ROUGH ON RATS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 56, 30 August 1939, Page 5

ROUGH ON RATS

A night of slaughter CHRISTCHURCH WINS AGAIN Our hoii'se is a peculiar one. If the aspidistra irt the hall gets tired of being" an ash tray, and manages to flip .one of the butts on to the four in the dead of night, it apparently rings out like the last trump, and the boss leaps out of lied and rushes into the hall, prepared to diei with her hoots on. Yet the Louvaiu Street ward of' the Bay of Plenty rat-hounds drew off the other night and had a stirning night's sport, all over the house and only the chief whip, Pied Piper Tod, knew anything about it. As Tod tells the story he woke in* the small hours and saw an object ill the doorway, one paw stretched out above its head & resting on the door_ jamb, the other on its hip, hind legs crossed, tail thumping on the floor. Tod's first thought war, that it was Hitler come to visit him; he then apologised mentally as he realised that instead it was quite a decent rat. However, there is a certain dour ne.ss in the Christchurch blood. We hardly pioneers on the Whakatane I frontier refuse to lie bearded by rod- ! ents in our very bedrooms, so that it was but a moment's work for Toe! to slither into the gent'S robe a ncl slippers and out into the hall. Not! one single rat ratted at his approach but three—all magnificent, specimens This was a sight which would have daunted all but the stoutest, but with a few passing thoughts of the River Avon and the Bridge of Remembrance Tod was after them. "LET BATTLE BEGIN." He showed masterly strategy when he locked them into the kitchen while he dived out and secured a piece of wood just a' little smaller than a fence post. ''Then began a murder grim and great" as Kingsley wrote of a sljnilar occasion when Hereward the Wake slaughtered a few Normans. One rat showed fight, but ''Cathedral Square, Cathedral Square'* shouted our hero y and with one blow he despatched it. The second rat thought discretion was the better, part and it bolted for the dining room with the avenger of blood on its heels. Excalibur rose and fell once or twice, but the quarrywas desperately quick and eventually laired under the sideboard. Here entered another actor on the scene —the cat Whisky. Whisky is an adherent of the appeasement policy, and food is the only thing ha worries about. However he has a certain mild curiosity which some-, times gets him into trouble. On this occasion he was attracted by the commotion, and he wandered into the room. Something had gone behind the sideboard; there was no doubt about that. Perhaps someone had thrown a lump of steak there, he would see. He ambled up and bent a negligent head round the corner of the furniture. As a G-man Whisky was no success. The rat sprang at him and Whisky left in more than somewhat of a hurry. In. fact his fpced was such that a brick wall would rot have stopped him, for next morning he was discovered inside a room whose door had b'cen shut all night. Emboldened by its success the rat turned on Tod, but that was its fatal error. THE BEACON ARRIVES. Tod now had the lust for bloody but a thorough search of cupboards did not disclose the third of the musketeers. Came the dawn and Tod felt in need of praise or publicity. "Scoop" would be interested thought he. Wandering out to "Scoop's** little home he shook that worthy. * "Your boss has just rung up." said he mendaciously. "He says that a man's just done in two of his lodgers. Come to the phone." "Scoop"' has never left the riest so speedily. Aren't I lucky, thought he. Oh goody, goody. Two lovely big murders. He hastened to the phone—but en route the swift practised eve gathered in the full facts of the case. It had been another victory for Christchurch. Many an Aucklander would have called it a night. Even" a Wellingtonian would have been satisfied, but; not ?o a man from Christchurch. Tod lurked in ambush and when the last of the trio cautiously came out into No Land to count the dead he was given a one-way ticket for the rat Valhalla. EVACUATION. The sequel came when Tod went to work. Sober witnesses testify that as he entered the building by the front door a solid stream of rats left by the back. It is said that not only did they fill the door from sid<? | to side but that they even clambered out on each other's backs.