R A T
' ATCHJNC
The* International Uongress "cT~ I'noiisnem
lias been quite an unusual success, has been
well-attended by representative men from
Europe and America, has received all honour in
London, and has been, in the conference por-
tion of its proceedings, characterised by much
common sense. There was one unexpected
result of a protest raised against the excessive
use of extracts by some reviewers. We might
have supposed that this would have been
an opportunity eagerly seized upon to mitigate
what is undoubtedly an evil. It is well known
that many persons do not buy books because
all the spicy portions have been — to use Mr.
Arthur Waugh's phrase— " gutted " by the
papers, which get attractive copy at a very easy
rate. Mr. Waugh asked the Congress to do
something towards amending the copyright law
upon an admittedly difficult point, but the
general body of publishers present seemed to
be of opinion that the law is strong enough
already, and that there is not after all much t<>
complain about. A very funny story was told i
by the chairman, Mr. John Murray. His Him
published a book recommended by Mr. <iU<l-
stone, and it was a dead failure. It also
published a little thing on rat-catching, which
was reviewed in the Field, and in consequence of j
the notice communications came from all parts *
of the country, and the book was a de<
success.
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 upv
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
325452
iv Preface.
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 — Learn-
ing 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
vi Contents.
CHAPTER IV.
Page
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
Contents. vii
CHAPTER IX.
Page
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 Fisher-
men ........ 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 every-
thing has been tried ; and, go where you will,
even the children of the noble may be found
B
Introduction.
wrestling with those of the middle and work-
ing 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.
Introduction.
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 Glad-
stone, 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.0
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
B 2
Introduction.
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 pro-
fessional cards. Here it is —
BOB JOY,
RAT-CATCHER
To H.RH. The Prime 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
Introduction.
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 here-
with dedicate to the Head Masters of Eton,
Introduction.
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 morn-
ing as you ride to covert is not delicious !
Introduction.
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 A i at book learning.
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
en. i.] The Ferret Family. 9
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 im-
ported, 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
io Studies in Rat Catching. [en. i.
have multiplied and increased, which is a
proof that they are not mules, for the chil-
dren 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
CH. i.] Crossed with the Pole-Cat. 1 1
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
12 Studies in Rat Catching. [en. i.
discretion the better part of valour. How
ever 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 pole-
cat, 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
CH. i.] Choosing Ferrets. 13
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 trouble-
some to cure. All this done, I put the ferret
14 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. i.
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
CH.-I.] Hittches. 15
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 ques-
tion 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 drain-
age. The third compartment should be
entered from the middle one by a hole in the
1 6 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. i.
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
CH. i.] Feeding Ferrets. 17
feeding. I have always given my ferrets
bread and milk once or twice a week, which
was placed in flat tins in the middle com-
partment ; 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 there-
fore 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 re-
moved 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
c
1 8 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. i.
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.
CH. i.] "Bar the Tail!1 19
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 sul-
phur 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
C 2
2O Studies in Rat Catching. [en. I.
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
CH. i.] Handling Ferrets. 21
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 30 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
22 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. i.
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.
'3
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
24 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
get heavy and feel as if it were a grand-
father'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
CH. ii.] Ferrets Fighting. 25
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 th'em
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
26 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
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, there-
CH. ii.] The Ratting Spade. 27
fore, 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 prod-
ding 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
28 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
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
CH. ii.] Ratting Tools. 29
stack without coming to the ground. There-
fore, 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 men-
tion 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
3O Studies in Rat CatcJiing. [CH. n.
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
CH. ii.] Hints to Schoolmasters. 31
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
32 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
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. Any-
body 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
en. ii.] Learning Dog Language. 33
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 re-
ceived," 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 six-
D
34 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. i^
pence 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
CH. ii.] " With a Scold in your Voice" 35
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
D 2
36 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. n.
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
CH. ii.] The Dogs Kennel. 37
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 hate-
ful 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 in-
stance, that a long thick coated dog will
38 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
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 winter's
night, what your thin- coated pointer is under-
going 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
11 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
CH. ii.] Treating Dogs Kindly. 39
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)
4O Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. n.
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
CH. IL] Dogs in their Proper Place. 41
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
CH. in.] Aristocratic v. Pie. 43
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 per-
formances. 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
44 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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
CH. in.] Come^by ^Chance. 45
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
46 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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 pro-
ceedings, not offering to take a part herself,
as she feels there are more able dogs ready,
and that this is not her strong point. Sup-
pose 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, Ifs/ie says
CH, in.] Come-by-Chance s Friend. 47
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 invita-
tion sne 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
48 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. in.
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
CH. in.] Nondescript Tinker. 49
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 rne " 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 ferret-
ing a thick hairy bank with a big ditch,
Grindum always goes some ten yards off and
places himself in the ditch, and, let the excite-
ment be what it will, he never moves ; and
E
50 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. m.
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 dilapi-
dated 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
CH. in.] Grindum. 51
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 mis-
chief; 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
E 2
52 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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 tP Dk 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
CH. in.] How I Got Grindum. 53
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 after-
wards 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
54 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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 mid-
night 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
CH. in.] Grindums Friends. 55
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
56 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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 croon-
ing 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, Grinduoi ! 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, andjie 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.
