126 



THE RAT 



when I say ' we ' I mean a very large army. I 

 can only suppose that such fits of temporary 

 insanity as then came upon us are a cause of 

 shame among us, because I find no records of them 

 in our histories. I cannot suppose that such a 

 thing had never happened before among us ; there- 

 fore, it must follow that the absence of all records 

 proves that it is regarded as an unexpected and 

 inexplicable attack of lunacy, and, as being such, a 

 thing to be hushed up as much as possible. 



But there is evidently some taint of it in the 

 blood, for the lemmings of Norway, pretty little 

 cousins of ours, whose coats are variegated with 

 black, yellow, and white, are infected with the 

 same disease, only in a worse form. When the 

 spirit of unrest enters into them, they collect in 

 a vast army, and march and march day after day, 

 or rather night after night. Nothing stops them. 

 If any impenetrable obstacle bars their way, they 

 walk round it, and pick up the straight line of 

 their journey on the other side ; but if it is only 

 a haystack, or anything that their teeth can make 

 an impression upon, they carve for themselves a 

 wide path through the middle of it. If they have 

 to swim a river, and a boat happens to be moored 

 in their direct line of march, they refuse to swim 



