OTTER HUNTING. 163 



a proper hunt. Hounds are mad. They rattle him, they bustle 



him, they give him no pause. But he presently gains a long deep 



pool, and here for a bit he has it all his own way. And very pretty 



indeed it is to see the swimming hounds as they take the scent off 



the top of the water. But he is forced to quit at last, and crosses 



the open, viewed by everybody, right across the point of a meadow 



and into a second stream. But here his fate is sealed. There is 



not much holding here, and in half an hour's time hounds are all on 



the top of him in about a foot and a half of water. Above the 



pool and below it the shallow is bound by a human line standing 



shoulder to shoulder, foot to foot, so that scarce a water-rat could 



find room to pass. Even so it is absolutely marvellous to see how 



long the Otter can evade his foes. No one tailed him. The 



hounds got him fairly enough. There he is out on the grass. 



Who-oop ! " Ladies and gentlemen, three hours and a half, and 



twenty pounds if he is an ounce." Now for the trophies ! 



Y 2 



