almost flat before the hot breath of this hurricane, and although
the house was built of cob, and its walls were very thick and solid,
the creaking and swaying of the shingled roof kept me in perpetual
alarm. The verandah was a great protection; and yet the small
river-pebbles, of which the garden-walk was made, were dashed
against the windows like hailstones by each gust. We amused
ourselves indoors by the study and composition of acrostics, and so
got through an imprisonment of two days, without a moment's
cessation of the wind; but towards sunset on Saturday there were
signs of a lull, and about midnight the gale dropped; and we heard
the grateful, refreshing sound of soft and continuous rain, and when
we came out to breakfast on Sunday morning everything looked revived
again. It is a most fortunate meteorological fact that these very
high winds are generally succeeded by heavy rain; everything is so
parched and shrivelled up by them that I do not know what would
become of the vegetation otherwise. We held a council, to determine
what had better be done about returning home, and finally decided to
risk a wet ride sooner than disappoint the little congregation; for
should it prove a fine afternoon, those who lived near would
certainly come; so we mounted after breakfast.

I was wrapped in one of the gentlemen's macintoshes, and found the
ride far from disagreeable. As we neared our own station we began
to look out for signs of disaster; and about half a mile from the
house saw some of the vanes from the chimneys on the track; a little
nearer home, across the path lay a large zinc chimney-pot; then
another; and when we came close enough to see the house distinctly,
it looked very much dwarfed without its chimneys. There had been a
large pile of empty boxes at the back of the stable; these were all
blown away in the gale. One huge packing-case was sailing