“A cat!” she exclaimed, her voice trembling in mixed fear and relief. “Just a cat! Oh dear, if I let that sort of thing scare me, I’m not going to be much good tonight!”
“I ... I was frightened, too,” Amy said. “It was so sudden! We’ll probably see more of them here, chasing the rats that must live around these food markets. We’d better get used to it.”
But the thought of rats did nothing to calm Peggy’s nerves, or Amy’s either. What if, in the alley behind the theater, rats should come? What if they should come at the same time as the crooks? What if, under the fire stairs, there should come a quiet scratching...? Peggy wondered if she would be able to keep her silence then.
But they were near the theater alley now, and Peggy resolutely put her fear of rats out of her mind. Let’s just worry about one thing at a time, she told herself. The street was deserted, as she had hoped it would be, and they were able to slip into the alley unobserved.
They walked cautiously, taking care with each step. If there was any work going on in the alley now, this would be no time to disturb it. Before turning the corner into the back court, they paused and listened for what seemed a very long time. Not a sound disturbed the night. The immediate silence was so perfect that they could hear, far in the distance, the never-ending rumble and stir of the city, the growl of subways and motors, the far-off drone of airplanes.
They turned into the empty courtyard, darted noiselessly for the fire stairs and crouched in the shadows, their hearts drumming loudly and the blood roaring in their ears like the noise of the distant subways.
It was some time before they felt calm enough to take stock of their position. The fire stair was, as Peggy had told the boys, a perfect place to hide. Most of it mounted out of sight in an airshaft on the side of the building opposite the entrance alley. Only the last six steps came out into the court, having turned the corner of the building at a landing. The space below the landing made a cramped little lean-to, protected by the steps themselves on one side and by a latticework of metal on the other. The space was open only in the rear, from which direction nobody could approach them.
The steps themselves were steel, and the risers between the steps were of the same metal grillwork as that on the side. It was almost impossible for anyone to see into the shadowed cubbyhole behind the grill, but quite an easy matter for the girls to see out.
“I think we’re safe enough here,” Peggy whispered, tactfully restraining herself from adding, “as long as no rats come around.”