nd went away
without saying a word. The boys declared he had such difficulty in
keeping himself from laughing that he was afraid to speak lest he
should burst out.

However, next day every boy in that room had a slight punishment, and
so the matter ended.

Now I will tell you another of Uncle John's pranks at school. There
was a large tree in the playground, the upper branches of which spread
out very near to the windows of the bedroom I have been describing.
One evening Uncle John got hold of a large hand-bell which was used
for ringing the boys up in the morning; and climbing up the tree, he
fastened it by a piece of string to a branch near the top. Then
another boy threw him the end of a long string from a window of the
bedroom into the tree, and he fastened it to the bell in such a way
that when it was pulled in the bedroom it made the bell ring in the
tree. Having accomplished this arrangement, he came down from the tree
and went to bed.

At ten o'clock at night the household was disturbed by the loud
ringing of this bell. The master, in his dressing-gown, came out into
the playground, and soon discovered where the sound came from, but of
course supposed that some boy had climbed up into the tree, and was
ringing the bell there. It was the middle of summer, and a beautiful
moonlight night, so the boys could see from the windows all that took
place. Dr. Birchall stood at the foot of the tree, looking up, and
exclaimed, angrily,

"Come down, you naughty boy! Come down, I say, directly! Oh, I'll give
you such a flogging! Stop that horrible noise, I tell you, and come
down!"

The bell still went on ringing. At last the string--being pulled too
hard, I suppose, in the excitement of the fun--broke, and the bell
tumbled down from the top of the tree, falling very near the old
schoolmaster. This was worse than all.

"What!" he exclaimed; "you throw the bell at me? Why, if it had hit me
on the head, it might have killed me. Oh, you wicked boy! I'll expel
you, sir. I'll find out who you are if I stop here till morning."

At last, however, his patience was exhausted, and he went away, but
left an old butler to watch the tree all night. The boys from the
windows could see this man settle himself comfortably on a seat which
was at the foot of the tree. He lighted his pipe, and prepared to
carry out his master's orders and watch till daylight. By three
o'clock in the morning the dawn broke; then the man began to look u