MODERN TIMES, 307 



high order, though he was not exempt from trials 

 and difficuUies. The herd was too numerous, and 

 complaints of "deer damage" became more and 

 more frequent and insistent. A small fund, collected 

 at the various inns principally from visitors, had been 

 in existence for some years, from which exceptionally 

 severe cases of damage had been partially com- 

 pensated, but the fund rarely exceeded a hundred 

 pounds, and it was quite inadequate to meet the 

 new demands. 



The Master, the committee, and a few who hunted 

 all the year round had grasped the situation, and 

 realised what the consequences of an undue extension 

 of the herd would entail ; but the average man knew 

 next to nothing about it, though he liked to feel that 

 there were " plenty of deer." The consequence was 

 that a most bitter outcry was raised against the 

 Master when, in his first season, he killed a hundred 

 and one deer. But Lord Ebrington held on his 

 way with the full approval of Mr. Bisset and of the 

 hunt committee, and as in subsequent years the 

 strength of the herd was obviously maintained, the 

 outcry quieted down for a time, only, however, to 

 break out afresh in years to come. 



In 1883 the experiment was made of hunting four 

 days a week in the staghunting season, but the 

 number of deer killed was not thereby much 

 increased, and the work was found to put an undue 

 strain on the veteran Arthur Heal. 



At the end of the season of 1886 Lord Ebrington 



X 2 



