FAMOUS SrORT WITH AN OTTER. 305 



sionally, but at last settling to the old bitch otter. 

 Than the work she cut out for us I never saw any- 

 thing more beautiful. About the water meadows 

 there are several streams, or rather one stream 

 divided into several ; one of these, a very swift but 

 shallow one, ran by the side of a bank, on which was 

 a " plashed " and double laid blackthorn hedge, and 

 up this stream the otter took her course, with scarce 

 water enough at times to hide her. When the water 

 shoaled too much she crept into the hedge, in which 

 alone the terriers could follow her, and then it was 

 perfect to see the hounds splashing up the water as, 

 gazing into the hedge, they endeavoured to head 

 and nick in upon the otter. When the hounds 

 dashed on to the top of the blackthorns down the 

 otter went again into the stream, and so on till other 

 streams and deeper water were for a time regained. 

 The chase with this old otter, hard at it, lasted an 

 hour and three quarters, in as hot and sunny a day 

 in summer as needs be ; and when the pack fairly 

 hunted her down, forced her out of the water, and 

 caught and killed her in a thick hedge, I was nearly 

 run to a stand still. Stretched on my back, the 

 hounds having worried the otter, I was longing for 

 something to drink, when my host of the night un- 

 corked a bottle of porter " up " to the fullest extent, 

 and fired a stream of hot froth into my parched 

 throat. I thought I never should have recovered the 

 use of my throat more ; however, by a liberal dona- 

 tion from the cool trout stream, matters were set all 

 right, and a warm bath, on my return to the house, 

 enabled me to do ample justice to my friend's most 

 hospitable fare. I viewed the second young otter just 

 before killing the old one ; but as we, the hounds and 



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