But it didn't do to begin thinking about the possibilities.

The odds were horrible, but I had to take them.
I ensconced myself just below the sill of the window, and lit the fuse.
Then I waited for a moment or two.

There was dead silence--only a shuffle of heavy boots in the passage, and the peaceful cluck of hens from the warm out-of-doors.

I commended my soul to my Maker, and wondered where I would be in five seconds ...
A great wave of heat seemed to surge upwards from the floor, and hang for a blistering instant in the air.

Then the wall opposite me flashed into a golden yellow and dissolved with a rending thunder that hammered my brain into a pulp.