"053 (B054) - He Could Stop The World (1937-07) - Laurence Donovan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Doc touched Long Tom's arm and started to glide slowly toward the speaker's box. He accomplished this with the movement of a jungle cat. Though there was a crowd, none touched him and he touched no one.
The old telescope man appeared to have a sudden interest in all the social security group. He was applying one eye to the telescope, as if bringing the speaker and her cheering supporters closer.
For an instant, Ann Garvin hesitated in her speech. She stood perfectly motionless. She was a tall and striking blonde. If she could have held that pose, a sculptor would have been delighted.
But abruptly Ann Garvin threw out her hands.
"It's all silly, ridiculous nonsense!" she cried out. "We cannot hope to accomplish anything in life without working for it! Suppose some are artistic, creative? If they cannot earn their own recognition, they do not deserve itЧ"
Doc Savage had halted. He stood, with Long Tom beside him, close to the pointed telescope.
Long Tom, who usually had little humor, drawled laughingly, "I would say the speaker has sure taken a woman's privilege to change her mind. Doc, that is very odd. The crowd's taking to her new line."
It was extremely odd.
"That's what we all want!" voices were shouting. "If we hope to get anywhere, we've got to work for it! Hey! Throw down the banners! We'll face things like they are!"
A big Irish policeman who had been listening looked as if he were about to lose his lower jaw. His big mouth gaped open. The brawny copper had seen many human vagaries demonstrated in Union Square. None had ever been more disconcerting than this.
"Shure, an' it's some kind of a trick!" he grumbled.
He shouldered toward the speaker's box. All the crowd had sensed something newЧsomething beyond their understanding. Banners which had demanded workless security for a definite class were being trampled underfoot.
DOC SAVAGE halted abruptly, waiting. His hand touched Long Tom's arm. His eyes were upon the old man with the telescope. The bronze giant apparently had an inner warning of something even more startling to take place.
Police were attempting to form a ring about Ann Garvin and her group. They were not sure what had happened, but they had seen mob violence break often from slighter origins than this.
Clearly, above the muttering of the crowd, the shuffling of many feet, a Voice spoke calmly. It might have been transmitted through the old man's telescope. Or it might have come from some other spot.
"Ann Garvin! You have become the first of a new and changing order! You do not understand, but you will be a leader in controlling a movement of vast benefit to society!"
Ann Garvin's lips still moved, but they made no sound. Standing on the box, yellow hair blowing a little, she was a queenly figure. One hand fluttered to her throat. A little scream of unbelieving bewilderment came from her.
"Homer! Homer! It can't beЧit isn't you?"
"It is I, Ann!"
announced the Voice quite clearly in the sudden hush over the crowd.
"Alive! HomerЧProfessor Randolph is alive!" cried Ann Garvin, springing from the box. "Where are you, Homer?"
Doc Savage at this instant caught Long Tom's shoulders in his strong hands. He lifted the lighter man, hurling him far to one side.
Doc himself moved with the gliding speed of a jungle animal avoiding the blow of an enemy. Nearly all the crowd had surged toward Ann Garvin and her group.
Three persons, two men and a woman were standing close to the old man and his telescope. The space about them was temporarily clear. It was away from the telescope Doc had so swiftly removed himself and Long Tom.
Doubtless none had felt the tingling which had suddenly flashed over Doc's highly sensitized body. This could have been the emanation of something like an electrical current. But it was different.
Voices shouted hoarsely now. There was no explosion. Not so much as a flash of light appeared. The persons around Ann Garvin were still centering their attention upon what might be happening to the striking young woman.
"What the hell an' all?" roared the big Irish policeman. "Hey, there, you! Get back!"
The copper's mouth dropped open again. He may have imagined he was yelling at the man with the telescope. But he had been addressing nothing but a small cloud of vaporish blue which had arisen around this man and the three persons nearest him.
"What happened, Doc?" jerked out Long Tom, pulling himself to his feet. "Great Scott! Look at that!"
Long Tom could now understand Doc's action. They had been the closest in the crowd to the others standing near the huge, old telescope.
Now there was no telescope. The blue vapor drifted quickly upward and was dispelled. The swearing Irish policeman had his service revolver in one hand. Perhaps he imagined some one had set off a gas bomb.
But no odor came from the vanishing little cloud of blue vapor. The light breeze tore it quickly to wisps that hung a few seconds and vanished.
"The old man is gone," breathed Long Tom. "Doc, there were some others there!"
The revolver in the Irish copper's hand was shaking up and down. The policeman was momentarily transfixed. Then he got hold of himself with a yell of authority.
"Alla yuh stay back! Keep movin' now!"
THIS command was hardly needed. Horrified cries broke out. Screams and oaths mingled. These came from those nearest where the telescope had stood on its tripod.
On the pavement were four small heaps of blowing gray ashes. The breeze caught these. The ash was rising. Those nearest cried out in fear and pushed their weight against others to escape the touch of these ashes.
One small heap of ash was where the old man had operated his telescope. The other three marked the spots where two men and a woman had stood. The bluish cloud had enveloped these four.
Doc Savage, Long Tom and the policeman were the three who had been watching. They knew better than the others that none of the four had come out of that cloud.
The policeman looked at the gray ashes. He started blowing his whistle. Fellow coppers elbowed toward him.
Even the ashes were drifting away. Not even a metal object remained. It would be a long time before the Bureau of Missing Persons would confirm the identity of the three citizens who had stood beside the man with the telescope,
Chapter III. LOST RADIO WAVES
DOC SAVAGE lingered only a matter of seconds near the gruesome gray ashes. He whirled, whipped into the crowd around Ann Garvin.
Long Tom followed the bronze man closely. The throng was closely packed. Doc did not seem to employ violence. His hands did not fall roughly on any person. But his massive, cabled arms became a smoothly moving wedge which opened the way to the blond young woman.
The greater part of the crowd had not witnessed the weird disappearance of the telescope and the dissolution of four persons. Most of the crowd could not understand why a few had suddenly become a small, fear-maddened mob seeking only escape from Union Square.
Police whistles shrilled. A number of hoodlums scattered here and there saw their opportunity. The sudden confusion gave them an opportunity for picking pockets. The police had their hands full.
Women screamed. Already, sirens were sounding in streets off the square. Emergency riot squads were arriving.
Two men appeared suddenly beside Ann Garvin. They were well dressed and had the appearance of dignified, intelligent citizens, One of these men caught the woman by an arm.
"Come with us quickly," he said, in a low voice. "Professor Randolph sent us to bring you."
"Homer sent you?" said Ann Garvin. "Then it's all right."