CHAPTER III 



THE FIRST TREK 



Not a single night was given up to frogging 

 after the cubs had learnt to skin their prey. 

 Forthwith the little mother, anxious to make the 

 best of their time, led them to the moorland 

 waters of one of the tributary streams to teach 

 them to fish. There she had taken her first litter 

 for their earliest lessons, and now, as then, she 

 made for the pool above the old two-arched 

 bridge, which she still thought most suited for 

 a starting-point. To reach the fishing-ground 

 betimes, she left the morass with the first shades 

 of night and, crossing the river near the fallen 

 pine, struck across country towards her destina- 

 tion. Her path led through the woodland to a 

 waste of furze, and this to the high moorland 

 which the stream serves to drain. Once on the 

 heathery tableland, otter and cubs advanced at 

 a rapid pace, and presently hit the track to 

 the bridge, which they followed, leaving their 

 footprints here and there on the margin of the 

 shrunken puddles. When nearly abreast of the 



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