THE OTTER AND SEAL 59 



stead, and the shepherd was still at work, so the 

 last rays of the sun had faded from the sky 

 before the mother allowed her offspring to show 

 themselves. As soon as the family — the mother, 

 a young dog, and two females — left the willow 

 tree, they started straight off at a good swinging 

 trot across the meadows down to the river. The 

 parent led the way ; there was nothing haphazard 

 about her movements, for she had made up her 

 mind exactly where she intended her family to 

 fish. After travelling nearly a mile, she again 

 struck the river. Below was a beautiful pool, one 

 hundred yards in length. At the head of this 

 stretch of water a rocky bluff had turned the 

 river's course, and with its waters confined in 

 a narrow channel the restless river swept along 

 to fall with a dull roar into the pool. The bluff 

 extended as a rocky wall along one side; here 

 the water ran deep, and from this wall the bed 

 -of the river gradually sloped up to a shingly 

 bank opposite. 



Full well the old otter knew sea trout and 

 salmon had recently run up, and that the fish 

 would remain in the deep water until a flood 

 enabled them to continue to work upstream. 

 Together the family waded into the shallow water 



