"018 (B035) - The Squeaking Goblin (1934-08) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"It was the kind of a mug I'd expect to see on a ghost," Long Tom advised dryly.
Chapter IV. MOUNTAIN MEN
ON the yacht, the dance orchestra still made melody of a kind, although a number of individuals lined the rail, staring shoreward, an indication that some of them had glimpsed the excitement, and were curious. One shouted a question, was ignored, and did not press the matter.
The plane lockers held extra garments, and Doc hurriedly exchanged some of these for his water-soaked clothing. Then they shoved the plane off the beach, taxied a little distance out and anchored.
A second collapsible boatЧthe plane carried three, all toldЧwas rigged for the water and carried them to the beach again, where they stood for a time studying the spot where the rifleman had vanished.
"When he shot at you, Doc, did you catch the sound?" Long Tom queried.
"A squeak," Doc agreed.
The electrical expert sucked at a front tooth. "Queer, eh?"
"The whole thing was a bit strange."
"Any idea what's behind it?"
"Since he was waiting for us, it was obvious he was in a hurry to stop us. Our present mission is to aid this man Chelton Raymond, so it is probable that our friend in the coonskin cap didn't want us mixing in the Raymond affair, whatever it is."
They began to mount the cliffЧand Renny, playing a flashlight beam, discerned a small sign in the shape of a pointing hand.
AQUATANIA HOTEL
"
This Chelton Raymond was to meet us at that hotel, wasn't he?" the big-fisted man queried.
"YesЧaccording to the long-distance telephone conversation I had with him in New York," Doc agreed.
"What did he tell you on the phone, Doc?" Long Tom asked.
"He seemed excited," Doc said slowly. "His story was disconnected, although he did make it clear that his life was in danger. On that point, his story was quite coherent. And the menace hanging over him had already accounted for nearly a score of murders, he declared."
"A score!" Renny gulped.
"At least twenty, he put it," Doc replied. "It was that last statement which brought us up here in such a hurry."
Long Tom sucked at a front tooth again; it was a gold tooth.
"Did Chelton Raymond give any particulars on this menace?" he asked.
"Said he'd tell us the whole yarn when we arrived."
"He didn't hint anything aboutЧa ghost in deerskins?"
"
No."
They topped the cliff, the coarse sand of the path grinding a little underfoot, and found themselves in a forest of boulders and weathered stone through which the trail led in a rather trying fashion, traversing narrow walks and flights of rustic steps. The place was a gloomy labyrinth.
"Wait!" Doc Savage said softly.
Renny and Long Tom stopped. Renny opened his mouth to ask a question, but voiced no inquiry, however, for their giant bronze chief had faded into the shadows amid the boulders, vanishing as silently as wind-drifted smoke.
"Blazes!" Renny breathed. "Doc doesn't do tricks like that for nothing. Something's up!"
Like the stealth of a great cat, the passage of Doc Savage was marked through the maze of rugged stone. He seemed never to leave the shadow, and after he had traversed a number of yards, he slowed his pace and used even more caution, his gaze fixed upon the trail immediately ahead where an upthrust ledge of stone slanted over it.
Two men crouched there, obviously waiting.
IT was no gadget of science, such as had disclosed the skulker in deerskins, which had shown Doc these two. The bronze man's sensesЧhearing, sight, olfactory organsЧwere almost inhumanly keen, thanks to a ritual of exercises, developing them, which he had taken each day since childhood. He had distinguished faint movement on the path where the two men waited, the motion caused by their shrinking back at the sound of Doc and his two men approaching.
Very close to the pair now, Doc jutted a flashlight out and put weight on the button. The two men started wildly as light sprayed upon them.
One was young; the other old. The young man was tall, red-headed, a rangy, heavily muscled sorrel colt of a fellow. He squinted tawny eyes in the flash glare, lifted red, lumpy hands in a half gesture of defense, and showed white teeth in a fighting snarl. Somehow he was like a healthy, cornered animal.
The old man had gnarled hands, faded eyes, a sparsely bearded chin, and no hair at all on his shiny head. He was small in stature, would have had to jump up to see over the younger red-headed man's shoulder. He peered into the flash glare with eyes very wide.
"Waiting for something?" Doc asked dryly.
The two continued to stare steadily into the light, trying to distinguish the bronze man behind it.
"Who in tarnation are you?" growled the redhead.
The very bald old man blinked. "Moughtn't you be a-minded to take thot light out'n our eyes."
Doc did not budge the light. "You two had better do some fast talking," he said. "Why were you skulking along the path?"
They were not good actors. The eyes of both shifted simultaneously as they sought to exchange glances. They hesitated. It was the elderly man who spoke.
"We-e-e-l, we'uns heer somethin' thot we figger as how mought be somebody a-shootin'." He paused to stroke his shiny pate. "We was a-comin' to have a look. Ain't no harm in that, be there?"
"That noise you heard was some time ago," Doc pointed out.
"Reckon as how we musta talked hit over a spell," said the elderly man.
The red-headed man put in angrily, "Who're you to be askin' folks a passell a' questions?"
Doc ignored that. "You two live around here?" he queried.
They hesitated about answering; then the old man, who seemed to have the most agile brain, said, "Reckon as how you mought call us visitors."
"Who be you?" asked the redhead for the third time.
"Doc Savage," said Doc, and turned the light briefly on himself.