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Escape - "A Shipment of Mute Fate - Jack Webb" (Old Time Radio, 1947) · The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

0:00
Speaker 1: At Venezuela's port of La Guayra, collector Chris Warner is
0:04
Speaker 1: preparing to carry a crated Bushmaster snake aboard the liner
0:08
Speaker 1: Chan K, bound for New York. The captain has reservations
0:13
Speaker 1: about taking such cargo, while a stewardess has a small
0:16
Speaker 1: problem of her own, a cat she hopes to keep
0:19
Speaker 1: from the chief steward. From CBS, this is Escape, episode 10.
0:26
Speaker 1: A Shipment of Mute Fate, first broadcast October 15, 1947.
0:32
Speaker 1: Jack Webb stars with Raymond Lawrence and D.J. Thompson in
0:36
Speaker 1: a radio adaptation of Martin Storm's short story, written by
0:40
Speaker 1: Les Crutchfield and directed by William N.
0:42
Speaker 2: Robson.
0:44
Speaker 1: Once the Chan-K is underway, Warner's shipment becomes a matter
0:48
Speaker 1: for everyone aboard. And now, our story begins.
1:07
Speaker 3: Did you miss out on that big football game last week?
1:11
Speaker 4: Can't get rid of that head cold? Want to get
1:14
Speaker 4: away from it all?
1:15
Speaker 2: CBS offers you Escape. Escape.
1:28
Speaker 3: You are groping your way slowly through the dark hold
1:31
Speaker 3: of a ship at sea, moving carefully step by step,
1:35
Speaker 3: searching intently for something you dread to find, because you
1:39
Speaker 3: know that this ship carries a cargo of death.
1:43
Speaker 5: The Columbia Broadcasting System and its affiliated stations presents Escape,
1:47
Speaker 5: produced and directed by William N. Robeson, and carefully plotted
1:51
Speaker 5: to free you from the four walls of today for
1:53
Speaker 5: a half hour of high adventure.
2:02
Speaker 3: Tonight we escape to a harbor front in Venezuela and
2:05
Speaker 3: a grim voyage that started there, as told by Martin
2:08
Speaker 3: Storm in his gripping story, A Shipment of Mute Fate.
2:27
Speaker 4: I stopped on the wharf at La Guayra and looked
2:29
Speaker 4: up the gangplank toward the liner Chan Cay, standing quietly
2:33
Speaker 4: there at her moorings. The day was warm under a
2:36
Speaker 4: bright tropic sun, and the harbor beyond the ship lay
2:40
Speaker 4: drowsy and silent. But all at once in the midst
2:43
Speaker 4: of these peaceful surroundings, a cold chill gripped me, and
2:47
Speaker 4: I shivered with sudden dread. Dread of the thing I
2:50
Speaker 4: was doing and was about to do. But too much
2:56
Speaker 4: had happened to turn back now. I'd gone too far
2:59
Speaker 4: to stop. So I set the box down on the
3:02
Speaker 4: edge of the wharf, placed it carefully so as to
3:04
Speaker 4: be in plain sight and within gunshot of the captain's bridge.
3:08
Speaker 4: And then I turned and started up the gangplank. I
3:11
Speaker 4: knew what I was going to do, but I couldn't
3:13
Speaker 4: forget that a certain pair of beady eyes were watching
3:17
Speaker 4: every move I made. Eyes that never blinked and never closed.
3:22
Speaker 4: Just watched and waited. Oh, I beg your pardon.
3:27
Speaker 6: Why, it's Mr.
3:28
Speaker 7: Warner.
3:28
Speaker 4: Hello, Mother Willis. How's the best-looking stewardess on the seven seas?
3:31
Speaker 6: Well, I'm fine, Mr.
3:32
Speaker 8: Warner.
3:33
Speaker 6: I guess I'd better run along now and get on
3:35
Speaker 6: with my show.
3:36
Speaker 4: Now, wait a minute. That's a fine greeting after two months.
3:38
Speaker 6: Well, it's just that I'm so busy.
3:40
Speaker 4: I don't believe a word of it. Sailing day's tomorrow.
3:42
Speaker 4: You're simply avoiding me, that's all. Oh, no, really, I'm not.
3:45
Speaker 4: And on the trip down from New York, you said
3:46
Speaker 4: I was your favorite passenger.
