THE BOOK OF THE OTTER 



not rioting, but running the line of a travelling 



otter. The huntsman then, instead of blowing 



his horn while the whippers-in rate and attempt to 



stop hounds, should put his best leg foremost and 



try to keep in touch, so that if hounds check, after 



covering perhaps a mile or two, he will be there 



or thereabouts and have a good idea what to do. 



We have vivid recollections of a day on which 



hounds hit off the line of an otter that had stolen 



away from a rock-holt without being seen or tallied. 



She, for it was a young bitch otter, left the main 



stream with a good start, and turned up a runner 



which lay in a deep, narrow valley. At the head 



of this valley the otter turned left-handed and 



crossed over more than a mile of open country 



comprising the watershed. Descending the other 



side, she entered a stream via a hanging covert on 



the near bank. When hounds hit off her line, 



they raced up the valley with evidently a screaming 



scent. At the top they hovered for an instant, 



then swept on left-handed over the hill. The 



huntsman, who was convinced that they were run- 



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