‘Q’ will be the first part of the given sequence as it states that the thief was standing quiet, his head hung in shame because the crowd was standing around the thief as mentioned in the opening part of the given sequence. ‘P’ will follow next as it talks about the ‘transition’ word ‘suddenly’ reflects that he did something after being quiet. ‘R’ will follow next as ’scared by the sight’ is used in the context of ‘whipped out a knife’ mentioned in the very previous point. ‘S’ will pair with ‘R’ as it tells the effect of ‘sight of shining knife’ on the two men as they took to their heels. Hence, QPRS is the correct sequence.Thus, option (a) is correct.