as Widdicombe in the Moor,
the hound leapt into the pool to begin its hopeless labour, and there,
exactly at midnight or midday, they say, you may still see it at its
task.

Buckfastleigh is on a branch line that runs up from Totnes, skirting
Dartmoor, to Ashburton. All around is some of the most glorious scenery
in Devon. Buckfast Abbey, founded in 1148 and for centuries a ruin, was
purchased by French Benedictines in 1882, and is now a live and busy
monastery once again.

Just beyond Dean Combe is Dean Prior, a place of the greatest literary
interest, for it was the home of the poet Herrick for many years.

The country all about abounds in objects of beauty and interest, yet is
all too often neglected by the holiday-maker at the neighbouring seaside
towns a few miles away, or the scurrying motorist speeding down along
the Plymouth road.

[Illustration: _Buckfast Abbey_]

[Illustration]

THE DEMON WHO HELPED DRAKE

All the demons of whom the old folks tell in the West Country were not
evil spirits. Some, like that one who helped Sir Francis Drake, worked
good magic for the benefit of those to whom they attached themselves.

To Drake's demon a number of good deeds are attributed. One story they
tell of him is of those days when the news of the fitting out of the
mighty Spanish Armada had caused a thrill of apprehension to sweep
through the country. The danger that threatened was very great, and
Drake, like all of those who were charged with the safeguarding of our
shores, was vastly worried, although he kept his worries to himself.

And one day, as the story goes, the great admiral was sitting, weighed
down with anxiety, making and remaking his plans, on Devil's Point, a
promontory that runs out into Plymouth Sound. As he was thinking, almost
unconsciously he began whittling a stick. How, he wondered, could he
find enough ships to combat the enormous force the King of Spain was
sending against him?

Looking up from his reverie, at length, across the Sound, he started in
happy surprise, for floating quite close to the shore he saw a number of
well-armed gunboats; each chip that he had cut from the stick having
been so transformed by the magic of his friendly demon.

Later, when Drake had achieved his great victory over the Spaniards,
Queen Elizabeth gave him Buckland Abbey. When he took possession, the
legend goes, there was great need for stables and outhouses, and
building work was set in train at