Sentence structure with verbs of movement.

It was indeed a metaphor. What I was aiming at was this. A man stood at the top of a skyscraper, which had caught fire. A crowd of onlookers was building up, and they were getting in the way of the passing cars. So when a car passed, the people had to move, and they moved other bystanders. so the crowd 'tossed' back and forth. And of course from up above, the street noise couldn't be heard.

Now this ambiguity is of course my fault. I had a few alternative words, which I rejected. Those were

heave, surge and bustle. I had my reasons for that. the chief one being ... HA, not being a native speaker.

Meanwhile, my question about HOW and WHERE position 'sloped away towards a quiet area.'

Thank you anyhow