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diff --git a/41133-0.txt b/41133-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a4dc3dc --- /dev/null +++ b/41133-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2729 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41133 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as + possible, including some inconsistencies of hyphenation. + + Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. + + + + + STUDIES IN THE ART OF RAT-CATCHING. + + BY H. C. BARKLEY, + + AUTHOR OF + "MY BOYHOOD," "BETWEEN THE DANUBE AND THE BLACK SEA," ETC. + + POPULAR EDITION. + + LONDON: + JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. + 1896. + + + LONDON: + PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, + STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +My publisher writes to say that he, and he thinks others too, would like +to know how I ever came to write such a book as this! It came about in +this way. Some two years ago, I was about to leave England for a +considerable time, and a few days before starting, I went to stay in a +country house, full of lads and lassies, to say good-bye. One evening, +while sitting over the study fire, the subject of rat-catching came up +and, as the aged are somewhat wont to do, I babbled on about past days +and various rat-catching experiences, till one of the boys exclaimed, +"I say, what sport it would be if they would only teach rat-catching at +school! Wouldn't I just work hard then, that's all!" + +The stories came to an end at bed-time, and I was then pressed by my +hearers to write from foreign lands some more of my old reminiscences, +and I readily gave a promise to do so. In this way most of the following +stories were written; and in writing them, I endeavoured to carry out +the idea that they were exercises to be used in schools. + +I don't anticipate that head-masters will very generally adopt the book +in their schools; but I hope it may, in some few instances, give boys a +taste for a wholesome country pastime. + +The characters and incidents are rough, very rough, pen and ink sketches +of real people and scenes, and the dogs are all dear friends of past +days. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. _Page_ + + The Ferret Family--Crossed with the Polecat--Choosing + Ferrets--Hutches--Feeding Ferrets--"Bar the + Tail"--Handling Ferrets 8 + + + CHAPTER II. + + Bag _versus_ Box--Ferrets Fighting--The Ratting Spade-- + Ratting Tools--Hints to Schoolmasters--Learning + Dog-Language--With a Scold in the Voice--Dogs' + Kennel--Treating Dogs Kindly--Dogs in their Proper Place 23 + + + CHAPTER III. + + Aristocratic _versus_ Plutocratic--Come-by-Chance--Chance's + Friend--Nondescript Tinker--Grindum--How I got Grindum-- + Grindum's Friends--Jack and his Sister--"Jack Took Me"-- + End of an Ugly Story--Grindum's First Rat--Pepper and Wasp 42 + + + CHAPTER IV. + + A Day's Ratting--An Autumn Walk--"Steady, Dogs, Steady"--A + Ferret Disabled--Rats up a Pollard--A Rat-catcher's + Picnic--Rats in a Drain--A Weary Walk Home--"Kennel, Dogs, + Kennel" 67 + + + CHAPTER V. + + A Poor Day's Ratting--A Rat in a Queer Place--Rats in + my Lady's Chamber--Rats in a House--Slaughter in a + Cellar--Dead Rats in a House 85 + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A November Day--A Laid-up Ferret--A Tramp Home in the + Wet--A Snug Evening--Things Students should Know--Muzzling + Ferrets--Sucking Blood--A Strange Use for a Dog's Tail 96 + + + CHAPTER VII. + + Rabbit Catching--Tools for Rabbit Catching--An Easy Day's + Rabbiting--Ferreting a Bank--A Deep Dig in the Sand--A + Day with the Purse Nets--Necessity of Silence--Ferrets + without Muzzles--How to Kill Rabbits 113 + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + Trip to the Seaside--Surveying the Hunting Ground--A View + from the Cliffs--A Sea View--The Rector's Daughter--Doctoring + the Burrows--Running out Nets--"Hie in, Good Dogs" 130 + + + CHAPTER IX. + + The Beginning of a Storm--A Ship in Distress--The Village + Harbour--A Fisherman's Home--Little Jack, the Cripple-- + Waiting for the Boats--A Rough Old Fish-Wife--The Return + of the Fishermen 147 + + + CHAPTER X. + + The Rector's Story--A Ship in Danger Running Straight on the + Rocks--To the Rescue--Watching the Boat--Breaking up of the + Ship--Beyond the Storms of Life--Life in the Little One-- + Nature's Gifts--What a Hodge-Podge 165 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +ADDRESSED TO ALL SCHOOLBOYS. + + +Ever since I was a boy, and ah! long, long before that, I fancy, the one +great anxiety of parents of the upper and middle classes blessed with +large families has been, "What are we to do with our boys?" and the cry +goes on increasing, being intensified by the depreciation in the value +of land, and by our distant colonies getting a little overstocked with +young gentlemen, who have been banished to them by thousands, to +struggle and strive, sink or swim, as fate wills it. At home, all +professions are full and everything has been tried; and, go where you +will, even the children of the noble may be found wrestling with those +of the middle and working classes for every piece of bread that falls in +the gutter. Nothing is _infra dig._ that brings in a shilling, and all +has been and is being tried. The sons of the great are to be found +shoulder to shoulder with "Tommy Atkins," up behind a hansom cab, +keeping shops, selling wines, horses, cigars, coals, and generally +endeavouring feebly to shoulder the son of the working man out of the +race over the ropes. Fortunately Heaven tempers the wind to the shorn +lamb, and I believe it has done so now. I believe kind Dame Nature +during the last summer has stepped in and opened out an honourable path +for many gentlemen's sons, that I think will be their salvation, and at +all events, if it does not make them all rich, will, if they only follow +it, make them most useful members of society and keep them out of +mischief and out of their mammas' snug drawing-rooms. I have followed +the path myself, and, after fifty years' tramp down it, have been forced +to abandon it owing to gout and rheumatism. I have not picked up a big +fortune at it, or become celebrated, except quite locally; but I have +had a good time and helped the world in general, and am content with my +past life. + +I was the son of a worthy country parson, who in my youth proposed to me +in turn to become a judge, a bishop, a general, a Gladstone, a Nelson, a +Sir James Paget, and a ritualistic curate; but when talking to me on the +subject the good old man always said, "Mind, my boy, though I propose +these various positions for you, yet, if you have any decided preference +yourself, I will not thwart you, I will not fly in the face of nature." + +For some time I thought I should rather like to be a bishop, and to this +day I think I should have made a good one; but _the_ voice spoke at +last, and my destiny was settled. + +With the modest capital of five shillings given me by my father, and a +mongrel terrier, given me by a poacher who had to go into retirement for +killing a pheasant and half killing a keeper, I began my career as +a--but I had better give you one of my professional cards. Here it is-- + + BOB JOY, + + RAT-CATCHER + + _To H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, + The Nobility and Gentry._ + +I had a struggle at first. Rats, full-grown ones, only fetched twopence +each, and the system adopted by farmers of letting their rat-killing, +for, say, three pounds a year for a farm of 400 acres, almost broke me; +but I stuck to my profession, and do not regret having done so. + +In those days, and during all my active life, I have had to work to +live, owing to the constant scarcity of rats; but if I managed to make a +living then, what might not be done now, when Nature has sent the rat to +our homesteads by thousands, and farmers and others are being eaten off +the face of the earth by them? + +Why, my dear young friends, your fortune stares you in the face, and you +have only to stretch out your hand and grasp it--no! I have made a +mistake: you have a little more to do--you have, first, to learn your +profession, which is no easy matter; and to enable you to do this, I +intend writing the following book for the use of schools (which I +herewith dedicate to the Head Masters of Eton, Harrow, Westminster, +Rugby, and all other schools); but in placing this book on your +school-desk, allow me to say that it is no good having it there through +the long school hours unless you open it, read it, and deeply ponder +over it; and more, my dear boys, let me pray that you will take it home +with you, and, casting aside your usual holiday task, study it well, +and, as far as possible, actively put in practice what I am going to try +and teach you. Some fathers may wish their sons to enter on a more +humble course of life, but this I rather doubt. However, should they do +so, it will be only so much the better for those who take it up: there +will be more room for them. Most mothers, I fear, will object to it on +the ground that rats and ferrets don't smell nice; but this objection is +not reasonable. They might as well say that the whiff of a fox on a soft +December morning as you ride to covert is not delicious! + +Respect your parents, respect even their prejudices; gently point out to +your father that you are ambitious and wish for a career in which you +can distinguish yourself. Above all, respect your mother, and show your +respect by not taking ferrets or dead rats in your pockets into her +drawing-room, and by washing your hands a little between fondling them +and cuddling her. But to finish this sermon, let me point out that +though in this great profession you will be everlastingly mixed up with +dogs of all sorts, always make _them_ come to _you_, and _never go to +them_. + +One last word. If in the following pages you come across a bit of +grammar or spelling calculated to make a Head Master sit up, excuse it, +and remember that I have been a rat-catcher all my life, and as a class +we are not quite A1 at book learning. + +[Illustration] + + + + +STUDIES IN RAT CATCHING FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +In the following elementary treatise for the use of public schools, I +propose following exactly the same plan as my parson (a good fellow not +afraid of a ferret or a rat) does with his sermons--that is, divide it +into different heads, and then jumble up all the heads with the body, +till it becomes as difficult to follow as a rat's hole in a soft bank; +and, to begin with, I am going to talk about ferrets, for without them +rat-catching won't pay. + +Where ferrets first came from I am not sure, but somewhere I have read +that they were imported from Morocco, and that they are not natives of +Great Britain any more than the ordinary rat is. If they were imported, +then that importer ranks in my mind with, but before, Christopher +Columbus and all such travellers. Anyhow it is quite clear that nowhere +in Great Britain are there wild ferrets, for they are as distinct from +the stoat, the mouse-hunter, the pole-cat, etc., as I am from a Red +Indian; and yet all belong to the same family, so much so that I have +known of a marriage taking place between the ferret and pole-cat, the +offspring of which have again married ferrets and in their turn have +multiplied and increased, which is a proof that they are not mules, for +the children of mules, either in birds or beasts, do not have young +ones. + +There are two distinct colours in ferrets--one is a rich dark brown and +tan, and the other white with pink eyes; and in my opinion one is just +as good as the other for work, though by preference I always keep the +white ferret, as it is sooner seen if it comes out of a hole and works +away down a fence or ditch bottom. I have never known a dark-coloured +ferret coming among a litter of white ones or a white among the dark; +but there is a cross between the two which produces a grizzly beast, +generally bigger than its mother, which I have for many years avoided, +though it is much thought of in some parts of the Midlands. I fancy +(though I may be wrong) that the cross is a dull slow ferret, wanting in +dash and courage, and not so friendly and affectionate as the others, +and therefore apt to stick with just its nose out of a hole so that you +can't pick it up, or else it will "lay up" and give a lot of trouble +digging it out. + +For rat-catching the female ferret should always be used, as it is not +half the size of the male, and can therefore follow a rat faster and +better in narrow holes; in fact, an ordinary female ferret should be +able to follow a full-grown rat anywhere. The male ferret should be kept +entirely for rabbiting, as he has not to follow down small holes, and +being stronger than the female can stand the rough knocking about he +often gets from a rabbit better than his wife can. + +In buying a ferret for work, get one from nine to fifteen months old, as +young ferrets I find usually have more courage and dash than an old one. +They have not been so often punished and therefore do not think +discretion the better part of valour. However this will not be found to +be an invariable rule. I have known old ferrets that would have faced a +lion and seemed to care nothing about being badly bitten; whereas I have +known a young ferret turn out good-for-nothing from having one sharp nip +from a rat. Such beasts had better be parted with, for a bad, slow, or +cowardly ferret is vexation of spirit and not profitable. + +If I am buying brown ferrets I always pick the darkest, as I fancy they +have most dash. This may be only fancy, or it may be the original ferret +was white and that the brown is the cross between it and the polecat, +and that therefore the darker the ferret, the more like it is in temper +as well as colour to its big, strong, wild ancestor. Anyhow I buy the +dark ones. + +If I am buying female ferrets, I like big _long_ ones, as a small ferret +has not weight enough to tackle a big rat, and therefore often gets +desperately punished. I like to see the ferrets in a tub, end up, +looking well nourished and strong; and directly I touch the tub I like +to see them dash out of their hidden beds in the straw and rush to +spring up the sides like a lot of furies. When I put my hand in to take +one, I prefer not to be bitten; but yet I have often known a ferret turn +out very well that has begun by making its teeth meet through my finger. +When I have the ferret in hand, I first look at its tail and then at its +feet, and if these are clean it will do. If, on the other hand, I find a +thin appearance about the hairs of its tail and a black-looking dust at +the roots, the ferret goes back into the tub; or if the underside of the +feet are black and the claws encrusted with dirt, I will have nothing to +say to it, as it has the mange and will be troublesome to cure. All this +done, I put the ferret on the ground and keep picking it up and letting +it go; if when I do this it sets up the hairs of its tail, arches its +back and hisses at me, I may buy it; but I know, if I do, I shall have +to handle it much to get it tame. If, on the other hand, when I play +with it the ferret begins to dance sideways and play, I pay down my +money and take it at once, for I have never known a playful ferret to +prove a bad one. + +If when you get the ferret it is wild and savage, it should be +constantly handled till it is quite tamed before it is used. Little +brothers and sisters will be found useful at this. Give them the ferret +to play with in an empty or nearly empty barn or shed where it cannot +escape. Put into the shed with them some long drain pipes, and tell them +to ferret rats out of them. The chances are they will put the ferret +through them and pick it up so often, that it will learn there is +nothing to fear when it comes out of a real rat's hole, and will ever +after "come to hand" readily. You had better not be in the way when the +children return to their mother or nurse. I have had disagreeable +moments on such occasions. + +Having got all your ferrets, the next question is how to keep them. I +have tried scores of different houses for them. I have kept them in a +big roomy shed, in tubs, in boxes, and in pits in the ground; but now I +always use a box with three compartments. The left-hand compartment +should be the smallest and filled with wheat-straw well packed in, with +a small round hole a little way up the division, for the ferrets to use +as a door. The middle compartment should be empty and have the floor and +front made of wire netting, to allow light, ventilation and drainage. +The third compartment should be entered from the middle one by a hole in +the division, but should have a strong tin tray fitting over the floor +of it covered with sand, which can be drawn out and cleaned; the front +of this compartment, too, should be wire netting. The sand tray should +be removed and cleaned every day, even Sundays. The house should stand +on legs about a foot high. Each compartment should have a separate lid, +and the little entrance holes through the divisions should have a slide +to shut them, so that any one division can be opened without all the +ferrets rushing out. The bed should be changed once a week. Such a box +as I have shown is large enough for ten ferrets. For a mother with a +family a much smaller box will suffice, but it should be made on the +same plan. For bedding use only wheat-straw. Either barley-straw or hay +will give ferrets mange in a few days. + +After housing the ferrets, they will require feeding. I have always +given my ferrets bread and milk once or twice a week, which was placed +in flat tins in the middle compartment; but care should be taken to +clean out the tins each time, as any old sour milk in them will turn the +fresh milk and make the ferrets ill. The natural food of ferrets is +flesh--the flesh of small animals--and therefore it should be the chief +food given. Small birds, rats and mice are to them dainty morsels, but +the ferrets will be sure to drag these into their beds to eat and will +leave the skins untouched; these should be removed each day. When my +ferrets are not in regular work they are fed just before sunset; if they +are fed in the morning they are no good for work all day, and one can +never tell (except on Sundays) that one of the dogs may not find a rat +that _wants_ killing. The day before real work, I give the ferrets bread +and milk in the morning, and nothing on the day they go out until their +work is over. This makes them keen. Remember ferrets work hard in a big +day's ratting, and therefore should be well nourished and strong; a +ferret that is not will not have the courage to face a rat. + +I have listened to all sorts of theories from old hands about feeding +ferrets, but have followed the advice of few. For instance, I have been +told that if you give flesh, such as rats and birds, to a ferret that +has young ones, it will drag it into the straw among the little ones, +who will get the blood on them, and then the mother will eat them by +mistake. All I can say is, I have reared hundreds of young ferrets and +have always given the mothers flesh. It is true that ferrets will eat +their young, and the way to bring this about is to disturb the babies in +the nest. If you leave them quite alone till they begin to creep about I +believe there is no danger. + +Then many old rat-catchers never give a ferret a rat with its tail on, +as they believe there is poison in it. I remember one old fellow saying +to me as he cut off the tail before putting the rat into the ferrets' +box, "Bar the tail--I allus bars the tail--there's wenom in the tail." +There may be "wenom" in it; but, if there is, it won't hurt the ferrets, +for they never eat it or the skin. + +If ferrets are properly cared for they are rarely ill, and the only +trouble I have ever had is with mange, which, as I have said before, +attacks the tail and feet. Most rat-catchers keep a bottle of spirits of +tar, with which they dress the affected parts. It cures the mange, but, +by the way the poor little beasts hop about after being dressed, I fear +it stings dreadfully. I have always used sulphur and lard, and after +rubbing it well in a few times I have always found it worked a cure. The +_objection_ to sulphur and lard is that it does not hurt, for I have +noticed that sort of man generally prefers using a remedy that hurts a +lot--that is, where the patient is not himself, but an animal. + +No big day's ratting ever takes place without a ferret getting badly +bitten. When this is so, the ferret should never be used again until it +is quite well. It should be sent home and put in a quiet box, apart from +the others, and the bites gently touched with a little sweet oil from +time to time; or, if it festers much, it should be sponged with warm +water. + +I have often had ferrets die of their wounds, and these have usually +been the best I had. Again, with wounds the old rat-catcher uses the +tar-bottle, chiefly, I think, because it hurts the ferret, and therefore +must have "a power of wirtue." + +Before going further I should point out to all students of this +ennobling profession that the very first thing they have to learn is to +pick up a ferret. Don't grab it by its tail, or hold it by its head as +you would a mad bull-dog; but take hold of it lightly round the +shoulders, with its front legs falling gracefully out below from between +your fingers. Then when you go to the box for your ferrets, and they +come clambering up the side like a pack of hungry wolves, put your hand +straight in among them without a glove, and pick up which one you +require. Don't hesitate a moment. Don't dangle your hand over their +heads till you can make a dash and catch one. The ferrets will only +think your hand is their supper coming and will grab it, with no ill +intent; but if you put it down steadily and slowly, they will soon learn +you only do so to take them out, and your hand will become as welcome to +them as flowers in spring. + +True, at first, with strange ferrets you may be bitten; but it is not a +very serious thing if you are, as ferrets' bites are never venomous, as +the bites of rats often are. I have in my time been bitten by ferrets +many dozens of times and have never suffered any ill effects. There, I +think that is enough for your first lesson, so I will send it off at +once and get it printed for you. