76 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



all times of the year excepting at the end of a 

 continued drought, when they are mostly " as 

 safe as Piccadilly," to quote a Rhodesian term, 

 but there are at least two gutters which always 

 seem to prove treacherous to a hurrying August 

 field, and one of these in particular in the 

 neighbourhood of Webber's Post not unfrequentlv 

 has half a dozen victims at once, lying well hidden 

 as it does beneath a luxuriant growth of heath 

 and rushes, while the water trickles knee-deep 

 below the surface of the ground. Another such 

 channel runs down to Sweetery from the heights 

 of Great Row Barrow, which every now and then 

 has its tale of empty saddles. Between Row 

 Barrow and Luccott there is soft ground galore, 

 and beside the Exford road there runs a drainage 

 gutter which, though generally dry, has been 

 washed out by winter storms to an unpleasing 

 depth. One of the bogs which does not make 

 much show until one is fairly in it, lies at the 

 head of Annicombe, but it has black peaty 

 depths into which a small horse can more or 

 less disappear, and the same may be said of 

 another set of springs, above the trees in Hollow- 

 combe, but these fortunately do not often come 

 directly in the line of the chase. 



To ride a tired horse at all fast across the 

 stonier portions of the Graveyard is a trial of 

 nerve and horsemanship, but, strange to say, 

 there are comparatively few mishaps seen on 



