i6o A YEAR OF SPORT AND NATURAL HISTORY. 



better, that is old Dreamer's voice. Dreamerdoesnot make mistakes. 

 The pack knows this well enough, and in an instant Dreamer is the 

 centre of a dozen waving sterns. Every nose straining to pick up 

 something of that perfume which set Dreamer's tongue a-going. 

 But scent is a kittle thing ; one hound will own to scent of two 

 days old, another will not speak where an Otter must have passed 

 not many hours before. However, there is no doubt about it this 

 time, for just above the shallow at the tail of the next pool, hounds 

 suddenly break into a pretty chorus. Is he up or down ? The 

 master does a wise thing. He is in no hurry. He deliberately 

 takes hounds off down stream and makes a cast or so where the 

 two big " carriers " come in just below. But nothing results ; he 

 can, therefore, feel that he has made all good. Hounds can get to 

 work again — they are not running heel. It would only be weari- 

 some to describe the hunt in detail. Suffice it to say it is one of 

 the prettiest drag hunts ever seen. Scent gets hotter and hotter, 

 and after every momentary lull it is beautiful to see the way hounds 

 flash again to the Hne. See there on a spit of sand is his " seal " 

 or footprint — quite different from a dog's — five toes instead of four. 

 After an hour or so at this, hounds come to a halt. Yes, they are 

 baying their Otter, he is somewhere up under the roots of this old 

 tree. Put in the terrier ? No, we will try to move him first by 

 other means. This is soon accomplished. " Gentlemen will 

 kindly jump. Now then — all together ! " And about a dozen men 

 having closed up above the hover, throw all their energies into this 

 performance. Such a shaking is too much for our Otter. No one 

 sees him go, he slips out so adroitly ; but gone he is, as the hounds 

 can tell you. Tally ho ! as he slips down the stream, he is viewed 

 by a watcher stationed by the shallow below. And then begins 



