"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 036 - Mystery Under the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

swimming feebly out there. The guard had thought he was a bather who had ventured out too far. But,
reaching the swimmer, he discovered the fellow was clothed, except for shoes and coat.

A wave came in; it was not large, for they do not have large waves on Long Island Sound during calm
weather. Yet it submerged the man swimming in his clothing, and it was some moments before he came up,
gasping feebly.

The life guard lent a hand, holding the fellow up and, at the same time, peering out into the Sound in an effort
to learn where the unfortunate had come from. It was too dark to see much. The guard decided the man must
have been in a boat, that had sunk.

"Were you alone?" he demanded. "Does anybody else need help?"

"Shut up!" said the one who was being rescued. "Either get me ashore or leggo so I can swim."

A light skiff, rowed by another life guard, arrived at that moment and both the first life guard and the man
swimming in his clothes were taken aboard and paddled to the beach. The rescued man started to get out of
the boat, as if he were in a great hurry to leave.

The fellow was restrained, however, by the life guard, who knew that persons who have been near drowning
sometimes become hysterical and do not quite know what they are doing.

"Leggo, dope," snarled the man who had been found swimming in his clothes.

"Not until the doctor looks you over," said one of the guard.

The rescued man then acted very ungallantly. He seized an oar and managed, after a short skirmish, to crack
the life guards over the head, knocking them both senseless.

The man ran away, his wet clothing making slopping noises.



A THRONG of no small proportions was on the beach, but the rescue had been executed so quietly that only
a few had realized what was happening. Most of the sharper observers had been advancing cautiously to
investigate. They broke into a run, and a loud outcry went up as they saw the brief skirmish which felled the
two life guards.

At first, there was no attempt to apprehend the fleeing man. New Yorkers learn early that attending to their
own business is a policy which avoids trouble. However, two ambitious souls did attempt to stop the runner.
One of them, a fat man, got an oar jabbed in the stomach for his pains. The other was discouraged by a blow
over the head.

The fleeing man reached a row of bathhouses and ducked between them.

At this point, it was doubtful if many persons were aware that a dark motor boat had come into the
floodlighted area from the Sound. This craft carried several men. Driven by a powerful motor, it swerved in
close to the beach, and all but one of the occupants sprang overboard and waded ashore.

The man who remained in the boat took it back out into the Sound, and it was shortly lost in the darkness.