The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-08-07

mouth, the other bearing a card. They
Travelled the entire distance of the room
on the girder, then disappeared behind
partition. Presently they came out
again and went back the same way,
and one climbed upon the table End
began to drag at notebook which fin
ally fai to the floor, then the other rat
went running along, dragging what
suunded like a nail.
By this time it had dawned upon me
who the thief was, and, taking my pill
low, / let drive and brought the rat
and the nail down on the man in the
top berth. Immediately the whole camp
was in an uproar, wanting to know
what was the matter. The rat had
been knocked off on the floor and be-
fore 1t could escape I had it and tossed
1t on the table. then told the story to
my astonished w-campers. Yes,
it was wood rat, as attractive lit
tie creature as you ever saw; little
smaller than a regular rat, with smooth
hair and bright, sparkling eyes. The
next day we tore away the wainscoat-
ing, and behind ii found every article
we had missed and great many we
hadn't missed-a most remarkable lot
of stuff-all carried there by the rats
If it had been food there would have
been some excuse for it, but here were
things perfectly useless that the rats
had stolen merely to crafty their pro-
pensity Tor stealing. When we had col
lected the plumber it was regular
museum and showed a remarkable va
riety of tastes. There were seven
corks, one corkscrew with big wooden
handle, II cards from various packs,
one checker, half dozen nails, a
toothbrush, one shaving brush, a coil
of wire, four or five pieces of bread
some crackers, shoestring, piece of
soap. candles, two spools of thread
ich nd a n
ranged from an old fine-tooth comb to
the leaf of an almanac. We gave the
Dago the freedom of the town, you may
be sure for the the unjust suspicion
we had entertained"
Wood rats are the greatest thieves
in the animal kingdom said listener,
land l know of an instance which oc-
Cured in the mountains where they not
only caused suspicion, but created no
end of trouble. A party was making a
tour of the Sierras north of the 9ose-
mite, camping every night L was in
the party, and / shall never forget it.
One morning one of the men came to
me and said that valuable piece of
jewelry had disappeared during the
night. There were five in the party
and four attendants, and, of course,
suspicion rested on the latter. We
spent all the forenoon talking it over
and wondering what to do. Finally 1
decided to go to the oldest attendant
and tell him. When 7 did so the man
laughed and said: Have you hunted
in the wood rats nest?' No; / had not.
In fact l had never heard of the wood
rat. So he took me about so feet
away in the bush, where there was a
pile of sticks at least five feet high,
shaped like a big beehive. The first
thing ! saw was the missing jewelry
lying on the ground at one of the en-
frances, where the wood rat had drag
ged it, and not only that, but a glove
and a whip lash and about quart Of
barley scattered around. an empty sar-
dine can, a tobacco bag and some
matches-in fact, all the requirements
| for a forest fire. So, you see, If Se
hadn't had a man who knew what
wood rats are, we might have charged
some one with stealing"
| Wood rats are common in ell the
| southern states. In Southern Calffor-
| MIA they make extraordinary nests on
| the ground in bushes, and sometimes in
| the tops of oaks and sycamores. One
| of their nests was opened once in the
| hope of taking one of the animals alive.
| 1t was the work of an hour to take
apart the tangle of sticks and branches.