 Adventures by Morse. Karten E. Morse presents The Girl on Shipwreck Island, 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. Captain Bart Friday and Skip Turner, flying from Frenjindochina to Australia, made a force landing on a tiny island in the South China Sea when their engines conked up. They arrived on this tiny at all just in time to witness murder. They saw a cockney sailor creeping through the undergrowth and softly called out the name of a girl, Gracie. Then they heard a rifle shot and saw a cockney fall, an ugly bullet hole in the back of his head. Then they saw a swaggering Spanish pirate, his head tied up in a bandana, come out of hiding and bend over his victim, quite pleased with himself. All this on an island which was supposedly uninhabited. And what of this girl, Gracie, Captain Friday? Gracie was one of four persons washed ashore in a hurricane when a private yacht wrecked itself on the outery for the island. She's an English cockney girl and was ladies made aboard the yacht. Washed up on the beach with her was the captain and two sailors, Spanish Manuel, alias the pirate, and cockney. The captain was murdered two days after the landing and we saw a cockney finished off this afternoon. And now Manuel had Gracie all to himself, or so he thought, but that was before our engines went bad and we came down on the beach. It didn't take us no time to tune up the engines again once we're set out on the sand. Yes, Kip, go ahead, tell them. Well, matter of fact, if it wasn't that we insisted on getting Gracie out of the pirate's clutches and taking her along with us, we'd have been off ship wrecked island and on our way to Australia by this time. Gracie's afraid of men, all men, so she wouldn't trust us. Yeah, so we had to wait till it was dark and catch her unawares and tie her up. Man, did she ever put up a fight. Yes, Gracie put up a fight and then things got complicated all of a sudden. Captain Friday and Skip were taking Gracie from the plateau down to the plane where it rested on the sand. Captain Friday in front, Skip bringing up the rear. Then suddenly Skip wasn't there anymore. Instead of Skip, there was Manuel the pirate lurking just out of range in the darkness and he had Skip prisoner. He offered to make a deal. You will turn over to me, the girl Gracie, and I will turn over to you, your friend Skip Turner. No. But this is fair thing to ask. You better do it because if you do not, I will cut your friend Skip Turner's throat from ear to ear and that will not be happy time for your friend Skip Turner. And it was while Captain Friday stood in the midst of this quandary trying to make up his mind whether to sacrifice the girl Gracie or his sidekick Skip or whether maybe there wasn't another way out that Belchaser, the parrot, began to squawk in the distance. Advance to be recognized. One, two, three, four. Here Gracie, here Gracie, here Gracie. You hear that? You hear that? Belchaser warning me. What do you mean warning you? Someone's prowling in the dark about my cave up there in the jungle. Here Gracie, here Gracie, here Gracie. You hear that? Somebody's up there. Manuel. See, I am here. You still got Skip Turner? Oh, see, he is tied to tree. I bang him on the head and he is unconscious. What is the matter with the parrot? Gracie says somebody's prowling in the dark near her cave. But that cannot be. We are all here. I don't care if we are all here. But Belchaser calls to me like that. It means somebody's prowling, Christmas. Yo-ho, yo-ho, yo-ho. Fifteen men and a dead man says, here Gracie, here Gracie. You hear that? He's gone back into the cave to hide. He always hides when strangers come near. Doesn't make sense, Gracie. You and I, and Skip and Manuel, are the only living people on the island. I don't care nothing about that. I know what I know, and when Belchaser warns me, it means something. It's crazy. Unless Manuel is lying to me about having Skip a prisoner. Emmanuel, are you lying to me? But why should I lie to you? What I want to know is, if you have Skip Turner tied up, then who's up prowling around Gracie's cave? That is what I wonder also, senor. Well, there's somebody up there. If there is anyone prowling this night, then he must be the ghost of the captain of the sailor, Courtney. Your conscience bothering you? Senor, that is something I pride myself on. I have no conscience. And there's something I pride myself on. I don't believe in ghosts. Senor, you do not know what you are saying. Well, ghost to no ghost, I'm in favor of getting off this island as fast as possible. And I'm making you a proposition, Manuel. See? I am listening. There's room in the plane for four of us. You throw in with Skip and Gracie