"H. L. Gold - Fog" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gold H. L)

the fresh, clean meat rested comfortably on his stomach.
 At seven o'clock it began raining heavilyтАФa chilly downpour. When lightning flashed and thunder
roared, he grew afraid, cowering under the trees when the lightning burst across the sky; dashing madly
on when it had ceased, toward the lights across the park. For four and a half hours he ran on and on,
after he had struck a road, which he followed. It led him around the park, in large half circles. Sometimes
he neared the street; more often he darted farther away.

THE NEWS that their subject had escaped affected Dr. Cobb like a terrible blow over the heart.
Rollins came back at half past four, from his office, and looked in to see if the beast-man was warm
enough, for it was getting colder toward sundown. The window was pushed out of the frame, and the
cold wind and heavy rain beat into the dank, miserable room. The beast-man was goneтАФhe had been
gone nearly three hours by that time
Rollins rushed up the stairs to Cobb, who was still sleeping.
"He's gone!" Rollins cried, shaking the old doctor wildly.
"Who? What? He's gone?"
"Broke the window and climbed out andтАФ"
Cobb caught hold of Rollins' lapel and shook him. "You don't think there's any danger, do you?" he
wheezed fearfully.
"I doubt it. Who knows? He was docile enough here. But out in all that noise and traffic he may go
wildтАФ"
"Good Lord! I hope not!" Cobb cried out. "Where is he eating? What's happening to him? And it's
raining. A cold'll be deadly to him, you know. If he catches a coldтАФit will kill him!" Rollins stared out the
window. Cobb paced back and forth. It unnerved him. He could not think. He did not want to thinkтАФa
primitive beast-man loose in the streets of New York. A beast-man with the instincts, minus the memory,
of an animal, and the strength ofтАФa savage ?тАФan ape ?тАФ Cornered, starved, frightenedтАФ
His mind painted a fearsome picture of mangled bodies, screams and wild shots.
"I'm going to call the police," Rollins declared. "It may become dangerous after all."
Cobb clutched his sleeve, forcing him to stand still. "You can't!"
"Why not?" Rollins demanded coldly.
Cobb sank down heavily on the bed, clasping his head with his trembling hands. "Don't you
understand?" he wailed. "We experimented on a live man! It's illegal. If we're caught, it means a life
sentence; and if he dies, we'll get the death sentence!"
"What do you meanтАФwe?" Rollins snapped harshly.
"You assisted at the operation. You took charge of the anaesthesia."
Rollins seized the old doctor by the collar and hauled him up fiercely. "Why, you oldтАФyouтАФ" he
struggled with emotion, threw the old man back on the bed.
"You won't gain anything by killing me," Cobb pointed out. "It's too late for that now. The only thing
we can do is stick together and find him, before he dies or is found by the police or attacks some one."
"Well, what're we going to do?"
Cobb stumbled over to the window and stared out, leaning weakly on the sill. The chill rain swept in
on him. He shuddered and drew back, shutting the window. "Nothing now. We can't. Not until the rain
lets up, anyhow. We'd never find him in this weatherтАФHe's probably shivering in some out-of-the-way
hole in a house or subwayтАФor Heaven knows what!"
A blinding flash of lightning burst across the sky, lighting up the dark city.
Thunder roared deafeningly directly overhead. The house shook terrifyinglyтАФ

IT WAS close to midnight when the rain stopped. In the terrible darkness he had lost the road, and
now he stood trembling with cold, the chilling water dripping from the trees above soaking him even more
completely. The blackness lessened. Through the steaming trees he saw a black mass of shadow
huddling, a great blotch of gloom, near a small lake. He slushed through the thick mud and grass toward