"062 (B062) - The Pirate's Ghost (1938-04) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"I was afraid you might have a little trouble here, Monk," the bronze man explained.
The bronze man went to the vault-steel box, and picked it up—picked it up, actually, with one hand—and swung it onto a shoulder without as much as seeming to strain. Sagebrush Smith's eyes popped; he knew the weight of that box.
"Let's go," the bronze man said. "There are more men at the bunk house."
They left the ranch house, the bronze man carrying the metal case easily.
Several Lazy Y cowboys still at the bunk house—they had been delayed, probably, by the necessity for digging their weapons out of bedrolls or war-sacks—began shooting. Bullets ate off pieces of sagebrush around the retreating men.
"Your machine-pistol, Monk," the bronze giant said.
The apish man produced a weapon which slightly resembled an overgrown automatic pistol. It had a drum magazine.
"It's loaded with them new bomb bullets," "Monk" explained. "That's the reason I didn't use it."
The bronze man took the gun; pointed it in the direction of the Lazy Y buildings and pulled the trigger. Sagebrush Smith's ears were assailed by such a roar as he'd never heard before. If there could be a bull as big as Pikes Peak, and if the bull were to bawl, the noise would be about like the one the little gun made.
An entire corner of the Lazy Y ranch house flew into the air; the windmill jumped up and fell over; and part of the corral disintegrated into flying rails. Wagonloads of earth sprang into the air at points closer and closer to the bunk house. The Lazy Y rannys around the bunk house turned and fled like prairie dogs in a thunderstorm.
"That kinda discouraged 'em," Monk said.
Sagebrush Smith and his companions trotted half a mile over the arid hills into a deep dry-wash and approached two burros which were tied.
By then, Sagebrush Smith had recovered enough from general astonishment to gulp a question. "What the heck kinda guys are you, anyhow?" he demanded.
No one responded.
The bronze giant lowered the metal case to the sand. He showed no effects of having packed such a heavy burden at a trot for half a mile. Producing a flashlight which apparently operated from a spring-generator instead of a battery, and which emitted a thin, very white rod of light, he examined the box.
In the midst of the bronze man's scrutiny, Sagebrush Smith was startled by a fantastic sound. It was low, strange, and utterly exotic. Trilling best described it. Sagebrush at first made the mistake of thinking it was a product of the night wind and the desert sand, and only when he saw the apish Monk and the dapper "Ham" peering at the bronze giant intently did he realize the latter must be making the sound—that it must be a small, unconscious habit. The note was low, indefinable, almost unearthly, and faded away into nothingness.
"This is Meander Surett's vault-steel chest," the bronze giant said.
"It sure answers the description he gave in his letter," Monk agreed.
"Monk, did you examine Meander Surett's desert laboratory closely?" asked the bronze man.
"We sure did," Monk said.
"Did it seem to you that Meander Surett could have been insane?"
"Insane?"
"That point is important. If the scientist was sane, his letter can be believed; in which case the man has made, beyond doubt, the greatest scientific discovery of ages."
"Think it's that important, huh?"
"Meander Surett's discovery, if genuine, cannot be estimated." The bronze man's unusual voice was serious. "The effects may change civilization, perhaps alter religions and overthrow governments. Results of a thing so unexpected and so startling are hard to estimate. The point is: Was Meander Surett sane—or did he only imagine he had made his fantastic discovery?"
Monk swallowed. He moistened his lips.
"Well," he said, "I think Meander Surett was sane."
"Ham," said the bronze man, "what do you think?"
"Nobody but a sane man could establish such a laboratory as he had," the dapper man replied. "But I also think he was out of his head from suffering for a while before he died—possibly for a few days, or maybe a few weeks."
The bronze giant looked at Sagebrush Smith. "What is your name?"
"Sagebrush Smith," said Sagebrush with involuntary haste.
THERE was something about this strange bronze man that gripped and compelled, and Sagebrush, who was indignant and wanted to stamp and shout and demand to know what it was all about, found that his tongue was falling over itself to give civil answers.
"Are you puzzled by all this?" the bronze man asked.
"Kinda," Sagebrush admitted.
"Here, briefly, is what has happened," the bronze man said. "A number of days ago a letter came to us in New York. It was from Meander Surett. It said that Meander Surett had worked for years in a secret Death Valley laboratory to perfect an amazing discovery. The nature of the discovery was revealed in the letter. But there was also a request that absolutely no one be told its nature. I am respecting Meander Surett's request for secrecy."
Sagebrush nodded and swallowed.
"Meander Surett's letter," continued the bronze man, "stated that unknown men had been trying to steal the discovery. Meander Surett confessed in the letter to killing one of these men, and also to capturing one, which he was holding prisoner.
"Monk and Ham came out here to investigate," the bronze man went on. "They found Meander Surett dead and buried. They radioed me to that effect, and I gave the information to the newspapers in such a manner that they did not know where it came from. There was no reason why it should be unknown that one of the greatest scientists of the day had died. And make no mistake—Meander Surett was a great scientist."
Sagebrush Smith nodded dumbly.
"Monk and Ham trailed you," the bronze man said. "They traced you to that ranch house. In the meantime, I had caught up with detail work in New York, and came out by plane to help personally with the investigation. To-night Monk and Ham were to seize you and the metal box, while I went on into the desert to examine Meander Surett's laboratory. Suspecting there might be difficulties at the ranch, I delayed the desert trip, which explains my appearance a few minutes ago."
"I see," Sagebrush Smith said.
"Smith," said the bronze man, "why did you take that box?"
"Meander Surett gave it to me," Sagebrush explained. "He had me promise him to take it to his daughter Sally and Doc Savage."
"What was your opinion of Meander Surett's mental stability?"
"His what?"
"Was he crazy?"
"Hell, I don't know. He was, and he wasn't."
"What do you mean?"
"At first, I figured there was nothin' wrong with him," Sagebrush muttered. "He kept claimin' unknown people had been watchin' him. I thought maybe they had. But then he told me he'd caught one of the gents who was watchin' him, and had the geezer tied in the desert. When I looked, it was only a mangy coyote he had on a chain."
"A coyote?"