DEVON AND SOMERSET. 147 



Barber's harbouring operations had been 

 favoured with success, the freshly moistened 

 state of the ground, partly re-dried on top, 

 being most suitable for his task in the earlier 

 hours of the morning. High up in Cockercombe 

 where the fringe of oaks and coppice dwindles 

 to a mere belt in the bottom of the goyle, he 

 had detected the presence of two stags, one of 

 them being an unusually tine one. Soon after 

 Colonel Hornby's arrival at the trysting place, 

 hounds were moved off, to be kennelled as 

 usual at Quantock Farm before tufting was 

 commenced. With a draft of three couple and 

 a half, Anthony was now sent to Cockercombe 

 to draw for the big deer, and with almost 

 immediate success. Descending to One Tree 

 Bottom by the well-worn path, with his tufters 

 at his heel, and Miles in attendance on a neat 

 black cob, the little procession was soon lost to 

 sight amongst the tall trees in the dingle. 

 Cheerful sounds soon arose, however, as the 

 tufters struck the line, and Anthony's cheery voice 

 rose clear as a silver bell above their chorus. 

 Down the main valley they swept, waking the 

 echoes with their melody, till opposite the 

 Devil's Elbow, and then turned short up again 

 as if to break upon Parsonage Side. All of a 

 sudden they divided ; one part drove a stag 

 through the tree stems up the combe, while the 

 other, consisting of two hounds only, drove the 



