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

earth.
    The attacker gave out a wild screech, then tried to wrestle the bronze man.
    Doc Savage invariably employed scientific methods in his fighting. This assailant did not. The sheer ferocity of his attack was enough to startle even the bronze giant.
    The savage cry must have been part of it. He vented another wild war whoop that froze the blood, as it was no doubt intended to do.
    For his part, Doc Savage appeared to take too long to size up his foe. Red hands reached for vital points in Doc’s anatomy.
    Doc batted those hands away with casual slaps. The other again looked startled. Twisting, he next tried to get one foot hooked around one of Doc’s ankles in an attempt to throw him to the ground.
    Doc disengaged, lifted his fists to block the Indian.
    One secret of the bronze man’s success was that he never employed more effort than was necessary. Doc believed in expending the minimum force to achieve the maximum result.
    That philosophy was being tested now.
    Enervated by an almost animal-like reservoir of strength, the redskin assailant refused to go down. His will to win verged on the indomitable.
    Doc tripped him. The man stumbled, bounced back on his feet.
    Doc reached out and slapped his opponent off his moccasins once more.
    The brave looked thoroughly shaken, but was erect before anyone could do anything about it.
    It became apparent that the bronze giant was fascinated by his foe. Doc seemed to be holding back, as if he wished to observe the other in action, the better to understand him.
    Doc moved in, had a little better luck with a Ju-Jitsu maneuver. The other hit the ground, and hard. He sprang back up, though, before Doc got hold of him again.
    The Indian was good. He was better than anyone Doc had encountered for a long time. It was almost never that he had a physical encounter with a man who was his equal.
    For the first few seconds, Doc got a pleasant thrill out of fighting the man. Then he began to get another feeling, which wasn’t a thrill. At least not a pleasant sort of a sensation.
    The feeling that Doc got—and he wasn’t very proud of it—was the fear that he was going to get licked at something at which he was among the best.
    The brave knew a species of rough Judo. He knew wrestling as per Frank Gotch, Strangler Lewis and the old-timers. He knew it according to the young grunt-and-groan school. He knew below-the-belt tactics.
    Taking hold of him was like taking hold of bundles of steel-wire cables covered with a good grade of buckskin. Keeping hold of him was something like trying to hold down a couple of panthers.
    Doc lost skin, some hair, nearly lost a tooth, and most of his dignity. He was glad to circle the other warily.
    Monk’s bellowing voice spoke up and changed everything.
    “Want me to hose him down with a few mercy bullets, Doc?” he asked.
    The redskin spun toward that voice, startled.
    His dark eyes fell upon the simian features of Monk Mayfair. They all but bugged out of his skull. He gave out a scream. Or was it a curse word? Then, somersaulting backward, he disappeared into the woods and their very deep night shadows.
    Doc whipped out his own flashlight and, motioning for the others to remain on the dirt path, went off in pursuit.
    The bronze man advanced a few paces, ears hunting sounds, and suddenly took to the trees. He raced along creaking and groaning boughs.
    But no trace of the other could he find.
    Doc used his nostrils, reasoning that the perspiration odors of a half-naked human being would lead him to his quarry. They got him only so far. Then he encountered a dead skunk, evidently freshly slain, and left there to overpower any such tracking.
    DISCOURAGED, the bronze man returned to the others.
    “You failed to best him,” said Ham, looking surprised.
    “He is very wily,” admitted Doc.
    “What did you make of him, Doc? He looked like the genuine article.”
    “He spoke like one, too,” admitted Doc. “When he saw Monk he yelled a word that meant,