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +The first chapter of this lesson-book has gone to the printer, so I +don't quite know what I said in it, but I think we had finished the +home-life of the ferret and were just taking it out of its box. +Different professors have different opinions as to what is next to be +done with it. Many (and they are good men too) think you should put it +into a box about eighteen inches long, ten inches high, and ten wide; +the box to be divided into two compartments, with a lid to each, and +with leather loops to these lids through which to thrust a pointed spade +so as to carry it on your shoulder. I have tried this plan, but I have +never quite liked it. I have found that after a heavy day's work the box +was apt to get heavy and feel as if it were a grandfather's clock +hanging on your back. Then the ratting spade was engaged instead of +being free to mump a rat on the head in a hurry, or point out a likely +hole to the dogs. When a ferret was wanted, all the others would dash +out and have to be hunted about to be re-caught. Now and then the lids +came open and let all out; and now and then I let the box slip off the +spade and fall to the ground, and then I felt sorry for the ferrets +inside it! No, I have always carried my ferrets in a good strong canvas +bag, with a little clean straw at the bottom, and a leather strap and +buckle stitched on to it with which to close it. Don't tie the bag with +a piece of string--it is sure to get lost; and don't have a stiff buckle +on your strap that takes ten minutes to undo. Remember the life of a rat +may depend upon your getting your ferret out quickly. Never throw the +bag of ferrets down; lay them down gently. Don't leave the bag on the +ground in a broiling sun with some of the ferrets in it while you are +using the others, or in a cold draughty place on a cold day; find a snug +corner for them, if you can, and cover them up with a little straw or +grass to keep them warm. + +If, when carrying your ferrets, they chatter in the bag, let them; it is +only singing, not fighting. I have never known a ferret hurt another in +a bag. Always bag your ferret as soon as you have done with it; don't +drag it about in your hand for half an hour, and don't put it in your +pocket, as it will make your coat smell. + +When I have done work and turned towards home, I have made it a rule +always to put a dead rat into the bag, as I think it amuses the ferrets +and breaks the monotony of a long journey; just as when I run down home +I like taking a snack at Swindon Station, just to divert my mind from +the racketing of the train and the thought of the hard seat. When you +get home, give the ferrets a rat for every two of them, if you can +afford it, for then they need only eat the best joints. If you have not +many dead rats and want to save some for the morrow, one rat for three +ferrets is enough for twenty-four hours; but don't forget to give them +water or milk. + +I think I have said enough as to the management of ferrets, and will go +on to speak of the necessary tools. The chief thing is a good ratting +spade. What the musket is to the soldier, the spade is to the +rat-catcher. You may get on without it, but you won't do much killing. I +have tried many shapes, but the one I like best is on the pattern of the +above drawing. It should not be too heavy, but yet strong; and, +therefore, the handle should be made of a good piece of ash, and the +other parts of the best tempered steel, and the edge should be sharp +enough to cut quickly through a thick root. The spike should be sharp, +so as easily to enter the ground and feel for a lost hole. This will +constantly save a long dig and much time; besides, one can often bolt a +rat by a few well-directed prods in a soft bank--not that I approve of +this, as there may be more than one rat in the hole, and by prodding out +one you are contented to leave others behind. No, I think the ferret +should go down every hole challenged by the dogs, as then you are pretty +sure of making a clean job of it. + +Besides the spade, I have always kept a few trap boxes. These are to +catch a ferret should one lay up and have to be left behind. I bait them +with a piece of rat and place them at the mouth of the hole, and it is +rare I don't find the ferret in it in the morning. I also take one of +these traps with me if I am going where rats are very numerous; then, if +a ferret stops too long in a hole, I stick the mouth of the trap over +the hole and pack it round with earth and stop up all the bolt holes, +and then go on working with the other ferrets. When the sluggard is at +last tired of the hole, it walks into the trap, shoving up the wire +swing door, which falls down behind it, and there it has to stop till +you fetch it. + +If I am going to ferret wheat stacks where rats have worked strong, I +take with me half a dozen pieces of thin board about a foot long. I do +so for this reason. The first thing rats do when they take possession of +a stack is to make a good path, or run, all round it just under the +eaves; and when disturbed by ferrets, they get into this run and keep +running away round and round the stack without coming to the ground. +Therefore, before putting in the ferrets, I take a ladder, and going +round the eaves of the stack I stick the boards in so as to cut off +these runs, and when a rat goes off for a gallop he comes to "no +thoroughfare," and feeling sure the ferret is after him, he in +desperation comes to the ground, and then the dogs can have a chance. I +once killed twenty-eight rats out of a big stack in twenty minutes after +the ferrets were put in, all thanks to these stop-boards; and though I +ran the ferrets through and through the stack afterwards, I did not +start another, and so I believe I had got the lot. + +I think I have enumerated all the tools required for rat-catching. I +need not mention a knife and a piece of string, as all honest men have +them in their pocket always, even on Sundays. Some rat-catchers take +with them thick leather gloves to save their getting bitten by a rat or +a ferret; but I despise such effeminate ways, and I consider he does not +know his profession if he cannot catch either ferret or rat with his +naked hands. + +I must now turn to the subject of dogs--one far more important than +either ferrets or tools, and one so large that if I went on writing and +writing to the end of my days I should not get to the end of it, and so +shall only make a few notes upon it as a slight guide to the student, +leaving him to follow it up and work it out for himself; but in so doing +I beg to say that his future success as a rat-catcher will depend on his +mastering the subject. + +But, before proceeding further, I am anxious to say a few words in +parenthesis for the benefit of the Head Masters of our schools. +Admirable as their academies are for turning out Greek and Latin +scholars, I cannot help thinking a proper provision is seldom made in +their establishments for acquiring a real working knowledge of the +profession of a rat-catcher; and I wish to suggest that it would be as +well to insist on all those students who wish to take up this subject +keeping at school at least one good dog and a ferret, and that two +afternoons a week should be set apart entirely for field practice, and +that the cost of this should be jotted down at the end of each term in +the little school account that is sent home to the students' parents. I +know most high-spirited boys will object to this and call it a fresh +tyranny, and ever after hate me for proposing it; but I do it under a +deep sense of duty, being convinced that it is far better they should +perfectly master the rudimentary knowledge of such an honest profession +as that of rat-catcher, than that they should drift on through their +school life with no definite future marked out, finally to become +perhaps such scourges of society as M.P.s who make speeches when +Parliament is not sitting. Judging from the columns of the newspapers, +there must be many thousands who come to this most deplorable end; and +if I can only turn one from such a vicious course, I shall feel I have +benefitted mankind even more than by killing rats and other vermin. + +Now I must return to the subject of dogs, and in doing so I will first +begin on their masters, for to make a good dog, a good master is also +absolutely necessary. Anybody that has thought about it knows that as is +the master, so is the dog. A quiet man has a quiet dog, a quarrelsome +man a quarrelsome dog, a bright quick man a bright quick dog, and a +loafing idle ruffian a slinking slothful cur. + +First of all, then, the dog's master must understand dog talk; for they +do talk, and eloquently too, with their tongues, their ears, their +eyes, their legs, their tail, and even with the hairs on their backs; +and therefore don't be astonished if you find me saying in the following +pages, "Pepper told me this," or "Wasp said so-and-so." Why, I was once +told by a bull terrier that a country policeman was a thief, and, +"acting on information received," I got the man locked up in prison for +three months, and it just served him right. Having learnt dog language, +use it to your dog in a reasonable way: talk to him as a friend, tell +him the news of the day, of your hopes and fears, your likes and +dislikes, but above all use talk always in the place of a whip. For +instance, when breaking in a young dog not to kill a ferret, take hold +of the dog with a short line, put the ferret on the ground in front of +him, and when he makes a dash at it say, "What _are_ you up to? War +ferret! Why, I gave four and sixpence for that, you fool, and now you +want to kill it! Look here (picking the ferret up and fondling it), this +is one of my friends. Smell it (putting it near his nose). Different +from a rat, eh? Rather sweet, ain't it? War ferret, war ferret! Would +you, you rascal? Ain't you ashamed of yourself? War ferret, war ferret!" +Repeat this a few times for two or three days, and when you first begin +working the dog and he is excitedly watching for a rat to bolt, just say +"War ferret" to him, and he will be sure to understand. Should he, +however, in his excitement make a dash at a ferret, shout at him to +stop, and then, picking up the ferret, rub it over his face, all the +time scolding him well for what he has done; but don't hit him, and +probably he will never look at a ferret again. + +In my opinion there is nothing like a thrashing to spoil a dog or a boy; +reason with them and talk to them, and if they are worth keeping they +will understand and obey. Mind, a dog must always obey, and obey at the +first order. Always give an order in a decided voice as if you meant it, +and never overlook the slightest disobedience. One short whistle should +always be enough. If the dog does not obey, call him up and, repeating +the whistle, scold him _with a scold in your voice_. Don't shout or bawl +at him for all the country to hear and the rats too, but just make your +_words sting_. If he repeats his offence, put a line and collar on him +and lead him for half an hour, telling him all the time why you do so, +and he will be so ashamed of himself that the chances are he will obey +you ever after. + +Put yourself in the dog's place. Fancy if, when you have "kicked a bit +over the traces" at school, the head-master, instead of thrashing you, +made you walk up and down the playground or cricket-field with him for +half an hour; but no, that would be too awful; it would border on +brutality! But you would not forget it in a hurry. + +We humans often behave well and do good, not because it is our duty so +to do, but for what the world will say and for the praise we may get. +Dogs are not in all things superior to humans, and in this matter of +praise I fear they are even inferior to us. They most dearly love +praise, and a good dog should always get it for any and every little +service he renders to man. Remember, he is the only living thing that +takes a _pleasure_ in working for man, and his sole reward is man's +approbation. Give it him, then, and give it him hot and warm when he +deserves it, and he will be willing to do anything for you and will +spend his life worshipping you and working for you; for better, for +worse, for richer, for poorer, he is yours, with no sneaking thoughts +of a divorce court in the background. + +There is another thing a master should always do for his dog himself and +do it with reason. See to his comfort; see that he has good food and +water and is comfortably lodged. Don't let him be tied up to a hateful +kennel in a back yard, baked by the sun in summer and nearly frozen in +winter; often without water, and with food thrown into a dish that is +already half full of sour and dirty remains of yesterday's dinner. This +is not reasonable and is cruel. When he is not with you, shut him up in +a kennel, big or little, made as nearly as you can have it on the model +of a kennel for hounds. Let it be cool and airy in summer and snug and +warm in winter; keep all clean--kennel, food, dishes, water and beds. +Don't forget that different dogs have different requirements; for +instance, that a long thick coated dog will sleep with comfort out in +the snow, while a short-coated one will shiver in a thick bed of straw. +Picture to yourself, as you tuck the warm blankets round you on a cold +winters night, what your thin-coated pointer is undergoing in a draughty +kennel on a bare plank bed, chained up to a "misery trap" in the back +yard, which is half full of drifted snow. Think of it, and get up and +put the dog in a spare loose box in the stable for the night, and have a +proper kennel made for him in the morning. + +I once had a favourite dog named "Rough" that died of distemper. A small +child asked me a few days afterwards if dogs when they died went to +heaven, and I, not knowing better, answered, "Yes"; and the child said, +"Won't Rough wag his old tail when he sees me come in?" When you "come +in" I hope there will be all your departed dogs wagging their tails to +meet you. It will depend upon how you have treated them here; but take +my word for it, my friend, you will never be allowed to pass that door +if the dogs bark and growl at you. + +Don't suppose I am a sentimental "fat pug on a string" sort of man. Next +to humans I like dogs best of all creatures. Why, I have made my living +by their killing rats for me at twopence per rat and three pound a farm, +and I am grateful: but I like dogs in their proper place. For instance, +as a rule, I dislike a dog in the house. The house was meant for man and +should be kept for him. I think when a man goes indoors his dog should +be shut up in the kennel and not be allowed to wander about doing +mischief, eating trash, learning to loaf, and under no discipline. Now +and then I do allow an old dog that has done a life's hard work to roam +about as he likes, and even walk into my study (I mean kitchen) and sit +before the fire and chat with me; but, then, such dogs have established +characters, and nothing can spoil them; besides, they are wise beasts +with a vast experience, and I can learn a lot from them. It was from one +of these I learnt all about the prigging policeman. + +A young dog is never good for much who is allowed to run wild; every one +is his master and he obeys no one, and when he is taken out he is dull +and stupid, thinking more of the kitchen scraps than of business. No, +when I go to work, I like to let the dogs out myself, to see them dash +about, dance around, jump up at me and bark with joy. I like to see the +young ones topple each other over in sport, and the old ones gallop on +ahead to the four crossways, and stand there watching to see which way I +am going, and then, when I give them the direction with a wave of the +hand, bolt off down the road with a wriggle of content. You might trust +your life to dogs in such a joyful temper, for they would be sure to +stand by you. + +Thank you, young gentlemen; that is enough for this morning's lesson. +You may now amuse yourselves with your Ovid or Euclid. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +I am a working man, or rather have been till I got the rheumatics, and +as such I naturally stick to my own class and prefer associating with +those of my own sort, and therefore I always keep working dogs. + +I have often bred aristocratic dogs, dogs descended from great +prize-winners and with long pedigrees, and among them I have had some +good ones, honest and true; but as a rule I must say my experience +proves that the shorter the pedigree the better the dog, and now if I +could get them I should like to keep dogs that never had a father. Some +people I know call me a cad, a clod, a chaw-bacon, etc., and they call +my dogs curs and mongrels. Such men talk nonsense and should be kept +specially to make speeches during the recess. I don't care to defend +_myself_ but I must stand up for my dogs against all comers; and I +assert boldly that, nine times out of ten, a dog with no pedigree is +worth two with a long one. When I get a new dog I never ask who he is, +or who his father was, but I go by his looks and his performances. There +are dogs like men in all classes, who have either a mean, spiteful, +vicious look, or a dull, heavy, dead one; such I avoid both in dog and +man, for I find they are not worth knowing. Any other dog will do for +me, and even now, though I don't often go ratting, I have as good a lot +as ever stood at a hole, and I don't think I can do better than describe +them as a guide to students when they come to getting a kennel together. + +First of all, I never give a lot of money for a dog--how can I with rats +at twopence each?