Speaker 1: You were trapped in the dank darkness of a ruined
Speaker 1: plantation house, and somewhere in the pitch black room is
Speaker 1: a homicidal maniac armed with a knife, groping for you,
Speaker 1: trying to prevent your escape.
Speaker 2: Escape produced by William N. Robson, directed tonight by Richard Sandville,
Speaker 2: and carefully plotted to free you from the four walls
Speaker 2: of today for a half hour of high adventure.
Speaker 1: Tonight, we escaped to a deserted sand pit off the
Speaker 1: coast of Georgia, where terror.
Speaker 3: Stalks under the Spanish moss.
Speaker 1: As Joseph Hergesheimer tells it, in wild Oranges.
Speaker 3: What could have appeared more innocent of danger than that barren,
Speaker 3: low lying shore of southern Georgia. What could have seemed
Speaker 3: less laden with terror than that lovely little cove, so
Speaker 3: tranquil and well sheltered, so warmly bathed in late afternoon sun.
Speaker 3: As we dropped the anchor of our catch and prepared
Speaker 3: our mooring. And yet there was something. First it was
Speaker 3: an odor of a grove of wild orange trees in
Speaker 3: late bloom, growing defiantly amid the tangled undergrowth of the shore.
Speaker 3: The scent was strong and exotic, and heady, and as
Speaker 3: I smelled it, I felt a vague uneasiness. Then as
Speaker 3: I watched the shore and halverd Sole, member of my crew,
Speaker 3: furled the sails. The mirror of the cob was shattered
Speaker 3: by a movement. First I thought it was a fish
Speaker 3: leaping and playing in the water. Came round a spit
Speaker 3: of land from an in her bay, and then Helbert
Speaker 3: was beside me. That's queer, sir. Huh. I would have
Speaker 3: bet of it was nobody, but than miles of here.
Speaker 3: But there's someone swimming. Yes, it's a girl. Ay, she'll
Speaker 3: be surprised when she discovers us, no doubt, huh, and embarrassed.
Speaker 3: Oh she swims, well, doesn't she if she's been born
Speaker 3: in the water. Ah, yeah, she's seen us. Yes, Now
Speaker 3: she's running away. That sprint would win an Olympic race.
Speaker 3: What she's doing here? Where she comes from? Perhaps there
Speaker 3: where two the three? There's a house. You can hardly
Speaker 3: see it, he spotted at a moment ago. Oh, yes,
Speaker 3: so there is. Oh, but it's a ruin. It's rotting away.
Speaker 3: No one could have lived in that since the Civil War.
Speaker 3: Or there may be others back there. Yes, but this
Speaker 3: coast is deserted, marked a swamp on the chart. Hey
Speaker 3: don't know, sir. It's strange, very strange. Yes, it was
Speaker 3: strange and strangers. Still was this vague uneasiness. It fell
Speaker 3: as twilight fell. The of the wild oranges was overpowering. Suddenly,
Speaker 3: without knowing why, I slipped on a jacket, went to
Speaker 3: the side and dropped into the tender. Halvard stood by
Speaker 3: to cast off. He asked no questions, and I said nothing.
Speaker 3: What could I say? I didn't know myself why I
Speaker 3: was going. I pulled the tender up on the soft
Speaker 3: sand of the beach and walked up a dim path
Speaker 3: through the orange grove. The scent of the blossoms was
Speaker 3: full of such wild sweetness that I picked an orange
Speaker 3: and tasted it. It was bitterb of a pungence that
Speaker 3: was new and rare and strangely delicious. The dim moonlight
Speaker 3: only accentuated the ruin of the house. There were others, smaller,
Speaker 3: ramshackled buildings scattered about, overgrown with weeds and creeping vines.
Speaker 3: This had once been a great plantation. Now it lay
Speaker 3: still and lifeless. Then I saw the light round the side,
Speaker 3: where a smaller portico held off the weeds. A single
Speaker 3: old doorway was framed and in the pale light of
Speaker 3: an inner lamp. As I approached, I saw a shadow
Speaker 3: move across it, so swiftly, so furtively, that it was
Speaker 3: gone before I realized it had been a man. Then
Speaker 3: I saw her sitting on the portico, rocking softly in
Speaker 3: her chair.
Speaker 4: What do you want? Er?
Speaker 3: Nothing? When I came ashore, I thought no one was
Speaker 3: living here.
