THE RAT 



appearance, and their welcome was, on the whole, 

 satisfactory. 1 do not say that I was at once 

 embraced and invited underground — that would 

 have been too much to expect — but I was given to 

 understand, with reasonable civility, that I might 

 dig a hole for myself, and become a new member 

 of the community, with full rights and privileges. 



I wagged my tail, and said ' Thank you ' in my 

 politest manner, and was lucky enough to find a 

 hole which had been commenced and then aban- 

 doned, so that I could get out of sight at once. 

 Such a hole generally means that an accident has 

 befallen the original prospector, and some rats 

 consider it unlucky to continue the work, pre- 

 ferring to begin in a new place. But these foolish 

 superstitions were never in my line, and I accepted 

 my predecessor's work with gratitude, and soon 

 made myself pretty comfortable. 



Night fell very slowly — all too slowly for my 

 growing appetite. Gradually the glow of sunset 

 faded off the face of the waters, and the shadows 

 gathered thicker and thicker under the branches of 

 the willows, which lined the bank with a broad 

 fringe of green, while the big fish came and sucked 

 down the white moths which hovered and flickered 

 from bank to bank and from branch to branch. 



