MODERN TIMES. 311 



Sidney Tucker was promoted from second horseman, 

 at which difficuh task he was a genius, to be whip 

 It was at this time that Mr. Basset began the 

 practice, ever since continued, of mounting the hunts- 

 man on a pony for the tufting, and letting him 

 change to his first horse when the pack is laid on. 

 This was a great success ; with a light weight, a 

 good pony can go as fast in the coverts as a bigger 

 horse, and is handier in scrambling about, doing his 

 work as well and with far less risk to himself. 



Sport was, as a rule, good during Mr. Basset's 

 time, but was in some years a good deal interfered 

 with by weather, particularly by fog and snow which 

 interfered with the hindhunting, a serious matter 

 when deer were multiplying rapidly. 



Many brilliant days were recorded, the most brilliant 

 of which, without a doubt, was the run in 1888 from 

 Tithecombe Wood, by Bratton Fleming, to Luc- 

 combe Church, right from one end of the moor to 

 the other, a distance of about twenty-three miles 

 in two hours and five minutes, from the road by 

 Friendship Inn. It was a race from start to finish, 

 and but for a big bend by Nutscale, which enabled 

 sc^me of us to turn by Luccott Farm and Lee Hill 

 and get to hounds again by Horner Green, very few 

 would have seen the finish at all. 



Three very fast gallops took place from Yard 

 Down to Horner across the same line which hounds 

 had run several times before and have often run 

 since. 