3:48
Speaker 6: But I'm only.
3:48
Speaker 9: Here, wait a minute.
3:49
Speaker 4: What's that you're carrying in your apron there?
3:50
Speaker 2: Oh, it's nothing.
3:51
Speaker 6: Just supplies.
3:52
Speaker 4: Supplies? Well, let's have a look, huh?
3:54
Speaker 6: No, please. Please.
3:55
Speaker 4: What do you know? It's a cat.
3:57
Speaker 8: It's Clara, Mr. Warner. Mr.
4:00
Speaker 6: Bowman said I had to leave her ashore, and I
4:02
Speaker 6: just couldn't.
4:03
Speaker 4: Who's Mr.
4:03
Speaker 7: Bowman? The new chief steward.
4:06
Speaker 6: Clara's been aboard with me for two years, and I
4:09
Speaker 6: just can't leave her here in a foreign country, especially
4:12
Speaker 6: with her condition so delicate and all.
4:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I see what you mean. Well, I hope you
4:18
Speaker 4: get away with it.
4:20
Speaker 6: You won't tell anyone?
4:21
Speaker 4: Not a soul. As a matter of fact, if things
4:23
Speaker 4: don't work out right... We may both end up smuggling.
4:27
Speaker 9: I was happy.
4:34
Speaker 8: To have you on board on the trip down two
4:36
Speaker 8: months ago, Christopher. I'm very glad you're coming along with
4:39
Speaker 8: us on the run back to New York.
4:40
Speaker 4: Thanks, Captain Wood. There is one thing, though. I'm having
4:44
Speaker 4: a little trouble with the customs men here, and I
4:45
Speaker 4: wondered if you might.
4:46
Speaker 8: I can't do it, Christopher. I just cabled your father
4:50
Speaker 8: this morning. Told him I'd done it for you if
4:52
Speaker 8: I possibly could. He sent a request from New York.
4:55
Speaker 2: You know.
4:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought he would. I wired him from upriver
4:59
Speaker 4: last week.
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Speaker 8: I hate to refuse, but it's absolutely out of the question.
5:02
Speaker 4: Well, Captain Wood, I'm afraid I don't follow you there.
5:04
Speaker 8: Responsibility to the passengers, son. We'll have women and children aboard.
5:09
Speaker 8: On a liner, the safety of the passengers comes ahead
5:12
Speaker 8: of anything. But with proper precautions. Something might happen. I
5:15
Speaker 8: don't know what, but something might.
5:18
Speaker 4: You've carried worse things.
5:19
Speaker 8: There isn't anything worse. And any skip or a float
5:22
Speaker 8: will bear me out.
5:24
Speaker 2: No, Christopher.
5:25
Speaker 8: I simply can't take the chance, and that's final.
5:35
Speaker 7: Final?
5:36
Speaker 4: Well, it wasn't final if I could do anything about it.
5:38
Speaker 4: I hadn't come down here to spend two months in
5:40
Speaker 4: that stinking backcountry and then be stopped on the edge
5:42
Speaker 4: of the wharf. Two months of it. Heat, rain, insects, malaria.
5:47
Speaker 4: I'd gone clear in past the headwaters of the Orinoco,
5:50
Speaker 4: traveled through country where every step along the jungle trail
5:52
Speaker 4: might be the last one. Oh, Sanchez.
5:56
Speaker 2: Si, senor Warner.
5:57
Speaker 4: We better start looking for a place to camp. It'll
5:59
Speaker 4: be dark in a little while.
5:59
Speaker 2: Si, senor.
6:01
Speaker 9: Very soon we turn to river. Camp on rocks by water.
6:04
Speaker 9: This very bad country. This very bad country. You've been
6:07
Speaker 9: saying that for ten days now. Very bad country.
6:10
Speaker 2: Si, senor Warner. This very bad country.
6:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll skip it. For all the luck we've had
6:14
Speaker 4: so far, it might as well be Central Park.
6:16
Speaker 2: Central Park? I don't understand.
6:19
Speaker 4: Oh, never mind. If we don't find something... Here, here,
6:22
Speaker 4: what's the matter? Quiet now. Sanchez, what's wrong?
6:25
Speaker 2: They're in the path.
6:26
Speaker 3: See?
