"What has happened, sir?" Keval stammered. "What are they doing in there?"
"Let go of me," Bondy panted. "For Christ's sake, let go. And get out of here, as quick as you can."
"But what has happened to them in there?"
"Let me go," shouted Bondy; and knocking Keval back with his fist, he disappeared among the trees.
Trembling all over, Keval supported himself against the trunk of a tree. From the interior of the concrete building came sounds as of savages chanting a hymn.
A few days later the Czechoslovak Press Bureau published the following obscure statement:
Contrary to the reports issued by a local publication which have obtained some currency abroad, we are able to state on the very best authority that no improper incidents of any kind took place on the occasion of the formal opening of the Karburator Central Power Station. In connection with this, the Burgomaster of Greater Prague has resigned his office and has gone into the country to recuperate. Mr. Billington, doyen of the Diplomatic Corps, is, contrary to published reports, well and active. The fact is that all present declare that nothing in their experience has ever made so powerful an impression upon them. Every citizen has the right to fall to the earth and worship God, and the performance of miracles is not in conflict with any official position whatever in a democratic State. It is in any case decidedly improper to connect the Chief of State with regrettable incidents occasioned only by insufficient ventilation, combined with excessive strain upon the nerves.
