Its pendulum swungswingto and fro with a dull , heavy , monotonous clangclang; and when the minute-hand mademakethe circuit of the face , and the hour was to be stricken , there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a soundsoundwhich was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical , but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that , at each lapse of an hour , the musicians of the orchestra were constrainedconstrainto pausepause, momentarily , in their performanceperformance, to harkenharkento the soundsound; and thus the waltzers perforce ceasedceasetheir evolutionsevolution; and there was a brief disconcertdisconcertof the whole gay company ; and , while the chimes of the clock yet rangrang, it was observedobservethat the giddiest grew palepale, and the more aged and sedate passedpasstheir hands over their brows as if in confused revery or meditation .
But when the echoesechohad fully ceasedcease, a light laughterlaughterat once pervaded the assembly ; the musicians lookedlookat each other and smiledsmileas if at their own nervousness and folly , and made whispering vowsvow, each to the other , that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion ; and then , after the lapse of sixty minutes , ( which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies , ) there came yet another chimingchimeof the clock , and then were the same disconcertdisconcertand tremulousnesstremulousnessand meditationmeditationas before .
But the creatures ranrunoff a second time , before I could seize them ; whereupon there was a great shoutshoutin a very shrill accent , and after it ceasedceaseI heardhearone of them crycryaloud _ Tolgo phonac _ ; when in an instant I feltfeelabove a hundred arrows dischargeddischargeon my left hand , which , prickedprickme like so many needles ; and besides , they shotshootanother flightflightinto the air , as we do bombs in Europe , whereof many , I suppose , fell on my body , ( though I felt them not ) , and some on my face , which I immediately coveredcoverwith my left hand .
But by this time we had all long ceasedceaseto pay any particular notice to the song ; it was new , that night , to nobody but Dr. Livesey , and on him I observedobserveit did not produce an agreeable effect , for he lookedlookup for a moment quite angrily before he went on with his talktalkto old Taylor , the gardener , on a new cure for the rheumatics .
The carnagecarnagehad only ceasedceaseat this late hour of the day because there were other more interesting sights for the people to witness , a little while before the final closing of the barricades for the night .