"Doc Savage Adventure 1933-09 The Lost Oasis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

"I returned to the city less than an hour ago." The mysterious man in the cab had a remarkable voice. It was pleasant, yet it possessed a quality of vibrant power which was instantly impressive.

The cop saluted again. "If I can tell you anything about this strange business, I'll be glad to do it!"

"Do you possess any information the newspapers have not published?"

"No, sir. The darn newspaper reporters know as much as we do, and they've smeared it all on the front page. That's why there's such a crowd down here."

"I have read the papers," said the personage in the taxi. The officer shifted uneasily, then finally mastered the determination to suggest, "The police are naturally curious about this affair, so we'd be mighty glad to know anything you can tell us."

A pleasant laugh came from the man in the cab. "This is as much a mystery to me as to anybody, officer."

The cop offered: "I thought perhaps your five associates - "

The driver - he of the enormous hand - interrupted in a voice so deep it almost sounded as if a lion had started roaring.

"We don't know anything more than the newspapers!" he declared. "A radio message came from the steamer Yankee Beauty, in mid-ocean, seeking to get in touch with Doc Savage. It was signed simply, 'Imperiled!' We radioed back that Doc was out of town, and that nobody could locate him. The next thing we knew, this 'Imperiled' person had gotten in touch with the newspapers and offered the reward."

The officer peered at the big-fisted driver. "You are Renny, Colonel John Renwick, the engineer, aren't you? I should have recognized those fists."

"That's right," said Renny.

Once more the policeman addressed a salute to the personage in the rear of the cab. "Anything you wish me to do, Mr. Savage?"

"Just don't advertise the fact that I'm around here!"

"Very well, Mr. Savage!"

The cop drifted away.


THERE WAS some movement in the taxi. Then the remarkable passenger got out. From time to time, the headlights of distant cars splashed faint luminance over the vicinity. These sporadic glows disclosed the figure of Doc Savage.

A great man of bronze! His appearance was the more striking because, having shucked off a robe, he stood clad only in a bathing suit!

The muscular development of the bronze man was such as to command attention anywhere. Sinews wrapped his form like great cables. Their size, the way they seemed to flow like liquid bronze, denoted a strength little short of superhuman. Yet, because all the muscles in his giant figure were developed to an equal degree, Doc's form possessed an unusual symmetry. There was none of the knotty, bull-necked look of the professional strong man about him.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about him were his eyes. They resembled pools of fine flake gold. And there was in them a quality of power and determination. They seemed to radiate limitless energy.

Doc took from the cab a bag which was fitted with a waterproof fastener.

Renny, still seated in the cab and with both big hands resting on the wheel, asked "Want me to wait here?"

"That's right," Doc told him.

It was only a few seconds later that Renny glanced around, some question on his tongue. But he did not ask it. He blinked.

Doc Savage was gone - swallowed silently by the evening darkness. There was no sound, no stir, to show what direction he had taken. After the one blink of slight surprise, Renny settled back to wait. He was accustomed to the uncanny silence with which Doc Savage moved.

Long association with Doc had made Renny, and also the other four men who comprised Doc's group of five aides, accustomed to the unusual things which the giant bronze man did. Feats which, if given publicity, would have been good for newspaper headlines, were taken without undue surprise by the five.