"015 (B069) - The Mystery on the Snow (1934-05) - Lester Dent (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

you, m’sieu’."
"Yeah," Renny rumbled, and came to a stop.
They were quickly seized. Rough hands slapped over Renny’s person in search of
weapons.
"The big boeuf is not armed," said one.
"Bring him upstairs, sahibs," Mahal commanded. "One of you go to the street to
see if the noise drew the police."
Obeying the command, a swarthy man scampered away.
Many hands leeched upon them, Renny and the girl were propelled up the stairway.
Their captors pushed them across Mahal’s waiting room and into the sanctum of
fakery.
Renny peered about in search of Stroam. His gaze fixed on a curtain which
spanned an end of the chamber.
Stroam’s voice squeaked from behind the hanging.
"Who are these two?" he demanded.
Evidently he had a peephole in the curtain which was too small to be discerned.
Mahal glared at Renny and the young woman. The other men also looked them over.
Then they all exchanged blank glances.
"No one here seems to know them, sahib," said Mahal.
"You, with the big fists!" Stroam gritted from his concealment. "Who are you?"
"What’s your guess?" Renny asked sarcastically.
"Yo’ smart boy, eh?" sneered a man. He took an elaborate windup and struck
Renny’s middle a terrific blow with his fist.
The fellow jumped back, a pained expression on his face, and nursed his fist.
His knuckles felt as if they had collided with a large rock.
Behind Stroam’s curtain there were fluttering sounds. Renny decided Stroam was
looking through the newspaper clippings. This surmise proved correct.
"Look at this!" A picture cut from a newspaper came flying from behind the
drapery.
Renny scowled at the item. It was a picture of Doc Savage and his five aides.
Renny knew his own big-fisted likeness was prominent in the foreground.
"This is one of Doc Savage’s men!" Mahal yelled, indicating Renny.
"But who is the girl?" demanded Stroam.
"Probably another of Doc Savage’s aides," said Mahal, making a wildly incorrect
guess.
"It is fortunate that I took the precaution of having my men handy," Stroam
squeaked.
Mahal nodded. "Even I did not know they were here, sahib."
One of Stroam’s swarthy henchmen interrupted impatiently. "What we do with zis
man an’ woman?"
"Doc Savage is nosing into affairs which are none of his business," Stroam
shrilled angrily. "We will hand him something by way of a small hint, that he
had better leave us alone."
A man leveled an arm at Renny and the girl. "Yo’ mean—"
"Use your knives on them," Stroam finished the man’s thought.
Mahal wailed, "I don’t like murder at all—"
"Who cares what you like, clumsy fool!" Stroam squealed.
"But blood makes me—"
"Go downstairs and help my man watch the front door," Stroam ordered.
Mahal departed hastily.