"Wylie, Philip & Balmer, Edwin - Bronsome Beta 01 - When Worlds Collide" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wylie Philip)

The offer remained at five thousand for twenty minutes; indeed, it dipped once to twenty-five hundred dollars as some timid soul, on a more economical newspaper, ventured to put in his bid; but quickly it jumped again and doubled. It was ten thousand dollars, in the last radiogram which Dave had opened. Ten thousand dollars cash for first information, which now needed to be withheld from others only for six hours, regarding what he was bringing to New York.
The thrilling and all-absorbing fact of it was that David Ransdell himself did not know what he carried which could become of such amazing concern. He was merely the courier who transported and guarded the secret.
He could look in his box, of course; he possessed the key. But he had the key, as also he had custody of the heavy black box, because those who had entrusted it to him knew that he would never violate his word. Least of all, would he sell out to others. Moreover (if curiosity tried him beyond his , strength) he had Professor Bronson's word for it that the contents of the box would be utterly meaningless to him. Only a few men, with very special training, could make out the meaning.
Cole Hendron in New YorkЧDr. Cole Hendron, the physicistЧcould make it out. Indeed, he could determine it more completely than any other man alive. That was why Dave Ransdell, from South Africa, was bound for New York; he was bringing the box to Cole Hendron, who, after he had satisfied himself of the significance of its contents, would take the courier into his confidence.
Dave gripped the rail with his aggravated impatience for arrival in the city. He wondered, but with secondary interest only, under the circumstances, what it would be like in America. It was the native land of his mother; but David had never so much as seen its shores before. For he was a South AfricanЧhis father an Englishman who had once ranched in Montana, had married a Montana girl and had taken her to the Transvaal. Dave had been born at Pretoria, schooled there, and had run away from school to go to war.
The war had made him a flyer. He had stayed in the air afterward, and he was flying the mails when, suddenly, at the request of Capetown,Чand he did not yet know from how high an official source,Чhe had been granted a special leave to fly a certain shipment of scientific material to America. That is, he was instructed to fly it not only the length of his ordinary route, but to continue with it the length of Africa and across to France, where he was to make connection with the first and fastest ship for New York.
Of course, the commission intrigued him. He had been summoned at night to the great mansion of Lord Rhondin, near Capetown.
Lord Rhondin himself, a big, calm, practical-minded man, received him; and with Lord Rhondin was a tall, wiry man of forty-odd, with a quick and nervous manner.
"Professor Bronson," Lord Rhondin said, introducing Ransdell.
"The astronomer?" Dave asked as they shook hands.
"Exactly," said Lord Rhondin. Bronson did not speak at all then, or for several minutes. He merely grasped Dave's hand with nervous tightness and stared at him while he was thinking, patently, of something elseЧsomething, Dave guessed, which recently had allowed him too little sleep.
"Sit down," Lord Rhondin bade; and the three of them seated themselves; but no one spoke.
They were in a big, secluded room given to trophies of the hunt. Animal skins covered the floor; and lion and buffalo and elephant heads looked down from the walls, their glass eyes glinting in the light which was reflected, also, by festoons of shining knives and spears.
"We sent for you, Ransdell," said Lord Rhondin, "because a very strange discovery has been madeЧa discovery which, if confirmed in all details, is of incomparable consequence. Nothing conceivable can be of greater importance. I tell you that at the outset, Ransdell, because I must refrain for the present from telling you anything else about it."
Dave felt his skin prickling with a strange, excited awe. There was no doubt that this manЧLord Rhondin, industrialist, financier and conspicuous patron of scienceЧthoroughly believed what he said; behind the eyes which looked at David Ransdell was awe at knowledge which he dared not reveal. But Dave asked boldly:
"Why?"
"Why can't I tell you?" Lord Rhondin repeated, and looked at Bronson.
Professor Bronson nervously jumped up. He stared at Lord Rhondin and then at Ransdell, and looked up from him at a lion's head.
"Strange to think of no more lions!" Bronson finally muttered. The words seemed to escape him involuntarily.
Lord Rhondin made no remark at this apparent irrelevance. Ransdell, inwardly more excited by this queerly oppressive silence, at last demanded:
"Why will there be no more lions?"
"Why not tell him?" Bronson asked.
