d the roads turned into bogs, so that our
mails came in very irregularly, sometimes ten days behind time. You
may therefore imagine I was in a great worry to hear from Wilfred, my
last letter being a month old, as well as anxious for _home_ news. So
I donned my oil-skin over my blanket-coat, put on my thigh gum-boots,
tied my comforter round my neck and up over my ears, and pulling my
south-wester on, prepared to face the weather.

"I found the walk into town, though very heavy, not so bad as I
expected, and arrived safely, without any mishaps, but rather tired
and uncomfortably moist, it being a sort of drizzle all the way; but a
letter from Wilfred, saying he would not leave for some time, and so
would not be caught in this storm, and the perusal of a kind one from
'the old country' soon made me forget my discomfort, and I spent a
pleasant evening at a friend's.

"At bed-time it was a beautiful starry night; but I did not altogether
fancy it. There was a kind of half soft feel through the frost, that
sounded to me like a change, and the thought of the morrow's walk was
not a pleasant one; but there was no use forestalling what might never
be. So to bed and to sleep; but ere my eyes were well closed, the wind
began to whistle round the corner of the house, and--hallo--what's
that! Big drops of rain, and lumps of earth and gravel, were pelting
the panes of glass.

"A few minutes there was a lull--a dead silence--when flash!
crash!--the room was in a blaze of light, and at the same instant the
thunder made the very bed shake again, and also made my heart rise to
my mouth. Listening earnestly for some time, and no further
disturbances occurring, I began, after thanking a kind Providence for
his protection, to think over the matter, and came to the conclusion
that at last we were in for a downright fall, this being the third
time that, to my knowledge, such had been preceded by a single clap of
thunder.

"Next day the snow came down in earnest; and as it was drifting in
every direction, I took the advice of my friends, and quietly stopped
where I was. Large, feathery flakes fell unceasingly all the
afternoon, and by night there was fully two feet in the town; but as
it looked a little better on Friday afternoon, and my dog, cat, and
fowls could get nothing to eat until my return, I determined to make a
start, though against the opinions of most of the town's people.

"When I left Kiandra there was a dense fog, which