"Dixon, Franklin W - Hardy Boys 043 - The Mystery Of The Aztec Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixon Franklin W)

Frank and Joe made a quick tour of the first floor to decide where to start their search for the Aztec warrior object. There were many objects standing on pedestals and on tablesgladiators, cowboys and figures of athletes in action.

"Well, what do you think, boys?" asked Mr Weaver, who had waited for them in the hall. "I suppose you'll start tapping walls and-"

At that instant there was a terrific crash upstairs.

"What was that?" Frank asked.

"I have no idea," Mr Weaver replied.

He and the boys dashed up the stairs, two steps at a time. Quickly they separated and looked in the various bedrooms. There was no sign of anything having fallen.

Mr Weaver opened the door leading to the attic stairs and started up, with the boys crowding close on his heels. As they reached the attic, the three gasped. Amid a conglomerate of boxes and old furniture was a large mahogany chest of drawers. It had fallen face forward.

Trapped underneath it was a man! He was struggling to free himself.

"Wow!" Joe exclaimed, as he and Frank and Mr Weaver dashed forward.

In a few moments they had raised the chest of drawers to a standing position, then turned their attention to the thin, middle-aged man who had been caught under it. He had ceased to struggle and now lay on the floor, unconscious. he had a nasty gash on his head, was extremely pale and his pulse rate was very slow.

"We'd better call an ambulance and have him taken to the hospital," Mr Weaver spoke up. "I can't understand what he was doing here."

"Do you know who he is?" Joe asked.

"I think so," the lawyer replied. "We'll look for some identification to be sure." He opened the man's jacket and pulled a wallet from his pocket. "Yes, this is John Brower. He's a cousin of Mr Moore and one of the beneficiaries named in his will."

"One of the beneficiaries!" Frank exclaimed. "He must have been looking for something special."

Mr Weaver asked Joe to hurry downstairs and telephone for the ambulance. "We'd better not move Mr Brower."

While he and Frank were waiting they kept close watch on the victim, but began to pull out the dresser drawers one by one to see what the man was after.

"These certainly are stiff," Frank remarked. "Mr Brower must have tried to open one and pulled the chest of drawers over on himself."

"I'm afraid so," Mr Weaver agreed. "He had no right being here. I wonder how he got in."

The drawers were filled with a collection of old books and old clothes. "Nothing unusual at all," Frank remarked. "I was hoping maybe we could find a clue to the Aztec warrior object."

Joe returned from downstairs and said the ambulance would be there in a few minutes. He went back down to wait for it and in a very short time a doctor and an attendant carrying a stretcher came up to the attic. The doctor examined Mr Brower, then said, "This man must be taken to the hospital."

The two men transferred the patient to the stretcher, carried him downstairs and out to the ambulance, with the boys following. As soon as it had driven away, Frank said he would like to return to the attic and make a search.

"Mr Brower may have had a good hunch. Also, I noticed several boxes of picture slides. Maybe there'll be a clue to our case in one of them!"

"Then let's go!" Joe urged.




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