CH. in.] Jack and his Sister. 57
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
5 8 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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
CH. in.] " Jack Took Me!' 59
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.
60 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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, con-
victed 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
CH. in.] End of an Ugly Story. 61
gone mad with fear, and was so bad, especially
at night, that if he had not got a bulldog
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 alpha-
62 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
bet, 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
CH. in.] Grindinris First Rat. 63
him and stroke his face softly, when he will
quickly recover himself. I don't know "vhat
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
64 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. in.
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 Grin-
dum'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 —
CH. in.] Pepper and Wasp. 65
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.
F
66 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. in.
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 gentle-
men. 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 imposi-
tions" 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.
F 2
68 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. iv.
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
CH. iv.j An Autumn Walk. 69
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
70 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. iv.
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
CH. iv.] " Steady, Dogs, Steady / " 71
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 benevo-
lent. 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-rn. 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
72 St 2t dies in Rat Catching. [en. iv.
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 !
CH. iv.] A Ferret Disabled. 73
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 nesh,
74 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. iv.
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.
CH. iv.] Rats up a Pollard. 75
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,
76 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. iv.
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
CH. iv.] A Rat-catcher s Picnic. 77
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
78 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. iv.
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 my-
self, 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
CH. iv.] Starting Rats from a Drain. 79
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
8o Studies in Rat Catching, [en. iv.
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 fotirpenny beasts, they are
so big. Never mind, seventy-three rats at
CH. iv.] A Weary Walk Home. St
twopence each comes to twelve and two-
pence— 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-
G
82 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. iv.
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 par-
tridges 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
CH. iv.] Kennel, Dogs, Kennel! 83
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
G 2
84 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. iv.
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 com-
plaints 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 knew
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.'1
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 pleas-
ant 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 com-
panions and something fresh to see at every
86 Studies in Rat Catching. [en. v.
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 ask-
ing to have a dog that was tied up to a
kennel in a back yard led away, as his
CH. v.] A Rat in a Queer Place. 87
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 tha'. 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.
88 Studies in Rat Catching. [en. v.
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
CH. v.] Rats in a Ladys Chamber. 89
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.1' 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
90 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. v.
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 aristo-
cratic 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
CH. v.] Rats in a House. 91
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 wain-
scot 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 pro-
92 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. v.
fessional 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
en. v.] Slaughter in a Cellar. 93
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
94 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. v.
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 perform-
ance, 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
CH. v.] Dead Rats in a House. 95
rat dies in the wall, or under the floor of a
house where it can't be got at, its where-
abouts can be discovered in this way, pro-
vided the weather is warm. Take a butterfly
net over to the butcher's 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,
CH. yi.] A November Day. 97
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
H
98 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vi.
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
CH. vi.] A Laid-up Ferret. 99
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
H 2
ioo Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vi.
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
en. vi.] A Tramp Home in the Wet. 101
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 dis-
comfort 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
IO2 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vi.
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
CH. vi.] A Snug Evening. 103
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
IO4 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vi.
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 con-
sciousness 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
CH. vi.] Things Students Should Know. 105
then it will be a long dig to free it. Re-
member, 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
io6 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vi.
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 apper-
tains 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
CH. vi.] Muzzling Ferrets. 107
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 dog-
teeth, 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
io8 Studies in Rai Catching, [en. vi.
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 holi-
days 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,
CH. vi.] Sucking Blood. 109
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
no Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vi.
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 prac-
tice. 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 mightjearn a wrinkle
from him that would come in useful, I joined
him and carefully watched him and his dogs.
CH. vi.] A Strange Use for a Dogs Tail. 1 1 1
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
1 1 2 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vi.
for drawing ferrets." The man may have
been right, but I was quite sure the unfor-
tunate 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 leav-
ing, let me point out to you, Croker, minor,
that if that caricature I have observed you
drawing behind your book is meant for vie,
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
i
ii4 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vn.
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 arc 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
CH. VIL] Rabbit Catching. 1 1 5
sides more turned in, and with a handle ten
feet long, with a steel hook at the end in-
stead 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.
I 2
ii6 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. MI.
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
CH. vii.] An Easy Day. 117
lurcher that he keeps, which is as good as
gold, and as clever as a lawyer, and despe-
rately 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 , neces-
sary 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 plenti-
ful and had been established for years in
1 1 8 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vn.
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 sit-
ting 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.
CH. vii.] Ferreting a Bank. 119
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.
I2O Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vn.
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 ferret-
ing, 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
cir. VIL] A Deep Dig in the Sand. 121
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
122 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vii.
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
CH. VIL] A Day with the Purse Nets. 123
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.
124 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. vn.
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
CH. VIL] Necessity of Silence. 125
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,
126 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. VH.
animals pay but little attention to a whistle,
for in one shape or another they are con-
stantly hearing it from their feathered com-
panions.
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
CH. VIL] Ferrets without Muzzles. 127
there to find men who thoroughly under-
stood 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 profes-
sionals 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 re-
quired, for a rabbit there is sure to bolt, and
128 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vn.
