When Randolph could see again, he saw that where the four leftmost flashes had appeared, British Army soldiers now stood, in groups of ten, with each group of ten soldiers holding on to a rope-circle Portkey. But their rope-gripping hand was not in front of the soldiers, so that the soldiers were facing the rope-circle; instead, the ten soldiers each had his or her rope-gripping hand behind him or her, so that the soldiers were standing in a circle but facing outwards.