"054 (B089) - Ost (The Magic Island) (1937-08) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

The dark sailor got the flatiron-shaped piece of steel with the attached handle which he had found in the cubicle aboard the ship. Because of its weight, he had left this behind while pursuing the rotund Oriental.
The big, dark, strange-eyed sailor left the vicinity with ghostly stealth.
One of the city's more obscure hotels saw him next. He seemed to have a room there. He entered it, closed the door, pulled the shade, listened for a while to make sure no one was listening, then went to the bureau mirror.
With a tiny suction cup gripping device that somewhat resembled the rubber part of an eye dropper, the sailor proceeded to remove colored glass caps which fitted over his eyeballs, under the lids. These were transparent enough to permit vision through them. One had given him the pigeon-eye.
A pastelike chemical and an application of friction and soapsuds took the curl out of his hair. The hair became gray, almost white when the chemical treatment was done.
A small trunk yielded a dignified and very conservative business suit, also an excellently made mustache and Vandyke beard, spectacles with a black ribbon, and a case of instruments such as surgeons carry. There was also a case of business cards.
Another pair of the glass eyeballs caps disguised his eyes, and a few drops of a chemical made them watery and old-looking.
The surprising individual walked out of the hotel as an elderly, dignified gentleman. The iron block was in his surgical bag.
He turned up at the hospital where Ben Brasken was confined and presented one of his cards in the office.
The card said:
Kurt Von Vallenstadt
Psychiatrist Vienna, Berlin
"Ja,"
said the old gentleman, using a grand manner. "Vass it possible for me to examine dot sailor Ben Brasken?"
"It is rather late, doctor," he was told.
"Ja.
I know dot. But mine plane leave for New York very early in morning. Dot Ben Brasken case interest me very mooch."
After some hesitation, he was told he might see Ben Brasken.
Ben Brasken occupied a ward in which there were three other beds, but the other three were empty. Ben Brasken was reading a detective magazine. He lowered the magazine.
Ben Brasken's forehead was covered almost to the eyes by a damp towel, and the sheet was pulled up over his chin.
The nurse departed.
"What do you want?" Ben Brasken asked hoarsely.
THE old gentleman put the bag on the table. "I have something to show you."
He took out the flatiron object.
"Huh?" said Ben Brasken.
"This is a duplicate of the key you had when they found you climbing aboard the Benny Boston, apparently," stated the visitor.
"Oh." Ben Brasken blinked dark eyes.
"I found it in a small, unused cubbyhole near the bow of the Benny Boston. It had been made in that cubby. There were some other things in the place which proved you were hiding out there during the time you claim you visited this place called Ost."
"Who are you, feller?"
For answer, the old fellow handed over one of his cards. The hand which came out from under the bed covers and took it was hairy, brown and rather thick.
"Yah," he said, after glancing at the card. "A pill-pusher, eh?"
"You are not insane," said the visitor.
"Thanks."
"You are a skillful liar."
"I may be a sick man, but don't get too tough with me, you old goat!"
"What is behind this?"
This got no answer.
"Der jig is up, ja", stated the elderly man. "You had best talk."
"You want the dirt, sawbones?"
"Der truth, ja."
The man on the bed grinned. "I wanted to get my name in the newspapers."
"Ach!"
"Sure. All my life, nobody had ever noticed me. So I got an idea, see. I had some money saved up."
"Vot has der money saved got to do mit it?"
"Shut up and you'll see. I used the money to buy one of them high-powered magic lanterns that they use to throw pictures on clouds for advertising. I took a slide of a view of lower Manhattan Island, sandpapered off some of the paint on it so it would look spooky, and threw it on a cloud.
"I pointed the machine through a porthole in the hull of the ship, see. Nobody got wise. They saw this thing on the clouds. That was the mysterious city them fool sailors thought they saw."
"Ja!
Amazing!"
"Sure it was, you old nanny. Then I disappeared into the hold, made them iron things, and one night went on deck, waited until I heard a sailor coming, then slid down the rope and got wet, then climbed back and they all thought I was just coming aboard. Nobody would see through that, eh?"
"Nein.