A wild, piercing yell followed, and when the smoke cleared away the nightmare hag lay dead at the foot of the altar.

I was already there, having burst through the astonished crowd, and Almah was in my arms; and holding her thus for a moment, I put myself in front of her and stood at bay, with my only thought that of defending her to the last and selling my life as dearly as possible.
The result was amazing.
After the report there was for some moments a deep silence, which was followed by a wild, abrupt outcry from half a million people--the roar of indistinguishable words bursting forth from the lips of all that throng, whose accumulated volume arose in one vast thunder-clap of sound, pealing forth, echoing along the terraced streets, and rolling on far away in endless reverberations.

It was like the roar of mighty cataracts, like the sound of many waters; and at the voice of that vast multitude I shrank back for a moment.

As I did so I looked down, and beheld a scene as appalling as the sound that had overawed me.

In all that countless throng of human beings there was not one who was not in motion; and all were pressing forward toward the pyramid as to a common centre.