8o STAGHUNTINCx WITH THE 



quagmire beneath. Down in the combes beside 

 the streams there are undesirable tracts, but the 

 moor sheep and the ponies, bv their frequent 

 crossings, give ample indication where the sound 

 ground lies, and, indeed, one can find no better 

 guide when in doubt than a well-worn sheep 

 track, that always leads to safety, winding its 

 way from pool to pool until it comes out on 

 some firm and welcome stretch of heather. 

 The undermining of their banks by the tumbling 

 streams is sometimes a source of peril, and a 

 certain crossing of the Farley Water near its 

 source in Blackpits once earned for itself a 

 sinister reputation bv engulfing in a sudden 

 downfall of many tons of soft earth a somewhat 

 ill-tempered hunter mare, known as " Mrs. May- 

 brick," that was carrying at the time the then 

 Master of the Exmoor Foxhounds. All the 

 Exmoor bogs have certain ancient ways across 

 and about them which are well known to the 

 moormen who live in their neighbourhood, and 

 are handed down by tradition to generations of 

 staghunters, but to know them for one's self, 

 to be able to show the way to a well-mounted 

 field in a hurry over such lonely expanses as 

 Longstone Bog or Blackpits or Duckypool, is an 

 accomplishment possessed by few. 



When all is still and balmy, and the humming 

 of a thousand insects in the w^arm noonday sun- 

 shine lulls one to a dreamy contentment, Exmoor 