--but, if I can, I drop on a likely-looking young one +about a year old who was going to be "put away" on account of the tax. I +got the oldest I have now in the kennel in this way. It followed George +Adams, the carrier, home one night, and to this day has never been +claimed; and when the tax-collector spoke to him about it, he offered it +to me, and I took it and gave it the name of "Come-by-chance," but in +the family and among friends she is now called "Chance." + +If Chance is of any family I should think her mother was a setter and +her father a bob-tail sheep-dog; but, then, I can't make out where she +got her legs! She is red and white, with a perfect setter's head. She +has the hind parts of a sheep-dog and evidently never had a tail; and +her legs, which are very thick, would be short for a big terrier. Such +are her looks, which certainly are not much to speak of; but if I had +the pen of a Sir Walter Scott I could not do credit to the perfection +of her character. For seven years she has been the support of my +business, and I can safely say she has caused the death of more rats +than all my other dogs put together. I say _caused_, for she is slow at +killing and leaves this matter of detail to younger hands. If another +dog is not near she will _catch_ a rat and even kill it; but she has a +soft mouth, and all the other dogs, except quite the youngest, know +this, and, against the rule, will always dash in when she has a rat in +her mouth and take it from her, and she gives it up without a struggle. + +No, her forte is to _find_ a rat. She is always in and out, up the bank, +through the hedge, down the bank; not a tuft of grass escapes her, and +she would hunt down each side of Regent Street and in and out of the +carriages if she found herself there. She lives hunting. Nothing ever +escapes her; one sniff at the deepest and most turn-about hole is +enough. If the rat is not in, on she goes in a minute; but should it be +ensconced deep down in the furthest corner, she stops at once and just +turns her head round and says quietly to me, "Here's one." Then, whilst +I am getting out a ferret, over the bank she goes, in and out the hedge +in all directions, and never fails to find and mark every bolt-hole for +the other dogs to stand at that belongs to the one where the rat is. As +soon as I begin to put in the ferret, she will come over the hedge, give +herself a shake, and sit down and watch the proceedings, not offering to +take a part herself, as she feels there are more able dogs ready, and +that this is not her strong point. Suppose a rat bolts and is killed and +the ferret comes out, Chance will never leave the hole till she has +taken a sniff at it to make sure all the rats have been cleared out. I +have never known her make a mistake. If _she_ says there is a rat in, +there is one without any doubt; if she says there is not, it is no good +running a ferret through the hole. Should I be alone, with no one to +look out for the ferret when it comes out on the other side of a bank, +Chance without a word being said to her will get over and look out, and +directly the ferret appears will come back to me and give a wriggle, +looking in the direction of the ferret, and then I know I must get over +and pick it up. + +She has one peculiarity. When she followed George Adams home, seven +years ago, she was shy and scared; but, as it was a cold night, George, +being a kind-hearted fellow, invited her to step indoors, an invitation +she accepted in a frightened sort of way. On the hearth sat a little +girl of three years old, eating her supper, and Chance, doubtless +feeling very hungry, came and sat down in front of her and watched her +with a wistful look. The child was not afraid and soon began feeding +the dog, who took the pieces of food most gently from her fingers. When +the child was taken up to bed, Chance secretly followed, and getting +under the crib slept there all night. Only once since then has Chance +failed to sleep in that same place, and that was the first night I had +her. She was shut up in the kennel and never stopped barking all night. +Since then she has always followed me home, eaten her supper at the +kitchen door, and then gone off to her bed under the crib. Early in the +morning she is again at my door and never goes near George's house till +bed-time. + +If Chance has no tail, the next dog on the list, "Tinker," makes up the +average. He is a little black, hard-coated dog, with the head of a +greyhound and tail of a foxhound. His head is nearly as long as his +body, and his tail is just a little longer. In all ways he is a +proficient at rat-catching, except that he has been known to mark a hole +where there was no rat; but his strong point is killing. He will stand +well back from a hole, and it does not matter how many rats bolt, or how +fast, each gets one snap and is dead and dropped without Tinker having +moved a foot. I named him Tinker, for a tinker gave him to me "cos he +warn't no sort of waller." + +Then on my list next comes "Grindum," a mongrel bull-terrier, just the +tenderest hearted, mildest dispositioned dog that ever killed a rat. He +has but a poor nose and is not clever, but he has one strong point, +which he developed for himself without being taught. It is this: when I +am ferreting a thick hairy bank with a big ditch, Grindum always goes +some ten yards off and places himself in the ditch, and, let the +excitement be what it will, he never moves; and should a rat in the +thick grass escape the other dogs and bolt down the ditch, it is a +miracle if it does not die when it reaches him. I have better and +cleverer dogs, I know; but I think Grindum brings in as many twopences +as any of them, and we are not going to part! The way I got Grindum is +quite a little history, and I will tell it, though if you boys like, you +can skip it and go on with a more serious part of your lesson. + +Not far from where I lived there was, in a most out-of-the-way corner on +a common, an old sand-pit, and in this a miserable dilapidated cottage, +consisting of two rooms. This for some years had been empty, but one +fine morning was discovered to be inhabited by a man, his wife and two +children--a boy of twelve and a girl of seven--and a bull-terrier. No +one knew anything about them or where they had come from, and when the +landlord of the hut went to eject them, he found them in such a +miserable half-starved condition that he left them alone. + +Our parson called on them three times--the first time the wife told him +they did not like strangers and parsons in particular; the second time +the husband told him to clear out sharp, or he would do him a mischief; +and the third time the man took up a knife and began sharpening it, +preparatory, he said, to cutting the parson's throat! + +Two months after this the man, after sitting drinking in the village +pot-house all the morning, stepped round to an old mid-wife and asked +her "to come and lay his wife out." The woman went and did her work and +said nothing at the time, but later on it was whispered about that she +had told some of her pals that "the poor crittur was black and blue, and +that it was on her mind that the husband had murdered her!" After this, +as I passed the cottage, I often saw the two children sitting on a log +of wood outside, with the bull-dog sitting between them. None of the +three ever moved out; all blinked their eyes at me as I passed, as if +they were unaccustomed to the sight of a fellow-creature. + +Two or three months passed, during which the man was constantly drinking +at the village public-house; but he always left at sundown--"to look +after the kids," he said. Then there was a poaching fray on a nobleman's +estate near. Six keepers came on five poachers one moonlight night. +There was a hard fight, and at last the keepers took two of the men and +the other three bolted, but one was recognized as the man from the +sand-pit and was "wanted" by the police. + +A few nights after this I was walking down a lane in the dark near my +house, when the sand-pit man stepped out of the hedge, leading his dog +by a cord, and turning to me said, "Here, master, if you want a good +dog, here is one for you; I am off to give myself up to the police, and +I am going to turn queen's evidence against my pals." I replied that I +did not want such a dog, so he said, "All right, then I'll cut his +throat," and then and there prepared to do so. This was more than I +could stand, so I took the cord and led the dog away, but before doing +so, I asked, "How about your children?" He gave a short laugh, and said, +"They would be properly provided for." It afterwards turned out that +soon after leaving me he walked straight into the arms of two policemen, +who saved him the trouble of giving himself up by taking him into +custody. + +I led my new dog home and tied him up in the corner of an open +wood-shed, giving him a bundle of straw and a dish of bones, and by the +starved look of him I should say this was the biggest meal he had ever +had in his life. + +I sat up late that night reading, and all the time in a remote corner of +my mind the sand-pit man, the two children and the dog kept turning +about, till at last, about midnight or later, I thought I would go to +bed; but before doing so I made up my mind that I would see if my new +dog was all right. I lit a lantern and stepped out of the door and found +it was blowing and snowing and biting cold. Mercifully I persevered and +reached the wood-shed, and what I saw there by the light of my lantern +did startle me. There was the bull-dog sure enough lying curled up in +the straw blinking hard at me, but--could I believe my eyes?--there +lying with him, with their arms entwined round each other and round the +dog, were the two children from the sand-pit fast asleep, but looking +so pale and pinched I thought they must be dead. + +I will give place to no man living at rat-catching and minding dogs, but +here was a pretty mess, for I am no good with little children; so +putting down my lantern, I hurried back to the house and got two rugs +and with them wrapped the children and dog up snugly. Then I went in and +woke up my wife, who had already gone to bed, and called some other +women who were in the house, and after telling them what I had found, I +made up a big fire in the kitchen and put on some water to boil. In a +very few minutes my wife was downstairs and battling her way with me off +to the wood-shed. I untied the dog and moved him away from the children. +This woke them both, and they sat up and rubbed their eyes, and the poor +boy appeared almost scared to death, but the little girl was quite +quiet, and only watched his face with a sad careworn old look which I +pray I may never see on a child's face again. + +My wife is really smart with little children, and in half no time she +was on her knees crooning over them, and soon she had the girl in her +arms; but when I attempted to pick up the boy he only screamed and +struggled, and kept calling out, "Grindum, Grindum! I won't leave +Grindum. I shall be killed if I leave Grindum. Let me stay with +Grindum." I assured him he should not be separated from Grindum "never +no more," and at last I partially quieted him, and he allowed me to +carry him into the kitchen and place him on a stool in front of the fire +with his sister, while his beloved Grindum sat by his side blinking as +if nothing unusual had taken place, and as if he had done the same each +night for the last three months and felt a little bored by it. + +The first thing to be done, my wife said, was to feed the children, and +while she and the other women busied about getting it ready, I sat and +watched them. Both were remarkably pretty; both dark, with finely cut +features, big eyes and thick soft black hair; but yet in different ways +both had something sad about them. The boy never sat still for a moment, +but kept glancing fearfully at me, then at the women, and then at the +door, as if he expected something dreadful to happen, and all the time +kept grasping the arm of his little sister with one hand as if for +protection, and clinging to the soft skin of Grindum's neck with the +other. If he caught my eye, or if I spoke to him, he flinched as if I +had struck him, and turned livid and tugged so hard at Grindum's skin +that the poor dog's eyes were pulled into mere slits, through which I +could see he yet went on blinking at the fire. The girl sat half turned +round to the boy and never took her eyes off his face, looking the very +essence of womanly pity and love. Now and then when he suffered from a +paroxysm of fear, she would softly stroke his face, which appeared to +soothe him instantly; but nothing she could do could ever stop the wild +restless look in his eyes or prevent his glancing about as if watching +for some dreadful apparition. It was a sad, sad picture, made doubly +striking by the utter stolidity and indifference of that awful dog, +Grindum. + +Soon hot basins of bread and milk were prepared, which both children eat +ravenously, and then they were put into steaming hot baths, washed, +dried, combed, and wrapped in blankets; but when we attempted to take +them up to the nice warm beds that had been prepared for them, there was +the same wild terrified cry from the boy for Grindum; and to pacify him +the dog had to be taken upstairs with them, and half an hour later, +when my wife and I peeped into the room, we saw the two children locked +in each other's arms fast asleep, with Grindum curled up on the bed next +to the boy, yet blinking horribly, but perfectly composed and making +himself at home. + +How those two children found their way that night through a blinding +snow-storm to their only living friend, the dear blinking Grindum, I +never could find out. All I could ever get from the boy was, "Oh, I +always go where Grindum goes!" and the little girl could only say, "Jack +took me." My wife says angels guided them. Maybe she's right, but I +hardly think angels would be likely to go about on such a night; still +my wife went out in the snow and wind to the shed and got out of her +snug bed to do it, but then she put on a pea jacket and clogs, and that +makes a difference. + +This is a tiring long story to write, and I have not quite done it yet, +for I must finish with the sand-pit man. He was tried, convicted and got +three years. A year after he had been in prison he tried to escape by +getting over a high wall, but in doing so he fell from the top and broke +his back. He lingered some days and seemed to find a pleasure in telling +the prison parson of all his misdeeds and in boasting of them. There was +a long list, but only the last part of his story will serve for "the use +of schools." It appears from what he said that, after he had given me +the dog, he had intended to steal back to his house and take the two +children to a deep pond and there drown them. Then, free from family +ties, he hoped to get away and ship himself off to America. He also said +that in a fit of rage he had thrashed his wife to death with his fists, +and that his boy from having seen him do it had gone mad with fear, and +was so bad, especially at night, that if he had not got a bull-dog +sleeping with him as a sort of friend, he would go into a fit with fear +and was often unconscious for hours. + +It was an ugly story, and I am glad to say with the death of the +sand-pit man the miserable part of the children's life ended. The girl +is now twelve years old and has never left us. She is as sharp as a +needle and as honest as old Chance and as good. She is having a good +education, thanks to our Rector's wife, and could if need be earn her +own livelihood, but we are not going ever to part with her. + +The boy Jack was a great trouble to us at first. For months he would not +be parted for a moment, day or night, from Grindum, and the dog actually +had to go to school with him; but the master utterly failed to teach the +boy even as far as A B C in his alphabet, and the dog not to blink; and +so, one fine day, I had both returned on my hands as hopeless +ignoramuses. I could not keep a blinking dog at home in idleness, so I +took him with me ratting, and as Jack would not be parted from the dog, +he had to come too. Everyone says the boy is "cracked." He is queer, I +will allow, but if you will find me a better hand at rat-catching in all +its branches, I should like to look at him; and besides, if Jack is +cracked, then I like cracked boys, for I never came across one more +obedient, more truthful, or more steady, and I find him a perfect +treasure on the other side of the bank at the bolt holes. + +Jack never mentions the past, and I should be inclined to think he had +forgotten it, only if he is parted from Grindum for a short time he +becomes wild looking about the eyes again and restless. At such times +his sister, who mothers him much, will sit by him and stroke his face +softly, when he will quickly recover himself. I don't know what will +happen when Grindum "blinks his last," but the boy begins to follow me +about and seems to cling to me, and by that time I hope I shall be so +well liked by him that I may take Grindum's place. + +Just two words more about Grindum and I have done. One is that the first +time Grindum caught a rat, he picked it up by its hind leg, and the rat +made its teeth meet through his nose. He softly put the rat down and it +escaped, and I made my sides ache and greatly astonished all the other +dogs by laughing at this great soft beast as he sat on his haunches +licking the blood as it trickled from his nose, and staring up into the +sky with a far-off vacant look, blinking worse than ever. + +The other word is this. Though Grindum is a bull-dog with an +awful "Crush your bones, tear your flesh" look, he is just the +gentlest-hearted beast out, and there is not a puppy in the kennel, nor +a child in the village, who does not know this and impose on him +shamefully. Only last Sunday I had to stop a small child of five from +driving off in a four-wheeled cart, using Grindum as a horse. Once, and +once only, Grindum showed his temper. A big lout in the village threw a +stone at him. Grindum only blinked, but Jack saw it and hit the lout, +who being twice Jack's size turned upon him and knocked him down. In +half a minute Grindum's teeth had met three times in the lout's calves +and his trousers required reseating, and in three-quarters of a minute +Grindum was sitting down with a bland expression of countenance, +blinking with both eyes at the sky. + +Now to continue my lesson on ratting dogs. I have two others, Pepper and +Wasp--one a badly bred spaniel, and the other a terrier of doubtful +parentage. They are both nice cheerful young dogs that it is a pleasure +to see either at play or work, but they are yet young and too apt to get +excited and wild. They _will_, when a rat is out of his hole, in a +hedge, dash up and down the entire length of the field, making enormous +jumps in the air, during which time they listen keenly for the rustle of +the rat in the grass; and once, but only once, Pepper gave a yap when so +rushing about, but I spoke to him so severely about this disgustingly +low habit that he has never done it again. + +Wasp is specially good at water, and I have taught him to come to me +directly a rat is bolted with a plunge into a pond, and I carry her high +up in my arms round the pond, and when the rat approaches the side, Wasp +from her high vantage ground will dive down upon it and have it in an +instant. Both dogs are quick killers and will, I am sure, in time be +perfect; but as yet I do not think myself justified in putting them into +a higher class with such dogs as Chance and Tinker. + +There! that is all for to-day, young gentlemen. Resume your Cicero, and, +while you are preparing it, I will go to my room and look over the +impositions I set you yesterday. It is understood that for "look over +impositions" we may read, "Smoke cavendish in a short black pipe." