 Adventures by Morse, Carlton E. Morse presents Dead Men Proul featuring Captain Friday. If you like high adventure, come with me. If you like the stealth of intrigue, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me. Probably no village of 30 houses in the world besides Holman on the Marin County coast of California had the morbid luxury of its own morgue, certainly not with a morgue so modernally equipped with slabs and ice niches and refrigeration rooms. You will remember that earlier this afternoon Captain Friday and Dr. Croft were knocked unconscious and locked in a closet in Andrew Walter's home. When they broke out they found that Carmel and Andres Ruiz and Gail and Martin Stanley had disappeared from Captain Friday's cottage. But here is Captain Friday himself. We began the search and finally discovered the four locked in the refrigeration room in the basement of the morgue. We found them all right. We also found something we hadn't bargained for. Standing guard in the anti-room before the door were the bodies of the three prowling dead. Doc Sims, Andrew Walters and Rich Hartley's murdered half-wit boy. While Dr. Croft rushed the half-frozen young people back to the cottage on a morgue hand wagon, I dumped the three corpses into the icy refrigeration room and locked them in. There would be no more prowling dead if I could prevent it. For half the night the doctor and Captain Friday worked over the four young people with stimulants and in the case of Carmel Ruiz with even harsher methods for she of the four was almost past saving. But toward midnight the danger seemed past. Leaving the four in the doctor's care then Captain Friday disappeared for two hours and when he returned he was full of unsuppressable excitement. Doctor! Dr. Croft, where are you? Doctor! Oh, hello. I sound asleep before the fire. What? What is it Captain? Oh, I'm sorry Doctor. I'd known you were asleep. I wouldn't have stormed in like this. Sleep? Oh, I wanted to be sorry. I had no business dosing. I'll see you here Doctor. You're dead on your feet. A little tired. But I must say you're standing up under the strain as though you hadn't missed an hour's sleep. I'm used to it. I can live on nothing but excitement for a week if necessary. The sleep I had has revived me. Better go on back to sleep. With you bursting with news? Yeah. How'd you know that? Glittering your eyes. Come out with it. Glitter. Yeah, I got one thing cleared up anyway. You have? Anything of importance? I think so. I know who killed the Halfwit Hartley boy. Really, Captain? Haven't any idea yourself. Oh, I say not. Don't keep me waiting like this. Well, I'll tell you. It was Andres Ruiz. Andres Ruiz. Captain Friday, I think you are my friend. Hey, what did you pop from? I heard you say I do this murder. Andres, I thought you were asleep. No, I'm not asleep. I can see that. And if you say I killed this Halfwit boy, you lie. Lie, huh? You catch this great one. Hey, hey, hey, Andres, don't shake your fist like that. Well, then you say it is not true. Come on and sit down. I want to talk to you. No, I will not sit with anybody who will say I am a murderer. Sit down. You say this thing. Sit down. Better sit down, don't you think, Andres? Doctor, you do not think I have killed anyone. You better sit down and hear what Captain Friday has to say. Well, very well. But I tell you... Now then, Andres, I've been out poking around the beach. I found this not very far from where we first met you and Carmel last night. The cloak. The cloak which the skeleton wear. I thought you'd recognize it. You find this on the beach? And a little further on, I found this. George Captain, you seem to have had a very profitable evening. This is the hat we see him wear. There is no doubt. There's no doubt all right. And did you find the skeleton? Sure. You did? Andres, I found tracks and blood on the sand. Blood, eh? Yeah. And even you, Andres, would hardly expect to get blood out of a skeleton. Now, would you? But no. What is this you are saying? If you shot at a skeleton and... You admit you did shoot at the skeleton, don't you? Yes. If you shot at the skeleton and drew blood, you'd be willing to admit that there was something mighty queer, wouldn't you? Please, senor, what is it you wish to say? We'll get at that in a moment. I followed the footprints for a bit, and then pretty soon the footprints got wobbly, and they stopped all together. After that, there was only a sort of blurred trail. So somebody was dragging himself along in his hands and knees. Plenty of blood, though. Oh, what have I done? Oh, it is not possible... Just a minute, Andres. Where do you think the trail led? To the morgue? Right. To the back entrance. The door was unlocked. There were blood stains on the steps and a smear here and there on the