"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 109 - The Too-Wise Owl" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

THE candy-shop proprietor was an advertisement for his business—rotund, pink, cherubic. He looked
like a piece of his own candy. His temper, however, was a green persimmon.

"You owe me, mister," he said fiercely, "for the jar of candy in which that owl was thrust."

Doc Savage asked quietly, "What did the man look like?"

"What do I care?" the man snapped. "He looked like Abraham Lincoln. He carried a ski pole. What
about the candy?"
"The man fled, I understand," Doc said.

The proprietor turned purple. "He was a crook." He reached under the counter. "I will thank you to tell
your friends not to bring these around!"

He slapped a large revolver down on the showcase.

Doc indicated the gun. "Which man dropped that? Or was it dropped?"

"The man with the ski pole dropped it," snapped the proprietor. "He tried to get it out when he saw the
other man. It fell from his fingers and skidded under the counter. He did not seem to think he had time to
recover it. He fled."

"Thank you." Doc took the gun.

"What about the candy?" yelled the other.

An assistant manager of the building dashed up, full of apologies to Doc Savage and with a bile-filled
look for the candy man. Doc Savage, as the assistant manager well knew, was probably the most
important tenant in the building. He also owned the structure.



DOC SAVAGE went back to his headquarters and, in the recreation room, found Monk walking around
and around the owl.

Monk pointed at the owl. "This thing’s neck is on a swivel. I walk around and around him, and he keeps
turning his head."

Doc Savage placed the revolver on the table.

"That owl’s neck must be wound up like a rubber band in a model airplane," Monk said.

Doc examined the gun. It was good, but there was nothing to identify the man who had carried it.

Ham said, "Doc, did the man have a ski pole?"

"Apparently."

"Just one?"