 Tired of the everyday routine? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. Tonight we escape to the interior of China and the story of a gentleman gambler from Virginia matching wits with a murderous warlord whose word can mean life or death. As Ahmed Abdullah tells it in his famous story, The Ambassador of Poker. Very good. Here he is, sir. Captain, I demand to know the meaning of this. This sailor has forced me to pack my baggage, vacate my cabin and come here. He did it on my orders, Mr. Faber, and you are leaving this ship. Leave it. But you are mistaken, sir. This is only Hong Kong. My passage is paid to Singapore. In this envelope you will find the refund of the remainder of your passage. It comes to $43, I believe. Good day to you. Well, you can't do this. I demand an explanation. I shall give it to you in a word. Poker, there is not a man aboard, officer or crewman, who has not lost every cent he had to you. You're implying that I played dishonestly, that I cheat? Let's just say that you win, too, consistently. Sir, I am Randolph C. Fairburn of Charlottesville, Virginia, sir. A southern gentleman. I have never cheated at cards in my life and I never will. Here. Here in my wallet is all of the money I won on this voyage. Some $324, I think. Take it. You may distribute it among the men. You will, I presume, allow me to keep the $20 bill that I had when I came aboard. I cannot accept this money back, Mr. Fairburn, but... Then throw it overboard. Here. Allow me. No. No. Wait. I'll take it. I'll return it to the men. Thank you. Now, if you will, pardon me. Uh, Mr. Fairburn, I... Perhaps I have misjudged you. If so, I'm deeply sorry. Your apology is accepted. But you must admit your winning all the time is... That is my good fortune, sir, and my curse. I simply cannot lose. Perhaps if you would agree not to play poker, perhaps you could stay on board to Singapore. No, sir. I do not stay where I am not wanted. But you haven't much money. How will you get along in Hong Kong? What will you do? Why, I expect something will turn up. If not, I will play poker. On the Hong Kong waterfront? Certainly. Well, sir, if you play and if you insist upon winning... I can't help winning. Then, Mr. Fairburn, I should advise you to be prepared for a great deal of trouble. I should advise you to slip a gun in your pocket alongside your rabbit's foot. Mr. Fairburn, Mr. Fairburn, are you staying on another week? Yes, I believe I will. Then, sir, we shall have to have payment for the room in advance. Oh, yes, I'll take care of that tonight. Right now I have something important. By the way, do you know where I might find a poker game? Poker? Oh, no, sir, not in this hotel. Poker? Yes, sir. If you don't value your life too highly, on the waterfront, Pearl Dock Street, down the alley of the Emily Fish, the black dragon in the back room. Ah, you are bluffing. I call you. Three lovely ladies. Well, I'm on a meet. You are unlucky tonight. You wait. Just you wait. All right, deal the cards. Gentlemen, I beg your pardon. Who is this one? What is it, young fella? I wonder if I might sit in this game, if you don't mind. What? Look at me. He's just a boy. Why, why? Of course, old chap, of course. Happy to have you. Won't you sit down, Mr... Fairburn, Randolph C. Fairburn of Charlottesville, Virginia. Well, sit down, Mr. Fairburn. This is Frenchie Van Alkemade, Rangoon George, Croker, and what you just call me, Skip. How do you do, gentlemen? Always happy to see a new face in the game. How many chips do you want? Why, $17.64 worth as a starter. There. Is, um, is that all you have? I'm afraid it is. For the moment, at least. Well... I don't think I'll need any more. Me? I love the innocence of the very young. Dile mon petit. Raise you five. Very well. Call. Three aces. Sorry. Full house. Nine's over four. I'll play these, gentlemen. More you. Another pattern. Check to you. No, not to me, old pattern. I'm out. Well, see, saw yours, Mr. Unless... Thank you, gentlemen. Wait, wait, wait a minute. Get out. I beg your pardon? I said get out. This joke has gone far enough. Joke, I don't understand. Get out. Don't worry, sir. I don't care to stay where people don't want me. Here. Cash my chips. Then I'll move along, gentlemen. What? Cash your blinking chips, did you say, young fella? Well, yes, sir. Or did the devil with you beat it while you can still walk? Gentlemen, I must insist upon my money. You what? I am an extremely nervous man. I do not like to fight, but... Get out. Get out before I... I'm sorry, sir. But I warned you. Though I don't like fighting, my mother insisted that I study boxing. Let me ask him. I'll kill him. I'll kill him. I'm sorry, gentlemen. I dislike using the gun, but I had no choice. You may get up, sir. You are uninjured. I merely shot into the ceiling. And now, if you will be good enough to cash my chips, I can be on my way. Eighty-four, eighty-five, and twenty cents. That's it to the penny. Thank you, gentlemen. Now, if you will remain facing me with your hands up until I have left the room... Be...be careful with that thing. There is very little danger. I'm really a very indifferent marksman. Who's that? Ah, there is no need to fear this humble one, sir. Good evening. I watched a little scene. You enacted just now, Mr... Mr. Fairbent, sir. Randolph C. Fairbent of Charlottesville, Virginia, sir. Ah, of course. The Virginian. All of you, go. Thank you, Mr. Fairbent. Well, you certainly have that pack of rats under your thumb, a wave of your hand, and they are gone like magic. Not magic, my