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

An explosion shuddered the stone floor under their feet. Dust gushed in choking clouds. The shock cascaded bones off the catacomb shelves, and caused skulls to carom across the floor like baseballs.



Doc's two chemicals, after being mixed together, had become a powerful explosive, self-detonating.



They felt their way forward through the dust, and found the door little more than a heap of broken rock.



Long Tom advanced, once more uneasy. He saw that the catacombs were a trackless labyrinth. Suppose they should get lost in the grisly passages?



But a miracle seemed to have occurred. Ahead of them, marking the way to the exit, was a procession of glowing spots. These might have been red-hot coals! As a matter of fact, they were the chemical powder which Doc had sprinkled along his incoming path. This powder, although it possessed no glow at first, became phosphorescent after a short exposure to damp air.



They came out by the route Doc had entered-through the stone hut.



Doc set out at a run, explaining: "We should be able to find a cab over beyond Pompey's Pillar."



Long Tom made no reply-he needed all his breath to maintain the pace Doc was setting.



They found no cab. But they did locate a conveyance-a pudgy tourist and his driver, who consented to take them to the Place Mehemet Ali. The car started out slowly.



Doc showed the tourist's driver a fat American bank note.



"Imshi bil 'agal!" he requested. "Go more quickly!"



The driver needed no more urging. Indeed, they had to remind him repeatedly that he could not take right-angle turns at forty miles an hour.