14000 MILES 



of the shower the six or seven miles to Plymouth, and 

 before we got to the station he came to say that by 

 getting off at the crossing, and going up a back street, 

 there might be time. A young man got off at the same 

 place, and said, as we hastened up the street, "the shower 

 will get there before you do !" We distanced the elements, 

 however, but imagine our dismay at sight of the delivery 

 window closed. It was an urgent case, and we ventured 

 to tap on the glass. No answer, and we tapped again, 

 trembling with the double fear of the liberty taken, and 

 of losing the train. A young man with a pleasant face 

 — how fortunate it was not the deaf old man we once 

 battled with for our mail, for taps would have been 

 wasted on him — lifted the window a crack, and with 

 overwhelming" thanks we took the letters. By this time 

 the office was full of people who had sought shelter from 

 the shower, which had got there in dreadful fury. Water- 

 proof and umbrella were about as much protection as 

 they would be in the ocean. Like a maniac, we ran 

 through the streets, and smiled audibly as we waded 

 rubberless, to the station under the Pemigewasset House. 

 If we had dropped right out of the clouds upon that plat- 

 form, alive with men, we should not have been received 

 with more open-eyed amazement. Out of breath and 

 drenched, we asked if the train had gone to Quincy. "No, 

 and I guess it won't yet awhile, if it rains like this!" 

 Washouts and probable detentions danced through our 

 mind, as the lightning flashed and the thunder roared as 

 if the end had come. In course of time it came out that 

 the "return" train was a freight, which would start after 



171 



