Jupiter was less lucky. Before they could grab him, he lost his balance and sat down in the flowing water. Rudy grabbed his shoulders so he did not go under completely.
Puffing, Jupiter scrambled to his feet.
“It’s cold!” he said.
“Just rain water,” Rudy said swiftly. “We’ll be wetter before we get out of here. Come on, follow me. Everybody hold on to our rope. The water is flowing toward the river, but where they meet there are heavy iron bars. We couldn’t get out that way so we must go upstream.”
Shouts and angry voices echoed above their heads. A lantern flashed down from above. But the boys were on the move already. Stooping, for the rounded roof of the sewer was too low for them to stand upright, they began to hurry through the swirling water.
The manhole and the voices and light receded behind them. Soon their tunnel met a larger one, and they could stand upright. They sloshed along, clutching the rope, the two electric lanterns giving out a little light but not enough to combat the total darkness in which they moved. Bob and Jupiter heard squeaking noises and something furry, swimming, was swept against Bob’s leg. He gulped but kept walking.
“The guards will follow us!” Rudy shouted. “They’ll have to for fear of Duke Stefan. But they don’t know these sewers and I do. There’s a place up ahead where we can grab a minute’s rest.”
He almost pulled them along as he went. Now the water seemed deeper. They passed a place where it came down from above like a waterfall, thoroughly wetting them.
It must be a drain in the streets above, Bob figured.
They waded on, through another miniature waterfall, and then abruptly came out into a large round Chamber where four tunnels intersected. Rudy stopped and flashed his light around. They could see a ledge around the sides of the chamber, and iron rungs set into the rock, leading upward.
“We might get out here,” Rudy said. “But we don’t dare. Too close to the palace. We’ll rest on the ledge, though. I’m sure we have several minutes before any of the guards can catch up to us. They won’t be in any hurry to go through these sewers, you can be sure.”
Thankfully they scrambled up onto the two-foot wide ledge which partly encircled the chamber. There they stretched out, getting their breath.
“Golly, we did it!” Bob said finally. “Anyway, we got this far. But where are we?”
Rudy started to answer him. Then he stopped.
“Turn off the lights!” he whispered urgently.
They did so. Ahead of them in the tunnel was the faint gleam of a lantern, and it was obviously coming their way. Someone ahead of them, and the guards pursuing them from behind.
They were trapped!
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.