till he again shouted "Silence!"

"Has no one any opinion to offer?" he asked.

On this a grave-looking rat from the top of a cask answered, "Yes, I
have an idea, which I'll propound as soon as those frolicsome young
fellows at the bottom of the hold will keep quiet."

On this the president again cried out, "Be quiet, you young rascals, or
I'll singe your whiskers. Now, Brother Snout, let us hear what your
idea happens to be," he said, turning to the rat on the top of the cask.

The last-mentioned rat accordingly spoke, curiously using the same
expressions as the former one had done. "Friends, Romans, countrymen:
we are resolved on revenge. Revenge is sweet. Is it not so?"

To which all the rats, in chorus, shouted out "Yes, yes."

"But the mode in which we shall execute our vengeance is the question.
Now I have an idea--a bright idea. I propose that we should sharpen our
teeth, and having sharpened them, that we should begin to gnaw a hole in
the bottom of this ship. We can make our way, as we know by experience,
through the stoutest cases. Why should we not do so through whole
planks? `Perseverance conquers all difficulties.' It will undoubtedly
take time, but if we all work together and with a will we may bore not
only one hole, but a thousand holes, when to a certainty the water will
rush in and carry the captain, officers, and crew, our cruel tyrants, to
the bottom, and our vengeance will be complete. So, brother rats, is
not mine a bright idea, a grand idea, a superb idea? Who will second
me?"

There was silence. When a grey-headed rat from the further end of the
platform, lifting himself up, rose in his eagerness not only on his legs
but on his tail, and said--

"Brethren and sisters. Has it not occurred to you that when we have
succeeded--should we be so foolish as to make the attempt--in cutting
holes through the ship's bottom, we ourselves should be involved in the
same catastrophe as the captain, officers, and crew? When the water
rushes in, what will become of us? Why, we should be whirled round and
round, and to a certainty become the first victims, perhaps the only
ones, for there are boats on deck by which the captain, officers, and
crew may make their escape, if they don't happen to be loaded up with
all sorts of lumber so that they can't be cleared in time."

"Ah, but I have a resource for that. Let us first nibble holes in the
boats; it will be good practice, and we should suc