224 



THE RAT 



for I heard footsteps rush across the yard, and 

 guessed that Billy had gone for a match and a stick 

 to complete his evil work. He must have heard 

 the trap rattle against the iron of the tank. If 

 anything was to be done it must be done quickly, 

 so I writhed my head upwards and gnawed off my 

 own foot with two or three savage cuts of my front 

 teeth. The bone was already broken, and so it was 

 only the work of a moment, and even as I fell to 

 the ground, I saw the flash of a light and heard 

 footsteps approaching. I had just time and 

 strength to hobble to my home behind the boxes, 

 and there I fell to licking my stump. Two 

 thoughts only were in my head — how nasty the 

 taste of my own blood was, and, w^ould Billy have 

 the sense to come and move the boxes ? I could 

 not have escaped by any possibility, for my leg was 

 now quite numb ; I was not even sure whether I 

 wanted to live. However, Billy settled the 

 question ; for, after gTowling to himself over the 

 paw which I had left in the trap, and expressing 

 various rude wishes about the rest of my person, he 

 took himself off to enjoy a little slumber, and left 

 me still licking in a dazed sort of way and 

 wondering what would become of me. 



A great crisis is a queer thing ; it is on you in a 



