ub had suddenly become clear. Across it a dozen
soldiers had appeared and dismounted methodically and lined out, with
their carbines in readiness. The mounted men at the club corner had
vanished, and the people there had swayed about towards this new
threat. Quite abruptly the miscellaneous noises of the crowd ceased.
Understanding seized upon every one.

These soldiers were going to fire....

The brown uniformed figures moved like automata; the rifle shots rang
out almost in one report....

There was a rush in the crowd towards doorways and side streets, an
enquiring pause, the darting back of a number of individuals into the
roadway and then a derisive shouting. Nobody had been hit. The soldiers
had fired in the air.

"But this is a stupid game," said Benham. "Why did they fire at all?"

The tall man who had led the mob had run out into the middle of the
road. His commando was a little disposed to assume a marginal position,
and it had to be reassured. He was near enough for Benham to see his
face. For a time it looked anxious and thoughtful. Then he seemed to
jump to his decision. He unbuttoned and opened his coat wide as if
defying the soldiers. "Shoot," he bawled, "Shoot, if you dare!"

A little uniform movement of the soldiers answered him. The small figure
of the officer away there was inaudible. The coat of the man below
flapped like the wings of a crowing cock before a breast of dirty shirt,
the hoarse voice cracked with excitement, "Shoot, if you dare. Shoot, if
you dare! See!"

Came the metallic bang of the carbines again, and in the instant the
leader collapsed in the road, a sprawl of clothes, hit by half a dozen
bullets. It was an extraordinary effect. As though the figure had been
deflated. It was incredible that a moment before this thing had been a
man, an individual, a hesitating complicated purpose.

"Good God!" cried Benham, "but--this is horrible!"

The heap of garments lay still. The red hand that stretched out towards
the soldiers never twitched.

The spectacular silence broke into a confusion of sounds, women
shrieked, men cursed, some fled, some sought a corner from which they
might still see, others pressed forward. "Go for the swine!" bawled a
voice, a third volley rattled over the heads of the people, and in
the road below a man with a rifle halted, took aim, and answered the
soldiers' fire. "Look out!" cried White who was watching the soldiers,
and ducked. "This isn't in the air!