and she recovered.
Mr. Rover wanted to throw the cannon cracker through a window, but Tom
held him back.

The long fuse continued to splutter and all watched it as if
fascinated, and the girls put their hands to their ears in
anticipation of a fearful explosion. Then came a tiny flash, a strange
clicking, and off flew the top of the cannon cracker, sending a shower
of confetti of various colors in all directions.

"Oh!" shrieked the girls, and then everybody but Hans set up a laugh.
The German youth looked suspiciously out from under the table.

"Vot's der madder--did he go off?" he questioned.

"Yes, he did, Hans," answered Grace. "It was nothing but a cracker
full of colored paper instead of powder."

"Is dot so?" Hans got up and looked around. "Vell, I neffer! Looks
like ve got a colored snowstorm alretty, hey?" And this caused a roar.
It certainly did look like a "colored snowstorm," for the confetti was
everywhere, on the table, on their heads and over their clothing. Now
it was over everybody was highly amused, even Mrs. Stanhope laughing
heartily. As for Aleck, he roared so loudly he could be heard a block
up the docks.

"Dat's jess like Massa Tom!" he cried. "I suspicioned he'd be up to
somet'ing afo' de day was up. Yo' can't keep him down no mo' dan yo'
kin keep a jack rabbit from hoppin', no, sah!"

"It certainly looked like the real thing," was Mr. Rover's comment.
"Had it been--"

"I'd never have brought it in here," finished Tom. "I'm sorry if I
frightened anybody," he added, looking at Mrs. Stanhope and Mrs.
Laning.

"We'll forgive you, Tom," answered Mrs. Stanhope, and Mrs. Laning said
she would, provided he wouldn't scare them again that holiday.

After that, the confetti on the table was cleared away and they ate
their lunch amid a constant cracking of jokes and bright sayings.
Songbird woke up and recited some verses he said he had composed the
night before, while lying awake in his berth. Some of these ran in
this fashion:

"This is the day I love the best--
The day the small boy knows no rest,--
The day when all our banners soar,
The day when all our cannons roar,
The day when all are free from care,
And shouts and music fill the air!"

"Good for Songbird!" cried Sam.

"Go on, please!" came from the girls, and the poet of Putnam Hall
continued:

"I love this land of liberty
From mountains down to flowing sea,
I love its cities and its plains,
Its valleys and its rocky chains,