"037 (B072) - The Metal Master (1936-03) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"We better see what the chief wants us to do," the other muttered.
The man went to a telephone. The cable office phones were fitted with box affairs over the mouthpieces, so that the instruments could be spoken into with privacy. This made it simple for the man to telephone without the policeman on guard overhearing.
"Doc Savage filed two cablegrams," said the clerk, when he had his party.
"Read them to me," directed the person at the other end of the wire.
This individual spoke in a whisper. It is very difficult to identify a voice from a whisper over a telephone wire.
The clerk read both messages.
The whisperer cursed heartily, but did not forget to keep whispering.
"That means the girl got to Doc Savage," said the whisperer. "It also means that she couldn't tell him what it is all about. He's trying to get hold of Louis Tester, to learn the story. We've got to stop that."
"Sure," said the clerk. "But how?"
THE other had quick wits. Almost immediately, a cablegram was dictated over the phone. It was addressed to Louis Tester, care of the airport at Panama, Canal Zone, and read:
SEEVERS MURDERED WITHOUT TELLING STORY STOP WANT YOU TO GIVE STORY TO MY AID COLONEL JOHN RENWICK WHO IS ABOARD SCHOONER NINETY MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF DRY TORTUGAS ISLAND STOP FIND SCHOONER LAND AND COOPERATE WITH COLONEL RENWICK STOP SCHOONER IS THE TWO-MASTED VESSEL INNOCENT
DOC SAVAGE
"
Send that message, then destroy it," directed the voice. "Do not send the message which Doc Savage filed to Louis Tester, but stamp it as if it were sent, so nobody will get suspicious."
"O. K.," said the clerk. "What about the other message, to Colonel Renwick?"
"Go ahead and send it, so Doc Savage will not get suspicious," ordered the whisperer. "Louis Tester will never get near Colonel Renwick."
"Who is Colonel Renwick, chief?"
"Doc Savage has five men who are his assistants. Colonel Renwick is one of them."
"Oh!"
The whisperer commanded, "And after you get the messages sent, clear out of there before the cable company gets wise that two fake clerks are on duty there."
"O. K., chief. What about that girl?"
"I am taking measures about the girl."
"O. K. So long, chief."
This terminated the telephone conversation. The two phony clerks went about the business of sending the fake message to Louis Tester, directing him to find the schooner Innocent.
"
The chief will have men on the schooner to grab him, I guess," said one clerk.
They had evidently once worked in a cable office, these two, for they knew how the messages were transmitted over the teletypes. But they could have been a little more skillful.
They sent Colonel Renwick's message as Doc Savage had filed it. Then they exchanged more whispers.
"We better blow, now," said one.
"O. K.," agreed the other.
They walked out.
"Gonna get a cup o' coffee," one told the policeman, laconically. The cop swallowed that, and let them go.
They walked boldly down the street, then turned into a side thoroughfare.
"That was simple," said one.
"Sure, it was," agreed the other. "Brother, we fooled this Doc Savage plenty!"
"The bronze guy ain't up to that reputation of his."
"Yeah. He's overrated."
Then something happened to them. It was as if the wall of the building had fallen on them. Only the hard things which struck them were not bricks, but fists. Before either could more than squawk in agony, they were battered down to the sidewalk.
To the accompaniment of metallic clicks, light steel handcuffs came to rest on their wrists. Dazed, they blinked and groaned and peered into the gloom, to see what manner of nemesis had overtaken them.
When they saw, they became so quiet that it seemed their hearts had stopped.
"Doc Savage!" one choked finally.
Doc Savage said nothing. Being a psychologist, he knew the value of silence in a moment such as this. It was much more effective than anything he could say.
After a bit, one of the men muttered a single word that was adequately expressive.
"Well?"
Doc Savage said, "You fellows are not very good actors. You were nervous."
"Anybody would be nervous," growled the other.
" That didn't give us away."
"But it moved me to telephone the cable company, and they said your description didn't fit the clerks they had sent," Doc explained. "You waylaid them, did you not?"
"Yes," the other admitted promptly.
"Kill them?"