Thieves, biped and
quadruped, human and animal, troubled me more than ever; and perhaps
the most difficult to deal with were the least dangerous. The Crimean
rats, for instance, who had the appetites of London aldermen, and were
as little dainty as hungry schoolboys. Whether they had left
Sebastopol, guided by the instinct which leads their kindred in other
parts of the world to forsake sinking ships, or because the garrison
rations offended their palates, or whether they had patriotically
emigrated, to make war against the English larders, I do not pretend
to guess; but, whatever was their motive, it drew them in great
abundance to Spring Hill. They occasionally did us damage, in a single
night, to the tune of two or three pounds--wasting what they could not
devour. You could keep nothing sacred from their strong teeth. When
hard pressed they more than once attacked the live sheep; and at last
they went so far as to nibble one of our black cooks, Francis, who
slept among the flour barrels. On the following morning he came to me,
his eyes rolling angrily, and his white teeth gleaming, to show me a
mangled finger, which they had bitten, and ask me to dress it. He made
a great fuss; and a few mornings later he came in a violent passion
this time, and gave me instant notice to quit my service, although we
were paying him two pounds a week, with board and rations. This time
the rats had, it appeared, been bolder, and attacked his head, in a
spot where its natural armour, the wool, was thinnest, and the silly
fellow had a notion that the souls of the slain Russian soldiers had
entered the bodies of the rats, and made vengeful war upon their late
enemies. Driven to such an extremity, I made up my mind to scour the
camp, in search of a cat, and, after a long day's hunt, I came to the
conclusion that the tale of Whittington was by no means an improbable
one. Indeed, had a brisk young fellow with a cat, of even ordinary
skill in its profession, made their appearance at Spring Hill, I would
gladly have put them in the way--of laying the foundation, at
least--of a fortune. At last I found a benefactor, in the Guards'
camp, in Colonel D----, of the Coldstreams, who kindly promised me a
great pet, well known in the camp, and perhaps by some who may read
these pages, by the name of Pinkie. Pinkie was then helping a brother
officer to clear his hut, but on the following day a Guardsman brought
the noble fellow down. He lived in clover