"051 (B034) - Mad Eyes (1937-05) - Laurence Donovan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

The apish-looking driver twisted the speeding car dangerously near the edge of the concrete. He seemed to have an uncanny skill at just shaving the soft shoulder of the highway.
"There wouldn't be nothin' much missin', unless you happened to bite off your tongue," said the driver, in a childlike voice. "Anyway, I could make this car climb a tree."
"You slow down, or I'm ramming about ten inches of this sword cane into your neck!" snapped the other man. "Now whatЧThat cursed shote of yours has gone and bit Chemistry! In about a minuteЧ"
The hunched-over driver straightened. One long arm whipped over the back of the seat. A hairy fist smashed into a flat nose. A voice much like that of some angry child jabbered.
The driver skidded the car to a stop with a reckless disregard for brakes and tires.
"Hey!" yelled the driver. "You take that wrench away from that bob-tailed monkey of yours, or I'll wring both your necks!"
The thing in the back seat of the car did look much like a bob-tailed monkey. He was a baboon, and tailless. Also, he was a smart baboon. The thin, raspy-voiced man in the car was Theodore Marley Brooks, better known as "Ham."
Ham was a lean man. He dressed in most perfect taste. And he was one of the world's smartest lawyers.
His companion, Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, was everything in appearance that Ham was not. Known as "Monk," though he was one of half a dozen leading industrial chemists, he really resembled a gorilla. His arms were too long and his legs too short. His forehead sloped, and his eyebrows were too near the top of his skull.
Added to this, Monk was thickly covered with wiry, reddish hair.
THE wild scrimmage now taking place in the back of the closed car was between two of the world's oddest animals.
One was an Arabian woods hog, composed of mostly long ears, and long legs. The other was a tailless baboon. The baboon came from South America.
The hog answered to the name of Habeas Corpus, which was a direct insult to the impeccable Ham. The baboon had been named Chemistry, with malice aforethought on the part of the lawyer.
Just now, Habeas Corpus had taken a good-sized bite out of one of the baboon's legs. Chemistry knew better than to risk himself close to the razor-edged teeth of the hog. A tire wrench was handy.
Chemistry was in the act of trying to brain Habeas Corpus, when Monk interfered. The baboon chattered and cracked the heavy wrench across Monk's arm.
"Daggonit!" squeaked Monk. "This time I'll put that baboon brother of yours to sleep for keeps!"
"That would be no less than fratricide," drawled Ham. "You can't go killing off your own relatives."
How far this bickering would have continued never would be determined. Monk twisted suddenly back in his seat.
"Good gosh!" exploded Monk. "Didja see that?"
"Well, what am I supposed to see, and where?" snapped Ham.
"Huh!" grunted Monk. "Well, it was either something that went past us on the road or up on the railroad or between the highway and the railroad. I just got a glimpse of it an' then it was gone."
"I knew it," nodded Ham solemnly. "It's been creeping up on you gradually. Nothing passed us. I see the lights of a car coming around the bend ahead, but that's all there is."
Monk scratched his furry head. His small eyes glittered.
"You didn't see anything that might have been a train?" he said plaintively. "Not on the trackЧmaybe down here on the road?"
"Too bad, too bad," said Ham mournfully. "I'll come and see you some time in the hospital. I'll try and take good care of Habeas Corpus for you."
Monk started the car. But he continued to stare up at the railroad. About ten minutes before a limited express had roared northward. Since then, Ham was sure nothing had moved on the lines of rails.
"Perhaps all this mystery about Doc's new machine has gone to your head," suggested Ham helpfully. "This must be about the biggest thing he's ever tried. He hasn't even taken Renny or Long Tom or Johnny in on it. They're supposed to meet us out here at midnight."
"Daggonit!" complained Monk. "You know, I don't like this! We haven't seen Doc for three days, then he calls us by radio. It must be somethin' Doc's afraid somebody wants to steal."
Ham and Monk were speeding toward the tomblike plant they knew only as the Spargrove Laboratories. The same plant where even now one Inspector Higgins was jumping up and down because he had failed to break in the door.
The inspector, though, had succeeded in raising Professor Spargrove. The excited professor would not be more than half an hour in reaching his locked laboratories.
HABEAS CORPUS and Chemistry temporarily adjusted their war. They watched each other with bright, wary eyes.
Ham caught Monk's right arm.
"Look out," he cautioned. "That driver's hitting seventy, and he's taking most of the road."
"Howlin' calamities!" squawked Monk. "You think I'm movin' over for any road hog! I'llЧ"
Two blinding headlights leaped down the road directly toward their car. For the fraction of a second, it seemed as if the other driver intended crashing them head-on. Monk quit talking to hold as far to the side of the highway as he could.
"I told you!" rapped Ham. "Hey, hold her!"
The lawyer's warning was too late. The flying headlights had stabbed on into the rain. But where the four tracks of shining, wet concrete had been brilliant, Monk was now driving into what resembled a floating pool of ink.
Monk's hand reached out and turned a switch. He clapped huge, over-sized goggles to his eyes. Still he was looking into a smoky cloud.
An infra-red beam of invisible light should have penetrated almost any smoke screen. But this was something more than mere smoke. It had the density and opaqueness of black velvet.
Ham let out a yell, but it was somewhat scattered by his head having been banged into the roof of the car.
The reason for this was simple enough. Their car was no longer on its wheels. In the black cloud, the automobile had plunged from the road. It was bouncing along on its top. It traveled thus for possibly fifty yards, before it rolled over and again stood upright
Ham was bruised and scratched in several places. Only the glass being bulletproof and shatterproof had prevented serious injury.
"All right, you imitation of an ape, I hope you broke your nose!" yelped Ham. "Just why in the devil do you want to try driving upside down?"
Monk made no reply to this. The inky cloud was now clearing away.
Monk was whipping the car around. But few motor vehicles would have taken that shock and continued to run.
But the tires were of sponge rubber. The chassis was of special alloy. From wheels to top, nothing much less than a cannonball could have wrecked this car's amazing motor.
"Run me offa the road, will they?" exploded Monk. "Daggonit, I'll show 'em!"
"Good gosh!" groaned Ham. "Now I'm in for it!"
Riding with Monk on a normal drive was filled with dire possibilities. But riding with Monk when he was in a hurry was only a degree short of suicide.
THE car which had emitted the inky cloud must have gained at least two miles. It was still being trailed by a dense screen of smoke. Monk was favored in one respect. A brisk wind was now whipping the rain in sheets across the highway. This gave glimpses of the concrete in Monk's headlights. Ahead, the tail-lights of the other car jumped in and out of Monk's vision.