Otters and otter-hunting . ked up some at least of the rudiments of sport,and possibly of natural history also. Theyare almost as trying to an as thethoughtless young men who, having heard thathounds are coming to draw the streams near themduring the following week, promptly take a fewalleged terriers and try all the drains and holts inthe neighbourhood to see if there is any chance ofa find when hounds come. Their pet dogs do notbolt the Otters, but they taint the drains andholts for a fortnight to come, with the result thatthe Otters leave next evening, and a blank dayis the ultimate
Otters and otter-hunting . ked up some at least of the rudiments of sport,and possibly of natural history also. Theyare almost as trying to an as thethoughtless young men who, having heard thathounds are coming to draw the streams near themduring the following week, promptly take a fewalleged terriers and try all the drains and holts inthe neighbourhood to see if there is any chance ofa find when hounds come. Their pet dogs do notbolt the Otters, but they taint the drains andholts for a fortnight to come, with the result thatthe Otters leave next evening, and a blank dayis the ultimate result. I recently overheard a youthwho had been at this game abusing hounds as nogood, because they failed to find in a drain wherehe was certain there were Otters two days ago, ashis dogs had been barkin at them for hours !As in other departments of life, the Master ofOtter-hounds will find that his most heart-breakingtroubles come from the fools rather than fromthe knaves. There will be troubles, too, arising in kennels. The Master and the Deputy-Master. 97 from time to time, apart altogether from the manage-ment of hounds, which, if they cannot be composedby tact, must be dealt with promptly, firmly, andwith decision. With his committee, too, in the caseof a subscription pack, causes of annoyance arelikely to arise, but here the Master should, whentaking office, have placed himself in a sufficientlystrong position to disregard any cantankerous mem-bers until he shall face them at the annual generalmeeting at the end of the season. Causes of dis-agreement are bound to arise from time to time,and had better be met as they arise rather thananticipated and worried over beforehand. But per-haps we have dealt sufficiently with the troubleslikely to beset the Master of Otter-hounds : thereare pleasures, as he will find, that far outweigh thepains. The Masters position in the field is defined inthe chapters on the actual hunting of the we have merely to deal with him in
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