6:26
Speaker 2: Bushmaster.
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Speaker 4: Bushmaster. The deadliest snake in the world. Bushmaster. Its Latin
6:36
Speaker 4: name was Lachesis muta. Mute fate. It lay there in
6:40
Speaker 4: the center of the path. A ten-foot length of silent death.
6:43
Speaker 4: Coiled loosely in an undulant loop. Ready to strike violently
6:47
Speaker 4: at the least movement. Here was the one snake that
6:50
Speaker 4: would go after any animal that walked, or any man.
6:53
Speaker 4: It lay there and watched us, not moving, not afraid,
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Speaker 4: ready for anything. The splotch of its colors stood out
7:00
Speaker 4: like some horrible gaudy floor mat lying there on the
7:03
Speaker 4: brown background of the jungle, waiting for someone to step
7:07
Speaker 4: on it. Here was what I'd come 2,000 miles for.
7:10
Speaker 4: A Bushmaster.
7:12
Speaker 2: Sanchez!
7:13
Speaker 4: I didn't want that snake killed.
7:14
Speaker 2: He no kill, senor. He gone. Bushmaster very smart, very quick.
7:18
Speaker 9: Must always see bullet in time to dodge.
7:20
Speaker 4: Well, anyway, he's gone. And the only one we've seen
7:22
Speaker 4: in five weeks.
7:23
Speaker 2: Oh, we find other. This very bad country.
7:26
Speaker 4: Well, lay off that gun the next time. Don't shoot,
7:29
Speaker 4: you understand?
7:30
Speaker 2: Why you say no shoot? You want Bushmaster.
7:33
Speaker 4: Sure, but I want it alive.
7:35
Speaker 2: Hombre, ser Cristo.
7:38
Speaker 9: Senor Warner, you tell me you want Bushmaster, but you
7:42
Speaker 9: no say alive.
7:43
Speaker 4: You're getting $ 200 for it.
7:45
Speaker 9: For dead man, what is $ 200?
7:48
Speaker 2: Tomorrow we go back to Caracas.
7:50
Speaker 4: I'll make it $ 500, Sanchez.
7:52
Speaker 9: I catch water snake, rattlesnake, any other kind. But I
7:56
Speaker 9: no catch Bushmaster.
7:58
Speaker 4: Sanchez, I'll give you $ 1, 000.
7:59
Speaker 2: We go back to Caracas.
8:02
Speaker 4: Well, it cost me $ 1, 500 American dollars. But three days later,
8:05
Speaker 4: Sanchez brought me the snake in a rubber bag... He
8:08
Speaker 4: was shaking so hard, I thought for a moment the
8:10
Speaker 4: thing had struck him.
8:11
Speaker 9: One thing you make sure, Senor Warner, not turn him
8:14
Speaker 9: loose in Venezuela. Because he know I the one who
8:17
Speaker 9: catch him. And he know where I live.
8:21
Speaker 4: All right, Sanchez, I'll keep an eye on him.
8:22
Speaker 9: También he know you pay me to catch him. All
8:26
Speaker 9: the time he watch and wait. You no forget that,
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Speaker 9: Senor Warner. Because he no forget. Not ever forget.
8:42
Speaker 4: Well, after going through all that trouble and danger and
8:44
Speaker 4: laying out 1,500 bucks, I wasn't going to let a
8:47
Speaker 4: pig-headed ship captain stop me at the last minute. At
8:50
Speaker 4: least not as long as the cables were still in
8:52
Speaker 4: operation between LaGuardia and New York. Morning, Captain Wood. The
8:56
Speaker 4: boy at the hotel said you wanted to see me.
8:58
Speaker 2: That's right, Christopher. Sit down.
9:01
Speaker 4: Thank you.
9:02
Speaker 8: It seems you weren't willing to let matters stand the
9:04
Speaker 8: way we left them yesterday.
9:06
Speaker 4: I'm sorry to go over your head, Captain Wood, but
9:08
Speaker 4: I had to. The museum sent me all the way
9:10
Speaker 4: down here for it. And I'm not going to be
9:12
Speaker 4: stopped by red tape. This will be the only live
9:14
Speaker 4: Bushmaster ever brought to the United States.
9:18
Speaker 8: Yes, and if I had my way... Well, orders are orders.
