"E.Voiskunsky, I.Lukodyanov. The Crew Of The Mekong (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

and-oh, well, you understand."
Opratin nodded sympathetically. "Yes, I do. By the way, I didn't know
you went in for sailing."
'"Indeed?"
"I saw you in a sailboat last Sunday."
"Where were you?"
"Aboard the Uzbekistan."
"Well, well. Why did you drop a lady overboard?"
Opratin's thin lips spread in a faint smile.
"It wasn't me who dropped her," he said. "There was some sort of row on
deck. I don't know whether she was pushed overboard or just fell in. It
seemed to me she was holding some metal object in her hand."
"A metal object?" Privalov glanced at Nikolai. "Did you see anything
like that when you fished her out of the sea?"
"The only metal I saw was the buckles of her sandals."
Opratin rose. "Anyway, there was something else about that particular
spot besides the rescue of the lady. I saw bubbles rising to the surface.
Could have been natural gas, couldn't it?"
"It could. You ought to inform the gas experts."
"How can I if I don't know the exact spot? It's not like on shore,
where you have landmarks."
"If I remember rightly, the TV tower was straight ahead of us at that
moment," said Nikolai. "The refrigeration plant was at right angles to it.
The No. 18 buoy in the channel was about a hundred metres to the north.
Those points should be enough to find it, I think."
"Thank you," said Opratin. "I'll be expecting you tomorrow." He said
goodbye and left.


CHAPTER FOUR


ABOUT A DROP THAT WAS DROP-SHAPED


They left the Institute together and walked down the street in the
bright sunshine.
"Why do you think she fell overboard, Yura?" Nikolai asked.
Yura grinned. "Beware of women who fall overboard. I shouldn't rescue
them if I were you."
"Oh, shut up," Nikolai growled, and quickened his steps.
The woman in the red sun-dress was not exactly preying on his mind, but
there was something about her narrow, dark-eyed face, framed in fair hair,
that vaguely disturbed him. He had a feeling he had seen that face somewhere
before.
She was, of course, an unusual woman. She had not shown a trace of fear
in the sea. When he swam over to her she had said, "No need to rescue me.
I'm a good swimmer." By that time the sailboat was beside them. Yura had
heeled into the wind so sharply that the starboard side was level with the
water and Nikolai did not even have to help the woman climb into the boat.