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326 raised a wild shout of delight. Smarting under the blow, he ordered the crowd to be charged. Several were wounded, and the sight so enraged the rest that volleys of stones came from other directions just as the Governor rode up.

His first command was for the market-place to be cleared. This was done, for the crowd broke and fled before the weapons of the troops; and a great number of the citizens were caught, stones in hand, and brought back to the Governor. His temper was up now, and threatening them with heavy punishment, he ordered the whole of them to be marched to the Castle by the troops.

The fear of a rescue necessitated the escort being very heavy, and this step left the troops round him comparatively weak in numbers. When the crowd began to return, some one was quick to perceive this weakness, and called on the rest, who came surging back in great strength. A very ugly rush followed almost immediately, which the troops found great difficulty in resisting, as the crowd had now armed themselves with staves and bars and such crude weapons as they had been able to snatch up in the hurry. Some very hot fighting ensued, in which fierce blows were given and taken on both sides, and the soldiers seemed likely to be over-*powered.

It was at this juncture, just as messengers had been sent to bring up more troops, that Gerard's little party reached the market-place close to the point near the statue, where the Governor stood watching the fray with very anxious eyes as he saw his soldiers being beaten down one by one. The crowd seemed to grow in numbers and fierceness every moment, until after a last desperate rush the soldiers turned and scattered in all directions to be hustled, struck down and lost in the surging mass of the people, whose leaders had possessed them