"Robert A. Heinlein - Magic, Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Heinlein Robert A)

lone hand, making small-time shakedowns purely on bluff. I don't really
think so; his type sounds like a mobster. But we need more data; we can't do
anything until they expose their hand a little more.'

We did not have long to wait. When I got down to my place of business the
next morning I found a surprise waiting for me - several of them, all
unpleasant.

It was as if it had been ransacked by burglars, set fire to, then gutted by
a flood. I called up Jedson at once. He came right over. He didn't have
anything to say at first, but went poking through the ruins, examining a
number of things. He stopped at the point where the hardware storeroom had
stood, reached down and gathered up a handful of the wet ashes and muck.
Notice anything?' he asked, working his fingers so that the debris sloughed
off and left in his hand some small metal objects - nails, screws, and the
like.

Nothing in particular. This is where the hardware bins were located; that's
some of the stuff that didn't burn.'
Yes, I know,' he said impatiently, but don't you see anything else? Didn't
you stock a lot of brass fittings?'

Yes.'

Well, find one!'

I poked around with my toe in a spot where there should have been a lot of
brass hinges and drawer pulls mixed in with the ashes. I did not find
anything but the nails that had held the bins together. I oriented myself by
such landmarks as I could find, and tried again. There were plenty of nuts
and bolts, casement hooks, and similar junk, but no brass.

Jedson watched me with a sardonic grin on his face.

Well?' I said, somewhat annoyed at his manner.

Don't you see?' he answered. It's magic, all right. In this entire yard
there is not one scrap of metal left, except cold iron!'

It was plain enough. I should have seen it myself.

He messed around awhile longer. Presently we came across an odd thing. It
was a slimy, wet track that meandered through my property, and disappeared
down one of the drains. It looked as if a giant slug, about the size of a
Crosley car, had wandered through the place.

Undine,' Jedson announced, and wrinklcd his nose at the smell. I once saw a
movie, a Megapix super production called the Water King's Daughter.
According to it undines were luscious enough to have interested Earl
Carroll, but if they left trails like that I wanted none of them.