THE OTTER SORE PRESSED 181 



which had never passed his lips before. It made 

 the marshman jump : it sent a thrill through the 

 cordon of spectators : it made the child hurry 

 again to the furze-rick. 



' Did you see him ?' asked the squire excitedly. 



' I did, and I don't wonder it fetched such a 

 screech out of 'ee. Lor, maister, 'twere enow to 

 wake the dead.' 



Two minutes later the otter was ' gazed ' by the 

 men on the point. Soon after a shout came from 

 Geordie at the end of the creek, — so soon that 

 the squire feared there must be two otters afloat. 

 But he was wrong : there was only one. Next 

 the people on the bar saw him rise, with the 

 hounds close behind driving him towards the 

 reed-bed, where he landed within a dozen yards 

 of the solitary figure there. To him it looked as 

 if the otter must be overhauled, and eagerly he 

 watched the swaying of the reeds as otter and 

 hounds traversed the bed. Soon, in view of the 

 excited crowd near the inflow, the hunted beast 

 managed to slip into the mere as a hound was 

 about to seize him. Four times he rose in cross- 

 ing to the farther shore, where he threaded the 

 sags and, in his desperation, sought the refuge of 

 the furze-brake. The cover was all in his favour ; 

 for he could run where the hounds, and even the 



