50 A MEDLEY OF SPORT 



The Master, who was standing on the far -side bank 

 to the hounds, winded his horn to try and draw the 

 attention of his whipper-in, but so great was the uproar 

 that neither voice nor horn could be heard. At length 

 the whip waded through the breast-high water with the 

 otter round his neck and the hounds swimming all 

 round him, and a more beautiful scene I have seldom 

 witnessed. 



The pelt of that game otter was cut up into very 

 small pieces, and the man to whom was presented a 

 piece went on his way rejoicing. 



From this brief sketch it will, I hope, be seen that 

 good sport may be shown and otters killed by hounds 

 even in deep, sluggish rivers ; and no one knows this 

 fact better than the Master of the Bucks otterhounds, 

 who to-day hunts the waters I have written of herein, 

 and who shows many a rattling good day's sport to his 

 followers. 



Can it be shown that an equal amount of sport, to a 

 twentieth part of the number of persons who will be 

 found at a big meet of otterhounds, would be obtained 

 from the fish — chiefly eels, bream, chub and the like — 

 this game animal consumed during the whole of his 

 existence ? I think not. 



