io8 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



Blackford Combe. They were at once cast up 

 the water at a quick trot, the bulk of the field 

 winding up the valley under Nutscale in single 

 file, by the sheep path which lies amongst the 

 boulders and the fern. A tiny rough fox-terrier 

 kept with the pack for some distance, making 

 the great twentv-five inch hounds look all the 

 bigger by the contrast of its own diminutive 

 inches. At last, having cast all up the Nutscale 

 Water to Chettisford Bridge in vain, Anthony 

 took the hounds all back again on the Exford 

 side of the water to the little water in Ember 

 Combe, and then completed the circuit by re- 

 crossing the Chettisford Water and rejoining the 

 master on Great Hill. The stag meanwhile had 

 crossed the water direct at the point where 

 hounds hrst checked, and ascending by Black- 

 ford Combe and Babe Hill, had attained the 

 crest of Lucott JMoor and borne right away for 

 the forest. Being told of this, Anthony made a 

 long cast, and struck the line at the boundary 

 fence of Porlock Allotment, where the stag had 

 crossed the Exford Road. Two casualties had 

 already taken place, a lady falling on the way 

 up the Chettisford Water, and a groom's horse 

 pitching head first into the high road in the 

 act of descending from the common at a place 

 where the bank was unsound. 



The hounds quicklv traversed the easy de- 

 scending slope of Porlock Allotment to the 