floor. Oh, this is most terrible thing ever happened to me. I even found stains on the edge of the slab where his soaked shirt had rubbed as he pulled himself up under the barma piece. Oh, see here, Captain, that's a bit far-fetched. Supposing Andres here did mistake the Hartley boy for a skeleton and shoot him. You can't expect us to believe that the fellow raced to the morgue and climbed up on the slab to die. Everything indicates that he went there by himself. But if it was the Halfred boy, well, what made him look like skeleton? I found out that, too. That was done with phosphorescent paint. See here, Captain, you're making this village more on a most unusual character. No, Doctor, not when you get to the bottom of the thing. As soon as I got all this material together, I beat it over to his father's house and routed him out. Will he send me to jail? We'll talk about that later, Andres. I told Rich Hartley the whole story and he saw right away what had happened to his son. To amuse the boy last Halloween, he'd given him several rubber masks and a can of phosphorescent paint and showed him how to fix himself up like a skeleton. Oh, and the poor lad was simply carrying his Halloween celebration over several months? Uh-huh. I was just out for a little fun and Andres here, not understanding, took a shot at him. Oh, never as long as I live while I shoot another gun. As for him going to the morgue when he was shot, his father explained that in spite of everything that Doc Sims had ever been able to do, the boy had insisted on making the place his playhouse Joe. And you think in his death agonies, he crawled to his beloved playhouse to die. That's right. But still, Captain, that doesn't explain how his bossy came to join in the antics of the prowling dead. No, it takes an awful burden off my mind. Now we can concentrate on Doc Sims and Andrew Waters. There's where the sinister business is concerned. But what is to become of me? Please, Seniors, if I have killed a boy. See here, Andres, which hardly is a decent sort of fellow. Old moss back, but a just man all the same. I'd advise you go over and have a heart-to-heart talk with him tomorrow. Oh, please, Senor, if this will do any good. But still, he'll probably be at the inquest. We'll take you along. I will do anything. I think if we can convince him that the shooting was a mistake, that it was accidental, and that the whole thing is as horrible to you. Yes, yes, see. Oh, I will make him understand. I don't think you'll have any trouble with him, Andres. Oh, never. Never in my life have I killed a man before. No, no, Andres, you mustn't brood like this. Get the thing out of your mind and go back to bed. Bed? Oh, no, I will never sleep again. Always I will see the face of this poor little half-wheat boy. Oh, please, you will not mind if I go outside. My head hurt like it has never hurt before. All right, go along out and get some fresh air then. You think he's recovered enough from the chili gut, doctor? Oh, quite. But, Andres, wrap up a bit. Oh, yes, yes, I will. Oh, never have I known anything like this before. Poor chap. He's utterly distracted. How's this cousin Carmel, doctor? Is she going to be all right? Oh, right as rain. Not only that, Ms. Stanley and her brother will be as fit as ever by morning. Marvelous, the recuperative forces in you. Yeah, that's a load off my mind. Uh, uh, you know what, doctor? What's that? I'm all for taking your catnap. I'm getting fuzzy from lack of sleep. I think that's a good idea, captain. So far as I know, there were never more than two keys to the refrigeration room over at the morgue. And I've got both of them. Only two, mm-hmm. And I don't care how much supernatural power those three dead bodies have. I'll bet they can't break out of that ice room. No, I imagine not. And with them safe on ice, I figure we owe ourselves a couple of hours rest. Well, you run along. I have a notion to toast myself before the fire. The chair's comfortable. If I get drowsy again, I'll just drop off. Do you more good to go to bed? I fancy not. I'd rather be fully dressed if anything should come up. Uh-huh. Um, anticipating anything? Nothing especially, except, uh, well, captain, what do you think is the real reason Andres felt the need of cold night air when we only saved him from freezing less than seven hours ago? Oh, well, I see. I think you're flushing out a clue. Well, doctor, maybe, maybe not. Anyway, I think I'll sit here. Okay. Good night. Oh, uh, and doctor, yes, captain. If there's anything unusual, call up. Yes, I will. Captain Friday, what are you two girls doing awake? Say, what are you two girls doing sitting up in bed jabbering like magpies? You're supposed to be asleep. Captain, there's somebody prowling around outside our window. Uh-oh. Are you sure? Yes, there really