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +What do you say, boys? Shall we drop this and have a day's outdoor +practice? To tell the truth, I don't think much of book-learning, +especially if the book is written by myself; but I do believe in +practice. Come along! It is the middle of October--just the nicest time +of the year and the very best for ratting, for the vermin are yet out in +the hedges, fine and strong from feeding in the corn, and with few young +ones about. Come, Jack, we'll get the ferrets first; and off I go with +the boy to the hutch, while the dogs in the kennel, having heard our +steps and perfectly understanding what is up, bark and yap at the door, +jump over each other, tumble and topple about like mad fiends. Before I +get to the box I hear the ferrets jumping up at the sides, and when I +open the lid half a dozen are out in a moment, and these I bag as a +reward for their activity. I throw the others a rat to console them for +being left at home, and, giving the ferrets to Jack, I strap on a big +game bag, take up my spade, return and let the dogs out, and off we +start. + +Step out quick, Jack; there are three miles to go before we get to work, +and it is 8 a.m. and I expect a big day. Yes, Chance, old lady, a fine +day--a perfect day--a day to make both the feet and the heart light and +every human sense rejoice. There has been just a little frost in the +night: you can see that by the way the elms have spread a golden carpet +under their branches in the lane and by their leaves that yet keep +falling slowly one by one in the fresh, but dead still, air, and by the +smell of the turnips, the fresh stubble and the newly turned earth +behind yonder plough. The sun shines, cobwebs are floating through the +air and get twisted round one's head, and far and near sounds such as a +cart on the high road, a sheep dog barking, a boy singing, birds +chirping, insects humming, the patter of our own feet, and the +whispering of the brook under the bridge, all form part of a chorus +heaven-sent to gladden the heart of man. I have heard tell, Chance, or I +have seen it in a book, or I have felt it myself, I don't quite know +which, that those who in youth have had such a walk as this, and have +heard the music, smelt the perfumes and seen the sights (that is if they +were blessed with eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to take in), +have never forgotten it. The memory appears for a time to pass away +amidst the struggles of life, but it is never dead; to the soldier in +battle, to the statesman in council, or the priest in prayers, to those +in sorrow or in joy or in sickness, there may come, no one knows from +where, no one knows why, a golden memory of such days, of such a walk. +Perhaps it is only a gleam resting but a second upon the mind, and +perhaps leaving it saddened with a longing for days that are past, but +yet I think making one feel a better man, giving one courage and hope, +reminding one that, hard as the battle of life may be to fight, dark and +gloomy as the days may be just now, another morning may arise for us, +far, far more bright and glorious and joyful, one that will not be +shadowed over by a returning night; but then that is only for the brave, +the honest, the truthful--for those who are up early and strive late, +never beaten, never doubting, always pressing forward. + +But, come out of that, Wasp! Don't you know that cows kick if you sniff +at their heels? Tinker, old man, keep your spirits up; Pepper, come back +from that wood, for it is preserved. Yes, Jack, I think I'll fill my +pipe again. Baccy does taste good on a day like this; but what doesn't? +I feel like a ten-year-old and as fit as a fiddler. Grindum, give over +blinking and don't look so benevolent. No, Chance, no, old lady, I can't +pull your tail, for you haven't got one. What, Jack, you say I haven't +spoken for the past mile? Well, I suppose I have been thinking, and my +thoughts have not been wholly sad ones. Open the gate; here we are; and +you get over on the other side of the hedge and don't talk or make a +noise, for I can see by the work the rats s-w-a-r-m. Steady, dogs, +steady! And so we start. + +The hedge is just what it should be, and if it had been made for ratting +it could not be better. A round bank of soft earth, a shallow ditch with +grass, little bush or bramble, and a gap every few yards. There is a +gateway in the middle, which will make a hot corner later on when +Grindum has taken his stand there; and there is a pipe under the +gateway, the far end of which I shall close. The rats have never been +disturbed, for the runs are as fresh as Oxford Street, and I have +already seen one or two rats run into the hedge lower down from out the +wheat stubble, and, there! that whistle has sent a lot more in. Steady, +Wasp! Well done, Chance; you have marked one in that hole near you, or +more than one, is there? Well, the more the merrier! Stand, dogs, stand! +Are you ready, Jack? And in goes a ferret as lively as quicksilver and +as fierce as a tiger. + +For a minute all is quiet; then a slight stir on the other side and two +snaps of Tinker's lantern-jaws, and two rats dead; three others out of a +side hole are killed by Wasp, and three others accounted for by Grindum, +and that fool Pepper is racing and jumping down the hedge a mile off. +Whistle! whistle! and back he comes, and at that moment Jack picks up a +ferret on the other side, it having gone through the hole. Chance sniffs +at it and says it is swept clear, and I block it up with my heel, and +Jack does the same to the bolt-hole, so that if a rat does come back +later on the dogs will have a chance; and then on we go a few yards to +the next hole which Chance marks. This time the ferret went in like a +lion and came out like a lamb, with the blood running out of the side of +its face; and whilst I am examining the bite, a real patriarch rat +bolted at a side hole near Pepper, who strikes at it, misses taking a +proper hold and gets it too far back, and the next moment the blood is +pouring from a bite above his eye; but the rat is dead, and Pepper but +little the worse. + +I thought it was too late in the year for young ones, but it was not, +for at the next hole we came to the ferret got into a nest, killed a +lot of young ones and "laid up," and, as I had not a box-trap with me, I +had to dig it out. This took some time, as I lost the hole, and Jack, +whilst down grubbing with his hands, broke into a wrong one in which the +old rat was ready for him, and at once bit him through the end of his +finger. Jack sucked it well and did not mind, but I did not much like +the appearance of things, for in half-an-hour I had had a ferret laid +up, and a dog and a boy bitten badly by rats, and these bites are often +very poisonous. Fortunately this time Jack took no harm and was soon +well. As soon as Jack pulled his hand out of the rat's hole, Pincher put +his long nose in, and all was over in a minute. Soon after I came on the +ferret curled up in a nest of young rats, all minus their heads; and so +that ferret, from being gorged with food, was no more good for work, and +had to be put away with the bitten one. + +After this we got on much faster; the holes were close together, and +even with the greatest care lots of rats bolted and went forward, but I +would not allow the dogs to disturb fresh ground by following them. Some +went back, and Pepper and Wasp had a good time, for I let them follow +and work them alone, having stopped all back holes after ferreting them. +Now and then, Jack and I had to go back, as there was an old pollard +tree covered with ivy, and many of the rats got up that, and Pincher had +to be lifted up into the crown to displace them, and then when they +jumped down, three or four at a time, there was a grand scrimmage. + +When we had got twenty yards or so from the gateway, Grindum went +forward and stood there and killed a dozen rats that tried to pass, and +a lot more went into the pipe under the roadway. These we left alone, +only after we had passed we stopped up the open end and opened the shut +one, so that in future rats going back might wait quietly in the arch +till we were ready for them. By the time we had got as far as the gate +it was just noon, so we called the dogs back to a tree we had passed, +and then Jack and I sat down and paid attention to the game bag, which +was well provided with cold meat and bread and cheese and a bottle of +beer. + +I am not a good hand at picnics and never was. I mean those big +gatherings with ladies, lobster salad, hot dishes, plates, knives, +spoons, champagne, etc. I find the round world was created a little too +low down to sit upon with comfort; my knees don't make a good table; +flies get into my beer and hopping things into my plate. I have to get +up and hand eatables about; things bite me, and more creep about me, and +it does not look well to scratch. The hostess looks anxious about her +glass and plate; someone has forgotten the salt, and some one else the +corkscrew. The host, be he ever so sad, _makes_ fun, and made fun is +magnified misery to me. No, I don't like picnics; I would rather be at +home and feed upon a table; and yet a snack at noon-day, after hard +work, sitting under a tree, with your hands as plates, with a good +"shut-knife," a silent companion and the dogs all round you, _is_ +pleasant. Double Gloucester then equals Stilton, and bottled beer +nectar; and then the pipe in quiet, while Jack takes the dogs, after +they have finished the scraps, to the pond to drink. Talk of Havanas! +Well, talk of them, but give me that pipe as I loll, half asleep, +resting against the tree, my legs spread out, and my hat tipped over my +nose. I half close my eyes and go nearly to sleep, but keep pulling at +the pipe, and half unconsciously hear the leaves whispering above, the +insects humming, the stubble rustling, the trembling of a thrashing +machine, and the rush of a train in the far distance. Jack returns from +the pond, throws himself on the ground on his face, kicks his legs in +the air and whistles softly, with the gentle Grindum blinking beside +him. Chance and Tinker lie out full length on their sides and go to +sleep. Wasp stretches on the ground, with her legs out behind her, and +drags herself about with her front feet. Pepper sits down, scratches his +ear, and then dashes at a passing bumble bee, and all becomes a pleasant +jumble of sights and sounds; but, with a start, I recover myself, drop +my pipe, topple my hat off and lose my temper, for that everlastingly +restless, volatile, good-for-nothing, ramshackly beast, Pepper, has been +and licked me all up the side of the face! The dream, the quiet, the +rest is all broken, so, jumping up, I tip my pipe out on the heel of my +boot, give a stretch, grasp the spade, and off we go to finish our job. + +For three hours we work our way on, and a line of dead rats on the +headland marks our progress, till at last we reach the bottom of the +field and our bank is done. Pepper has got three more bites, another +ferret is done for by a nip on the nose, and Jack has torn his trousers +and is very dirty; but there is yet the drain pipe under the gate to +attend to, and it is getting on in the day. I cut three or four long +sticks and tie them tightly together, and then to the end of this fasten +a good hard bunch of grass, and back we go to the drain. I go to one end +with Grindum and Pincher, whilst Jack takes the sticks, Pepper and Wasp +to the other end, and gently and slowly shoves the sticks through. Two +venturesome rats bolt at my end and are killed. When the sticks appear I +grasp them and gradually draw the whisp of grass into the drain. It +fits tight and takes some pulling, but it comes steadily along, wiping +all before it. Faster and faster the rats bolt and are killed, and even +old Chance, who began by watching us, gets excited and joins the sport. +Pepper and Wasp dash in for a last worry, which is over in a few +minutes, when twenty-four rats are cast by Jack up on to the bank. Well +done, dogs! well done, good dogs! Woo-hoop, woo-hoop! Good dogs! That's +the way, my boys! Woo-hoop! woo-hoop! And the dogs roll on the ground, +stretch, wipe the dirt out of their eyes with their paws, and rub their +faces in the grass. + +Jack goes backwards and forwards and collects the spoil, and we count up +seventy-three real beauties, a few of which I really think should be +fourpenny beasts, they are so big. Never mind, seventy-three rats at +twopence each comes to twelve and twopence--not such a bad day's work; +and, Jack, you shall have a hot supper to-night; and oh, you dogs, you +dogs, think of the supper I will give you! Bones with lots of meat on, +oatmeal and such soup! Think of it, dogs! think of it! And so the work +ends, and all are happy and contented. + +Three miles down turning twisting lanes to reach home, Grindum and I +first, then Jack, and the rear brought up by the long and now a little +drooping tail of Tinker. All have had enough; even the volatile +young Pepper trots slowly, and therefore looks ever so much more +business-like. + +Before we start the shades are falling, and as we trudge along nature's +evening vespers speak of the closing day. Workmen sitting sideways on +quiet harnessed cart-horses stump past with a friendly "Good night, +neighbour, good night!" Women with children in "go-carts" bustle past +in a hurry to get home and fetch up the supper. Farm horses are drinking +in the pond or browsing on the rank grass at the side; sparrows are +chattering in the old alder bush before going to bed in the ivy on the +church; pigs in the homestead are calling for their supper; the cows +pass us coming home to be milked; rooks fly steadily to the old elm +trees near the Manor; and a robin pipes clear and shrill on the roof of +the shed in the cottage garden. There are partridges calling out "cheap +wheat" in the stubble, and pewits crying on the meadows. Cock pheasants +noisily flutter up to roost in the firs, and the old doctor standing at +his door makes soft music with his violin. + +The parson joins us and has a cheery word for all, especially the dogs, +who are all his personal friends; and so we jog on and reach the +village, where the wood smoke rises straight in a blue cloud from the +cottage chimneys, and the fire light sends a ruddy gleam across the +roads. Groups of men and boys stand about resting, little children race +and play, and oh, such a delicious whiff of something stewing, with a +little bit of onion in it, comes from the open door of the village +ale-house! And this reminds us all that our suppers are near, and we +finish the evening's walk quite briskly. + +No need to say, "Kennel, dogs, kennel!" All go in of their own accord, +and in five minutes are busy at their savoury-smelling _hot_ supper. The +ferrets are fed and locked up, and then, unlacing our boots at the back +door and kicking them off, the day is done. Supper, rest and quiet, a +pipe, a book, bed and happy dreams are all before us. + +"Now, Croker, minor, you will go to the Doctor's study before school +to-morrow. You have been most inattentive, and it is not the first time +I have had occasion to speak to you. You can go now, but don't forget +that this is tub night, as you all have done on the last four occasions. +If I have further complaints on this head from the matron, I shall take +you all out for a long day's rat-catching, so I advise you all to be +very careful." Five minutes later this master is smoking in his room and +says to another master who is doing the same, "I say, Potts, do you know +I think these new lessons on rat-catching are all very well, but I think +they are beyond the capacity of schoolboys. Why, they strain _my_ mind, +and I think they should only be taken up at the universities and during +the last term; and then the boys do so hate them," etc. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +"Croker, minor, have you been up to the head-master? Yes? Then sit still +and don't fidget. Boys, pick up your books on rat-catching, and we will +resume yesterday's task." + +The last chapter treats of a prime day's rat-catching, where rats were +numerous and known to be numerous; but don't suppose all days are like +this, for if you do you will be sadly disappointed, and you will have a +lot to learn, for there are days, and very pleasant days too, when you +will have to walk mile after mile to find a rat, and even then not be +successful; but you will be out of doors in the fresh air, with devoted +companions and something fresh to see at every step, if you keep your +eyes open. Don't get disheartened, and above all things never say, "Oh, +it is no good looking here or looking there for a rat; there is sure not +to be one. Come on and don't waste time." You often find them in the +most unexpected places. + +I once went three times to the house of an old lady, being sent for +because there was a rat that came each night and took her hen's eggs and +carried off young ducks and chickens. I spent hours looking for it in +hedges, ditches, sheds, out-houses and stable, and even put Tinker up on +the roof of all the buildings, thinking the assassin might be under the +tiles; but it was no go. + +Night after night the plunderer came, and I began to see that the old +lady did not think much of me. At last, one afternoon, I called again +and began operations by asking to have a dog that was tied up to a +kennel in a back yard led away, as his barking disturbed my dogs. This +was done, and a minute afterwards Chance was sidling round the kennel, +staking her reputation upon the rat being under it. I got out a ferret +and looked round the kennel, and was utterly disgusted to find it was +placed firmly on hard ground without a vestige of a hole. I am sorry to +say I went so far as to sneer at Chance and tell her she did not know +the difference between a dog and a rat. She herself for a moment seemed +in doubt, but the next she went _inside_ the kennel and stood at a hole +in the plank floor. I put the ferret back in the bag and, taking hold +of the kennel, tilted it up, and in an instant the dogs had a +vicious-looking old monster dead. + +Now the only possible way that rat could have got in and out of his +house was by passing the dog as he slept, and yet the old lady and her +gardener assured me that the dog was as keen as mustard after rats. + +I once killed a rat inside a church. I found it during a long sermon, +but for the life of me I can't remember what that sermon was about. I +was sitting in a seat opposite about a score of village school children, +and suddenly I was struck by their appearance, and the thought passed +through my mind, "How like humans are to dogs! Why, those children look +just like my dogs when they find a rat, especially that flaxen-haired +girl with a front tooth out." Then I noticed that they were all looking +in one direction, and so I looked there too and saw a rat sitting with +just its nose out of a hole which ran under the brick floor, apparently +listening to the sermon. The next morning the parson and I went to the +church. I took one ferret and only Tinker. I chose Tinker because he was +black and rather clerical looking. The rat was at home, and we had it in +five minutes. This was one of the few times I ever did rat-catching +with my hat off, and it felt very queer. + +Again, I once killed a mother rat and a lot of young ones which I found +in the stuffing of a spring sofa in a spare bedroom at an old +manor-house. There were rats in the walls, and "Mary Ann" had often seen +a rat in the room when she went in to dust, and it had given her "such a +turn." This time I took all the dogs with me, and we were followed by +the lady of the house, four dreadfully pretty daughters and "Mary Ann." +Madam and Mary Ann got on the sofa, standing, and the four daughters +stood on four chairs round the room. All six clasped their clothes tight +round their ankles--why, I never could think. This was the only time in +her life that I ever found Chance a fool. Directly she got into the +room, she wriggled and twisted, turned her head this way and that, threw +herself on her back and fairly grovelled. Wasp, Pepper, and the +long-tailed Tinker were nearly as bad, and it was plain to see they were +shy and bashful in such a gorgeous room and surrounded by such a galaxy +of beauty. It was the soft-hearted Grindum who saved us; he blinked much, +but directly I said, "Hie round, dogs! Hunt him up! Search him out!" he +went to work--up on the bed, round the room, behind the furniture, and at +last began sniffing round the sofa. I got hot all over, for I thought he +was mistaking an aristocratic lady and her hand-maid for rats; but no, +at last he went under the sofa, and turning over on his back began to +scratch at the underside of it up above him. Madam and Mary Ann jumped +off, and the latter felt another "turn"; then both took refuge on chairs +and again clasped their clothes tight round them. I turned the sofa up +on its back, and there through the sacking near a leg I found a nice +round hole into the interior among the springs. I put a ferret in, and +in a minute there was a rush and scuffle, the sofa seemed alive, and +then three or four small rats bolted out and were accounted for; another +squeak and rush, and out came the mother and was quickly dispatched; +then, as the ferret did not come out, I ripped the sacking and found it +eating a deliciously tender young rat. I bagged the ferret, and while I +did so, Grindum killed three or four small ones. I afterwards found that +the rats had eaten through the wainscot and so got into the room. The +rest of the afternoon was spent in turning over all sorts of furniture, +including beds, and hunting through each room with the dogs; but we +found no more rats as inside lodgers. + +Three or four months after this episode, rats swarmed in the walls of +this same house and behind the wainscoting, and my professional +services were called in to get rid of them. How they got into the house +I never discovered, for there were no holes from the outside, and no +creepers on the