"Yuri Olesha. The three fat men (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

the rear of the crowd. And even if they had seen the Negro, they would not
have recognised him to be the man they had been hunting for the night
before.
It seemed all danger had passed. But then there was a sound of loud
hissing.
It was Lapitup the Strong Man, who had poked his head round the
partition and was hissing:
''Wait! You just wait!" and he shook his tremendous fist at Tibul.
"I'll catch up with the Guards and tell them you're here!"
And he tried to squeeze through an opening in the partition.
But it couldn't resist the weight of his huge pink body. With a loud
crash it collapsed.
The strong man freed his leg from a crack in the partition and pushing
people out of his way, he raced off after the carriage.
"Stop!" he screamed, waving his thick arms frantically. "Stop! I've
found Tibul the Acrobat! He's here! I've got him!"
Things were beginning to look bad. Then the Spaniard with the rolling
eye joined in. He had a pistol stuck in his belt and was waving another. He
pranced up and down the stage, shouting:
"Ladies and Gentlemen! We must hand Tibul over to the Guards, or we'll
get into a lot of trouble! Listen, we can't go against the Three Fat Men!"
He was joined by the owner of the booth.
"He ruined my show! He chased Lapitup the Strong Man away! I don't want
the Three Fat Men to be angry at me!"
The crowd closed in around Tibul to protect him.
The strong man couldn't catch up with the carriage. He came back to the
square. He was coming full tilt towards Tibul. The Spaniard hopped down off
the stage and pulled his other pistol from his belt. The showman came
hobbling out with a big white paper hoop, the kind trained dogs jump through
in the circus. He was waving the hoop as he came clattering down after the
Spaniard.
The Spaniard cocked his pistol.
Tibul saw that he had better run for it. The crowd let him through. He
was gone in a flash. He bounded over a fence and found himself in a
vegetable garden. There he had a quick look through a crack in the fence and
saw that the strong man, the Spaniard, and the owner of the booth were all
running towards him. They looked so funny that Tibul couldn't help laughing.
The strong man was like a raging elephant, the Spaniard like a rat
hopping along on its hind legs, and the showman limped along like a lame
crow.
"We'll catch you alive!" they shouted. "You'd better give yourself up!"
The Spaniard clicked the cock of his pistol and ground his teeth. The
showman waved the paper ring.
Tibul waited for them to attack. He was standing on loose black earth.
All around him were vegetable beds. There were cabbages, beets, green
shoots, and broad leaves.
The wind made the leaves flutter. The sky was clear and blue.
The battle began.
All three of the attackers came up to the fence.
"Are you there?" asked the strong man.