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Book 4 Chapter 4
It was night: clear and serene, though the moon had not risen;
and a vast concourse of persons were assembling on Mowbray
Moor. The chief gathering collected in the vicinity of some
huge rocks, one of which, pre-eminent above its fellows, and
having a broad flat head, on which some twenty persons might
easily stand at the same time, was called the Druid's Altar.
The ground about was strewn with stony fragments, covered
tonight with human beings, who found a convenient resting-
place amid these ruins of some ancient temple or relics of
some ancient world. The shadowy concourse increased, the dim
circle of the nocturnal assemblage each moment spread and
widened; there was the hum and stir of many thousands.
Suddenly in the distance the sound of martial music: and
instantly, quick as the lightning and far more wild, each
person present brandished a flaming torch, amid a chorus of
cheers, that, renewed and resounding, floated far away over
the broad bosom of the dusk wilderness.
The music and the banners denoted the arrival of the leaders
of the people. They mounted the craggy ascent that led to the
summit of the Druid's Altar, and there, surrounded by his
companions, amid the enthusiastic shouts of the multitude,
Walter Gerard came forth to address a TORCH-LIGHT MEETING.
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