360 BROADLAND SPORT 



But alas ! this splendid combat was soon ended. The otter, 

 amidst the plaudits of the crowd, was seized by as many dogs 

 as could find holding room, and dragged bodily ashore, 

 dying game and fighting desperately to the last, 



It turned out to be a dog otter, and the scale 

 registered twenty-five pounds. Its remains now repose in a 

 glass case in a position of honour in one of the old country 

 Halls, but its features have lost little of their ferocity in the 

 preservation, as it still seems to snarl and glare from behind 

 the crystal frontage of this last resting-place. 



At the death everyone turned up, wet or dry, and the 

 amount of (what in Broadland is commonly called) "jaw," 

 "slarver" and "know" was something to be heard to be 

 realised. Everyone seemed to want to tcalk at once and to 

 tell everybody else " what ought to have been done ; how 

 the otter ought to have been killed ; what his dog had done, 

 and his dog before that," etc., and so on, without cessation. 

 Babel was let loose. Then there was a dog fight or so, which 

 resulted in the . owners fighting between themselves, until a 

 friend tripped them into a dyke to cool their ardour, and 

 finally an adjournment was made to the nearest public-house, 

 which was soon drank out of everything except water. Then 

 the company broke up and wended their respective ways 

 homewards, accompanied by their four - footed com- 

 panions. 



This narrative must not of course be taken as character- 

 istic of otter hunting proper in East Anglia, as a good pack 

 of hounds exists which is ably hunted on the very upper 

 reaches of the rivers and at times shows excellent sport ; but 

 these meets can hardly be said to take place in Broadland 

 proper. 