Speaker 4: You're from the white boat that sailed in at sunset.
Speaker 3: Yes, and I'm returning immediately.
Speaker 4: It was like magic. Suddenly, without a sound, you were
Speaker 4: anchored in the bay.
Speaker 3: I I've robbed you too. Some of your oranges are
Speaker 3: in my pocket.
Speaker 4: You won't like them. They've run wild. We can't sell them.
Speaker 3: They have a distinct flavor of their own. I should
Speaker 3: be glad to have some on my boat. All you want,
Speaker 3: my man will get them and pay you.
Speaker 4: Please, don't, oh, Nicholas attends to death. Won't you sit down?
Speaker 4: My father was here when you came up, but he
Speaker 4: went in. Strangers troubled him.
Speaker 3: I should be getting bad. I'm sorry to have disturbed
Speaker 3: you and your father.
Speaker 4: No, no, it was nothing. Goodness, good night, then, good night,
Speaker 4: That was.
Speaker 3: All fragment of commonplace conversation, but it was enough. Now.
Speaker 3: The uneasiness I felt, the strangeness of this place took
Speaker 3: shape for me. I saw it in her lovely, fragile face.
Speaker 3: I heard it in her voice. There'd been a hidden terror,
Speaker 3: a terrible, controlled fright that approached hysteria. There'd been a
Speaker 3: warning in it, and something else, a plea. By the
Speaker 3: time I got back to the boat, I was completely unnerved,
Speaker 3: and Alvet made matters worse.
Speaker 1: You find anything, sir, there are people living there. Well,
Speaker 1: there'll be watered and maybe we could stay here a
Speaker 1: couple of days.
Speaker 3: Uh, what do you mean? Oh, this is good anchorage.
Speaker 1: Here, I'd like to unship the propeller and the top
Speaker 1: side could do with a coat of varnish.
Speaker 3: No, we're going on south er ay, sir, No, no, wait, Alvert,
Speaker 3: of course you're right. We need a couple of days
Speaker 3: work before we head into blue water. We'll do it here,
Speaker 3: and so we stayed. In the light of morning. The
Speaker 3: strange dread I felt seemed foolish, and especially when I
Speaker 3: went ashore and found the girl, looking young and fresh
Speaker 3: and fragile, fishing off the little pier. In the inner bay.
Speaker 3: She had a pathetic little roden line. So I got
Speaker 3: our tackle from the boat and landed a big rockfish
Speaker 3: for her, enough for several dinners. We were carrying the
Speaker 3: fish to the house when we came on a pale,
Speaker 3: thin ghost of a man sitting on the portico. He
Speaker 3: started a swift retreat, but too late for the wait.
Speaker 4: This is my father, litch Fields, stoopd.
Speaker 3: How do you do rely?
Speaker 4: Really you are no, I can't strangers they mother. You
Speaker 4: must manage yourself better.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't bring any one to the house who had
Speaker 4: heard us. And see we're fetching you a splendid rockfish.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, so you are? We all lone here, sir.
Speaker 2: The man is away, my daughter and I The fish exceptable.
Speaker 4: If you will carry it in for me. Nicholas would
Speaker 4: do it, but he's the way, and father isn't strong.
Speaker 4: This way we have no eye time and put it
Speaker 4: in water in here right there. Thank you. You've been
Speaker 4: very nice. Now I suppose you'll go on across the world.
Speaker 3: Not tonight. We're staying here making repairs.
Speaker 4: Where do you come from? And where are you going from?
Speaker 3: Cape Cod? I'm going to the Guianas.
Speaker 4: Isn't that South America. I've traveled far on maps. I
Speaker 4: was born here in this house, and I've never been
Speaker 4: fifty miles away.
Speaker 3: Oh well, that's incredible. But you seem like a girl
Speaker 3: who's been everywhere in the world and had the best
Speaker 3: education everything.
Speaker 4: My father has many books in there, that's all you.
Speaker 3: Your eyes are remarkable, gray, green like olive leaves, and magnetic.
Speaker 3: I I I came ashore to I ask you if
Speaker 3: you had a large water supply, and I might fill
Speaker 3: my casks.
Speaker 4: Of course, rain water the sisters.
Speaker 3: I'll send my man Helbert. Then, yes, there's something else
Speaker 3: in your eyes, in your voice?
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 3: Fear?
Speaker 4: Fear? Why? No, of course not. What should I be
Speaker 4: afraid of?
