three o'clock
Shells fell fast on the mosque , and fires broke out in several parts of the town . Edgar joined a group of several civilians , who , having either been hidden during the massacre or having escaped to the French lines , now came up , deeming that they would be safer near the troops than elsewhere . All had stories of hairbreadth escapes to relate , but , feigning not to be able to follow their narratives , Edgar , after a few words in Italian , joined the troops , who were engaged in eating the food that they had brought with them . At three o'clock a tremendous roar of fire in the direction of Fort Dupres burst out , as some seven or eight thousand of the insurgents , among whom were a number of Arabs , poured out from the nearest gate to endeavour to carry the battery , while at the same moment a tremendous musketry fire from the minarets and roof of the Mosque of Hassan , and from the houses near the wall , was poured at the French artillerymen , to prevent them from working their guns upon their assailants . Gonmartin , however , had with him three battalions of infantry and 300 cavalry , and with these he charged the advancing crowd . The Arabs fought bravely , but were , for the most part , slain , and the insurgents , unable to stand the heavy volleys , followed by a bayonet charge of the infantry , fled back to the gate from which they had sallied out , 400 of them being taken prisoners and sent to the citadel . A great number of the fugitives fled to the Mosque of Gama El Ashar , which was now crowded .