Speaker 1: A worried about the price of butter and eggs, fed
Speaker 1: up with a housing shortage, want to get away from
Speaker 1: it all.
Speaker 2: CBS offers you Escape.
Speaker 1: You are alone and unarmed in the green hell of
Speaker 1: a Caribbean jungle. You're being trailed by a pack of
Speaker 1: fiercely hungry dogs and a mad hunter armed for the killed.
Speaker 1: A mad hunter who believes that you, a human being,
Speaker 1: are the most Dangerous Game.
Speaker 2: The Columbia Broadcasting System and That's Affiliated stations present Escape,
Speaker 2: produced by William N. Robson and directed tonight by Richard Sandville.
Speaker 2: Escape carefully planned to free you from the four walls
Speaker 2: of today. Free you for a half hour of high adventure.
Speaker 1: Tonight, I escaped to an island in the Caribbean and
Speaker 1: the weird sportsmanship of a madman. As Richard Klo tells
Speaker 1: it in his Unforgettable story The Most Dangerous Game.
Speaker 3: My name is Rainsford. You may have heard of me.
Speaker 3: I make my living hunting big game for many of
Speaker 3: the major museums of the world, guiding parties of sportsmen
Speaker 3: on safari in Africa, Tibetan, South America.
Speaker 4: Perhaps you've had.
Speaker 3: Occasion to run across some of my books but even
Speaker 3: if you have, there's one incident you won't find described
Speaker 3: in them. The full story of my most terrible hunt.
Speaker 3: It all began on board a private yacht and route
Speaker 3: to Rio Whitney. My host and I were smoking our
Speaker 3: pipes on deck, lounging back in steamer chairs, enjoying the
Speaker 3: sensuous drowsiness of the warm night.
Speaker 4: Good dinner, Eh, excellent fit. I ate too much though.
Speaker 5: Care for some gin? Rummy?
Speaker 6: Oh no, I don't care to move all right er.
Speaker 6: There's a rather large island off there the right somewhere.
Speaker 6: It's uh something of a mystery.
Speaker 4: Really, I didn't know what island? Is it?
Speaker 6: The old charts call it ship trap island. Suggestive name,
Speaker 6: isn't it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place,
Speaker 6: some superstition.
Speaker 4: Mmm. I can't see it.
Speaker 6: Well, you have good eyes, but even you can't see
Speaker 6: four miles or so through a moonless Caribbean night.
Speaker 4: No, not even four yards. It is dark, isn't it.
Speaker 6: It'll be lighting up and reo. But by the way,
Speaker 6: I hope the guns have come from parties. We should
Speaker 6: have some good jaguar hunting up the Amazon Great sport
Speaker 6: hunting that's in the world. Yeah, for the hunter, not
Speaker 6: for the jaguar. Why not, They've no understanding even so,
Speaker 6: I rather think they understand one thing. Fear, the fear
Speaker 6: of pain, the fear of death.
Speaker 4: Huh or Rod Whitney, Who cares how the jaggar feel?
Speaker 5: Perhaps the jaguar does.
Speaker 3: Oh, you're a big game hunter, not a philosopher. Look,
Speaker 3: the world is made up of two classes, the hunter
Speaker 3: and the hundred. We're lucky enough to be the hunters.
Speaker 3: Do you think we've passed that island.
Speaker 5: Yet and can't tell them the dark? I hope? So?
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 6: Oh, the place has a reputation, a bad one cannibals. Uh,
Speaker 6: hardly even cannibals wouldn't live in such an isolated spot.
Speaker 6: But it's gotten into sailor's legends somehow. Did you notice
Speaker 6: the crew seemed jumpy today?
Speaker 4: Yes, they were a bit strange, now that you mentioned them.
Speaker 6: Yes, it's a sort of dread, a kind of mental chill.
Speaker 6: I'll be hanged if I haven't felt it myself.
Speaker 4: Ah, pure imagination.
Speaker 3: But one superstitious sailor can infect a whole ship's company
Speaker 3: with this fear.
Speaker 6: Maybe sometimes sailors have an extra sense which tells them
Speaker 6: when they're in danger.
Speaker 5: Enough of that, I think I'll turn in.
