larm
bell and placed the end of it on the table, fixing the extreme end
under the lamp. As he handled it he could not help noticing how
pliable it was, especially for so strong a rope, and one not in use.
'You could hang a man with it,' he thought to himself. When his
preparations were made he looked around, and said complacently:

'There now, my friend, I think we shall learn something of you this
time!' He began his work again, and though as before somewhat
disturbed at first by the noise of the rats, soon lost himself in his
propositions and problems.

Again he was called to his immediate surroundings suddenly. This time
it might not have been the sudden silence only which took his
attention; there was a slight movement of the rope, and the lamp
moved. Without stirring, he looked to see if his pile of books was
within range, and then cast his eye along the rope. As he looked he
saw the great rat drop from the rope on the oak arm-chair and sit
there glaring at him. He raised a book in his right hand, and taking
careful aim, flung it at the rat. The latter, with a quick movement,
sprang aside and dodged the missile. He then took another book, and a
third, and flung them one after another at the rat, but each time
unsuccessfully. At last, as he stood with a book poised in his hand to
throw, the rat squeaked and seemed afraid. This made Malcolmson more
than ever eager to strike, and the book flew and struck the rat a
resounding blow. It gave a terrified squeak, and turning on his
pursuer a look of terrible malevolence, ran up the chair-back and made
a great jump to the rope of the alarm bell and ran up it like
lightning. The lamp rocked under the sudden strain, but it was a heavy
one and did not topple over. Malcolmson kept his eyes on the rat, and
saw it by the light of the second lamp leap to a moulding of the
wainscot and disappear through a hole in one of the great pictures
which hung on the wall, obscured and invisible through its coating of
dirt and dust.

'I shall look up my friend's habitation in the morning,' said the
student, as he went over to collect his books. 'The third picture from
the fireplace; I shall not forget.' He picked up the books one by one,
commenting on them as he lifted them. '_Conic Sections_ he does not
mind, nor _Cycloidal Oscillations_, nor the _Principia_, nor
_Quaternions_, nor _Thermodynamics_. Now for the book that fetched
him!' Malcolmson took it up and looked at it. As he did so