"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 111 - Pirate Isle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

He grabbed absently for his own uniform cap, missed it, then started for the foredeck without it. His
parrot squawked warningly and said a fairly understandable, “Mabel loves you, big boy!”



THERE was glazed heat and a motly assortment of commercial sailors on the foredeck of the ship. They
stood around trying to get their eyes in the shade of the cargo booms while they peered upward.

There was no activity visible in the crow's nest at which they looked. The nest was just a barrel-wart, up
above the signal crosstree, a somewhat cramped place for a man to be. It was slightly in need of paint.

The deck was wet, the scuppers running water. The wetness was the result of washing down the deck.
Evidently, a sailor had been engaged in this task when interrupted by the snowballing, because a hose
was lying on deck where it had been dropped, its valve-equipped nozzle spewing a small stream of
water.

“Did this have a beginning, Mr. Weed?” asked Captain Hardgrove.

“That one—“ Mr. Weed pointed at a sailor, then looked more closely at the man, changed his mind, and
indicated another sailor. “No, it was that one.” To the sailor: “Wasn't it you who started up to paint the
mast?"

“Aye, sir,” said the sailor.

“He started up the mast,” explained Mr. Weed. “It is a calm day. I gave orders to smear a little paint on
the mast. So he got his bucket—“ To the sailor: “You had your bucket of paint, didn't you?"

“And my brush,” said the sailor.

“And he started climbing up the mast,” finished Mr. Weed. “On the inside, of course. There is a ladder, a
steel one, up the inside of the hollow steel mast, and—“

“Damn it, Mr. Weed, I am vaguely familiar with my own boat,” said Captain Hardgrove. “I know it has a
hollow mast. I wonder if the same thing applies to some of the heads around here.” He looked upward.
“When did the snowballs start falling?"

“After I climbed about twenty feet,” said the sailor.

“What did you do?"

“I climbed right down again.”

“What did you think about the snowballs?” asked Captain Hardgrove.

“I didn't know what to think,” said the sailor.

“You and I,” said Captain Hardgrove, “have the same reactions. What did you say?"

“Say?"