ing to have a real oldfashioned flintlock musket. However, I
didn't mean to let this drawback destroy my happiness. I had one charge
of powder stowed away in the little brass pistol which I brought from
New Orleans, and was bound to make a noise in the world once, if I never
did again.

It was a custom observed from time immemorial for the towns-boys to have
a bonfire on the Square on the midnight before the Fourth. I didn't ask
the Captain's leave to attend this ceremony, for I had a general idea
that he wouldn't give it. If the Captain, I reasoned, doesn't forbid me,
I break no orders by going. Now this was a specious line of argument,
and the mishaps that befell me in consequence of adopting it were richly
deserved.

On the evening of the 3d I retired to bed very early, in order to disarm
suspicion. I didn't sleep a wink, waiting for eleven o'clock to come
round; and I thought it never would come round, as I lay counting from
time to time the slow strokes of the ponderous bell in the steeple of
the Old North Church. At length the laggard hour arrived. While the
clock was striking I jumped out of bed and began dressing.

My grandfather and Miss Abigail were heavy sleepers, and I might have
stolen downstairs and out at the front door undetected; but such a
commonplace proceeding did not suit my adventurous disposition. I
fastened one end of a rope (it was a few yards cut from Kitty Collins's
clothes-line) to the bedpost nearest the window, and cautiously climbed
out on the wide pediment over the hall door. I had neglected to knot the
rope; the result was, that, the moment I swung clear of the pediment, I
descended like a flash of lightning, and warmed both my hands smartly.
The rope, moreover, was four or five feet too short; so I got a fall
that would have proved serious had I not tumbled into the middle of one
of the big rose-bushes growing on either side of the steps.

I scrambled out of that without delay, and was congratulating myself on
my good luck, when I saw by the light of the setting moon the form of a
man leaning over the garden gate. It was one of the town watch, who had
probably been observing my operations with curiosity. Seeing no chance
of escape, I put a bold face on the matter and walked directly up to
him.

"What on airth air you a doin'?" asked the man, grasping the collar of
my jacket.

"I live here, sir, if you please," I replied, "and am going to the
bonfire. I didn't want to wake up the