Speaker 4: I'm not sleepy. I'll just have another pipe.
Speaker 5: Oh, good night, then see you in the morning.
Speaker 4: Yes, good night with me.
Speaker 3: It was very dark, so dark I could have slept
Speaker 3: without closing my eyes. The night would have been my eyelids.
Speaker 3: I puffed at my pipe, got drowsy. Then I was
Speaker 3: wide awake. A gun out there in the water, A gun.
Speaker 3: I sprang to the rail, strained my eyes in the
Speaker 3: direction of those shots, but I couldn't see a thing.
Speaker 3: I leaped up on the rail to get better elevation,
Speaker 3: and my pipe striking A rope was knocked out of
Speaker 3: my mouth. I lunged for it, and tight fingers closed
Speaker 3: around my heart as I realized I'd reached too far
Speaker 3: and lost my balance.
Speaker 1: Ah.
Speaker 3: The blood warm waters of the Caribbean closed over my head.
Speaker 3: When I came to the surface, the wash from the
Speaker 3: speeding yacht slapped salt water into my mouth, making me
Speaker 3: gag and strangling me.
Speaker 4: I coughed and spat it out and found my voice.
Speaker 5: Help help hal.
Speaker 3: The lights from the boat moved steadily away. They quickly
Speaker 3: became faint fireflies and then they were blotted out by
Speaker 3: the night.
Speaker 4: I struggled out of.
Speaker 3: My clothes and turned to the direction from which I'd
Speaker 3: heard those shots. I began swimming, slowly, conserving my strength.
Speaker 3: For an endless time, I fought the sea. Then I
Speaker 3: began to count my strokes. Thought I could possibly do
Speaker 3: another hundred before someone was shooting game, almost at my
Speaker 3: very elbow. It seemed gave me fresh vitality. I swam
Speaker 3: towards the sand. Then I was in the breakers. In
Speaker 3: another moment, I was dragging myself from the swirling waters,
Speaker 3: pulling myself hand over hand on to the narrow beach, gasping,
Speaker 3: panting for breadth. I saw that the dense jungle came
Speaker 3: down to the edge of the cliff, and I was
Speaker 3: on land, unblessed land, safe on the soft, warm sand.
Speaker 3: I awoke late in the afternoon, a sharp hunger picking
Speaker 3: at me. As I slowly came to my feet, I saw,
Speaker 3: not far from where I'd been lying, signs of a
Speaker 3: terrible struggle in the underbrush that sloped so sharply to
Speaker 3: the beach, some wounded thing. Evidently a large animal had
Speaker 3: thrashed about there in its death fight, almost at my
Speaker 3: feet was a small glittering object, an empty cartridge from
Speaker 3: a twenty two.
Speaker 4: That was hard. The hunter had had his nerve to
Speaker 4: tackle a large brutelet so small a gun. I examined
Speaker 4: the ground closely and found what I'd hoped for, the
Speaker 4: print of hunting boots. They pointed up toward a recess
Speaker 4: in the cliff, and I hurried quickly after them, for
Speaker 4: night was beginning to settle on the island. It was
Speaker 4: already dark when I came upon it. First I thought
Speaker 4: it was a village. There were so many lights, But
Speaker 4: as I came.
Speaker 3: Closer, I saw that all the lights were in one building,
Speaker 3: a chateau on a high bluff. In a few moments,
Speaker 3: my bare feet were patting up stone steps, and I
Speaker 3: stood in front of the massive oaken door. Good evening.
Speaker 3: Please don't be alarmed. There's no need for that gun.
Speaker 3: I'm no Robbert. It sounds silly, but I fell off
Speaker 3: a yacht. My name is Sanger Rainsford, of New York City.
Speaker 3: He was certainly not alarmed by me. This giant, who
Speaker 3: stood facing me, the revolver in his hand continued to
Speaker 3: point steadily at my chest, and the man behind it
Speaker 3: was solidly built and black bearded to the waist and silent.
Speaker 3: He waved me in with the gun and closed the
Speaker 3: door behind me. I was in a huge hall, but
Speaker 3: there was no time to look around. Another man was
Speaker 3: coming down the broad marble stairs, an erect slender man
Speaker 3: in evening clothes. I stepped toward him. I've just been
Speaker 3: explaining to this chap that I've had an accident. My
Speaker 3: name is Sanger Rainsford.