9:23
Speaker 8: I got a cable from the head office this morning.
9:27
Speaker 8: All right. I suppose we talk about precautions.
9:30
Speaker 4: I'll handle it any way you say.
9:32
Speaker 8: Got to have a stronger box. That crate's too flimsy.
9:35
Speaker 4: It's stronger than it looks. And that wire screen on
9:38
Speaker 4: top would hold a wildcat. But anyway, I bought a
9:40
Speaker 4: heavy sea chest this morning. I will put the crate
9:42
Speaker 4: inside of it.
9:43
Speaker 8: Sounds all right. You got a lock on it?
9:45
Speaker 4: Heavy padlock. It's fixed so that the lid can be
9:48
Speaker 4: propped open to crack without unlocking it. The snake's got
9:51
Speaker 4: to have air.
9:52
Speaker 8: But in dirty weather, that lid stays shut. I'll take
9:56
Speaker 8: no chances.
9:57
Speaker 4: Fair enough.
9:58
Speaker 8: I will keep the thing in my inside casket. where
10:00
Speaker 8: I sleep. I can't have it in the baggage room.
10:04
Speaker 8: And nobody on board's to know about it.
10:07
Speaker 4: Whatever you say, Captain. But we won't have any trouble.
10:10
Speaker 4: After all, it's only an animal. It doesn't have any
10:12
Speaker 4: magical powers.
10:14
Speaker 8: I saw a bushmaster in the zoo crack us once.
10:18
Speaker 8: Had it in a glass cage with double walls. It
10:21
Speaker 8: would never move.
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Speaker 2: Just lay there.
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Speaker 8: Look at you as long as you were in sight.
10:28
Speaker 8: Gave a man the creeps.
10:30
Speaker 4: I didn't know they had a Bushmaster at the Caracas Zoo.
10:32
Speaker 8: They don't now. Found the glass broken one morning and
10:37
Speaker 8: the snake gone. Night watchman was dead. They never found
10:42
Speaker 8: out what happened.
10:43
Speaker 4: Well, the watchman must have broken the glass by accident
10:45
Speaker 4: some way.
10:46
Speaker 8: The way they figured it, the glass was broken from
10:49
Speaker 8: the inside. Well, we sail in four hours.
11:00
Speaker 4: We steamed north into the Caribbean with perfect weather and
11:04
Speaker 4: a sea as smooth as an inland lake. The barometer
11:07
Speaker 4: dropped a little on the third day but cleared up
11:09
Speaker 4: overnight and left nothing worse than a heavy swell. But
11:13
Speaker 4: in spite of the calm seas and the pleasant weather...
11:16
Speaker 4: I found myself feeling more and more often an ominous foreboding.
11:21
Speaker 4: I was developing an almost unnatural fear of that snake. Well,
11:25
Speaker 4: I stayed clear of the passengers, pretty much. Got the
11:28
Speaker 4: habit of dropping into Captain Wood's quarters several times a day.
11:31
Speaker 4: He kept the heavy box underneath his berth. I'd approach
11:35
Speaker 4: it quietly and shine my flashlight through the open crack.
11:39
Speaker 4: Never once could I catch that 12-foot devil asleep or
11:43
Speaker 4: even excited. He'd be lying there, half coiled, his head
11:46
Speaker 4: raised a little, staring out of those beady black eyes, waiting.
11:52
Speaker 4: He'd still be like that when I'd turn away to leave.
11:56
Speaker 4: Maybe that's what bothered me, that horrible and constant watchful waiting.
12:00
Speaker 4: What in the name of heaven was he waiting for?
12:02
Speaker 6: Well, hello there, Mr.
12:03
Speaker 8: Warner.
12:04
Speaker 4: Oh, how are you, Mother Willis?
12:06
Speaker 8: My, but you and the.
12:06
Speaker 6: Captain spend an awful lot of time around this cabin.
12:09
Speaker 6: I'm beginning to think the two of you must have
12:11
Speaker 6: some guilty secret.
12:13
Speaker 9: Oh, no.
12:13
Speaker 4: Nothing like that, Mother Willis. I don't know about Captain Wood,
12:15
Speaker 4: but I... Well, I certainly don't have any guilty secret. Well,
12:30
Speaker 4: she's running quite a swell out there, Mr.
