"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 093 - The Awful Dynasty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Passengers gawked. Some who got too curious, and who shoved in close in order to get a better look,
were elbowed aside gruffly by the four men with blocky jaws.

The entourage with the long, shining copper cylinder moved swiftly through the ship, picked up a purser,
then headed directly for a large suite on A Deck. There seemed to be a whole lot of solemnity in bringing
the copper cylinder aboard. The two dark-skinned Egyptians and their four bodyguards might have been
pallbearers at a funeral, so glum were their expressions.

One of the onlookers was a young college student. He was quite an intelligent individual. He got close
enough to get a good look at the thing which the two Egyptians were carrying so carefully.

About three feet long, the cylinder was perhaps three inches in diameter. It gleamed with a red-gold
coppery hue. It appeared to be capped at both ends. And on the smooth, gleaming surface of the tube
was a scramble of funny-looking figures.

The college boy stared. He squinted his eyes to take in all he could of the thing before the men carrying it
disappeared down a corridor. Then, his alert young gaze bug-eyed, he grabbed his nearest companion
and let out a cry.

"Did you see what’s on that thing?" the student demanded.

"You mean them funny decorations?" asked the other passenger.

"They’re not decorations. It was writing!"

"Writing?"

"Hieroglyphics," explained the college boy. "It just happens I caught some of the characters on that
thing!" His voice rose excitedly.

"And so?" The other passenger was not yet impressed.

"That . . . that copper cylinder," the youth gulped, "has something to do with the Fourth Dynasty of
Cheops! Five or ten years ago, several archaeologists died trying to open a tomb containing, they
believed, relics of that dynasty. It’s awful!"

"Awful?" There was a puzzled frown now upon the second passenger’s face.

"That dynasty—everything connected with it—is cursed. Men die who try to penetrate its mystery!"

The college boy moved away from the spot. He called back in a thin, tight voice, "Keep away from that
thing. It’s cursed!"

ADJOINING the corridor down which the Egyptians and their bodyguards had disappeared, was a
small inside space that was more or less a smoking room. It was through this space that the college youth
was moving when he let out the startled cry about something being cursed.

A man seated in a deep armchair reading a newspaper looked up. He got to his feet. Several people
standing about looked at him.