"028 (B088) - The Roar Devil (1935-06) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"Ouch!" he exploded. "What is this thing? Hells bells! A hog!"
The next instant, the gate flew open. Habeas popped through, the irate guard close after him.
It was doubtful if the guard ever knew what happened to him. Monk's hard fist landed against his ear with the first swing. Ham caught him.
"Some hog," Monk said.
They listened for some minutes. There was no sign that the scuffle had been heard by any one in the large house which they could distinguish through the shrubbery and trees.
Monk carried the guard down the road, bound and gagged him in businesslike fashion, left him, and returned. Ham was scratching one of Habeas Corpus's big ears, but desisted hastily when he discovered Monk.
"I knew you'd come to like that hog," Monk declared.
"I was just taming him," Ham said. "I'm going to cut his head off and have him served with fried eggs. I want him so I can catch him."
They crept through the shrubbery. The grass was close-cropped, the bushes clipped so that there was not much danger of running into stray branches. They found an open window. Both crawled through, after listening.
It was a sun room. Beyond it, they found a dark living room. Across that was an open, lighted door. They could see through it, and without getting too close could hear conversation coming through it.
The light came from a dining room. On the table stood bottles and glasses. Seven men were seated, some smoking.
Zachies, at the head of the table, said, "I tell you, boys, I fed this Doc Savage a sweet line of bull, and he lapped it up!"
ONE of the other men - none of them looked like a gentleman would care to meet in a dark alley - said, "The bronze fellow has got the rep of being slicker than grease."
"Oh, I used a technique," Dove Zachies chuckled. "You see, I told just enough truth to make it sound right. And I gave him everything I knew about the Roar Devil."
"You said you left out the V. Venable Mear angle," reminded another of the men.
"Yeah." Dove Zachies leaned forward fiercely. "You know what I've decided?"
"What?"
"I've decided V. Venable Mear is the Roar Devil." Zachies leaned back and nodded vehemently. "That girl, Retta Kenn, is obviously working for the Roar Devil. And she had a telegram from this V. Venable Mear, directing her to grab me. Don't that kinda make it look like the Roar Devil is V. Venable Mear?"
"Just who is V. Venable Mear, Dove?" a man queried. "I don't make the name."
"Darned if I know who he is," said Dove Zachies. "But we're gonna find out. Bring me the telephone directory, somebody. Let's see if he's in there."
Some one interrupted, "But if V. Venable Mear is the Roar Devil, why not tell Doc Savage?"
Dove Zachies laughed.
"Because, if we can grab the Roar Devil, we can take over his game, see?" he pointed out. "It's big. The biggest thing in history, I'm telling you!"
"You ain't half smart," some one said, knowingly.
"Get me the telephone directory," ordered Zachies.
A man got up and walked into the room where Monk and Ham stood. He did it quickly, and there was no time for them to retreat. The only thing they could do was step hastily into darkened corners.
Monk, by the worst of luck, found he had taken up a position almost beside the telephone stand. The man from the other room marched up to the stand, bent over it and fumbled for the directory. Monk almost heaved a sigh of relief. The other was not going to see him!
Then the man hit Monk in the stomach. It was a terrific blow. It would have sent most men to the hospital. It made Monk roar like a lion.
Monk hit the man who had struck him. The fellow was knocked out instantly, lifted and carried backward by the blow. He fell flat on his back in the door.
Bawling irately, Monk charged after him. The apish chemist scooped up a chair, and as he came through the lighted door, threw it at the chandelier. The lights went out in a jangling of glass, a popping of bulbs and a sizzling of blue electric flame.
Straight into the room Monk charged. He seized the table, ran it across the floor and pinned at least three men against a wall. He gave the table a final shove, which must have all but cut the victims in two.
There was a man underfoot. Monk jumped up and down on him. Some one fired a gun. Monk had gotten a bottle off the table. He threw it at the gun flash, and was rewarded by an end-of-the world groan.
Monk jumped up and down, bawled wrathfully, and charged wildly through the darkness in hopes of encountering another victim. A wall stopped him painfully.
"You missing link!" Ham shouted from the other room. "Get out of here while you can!"
Monk made one more foray in the darkness, found no one, and raced after Ham. They tumbled through the window together and set out across the grounds, the pig at their heels.
"Idiot!" Ham gritted. "That was a crazy thing to do!"
"That guy hit me in the place where I put all my food," Monk growled. "I value that spot."
"We've got information for Doc," Ham gasped. "That stuff about V. Venable Mear - "
"Blazes!" Monk howled. "What's this!"
"This" was the figure of a woman. She had flashed up ahead of them and was racing madly for the gate.
THE fleeing girl cast a wild glance over her shoulder. It was doubtful if she could see much in the darkness. Only the fact that there was an electric light at the gate permitted Monk and Ham to discern her.
She reached the gate, whipped through, then slammed the heavy portals.
"Hey!" Monk bawled. "Don't do that! We're clearing out of here, too!"
The girl heard. She stopped, wheeled, and began fighting the gate. She was trying to get it open for them. But the lock was of a spring variety which foiled her.
Behind them, a submachine gun emitted a ripping volley. Monk and Ham hurled themselves flat and began to crawl. They could hear slugs snarling through the surrounding shrubbery.
Then the bullets began digging at the stone wall and clanging on the gate. The girl did the only safe thing. She wheeled and fled.
Brilliant floodlights came on. These were located along the wall, and placed so cleverly that every square yard of the estate was lighted.
Dove Zachies and the remnants of his gang charged forward.
"Jig's up!" Monk groaned.
Monk and Ham were both lying in plain view, now that the lights were on. They both had machine pistols. Using them would have been inviting suicide.