Speaker 7: It's a great pleasure and honor to welcome mister Rainsford
Speaker 7: to celebrate hunter to my home.
Speaker 4: Well, thank you.
Speaker 7: I've read your book. I'm hunting snow leopards in Tibet.
Speaker 7: I'm General Zarov.
Speaker 4: Believe me, General. I'm very happy to see.
Speaker 7: Althright, Evan, you can put down that gun. This gentleman
Speaker 7: is a guest. Ivan is an incredibly strong fellow, but
Speaker 7: he has the misfortune to be a mute, a simple thing,
Speaker 7: but a bit of a savage.
Speaker 4: I'm even happy to see him.
Speaker 5: Come.
Speaker 7: We should not be chatting here. You want clothes, food, dressed,
Speaker 7: you shall have them. This is a most RESTful spot.
Speaker 4: I can't tell you how grateful I have.
Speaker 7: Is my pleasure. Follow Ivan, if you please mister Rainsford,
Speaker 7: I was about to have my dinner, but it can wait.
Speaker 7: I think my clothes will fit you.
Speaker 3: I followed the man into a huge beam ceiling bedroom
Speaker 3: with a canopy bed large enough for six men. Ivan
Speaker 3: silently laid out an evening suit. As I put it on,
Speaker 3: I noticed that came from a London tailor. Hmmm, and
Speaker 3: Whitney called this place too isolated, even for cannibals. I
Speaker 3: went downstairs and sat down opposite Zarav in a dining
Speaker 3: room that suggested a baronial hall of feudal times. The
Speaker 3: food was excellent.
Speaker 7: Perhaps you were surprised that I recognized your name, but
Speaker 7: I read all books on hunting published in English, French
Speaker 7: and Russian. I have but one passion in life, and
Speaker 7: that is the hunt.
Speaker 4: Why I noticed you have some wonderful heads here, But
Speaker 4: I cape buffalo over there is the largest I've ever seen.
Speaker 7: Oh that fellow, Yes, he charged me, threw me against
Speaker 7: the tree, fractured my skull, but I got the brute.
Speaker 4: I've always thought the Cape buffalo the most dangerous of
Speaker 4: all big game.
Speaker 7: No, the Cape buffalo is not the most dangerous. No,
Speaker 7: here in my preserve, on this island, I hunted more dangerous.
Speaker 7: Game is a big game on this island, the biggest really,
Speaker 7: Oh it is not here. Naturally, I had to stock
Speaker 7: the well.
Speaker 4: What have you imported? General? Tigers?
Speaker 7: No hunting tigers seas to interest me when I exhausted
Speaker 7: their possibilities. There is no trail left in tigers, no
Speaker 7: real danger. I live for a danger cigarette. Mister, answer please,
Speaker 7: we will have some capital hunting you and I.
Speaker 4: But what gain?
Speaker 7: I'll tell you you will be amused.
Speaker 5: I know.
Speaker 7: I think I may say in all modesty that I
Speaker 7: have done a rare thing. I have invented a new sensation.
Speaker 7: May I put you another glass of port? I have
Speaker 7: been a hunter all my life, but after many years
Speaker 7: of enjoyment I founded the hunt no longer fascinated me.
Speaker 7: It had ceased to be what you call a sporting proposition.
Speaker 7: I always got my quarry always, and there is no
Speaker 7: greater bore than perfection than you were a very good hunter, General.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 7: No, I had merely discovered that the animal has nothing
Speaker 7: but his legs and his instincts. Instinct is no match
Speaker 7: for reason. When I realized this, it was a tragic
Speaker 7: moment for me. As I told you, I loved to hunt,
Speaker 7: and then it came to me as an inspiration what
Speaker 7: I must do, and that was I had to invent
Speaker 7: a new animal.
Speaker 4: To hunt, a new animal.
Speaker 7: Why your joke, I assure you, I am not sir,
Speaker 7: a new animal, And so I found one. I bought
Speaker 7: this island, built this house, and here I do my hunting.