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, espe-
cially 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;
CH. VIL] How to Kill Rabbits. 129
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.
( 130 )
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,
CH. viii.] Trip to the Seaside. 131
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, Lodg-
ings 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
K 2
132 Studies in Rat Catching, [en vili.
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 cot-
tage 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
CH. VIIL] Surveying the Hunting Ground. 133
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 culti-
vated fields intersected by thick hedges ; and
in the distance we could distinguish a clus-
tering 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
134 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vin.
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,
CH. VIIL] A View from the Cliffs. 135
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
136 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vin
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
CH. viii.] A Sea View. 137
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.
138 Studies in Rat Catching. |_CH. vm.
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 wel-
come from Miss Madge Ashfield, the rector's
only daughter and the sister of the two lads
CH. VIIL] The Rectors Daughter. 139
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
140 Studies in Rat Catching. [_cu. vm.
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
Cii vili.J Doctoring the &urrows. 141
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 .lot 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
142 Studies in Rat Catching [CH. vin.
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 start-
ing 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
CH. viii.] Running out Nets. 143
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
144 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vili.
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
CIT. viii.] " Hie in, Good Dogs ! " 145
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
i,
146 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. vm.
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 home-
wards on this last night, it was as much as
man, boys or dogs could do to drag them-
selves along ; but we had killed six hundred
and fifty rabbits in the three days and were
well content.
( 147 )
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
L 2
148 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
refused to face the gorsc, 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 clogs 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
en. ix.] The Beginning of a Storw. 149
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 1
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
150 Studies in Rat Catching.
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 oi
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 unhesita-
tingly have been given. Once for a moment,
when a thin mist swept before the moon and
CH. ix.] A Skip in Distress. 151
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
152 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
work, and I had a snug warm bed waiting
for me, and moreover I reasoned that watch-
ing a storm in the dead of night was no part
of a rat-catchers duty ; but I was so fasci-
nated 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
CM. ix.] The Village Harbour. 153
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
154 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
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
CH. ix.j A Fisherman s Home. 155
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
156 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
\
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
en. ix.] Little Jack, the Cripple. 157
suppose because it was so different to any
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 com-
plexion 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
158 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. ix.
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
bitfc, 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
CH. ix.] Waiting for the Boats. 159
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
160 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
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
cir. ix.] A Rough Old Fish-Wife. 16 1
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
M
1 62 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
that day she had worked and toiled, mending
nets and selling fish in fair weather and
foul, often weary and half-starved, but suc-
ceeding 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, clashed past
CH. ix.] The Return of the Fishermen. 163
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 rejoic-
ing, 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 grand-
mother 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
M 2
164 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. ix.
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 coach-
man, 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
f 66 Stiidies in Rat Catching, [en. x.
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 assas-
sins 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
ofting, 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
en. x.] The Rector s Story. 167
suspicions were fully aroused, and the officer
of the coastguard telegraphed to the cap-
tain 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 recog-
nised 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
1 68 Studies in Rat Catching, [ci-i. x.
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
CH. x.] A Ship in Danger. 169
his fare to use his best speed, and he added :
' I don't know who he is, or what his busi-
ness 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 fisher-
men'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
170 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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 morn-
ing 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
en. x.] Running Straight on the Rocks. 171
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 wind-
ward 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
172 St^ldies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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
rt 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 pre-
vented 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,
ci-i. x.] To the Rescue. 173
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
174 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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
CH. x.] Watching the Boat. 175
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
176 .SVW/r.v in Rat Catching, [en. x.
of human beings was seen on the deck
clinging to some cordage ; hut 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, hut it soon was whispered
among us that some one or more persons
were crouching hehind the bulwarks, prob-
ably lashed there for safety, and from an
occasional llutter of a red scarf or garment,
we feared there was an unfortunate woman
among them ; and once, as the waves re-
ceded 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 ! Hut no ! once more it
rises from its bed like some agonised, dying
CH. x.] Breaking up of the Ship. 177
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
N
178 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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,
OH. x.] Beyond the Storms of Life. 1 79
who was crouched in the bows, was support-
ing 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
N 2
180 Studies in Rat Catching, [en. x.
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 4 Jack's
mother' and the date of her dcatli 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
en. x.] Life in the Little One. 181
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 ruf-
fians 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
1 82 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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-satisfy-
ing ; 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 dis-
covered 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
CH. x.] Natures Gifts. 183
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
184 Studies in Rat Catching. [CH. x.
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 WPS 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,
CH. x.] What a Hodge-Podge! 185
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 ic 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-catch-
ing 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 consoK 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,
STAMKOKL) STKKKT AND OIAKING CKO6S.
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
• >xxi •• i ixxi tv* , v-r» v **si>s T T vxN^V*r
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7
2-month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing
to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4
prior to due date
DAYS
books
days
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
mA A 4f\C\C
2 4 1995 f -,
-r
JUN 1 2 1998
SENT OM II 1
nrr 4 c 1000
U. C. BERKELEY
20.000(4/94)
20m-ll,'20
U.C.BERKELEY LIBRARIES
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Books to Borrow
Open Library
TV News
Understanding 9/11