what matter whose? Caliban lay where he fell, his eyes slowly
glazing. The eyes round him caught the reflection from his throat. He was
the hero of a hundred fights, and the puniest ratling had its share. The
floor was for the moment the centre of attraction.

Had it not been for the chieftain, the black rat might have regained the
run. But the chieftain had foreseen events. As Caliban fell he had
clambered up, and was now blocking the entrance.

He was grounded on his haunches, with uplifted paws, ready for anything.
The black rat drove at him, and was hurled backwards. Among rats the
chieftain is, of necessity, pluperfect master of defence. Again and again
he parried the attack, until Caliban was disposed of.

Then, in the middle of his rush, the black rat heard once more the
stealthy footstep in his rear, paused, half turned, missed his footing,
and fell.

Yet he accounted for four of those below, which made five altogether.

"THE FOX'S TRICKS ARE MANY; ONE IS ENOUGH FOR THE URCHIN"
(_Old Greek Proverb_).

Rain, and rain, and rain. For three days in succession the sun had
defaulted. Yet he had been doing his best behind the storm-clouds. That
very morning he had forced one straggling beam well through. It had been
completely thrown away, for every living thing was snugly tucked up under
cover. Now, as his time was getting short, he made one last despairing
effort.

Westward, the sky was banked with purple nimbus, towering in gloomy
magnificence aloft, but fined to nothingness on the horizon. The sun saw
his chance, and took it. As the storm-cloud was borne a trifle upwards, he
flashed his dying radiance beneath it.

At first the brightness was intolerable. The rain-drenched leaves were
bathed in liquid fire; the river surface gleamed like molten metal; the
undergrowth that fringed the bank became a tangled web of dazzling
light-points.

The effort was of short duration, yet, before the sun had sunk, the
things that loved the river had caught his message.

[Illustration: THE WATER-RAT CAME FROM A HOLE FIVE FEET ABOVE THE
RIVER-LEVEL.]

The cloud-bank lifted sullenly, and dispersed. Out of the east came a soft
summer breeze, stealing silently across the valley, and tilting the
balance of each dripping leaf. So the great drops of moisture slipped off
them to swell the river, and the drying of the earth commenced.

That is what brought them all out together.

The water-rat came from a hole five f