Speaker 7: The island is perfect for my purpose. There are jungles
Speaker 7: with a maze of trails in them, hills, swarms, and
Speaker 7: the animal generals are It supplies me with the most
Speaker 7: intense excitement of all. I never grow bored now, for
Speaker 7: I have a quarry with which I can match my wits,
Speaker 7: an ideal quarry with courage, cunning, and above all reason.
Speaker 4: But no animal can reason, my dear fellow, there is
Speaker 4: one that can. I can't believe you're serious. That is
Speaker 4: some grisly jo.
Speaker 7: Of course I'm serious. I'm speaking of hunting.
Speaker 4: You're speaking of murder.
Speaker 7: Surely your experience isn't the noise and we can don't
Speaker 7: cold blooded murder. I'll wager you forget your notions when
Speaker 7: you go hunting with me.
Speaker 5: Are you a genuine you?
Speaker 7: Thrilling stuff for you, mister Rains, Thank.
Speaker 4: You I'm a hunter, not a murderer.
Speaker 7: Oh dear me that unfortunate word again. But I hand
Speaker 7: this scum of the earth sailors from tramp ships, lascars,
Speaker 7: mong What do you get them? This island is called
Speaker 7: ship trap. There is a row of lights out there
Speaker 7: on the reef, which indicate a channel where there is none,
Speaker 7: only rocks. I control the lights from my tower.
Speaker 4: You wreck the ships, and then you shoot down the men.
Speaker 7: But I treat my visitors with every consideration. They got
Speaker 7: plenty of good food and exercise. They get into splendid
Speaker 7: physical condition. You shall see for yourself tomorrow. Would you
Speaker 7: like some more port?
Speaker 4: What shall I see? Tomorrow?
Speaker 7: We'll visit my training school. It's in the cellar. I
Speaker 7: have about a dozen there now, sailors in theory, a lot,
Speaker 7: I regret to say, more accustomed to the deck than
Speaker 7: the jungle evan.
Speaker 5: We'll have a coffee, now.
Speaker 7: Thick Turkish coffee strains for very good. No, is your
Speaker 7: appetite quite gone?
Speaker 4: No coffee, thank you? Just one.
Speaker 7: T is a game, you see. I suggest to one
Speaker 7: of them that we go hunting. I give him three
Speaker 7: hours start. I am to follow, armed only with pistol
Speaker 7: of smallest caliber and range. My quarry eludes me for
Speaker 7: three whole days. He wins the game. If I find him.
Speaker 5: He loses.
Speaker 4: And if he refuses to be hunted, oh.
Speaker 7: I give him the option. If he won't hunt, I
Speaker 7: turned him over to Ivan here. Evan once served as
Speaker 7: official executioner to the Great White Czar, and he has
Speaker 7: his own ideas of sport. Invariably they choose the hunt
Speaker 7: and if they win. To date, I have not lost.
Speaker 7: I don't wish you to think me a bragger. Once
Speaker 7: did almost win. Eventually I had to use the dogs.
Speaker 4: Dog.
Speaker 7: Just step over here to the window moment. I want
Speaker 7: you to see my courtyard. Go ahead, mister Rainefold, open
Speaker 7: the window. Please that I have a dozen as you
Speaker 7: can say, they are let out at seven every night.
Speaker 7: If anyone should try to get into my house or
Speaker 7: out of it, it would be regrettable. And now I
Speaker 7: want to show you my new collection of heads. Will
Speaker 7: you come with me to the library.
Speaker 4: I hope you'll excuse me tonight, I'm really not feeling
Speaker 4: it all.
Speaker 7: Well, Oh, I am sorry. You need a good RESTful
Speaker 7: night's sleep. Tomorrow you'll feel like a new man, and
Speaker 7: then we'll hunt I wonder at the promising prospect, but.
Speaker 4: I was already hurrying from the room and up the
Speaker 4: marble stairway, him calling after me.
Speaker 8: So you can't go with me to night? I expect
Speaker 8: rather fair sport, a big, strong daty from west coast
Speaker 8: of Africa.
Speaker 3: The bed was good. I was tired, but I didn't sleep.
