"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 012 - The Man Who Shook the Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

scores. The lobby itself was remindful of the interior of a cathedral.

Velvet, walking across the gigantic vestibule, felt as insignificant as a fly on the floor of an ordinary room. He
shrugged off the sensation and threw out his chest. At this hour of the night only a few elevators were
operating. Velvet stepped into a cage as large as a living room in an ordinary home.

"Eighty-six," he said,

He had, of course, removed the black handkerchief from his collar. The somber cloth had merely been in
place to make himself less conspicuous while he conferred with Biff in the side street. It reposed in his
pocket, however, handy for possible future use.

The elevator emptied Velvet into the eighty-sixth-floor corridor. He glanced about. The builders of the
skyscraper had not scrimped on space. The corridor was high, wide; luxurious carpet covered the floor. Its
nap felt an inch deep when Velvet walked across it.

The man, appraising his surroundings, made a silent whistle of slight amazement.

"This Doc Savage seems to be a big shot," he told himself quietly. "He has to be, to afford to hang out here.
ItтАЩs a good thing I didnтАЩt let Biff try his strong-arm stuff."

Velvet waded the carpet down the corridor. His gaze roved over door numbers. He reached the one he
desired. Somewhat blankly, he stared at the panel.

The door was very plain, and of heavy bronze. The bronze was what interested Velvet. It was the first time he
had ever seen that metal look nearly as rich as gold.

In tiny letters of a bronze color, slightly darker than that of the door, there was a name:

CLARK SAVAGE, JR

"
ThatтАЩs the gentleman," said Velvet. His tone was ugly.
He looked for a bell, found none, and tried the knob. The door was locked. He made a face, then knocked.

The door promptly sprang wide open.

Velvet leaped backward as wildly as if he had been confronted by a flame-spouting dragon.

It was an astounding personage who had opened the door. He was fully a head shorter than Velvet, but would
weigh almost twice as much. His enormous, hairy hands dangled well below his knees. His eyes were tiny,
and sunk in deep pits. They resembled twinkling stars set deep in gristle. Every exposed inch of his skin was
covered with a crop of hair only slightly less coarse than barbed wire. One of his ears was punctured as if for
an earring, except that the perforation was about the size of a rifle-bullet hole.

The man would not have to be in a very dark alley for a spectator to mistake him for a gorilla.

"Something I can do for you, buddy?" he asked.

Velvet blinked. From that apish, ferocious-looking giant he had expected a voice that was a whooping roar.