Jupiter gulped and was silent. Rudy spoke up boldly.
“You wouldn’t dare!” he said. “You plan to take the throne from Prince Djaro, and you want the people of Varania to think you are a just and kind ruler. If it became known that you had tortured anyone, you would suffer the fate of Black Prince John long ago. Remember that the people rose and tore him limb from limb with their bare hands.”
“Bold words,” sneered Duke Stefan. “But I do not need the Iron Maiden nor the rack to get the truth from these culprits. I have other methods.”
He signaled to the guards.
“Bring in the gypsy, Old Anton,” he ordered.
“Anton the Ancient!” Rudy whispered excitedly to his friends. “He — ”
“Silence!” Duke Stefan roared.
The boys craned their heads and saw an old man escorted into the room by the guards. He was tall, or would have been if he had not been bent far over as he walked, supporting himself with a stick. He wore bright-coloured rags, and gold rings in his ears, and his face was drawn like a skull. Two bright blue eyes burned in his face, which was so dark that it made his eyes seem even brighter.
He shuffled forward until he stood before Duke Stefan.
“Old Anton is here,” he said, his tone suggesting that he considered himself far superior to the man he was speaking to.
“I have need of your powers,” said Duke Stefan. “These boys know something they will not tell. Learn it for me.”
The ancient gypsy’s skull-like face split in an ironic smile.
“Old Anton does not take orders,” he said. “Good night, Duke Stefan.”
Duke Stefan’s face darkened at the impudence of the gypsy. But he restrained his anger. From his pocket he drew several gold pieces.
“I did not mean to order you, Anton,” he said. “I seek your aid. I pay well. Here is gold.”
The gypsy turned back. Claw-like hands reached for the gold pieces and tucked them away under the rags.
“Anton will help one who is so generous,” he said, seeming to laugh at the duke. “What knowledge do you seek, Duke Stefan?”
“These young imps know where the silver spider of Varania is,” Duke Stefan said. “They have hidden it but will not tell where. I could easily learn the truth with the aid of these — ” he waved his hand toward the instruments of torture — “but I am merciful. Your power is great, and it is painless. Question them.”
“Old Anton obeys,” the gypsy cackled. He turned to the three boys. From somewhere beneath his rags he brought out a brass cup and a pouch. Into the cup he put several pinches of powdery material that looked like seeds. Then, surprisingly, he produced a modern cigarette lighter and lit the powder. Thick blue smoke rose in the air.
“Breathe, small ones,” Anton crooned, waving the cup back and forth in front of the three boys’ faces. “Breathe deeply. Anton commands you to breathe the smoke of truth.”
They tried to turn their faces aside and hold their breath, but they couldn’t. The smoke got into their nostrils. They breathed it in spite of themselves. It was pungent but not disagreeable and they found themselves relaxing, their minds becoming pleasantly drowsy.
“Now look at me,” Old Anton said. “Look at me, little ones, look into my eyes.”
Though they wanted to resist, their heads turned. They looked into Anton’s bright blue eyes and they seemed to be deep, distant pools of water into which they were falling.
“Now speak!” Anton said, his tone commanding. “The silver spider! Where is it?”
“I don’t know,” Rudy answered in spite of an effort to remain silent. Beside him Bob and Jupiter echoed the words. “I don’t know… I don’t know… ”
“Ah!” Anton murmured. “Breathe again — breathe deeply.”
Once more he passed the smoking cup in front of the three boys’ faces. Bob felt himself drifting as if upon a very comfortable cloud high in the air.
The gypsy touched Rudy’s forehead lightly with his fingers. He leaned very close and stared unblinkingly into Rudy’s eyes. Rudy could not have looked away if his life depended on it.
“Now,” Old Anton whispered, “do not speak. But think. Think of the silver spider. Think where it is… Ah!”
After a long moment he took his fingers from Rudy’s forehead and repeated the same movements and words with Jupiter. Once more he said “Ah!” and came to Bob. As he touched Bob’s forehead, his fingers seemed to tingle with electricity, and his eyes were all Bob could see, blue and piercing as if reading his very thoughts. Bob found himself thinking of the silver spider. Again he seemed to see it sitting in the palm of his hand. Then it vanished. He didn’t have any idea where it went. He couldn’t remember — there was a cloud on his thoughts…
The ancient gypsy seemed puzzled. He lingered with Bob, murmuring urgently again and again, “Think! Think!” At last he sighed and turned away. Bob blinked. He felt as if released from a spell.
Old Anton bobbed his head to Duke Stefan.
