SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



established a high reputation throughout the 

 kingdom. Under the skilful guidance of 

 Sandy, excellent sport was afforded to large 

 ' fields,' which varied in number from 200 at 

 the first meet, in April, 1 864, to twice that 

 number when a selection of the pack co- 

 operated with a section of Dr. Grant's pack 

 in June, 1865, at Penton. The spectators 

 as a rule travelled on foot, the only exceptions 

 being when two or three landed proprietors, 

 such as Sir Frederick Graham of Netherby 

 and Mr. Johnson of Castlesteads, rode over 

 to meets in their neighbourhood. Occasion- 

 ally ladies joined the hunt. Such large crowds 

 might have been embarrassing but for the 

 powerful though quiet influence of Sandy, in 

 whom the spectators had implicit confidence. 

 ' Keep back,' he would say to any who were 

 over eager ; ' leave the hounds alone ; they 

 are far wiser than a man ; they can tell us 

 far more than we can tell them.' 



On a very good day of course there were 

 often ' blanks ' the sport was exciting from 

 the first moment when, on nearing the river, 

 the huntsman released his pack with the cry 

 ' Seek for him ! ' and the hounds raced to the 

 water side. Perhaps even at this early stage 

 ' Thunder ' would throw up his head with a 

 loud ' Boo ! ' and proclaim that the otter had 

 been there. Sandy at once recognizing the 

 voice would shout, ' Ha, lad ! That's him,' 

 regardless of grammar in the excitement of 

 the moment ; adding quietly to those around 

 him, ' That's the otter ; that hound never told 

 a lie.' Nor was ' Thunder ' the only George 

 Washington in the pack. Now the other 

 hounds would nose the drag and join in a 

 canine chorus, which, to Sandy's ears, sounded 

 ' like a peal o' bells.' The spectators at once 

 arouse themselves, fearing to miss any incident 

 in the hunt. Some run along one bank of 

 the river ; others wade across to the other 

 side. But suddenly the music stops, the scent 

 having failed, and a quiet interval is only 

 relieved by the crack of the huntsman's whip 

 calling to order a young hound that had been 

 'running riot' after a rabbit. The old 

 hounds however are still hard at work on 

 both sides of the river, or wading and swim- 

 ming, trying to hit off the ' foil ' again by 

 nosing every exposed stone, and trying to 

 ' wind ' the game on the water flowing past 

 them. The huntsman makes sure that he is 

 not running a ' heel drag ' by examining 

 stretches of sand by the river side for pad 

 prints, distinguishing the footing of the otter 

 from that of a hound by its five toe marks. 

 The otter has swum to one of his favourite 

 holts half a mile away behind the root of an 

 old ash tree, with subterranean retreats higher 



up the river bank. ' Major ' and ' Lame 

 Swimmer' both famous for 'marking ' have 

 discovered the fact, and with loud voice pro- 

 claim it to their associates, who give a re- 

 sponsive ' boo ! ' and hurry up to the spot. 

 Now comes the chance for the terriers. One 

 of the gamest of them is introduced into the 

 hole, and, if fortune favours the field, a 

 distant underground scuffle is heard, and the 

 otter with a rapid rush bolts into the river, 

 perhaps (as happened at Wetheral in June, 

 1869) with both a hound and a terrier hang- 

 ing on to his tough hide. At this point a 

 crisis comes. The hunters form lines across 

 the river, both above and below the hole from 

 which the otter has been dislodged, in the 

 hope of intercepting his progress ; but some- 

 times he succeeds in making his way under 

 bushes at the river side and escaping unseen. 

 If however the water into which he bolts is 

 a deep pool he swims away below the surface 

 pursued by the pack, a line of air bubbles, or 

 ' bells ' as they are called, marking his progress. 

 As he tires the ' bells ' become more numerous, 

 and he begins to put his head out to look about 

 and take breath. The appearance of his head 

 is the signal for a loud ' Hoo ! ' and waving of 

 hats on the bank, and the hounds rush forward 

 in maddened frenzy. Should they succeed in 

 reaching him his moments are numbered, 

 despite his slipperiness, the toughness of his 

 hide, and the superiority of his swimming and 

 diving powers. But he may succeed in 

 emerging from the pool, getting away, and 

 gaining another favourite stronghold higher up 

 the river. This time the refuge leads into a 

 drain with ramifications in the field above. 

 Some of the field jump upon the earth to try 

 and frighten the otter out ; but that failing, 

 spades are procured from a neighbouring farm- 

 house, the drain is cut say twenty or thirty 

 yards from the river, a terrier put in, and the 

 otter driven out into the river, and probably 

 ' into the jaws of death.' But perhaps as 

 often happens he has retired to an impreg- 

 nable cross drain, there to remain until his 

 pursuers have departed. 



It is important to notice that with the 

 establishment of strong packs changes in 

 favour of the otter have been made in the 

 rules of the hunt. From the description of 

 the otter hunt in Ulleswater at the end of the 

 eighteenth century it appears that the 

 hunter was armed with ' otter grains ' (bearded 

 spears), with which he continued to strike the 

 otter whenever it put its head above water to 

 take breath. The use of the spear is also 

 shown in Landseer's well known picture, and 

 in older illustrations of the sport ; but it has 

 now been completely abandoned, otter hunters 



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