walls for them to mount by and get on to the roof; the +drains did not appear to communicate with the inside of the house, and +all the doors fitted tight. Equally puzzling was it, now that they were +inside, to get them out, for I dare not put ferrets in, for fear they +should kill a rat and leave it to decay and smell for months. + +I tried various plans. I got a live rat, tied a ferret's bell on it, and +turned it loose, and for days after it was constantly heard tinkling +inside the walls; but it did not drive the rats away. I singed the coat +of a rat, put tar on the feet of another and turned them loose; but it +was no good. At last I took possession of a wood-house in a cellar down +in the basement, from which a short passage led to other cellars, and +in the walls of these there were many open holes. First of all I went +carefully over the wood cellar and made sure there were no holes in it; +and then, putting in a few faggots to give shelter to any nervous young +rat, I started each night to feed them with delicious balls of +barley-meal, which were made up with scraps. In this way I gave a rats' +supper-party each night for three weeks, and each morning I found +clean-swept dishes. At last the fatal day arrived. A string was tied to +the handle of the door leading up into the kitchen, the food was placed +in the dishes as usual about ten p.m., and all the household, except +myself, went to bed. I sat over the kitchen fire reading my paper till a +distant clock struck midnight, and then I gave a sharp pull to the +string and heard the door bang to and the fastening fall, and I knew I +had them. I lit a big glass lantern, went round to the stables and let +out all the dogs, took them to the cellar window and slipt them through +quickly, squeezing myself through after them and shutting the window +again. In half no time fifty rats were killed, and all the dogs, except +Tinker, pretty badly bitten; but they were used to that and did not +care. Then I locked the back door behind me, taking the key home to +bring back in the morning when I called to be paid eight and fourpence +for my night's work. Three times in the next three months I went through +a similar performance, and the first time I killed twenty-eight rats, +the second seven, and the third time only two, and these were old +bachelors. Then every hole in the walls was filled up with a cement made +up with broken glass, and I have never heard of a rat in that house +since. + +Before I forget it, let me tell you that if a rat dies in the wall, or +under the floor of a house where it can't be got at, its whereabouts can +be discovered in this way, provided the weather is warm. Take a +butterfly net over to the butchers shop, and there catch a dozen +bluebottle flies, and, taking care not to hurt them, slip them into a +glass jar and tie a rag over it. Return to the room where the smell is, +and, shutting the door after you, let your pack of flies loose and sit +down to watch them, and in half-an-hour you will find they are all +buzzing round one spot. Have this spot opened out, be it wall or floor, +and there the dead rat will be found. Has the bell rung? Yes, half a +minute! Put your books away, form two and two outside, and I will take +you for our usual walk. We will resume this task in the morning. Croker, +minor, the top part of Jones' leg was not made to stick pins into. If I +see you do it again, I shall give you a rat to catch, so be careful! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +I trust that, in the five chapters I have written, I have said enough to +give some of my scholars a slight taste and liking for the profession I +am advocating, and in some small degree have weaned their young +affections from such pernicious pastimes as studying classical authors, +doing sums, and cutting their names on their desks. If I have not done +this I have written to little purpose, and I fear the next chapter will +damp off a few who have only followed me and my dogs on fine days in +pleasant paths; but I may as well tell you at once that life is no more +all beer and skittles in rat-catching than it is in such minor +professions as the Army, the Church, the Bar, school-keeping, etc.; and +just to see if you are "real grit," boys, I will show you another +picture. + +Jack, get the ferrets while I let the dogs out. We _must_ go and see if +we can find a few rats, for it is a week since the ferrets had flesh, +and we shall have them getting ill; and, Jack, bring four in the little +bag, and put that inside your game-bag, for it looks like rain, and I +don't like to see them half-drowned. Yes, it does look like rain, though +as yet it is only a dull, misty, chilly day in mid-November down here in +the country, but in London it is a thick black fog, and all work is +being done by gaslight. It is bad and depressing here, but ever so much +worse there; so cheer up, dogs, and step out, Jack. We will go down by +the beck and home by the clay-pits, for I know of no other place near +where we are so likely to find a few rats, and I don't want to make a +long day of it. + +Go over the bridge, Jack. You take that side with Chance and a young +one, and I will do this side with the other dogs. Hie in, dogs! Search +him out, lads! And on we go, but in two miles we only kill a water-hen +that Pepper catches as it rises out of some sedges, and which goes into +my bag to replenish the ferrets' larder. The mist hangs low, the bushes +are wet, the ground soft, and there is a dreary sigh in the wind. The +cattle are eating fast, as they always do before rain; and the sheep, +startled by the sight of the dogs, caper and jump as they gallop all +down the meadow; and again their playfulness warns me of a wet tramp +home. Some young colts stand at the door of an open shed, dull and +depressed looking, and the horses ploughing on the sides of the hill +send up a thick steam. No birds twitter or sing, no insects hum, distant +sounds are muffled and indistinct. The teams in the waggons on the road +hard by creep along and take little notice beyond a toss of the head at +the carter's whip as he walks beside them with a heavy step cracking it. +The only brisk thing to be seen is the doctor's gig as it whisks past. + +"Hie up, dogs! shake yourselves and don't go to sleep! Come over, Jack; +I have had enough of this brook; and if we don't find at the clay-pits, +home we go." And we trudge off to some ponds half a mile further away. +They are well-known to both men and dogs, and the latter bolt on ahead +and arrive first; and when we come up we find them all clustered round a +hole in a high bank 'midst thick dripping bushes. In goes a ferret, but +not in the way I like to see. There is no hurry, no ecstatic wriggle of +the tail as it slowly draws itself into the hole. Then all stand round +expecting to see a rat take a header into the pond; but no, five minutes +pass, and Pepper begins to move, and is told to "stand." Ten minutes +pass, and Jack gets restless. Fifteen minutes, and I begin to shift my +feet, which are planted deep in sticky mud by the side of the pond, and +just then the first drops of rain appear. Ah, there is the ferret! Jump +up and get it, Jack. But before he can do so, it has drawn itself into +the hole backwards, which means that it has killed a rat inside and that +it only came out to tell us so, and that it was going back to have a +good long sound sleep curled up by the rat's warm body. There is nothing +for it but to dig it out; and oh, what a dig, all among roots and thorns +on the sloping sides of the pond, in thick sticky clay, with the rain +coming down in a steady pour! Jack hunches his back and leans against a +tree, Pepper and Wasp wander away down a ditch and scratch for an hour +at a drain that has a rabbit in it, and the old dogs sit and watch me +and drip and shiver. I dig here, I dig there; I slip and fall on the +bank; the water mixed with yellow clay runs up my arm from the spade, +and yet that beastly ferret sleeps peacefully in its warm bed. I lose +the hole, come down on roots as thick as my leg and stones that strike +fire as the spade strikes them; and so two hours of discomfort to all +drift by, and I am just feeling about for the last time with the spike +end of the spade, when I again hit off the hole and, opening it out, +come upon a nice warm rat's nest made of leaves, with the ferret curled +up snugly with a dead rat. + +"Home, dogs, home! Cheer up, Jack! Cold are you, and wet? Well, never +mind; only two miles, and we will walk fast. Pepper, Pepper, Wasp, Wasp, +where on earth have you got to? Ah, there you are, and a nice mess you +have made of yourselves trying to scratch out a hole five hundred yards +long. Come along all!" And off we tramp, Jack and I in the middle of +the road, splish splash at every step, the water squirting high up our +gaitered legs, and the dogs, with drooping tails, dripping coats and +woe-begone looks, coming along behind us in Indian file close under the +shelter, such as it is, of the hedge. + +We pass the postman, who only nods, and meet a flock of sheep all +draggled and dirty. An empty cart with a sack over the seat stands at +the pot-house, and pigs wander listlessly about the yard with their +backs arched up. Under the waggon-shed some cocks and hens stand each on +one leg, with their tails drooping, apparently too disgusted to prune +their feathers and fly up to roost in the rafters. The smoke beats down +from the chimneys and gets lost in the wind and rain which buffets and +pelts at our back. Cold spots begin to be felt at the bend of our arms +and knees; then a shiver runs down the back, which developes into a +trickle of water that at last gets into our boots and goes squish, +squish, at every step, and at last oozes over the tops; and our teeth +chatter with cold, for now here and there among the rain-drops appear a +few flakes of snow, which rest on the mud of the road for a second, and +then melting, add to the deep slush that trickles down the hill by our +side. At every open shed the dogs shelter a minute, shake themselves +like dripping mops, and with arched backs stand on three legs and +shiver; but we whistle them on and at last reach home. After throwing a +good bundle of dry straw on the kennel benches and feeding dogs and +ferrets, Jack and I get under shelter and soon find ourselves in dry +clothes before a good fire, feeling a little swollen and stiff about our +faces and hands, and much inclined for forty winks. + +The wind howls in the chimney, lashes the bare branches of the trees, +rattles the window frames, and appears angry that it cannot get at us, +and the rain drives in fitful gusts against the windows, and hisses in +the big wood fire on the hearth; and as I sit in my snug arm-chair, I +dimly feel that the external storm adds greatly to the internal comfort, +and then I fancy I nod off to sleep, for I think no more till supper is +announced, and hunger and my wife stir me up to consciousness again. + +Having finished a good supper and got my pipe drawing beautifully, I +remember one or two things that I think the student should be told. The +first is, never put a line on a ferret when _ratting_. It hampers a +ferret in a narrow, twisting, turning rat's hole, and cutting into the +soft earth at the turns soon brings the ferret to a dead stop. Then +rats' holes are chiefly in hedge-banks, which are full of roots, and the +line is pretty sure to get twisted round some of these, and then it +will be a long dig to free it. Remember, too, a ferret has to go down +the hole and face a beast nearly as big as itself, with teeth like +lancets and with courage to use them, and so should be as free as +possible; and lining a ferret is about equal to setting a student with +the gloves on to fight against another without them. Then some way back +I mentioned ferrets' bells. They are little hollow brass balls with an +iron shot in them that make a pretty tinkling sound, and are supposed to +be tied round the ferret's neck. In my opinion, if you put a bell on it, +you may as well put the ferret in the bag and keep it there. The theory +about bells is, that a ferret running down a hole jingling its bell will +fill a rat with fear and make it bolt, but this is all nonsense; rats +are not so easily frightened. Again, it is said that if a ferret comes +out of a hole in a thick hedge unseen, the bell will let you know where +it is; but I must say I never lost a ferret in a hedge or felt the want +of a belled one. I consider a bell a useless dead weight on a ferret, +and the cord that goes round its neck to fasten it is apt to get hitched +on to a root and hold the ferret a prisoner. A bell is only good for a +sharp shopman to sell to a flat. + +I need hardly say, never muzzle a ferret when rat-catching. It would be +brutal not to let the ferret have the use of its teeth to protect itself +with. Muzzling ferrets appertains solely to rabbiting, but it is useful +to know how to do it. Take a piece of twine a foot long, double it, and +tie a loop at the double. Tie the string round the ferret's neck, with +the loop on the top; bring the two ends down under the chin and tie them +together there; pass them over the nose and tie them there, shutting the +mouth tight; pass _one_ string along the nose, between the eyes, +through the loop on the top of the neck, and bending it back, tie it to +the other loose string from the knot on the top of the nose. Cut the +ends off, and, provided you have not made a lot of "granny" knots, your +muzzle will keep on all day. There are other ways of doing the trick, +such as passing the string behind the ferret's dogteeth, bring it under +the jaw, then over the nose, on the top of the neck; tie it there and +again under the neck. I hate this plan, and have seen a ferret's mouth +badly cut by the string. I have heard of another plan which is too +brutal to mention. Cut the muzzle off directly you have done with it, +for I don't suppose a ferret likes having its mouth tied up any more +than you or I should. + +Never wantonly hurt any animal, especially those that work for you and +suffer in your service. Just think of the amount of pluck a ferret shows +each time you put it into a rat's hole. Fancy yourself in its place, +going down a lot of dark crooked passages that you don't know, only just +wide enough to allow you to pass, and have to face a beast somewhat like +yourself and as big, that you know will attack you. Why, if ferrets got +V.C.'s, they would, on high days and holidays when they wished to +display them all, have to employ a string of sandwich-men walking behind +them with the boards covered with V.C. Three or four times in my life I +have had ferrets die of the wounds they have received from rats. I have +had them in hospital for weeks, and I have had them blinded. Speaking of +blind ferrets, I am not much of an oculist, but I don't believe a ferret +can see in the dark. I never could find any difference between the way +my blind ferret worked in a hole and that of one with good eyes; in +fact, my blind ferret was as good a little beast as ever killed a rat, +and she did kill many a score after she lost both eyes. I believe a +ferret when in a hole uses a sense we don't possess--I mean the sense of +touch with the long nose whiskers. + +Some years ago the _Field_ opened its pages to a long discussion on the +subject of ferrets sucking the blood of their victims after they have +killed them. Writers pretending to know all about it said they did do +so. These men are to be pitied, not laughed at, for you see in the days +of their youth "Rat-catching for the Use of Schools" was not written, +and therefore they had not learnt better. A ferret no more sucks the +blood of the things it kills than a dog does. If you doubt this, give a +fresh-killed rat to a ferret, let it fasten on it, and then peep at the +corners of its mouth, and you will find an opening there into the mouth, +out of which blood would flow if the ferret had it in its mouth; and +look down its throat, you will not find blood in it, nor will there be +blood on the portion of the rat that has been held in its mouth. No, +people are misled by a ferret sending its teeth deep home in the flesh +and making a sucking sound as it with difficulty breathes through its +nose and the corners of its mouth. If you watch a ferret after it has +killed a rat, it will, as soon as it is sure the rat is dead, begin +chewing at the skin of the head or throat till it has made an entrance, +and will then eat the flesh. + +To finish this chapter, I will tell you a story which you are never to +put into practice. Some long time ago I found myself far from home in a +country village, and having nothing to do, I went for a walk, and soon +came upon a brother professional rat-catcher; and thinking I might learn +a wrinkle from him that would come in useful, I joined him and carefully +watched him and his dogs. I saw at once that three of the latter were +very good and up to their work; but there was a fourth, a nondescript +sort of beast with a long tail, that appeared quite useless; and I +observed with amusement that directly the man put a ferret into a hole, +the dog tucked its tail tight between its legs and went and stood well +out in the field. I asked the man why he kept such a useless beast, and +with a chuckle he answered, "Well, mate, I'll own up he ain't much to +boast on for rat-killing, nor yet for looks, but he has his use like +some other of we h-ugly ones. You see, sir, I've got one or two ferrets +as won't come out of a 'ole, but stand a peeping at the h-entrance and +waste a lot of time. Then that 'ere dawg comes in useful. I catches him, +lifts him up, and sticks his bushy tail down to the ferret, who catches +tight hold, and I draws it out. Nothing ain't made for nothing, and I +expect that dawg was made for drawing ferrets." The man may have been +right, but I was quite sure the unfortunate dog did not take an active +pleasure in his vocation. + +There, young gentlemen, if you have well digested that chapter and +forgotten the story at the end, you can put up your books and form up +for your usual walk to the second milestone and back again; but before +leaving, let me point out to you, Croker, minor, that if that caricature +I have observed you drawing behind your book is meant for _me_, it is, +like most things you do, incorrect; my nose is not so long, and I part +my hair on the left side, not the right. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Rat-catching and rabbit-catching are two distinct professions, but the +greater part of the stock-in-trade that serves for one will answer for +the other, and it is as well for the professional to be master of what I +think I may call both branches of his business. A rat-catcher who did +nothing but kill rats and refused a day's work with the rabbits would be +like a medical man who would cut off limbs but would not give a pill, or +a captain of a sailing-vessel who would not go to sea in a steamer; +besides in these days it is the fashion to jumble up half a dozen +businesses under one head and name. Just look at what the engineer does. +Why, he is nowhere if he is not (besides being ready, as the engineer +of the old school, to make railways, etc.) a chemist, an electrician, a +diplomat, a lawyer, a financier and a contractor, and even sometimes an +honest man. If you are not in the fashion you are left behind as +an old fogey, and so in this chapter we will discuss the art of +rabbit-catching; and I trust all schoolmasters will furnish you, their +students, with the opportunity of putting in practice in the field what +you learn from this book at your desks. + +Well, now for the requirements. We have got the dogs, we have got the +ferrets, spade, bag, etc.; but for rabbiting we must have a much more +costly stock-in-trade if we are to do a big business. We shall require +an ordinary gardener's spade for digging in soft sandy ground, where the +rabbit burrows sometimes go in for yards, and as much as ten feet deep +down; also another spade, longer in the blade than our ratting one, the +sides more turned in, and with a handle ten feet long, with a steel hook +at the end instead of a spike. With this spade we can sink down many +feet after the hole is too deep for the ordinary spade, and the turned +in sides will hold the soft earth and allow you to bring it to the +surface. If you dig down on the top of a rabbit--as you will do when you +know your work--the hook at the end will enable you to draw first it and +then the ferret up by the string. We must have a piece of strong light +supple cord, marked by a piece of red cloth drawn through the strands at +every yard, so that one can tell exactly how far in the ferret is; and +it is as well to have a second shorter cord for work in stiff heavy +ground, where the holes are never deep. Next, we must have two or three +dozen purse-nets, which are circular, about two feet in diameter, with a +string rove round the outside mesh fastened to a peg. These are for +covering over bolt holes to bag a rabbit when driven out by the ferrets. +The nets should be made of the very best string, so as to be as light +and fine as possible. The mesh should be just large enough to allow a +rabbit's head to pass through. + +Like the postscript to a lady's letter, the chief item I have saved till +the last, and I fear it will be some time before the ordinary +rabbit-catcher will be able to afford it. I refer to long nets, which +are used for running round or across a piece of covert to catch the +rabbits as they are bustled about by the dogs. A rabbit-catcher in full +swing should have from eight hundred to a thousand yards of this, for +with a good long net he will often kill as many rabbits in a few hours +as he could do with the ferrets in a week. + +I myself keep no special dog for rabbit-catching, chiefly because I have +a neighbour who will always let me have a cunning old lurcher that he +keeps, which is as good as gold, and as clever as a lawyer, and +desperately fond of a day with me and my dogs. + +I have three male ferrets, real monsters, strong enough to trot down a +burrow and drag five or six yards of line after them with ease. + +Having described all the tools, etc., necessary for work, I will now jot +down, as an exercise for you students, a nice easy day's rabbiting that +actually took place a few weeks ago--a sort of day that quite a young +beginner might work with success. There had been a sharp rime frost in +the night, which still hung about in shady spots at eight o'clock in the +morning, as Jack and I marched off with my dogs and ferrets, accompanied +by old Fly, the lurcher. By nine a.m. we began working field hedge-rows +and banks, where rabbits were pretty plentiful and had been established +for years in every description of burrow. There had been a lot of +partridge and other shooting going on over this farm for the last month, +and most of the rabbits had got a dislike to sitting out in the open, +and were under ground, so we began at the burrows at once, the dogs +driving every rabbit that was sitting out in the hedge back to their +burrows as we walked along. We began work in a stiff clay bank far too +hard for the rabbits to make deep holes in, and here we got on fast. I +took the ditch side--in fact, I took the ditch itself--with a big ferret +with a short line on, and I ran it into each hole I came to. Jack on the +other side looked out for the bolt holes, and always laid down a little +to one side, as much as possible out of sight, but with a hand just on +the bank over the hole ready to catch a bolting rabbit. Fly and the +other dogs took charge of the other holes, and all kept as quiet as +possible. In went the ferret, slowly dragging the line after him till I +count two yards gone by the red marks on the line; then there is a halt +for half a minute, then a loud rumbling and the line is pulled fast +through my fingers. Jack moves quickly, and the next instant a rabbit is +thrown a little way out into the field with its neck broken. Jack says, +"Ferret out," then picks it up, draws the line through the hole, passes +the ferret over to me, and we go on to the next, having filled up the +entrance of the hole we have just worked. Hole after hole was ferreted +much in the same way. Sometimes Jack bagged the bolting rabbit, +sometimes the dogs, and now and then one bolted and got into the hedge +before it could be caught and went back, but it was little use, for the +dogs with Fly at their head were soon after it, and in a few minutes Fly +was sure to have it, and would retrieve it back to Jack. + +As we worked round a big field, we got into softer ground, a red sand +and soil mixed; and here the holes were much deeper and often ran +through the bank and out for yards under ground into the next field. +Here Jack and I changed places, Jack doing the ferreting, and I going to +his side with the garden spade. One, two, three, four, five yards the +ferret went and stopped, and all was quiet. I listen, but not a sound. +Jack pulls gently on the line and finds it tight, and for a minute we +wait, hoping a rabbit may bolt from the hole the ferret went in at. But +no such luck. I take the small ratting-spade, and with the spike end +feel into the ground at the foot of the bank, and at once come upon the +hole; this I open out and clear of earth, and Jack, who has crept +through the hedge, kneels down and finds the line passing this hole in +the direction of the field and going downwards. At that moment there is +a sound like very distant thunder, and the line is pulled quickly four +yards further into the hole, and the marks show six yards are in. I go +about this distance out into the field, lie down and place my ear close +to the ground. I shift about in all directions listening intently, and +at last hear a faint thudding sound. I shift again a few inches in this +direction, and lose it; in that, and recover it; again a few inches, and +the sound is directly under my head, but pretty deep down. I take the +big spade and open out a hole a yard square, and dig down as far as I +can reach. I get into the hole and sink deeper. I have to enlarge it a +foot all round to get room, and then I dig down again till only my head +appears above ground when I stand up. Then I take the long spade, and +with that sink two more feet, and plump I come on the top of the hole, +and the ferret shoves a sand-covered head up and looks at me. I reverse +the long spade and catch the line with the hook and pull the ferret up, +and then calling Jack, I send him head first into the well-like pit, +holding on to one of his feet myself as I lie flat on the ground to +allow him to go deep enough. In a minute a dead rabbit is taken out and +two live ones, whose necks Jack breaks as he hangs suspended, and then I +pull him up with his plunder, and he rights himself on the surface, very +red in the face, very sandy, spluttering and rubbing his eyes. Then the +ferret is swung down again by the line, it goes a little way into the +hole and returns, and so we know we have made a clean sweep. The big +hole is filled up and stamped down, and after filling a pipe and resting +a few minutes, on we go with our work. + +On the high sandy part of the field we have several deep digs like the +above, with varying success, and we rejoice when we reach the last side +of the field and get into clay again, where holes are short and most of +the rabbits bolt at once. During all the day we only stopped once for +half-an-hour to get a snack of bread and cheese, and by the time the +cock partridges began to call their families together for roost, and the +teams in the next field to knock off ploughing, we are all, man, boy, +dogs and ferrets, fairly tired, and are glad to tumble seventeen couple +of rabbits into the keeper's cart that has been sent out for them, and +trudge off home ourselves. + +Now for another day's sport that was quite different. No dogs with us, +only a bag of ready-muzzled ferrets, a bundle of purse nets and a spade. +Success will depend on perfect quiet, and even the patter of the dogs' +feet would spoil our sport, so they are at home for once, and Jack and I +are alone. It is one of those soft mild dull days that now and then +appear in mid-winter, a sort of day to gladden the heart of foxhunters +and doctors, and to make wiseacres shake their heads and say "most +unseasonable." It is a good day for Jack and me, and we feel confident +as we steal into a plantation of tall spruce firs, placed so thick on +the ground that beneath them is perpetual twilight, and not a blade of +grass or bramble to hide the thick carpet of needle points. Softly we +creep forward to a lot of burrows we know of in the corner of the wood, +and then I go forward alone and spread a net loosely over every hole, +firmly pegging it down by the cord. This done I stand quietly down-wind +of the holes, and Jack comes and slips the six ferrets all into +different holes, and then crouches down on his knees. All is quiet; only +the whisperings of the tree-tops, the occasional chirp of a bird, or the +rustle of a mouse in the dead leaves. Five minutes pass, and then out +dashes a rabbit into a net, which draws up round it. Jack moves forward +on tip-toe, kills the rabbit and takes it out of the net, and covers the +hole again. While he is doing this, three more rabbits have bolted and +got netted, one has escaped, and a ferret has come out. The captured +ones are killed, the ferret sent into another hole, and for an hour this +work goes on, and during all the time neither of us have spoken, for we +know there is nothing that scares wild animals more than the human +voice, unless it is the jingle of metals, such as a bunch of keys +rattling. They dread the human voice because they have had too much +experience of it, and the rattle of metal because they have not had +experience enough of it, for it is a sound they have never heard, and +nothing like, in the quiet woods and fields. On the other hand, animals +pay but little attention to a whistle, for in one shape or another they +are constantly hearing it from their feathered companions. + +But to go back to our netting. An hour over, we pick up the ferrets as +they come out and bag them, and then I go off to some fresh holes and +spread the nets again, and we repeat the same performance; and during +the day we kill, without any digging or hard work, about twenty-two +couple of rabbits. In the above account I have written of a day's sport +that took place in a fir plantation in a little village in Norfolk, +where it would have been madness to work the ferrets without muzzling +them, for they would have been sure to kill some rabbits in the holes +and then have laid up; but I should mention that I have killed many +rabbits in the same way on the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire, and I +was much astonished when I first got there to find men who thoroughly +understood their business working their ferrets under nets without +muzzling them. I adopted the plan myself, and have rarely had a ferret +kill a rabbit underground. For some reason that I could never find out, +a Cotswold rabbit will always bolt from a hole with a ferret in if it +can. It is well known in Norfolk that if a rabbit is run into a hole by +dogs, you may ferret it if you like, but it will never bolt, and it must +be dug out. But in Gloucestershire I have seen the same rabbit bolt out +of a hole, get shot at, be run by dogs, go to ground, and again bolt at +once from a ferret. Few professionals ever use a line on a ferret on the +Cotswold, one reason being that the burrows are nearly all in rocky +ground, and there would be danger of the line being caught in the +numerous cracks; besides it is not required, for a rabbit there is sure +to bolt, and for this reason it is twice as easy to kill rabbits in +Gloucestershire as it is in Norfolk, especially in the sandy or soft +soil of the latter county. + +Let me here beg of all my readers, especially students, never to keep a +poor rabbit alive in their hands a second. I don't suppose any who read +this book could be so unsportsmanlike and brutal as to keep a rabbit +alive to course and torture over again with dogs, or for the fun of +shooting at the poor little beast. Such ruffians should never be allowed +a day's sport on a _gentleman's_ property. They are only fit to go out +mole-catching. No, directly you have a live rabbit in your hand, take it +by its hind legs with your right hand, and the head with your left, with +two fingers under its face; with these fingers turn the head back, and +give the rabbit a smart quick stretch, and in an instant all its +sufferings are over. Never hit it with your hand or a stick behind the +ears: first, because you are not quite sure to kill it with the first +blow; and secondly, if you do, half the blood in the rabbit will settle +in a great bruise at the spot where it was struck, and make that portion +unfit for table. + +That is sufficient for this morning, and you may now turn to a little +lighter work with some algebra. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Fortunately I don't live by the sea. I say fortunately, because I look +upon the sea as a swindler, for it robs one of just half one's little +world and upsets all calculations by forcing one to live in a mean +semicircle. I actually know a rat-catcher who is stupid enough to live +in a village on the east coast, and half his time he and his dogs are at +home in idleness and are half starved, because the ever-restless +tiresome sea rolls about and disports itself over all that is east of +the village, so the poor man can only go rat-catching in one direction. +Now and then I go to the sea-side, but when I go there it is on +business--not in my Sunday clothes and with a "tripper's" return +ticket, but with my dogs, ferrets, nets (the long ones) and the boy +Jack; he and I dressed in our well-worn corduroys, gaiters, and navvy +boots; and instead of choosing a town to visit with Marine Parade, +Esplanades, Lodgings to let, Brass Bands, Nigger Minstrels and spouting +M.P.'s, we go to a little village unknown to "trippers," and put up at a +small inn for a week or ten days. We sleep in a room not unlike a +hay-loft, and take our meals and rest in the common kitchen, with its +rattling latticed windows and sanded floor. + +We go there twice each winter to kill rabbits on what are called the +"Denes," which are great, wide, down-like lands on the top of the steep +earth cliff, partially covered with the ever-flowering gorse, a cover +dear to rabbits and all sorts of game. We reach the inn in time for an +early dinner; and after we have housed the ferrets in a big tub and the +dogs in a warm dry shed with heaps of straw to sleep on, Jack and I +despatch our food and then start off to inspect the field of our future +operations. We have not far to go. First down the street, past two or +three dozen flint-pebble cottages; past the church, with its square +tower so high that it makes the really big church look small in +proportion; past the rectory; past the schools, where some forty or +fifty future fishermen and sailors have just finished their tasks for +the day and come rolling out, dressed all alike in dark, sea-stained, +canvas trousers and thick sailor jerseys; past the low one-storied +cottage where the old retired naval captain has lived for many years, +and then up a sandy lane between high crumbling banks and out on to the +open Denes. We take a path that runs close along on the top of the +cliff, mounting a steep hill as we go till we reach a spot half a mile +further on, where the sea cliff is four hundred feet high and nearly +perpendicular; and here among the ruins of an old church, part of which +has fallen with the slipping cliff into the sea many years ago, Jack and +I halt and take a look round. We are on the highest spot within miles, +and spread out in front of us, as we face inland, are, first, the +down-like hills, dotted over with patches of gorse and with turf between +as fine and soft as a Persian carpet; then cultivated fields intersected +by thick hedges; and in the distance we could distinguish a clustering +village here, a homestead there, an old manor-house in its well-kept +garden and park-like grounds, and in all directions the square, solid, +picturesque towers of village churches peeping from among the trees, +that became thicker and thicker the further the eye travelled from the +sea. Close to our left, just under the shoulder of a hill which protects +it from the keen east wind off the sea, is a tiny village of some ten +cottages, all different, all neat and snug-looking, each in its own +garden. There is a stand of bee-hives in one, a honeysuckle-covered porch +to another, and, though it is mid-winter, there is a warm home-like look +about all. Then there is the one farm-house, well kept and well cared +for, but old and belonging to other days, as its gables and low windows +denote; and from our high hill we look over the house into a garden and +orchard beyond, both enclosed by grey lichen-covered walls. On either +side in front of the house are the farm buildings, all, from the big +barn to the row of pigsties, thatched with long reeds, which give the +whole a pleasant English home appearance. + +There are big yards filled with red and white cattle up to their middle +in straw, others full of horses or young calves; cocks and hens are +everywhere, ducks and geese swim in the big pond by the side of the +road, and turkeys, so big and plump they make one long for Christmas, +mob together in the yard, and the turkey-cocks "gobble-gobble" at a boy +who is infuriating them by whistling. A man crosses the yard with two +pails on a yoke, evidently going a-milking; and another passes with a +perfect hay-stack on his back, and a dozen great heavy horses come out +of the stable in Indian file and stump off to the pond to drink. Beyond +the farmstead, in a field on the right of the road, is a double row of +heaped up mangels and swedes; and a little further on are a number of +stacks, so neatly built and thatched that it seems quite a pity they +should soon be pulled down and thrashed, but all showing signs of +prosperity and plenty. + +Beyond this stands a tiny church, with reed-thatch roof. It is all, +church and tower, built of round flint stones as big as oranges, +cleverly split in two and the flat side facing outwards; and from the +dog-tooth Saxon arch over the door one knows it has seen many +generations pass away and find rest from the buffets and storms of the +world in the peaceful, carefully-tended "God's acre" that surrounds it. +If one passed down the red gravel churchyard path, and on in front of +the south door to the far corner, under the big cedar, a small door +would be found, which would lead through a well-kept, old-fashioned +garden to the Rectory: a good old Elizabethan house, covered with thick +creepers up to the very eaves, the model of one of England's snug +homes--homes that have turned out the very best men the dear old land +has produced, to fight, struggle, conquer or die in all professions, in +all parts of the world; men who in such shelters learned to be honest +and true, brave and persevering, lions in courage, women in gentleness; +who could face hardships and poverty without a moan, and prosperity and +riches without swagger; and through all the difficulties of life thought +of the old home, and when success arrived, be they ever so far away, +packed up and came back to finish their days in just such another home +and such surroundings. + +Turn round now, Jack; turn round and take a look at the restless sea +rolling its big waters on the smooth strip of sand there below _on this +side_; and on the other, Jack, far, far away over there in the south, on +the other side of the world, laving the roots of the palm and the +mangrove, beneath the burning rays of tropical suns; and away round +here, Jack, far in the north, dashing its storm-driven waves against the +face of frost-bound rocks and treacherous icebergs. There on the dancing +waters, with all sails set, chasing the lights and shadows as they flit +before it, sails a boat bound south to sunny climes. There on the +horizon, against wind and wave, steams a collier, taking fuel to lands +where the snow lies deep on the ground for four months in the year; and +right and left, outward bound or coming home, are various white sails +dotting the waters. But, Jack, how about supper? I ordered eggs and +bacon for supper, and those chimney corners at the inn looked as if they +might be snug and warm to smoke a pipe in afterwards before turning in. +Step on, Jack, and have supper ready in half an hour, while I go round +by the Rectory and see if the two young gentlemen are at home. They are +the right sort, and as keen as Pepper after the rabbits, and they always +have half a dozen good terriers as fond of the sport as they are. + +At the Rectory I received a kindly welcome from Miss Madge Ashfield, the +rector's only daughter and the sister of the two lads I came to enquire +for; and I was told that they were not yet back from school, but were +expected in three days, and that only that