d advice and would probably have been
acted upon by "Enoch;" but some one else cried, "Down and roll over."

The adage advising all whose clothes take fire, to roll on the floor, or
the ground, has become pretty firmly fixed in the public mind; and
hearing it, Enoch at once threw himself down and rolled over and over in
the road, to the accompaniment of a tremendous shout. The maneuver did
not much improve matters; for a lot of crackers had been dropped into
the duster pocket. These continued to pop off, in twos and threes; and
the more alarmingly they popped, the more vigorously Enoch rolled! A
more laughable spectacle, for the onlookers, can hardly be imagined. The
tall fellow's arms and legs flew about in a wonderful manner; the smoke
and sparks flew, too, and every time a cracker snapped, Enoch howled.

Somebody at length ran forward with a pailful of water that was set on
the tavern piazza, and dashed it over him, and withal the road was still
very muddy from the rain. When the water fell over him, he scrambled to
his feet; the crackers had snapped themselves out. But oh, sorrows, what
a fearfully singed and muddy object was Enoch! His own mother would have
looked coldly on him; and the unsympathetic crowd screamed with delight.

But Enoch had arisen in a somber frame of mind; and it was at once
apparent that something was going to be done about it, and that somebody
must settle the account with him. He cast a rueful glance over his
personal remnants, then a wrathy one at the laughter-shaken crowd, took
a step forward and giving vent to certain emphatic remarks, declared,
"The feller that did that has got to suffer!"

Thereupon a group of five or six boys, among them our Halstead and
Alfred Batchelder, not being upheld, perhaps, by the courage of entire
innocence, began to slink away and get behind others. In an instant
Enoch was after them. They took to their heels around to the rear of the
tavern, the crowd shouting, "Catch 'em! Give it to 'em! Go it, Enoch!"

There was a rush to see the denouement. Neither Addison, nor I,
witnessed all which took place. The chase had led the principals far
around to the rear of a stable and sheds. At length, we saw Halstead and
Alfred on the roof of the latter, and heard cries of dismay and distress
from others of the runaway party; Enoch was with them, evidently.

Alfred and Halse continued hastily to climb to the ridge-pole of the
stable and then walked along on the roof o