"Carey, M.V. - The Three Investigators 27 - The Mystery of the Magic Circle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Carey M.V)

"Mr Grear! Mr Grear!" The boys looked round to see Mr Thomas hurrying towards them. He was dodging this way and that to get through the crowd of onlookers. "Mr Grear, what happened? I saw the smoke. I was having dinner at a place near here and I saw the smoke. Mr Grear, how did it start?"

Before Mr Grear could comprehend that Thomas was questioning him, Beefy Tremayne came dashing around the corner on to Pacifica Avenue. His uncle trailed him, with Mrs Paulson bringing up the rear.

"Mr Grear!" cried Beefy. "You okay? Hey, are you boys all right?"

"We're okay," Pete assured him.

Beefy crouched beside Mr Grear.

"I would have called you," said Grear, "but I was too concerned about the boys."

"We saw the smoke from our apartment and came running," said Beefy.

A shout went up across the street. Firemen scrambled to get clear of the adobe. Then the roof of the building fell in with a roar.

Flames leaped up against the sky. The thick walls of the old building still stood, but the firemen ignored them now. Hoses played steadily on the roofs and walls of buildings up and down the street.

Jupe looked at Mrs Paulson. She was crying.

"Please don't," said Beefy. "Please, Mrs Paulson, it's only a building."

"Your father's publishing house!" sobbed Mrs Paulson. "He was so proud of it!"

"I know," said Beefy, "but it is just a building. As long as no one was hurtа.а.а."

The young publisher stopped talking and looked at the boys in a questioning way.

"We were the last ones out," said Bob. "Nobody was hurt."

Beefy managed to smile. "That's what's important," he said to Mrs Paulson. "And Amigos Press isn't wiped out--not by a long shot. Our inventory of books is safe in the warehouse and our plates are in storage. Why, we've even got the Bainbridge manuscript!"

"We have?" said Mrs Paulson.

"Yes. I put it in my briefcase and took it home. So things aren't that bad, andа.а.а."

Beefy broke off. A man with a hand-held camera had stepped on to the street and was walking towards the fire.

"Uh-oh," said Beefy. "The television stations are covering this. I'd better find a phone."

"Why?" asked William Tremayne.

"I want to call Marvin Gray," Beefy explained, "to tell him the Bainbridge manuscript is safe. If he watches the news and finds out that Amigos Press burned down, he'll think the manuscript went with it unless I tell him differently."

Beefy headed for the filling station on the corner, where there was a pay telephone. At that moment, Jupiter became aware that there was a man approaching from across the street--a man whose face was ghastly white. He was bleeding badly from a wound on his scalp.

"Oh, gosh!" exclaimed Pete.

The blood coursed down the man's cheek and soaked the front of his shirt.