A CLOSE SHAVE 51 



made them go down when the peel were run- 

 ning. By the trunk of a dead ash he stopped to 

 listen. 



The otters, on coming to the loop where the 

 estuary wellnigh returns upon itself, landed, as 

 the keeper knew they would, and passed through 

 a belt of young larch to a glade in which the 

 still air was heavy with the scent of flower and 

 fern, and a night-jar was busy among the moths. 

 When nearly across it, the otter swerved from 

 the trail to avoid the coppice where her mate 

 had been trapped. It was not likely she could 

 mistake the spot, for she had stood by him till at 

 dawn the footfall of the keeper had driven her 

 away. She had even returned the two following 

 nights, and called and called and called before 

 going off alone to prepare a nest for her unborn 

 cubs. And now another trouble beset her : the 

 male cub persisted in following the trail, and, 

 owing to his great strength, succeeded, despite 

 all her efforts, in getting amongst the bushes 

 where the trap was set. He was on the point of 

 putting his pad on the plate, when, in despera- 

 tion, she bit him and made him turn. As he did 

 so she closed with him, for she would rather kill 

 him than suffer him to fall a victim to man ; but 

 when, at the sound of the struggle, the keeper 



7—2 



