MAIL- G UARDS 269 



On another occasion Nobbs and the mail 

 escaped in a miraculous manner. The snow had 

 been falling for many hours on Plinlimmon, and 

 it was a fearful night. They safely passed tlie 

 summit at Stedfa-gerrig, but, after going down 

 for a mile, lost their way in a dense combined fog 

 and snowstorm. A post-boy was riding one of the 

 leaders, but he took the coach over a precipice 

 about sixty feet deep, and Nobbs and the coach- 

 man performed two somersaults in the involuntary 

 descent. When they reached the bottom they 

 blessed that same snowstorm which they had been 

 regarding in quite another light, for the drifts 

 made a soft and safe resting-place. There were 

 only two passengers, who were, of course, riding 

 inside on such a night. They were greatly cut 

 by the breaking of the glass, and two horses were 

 killed. But in two hours the coach was righted, 

 and, having found an old Roman road in the 

 hollow and harnessed the two remaining horses, 

 they drove ofP, and actually succeeded in reaching 

 Cheltenham in time to catch the up London 

 mail. 



When the Cheltenham and Aberystwith Mail 

 came off the road, in 1854, Nobbs was ajipointed 

 travelling inspector to the Post Office on the Great 

 Western Railway between Paddington and Exeter, 

 and was shortly afterwards transferred to Padding- 

 ton, where he remained for the rest of his official 

 career, superintending the receipt and des^iatch 

 of the mails until retired and pensioned off in 

 1891, under the Post Office regulations. He had 



