58 



THE RAT 



and all through my life 1 have found that an early 

 breakfast of large dimensions tends to produce 

 health and longevity. 



Luckily my first summer was a very fine one, of 

 the sort that begins early and ends late. I found a 

 haystack in the corner of a field, and made myself 

 a comfortable hole right underneath it. A corn- 

 stack would have been better in the way of food, 

 but it was too late in the season to find one, or too 

 early, whichever way you look at it, and I am glad 

 now that this w^as the case, as they are nasty, danger- 

 ous things. Boys and ferrets and dogs may turn up 

 at any moment, and a cornstack never stays for long 

 in one place. Men always seem to be taking them 

 to pieces in a hurry, and if you happen to be there 

 when the removal is taking place the odds against 

 your survival are very heavy. A nice haystack, on 

 the other hand, often lasts for more than a year, 

 and for some reason is only used up gradually ; 

 you may always rely on receiving plenty of notice 

 that it is time to quit. But food is never exactly 

 plentiful in May and June in the open country — not 

 the best kinds of food, at any rate — and after my first 

 season I generally kept nearer to human habitations. 

 Just at present I was too inexperienced to care to 

 pit my cunning against man, and so I gave him a 



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