at the same time, and both lay
wallowing on the ground. Mr. Mumbles on this rose from his seat, and the
Knight of the Red-hot Copper made his appearance on the throne or
platform, where, kneeling down, he received at the hands of Mrs. Mumbles
a beautiful white silken scarf, while the assembly shouted, the drums
beat, and the trumpets sounded.

[Illustration: _Knights in armour tumbled over their own steeds, donkeys
ran snorting about, ladies shrieked.--Page 295._]

How long this foolery would have gone on I know not, but just as the
ceremony was being performed of investing the conqueror knight with the
silken scarf a loud cracking was heard under the platform. Mr. Mumbles
looked red, Mrs. Mumbles looked pale, the company stood aghast, the
music ceased, the uproar was quelled, and the applause subsided. Crack,
snap, bang! What was the matter? The fireworks placed underneath the
scaffolding, and which were to have concluded the evening's
entertainments, had by some means or other ignited. Presently a rocket
with a loud roar made a sweep in a slanting direction through the canvas
at the top of the canopy, to the consternation of all. Before the alarm
subsided, and before anyone could make his or her escape by flight,
another and another rocket rushed from beneath the scaffolding with
prodigious roar and flame. The alarm became general; Mrs. Mumbles
fainted; Mr. Mumbles roared out 'Fire, fire!' as loud as he was able.
But now the indiscriminate ignition of rockets, crackers, squibs,
Catherines, fiery fountains, flaming cascades, sparkling arbours, and
gunpowder and nitre pillars, and suns, stars, and comets enveloped the
whole throne and its appurtenances in a blaze of fiery splendour.
Rockets shot out on every side, fiery squibs ran along the ground,
Catherine wheels danced on every shoulder, and crackers banged at every
heel. Such a scene of confusion followed as is seldom witnessed. Knights
in armour tumbled over their own steeds, donkeys ran snorting about,
ladies shrieked, and fell over gentlemen, and gentlemen tumbled over
ladies in pell-mell havoc and confusion, amid smoke and steam and
hissing and cracking and banging and roaring.

It was with the greatest difficulty that Mr. and Mrs. Mumbles were
extricated from the danger that threatened them--namely, being burnt
alive. But Mrs. Mumbles was carried home in a wheelbarrow in a state of
insensibility, while Mr. Mumbles had the same attention bestowed upon
him th