144 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



who was waiting for me at the top of the hill. I 

 lost no time in changing horses, for hounds were 

 running hard. For the next mile or so the moor 

 was very bad going, being both boggy and trappy. 

 Soon we cross the Barle, and come out on the high 

 land known as Exe Head. Here hounds are racing 

 half a mile ahead of us, beyond the dreaded bog 

 known as the " Black Pits." Some few risk it ; I 

 with most of the others turn along under a fence, 

 and find the going quite bad enough. At last we 

 come out on a steep hillside, and on to the Brendon 

 Road. This gives our horses a chance to get their 

 wind, and at Brendon Two Gates we get on to the 

 moor again. Mr. Karslake and two other knowing 

 ones have second horses waiting here, which some 

 envy, but my young one is going strong and well, 

 and now for the first time I can let her go and extend 

 her tremendous stride through the heather. 



As I gallop down Badgeworthy Lees I have time 

 to look round. For miles behind the moor I have 

 crossed is dotted with horsemen and footmen, too, 

 by Jove, for here is a riderless horse galloping close 

 behind me. There, a mile in front, is a gray patch 

 fleeting across the moor the pack. I push on, and 

 in a minute or two am galloping down the grassy 

 turf of the Doone Valley. Now Badgeworthy Water 

 is forded, and I gallop up the long slope of Mr. 

 Snow's Deer Park (so-called). Here I jump my 

 second and last bank, the first having been coming 

 up to Yard Down. There is very little jumping on 

 the moor, though there are plenty of falls. 



