keep me.
They had come for their man, they said, and they meant to have him. They
were perfectly quiet and acted with the precision of old soldiers.

"All the time I could hear the blows at the jail as the mob pounded the
iron door with sledges, and now and then a shout or cry from within.

"The blows were on the inner door, for the mob had quickly gained access
to the outer corridor. They had come prepared and, stout as the door
was, it could not resist long. Then one great roar went up and the blows
ceased suddenly, and then one cry.

"In a little while I heard the regular tramp of men, and in a few
minutes the column came up the street, marching like soldiers. There
must have been five hundred of them. The prisoner was in the midst,
bare-headed and walking between two mounted men, and was moaning and
pleading and cursing by turns.

"I asked my captors if I might speak, and they gave me ten minutes. I
stood up on the top step of the house, and for a few minutes I made what
I consider to have been the best speech I ever made or shall make. I
told them in closing that I should use all my powers to find out who
they were, and if I could do so I should prosecute them, everyone, and
try and have them hanged for murder.

"They heard me patiently, but without a word, and when I was through,
one of the leaders made a short reply. They agreed with me about the
law; but they felt that the way it was being used was such as to cause
a failure of justice. They had waited patiently, and were apparently no
nearer seeing justice executed than in the beginning. So they proposed
to take the law into their own hands. The remedy was, to do away with
all but proper defences and execute the law without unreasonable delay.

"It was the first mob I had ever seen, and I experienced a sensation
of utter powerlessness and insignificance; just as in a storm at sea,
a hurricane, or a conflagration. The individual disappeared before the
irresistible force.

"An order was given and the column moved on silently.

"A question arose among my guards as to what should be done with me.

"They wished to pledge me to return to my rooms and take no steps until
morning, but I would give no pledges. So they took me along with them.

"From the time they started there was not a word except the orders
of the leader and his lieutenants and the occasional outcry of the
prisoner, who prayed and cursed by turns.

"They passed out of the village and turn