"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 283 - The Chest of Chu-Chan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

brows, though whether through suspicion or envy, he didn't declare.
With all his genial ways, Frescott mistrusted collectors as a whole,
perhaps because he recognized that he, too, had the basic urge to lay his
hands
upon rare items and hold them. But as curator of the Museum of Antiquities,
the
noted professor had managed to curb his secret desires.
Shebley noticed Frescott's gaze and broadened his peculiar smile.
"I was about to discuss the chest of Chu Chan," remarked Shebley, dryly,
"but I see that you are more interested in the katar of Pagan Min."
 Frescott's eyes widened immediately.
"You mean Pagan Min, the Burmese king?"
"Precisely," replied Shebley. "Pagan Min, the son of Tharawaddy, ruler of
Burma, until deposed by his brother Mindon Min, who proved to be the only
humane
king in the entire line of Alompra."
Professor Frescott gave a knowing nod.
"That was the curse of Alompra," he recalled. "Beginning with a warrior
chieftain, the dynasty degenerated and finally perished through descendants
who
were the victims of a homicidal mania."
"A fratricidal mania, too," added Shebley. "One of their greatest
pastimes
was killing off their brothers - and all their families were large."
Again Frescott nodded.
"I've often wondered about Pagan Min," continued Shebley. "He must have
hated his brother Mindon, and why he let him live, I cannot understand. Why,
if
Mindon had ever come within Pagan's reach -"
With a sudden pause, Shebley studied Frescott's gaze as though trying to
guess what lay behind the narrowed eyes. Then, crisply, Shebley asked:
"You are interested, professor?"
"Very much," assured Frescott in a dispassionate tone. "You appear to be
versed in Oriental customs, and anything Oriental intrigues me."
It was so frankly put that Shebley decided his actions would not be
misunderstood. Rising from the table, he stepped around it, the twelve inch
dagger lying flat across his hands so that Frescott could study it more
closely.
The professor had seen many katars before, but none like this.
"Unique."
Shebley voiced the word in matter-of-fact tone. It was his favorite
expression, for it applied to every item in his well stocked cases. As a
collector, Shebley valued curios only if they were quite unmatched, and he had
reason to prize this katar as such.
The silver blade was six inches long, and ran wide from the hilt,
tapering
to a dull point. Having no sharpened edges, it appeared to be a ceremonial
weapon, as was further evidenced by the hilt. In fact, the hilt was the
distinctive feature that caused a katar to differ from other styles of
daggers.