DEVON AND SOMERSET. 319 



welkin rings with a very carnival of sound. Heard 

 from above, the sound that preponderates is the 

 charge of the field up and down the nearest 

 convenient roadway, the hounds are too breath- 

 less to make much music, except when the stag 

 stands to bay for awhile in some fixed position ; 

 then the hammering on macadam stops, the 

 tuneful peal wells up above the topmost 

 branches of the oaks, the huntsman winds his 

 horn to swell the chorus and the only quite 

 silent being is the stag. To ride in a close 

 packed string behind the pack for two or three 

 miles along a dusty road is a very doubtful 

 pleasure, but to accompany hounds across the 

 moor when they emerge from Badgworthy 

 Cottage to go towards Hoar-Oak or Black-pits 

 is a nice ride in itself. 



If it be the master's day as huntsman, it will 

 very likely be the field master who unkennels 

 the pack and takes them out, with a second 

 horseman acting for the nonce as whipper-in 

 until the scene of action is reached. 



All the old hounds know full well what is 

 expected of them, and hurry on in close order, 

 only wishing to strike the foil at once, and get 

 clear of the line of thundering hoofs behind 

 them, with which they are always threatened at 

 the beginning of a run. If the moor be dry its 

 surface gives out a plainly audible sound when 

 galloped over by a number of horses, and this 