Speaker 3: I don't know, but I saw it in your father's
Speaker 3: face too.
Speaker 4: It's only your imagination, Eh, yes, no doubt.
Speaker 3: Goodbye. Then thank you for the fishing. Woo strange how
Speaker 3: this girl should upset me? So I tried to resist,
Speaker 3: but that evening I found myself going back to her,
Speaker 3: tying the tender to the little pier. I watched as
Speaker 3: she came to meet me.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you came the fish.
Speaker 3: Woh, don't tell me. I'd rather not know. I might
Speaker 3: be tempted to mention it in the future, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure it would sound like a fish story.
Speaker 4: But it was important. Nicholas waited. He's our man, he's back.
Speaker 4: Let's stay here by the sea. It's so lovely in
Speaker 4: the moonlight.
Speaker 3: All right, Oh, it is nice here.
Speaker 4: I lied to you today about fear. I suppose I
Speaker 4: am afraid. I suppose my father has passed some of
Speaker 4: his fear on to me.
Speaker 3: Why is he afraid?
Speaker 4: Well, that's a long story, going back to the First War.
Speaker 3: Please tell me.
Speaker 4: Well, he was a young man then, and he didn't
Speaker 4: go to war. It wasn't that he was a coward exactly.
Speaker 4: He just couldn't adjust to it mentally. People mocked him,
Speaker 4: laughed at him, and threatened him. That's when a sort
Speaker 4: of perpetual fear started. He ran away. He met my
Speaker 4: mother and married her. They came here. None of us
Speaker 4: has ever left this lonely place, never will. Perhaps your
Speaker 4: mother she's dead. Loneliness killed her. Perhaps there's no wonder
Speaker 4: that I sound timid or afraid. Perhaps I am.
Speaker 3: Aren't you lonely too?
Speaker 4: I don't know anything else, But what about you? Who
Speaker 4: are you that you go sailing about the world with
Speaker 4: only a sailor for company.
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm nobody. My name is John.
Speaker 4: Wolfolk and you do nothing but sail about the world nothing.
Speaker 3: Why well, let's say I don't like modern society. Let's
Speaker 3: say I I don't like entanglement. I see, Oh, I
Speaker 3: didn't mean.
Speaker 4: You needn't apologize. I envy you your freedom. I sit
Speaker 4: here a great deal and watch the ships far out
Speaker 4: there on their water roads. You are enviable, sailing where
Speaker 4: you like, safe and free. Safe, I'm free.
Speaker 3: There is something more than you've told me, more behind
Speaker 3: the sphere in your voice. No, but perhaps I can help.
Speaker 4: No, no, please, it's growing on the car. I've got
Speaker 4: to go in.
Speaker 3: I'll come with you.
Speaker 4: No, no, please, no, don't come. You'll be going soon
Speaker 4: tomorrow perhaps then good bye, good bye.
Speaker 3: Now I knew the terror I had only sensed was real.
Speaker 3: This girl was possessed by fear. This house held some
Speaker 3: terrible secret. What could it be? Next morning, Halberd suggested
Speaker 3: we repaint the engines, and I agreed. We'd stay another
Speaker 3: day or two. Later, Halford went in to fill a
Speaker 3: cask of water. He came back without the cask and
Speaker 3: livid with rage. There us an idiot in that house.
Speaker 3: Next time, I'll take the pistol. What do you mean?
Speaker 3: Was the cask? It was broken?
Speaker 5: How he us feeling it at the cistern? And distidiot,
Speaker 5: huge walking bruke came out of the house. He told
Speaker 5: me to get away, but I tried to explain that
Speaker 5: we had permission. But he came at me for the
Speaker 5: knife deeper but I hit him, but it was like
Speaker 5: hitting an ox.
Speaker 3: He put his foot on the cask and crushed it.
Speaker 3: I'll see about this. You be careful, sir. The man's
Speaker 3: not right. He's dangerous, plenty dangerous. Oh. I went ashore
Speaker 3: and around to the back door of the house. Millie
Speaker 3: wasn't insight, and when I knocked, a lumbering giant with
Speaker 3: pig like eyes came to the door.
Speaker 2: What do you want?
Speaker 3: I take it? You on, Nicholas, the man who broke
Speaker 3: my water cask was full of all water. I'm not
Speaker 3: going to argue with you. I came ashore to instruct
Speaker 3: you to keep your hands off my property. In my saying,
Speaker 3: let the water be, I told you I wouldn't discuss
Speaker 3: the matter. I don't have to justify myself to you.