12:31
Speaker 7: Bowman. Yeah, it's a little heavy, all right, Mr.
12:34
Speaker 6: Warner.
12:35
Speaker 7: Guess a storm passed through to the west of us
12:37
Speaker 7: yesterday when the glass dropped.
12:38
Speaker 4: Think it missed us then, huh?
12:39
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's what the mate figures. Sure stirred up some water, though.
12:44
Speaker 4: This'll put half the passengers in their bunks.
12:46
Speaker 7: Makes it great for my department. Two-thirds of them will
12:49
Speaker 7: want a steward to hold their heads.
12:51
Speaker 4: They'll keep Mother Willis so busy she'll have... Wait, look
12:54
Speaker 4: at the size of that wave.
12:55
Speaker 6: Huh?
12:56
Speaker 7: Great Jehoshaphat, we're gonna take it on the port bow.
12:58
Speaker 8: Hang on!
13:06
Speaker 4: Well, that was a freak if there ever was one.
13:09
Speaker 4: Not another wave in sight.
13:10
Speaker 7: You see them like that sometimes, even in a calm sea. Well,
13:14
Speaker 7: I gotta get below, Mr.
13:15
Speaker 6: Warner.
13:16
Speaker 7: That water probably did some damage on the officer's deck.
13:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, I suppose it... What did you say?
13:20
Speaker 7: Uh, the wheel companionway was open on the port side.
13:23
Speaker 7: Bridge cabins must have taken a pretty bad smashing up.
13:26
Speaker 7: They're right below the, uh... Here, uh... Is something wrong, Mr.
13:31
Speaker 6: Warner?
13:32
Speaker 4: No. No, nothing at all, Mr.
13:33
Speaker 6: Warner.
13:34
Speaker 4: At least, I hope not. I looked first for Captain
13:44
Speaker 4: Wood and couldn't find him. Of course, I knew it
13:46
Speaker 4: was only one chance in a thousand, but the chances
13:47
Speaker 4: against that freak wave were one in a thousand, too. Well,
13:50
Speaker 4: I couldn't waste any more time, so I stumbled down
13:52
Speaker 4: the companionway and along the passage to the captain's cabin.
13:56
Speaker 6: Oh, come on in, Mr. Warner.
13:58
Speaker 4: Mother Willis.
13:58
Speaker 6: Why, isn't this cabin a mess? Trying to get some
14:01
Speaker 6: of these things out to dry.
14:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, I just wanted to check. Where's that box
14:04
Speaker 4: that was under the captain's bunker?
14:06
Speaker 7: Threw it out on that, Mr.
14:12
Speaker 4: But where? We didn't know. It was nearly dark when
14:15
Speaker 4: we met together again in the chart room.
14:17
Speaker 7: I don't get the thing at all.
14:18
Speaker 8: There's no other way around it. We've risked all the
14:20
Speaker 8: time we can. We've got to warn the passengers.
14:22
Speaker 7: Well, how do we do it, Captain? Call them all
14:24
Speaker 7: together in the lounge?
14:25
Speaker 8: No, if we did anything like that, we'd be asking
14:27
Speaker 8: for a panic.
14:28
Speaker 7: We'll get one, whether we ask for it or not.
14:30
Speaker 8: Pick a few men and go through the cabin decks.
14:32
Speaker 8: Tell them individually, inside their cabins. Watch for any act
14:36
Speaker 8: that looks as though it might cause trouble. And we'll
14:39
Speaker 8: keep an eye on them. Handle the crew the same way.
14:41
Speaker 7: All right, sir.
14:42
Speaker 9: Okay.
14:43
Speaker 8: As soon as you're finished, arm all the deck officers
14:45
Speaker 8: and start searching again. Our only chance of preventing a
14:48
Speaker 8: riot is to find that damnable snake.
14:56
Speaker 4: The slow nightmare that followed grew worse by the hour.
15:00
Speaker 4: None of us slept. All the ship's officers, not on duty,
15:03
Speaker 4: kept on with that endless search. Passengers locked themselves in
15:07
Speaker 4: their cabins or huddled together in the lounges... knowing all
15:11
Speaker 4: the time that no spot on board could be called safe.
