DEVON AND SOMERSET. 157 



stream of the Warcombe Water, eagerly burying 

 his muzzle in the cool brown eddy as he goes. 

 Seventeen is the number of the field all told, 

 of which three are scarlets, and where, oh where, 

 are the hundred and fifty or so that started so 

 gaily from Hollacombe Wood this morning ? 

 Now we are up amongst the first enclosures 

 that we have encountered for many a mile, and 

 there goes the stag up yonder, crossing that 

 marshy field above those bullocks. How he 

 rolls and staggers ; he is ours if only hounds 

 and horses can live with him for another half 

 hour. A boundary sheep fence, four feet or 

 more of stone ditching and two stout wires 

 atop, necessitates a long detour, and hounds 

 have to be stopped for nearly twenty minutes. 

 Going on again, they touch the extreme head 

 of Parracombe and leave Tinerley on the right, 

 but hunting very slowly from field to field. As 

 they near Wistland Pound, 'tis plain the stag 

 has been jumping the gates, high as they are 

 in this country. Over one gate after another he 

 has gone, with never a mark on the top rail, no 

 timber rapping for him. There's his slot though, 

 plain enough in the black mud ; what a thumping 

 big stag he must be ! Coming to the Martinhoe 

 Road, the field gains a lady in accession, and 

 two or three horsemen, as they sink towards the 

 Bratton coverts. Mr. Huxtable, of Gratton, 

 lends Anthony his horse, comparatively fresh, 



