We were not allowed to go in the study, either of us, and my master put the rats there in their cage on the table.
That night, when everybody had gone to bed, I said to Kerry, "I may have no nose, old man, but I smell rats."
Kerry sniffed contemptuously.
"You!" said he, curling himself round in his basket; "I don't believe you could smell an elephant if there were one in the dresser drawer."
I kept my temper. "I am not feeling very well, Kerry," I said gently, "or I would go and see myself. But I am sure there are rats; I smell them plainly; they seem to be in the study."
"Go to sleep," he said; "you're dreaming, old man."
"Why don't you go and see?" I said. "If I didn't feel so very faint, I would go myself."
Kerry got out of his basket reluctantly. "I suppose I ought to go, if you are quite certain," he said; and he went.
In less than a minute he returned to the kitchen, trembling all over with excitement.
"Chappie!" he said; "Chappie!"