15:14
Speaker 4: Fear was a heavy fog in the lungs of all
15:16
Speaker 4: of us, and every light on the vessel burned throughout
15:19
Speaker 4: the night. Morning came and brought no relief. Terror and
15:24
Speaker 4: tension mounted by the hour.
15:28
Speaker 7: There now, Mrs.
15:29
Speaker 6: Crane, stop getting yourself all worked up and go back
15:31
Speaker 6: to your cabin. The horrid thing's probably crawled overboard anyway.
15:35
Speaker 4: You're just saying that. You're paid to say it. You
15:38
Speaker 4: don't know.
15:38
Speaker 6: Nobody does. Now, now, everything's going to be all right. Oh,
15:41
Speaker 6: if you could only do something.
15:43
Speaker 4: If all of us could only get off the ship.
15:46
Speaker 4: They could fumigate it. Yes. That's what we've got to do.
15:50
Speaker 6: We've got to get off the ship.
15:51
Speaker 8: Now wait, Mr.
15:52
Speaker 7: Bowman.
15:52
Speaker 9: Mr.
15:53
Speaker 4: Bowman, she's going to jump off the ship.
15:54
Speaker 9: No, you don't, lady.
15:55
Speaker 4: Let me go.
15:56
Speaker 2: Let me go.
15:59
Speaker 4: Let me go.
16:00
Speaker 5: Nice work, Mr.
16:00
Speaker 9: Bowman.
16:01
Speaker 8: Get her down to her cabin.
16:02
Speaker 5: Whatever you do, don't turn her loose.
16:03
Speaker 4: Help!
16:07
Speaker 10: Well, you never know when it might strike you. You
16:11
Speaker 10: can't put on a coat or move a chair without
16:13
Speaker 10: risking your life. Now, something's got to be done. It
16:15
Speaker 10: might be right here in this flower.
16:17
Speaker 7: All right, Mr.
16:19
Speaker 8: Eve.
16:19
Speaker 7: You better quiet down and take it easy.
16:20
Speaker 8: Take it easy, huh?
16:21
Speaker 5: Well, you're a great officer.
16:23
Speaker 2: Why don't you do something about it?
16:24
Speaker 10: That thing might be crawling around here right under our
16:27
Speaker 10: feet somewhere.
16:27
Speaker 2: Like I said, shut up.
16:28
Speaker 7: Are you trying to start a panic? I got a
16:30
Speaker 7: right to talk.
16:30
Speaker 5: I don't want to die.
16:31
Speaker 2: Nobody's going to tell me.
16:39
Speaker 4: The second night passed and morning came around again. A
16:43
Speaker 4: gray and rainy day, just as grim and tense, dragged past.
16:47
Speaker 4: And the night came down again. Third night of the terror. Again,
16:52
Speaker 4: every light burned and the whole ship seethed in the
16:54
Speaker 4: throes of incipient panic. Faced by a horror they'd never
16:58
Speaker 4: met on the sea before, crew and officers alike were
17:00
Speaker 4: on the verge of revolt. Passengers sat huddled in a
17:03
Speaker 4: trance-like stupor, ready to scream at the slightest unknown sound.
17:06
Speaker 4: At seven bells, I made my way forward to the
17:09
Speaker 4: chart room and found Captain Wood bent over a desk.
17:15
Speaker 6: Ah.
17:16
Speaker 8: Hello, Christopher. Come on in.
17:18
Speaker 7: Sit down.
17:19
Speaker 4: It's got to be somewhere, Captain Wood. It's got to be.
17:22
Speaker 4: I don't know.
17:22
Speaker 8: You could search this ship for six months and never
17:25
Speaker 8: touch all the places aboard. We can only hold out
17:28
Speaker 8: for two more days. We'll be in.
17:30
Speaker 4: What's the home office say?
17:31
Speaker 8: Oh, here's the latest wireless from them. Keep quiet and
17:35
Speaker 8: keep coming. What else can we do? How is it
17:40
Speaker 8: on the decks?
17:40
Speaker 2: Pretty bad.
17:41
Speaker 4: Anything could happen.
17:42
Speaker 8: Yeah. That's why I took the guns away from the men.
17:46
Speaker 8: One pistol shot and we'd have a riot on our hands.
17:48
Speaker 4: Oh, the whole thing's my fault, Captain Wood. That's what
17:50
Speaker 4: I can't forget.
