I lay a long while without hearing or feeling it. At last, however, my patience was likely to be rewarded. I could tell by a slight movement, in the piece of cloth that covered my limbs, that something was running upon it, and I even fancied that I heard the pattering of little feet. Nearer still the cloth appeared to move, until I could distinctly feel a creature crawling on my ankles, and then upward to my thighs. It appeared heavy for a mouse; but I did not stay to reflect about this, for now or never was the time to seize upon it. Down came my hands, with fingers outstretched to cover it; but, oh, horror! what a mistake I had made. Instead of the little tiny mouse, which I intended to clutch, my hand rested upon the body of an animal almost as large as a kitten! There was no mistaking what it was. _Beyond doubt, it was a great, horrid rat_! CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN. REFLECTIONS ON RATS. The ugly animal left me no choice to doubt of its species. The moment my fingers touched its smooth coat, I recognised it by the "feel;" but I felt the wicked creature in a double sense, for before I could disengage my hand from the clutch I had so rashly taken, its sharp teeth had pierced my thumb, until they nearly met through the flesh. At the same instant its screech sounded in my ears shrill and terrifying! I withdrew my fingers as quickly as I could, and flinging myself to the furthest corner of the chamber--that is, the one which I thought furthest from my disagreeable visitor--there for some minutes I crouched, listening to hear whether the hideous animal had left me. I could hear nothing, and I concluded it had made a retreat to some other part of the ship. Most probably it was as badly scared as I-- though that could hardly have been--and in proof that I was the more frightened of the two, the rat had the presence of mind to use its teeth and bite me, while I was for the moment quite driven out of my senses. In the brief encounter my antagonist had certainly proved victorious; for in addition to the fright he had given me, he had inflicted a severe and painful wound, that was every moment growing more painful. I perceived that my thumb was bleeding freely, for I could feel the blood running over my fingers, and glueing them to the very tips. I could have borne my discomfiture calmly enough, for what signified the bite of a rat? but that was not the whole question. The thought that troubled me was, whether the creature had quite gone away, or whether it was still near, and would return? The thought of its coming back again, perhaps emboldened by having got off without punishment, caused me very great annoyance.