"Doc Savage Adventure 1934-11 Death in Silver" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doc Savage Collection)

This was nothing if not libel. The apish man, "Monk," was Lieut. Col. Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, and conceded by those who knew to be one of the greatest of living chemists. His head, which did not look as if it had room for a thimbleful of brains, harbored a fabulous amount of chemical and electro-chemical lore.

Monk glared at the dapper newcomer.

"The shyster lawyer heard from," he growled.

That was another libel. The dressy gentleman was Brig. Gen. Theodore Marley Brooks, better known as "Ham," one of the most astute lawyers ever to get his sheepskin from Harvard.

A strange pair, these two. They were always together, yet no one could remember either one having spoken a civil word to the other. Those who knew, however, could cite a number of instances when each had risked his life to save the other.

Men far-famed in their professions, both of them. Yet they were known to the comers of the earth for another reason - known as two members of a group of five who were assistants to a man who was probably the most famed adventurer of all time.

Monk and Ham were aides of Doc Savage, the man of bronze, the man of mystery, the being of fabulous accomplishments, who was almost a legend to the general public, but who was the synonym for terror and justice to those who preyed upon their fellow men.


HAM flourished his sword cane. "What was that - that quake?"

"Search me," said Monk, whose voice, in repose, was remarkably small and querulously childlike.

Seizing a fire extinguisher, Monk went to work on the chemical blazes. He resented this damage to his laboratory, for it was one of the most complete in existence, exceeded only by those maintained by the man of bronze, Doc Savage, who was himself a greater chemist than Monk.

Habeas Corpus, Monk's pet pig, backed away from the flames, saw he was getting near Ham, and hastily shied off. Habeas and Ham did not get along together. Ham had repeatedly threatened to make breakfast bacon out of Habeas.

The fires doused, Monk cast aside the extinguisher.

"Let's find out what happened," he said.

"A good idea coming from a strange source," Ham stated unkindly, and they went out. The pig, Habeas, they left behind.

The elevators were not operating, probably due to the damage wrought by the blast, and they had to walk down. It did not take them long to reach the scene of the detonation.

They were efficient, these two men accustomed to scenes of violence through their long association with Doc Savage. Doc seemed to exist always in the shadow of peril and destruction.

Without delay, they went to work to ascertain the cause of the explosion. And there, they ran up against a profound puzzle, as well as a gruesome scene.

Paine L. Winthrop was dead. No doubt of that, as it was necessary for the ambulance surgeons to assemble the scattered parts of his body on a stretcher before it could be carried away.

Several of the Seven Seas office employees had been injured. A broken arm, received by a stenographer as she was knocked over her desk, was the most serious. Others were only lacerated and bruised.

Monk and Ham put quick inquiries about the cause of the blast. No one could give a reply of value except Paine L. Winthrop's head clerk, who was quite sure there had been no bomb, since she had left the private office only shortly before the arrival of her boss.

Before Monk and Ham could locate fragments of whatever had caused the detonation, a swarm of policemen and newspaper reporters arrived. The officers herded every one to an office one floor below, it having been decided that the skyscraper was in no danger of falling.

The office in which those who had been on the explosion scene were concentrated, was the headquarters of a firm dealing in imported antiques and art works. Adjoining the office were numerous stock rooms holding pictures, armor, pieces of ancient furniture, weapons, costumes and like articles. These were all antiques.

The newspaper reporters descended upon Monk and Ham. Both were high-pressure copy, for it was known that they were members of Doc Savage's group of aides, and Doc was front-page news all seven days of the week.

"Is Doc working on this?" a journalist connected with a tabloid demanded.