h the farm. The water-voles and the moorhens were
unusually alert as they swam hither and thither in the little bays along
the edge of the current. The fear of man and his loud-tongued hounds
rested, like a spell, on the creatures of the river. Even Lutra felt its
power; but when the scent of her foes became so faint as to be lost in
the fragrance of the meadow-sweet along the river-bank, she ventured
into the old garden, and, on returning to the pool, played again in the
raging water by the fall.

III.

THE GORGE OF ALLTYCAFN.

When Lutra had attained her full size and strength she was wooed and won
by a young dog-otter of her own age, and lived with him in a "holt"
among the great rocks of Alltycafn. Now, again, the Hunt arrived in the
neighbourhood. It was a lovely morning in May. The sun shone brightly;
the leaves were breaking from their sheaths; the birds sang blithely in
the trees. Suddenly the otters, resting in their "holt," were awakened
by a loud commotion--the sounds of hurrying feet, reverberating in the
chamber among the boulders, and then the music of the shaggy hounds,
varied occasionally by the yap-yap of the terriers. The noise drew
rapidly nearer. Presently a man, in red stockings and vest, blue
breeches and coat, and a blue hunting cap bearing an otter's "pad"
mounted in silver, poked among the boulders with a steelshod pole. The
dog-otter was now thoroughly alarmed. He rushed from his lair, dived
straight into the stream, headed through the seething current, and rose
in the adjoining pool. Threatened by a hound, he dived again, walked
over the gravel, and swam under the gnarled roots of an oak. The members
of the Hunt stood watching the bubbles, filled by his breath, as they
floated up and broke. The hounds swam pell-mell in hot pursuit, and the
otter was forced to turn up-stream. Moving cautiously under the rocky
ledges, he regained the "holt," where his terrified mate awaited his
return. Sorely pressed, the dog-otter hid close, hoping to baffle his
relentless pursuers. But a bristling, snarling terrier soon came down
the shaft from the bank. Maddened, and courageous with the fury of
despair, Lutra seized the intruder by the muzzle, and, in the combat
that ensued, sorely mangled her assailant's lips and nostrils. Then, as
her mate dived out once more and swam down-stream, she also left the
chamber. She rose immediately among the surrounding boulders, and hid in
the furthest recess. With