I now proceeded to the further carrying out of my design, which had all
been matured while I was working at the bag. The next step was the
"setting of the net," and this was done as follows:--
I first cleared away the loose bundles so as to make a large space--in
fact, the whole of my original apartment. This I was able to accomplish
by means of the empty brandy-cask, which I had now filled with
broadcloth. I also stopped up every aperture and crevice as before,
leaving only one large one--that which I knew the rats were accustomed
to use as their principal entrance.
Right in front of this I placed my bag, with its opened mouth covering
the whole aperture, and with the remainder kept in a state of extension
by means of several props of sticks, which I had cut for the purpose to
a proper length. Then placing myself on my knees by the mouth of the
bag, I held it wide open, and also kept the draw-string ready between my
fingers. In this attitude I awaited the coming of the rats.
I knew they would enter the bag, for I had there placed a bait for them.
This bait consisted of some crumbs of biscuit--the very last I had--as
sailors would say, the "last shot in the locker." I was risking all
upon the cast; and should the rats eat all up and then escape, I should
not have a scrap left me for another meal.
I knew some of them would come, but I was in doubt whether they might
arrive in numbers sufficient to make a good haul. I feared they might
come one at a time, and thus carry off the bait piece-meal; and to
prevent this, I had ground the crumbs to very dust. This, I thought,
would delay the first comers until a large assemblage had got into the
bag, and then it was my intention to cut off their retreat by drawing
the string upon them.
Fortune favoured me. I had not been upon my knees more than a minute,
when I heard the pattering of the little paws of the rats outside, and
also the occasional "queek-queek" of their sharp voices. In another
second or two, I felt the bag moving between my fingers, and knew that
my victims were creeping inside. The shaking of the cloth became more
violent, and I was able to perceive that large numbers were crowding in,
eager to get part of the powdered biscuits. I could feel them
scrambling about, leaping over one another, and squealing as they
quarrelled.
This was my cue for drawing the string; and in the next instant I had it
pulled all taut, and the mouth of the bag gathered close and firmly
tied.
Not a rat that had entered got out again; and I had the satisfaction to
find that the bag was about half full of these savage creatures.
I lost no time in taming them, however; and this I effected in a
somewhat original manner.
There was one part of the floor of my apartment that was level and firm.
By removing the cloth off it, it was quite hard, being the oak timbers
of the ship itself. Upon this I deposited the bag of rats, and then,
laying a large piece of deal board on the top, I mounted on this board,
upon my knees, and then pressed it downward with all my weight and
strength.
For awhile the bag underneath felt as elastic as a spring mattress, and
heaved upward with a tendency to roll from under the board, but I
replaced the latter with my hands, and then pounced upon it as before.
There was, no doubt, a deal of kicking, and scrambling, and biting
within the bag, and I am sure there was plenty of squealing, for that I
heard. I gave no heed to such demonstrations, but kept churning on till
every motion had ceased, and all was silence underneath.
I now ventured to take up the bag, and examine its contents. I was
gratified at the wholesale slaughter I had committed. There was
evidently a large number of rats within the trap, and every one of them
dead as a door-nail!
At all events, none of them seemed to be stirring, for when I held the
bag up by its mouth, it hung down perfectly still, and there was neither
kick nor squeak inside; and therefore I took it for granted that I had
killed them all.
Notwithstanding this belief, when I proceeded to count them, I inserted
my hand with great caution, and drew them one by one out of the bag.
There were ten of them!
"Ha! ha!" exclaimed I, apostrophising the dead rats, "I've got you at
last, you ugly brutes! and this serves you right for the trouble you
have put me to. If one good turn deserves another, I suppose so does
one evil one. Had you let me and mine alone, this ill fortune might not
have befallen you. But you left me no alternative. You ate my
biscuits, and, to save myself from starving, I am compelled to eat you!"
This apostrophe ended, I commenced skinning one of the rats, with the
intention of dining upon him.
You may fancy that I anticipated the meal with a feeling of disgust, but
in this you would be greatly mistaken. Hunger had cured me of all
daintiness. I had not the slightest repugnance for the food of which I
was about to partake. On the contrary, I longed to be at it, as much as
you might do for a dinner of the most delicate viands.
So keen was my hunger, that I could hardly wait till I had stripped off
the skin; and five minutes after this operation was finished, I had
bolted the rat raw--body, bones, and all!
If you are anxious to know how it tasted I can only tell you that I
observed nothing disagreeable about it, no more than if it had been the
leg of a fowl or a slice off the most delicate mutton. It was the first
flesh-meat I had eaten for weeks, and this may have added to my zest for
such food. Certainly I thought, at the time, that a sweeter morsel had
never gone down my throat, and no longer felt wonder at what books had
told me about the rat-eating Laplanders.