“The first one,” he said, “has not seen the silver spider and does not know where it is. The fat one saw the spider, but did not handle it. He doesn’t know where it is. The small one had the spider in his hand and then — ”
“Yes?” Duke Stefan exclaimed eagerly. “Go on!”
“A cloud comes over his thoughts. The silver spider disappears into the cloud. I have never met before such a case. He knew once where the spider went, but a blankness came into his mind and he has forgotten. Until he remembers, I can do no more.”
“A thousand curses!” spat Duke Stefan. His fingers tapped the chair arm again.
“Tell me, gypsy,” he began, then changed his tone. “Old Anton, I appreciate your efforts. It is not your fault that they cannot tell me where the silver spider is. But perhaps you can make a guess? You have many powers — we all know that. What of the spider? And — ” he added with restrained eagerness — “what of my ambition to take the throne of Varania, so that a weak and foolish boy shall not sit upon it?”
Old Anton gave a sly smile.
“As to the silver spider, though silver, it is only a spider,” he said. “As to your ambition, I hear a bell ringing victory. And now good night. Old men like me need their sleep.”
Chuckling deep in his throat, he withdrew. Duke Stefan waved his hand.
“Escort him to his home,” he said to the guards. Then he turned to Duke Rojas.
“You heard! The silver spider is only a spider, meaning we can ignore it, it is not important. And Anton says I shall be victorious. We know that in such matters Anton is never wrong. We wait no longer. In the morning the proclamation goes forth. Prince Djaro is under arrest and I am assuming the Regency until further notice. Denounce the United States for trying to interfere in our affairs, and proclaim the arrest of these two as spies and thieves. Offer a reward for the third. Round up all members of Rudolph’s family, and all these so-called Minstrels you can find. Charge them with treason.
“By tomorrow Varania will be firmly in my grasp. After that we will decide whether to hold a public trial of these rascally boys, or merely expel them from the country. Guards! Take them back to their cell and let them meditate there.”
He leaned toward Bob.
“Meanwhile, little mouse, try to remember what you did with the silver spider. Even though Anton says it is not vital, I would like to wear it around my neck when I am crowned Prince of Varania. Restore it to me and things will go easier for you.
“Now, take them away!”
“There are friendly rats in the sewers,” he said.
Rudy nodded. A moment later they were ushered into the tiny stone cell with the damp stone walls and the single flickering candle. The iron door clanged shut. The two guards took up their positions outside and the boys were left alone.
They were silent for several moments, and in the silence Bob and Jupiter could hear a faint gurgling sound, as of water. Rudy explained.
“The storm sewers of Denzo pass beneath the castle,” he said. “It must be raining hard outside. The rain is pouring into the drains. The storm sewers of Denzo are hundreds of years old and are not pipes, as you usually think of sewers. They are stone tunnels, sometimes taller than a man, flat on the bottom and rounded on the top. In dry weather it is possible to walk through them for miles and in wet weather one can use a small boat.
“Few people venture into them, but Elena and I and a few others know them well. If we could get into the sewers, and the water was not too deep, we could travel beneath them to safety. We could emerge into the streets near the American Embassy, and you could run there for refuge.”
Jupiter pondered this information. Then he shook his head.
“We’re locked in a cell,” he said. “It doesn’t look as if we’re going anywhere.”
“If we could get out of the cell for even a minute,” Rudy said wistfully, “there is a manhole at the far end of the passage outside that leads into the sewers.” He paused.
“There is someone there waiting to help us. One of the guards gave me a message. ‘There are friendly rats in the sewers,’ he said. He means some Minstrels are handy if we can get to them.”
“I guess Jupe’s right,” Bob said. “We aren’t getting out of here until Duke Stefan lets us out. Who was that gypsy, Anton? I think he read our minds!”
Rudy nodded. “At least he sensed our thoughts,” he said. “Anton is the king of the few gypsies left in Varania. He is said to be a hundred years old and has strange powers no one understands. Certainly he knew the truth about the silver spider. But I am saddened, for he told Duke Stefan that he heard a bell ringing for victory. That means that our cause is hopeless. My father will be imprisoned. My friends, too. And Elena and I… ” He became silent.
Bob knew how he must be feeling. “We can’t give up,” he said stoutly. “Even if it looks hopeless. Jupe, do you have any ideas?”
“I have an idea,” Jupiter said quietly, “about getting out of here. First we have to get the guards to open the door. Then we have to overpower them.”
“Overpower two grown men?” Rudy whispered. “Without weapons? We can’t do it.”
