Above them in the air the bell was still clanging; but before them was a door fast shut and locked; no one to speak and tell them why they were summoned--where they ought to be.

They were at the heart of the mystery, and it was a silent blank! Their unformed dread took shape at the cry from the outside of the crowd, from where men were still coming down the eastern side of Bridge Street.

'The gang! the gang!' shrieked out some one.

'The gang are upon us! Help! help!' Then the fire-bell had been a decoy; a sort of seething the kid in its mother's milk, leading men into a snare through their kindliest feelings.

Some dull sense of this added to utter dismay, and made them struggle and strain to get to all the outlets save that in which a fight was now going on; the swish of heavy whips, the thud of bludgeons, the groans, the growls of wounded or infuriated men, coming with terrible distinctness through the darkness to the quickened ear of fear.
A breathless group rushed up the blackness of a narrow entry to stand still awhile, and recover strength for fresh running.