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A MASTER OF OTTERHOUNDS 241 



so because a cock-pheasant is sitting on eggs ! " Once 

 I was refused leave to draw because the owner had a 

 rook-shooting party, though if he had not, he would not 

 have been out hunting with us. At another place pre- 

 parations for sheep-washing necessitated the damming 

 of a river and thus spoilt a likely find. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, the worst case of all was one that befell me on the 

 Essex Blackvvater. The owner, or rather occupier, of 

 Stisted actually walked along with us for some time 

 before ordering hounds off, which he eventually did in 

 anything but courteous language. This was the more 

 distressing to some sixty followers who had been on the 

 tramp the whole day, because he chose his time when 

 hounds were fast drawing on to their otter. 



Every cloud, however, has its silver lining. There 

 are many good sportsmen in East Anglia, in the North 

 country, and in the West, who readily assist the packs of 

 otterhounds drawing streams and rivers in their neigh- 

 bourhood. From such as these I have experienced the 

 kindest and most hospitable of welcomes : hounds and 

 men quartered for the visit, and, particularly in Suffolk, 

 the best of port passed round with no sparing hand. 

 One kind friend even had laid out in my bedroom 

 a tankard of beer, a decanter of brandy and three large 

 sodas, besides fruit in variety ; and I have always 

 hoped that his disappointment was not great on finding 

 that I had no use of any such refreshment, for nothing 

 could diminish the grateful memory of his hospitality. 

 Another good friend to otter-hunting, a miller in the 

 Colchester country, hired a couple of horses and vanned 

 the pack in his miller's waggon to a distant fixture 



Q 



