Devonshh'-e 1 1 1 



me the very first time I ever saw an otter hunt. I dined the 

 night before with Captain J. Euck-Keene, who commanded 

 a battery of artillery there, and he said in joke, " If you 

 want to distinguish yourself to-morrow, you must tail the 

 otter the first time you go out." It was a curious fact 

 that I did do so, and I have never again had another 

 chance of repeating the feat. We had been hunting the 

 otter for some time, and came to a long shallow with only 

 one more pool and shallow before reaching a very deep 

 mill-dam. If the otter once got into the latter, it was 

 almost impossible to capture him, as the banks were lined 

 with numbers of old willow trees, whose submerged roots 

 gave it impregnable hiding-places. The command was 

 issued to line the shallow and prevent the otter passing 

 it, so a number of us stood nearly knee deep in the 

 water, and so close together that we almost touched 

 each other. The water had got too muddy to see 

 the otter, nor could he see us, and several times he 

 bumped against our legs and then turned back. At 

 length, however, he got through the line and was well up 

 the pool above before it was discovered he had escaped. 

 It seemed there might be just a chance of heading him at 

 the next shallow, the one below the mill-dam, and climbing 

 up the bank I ran as fast as I could to get there before 

 him. Just as the head of the " stickle " was reached, the 

 otter was floundering up it on the far side, as it was of 

 such a depth that he could neither swim nor yet run ; he 

 had but a few yards to go, and though I jumped into the 

 water and rushed at him, to my chagrin I was just too 

 late, and as I approached he got into deeper water and 

 disappeared from sight. Partly from vexation, I think, I 

 threw myself flat into the water and made a grab, and, feel- 



