Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1892-02-24
.RAr.cArcHlNe IN ENGLAND.
n Sport In which Many Bold Britons
Take Great Delight.

the game-lseeper and the gardener be-
wall the plague of rats, says the Lon
don Globe, there is one parsonage who
Is delighted at it's existence, and that Is
the lazy, sport-loving, poaching village
wastrcl, who finds in rat-catching an
employment that at once gratifles his
inclination for out-of-doors recreation
and yields respectable wage without
excessive toll In Norfolk there hardly
seems to be a hamlet without one or
two mon of this kind in it, and, being
IL that county about fortnight ago, I
took fancy to watch forenoon's rat
catching. That was no difficult matter.
You cannot take a walk without COM
ing across some one engaged in it.,
The specimen l stumbled upon was a
stifi1y-built but strong-made veteran OF
sixty or SO, with a bristly gray mus
tache, big voice, a sharp eye, and
joke ready for every occasion.
His implements were long spade
with an iron hook on the handle, n
sickle for clearing away nettles and I'M
dergrowth, and o box which contained
his ferrets and a number of glass-stop-
pered bottles, THE varmin bit So" he
explained, ''he had to carry ointments
end balsams to dress the wounds"
Taking up one of his ferrets he showed
where its head was all SCARED with
toothmarks. For the projection of his
own hands he wore stout channels
leather gloves. But tho most interest
ing part Of his equipment consisted of
the sharpest looking dogs have ever
seen. The fancier who administers
small doses Of arsenic in order to make
tho coats look we'll on the bench might
we'll have cnvied them the healthy
Ciistening skins produced by constant
work in the open. Yet the creatures
themselves were hopeless mongrels, in
color and shape not unlike Scotch ter
ricrs, but larger,
hole was just being finished as J
went up. is there any more, Bob?''
asked the rat catcher, addressing, just
as il he had been Christian. the most
aged of his followers. Bob shifted and
turned away. ''All right,' said his
master Ego on to the next" Bob
wagged his tail and set off along the
bank of tho dyke, merely Glancfng at
several little borrowings. II follows
Bob" remarked the man, as he gath
cred up his traps together. There!
he's found 'em;" and sure enough the
d
point" fifty yards along the ditch, and
no sooner WIS q ferret taken out of the
box than he planted himself in front of
one bolt hole" His companions chose
two more, and the whole three stood
alert a'td vigilant, but perfectly still.
while the ferret was put in. Hardly
had shat been done for couple of min
utcs ere the rats, large and small be-
IN to dash out into the very jaws of
;nc dogs.
Fifteen had been killed and then
came an interval that made us think
t!ic last was finished. But when we at
tempted to move Bob gave whimper
and little scratch at the, Garth he was
watching. ~ nun dig him out" said
the man, and IL few well-directed pokes
with spade disclosed a rat that might
have been the father Of the tribe,
caught in blind alley. A single snap
WIS enough to lay him dead, and Bob,
with his customary sniff, turned heels
and was off to new quarters. This time
his point was made opposite thick
hedge, the dry ditch running alongside
being quite choked up with briars, net
ties and weeds. ... ...... ....
soon cleared away, however, and some
idea Of the extent to which the vesmin
prevail may be judged from the. fact
that ut least half a dozen "loose" rats
were killed before the ferrets were
Tsed mt all. imagined splendid
days work had been accomplished
when eighty-stx, rats had been killed
.yuud both terriers, fcrrets and men were
obviously becoming tagged with the
work.
For it must be remembered that the
creatures had not congrcgated in one
place, as they do in corn rick, but
r'"vc all found in open country--that l..
% say in the boundary dihch an,
hedges, Of a turnip field. Bar snbse
Quent inquiry showed that the slnugh
ter had not been exceptionally large
two men having between them killed
two hundred and forty-three in single
morning. on nm adjacent farm