"012 (B043) - The Man Who Shook The Earth (1934-02) - Lester Dent (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Monk bristled with indignation. "Listen, goldie! Doc has done more good in this
world than any fifty other men you can name. His life work is to go all over the
worldЧ"
"Save it!" said the girl in gold. "IТve heard of him. HeТs always in trouble.
Well, if you donТt tell me where John Acre is, youТre going to have trouble!"
Monk subsided. He had supposed there were people in New York who were not
acquainted with the true nature of Doc SavageТs workЧhis career of righting
wrong, of punishing evildoersЧbut this was the first such person he had met in
some time.
"What is your name?" Doc asked the girl unexpectedly.
"Tip Galligan." She did not hesitate about giving it. "Helen Tipperary Galligan,
to be exact."
Ham began: "Well, HelenЧ"
"I donТt like gigolos," snapped the girl unkindly, eyeing HamТs sartorially
perfect attire. "Anyway, the name is Tip."
"Why does that earthquake headline scare you, Tip?" Doc asked her.
She did not answer that. Instead she thrust out her small jaw fiercely.
"IТve heard that you have five men who help you," she said angrily. "I guess
this pair here are two of them. IТm going to tell you something: Either you
release John Acre, or IТll grab your other three friends and hold them until you
do cough up!"

MONK was grinning from ear to ear. For some reason he could not have explained,
he was delighted that the young lady in gold did not like the dapper Ham.
"She sounds violent," Monk said cheerfully.
"I am violent, too!" "Tip" assured him.
"I think we would all get along better if you put your gun away," Doc suggested.
"I donТt," said Tip, and waved her gun carelessly.
Doc Savage looked at the ceiling. His lips moved. Strange words came forth. They
were guttural words and rather musical, but absolutely unintelligible to Tip.
Monk and Ham made no reply, but it was plain that they understood the weird
vernacular. Both men did an unusual thing. They began to hold their breaths.
"Listen, you three," Tip hissed. "You canТt pull anything on me. DonТt tryЧ"
The young woman seemed to go to sleep on her feet. Her eyelids, with lashes more
than a half an inch long, drooped. She swayed on her feet. Had Monk not leaped
and caught her, she would have fallen.
Even in the act of springing to catch her, Monk did not release his breath. He
still held it. Cheeks distended, face a little purple, he carried the young
woman over and draped her in a deep chair.
Doc Savage, a close observer might have noticed, was also holding his breath. In
not quite a minute he gave a small signal. They all began breathing normally
again.
Doc now removed his coat. He pulled out the left sleeve, so that the lining
showed. It held a small pocket. From this Doc dumped a broken fragment of a
thin-walled glass bulb. He had broken this by expanding his enormous biceps
muscle.
The bulb had held a powerful anaesthetic gas. This was a substance Doc himself
had perfected. It was remarkable in that it spread through the air almost
instantly, producing sudden and complete unconsciousness.
After having been in the air for something less than a minute, the gas became