what purpose or end, gentlemen?« said Butler. »I hope you will be so
civil as to explain that to me.«
    »You shall know that in good time. Come along - for come you must, by force
or fair means; and I warn you to look neither to the right hand nor the left,
and to take no notice of any man's face, but consider all that is passing before
you as a dream.«
    »I would it were a dream I could awaken from,« said Butler to himself; but
having no means to oppose the violence with which he was threatened, he was
compelled to turn round and march in front of the rioters, two men partly
supporting and partly holding him. During this parley the insurgents had made
themselves masters of the West Port, rushing upon the Waiters (so the people
were called who had the charge of the gates), and possessing themselves of the
keys. They bolted and barred the folding doors, and commanded the person, whose
duty it usually was, to secure the wicket, of which they did not understand the
fastenings. The man, terrified at an incident so totally unexpected, was unable
to perform his usual office, and gave the matter up, after several attempts. The
rioters, who seemed to have come prepared for every emergency, called for
torches, by the light of which they nailed up the wicket with long nails, which,
it seemed probable, they had provided on purpose.
    While this was going on, Butler could not, even if he had been willing,
avoid making remarks on the individuals who seemed to lead this singular mob.
The torch-light, while it fell on their forms and left him in the shade, gave
him an opportunity to do so without their observing him. Several of those who
seemed most active were dressed in sailors' jackets, trousers, and sea-caps;
others in large loose-bodied greatcoats, and slouched hats; and there were
several who, judging from their dress, should have been called women, whose
rough deep voices, uncommon size, and masculine deportment and mode of walking,
forbade them being so interpreted. They moved as if by some well-concerted plan
of arrangement. They had signals by which they knew, and nicknames by which they
distinguished each other. Butler remarked, that the name of Wildfire was used
among them, to which one stout Amazon seemed to reply.
    The rioters left a small party to observe the West Port, and directed the
Waiters, as they valued their lives, to remain