Speaker 3: Just remember, keep your hands and me starting when it
Speaker 3: means starting here. Don't get me started mine, I want you.
Speaker 3: Don't put down the knife, goway, No, don't get me
Speaker 3: started way, don't get me shoting.
Speaker 4: I'm telling you, Nicholas, stop, what is this? What's the
Speaker 4: mat her?
Speaker 3: Nothing? Nicholas and I've had a little misunderstanding, that's all.
Speaker 3: It's nothing to worry about, Nothing to worry about, I said.
Speaker 3: But when I got back to the boat, I couldn't
Speaker 3: help asking myself why I'd left her with that brute.
Speaker 3: I just about made up my mind to go ashore
Speaker 3: again to check up. When I saw her waving on
Speaker 3: the beach. She wanted to visit the boat. I went
Speaker 3: and got her. There was no hint of terror in
Speaker 3: her face, now, just shining girlish wonderment at the polished
Speaker 3: metal and the gleaming wood of the catch. I offered
Speaker 3: to take her for a sail, and her face lighted
Speaker 3: up like a child's. But when we reached the heavy
Speaker 3: swells outside the reef, her face got quite and she froze.
Speaker 4: It's so big?
Speaker 3: Are you frightened? I'll turn back.
Speaker 4: I'd rather you didn't I must learn. I'm not a child.
Speaker 3: No, we're going back. Before we got to the anchorage,
Speaker 3: her panic was almost out of control, But safely moored
Speaker 3: once more, she calmed slowly and.
Speaker 4: Said, how strange to be forced back to this place
Speaker 4: I loathed by my own cowardice.
Speaker 3: It's not cowardice. The sea is frightening for those unused
Speaker 3: to it. Come, you must forget it now. How about
Speaker 3: we'll have tea for us in a moment. Uh, how
Speaker 3: do you like our boat?
Speaker 4: It's quite wonderful. Have you nothing else to care for?
Speaker 4: No place or people on land?
Speaker 3: None?
Speaker 4: And you are satisfied hardly.
Speaker 3: All the things most men value were taken from me
Speaker 3: in an instant.
Speaker 4: Can you talk about it?
Speaker 3: Why? I haven't for twelve years? Not anybody, but no, yes,
Speaker 3: I think I can. You see we were just married
Speaker 3: only a few days. We were very, very happy. Then
Speaker 3: in one instant she was dead. It was a silly,
Speaker 3: stupid accident, thrown from horse without rhyme or reason.
Speaker 4: So you left everything, taking your revenge on the world.
Speaker 3: You could put it that way. I suppose. I simply
Speaker 3: don't want to take a second chance to become involved
Speaker 3: and be hurt.
Speaker 4: But that's living to be hurt. Do you think you
Speaker 4: can escape so easily?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: Oh, I must go. Father will be waiting.
Speaker 3: Why so suddenly there's Whyes, I see that's Nicholas on
Speaker 3: the beach looking out here, isn't it?
Speaker 4: Yes, dinner will be ready.
Speaker 3: Why do you have a servant like that? That man's dangerous.
Speaker 4: You mustn't say that. Please don't just take me in. Please.
Speaker 3: Now I knew that she too was afraid of Nicholas.
Speaker 3: I could see it in her eyes. Why then did
Speaker 3: I let her go to him? I don't know. I
Speaker 3: was confused. I guess That night a storm broke, a
Speaker 3: raging wind and rain, and to match my tortured mood,
Speaker 3: I hardly slept. Her face was always before my eyes,
Speaker 3: and by morning I knew that I must do something.
Speaker 3: I rode the tender Inn through a drizzling rain. I
Speaker 3: went up through the orange grove and stopped in the
Speaker 3: bushes by the house. Someone was coming out of the house,
Speaker 3: and I crouched down. Out of sight was Milly. I
Speaker 3: rose and called, were Milly, Oh, it's you.
Speaker 4: I was just coming out to look. I was afraid
Speaker 4: you're gone out. The sea is like a pack of wolves.
Speaker 3: I won't go alone, not without you.
Speaker 4: What are you saying?
Speaker 3: That's mountains snoy. I've got to talk to you, Milly.
Speaker 3: There's a lot that needs explaining, things that I have
Speaker 3: a right to know.
Speaker 4: No, not here come.
