"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 117 - They Died Twice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

then?”

Renny stared blankly, then shook his head with care. “I didn't mean-that,” he said. “I ate-regularly.”

For some reason or other, this was a lie, too. It was plain that he had made up his mind to tell them no
truth whatever.

They studied Renny. He did not look in the least, sitting there, like Colonel John Renny Renwick, the civil
and mechanical engineer whose accomplishments were known all over the world, and whose textbooks
were so advanced that they gave headaches to engineering instructors in the highest technological
colleges.

He was emaciated. His eyes were sunken and there were dark hollows under them. His skin had an old
cardboard quality-cardboard that had been rained upon. His clothes were disheveled, slept in, untidy.

“Look, Renny,” said Monk kindly, “if you have any friends in the world, we are they. Now tell us what
happened to you.”

Renny sat there in complete terror.

“Nothing,” he said.

Monk got the others to one side. “We won't tell Doc about this yet,” he said. “But we'll keep close tab
on Renny. Something has sure gone wrong with him.”



THAT afternoon, Renny went to the Museum of Art. He started out walking, or, rather, blindly pushing
his way through the crowds on the street. It struck Monk and the others, who were trailing him, that his
mind was so upset that it did not occur to him to get on a bus, subway or streetcar. It was obvious from
the moment he started out that he had a definite destination, which proved to be the art museum.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is not devoted entirely to paintings, as its name might imply. It contains
the art of the centuries, back through all the days of mankind, wherever man has created beauty or skill
that lives.

Renny Renwick went to the section devoted to old Spanish art. He did not seem to know what he was
seeking, and asked questions of a guide. He received instructions and walked on.

Monk and the others were careful not to let Renny see them. They cornered the guide. “What did that
fellow want to know?” Monk asked.

“The fellow with the big fists, you mean?” asked the guide.

“Right.”

“He wanted to know if we had anything on Renaticus, of the Spanish fifteenth century.”

“Have you?”