Page:Life Story of an Otter.djvu/195

Rh by, and ran down breathless to where he had drawn rein.

'Tracked un at laist, squire,' he gasped.

'Good news, Pearce. I've had a long day, but I'll go back with you.'

'It's a brave way off, sir.'

'No matter.'

So leaving the hounds to the whipper-in, he accompanied the man to the moor, and examined the tracks by the light of the lantern the moorman had fetched from his cottage.

'They're his, right enough, Pearce. Funny place to come on them.'

''Tes and 'tesn't, come to think of it, for I've spurred otters on this very bit of ground more than once before, and all goin' the same way. 'Tes a line of traffic from the strame to the revur.'

'Ah, that's interesting. But, my word, what amazing prints they are! What weight do you put him at?'

'Afeerd to say, sir.'

'They're a couple of days old, Pearce.'

'Iss, sir, all that, but you mind what you told me.'

'All right, my man. I attach no blame; that's not my meaning.'