"The closely-packed crowd would not or could not budge, except under
the influence of the height of terror, which was soon to be supplied
to them. A few of the armed men struggled to the front, or climbled
up to the base of the monument which then stood there, that they
might face the wall of hidden fire before them; and to most men
(there were many women amongst them) it seemed as if the end of the
world had come, and to-day seemed strangely different from yesterday.
No sooner were the soldiers drawn up aforesaid than, says an eye-
witness, 'a glittering officer on horseback came prancing out from
the ranks on the south, and read something from a paper which he held
in his hand; which something, very few heard; but I was told
afterwards that it was an order for us to disperse, and a warning
that he had legal right to fire on the crowd else, and that he would
do so. The crowd took it as a challenge of some sort, and a hoarse
threatening roar went up from them; and after that there was
comparative silence for a little, till the officer had got back into
the ranks. I was near the edge of the crowd, towards the soldiers,'
says this eye-witness, 'and I saw three little machines being wheeled
out in front of the ranks, which I knew for mechanical guns. I cried
out, "Throw yourselves down! they are going to fire!" But no one
scarcely could throw himself down, so tight as the crowd were packed.
I heard a sharp order given, and wondered where I should be the next
minute; and then--It was as if--the earth had opened, and hell had
come up bodily amidst us. It is no use trying to describe the scene
that followed. Deep lanes were mowed amidst the thick crowd; the
dead and dying covered the ground, and the shrieks and wails and
cries of horror filled all the air, till it seemed as if there were
nothing else in the world but murder and death. Those of our armed
men who were still unhurt cheered wildly and opened a scattering fire