186 THE LIFE STORY OF AN OTTER 



three boys never wearied of hearing their mother 

 tell how she stood on the rick and watched the 

 hounds stream through the Fairies' Gap ; they 

 always insisted on her giving the squire's « Tally- 

 ho !' and hung on every word when she came to 

 the message brought by the steward, that old 

 John and his grandchild were to have their little 

 place rent free for the rest of their days. 



' Again, again !' they would cry, clapping their 

 little hands ; and generally Mary yielded to their 

 entreaties. And when the time comes they will 

 repeat the tale to their own children, as indeed 

 do the miller's and the moorman's sons and 

 daughters to-day. Thus the tradition of the otter 

 bids fair to be handed on by generation after 

 generation for long years to come, and to win 

 an imperishable place amongst the hearthside 

 stories of the West. 



