90 



THE RAT 



the slippery sides of the jar were hopeless, and so 

 we set to work to scramble about in all directions, 

 and we fell to biting one another in our terror ; and 

 those silly fellows outside thought that we were 

 fighting over the food, and down they came one 

 after the other till the jar was nearly full. What 

 happened to those who were buried at the bottom 

 I cannot say ; they must have had a very poor 

 time. Personally, I contrived to keep on the top 

 of the scrimmage, and at a moment when I found 

 a steady foothold 1 made a tremendous jump at * 

 the opening, and just clambered out. It was a 

 near thing. 



I had scarcely recovered from my panic, when 

 the door of the house opened and the man came 

 out with a lantern ; he kicked away the straw 

 and stuff, took hold of the jar by the handle, 

 and carried it off, chuckling to himself and 

 whistling for his dogs. They all went into the 

 house together, and T never saw my companions 

 again, either alive or dead. I suppose that he 

 buried them under one of his apple-trees. I was 

 rather badly bitten, but I could not think of stay- 

 ing anywhere near that man ; he was a bit too 

 clever for me. So I crawled off into the fields and 

 licked my wounds well, and made a careful note in 



