174 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



hour he might venture across the moor. The 

 instant his mind was made up he set out at a rapid 

 pace, glancing at the keeper's lodge as he went 

 by, and again at the sleeping hamlet before cross- 

 ing the road and entering on the waste, over 

 which he held on his way till nearly abreast of 

 the cromlech. There he halted whilst he sounded 

 the call and listened. Twice he uttered the 

 shrill cry, his mask turned in the direction of the 

 lone pool to the north ; but there was no answer 

 in the mocking whistle of the curfew, so he 

 moved on again under the fading stars, and at 

 last came to the Liddens. 



He kept awhile to the open water, cruising 

 restlessly about, as he had done before in the 

 creek and mere, raising himself at times and gazing 

 round, as wild a looking creature as imagination 

 can conjure up. Thence he passed into the thick 

 fringe of reeds, and remained hidden so long that 

 it might be thought that he had laid up there. 

 Later however he appeared on the far bank of 

 the westernmost pool, and though the pale prim- 

 rose streak in the east warned him of coming 

 day, the outlawed animal, alarmed by the taint 

 of human footprints he had happened on, at 

 once forsook the refuge and set his face for the 

 marsh. 



