ceived orders, however, on no account to injure private property, and
he could only hope that the flames had not reached the buildings he had
seen beyond the storehouses. Just as they got a little way beyond the
point there came the thundering sound of an explosion.

"That must be a magazine blown up," observed Tom.

"Perhaps one of the vessels has powder on board," said Green; "I think I
caught sight of some spars through the smoke, but they may have been
fragments of timber."

Just then there came another explosion as loud as the first, and
scarcely had its echoes died away among the hills on the left when a
third occurred.

"No doubt about it now," said Green; "some of the vessels we set on fire
must have been laden with powder."

"I hope no unfortunate people were on board them. A pretty considerable
amount of mischief we have done this morning," said Tom; "but I suppose
it was our duty, so we mustn't think too much about it."

"Of course it was," answered Green; "if people will go to war, they must
take the consequences."

"But perhaps the people didn't want to go to war," said Tom; "it was all
their Emperor's doing."

"Then they ought not to live under such an Emperor," said Green.

"How can they help themselves?" asked Tom; "I daresay, if they had been
asked they would have preferred remaining at peace."

"I confess that I don't feel any animosity against them; I would much
rather be fighting the French; but they, by a sort of hocus-pocus, are
our allies," remarked Green. "In reality we are not making war on the
Russian people; we are expressly ordered not to injure any of their
property; our business is only to destroy Government stores."

"Well, that's some comfort," said Tom, "though it may not always be easy
to distinguish one from the other."

This conversation took place as the boats were pulling away, as hard as
the men could lay their backs to the oars, down the river. As yet they
had seen no Cossacks or foot-soldiers on either bank; possibly they
might have remained to try to put out the fire, or the nature of the
ground on the left bank, on which the stores were situated, prevented
them from making rapid progress over it. As the boats had come up,
Green had observed an extensive marsh with a wide stream, which, unless
there was a bridge over it, would have alone proved an effectual barrier
to the progress of cavalry. To the right, on which the houses had been
seen, were high and pict