Doc Savage: The Miracle Menace by Dent Lester & Murray Will & Robeson Kenneth

Author:Dent, Lester & Murray, Will & Robeson, Kenneth [Dent, Lester]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Action and Adventure
Publisher: Altus Press
Published: 2013-10-12T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter XXV

PROMISED LAND

GULLIVER GREENE sank back on his heels, then swallowed and got his astonishment down. He called softly, and Spook, who was sharpening a butcher knife grimly, sprang to his side.

“He was drugged, all right,” Gull said. “He’s coming out of it.”

He kneaded Christopher Columbus’ wrists, then tried liquor from a square bottle, which was considerably more effective.

“Maybe I can move—in time,” Columbus said haltingly.

Spook Davis leaned close to the man. “Who are you? And look, if you say ‘Christopher Columbus,’ they’ll have to put me in the booby hatch.”

“I am Don Christopher Columbus,” the man said in a thick, slurred voice.

Spook said, “Oo-o-o!” and grabbed fistfuls of his own hair.

“Do not conceive the wrong idea,” Christopher Columbus said earnestly. “I am fifty-one years old, not four hundred. I have not been continuously alive since the time of my own era.”

“That makes as much sense as the moon being composed of green curd and starfish,” Gulliver pointed out.

“Mine is a strange story, I will admit,” said Columbus. “In the Year of Our Lord 1503, I was shipwrecked with my men on the island of Santiago, in the West Indies, when I chased a strange man into an even stranger house. The house had not been there the day before. While in this accursed dwelling, I was overcome by a sorcerous spell, which robbed me of my senses, and when it was over, I escaped the house, only to find myself, lost and wandering, in an unfamiliar forest. That forest is not far from here.”

“Strange,” said Gulliver, “hardly describes that unbelievable yarn.”

“It is the truth,” said Columbus stiffly. “I am again shipwrecked, but in another era.”

The idea made the muscles creep in Gulliver’s long arms.

Spook Davis released his hair. He pulled a folding chair over and sat down on it, braced against the trailer motion. He beat his knees several times with his fists, then said, “Boy! Boy, is this something! Is it! What a whopper! I could eat worms, I’m that impressed.”

Christopher Columbus cleared his throat several times, then tried moving his head in different positions. But when he spoke, his voice timbre was still thick and his enunciation difficult to follow.

“It was some kind of narcotic they used on me,” he mumbled. “It’s wearing off.”

“Why did they drug you?” Gull asked intently.

“My curiosity got me that.” Columbus rolled his head. “I was taken in by the founder of the Silent Saints—”

“Founder?”

Columbus seemed to try to nod, but couldn’t. “The founder started it several years ago, along with some like-minded brethren. It was a good idea. Ivan Cass came along with plenty of money. We expanded and started sending our apostles all over the country.”

He stopped and his eyes studied them steadily, “Know why I am telling you this?”

“Eh?” Gull said.

“You were involved in this by no wish of your own—but wait, I will tell you the rest. It is simple. I noticed old Box Daniels acting worried. I began checking up on him. I found he had discovered

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.