17:51
Speaker 8: Oh, take it easy, Ben.
17:52
Speaker 4: There was only some way I could pay for it myself, alone.
17:56
Speaker 8: No, I know how you feel, but it's no more
17:59
Speaker 8: your fault than mine or the man who asked you
18:02
Speaker 8: to bring the snake back alive. Nobody planned this. You'd
18:07
Speaker 8: better try and get a little sleep.
18:09
Speaker 4: Sleep? Mr.
18:10
Speaker 8: Bowman made some coffee down in the steward's galley a
18:13
Speaker 8: while ago. You'd better go down and get yourself a
18:16
Speaker 8: cup and then rest up for a couple of hours. Rest?
18:19
Speaker 4: I can't rest.
18:20
Speaker 8: Christopher, it's no good going... What are you going to do?
18:24
Speaker 8: You can't help anything. You'll be stumbled through a hatch,
18:26
Speaker 8: half asleep, and break your neck. Go on and get
18:29
Speaker 8: some coffee. One way or another, we've got to hold
18:32
Speaker 8: out for two more days.
18:44
Speaker 4: The light was on in the steward's galley, and the
18:46
Speaker 4: coffee pot was standing on the stove. It was still warm,
18:50
Speaker 4: so I didn't bother to heat it. I poured out
18:52
Speaker 4: a cup, carried it over and set it on the
18:55
Speaker 4: porcelain tabletop in the center of the room. I started
18:59
Speaker 4: to light a cigarette. The door of the pan cupboard
19:02
Speaker 4: beneath the sink was standing slightly ajar, and I happened
19:05
Speaker 4: to glance down toward it. Out from the dark interior
19:09
Speaker 4: of the cupboard shone two glittering points of light two
19:11
Speaker 4: inches apart. I dropped the cigarette and moved slowly backward.
19:16
Speaker 4: I'd found the Bushmaster. As I moved, the snake slid
19:25
Speaker 4: out of the cupboard in a single sinuous glide and
19:28
Speaker 4: drew back into a loose coil on the galley floor,
19:31
Speaker 4: never taking his eyes off me. I moved slowly back,
19:34
Speaker 4: waiting any moment for that deadly slithering strike. How had
19:38
Speaker 4: he known it was me? He'd stayed quiet when Bowman
19:41
Speaker 4: was here. How did he know to pick the first
19:44
Speaker 4: time in three days when I didn't have a gun?
19:47
Speaker 4: My hands touched the wall behind me and I stopped.
19:50
Speaker 4: Only then I realized in terror what I'd done. The
19:53
Speaker 4: call button and the door were on the far side
19:55
Speaker 4: of the room. I'd backed into a dead end. I
19:58
Speaker 4: stared at the snake in fascination, expecting any moment the
20:01
Speaker 4: ripping slash of those poison fangs. The horrid coils tightened
20:06
Speaker 4: a little and then were still again. Ten million years
20:10
Speaker 4: of evolution to produce this moment. Homo sapiens versus Lachesis muta.
20:15
Speaker 4: Man against mute fate. And all the odds were on fate.
20:20
Speaker 4: I knew then that I was going to die. I
20:25
Speaker 4: could feel the sweat run down between the painted wall
20:27
Speaker 4: and the palms of my hands pressed against it. My
20:30
Speaker 4: skin crawled and twitched. And the pit of my stomach
20:33
Speaker 4: was as cold as ice. There was no sound but
20:35
Speaker 4: the rush of blood in my ears. The snake shifted again,
20:39
Speaker 4: drawing into a tighter coil. Always tighter. Why the devil
20:43
Speaker 4: didn't he get it over with? And then, for just
20:45
Speaker 4: an instant, his head veered away. Something moved over by
20:49
Speaker 4: the stove. I didn't dare turn to look at it.
20:51
Speaker 4: Slowly it moved out into my line of vision. It
20:54
Speaker 4: was a cat. That scrawny cat Clara that Mother Willis
20:57
Speaker 4: had sneaked aboard in La Guaira. Its back was arched
21:03
Speaker 4: and every hair stood on end. It moved stiff-legged now,
21:06
Speaker 4: walking in a half circle around the snake. The Bushmaster
21:09
Speaker 4: shifted slowly and kept watching the cat. He tightened. He
21:13
Speaker 4: was going to strike at any second. He struck and missed.