is, Captain Friday. We were afraid to get up to call anybody. Crawling outside, huh? If nobody could get in, window in here's too small. Besides, it's way up high. I know, but, well, nothing seems to make any difference to these, these dead creatures. You wait here a minute. I'll go take a peek out of the window in my room. Please be careful. I'll be all right. Gail, he's going to do just what you did when, when that awful thing pulled you out of the window. Oh, Captain, please wait. Oh, nothing in sight. Uh-oh. I'll be back in just a minute. I'm going out the window. Gail, you seen something? Well, don't be a silly, Carmel. Captain Friday can take care of himself. I wouldn't feel so frightened if, if... If what, Carmel? If I could only forget about that awful cold room and the more terrible cold feeling out of me. Well, you mustn't think about it. Just be glad that... Well, Martin, are you awake too? I thought I heard voices. Oh, I'm glad your girls are all right. Well, Martin, what is it? You're as white as a ghost. I was having a horrible nightmare. Finally woke me up. Carmel, are you all right? I think so. Yes, of course. What's the door doing open between your room and Captain Friday's? Well, the Captain just went out the window. Out the window? You mean... Somebody's been prowling outside the window again. Was it another dead body? Did you see who it was? No, we just heard footsteps. There's someone at the Captain's window now. Listen. Come on, Phillip. It's all right. I brought the prowler along with me. For 20 years, not a single death has marred the tranquil life of the little village of Holman. Suddenly, three deaths occurred in one night. Doc Sims died a natural death on the beach. Andrew Waters, the other rich man of Holman, hanged himself in his home. Rich Hartley's half-wit son was accidentally shot through the heart by Andres Ruiz. These three dead men have been prowling the village streets until Captain Friday locked the bodies in Holman's tiny moor. But even with these precautions, a prowler has just been captured outside the Captain's summer cottage. It's okay, folks. I brought the prowler along with me. Brought the prowler? Yeah. Oh, hello there, Stanley. You joined the pajama party too, huh? Well, here's your prowler. Andres... Oh, please, Carmel. Please, everybody. I did not mean to frighten anyone. I could not sleep, and I wished to do something, and so I woke up and down the beach. So I would know everything would be all right with you, Ms. Stanley, and Carmel. Oh, that's it. Well, you did give us an awfully bad half-hour, Andres. Oh, I am too sorry. Mighty decent thought, just the same, Andres. Uh, what do you say, Stanley? You just said I thought it was mighty decent of you, why? Oh, uh, nothing. Nothing. See, here now. Aren't any of you going back to sleep? Well, I'm not the least bit sleepy. Oh, no. I want to stay awake. Well, as long as you're all staying awake, I'm going to round up Dr. Croft, and then I want to get the straight of this morgue business. Oh, you got yourself locked in the refrigeration room with the doctor's medical kit. And that won't take long. And you girls stay in bed and keep warm. You two fellas make yourself comfortable. I'll get Dr. Croft. Martin, are you sure you're all right? You look awfully sick. No, honest, Gail. Don't worry about me. I'm all right. Please. Carmel, please. You will keep warm. I'm all right now, Andres. Really, I am. Oh, and I think how you suffer in that horrible place, I turn to water in my heart. I cannot bear it. Oh, Andres, I'd give anything in the world if I had a brother like you. Brother? Brother? You wish me for a brother? Why, Andres, you look so hurt. I thought you'd like to know how much I like you. Oh, but of course, Carmel, me. It is beautiful compliment you give me. Now, the doctor's falling asleep. All worn out. I'm not going to bother him. We'll get along without him. Of course, the poor man. I'd like to have had him here to see if all you folks are okay. If anybody gets tired, we can stop, eh? Yeah, yeah. Hey, mind if I perch on the foot of your bed, Miss Stanley? Of course not. No, thanks. Okay, now, I want the whole dope. The minute Dr. Croft and I left you four here in the cottage yesterday afternoon, till we pulled you out of the ice room at the morgue. Well, we were staying... No, I don't want to go anywhere. Not all at once. Miss Stanley, suppose you begin. All right. After you left, Carmel and I began getting lunch just as you told us. Everything went all right. That is, we straightened everything out. No, wait a minute. What do you mean, straightened everything out? Why... Please, senor. Stanley and I have quarreled. Quarrel, eh? Yeah, and it was my fault. I'm sorry, Andre. It's really I am. Stanley, a trip to the morgue ice park seems to have