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. Soon he
became even more important in an unpleasant way when it was discovered
that rats were abundant indoors as well as out. The various noises
they made at night were terrifying; they would run over our beds and
sometimes we would wake up to find that one had got in between the
sheets and was trying frantically to get out.
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