Читать книгу The Submarine Mystery: A Doc Savage Adventure - Lester Bernard Dent - Страница 6
ОглавлениеPRINCE ALBERT
The men in uniforms peered into the limousine, and one of them said, “Say, aren’t you Monk and Ham, the two Doc Savage aids?”
The voice, heard through the armor-plate steel and bulletproof glass, was very faint. Monk lowered the window a trifle.
“That’s right,” he said. “We’re Monk and Ham.”
“Quite a coincidence,” said the uniformed man.
Monk said, “How do you mean?”
“One of the neighbors around here called the police and said there were some queer-acting characters around here,” the man in blue explained. “We came to investigate, and got here in time to catch them making a prisoner of Doc Savage.”
“The dickens you did!” Monk said.
“Yep. They had worked the dangdest gag on him. Bumped his car up inside a big steel moving van.”
“Is Doc all right?” Monk demanded anxiously.
“Sure.”
“That’s swell.” Monk opened the car door. “What’s it all about?”
“Why was Doc Savage grabbed, you mean?”
“Yeah. Why was he?”
“He says he don’t know. We don’t know, either. We can’t make head or tail of it. They just up and grabbed him.”
Monk muttered, “That’s queer.”
“You bet. It’s the dangdest thing.”
“Where are the birds who grabbed Doc? And where’s Doc?”
“They’re all in the house. You want to help us question the mugs who grabbed Doc?”
“I’ll say I do!” Monk scrambled out of the limousine. “I’ll bet I can make ’em talk. I’ll take the arms and legs off ’em!”
Monk started for the house. Ham got out of the limousine and followed him. Habeas Corpus and Chemistry also got out of the car and joined the procession. Habeas Corpus was a runty-looking pig with long legs, enormous ears and a snout built for exploring. Chemistry was a remarkable-looking ape which bore an astounding resemblance to the homely chemist, Monk.
Fully fifteen men sprang up out of the shrubbery without the slightest warning. They fell upon Monk and Ham. Monk began to roar and bellow as he always did when he fought, but the noise did not help much. Within seconds, he and Ham were flat on their backs and ropes were being tied around their ankles and wrists.
The man who had been spokesman of the fake cops took off his uniform cap and blue coat. Both Monk and Ham were then fascinated with the fellow’s width and his homeliness.
The wide man addressed one of his companions, a fellow who looked as if he was holding a bad oyster in his mouth.
“Henry,” the wide man said, “we’ll take them inside as soon as they are tied.”
“Aye, sire,” said the bilious-looking Henry.
“Where did the hog and the ape go, Henry?” the wide man asked.
“They ran away, sire,” Henry explained.
“Then you had better take some of the boys and run after ’em.”
“Aye,” Henry said.
The wide man now turned to Monk and Ham and showed his teeth with a kind of grim cheerfulness.
“I’m the Prince,” the wide man said.
Monk blinked. “Prince?”
“Prince Albert,” the man said.
“Who do you think you’re kiddin’?” Monk demanded.
“I’ll bite,” the man said. “Brother, when you hear me called anythin’ but Prince Albert, I’m your genie.”
“My what?”
“Genie. Came with Aladdin’s lamp, remember? Just rub me and make a wish.”
Monk and Ham exchanged speculative looks, wondering if their new acquaintance was touched in the head.
“Humph!” Monk said.
Prince Albert waved at Monk and Ham. “Take them inside,” he said, “and give them the full benefit of our accommodations.”
Monk and Ham were carried inside the house and placed in a room which had a low-beamed ceiling. Arrayed around the room were a number of remarkably heavy chairs.
Doc Savage was confined to one of these chairs by stout ankle-and-wrist manacles. The big bronze man looked at them and smiled slightly.
“A labyrinthine imbroglio, as Johnny would say,” he remarked.
“That’s probably it,” Monk said. “The words sound like they would about fit.”
Monk and Ham were now manacled to the large chairs. Monk lunged against the fastenings. He could take horseshoes in his two hands and change their shapes. However, the chair was too stout for him.
“Unusual chairs,” Doc Savage commented.
Prince Albert waved at the chairs. “Part of our special preparations for you birds.”
