304 THE RED DEER OF EX MOOR. 



allowed it, but he would not let anyone use him as a 

 pilot. 



In this way people came to forget that in his 

 earlier days he had gone as hard as, or harder than, 

 anyone over the moor. His weight, which at one 

 time was said to have been twenty-two stone, 

 necessitated his riding big horses, but none the less 

 he insisted on quality, and did not mind paying the 

 necessary price, even to very large sums, provided 

 he got what he w^anted. 



He was not an easy man to sell a horse to ; he had 

 them, of course, carefully tried and vetted ; he then 

 tried them himself. Ten minutes' trotting and 

 cantering round the dealer's field would tell him all 

 he wanted to know about the " feel " of the horse, 

 he would then ride up to the delighted dealer who 

 felt sure of his sale and say, pulling out his watch, 

 " Nice horse, Mr. So-and-So. It's just ten ; I'll tell 

 you at four o'clock if I will buy him. I shan't go 

 out of the field ; you need not stop." He would then 

 walk the horse patiently round and round the field for 

 six hours without intermission ; at the end of the 

 time he would pull up, take out his watch, and throw 

 the reins on the horse's neck. If he would after that 

 stand still for five minutes with twenty-tw^o stone on 

 his back without shuffling his feet and easing a leg, 

 Mr. Bisset would pay practically whatever he was 

 asked for him. He always declared that test told 

 him more than any vet. could do. Needless to say, 

 very few horses could pass it, but those that did were 



