i64 STAGHUNTING WITH THE 



fir, till the water is reached under Parsonage 

 Side. Here the leading hounds come up with 

 him, and ten minutes later he is safely taken 

 at West Luccombe. Time, just an hour after 

 the lav-on. 



Suitable as is such a chase for an opening 

 day, the one that follows is a far different affair, 

 and is one of the performances that go to build 

 up staghunting history. To ride in sight of the 

 leading hounds from Sherracombe to Badg- 

 worthv is to eniov a sensation which memory 

 will always recall, and is enough to convert the 

 veriest tyro into a lifelong staghunter. 



It was four or hve seasons since a gallop- 

 ing stag left the coverts below the Poltimore 

 Arms behind him, and climbed Sherracombe, 

 to gain the heights of Whiteheld Dowai on his 

 way to the North Forest and the mill wheel of 

 Horner. But on Saturday, September 2nd, 

 1895, all went merrv as a marriage bell. The 

 harbouring had been laborious, but was done 

 to perfection ; the tufting was short and decisive, 

 and bv one o'clock a real forest king had taken 

 his last drink in the tiny tributary of the Hole 

 Water, which trickles down Sherracombe, and 

 was away to the open, unblanched. Popham 

 Wood, down the Hole Valley, had the honour 

 of providing this gallant stag for the day's chase, 

 and a staunch one he proved to be. The tufters 

 soon drove him from Holland Wood to Berar, 



