"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 010 - The Phantom City" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

clothing.

Within the past hour, the tip of each blade and the lead nose of each bullet had been pressed
ceremoniously into a piece of raw meat. The chunk of red meat was one into which a highly venomous
serpent had been goaded to sink its fangs repeatedly, loading it with poison.

On other occasions, these men had proved that a scratch from weapons treated thus was sufficient to
cause nearly instant death.

It was night. Clouds scraped spongy gray flanks against the sharp tops of the tall buildings. F!Flashing
signs on Broadway splashed pale, colored luminance against the wadded vapor. A thin gum of moisture
covered streets and sidewalks. It had rained at sundown, an hour before.

The four men turned into a side street, reached a darkened doorway, and stopped before it. The entry
was shabby; its frame was scratched and grooved where heavy merchandise had been taken in and out.
A large packing box, obviously empty, stood in the gloom.

Out of the big box came a voice.

"Qawam, bilaja!" it growled. "Make haste! Conceal yourselves in this place! Our quarry may soon
appear!"

The quartet started for the box, evidently with the idea of wedging themselves into it.

"Not here, sons of dumb camels!" gritted the man in the box. "The doorway will be shelter enough! It is
best that I remain hidden here throughout, not appearing at any time. Do not, by your glances or actions,
betray my presence. Anta sami? Do you hear?"

In guttural Arabic, the four muttered that they understood. They arranged themselves in the murk.

Reaching under their coat tails, they produced their long swords. The sheaths were tight enough to hold
the weapons in place, and they could be drawn downward in handy fashion.

"Fools!" their chief hissed from the box. "Replace those! There is to be no killing until we have the
information we desire!"

Back into the spine scabbards went the blades, each man being careful not to prick himself with the
deadly tip of his weapon.

"HE is coming soon?" one man asked in Arabic.

"At any minute," replied the man, remaining unseen in the box. "Watch the street to the left, my sons."

"How will we know him?"

"He is a big man. Wallah! He is the biggest man you ever saw! And his body is of a color and seeming
hardness of a metal - bronze. A giant man of bronze!"

The four peered down the street, then drew back.
"It is a dark street and full of bad smells," a man muttered. "You are sure he will come this way?"