"028 (B088) - The Roar Devil (1935-06) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

In the new, resplendent Municipal Office Building, which was another name for city hall, the mayor, the city council and other important citizens were conferring. Their faces were heavy.
"It's terrible," said His Honor, Mayor Leland Ricketts.
"It's damned mysterious," said the head of the council. "The dam that broke this afternoon was supposed to be absolutely safe. The engineers said it was proof even against an earthquake."
"It was no earthquake," snapped Mayor Ricketts.
"But the earth moved," retorted the other. "We all felt it. Didn't the shock break windows all over town?"
The city attorney put in, "What about the two engineers whom the council hired to learn what was causing these weird shocks? This afternoon was not the first shock. What about the two engineers?"
The mayor pounded with his gavel for silence.
"My friends and fellow citizens," he said heavily, "I called this meeting in the face of an emergency and a mystery. You all know there have been previous shocks such as the one this afternoon, although none of the others resulted in as much damage. These shocks began three weeks ago, and have continued almost daily, resulting in landslides which have buried roads, broken water mains, and otherwise proved a menace to the sterling citizens of this city who - "
"This is no time for a political speech," whispered the city attorney. "Get down to brass tacks."
The mayor frowned.
"The city council voted to call in engineers to ascertain what was wrong," he said. "We did so, hiring two very famous geologists. During the past few days, these two geologists have been going around in the mountains with their instruments."
"What did they find out?" some one asked.
"They must have learned something," said the mayor. "We do not know what it is, however."
"Is this a riddle?" queried the city attorney.
"Quiet, please," requested the mayor. "I have called this meeting to inform the city council that something has happened to our two engineers."
"What?" several voices chorused.
"That is what I want to show you," said his honor.
He signaled with a hand, and white-clad hospital internes entered the hall, leading two men who acted as if they were dead, yet alive.
These two men could not walk alone. The internes had to lift each man's foot and advance it with every step. Both men were very pale; and when one's mouth fell open, he seemed unable to close it without assistance from one of the white clad escort. The masklike rigidity of their features was horrible, and a mutter of wonder went up from the assembled city fathers.
"What ails them?" demanded the city attorney.
"That", said his honor, "is what we would like to know. They haven't been able to find out at our new hospital."
"How long have they been this way?" the city attorney gulped.
"Since yesterday. They were found wandering in the mountains."
THERE was much buzzing conversation, and a crowd gathered about the two weirdly afflicted engineers to examine them curiously. Close inspection of the two victims had the effect of giving every one a case of jitters.
The mayor banged order with his gavel.
"None of this must get into the newspapers," he said warningly.
"No publicity, above all things!" emphatically agreed a man who owned the city's two leading hotels. "People will stop coming to Powertown."
"It might be well if they did," snapped the city attorney. "If the big dam breaks, it'll wipe out half the town, including the resort section."
"No, no!" insisted the hotel owner. "There is no danger."
"The devil there isn't!" retorted the other. "You're thinking of your pocketbook, and not of the lives endangered."
"I resent that!" yelled the other.
The mayor's gavel pounded down noisily.
"We are losing sight of our objective!" he bellowed.
"What objective?" demanded the city attorney.
"The solution of the mystery behind this," said his honor. "We know there is something terrible going on. That it is no natural phenomenon, such as earthquakes, we know, because of what happened to our two engineers. They must have stumbled upon something. What it was, we don't know, because they cannot talk. Something horrible has happened to them."
"Have you got a plan, or are you just talking?" asked the city attorney.
"I have a plan," replied the mayor. "We should have thought of it before. There is a man who makes a career of helping other people out of trouble. He is a very remarkable man, from what I hear, and just the fellow we need."
The city attorney frowned, then nodded to himself.
"A very remarkable man whose career is getting others out of jams," he said. "That description suggests a name. But if it is the same fellow I am thinking of, what makes you think he will come up here. That man is big time. He makes kingdoms and things like that. I've read about him in the newspapers."
"What'll it cost?" asked the man who owned the hotels.
"This man does not work for money," said the mayor.
"Now I know we're thinking about the same fellow," observed the city attorney. "Doc Savage?"
"Doc Savage is the man," agreed Mayor Leland Ricketts.
THERE was no great excitement at mention of Doc Savage - perhaps due to the fact that these were all staid businessmen. Several nodded, however, and there was a murmur of conversation.
It seemed that all of them had heard of Doc Savage.
The mayor banged the meeting into parliamentary session, and it was formally decided to appeal to Doc Savage for assistance in solving the mystery of the violent earth convulsions in the vicinity of Powertown, to say nothing of the strange affliction which had overcome the two hired engineers.
His honor, the mayor, agreed upon as being the most convincing talker in town, was delegated the job of getting in touch with Doc Savage. It was decided to do this by long-distance telephone. But there a hitch occurred.
The weird earth shock had caused breakage of the telephone wires, which were carried, in the modern manner, in a conduit underground. The telephone company advised repairs would soon be completed.
Waiting, the city fathers engaged in more conversation.
"Queer roaring noises have been reported as heard in the mountains near by," said the city attorney. "It is my opinion that these have something to do with the earth convulsions."