"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 090 - The Python" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

THE PYTHON
Maxwell Grant
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? CHAPTER I. THE PYTHON'S PRISONER
? CHAPTER II. THE PYTHON'S WILES
? CHAPTER III. WEALTH RECLAIMED
? CHAPTER IV. THE PYTHON'S TERMS
? CHAPTER V. BENEATH THE RIVER
? CHAPTER VI. OUTWARD BOUND
? CHAPTER VII. ABOARD THE "TROPICAL"
? CHAPTER VIII. CRIME'S ZERO HOUR
? CHAPTER IX. THE DISTANT WATCH
? CHAPTER X. CROOKS CHOOSE TO FIGHT
? CHAPTER XI. ODDS PREVAIL
? CHAPTER XII. THE CASTAWAYS
? CHAPTER XIII. MOVES AT DUSK
? CHAPTER XIV. THE BROKEN INTERVIEW
? CHAPTER XV. THE MIDNIGHT MEETING
? CHAPTER XVI. SMOOTH STRATEGY
? CHAPTER XVII. DEATH UNCOVERED
? CHAPTER XVIII. AT THE LEGRAND HOTEL
? CHAPTER XIX. ORDERS FOR MURDER
? CHAPTER XX. CRIME'S SEQUENCE
? CHAPTER XXI. THE DOUBLE STROKE
? CHAPTER XXII. MOVES BY NIGHT
? CHAPTER XXIII. HALF PAST TEN

CHAPTER I. THE PYTHON'S PRISONER
A SALLOW, leering face gloated as it studied the prone, limp figure stretched upon a rickety cot.
Ratlike features surveyed the closed eyes of a drawn, bloodstained countenance. Such was the scene
that showed beneath the glare of a single electric-light bulb, which provided the sole illumination of a
windowless, stone-walled room.

The leering man was short and stocky. The malicious ugliness of his thick lips and pudgy profile was
increased by a scar that crossed his sloping forehead.

His clothes, though new, were cheap and ill-fitting. In every point of appearance, he was inferior to his
unconscious victim.

The prisoner on the cot was clad in evening clothes of faultless fashion. His face, despite its gashes, was
one that betokened dignity. His features were of even mold; calm, even in this temporary state of
oblivion.
The rat-faced man turned from the cot. He thrust a cigarette between his puffed lips and scratched a
match upon the surface of a metal-sheeted door. As he lighted his cigarette, he stopped abruptly; then
wheeled about to face another door on the opposite side of the room.

Tap-tap. Tap-tap.