"Doc Savage Adventure 1934-03 Meteor Menace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

WITHIN range of Monk's and Ham's eyes was a heterogeneous collection of humanity. Swart Andean Indians and Cholag, or mixed bloods, made up the bulk of the crowd, but there were also Chileans as white-skinned as Swedes. There were scores of Yankees, these for the most part being engineers connected with Chile's great nitrate industry.

One man caught the attention of Monk and Ham. This fellow did not stand many feet distant, and he was facing directly toward them.

He was an apple of a man. His body was a plump apple equipped with arms and legs, and his head another ruddy apple. He wore a fawn-colored lap-over vest, striped trousers, and a gray derby. The derby was hardly a headgear for tropical wear.

He seemed rotund and amiable, except for his mouth, which was reminiscent of a bear trap.

He saw Monk and Ham centering their attention on him, and promptly spoke. He had a strong Cockney accent.

"Wot 'appened?"

"That's what we want to know," Monk grunted.

"The girl acted 'arf barmy," said the Cockney. "She must
o' seen somethin' behind me to scare 'er bad."

The Cockney turned, lifted on tiptoe, and peered over the heads of the crowd. Then he settled back on his feet and shook his head.

"Hi bloody well don't see nothin' corkscrewey."

"Is your name Shrops?" Ham asked the Cockney.

"Blimey, no!"

Speaking from the corner of his enormous mouth, so that only Ham could hear, Monk said: "Let's go get that girl."

Ham gave the handle of his cane a slight twist, an act which prepared the hidden sword for a quick draw.

"O. K. Come on!"

The Cockney watched them as they shoved through the crowd. He even stood on tiptoe to keep them in sight.

Gorillalike Monk, glancing back, noted the Cockney's curiosity. He growled: "I wonder if he could be Shrops?"

"What makes you wonder that?" Ham demanded.

"Well, he's gawking - "

"Anybody would gawk, after the way that girl acted!" Ham shouldered lustily at poncho-clad Indians, and did not hesitate to whack an occasional son of the Andes with the sword cane. But he was not making much progress in the throng.

"Get behind me!" Monk ordered. "Let a guy go through this crowd who knows how to do it."

Carrying the case containing his pet pig high over his head with one hand, and using the other to move people out of the way as if they were stalks in a ripe grain field, Monk plowed through the assemblage.

Ham kept close at Monk's heels, craning his neck. Being taller than Monk, Ham could peer over the crowd. Brown- eyed, mahogany-haired Rae Stanley should have been easy to locate. She was taller than the Chileans.

Her head, however, was not visible above the sea of mantiflas, flat straw hats, and colored knit caps.