48 



THE RAT 



teeth behind the ears, and then all would have 

 been over. 



No doubt he would have been killed at last if a 

 man had not come out of the hedge ; and the rabbit 

 had just strength to crawl between his legs, and 

 the man picked him up and threw his stick at 

 the impudent weasel, who stood there peeping out 

 of the hedge, and saying as plainly as possible, 

 ' Hie, you there ! drop it, that's my rabbit !' The 

 man came and picked up his stick, took two or 

 three smacks at the hedge, just to show who was 

 master, and then walked off with the rabbit in his 

 arms. And would you believe it ? out came the 

 weasel, and started trotting along the road after 

 them. I suppose he guessed that the man would 

 either put the rabbit down, after he thought that it 

 was quite safe, or else that the rabbit would jump 

 out of his arms when once it recovered its senses. 

 I will say this for a weasel, that when once he has 

 made up his mind that he wants anything he 

 generally gets it in the end. The man turned 

 round once and saw Mr. AVeasel following. I 

 heard him say, ' W ell, I'm bio wed ! of all the 



cheeky brutes ' and he picked up a big flint 



and heaved it. His pursuer just popped into the 

 hedge for a moment, and the last thing I saw was 



