"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 139 - Weird Valley" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

have gone back to Chiapas on visits. I think the longest interval that I allowed to elapse between visits
was four years, when I was in Europe studying. On some of these visits, I would see this old chap, Arctic
Davis, again. He liked me, I am sure. I can not say that I particularly liked Davis, but he fascinated me,
because there was something strange and mysterious about him. I could never figure out exactly what it
was, but the impression of mystery always persisted.”

“This old fellow who says his name is Methuselah Brown—is he Davis?” Ham asked.

“No, no. No indeed,” Rayburn said quickly. “Let me get to the point. Arctic Davis recently came to me
here in New York.”

“When was that?”

“Three days ago,” Doctor Rayburn replied. “I was quite surprised to see Davis, because I had never
heard him speak of leaving the Chiapas wilderness. But here was old Arctic Davis in New York—and he
had a most remarkable request. He didn't call it a request. He referred to it as a gift. He said the thing
was so unbelievable that he would not attempt to convince me, or even tell me what it was, by the use of
words. He would, instead, suggest that I examine a friend of his—he referred to the man as his very best
friend, in fact—and draw my own conclusions. The man to be examined turned out to be this old
Methuselah Brown, as he calls himself.”

“You examined him—Brown?” Ham asked.

“Yes.”

“What did you conclude?”

Doctor Rayburn's voice went up a few notches. And Ham suddenly realized that the specialist was
laboring under considerable emotional excitement. Rayburn was actually wrought up about this
Methuselah Brown business.

“I concluded that I had better have a man of Doc Savage's capability look into the thing,” Rayburn said.

Ham said, “But I would like to know exactly what—”

“Your curiosity is quite understandable, but I am sorry,” said Rayburn flatly. “I am going to keep my
conclusions to myself, and I will tell you why: frankly, they make me wonder if I'm not mentally
unbalanced. This is all the information I feel I should give you. You had better call Doc Savage. I'm sorry
if you are displeased. Good bye.”

And the specialist hung up.



Chapter II
MONK and Ham looked at each other blankly. The conversation with Rayburn was disturbing, because
they knew the specialist was not a flighty man.

“Rayburn was worked up,” Monk said, voicing an obvious conclusion.