"What is this we hear, old man, about your lanthorn and the rat? And in
the first place, what were you doing in the Vita Publica at that time of
night?"
Cethru answered: "I were just passin' with my lanthorn!"
"Tell us--did you see the rat?"
Cethru shook his head: "My lanthorn seed the rat, maybe!" he muttered.
"Old owl!" said the Captain of the Watch: "Be careful what you say! If
you saw the rat, why did you then not aid this unhappy citizen who was
bitten by it--first, to avoid that rodent, and subsequently to slay it,
thereby relieving the public of a pestilential danger?"
Cethru looked at him, and for some seconds did not reply; then he said
slowly: "I were just passin' with my lanthorn."
"That you have already told us," said the Captain of the Watch; "it is no
answer."
Cethru's leathern cheeks became wine-coloured, so desirous was he to
speak, and so unable. And the Watch sneered and laughed, saying:
"This is a fine witness."
But of a sudden Cethru spoke:
"What would I be duin'--killin' rats; tidden my business to kill rats."
The Captain of the Watch caressed his beard, and looking at the old man
with contempt, said:
"It seems to me, brothers, that this is an idle old vagabond, who does no
good to any one. We should be well advised, I think, to prosecute him
for vagrancy. But that is not at this moment the matter in hand.
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