310 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



utmost to grapple with the superabundance of deer, 

 but he also had to submit to severe criticisms with 

 regard to the supposed extermination of the herd, 

 which was, in fact, steadily though slowly increasing, 

 as afterwards was apparent to all men. Mr. Basset, 

 who had been a " hound man " as distinguished from 

 a "hunting man" from his earliest youth, paid 

 unceasing attention to the pack, and brought them 

 to a very high standard, both as to work and appear- 

 ance. He was a consummate judge of a horse, and 

 a good man to get to hounds in spite of the loss of 

 a hand, and the curiously short stirrups in which he 

 rode. He had a wonderful knack of making horses 

 go quietly, and all his own horses and most of those 

 ridden by the men went in plain snaflfle bridles. He 

 liked little horses, but they were strong and full of 

 quality. A big London dealer, watching him 

 changing from "Bounding Ben" to " Bideford," 

 exclaimed, " Where on earth does he buy them ? If 

 someone would only send that class up to me I 

 could sell them all day long." 



Mr. Basset started with " Arthur " still carrying the 

 horn, but the gallant old man was getting up in 

 years, and the long wet days hindhunting told 

 heavily upon him. For years Mrs. Heal had 

 always had a cup of soup ready for him on his 

 return, after swallowing which he did up his hounds 

 for the night and went straight to bed, having his 

 supper brought to him in bed. In 1889 Arthur gave 

 up the horn to his whipper-in, Anthony Huxtable, and 



