od sport. We would put up
at the best hotels and repeat the procedure next day, very often taking a
drag or coach, and driving ten or a dozen miles farther up the country.

I can assure my readers that the Rat-catcher is well remunerated for the
trouble he undertakes in these cases, and moreover this is the class of
people he requires to fraternise with. There is always a plentiful
supply of "refreshments" on these outings, and I would therefore advise
the Rat-catcher not to indulge too freely.

The foregoing is, of course, a brief sketch of the pleasantest part of a
Rat-catcher's life, and to complete the picture I may as well describe
some of the other features, and the way he has to rough it sometimes.
Well, Rat-catchers are generally called upon to supply Rats for the Rat
coursings usually held at beerhouses, etc., on Saturday afternoons, which
one often sees advertised. Now, if he binds himself to supply a coursing
at a certain date, the bills announcing the event are printed and posted,
all of which means expense. Then you are bound to secure the live Rats,
whatever be the weather. In doing this I always followed the threshing
machine to the bays and stacks. (Anyone that catches Rats regularly can
tell by looking at the bays or stacks whether there are many Rats in or
not.) I remember many times when the men have started threshing a bay of
wheat in which were a great many Rats, and by dark they have threshed
only half of the bay. At such times the Rat-catcher must not leave the
remaining half, no, not for half-an-hour throughout the whole night, for
if he does the Rats will run out. To stop the Rats from leaving, the Rat-
catcher has to lie on the top of the bay or go about every thirty minutes
and beat the bottom with sticks until daylight, in order to keep the Rats
in. Then, after the machine re-starts, and the bottom of the bay is
reached, the Rat-catcher will be well paid for his trouble, for he may
get, say, 150 good Rats for the coursing, at six shillings per dozen. The
reason I call them good coursing Rats is because they have not been
handled, and that enables them to run well.

Now, when you go to these coursings (which are mostly in the colliery
districts) you will find about 60 dogs entered. It is the Rat-catcher's
business to measure and handicap the dogs, and a very unpleasant job it
is. He has also to be the referee at these coursings, and if it is a
"near thing" with two dogs running a