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

The scrutiny of passengers and crew on the Cameronic went ahead with much more vigor. In the back of his mind, each man harbored the same thought. That scalp belt of dead ships! Could it mean that some strange, grisly fate had overtaken each of the vanished boats? And could the Cameronic be destined for a like end?



As the search progressed through the day, they remarked on one fact.



"Have you noticed what a bunch of mugs are booked in the first-class cabins?" Monk grunted.



"I'll say!" agreed Long Tom. "First-class passengers are usually prosperous business men and their families. But not these eggs! There's thirty or forty who look like they had been jerked out of some penitentiary!"



Although the rough character of these individuals in first-class accommodations was noteworthy, there was nothing about their presence to arouse suspicion.



Night came. Doc and his friends had not found the mysterious strong man who had worn the white beard.



A surprise awaited them when they visited their cabins to dress for dinner.



IT was the scalp belt. The thing lay on the floor of Doc sitting room, where it had evidently been tossed through porthole.



Doc picked it up, and inspected the array of cap insignias. The other men crowded close.



"Holy cow!" Renny exploded his pet ejaculation. "Do you see what I do?"



The rest showed astonishment in various ways. Long Tom scraped fingers in his pale hair; Johnny took off his peculiar glasses; Monk made a frightful face; Ham absently us sheathed a few inches of his sword cane.



It was unpleasant, this thing they had discovered. There was something horrible about it. Something cold and chilling as if death had unexpectedly walked in their midst.