96 
THE RAT. 
a dozen rats in a box, in order to try some experiments. 
When lie reached home, lo and behold, there were only 
three, these three having gobbled up the other nine. 
Now this tale is so imperfectly told, as to the time the 
rats were in the box, and the distance they were carried 
that we can make neither head nor tail of it ; but, 
anyhow, it appears very much like hocus pocus, or high fly 
Jack quick and begone. 
A few years ago, a gentleman living at Louth Hall, 
and taking a walk one morning round the establishment, 
in company with the coachman, the latter all at once 
drew his attention to the hen-roost, where a rat was strug- 
gling with an egg ; and so intent was the animal on its 
undertaking, that it was perfectly unconscious of their pre- 
sence. They watched its manoeuvres for about ten minutes, 
and its principal difficulty seemed to be in balancing the 
egg ; this it did, by stretching out one of its fore legs under- 
neath the egg, and steadying it above with its cheek. When 
thus secured, it hopped very steadily and cautiously upon 
three legs ; thus looking in its action more like a young rabbit 
than a rat. When he was near his hole, they gave him 
chace, and it was not till they were close upon liim that he 
dropped his burden, to secure himself by running. The 
gentleman picked up the egg, and had it for his breakfast, 
and a very fine one he says it was. This, I think, clears up 
the mystery as to how rats carry eggs. 
The following anecdote is upon the testimony of a very 
respectable and intelligent person, who insists most empha- 
tically on the truth of her statement, because she herself 
was an eye-witness of the fact. 
It appears that our informant, prior to her marriage, was a 
domestic in the establishment of a pastrycook, in London. 
Upon one occasion, her master had some very fine eggs, which 
he held in great estimation, and laid carefully away in the 
store-room above stairs. Presently some of these eggs were 
missing. Who had taken them 1 This w-as a question more 
easily asked than answered ; for, until then it appears, none 
of the domestics knew anything about them. But how could 
they have gone ? This was a greater mystery still, since it 
was quite clear that they could not run away of themselves. 
^Nevertheless, with every search and inquiry, nothing satis- 
