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"Down the river," he thought gri the hall taking care to place each of his bare feet silently Thankfully Boots slept on His plan would disintegrate if she woke before he got out of the palace

Their bedrooor followed his way to the watery sound His plan was simple The river ran under the palace If he couldthe sound of water, he should find the place it drained into the river

If the plan was sior several hours to weave his way down through the palace The bathrooms were not always near the stairs, and he found hi to backtrack so he wouldn't lose the sound of rushing water Twice he had to duck into rooms and hide when he spotted Underlanders There weren't uards patrolled the palace at night

Finally the sound of water becaer, and heHe followed his ears to where the roar was loudest and sneaked through a doorway

For a or almost abandoned his plan When Dulcet had said "river," he had pictured the rivers that flowed through New York City But this

Underland river looked like so out of an action adventure movie It wasn't terribly wide, but it ran with such speed that the surface was churned into white foah power to carry large boulders by as if they were empty soda cans No wonder the Underlanders didn't bother to post a guard on the dock The river was erous than any army they could assemble

"But you or, noticing half a dozen crafts tied up above the rush of the current They were made out of some kind of skin stretched over a frame They reminded him of the canoes at camp

Camp! Why couldn't he just be at ca not to think of the bobbing boulders, he lit his oil lamp from a torch by the dock On reflection, he took the torch as well Where he was going, light would be as important as air He blew out the oil lamp to save fuel

He carefully climbed into one of the boats and checked it out The torch slid into a holder clearly designed for it

"How do you get this thing down in the water?" he wondered Two ropes held it aloft They were attached to a oes nothing," Gregor said, and gave the wheel a yank It gave a loud creak, and the boat fell straight into the river, knocking Gregor on his rear end

The current swept up the boat like it was a dried leaf Gregor grasped the sides and hung on as they shot into the darkness Hearing voices, he ed to look back at the dock for aafter hiht

Would they come after him? Of course they would come after him But he had a head start How far was it to the Waterway? What was the Waterway, arid once he got there, where did he go next?

Gregor would have beenso hard to stay alive Along with the boulders, he had to dodge the jagged black rocks that jutted out of the water He found an oar lying along the bottom of the boat and used it to deflect the canoe off the rocks

The temperature of the Underland had felt comfortably cool since he'd arrived, especially after the ninety-degree heat of his apartoose buht he'd heard soination or -- no! There it was again The Underlandersin on him

The river swerved and suddenly he could see a little better A long cavern lined with crystals shiht

Gregorone side of the river up ahead A tunnel led froor pushed off a rock and pointed the canoe toward the beach He paddled desperately with the oar for the shore Staying on the river was no use The Underlanders were breathing down his neck Maybe he had time to pull up on the beach and hide in the tunnel After they'd passed by, he could wait a few hours and try the river again

The canoe slaht himself just before his face hit the boat bottom Boots jerked partly awake and cried a little, but he soothed her back to sleep with his voice as he struggled to pull his craft across the sand with one hand while carrying the torch with the other "It's okay, Boots Shhh Go back to sleep"

"Hi, Bat," she murmured and her head plopped back on his shoulder

Gregor heard his name in the distance and sped up He had just reached thewar the torch The soor's knees turned to jelly and he sunk slowly to the sand