The boys had been saving up all their money to purchase fireworks for
the celebrated 5th of November--a day on which it was said that certain
persons, finding it impossible to reform the Lords and Commons, had
determined to get rid of them at once: why they have not been in similar
danger every year since the first attempt was made, I know not; certain
it is, that it is the only reform measure that can ever be effectual.
Guy Fawkes and his confederates, whether Popish or Protestant, from the
disregard of human life, certainly proved themselves the founders of a
party, still existing, whose motto is, "Measures and not Men."
But to proceed: Mr O'Gallagher had never before attempted to interfere
with the vested rights of urchins on that day; being, however, in a most
particular irascible humour, instead of a whole, he made it known that
there would only be a half, holiday, and we were consequently all called
in for morning lessons instead of carrying about, as we had intended,
the effigy of the only true reformer that ever existed in this country.
This made us all very sulky and discontented in the first place, and our
anxiety to get out of school was so great, that the lessons were not
very perfect in the second. The ferrule and rod were called out and
liberally administered; but what was our horror and dismay when Mr
O'Gallagher, about an hour before dinner, announced to us that all the
squibs and crackers, with which our pockets were crammed, were to be
given up immediately; and that, as we had not said our lessons well,
there would be no half-holiday, the whole school were in mute despair.
One by one were the boys summoned up to the throne of Mr O'Gallagher,
and their pockets searched by Phil Mooney, who emptied them of their
pyrotechnical contents, all of which were deposited on the dais of Mr
O'Gallagher's throne, which, I have before observed, was composed of two
empty claret cases turned upside down, surmounted by another, on which
Mr O'Gallagher sat, all three covered with old green baize.
By the time that the whole school had been rifled, the heap of fireworks
was very considerable, and Mr O'Gallagher, to prevent any of them being
recovered by the boys, lifted up the claret case on which he sat, and
which was on the top of the other two, and desired Phil Mooney to put
them all underneath it. This was done; Mr O'Gallagher resumed his
seat, and the lessons continued till the dinner hour arrived, but, alas!
not the half-holiday or the fireworks.
The boys went out; some mournful, some angry, some sulky, some
frightened; a few, a very few, declaiming against such injustice.
I was in a rage; my blood boiled; at last my invention came to my aid,
and, without considering the consequences, I determined how to act.
As it was an hour and a half before school would commence, I hastened
home, and, having spent all my money, begged aunt Milly to give me some;
she gave me a shilling, and with that I bought as much gunpowder as I
could procure, more than a quarter of a pound.
I then returned to the school, looked into the school-room, and found it
empty; I quickly raised up the claret case, under which the fireworks
had been placed, put the powder under it, leaving only sufficient for a
very small train, which would not be perceived in the green baize
covering; having so done, I left the school-room immediately, and
rejoined my companions. I had a piece of touch-wood, as all the boys
had, to let off their fireworks with, and this I lighted and left in a
corner until the bell should summons us into school.
Oh! how my heart beat when I heard the sound, so full was I of anxiety
lest my project should fail.
Once more we were all assembled. Mr O'Gallagher surveying, with the
smile of a demon, the unhappy and disappointed faces of the boys, was
again perched upon his throne, the rod on one side, the ferrule on the
other, and the ruler, that dreaded truncheon of command, clenched in his
broad fist.
I had the touchwood lighted and concealed in my hand; gradually I moved
downwards, until at last, unperceived by Mr O'Gallagher, I was behind
him, and close to my train of gunpowder. I gave one look to ascertain
if he had observed me; his eye was roving over the school for some
delinquent to throw his ruler at; fearful that he might turn round to
me, I no longer hesitated, and the touchwood was applied to the train.
Ignorant as I was of the force of gunpowder, it was with astonishment,
mingled with horror, that I beheld, in a second, the claret case rise up
as if it had wings, and Mr O'Gallagher thrown up to the ceiling
enveloped in a cloud of smoke, the crackers and squibs fizzing and
banging, while the boys in the school uttered a yell of consternation
and fear as they rushed from from the explosion, and afterwards,
tumbling over one another, made their escape from the school-room.
The windows had all been blown out with a terrible crash, and the whole
school-room was now covered by the smoke. There I stood in silent
dismay at the mischief which I had done. The squibs and crackers had
not, however, all finished popping, before I heard the howling of Mr
O'Gallagher, who had fallen down upon the centre school-room table.
I was still in the school-room, half-suffocated, yet not moving away
from where I stood, when the neighbours, who had been alarmed by the
explosion and the cries of the boys, rushed in, and perceiving only me
and Mr O'Gallagher, who still howled, they caught hold of us both, and
bore us out in their arms. It was high time, for the school-room was
now on fire, and in a few minutes more the flames burst out of the
windows, while volumes of smoke forced through the door and soon
afterwards the roof.
The engines were sent for, but before they could arrive, or water be
procured, the whole tenement was so enveloped in flames that it could
not be saved. In an hour, the _locale_ of our misery was reduced to
ashes. They had put me on my legs as soon as we got clear of the
school-room, to ascertain whether I was hurt, and finding that I was
not, they left me.
I never shall forget what my sensations were, when I beheld the flames
and volumes of smoke bursting out; the hurry, and bustle, and confusion
outside; the working of the engines, the troops marched up from the
barracks, the crowd of people assembled, and the ceaseless mingling of
tongues from every quarter; and all this is my doing, thought I--mine--
all mine.
I felt delighted that I had no partner or confederate; I could, at all
events, keep my own secret. I did, however, feel some anxiety as to Mr
O'Gallagher, for, much as I detested him, I certainly had no intention
to kill him; so after a time, I made inquiries, and found that he was
alive: and in no danger, although very much bruised and somewhat burnt.
No one could explain how the catastrophe occurred, further than that Mr
O'Gallagher had collected all the squibs and crackers from the boys, and
that they had exploded somehow or another--most people said that it
served him right. My grandmother shook her head and said, "Yes, yes,
gunpowder will go off, but--" and she looked at me--"it requires a match
to be put to it." I looked up very innocently, but made no reply.
Mr O'Gallagher's favourite expression, to wit, "that it would end in a
blow-up," proved, as far as his school was concerned, literally true.
He had not the means of procuring another suitable tenement in Chatham,
and as soon as he had recovered from the injuries he had received, he
quitted the town.
It was not until he had left, that I ventured to make known to Captain
Bridgeman, and my aunt Milly, the trifling share I had in the
transaction; and they, perceiving the prudence of keeping my secret,
desired me on no account to let it be known to any one else.