"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 022 - The Annhilist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Monk, chin down in his collar as if cold, said three loud words in an absolutely unintelligible dialect.

The gun wielder growled, "Cut it out, whatever you're tryin' to do."

Then the man gave a mad leap and squawled out in agony, and Monk moved with a speed which
indicated he had expected the happening and had set himself. He lunged, both big, hairy hands cupping
down on the pocket which held the witch-faced man's hand and gun.

Reaching their objective, Monk's paws closed, wrenched. The whole side came out of the man's gray
coat. They began to fight over the wad of cloth, hand and gun. The trombone case dropped.

Ham had tucked his black cane under an arm. He snatched at it now, gave the handle a twist and it
pulled apart, disclosed that it was a sword cane. At the tip, and for a few inches back, it was coated with
a substance which seemed to have a mucilaginous quality.

Ham, manipulating the sword cane with an expert ease, inserted the daubed tip perhaps a hall inch under
the shoulder skin of their foe. The results were remarkable.
The witch-faced man stared, turned to see what had pricked him, then began to look dazed. His
endeavors to use the gun in spite of Monk's restraining clutch, became feeble. Eventually, he seemed to
go completely asleep and it was only the support of Monk and Ham which kept him erect.

At that point, there was a series of satisfied grunting sounds at their feet, and for the first time, the two
men looked at the animal which had made the conquest possible. This was a pig.

"Not bad, Habeas," the pleasantly ugly Monk grinned.

Habeas Corpus, the pig, was Monk's pet. Habeas was as freakish an example of the porker species as
Monk was of the human race. Habeas had the legs of a dog, a thin, gaunt body and a pair of ears which
might have doubled for wings.

Monk expended most of his spare time in training Habeas, with the result that the pig had some unique
capabilities. Doc Savage and his five men, when wishing to consult each other in a tongue which
eavesdroppers could not understand, used the speech of the ancient Mayans, the civilization which once
flourished in Central America. Probably not half a dozen men in the civilized world, outside of
themselves, could speak and understand the language. Monk had taught Habeas to obey commands
given in Mayan.

The shoat, on the floorboards of the coupe, had escaped the witch-faced man's notice, and his attack,
directed by Monk in Mayan, had been a surprise.

"We can't stay here," Ham said briskly, and glared at Habeas. Ham treated the pig with no more civility
than he did Monk.

The scuffle, brief as it had been, had attracted notice, causing pedestrians to stop and stare, undecided as
to what they should do.

"Move on!" Ham commanded sharply.

Tills did not secure very pronounced results. No policemen were in sight as yet