Speaker 3: She led me into one of the smaller ruined buildings,
Speaker 3: but must have been a store in the days of
Speaker 3: the Great plantation. We crouched far back in the dripping
Speaker 3: shadows of a corner. No, Milly, Milly, I love you
Speaker 3: for the first time in twelve years. I'm living again,
Speaker 3: and I love you.
Speaker 4: I know nothing of love.
Speaker 3: It's easily learned.
Speaker 4: Well, perhaps if things were different, someplace else, I might
Speaker 4: care very much.
Speaker 3: Then I'm going to take you away someplace else, make
Speaker 3: things different, give you the chance.
Speaker 4: No, it's too late. You came too late.
Speaker 3: Why, Milly, Why what is it? What is it you feared?
Speaker 4: Nicholas?
Speaker 3: Oh, he's nothing, nothing to be afraid of. Has he
Speaker 3: been bothering you?
Speaker 4: He says he's crazy about me. He says I must
Speaker 4: marry you.
Speaker 3: Where is he now?
Speaker 4: No, you mustn't, John, something frightful would happen.
Speaker 3: Not frightful, just unfortunate for Nicholas.
Speaker 4: Who don't understand he's not not human. There's something about him.
Speaker 3: What about him?
Speaker 4: He came here in April. We were glad to get
Speaker 4: him servant. Are impossible to get back here in the wilderness.
Speaker 4: He would work for the small must wages. Only a
Speaker 4: few days ago I found out why he was glad
Speaker 4: to be here. I was cleaning his room and I
Speaker 4: found this.
Speaker 3: Let's see, wanted for murder is Coon Nicholas homicidal mania.
Speaker 4: He knows I found it. He knows, and he's been furious.
Speaker 4: Then you came and he ran and hid in the pines.
Speaker 4: But he told me if I spoke about it, then
Speaker 4: it would happen to me, and if I left with you,
Speaker 4: it would happen to father. You see, he thinks I'm
Speaker 4: in love with you. He told me to send you away.
Speaker 4: He said you must leave to.
Speaker 3: Day, Milly. I should have realized.
Speaker 4: He says, I must not be away for longer than
Speaker 4: an hour. I must go.
Speaker 3: Look, Milly, He'll take us a couple of hours to
Speaker 3: get the book ready. I'll come for you to night
Speaker 3: at eight. Now tell him you saw me and I
Speaker 3: promised to go and act quietly. Say you well, say
Speaker 3: you've been upset you'll give him his answer to morrow.
Speaker 3: Then at eight, bring your father and walk out to
Speaker 3: the wharf. That's all, but do it without hesitation or preparation.
Speaker 4: We don't let him murder. Oh please, don't.
Speaker 3: Not now he's finished, Milly. But do as I say.
Speaker 3: It won't be long, hardly three hours and then freedom.
Speaker 3: Now that I knew now that there was to be action,
Speaker 3: I felt better. Halvan and I got the catch ready
Speaker 3: for sailing, and eight o'clock we tied it up to
Speaker 3: the little pier. The storm had abated slightly, but it
Speaker 3: was still raining. I got up on the dock and
Speaker 3: waited for Milly. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Something was wrong.
Speaker 3: I told Halbert to wait there with the tender. Then
Speaker 3: I walked slowly up to the house. It was dark.
Speaker 3: I went up to the side portico to the heavy door.
Speaker 3: Tiny crack of light showed under it. I pushed it open.
Speaker 3: The light came from a parlor to the right. I
Speaker 3: looked in. On the floor lay a body old Litchfield Stope.
Speaker 3: He was dead, crushed, his arm twisted grotesquely under him.
Speaker 3: It was not a sound in the house. Slowly I
Speaker 3: walked through the downstairs rooms nothing, and back in the
Speaker 3: hall I heard a slight creak up stairs. Someone had moved.
Speaker 3: Was it Milly alive? On Nicholas lying in wait? I
Speaker 3: groped slowly up the stairs. I dared not use my flashlight.
Speaker 3: It would have made me a target for his knife.
Speaker 3: The upstairs hall was pitch black, and still there was
Speaker 3: no sard. I inched my way along the wall slowly.
Speaker 3: Then I stumbled on a loose board. The pistol flew
Speaker 3: out of my hand, but the stumble saved my life.