“Yeah?” Monk scowled.
Prince Albert grinned. “The welcomin’ party of fake cops wasn’t bad, either—or didn’t you think so?”
“Humph!” Monk grunted. “What’s the idea?”
“Wanted you out of the way.”
Monk peered intently at the man who called himself Prince Albert. “Never saw you before. Never heard of you before, either.”
“Have I claimed different?”
“What’re you up to?”
“Probably more than you suspect, I hope.”
Monk, scowling, said, “You haven’t got all our crowd out of the way. There’s three others left.”
“I know.” Prince Albert laughed. “Johnny Littlejohn, the archæologist, Long Tom Roberts, the electrical wizard, and Renny Renwick, the engineer. But they’re in Europe.”
Monk grimaced. “You’re pretty well posted.”
The other nodded.
“Considerin’ that we’re goin’ up against Doc Savage,” he said, “it would pay to be posted, don’t you think?” He frowned at Doc Savage. “I must say that I’d feel better if he looked more worried.”
At this point, Henry came in from outdoors. Sweat had soaked his clothing, and he held a fist against the left side of his chest and panted heavily.
Prince Albert scowled. “Haven’t you caught ’em?”
“Sire, they run like deer!”
“Get back out there,” said Prince Albert, “and run like deer yourselves.”
The sweating, panting Henry ran out grumbling.
Prince Albert now entered another room, where he changed clothes. He was very careful with the immaculate, expensively tailored garb which he had been wearing, but not so painstaking with what he put on. He donned a suit which looked as if it might have been taken off a not-too-self-respecting tramp.
He went back to the prisoners, seemed worried by Doc Savage’s lack of visible concern, and entertained himself examining the labels in Ham’s expensive clothing and wrinkling his homely nose scornfully.
“Tenth Avenue hand-me-down stuff,” he sneered. “These sack-makers haven’t any right to call themselves tailors.”
This was probably the one remark that would drive Ham wild. Berate him, slander his character, libel his ancestors, besmirch his associates, and he no more than took offense. But saying a bad word about his clothes was like killing his kid brother.
Ham turned purple, tried to say several things, and succeeded in sounding like a dog caught under a fence.
Henry came back into the room. He was panting harder than ever, and had removed his shirt to sweat more freely.
By one ear, Henry carried Habeas Corpus, the pig.
He puffed, “A rabbit, sire—could’st run—no faster!”
Prince Albert scowled. “What about the ape?”
“Sire, the men have it up a tree.”
Prince Albert walked over and peered at Habeas Corpus. He did not seem reassured.
“Better put that thing in a sack,” he ordered. “I can turn it loose when I need to exhibit it as my pet.”
This caused Monk to rear up in astonishment.
“Hey!” the homely chemist squawked. “You fixin’ to pass as me?”
“Think I’ll make it?” Prince Albert asked dryly.
Monk yelled, “What the blazes kind of game are you pullin’?”
“I’ll bet you two bits,” the homely man said, “that I get away with it.”
“What,” Monk howled, “is this all about?”
“Let’s not be pikers,” Prince Albert said. “Make it five dollars. What say? Five bucks I get away with being you.”
Monk buzzed. He had to be very mad before he buzzed.
Doc Savage spoke. He used ancient Mayan, an almost unknown language which he and his men employed when it was better that bystanders should not understand.
“Take it easy,” the bronze man advised. “As soon as he leaves, we’ll start a little campaign of our own.”
“Campaign?” Monk muttered.
“Let’s hope that describes it.”
Prince Albert scowled at them and said, “I don’t know what you’re sayin’, but if you know what’s good for you, don’t pull any shenanigans.”
“We wouldn’t think of it,” Monk said dryly.
Prince Albert snorted. Then he yelled, “Henry!”
“Aye.” The pickled-looking Henry appeared.
“Henry, you take a car and drive to the submarine and see that it is ready for sea as soon as possible,” Prince Albert ordered. “I think we’ve about got our business wound up, so we can vamoose.”
“But the prisoners, sire?” Henry ventured.
“I’ll leave ’em here under guard. You go to the submarine, Henry.”
“Aye,” Henry said.
