148 Tally ho. 



and Chard^ Taunton is reached^ after a beautiful and 

 enjoj^able ride ; tlience to Dulverton, where I find a 

 resting-place at the Lion Inn. 



My first impression of Dulverton was that the 

 scenery was magnificent^ but that anything less like 

 a hunting country I had never beheld. This quiet 

 little town, lying in a hollow, encircled and overtopped 

 by high and well-wooded hills, with the River Barle 

 flowing noisily and rapidly through it, looked far more 

 like the resort of those who pursue the gentle art of 

 the fisherman than the home of the hard rider ; and 

 I felt for a while dispirited and dejected at the pros- 

 pect, until a safe and steady-going cob was brought 

 to the door, and I proceed to prospect the " country.^' 

 Having been told that "Miles the Harbourer " was 

 a man to know, I proceed up and down the steep hills, 

 along the narrow, shaded lanes, with their luxuriant 

 hedges, rich in foliage, decked with foxgloves, ferns, 

 and sprays of wild honeysuckle, and interspersed with 

 many mountain ashes loaded with their gorgeous crim- 

 son berries. 



But how about the hunting ? was my reflection ; 

 that is the business on which I am bent ; and, with 

 my preconceived notions, taken from past experience 

 in many hunting countries, I could not reconcile the 

 present conditions as being likely to conduce to the 

 success of one bent on enjoyment of the chase. But 

 when " Miles the Harbourer," recognising a kindred 

 spirit — one that could enter into the mysteries of the 

 craft, and was capable of appreciating the skill and 

 dexterity necessary in his calling — oS'ered to accom- 

 pany me, to point out the home of the wild deer in 

 the lovely woods of Pixton Park, the seat of the Earl 