and me. We'll take you off the island and get you out of this place. Oh, no, senor. And turn me over to the police for murder. I guarantee we won't. You release Skip and come along, and we'll make a special landing any place you say on some other island or on the mainland just as you choose. You guarantee this thing, Captain Friday? Word of honor. We'll give you every break. That is good enough for Manuel, senor. You better be careful. What do you mean? If you trust Manuel one inch, you're a bigger fool than I thought you would. Senor, I am waiting. I have caught Skip turn the loose from the tree where I have tied him. If he tried the double cross, that's his hard luck. Come on. Ah, here you come. I thought perhaps you had thought better of your bargain. I don't make a deal I'm not prepared to keep. Ah, the senorita. Turn that flesh, Lord, out of my face. And I warn you, man, wear one move out of you, and I'll shoot you without blinking a bloom in our lash. Captain Friday led to carry a gun. I thought you was his prisoner. I am not his prisoner. As you can very well see, my hands are released, and he has returned my gun. Ah, I see. I can't see that. Well, turn that blinking torch out of my face. Turn the flesh light over this way, Manuel, so I can get a better look at Skip. See? But I did not hit him too hard. He should not be unconscious all this time. Well, he still is. You're going to have to help me carry him down to the beach. Captain Friday, I don't trust Manuel. What was that? Did you hit Gracie in the dark? Do not move, Captain Friday. Do not move a muscle, because you are outlined in the moonlight, and I will kill you if you do. Me, you cannot see. I am in the shadow. Then you did strike down Gracie. See? You should know I have given back her gun. A senorita is a dangerous animal with a gun. What's the idea? What's this all about? Senorita, you did not think for one minute I would trust myself in your hands. If you don't know the truth when you hear it. No, no, I trust no man. There is no such thing as truth. Well, the worse for you, then. No, senorita. They was for you, and for your friends, Skip Turner. Maybe. See? For now, I have you where I want you. It is so simple to do what is necessary. We offer you rescue and freedom, and in return, you offer us death. See, it is so. Why? You take such pleasure in killing your fellow men? No, no, it is not that. For the love of Pete, what is it? With you and Skip Turner gone, then Gracie and I will have this island all to ourselves. Yeah? See? What about that somebody or something that's prowling up around Gracie's cave? That I do not believe. But you said yourself. When I am making big deal with you, I say one thing. When you are in my power, I say something else. That's great. No, no. I do not think there is anyone on this island except the four of us. And in 10 minutes, there will be only two of us. The senorita and I. OK, Manuel. But Gracie swears the parrot always acts the way it did when there's prowlers. Oh, senorita, a parrot can make a mistake. Human beings make the mistake. Why should not a parrot be allowed a mistake also? I think you're crazy. What difference does it make? Crazy or not crazy, you will be just as dead. OK. Shoot and get it over with. Senorita, you prefer to be shot in the front or in the back. What difference does it make? I do not know. Some people have flow. Shoot and get it over with. See, senorita, I do not wish to keep the senorita in suspense. But don't worry, it will be over quickly. Right in their hearts, senorita. It will be over quickly. One, two, three, four. Manuel. Manuel, where is that flashlight? Here it is, Captain. Skip, you're conscious? Well, I think so. Here's the flashlight you were looking for. Dead as a mackerel. That was a good shot from where you were lying, Skip. Hey, I didn't kill him. You didn't. Heck, fine, no. I thought you pulled a fast one. He was right on me. I couldn't move a muscle. Where's Gracie? Hey, maybe she come to and crawled around. No. Oh, no, here she is. Still knocked out. Well, you didn't kill him. Gracie didn't kill him, and I didn't kill him. And who the heck did? Looks like Gracie was right. Huh? About what? There's somebody else on the island. Hey, she knew it all the time? Well, you were knocked out. The parrot bell chaser began acting up. Gracie said he always did it when somebody was prowling around her cave. But I thought there was only you and Gracie and the pirate and me. Looks like reinforcements have landed. Reinforcements for who? Looks like our side. Hey, it does at that. More on down Van Well here just as he was about to make cat meat out of you. What you think we ought to do now? Well, we can either pick up