"Yuri Olesha. The three fat men (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

heart, for it was jumping like an egg in boiling water.
Tibul stopped for a second at the edge of the roof. He had to get to
the other side of the square-then he could escape to the workers' quarters.
The officer stood in the middle of the square, in a bed of blue and
yellow flowers. Beside him was a pool and a fountain spouting from a round
stone bowl.
"Wait!" the officer said to the soldiers. "I'll shoot him down myself.
I'm the best shot in the regiment. I'll show you how it's done. Look!"
Nine steel cables stretched from the nine houses surrounding the square
to the centre of the glass top. They supported the Star. It was just as if
nine long black rays had spread over the square from the Star's wonderful
flame.
Who knows what Tibul was thinking then? He was probably saying to
himself: "I'll cross over the square on this wire, as I walked a rope at the
fair. I won't fall. This cable is attached to the lamp. The other one goes
from the lamp to the house on the other side. If I cross both cables, I'll
reach the other side and safety."
The officer raised his gun and took aim. Tibul walked along the edge of
the roof to where the cable began, stepped on to it and began moving along
it towards the lamp.
The crowd gasped.
He would move very slowly, then, suddenly, he would take several quick
steps, nearly running, but placing his feet carefully and balancing with his
outstretched arms. It looked as if he would fall at any minute. His shadow
now appeared on the wall. The closer he got to the lamp, the bigger and
paler his shadow became, the lower it slid down the wall.
It was a long drop to the ground.
When he was halfway to the lamp, the officer's voice boomed out:
"I'm going to shoot! He'll fall right into the pool. One! Two! Three!"
There was a loud bang.
Tibul continued along the cable, but for some strange reason it was the
officer who toppled into the pool.
He had been shot.
One of the Guards held a smoking pistol. He had just killed the
officer.
"You dog!" said the Guard. "You wanted to kill a friend of the people,
but I stopped you in time. Long live the people!"
"Long live the people!" the other Guards shouted.
"Long live the Three Fat Men!" their enemies shouted and began shooting
at Tibul from all sides.
He was now only two steps from the lamp. Tibul flapped his cape to keep
the blinding light from his eyes. Bullets whizzed past him. The crowd below
shouted with joy.
Bang! Bang!
"Missed him!"
"Hooray! They missed!"
Tibul climbed on to the iron ring of the lamp.
"Just wait!" his enemies threatened. "He wants to cross to the other
side. We'll get him when he goes down the other cable."
Suddenly something quite unexpected happened. The striped figure, which