COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 145 



As they went to the hills 



What a head they bare ! 

 Like snow drift scudding 



On the stormy air 

 And few were the steeds could o'ertake them." 



Forward waved the shepherd : 



" They are west away, 

 On the moorlands startling 



The plover grey ; 

 Ever on as they sped 



More mute they grew, 

 And the riders waxed fewer, 



And yet more few, 

 Till only one hunter attended." 



And the widow, as she sat 



On her lone cottage floor, 

 Heard their cry through the dark 



On the midnight moor. 

 And at morn came the worn hounds 



Home, one by one, 

 And the huntsmen knew 



That the chase was done 

 Never knew how nor where it ended. 



My mother, aged ninety-two, died on 29th October 

 at 79 Onslow Square, London, and was buried at 

 Kilconquhar on 2nd November. 



" EASTON LODGE, 

 " DUNMOW, ^th November, 1877. 



" MY DEAR JACK,- 



" I have seen in the papers that you have 

 lost your mother, and I cannot, although I know 

 that at her great age (ninety-two) such an event 

 could not have been unexpected, refrain from writing 

 you a few words of sympathy. I can never forget 

 all your kindness to me when my dear father died. 



VOL. II. IO 



