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

“A hundred and two, the thermometer says,” corrected Captain Hardgrove vaguely.

Dr. Cunico considered the point, then rendered an opinion. “You sound as crazy as the patient. What is
it, an epidemic? I've always expected one of such a nature on this twentieth-century Noah's Ark.”

“You think he is nuts, then?” asked the skipper judiciously.

“You think there were snowballs?” countered Dr. Cunico.

The skipper rubbed his jaw. “He thinks we are touched, Mr. Weed. Shall I tell him you were the one
who saw the snowballs?”

Dr. Cunico made an impatient gesture. “Will you take this bag of tricks and get out of here. I think this
man had some ribs broken by your sailors. I want to take some X rays.”

The captain and the first officer stepped outside, having learned the state of the man from the crow's nest,
which was what they had come to learn. The fellow probably had broken ribs.

“One thing we didn't find out,” said Mr. Weed as they walked toward the bridge. “Did Dr. Cunico think
he was crazy?”

The skipper grunted. “I don't know what he thinks. I know what I think.”



HALF an hour later, Dr. Cunico appeared on the bridge with a request. “I would like to use the
ship-to-shore radio and charge it to the company. What about it?"

Captain Hardgrove shook his head. “The company would scream its damn head off. You know that.”

Dr. Cunico looked at the captain steadily. “I got the fellow's stomach in one of those X-ray pictures,” he
said. “I think I had better use the ship-to-shore radio.”

The captain grimaced. “You want to ask a better doctor than yourself what to do, eh? I always did think
you were incompetent.”

“I'm incompetent in this case,” said Dr. Cunico, and there was a strangeness in his voice that did not miss
the skipper.

“Go ahead and use the radio,” Captain Hardgrove said narrowly. “Then report back here.”

Dr. Cunico was gone a full hour. Then he came back.

“You been on the radio all this time?” the skipper demanded.

“Practically,” admitted Dr. Cunico.

“The company will cough up its gallstones when it gets the bill,” said Captain Hardgrove bitterly.

Dr. Cunico's face was serious. He said, “That X ray showed a metallic object in the man's stomach. I