"025 (B013) - Land of Always-Night (1935-03) - Ryerson Johnson" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

LAND OF ALWAYS-NIGHT







A Doc Savage Adventure by Kenneth Robeson





(Originally published in "Doc Savage" Magazine March 1935. Bantam Books reprint February 1966)







Chapter 1



THE BUTTERFLY DEATH





IT is somewhat ridiculous to say that a human hand can resemble a butterfly. Yet this particular hand did attain that similarity. Probably it was the way it moved, hovered, moved again, with something about it that was remindful of a slow-motion picture being shown on a screen.



The color had something to do with the impression. The hand was white, unnatural; it might have been fashioned of mother-of-pearl. There was something serpentine, hideous, about the way it strayed and hovered, yet was never still. It made one think of a venomous white moth.



It made Beery Hosner think of death. Only the expression on Beery Hosmer's face told that, for be was not saying anything. But he was trying to. His lips shaped word syllables and the muscle strings in his scrawny throat jerked, but no sounds came out.



The horrible white hand floated up toward Beery Hosmer's face. The side street was gloomy, deserted except for Beery Hosner and the man with the uncanny hand. The hand stood out in the murk almost as if it were a thing of white paper with a light inside.



Beery Hosner went through a convulsion of fright. Beery was a rather unusual fellow. He was a crook who looked the part. At best, he was rather a sickening specimen, and now his aspect was doubly unwholesome. He managed to pump words out.