162 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



1 He's alive and in the country, sir.' 



■ Yes, yes ; to be sure he's in the country. 

 Great thing to know that. It will hearten every 

 man of us. Great day, red-letter day when we 

 drop on him, eh, Pearce ?' 



Then he rose to his feet, but was almost 

 immediately on his knees again for a last look. 

 At length he tore himself away, slipped a crown- 

 piece into the moorman's hand, remounted, bade 

 the man good-night, and galloped off. 



Now the moorman on his way to stop the 

 squire had overtaken and told the post-woman : 

 the blacksmith at the cross-roads had overheard 

 what he said ; and from these two the news spread 

 so rapidly and so far that before the morrow's 

 sundown it was known through the country-side 

 that the otter had been tracked on Matthew 

 Henry's splosh, that the squire had gone there 

 and seen the prints with his own eyes. To what 

 a pitch of excitement the trackers were aroused 

 by the tidings may be imagined. Most of them 

 were at the stream-side at the first glimmer of 

 day, and all of them remained out hours longer 

 than usual. The squire, expecting that word of 

 the otter might be brought at any moment, 

 feared to leave the house. He had even given 

 orders that Limpetty, the whipper-in, was to 



