154 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



church — indeed, his preoccupation showed itself 

 in many acts of his daily life. 



Whilst the snow lasted he went every morn- 

 ing to the pond to look for tracks, and as soon 

 as the first daffodils bloomed he began to dip his 

 hand in the streams to try their temperature, 

 longing for the time when the water would be 

 warm enough for the hounds to draw them. In 

 the meantime he busied himself with the various 

 duties of a master of otter hounds. He visited 

 the kennels every day to make sure that the 

 hounds got road exercise to harden their feet. 

 He succeeded after much trouble in inducing the 

 keepers on neighbouring estates to remove the 

 traps which had been the bane of the Hunt. A 

 fortnight before the opening meet he rode round 

 to see the water-bailiff, the miller, the moorman, 

 old Ikey, and the marshman, asked them to keep 

 a lookout for the otter, and parted from each of 

 them with the words, 'Now don't forget, my 

 man. Morning, noon, or night, bring me word if 

 you strike his trail.' It is not true, as alleged 

 by the gossips of the port, that he offered a 

 reward of ten pounds for information that should 

 lead to the finding and death of the otter, though 

 had there been an offer of twice that sum the 

 trackers could not have shown greater keenness 



