The Meeker herald., 1896-02-15
RATS STOLE TIE E0Gs,

Glover Aaaasr IN which ths NxsAsats
0st Away With Their Booty.
Mount Morris Special to Buffalo Ex-
press: Young Lewis johnson has been
missing . good many hens eggs lately.
Yesterday he detected the thief. but he
did not catch him. 1t was large gray
rat. Al soon a. Lewis heard the hen
cackle he ran out to the barn and found
the rat carrying OF the egg, still warm.
The way he hit it was curious. Lying
on his back. the rat was clasping the
egg tightly with his four legs. and an
other rat was dragging him on by the
tall. The rat that was supplying the
mstiye power was the first to notice the
approach Of Lewis-his companion IN
mischief was too busy balancing the egg
to notice anything. When he saw Lewis
the rat did not give up the attempt.
On the contrary. he redoubled his ef-
forts to drag his load out of harms way.
With his pals tail tightly gripped in his
teeth. he yanked and tugged away to-
ward hole in the wall under the calf's
feeding trough. Meanwhile his COM
panton. the receiver of the stolen goods,
who. in the circumstances, was quite as
bad as the thief. kept squealing quite
Justify. Probably the cinch which his
comrades teeth had on his tail was
painful. But he was game. He hung on
to the egg like good fellow. The other
rat would drag him around every OBJ
shuctton with the incest intelligence.
never once losing his grip. He gripped
the tall; the owner of the tail gripped
the egg. Lewis opened his eyes to their
fullest extent and stared in astonish-
ment. Then he got club. By this time
the thieves were very nearly on with
their booty. Throwing his club. Lewis
scared them OF on the very point Of
SUCCESS. He recovered the egg, but the
thieves got away.
Putting the egg In his pocket, he
china egg. which he placed in the nest
In the manger. Then he hid behind the
straWstack and awaited developments.
Pretty soon two snifing noses appeared,
then gray body with hair ruined the
wrong way on Its back The rats went
to tho nest again and toted the china
egg out on the ground. But they didn't
ike the looks of 1t. They would carry it
short distance and then stop and
snin 1t, bunting 1t about with their
noses. After some moments Of these
football tactics the carrier rat tried to
get hold of the egg, but he could not ac-
complish it. 1t was SO smooth and pol
ished and slippery that 1t eluded him
every time he put his paws on 1t. Then
they tried to bunt 1t along, but this was
not success. Every time they bunted
1t away 1t would go In the wrong direc-
ton. Finally the locomotive rat go.
angry and bunted the other one. This
precfpitated small rat riot, which
Lewis took advantage of to try and get
between the rats aud the hole under
the trough. But he stubbed his toe in
his haste. and forgetting all about the
egg In his pocket, smashed it. The rats
scampered OF and Lewis hurried sor-
rowfully to the house and tried to tell
his mother about the strange sight in
the barnyard, but she thought he was
dbbing to excuse the breaking of the
egg in his pocket, and gave him good
licking. accompanied by an admonition
to always tell the truth.
There are red rings under Lewis eyes
today, and red welts on other parts of
him, but he sticks to the story. and he
and his father have resolved themselves
into committee of investigation into
the rat question. and when they get
their proofs they will confront Lewis
mother and secure vindication for
Lewis