THE OTTER AND SEAL 47 



game once before, and so had brought an electric 

 torch. A second attempt was more successful, 

 for without the suspicion of a rise there was a 

 touch. I struck, and for a moment all was still ; 

 then the reel screeched as a fish dashed down the 

 stream. The gut was strong, so I gave him the 

 butt, and in less than five minutes he was in 

 the net. I then turned on the torch, and the 

 light was flashed back from the silvery sides of 

 a fresh-run sea trout — two pounds if an ounce. 

 Six times I fished the pool from end to end, 

 and added two more trout to the basket. 



It was at the close of such a night as this, 

 that I was thinking of going home when I heard 

 a distant whistle downstream. The whistle 

 became louder and louder and then ceased. I 

 crept out of the water and lay on the bank. 

 Then from the pool below there came a shrill 

 metallic note ; small wonder that the sound car- 

 ried miles up the valley in the still night air ! 



It was an otter. The beast continued to 

 whistle, and at length there came the answering 

 note from its mate ; then all was still except for 

 the babble of running water and the occasional 

 hoot of an owl. Presently I heard otters at 

 play ; they had had their fill of fish, and one had 



