"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 044 - South Pole Terror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Telegram," said a masculine voice outside. It sounded like the voice of a youth.

Velma Crale was too foxy to take a chance on what might be an old ruse.

"Shove it under the door," she called.

A yellow telegraph envelope was promptly shoved under the door.

The young woman looked relieved, picked up the telegram, saw the name of Derek Flammen through the
transparent window, and tore the envelope open. She plucked out a folded yellow sheet.

Then she gave a loud gasp and fell to the floor.



Chapter III. THE MYSTERIOUS CABLE
A KEY immediately clicked in the door, and the lock tumblers were operated, after which the door opened.

Half a dozen men stepped in silently, and the last one closed the door hastily. The men were quietly dressed,
and had the look of outdoor fellows. Their faces were not what could be called "angelic-looking." All of them
had a rather pronounced sunburn, or what appeared to be a sunburn.
"Tie her up and gag her," said the leader. "That gas stuff in the envelope will only knock her out for a minute
or two."

The leader stood out from his followers for several reasons. He was bigger, and he looked meaner. He also
wore spectacles with unusually thick lenses of a slightly yellowish glass.

A man bent over the girl. He promptly made a gasping sound and all but fell, then managed to stumble to one
side.

"Hell, Cheaters!" he gulped. "Some of that stuff is still in the air!"

"Drag her to one side to tie her and gag her," ordered the leader, answering to the cognomen of "Cheaters."

His unusual spectacles made it no mystery why he happened to be called Cheaters, this being a slang term
sometimes applied to glasses.

The orders were carried out on the girl, and none too soon; for she began to mumble from behind the gag, and
her eyes sparkled irately.

Derek Flammen rolled and wrenched at the sheets with which his wrists and ankles had been tied by the
young woman.

"Turn me loose!" he barked.

Cheaters leered at him.

"Take it easy, blondy!" he growled. "You ainтАЩt out of the woods yet."