done you some good. I don't know. Perhaps. All right, Miss Stanley, what then? Well, we got everything on the stove cooking nicely, when suddenly someone ran up on the porch and pounded on the door and began to yell. It was awful. You'd have thought he was crazy the way he went on. Well, he yelled for us not to stop for anything, that you, Captain, and Dr. Croft had been dreadfully hurt and that we were to get bandages and medicine and rush over to the morgue. He said you were in the basement. Who was this fellow? We don't know. Did you get a look at it? No, he shouted through the door. We were petrified. Well, as soon as I come to my senses, I rush to the door. But he is gone. That's a crazy business. All we could think about was you two being hurt. We forgot all about the lunch we were cooking. Oh, we did not waste one minute. We grabbed everything we could find in the bathroom, bandage, medicine, everything. Well, I happened to think of Dr. Croft's medicine case, so I got that too. It was so foggy outside we lost our way and went past the morgue. We had to come back. Yeah, we were so excited. We didn't know what we were doing. Tell me, was the front door of the morgue open? Yes, and the whole place was lighted too. We never think it might be a trap. Why should we? They said you were badly hurt, and so we went out. So you went down into the basement and then what? Well, we all rushed into a big room. Oh, it was so cold. Was the door open and the light on in the refrigeration room? See, yes. But of course we didn't know it was refrigeration room when we went in. We all dashed in. The doors slammed shut behind us, and there we were. And then the lights went out. All of a sudden, I realized what had happened. Knew you had walked into a trap? Yes. I never had such a feeling in my life. My whole body was filled with such a revulsion. I was so nauseated I couldn't stand. I don't think we'd better go into the rest of it. But, police, and you're? Where were you in the doctor all this time? You say the fellow came to the door about a half hour after we left the cottage? Well, it couldn't have been longer than that. Well, long about that time, maybe a few minutes before, the doctor and I were getting our heads bashed in. You mean you were attacked too? Yeah, over in Andrew Walter's house. Oh, this is too much. Somebody slugged me and then locked us in a closet where we'd put the Hartley Boy's body. But, but didn't you see who it was? Yeah, not a chance. I got us from behind. Well, how'd you get out of the closet? Smashed in the door. Look here, Captain, could the same person have done both jobs? You'd have been busier than a bird dog if you didn't. Yeah, this is gonna take some figuring. Let's see now. None of you went outside the cottage until this voice called to you. I'll say not. We stuck to each other like birds. Please, I know. You were thinking about me. About you? Well, you think that because... Please, most you tell about what I have done. Oh, I got you. You mean our little conversation about the halfway. Oh, please, if it is not necessary. Don't you worry, Andres. That's in the bag for the time being. Oh, for this, I thank you, sir. Captain! Captain Fryne! Listen, that's Dr. Croft. Captain! Quick, something's gone wrong. What's the matter? Well, I was awakened by a woman screaming. I had dropped off to sleep. Woman screaming? Where? I didn't hear anything. I heard it twice. It was an agonized cry, one right on top of the other. Strange. Where did it come from? In the distance. You don't suppose it... It was what? Why, it occurred to me that our dead friends may have escaped from the morgue and are prowling in some of the neighbor's home. Yes, that's a possibility. Come on, Doctor, we'll check on it. Oh, please! Please, you're not going to leave us alone again? See here, Captain, this is pretty serious. These young people shouldn't have been awakened this way after the harrowing experiences they've been through. Well, the Captain didn't awaken us, Doctor. We were awake. I'm perfectly all right. Hmm, no. Carmel isn't. Look at her bright eyes and her flushed cheeks. Oh, really? I am. Please, please don't leave us. Oh, Doctor, don't go away. See here, Doctor. Maybe you'd better stay here. Stanley, will you stay here with Dr. Croft? Well, anything you say, Captain. Come out here a minute first, Stanley. I want to talk to you. Oh, I know. I've been making a horse's neck a month. Now then, Carmel, you lie down. I don't want to go to sleep. I don't want to be left alone. Now then, no one's going to leave you alone. I'm going to stay right here with you and so is Martin Stanley and his sister. Of course, Carmel. We won't leave you. All right, Stanley. Mind what I tell you. Andres, are you ready? You're coming with me. Please, if anything should happen