THE QUANTOCKS. 237 



The day's doings of Friday last (August 30th), then, were 

 briefly as follows : Nearly the whole of the east side of the 

 Quantocks is covered with a chain of dwarf oak woods. In one 

 of the biggest of these (Ramscombe Wood, I fancy) it was- 

 supposed that a stag was lying but the heavy rain of the early 

 morning had thwarted the harbourer's later efforts, and he 

 could offer no certainty. For an hour or so the tufters were 

 drawing in vain, then they roused a stag of fine frame but 

 moderate horns ; hope rose high, and picnic parties paused for 

 a while. But moving into the deep hollows of Seven Wells 

 Wood he defied all efforts to dislodge him, till the afternoon 

 was more than half spent, and any huntsman less wiry and 

 determined than Arthur Heal would have been wearied. Back- 

 wards and forwards he dodged and twisted, often threatening 

 the open, but again retiring to shelter. At last some eight or 

 nine couple of hounds were loosed at his heels ; and in the end 

 he was forced away with his head to the sea, and the line of 

 coverts before him. The leading hounds were stopped, and the 

 whole body fetched from Quantock Farm and laid on while yet 

 scent was warm i.e. when not more than three quarters of an 

 hour had elapsed. Ye gods, what would a Leicestershire hunts- 

 man give for such a scent as that ? Why, he need never lose 

 a fox ! and might wash his hands in blood till even his- 

 huntsman's love for slaughter was satisfied ! The new pack 

 were not altogether at home at starting. The high heather and 

 still higher oak-shrub bothered them no little. But Arthur 

 pushed them along the line for an hour, through combe and 

 over hill till he had to abandon pursuit in the deep glens above 

 Holford. How we rode the hill top, or struggled through the 

 brushwood in his wake, it will not interest to tell. One result 

 of the day was that the determination was registered in more 

 than one instance to await another week and a return to- 

 Exmoor. 



And yet on Monday next (Sept. 2) the new pack were at last 

 blooded and from the Quantocks. Two stags were roused 

 from Buncombe Hill, near the Master's residence, within the 



