safety lies in our own
watchfulness. A more terrible attempt than this could not be made."

"What shall we do with the powder, then?" asked Uncle Bob; "save it to
hoist some of the scoundrels with their own petard?"

"Oh, of course if you like," said Uncle Jack. "Fancy Bob trying to blow
anybody up with gunpowder!"

"When he can't even do it with his breath made into words."

"Ah! Joke away," said Uncle Bob; "but I want to see you get rid of that
horrible stuff."

"We don't want to save it then?" said Uncle Jack.

"No, no; get rid of it."

"That's soon done then," said Uncle Jack, tying a piece of the cord
round the canister; and, going to the open window, he lowered it down
over the deep water in the dam, where it sank like a stone, and drew the
cord after it out of sight.

"There," he cried, "that will soon be so soaked with water that it will
be spoiled."

"Who's that," I said, "on the other side of the dam? He's watching us."

"Squintum the grinder. What's his name--Griggs. Yes, I shouldn't be a
bit surprised if that scoundrel had a hand--"

"Both hands," put in Uncle Bob.

"Well, both hands in this ugly business."

"But couldn't you prove it against him?" I said.

"No, my lad," said Uncle Jack; "and I don't know that we want to.
Wretched misguided lumps of ignorance. I don't want to help to
transport the villains."

We had drawn back from the window to where there was still a little heap
of powder on the desk as well as the fuse.

"Come, Bob," said Uncle Jack; "you may not be quite convinced yet, so
I'll show you an experiment."

He took about a teaspoonful of the powder, and placed it in a short
piece of iron pipe which he laid on the window-sill, and then taking the
rest of the explosive, he gave it a jerk and scattered it over the
water.

Then taking about a yard of the black soft cord that he said was fuse,
he tucked one end in the pipe so that it should rest upon the powder,
laid the rest along the window-sill, and asked me to get the matches.

"Now," he said, "if that's what I think--cleverly made fuse, and good
strong powder--we shall soon see on a small scale what it would have
done on a large. Strike a match, Cob."

I did as I was told, feeling as if I was going to let off a very
interesting firework, and as soon as the splint was well alight I was
about to hold the little flame to the end of the fuse, but Uncle Jack
stopped me.

"No," he said, "I want to see if a spark