During the long days in summer they turned out nearly as smart as upon the Royal birthday, but on a dark, stormy blustering evening in December or January, when snow or rain were falling steadily, there was an appearance of business, and very serious business about them. The scarlet coats were obscured from view by the somewhat elaborate upper coats which have been elsewhere described; and there was a feeling of serious reality about the whole thing, not unlike that which comes over one upon seeing a ship start on a long voyage, or a regiment embarking for foreign service. One felt that they would probably meet with more or less difficulty, or, at any rate, that there was an arduous task before them. The horses would be changed, the coachmen would be changed, the guards would be changed, probably there would be a considerable change in the passengers, but the wheels roll on for ever, or, at any rate, till they arrive at their journey's end, which, in some cases, would extend not only through that night, but continue till darkness again returned, when the same work went on through another night, and in two or three instances was not concluded till the sun was again high in the heavens; and so admirably was the service performed that the betting was long odds in favour of each coach reaching its destination at the correct time. They had to contend not only with climatic influences, but sometimes the malice of man placed stumbling-blocks in their way. The same diabolical spirit which induces men at the present time to place obstructions across the permanent way of railways, led some miscreants in November, 1815, to place several gates at night right across the road near Warrington, which caused the guard of the Leicester mail to get down ten times to remove them, and, but for the moonlight, would have caused serious accidents, and a cart was also fixed across the road. Gates were also, on a subsequent occasion, placed on the road near Stockton to catch the Chester mail. The perpetrators of these wanton outrages do not appear to have been discovered, or they would doubtless have met with their deserts, as the Postmaster-General was armed with large powers for protecting and preventing delay to the mails. Among other convictions for interrupting the free passage of the mails, one toll-gate man near Henley is recorded to have been fined fifty shillings, and also different carters in sums up to thirty shillings. An innkeeper was liable to the forfeiture of his licence for such an offence.