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  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.

  OH! FOR A STEEL TRAP!

  After several hours spent in dozing and dreaming by "fits and starts," Iwas again fairly awake, and could sleep no more for thinking of thegreat rat. Indeed, the pain I suffered was of itself sufficient to keepme awake; for not only my thumb, but the whole hand was swollen, andached acutely. I had no remedy but to bear it patiently; and knowingthat the inflammation would soon subside and relieve me, I made up mymind to endure it with fortitude. Greater evils absorb the less; and itwas so in my case. My dread of the rat paying me another visit was afar greater trouble to me than the pain of my wound, and as my attentionwas wholly taken up with the former, I almost forgot that my thumb wasaching.

  As soon as I was well awake, my thoughts returned to the subject oftrapping my tormentor. I was quite sure he would return to trouble me,for I already had some indications of his presence. The weather stillcontinued calm, and I could hear any occasional sounds very distinctly.I heard what resembled the pattering of little feet, as of the ratrunning over the lid of an empty box; and once or twice I clearlydistinguished the short, shrill cricket-like "chirp" that rats are wontto utter. I can think of no more disagreeable sound than the voice of arat, and at that time it sounded doubly disagreeable. You may smile atmy simple fears, but I could not help them. I could not help apresentiment that somehow or other my life was in danger from thepresence of this rat, and the presentiment was not a vain or idle one,as you shall afterwards learn.

  The fear that I had, then, was that the rat would attack me in my sleep.So long as I might be awake, I was not much afraid that it could do meany very great injury. It might bite me, as it had done already, butthat signified little. I should be able to destroy it somehow. Butsupposing I should fall into a deep sleep, and the spiteful creatureshould then seize me by the throat? Some such idea as this it was thatkept me in misery. I could not always keep awake and on the _qui vive_.The longer I did so, the more deeply would I slumber afterwards, andthen would be the time of danger. I could not go to sleep again withany feeling of security until that rat was destroyed; and therefore itsdestruction was the end I now aimed at.

  I remained cogitating as to how I should encompass it; but for the lifeof me I could think of no other way than to gripe the creature in myhands, and squeeze it to death. If I could have made sure of getting aproper hold of it--that is, with my fingers round its throat, so that itcould not turn its teeth upon me--then the thing would be easy enough.But therein lay the difficulty. I should have to seize it in the dark--at random--and likely enough it would prove as quick as myself ingetting the advantage of the hold. Moreover, my crippled thumb was insuch a condition, that in that hand--my right one, too--I was not sure Icould even hold the rat, much less crush the life out of it.

  I bethought me of some means of protecting my fingers from its teeth.If I had only been possessed of a pair of strong gloves; but then I wasnot, and it was no use thinking of them.

  Yes, it was of use: it proved so; for thinking of the gloves suggestedthe idea of a substitute; and this substitute _was_ within my reach--_mybuskins_. By inserting my hands into these, and covering them up to thewrists, I should gain a protection against the sharp teeth of the rat,and could I only get the animal under the soles, I would surely havestrength enough to squeeze the breath out of it. A capital idea, and Iat once proceeded to carry it into execution.

  Placing the buskins in readiness, I crouched near the crevice where therat should enter. All the others, as already stated, I had carefullyplugged up, and I now determined, if the rat came in, to stuff my jacketinto the aperture before it could retreat, and thus have it at my mercy.I should then speedily put on my gloves, and pound away till I hadfinished the business.

  It seemed as if the rat had either determined to brave the encounter, orthat fortune was against it.

  I had scarcely set my house in order to receive my visitor, when thepattering of feet upon the broadcloth, and a little squeak which Iheard, told me that the rat had passed through the crevice, and wasactually inside the enclosure. I plainly heard it rushing about, as Ipushed the jacket into the aperture; and once or twice I felt itcoursing across my legs; but I took no heed of its movements until I hadmade all secure against its retreat. Then I planted my hands firmly inthe buskins, and commenced searching for the enemy.

  As I was intimately acquainted with the shape of my little chamber, andknew to the breadth of a hair where every corner lay, I was not long in"feeling" it up. My mode of proceeding was to raise the buskins, andplant them down again, each time striking upon new ground. I believedthat if I could only get one of them upon a portion of the rat's body, Icould hold it, until I might secure a safer hold with both, and then itwould only remain to press downward with all my might. This was myprogramme, but though well enough designed, I was unable to carry itthrough.

  The affair ended in a very different way. I succeeded in planting oneof the buskins upon the animal, but from the want of a firm floorunderneath, I was not able to hold it, and the soft cloth yieldingenabled it to get away. It escaped from my hold with a loud screech,and the next place I felt it was running up the leg of my trousers andinside!

  A feeling of horror ran through my veins; but I was now warmed to theencounter; and, throwing aside the buskins, which were no longer ofservice, I grasped the body of the rat, just as it had reached theheight of my knee. I was able to hold it there, although it struggledwith a strength that quite astonished me, and its loud squealing wasterrible to hear.

  I still held on, pressing the body with all my might, and quiteinsensible to the pain in my thumb. The cloth of my trousers protectedmy fingers from being bitten, but I did not come off unscathed, for thespiteful creature buried its teeth in my flesh, and kept them there aslong as it was able to move. It was only after I had got my thumb roundits throat, and fairly _choked it to death_, that the teeth relaxedtheir grasp, and I perceived that I had succeeded in putting a period toits existence.

  Having released the body from my hold, I shook it out of my trousersquite lifeless and limp; and then, removing my jacket from the aperture,I flung the dead rat out in the direction whence it had come.

  I felt greatly relieved; and, confident that I should no longer betroubled by Monsieur Rat, I betook myself to sleep, determined to makeup for what I had lost during the night.