morning a letter came from +them asking when I was likely to come and work the Denes. I comforted +Miss Madge, who at first feared the pick of the sport might be over +before her brothers arrived, by telling her that for the next four days +Jack and I should be busy "doctoring" holes, and that during that time +we could not "away with" boys or dogs, as both were too noisy for the +work. + +Miss Madge took me round to the kennels to see some rough wire-haired +terriers, old friends; also three new ones, all supposed to be wonders; +and she told me she would arrange for her brothers to bring one day five +small beagles belonging to a friend. + +Jack and I did our duty by the ham and eggs that night at the inn, and +the pipe in the old-fashioned chimney corner was very sweet; and if the +beds were a bit hard and knubbly, we did not keep awake to think of +them, for we had both been up since day-break. By eight o'clock the next +morning we had finished breakfast, given the dogs a few minutes' run to +stretch their legs, fed the ferrets that were not wanted, and were on +our way to the Denes, each with two strong male ferrets, a spade, and +game-bag with cold meat and bread in it. We were on our way to "doctor" +the burrows, and this is done by running a muzzled ferret that has first +been smeared with a little spirits of tar down every hole, with a line +on it. It is necessary to keep very quiet, so as to get the rabbits to +bolt. We don't want to kill a single rabbit, but only to disturb hole +after hole, bolt what rabbits we can, and leave a nice sweet smell of +tarred ferret behind us. No time is lost. Jack goes one way and I +another, and every hole is visited till evening shades stop us; then +back home to supper and bed, and at it again in the morning; but on the +second day we begin by visiting each hole we ferreted the day before, +stopping them tight down with sods, and sticking a piece of white paper +on the top of such stopped holes. No fear of shutting in a rabbit, as +the smell of the tarred ferret will keep them out for days; and no fear +of their opening the stopping, as the paper will drive them away. For +four days this work goes on, and we are ready to wager there is not a +hole in the cliffs or Denes that is not doctored, and not a rabbit that +is not above ground. + +It was Wednesday night when we had finished, and that evening the two +boys from the Rectory came down to the inn to see us and get +instructions for the morrow; but I was glad they did not stay long, for +we wanted to go to bed early, so as to get a good night and yet be up +betimes. By eight o'clock next morning, Jack and I were already back +from the Denes, after having run out one thousand yards of long nets. +The nets are in lengths of about one hundred yards, and two feet six +inches high, made of fine string, and each of the top and bottom meshes +knotted on to a cord that runs the entire length. To set these nets, +they are threaded on to a smooth stick, four feet long, and the stick +with the nets on is thrown over a man's shoulder. The man walks off with +the nets along the border of the piece of ground to be enclosed, while +another, after fixing the end of the first net fast to a starting stick, +follows behind. As the man with the net proceeds, he lets the net slip +slowly off the stick on his shoulder, piece by piece; and, as it comes +down, the man behind picks up the top line, gives the net a shake, and +twists the line round the top of stakes previously placed in the ground +about fifty yards apart, taking care as he goes that the bottom of the +net lies for a few inches on the ground. In this way squares of gorse of +about two hundred yards can be entirely enclosed, and every rabbit +inside them surrounded like sheep inside a fold. + +Our breakfast over, we were soon out again with all our dogs (except old +Chance, who had been left at home on account of her age, and also on +account of her trick of always liking to go up to the carrier's each +night to sleep), and we had also two real good lurchers. At the foot of +the Denes we met the boys from the Rectory, with a friend about their +own age, and the curate of the next parish with a business-like ash +stick under his arm; and among them they had mustered a pack of ten +terriers, some of which wanted to begin work by a fight with my dogs; +but it takes two to make a quarrel, and my dogs knew better than to +waste their strength in fighting when there was a day's work in front of +them. + +In a few minutes we were at the first piece of netted gorse--a real +tearer, close, compact and a mass of thorns; but what dogs or boys care +for gorse thorns when rabbits are on foot? So it is, "Over you go, +boys!" "Hie in, dogs! Roust them out there!" and the old dogs spring the +nets and are at work in a minute, while the young ones blunder and +struggle in the nets, and have to be lifted over. The curate, Jack and +I, and the man who drove the cart with the nets, and who will carry off +the dead rabbits, stand at the nets and take out and kill the rabbits +that get caught; and for the first hour we have as much as we can do, +and work our hardest. Many rabbits do get through the nets, and others +go back, and these latter it is difficult to get into the nets a second +time, and they are killed by the dogs in the thick gorse. Yap! yap! yap! +"Hie in, good dogs! hie in, young ones! Ah! back there! back! no going +over the nets! Would you? Look here! hie there! in you go!" Yap! yap! +yap! all scurry, rush and bustle; and the Rectory boys and their friend +are all over the square at once, and in ten minutes so tingle from +innumerable pricks from the gorse that they are benumbed and feel them +no more. "Go, Fly, go!" and a big hare dashes out, with Fly after it, +and both jump the net and make for another clump of gorse; but Fly has +never been beaten since she was a puppy, and soon returns with the hare +in her mouth. "Hie in, dogs! hie in!" There are more yet, and we are +bound to make a clean sweep; and so the work goes on. + +First one patch, and then another, till lunch-time, which said lunch, +according to a long-standing custom, comes up in a cart from the +Rectory; but after snatching a hurried bit, the man and I have to bustle +away to shift the nets, a work that keeps us hard at it for an hour and +more; but long before we have done, the boys, parson and dogs are at it +again in one of the first patches we have surrounded, and it is night +and the moon is up before we have finished and picked up the nets. We +find on counting the bag that we have two hundred and seventy rabbits, +and feel content with our day's work. On Friday and Saturday the same +work, and when we turned homewards on this last night, it was as much as +man, boys or dogs could do to drag themselves along; but we had killed +six hundred and fifty rabbits in the three days and were well content. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +Sunday was to us all a real day of rest, and we enjoyed every minute of +it, and for once listened to a very long sermon without the fidgets. The +Rectory boys came up for a chat in the afternoon, so we let the dogs out +and went down to the beach and strolled quietly about, neither dogs nor +humans indulging in anything like play--all were too stiff and sore to +think of it. + +We were all out again early on Monday morning, but without nets and +taking only sticks; and we spent a short day, with a long lunch, looking +up outlying rabbits in the hedges of the farm at the foot of the Denes; +and here the two lurchers, who during the days at the nets had taken it +easy and refused to face the gorse, had the chief of the work, for +directly a rabbit was started by the other dogs, it made straight off +across the open for the gorse on the Denes, and the lurchers were the +only dogs fast enough to catch them. We finally had to give up work +because the dogs of all sorts were too tired to move, and also because +the weather, that had been fine and calm all the previous week, began to +break, and before we reached shelter there was half a gale sending big +green waves thundering on to the beach and carrying the salt spray far +inland. + +That night, after Jack was in bed and asleep, I put on my hat and +went out, called by the noise of the waters. I joined a group of +weather-beaten hard-featured men dressed in thick blue jerseys and +"sou-wester" hats, who stood with their hands tucked deep into their +trouser pockets, watching the sea from behind the shelter of a boat +stranded high up on the beach. I got a civil word of greeting as I came +up, and then we all watched in silence, for by this time the "half gale" +had become a storm, and it was only by shouting we could have made each +other hear. It was a wild weird scene, awe-inspiring, but intensely +attractive--at least _I_ found it so; but then such scenes did not often +come before me, and I daresay my companions, who were well used to being +out on such a night, only felt thankful they were safe on shore, and +thought with anxiety of those of their friends and neighbours who were +out battling with the storm. The moon when I reached the beach was +nearly at the full and high up in the heavens, but it shed a fitful +light, as each few seconds dark clouds and veils of mist flew across its +face. One moment the sea lay before us a dark black mass, only marked +along the beach by a broad strip of breaking, foam-crested waves; and +the next it was a dancing, tossing, roaring sheet of ever-changing +liquid silver; or far away we would see the spray like pearls rising +high in the air before the storm, and at our feet the waves curled up +like huge furious monsters, dashing at the sands and shingle as if bent +on destruction, and then with a swirl sliding back, a mass of foam, to +meet and join the next wave, and with its help again come on to the +attack. + +Over and over again I fancied I could hear the shrieks and groans of +people in distress, and I turned for confirmation of my fancies to the +faces of my companions; but all remained unmoved, but bore the quiet +determined look that assured me that, had any unfortunate beings called +for help from the midst of those wild waters, at the risk of those men's +lives it would unhesitatingly have been given. Once for a moment, when a +thin mist swept before the moon and made the light on the waters appear +more like day than night, I clearly saw on the horizon the upper part of +a ship's masts, with some sails bent to their yards, and all heeled over +as if the ship were then about to founder, and I gave a loud +exclamation; but an old sailor put his hand on my shoulder and called in +my ear, "All right, master, all right! We have watched her for a quarter +of an hour trying to make the point of the sands yonder, and she is now +past them and has an open sea. She is as safe as you are now, thank God; +but it was a near shave, and we thought she and all in her were gone." +Often since then in my dreams I have seen that wind-tossed sea, and +heard the roar of the waters and the screams of the storm, and seen +those masts and sails heeling over, and have awoke with a start and +dread fear in my heart. + +I had been tired when I came in from work, and I had a snug warm bed +waiting for me, and moreover I reasoned that watching a storm in the +dead of night was no part of a rat-catcher's duty; but I was so +fascinated I could not tear myself away, and I stood with my companions +behind the boat till long after midnight. Then two other figures dressed +like my companions joined us, and it was only when they spoke that I +recognised one as the parson of the parish, and the other as the young +curate who had helped us with the rabbits. Both asked a few questions of +the sailors, who seemed eager to give them information; and then the +rector, turning to me, said: "You will be perished by the cold if you +stand here longer. Come with me, and I will show you a picture of a +different sort, but yet one that I think will interest you." I readily +accepted and followed my friend, who, though far from a young man, bore +the buffeting of the storm manfully; and he led me up through the +village street, and then turning down a short steep lane brought me to a +little cove that was partly sheltered by a spit of rock that jutted out +into the sea. There, such as it was, was the harbour of the village, and +by the fitful light I could see some dozen fishing boats drawn up high +on the beach above the force of the waves; and beyond, a cluster of low, +one-storied cottages and sheds, with small boats, spars, timbers, +windlasses, etc., all denoting the home of fishermen. From this cove, +early that morning, two boats had sailed with their nets for the fishing +grounds out beyond the sands, and it was for these my friends behind the +boat were patiently watching, and it was to say a few words to cheer and +comfort the wives and families of these men that the old rector had now +come. + +From a latticed window just in front of us a bright lamp shed its rays +over the cove, and the rector took me straight to the door of this +house, and having knocked and been told to come in, he lifted the latch +and ushered me inside. The room was like hundreds of others along that +coast, the homes of the toilers of the deep, and bore evident signs of +being made by men more used to ships than stone or brick buildings. It +was a good large room, very low, with heavy rafters overhead, which, +with the planks of which the walls were constructed, had doubtless been +taken from boats and ships that had served their time on the sea. The +open fireplace at the end, with its wide chimney, was the only part of +the building not made of old ship timbers and planks, and there was a +strong smell of tar from these and from sundry coils of dark rope that +were stowed away in a far corner. The long table down the middle of the +room was of mahogany and had seen better days in a captain's cabin. The +benches round the walls had served as seats on some big ship's deck; and +there were swinging lamps and racks hung overhead from the rafters, with +rudders, boat-hook, snatch-block, belaying pins, and various things I +did not know the use of; but all were neatly arranged. There was a large +arm-chair made out of a barrel set ready by the side of the hearth, on +which were spread clean flannel clothes to warm and air, in readiness +for the home-coming of the wet and tired husband. + +In front of the fire, attending to it and to three or four pots and +kettles that simmered on the hearth, stood a woman about thirty years of +age--just an ordinary fisherman's wife, strong and well shaped, without +beauty of feature, but bright and intelligent looking; and when a smile +lit up her face, it shed such a kindly ray that one felt that the +husband in the little fishing boat on the storm-tossed deep might have +his eyes fixed on the lantern burning in the window, but it would be the +light of the wife's smile that kept his hand steady on the helm and +guided the boat, and made him long to round the point and come to +anchor. + +On the other side of the hearth was another arm-chair, also made out of +a barrel, but much smaller; and in this, packed tightly and snugly round +with cushions, half-sat, half-reclined a boy about ten years of age; +but, alas! a pair of crutches leaning in the corner beside him at once +told a sad tale. I know the points and beauties of all sorts of dogs, +and always admire them, but I am not much of a hand at the good points +and beauties of men and women, and as for boys, it is rare I see +anything but mischief written in their faces; but somehow I could not +take my eyes off the boy in the chair. I suppose because it was so +different to an other young face I had ever seen, and so different to +what one might expect to find amid the surroundings of a fisherman's +cottage. + +It was a dark, delicate, oval face, like a girl's, with finely cut +features, and a complexion as fair as the petals of an apple blossom; +but it was his great brown eyes and long eyelashes, black as night, that +held the attention, together with a look of deep patient suffering, +mingled with gentleness and love that lit all up, and filled even the +heart of a rough old rat-catcher like me with a feeling of deep pity and +an intense desire to protect and befriend a small creature who looked +too fragile, too beautiful, and too good for this old work-a-day world +of ours, and as if he were only tarrying for a short while before going +to his eternal home, where his features will be beautified by perfect +love, and will lose the look of suffering and pain. + +The rector, taking off his "sou'-wester" as he entered, turned to the +woman with a cheery voice, and said, "Well, Mary, how are you and the +boy?--how are you, my man? I happened to be passing" (just as if it were +quite a common thing for a parson to be out on the loose at one a.m. on +a winter's night), "and I thought I would just call in to say that the +men at the boats tell me that the bark of this gale is far worse than +its bite, and that it is a fair, honest, rattling gale that such good +sailors as your husband care nothing for, and that we may expect the +boats in with the daylight, so you may keep the pots boiling. But why +isn't that youngster snug in bed and asleep? Oh! he can't sleep when the +wind howls, and Jack is away! Why, my boy, Jack will laugh at you when +he comes home, and say he don't want such big, tired-looking eyes +watching for him! Well, it will be morning soon, and, please God, Jack +will be here, and will have popped you into bed himself before most of +the world are up and about." At this Mary smiled; and the little boy, +with a low laugh, said: "Jack knows Mary and I are waiting for him. Jack +says he can often see us, and all we are doing, when he is out at sea in +a raging storm, and the night is ever so dark; and he'd feel bad, Jack +would, if I was not up to see him eat his supper; and besides, Mary +could not sit here alone and listen to the wind and sea, and I am never +tired and sleepy when waiting for Jack. Besides, Jack says he must tell +someone all he has done and seen while he gets his supper, and Mary is +too busy after the nets and things, so I sit here, and Jack tells me of +such wonderful things: it is just lovely to hear him." + +The rector would not sit down, and soon hurried me off to another +cottage, much such another as the first; but instead of Mary and the +boy, we found a great, tall, gaunt old woman, sitting up before the +fire, waiting for her two grandsons, who were away in the same boat with +Jack; but to the rector's cheery, hopeful words, the woman answered with +a bitter, sharp, complaining tongue: "I don't want no stop-at-home idle +chaps to tell me what a storm is. Danger! who says there's danger? +Danger with a little puff of wind like this? Not but what both of those +boys will be washed ashore one day as their grandfather and father were. +It's in the blood, and trying for a lone woman. Drat the boys! I told +them not to go off with Jack. I could see plain for days that it was +coming on to blow; but oh, no! they know better than me, who have lived +to lose their father in such a storm as this, and to see his boat with +my own eyes go to pieces on the Point as she came in, and not a man +saved, and me left with them boys to keep. God only knows how I did it, +and now they are that masterful they won't pay no attention to me." And +then, as a hurricane of wind dashed at the door and windows and sent the +smoke from the wood fire far out into the room, the poor old thing +started and turned to the night outside with a look of terror; and, as +the storm rushed on, and then there was a lull, she threw her apron over +her head and sobbed for fear and deep anxiety for her grandsons. + +The rector comforted her with gentle words and praise of her pluck and +nerves; and as he and I returned to the beach, he told me that the old +woman had once been the prettiest girl for many miles round, that when +her boys were far too young to help her the father had been drowned by +the upsetting of his boat on the Point, and from that day she had +worked and toiled, mending nets and selling fish in fair weather and +foul, often weary and half-starved, but succeeding in the end to keep +her old cottage over her head, and to bring her boys up respectably and +turn them out two of the smartest fishermen along the coast. + +As we left the cottage the first tender light of the morning was paling +the eastern sky far out to sea, and hastening on to the Point, we could +just make out a distant sail appearing now and then out of the departing +darkness of the night, and before half an hour was over the rector +declared it to be Jack's boat coming in fast before the wind. All the +village was astir in a minute, old men and young women and children +hurrying to the cove and making ready for the home-coming; and in a few +minutes the boat, with Jack holding the helm and the old woman's boys +sitting crouched low down, dashed past the Point, turned sharp into the +cove, and down in a moment fell the sail and the anchor-chain rattled +out of the bows. There was no cheering or noisy welcome or rejoicing, +for such scenes were the daily incidents in the life of the village; but +everyone lent a helping hand, and in a few minutes Jack and his men were +on shore. The old grandmother was there, but took no notice of her +grandsons, who marched off to the cottage laden with oars, etc., where +the old woman had just preceded them to put out the breakfast. + +The rector and I turned to go home, and as I passed the cottage where +Jack lived I glanced in and saw him standing on the hearth, tall, +massive, weather-beaten and rugged, with the lame boy high up in his +arms looking hard in his face, and both man and child had such a happy +contented smile on their faces that it did me good to see, and I think +may have rejoiced even the angels above. + +When parting from me at the inn door, the rector said that if I liked to +step up to the rectory that evening after my supper he would find me a +pipe of tobacco, and tell me all that was known of the history of the +little boy who had awakened such an interest in me, for, he added, "it +is a very curious story." