by a flask of oil.

"I've seen that flask a dozen times," exclaimed one of the Brownies, in
a tone of angry disappointment; "I have longed to taste its contents,
but how is a rat to get at them?"

Here was a puzzler indeed. But Whiskerandos was ever ready at
expedients. With neat dexterity he extracted the stopper; but here the
difficulty did not end, for the neck of the bottle was too narrow by far
to admit the head of a rat; and the position of the flask, in a wooden
box, rendered it impossible to alter its position so as to pour out its
contents.

"Mighty little use that flask is to us!" exclaimed one of the Brownies,
impatiently.

But my clever rat was not easily discouraged In a moment he had dipped
in his long tail, and then whisking it out again, scattered around a
fragrant shower of oil!

There was no end to the praises and commendations which Whiskerandos
received for this simple device. He took little notice of them, however,
and only playfully observed, "It is Ratto who should have thought of
this, since nature has furnished black rats with two hundred and fifty
distinct rings in their tails, while brown ones have only two hundred."

"Ah, Whiskerandos!" exclaimed I, "this oil is a nice relish to be sure,
but my appetite craves something solid;" and I looked piteously up at
the jar. The other rats looked up piteously also.

"Let us see what we can do!" cried my spirited companion; and he
clambered for the second time up on the shelf on which stood the
tantalizing jar. This time he did not even attempt to nibble at the hard
polished crockery, he wasted not his energies in any such fruitless
endeavour; but, putting his mighty strength to the task, he pushed the
whole jar nearer and nearer to the edge of the shelf, then over it, till
at length it fell with a tremendous crash which made every one of us
leap up high into the air with amazement!

We might have leapt for joy also, for from the broken crockery what a
feast of delicious dried fruits rolled forth! With what glee we set to
our supper, while Whiskerandos sprang from his shelf, too eager to
partake of the tempting repast to take the slower method of climbing.
I must confess that of all pleasures upon earth there is none to a rat
like eating; if such be the case with any of the lords of creation, why
I can only say that they must be content to be reckoned like rats.

We were in the midst of our feast, our mouths full, and our whiskers
merrily wa