After several hours spent in dozing and dreaming by "fits and starts," I
was again fairly awake, and could sleep no more for thinking of the
great rat. Indeed, the pain I suffered was of itself sufficient to keep
me awake; for not only my thumb, but the whole hand was swollen, and
ached acutely. I had no remedy but to bear it patiently; and knowing
that the inflammation would soon subside and relieve me, I made up my
mind to endure it with fortitude. Greater evils absorb the less; and it
was so in my case. My dread of the rat paying me another visit was a
far greater trouble to me than the pain of my wound, and as my attention
was wholly taken up with the former, I almost forgot that my thumb was
aching.
As soon as I was well awake, my thoughts returned to the subject of
trapping my tormentor. I was quite sure he would return to trouble me,
for I already had some indications of his presence. The weather still
continued calm, and I could hear any occasional sounds very distinctly.
I heard what resembled the pattering of little feet, as of the rat
running over the lid of an empty box; and once or twice I clearly
distinguished the short, shrill cricket-like "chirp" that rats are wont
to utter. I can think of no more disagreeable sound than the voice of a
rat, and at that time it sounded doubly disagreeable. You may smile at
my simple fears, but I could not help them. I could not help a
presentiment that somehow or other my life was in danger from the
presence 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 me
any very great injury. It might bite me, as it had done already, but
that signified little. I should be able to destroy it somehow. But
supposing I should fall into a deep sleep, and the spiteful creature
should then seize me by the throat? Some such idea as this it was that
kept 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, and
then would be the time of danger. I could not go to sleep again with
any feeling of security until that rat was destroyed; and therefore its
destruction was the end I now aimed at.
I remained cogitating as to how I should encompass it; but for the life
of me I could think of no other way than to gripe the creature in my
hands, and squeeze it to death. If I could have made sure of getting a
proper hold of it--that is, with my fingers round its throat, so that it
could 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 in
getting the advantage of the hold. Moreover, my crippled thumb was in
such a condition, that in that hand--my right one, too--I was not sure I
could 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 was
not, and it was no use thinking of them.
Yes, it was of use: it proved so; for thinking of the gloves suggested
the idea of a substitute; and this substitute _was_ within my reach--_my
buskins_. By inserting my hands into these, and covering them up to the
wrists, 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 have
strength enough to squeeze the breath out of it. A capital idea, and I
at once proceeded to carry it into execution.
Placing the buskins in readiness, I crouched near the crevice where the
rat should enter. All the others, as already stated, I had carefully
plugged up, and I now determined, if the rat came in, to stuff my jacket
into 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 had
finished the business.
It seemed as if the rat had either determined to brave the encounter, or
that fortune was against it.
I had scarcely set my house in order to receive my visitor, when the
pattering of feet upon the broadcloth, and a little squeak which I
heard, told me that the rat had passed through the crevice, and was
actually inside the enclosure. I plainly heard it rushing about, as I
pushed the jacket into the aperture; and once or twice I felt it
coursing across my legs; but I took no heed of its movements until I had
made all secure against its retreat. Then I planted my hands firmly in
the buskins, and commenced searching for the enemy.
As I was intimately acquainted with the shape of my little chamber, and
knew 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, and
plant them down again, each time striking upon new ground. I believed
that if I could only get one of them upon a portion of the rat's body, I
could hold it, until I might secure a safer hold with both, and then it
would only remain to press downward with all my might. This was my
programme, but though well enough designed, I was unable to carry it
through.
The affair ended in a very different way. I succeeded in planting one
of the buskins upon the animal, but from the want of a firm floor
underneath, I was not able to hold it, and the soft cloth yielding
enabled 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 and
inside!
A feeling of horror ran through my veins; but I was now warmed to the
encounter; and, throwing aside the buskins, which were no longer of
service, I grasped the body of the rat, just as it had reached the
height of my knee. I was able to hold it there, although it struggled
with a strength that quite astonished me, and its loud squealing was
terrible to hear.
I still held on, pressing the body with all my might, and quite
insensible to the pain in my thumb. The cloth of my trousers protected
my fingers from being bitten, but I did not come off unscathed, for the
spiteful creature buried its teeth in my flesh, and kept them there as
long as it was able to move. It was only after I had got my thumb round
its throat, and fairly _choked it to death_, that the teeth relaxed
their grasp, and I perceived that I had succeeded in putting a period to
its existence.
Having released the body from my hold, I shook it out of my trousers
quite 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 be
troubled by Monsieur Rat, I betook myself to sleep, determined to make
up for what I had lost during the night.