r, against which the force behind now threatened to
crush them to death.

What a marvellous contrast to the storm-tossed multitude, steaming and
disfigured, was the calm attitude of the clerks within the counter!
Not deigning, as it seemed, to bestow a glance upon the agitated scene
before them, they moved placidly about, pen behind the ear, in voices of
ordinary tone, asking what each wanted, and counting over the proffered
notes with all the impassiveness of every-day habit. "Gold for these,
did you say?" they repeated, as though any other demand met the ear!
Why, the very air rang with the sound, and the walls gave back the cry.
From the wild voice of half-maddened recklessness to the murmur that
broke from fainting exhaustion, there was but one word,--"Gold!" A
drowning crew, as the surging waves swept over them, never screamed for
succor with wilder eagerness than did that tangled mass shout, "Gold,
gold!"

In their savage energy they could scarcely credit that their demands
should be so easily complied with; they were half stupefied at the
calm indifference that met their passionate appeal. They counted and
recounted the glittering pieces over and over, as though some trick were
to be apprehended, some deception to be detected. When drawn or pulled
back from the counter by others eager as themselves, they might be seen
in corners, counting over their money, and reckoning it once more. It
was so hard to believe that all their terrors were for nothing, their
worst fears without a pretext. Even yet they couldn't imagine but that
the supply must soon run short, and they kept asking those that came
away whether they, too, had got their gold. Hour after hour rolled
on, and still the same demand, and still the same unbroken flow of the
yellow tide continued. Some very large checks had been presented; but no
sooner was their authenticity acknowledged than they were paid. An agent
from another bank arrived with a formidable roll of "Ossory" notes, but
was soon seen issuing forthwith two bursting little bags of sovereigns.
Notwithstanding all this, the pressure never ceased for a moment; nay,
as the day wore on, the crowds seemed to have grown denser and more
importunate; and when the half-exhausted clerks claimed a few minutes'
respite for a biscuit and a glass of wine, a cry of impatience burst
from the insatiable multitude. It was three o'clock. In another hour the
Bank would close, as many surmised, never to open again