"Doc Savage Adventure 1933-10 The Sargasso Ogre" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

THE SARGASSO OGRE


A Doc Savage Adventure by Kenneth Robeson

(Originally published in "Doc Savage Magazine" October 1933. Bantam Books reprint July 1967)

To the world at large, Doc Savage is a strange, mysterious figure of glistening bronze skin and golden eyes. To his amazing co-adventurers -- the five greatest brains ever assembled in one group -- he is a man of superhuman strength and protean genius, whose life is dedicated to the destruction of evil-doers. To his fans he is the greatest adventure hero of all time, whose fantastic exploits are unequaled for hair-raising thrills, breathtaking escapes and bloodcurdling excitement.

THE SARGASSO OGRE

A ruthless attempt on the life of one of Doc's crew thrusts the Man of Bronze and his incomparable companions into a chilling new adventure. From the ancient skull-lined catacombs of Alexandria to a fantastic sea of floating primitive life where they unravel the centuries old mystery of the Sargasso, Doc Savage and his men once more pursue the perverse agents of evil!



Chapter I

THE "SINGAS" SONG


AN American man of letters once said that, if a man built a better mousetrap, the world would beat a path to his door.

Pasha Bey was like that. His output was not mousetraps, but it was the best of its kind. Being modern, Pasha Bey had become president of a vast organization which specialized in his product. The fame of Pasha Bey was great. From all of Egypt, men beat a path to his door, which was likely to be anywhere in Alexandria. They came to buy his product, of course.

Pasha Bey's product was murder!

Just now, Pasha Bey was about to close a deal. He was easing up a dark street just off the Place Mehemet Ali, the center of the life of Alexandria

Pasha Bey was a large bag of bones. He wore a flowing burnoose. The burnoose was more flowing than the usual one, so as to conceal the fact that two long-bladed singas were in sheaths strapped to Pasha Bey's bony, naked upper arms.

He also carried two modern, silenced American sixshooters, one on either hip. A silk cord, excellent for strangling purposes, was fastened inside the burnoose with a single thread; so it could be wrenched free quickly.

Pasha Bey always went well heeled with tools of his trade.

He turned, stepping silently, into an entry. This place was like a dark tunnel. Some thirty feet deep, it terminated in a heavy wooden door. A small, barred hole pierced the door.

"Ya intal," he called softly through the bars.

"What?" growled a harsh Yankee voice from the other side of the grille.

"Holloa there!" said Pasha Bey, putting his call into English. "By the life of your father, your servant is here. He awaits your command."

"Are you ready to pull the croak?" asked the unseen man.

"Na'am, aywa!" murmured Pasha Bey.

"Speak English. you bony camel!"

"Yes. I am ready!"