56 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



dogs. The ferrets worked well, and went into all the 

 holes as free as rain, till we come to a couple on the 

 top of that particular bank. We turned 'em down, 

 but they wouldn't work them. All they did was to 

 just poke their noses in and sniff, and then run round 

 the holes, uneasy like. The dogs, too, sniffed and 

 scratched about strange like for them, quieter than 

 they was used. We jumped about and poked into 

 the holes, wondering why the ferrets would not go in. 

 The river was rushing almost bank-high to where we 

 stood ; when all at once something was heard whining 

 like, and somebody said, " Look at that ! " It was a 

 sight ! for in the river was a fine otter. She had her 

 cub by the nape of the neck, and was swimming 

 across with him. It was hard work, but she tore 

 through that rush of water from the weir in fine style. 

 There was nothing above water but the alder stems 

 on the other side, and she made for them. She was 

 not twenty yards away from us the whole time. 

 Well, when she reached them, she got her cub on to a 

 limb and left him. He did cry. And then we lost 

 sight of her for a bit. The whine come again, almost 

 close to our feet, and the dogs stood with ears pricked 

 up and one fore-foot lifted, just quivering with excite- 

 ment. She dashes out from the bank with a second 

 cub. The dogs rush to the water's edge, but they 



