Lord Hardwicke intervened between the rebels and La Marmora; and
there followed a troubled armistice, filled with the voice of
panic. Now the VENGEANCE was known to be cleared for action; now
it was rumoured that the galley slaves were to be let loose upon
the town, and now that the troops would enter it by storm. Crowds,
trusting in the Union Jack over the Jenkins' door, came to beg them
to receive their linen and other valuables; nor could their
instances be refused; and in the midst of all this bustle and
alarm, piles of goods must be examined and long inventories made.
At last the captain decided things had gone too far. He himself
apparently remained to watch over the linen; but at five o'clock on
the Sunday morning, Aunt Anna, Fleeming, and his mother were rowed
in a pour of rain on board an English merchantman, to suffer 'nine
mortal hours of agonising suspense.' With the end of that time,
peace was restored. On Tuesday morning officers with white flags
appeared on the bastions; then, regiment by regiment, the troops
marched in, two hundred men sleeping on the ground floor of the
Jenkins' house, thirty thousand in all entering the city, but
without disturbance, old La Marmora being a commander of a Roman
sternness.
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