DEVON AND SOMERSET. 271 



moor, however, deer can more easily find 

 company than in any other part, and their 

 manoeuvres amongst a herd inevitably give a 

 chance to the tail of the hunt to pick up lost 

 ground. 



A rider of ten stone on a blood horse that 

 has some idea of going down hill should be 

 able to live with the leading hounds almost 

 anywhere on Exmoor, but there are many 

 of the softer parts where, after rain, he must 

 take a pull if he would not invite an over- 

 reach, or presently drop heavily into one of 

 the abundant drainage gutters that at a slower 

 pace can be negotiated with ease and comfort 

 by anv horse that will look where he is going. 

 ■ In the ardour of the chase one may and 

 frequently does find oneself in an apparently 

 endless maze of peat 'cuttings, where one 

 necessarily must take a little time to pick a 

 way, as no horse can do himself justice in 

 leaping on the edge of a quaking turf pit 

 with a spongy take off and a miry landing up 

 to his knees or girths. A few moments spent 

 here in twisting to land fro between the 

 quagmires while the hounds drive gaily ahead 

 are well spent, and can soon be regained when 

 one has pushed past the treacherous tract and 

 the sounder going, never very far off, has been 

 reached. The old rule is true as ever that one 

 must get down to the water in each quickly 



