76 FLIGHT AND CHASE 



minutes, which seemed as many hours to the 

 hare, it had sunk to the merest arc ; then it 

 disappeared. 



This was the instant that the hare awaited ; 

 the otter knew it, and the hare saw that she 

 knew it ; the sudden gathering of her limbs 

 proclaimed it. With a tremendous bound he 

 was off, with the otter in hot pursuit. It was 

 a close chase ; for though the hare gained the 

 rock a good ten feet ahead of the otter and 

 increased his lead to fully fifteen at his next 

 spring, the water, as he had foreseen, impeded 

 his further progress so much that he seemed to 

 be at the mercy of his swiftly advancing enemy. 

 What floundering, what splashing by the hare! 

 What ploughing of the water by the otter in 

 her desperate haste ! Foot by foot she gained 

 till at last her nose all but touched his hind 

 legs. It looked as if she must seize him ; so 

 she would have done but for a timely rock 

 which gave the hare the foothold he needed. 

 The spring he made from it was one of the 

 longest of his Hfe ; it landed him well on to the 

 shallows ; two more leaps and he was on the 

 heather, over which he sped like the wind. 

 How good the herbage felt under his feet ! 

 Further pursuit was vain ; yet the otter, 

 maddened at the loss of the prey she had 



