26 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



stifling air of the brake where the otters lay- 

 panting until dusk fell and allowed them to 

 quench their tormenting thirst without fear of 

 detection. Then, leaving their quarters, the two 

 families travelled together till, after crossing two 

 naked hills, they came to a rushy flat, lined with 

 sour watercourses, where the trail forked, and 

 there they parted company. 



The otter was bound for the head-waters of 

 the tributary nearest the source of the river, and 

 soon after midnight reached the boggy gathering 

 ground with its network of runnels and chain of 

 pools in which she and the cubs fished until the 

 stars began to pale. Then the hunters in single 

 file made along the slender stream for the basin 

 below the fall, sporting together till the sun rose 

 over the distant sea and flooded the upland with 

 its beams. The otter, usually observant of the 

 first signs of dawn, seemed not to heed the golden 

 light, even when the cubs began to grow uneasy 

 and to shoot reproachful glances at her for keep- 

 ing them abroad at so late an hour. But she 

 needed not to be reminded of her duty. She 

 knew they ran no risk in that untrodden spot ; 

 indeed on leaving the pool she stood on the 

 bank to gaze across the dew-spangled waste 

 and then at the gilded crags of Lone Tarn, 