Speaker 3: The same instant I felt Nicholas lunch, heard the knife sing,
Speaker 3: blow of my eron thud into the wall, fell his
Speaker 3: great bulk, smashing on my shoulders head. My gun was
Speaker 3: somewhere on the dark floories knife was embedded in the wall.
Speaker 3: Now we were grappling hand to hand, rolling on the floor, kicking, tearing, guarting,
Speaker 3: crushing my strength and wind against the massy bulk of
Speaker 3: a maniacal killer. I can't head. How many minutes did
Speaker 3: that unequal struggle last night? I don't know. It seemed
Speaker 3: an hour several times, as if by common consent, we
Speaker 3: rested for minutes at a time, locked in tight embrace.
Speaker 3: Once We rolled apart and lay panting, the breath aching
Speaker 3: in my throat. Then I heard him groping along the wall,
Speaker 3: searching for the knife, for the gun. I threw myself
Speaker 3: on him again, but he was too big, too furious.
Speaker 3: I felt my strength ebbing away. His fingers were closing
Speaker 3: over my throat, but won my step and I tried
Speaker 3: to throw him off them, roll him off. I staggered
Speaker 3: daisily to my feet and looked up. He had fallen
Speaker 3: through the banister, down the stairwell. Nicholas had landed on
Speaker 3: the bottom. He lay there on the stairs, sprawled his
Speaker 3: head at a grotesque angle. But it was not dead,
Speaker 3: only stunned. Hurlinged against the wall. Looked at him stupidly.
Speaker 3: There was something, There was something. I was trying to remember.
Speaker 3: What was it. Then she came down the steps, and
Speaker 3: I remembered, Milly.
Speaker 4: I had to walk right past him. There was no
Speaker 4: other way. Right. Patted head and my skirt. I think
Speaker 4: we better go away. It's quite impossible here with him
Speaker 4: in the hall. You have to pass it though close.
Speaker 3: Milly. Yes, we'll leave it once.
Speaker 4: I must tell you about my father, you know. In Virginia,
Speaker 4: the woman tied an apron on the door because he
Speaker 4: would not go to war, and that preyed on his mind,
Speaker 4: and he was afraid of the slightest pair.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I know, but we must go.
Speaker 4: Things upset him, so he had no strength.
Speaker 3: To hear talk like this, like a said, the child
Speaker 3: was almost more than I coult there. But now I
Speaker 3: heard something. Nicholas had gotten up. He stood there and
Speaker 3: stared for a moment at us. Then he started slowly
Speaker 3: up the stairs. He was going for the nice little thing.
Speaker 3: Upset to him, Millie, we've got to go.
Speaker 4: I was to meet a man. We were going away
Speaker 4: someplace where it'd be peaceful, he said, at eight o'clock.
Speaker 4: But Nicholas suspected you see, he asked why father had
Speaker 4: put on his heavy window clothes. Then when I tried
Speaker 4: to go out, he pushed me lily. And you know
Speaker 4: what father did him. He came up and he said,
Speaker 4: don't do that. Take your hand off my daughter. His
Speaker 4: lips shook a little, but he said it that's the
Speaker 4: important thing.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, of course your father was a brave man
Speaker 3: after all. Now come, that man is waiting for you.
Speaker 3: There's no time to lose.
Speaker 4: Father said, take your hands off my daughter. Nicholas killed him,
Speaker 4: of course, crushed him like a little mosquito. But it
Speaker 4: was a brave thing to do.
Speaker 3: I couldn't wait any longer. I had to risk whatever
Speaker 3: injury it might do to her mind. I could hear
Speaker 3: Nicholas coming back. I swept her up in my arms
Speaker 3: and carried her out into the night, down the path
Speaker 3: to the little pier. Behind me, I could hear Nicholas
Speaker 3: crashing through the brush like a giant animal in pursuit.
Speaker 3: Are you all right, sir? Here's not done in, but
Speaker 3: all right here, help me get her in the book. Ya, sir,
Speaker 3: there eh, somebody's coming. It's Nicholas. He's got a knife. Good.
Speaker 3: He wanted to get back at him.
Speaker 1: You get into her, He'll take care of him.
Speaker 3: Halvid went to intercept Nicholas on the path. I heard
Speaker 3: the meat and struggle for a moment. Then a stoop
Speaker 3: figure came walking slowly onto the pier. I prepared to
Speaker 3: shove the boat out into the water, and then all right, sir,
Speaker 3: it's me, Oh Halvert, where's Nicholas? He stopped him. Heave
Speaker 3: us all pumpt Are you hurt?