“I’m remembering something,” Jupiter said, frowning hard. “Of course it was just a story, but it sounded as if it would work. It was in a book of mystery stories Mr. Hitchcock gave us.”
“What’s your idea, Jupe?” asked Bob eagerly.
“In the last story,” Jupiter said, “a boy and a girl are locked up just as we are. They tear up their sheets and weave them into ropes, and make nooses at both ends of the ropes. Then they get their captors to come inside the cell.”
He went on to describe how the trick worked in the story. Rudy listened with growing interest.
“It’s possible!” he said in a low voice, so he wouldn’t be heard through the tiny viewing hole in the door. “But what could we use for ropes?”
“These blankets on the cots,” Jupiter said. “They’re old and the ends are ragged. We can tear them into strips. But the strips would be strong enough so we wouldn’t need to weave them. We could use strips of blanket for rope.”
“It might work,” Rudy muttered. “One of the guards is friendly — he would only pretend to fight us. If we got the other — all right, let’s try it.”
Quietly they set to work. The blankets they had been given were indeed ragged, which was fortunate as Jupiter’s knife had been taken from him. They tore quite easily.
Slowly, very slowly, careful to make no noise, they tore off one strip about four inches wide, then another and another.
It was slow, tiring work. In places they had to use their teeth to help the tearing along, but they kept at it doggedly. Soon they had four strips. After a time they had eight, and Jupe suggested they rest.
They stretched out on the three crude cots in the cell, but they were too impatient to rest long. Soon they were at work again. Jupiter took two of the blanket strips and tied them together tightly. Then he fashioned a big slip noose in each end. He tested it around Rudy’s arms and legs, and the nooses tightened properly when pulled. Rudy was aglow with excitement and admiration.
“Brojas!” he whispered. “I think it will work. Will four be enough?”
“Enough for the guards,” Jupe whispered back.
“Let us tear some more strips to take with us,” Rudy suggested. “They will come in handy if we make it to the sewers.”
They tore eight more strips and knotted them into one long rope which Rudy wrapped around his waist.
“Now for the hard part,” Jupiter muttered. “Bob, stretch out on the cot and start to moan. Just a little at first, then louder. Rudy, put two of the nooses on the floor just inside the door, where anyone coming in will step in them.”
When all was ready, Bob began to mutter, then groan. He groaned louder, very realistically, as if in pain. After a minute one of the guards came to the door and looked in the open peephole.
“Silence!” he ordered. “Cease the noise!”
Rudy was standing by the door, while Jupe bent over Bob anxiously, holding the candle.
“He’s hurt,” Rudy said in rapid Varanian to the guard. “He bumped his head when he was caught. He has a fever now. He needs a doctor.”
“This is a trick, you young imps!”
“I tell you he’s sick!” Rudy cried. “Come in and feel his forehead. Then take him to a doctor. If you do we’ll talk. We’ll tell where the silver spider is. Duke Stefan will be pleased.”
Still the guard hesitated. Rudy grew more urgent.
“You know the Duke does not want these Americans really hurt,” he said. “The small one needs a doctor and they are ready to give back the silver spider. Act quickly, his condition may be serious!”
“We’d better see if it’s true,” said the second guard, the one who had whispered the message to Rudy.
“We don’t want to get in trouble with the Duke. You find out if he’s really sick while I guard the door. They’re just boys — we have nothing to fear.”
“Very well,” the first guard said. “I’ll see if he has a fever. But if this is a trick they’ll be sorry.”
A large key squeaked in the lock. The iron door creaked open, and the guard entered the cell.
With his first step he was caught in a waiting noose. Like a flash Rudy pulled it tight and the guard fell heavily to the floor, dropping his electric lantern. Jupiter spun around and tossed another noose over the guard’s head, and Rudy caught one of his waving arms in still a third noose.
“Help!” the guard bawled. “Help! The young devils have me!”
The second guard came rushing into the cell, but Rudy was waiting. A noose went around his neck. Another tightened around his leg. The nooses on the other end of the ropes were placed about the other guard, linking the two men tightly together.
As the first guard kicked and struggled, his movements tightened the nooses around the second guard, who fell on top of him. Rudy bent and whispered in his ear.
“Struggle hard! Keep struggling. Don’t stop.”
The guard obeyed. By struggling, both men tightened the nooses on themselves and on each other, and neither would get free. Rudy chuckled. It occurred to him that they were like two insects in a spider’s web. It was a good omen. He felt his courage and hope return.