two o'clock in the afternoon
The patients were now returning from the Grotto in bands , and the ward , hitherto so calm , so full of sunshine , was again filling with the tumult of wretchedness and pain -- deep coughing and feeble shuffling , mingled with a noisome smell -- a pitiful display , in fact , of well-nigh every human infirmity . ON that day , Monday , the crowd at the Grotto , was enormous . It was the last day that the national pilgrimage would spend at Lourdes , and Father Fourcade , in his morning address , had said that it would be necessary to make a supreme effort of fervour and faith to obtain from Heaven all that it might be willing to grant in the way of grace and prodigious cure . So , from two o'clock in the afternoon , twenty thousand pilgrims were assembled there , feverish , and agitated by the most ardent hopes . From minute to minute the throng continued increasing , to such a point , indeed , that Baron Suire became alarmed , and came out of the Grotto to say to Berthaud : `` My friend , we shall be overwhelmed , that 's certain . Double your squads , bring your men closer together . '' The Hospitality of Our Lady of Salvation was alone entrusted with the task of keeping order , for there were neither guardians nor policemen , of any sort present ; and it was for this reason that the President of the Association was so alarmed .