rds the roof.

The engines were sent for, but before they could arrive, or water be
procured, the whole tenement was so enveloped in flames that it could
not be saved. In an hour, the _locale_ of our misery was reduced to
ashes. They had put me on my legs as soon as we got clear of the
school-room, to ascertain whether I was hurt, and finding that I was
not, they left me.

I never shall forget what my sensations were, when I beheld the flames
and volumes of smoke bursting out; the hurry, and bustle, and confusion
outside; the working of the engines, the troops marched up from the
barracks, the crowd of people assembled, and the ceaseless mingling of
tongues 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 all
events, keep my own secret. I did, however, feel some anxiety as to Mr
O'Gallagher, for, much as I detested him, I certainly had no intention
to kill him; so after a time, I made inquiries, and found that he was
alive: and in no danger, although very much bruised and somewhat burnt.

No one could explain how the catastrophe occurred, further than that Mr
O'Gallagher had collected all the squibs and crackers from the boys, and
that they had exploded somehow or another--most people said that it
served him right. My grandmother shook her head and said, "Yes, yes,
gunpowder will go off, but--" and she looked at me--"it requires a match
to 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 a
blow-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, he
quitted the town.

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

CHAPTER NINE.

As soon as it was ascertained that Mr O'Gallagher was gone, my
grandmother insisted upon my being sent to another school, and on this
occasion my mother made the inquiries herself, and I was despatched to
one much nearer home, and being treated well, not only played fewer
tricks, but advanced rapidly in my education; so rapidly indeed, that my