ame terrible fate I had been the means of preparing
for our schoolmaster; although, fortunately, the evil design I and Tom
planned only reverted on our own heads. Our diabolical scheme was more
than a thoughtless one. It might, besides, jeopardising the life of Dr
Hellyer, have set fire to the house, when, perhaps, many of our
schoolfellows might have been burnt to death.

The first thing Dr Hellyer always did on entering the refectory when he
returned from church was, as we well knew, to walk up to the fireplace,
where he would give the bars a thorough raking out with the poker and
then heap a large shovelful of coals on from the adjacent scuttle. In
this receptacle, Tom and I now carefully placed about a quarter of a
pound of gunpowder with some squibs, the latter blackened over like the
shining Wallsend knobs, so as to escape detection; and then, such was
our fiendish plan, we concealed under the cushion of the Doctor's
armchair a packet of crackers, connected with a long tiny thread of a
fuse leading midway under the centre of the broad table, so that it
could not be seen or interfered with by the boys' feet as they sat at
dinner, along the floor to the end of the form where we usually sat,
near the entrance to the apartment.

"I shall manage to light this fuse somehow or other," Tom said, assuming
the control of this infernal machine; and then, after going into the
hall to get our caps, giving another look round the room when we came
back, to see whether our preparations were noticeable, we awaited Dr
Hellyer's summons to proceed to church--with calm satisfaction at the so
far successful issue of our calculations.

During our processional walk we were both in high glee at the grand
"blowing up" that would happen on our return--a sort of "Roland for an
Oliver" in return for the many different sorts of blowings up we had
received at Dr Hellyer's hands at one time and another. I was all the
more excited, too, for I had made up my mind to attempt another exploit
of which I had not even warned Tom, but which would probably throw his
sublime conception into the shade.

I had, in my visits to the different coasting craft in the harbour, been
presented by a fisherman with a lot of very small fish-hooks. These I
had in the morning attached by thin pieces of thread to several fire
crackers, which I intended for my own personal satisfaction to present
to the Doctor, although in a way he would not relish or dream of.