36 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



ing, until presently they caught the scent of 

 water ; then they never gave it another thought. 

 In their eagerness to reach the fishing-ground 

 they increased their pace across the three en- 

 closures that separated them from it ; but at the 

 sight of the smooth, broad creek the cubs stood 

 and gazed, till a call from their mother reminded 

 them there was no time to be lost. So they 

 made down the bank and over the beach to join 

 her on the rocky foreland, round which the 

 current was eddying. Together they dived 

 and scoured the sandy bed in search of prey. 

 In her anxiety to secure supper, the otter soon 

 got separated from the cubs, who, through inex- 

 perience, wasted their efforts in vain pursuit of 

 the bass instead of questing for the flat-fish that 

 were to be had for the finding. In the end they 

 tired without having obtained a meal. The last 

 time they landed they were near the wooded 

 island where the herons build, a long way from 

 the point where they took to the tide, and it was 

 whilst lapping the water of a runnel there that 

 they heard their mother's call from far down the 

 creek. At once they hurried along the strand, 

 answering as they ran, and even after they had 

 taken to the flood they repeated their shrill 

 whistlings until they reached her side. To their 



