I was just finishing my meal, and had forgotten all about him, and was reading a book propped up on the table as I ate, when I suddenly felt a tap on the top of my thigh, and on looking down to see what it was, found that he had not only returned, but had actually jumped up on to my leg as I sat at table. In a moment more, he had hopped up on to the table itself and was eating the crumbs.
He was so absolutely fearless that he even allowed me to stroke his back with my finger; but directly I attempted to close my hand over him he jumped off the table in alarm on to the ground, where, however, he remained restlessly hopping about with his extraordinarily springy movement, till I threw him another piece of bread.
Apparently, however, he had had as much as he wanted for the moment, for, instead of eating it as he had done before, he picked it up, hopped out of the tent, and disappeared for several minutes. Presently, however, he came back again. I threw him another piece that he again made off with, and after an interval returned for more. He must have carried off about ten pieces in this way that evening, each piece about the size of a filbert. I kept on feeding him so long as he continued to return; but at last, being perhaps tired after carrying so often what must have been a heavy load for him, he ceased to appear.
He returned again on the following night, and for eight consecutive ones. Each night I gave him as much bread as he would eat and carry away. He seemed to be a very small eater; but he must have taken off with him enough bread to make two or three loaves. In addition, he levied toll on the grain for the camels, which he obtained by gnawing holes in the sacks.
This last, however, proved to be his undoing, for one of my men happened to catch him in the act, and promptly, much to my disgust, killed him. It was unquestionably the same rat that had come nightly to my tent that had also carried off the grain, for there was no possibility of mistaking him, owing to the fact that he had lost an eye.
I felt quite sorry to lose the little beast, which had become quite a pet, and latterly became so tame that he would allow me to pick him up and stroke him. When my man, however, grabbed hold of him in his hand, he promptly bit him in the thumb.
These little kangaroo rats are wonderfully pretty little creatures, just the colour of the sand itself, with large black eyes and a very long tail. Their most striking peculiarity is the enormous muscular development of their hind legs, which seem quite disproportionately massive in comparison with their small bodies.
It is this great muscular development of their long hind legs that gives them such wonderful powers of locomotion. Once, while travelling with my caravan over a large area of level sand, I came across the track of one of these rats, quite clearly visible on the smooth surface, and as it happened to be travelling in practically the same direction as I was going myself, I followed it for a long distance.
The track consisted of a series of double dots where the hind feet had landed on the sand, occurring at regular intervals of three to four feet apart. I followed those tracks for over nine miles in practically a straight line, till a change in the direction of my route from that of the rat compelled me to leave them.
During the whole of the time during which I followed them, I only found three or four places where the rat had abandoned his regular pace and stopped for a moment or two to turn round and round apparently to play with his tail.