HAUNTS OF THE OTTER 55 



difference ; the family went abroad, or somewhere 

 away, after his death, and things went on very quiet 

 for years. The establishment was mostly closed. 

 The game was killed off and no more reared, and the 

 keepers found fresh places. The principal hands 

 on the estate just give an eye to things to see that 

 no mischief was done. Well, the otters found out 

 they could come here without being harried about, 

 and back they come with a vengeance. You see, for 

 one thing, there's cover for 'em. All the sides of the 

 banks are undermined and matted with the tree roots, 

 and the water is very deep. If they had otter hounds 

 they would be of no use here, for fifteen or twenty feet 

 of water in places, and a long stretch of it, to say 

 nothing of the network of big roots, would break the 

 hearts of the best pack in England. It's wonderful 

 the distance they'll run at times their holes, I mean. 

 Rabbits work the banks in all directions ; then, when 

 the otter finds a spot that suits him, he gives the 

 rabbits notice to quit in his own fashion. It wants 

 little altering to make his home ready for him.' 



' Ay, he's pretty cute.' 



' You know that gravelly bank yonder ? Well, one 

 flood-time we was hunting the rats that the water had 

 drove out. It had drove the rabbits too, but it was 

 rats we was hunting. We had got the ferrets and the 



