 Autolight and its 98,000 dealers bring you Mr. John Hodiak in tonight's presentation of Suspense Tonight Autolight presents a story about heroism as we document the attempt of three brave men to conquer the mountain our star Mr. John Hodiak Bottom of the evening to you. You mean top of the evening. Don't you mr. McSawley? No, bottom my spirits are low as the water and my car's battery. Oh, you mean it's dry dry is the nightishman's wit Well, now it's an auto light stay full battery. You're needin. That's the famous battery that needs water on the use You mean that long life? Is one and the same fiberglass mats surround every positive plate to reduce shedding and flaking and give the auto light Stay full longer life as proved by tests conducted according to accepted life cycle standards Where could I be getting this marvel of marvel? Why from your nearest auto light battery dealer the man who services all makes of batteries to quickly locate him just phone Western Union by number and ask for operator 25 I'll tell you where to get an auto light stay full the battery that needs water only three times a year in Normal car use and remember from bumper to tail light. You're always right with auto light And now auto light presents the mountain starring mr. John Hodiak hoping once again to keep you in suspense We made the fourth camp on the East Glacier 22,000 feet above sea level in that cold thin air we stood looking up And in the great loneliness, we saw it for a few seconds as the mist cleared we saw it the mountain The peak towering over us was beautiful and terrible Then a swirling curtain moved around it and it was gone again There were six of us and the porters Manton and leads had been sent back to the third camp some 4,000 feet below both had been badly frostbitten So then there were six of us left to make the attempt. Nobody had done it before No one had ever reached the top of that tremendous windswept place And now we were ready for the assault That night we held our last meeting in the fourth camp gains Thomas Feldman Eldridge Perucchi and myself That's the best way the most practical three of us stay and three of us try to make it We stand a better chance if we all do it together. What do you think Bob? I don't think so Thomas is right Three of us go and have to turn back the other three will still be fresh. They can have a go. That's right. All right Sure. Yes, of course. Okay two parties Thomas you'll head up the second stay at the camp. I'll leave the first one up right now. Wait a minute Don't we get a vote on this? No, it's a waste of time start voting and we'll start arguing again Those monsoons aren't going to hold off forever take it easy John. Yes. How's your leg Harry? Not bad But I might hold you back better leave me down here. All right Perucchi you want me to go feel up to it. Sure you bet gains Okay, oh, you're not a climber the cough it's not get a lot worse higher better not Well, look why not let me go with you and leave Harry in charge down here that leg will be all right in a couple of days Don't you think Harry you'd ought to be he hasn't had enough experience for a lead man. Oh There's nothing wrong with me Or is that Well Well, I don't know John. It's gonna be pretty tough. Well, well listen John about it this time What about it Bob? I'm in good shape. I guess so Okay, you peruchin myself. That'll be it. We'll start a day break and that's the way we decided there was no other possibility It wasn't that we didn't like Eldridge was just that he was always flying off the handle and because of that He wasn't a good risk Nerves don't go so well with mountain climbing not that mountain cold and dangerous. It's never gained peak hidden in mist Later that evening Thomas and I were going over the equipment before turning in You know someday they'll invent an oxygen tank. That's light but these things weigh over 30 pounds. Yeah Hey Bob hmm about Eldridge. What about it? You think you ought to go? It's the only way I guess you're taking a big chance He'll be all right. We could only wait just a couple of days. Harry. It'd be all right We're late now if the monsoon starts none of us will be able to do it. That's the trouble Well, you have peruchin along he gets on pretty well with Eldridge. That'll help. It'll be fine. We're all in good shape. I Think we're gonna make it in a way. I hope you don't hide like a crack out at myself Oh, wouldn't that be something the first man to get to the top you understand why I didn't take you don't you? Oh, of course wishful thinking that's all Well, you better turn in. I'll finish checking the stuff. Okay. See you in the morning On May the 18th. We started to climb the Northwest Ridge. We were 23,000 feet Each of us carried a 30-pound oxygen tank besides the equipment. We needed for our next camp For three or four hours. It wasn't bad But as we went higher the wind started to take it out of us and we felt the cold more Take ten yeah, why will you look at it up there? That's it you almost feel like you could jump and touch the top big jump peru chi What do you figure? About thirty five hundred feet more something like