128 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



with the booty to this lonely retreat, where none 

 dared to follow. At length, however, they com- 

 mitted so savage a murder that the whole country 

 was aroused, and a large party of the peasantry, 

 having armed themselves, proceeded at once to 

 Badgeworthy, and captured the entire gang. This 

 exploit ended the career of the Doones, for they 

 were shortly afterwards tried for their numerous 

 crimes, and deservedly executed.' * 



In the year 1818, the lease of the forest, which 

 had existed for some time, expired, and an Act of 

 Parliament having been passed enabling the Crown 

 to sell, the property was purchased by the late 

 John Knight, Esq., M.P., who was sanguine in his 

 hopes that the purchase would prove a most profit- 

 able, remunerative speculation. The terms of the 

 contract were, however, extremely onerous. By 

 them Mr Knight was bound to make roads, at con- 

 siderable expense, in different directions over the 

 forest, and to enclose it ; and, in order to do this, 

 he had to build a wall fence forty miles in extent, 

 which still makes many a bold rider's heart quail as 

 he crosses the moor. Not content with his first 

 purchase, Mr Knight bought, at an expense of many 

 thousand pounds, the property of Brendon, adjoining 



' Handbook of Devon and Cornwall.' 



