Col. Anstrttther Thomsoris Mastership. 175 



times — and yet never to be out of tlie way when required 

 — is a feat which very few huntsmen are able to boast of 

 having achieved. That the hounds should have shown 

 no signs of especial fatigue, spoke well for the kennel 

 management ; and all the missing lot made their way 

 home within twenty-four hours. 



With a kill at Hallaton, or even a fair run to ground 

 somewhere in the ^' Tailby ^^ country, and the Waterloo 

 run need have no fear of being eclipsed in all time to 

 come. 



It was on this day that Captain Thomson first dis- 

 covered what a valuable horse he had got in his five- 

 year-old '^ Rainbow ; " an animal before whom the 

 prize-winning *^ Iris ^' had afterwards to play second 

 fiddle at TattersalFs rostrum. Though not his turn, on 

 that famous Friday morning, after two hours' exercise 

 and his water. Rainbow was unexpectedly called upon to 

 take the place of a lame horse, and do the longest day 

 he had ever known. Beginning upon his favourite mare 

 "Valeria,^' from whom he changed to "Usurper," then 

 to a horse of Mr. W. Hay's ; and after him to an animal 

 of Mr. De Winton's ; it was not until Grlooston Wood was 

 reached that Rainbow appeared upon the scene. From 

 that time until the close, i.e., for an hour and forty-five 

 minutes, he did his work without making a mistake ; 

 and reached his stable at half-past ten, having been out 

 about thirteen hours. 



He was a rich dark brown, standing sixteen-two, very 

 powerful, with fair pace, and most charming temper. 

 Bold as a lion at a big place, he would either creep or 

 jump as required, and could go on for ever and ever. Of 

 the innumerable hunters that have necessarily passed 



