
he had left in her heart, was hurrying along with Bob, whom he had met
accidentally, to the scene of a great rat-catching in a neighbouring barn. Bob
knew all about this particular affair, and spoke of the sport with an enthusiasm
which no one who is not either divested of all manly feeling, or pitiably
ignorant of rat-catching, can fail to imagine. For a person suspected of
preternatural wickedness, Bob was really not so very villanous-looking; there
was even something agreeable in his snub-nosed face, with its close-curled
border of red hair. But then his trousers were always rolled up at the knee, for
the convenience of wading on the slightest notice; and his virtue, supposing it
to exist, was undeniably »virtue in rags,« which, on the authority even of
bilious philosophers, who think all well-dressed merit over-paid, is notoriously
likely to remain unrecognised (perhaps because it is seen so seldom).
    »I know the chap as owns the ferrets,« said Bob, in a hoarse treble voice,
as he shuffled along, keeping his blue eyes fixed on the river, like an
amphibious animal who foresaw occasion for darting in. »He lives up the Kennel
Yard at Sut Ogg's - he does. He's the biggest rot-catcher anywhere - he is. I'd
sooner be a rot-catcher nor anything - I would. The moles is nothing to the
rots. But Lors! you mun ha' ferrets. Dogs is no good. Why, there's that dog,
now!« Bob continued, pointing with an air of disgust towards Yap, »he's no more
good wi' a rot nor nothin'. I see it myself - I did - at the rot-catchin' i'
your feyther's barn.«
    Yap, feeling the withering influence of this scorn, tucked his tail in and
shrank close to Tom's leg, who felt a little hurt for him, but had not the
superhuman courage to seem behindhand with Bob in contempt for a dog who made so
poor a figure.
    »No, no,« he said, »Yap's no good at sport. I'll have regular good dogs for
rats and everything, when I've done school.«
    »Hev ferrets, Measter Tom,« said Bob, eagerly, - »them white ferrets wi'
pink eyes; Lors, you might catch your own rots, an' you might put a rot in a
cage wi' a