But Rhondin went abruptly to business: "We asked leave for you, Ransdell, because I have heard that you are a particularly reliable man. It is essential that material connected with the discovery be delivered in New York City at the earliest practicable moment. You are both an expert pilot who can make the best speed, and you are dependable. If you will take it, I will put the material in your care; andЧcan you start to-night?"
"Yes sir. ButЧwhat sort of material, I must ask, if I am to fly with it?"
"Chiefly glass."
"Glass?" Dave repeated.
"YesЧphotographic plates."
"Oh. How many of them?"
Lord Rhondin threw back a leopard-skin which had covered a large black traveling-case.
"They are packed, carefully, in this. I will tell you this much more, which you may guess, from Professor Bronson's presence. They are photographic plates taken by the greatest telescopes in South Africa, of regions of the southern sky which are never visible in the Northern Hemisphere. You are to take them to Dr. Cole Hendron in New York City, and deliver them personally to him and to no one else. I would tell you more about this unusual errand, Ransdell, if theЧthe implications of these plates were absolutely certain."
At this, Professor Bronson started, but again checked himself before speaking; and Lord Rhondin went on:
"The implications, I may say, are probably true; but so very much is involved that it would be most disastrous if even a rumor of what we believe we have discovered, were given out. For that reason, among others, we cannot confide it even to you; but we must charge you personally to convey this box to Dr. Hendron, who is the scientific consultant of the Universal Electric and Power Corporation in New York City. He is now in Pasadena, but will be in New York upon your arrival. Time is vitalЧthe greatest speed, that is, consistent with reasonable safety. We are asking you, therefore, to fly the length of Africa along the established routes, with which you are familiar, and to fly, then, across the Mediterranean to France, where you will board a fast liner. You should reach Dr. Hendron not later than a week from Monday. You may return, then, if you wish. On the other hand"Чhe paused as crowded considerations heaped in his mind,Ч"you may be indifferent as to where you are."
"On the earth," added Professor Bronson.
"Of courseЧon the earth," Lord Rhondin accepted.
"I would go myself, Ransdell, you understand," Bronson then proceeded. "But my place, for the present, certainly is here. I mean, of course, at the observatory. ... It is possible, Ransdell, in spite of precautions which have been taken, that some word of the Bronson discovery may get out. Your errand may be suspected. If it is, you know nothingЧ nothing you understand? You must answer no inquiry from any source. NoneЧnone whatever!"
At the landings during the fast flight north along the length of Africa, and in France, and during the first four days aboard the transatlantic vessel, nothing had happened to recall these emphatic cautions; but now, something was out. A boy was approaching with another radiogram; and so Ransdell swiftly tore open the one he had been holding:
"Twenty thousand dollars in cash paid to you if you grant first and exclusive interview regarding the Bronson discovery to this paper."
It was signed by the man, who, an hour ago, had opened the bidding with one thousand dollars.
Dave crumpled it and tossed it overboard. If the man who had sent it had been in that trophy-room with Bronson and Lord Rhondin, he would have realized that the matter on their minds completely transcended any monetary consideration.

The evening in New York was warm. It pressed back the confused uproar of the street; and the sound which ascended to the high terrace of the Hendron apartment seemed to contain heat as well as noise. Eve found that her search for a breath of fresh air was fruitless. For a moment she gazed into the mist and monotone that was Manhattan, and then stared over the city toward the channels to the sea.
"Suppose those lights are the ship's?" she asked Tony.
"It left quarantine before seven; it's somewhere there," Tony said patiently. "Let's not go back in."
His cigarette-case clicked open. The light of his match made a brief Rubens: buff satin of her bare shoulders, green of her evening dress, stark white of his shirt-bosom, and heads bent together. Some one inside the apartment danced past the French windows, touched the door-handle, perceived that the terrace was occupied, and danced away to the accompaniment of music that came from the radio.
"Guests take possession these days," Eve continued. "If you suggest bridge, they tear up the rugs and dance. If I'd asked them to dance,Чand had an orchestra,Чthey'd have played bridgeЧor made fudgeЧ"
"Or played District Attorney. Why have guests at all, Eve? Especially to-night?"
"Sorry, Tony."
"Are you, really? Then why did you have them, when for the first night in weeks the three thousand miles of this dreary continent aren't between us?"
"I didn't have them, Tony. They just heard we were home; and they came."
"You could have had a headacheЧfor them."