It wasn't Blome or Snecker--probably Pickens.

He dropped the glass he had lifted.

The cry had stilled the room, so the breaking of the glass was plainly heard.
For a space that must have been short, yet seemed long, everybody stood tight.

Steele with both hands out and down, leaned a little, in a way I had never seen him do.

It was the position of a greyhound, but that was merely the body of him.