"033 (B015) - Murder Melody (1935-11) - Laurence Donovan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Sure, something came out of it. And it's still coming! I would say it's molten lava and it's plenty hot."
"That isn't what I mean," said Long Tom. "There was something else. It was long and shiny and it went into the sea."
"Holy cow!" bellowed Renny, his big frame shaking with an inward chuckle. "Next we'll be seeingЧ"
RENNY did not complete this sentence. The three companions were all seeing the same thing at the same time. Reflection of the volcanic fire against the low-scudding clouds had cast an eerie light over the ocean swells for a mile or more. The Steamship Narwhal was like some toy craft in the middle of this light, as viewed from the plane above.
Renny ceased speaking through amazement.
"Well, maybe you did see something," murmured Ham.
"And now I'm seeing something else. Is that ship moving backward in a circle, or are my eyes deceiving me?"
"The ship is moving backward in a circle," said Long Tom solemnly. "And look! I'll bet it never moved that fast before!"
True enough. The Narwhal seemed to have been suddenly bewitched. Stern first, it was whirling into a motion that slapped great waves high over its single smokestack and the two wireless masts. The motion became so rapid the vessel was almost submerged from view, several times.
"If we could only get the radio working," complained Ham. "Now that we're out here we can't even direct that revenue cutter or the tug. That ship looks as if it were getting ready to blow up or tear itself to pieces."
"Say!" exclaimed Long Tom. "This Caulkins and Cassalano! You don't suppose they've been trying some experiments and they went haywire? Ever since we've been within miles of the Narwhal, our compasses have been away off. Now it's the radio, and there was no reason for the motors to conk out like they did."
"That's an idea," admitted Ham. "But if Caulkins and the other fellow are responsible, why don't they stop it?"
"Well, maybe they can't," supplied Renny. "And that isn't so good either."
His last words were brought forth by a renewed sputtering of the twin motors. A string of blue sparks ran from the framework of the television-and-radio receiving set to the instrument board. Suddenly the television receiver went into service.
Against the dark glass of the window appeared a face. The features were those of a man with a glowing, silvery skin. The surface had an extremely fine texture, but the face itself was of a heavy, prognathous type.
There was no evidence of there having been any beard. The man's eyes were big, all black and white, as if the pupils were enlarged. The vision remained for only two or three seconds. Then a slow voice spoke.
"You will land carefully your sky ship close to the boat," it commanded. "Make no effort to escape. I would look upon the strange weapons of Doc Savage. Refuse, and I shall bring you down."
"Holy cow!" rumbled Renny. "Land carefully in that stuff down there! Either I'm crazy or we're all hearin' things!"
To the amazement of the three, the slow, deep voice replied instantly.
"You are not crazy or hearing things, as you express it. Bring the plane down. You can expect no assistance from your great chief. Doc Savage is in the hands of Zoromen."
"I'll bet that's coming from the ship itself," declared Ham. "Perhaps you're right, Long Tom. Those crazy scientists have been making some experiments. It looks as if they're a couple up on us on radio communication. Look at the Narwhal!"
The small ship had ceased sailing stern first, but it was still moving. It appeared to be spinning as if placed upon a pivot. Swells of the gray sea were being lashed into mountainous waves.
"I'm for getting away from here," muttered Renny. "We couldn't land if we wanted to and if weЧ"
"You will land," again came the slow, mysterious voice.
THE radio receiver crackled as if it had exploded. The twin motors ceased their revolutions without so much as a preliminary cough. Dead-sticked, wholly out of control, the amphibian plunged downward. Only by the quickest effort was Renny able to level off partly before the plane ripped off the high top of a comber and buried its pontoon in the following swell.
Battering water poured through a smashed window. The cabin was filling rapidly. Ham was pulling down their special life preserver coats. Before the three men had fitted into them, the plane seemed to be sinking.
Incredibly, the sea seemed to calm considerably. The Narwhal had ceased its peculiar spinning. This confirmed the belief that the inexplicable attack had come from the vessel.
An officer was bellowing orders. Heavy oil poured from the Narwhal's side, smoothing off the break of the waves. A small boat was being put down.
The black oil continued to spout from the ship. But something more potent than this was leveling the rough water. For the circumference of a quarter of a mile around the vessel the sea became like a mill pond.
Renny and Long Tom were floating easily in their inflated preserver coats. The usually dapper Ham was having more difficulty. He paddled with one hand. Renny looked at him and bellowed:
"I'll bet he'll want to wear that cane to his own funeral!"
Ham was carrying his cane. The sporty black stick was hampering his progress. However, this was more than a dandified gesture. The cane was of metal. It was really a hollow sheath for one of the finest of sword blades. Though Ham also was armed with one of Doc's mercy pistols, the pointed rapier was all he customarily used.
In the weird calmness a voice boomed. The chunky ship captain was built like a barrel. He was rotund, round and red of face.
"By the great hornspoon!" was his shout. "Get them fellas h'isted on board where we can look 'em over! Nobody can be makin' crazy shenanigans with my ship! Haul 'em out an' we'll see what the devil it's all about!"
The rough hands of sailors were dragging them into the small boat. The members of the boat crew looked pale around their mouths. Sailors are a superstitious lot. They had just been taken for a ride. If they could have dared the trackless waste of the Arctic seas in the vicinity of the Aleutians, it is likely they would have kept on rowing away in the small boat.
This had been their first experience on such a ship. Even the fabulous tale of the old Flying Dutchman, the ghost vessel, could not compare with it. Their sturdy craft had sailed stern foremost. At the time, its great propeller had been driving in the opposite direction.
They had heard the blades of the propeller bend and break. Then their bewitched ship had gone into its spin. They had been dizzy and sick when they had launched the lifeboat from its davits. The sailors eyed the giant proportions of Renny with awe.
They stared longer at the waspish figure of Ham.
"Gorblimie!" squealed the little boatswain, of cockney English extraction. "'E's a-carryin' of 'is walkin' stick an' 'e goes out for a swim!"
Ham's sword cane was still firmly gripped in his hand.
THE oarsmen put zeal in getting back to the ship. It was clear they had no fancy for the company of the three they had rescued. The ship's boat bumped the side of the small steel steamship.
"We've got to keep the plane from sinking," said Ham. "There are some things on board we may need."
"Yeah," drawled Long Tom. "He's forgotten his wardrobe."
Ham could maintain a certain sartorial elegance under the most trying circumstances. He habitually carried a suitcase of emergency raiment. Ham, however, was not thinking of this now. There were many special devices on the plane. These, Doc had judged, might become valuable in emergencies.
"H'ist 'em on board!" boomed the irate, red-faced captain. "You can take off whatever is wanted if the plane stays afloat!"
A rope ladder was dropped. The three companions were boosted toward the deck.
The streamlined plane had not yet sunk. With the inexplicable calming of the sea by the heavy oil, and by some other mysterious element, only the pontoon of the amphibian had filled. Buoyancy of its wings and tanks were holding it on the surface.
With profane mutterings, the boat crew started rowing back toward the plane.
"Bring back everything that's loose!" commanded the chunky captain. "I'm thinkin' there's what we'll be wantin' to be lookin' into!"
The eerie illumination from the erupting volcanic island was dying down. Still there was light enough to see the plane distinctly. The sailors bent to their oars.