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +At eight o'clock, having fed my dogs and ferrets and left my boy Jack +chatting in the harness-room with the rector's old coachman, I found +myself in a snug arm-chair, pipe in mouth, my feet on the fender, and +the rector sitting opposite me in his study, he also enjoying an +after-dinner pipe; and after a chat over the events of the day and of +the storm of the previous night, the rector began the history of the +poor lame boy at the cottage thus-- + +"I dare say you remember that about eight years ago the Irish question +was giving the authorities much trouble and anxiety owing to the active +turn it had then taken. Hideous murders were of daily occurrence in +that unfortunate country. Dynamite was being used in London to destroy +our public buildings, and many of our statesmen were being tracked by +paid assassins. Strict orders had been issued by the authorities to +watch all our ports to prevent the landing from America of arms and +infernal machines, and both the police and Customs officers were on the +alert; and yet, in spite of all, bloodthirsty, cowardly dynamiters and +assassins succeeded in sneaking into the country, and every now and then +perpetrated some hateful outrage. Well, it was during this time that one +November morning a queer-looking yacht-like vessel appeared in the +offing, and for two days kept standing about. During the day-time it was +well out in the offing, but once or twice at night it was noticed by the +coastguard and sailors to have come close in to land, and altogether its +movements were so mysterious that our suspicions were fully aroused, +and the officer of the coastguard telegraphed to the captain of the +gunboat stationed at Brockmouth to put him on the alert. + +"For some days after this nothing was seen of the yacht, and our +suspicions were lulled, and life in our quiet little village had settled +down to its usual routine, when early one stormy morning the strange +vessel was again seen close off the land, and a boat manned by six men +put off for the little harbour; and just as it rounded the Point and got +into smooth water, a dog-cart, that we all recognised as one let out for +hire in a town ten miles inland, drove down to the beach. Beside the +driver sat a tall, thin, dark man, but the few people on the beach had +only time to observe this and that he had the dress and appearance of a +gentleman, when he sprang from the cart and hurried to where the boat +lay, and without hesitating a moment or speaking to anyone he waded out +through the low surf to the boat, which at once left the harbour and +made the best of its way to the yacht, which as soon as all were on +board hoisted all sail and was soon out of sight, driven along by a +storm that became in the course of the day as fierce a one as that of +last night. There was much talk on the beach among the fishermen and in +the village among us all as to what the yacht could be and who the +stranger was; and we gathered from the driver of the dog-cart, who had +put up his horse at the inn to rest, that he had been called by the +porter at the railway station to drive the gentleman over; but that he +had not heard his name, or what business brought him here. The driver, +who was a sharp old fellow, said the gentleman had chatted with him as +he came along, but kept pressing him to drive faster and faster, and +gave him five shillings above his fare to use his best speed, and he +added: 'I don't know who he is, or what his business may be, but I know +one thing--he is an Irishman. I can tell it by his tongue, and by his +queer-looking blue eyes and dark hair.' + +"Four and twenty hours passed, and during that time many people, I among +the number, did not go to bed, for the storm which had sprung up with +the departing yacht had blown itself into half a hurricane, and there +were fishing boats out, which made us all anxious. As we did last night, +or rather this morning, I went round to a few of the fishermen's houses +where there were anxious wives and mothers waiting for the absent, and +chatted with and cheered them, and I was leaving the two cottages that I +daresay you noticed close under the rock towards the Point when the +first streaks of morning began to appear in the east. I love to see the +day break at any time, but I especially like to watch it over a stormy +angry sea; and therefore sheltering myself a little behind a boulder, I +stood gazing for a while, when presently, like a thing of life, came +plunging and driving from the very gates of the morning the same yacht +that had so puzzled us. On and on it came, close-hauled to the wind, +straight for the narrow rock-bound jaws of the cove; and I saw at a +glance that, if it kept its course, it must strike on a group of rocks +some half-mile out at sea; and, parson as I am, I knew, should she +strike them, no human aid could save the lives of those on board. + +"I hardly know what I did, except that I took off my coat and waved it +frantically, and mounted the highest pinnacle on the rocky point to make +myself seen by the fated crew; but though at last I could actually +distinguish two men at the wheel holding the vessel close to the wind, +yet they took no notice, and came on and on, leaping waves mountains +high one minute, and lost to sight the next in the trough of the seas. +Scores of fishermen soon joined me, and even their wives followed and +crouched near, behind the rocks; and so fully was the ship's danger +realized, that from time to time a deep groan, half of despair, half +prayer, went up from all. There was but one hope--could the yacht be +kept close enough to the wind to lead those steering her to believe they +could make the entrance of the harbour? or would she be carried far +enough to windward to make this impossible, and so force those in charge +to alter her course to avoid the stiff cliffs beyond? Ah, no! We saw as +we watched that she was too good a vessel to fall off to leeward, and +those handling her too good sailors to allow her to do so, for she flew +over the waves like a beautiful bird for the entrance of the harbour, +and the sunken rocks were in her direct line! + +"Suddenly as we watched, with every sense strained to the utmost, and +our eyes rivetted on the doomed ship, we heard away out to sea the boom +of a big gun, and then another, and presently we saw emerging from the +fast diminishing darkness a low, long steamer. At first we thought it +was a ship also in deep distress, making signals; but the old sailors +soon saw this was not so, and declared it was a gunboat firing at the +yacht in the hope of driving her on to the rock-bound coast, and also to +attract the attention of the coastguard, so that, should she reach the +harbour, those on board might be prevented from escaping the hands of +justice. It was a cruel service for British sailors to be employed on, +however necessary, and hard to witness. Man hunting man to his death, +when the wind and waves already held open the portals of eternity before +him, and little short of a miracle could avert his doom! + +"A few minutes, a few hundred yards, and the yacht is on the rocks! +Gallantly she glides along the side of that green wave and dashes the +foam from her crest ere she plunges deep into the sea. A monster wave +rolls fast upon her as if to swallow her quivering form. High, high she +rises, till half her length is in the air over the crest of the wave, +and then down she sinks; then the crash comes. Waves dash over her, her +masts fall, her boats are wrenched from her sides, and the next minute +we see her, a tangled mass of wreck and cordage, firmly embedded on the +pitiless rocks. Don't suppose our fishermen had been quietly watching +this and doing nothing to help. From the first, preparations had been +made. Our friend Jack, and a score of other active young men, had +shoved off the only boat on the beach that had the faintest hope of +living in a storm like this, and had been waiting in it close to the +harbour mouth some minutes before the yacht struck. But so small was the +chance of that frail boat living in such a sea, that many of the most +experienced of the sailors made signals to prevent the men starting off +to meet what they thought was certain death. Others thought it might be +done, and waved contrary signals; and it was then that one saw what sort +of women our sailors' wives are, for though many standing there with us +had near and dear ones in that boat, and were suffering tortures of +anxiety, not a word was spoken, but all was left for the men to do as +they thought right. + +"As the yacht struck, a deep, wailing shout went up from all on land, +and those in the boat knew what had happened, and the next moment we saw +the boat plunge into the green waves at the harbour mouth. For a moment +it seemed to stagger and quail, and then, impelled by those hands and +muscles of iron, it was driven forward through the blinding spray into +the angry sea beyond. Shall I ever forget how we watched that boat, now +mounted high on the top of a wave, now for moments lost to sight, the +men all straining at their oars to the utmost, and always creeping +forward yard by yard? All this time, we on the Point could see, with +increasing fears, that the hope of the yacht holding together till +reached by the rescuers was but a faint one. Each monster wave that +rolled in lifted it from the rocks and left it to fall back with an +irresistible force midst spray and foam, that constantly wholly hid it +from our sight; and even before the boat started, portions of the wreck +were being tossed about on the sea, making its passage even more +precarious. At one time a group of human beings was seen on the deck +clinging to some cordage; but when the next wave passed, most of them +had disappeared, and we knew they had perished before our eyes. It was +difficult to distinguish objects midst the turmoil, but it soon was +whispered among us that some one or more persons were crouching behind +the bulwarks, probably lashed there for safety, and from an occasional +flutter of a red scarf or garment, we feared there was an unfortunate +woman among them; and once, as the waves receded from the deck, we +distinctly saw a man rise up from the group and look for a moment +towards the approaching boat, and then sink again beside his companions, +just as the incoming wave swept high over the poor shelter the stout +bulwark afforded. + +"If the yacht could only hold together a few minutes longer! But no! +once more it rises from its bed like some agonised, dying monster, and +then as it falls back it parts in two, and half of it is a drifting mass +of planks and timber, washing forward as if to meet the boat and destroy +it. A portion yet remained fixed on the rock, and now and then we could +still see the group crouching behind the bulwark. On and on fought the +boat, now a little out of the direct line to avoid the wreckage, till it +was close behind the wreck and partially sheltered by the rampart it +formed against the sea; but at that moment all that remained of it was +again lifted high in the air and dashed forward; and when the wave had +passed by, there was only the frail boat with its brave crew to be seen +on the surface. We see it pause for a moment, and then the oars all dip +together, and the boat dashes forward. Someone leans over the bows, and +there is a moment's struggle; but the mist and foam prevent our +distinguishing clearly what is going on. After a while they evidently +find there is nothing further that can be done; the boat is put before +the waves and comes dashing back towards land. + +"All on the Point hurried down to the entrance of the harbour; and many +of the men, with coils of rope in their hands, stood ready to give +assistance. As each wave rolled under the boat, it flew through the +water, and then sank back again hidden from our sight; but nearer and +nearer it came on, till at last on the crest of a wave it darted sharp +round the Point, and lay tossing in comparatively calm water. Steadily +its crew rowed it up the little harbour, and as it approached the beach +scores of ready hands seized it and ran it high up on to dry land, and a +cheer rang out above the roar of the wind to welcome those snatched from +the jaws of death. But this was not responded to by the men in the boat. +They all looked stern and anxious; and then we saw that Jack, who was +crouched in the bows, was supporting in his arms the slight form of a +fair young girl, with long, soft, tangled hair falling around her and +forming a frame to the most beautiful saint-like face my eyes had ever +seen. Her lips were parted in a smile, and her eyes looked down on a +small boy about two years old, who was bound in her arms by a red scarf. +At first I thought she was fainting or falling asleep, but the next +moment--merciful Heavens!--I saw that the back of her sweet young head +was battered in and bleeding, and that she was already beyond the storms +of life and the cruel raging of the destroying elements. + +"Hard horny hands of rough women tenderly and deftly unwound the scarf +from off the child; and Jack's wife, Mary, pressing him to her bosom, +hastened with him to her cottage, while the fair dead form was carried +to a fisherman's house close by, and a few days later was laid in its +quiet grave in the old churchyard, within sound of the ruthless sea that +had so cruelly beaten the young life out of it. + +"You may easily find the grave, for the fishermen out of their deep pity +had a plain cross put over it, with just the words 'Jack's mother' and +the date of her death carved upon it. To this day, and I fancy for ever, +the only name she will be known by is 'Jack's mother,' for all connected +with that ill-fated yacht remains a mystery. Not a living creature +escaped, except that frail little child. Many bodies were recovered +during the next few days, and among them the remains of the man who had +arrived the previous day in the dog-cart; but neither on any of the +bodies, nor among the wreckage that came ashore, was anything found to +lead to the identification of the yacht or its owners; and though the +account of the disaster appeared in all the papers and was the talk of +the county, yet no living soul has ever come forward to claim connection +with the child or with any of those drowned. + +"It was thought at the time that the owner of the yacht was one of those +desperate ruffians of Irish extraction that have from time to time +arrived here from America, and that when he so hastily joined the vessel +he was in fear of detection and was about to sail for America. Anyhow +the yacht was sighted by the gunboat sent to look after it, and chased +and driven through the storm back to our little harbour, it being +doubtless the intention of the fugitive to attempt his escape by land if +he could once reach the shore. How miserably it ended you now know; but +you don't know quite all, for I have not told you that, on reaching +their cottage, Jack's wife found that the little one breathed. I have +told you of the storm, and I have told you of the wreck; but words +would fail to tell of all the love and care and attention that was +bestowed for weeks--aye! for years, up to this day--on the little one. +Only the recording angel can note such things, and only the God of love +can reward them. Not that either Jack or his wife think of rewards +either from earth or in heaven, for their love is wholly unselfish and +all-satisfying; and were only the boy well and strong, I am sure that in +all these realms there could not be found a more perfectly happy trio +than Jack the fisherman, little Jack, and his adopted mother. +Unfortunately it was discovered that in some way the child's back had +been injured in the storm. For months he lay between life and death, at +last to recover partially only in health, and without the use of his +poor legs. + +"Many friends have come forward with help, and great London doctors have +seen and attended the boy. Till lately they gave little hope, but, +thank God, there has been during the past year a slow but steady +improvement, and they now think in time the boy may grow strong in +health, but there is no hope of his ever walking without his crutches. + +"Fortunately nature has bestowed many gifts on the poor child that +compensate him somewhat for his loss--first, an intensely loving, +unselfish nature; and secondly, a perfect voice and passionate love of +music. Already he is carried each Sunday to church by his father, and +his voice in the choir is celebrated for many miles round, and has so +impressed the organist at the cathedral at Marshford that he either +comes himself, or sends one of his pupils, to give the boy a lesson once +a week, and there is not a better violinist within the bounds of the +county than our little Jack is. His father is so proud of the boy's +gifts that I have known him, when wind-bound in a harbour down the coast +twenty miles away, walk over the whole distance on a Sunday morning and +back at night rather than miss carrying the little fellow to church and +hearing him sing there. But it is eleven o'clock, and we were up all +last night. What, no grog? Well, good night! Come and see me when you +can, and come and watch the sea with me in another storm, and we will +see if I can't rake up another story of the doings of the rough heroes +of our neighbourhood who go down to the sea in ships. Good night, good +night!" + +And so one of the pleasantest evenings I had spent for a long while was +over. + +Oh, dear! oh, dear! What a muddle, what a hodge-podge I have made of +this pen work! I sat down thinking it would be quite easy to write a +book on "Rat-catching for the Use of Schools," and I have drifted off +the line here, toppled into a story there, and been as wild and erratic +in my goings on as even Pepper would be with a dozen rats loose together +in a thick hedge. Well, I can't help it. I am not much good at books, +and it ain't of much consequence, for during the last few days I have +heard from half a dozen head-masters of schools that they find the art +of rat-catching is so distasteful to their scholars, and so much above +their intellect, and so fatiguing an exercise to the youthful mind, that +they feel obliged to abandon the study of it and replace it once more by +those easier and pleasanter subjects, _Latin_ and _Greek_. Well, I am +sorry for it, very sorry. I had hoped to have opened up a great career +to many young gentlemen, but have failed; and I can only console myself +with thinking that one can't make silk purses out of--you know what. +Mind, in this quotation I am not thinking of myself and my failure. + + + LONDON: + + PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, + STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Studies in the Art of Rat-catching, by +H. C. Barkley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41133 *** |