DEVON AND SOMERSET. 349 



comes to a wide dusty road, quite pink in 

 colour. In some of the fields below there are 

 people at work, cattle are grazing here and 

 there, and some geese screaming loudly in a 

 farmyard far away. From the road he finds an 

 easy place to rack into the field below^, and all 

 goes fairly well for a field or two, till a sheep 

 dog espies him, and with yapping bark gives 

 chase. Now^ he must make an effort, for the cur is 

 swift of foot, and his gleaming teeth come nearer 

 and nearer quickly. See here is a strongly made 

 elm fence, laid and strongly made last winter, with 

 the ditch dug deeply out, and the clods thrown 

 squarely up to raise the bank. A quickened 

 stride and an upward heave, a crackle of dry 

 sticks as the four nimble feet touch lightly on 

 the summit, and with the same his impetus has 

 carried him well out into the next field. Such a 

 leap distances the sheep-dog for a few breath- 

 less seconds, but he knows his ground, and ere 

 the stag has crossed the next w4de pasture, he 

 has slipped through the gateway, and caught up 

 this strange invader of his master's fields. 

 Heading him off with the speed of a grey- 

 hound, he dashes at his muzzle, but in the 

 same instant he becomes aware that he has a 

 fighting foe well armed and ready to use his 

 weapons. This alters the look of things entirely, 

 and he sheers off for a few short yards, w^hile 

 the mighty stag, blowm and panting, turns at 



