128 THE OTTER. 



The other man who had seen her at the first was 

 not there to betray her. 



Again, driven from one hiding, she dived, and 

 remained below till her lungs gave out ; then, 

 drifting to the surface, she lay there, only her 

 nostrils exposed, while her poor tortured body 

 swung softly with the stream, for all the world 

 like an old water -logged garment drifting in 

 this way, apparently at the mercy of the current, 

 till imperceptibly she drew near some other place 

 of refuge. 



Otters cannot live long under water certainly 

 not so long as most naturalists make out two 

 minutes at the most ; and when hunted in this 

 way they generally creep out on to dry land when 

 exhausted, to remain at the mercy of hounds and 

 huntsman. This brave little mother, however, 

 kept to the water till she met her fate in the 

 way described till a dozen lusty hounds and a 

 dozen lusty huntsmen swooped, with a triumphant 

 blast of brazen trumpets, on to her poor remains ! 



That was the end of the chase that the crown- 

 ing glory 1 A beautiful wild creature tortured 

 out of existence, a wonderful fighting -machine 

 killed without a fight ! And yet how the blast 

 of the huntsman's horn brings a ribald flush to 

 the cheek, an eagerness to the footstep, and we 

 feel that we must be up and away a crowd of 

 swarthy men and a pack of ugly hounds to torture 

 and destroy one small and lovely thing ! 



THE YOUNG. 



The nest of the she-otter is commonly located 

 in a bank burrow, having its only entrance under 

 water or covered by the roots of timber. Usually 

 the kits number three ; two, or even one, are not 