Speaker 3: I didn't toss her turn, I didn't move. I just
Speaker 3: lay rigidly in one spot, my eyes on the ceiling,
Speaker 3: my arms tight against my side, my breathing slow and heavy,
Speaker 3: my mind empty, waiting, waiting. The inky black was just
Speaker 3: beginning to dissolve, A thin line of gray was just
Speaker 3: beginning to seep insidiously.
Speaker 4: Into my room. When Zarov found his quarry, then I
Speaker 4: suppose I slept. When I awoke, the sun's shadows were
Speaker 4: already slanting through my room. Must have been well afternoon.
Speaker 4: I came down to find General Tzara pouring himself a
Speaker 4: glass of brandy by the sideboy.
Speaker 7: Mister Rainsford, feeling better, I trust, Yes, I wish I
Speaker 7: could say the same. No, I'm not well. Hunting was
Speaker 7: no good last night. He made a straight trail, offered
Speaker 7: no problems at all.
Speaker 4: General, I want to leave the island at once.
Speaker 7: Mister Rainsford. Tonight we will hunt you.
Speaker 4: And I no general, I've told you I will not hunt.
Speaker 7: I beg you to reconsider. My idea of sport is
Speaker 7: much more diverting than evan h.
Speaker 4: You mean that, yeah, you and I.
Speaker 7: It's really an inspiration, a foeman worthy of my steel.
Speaker 7: At last you'll find this game worth playing. Rainsford, your
Speaker 7: brain against mine, your woodcraft against mine, Your strength and
Speaker 7: stammina against mine. Outdoor chase and the steak is not
Speaker 7: without value.
Speaker 5: Eh.
Speaker 7: And if I win, If I do not find you
Speaker 7: by midnight of the third day, then I am defeated.
Speaker 7: My sloop will place you on the mainland near it Town.
Speaker 7: Oh you can trust me. I give you my word
Speaker 7: as a gentleman and as a sportsman. Of course, you
Speaker 7: in turn must agree to say nothing of your visit here.
Speaker 4: I'll agree to say nothing of the kind.
Speaker 7: Well that okay, Why discuss it now? Three days from
Speaker 7: now we can chat about it over a bottle of
Speaker 7: Clicko unless and I listen, Raine. Fact even they'll supply
Speaker 7: you with hunting clothes, food, and if I suggest you
Speaker 7: wear moccasins.
Speaker 4: They live a poor trail.
Speaker 7: I suggest to you avoid the big swamp in the
Speaker 7: southeast corner of the island. There's a quick sum there,
Speaker 7: and now you want to start now that I shall
Speaker 7: not follow until dusk. Hunting at night is so much
Speaker 7: more exciting than by day, don't you think, mister Rainsford,
Speaker 7: Good hunting.
Speaker 3: I kept telling myself through tight teeth, and I had
Speaker 3: to keep my head, keep my head. My first idea
Speaker 3: had been to put distance between my self and Tzarev,
Speaker 3: and so I plunged into the jungle in a blind panic.
Speaker 3: Before long I shook it off and stopped straight. Flight
Speaker 3: was futile. It would only bring me out to the sea.
Speaker 3: Then I hit upon the idea of giving him a
Speaker 3: trail to follow. I would begin our dangerous game by
Speaker 3: playing the fox. For more than two hours, I went
Speaker 3: through the trackless wilderness, executing a series of intricate loops,
Speaker 3: doubling again and again on my trail. Night found me
Speaker 3: leg weary, with hands and face lashed by the branches.
Speaker 3: I needed rest badly, and having played the fox, I
Speaker 3: decided now to play the cat.
Speaker 4: I climbed into the crutch of a huge tree.
Speaker 3: An apprehensive night crawled slowly by like a wounded snake.
Speaker 3: Then at dawning, a startled bird suddenly screamed, and I
Speaker 3: flattened against the bow. Through a screen of leaves as
Speaker 3: thick as tapestry, I saw the General came slowly, his
Speaker 3: eyes fixed on the ground almost beneath my tree. He
Speaker 3: paused and went down on one knee, studying the ground.
Speaker 3: I would have gone from leaping the way a panther does,
Speaker 3: except for the small automatic in his right hand. After
Speaker 3: a seemingly endless time, he came back to his feet.
Speaker 4: His eyes left the ground and traveled inch by inch
Speaker 4: up the tree like froze. Every muscle tensed for a spring.
