The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-30
HE SAW RED RATS.
The Peculiar Position in which sucl
sight May Place a Man

sight May Place a Man.
From the New Orleans Times-Dcmocrat.
1t was most peculiar dilemma" said
the young man who told the story. zone
of those situations in which fellow can't
explain himself for fear of being misun-
derstood.
"A couple of weeks ago | rented a suite
of three rooms in an old building not far
from The Hotel Royal one of those ram
shaCkle barracks that were once hand-
some mansions, and precisely adapted to
the picturesque semi-Boheman snuggery
/ had been longing for several years to
establish on that side of town Wen,
moved in, and everything went all right
hnul the afternoon of the second day,
when l was smoking "A corncob pipe in the
rear room, which oVerlooks a very quaint
hricked courtyard. and happened to notice
a red rat on top of the cistcnn--
"A red rat! exclaimed his listeners in
astonished chorus. Did you say red rat
or dead rat?'
II said red rat and meant red raj" re-
piled the narrator. The rat | saw was
abnormaly large in size aud bright Yer
million in color. Naturally | was some
what startled. In fact l got such sud
den move on me that / fell over back
ward and when | picked myself up the
| rat was gone. tried 10 argue that the
thing was an optical illusion. probably
some scrap of red paper which the wind
| had carried to the cistern top and blown
off again, but It was no 60, l remember
The beast too distinctly.
| Il went TO bed trying 10 solve the enig-
| ma, - continued the young map, "aud Eoi
up still thinking about red rats, OF course
it was absurd Yet the incident so preyeC
on my mind and disturbed my train OF
| thought that l found myself unable to d,
! some writing which ! had mapped on
and was particularly anxious 10 complete
but, why didnf YOU question the neigh.
borsY' Interrupted one of the party. who
were now deeply interested,
That occurred to me, but they Were
! all strange. foreign looking folk. wht
| never spoke English. and | was satisfied
| l couldn [ mako them understand. Besides
! it is an awkward job to approach tota
| stranger with inquiries about red rats
| He is apr to conclude that you arc either
crazy or guying him. and in either case
| will probably punch your head before YOU
can explain. So l said nothing, but KEEP
| a close eye on the Old court, and aftel
| three or four days had elapsed | was he
| ginning to think ii was all a dream. whcr
| | again saw the red rat-this time with G
| companion equally large and equally red
! The two creatures were summing them
| selves at the end of my own back gal
lery, and l saw them through a window
not twenty feet away. There was NJ
| earthly chance for a mistake they wer,
| large, live rats, the exact shade of old
fashioned red flannel. l glared at then
| perhaps a minute, and then door slam
med somewhere and they both suddenly
vanished down a drain pipe. That Visi
| tatiOn determined me to solve the mys
! terry or perish in the attempt and l rush
| ed bareheaded down to q little store OF
! the same block. Excuse me-, | said e
! the proprietor, but did you ever see any
red rats around here?' ! must have look
ed pretty wild; anyhow, he burst gu
laughing. Only once. he said The!
! wore little tin caps and carried blue par
asols on but seriouslyr | insisted
| You'll fine it serious said he, unless vol
| quit drinking
That discouraged me. / had intende,
! going through the whole block systemat
ically and questioning everybody, but
| saw 1t was bound to land me in the jim
/ jam ward if l persisted, so | went quick
! ly back to my room and tried to view tn,
| situation philosophlcally There are SOM
red rats about the premises. l said t,
! mys&if. Il don't know where they cam
| froia or how they acquired that pecula
! color, and what is more l don't care
| will dismiss them from my mind Blu
! that was easier said than done / hat
/ a mystery and was haunted by the horri
BILE fear that | was the victim of a hallu
cination Do what | would, those inferno
/ ed rats gallopsd through my brain moTn
ing noon and night. | went into a stor,
/ to get cigar and paralyzed the clerl
by asking him for an imported red ra
not too dry, and a correspondent wired t
know what the dickens / meant by writ
ing him that red rats were certain to droI
five points before the close Of Monday
/ trading.
/ FINALLY l couldn't stand it any longer
and although / had seen nothing more d
the rats | decided to quit the rooms. Tha
was last Thursday, and when | told tn,
4 landlord / wanted to go he was astonish
! ed and pressed me hard for a reason
We'll, to tell you the truth, 1 said at last
| 4 don't like the color Of the rats in tina
house They don't match the furniture.
oh! the red ratsp he said, laughing; ar,
there still some of them left?' Yes
fairly yelled, and for goodness sake tel
me quick what you know about 'em.
Why, there were two German feathe
dyers on the third floor last spring. H.
said and just for fun they caught a 10
of rats and dyed them red 1t killed mos
/ of the lot. but three or four seemed L
| get fat on it, and I've seen 'em runnini
around lots of times. Surely they haven
scared you out, have they?' Then | lie'
/ abjectly and told him no; that it wa
something else, and let him talk me int
! staying.
THE red rats don't bother me now. II
fact / find them rather decorative. Conn
| down and take a look at them som
/ time