Doc Savage: Skull Island (The Wild Adventures of Doc Savage) by Murray Will

Author:Murray, Will [Murray, Will]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Action and Adventure
Publisher: Altus Press
Published: 2013-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter XXVIII

CAPTAIN CLARK SAVAGE, SENIOR, walked around the fallen palm, frowning darkly. It was a very thick specimen, fully three feet around.

He gave his full attention to the splintered mass that was the stump. It remained attached to the fallen bole by long twisted strands of tough wood. It was evident that something powerful had brought it down.

“Kong?” wondered Doc.

“Nonsense!” retorted his father. “A hurricane could have done this. I have seen tropical cyclones that have uprooted entire groves of stout trees and twisted railroad tracks into fantastic shapes, by the relentless action of their concentrated wrath.”

Doc looked around. “There are other trees,” he pointed out. “They stand untouched.”

“A freak of nature,” Savage hurled back. “Tornados have been known to pluck children from their mother’s arms and deposit them safely in treetops or upon barn roofs.”

“I do not question this. But this break is fresh and there are no signs of tropical disturbance in the vicinity.”

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,” snapped the captain.

Doc regarded his father steadily. “That is a quote. It sounds familiar to me.”

“Conan Doyle, if you must know.”

“If I am not mistaken,” said Doc, “Sherlock Holmes spoke those words in ‘The Boscombe Valley Mystery.’”

“Holmes is a fictional character, sir. I am quoting an author, not a figment of said author’s imagination.”

Doc repressed a smile. “Then allow me to offer a counter quote from the same source. ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.’”

“I believe the actual statement to be, ‘Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.’”

“Both are factual,” stated Doc. “And you are changing the subject.”

“No giant ape did this, I tell you,” insisted the captain. “Again, from Doyle: ‘It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.’”

“‘There is nothing like first-hand evidence,’” countered Doc, stubbornly.

“‘You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.’”

“We are getting nowhere,” said Doc, secretly amused by his father’s knowledge of one of his favorite authors. “I suggest we look for spoor.”

They dispersed in three directions after Captain Savage gave Chicahua clear instructions not to stray far.

Doc had learned to read sign like a Red Indian. He began looking for subtle but telltale indications of tracks. He quickly found them.

Grass had been crushed and trampled in spots. The spots were very large. But studying them formed no clear impression in his mind. Mentally, he attempted to fit the footprint of a gigantic ape into these flat depressions. His calculations suggested an ape of incredible proportions, possibly twenty feet tall.

Doc dismissed these calculations out of hand. An ape of a dozen feet height was fantastic enough, but he had been half-willing to entertain it. But nearly twenty—? It was ridiculous on the face of it.

Still, facts were facts and spoor, spoor.

The tracks vanished into the tropical forest. Laying his Annihilator on the ground, Doc went up a woody, creeper-festooned cycad, found its topmost point, and peered in all directions.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.