ut he was the most patient of rats, quite willing to have
all his adventures second-hand, without the slightest wish to become a
hero, but ready, without a particle of envy, to admire the exploits of
others.

"And how is old Furry?" I asked, when at length I came to the end of my
narration. Furry had now taken up his quarters in the warehouse, but
sometimes visited our shed.

Oddity looked very grave. "You know," replied he, "that poor Furry had
the misfortune some time ago to lose one of his upper front teeth."

"I know it; he struck it out when gnawing at the hoop of a barrel. But I
do not see that the misfortune is great; old Furry has other teeth
left."

"_That_ is his misfortune," added Oddity.

"How?-- what do you mean?-- what does he complain of,-- losing his teeth
or keeping them?"

"Both," said Oddity. I should have thought him joking, but Oddity was
never guilty of a joke in his life. "You see," he continued, observing
my look of surprise, "that gnawing is necessary to us rats, to keep down
the quick growth of our teeth. If they are not constantly rubbing one
against another, they soon get a great deal too long for our mouths. As
poor old Furry's upper tooth is gone, of course the one just under it is
now out of work, and having nothing else to do, is growing at such a
pace, that it is actually forming a circle in his mouth!"

"You don't say so!" I exclaimed "I have often noticed the strange length
of that tooth, but I had no notion of the extent of the evil."

"It has much increased since you left us," sighed Oddity, "and where it
will end I really don't know. The poor fellow is blind, he had no
pleasure but in nibbling and chatting, and now his dreadful long tooth
is actually locking his jaw."

"Shall I go to see him?" said I.

"Do as you please," replied Oddity. "There is little pleasure in seeing
him now, poor fellow."

And so I found when I went. Poor old Furry's misfortune had by no means
sweetened his temper. He was ready to bite any one who approached him,
only biting was now out of the question. He could hardly manage to
swallow a little meal which Oddity had procured, and certainly took it
without a sign of gratitude. One would have thought, by his manner
towards the piebald rat, that it was he who had knocked out the unlucky
front tooth, instead of having kindly attended to Furry's wants for so
long, and borne with his temper, which was harder. But Oddity was,
without a doubt, the most