that. Well, if the weather holds we might make it by tomorrow That's what I thought Not a cloud in the sky. Oh Will you look at that thing? Boy, what can you say when you see a mountain like that save your breath? We'll move in a few minutes Then we hit patches of snow and the pace slowed down We'd spelled each other as leader and it was my turn up ahead Peru chi was bringing up the rear when I heard him yell and felt that dreadful tug of the rope at the same time I saw the snow crumbling away from beneath Elbridge's feet I saw it and I thought of a man I knew who slipped from an aerial ladder a hundred feet up and as he fell to the ground his legs raced wildly arms waving Trying to find the rungs to pull himself back up and Elbridge was doing it now His heels churning into the soft snow at the edge of the crevasse then he found solid ice Yeah Can he get a hold with his axe solid ice a couple of feet back I can grab it with my axe do that if I slipped when I reached behind me. It was the end I looked at the figure of Eldridge below me his body bent backwards away from the drop beneath him I closed my eyes reached behind with my axe and dug into the ice And as Eldridge shouted I thought I heard another cry and suddenly the ropes weight was lighter I saw Eldridge fall then get up on hands and knees and crawl away from the crevasse toward me Norman, where's Norman? He's gone. He felt he can't he can't be how I don't know. Perhaps the rope frayed on some ice at the edge Suddenly it went slack Heard him. Maybe it's not too deep. He might have fallen into a drift at the bottom. Stay here. I've got to see I Belayed the rope about the ice axe and paid out the rest of it as I slid down the slope to the crevasse But when I looked over the edge, I knew That dark blue almost black emptiness below. I knew There'd be no snow drift for Norman Perucci's body unless it was perhaps 10,000 feet below us We bypassed that place found a shelter from the wind and pitched our tent For a long time neither one of us spoke. I think we were too exhausted to say anything Exhausted and shocked there were only two of us now keep hearing me. I know You don't not the way I do. He's a nice kid Yes, it doesn't seem as cold without the wind Huh? How high do you think we are 24,000? I wondered it It's a little hard to breathe. I better use the oxygen. No, not yet. We won't need it. Yes Yes, we will. We'd better save it. We're going down in the morning. No, we've got to You and I couldn't make it up there alone It's 2,500 feet to go maybe more No, we've got to go back Let the others try just because he's gone is that why look I've done more climbing than you out here What happened today is bad for the nerves. We couldn't make it We'll go back try again later with the monsoons will be here later We've got to do it now Thomas and the others can do it. No, we'll keep going I've got to I'm not going back. What's the matter with you? You're talking like a kid. Look I Was the last one on your list when you got the party together. Wasn't I yes? Why? Why was I lost? I don't know Somebody had to be was you that's all you are a liar. You didn't want me along. None of you did you're here, aren't you? You know, I'm afraid of climbing. Don't you isn't everybody a little Isn't that why we do it? Isn't that part of it? I mean really scared. I'm really scared. You know that No, I don't look something happened when nor Something happened to me today. I've got to go on to the top now. You think I'll call you a coward if we don't no All right, then forget it. We'll try again Maybe next year You'll be along too. I'll do it alone then I'm going on alone If you want to come with me. All right, if not, it doesn't matter anyway. I'm going on So long John He didn't stop just moved up the ice slab and around a hammock out of sight I Went back inside the tent to get my pack I couldn't let him do it alone and I was trapped into going with it Then I saw that the fool hadn't even taken his rope was neatly coiled in the corner. I grabbed it up And as I did so I saw the end of it the end which had broken when Perucchi hung over the crevasse The rope which Eldridge had said was parted by the ice But there were no frayed ends the break was clean It had been cut through and the oil of Eldridge's knife blade was still on it He's bringing you mr. John Hodiak with Ben Wright as Eldridge in the mountain tonight's presentation in radios outstanding theater of thrills suspense Oh and not all I'd say falls a battery for me. It's the finest fine battery That is the truth mr. McSawley and that famous auto light stay full needs water only three times a year in normal car use And hallowed me by which we repeat about the glass of fiber a pleasure a pleasure It is those fiberglass retaining mats around every positive plate to reduce shedding and flaking and give the auto light stay full longer life As proved by tests conducted according to accepted life cycle standards. So friends visit your auto light battery dealer He services all makes of batteries and these got an auto light stay full for your car if a replacement is needed To quickly locate your nearest auto