Gracie and hit for the beach, get the plane in the air, or we can go back up to Gracie's cave and try to thank our rescuer. Be kind of a dirty trick to just run off and leave the guy behind who saved your life. You feel that way, do you? Why, sure. How about you? The same. Well, then we're heading back up through the jungle to Gracie's cave, huh? We are? You want to carry Gracie or? Of course I want to carry Gracie. I ain't had a gal's head resting on my shoulder. And you ain't going to begin now. Hey, Gracie, are you all right? I've got to get egg big enough for everybody. Well, then naturally I'll carry. You'll do no such thing. I've got my two feet as long as I have. I'll walk on it. Yeah, let me help you up. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh, what hit me? Manuel the pirate did. Oh, that double crossing. Here, pick her up, Skip. She's not able to walk. You bet you. Up you come. Here now. Now, just take it easy, Gracie. You don't feel like wrestling. I doubt it that. Come on. Ooh, oh, dizzy is a bumblebee. I told you not to trust Manuel. What did you do, escape? Escape my eye. He's dead. Dead? Manuel's dead? There's a stinking fish. Yeah, where are you taking me? Back to your cave in the jungles. But I thought you were taking me on the airplane. That'll come later when we discover who killed Manuel. Who killed? But didn't you do it? Nope. It's Skip, didn't it? Not me. Hey, your hair smells good. Maybe not my hair, but I want to know is who killed Manuel? However, it was prowling around your cave earlier. Bill Sharza, the parrot warned me. Didn't I tell you? Yeah, but who is he? I don't know. Well, whoever he is is a good shot. Got Manuel right through the heart. But why are you going back to my cave? To say thank you to the misdremain. I'd get a bullet through your own heart. Yeah? That's what you two are letting for, a bullet through your heart. This tiny, isolated atoll in the midst of the South China Sea should be called Dead Men's Island instead of Shipwreck Island. The captain of the yacht is dead, Cockney is dead, and now Manuel the pirate is dead. And somewhere abroad on this 2 by 4 coral strand is a phantom figure moving in stealth and in darkness. Who is it? That's why Captain Friday and Skip insist on returning to Gracie's cave. They want to know, and they're returning against Gracie's vehement protests. You're doing yourself an arm coming back like this. You're doing yourself an arm and you'll get no thanks for it. Don't you get it, Gracie? Somebody done us a good deed, shot the pirate and saved our lives. Well, you can't just up and fly away from a deserted island and leave a friend behind. We ain't no friend of yours. What did you say, Gracie? I said he ain't no friend of yours, and you'll save yourself a heap of trouble if you go away from this island. Yeah, just a minute. Now, let's get to the bottom of this. Bottom of what? Who isn't a friend of ours? Whoever shot Manuel. He'll do the same by you. You say that as though you know what you're talking about. Of course I know what I'm talking about. Of course I know. And this phantom person isn't a phantom at all. I mean, as far as you're concerned. I never said that. You the same, Miss Seter? I never did. Why, sure, you did. Hold it, Skip. Excuse me. Now, look, Gracie, there is somebody on this island you know about, isn't there? There's been somebody on the island all the time, somebody from the wrecked yacht. That's a lie. Is it? You heard me say so. But I don't believe you. I was washed ashore in the storm. The captain was washed ashore, and so was Cockney and Manuel. And that's all? Well, except for Bill Scharzer, my friend the parrot. OK. Come on. Yeah. Now, just a minute. Take your arms, Skip. Yeah, come on, Gracie. Don't take hold of me. Don't drop me up. Hey, what you scared about? If you know what's good for you, don't lay an end on me. Now, get this. Do you, Cap? No. But I'm beginning to get ideas. Look, I'm telling you for your own good. You treated me like a pair of gents, and I don't want to see you get hurt. What's that mean? The cave where I've been living for the last six months is just up ahead. I can't keep you from going there, but if you do, you won't leave this island alive. Hey, now, you've got my appetite all hoarded up. Don't be a fool. Go away while you can. Go down to the beach and get in your plane before it's too late. Will you come with us? I can't. I can't. Don't you understand? Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be allowed. What's to prevent you? How can you stand there arguing with a girl when your very lives are in danger? Look, Gracie, you don't think we'd go off and leave a pretty girl in trouble. I mean no trouble. I agree with you. No, you're arguing. Come on. You fools. You're a pair of fools. That's the mouth of the cave right up ahead, isn't it? Yes, that's it. You don't need to be so unhappy, Gracie. Captain Friday and I could take care of ourselves. Hey, run for it. The mouth of the cave. Inside. That's it. Made it. Made it all right. Hey, that rifle bullet went by my ear like a bumblebee in a fruit jar. Well, now maybe you'll believe me. About what? That you're dead men. Hey, I don't feel dead. There you are, dead men, both of you. Gracie. Well? Where's Belchazar? What? Yes, the parrot. Where is he? Well, how should I know? About somewhere, I suppose. You said he always squawked when strangers came near the cave. We're strangers. Why didn't he squawk? He's a temperamental parrot. And you also said he hit himself at the back of the cave here when strangers got to near. And so he does. Well, let's get him. I'd like to look at him. Well, maybe he ain't there. Maybe he's out in the jungle. Why would he be out there? Well, Belchars has been making eyes to the cockatoo out in the jungle lately. He's probably out there sitting with her in the moonlight. In other words, Gracie, there is no parrot. Hey, Chief. You heard him with your own ears, didn't you? I heard something you say was a parrot. Sounded like a parrot to me, Cam. Maybe. Maybe it sounded like a human being trying to sound like a parrot. That's a lie. Okay. Get Belchars a the parrot and prove it to me. If Mad Willow Cockney or the Captain was alive, they'd tell you there was two a parrot. Belchars belonged to the galley cook on the yacht. Everybody on the yacht knew about Belchars. It was the life of the party he was before the shipwreck. How did you happen to get him after the wreck? I found him, most assured. His feather was wet and he was shivering like a leaf. I picked him up with my arms and dried him and brought him to my cave here. He was that grateful he wouldn't leave me afterwards. Why don't we go to the back of the cave and have a look? He might be there. Why so often are you interested in a parrot? Do you mind coming back with me? It's the only thing that'll make you happy. Skip, you stay here, watch the entrance. While you and Gracie look for Belchars, uh-huh. Yeah, keep an eye open. I don't want anyone sneaking in behind us while we're back there. Chair. Shall we go, Gracie? I've given you all the warning I'm going to. From now on, you'll just have to do the best that you can. Just listen at her. As though me and Captain Friday could... Hey, hey, out there, outside the cave. No use giving me that silent treatment. I've seen your shadow when you moved behind that tree on the... Then you have seen the shadow of your own tomb, which is close upon you. Hey, a dog on Oriental. Oriental is a general term which covers many races and creeds and facial and mental characteristics. You sound like a dad-born professor. I am a student by avocation. My profession is a culinary art practised aboard sea-going vessels. In other words, you're a sea-cook by trade. If you wish. Hey, then you must be the cook aboard the yacht that Gracie was telling us about. The girl tells you about me? Yeah, that you was the owner of the parrot Belchars on the yacht. Oh, what else did she say? Well, I saw. Hey, look at what you're hiding out on us for. We owe you a lot for shooting a parrot at a kind of a critical time in our lives. Come on out and shake hands with a man who wants to thank you. Don't have to be a fool. Huh? What's that mean? I did not kill Manuel to save you. I killed him because he struck the girl. Oh, oh, yeah. See what you mean. Oh, so that's what Gracie meant when she warned us not to grab a hold of her, or rough her up. He was watching us, huh? I was watching. What the heck you want to kill us for? If you've been watching, you know a dog gone well. We don't mean Gracie no harm. You are trying to take her from this island. Well, sure, but we'll take you too. We'll be glad to take you. No. What do you mean no? You don't want to stay here forever, do you? With the girl? Yes. Hey, look, you mean you'd be willing to spend the rest of your life out here isolated from the rest of the world if we'll just go away and leave you and Gracie alone? It would be a pleasure. It would be something beyond words to express. I'm afraid I'd get kind of tired of even slowing me and the Queen of Sheba rolled into one after six months of the year. That is the Western mind. The poetic mind of the East knows how to make happiness last forever. And so you're going to kill Captain Friday and me so as you and Gracie can have everlasting happiness, huh? It is so written. Well, somebody wrote wrong, brother, and he better dig