"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 011 - Brand of the Werewolf" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"What happened to you guys?" Renny asked.
Ham acquired a bewildered expression. He moved about weakly until his hands found a black cane. This
cane appeared innocent-looking. Actually, housed in its slender length, was a razor-sharp sword. The tip
of this blade was daubed with a chemical, a touch of which, in a wound, would produce instant
unconsciousness. Ham was rarely seen without his sword cane.

"He don't know what happened to him!" Renny boomed, interpreting Ham's befuddled expression.

Johnny, the archaeologist and geologist, and the homely Monk now opened their eyes. Johnny promptly
felt for his glasses which had the magnifying lens, just as Ham had groped for his sword cane.

Both men admitted they had not the slightest idea of what had happened While playing chess, they had
simply gone to sleep.

Monk had a small, childlike voice that was surprisingly mild for one of his apish build.

"Well, what about the head of the werewolf on the door outside?" Doc asked them.

FUZZLED wonderment stamped the faces of the four men. Doc knew they had no knowledge of the
weird design on the door.

"A werewolf!" Monk muttered.

"I just called it that," Doc told him. "It is the head of a wolf, with a grotesquely human face."

Bracing himself on his sword cane, Ham sought to sit erect. He gave it up and fell back dizzily.

"Golly, I feel washed up!" he groaned.

"Ain't that too bad!" Monk jeered faintly.

Ham ignored the insult. "I can't imagine what is behind it, Doc. We were just sitting here - "

His eyes protruded. His hands grasped his sword cane wrathfully.

Under the bed, an unearthly squealing and grunting suddenly arose.

"Habeas Corpus!" Monk yelled weakly, but joyfully.

A pig staggered from under the bed. The porker family probably never produced a more grotesque
specimen than this one. The pig had legs as long as those of a dog, and ears that rivaled airplane wings.

"Ow-w-w!" Ham groaned.

Habeas Corpus was the present great misery of Ham's existence. Monk had bought the pig on a recent
expedition to Arabia, paying the equivalent of four cents in American money as purchase price for him.

Monk's story was that Habeas Corpus's former owner, an Arab, had sold the pig because he had been
making a nuisance of himself by catching hyenas and dragging their carcasses up to the house. It was
possible that either Monk or the Arab had exaggerated.