, but I am mistaken if
any horse keeper will let his animals out, on such a day as this."

As soon as they had eaten their breakfasts, they wrapped themselves
up in their cloaks, pressed their hats over their heads, and
sallied out. It was not until they were in the streets that they
realized how great was the force of the gale. Not only were the
streets strewn with tiles and fragments of chimney pots, but there
was light enough for them to see that many of the upper windows of
the houses had been blown in by the force of the wind. Tiles flew
about like leaves in autumn, and occasionally gutters and sheets of
lead, stripped from the roofs, flew along with prodigious
swiftness.

"This is as bad as a pitched battle, Charlie. I would as lief be
struck by a cannonball as by one of those strips of lead."

"Well, we must risk it, Harry. We must make the attempt, anyhow."

It was with the greatest difficulty that they made their way along.
Although powerful young fellows, they were frequently obliged to
cling to the railings, to prevent themselves from being swept away
by the gusts, and they had more than one narrow escape from falling
chimneys. Although the distance they had to traverse was not more
than a quarter of a mile, it took them half an hour to accomplish
it.

The post master looked at them in surprise, as they entered his
office flushed and disordered.

"Why, gentlemen, you are not thinking of going on such a day as
this? It would be a sheer impossibility. Why, the carriage would be
blown over, and if it wasn't, no horses would face this wind."

"We would be willing to pay anything you may like to ask," Charlie
said.

"It ain't a question of money, sir. If you were to buy the four
horses and the carriage, you would be no nearer, for no post boy
would be mad enough to ride them; and, even supposing you got one
stage, which you never would do, you would have to buy horses
again, for no one would be fool enough to send his animals out. You
could not do it, sir. Why, I hear there are half a dozen houses,
within a dozen yards of this, that have been altogether unroofed,
and it is getting worse instead of better. If it goes on like this,
I doubt if there will be a steeple standing in London tomorrow.

"Listen to that!"

There was a tremendous crash, and, running out into the street,
they saw a mass of beams and tiles lying in the roadway--a house
two doors away had been completely unroofed. They felt that, i