RATS!

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 223, 8 October 1887, Page 7

RATS!

By James Greenwood, " The Amateur Casual. 1 '

So far asl am aware, tho sport of ratting, i.e., the extermination of rats by dogs duly qualified fo<- die business by breeding and training, is not an offence at law. Should unneces.-ary cruelty bo restorted to in destroying the " vermin," no doubt tho Society for tho Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, should it- como to their knowledge, would move in the matter, but otherwiso, I presume, a man is ns much at liberty to urge on his terrier to put an end to the existence of a rat, or a dozen or indeed any number, in public or private, as he would be to feet his cat the happy task of killing a herd of mice, Tho common idea, however, appears to be that ratting, at all events wheu ie is peimitted on the premises of a licensed publican who has a 11 pit " and other conveniences for the purpose, is illegal, like dog or cock fighting, or badger-baiting, and that immunity can only be enjoyed by keeping it dark from the police. Thus it was that when, a Saturday night or tw o since, I accompanied a gentleman who vas "in the know "to what he mysteriously alluded to in his letter of advico to me as "a bio of fancy fur woik.'' When we arrhed at the public-house where it was to take place, there was no indication of the impendingeventatthebar, or even when wo had penetrated to the parlour beyond. Yet the Two Stoats is well known at the Eist End as a sporting house. It was a temporary asylum for lost dogs — especially for those of value — long before the Home at Battersea was established, and if any of the surrounding tradesmen are dosirous of having a bet on any forthcoming horse race, they are well aware that every day between twelve and two o'clock they may imke tolerably pure of finding an individual at the bar willing to accommodate Uiem to any amount. The Two Stoats is likewiso a house of call for pugilists. Once a week at least sparing takes place in tho clubroom upstairs, and, probably, take the week through, i he majority of the noses that are dipped into the blight pewter measmes are damaged in the biidge. You can play cards at the Stoats, i>nd there is an excellent dry skittle ground at the rear of tho premises, and generally a guileless fellow or two hanging about who have played at the game, certainly, but know veiy little about it, but who, nevertheless, are willing to risk the price of a pint — and a shilling bet as well, if it comes to that — with any stranger with money in his pocket who evinces a disposition for a throw at the "nine." And there is a rat-pit on the premises as well. Bat " mum " is the word as regards this latter. The landlord of the Stoats is an affable man, and will talk freely on the subjects of caidsi, skittles, boxing, or horseracing, but he ia dead as to rats. The person with whom I went knows him intimately, but the pair wero reticent respecting the match between the pipe-niakei's teriier Spitfire, and Flora " the property of a gentleman." As we stood at the barmy friend raised bis head inquiringly as he whisperingly remarked, " It s coming off, I suppose ?" to which the landlord mane no verbal response, but nodded affirmatively, and pointed with his finger in a downward direction, ns though the canine contest alluded to was to tako place somewhere in the bowels of the earth. It wanted but twenty minutes to the time when the slaughter of squeakers was to commence. Yet " mum " was emphatically the word, in the parlour as Avell as at the bar. It was a large room, and tolerably well filled with ardent patrons, seemingly, of " fancy fur work," but not one word aloud was heard of what must hava been foremost in their minds. Three out of four had a dog with him — such mites of things some of them that their owners might almost have beEtowed them in their hats and worn the latter all the same on their heads without much inconvenience, and others of thoviciou6 looking bull-terrier breed, with pike like jaws and red-rimmed optics that looked as though they were perpetually "citing their eyes out," as the saying is, for that mouthful of man's calf constantly within reach, and which, on pain of death, was denied them. It was not what might correctly be termed a select company, and taken ail round, the dogs were by far the most gsnteel looking and well-cared-for. There were slovenly fellows, greasy at the elbows and knees, and with their boots slouchingly awry and loose in the laces, the sort of men, one might suppose, who would be first in any public demonstration against respectability, but who, nevertheless, were evidently the very humble and obsequious servants of the silky-coated and gentlemanly creatures that permitted themselves to be held in leash by their biped bodyguard. There was one of the parlour customers, a ribbon weaver by trade, and so shabbily attired that no old-clothes man would have given fifteen pence for all he wore, who nevertheless hugged in his arms as he sat, occasionally gazing on it with as much affection as that displayed by a fond mother for her firstborn, a little terrier, the market value of which, as I was informed, was three guineas. The animal's throat was encircled with a Bilver-plated collar, but the out-o'-work weaver wore no collar at all, but only a wisp of coloured lag by way of a neckerchief. At nine o'clock the potboy, who hitherto had affected to be quite ignorant of the fact that theie were rats on the premises, came in and remarked to tbo company generally, "Now, please! not all of a rush. Haifa dozen at a time." And as a first batch, six of the company (including the out-o'-work weaver, who now hastily drank up the remains of the half-pint of porter he had been eking out for the past hour) left the room in a leisurely way, and were followed by another six, and so on. My friend and I were of the last batch, and when we reached the outer passage, the potboy, who was stationed there as though on the lookout for a possible detective, winked, and, with a movement of his thumb over his left shoulder, indicated the way we were to go. Along the passage to a cellar door which stood open, and then we descended a steep flight of^ steps with a rope for a handrail, and which landed us in a subterranean chamber, the atmosphere of which was scarcely as sweet as it might have been. Cobwebs hung in ropey festoons from the beams overhead, and fungoid growths adorned the reeking walls, and mouldiness and sourness, combined with astrongsavouringof aneglected dog-kennel, asserted themselve u with every breath one took. But the very fact of my making note of such trifles is equivalent to an open declaration that I have no eoul for ratting. Who that had would have had eyes and ears for anything else besides the preparation already made io? the match between Spitfire and Flora — jufty rats each for £10 a-side ? There was .\e pif. or rather the make-shift for one, <isting of a square space, boarded in to c height of about three feet, and there were the doomed victims in two large wirework cages, with the man in charge, and whose unenviable job it would presently be to haul then! out; and there, too, were the

