"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 115 - The Fiery Menace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

The dark mite showed signs of excitement.
тАЬThis is 'bout a man in a chandelier,тАЭ said the dark one.

тАЬChandelier?тАЭ Doc Savage said.

During the past twenty-four hours he had read no newspapers and had received no communications from
his aids.

тАЬAn' de lost vampire,тАЭ added the other.

Doc Savage contemplated the small one. And while he was doing the contemplating there came into
existence in the hotel lobby, seeming to grow out of nowhere like a disembodied materialization, a trilling
sound. It was a small, exotic sound, one that might have been the work of a vagrant wind, except that the
air was still-or of some strange tropical songbird, of which there were, of course, none around. The small
sound was an unconscious habit of Doc Savage in moments of mental stress, excitement or surprise.

However, his voice was entirely without expression when he spoke.

тАЬGo ahead and talk,тАЭ he said.

тАЬOh, it's mah boss who wants to talk to you 'bout chandeliers an' vampires,тАЭ said the small dark one.

тАЬI see.тАЭ

тАЬCan you-all come?тАЭ

тАЬProbably.тАЭ

тАЬAh was given enough money to hiah a taxicab,тАЭ said the mite.

They went outside and climbed into a taxicab-not the first cab, because Doc Savage had a suspicious
nature that had become a habit. There was a line of cabs in front of the hotel, and he selected one well
back in the line, where it was not likely to have been planted there for any ill purpose.

The cab rolled away smoothly with them, and Doc Savage leaned back on the cushions and brought up
the subject of the thing he had discovered which had startled him into making the trilling noise.

He addressed the dark small one.

тАЬYou,тАЭ he said, тАЬare not a Negro.тАЭ

тАЬWhat?тАЭ asked the startled mite. тАЬGreat grief, didn't my black makeup fool you? I paid ten dollars to
have it put on. Jacques said it would fool anyone. Jacques is my beauty operator and he was make-up
artist with one of the big Hollywood studios for years.тАЭ

Doc Savage watched the small, smooth dark hands on the chance that they might start for a gun.

тАЬYou do not seem to be a boy, either,тАЭ he said.

There was a silence.