DEVON AND SOMERSET. 265 



except for the chance neighbourhood of some 

 coasting trader or saihng ship, the carcase is 

 never recovered, but floats to and fro, to be cast 

 ashore many miles away some days later. 

 Steamers, in passing up or down channel, have 

 occasionally sighted the floating carcase of a 

 deer that has been lost at sea in this way, and 

 in this connection a long swim taken by a 

 Quantock deer from the beach near St. Audries 

 is well worth}^ of record. 



In a dead calm this stag swam straight out 

 into the smooth grey waters of the Bristol 

 Channel, the pack following close in his wake 

 and baying melodiously as they swam in full 

 view of his noble head. Out and out they went, 

 further and further from the mud and seaweed 

 of the shore, the stag just keeping his distance, 

 and the pack tailing off bv slow degrees until 

 they faded from sight in the grey hazv distance, 

 while ever and anon came back fainter and fainter 

 their deep harmonious tones like bells on the 

 surface of the waters. Post haste a horseman 

 galloped into Watchet town, and ere an hour 

 had passed a boat had come to the spot where 

 the deer had struck off, and its crew were told 

 the direction in which the swimming pack had 

 last been seen. Striking off at a tangent, the 

 boat held her course much further up Channel 

 than appeared necessary, but the drift of the 

 turning tide had now to be taken into account,, 



