enly caught sight of Bob's
volunteers. He clutched the driver by the arm. The car stopped
abruptly, backed, turned round and sped back again. I lost sight of it
as it swept round the corner.

Then followed another period of waiting in tense silence. The men
beneath me--there must have been about five hundred of them--did not
speak. They scarcely moved. Bob and Crossan stood in front of them,
rigid, silent.

Bob's scout, the man who had mounted the telegraph boy's red bicycle,
appeared in front of the Town Hall and came tearing along the street.
He sprang to the ground in front of Bob and Crossan and spoke to them
eagerly. They turned almost at once and gave an order. Their men lay
down. I heard the rattle of their rifles on the pavement. I could see
their hands fiddling with the sights, slipping along the barrels and
stocks, opening and snapping shut the magazines. The men were nervous,
but, except for the movements of their hands, they showed no signs of
great excitement. One man, near the end of the line, deliberately
unbuttoned his collar and threw it away. Another took off his coat,
folded it up carefully, and laid it on the ground behind him. It
struck me that it was his vest coat, a Sunday garment which he was
unwilling to soil. Bob walked slowly along the line, speaking in low
tones to the men. Crossan stood rigidly still a few paces in front of
the line, watching the far end of the street.

Another cyclist appeared and rode towards us. One of the men fired his
rifle. Crossan turned round, walked back to the man, and struck him on
the head. Then he wrenched the rifle from his hands, threw it into the
street, and kicked the man savagely. The man made no resistance. He
got up and slowly left the ranks, walking away shamefacedly with
hanging head. I do not think that Crossan had spoken to him, nor did
he speak to any one else. His action explained itself. He turned his
back on the men and once again stared down the empty street.
Discipline was evidently to be strictly preserved in the ranks of the
volunteers. There was to be no shooting until the order was given.

When Crossan's proceedings ceased to be interesting I looked round to
see what had become of the cyclist. I caught sight of him in the
custody of two volunteers. He was shoved through the door of the club.
I could only see the top of his head, and so failed to recognize him
until he entered the room and came over to me.

"Bland," I said. "How did you