Bang! suddenly went Teddy’s revolver off, in his nervousness, close to my ear. It was a mistake, but not altogether a disastrous one; it showed we were in earnest, and soon cleared some of the people away from the space between the roulette rooms and the trente-et-quarante. Like a wave that breaks against the shore and then returns, so these broken people, spent against the struggling mass round the swing-doors, had gushed back again and almost reached the point they started from.
From the room on the left, where Hines and his party were at work, I suddenly heard Arthur Masters shout, “Look out, Forsyth!” At what, I know not; I just gave a look in their direction, and their room seemed as vacant of opposition as ours.
“Forward!” cried Brentin. “Hurry up! hurry up!”
The sailors, with their bags, fell behind us, and forward we three charged. As we came through the sort of ante-chamber dividing the rooms, there, through the other door, at the same moment, came Hines, Forsyth, and Masters, hurrying.
“Bravo!” screamed to them the excited Brentin. “The left-hand table, gentlemen!”
Right and left the tables were absolutely deserted. As the sailors pounced on and proceeded to clear them, I had an unobstructed view down the length of the remaining rooms right to the exit.
Such a scene of terrified, shouting, screaming confusion I never saw; nor ever shall, unless my lurid evil star should one day carry me into the hot heart of a theatre-panic, the uncontrollable frenzied meeting of a fighting pit, gallery, dress circle, and stalls. They say a man will give all he hath for his life, and here were innumerable men and women, believing their precious lives in peril, giving all their fiery energies play in their efforts to best their neighbor and reach the door. Often, by-the-way, as I have heard of people wringing their hands, this was the only occasion on which I ever really saw it done. One of the footmen, in his absurd, ill-fitting livery, was standing on one of the side sofas, a chap with laughable long whiskers, a discolored beak of a nose, and a rabbit mouth; there he stood, dancing up and down, his face all puckered with terror, actually wringing his hands in his misfitting long sleeves. Then he suddenly fell over and crawled away, yelping like a frightened lap-dog, and for the life of me I couldn’t help a spirit of laughter.
“Gracious!” yelled Brentin, above the indescribable din, “I hope no one will be injured. Loose off your gun, friend Parsons.”
Bang! went Teddy’s revolver. I looked at him; his face was still dead white, while his mouth was working and distorted with a dreadful grin. Bang! it went again, while Teddy gave a silly laugh. Like a shot in a mine that clears the air, or like the blowing out of a candle at ten paces, the blank discharge had its due effect. The tortured mass heaved and groaned, yielding irresistibly to the pressure of their terrors; irresistibly they began to pour and gush out through the swing-doors at the end. Every second, so fast they went, our road to safety was notably being cleared for us.
“Forward! Forward!” Brentin sang.