A very curious experience fell to the lot of this veteran in 1887, when a revival of the old days of the road took place, in consequence of the Post Office deciding to send the London and Brighton Parcel Mail by horsed van along that classic highway instead of by rail. By the Post Office agreement with the railway companies of 1882, the year when the Parcel Post was introduced, the companies were given 55 per cent. of the total receipts; but as it presently appeared that this was an extravagant proportion, and that the parcels could be conveyed by van along the road at a much smaller cost, the road service now in force was at length inaugurated, on June 1st, 1887. To Nobbs, as the oldest guard in the service, fell the distinction of acting in that capacity on the Brighton Parcel Mail on its trial-trip. Again he wore the gold-banded hat and the scarlet coat, and sentimental souls not only provided one of the old timepieces, but included a blunderbuss in the equipment, while an even more enthusiastic admirer of the bygone days produced a key-bugle, so that Nobbs might play “Auld Lang Syne.” He tried, but the attempt was not a success. The results were feeble, in consequence, as he explained, of his having lost his front teeth. Nobbs died, May 18th, 1897, in his eighty-first year, at Uxbridge. His portrait is one of the cherished items in the Post Office Record Department. One of those who, for some reason or another, was not continued in Post Office employment was an odd character popularly called “Cocky” Murrell, who for many years afterwards was a solicitor’s clerk at Downham Market, Norfolk. “Cocky” he was called from his prodigious amount of bounce. He had formerly been guard of the mail between Ely and King’s Lynn, and though not much taller than the horn he blew, assumed as much authority as though he had been the Postmaster-General himself. CHAPTER XII STAGE-COACH GUARDS