himself up an eraser and rub it out. That is foolish, childish talk. And besides, what about Gracie? What does she say about all this? A woman is musical instrument ready to respond to those who know how to play upon her. A woman is happy anywhere if placed in the hands of one who is a master of such matters. Just as a violin plays a sweetly in a drawing room or in the darkness of a cold cellar if it is in a master's hands. Well, I ask quite a speech, professor, but I'd still like to know what Gracie had to say with her own lips. Where is she? She and Captain Friday are at the back of the cave looking for the parrot. Parrot? There is no parrot. But Gracie said you had one on the ship? On the yacht, yes. But there just was drowned. It was I who imitated the parrot. But what for? To protect Gracie from the cock near Manwell. I watched him in the jungle and whenever they decided to try to catch Gracie, I would cry out like the parrot used to do on the yacht. Thus she was able to hide in the jungle. Well, just the same. Captain Friday and Gracie are in the back of the cave looking for the parrot, Bill Shazer. And I wish they'd get back here. It's just as I told you, Bill Shazer's out from the moonlight with the cockatoo. Gracie, did anyone ever tell you you couldn't lie worth a plug nickel? Is there any way to talk to a girl? Look here, in the back of the cave. Where did these sea chests come from? Sea chests? Yes, you know what a sea chest is, don't you? Look, three, four, five of them. They came off the wrecked yacht. They were washed up on the beach at night. I suppose you put them on your back and lugged them up here to the cave. And suppose and I did. I'm a strong girl. Baloney. What's in them? Food supplies. 100, 150 pounds a piece. I know that. And you know as well as I do that the phantom who killed Manwell carried these up here. You and whoever he is have been working some kind of deal together. That's not true. Not a blink of word if it is true. How was it? Skip's in trouble. Come on. Oh, you had someone scream? I'll say you did. Skip! Skip, are you all right? Hi, Captain. Come and see what I got. You hear that? What has he done? What has he done? Yeah, I am. Hey, did you hear that gun battle? Boy, it was hot and heavy for a minute. What have you done? What have you done? Come on out here and I'll show you. Here's your bell shaz of the Paris. Dead on a mackerel. Chad. Chad, what have they done? What happened, Skip? Who is he? That was the cook on the yacht. He's the one who's been imitating the parrot. He told you that? Sure, told me all about it. And then he sneaked in and tried to kill me. Almost did too, but I got a couple of shots in where they did a job. Come on, Gracie, get up on your feet. It's cruel. Cruel, that's what it is. Up you come. Were you in love with him? No, but he was the best friend a girl ever had. I found him washed up on the beach after the storm. I took care of him. He was in love with you? I don't believe it. He was just grateful for the way I saved him. Uh-uh, he was in love. He wanted to keep just you and him on this island forever. He was devoted. He protected me from the other men. He never tried to take advantage of me because I was a girl. Sounds like a decent gent. And all because I nursed him back when he nearly drowned on the beach. Well, he was out to get Captain Friday and me. He said so. I told you that. That's why I wanted you to go away without me. Hey, you wanted to stay here forever with him? No, but I didn't want him killed either. And I didn't want either of you killed. Well, anyway, we can give him a decent burial. Here, dig a grave, and then let's get off his crazy place. You got your belt fastened, Gracie? It's fastened. Shut the door and lock it, Skip. Door secure. Turn him over, Captain. Okay, here goes. How are they acting, Chief? Pruring like a tiger cat. Well, then, let's go. Hang on, Gracie. I am with every bit of me. All aboard for Australia, Honolulu, and San Francisco. Give her the gun, Captain. Are we up in the air? Relax, Gracie. You'd note me eyes now. She held her breath and gritted her teeth and kept her eyes shut all during the take-off. Well, a girl never knows what might happen to her up in the nav. Hey, y'all, lookie down there. There goes Shipwreck Island. Oh, it wasn't such a bad place. Not bad at all. It's just that men can't keep from killing each other when a girl's around. And that is what happened to the girl on Shipwreck Island. From Australia, Captain Friday and Skip returned to San Francisco. And when you next hear from them, they will undoubtedly be up to their necks in high adventure, intrigue, and more blood and thunder. You have been listening to Adventures by Morse.