260 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
with the sea as smooth as a mill-pond, and milk- 
white in appearance, caused by a “ lifted ” fog, thus 
enabling a hunter to see a black object on the water 
at a very long distance. Over a thousand yards 
ahead of my boat I caught sight of a small black 
thing, which my trained eye told me was an otter. 
My binoculars confirmed it, and with them I could 
make out the otter “ standing,” as the term is, as 
high as possible out of the water, looking towards 
my boat. Realizing that he was on the alert, I 
decided to fire a shot in his direction, trusting 
he might try an otter’s favourite dodge—that is, 
dive towards the approaching boat, in an attempt 
to pass under it and away astern out of sight, and, 
miscalculating the distance, come to the surface 
somewhere near me. Stopping my boat, and taking 
careful aim so as to get the line of fire right, I 
elevated the muzzle of my rifle to what I thought 
was sufficient to allow the bullet to drop near or 
pass close over him, pulled the trigger, and watched 
for the splash of the bullet. Seeing none, I con¬ 
cluded my aim had been too high. The otter did 
not dive, but remained lying on the water. Pulling 
towards him, I kept my rifle at the 44 ready,” in 
case he should again “ stand.” Although the boat 
was going at a good pace, it appeared an intermin¬ 
able time before we got a good sight of him. I then 
noticed he was 44 rounded up,” with his back out 
of the water—the position an otter always assumes 
when killed or stunned—and as I got closer I saw 
the water about him blood-stained. Hauling him 
into the boat, I found that my bullet had entered 
his throat and broken his neck. 
On another occasion we were 64 running ” an 
