"075 (B042) - The Gold Ogre (1939-05) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Mental took the message and examined it thoughtfully. From his manner, one would have guessed him as much older, whereas he was exactly the same age as Don Worth and B. Elmer Dexter.
"This is very strange," he declared. He looked at Don Worth. "What is your thought about this?"
"My first impulse was to hurry home," Don said.
Mental nodded. "Being on the right track is a very good thing. But if you just stand there, you'll likely get run over."
Don asked, "You mean I should go home?"
"Exactly."
"And we should go with you," Mental Byron added. "If two heads are better than one, think how good three heads would be."
"NOW look here," Don Worth said uncomfortably, "I can't burden you with my troubles. You're having a swell time here at camp, and you don't really want to go back to Crescent City. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it, but you fellows wouldn't have a good time going with me."
"I think we would," Mental said.
"Why?"
"We like excitement. And this sounds exciting."
As if this dismissed any chances for further argument, Mental arose from the rock and said, "I'll have my bag packed in ten minutes."
"I'll have my bag in five!" B. Elmer yelled. He started to dash away, stopped, shouted, "Say, maybe we can solve this mystery, then make it into a story and sell it to the movies for a mint of money!"
And he was off after his bag.
"B. Elmer can see a get-rich-quick scheme in everything," Don chuckled.
Mental nodded soberly. "If you go around firing a shotgun in the air long enough, you're bound to hit a duck eventually. Some day, one of B. Elmer's ideas will click."
Don Worth was secretly delighted at the idea of his two pals accompanying him, but he did not want them to miss out on the fun of Camp Indian-Laughs-And-Laughs, so he was earnest in his protestations that they were working a hardship on themselves. Mental only smiled.
They went looking for their third pal.
"Where do you suppose Funny Tucker is?" Don pondered.
"Did you notice the luncheon he ate? Probably he'll be in his cabin repenting."
Leander (Funny) Tucker was in his cabin, all right, and he was full of repentance. Funny Tucker, if he didn't watch out, would soon be as wide as he was tall—but there was scant possibility of his watching. Funny liked his food. Also his laughs. Funny Tucker was a roly-poly joy boy without a care in life. His fund of gags, both his own and those purloined from the radio and movies, was unlimited.
Funny was holding his stomach.
"If the bravest are the tenderest," he complained, "the steer that provided that luncheon steak was sure a coward!"
"What you feel is probably the humiliation of the steer at finding out one boy could eat all of him," Mental advised.
"I didn't eat the whole steer. Only seven steaks."
When he heard of their plans, Funny Tucker forgot his indigestion.
"Excitement!" he exclaimed. "Hot ziggety!"
The four of them caught the midafternoon launch that brought the daily mail and provisions to Camp Indian-Laughs-And-Laughs. It was with regret that they watched the camp, where they'd had so much fun, apparently sink into the sun-jeweled waves as the launch carried them away. They caught a train at the village where the launch landed them.
By dark that evening, the four young fellows were in Crescent City.
MORRIS MENTAL BYRON and Leander Funny Tucker were—unlike Don Worth and B. Elmer Dexter—the possessors of fathers who had a great deal of money. So Mental and Funny staked the crew to a taxicab in which they rode from the station toward the rather poverty-stricken district on the edge of Crescent City, where the Worths lived.
The four had gotten to talking about mysteries, and people who were famous at solving them. Don Worth took little part in the conversation while it referred to the G-men, Scotland Yard, Sherlock Holmes, and others.
Suddenly Don spoke up.
"What about Doc Savage?" he asked. "Isn't he one of the greatest mystery-solvers of all time?"
"You mean the individual they call the Man of Bronze," Mental said thoughtfully. "I once read a book on psychology and philosophy that he wrote. It was amazing."
"Doc Savage does a lot of things besides write books," Don explained. "He is an astounding fellow. He was trained by scientists from childhood, until now he is a kind of combination of physical marvel and mental wizard. He has five assistants, and each one of these helpers is a famous expert in electricity or chemistry or some such line. But Doc Savage knows more about those things than any one of his assistants."
"What does he need assistants for?" asked Funny Tucker.
"To help him in his strange life's work."
"Strange?" B. Elmer asked.
"Work of any kind seems strange to me," announced Funny Tucker.
Don explained seriously, "Doc Savage goes to the far corners of the earth, righting wrongs and punishing evildoers, and he takes no pay for it."
"No pay," said B. Elmer, "makes it strange indeed."
Mental Byron said thoughtfully, "You seem to know a great deal about this Doc Savage. Ever meet him?"
"No, I never met Doc Savage." Don Worth colored with embarrassment. "You see, Doc Savage just happens to be the man I admire most in the world, next to my father."
They arrived at the modest Worth home.
Mary Worth was well acquainted with Don's four companions, and she greeted them with a flicker of hope. Don was shocked at his mother's worried expression—it seemed to him that much more horror lurked in her features than was warranted by the fact that his father had disappeared. The feeling that much more was wrong than appeared on the surface oppressed Don all through the tasty dinner which his mother prepared for them.
"Mother," he said quietly, "there is something more that you haven't told us."
Mary Worth nodded miserably.
"What is it?" Don asked.
Mary Worth looked at the boys. She knew them well enough to be sure that they would not spread the impression that her husband had gone insane.
"Your father told me an incredible story," she said, and gave them the tale of the little golden ogres.