"The Mystery of the Silver Spider" - читать интересную книгу автора (Артур Роберт)

13 A Dash Through the Darkness

“UP!” Rudy snapped. “We have to go up to the street. I’ll go first.”

He began to scramble up the wet, slippery iron rungs. Bob and Jupiter followed. They had to turn one lantern on long enough to find the rungs, then they shut it off and climbed in darkness.

Rudy reached the top. Holding tight with both hands, he got his shoulders beneath one side of the iron cover and strained upward. Slowly it raised. A crack of daylight came in. He got it up another inch until he could twist his head and look out. He gave an exclamation of dismay and let the cover back down.

“A patrol of guards right on the corner, waiting!” he whispered. “By the time we got the cover off and climbed out they’d have us.”

“Maybe we can hide up here,” Jupiter suggested, not very hopefully.

“It’s all we can do,” Rudy sighed. “Let’s pray they’ll keep on going.”

Beneath them a light glowed on the running water. Then, as they peered down, a very narrow rowboat came into view. A man sat in the rear pushing it with a pole. A girl sat in the bow, shining a powerful flashlight around.

“Rudy!” she called. “Rudy, where are you?”

“Elena!” Rudy cried. “We’re up here. Stay right there.”

The boat stopped. The light shone on them as the three boys scrambled down the iron rungs.

“Praise to Prince Paul!” Elena exclaimed. “We’ve found you. You did get away from them.”

While the man in the rear steadied the boat, the boys scrambled in. Instantly the man turned the boat around and began sending it back the way it had come with vigorous thrusts of the pole.

“The guard gave us a message that there were friendly rats in the sewer,” Rudy said to Elena.

“We’ve been looking for you for hours,” Elena replied. “We were afraid you could never escape. Oh Rudy, I’m so glad to see you!”

“And we’re glad to see you,” Rudy said with a grin. “This is my cousin, Dmitri,” he told the boys, gesturing to the man in the rear. Then he turned back to his sister.

“What’s happening outside?”

“No time to talk now,” Elena said swiftly. “Soon, when we can stop for a minute. Look ahead!”

Ahead of them a sudden shaft of daylight cut through the darkness.

“They’ve lifted the manhole cover!” exclaimed Dmitri. “They’re waiting for us. We’ll have to try to push through.”

He gave stronger pushes on the pole. The tiny boat shot ahead, into the shaft of daylight. The boys looked up. Guards were coming down into the sewer. One of them shouted, and tried to leap into the boat to overturn it. Dmitri swerved the rear sharply and the plunging guard missed. He went splashing into the water and went under, spluttering.

In another moment they were in the darkness of the gloomy tunnel again, moving swiftly beneath the city.

“They’ll follow us on foot, but they’ll be slow,” Rudy observed.

“More likely they’ll open up the covers ahead and wait for us,” Dmitri said. “Here’s a junction. I’m changing course.”

They had come to another large chamber where three great tunnels discharged their water. Dmitri swung the boat into the left tunnel, which was smaller than the others.

Rudy seized a shorter pole, and expertly kept the bow from nudging into the stone sides. Sometimes they all had to duck their heads to get under a low spot.

“You saw Dmitri yesterday leading the band in the park,” Rudy told the other two boys. “He’s one of the few who know these drains as well as Elena and I.”

In places, the stone ceiling dipped so close to the rushing water that Bob worried they wouldn’t be able to pass. But each time they made it, and there was no sign of pursuit behind.

“Where’s Pete?” Jupiter asked Elena, who crouched silently beside him.

“Waiting for us,” she answered. “The boat wasn’t big enough to bring him. Besides, he’s better off where he is. I wanted him to get to safety, but he wouldn’t until he had found you or given up hope of rescuing you.”

That sounded like Pete, all right.

“Where are we now, Dmitri?” Rudy called. “I’m afraid I’m lost.”

“We are making a circle to reach the hiding place,” Dmitri replied. “We’ll be there in five minutes.”

