The seven brothers who had been keeping the watch and I myself remained in the courtyard with those who came to relieve us. No one could think of sleep. The other brothers and the fathers (we were 500) remained indoors, watching the burning fortress from the windows. As I was no longer on guard I went to seek a ladder, and in order to see better I climbed a wall situated a little farther down, and some 10 feet high. I remained there until four o'clock. About two o'clock there began, down below in the city, a sound of isolated rifle-shots, and shouts which soon grew louder and louder. At last an infernal uproar reached my ears, and numerous fires broke out in that part of the city neighbouring on the convent. At four o'clock the bell called us to the church. It was an extraordinary thing: despite our alarm we all remained obedient to our vow of silence. We must not speak! But it became a real torment, for our devotions lasted for two long hours. By the shock of the explosions the beautiful stained-glass windows were bent inwards like sails swollen by the wind. The walls of stone, nearly 3 feet in thickness, which surrounded the courtyard, showed long, deep fissures. When at 6 a.m. we left the church the shots and the shouting were still more terrible, and the fires more numerous and farther towards the interior of the town. As usual, the porter opened the gate at six. How alarming! Hundreds of Belgians from the neighbourhood rushed into the courtyard. As we feared the convent might be sacked (_f_), the porter attempted at first to drive them back. A brother said: "Go! you shall have all you want!" The misguided populace immediately seized knives and killed 20 of our brothers and one father. I myself rushed to the bell in the courtyard and rang the alarm. Armed with pitchforks and manure-forks and spades (_g_), the brothers rushed into the courtyard and drove out the mob. Two brothers, who during the fight were carried away in the crowd, were discovered hacked to pieces, mangled as though by wild beasts. Their bodies were a dreadful sight. A Belgian brother, hearing the alarm, seized a fork, and so armed he rushed towards the gate, thinking to fight German soldiers. When he saw that his assailants were his compatriots he turned his arms against us, his brothers, shouting like a madman: "You are mad, you are mad!" After a brief struggle the fork was torn away from him. He was seized and thrown over the wall. He had turned his arms against his brothers; but above all he had broken his vow of silence. The fight had lasted barely a quarter of an hour. After the gate was closed--at 6.15, our usual breakfast hour--we assembled in the refectory for our meal.