and knees in a
moment, and caught the handle of the knife, which was moving rapidly
along the plank. The blade had entered the side of a fat rat. The
creature made an attempt to bite me, but I squeezed it by the neck. It
lay dead in my hands.

At first even my hunger could not overcome my disgust at the thought of
eating the creature. I carried it by the tail to let the blood stream
out of the body, and went to the butt, where I took a draught of water,
hoping to put off the moment when I should find my teeth in its flesh.

But hunger called loudly; I could resist no longer, and having cut off
its head, I skinned it as well as I could in the dark. Then stripping
the flesh from the bones, I put a morsel of it in my mouth. It tasted
infinitely better than I could have expected. There was no rankness, no
disagreeable flavour. I wondered how I could have had so much objection
to eating raw rat. I scraped the bones clean.

As there were undoubtedly plenty more in the hold, though not so many as
I had seen in my dream, I hoped that I should have been able to supply
myself amply with game.

I was now sorry that I had thrown away the head and the entrails, as
they might have served me for bait to catch more. I therefore hunted
about till I discovered the head, on the point, I suspect, of being
seized by another rat, for I heard the creature scamper off as I put my
hand upon my prize. The entrails must have been devoured, for I could
not find them.

My success encouraged me to try and catch another rat in the same way as
before. I, however, somewhat changed my mode of proceeding. I fastened
the head to the end of the string, and hung up the knife directly over
it, by a small splinter which I stuck lightly into the crevice of the
case. My expectation was that, when the rat pulled at the head of its
slaughtered fellow, the knife would fall and transfix it.

I had to wait for some time listening to the sound of the rats'
footsteps. At length down came the knife, but no squeak followed, and I
found it lying where it had fallen. I began to fear that the first rat
had been killed by chance, and that my clever device could not be
depended on.

Though the keen edge of my appetite had worn off, I knew that I should
very soon be again hungry, and I therefore wanted, before I went to
sleep, to catch another rat. I was aware that I must be moderate in my
banquets, as I guessed that rat's flesh was not likely to pro