“Krikk!” it went. “Krikk!”
They had disturbed the cricket. Pete followed it with his light and they saw it bound from under the bed smack into the spider web which still hung in the corner of the room.
Desperately the cricket struggled to get free, but it only got entangled more tightly in the web. Two spiders were watching from the crack where the wainscoting didn’t quite meet the floor. One of them ran out, skimmed over the web and began to wrap sticky threads around the cricket. In a moment it was a helpless prisoner.
Bob felt an impulse to set the cricket free, but he restrained it. That would mean destroying the spider web, and maybe killing the spider, and the spider, after all, was Varania’s good-luck symbol.
“You said a cricket in the room was lucky,” he muttered to Pete. “But it wasn’t lucky for the cricket. I just hope the same thing doesn’t happen to us.”
Pete was silent. He and Bob backed out from under the bed and joined the others in front of the wardrobe, which Jupiter and Rudy were searching.
“Maybe Bob actually did hide the silver spider,” Jupiter whispered. “He couldn’t have dropped it or we’d have found it, if those soldiers last night didn’t.”
“It was not found.” Rudy’s voice was low. “Duke Stefan is in a rage. If it had been found he would be all smiles. So maybe Bob did hide it after all. Can you remember perhaps hiding it, Bob?”
Bob shook his head. He just couldn’t remember a thing about the silver spider.
“Well, we’ll look,” Rudy said. “Let us examine the suitcases. Elena, you look under the mattress and the pillows — Bob might have hidden it there, not seeing any better place.”
Pete and Jupiter examined the suitcases. Elena felt under the mattress, the sheets, the pillows.
The result was still nothing.
They gathered again in the middle of the room.
“It isn’t here,” Rudy said, his voice puzzled. “We didn’t find the spider, the soldiers didn’t find the spider, yet it is gone. I am afraid that when Bob ran out on the balcony, he still had it. As he climbed over the side to get to the ledge he must have dropped it. Though I still cannot think why it was not found in the courtyard.”
“What shall we do now, Rudy?” Jupiter asked. Usually Jupe was the leader in anything they did, but now Rudy, being older and knowing his way about the ancient palace, was definitely in charge.
“Get you to safety,” Rudy murmured. “That is all we can do. So we must go back and — ”
At that moment the door burst open. Electric lights blazed on. Two men in the scarlet uniforms of palace guards rushed in.
“Stay where you are!” they shouted. “You are under arrest! We have caught the American spies!”
There was a moment of great confusion. Rudy hurled himself at the two men.
“Elena!” he shouted. “Get them to safety! Leave me!”
“Come on!” Elena cried, darting to the window. “Follow me.”
Bob tried to move toward the window. As Rudy grappled with the first man, attempting to seize his legs, the second man got Jupiter by the collar. The two struggling groups fell, with Bob between them. Heavy bodies thudded down on top of him. As he fell, he hit his head again. The carpet softened the blow, but it was a solid thump.
For the second time, Bob blacked out.
BOB LAY with his eyes closed, listening to Jupiter and Rudy talk.
“Well,” Jupiter said gloomily, “here we are, caught like that cricket in the spider web. I never guessed there would be men on guard outside the door of our room.”
“Neither did I,” Rudy said, equally gloomy. “I thought that since it was empty they’d forget about it. Well, at least Pete and Elena got away.”
“But what can they do?” Jupiter asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing, except tell our plight to my father and the others. It is doubtful that my father can rescue us, but he can go into hiding to avoid Duke Stefan’s vengeance.”
“Which leaves us and Djaro in the soup,” Jupiter muttered. “We came over here to help Djaro but we certainly have been washouts.”
“Washouts? I do not understand the word.”
“Flops. Failures,” Jupiter told him. “Look, I think Bob is waking up. Poor Records, he’s had two bad bumps.”
Bob opened his eyes. He was lying on a rude cot covered with a blanket. He blinked in the dim light. Slowly his eyes focused on a flickering candle, a stone wall beside him and a stone roof above. Across the room was a solid door with only a small peephole. Jupe and Rudy were bending over him. Bob sat up, his head throbbing.
“Next time I come to Varania, I’m going to wear a football helmet,” he said, and tried to smile.
“Good, then you’re all right!” Rudy exclaimed.
“Bob, do you remember?” Jupe asked urgently. “Think hard now.”
“Sure I remember,” Bob said. “Those guards busted into the room and you and Rudy tangled with them and I got knocked down and bumped my head. I remember that much. Now I guess we’re in jail someplace.”
“I don’t mean that,” Jupiter said. “Do you remember what you did with the silver spider? Sometimes if one bump gives you amnesia, another bump will bring back your memory.”
“No.” Bob shook his head. “It’s all still a blank.”
“Perhaps it is just as well,” Rudy said darkly. “Then Duke Stefan cannot force you to tell him anything.”
At that moment, keys rattled outside. The heavy iron door swung inward. Two men in the uniform of the Royal Guard tramped in, shining powerful electric lanterns at them. In their right hands they carried swords.
“Come,” growled one of the men. “Duke Stefan wants you in the room of questioning. On your feet. Walk between us. Try no tricks or it will be the worse for you.”
He waved his sword threateningly.
The boys got slowly to their feet. With one soldier ahead of them and one behind, they tramped out into a damp stone corridor. Behind them the corridor led downward into unguessed realms of darkness. Ahead of them it sloped upward. They went past other closed doors, and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, two more guards stood at attention.
The two men hustled the boys through a doorway into a long room lit with lanterns. Bob gave a little gasp and even Jupiter turned pale. They had seen this kind of room a couple of times in horror movies. It was a torture room dating from centuries ago. And it was real.
At one side was an ugly rack where a victim was tied to have his bones stretched by heavy weights. Beyond was a huge wheel to which a victim was tied to have his arms and legs smashed by hammers. There were other devices, made of massive timbers, which they preferred not to guess about. And in the center of the room was a tall figure of a woman made of metal. The figure was just a shell, and the front was hinged so it would open. It was open now. Inside were rusty spikes sticking straight out. The idea was that someone stood inside the shell of the Iron Maiden, as it was called, and the front half was slowly closed until those rusty spikes — but neither Jupe nor Bob cared to think about that.
“The room of questioning!” Rudy whispered, and his voice trembled a little. “I’ve heard of it. It dates back to the reign of Black Prince John, a bloody tyrant of the Middle Ages. It hasn’t been used since, that I know of. I think Duke Stefan had us brought here just to scare us. He wouldn’t dare use torture on us!”
Maybe Rudy was right, but just the same, the rack, the wheel, the Iron Maiden and other devilish devices made Bob and Jupe’s stomachs feel queer.
“Silence!” a guard roared at Rudy. “Duke Stefan comes!”
The guards at the door sprang to attention. Duke Stefan strode into the room, followed by Duke Rojas. On Duke Stefan’s face was a look of ugly pleasure.