"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 008 - The Sargasso Ogre" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

charge of stealing hams. Somebody had planted the evidence. Ham had never been able to prove it was
Monk's work, and the thing still irked him.

Monk, however, was far from helpless under Ham's sharp tongue. He had many methods of goading
Ham, from imitating Ham's snappy attire, to impersonating a pig grunting and squealing. This last always
threw Ham into a rage.

Monk now twisted his simian features into a frightsome grimace, preparatory to emitting a piggy squeal.

"We'd better lock up our other two friends," Doc suggested, to head off a verbal battle which might last
for hours. "Where are they?"

"Down keeping an eye on the strong room, where our diamonds are stored," Monk said, with a regretful
scowl at Ham.

THEY descended to a middle deck. This held the purser's office, a grilled inclosure not unlike a bank
teller's cage. The back of this cage was a wall of thick steel, pierced by a heavy metal door fitted with
combination locks -- the ship's safe.

Passengers milled about in front of the purser's cage, checking valuables and transacting other business.
Mingling with the crowd were several uniformed, heavily armed men. These were guards from the
Alexandria branch of the American Bank. They were present to watch Doc's diamonds. They would
remain until the Cameronic sailed.

The diamonds reposed in the vault. An even half dozen cases held the stones. The gem hoard was of
fabulous value. There were so many of the stones that the diamond market would have declined, had
they all been offered for sale at Once. Doc intended to dispose of them, a few at a time.

The money from the gems was to be expended on hospitals and other philanthropic projects which Doc
Savage conducted.

Two men occupied chairs in unobtrusive corners of the room gacing the purser's cage. At sight of Doc's
group, they arose and came forward.

The first man was nearly as tall as Doc, and almost as heavy as Monk. He was a giant. Yet he had a pair
of hands so huge that they seemed to dwarf the rest of him. Half a dozen people in the crowd stared at
the size of those hands, as if doubting their eyes.

This man was Colonel John Renwick, a personage known in a number of nations for his accomplishments
as an engineer. Rennv" was also noted for a disquieting habit of amusing himself by knocking panels cut
of doors with those big fists.

The second fellow was tall, gaunt. He looked half starved. His clothes hung upon his frame as if it were a
structure of hard sticks. He wore glasses. The left lens of these spectacles was very thick. It was actually
a powerful magnifying glass.

William Harper Littlejohn had lost the use of his left eye in the Great War. 'Johnny" needed a magnifying
glass in his profession of archaeologist and geologist, so he carried it in his spectacles for convenience.

"Seen anything suspicious?" Doc asked the pair.