Читать книгу The Men Who Smiled No More: A Doc Savage Adventure - Lawrence Donovan - Страница 6

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Harris Hooper Perrin hopped up when Doc Savage returned to the laboratory.

“You called somebody?” he said. “Maybe the police? What did they say? Have they found out anything?”

“I did not call the police,” advised Doc. “I believe more may be found in the brain of your night watchman than elsewhere. We will have to await developments. Have you ever seen a better collection of tropical fish?”

“Good grief, man! I’m ruined—ruined! You keep on talking about fish! And some of them are poison! I want to know what I can do to get back the jewels that are uninsured?”

“Yes, some of the fish are poison,” said Doc. “You can see them, those with the sharp spines, if you look closely.”

A sign over the tank read, “POISON FISH.”

But Perrin walked over and peered closely into the fish tank. Doc stood beside him. The fish flashed in myriad colors around what appeared to be one of those ornamental underwater castles to be found in large fish bowls.

Doc said suddenly, “We’ll have to await results. However, before daylight sets in, I want to visit your watchman at Bellevue. Immediately I’ll come to your office. I would like to go over the scene of the robbery.”

When Perrin had departed, Doc Savage returned to his laboratory. His movements seemed as irrelevant to the matter in hand as had his apparent determination to interest the excited lapidary in his tropical fish.

Doc reached into the fish tank. The bronze hand and his forearm were magnified for a moment in the clear water. He did not seem to fear for any poison the fish might transmit. Some of the spined variety brushed the smooth bronze skin. They left no mark.

Doc lifted out the small underwater castle. It came apart in his hands. Inside was a small black box. From this Doc extracted a black plate. He slid a photographic negative into a developing bath.

A few minutes later, the man of bronze exposed a print to a dim red light. It did not look as if he had much of a picture. Something might have gone wrong. All that appeared on the plate was a pair of eyes. The rest of the face was a gray blur.

But the eyes were greatly magnified.

Doc slipped the print and the plate into a steel filing cabinet. He seemed very well satisfied with what he had accomplished.

A few hours later, Doc Savage’s interview with Harris Hooper Perrin was a very strange one, in the light of Perrin’s pronounced views a short time before in getting back his diamonds. For now, he refused Doc all information necessary about the stolen gems.

At first, Doc was puzzled, but a direct gaze into the eyes of the lapidary told Doc the secret of the change in character. For Perrin, too, had the look of Smiling Tony, of Simon Stevens, of Henry Hawkins, the night watchman.

In the mechanical way of those afflicted with this unknown physical disability, Perrin answered a few of the questions put to him by the man of bronze. Doc gained from him the list giving descriptions of the stolen diamonds. This Doc imprinted on his mind. The stones were African diamonds, forty in number.

But the names of the owners, Doc could not get Perrin to reveal.

After this unfortunate interview, Doc left the office of the lapidary and returned to his headquarters office. By telephone, he got in touch with the estate of Simon Stevens, at Southampton, Long Island. The millionaire’s son, James Stevens, replied.

Doc inquired as to the condition of the shipping magnate, then said, “I’ve sent the noted Doctor Madren to see your father.”