32 CHRISTMAS IN AMERICA.

fire. He put his hand on the table where burned the candle. »
He turned and faced my grandmother with an expression of
hate and scorn. -

“What he intended to do was never known, for just at that
moment there was a fearful
explosion. It was the pow-
der-candle.

“A stream of fire shot up
to the ceiling. Then the
room was filled with the
smoke of gunpowder. The
candle went out; the room
was dark.

“«Whitemancome! Run!’
my grandmother heard one
of the Indians say. There
was a sound of scuffling
feet; then the door closed
with a bang. As the smoke

lifted, the light of the fire

gradually revealed that the

 

 

 

Indians had gone. They
evidently thought that they had been discovered, pursued, and
that the house was surrounded by soldiers.

“Late in the evening the neighbors began to come for their
children, and were told what had happened. The men of the
town were soon under arms. But old Warmmesley-Squammaney
was never seen in that neighborhood again, nor was his fate

ever known to the townspeople.
“After this strange event two generations of grandmothers

continued to burn, on each Christmas Eve, the old powder-
candle.”