so quickly done, and the demeanour of both gentlemen--who
were not young men either--was so gallant and resolute, that the crowd
faltered and stared at each other with irresolute and timid looks. Many
tried to turn towards the door; some of the faintest-hearted cried they
had best go back, and called to those behind to give way; and the panic
and confusion were increasing rapidly, when Gashford whispered Hugh.

'What now!' Hugh roared aloud, turning towards them. 'Why go back? Where
can you do better than here, boys! One good rush against these doors and
one below at the same time, will do the business. Rush on, then! As to
the door below, let those stand back who are afraid. Let those who are
not afraid, try who shall be the first to pass it. Here goes! Look out
down there!'

Without the delay of an instant, he threw himself headlong over the
bannisters into the lobby below. He had hardly touched the ground when
Barnaby was at his side. The chaplain's assistant, and some members who
were imploring the people to retire, immediately withdrew; and then,
with a great shout, both crowds threw themselves against the doors
pell-mell, and besieged the House in earnest.

At that moment, when a second onset must have brought them into
collision with those who stood on the defensive within, in which case
great loss of life and bloodshed would inevitably have ensued,--the
hindmost portion of the crowd gave way, and the rumour spread from mouth
to mouth that a messenger had been despatched by water for the military,
who were forming in the street. Fearful of sustaining a charge in the
narrow passages in which they were so closely wedged together, the
throng poured out as impetuously as they had flocked in. As the whole
stream turned at once, Barnaby and Hugh went with it: and so, fighting
and struggling and trampling on fallen men and being trampled on in turn
themselves, they and the whole mass floated by degrees into the open
street, where a large detachment of the Guards, both horse and foot,
came hurrying up; clearing the ground before them so rapidly that the
people seemed to melt away as they advanced.

The word of command to halt being given, the soldiers formed across the
street; the rioters, breathless and exhausted with their late exertions,
formed likewise, though in a very irregular and disorderly manner. The
commanding officer rode hastily into the open space between the two
bodies, accompanied by a magistrate and