vements suggestive of setting-up drill. His style bore a suspicious
resemblance to that of Augustus Powler, Esq., M.P. He stuck his thumbs
in the armholes of his waistcoat, and pushed forward that portion of
his body which it would have been unfair to strike at in a fight. It
would be impossible to give here anything like a detailed report of the
proceedings. From the moment when the chairman rose to introduce the
first speaker, every one felt that the meeting would be one of unusual
interest; and in one sense they were certainly destined not to be
disappointed. Carter was in great form; he dealt the desk such
terrific blows that the ink spurted out of the ink-pots, and ran down
on to the secretary's breeches. War, he declared, was legalized
murder, and the soldier little better than a hired assassin. Napoleon
Bonaparte was far more roughly handled than at Leipsic or Waterloo; and
a long list of conquerors, ranging back to Alexander the Great, were,
figuratively speaking, torn from their graves and hung in chains. At
length, having dwelt on the enormous cost of standing armies, and other
more practical aspects of the subject, the speaker concluded with a
vivid picture of the horrors of a battlefield, and was in the act of
quoting a verse of poetry, when he was suddenly silenced by an
unlooked-for interruption.

"The bursting shell, the gateway wrenched asunder,
The rattling musketry, the clashing blade;
And ever and anon, in tones of thunder,
The--"

Bang!

Every one started; something like a miniature representation of the
"bursting shell" had just exploded in the neighbourhood of the
blackboard. A boy sitting close by stooped down and picked up from the
floor a small fragment of burnt tissue-paper.

"Who threw that?" he exclaimed.

"What is it?" asked the chairman.

"Why, one of those 'throw-downs.'"

Redbrook glanced round the room in angry astonishment.

"Look here," he said sharply, "I don't know who did it, but if any of
you have come to play the fool, you'd better leave the room at once,
for we aren't going to have any more nonsense like we had the other
night."

The audience turned in their seats, and stared at one another in
amazement. Most of my readers will probably have some practical
knowledge of the small, round paper pellets known as "throw-downs,"
which explode when flung against anything; and it was difficult to
imagine that any member of the select and decorous Melche