THE OTTER-HUNTER S HISTORY. 97 



delight than the cornuted otter-killer, when he hurried 

 back to his beloved mountains. From that moment he 

 forswore the town ; and excepting on his annual visit 

 to the furrier, Antony has avoided the busier haunts 

 of mankind. Having added bleeding to the number of 

 his acquirements, he practises pharmacy in this wilder- 

 ness, and for forty years has led a careless, migratory 

 life, tolerated in the hall, and welcomed in the cabin, 

 until increasing years and bodily infirmity confined 

 him to his wild birth-place, where the otter can be 

 trapped without fatigue, and the salmon will yet reward 

 the old man's skill. The Lodge is now Antony's 

 headquarters, and the remnant of his wandering life 

 will probably be spent with me. 



** But it is not as a hunter and leech that the ancient 

 otter-killer is alone valuable. In his wanderings he 

 picked up tales and traditions among the wild people 

 he consorted with ; his memory is most tenacious, 

 and he narrates strange legends which, in wildness and 

 imagination, rival the romances of the East. In winter, 

 when the snow falls and the fury of the storm is unloosed, 

 Antony is settled in his rude but comfortable chair, 

 formed of twisted bent. The women of my household 

 listen to his love-stories with affected indifference, but 

 there is always some apology for remaining near the 

 otter-killer. At times, when the old man is summoned after 

 dinner to receive his customary glass, I, if I be * i'the 

 humour' listen to his wild legends ; and here, in this 

 mountain hut, seated in this room, * mine own great 

 chamber,' while I luxuriate over a bright bog-deal fire, 

 an exquisite cigar, and an admixture of pure Hollands 

 with the crystal water that falls from the rock behind 

 us, I listen in voluptuous tranquillity to Antony's 



H 



