OXTER-HUNTING 



penetrate. Meeting at ten o'clock on such water, 

 there is little chance of a good drag, and it may 

 mean hard work for both men and hounds before 

 they find, and eventually put their otter down. 



Many an instance comes to mind, when if 

 hounds had been put to water three or four hours 

 earlier, they would have had a hot cross-country 

 drag, and probably a fine swimming hunt at the 

 end of it. We have known hounds meet at nine 

 o* clock at the foot of a Lakeland beck, and travel 

 several miles up-stream without a whimper. On 

 nearing the source, they spoke to a drag in the 

 depths of a shady ghyll, and carried it at a fast 

 pace out on to the open fell. There the sun was 

 beating down with tremendous power, and under 

 its influence the drag died out. Hounds were on 

 the line of a travelling otter, and had they hit off 

 the drag in the ghyll at five or six o'clock instead 

 of nine, they could easily have carried it over the 

 watershed, and down a runner which enters a tarn 

 in the next valley. A good hunt was thus spoilt, 

 simply because of a late start, 



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