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“They’ll send for an expert soon,” Rudy guessed. “We’d better get started. Now let’s see, how can we make this bell ring? Oh, first of all we’d better pull up the bell rope. They might think to fasten it down below.”
In the floor of the bell-chamber was a large hole for the bell rope. Standing beneath the great bell, Rudy grasped the rope and started to pull. With Pete and Jupiter helping, they brought it up in great coils like a fuzzy snake. The guards below let out a yell as they saw the rope go up, but they were too late to catch the dangling end.
The rope safely up, the boys studied the bell. It was impressive in size, with a Latin inscription around the lip. The bell rope ran over a wheel on one side of the bell. By turning the wheel, the bell itself swung to hit the heavy clapper. This puzzled the boys, who had only seen small bells that were rung by making the clapper swing.
“Golly,” Pete said as he surveyed the size of the bell. “How can we ever ring that?”
“We can’t do it the regular way from up here,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “We’ll have to tilt the bell on its side. Then we can pull on the clapper and make it hit the bell. I think that will work.”
All four boys took hold of the bell rope. At Jupiter’s signal, they pulled. Slowly the wheel turned and the heavy bell tipped until it was hanging on its side, the clapper just a few inches from the metal.
Rudy took the bell rope and wound it around one of the bell-chamber’s ornate pillars. He fastened the rope so it held the bell in its unusual position, and they rested for a moment.
The sun was coming out and a fresh breeze blew through the open bell-chamber. Pigeons fluttered around, landing on ledges and then flying off again with loud cries.
“What time is it?” Jupiter asked, and Rudy looked at his watch.
“Twenty minutes to eight,” he said. “Twenty minutes before the Prime Minister makes his speech on radio and television. We have to hurry.”
“Lucky we still have the blanket rope,” Jupiter said thoughtfully. “We have to get it around the clapper and then swing the clapper so it hits the bell.”
It was the work of only a minute to loop the blanket rope around the pear-shaped clapper. When it was firmly in place, Rudy and Pete, as the strongest, stood back a little and gave a pull. The clapper swung. It hit the bell.
The deep, sonorous clang almost deafened the boys. Bob, peering down, saw people below turn and look up in curiosity.
“This is going to be hard on our ears!” Jupiter exclaimed. “I wish we had some cotton to put in them. Bob, Pete, do you have handkerchiefs?”
They dug them out of their pockets and rapidly tore them into small squares. They rolled the cotton squares into balls and stuffed one into each ear. Then they set to work with a will to make the legendary bell of Prince Paul ring.
Pete and Rudy did most of the work. Pulling the clapper back and letting it swing, they got a series of deep notes much faster than if the bell had been rung in the usual way. After a minute they paused, then the great bell boomed again, so loud that it seemed it must be heard all over the kingdom of Varania. The very irregularity of the bell cried Alarm! Alarm!
They could no longer hear the guards below. Their ears were deafened by the bell in spite of the cotton wadding. But Bob crouched at one of the openings in the bell-chamber and peered down.
A crowd was gathering in the streets. Moment by moment more people came ru
Jupiter came and crouched beside Bob. He pointed. There was a disturbance in the crowd. Several men seemed to be shouting and pointing toward the distant palace.
There was a stir in the mass of people. Like a stream it began to flow away, toward the palace.
Palace guards, visible in their red uniforms, were attempting to fight their way into the crowd, but they were pushed aside. The crowd grew, and even as it did, more and more people moved toward the palace.
It looked as if the message for help was getting across!
Abruptly the bell ceased to ring. Pete and Rudy had come to look down. Rudy had his transistor radio in his hand. It was turned on, but they could hear nothing. Then the boys remembered the cotton wadding in their ears and pulled out the plugs.
A shrill voice was shouting on the radio. Rudy translated.
“It’s the Prime Minister. He is saying that a grave plot against Varania has been uncovered. The coronation is postponed indefinitely. Duke Stefan is taking command of the nation and will bring the criminals — that means you — to justice. Prince Djaro is in protective custody. He appeals to all Varanians to help him uphold law and order.”
“Golly, that sounds bad!” Pete said. “It sounds so believable, somehow, when it’s all a lie.”
“But nobody is listening to it!” Rudy cried in glee. “Everybody in the city has heard the bell and is out in the streets to find out what it means. Look at the crowds. And many of them are going toward the palace. I wish we could see what is happening there.”
“Look!” Jupiter exclaimed. “The guards have broken through the gates. They’re coming up!”
They all turned toward the stairs. Scarlet-uniformed guards were indeed racing up the stairs. They reached the last gate, just outside the bell-chamber, and rattled it menacingly.
“Open in the name of the Regent!” an officer shouted. “You’re all under arrest!”
“Then arrest us!” Rudy cried defiantly. “Come on, Pete, we can ring the bell until they get through.”
He and Pete seized the rope again and began to swing the heavy clapper. Again the bell sounded its wild cry of alarm over the city, seeming to urge every Varanian to action. A few feet away the guards were using sledge hammers and crowbars on the gate.
For five more minutes the boys made the bell of Prince Paul ring its appeal to Varania. Then with a clang the gate went down and the guards swept in and overpowered them.
“Now,” the furious officer in charge bawled at them, “you’re going to get what you deserve!”
16
On the Trail of the Spider
THE BOYS did not resist as they were hustled down the long flight of stairs. At the bottom more guards formed a tight ring around them and hurried the boys out the side entrance of the church. There were still people in the streets, but not as many now. They stared curiously, and moved away only when the guards shouted at them.
The guards marched the boys along a couple of blocks to an old stone building. Inside, two officers in blue police uniforms greeted them.
“Criminals against the state!” the guard officer snapped out. “Put them in cells until Duke Stefan sends orders as to their fate.”
The police hesitated.
“The bell of Prince Paul — ” one said.
“Regent’s orders!” the guard barked. “Move.”
The police officer gave in. He led the way down a hall to where four iron-barred cells stood empty. Pete and Rudy were thrust into one, and Jupe and Bob into another facing it. The cell doors clanged shut.
“Guard them carefully or you will suffer for it!” cried the guard. “Now we must get back to the palace to inform the Regent.”
They were left alone. Rudy sank down on one of the two cots in his cell. “Well, they’ve got us now,” he called wearily. “We did our best. I wonder what is happening at the palace.”
Jupiter sat down on his cot. “We’ve been up all night,” he said. “I guess the only thing we can do is rest while we wait. However, the bell as an alarm signal — ”
What he was going to say was lost in a great yawn. He rubbed his eyes. Then he looked. Bob was fast asleep. Across the corridor Pete and Rudy weren’t listening. They were asleep, too. When Jupiter started to say something, however, he liked to finish it. So he continued, even though no one was listening.