one in the dresser drawer."

I kept my temper. "I am not feeling very well, Kerry," I said gently,
"or I would go and see myself. But I am sure there _are_ rats; I smell
them plainly; they seem to be in the study."

"Go to sleep," he said; "you're dreaming, old man."

"Why don't you go and see?" I said. "If I didn't feel so very faint, I
would go myself."

Kerry got out of his basket reluctantly. "I suppose I ought to go, if
you are quite certain," he said; and he went.

In less than a minute he returned to the kitchen, trembling all over
with excitement.

"Chappie!" he said; "Chappie!"

"Well?"

"There _are_ rats," he whispered hoarsely; "there are rats in the
study."

"Did you go in?" I asked.

"No, you know we're forbidden to go in, but I smelt them quite plainly.
I can't smell them at all here," he said regretfully. "What a nose you
have got, after all, Chappie!"

"What are you going to do, Kerry?" I asked.

"Why, nothing," he said; "we mustn't go in the study."

"Oh," I said, "rules weren't made for great occasions like this; it's
your business to kill rats wherever they are."

And that misguided wire-haired person went up. He got them out of the
cage, and killed them.

The next morning, when the master came down, he thrashed Kerry within an
inch of his life. He knows I don't touch rats; and, besides, I was so
unwell that nobody could have suspected me. And I explained to Kerry
that, good as my nose is, I couldn't possibly tell by the smell that the
rats were white, and, therefore, sacred. It was not worth while to
mention that I had seen them before.

Kerry looks up to me now as a dog with a nose, and I am much happier
than formerly. But Kerry is not nearly so keen on rats now. I thought
somehow he wouldn't be.

The Tables Turned

WE knew it was a dog, directly the basket was set down in the hall. We
heard it moving about inside. We sniffed all round. We asked it why it
didn't come out (the basket was tightly tied up with string). "Are you
having a good time in there?" said Roy. "Can't you show your face?" said
I. "He's ashamed of it," said Roy, waving his long bushy tail. Then he
growled a little, and the dog inside growled too; and then, as Roy had
an appointment with the butcher at his own back door, I went out to see
him home.

"I am so sorry I am going away for Christmas with my master," he said
when we parted; "but you must introduce that new dog to me when I come
home. We