21:18
Speaker 4: The cat was barely out of reach. Now she was
21:20
Speaker 4: walking back and forth again. She was asking to die.
21:28
Speaker 4: Missed again by a fraction of an inch. He was
21:30
Speaker 4: striking now without even going to a full coil. Missed
21:33
Speaker 4: again and again, always missing by the barest margin. Each
21:36
Speaker 4: time the cat danced barely out of reach, and each
21:38
Speaker 4: time she caught it with one precise spat of a
21:40
Speaker 4: dainty paw, bracing her skinny frame on three stiff legs.
21:43
Speaker 4: And then suddenly I realized what she was doing. The
21:47
Speaker 4: Bushmaster was tiring, and one strike was just an instant slow.
21:51
Speaker 4: But in that split second, sharp claws raked across the
21:53
Speaker 4: evil head and ripped out both of the lidless eyes.
21:55
Speaker 4: That cat had deliberately blinded the snake. Well, he didn't
22:00
Speaker 4: bother to coil now, but slid after in a fury,
22:02
Speaker 4: striking wildly and rapidly, always missing, and every strike was
22:05
Speaker 4: a little slower than the last one. Until finally, as
22:08
Speaker 4: the snake's neck stretched out at the end of a strike,
22:10
Speaker 4: the cat made one leap and sank her razor-sharp teeth
22:12
Speaker 4: just back of the ugly head, sank them in until
22:13
Speaker 4: they crunched bone. With tooth and claw, she clung as
22:16
Speaker 4: the monster snake flailed and lashed on the floor, striving
22:18
Speaker 4: to get those hideous coils around her, trying to break
22:20
Speaker 4: her hold, to shake off the slow and certain paralyzing
22:22
Speaker 4: breath that gradually crept over him and at last stilled
22:24
Speaker 4: his struggles forever. I took a deep breath. And first
22:36
Speaker 4: in minutes. The cat lay on her side on the floor, panting.
22:41
Speaker 4: Resting from the fight just over. And she had a
22:45
Speaker 4: right to rest. That mangy, brave, beautiful alley cat had
22:50
Speaker 4: just saved my life. And maybe others as well. But
22:55
Speaker 4: as I turned toward the stove... I suddenly became very humble.
23:00
Speaker 4: And I knew all at once... What a small thing
23:03
Speaker 4: a human being really is. I and others aboard were
23:07
Speaker 4: still alive only by the merest accident. There were three
23:12
Speaker 4: reasons why that cat had fought and killed the world's
23:14
Speaker 4: deadliest snake. And those three reasons came tottering out from
23:18
Speaker 4: under the stove on shaky little legs. Three kittens with
23:23
Speaker 4: their eyes bright with wonder and their tails stiff as pokers.
23:27
Speaker 4: Up on the decks, hundreds of passengers were waiting for
23:30
Speaker 4: the news that the days and nights of terror were ended,
23:34
Speaker 4: and I could wait a little longer. I pulled open
23:38
Speaker 4: the doors of the cabinet, found a can of milk,
23:43
Speaker 4: and then I dropped down on my knees on the
23:46
Speaker 4: floor of the galley. THE END.
24:06
Speaker 5: Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson, and
24:10
Speaker 5: tonight brought you A Shipment of Mute Fate by Martin Storm,
24:14
Speaker 5: adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield, with Jack Webb as
24:17
Speaker 5: Chris Warner, Raymond Lawrence as Captain Wood, and D.J. Thompson
24:21
Speaker 5: as Mother Willis. The special musical score was conceived and
24:24
Speaker 5: conducted by Cy Fuhrer.
24:28
Speaker 7: Next week.
24:30
Speaker 3: At this same time, when you're tired from a hard
24:34
Speaker 3: day at the office... or leaning over a hot stove
24:37
Speaker 3: all day, when you want to get away from it all,
24:41
Speaker 3: CBS again offers you Escape.
24:55
Speaker 5: Good night, then, until this same time next week when
24:57
Speaker 5: CBS again brings you Escape. This is CBS, the Columbia
25:04
Speaker 5: Broadcasting System. Escape has concluded with A Shipment of Mute Fate.
25:11
Speaker 1: Follow the 50 greatest old-time radio shows for more classic broadcasts.