Speaker 4: But the hunter's eyes stopped just before they reached the
Speaker 4: limb on which I lay. A slow smile spread over
Speaker 4: his brown face.
Speaker 5: Oh, range folk, where can you have gone?
Speaker 8: Wherever are you?
Speaker 5: You? Clever down?
Speaker 7: I simply must go home and lie down a bit
Speaker 7: to think this home.
Speaker 3: The pander bear burst hotly from my lungs as he
Speaker 3: turned back and disappeared. So the General was playing with me,
Speaker 3: was saving me for another day's sport. Zarah was the
Speaker 3: cat and I was the mouse. In that moment, I
Speaker 3: knew the real meaning of terror. I slipped from the
Speaker 3: tree and set off into the woods. I'd only gone
Speaker 3: a few hundred yards when I found a huge dead
Speaker 3: tree leaning against a smaller living one.
Speaker 4: I pulled my knife from its sheath and set to work.
Speaker 3: When the job was finished, I threw myself down behind
Speaker 3: a log a hundred feet away.
Speaker 4: How long I waited I don't know. It seemed like days.
Speaker 4: It's probably only a few hours. Then he was coming again,
Speaker 4: with the sureness of a bloodhart. Nothing. Nothing escaped those
Speaker 4: searching black eyes.
Speaker 3: No crushed blade of grass, no bent twig, no mark,
Speaker 3: however faint in the moss. He was so intent on
Speaker 3: his stocking. It was upon the thing before he saw it,
Speaker 3: his foot touching the protruding branch that was the trigger.
Speaker 3: The dead tree delicately adjusted to rest, and the cut
Speaker 3: living one crashed heavily to the earth. And I waited
Speaker 3: yet another moment, not daring to look up and see
Speaker 3: if it really had done its work.
Speaker 8: Rainsford, if you're within the sound of my boys, let
Speaker 8: me congratulate you. There aren't many men who know how
Speaker 8: to make a melee man catcher. Hey, I'm a lucky man, rate,
Speaker 8: but my reflectors are still good. Did you see me
Speaker 8: spring back even while it was falling? Rainford? Can you
Speaker 8: hear me? You are proving interesting. I'm going back now
Speaker 8: to have my woundress. Don't be alarmed. It's only a
Speaker 8: slight one.
Speaker 5: I shall be back. I shall be back.
Speaker 4: It was dark, and I've been going for hours. The
Speaker 4: vegetation became rancor.
Speaker 3: Insects were biting me savagely, and when mud began suckingciously
Speaker 3: at my feet like giant leeches, I knew where I
Speaker 3: was thought to enter, the death swamp with its quicksand however,
Speaker 3: the softness of the earth gave me an idea. I
Speaker 3: stepped back about a dozen paces out of the quicksand
Speaker 3: and began to dig. When the pit was above my shoulders,
Speaker 3: I climbed out, and from some hard saplings, I cut steaks,
Speaker 3: sharpening them to a fine point. I planted the stakes
Speaker 3: at the bottom of the pit, with their points up.
Speaker 4: With flying fingers, I wove a rough carpet of weeds
Speaker 4: and branches with it. I covered the mouth of the pit.
Speaker 3: Then wet with sweat and aching with tiredness, I crouched
Speaker 3: behind the stump of a lightning blasted tree. I heard
Speaker 3: the padding sound of feet on the soft earth. I
Speaker 3: knew he was coming. The night wind brought me the
Speaker 3: perfume of the General's black cigarette. Although I could see nothing,
Speaker 3: seemed to me that he was coming with unusual swiftness,
Speaker 3: that he was not feeling his way along.
Speaker 4: Foot by foot. In one brief moment I lived an
Speaker 4: entire year. Then I heard the shot crackle of breaking branches.
Speaker 4: It's a cover of the pit.
Speaker 9: Gaper Ah, you've done well, raine On, very well. Where
Speaker 9: did you get the tie? Your Burmese tiger pit has
Speaker 9: climbed one of my best dogs, and so you score again.
Speaker 7: I must see what you can do now against my
Speaker 7: whole pack.
