COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 173 



to be left. We are now about a mile from the town, 

 so we get our forage regularly, and the horses are 

 beginning to pick up a little, with the exception of 

 those that were too far gone. Our effective strength 

 is seventy men and twenty-eight horses ! There are 

 fifty horses on the ground altogether, but the remain- 

 ing twenty-two are in the sick report. What a regi- 

 ment ! They employ 500 horses of the Heavy 

 Brigade every day in taking up rations to the in- 

 fantry, so out of our twenty-eight horses we have to 

 find our proportion of the outlying picquets, and also 

 to draw forage for ourselves and the heavies. Just 

 as much as we can do. 



" Jos Tremayne and Jenks are both here and 

 flourishing, and the subs, are Jervis, young Goad, 

 Chamberlayne and myself. This is desperately dull 

 work and not very luxurious. I confess I should pre- 

 fer Atherstone, and we might really just as well be 

 there for all the good we can do at present. How 

 are you all ? I hope your wife is quite well. Pray 

 remember me to her and to Sir George. I don't 

 know whether Jim Oakeley is at the 'Chateau Briggs' 

 or not. If you see him, will you tell him that I 

 think nothing of him for not having written to me. 

 I hope you are having good sport this season. We 

 always make a rush at Bell when the papers arrive, 

 in the hopes of seeing a ' splendid run with the 

 Atherstone,' but as we have not had good luck to see 

 that yet, we generally end by looking over the meets, 

 and Jenks always has some run or bit of a run from 

 at least one, if not two, of yours, and that one column 



