68 hi Scarlet and Silk 



man to an ordinary 23rovincial pack of stag- 

 or fox-hounds. The natural difficulties of the 

 country could be successfully encountered 

 only by a huntsman thoroughly conversant 

 with his duties ; and it is not awarding too 

 high praise to say that Arthur Heal was 

 always " the right man in the right place." 

 In addition to his other undeniable qualifica- 

 tions, his light weight must always have told 

 in the long and trying days which are the 

 rule rather than the exception here. Mr. 

 Fenwick Bisset himself laboured under the 

 disadvantage of riding over twenty stone, 

 but, in spite of this, he was always " forward." 

 Of course, the class of horse he rode was 

 very difi'erent to that capable of carrying 

 his huntsman ; and the prices he paid for his 

 weight- carriers were, as the famed "Dominie" 

 would have put it, " prodigious." 



In December 1880, Mr. Bisset having re- 

 signed, Lord Ebrington became Master, and 

 Mr. Bisset generously presented the pack 

 to the hunt. About this time one of its 

 warmest supporters, Mr. Granville Somerset, 



