"Arthur, Robert - The Three Investigators 002 - The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot" - читать интересную книгу автора (Arthur Robert)

“I have my knife.” Jupiter said. “I’ll do my best.”
He whipped out his prize Swiss knife that had eight
blades. Then he grasped Pete’s leg. Pete could feel him
slashing fiercely. The grip on his ankle relaxed. Pete
immediately rolled away and sprang to his feet.
Behind him, his partner, with a broad grin, was putting
away his knife. A heavy loop of vine that had been cut in
the middle was bobbing up and down close to the ground.
“You put your foot into a twisted grapevine.” Jupiter
said. “The harder you pulled to get away, the harder the
vine pulled you back. It was a very evenly matched test.
Neither of you was using any intelligence. The vine doesn’t
have any, and you allowed panic to cloud your mental
processes.”
Jupiter usually talked like that. By now Pete was used
to it
“Okay, okay.” Pete said sheepishly. “I panicked. I was
thinking about that call for help, I guess.”
“Panic is more dangerous than danger itself,” Jupiter
said. “Fear robs the individual of the ability to make
proper decisions. It destroys—destroys——Ulp!”
Looking at Jupiter, Pete had the impression that his
partner was displaying all the symptoms of the fear he
had just been talking about. He had suddenly turned pale.
His eyes bulged. His jaw dropped. He seemed to be look-
ing at something just behind Pete’s back.
“You’re a good actor, Jupe,” Pete said. “That’s the best
imitation of fright I’ve ever seen. But now what do you
say we—we——”
He turned and he saw what Jupiter was looking at. And
the words stuck in his throat.
Jupiter was not acting. The very fat man who stood
facing them, with a large-old-fashioned pistol in his hand.
would have startled anybody.
The fat man wore glasses that magnified his eyes into
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great round orbs like the eyes of some huge fish in an
aquarium. The sunlight glinted on the glasses and made
the eyes behind them seem to throw out flashes of fire.
“All right, boys!” the fat man said. He gave the pistol
a wave. “Into the house with you. Then we’ll find out what
mischief you are up to. Now, march!”
With dragging footsteps and dry mouths, Pete and
Jupiter trudged ahead of him up the gravel path to the
sombre, decaying old house.
“Don’t try to run, boys!” the fat man warned. “Or
you’ll wish you hadn’t.”
“Don’t run, Pete,” Jupiter whispered. “That would be
the worst thing possible. We want to convince Mr. Fen-
triss we are here on legitimate business.”