Speaker 4: He went away again, but I just lay there in
Speaker 4: the swamp. That night. At daybreak, I was awakened by
Speaker 4: a distant sound, faint and wavering, the baying of a
Speaker 4: pack of hounds.
Speaker 3: I went up into a tree down a water course,
Speaker 3: not a quarter of a mile away. I could see
Speaker 3: the bush moving. I strained my eyes and saw the
Speaker 3: lean figure of General Zarath just ahead of him. I
Speaker 3: made out the gigantic evon, holding the pack in leash,
Speaker 3: I prepared for the native trick.
Speaker 4: I've learned it Uganda.
Speaker 3: I slipped from the tree, caught hold of a springy,
Speaker 3: young sapling, and to it fastened my knife, its blade
Speaker 3: pointing down the trail with a bit of wild grapevine.
Speaker 3: I tied back the sapling and ran for my life.
Speaker 3: The hounds hit the fresh scent and raised their voices,
Speaker 3: and I knew how an animal at bay must feel.
Speaker 3: Even as I ran, the clamor of the hounds suddenly
Speaker 3: ceased within My heart stopped for that meant they'd reached
Speaker 3: the knife. I climbed excitedly up a tree and looked back,
Speaker 3: and hope died in my brain. The General was still
Speaker 3: on his feet even however, was not. The knife, driven
Speaker 3: by the recoil of the springing tree, had done its work.
Speaker 3: Then the dogs took up the cry again, and I
Speaker 3: was on the ground once more, nr NR. I panted
Speaker 3: the words over and over as I fled headlong. A
Speaker 3: blue gap showed through the tree stead ahead. I forced
Speaker 3: myself up on towards the gap and reached the sea
Speaker 3: lay twenty feet below me, rumbling and hissing.
Speaker 4: I stood a moment, poised over the edge.
Speaker 5: I heard the hounds.
Speaker 4: I you it was the end. Then I leap or
Speaker 4: into the water.
Speaker 7: Well, it's been a busy day, Adam, a busy day. Oh, down, Adam,
Speaker 7: down the matter, my boy hungry?
Speaker 5: All right, catch it's quite a day.
Speaker 7: Not perfect, of course, two slight annoyances. One is it
Speaker 7: will be difficult to replace Evee, and the other, well,
Speaker 7: our quarry escaped us. Didn't he add them?
Speaker 4: Then?
Speaker 7: Of course the American didn't really play the game, so we.
Speaker 5: Won't count it.
Speaker 7: We won't count it at all.
Speaker 5: All right, my boy, that's enough for now. Aren't you go?
Speaker 5: With the rest?
Speaker 7: Better love than another time?
Speaker 4: M Rainsford.
Speaker 5: Good evening.
Speaker 4: How did you get here? I swam? I found that
Speaker 4: quicker than walking through the jungle.
Speaker 7: I congratulate you.
Speaker 4: You have won the game, No, General, and of course
Speaker 4: you have. I'm still a beast at bay. Get ready, General, Zarah,
Speaker 4: I see.
Speaker 7: Splendid. One of us is to furnish a meal for
Speaker 7: the hounds. The other will sleep in this very excellent bed.
Speaker 4: Good rains good, Oh god, the General was right. Never
Speaker 4: before in my life that I slept in a better bed.
Speaker 2: Escape is produced by William N. Robson and was directed
Speaker 2: tonight by Richard Sandville. You have escaped tonight in the
Speaker 2: Richard Connell story, The Most Dangerous Game adapted for radio
Speaker 2: by Irving Ravch with Paul Priest as Sango, Rainsford and
Speaker 2: Hans Conried as General zarof The special musical score was
Speaker 2: conceived and conducted by Cy Fure.
Speaker 1: Next week, you're sitting at the trattle of a speeding locomotive,
Speaker 1: screaming around the curves of a mountain yards, racing against
Speaker 1: time with death at your shoulder. Next week, you're the
Speaker 1: engineer of the Yellow Male.
Speaker 2: Next week, CBS offers you wes KPE with Frank Kate
Speaker 2: Spearman's exciting story of railroading the Run of the Yellow Male.
Speaker 2: Until the same time next week. Then goodnight. This is CBS,
Speaker 2: the Columbia Broadcasting Sister
Speaker 5: H