174 



THE RAT 



prised to find such wisdom in one so young, and, 

 after a moment's hesitation — 1 wondered whether 

 he was saying to himself, ' Enough for one, enough 

 for two,' or whether he was making up his mind to 

 murder me then and there — he came over to me, 

 not to devour me on the spot, as I feared at first, 

 but to whisper that the house-boat was moored to 

 the bank by two taut ropes, and that he preferred 

 the one nearer to the stern. 



It was a briUiant idea and worthy of his aged 

 brain, and when at last a boatload of visitors rowed 

 leisurely away up the path of the moonlight on the 

 waters, leaving patches of inky blackness where 

 their oars broke the silvery surface, and when one 

 by one the lights went out, and at last silence 

 settled down thick and heavy upon the slumbering 

 boat, we slipped over those straining cables and 

 leapt lightly on deck. Tom Tiddler must have 

 been the owner's name, for, indeed, there was 

 much to be had for the picking up, and I overate 

 myself, like a schoolboy home for the holidays, till, 

 when the time came to depart, I could scarcely 

 crawl back to my new home under the willows. 



You might well fancy that the rest of my life 

 w^ould have been spent in this land of plenty ; but, 

 alas ! there is very little rest in my life, and it w^as 



