DASTARDLY ATTACKS 
261 
otter off the coast of Yetorup, and a mile or more 
away a set of boats was “ running ” another otter. 
Our otter was a long-diving fellow, and, judging by 
the time which elapsed between the firing, so was 
our neighbours’. After a while the other boats 
fired no more shots, and I noticed they were opening 
out over a wider area, evidently having lost the run 
of their quarry. Suddenly an otter broke water 
with a deep gasp within a dozen yards of me, and 
before he could realize his danger I sent a bullet 
through his head. For the moment I thought it 
was the otter we were chasing, but, after being under 
water a much longer time than usual, that one came 
to the surface in the opposite direction outside our 
boats. The hunter nearest him fired two or three 
shots, but failed to hit him, and then, observing he 
was “ rounded up,” pulled for him, and found him 
dead. He was not wounded, but his long-sustained 
effort under water had caused him to burst a blood¬ 
vessel, for, on taking off the pelt, the veins appeared 
to be ruptured, the whole body under the skin being 
suffused with blood. The otter I had secured was 
no doubt the one the other boats were after, the 
poor beast having made a great struggle, in a dive 
of nearly a mile, to escape from one enemy, only to 
meet its fate at the hands of another. 
Ordinarily an otter has to be killed before he 
can be taken into the boat, but one morning, when 
we were chasing one off the north-east point of 
Urup, the following somewhat comical incident 
occurred : The water was smooth, with no wind ; 
but away to the north-west a line of “ white caps ” 
could be seen, indicating the approach of a breeze. 
I was anxious to capture our prey before the wind 
