The Aberdeen Democrat. (Aberdeen, South Dakota) 1???-1909, 1904-07-01

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watched the progress of the tiny point
Of fire, moving slowly along the rope.
Closer and closer to ats destination
crept the spark.
'.It's getting there, boys said Frank
Middlebury.
sLandy! won't it be great?. cried
another.
Watch it! It's ,nearly there!" Cliff
ford exclaimed.
Sure enough the tiny flame had
reached the boundary Of the house. 1t
was creeping inside. An instant-and
all would be over. The building, and
the members of parliament, supposed
to be seated inside, would only be q
memory. None Of the five said a word
and each held his breath in expecta.
ton OF the terrific crash.
Its coming now!" shouted Frank.
as they heard the report of one small
~1recracker.
But it didn't come as fast as they
expected.
1T takes awful long" Clarence said
in a discouraged tone.
Yes, it did take a very long time.
Five minutes passed, in fact, and still
no greater sound had they heard than
the n small cracker.
Whats the matter with the thing?''
said n boy.
Maybe the rope was tangled up in
side," suggested Frank.
Mott wasn't, either" answered an
other in disgust.
you were here first, Cliff. Didn't
you so in and look at things to see if
they were all rightly"
Il looked Just before ! started down
to see the procession andfI didn't have
time to look again after I came back
before you got here.
Say, boys, somebody's been ned
ding, think" said Frank.
"oh, pshaw! | don't. It'll go off yet
Clarence persisted.
well, I'm going to go and look"
said Cliff.
The other boys were a little timid
about approaching the tin cam
house, but Clifford, with the true Guy
Fawkes spirit, went straight ahead and
%peepedsin at the opening. The others
confidently expected to see his head
blown of. but nothing of the kind
happened, nor was 1t likely to have
taken place. For what do you sup
pose Clifford saw as he looked in?
Well, it was truly enough to make his
blood boil. There was not a sign of a
frecracker to be SEEN and instead,
there lay the end of the burn rope in q
pail Of water. Clifford stepped back
and beckoned to the other boys. He
was literally speeches.. When all had
taken a peep at the disappointing
scene, the indignant conspirators of
the Ngunpowder plot" at once hurried
over to the Gray's house. AS 1T hap
pened the professor was at home.
With loud voices and excited gestures,
the boys told their story, i-nterspersedi
now and then with wild con%jectures as
to the probable perpetrators Of the
trick. The professor heard them out,
and just as he was beginning to speak
in serious reproof Of their daring
scheme the door opened and Ruth
came in. To the surprise of everyone
her arms were piled high with fre-
crackers. She flung them impulsivsly
on the floor at the boys feet, and ex-
claimed, in defiance: There are your
hateful old firecrackers!nn
At first all present were amazed,
then g look of contempt overspread
the boys faces such as would have
been q study for a painter. The pro
lessor spoke gravely:
Why, Ruth, you ought not to have
taken the boys crackers. II you knew
that#their plan was d dangerous one,
YOU should have told me about 1T"
Z wouldn't be a tale-bearer.o she
raised her head proudly. Fl didit be-
cause they wouldn't let me be Init
The professor hardly knew what to
say, for the scheme of the boys had
been q dangerous one. and 1T was well
chat It had been interrupted; vet Ruth
had done wrong thing to take the
crackers ais she had He explained to
the boys what a serious thing they had
planned, what harm it might have
done. and added;
Here are your crackers. Go, fire
them in the time-honered way, anu
don'tslet me hear Of any more such en-
terprises as this Then he smiled.
sAnSs boys, you must learn sooner Of
later that you cannot outwit q woman,
be she little or big
The boys, crestfallen at SO commons
place q conclusion to their daring plot,
fled out, the crackers III their arms.
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