not, it would seem, very severely, for he merely squealed 
and, freeing himself, kept on and went out through the 
hole, with the Weasel in hot pursuit. 
Less than a minute later, either he or a 
precisely similar-looking Eat came back through the hole 
and disappeared in the wood-pile, shortly after this 
the Weasel also returned by the same route and began a 
systematic and leisurely search for the Rat, After ex¬ 
ploring the v/ood-plle thoroughly, winding in and out among 
the sticks with easy grace and showing himself at a 
dozen different places along its face, he ascended to a 
shelf just under the roof and nosed along this for half 
its length. Then, turning back,he reared up on his hind 
legs to inspect the ceiling which is of pine logs rather 
widely spaced with a board roof above them. 
The next instant he sprang up. between 
two of the logs with eager haste and almost immediately 
dislodged the Ret, who fell'headlong to the -wood-pile 
and racing across it jumped to a lower shelf, alighting 
on a pile of magazines there. Refore he could gather 
hi self for another spring, the ’Teasel leaned across and 
again seized him by the middle of the back, again releasing 
him after a single bite, which failed, as had the first, 
