182 



THE RAT 



He began rudely, for he was not a very polite rat, 

 though he could talk a little French, if he cared to 

 make himself agreeable. ' Blimy 1' he said — * blimy ! 

 if you think that you are going to make fun of me, 

 you will find yourself in the wrong box.' I did 

 not particularly wish to find myself in any box, and 

 I ventured to say so. ' Funny fellow 1' he snarled, 

 and I was afraid that there was going to be a 

 row ; but the timely appearance of a young trout 

 in the pool below us made a seasonable diversion. 

 By the time that we had thoroughly failed in our 

 efforts to catch him peace was restored, and I was 

 very careful not to interrupt him any more. 



' I always ran about the sewers a great deal,' he 

 continued, ' and one day in the course of my 

 wanderings I made my way along a disused pipe, 

 and found myself on the banks of the Thames. 

 Being naturally of an inquisitive turn of mind, I 

 continued to poke about the muddy banks, picking 

 up plenty of scraps of garbage — not the silly vege- 

 tables which you seem to like so much, but a good 

 tasty London dish — and I determined to see the 

 adventure through, and went further and further 

 down the banks of the river. At last I began to 

 feel a desire to explore the shipping, and a rope 

 made an easy gangway for me ; so I went on board 



