CHASE OF WILD DEER IN ENGLAND 129 



the scent of the deer, which is very strong. I have 

 frequently seen hounds run hard on a scent which 

 actual eye-witnesses could prove to be an hour old. 

 It is not one of the least of the many mysteries 

 of scent that what the old writers call " beasts of 

 sweet chace," such as the deer and the hare, 

 should leave so much stronger a scent than the 

 " beasts of stinking chace," such as the fox and 

 the badger. 



Turning to the huntsman, we find that until 1892 

 the horn had been for many years in the hands of 

 Arthur Heal, who certainly knows more of the wiles 

 of the hunted deer and of the method of hunting it 

 than any man living. Even at three-score years and 

 ten he was in his own country 



" A rum 'un to follow, a bad 'iin to beat." 



But the fatigues of the long days, which often extend 

 to twelve hours in the saddle, proved too much for 

 him at last, and he resigned the horn into the hands 

 of his whip, Anthony Huxtable, no unworthy suc- 

 cessor. 



The Mastership, which had been held for so many 

 years by Mr Bisset — whose personal exertions, 

 seconded by those of ''Parson Jack Bussell" and 

 Mr Froude Bellew, did so much for the Devon and 

 Somerset Stag Hunt — passed at his death to Lord 

 Ebrington, and afterwards to Charles H. Basset, of 

 Watermouth Castle, a Devonshire man born and bred, 

 and formerly an officer in the Boyal Navy. Mr 

 Basset having had the misfortune to lose his hand, 

 his accession to office brought about the singular 

 coincidence that both the Masters of Hounds 



I 



