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

“Yes. A statue of Renaticus. I told him where it was. He thanked me.”

“Who,” asked Monk, “is or was Renaticus?”

“Blessed if I know,” said the guide. “Some big shot back about the days of Columbus, I think. I don't
know much about him. Never heard of him before, in fact.”

Ham Brooks said, “Come on. Let's see what Renny wants with an old Spaniard named Renaticus.”

Monk thought of something and snorted. “Renaticus,” he said. “And Renny. Wonder if Renaticus was an
ancestor of Renny, or something?”

They overhauled Renny in time to witness a rather remarkable performance. When they first saw him in
front of the statue, Renny was merely standing there, staring at it. His attitude was one of tension, with his
arms down at his side and his body tilted forward slightly in a stiff manner.

They gazed at the statue of Renaticus with interest.

Renaticus, or his statue, was very large. There was a kind of iron-fisted formidability about Renaticus in
statue form that indicated he must have been an individual of strong qualities in real life.

“Jeepers!” Monk gasped.

Ham had seen it, too. All of them had. The unexpected quality of the statue of Renaticus.

But there was no time for comment because Renny Renwick suddenly seized the brass stanchion which
supported a velvet rope that was there to keep spectators from getting too close to the statues. Renny
tore this stanchion out by its roots and used the pipe to beat the statue of Renaticus to fragments.

Renny howled as he destroyed. He bellowed in a mad rage and wielded his club with frenzied violence.
He picked up fragments of the statue and hurled them against the floor and the walls. He seized half of
Renaticus' head and smashed it to the floor, then jumped on the fragments.

He broke off one of the big statue's hands and beat at it with the pipe as if he was killing a snake.

Renny's screaming-part of it profanity-and the noise he was making, brought museum attendants running.
They saw what probably struck them as a madman destroying museum property. They closed in.

Renny fought them off. He apparently had no animosity against the attendants, but did not want any
interference until he had finished with destroying the statue. When he had smashed head, arms, legs, feet,
and one shoulder off the statue, he beat his pipe against Renaticus' solid stomach until the pipe was
shapeless.

Then, realization of what he was doing seemed to come to Renny. He turned and ran.

Monk said, “Long Tom, Johnny-keep track of him! Don't let these fellows get him. But keep track of
him.”

Monk clamped his hat on his head and made for another door.