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

Passengers milled about in front of the purser's cage, checking valuables and transacting other business. Mingling with the crowd were several uniformed, heavily armed men. These were guards from the Alexandria branch of the American Bank. They were present to watch Doc's diamonds. They would remain until the Cameronic sailed.



The diamonds reposed in the vault. An even half dozen cases held the stones. The gem hoard was of fabulous value. There were so many of the stones that the diamond market would have declined, had they all been offered for sale at Once. Doc intended to dispose of them, a few at a time.



The money from the gems was to be expended on hospitals and other philanthropic projects which Doc Savage conducted.



Two men occupied chairs in unobtrusive corners of the room gacing the purser's cage. At sight of Doc's group, they arose and came forward.



The first man was nearly as tall as Doc, and almost as heavy as Monk. He was a giant. Yet he had a pair of hands so huge that they seemed to dwarf the rest of him. Half a dozen people in the crowd stared at the size of those hands, as if doubting their eyes.



This man was Colonel John Renwick, a personage known in a number of nations for his accomplishments as an engineer. Rennv" was also noted for a disquieting habit of amusing himself by knocking panels cut of doors with those big fists.



The second fellow was tall, gaunt. He looked half starved. His clothes hung upon his frame as if it were a structure of hard sticks. He wore glasses. The left lens of these spectacles was very thick. It was actually a powerful magnifying glass.



William Harper Littlejohn had lost the use of his left eye in the Great War. 'Johnny" needed a magnifying glass in his profession of archaeologist and geologist, so he carried it in his spectacles for convenience.



"Seen anything suspicious?" Doc asked the pair.



"Nope!" Renny had a voice which gave the impression that a lion had jumped roaring out of its den. "Not very -- that is!"



"What do you mean -- not very?"



"A man came in and hung around a while ago," Johnny put in, his extremely clear manner of speaking giving a clew to the fact that he had once headed the natural science research department of a famous American university.