Speaker 1: I used to scratch he missed his knife at first
Speaker 1: in the dark.
Speaker 3: It's nothing good. Let's get away from here. Then I
Speaker 3: held Milly in my arms as halved rode to the
Speaker 3: catch erratically. I suppose because of the storm. We were
Speaker 3: ready to cast off in two minutes. The last obstacle
Speaker 3: would be the narrow passing out of the cob. In
Speaker 3: this storm, it would be dangerous, very dangerous. I started
Speaker 3: to take Milly into the cabin.
Speaker 4: Where's Nicholas in the doodle?
Speaker 3: Nonsense? Nicholas is dead. You're on my boat, Milly. You're safe, Milly, say.
Speaker 4: Whip John Woolfolk.
Speaker 3: I am John Wolfolk.
Speaker 4: But he you didn't come.
Speaker 3: Yes, I did, Milly, and you're safe. Come.
Speaker 4: I want to stay here, all right.
Speaker 3: You sit here beside Halvard. I'm going up front to
Speaker 3: take soundings. In this venue. Won't be able to hear
Speaker 3: me if I call no, but you can hear me.
Speaker 3: Remember we've only three feet clearance. You'll have to hold
Speaker 3: it steady through the passage. I'll manage it, Harvard. This
Speaker 3: is no time for pretense. How do you feel, all right?
Speaker 3: If taken knives before used to scratch? All right, we'll
Speaker 3: fix it as soon as we get outside. Now, let's
Speaker 3: go turn over the engines, pull up anchor. The boat
Speaker 3: headed into the tearing wind of the storm, sped swiftly
Speaker 3: toward the narrow Windlet a foot too far on either side,
Speaker 3: and we would hit in the sea. That would mean
Speaker 3: death for us. All I stood far up on the bow,
Speaker 3: taking soundings, feeling out the passage or the howling wind
Speaker 3: carried my call back to Halvard. The boat veered. I
Speaker 3: realized he must have lost a lot of blood. Albert
Speaker 3: al about steadier, slowly, haltingly. It came around rain a
Speaker 3: half steady. Now it was anything but steady. The boat
Speaker 3: waving swung as if an amateur hand were on the wheel.
Speaker 3: In a moment we might hit three in a quarter
Speaker 3: r in the passage. Old steady, Harvard, steady, But just
Speaker 3: another moment, just one moment, rain a half. We're through.
Speaker 3: Good boy, Harvard, Good boy Halbard. I called. But when
Speaker 3: I went back it was not Helvin at the wheel.
Speaker 3: It was Milly. Milly, her hands steady, her eyes washed
Speaker 3: clear of any madness, Milly with a tight little smile
Speaker 3: on her face, but no fear. And halverd lay rolling
Speaker 3: with the swells in the bottom of the cockpit.
Speaker 4: I'm afraid he's dead, John. He was wounded, worse than.
Speaker 3: You thought, Helvid dead.
Speaker 4: He told me to take the wheel, that it was
Speaker 4: life or death. Then he slid down like that.
Speaker 3: When when was this.
Speaker 4: Back there on the passage, just when you said three
Speaker 4: and a half. I'm afraid. I wasn't very good, but
Speaker 4: I held on.
Speaker 3: Oh, Milly, you were wonderful.
Speaker 4: No, not yet, but I'll learn, John, I'll learn.
Speaker 2: Escape is produced by William N. Robson and was directed
Speaker 2: tonight by Richard Sandville. You've just heard Wild Oranges by
Speaker 2: Joseph Hergersheimer, adapted for radio by John Duncle, with Paul
Speaker 2: Freese as John Wolfolk, Jeanette Nolan as Millie Stops, Bill
Speaker 2: Conrad as Halvard, Jack Crushan as Nicholas, and Sherry Hall
Speaker 2: as Litchfield Stops. The special musical score was conceived and
Speaker 2: conducted by Cyfure.
Speaker 1: Next week, You've planned it very well. She's dead, and
Speaker 1: you feel no remorse. Your escape has worked out perfectly.
Speaker 1: There's nothing to worry about except perhaps an unexpected Christmas present.
Speaker 2: Next week we escape with John Collier's grim story back
Speaker 2: for Christmas.
Speaker 3: Good Night.
Speaker 2: Then until this same time next week, when once again,
Speaker 2: we offer you escape. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System,