Kenneth found himself on the floor, rendered temporarily deaf and covered with fragments of plaster and broken tiles, and smothered in dust.
Staggering to his feet he groped for his companion, for the place was in total darkness, the force of the detonation having extinguished all the lamps in the vicinity. His hand came in contact with Rollo's hair.
"Steady on, old man; don't scalp me," expostulated Barrington.
"What do you say?" asked his companion. Rollo repeated the protest, shouting in order to enable Kenneth to hear what he said.
"Hurt?"
"Not a bit of it; but we may be if we hang on here."
Another fall of rafters and tiles confirmed the speaker's surmise; then, as the cloud of acrid smoke and dust slowly dispersed, they could see a patch of starlight where a few moments before had been a blank wall.