"008 (B018) - The Sargasso Ogre (1933-10) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Human skulls! The walls were lined with them.



Farther on, there were many casket-shaped niches cut in the rock, and in these were stacked arm and leg bones, spinal columns, ribs. It was a macabre, hideous place. Compared to these catacombs, a walk through a graveyard at midnight was no more awesome than a stroll through a town park.



Doc Savage went forward without flinching or shivering. If he experienced any of the feelings which would have gripped another man, he did not show it. Doc had remarkable powers of concentration. He avoided the ghostly, spine-chilling effects of his surroundings simply by putting his attention on following the man ahead, and keeping it there.



Homar was carrying his flashlight at his side.



Deeper and deeper into the maze, they penetrated. They descended steps. The catacombs seemed to be cut several stories deep. Countless thousands were the dead who had been buried here, for the city had been founded in the third century.



In some passages the stone had caved in, closing them, probably forever. Three times, Homar opened stone doors. Doc, a silent specter at his heels, kept leaving small deposits of his powder.



They came finally to their destination.





SEVERAL brightly glowing flashlights marked the spot. Men were squatting cross-legged, or standing about a sprawled form. The latter was Long Tom.



The right side of Long Tom's face was a sticky red smear from a cut on his scalp, evidently the result of a blow which had knocked him senseless. His dazed manner showed that he had just revived.



A large heap of bones shrouded in a white burnoose, Pasha Bey was hunkered in front of Long Tom. In the professional murderer's gaunt claw was a book of ordinary travelers' checks. These comprised Long Tom's traveling funds, and they totaled more than a thousand dollars.



"By the left eye of Allah, himself, I swear it!" Pasha Bey was murmuring. "If you will sign these travelers' checks, I will let you go free and guide you out of this devil's den of bones!"



It was apparent Long Tom was still alive only because of Pasha Bey's greed. Long Tom had signed each of the checks when buying them, as was customary. They could be cashed only when he signed them a second time in the space which was provided. Pasha Bey no doubt had a way of getting the money for them, once they were complete with both signatures.