160 



THE RAT 



and then to eat a thing which is half egg and half 

 chicken. Which would you rather do ? 



Anyway, I went after that one, and worried it 

 along the bed of the stream, in and out of the stems 

 of the rushes. Luckily, the bank was near at hand, 

 and the bottom was pretty smooth. If there had 

 been a lot of weeds, I should have had no end of a long 

 job. Even as it was, I had to come up twice for 

 breath before I got it to the bank ; but I was not 

 going to give it up, when it looked so round and fat 

 and full of good food. IVIy troubles were not quite 

 ended even then, for the bank was too steep, and I 

 was compelled to work my prize along for some time 

 before I could find a suitable place to land it. But at 

 last I got it nicely located behind a big tuft of grass, 

 to act as a screen. It was, unfortunately, quite cold 

 by this time, which was a great pity, but I think 

 that I enjoyed it all the more for my hard work. 



I had another on the following day, and then the 

 silly old bird deserted her nest, so that in the future 

 there was no need, by reason of the noisy abuse, to 

 take the eggs to the bank. I could just sit at my 

 leisure in the nest and eat them in peace and quiet- 

 ness. I suppose that the pair of noisy birds made 

 another nest somewhere, for after about three weeks 

 they appeared with a brood of little fluffy black 



