“Well, I heard Jack and Tom, two of the sailors, talking together to-day down in the hold; and there was one word of their conversation which, I own, struck me like the paw of a cat. That word was—”
“What was it?” cried I nervously; for if a hero like Whiskerandos felt anything approaching to fear, I might be expected to be half-dead with fright.
He drooped his head for a moment, and uttered one word—“rat-pies!”
I started as though I had seen a tabby pounce down from the rigging!
“’Tis impossible!” I faintly exclaimed; “human beings never, never eat rats!”
“Oh! I beg your pardon!” replied Whiskerandos, regaining his usual brisk manner; “don’t you remember old Furry telling us that his reason for quitting China was, that he was afraid of being dished up for the dinner of some mighty mandarin, whose hair hung in a long tail behind him? Amongst the lowest classes in France, and the gypsies in England, we poor rats are known as an article of food; and I have heard that in the islands of the South Seas we were held in so much esteem, that ‘sweet as a rat’ passed as a proverb.”
“I don’t like such compliments!” exclaimed I, beginning to tremble all over.
“Come, Ratto, you must pluck up a little courage, and show yourself worthy of the race of Mus! There is never any use in meeting misfortune half way. To be caught, killed, and put into a pie, is, I grant it, a serious evil; to be always afraid of being so is another. The first we may or we may not escape; but the second—which is perhaps the worse of the two—lies in some degree within the power of our own will. We need not make ourselves wretched before the time, about some event which never may happen.”
Good philosophy this, I believe, but not a little difficult to act upon. When I have seen the younger members of that race which proudly styles itself “lords of creation,” trembling, shrinking, nay—I shame to say it—even crying, at fear of some possible evil, a little disappointment perhaps, or a little pain, I have thought of Whiskerandos and the pies, and fancied that reasoning mortals might learn something even from a rat.
I was so terribly afraid of being caught by the sailors, that I confined myself more than usual to the cabin, keeping close to the hole that I had made, that I might always be ready for a start should the blue eyes ever happen to rest upon me; but those books, those famous books, happily gave them other occupation.