240 



THE RAT 



a good rat. Very complimentary for rats in 

 general, I dare say, but most unsatisfactory, I 

 should imagine, for the actual rats on whom the 

 honour is to be conferred. 



The general consequence is that you will find in 

 this Zoo a large number of captive rats, whose 

 function in life is to go down the gullet of a more 

 or less ravenous snake. I have no doubt that the 

 keeper will show them to you if you ask him nicely, 

 and such is the careless happiness of our nature 

 that 1 dare say that you will find them all gaily 

 disporting themselves and playing about in cap- 

 tivity — beha\dng, in fact, more or less in the same 

 way as they would if they were in their native 

 wilds. Whether they are conscious or not of the 

 fate which is in store for them I cannot say. I 

 suppose that they are in bhssful ignorance, and 

 imagine that they are being kept as pets. Poor 

 beggars ! I would rather be shot ! 



Talking of shooting reminds me that I had a 

 very narrow escape once. I suppose that an 

 adventure is out of place in this chapter. Still, 

 I gave you fair warning that it was going to be a 

 chapter of scraps, and if you should happen to find 

 one plum in a mountain of rather solid pastry, I do 

 not see that you have any right to make a ftiss, 