light battery dealer call western union by number and ask for operator 25 I'll tell you where to get an auto light stay full the battery that needs water only three times a year in normal car use And as they stay in st. Patrick's day from bumper to tail light you're always right with auto light And now auto light brings back to our Hollywood soundstage mr. John Hodiak in Elliot Lewis's production of the mountain a Tail well calculated to keep you in suspense When Aldridge had thought that he was going over the crevasse He'd cut the rope which had held Norman Perucci's body some 20 feet into the chasm to save his own life. He'd done this I Pulled the coil through the straps of my pack and left the tent I caught up with Eldridge about a hundred feet higher He was standing on a shallow ledge catching his breath and his head was tilted back eyes fixed on that mountaintop The brain of the monster Master bit back there. I was cutting steps up the cliff. I nearly fell you didn't though. No, I didn't I say you're coming with me. I want to say that you get down alive You forgot your rope I found it in the tent. I didn't think I'd need it you might Here Thanks We better tie on together All right, do you want to go first? No, it's your party now You lead all right He had a funny look on his face as we roped together I think he must have known men that I'd found out what he'd done He didn't say anything though but turned and began to move upwards At three o'clock that afternoon. We were at about 25 000 feet Was hard to breathe now terribly hard We decided to rest for a few minutes I remembered looking down from the ridge looking down into the incredible scene below Then up And the peak which loomed over us clear against the sky perhaps 1500 Perhaps 2 000 feet over us I remembered Perucci's excitement as he'd seen it further down And even then I thought it could be beaten that we might do it Yeah Here you You lose the oxygen from here as soon as we start again can't do any more today. Oh, yes We can go higher And what and it gets dark camp? Finish it tomorrow if we don't today the storm comes up We'll be in trouble. It won't we're going to make it I know we are and what? That doesn't matter after that I have to go down to the others Yes, I suppose so I have to tell them about Norman. Yes We're going to tell the same story. I think we will You know why I followed you Why I came along Yes Just like that. Yes You murdered a man and that's all there is to it. I was afraid I knew if I went over we'd all go it was the only way if you'd waited We could have got him out. I didn't know it then. I felt myself going. I had to do it What's all this for to wipe out the sin get to the peak and be a man again? In a way perhaps You won't be You'll never be When this gets out and it's going to There'll be no place for you to hide No place to go We better get moving We began to use the oxygen sparingly And kept moving up slower and slower Our hearts pounding with the effort 100 feet 200 Three I began to feel lightheaded I couldn't Not another step. I couldn't Then it was 400 feet Eldridge collapsed in front of me and lay in the fine snow sobbing We We stop Stop here. We've got to go on. No And he sobbed like a child his mind willed him to keep going and his body wouldn't allow it We lay there using our precious oxygen because I think had we not done so we'd have died of fatigue The wind had died down completely And there was a silence so complete That you could almost imagine it bore a sound in itself deadening awful We made camp and tried to sleep. We were too tired to think of food Where the night came a heavy mist It began to grow much colder The morning of may 20th was gray clouded The peak of the mountain was shrouded and I knew that it was going to snow Directly ahead of us was an ice wall There was no way around it We had to climb almost vertically Cut our own steps with ice axe one by one and climb This time I took the lead And as I knotted the rope Eldridge said You don't trust me do you? You're Afraid if I'm leading a new fall I'll cut the rope again You might Let's go At that point we had ascended 25,400 feet The ice wall would take us another hundred higher The wind began to blow when we were halfway up Two pathetic specs on a wall of the world After this step Is a bit of a ledge most 10 inches wide Narrowing down in places to no more than a toehold I felt my way along until the ledge gave out Then the hacking of steps began again The wind tore at me screamed And like a great hand tried to sweep me off the wall Once I looked down and it was as though a white blanket were stretched out beneath It was snow I could see it billowing up and around While above the summit ignored everything beneath The blizzard hit us as we reached the top of the ice wall We found a little shelter in the lee of a pyramid shaped summit and waited And then the slope seemed to lurch and I had a split second to see the wave of snow pouring down on me It was over done the avalanche swept us down smothering killing and I thought of the ice wall in the drop below That's all I remember I had stopped falling It was my first