"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 013 - Meteor Menace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Look what he did here in Chile."

"Two hundred thousand people have come to catch a glimpse of him. That proves he is a great man, and
dangerous to molest."

"The gun which makes the loudest report does not always shoot the hardest," quoted Saturday Loo.
"You are children scaring each other with ghost stories. Stop it! This great crowd only makes our work
the easier."

The conversation was carried on in a Tibetan dialect, which none of the surrounding Chileans
understood. In addition, voices were kept low.

Saturday Loo stared narrowly at his assistants. He could see that his words had not relieved them a great
deal. Several times, the tobacco-colored men rolled uneasy glances upward. They squirmed, and tried
not to let their chief see these overhead stares.

The skyward gazing came to Saturday Loo's attention, however. He understood what was really making
his helpers uneasy.

"So that is it!" he snapped. His voice, however, was a bit shrill.

The Tibetans shifted their shoulders under the ponchos, but said nothing.

"You fear the blue meteor!" Saturday Loo accused.

"Aye," one fellow mumbled admission. "We fear it."

"Suppose the blue meteor could not be controlled," said another, and shuddered visibly. "You all know
what would happen to us in that case."

In the general exchange of looks which followed this statement, Saturday Loo joined. They were
hardened rogues, yet mention of the blue meteor had conjured up a stark terror within their souls.

Whatever the mysterious blue meteor was, these men obviously feared it more than they dreaded the
possibility of being, after death, sent back to earth in the form of rabbits, which, in some Tibetans, is their
idea of going to hell.

"We will draw away a safe distance," Saturday Loo said hoarsely. "Inside this blanket of a thing which I
am wearing is a signal gun. When the bronze man appears, I am to discharge the weapon into the sky."

"And the blue meteor will come?" asked a man.

"Aye. And the blue meteor will come."

They moved through the crowd. Not wishing to attract attention, they curbed a natural inclination to
elbow people out of their path, and only jostled gently.

"How far is a safe distance?" asked one Tibetan.

"A very great distance!" muttered another.