130 EEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. 



terriers after him, and an otter hunt, Hebridean 

 fashion, begins. 



Don't be afraid, reader, I am not going to 

 describe an otter hunt ; we have no such thing 

 there. I once got two or three foxhounds, and 

 some terriers, but it would not do ; the lochs 

 were too many and too large, and the beast 

 always beat us. But if you can get an otter 

 into a small loch, in which you can keep him, 

 with two or three sagacious and real good 

 dogs, you may have some exciting fun in its 

 way ; but then it must be very calm, and you 

 must have good eyes. 



Our loch was small ; Dick took one side, I 

 the other ; and at him went our terriers and 

 Grouse, showing, the first excitement over, a 

 sagacity that made up for want of numbers. 

 One of the three always kept the shore, to 

 detect the otter if he banked or tried to quit 

 the loch ; the others swam as handy to him as 

 they could. Our oflEice was to watch the otter 

 blowing or venting, and to keep him down by 

 shooting over him whenever he did so ; above 

 all, if possible, not to let him leave the loch 

 unknown. Sometimes w^e lost him altogether 

 for half-an-hour — at one time so long that we 

 thought him gone, when off set the terriers by 

 agreement to his old den, where they recom- 



