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

"Vamose!"

With a meekness that belied his profession, Pasha Bey eased out of the gloomy tunnel. He was
pondering if, upon his return, he might not be able to slip his silken strangling cord through those bars and
around the neck of the man who had hired him. The fellow might have more of those big bills. It was
good, this American money.

NOT very many minutes later, Pasha Bey appeared in the lobby of the Hotel Londoner. This hostelry
was one of the swankiest in Alexandria, and it catered largely to English speaking foreigners.

The lobby held the usual quota of guests and loafers. Some of the latter were Pasha Bey's associates,
members of the particular murderer's guild of which he was dictator.

In the United States, Pasha Bey would have been called the big shot of a mob; in Egypt, he was the head
of a guild.

He sauntered over and joined one of his men.

"You have a word for me?" he questioned.

"The man -- Long Tom Roberts -- is in his room," advised the other. "But he has company. From the
hallway, I listened and heard voices."

"How many voices?"

"Long Tom Roberts's and one other."

"A visitor, by Allah!" Pasha Bey folded his arms while he thought. His bony face was benevolent. He
looked like a harmless old man in need of a square meal.

"I will go up and pray that my ears may tell me the visitor has gone," he said at last, and shuffled for the
stairs.

At the foot of the staircase, Pasha Bey had a strange experience. He encountered a bronze giant of an
American. He took a single look at this herculean figure-and shivered.

That was unusual. Pasha Bey had not, in a goodly number of years, seen anything fearsome enough to
give him qualms. He was a hardened rogue, afraid of nothing. That is, he feared nothing until he saw the
bronze man. One look at the big, metallic American scared Pasha Bey. There was something terrible
about the giant Yankee.

Pasha Bey turned to watch the bronze man across the lobby. He was not alone in his staring; almost
every one else was doing the same thing. Alexandria was a city of strange men, but never had it seen
such a personage as this.

The American was huge, yet so perfectly proportioned that his great size was apparent only when he was
near other men to whose stature he might be compared. They seemed to shrink to pygmies alongside
him. Tendons like big metal bands enwrapped the bronze man's hands and neck, giving a hint of the
tremendous strength which must be harbored in his mighty body.