shall be shot dead."

19. No situation of greater interest than this can be conceived. At one
end of the hall, a fearful multitude of the most desperate and powerful
men in existence, waiting for the assault; at the other, a little band of
disciplined men, waiting with arms presented, and ready, upon the least
motion or sign, to begin the carnage; and their tall and imposing
commander, holding up his watch to count the lapse of three minutes, given
as the reprieve to the lives of hundreds. No poet or painter can conceive
a spectacle of more dark and terrible sublimity; no human heart can
conceive a situation of more appalling suspense.

20. For two minutes not a person nor a muscle moved; not a sound was heard
in the unwonted stillness of the prison, except the labored breathings of
the infuriated wretches, as they began to pant between fear and revenge:
at the expiration of two minutes, during which they had faced the
ministers of death with unblenching eyes, two or three of those in the
rear, and nearest the further entrance, went slowly out; a few more
followed the example, dropping out quietly and deliberately: and before
half of the last minute was gone, every man was struck by the panic, and
crowded for an exit, and the hall was cleared, as if by magic.

21. Thus the steady firmness of moral force and the strong effect of
determination, acting deliberately, awed the most savage men, and
suppressed a scene of carnage, which would have instantly followed the
least precipitancy or exertion of physical force.
--J. T. Buckingham.

"It may be that more lofty courage dwells
In one weak heart which braves all adverse fate