight to that where the young ones were lodged, 

 sprung on to the stand, and by a succession of rapid pats of 

 its strong paw upon the button that fastened the door, it 

 swung open, the grim grey cat walked in, and in a moment 

 jumped out again with a little rabbit in her jaws, and off and 

 away before the watcher could believe his senses. There 

 could be no mistake, howtver ; there was the swinging hutch- 

 door, and there was the cat with her booty cantering over the 

 tiles. 



Revenge! Had it been an ordinary case — say of a cat 

 making a snatch at an unprotected pet, and carrying it away — 

 the hurling of half a brick might, if it hit him, sufficiently 

 punish the delinquent ; 'but here was a strategetic cat, who knew 

 how to force doors — a sort of feline Jack Sheppard ; it was 

 worth whUo going a little out of one's way to concoct a fitting 

 retribution for so renowned a rascal. My youthftd coitc- 

 spondent's powers of invention were equal to the occasion. A 

 neighbour of his father possessed a delightfully savage bull- 

 terrier, a dog with considerably more bite than bark in him, 

 and wonderfully sure of jaw. Moreover, his antipathy to cats 

 was one of his chief characteristics. 



As twilight of the following day approached, the remainder 

 of the litter was removed from the hutch, and the bull-terrier 

 installed in their place, while the concoctor of this diabolical 



4U 



