Homer looked at her oddly. "Possibly. However, I was standing next to
the Moorish boy who was cut entirely in half by the pressure spray of
water."
The expression on the girl's face sickened.
Homer said, "They had another interesting device for dispersing mobs. It
was a noise bomb. The French set off several."
"A noise bomb?" Cliff said. "I don't get it."
"They make a tremendous noise, but do nothing else. However, members of
the mob who aren't really too interested in the whole thing--just sort
of along for the fun--figure that things are getting earnest and that
the troops are shelling them. So they remember some business they had
elsewhere and take off."