Following these signs , he beheld three or four men with bent bows leaning from the clerestory gallery . At the same instant they delivered their discharge , and before the clamour and cries of the astounded populace had time to swell fully upon the ear , they had flitted from their perch and disappeared . The nave was full of swaying heads and voices screaming ; the ecclesiastics thronged in terror from their places ; the music ceased , and though the bells overhead continued for some seconds to clang upon the air , some wind of the disaster seemed to find its way at last even to the chamber where the ringers were leaping on their ropes , and they also desisted from their merry labours . Right in the midst of the nave the bridegroom lay stone-dead , pierced by two black arrows . The bride had fainted . Sir Daniel stood , towering above the crowd in his surprise and anger , a clothyard shaft quivering in his left forearm , and his face streaming blood from another which had grazed his brow . Long before any search could be made for them , the authors of this tragic interruption had clattered down a turnpike stair and decamped by a postern door . But Dick and Lawless still remained in pawn ; they had , indeed , arisen on the first alarm , and pushed manfully to gain the door ; but what with the narrowness of the stalls and the crowding of terrified priests and choristers , the attempt had been in vain , and they had stoically resumed their places . And now , pale with horror , Sir Oliver rose to his feet and called upon Sir Daniel , pointing with one hand to Dick . `` Here , '' he cried , `` is Richard Shelton -- alas the hour ! -- blood guilty ! Seize him ! -- bid him be seized ! For all our lives ' sakes , take him and bind him surely ! He hath sworn our fall . '' Sir Daniel was blinded by anger -- blinded by the hot blood that still streamed across his face . `` Where ? '' he bellowed . `` Hale him forth ! By the cross of Holywood , but he shall rue this hour ! ''
The crowd fell back , and a party of archers invaded the choir , laid rough hands on XXXXX , dragged him head-foremost from the stall , and thrust him by the shoulders down the chancel steps .
Dick Holywood Oliver Right Shelton choristers disaster left sakes seconds