A great yellow jet of flame shot out of the quarry they had just left, and from the edge of the cliff there came a distant flash and a deep boom, and a pillar of smoke rose slowly into the air…Then there came a series of smaller underground explosions as the ammunition boxes blew up one by one and the bombs and cartridges caught fire, and then there came one last terrific roar and whoosh of flame out of the quarry and to seawards, and there was a crackling and rumbling noise in the ground and the cliff-top above the cave split open and smoke and flame came out…

Illustration: John Burningham