"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 023 - The Mystic Mullah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

THE gaunt Johnny said sharply, “I have been carrying it around with me,” and withdrawing a radiogram
blank from a pocket, he passed it to the others, open for perusal. They had all seen it before, but they
went over it again:

DOC SAVAGE,

NEW YORK.

YOUR ASSISTANCE IMPERATIVE ON MATTER INVOLVING THOUSANDS OF LIVES
AND POSSIBLY STABILITY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. PLEASE RADIO ME
APPOINTMENT TIME AND PLACE. MY LINER WILL REACH NEW YORK THREE DAYS.

JOAN LYNDELL,

ABOARD S.S. ATLANTIC QUEEN.

Below the message, written in pencil, was another missive, one evidently penned as an answer to the
radiogram. It read:

JOAN LYNDELL,

CARE TRANSATLANTIC LINER
ATLANTIC QUEEN.

SORRY BUT DOC SAVAGE NOT IN CITY AND NOT AVAILABLE TO COMMUNICATION.
CANNOT SAY WHEN HE WILL RETURN.

WILLIAM HARPER LITTLEJOHN.

Monk rubbed his jaw and asked, “Connection?”

“Between this message and the dead man?” Johnny shrugged. “He inscribed the name 'Joan' on the wall.”

Ham pointed at the wall markings with his sword cane. “But what does the rest of that mean?”

In the manner of a scholar giving a lecture, Johnny said, “The man could not write Doc Savage's name,
so he came as near to describing it as he could. The mountain men in the Tananese region are savages, so
'He of Mountains' probably is meant for Savage. And a Tananese doctor is called one who chases evil
spirits.”

Monk squinted admiringly. “Maybe there is something besides big words in that head. What about the
'fish that smokes on water'?”

“A boat,” said Johnny. “A boat in some manner connected with a fish, and probably an oil or a coal
burner.”

Ham said briskly, “I'll see about this.”

He strode down the corridor, opened the door on which was the name “Clark Savage, Jr.,” in small