“What are salmon?” asked Tom.

“Fish, you eft, great fish, nice fish to eat.  They are the lords of the fish, and we are lords of the salmon;” and she laughed again.  “We hunt them up and down the pools, and drive them up into a corner, the silly things; they are so proud, and bully the little trout, and the minnows, till they see us coming, and then they are so meek all at once; and we catch them, but we disdain to eat them all; we just bite off their soft throats and suck their sweet juice—­Oh, so good!”—­(and she licked her wicked lips)—­“and then throw them away, and go and catch another.  They are coming soon, children, coming soon; I can smell the rain coming up off the sea, and then hurrah for a fresh, and salmon, and plenty of eating all day long.”

And the otter grew so proud that she turned head over heels twice, and then stood upright half out of the water, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“And where do they come from?” asked Tom, who kept himself very close, for he was considerably frightened.

“Out of the sea, eft, the great, wide sea, where they might stay and be safe if they liked. [Footnote:  Salmon live in the sea, as the otter says, but each autumn they go up the rivers to spawn.] But out of the sea the silly things come, into the great river down below, and we come up to watch for them; and when they go down again, we go down and follow them.  And there we fish for the bass and the pollock, and have jolly days along the shore, and toss and roll in the breakers, and sleep snug in the warm dry crags.  Ah, that is a merry life, too, children, if it were not for those horrid men.”

“What are men?” asked Tom; but somehow he seemed to know before he asked.

“Two-legged things, eft; and, now I come to look at you, they are actually something like you, if you had not a tail” (she was determined that Tom should have a tail), “only a great deal bigger, worse luck for us; and they catch the fish with hooks and lines, which get into our feet sometimes, and set pots along the rocks to catch lobsters.  They speared my poor, dear husband as he went out to find something for me to eat.  I was laid up among the crags then, and we were very low in the world, for the sea was so rough that no fish would come in shore.  But they speared him, poor fellow, and I saw them carrying him away upon a pole.  Ah, he lost his life for your sakes, my children, poor, dear, obedient creature that he was.”

And the otter grew so sentimental (for otters can be very sentimental when they choose, like a good many people who are both cruel and greedy, and no good to anybody at all) that she sailed solemnly away down the burn, and Tom saw her no more for that time.

And lucky it was for her that she did so; for no sooner was she gone, than down the bank came seven rough terrier dogs, snuffing and yapping, and grubbing and splashing, in full cry after the otter.  Tom hid among the water lilies till they were gone; for he could not guess that they were the water fairies come to help him.