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

blade, on which a wavy pattern was engraved, passed straight through his arm
without even leaving a scratch on it.
The crowd was struck dumb. Benedictov laughed. As he was putting the
knife away the husky man stepped towards him again.
"Give it here," he said. "I'll teach you to frighten people." He made a
grab for the knife but his hand closed over emptiness.
"Keep out of this!" Benedictov shouted. But the man twisted
Benedictov's arm, and the knife dropped to the deck, dangerously near the
edge. Several hands reached for it.
The next instant a slim figure in a sleeveless red dress pushed forward
through the crowd, ducked under the railing and dived down towards the
water, six metres below.
"Man overboard!" someone shouted.
Life preservers plopped into the sea and lifeboat tackle began to
creak. The ship started on a circle that would bring it back to the spot
where the passenger had fallen overboard. But this turned out to be
unnecessary. The white sailboat, then about a hundred metres from the ship,
made a wild turn into the wind. Listing heavily, the boat raced towards the
head bobbing among the waves.
As the crowd looked on, a tall, bronzed young man dived into the sea. A
few minutes later the red sun-dress was to be seen on the deck of the
sailboat.
The Uzbekistan approached the sailboat from the lee side.
"Any help needed?" the officer of the watch called out.
A woman's voice floated up. "No, thanks. They'll take me ashore."
The passengers excitedly discussed the rescue. Cameras were focussed on
the sailboat. Anatole Benedictov, his face white as a sheet, stood apart
from the crowd. He gripped the railing and stared down fixedly at the sea.
When Nikolai Opratin raised his head after looking in vain for the
knife on deck his eyes met the intent gaze of the husky man.
"A tricky little knife," the man remarked. "A pity the fishes will get
it."
Opratin turned away.


CHAPTER TWO


IN WHICH THE READER IS INVITED

TO GO SAILING TOGETHER WITH
THE MAIN CHARACTERS

Now let us turn back the clock a few hours and shift the scene to the
bazaar in that large town on the Caspian Sea.
It was Sunday, and the bazaar was so thickly packed with people that it
could have been described as a dense substance, all the constituent elements
of which were in constant motion. Motivated by the law of supply and demand,
buyers and sellers were attracted to one another like bodies possessing
different electric charges. They moved towards one another, overcoming an