174 FIELD AND FERN. 



For the first two seasons that the Doctor was 

 Master of the Teviotdale, he and Shammy and Wil- 

 liam Broadwith (a very plucky little fellow, with, 

 alas ! an iron hook for a hand), who hunted Sir 

 George Douglases for many years, were ^^ almost the 

 only otter hounds." The Doctor might, in fact, have 

 never become an M.O.H. at all, if he had not yearned 

 for even a higher " trial horse" than his badger, and 

 set out in quest of one on the banks of the Ale. The 

 hard-bitten trio were not long in fin ding an "aged river 

 poach ei^^ (as the Haioick Advertiser puts it), and 

 bolted him into a sack. He was borne home ten- 

 derly by the Doctor; but he did not relish a mena- 

 gerie future, and in less than twenty-four hours he 

 had climbed up a wall eight feet high, worked a hole 

 through the slates, and given his new medical attend- 

 ant leg-bail for his pains. Nothing more was seen 

 of him that season ; but one of 25]bs., by four-feet- 

 two, and very like him, was found in the Denholm 

 Pool the next summer, and the chase was so long and 

 the dog punishment so heavy that the Doctor and 

 Teddy were the only ones up. The waters of the 

 Teviot never witnessed a more bloody fray than when 

 the former tailed him, and the latter held him by the 

 throat, and the three rolled over and over in the 

 death grip together. Walter was a rare adjutant 

 on these occasions. He was with the Doctor at 

 thirteen, and then became a herd laddie ; but he 

 "returned to nobler pursuits," and held this staff 

 appointment for some years. His master's great 



