SPORT WITH BASSET HOUNDS 303 



just in front of them, but it was so dark I could not 

 be certain ; the pace meanwhile improved. From 

 Hatchet I had run my very best and had only just 

 succeeded in living with them ; no one was with me 

 except a young farmer, who joined me at Sheffield 

 Copse. Close to Pilley Green, I saw without a doubt 

 a hump-backed spectre against the brighter light 

 caused by the reflection of a pond in the heather ; 

 so did Raglan and Gaston, and with a fresh chorus 

 and crash of music six couples were straining for 

 her blood, and pulled her down in the middle of the 

 pond at 5-45 P.M. The best hare-hunt I have ever 

 seen in my life ; 2 hrs. 15 mins. and a big point. 



" On Monday, Jan. 10, 1898, met, 11 o'clock, at 

 Efford, Lymington, and found a hare close to Vidle 

 Van Farm ; bearing right-handed, they crossed the 

 Milford Road just below Keyhaven, and hunted 

 slowly over 2 rivers, by the golf-links, and down to 

 the sea, left-handed down the Stour beach, nearly 

 to Hurst Castle, when up she jumped and immediately 

 took to the sea. She swam nearly 500 yards before 

 she turned back against the current and landed on 

 the beach again, where hounds killed her. Time, 

 something over an hour. 



" All these days, which I have taken out of my hunt- 

 ing diary, have ended successfully with blood ; and 

 there are many more, which I have enjoyed equally 

 well, that have not, but I have not the time to write, 

 nor you the patience to read more. 



" The day — Jan. 31, 1896 — is the best thing of its 

 sort I have ever seen." 



These most interesting notes prove very conclusively 

 that hare-hunting with bassets can, if properly managed, 

 yield very fine sport. The Walhampton Master is 

 fortunate in being able to get puppies walked in his 



