er
than the race of Mus, to which I belong.

"Why, opium makes men first wild and bold, so that they will rush into
danger or run into folly, quarrel with their friends and fight their
foes, laugh and dance, and be merry they know not why. Then they grow
sleepy, and though their lives might depend on it, not a step would they
stir. Then, when they awake from their unnatural sleep, their bodies are
cold, their heads heavy; they feel sick, and faint, and sad! And if this
should happen day after day, at last the strong grows weak and the
healthy ill, the flesh goes from the bones and the life from the eyes,
and the whole man becomes like some old, empty hulk, whose timbers will
hardly hold together! And all this from eating opium!"

"Ugh!" exclaimed Brisk; "leave opium to man; it is a great deal too bad
for rats!"

CHAPTER II.

A CLAP-TRAP DISCOVERY.

With eager haste we scrambled into the warehouse, Furry, as usual,
remaining behind on account of his infirmities. We were almost too
impatient to wait till the men within should have finished their work,
till the doors should be shut and locked, and the place left in quiet
for us.

I soon found out what was to me a singular curiosity-- a tooth; I felt
certain that it was a tooth; but it was twice as long as any rat,
counting from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail! I could not
help wondering in my mind to what huge animal it could ever have
belonged.

"Isn't that called ivory?" said Oddity, as he waddled past me.

I felt inexpressible pleasure in gnawing and nibbling at the huge tusk,
and polishing my sharp teeth upon it. "How I should like to see the
enormous rat that could have carried such a tusk!" I exclaimed. "Oh!
how I should delight in travelling and seeing the world!"

"You've something to see worth the seeing, without travelling far!"
cried Brisk. "Such a fragrance of cheese as there is yonder! Why, Ratto,
its delicious scent reaches us even here!"

I was so busy with my tusk and my reflections, that I scarcely looked
up; but Oddity turned his eyes eagerly towards the spot.

"Now, I propose that we have a race to the place!" cried Brisk; "and he
who gets first shall have his pick of the feast! Leave Ratto to his old
bone! Here are seven of us: now for it; once, twice, thrice, and away!"

Off they scampered helter-skelter, all my seven brothers, awkward heavy
Oddity, as usual, in the rear. He had often been laughed at for his
slowness,