They came to another chamber where several of the drain tunnels met. This time Dmitri selected the one in the center and pushed forward. This tunnel was larger. They could sit upright now. They continued on until suddenly they saw a pinpoint of light ahead.

“Someone’s ahead of us!” Bob said in alarm.

“If we’re lucky it is Pete,” Elena said. “That’s the meeting place.”

The light grew brighter and they could see it came from an electric lantern. The lantern had been placed in a big hollow, almost like a shallow cave, in the side of the storm sewer. Pete was crouched beside it and he welcomed them enthusiastically.

“Am I glad to see you!” he exclaimed. “I was getting lonely here. Some rats wanted to keep me company but I chased them off.”

Dmitri steered the boat close to the side, and Rudy wedged a rope between two rocks to hold it. Then they clambered out into the cavelike hollow. The raggedness of natural rock here contrasted with the smoothly fitted stones out of which artisans many centuries before had built the city’s storm drains.

“The builders found this natural underground cave when they built the drains,” Rudy explained as they flopped down on the rock to rest. “It was easier to leave it than to wall it off. I discovered it years ago. We had a secret society that explored these drains, even though our father did his best to stop us. We never realized how useful our childish games were going to be.”

“Now we must take council,” Elena said, looking worried. “I don’t think our original plans will work.”

“First tell me what has happened,” Rudy requested. “Dmitri, how do you come to be here?”

“I was at your father’s house when the guards came to arrest him,” Dmitri said. “I escaped through the secret door. I lingered and listened. The captain taunted your father, saying, ‘Your traitor son has been captured and soon you will all stand trial.’ But he said nothing about Elena. I hoped she had escaped.

“I knew your plans, so I entered the storm sewers to see if I could meet Elena and help her. It was raining, the drains were running water, so I took the old boat we kept hidden.”

“Yes, and Dmitri did find us, just in time,” Elena said. “Pete and I escaped from the palace the way we had planned, and came down here. We met Dmitri and decided to stay on watch as long as we could, just in case you escaped. We figured your only chance would be down from the dungeons. Well — here we are. Now we must talk about the future.”

“First let us listen to the radio,” Dmitri said. “Pete, you have it.”

“Oh, yes.” Pete pulled a tiny transistor radio out of his pocket. “I turned it off because I couldn’t understand what they were saying.”

Dmitri snapped it on. A stream of words poured out, in Varanian, followed by a band playing military music. Elena translated for The Three Investigators.

“It said for all citizens of Varania to stay by their radios and television sets for an important announcement at 8 o’clock this morning. It said the announcement is of supreme importance. It was the Prime Minister’s voice — recorded, of course.

“That means that at 8 o’clock they are going to announce that a foreign plot has been uncovered — that is you three — and that Prince Djaro is implicated and that Duke Stefan is remaining Regent until further notice. Of course, they didn’t expect you to escape — they expected to be able to hold a public trial and show those cameras and everything and then expel you from the country and put Rudy and Father in jail and, oh, everything unpleasant they can think of.”

“Gosh,” Bob said in dismay. “We’ve just made it worse for Djaro by coming here. It would have been better if we’d stayed home.”

“No one could foresee that,” Elena said. “Now we must get you to safety at the American Embassy. Right, Dmitri?”

“Correct, Elena.”

“But what about yourselves? And your father? And Djaro?” Jupiter asked.

“That is for later,” Elena said and sighed. “I’m afraid their plans are too well prepared for us. If we could rescue Djaro — if we could arouse the people of Denzo to his danger — we could foil the plot. But as we have already said, Duke Stefan and his gang have everything in their favor.”

“Yes,” Dmitri agreed, “we must get you three to safety, then see what we can do about ourselves. Our cause is lost, I’m afraid. But perhaps there will come another day. Now let us start. It is already daylight outside. In an hour the radio and television will be broadcasting the Prime Minister’s announcement. By then we hope you will be safe in the American Embassy.

“So follow me. From here we go on foot. The boat will not take us all.”

He dropped down into the rushing water below. One by one the others followed, holding on to the blanket-strip rope. With heavy hearts the little group made its way again through the storm sewers of Denzo.