Hunting in Devon aiid So7ne7^set. loi 



to precede me, was not less than 500 feet. The 

 ground was exceedingly deep in parts, and slippery. 

 Down, down, down, through dense brushwood, 

 sturdy briars, rolling stones, rushy places, suggestive 

 of boggy pits, over fallen trees, I followed that 

 heedless horseman in his, what I should have 

 thought, reckless career, but which, in reality, was 

 his ordinary style of going across country. For the 

 greater part of the distance I remained on my 

 horse, who never stumbled or tripped ; occasionally 

 slipping, but never discomposed; always ready to 

 crop a green hazel bough, or snatch at a more than 

 ordinarily tempting piece of grass, with the rein 

 hanging loosely on his neck. But when I saw that 

 heedless horseman dismount, I followed his example ; 

 a hundred feet below, flowed the picturesque river 

 Exe; extremely pretty is this swift-flowing river 

 when seen from a level point of observation; 

 viewed from the precipitous path, by no means 

 tempting. Passing the whip through my nag's 

 reins, I walked, stumbling and jostling against him, 

 regretting that I had not kept on his back, where 

 I Avas far more at home than I found myself au pied. 

 It must be a steep hill, indeed, that has not a 

 termination, and at last I found myself on all fours 

 with the Exe, for I lost not a moment in remount- 

 ing, and galloped along the green valley as hard as 

 I could, finding that the hounds had slipped away 

 whilst we were coming down from our high places. 



Crossing the bridge, I hear a view-halloo ; a 

 cottager informs me that the hind has just gone 

 across the turnip field. Three couple of hounds 

 emerge from the cover, hunting the animal steadily, 



