COURAGE OF THE RAT. 
109 
tained, and, erecting his head, he again took the field. The 
second rencontre was an exact repetition of the first, with 
this exception that on the rush of the rat to the conflict, 
the ferret appeared more collected, and evidently showed a 
desire to get a firm hold of his enemy. The strength of the 
rat, however, was prodigiously great, and he again succeeded 
in not only avoiding the deadly embrace of the ferret, but 
also inflicted another severe wound on the head ; he then 
returned to his retreat under the window, when the ferret 
seemed less anxious to renew the conflict. These attacks 
were renewed at intervals for nearly two hours, always end- 
ing in the failure of the ferret, which was evidently fighting 
to a disadvantage from the light falling full in its eyes when- 
ever it approached the rat, which wisely kept its ground, 
and never for a moment lost sight of the advantage it had 
obtained in the onset. In order to prove whether the choice 
of his position depended ujDon accident, the medical gentle- 
man managed to dislodge the rat, and then stationed him- 
self under the window ; but the moment the ferret attempted 
to make his approach, the rat, evidently aware of the advan- 
tage it had lost, endeavoured to creep between the gentle- 
man's legs, thus losing sight of his natural fear of man, under 
the danger which awaited him from his more deadly enemy. 
"The ferret by this time had learned a profitable lesson, 
and prepared to approach the rat in a more wily manner 
by creeping insidiously along the skirting, and thus avoiding 
the glare of light that had heretofore baffled his attempts. 
The rat still pursued, with the greatest energy, his original 
mode of attack, namely, inflicting a wound, and at the same 
time avoiding a close combat ; whilst it was equally certain 
that his foe was intent upon laying hold of and grasping his 
intended victim in his murderous embrace. 
" The character of the fight, which had lasted over three 
hours, was now evidently changed, and the rat seemed per- 
fectly conscious of the wrong the gentleman had done it, in 
depriving it of its original advantage ; at the same time, like 
the Swedish hero, it had taught its frequently beaten foe to 
beat itself in turn. At last, in a lengthened struggle, the 
ferret succeeded in accomplishing its originally-intended 
grapple ; when the rat, conscious of its certain fate, made 
