DEVON AND SOMERSET. 371 



harvesters at work on the Treborough side begin 

 to run and shout, and the horn can be heard 

 going steadily away in the direction of Leather- 

 barrow. So the pack is trotted down to 

 Kingsbridge and there rekennelled for awhile, 

 till the whipper-in arrives with his horse in a 

 lather, to report that all the hounds are stopped, 

 and the stag has gone right away towards the 

 line of the Mineral Railwav. ^ 



Now when deer take this line, they com- 

 pletely alter the complexion of an ordinary 

 Slowley day. Instead of stones there is grass, 

 instead of bad scenting ground there is good 

 country for hound work over the slopes 

 of the Brendon Hills pointing southward, and 

 instead of the Minehead and Porlock contingents 

 finding themselves close home at the end of 

 the day's work, it is the Dulverton folk who 

 have cause to congratulate themselves. Straight 

 in front and to the southward lie the Haddon 

 strongholds, and as a first point to make the 

 stag has the Withiel Florey stream, a strong 

 attraction after his hurried ascent of Leather- 

 barrow. The disused Mineral Railway offers 

 less of an obstacle than it did to the passing 

 and repassing of deer between Haddon and 

 Slowley, and is easily negotiated by them at 

 various points. Three short miles down the 

 Withiel Water brings the stag to the neigh- 

 bourhood of Steart Cottage, where he has the 



