human
It strikes me there'll be very little work done in this neighborhood to-day, he remarked.
gpt
I'd no idea there were so many people in the valley with time to spare. The only thing that's missing is the beast they're after.
human
An otter is an almost invisible creature, Evelyn explained.
gpt
You very seldom see one, unless it's hard pressed by the dogs. There are a good many in the river, but even the trout fishers, who are about at sunrise in the hot weather and wade in the dusk, rarely come across them. Are you going to take a share in the hunt?
human
No, replied Carroll, glancing humorously at his pole.
gpt
I don't know why I brought this thing, unless it was because Mopsy sent me for it. I'd rather stay and watch with you. Splashing through a river after a little beast that I don't suppose they'd let an outsider kill doesn't interest me. I don't see why I should want to kill it, anyway. Some of you English people have sporting ideas I can't understand. I struck a young man the other day--a well-educated man by the looks of him--who was spending the afternoon happily with a ferret by a corn stack, killing rats with a club. He seemed uncommonly pleased with himself because he'd got four of them.
human
Oh, chided Mabel,
gpt
I've seen him drop a deer with a single-shot rifle when it was going through thick brush almost as fast as a locomotive; and I believe that he once assisted in killing a panther in a thicket where you couldn't see two yards ahead. The point is that he meant to eat the deer--and the panther had been taking a rancher's hogs.
human
I'm sorry I brought him, Mabel pouted.
gpt
He's not a sportsman.
human
I really think there's some excuse for the more vigorous sports, Evelyn maintained.
gpt
Of course, you can't eliminate a certain amount of cruelty; but, admitting that, isn't it just as well that men who live in a luxurious civilization should be willing to plod through miles of heather after grouse, risk their limbs on horseback, or spend hours in cold water? These are bracing things; they imply some moral discipline. It really can't be nice to ride at a dangerous fence, or to flounder down a rapid after an otter when you're stiff with cold. The effort to do so must be wholesome.
human
A sure thing, Carroll agreed.
gpt
The only trouble is that when you've got your fox or otter, it isn't worth anything. A good many of the people in the newer lands, every day, have to make something of the kind of effort you describe. In their case, the results are wagon trails, valleys cleared for orchards, or new branch railroads. I suppose it's a matter of opinion, but if I'd put in a season's risky work, I'd rather have a piece of land to grow fruit on or a share in a mineral claim--you get plenty of excitement in prospecting for that--than a fox's tail.
human
Mopsy's gone; and I don't see Vane.
gpt
After all, he's one of us, Evelyn laughed.
human
If you're born in the North Country, it's hard to keep out of the river when you hear the otter hounds.
gpt
But Mopsy's not going in!
human
I'm afraid I can't answer for her.