30 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



sitting on the ground. Thinking to humour him, 

 I got out and ordered a pint of cider, some of v>'hich 

 I drank before his nose, but \vith no good result, so 

 I jimiped out and got him a drink of water and, as 

 that was fruitless too, tried the whip again; but not 

 as I intended, for there was a hand that stayed my 

 arm. I had seen divers experiments made to start 

 jibbing horses, but there was only one method I dared 

 to try. Full of hope, I gathered up the reins, leaped 

 upon his back, smacked his neck, and cried loiidly : 

 'Tally ho ! Tally ho !' He forgot his sulks, his age, 

 the cart, and the lady seated there, and started oil 

 \\ith ears bent forward listening for the dogs. The 

 playful lift of his hind quarters, as he spun round the 

 first comer, nearly unseated me, and the long gallop 

 down the steep hill that followed was not a joy, for 

 my legs were spread out and rubbed by the rising 

 and falling shafts; but there I had to sit, bumped 

 on leather and buckle, until, quite out of breath, the 

 httle beast stopped suddenly and tilted me on to 

 his ears. That mixture of riding and driving was 

 a surprise to all concerned, including the pony, who 

 was dripping with excitement, and the man who 

 took him in charge at the end of it walked round 

 him, saying: *Be et you now, Bobby? Be et you? 

 I never knawed 'ee sweat avore.' 



The Bray is one of several rivers that have their 

 rise on Exmoor and feed the Taw. From Bray ford 

 to Challacombe, some seven miles, beyond which 

 the fisher who is a fisher only should not go, the river 

 course is full of bends and twirling eddies that seem 

 to vie with one another to hold the greatest number of 

 the fish, which appear to be limited only by Nature's 

 provision for their happy upkeep. It winds its way 

 through meadows where the bushes are few and far 

 between, and it comes down through woods and 

 spinneys, seldom trod, where overhanging branches 

 of lofty trees entwine and hazel bushes embrace to 



