preserved for ourselves and others to look at in the years to come. Now, if any man has got anything to say, let him speak out.'
'Say, sir,' replied the parish clerk, after casting his quick eyes round the circle of approving faces, 'why, that we're one and all of the same way of thinkin' as yoursel'! What's a pad here or a pad there? To say nawthin' as to who's to have 'em. By all manner o' means let the otter be set up, and let un be given pride of place again' the wainscot; for if ever wild crittur deserved the honour, this one do, if only for the good he's done the landlord.'
So the otter was set up in the hall in a handsome case, with a picture of the marsh for background. Of the many trophies that adorn the walls there is not one the squire was so proud of, none whose story he liked so well to relate. It alone bears no inscription; for, as he always said, 'There is no need; my people will never let the record die!' His words have proved true.
Though the wild promontory is steeped in legend and romance, though tales of giants, fairies, smugglers and shipwrecked sailors, abound, there is no story the crofters so often repeat by the firelight as the story of the otter, none the children listen to with closer attention. Mary's
