day forty-eight and a bump!

Just then there was a big bump and Ron and Benny were thrown into the air. Then the floor of the cell opened like a trap-door and they were dropped down a black chimney/chute-like thing and landed with a “crump!” and a “flump!” in another black cell.  They rubbed their bruised extremeties and looked around. They couldn’t see much. There was a star twinkling in a small window which had a thick iron grille. The floor of the cell was gritty with some sticky patches. The air was foul - a concoction of bad smells. The odorous atmosphere was enriched when a narrow hatch was opened at the foot of the door and a rusty plate with two sardines on it was pushed through. In the two seconds that the hatch was open, the cell was dimly illuminated by a sickly orange light. It was actually even worse than you would expect a dungeon in the Imperial Palace of the Far North to be. The cell on the airship had been bad enough,  but this place made it look like a four-star hotel suite. Ron and Benny groaned, and nibbled the sardines.