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

force to produce unconsciousness. The men dropped.
Things were happening with a blinding speed. The other men had not yet succeeded
in drawing their revolvers. They leaped wildly aside as Doc charged. This caused
them to collide with each other.
After that, a tornado seemed to seize upon the gang. They slugged, kicked. Yells
and groans flew out of the vortex.
Doc Savage was a kernel in that human maelstrom.
MonkТs apish figure appeared abruptly in the door. He emitted a blood-curdling
howl, and sprang into the fray. The homely chemistТs voice was ordinarily mild,
childlike. But he liked lots of noise with his fights.
"Ye-o-ow!" he howled. "Save some of Сem for me, Doc!"
Ham came through the door behind Monk, rapping: "Get out of the way, you missing
link! Let somebody fight that wants to fight!"
Ham was flourishing his sword cane. The blade no longer looked innocentЧit was a
bared, glittering thorn of steel. On the needlelike tip was a mysterious, sticky
substance.
Ham made a pass at the nearest enemy. He made no effort to run the fellow
through with his sword cane. Instead, he barely pricked the man.
The man Ham had pricked seemed to go to sleep on his feet. He fell over
backward.
HamТs sword cane was tipped with a drug which produced instant unconsciousnessЧa
sleep which would last an hour or more.
Possibly a minute of thundering action followed. When it ended, Doc and his men
were blowing on their knuckles. Draped on the floor were all of their foesЧseven
rather evil-looking gentry.

DOC bent over Renny. The wire which secured the engineerТs enormous fists was
thick. It had been tightened with pincers. DocТs powerful fingers tore it away
easily.
Moving to Long Tom, Doc freed him likewise.
"I overheard some of the talk here," he said. "It told me why they were holding
you. But where is the girl in the gold dress?"
"Velvet and Biff took her away," Renny explained.
"Where to?" Doc questioned.
"I havenТt the slightest idea," Renny replied.
"And what about John Acre?" Doc persisted.
Renny shook his head. "I heard Velvet and Biff tell the girl that they had
seized John Acre, but we never saw a sign of him."
The men on the floor began to stir with returning consciousness. DocТs men began
searching them rapidly, removing such weapons as they could find. HamТs victim,
of course, still slept.
Doc himself went to the man who had become so rigid at the touch of his fingers.
The peculiar stiffness had been brought about by an unusual ability which Doc
had perfected.
In the course of his surgical research, Doc had learned how to apply pressure
upon certain nerve centers so as to induce a paralysis. By readjusting the same
nerve centers he could banish the paralysis.
He did this now. At the touch of the metallic fingers, the victim recovered use
of his limbs.
Doc lined the prisoners up along the wall.