Here We All Sat Down
In A Row On A Log Among The Dead Weeds On The Border Of The
Evil-
smelling place, and he told us to be very still and speak no word;
for, said he, unless we
Move or make a sound the rats will not heed
us; they will regard us as so many wooden images. And so it proved,
for very soon after the sun had gone down we began to see rats
stealing out of the woodpile and from the dead weeds on every side,
all converging to that one spot where a generous table was spread for
them and for the brown carrion hawks that came by day. Big, old, grey
rats with long, scaly tails, others smaller, and smaller still, the
least of all being little bigger than mice, until the whole place
swarmed with them, all busily hunting for food, feeding, squealing,
fighting, and biting. I had not known that the whole world contained
so many rats as I now saw congregated before me.
Suddenly our guide jumped up and loudly clapped his hands, which
produced a curious effect - a short, sharp little shriek of terror from
the busy multitude, followed by absolute stillness, every rat frozen
to stone, which lasted for a second or two; then a swift scuttling
away in all directions, vanishing with a rustling sound through the
dead grass and wood.
It had been a fine spectacle, and we enjoyed it amazingly; it raised
_Mus decumanus_ to a beast of immense importance in my mind.
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