not see him again, though I watched up and down stream
breathlessly for him to reappear.

I had never seen such an animal before, but I knew somehow that
it was an otter, and I drew back into better hiding with the hope
of seeing the rare creature again. Presently another otter
appeared, coming up stream and disappearing in exactly the same
way as the first. But though I stayed all the afternoon I saw
nothing more.

After that I haunted the spot every time I could get away,
creeping down. to the river bank and lying in hiding hours long
at a stretch; for I knew now that the otters lived there, and
they gave me many glimpses of a life I had never seen before.

Soon I found their den. It was in a bank opposite my hiding
place, and the entrance was among the roots of a great tree,
under water, where no one could have possibly found it if the
otters had not themselves shown the way. In their approach they
always dived while yet well out in the stream, and so entered
their door unseen. When they came out they were quite as careful,
always swimming some distance under water before coming to the
surface. It was several days before my eye could trace surely the
faint undulation of the water above them, and so follow their
course to their doorway. Had not the water been shallow I should
never have found it; for they are the most wonderful of swimmers,
making no ripple on the surface, and not half the disturbance
below it that a fish of the same weight makes.

Those were among the happiest watching hours that I have ever