Another delegate climbed up beside him, and
pointed at the presidium.
"Are the representatives of the revolutionary masses going to sit
quietly here while the _Okhrana_ of the Bolsheviki tortures their
leaders?"
Trotzky was gesturing for silence. "These 'comrades' who are now
caught plotting the crushing of the Soviets with the adventurer
Kerensky-is there any reason to handle them with gloves? After July
16th and 18th they didn't use much ceremony with us!" With a
triumphant ring in his voice he cried, "Now that the _oborontsi_ and
the faint-hearted have gone, and the whole task of defending and
saving the Revolution rests on our shoulders, it is particularly
necessary to work-work-work! We have decided to die rather than give
up!"
Followed him a Commissar from Tsarskoye Selo, panting and covered
with the mud of his ride. "The garrison of Tsarskoye Selo is on
guard at the gates of Petrograd, ready to defend the Soviets and the
Military Revolutionary Committee!" Wild cheers. "The Cycle Corps
sent from the front has arrived at Tsarskoye, and the soldiers are
now with us; they recognise the power of the Soviets, the necessity
of immediate transfer of land to the peasants and industrial control
to the workers. The Fifth Battalion of Cyclists, stationed at
Tsarskoye, is ours....
Then the delegate of the Third Cycle Battalion. In the midst of
delirious enthusiasm he told how the cycle corps had been ordered
_three days before_ from the South-west front to the "defence of
Petrograd.
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