thought when I came to I wasn't dead I saw a pair of legs crouched next to me I didn't think you were going to make it Where'd I land? Hanging over the ice wall, but you were behind me You didn't go over. No They don't ask me why It must have been a corner of the avalanche that hit us and you You ended up Pulling me down My axe caught him one of the steps and it it held us both and You pulled me up. Yeah, it looks like it Thanks How long have I been out? A little more Blizzard's letting up Yeah Yeah Yeah, did you feel like going on? I think so All right You tell me something What? Why did you pull me out of it? Why didn't you just let me go over the edge? Then you wouldn't have had me around to tell look I I I'm not a murderer Bob I cut Norman's rope because I was afraid If I thought there was even a chance of us not crawling I wouldn't have done it better. I didn't know Uh That doesn't excuse me But it doesn't mean I'd kill you to get out of it Yeah I better save the talk we'll lead our breath You want to lead or shall I? I'll do it The storm had passed and although we could see the cold sky again The peak was still only occasionally visible through patches of mist We went up higher higher And then my oxygen tank went out and we had to share outages We'd nearly reached 26 000 feet. We could see the top For a moment it stood out clear And it looked so easy The last lap But now we could only move a few steps at a time until we had to rest And I couldn't get up again It looks Pretty easy pass that ridge. I Have to wait All right Wait for me Now go on. No together Just wait A couple of minutes I'll It'll be getting dark. I'll come back for you. No Minute yeah you You take the oxygen I don't need no john. No, I won't need it. You wait here. No, I'll get down again. Wait. Look. I'm sorry. I was afraid I'm still afraid That's why I got to do it You understand So I'll bomb I didn't have the strength to stop him as he untied the rope which had held us together Then he was gone And after a while I felt stronger I sat up I could see him A dark blob against the mountain snow smaller Smaller and he was climbing upwards He'd reached the final pinnacle And became a dot that was lost in the mist I saw eldridge once more He couldn't have been more than 250 feet below the peak For perhaps 10 seconds I saw him And then he disappeared I waited Waited into the night The next morning I began to look for him, but the oxygen was gone I knew that if I had to climb another foot I'd die And so I turned back There was no wind anymore It was almost warm Somehow I got down Down to the base camp I told him the story Almost the whole story, but not quite I changed a rope which had been cut with a knife Into a rope which had frayed and parted on the ice I remember as we started down to the valley below I turned And stood a minute Looking back Looking up Then a cloud Softly pour over the peak And in a moment The mountain was gone Suspense Presented by autolite tonight star mr. John Hodiak This is harlow wilcox again speaking for autolite world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment Autolite is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry That's why during these early months of 1953 The autolite family joins again in saluting the leading car manufacturers who install autolite products as original equipment Our autolite family is made up of the nearly 30 000 men and women in 28 great autolite plants from coast to coast And in still other autolite plants in many foreign countries Our family also includes more than 18 000 people who have invested a portion of their savings in autolite As well as 98 000 autolite distributors and dealers in the united states and thousands more in canada and throughout the world Three weeks from now as the climax of this year's autolite family salute program Autolite will present special programs on both radio and television Direct from the easter parade of stars autoshow in new york's walled orphastoria hotel So don't miss this exciting suspense radio program originating from the grand ballroom of the walled orphastoria on monday april 6th Next week a story in the classic tradition of suspense as we present a new version of charles dickens terrifying short story the signalman our star the first lady of suspense miss agnes moorhead That's next week on suspense The mountain was written for suspense by antony ellis The program is produced and directed by elliot lewis with music composed by lucian morrowick and conducted by lutt bluskin In tonight's play ben wright was heard as eldridge featured in the cast where joseph kerns john fraser paul frieze and james mccallion john hoady act may soon be seen in the columbia pictures production mission over korea And remember next week miss agnes moorhead in charles dickens the signalman Tomorrow is an important day not only to the wearers of the green But also to the campfire girls march 17th marks the 43rd anniversary of this organization Dedicated to teaching american girls how to become good citizens of the future Auto light congratulates the campfire girls and their inspired leaders This is the cbs radio network