to Carmel... Nothing's going to happen. I'll put on your hat and step on it. Carmel, you will do what the good doctors say. Everything will be all right. Andres, come here. Oh, please. Please, you get well and we will go away. Let her alone, Andres. You're simply upsetting her. I will kiss you on the forehead. See? I am your big brother. I will be back. All right, Andres. Let's get out of here. We've wasted too much time already. Cut across the lawn with the sidewalk. Oh, the doctor was angry because we upset Carmel. I suppose we did go too far. I had to get that information, though. Maybe I should have called him after all. Please, where are we going? I don't know. The doctor said he heard a woman scream. Somebody in the village has been yelling. There'll be a crowd around. Oh, if it was not for this thick fog. Yeah, beastly. Here's the sidewalk. I'll have to patrol up one side of the street and down the other. Nothing will get biased that way. It is good there is only one street. Yeah, the short one at that. You see anything, Andres? That's out of the ordinary. Sing out. Please, if I may ask it, have you no idea who is, uh, cause all this? Idea, huh? I've been collecting a lot of ideas lately, Andres. A lot of them. Well, then, um, then you'll perhaps know who is to this thing, eh? You'd be surprised what I know, Andres. Well, then why you do not arrest somebody, if you know? Listen, fella, all I'm waiting for now is a break. Things are piling up, and when the right time comes, I would see you here, Andres. Keep mum. Oh, with all my heart, I will not say a thing. But please, if I can give any little help, I... What is that? It's the morgue. Come on, it's the morgue. Please, I am losing you in this dark. Come on, come on, Andres. They're blowing up the morgue. Oh, this is awful. Here, here I am, Andres. My god, you don't trip and break your neck on that rotten sidewalk. How can I watch out when I cannot see one little thing? Yeah, watch yourself. Here, over this way through the light. Imagine that, blowing up the morgue. Maybe these bodies which have given us so much trouble are no more. Blowing up, huh? I hope they are. Oh, it is terrible thought. Uh, yeah, I don't see why. They better run for their money. Only mad men would run around in fog like this. Yeah, gotta take a chance on breaking your neck once in a while in this game. I do not think I wish to be detective. Now, here we are. Look there, doors busted open. Blast. Wonder if the lights will turn on. Are you, are you not afraid of what you will find? Won't be anybody inside. If there is, he got blown up plenty with that blast. Well, where is the lights? Here along the wall somewhere. Yeah, here they are. Yeah, that's a break. Wonder if it didn't tear out the wiring. But they do not see any explosion. I have an idea where to look. Come on down into the basement. You, do you mean this refrigeration room? Yeah, come on. Here. The way that I find the stair lights. Yeah, there she is. Look, look there are the stairs. I'm a son of a gun if it isn't our old friend the Hartley boy. Oh, he must come upstairs and he could not go any further. Look how he is fall on his face. Yeah, looks like a jailbreak, all right. Come on, let's go on down. Oh, if I never see this place again, I will be just as happy. Careful, you don't step on him. Oh, I would never do that. Frozen stiff. Yep, here's Doc Sins. Is, is he freeze too? Yep, even freezing him won't keep him in that place. Old water corpse Sins. Oh, it is no job for me, I can tell you. Hey, look. Look there at the door of the refrigeration room. Why, it is blow clear across the room. Yeah, that's peculiar. That door was blown open from the inside. But how is it possible? Three dead men frozen in ice room and they did not have any powder. Yeah, remember Doc Sins busted out of his ropes and bashed down the door of his study even after I tied him down? You, you think they have some ghostly power? Hey look, there's Andrew Waters. He didn't get very far. Uh oh, here's something. Huh? What is it? I do not see anything. Never mind, it doesn't amount to much. Look, look Captain, I have not noticed this before. This string under Doc Sins' hand. A string, huh? What does it lead to? Well, I do not know. I will find out. For I see there's nothing. Look out, Andres. You've set off a bomb. Look out. The walls are falling in. And you're... Captain Friday and Andres Ruiz trapped in the ruins of Doc Sins Morgue. Have these two walked into a trap set by the three prowling dead? A string in the hands of a dead man caused the explosion. Again evidence that the dead may rise and go about them more but duties. Listen next week to the ninth episode of Dead Men Proul entitled The Prowler Dead Walk Again. Next week at this same hour, you are listening to Adventures by Morgue.