s, the band is aroused, and the Knights are coming to the
rescue. If they capture us, we are lost! There is but one way for us to
escape--and that is _through the sewers_, a dreadful avenue! Will you
dare it?'

'I will dare anything, to escape from this earthly hell!' cried our
hero, vigor returning to his frame as he thought of liberty.

'Follow me, then,' said the Doctor, taking up the lamp, and hurrying up
the dungeon steps; he led the way, at a rapid pace, up another high
flight of steps, to a point which overlooked the city sewers. By the dim
light of the lamp, Frank saw, twenty feet below, the dark, sluggish and
nauseous stream of the filthy drainings of the vast city overhead,
which, running thro' holes under the edges of the sidewalk, collect in
these immense subterranean reservoirs, and are slowly discharged into
the river.

'Leap boldly after me--you will land in the mud, and break no bones,'
said the Doctor--'our enemies are at our heels!' A fact that was
demonstrated by the sound of many footsteps hurrying rapidly towards
them.

The Doctor leaped into the dark and terrible abyss. Sydney heard the
splash of his fall into the muddy water, and nerving himself for the
deed, jumped in after him; he sank up to his chin in the loathsome pool.
His friend grasped his hand, and whispered--'We are now safe from our
pursuers, unless they follow us, which is hardly probable; for I confess
these sewers are so full of horrors, that even those villains would
hesitate to pass through them, unless under circumstances as desperate
as ours.' Frank shuddered. 'Will they not fire upon us?' he asked. The
Doctor answered:--

'No, they dare not; for the noise of fire-arms would be heard in the
streets above, and people might be led to inquire into the cause of such
a phenomena. Fortunately my lamp is not extinguished, and as the mud is
not over our heads, we may make our way out of this infernal trap,
provided we are not devoured by rats and reptiles, which swarm here. Ah,
by Jupiter, there are our pursuers!'

And as he spoke, some fifteen or twenty men appeared above them, on the
point from which they had jumped. On seeing the fugitives, they setup a
shout of surprise and anger.

'A pretty trick you've served us, Doctor,' called out the fellow known
as Bloodhound--'you've nearly roasted the Dead Man, and carried off his
prisoner; however, we rescued our Captain just in time to save his life.
You had better come back, or we