horo and the heroino of the coining fray, each in the custody of its owner, and looking co equally fit and eager for business that no one but a connoisseur could have found a pin to choose between them. Three to two, however, was being laid on the pipemaker's animal, which waa the. larger of tho two, and, judging from the pipemaker's confident demeanour, it was a " rcnral " for in vectors. The gentleman to whom belonged the feminine canine wonder, Flora, soemed equally sure of victory, nowever. I don't know who he wap, but he was treated with with great deference, and called "captain," and he bad come from the West End in a hansom cab. He was quite a young man, and sported a white hat and tan-coloured gloves, and his crimson necktie i\as fastened with a pin, the head of which was a comical sort of carving of a death's head, painted like the face of a clou n and with emeralds for eyes He must have been a swell of high standing, because when tho potboy brought him the quart bottlo of "nV'he had ordered, he cursed the eyo3 and limbs of tho latter and told him he might keep the half-crown change for himself. And now the sport began. The company having taken their places round the pit thiee deep, and the owners of the competing dogs having tossed for choice as to which should go in first, the man in charge of the rats stepped into the arena with one of the cages and proceeded to take them j out and throw them down, keeping count las he did f-o. He wore no gloves or any ; other protection, but, as though their teeth v ere no more to be feared than those I of a month old kitten, he plunged in his hand among them and, as far as 1 could see, not one turned to bite him. Cast loose into tho pit, the fifty, seemingly dismayed and cowed out of their natural courage by the deafening din of the dogs those about the edge of the pit, allowed to look on, but at the same time held with a firm grip, the poor creatures huddled in a piled heap in one corner, hiding their heads under each others' bodies. Then, at tick of the watch, Spitfire Mas dropped lightly down in their midst. Ho made short work of the first half dozen or co He had nothing to do but snap them one at a time from the heap, givo them a shake, and drop them dead. But presently discoveiing that the corner was a hot one, squeaking in fright, thpy spread themselves over the door of the pi , some endeavouring to swarm up the side? while others, preferring to trust to a biped rather than to the quick-jawed little demon in degskin, crawled up the legs of tho man who had taken them out of the cage, as though they saw a way out of their deadly peiil by taking refuge in his trousers' pockets. But he simply brushed them off again, and Spitfire was down on them before they could regain their legs. I could not siy to «, few seconds how long it took that famous ratter to givo them all their quietus, but the performance was quite satisfactory to the pipemaker and his friends, and offers of two to one went begging. Then the pit was swept and sprinkled, and precisely the same process having been gone through as regards tho second fifty rats, Flora was set to work on them. She was such a beautifully-shaped little creature, and so refined in texture, that it seemed a sin and a shame, and something like the ancient Roman sport of casting a human being amon^ hungry lions, to place her at the mercy of two score and ten ferocious rats, who, if they had po?so?sed intelligence to combine against the common foe, could have killed and gobbled her up, body and bones, in ten minutes. But for all her be.iuty Flora was a vixen — a high-bred vixen — who disdained all such vulgar demonstrations as barking and bullying, and set about her task of extermination as though it were the most light amusement and nothing to make a fuss about. Fourteen — sixteen were laid low, and her " time" so exactl}* corresponded with that of her antagonist that the layers of two to one against her began to look glum, while her gentlemanly master the " captain," -was delighted, and took off his superfine whito hat and rattled on the inside of it with his elegant walking-stick to urge the tiny terrier to distinguish herself even still more brilliantly. But disaster was in store for the plucky little animal. A big rat, a grey- whiskered veteran standing at bay in a corner, and with its glistening teeth laid bare, Bhowed fight. Nothing daunted, Flora went for it, but, somehow, missed her snap, and quick as lightning, the grey rat fastened on to her upper lip. The piteous yell she utteredbespoke her agony, as she in vain tried to shake the creature off, and she looked up to the man in the pit to help her. But that would have been contrary to the rules of the sport. The "captain" was furious, and swore like an inebriated coal-heaver, and the pipemaker and his party were hilarious, and increaped their offered odds to three to one. But with a sudden manoeuvre, the terrier compelled the enemy to quit its hold, but its thirst for vengeance was such that it wasted several precious seconds in unnecessarily prolonging the process of shaking it 3 life out, which made matters worse. She went to work again, however, like a littlo fury, but it was too late. And, seeing that she was five rats to the bad when she had already reached the Spitfire's time, her tipsy master threw his hat at her with an oath of disgust, and haughtily handing two five pound notes to the smiling pipemaker, took his departure westward in the cab that awaited his pleasure at the door.