Percival Keene

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  The boys had been saving up all their money to purchase fireworks forthe celebrated 5th of November--a day on which it was said that certainpersons, finding it impossible to reform the Lords and Commons, haddetermined to get rid of them at once: why they have not been in similardanger every year since the first attempt was made, I know not; certainit is, that it is the only reform measure that can ever be effectual.Guy Fawkes and his confederates, whether Popish or Protestant, from thedisregard of human life, certainly proved themselves the founders of aparty, still existing, whose motto is, "Measures and not Men."

  But to proceed: Mr O'Gallagher had never before attempted to interferewith the vested rights of urchins on that day; being, however, in a mostparticular irascible humour, instead of a whole, he made it known thatthere would only be a half, holiday, and we were consequently all calledin for morning lessons instead of carrying about, as we had intended,the effigy of the only true reformer that ever existed in this country.

  This made us all very sulky and discontented in the first place, and ouranxiety to get out of school was so great, that the lessons were notvery perfect in the second. The ferrule and rod were called out andliberally administered; but what was our horror and dismay when MrO'Gallagher, about an hour before dinner, announced to us that all thesquibs and crackers, with which our pockets were crammed, were to begiven up immediately; and that, as we had not said our lessons well,there would be no half-holiday, the whole school were in mute despair.

  One by one were the boys summoned up to the throne of Mr O'Gallagher,and their pockets searched by Phil Mooney, who emptied them of theirpyrotechnical contents, all of which were deposited on the dais of MrO'Gallagher's throne, which, I have before observed, was composed of twoempty claret cases turned upside down, surmounted by another, on whichMr O'Gallagher sat, all three covered with old green baize.

  By the time that the whole school had been rifled, the heap of fireworkswas very considerable, and Mr O'Gallagher, to prevent any of them beingrecovered by the boys, lifted up the claret case on which he sat, andwhich was on the top of the other two, and desired Phil Mooney to putthem all underneath it. This was done; Mr O'Gallagher resumed hisseat, and the lessons continued till the dinner hour arrived, but, alas!not the half-holiday or the fireworks.

  The boys went out; some mournful, some angry, some sulky, somefrightened; a few, a very few, declaiming against such injustice.

  I was in a rage; my blood boiled; at last my invention came to my aid,and, without considering the consequences, I determined how to act.

  As it was an hour and a half before school would commence, I hastenedhome, and, having spent all my money, begged aunt Milly to give me some;she gave me a shilling, and with that I bought as much gunpowder as Icould procure, more than a quarter of a pound.

  I then returned to the school, looked into the school-room, and found itempty; I quickly raised up the claret case, under which the fireworkshad been placed, put the powder under it, leaving only sufficient for avery small train, which would not be perceived in the green baizecovering; having so done, I left the school-room immediately, andrejoined my companions. I had a piece of touch-wood, as all the boyshad, to let off their fireworks with, and this I lighted and left in acorner until the bell should summons us into school.

  Oh! how my heart beat when I heard the sound, so full was I of anxietylest my project should fail.

  Once more we were all assembled. Mr O'Gallagher surveying, with thesmile of a demon, the unhappy and disappointed faces of the boys, wasagain perched upon his throne, the rod on one side, the ferrule on theother, and the ruler, that dreaded truncheon of command, clenched in hisbroad fist.

  I had the touchwood lighted and concealed in my hand; gradually I moveddownwards, until at last, unperceived by Mr O'Gallagher, I was behindhim, and close to my train of gunpowder. I gave one look to ascertainif he had observed me; his eye was roving over the school for somedelinquent to throw his ruler at; fearful that he might turn round tome, I no longer hesitated, and the touchwood was applied to the train.

  Ignorant as I was of the force of gunpowder, it was with astonishment,mingled with horror, that I beheld, in a second, the claret case rise upas if it had wings, and Mr O'Gallagher thrown up to the ceilingenveloped in a cloud of smoke, the crackers and squibs fizzing andbanging, while the boys in the school uttered a yell of consternationand fear as they rushed from from the explosion, and afterwards,tumbling over one another, made their escape from the school-room.

  The windows had all been blown out with a terrible crash, and the wholeschool-room was now covered by the smoke. There I stood in silentdismay at the mischief which I had done. The squibs and crackers hadnot, however, all finished popping, before I heard the howling of MrO'Gallagher, who had fallen down upon the centre school-room table.

  I was still in the school-room, half-suffocated, yet not moving awayfrom where I stood, when the neighbours, who had been alarmed by theexplosion and the cries of the boys, rushed in, and perceiving only meand Mr O'Gallagher, who still howled, they caught hold of us both, andbore us out in their arms. It was high time, for the school-room wasnow on fire, and in a few minutes more the flames burst out of thewindows, while volumes of smoke forced through the door and soonafterwards the roof.

  The engines were sent for, but before they could arrive, or water beprocured, the whole tenement was so enveloped in flames that it couldnot be saved. In an hour, the _locale_ of our misery was reduced toashes. They had put me on my legs as soon as we got clear of theschool-room, to ascertain whether I was hurt, and finding that I wasnot, they left me.

  I never shall forget what my sensations were, when I beheld the flamesand volumes of smoke bursting out; the hurry, and bustle, and confusionoutside; the working of the engines, the troops marched up from thebarracks, the crowd of people assembled, and the ceaseless mingling oftongues from every quarter; and all this is my doing, thought I--mine--all mine.

  I felt delighted that I had no partner or confederate; I could, at allevents, keep my own secret. I did, however, feel some anxiety as to MrO'Gallagher, for, much as I detested him, I certainly had no intentionto kill him; so after a time, I made inquiries, and found that he wasalive: and in no danger, although very much bruised and somewhat burnt.

  No one could explain how the catastrophe occurred, further than that MrO'Gallagher had collected all the squibs and crackers from the boys, andthat they had exploded somehow or another--most people said that itserved him right. My grandmother shook her head and said, "Yes, yes,gunpowder will go off, but--" and she looked at me--"it requires a matchto be put to it." I looked up very innocently, but made no reply.

  Mr O'Gallagher's favourite expression, to wit, "that it would end in ablow-up," proved, as far as his school was concerned, literally true.He had not the means of procuring another suitable tenement in Chatham,and as soon as he had recovered from the injuries he had received, hequitted the town.

  It was not until he had left, that I ventured to make known to CaptainBridgeman, and my aunt Milly, the trifling share I had in thetransaction; and they, perceiving the prudence of keeping my secret,desired me on no account to let it be known to any one else.