Hal vs. Cute Rat

Last night Hal went out and when I was ready to go to sleep I went to let him back in but he was in the middle of a stand off with a cute rat. This is the healthy country rat I saw a long time ago or maybe it's a mole or something. It was definitely bigger than a mouse. Anyways, the creature was up on top of the suet feeder hanger and Hal was staring intently at it. I tried to call to Hal to get his attention but he wouldn't take his eyes off it. I felt bad for the creature - clearly it just went up for it's usual nighttime snack and then realized it was being stalked. It kept looking at me, pleading for help. After a couple of minutes I gave up, turned the light off outside and read for a bit. I thought the creature might try to make a run for it but when I went back nothing had changed. So, after some calling to Hal I finally grabbed some treats and was finally able to distract him and get him in the house. It was a bit tense there. Hal really has the instincts even though he grew up as a house cat. I don't want to deny him his catly ways, I just can't encourage it either.