friend. The power of money, that is more practical. Besides, I own this place. So, you are a Virginian. Yes, sir. And unworthy son of that great and noble commonwealth. Oh, I am delighted. My late partner was Virginian. I am Shangpao of Jones and Shangpao in Portas. Um, pardon inquisitiveness, but would you care to go to work? Well, I am not a businessman, and I don't speak Chinese. No matter. You are gentleman and fighting man. Oh, not a fighting man. No, you're mistaken. No matter. I need man like you. And it will be worth a great deal of money to you. How much? $5,000. But for what? What is the job? To recover for me a fortune from the interior of China, an object no bigger than your hand, weighing less than four ounces. The British Museum has offered 10,000 pounds. Your own Metropolitan Museum will gladly pay $50,000. Bivert collectors? More. Much more. Why? What is it? It is thin gold wafer, on which is impressed only imprint known of great seal of Yin dynasty. 3,000 years ago. Is priceless relic. And it was, and legally still, is property of Jones and Shangpao. Hmm. It will be your job to return it to me by whatever means you are able. But from where? Who has it now? You have heard of General Kung? No. Notorious bandit now puppet ruler of Nam Yung? On some pretext he confiscated seal from my partner. Jones died while trying to recover it of typhus, so it was said. Too bad. Well, how am I to get the seal from him? Perhaps Wei will suggest itself when I tell you that General Kung also like to play poker. Aha. So that's why you picked me. Perhaps. You will do it? Well, I'll go a long way for a game of poker. Excellent. I shall arrange for you for document. Save contact pass. Also reliable Chinese guide. You must be careful. Oh. Ah. Watch out for beautiful young lady with red hair like sun. She is perhaps after seal also. Huh? Who is she? I do not know. But I do know she is dangerous. Also young Mr. Fairburn, let me say this to you. Though you do not like fighting, this is China, not Virginia. If you get chance to slip throat of General Kung, do so promptly before he does say to you. In just a moment, we will return you to the second act of escape. But first, on CBS's Gene Autry show this Saturday night, you will hear how Easter is celebrated in the West. The King of the Cowboys will bring you a sketch of a young western minister whose Easter sermon helps to solve a mystery. And Gene will also be singing some special holiday songs. Vaughn Monroe will be around this Saturday with some of his famous music making, so be listening for them both. Gene Autry and Vaughn Monroe on most of these same CBS stations. And now for the second act of escape and the story of Randolph C. Fairburn, the ambassador of poker. Is this the place, Mao Tzu? General Chung, take hotel, chase people away. He confiscated that, too. All right, let's go. What's this? God said we know can go inside. Tell him I want to see the general, Mao Tzu. What did he say? He said no, no like American here. Tell him I'm an ambassador from Virginia. What did he say? He said no. Tell him I'm an ambassador of poker. Tell him to tell the general that. Did you say poker, Mr. Fairburn? I did, sir. Would you care to have a game? Come in. In here, Mr. Fairburn. Thank you. I have cards and chips. And oh, excuse me. This is Mr. Krushenko, Mr. Fairburn. How do you do? Well, I hadn't expected to find such a lovely man. I hadn't expected to find such a lovely lady. You are Galan. Oh, it's an old Virginia custom, madam. Oh, you American. You will excuse me, perhaps. Oh, don't leave. Of course, my blossom. You may go now. Goodbye, miss. It was a pleasure to... Now, Mr. Fairburn. I'm sorry. I hope I haven't interrupted anything. It is nothing. Only a woman. Sit down. But a very beautiful one with lovely red hair. Deal, a woman. I have not played poker for many moons. Cut for deal. And the stakes? Shall we say a hundred, a chip? A hundred dollars? All right. Three aces. Enough. Deal. Full house. Enough. Deal again. King high straight. Another. Heart flush. All right. That is enough. You play poker very well, Mr. Fairburn. I can usually win when I want to. You put me in an embarrassing position. You have wiped out treasury. Now I must collect another tax. And last one was only last week. That won't be necessary, General. I think we can make a deal. What kind of deal? Instead of the money, I'll take the yin seal for payment. So, now I understand. You cannot be that naive, Mr. Fairburn. I played the game in good faith, sir. I demand that I... You demand nothing, American pig. You will think over your stupidity in my prison. Like a local old house. All right, all right. General, don't let us in. It's quite all right, I tell you. General Kung has given me his permission. Don't go home. Oh, hello, Mr. Fairburn. Well, hello. Nice of you to come and see me. If I get you out of here, will you help me? What happened to your Russian accent? Will you? Well, yeah. Of course, it wasn't a good accent, anyway. Unless I'm crazy, you're from Virginia, too. That doesn't matter now. We've got to get out of here. We? Well, I thought you and the general were friends. Not at all. I was living in the hotel here when he took it over. He won't let me leave. You could just walk out. How? He confiscated my credentials. Keeps me almost a prisoner. Refuses me a safe conduct pass. So, you want mine? Well, why not? You can add and wife to it. Something like that. It wouldn't be any trouble. Well, if I'm to have a beautiful wife, I think I should at least know her name. It's Susan Jones. Ah. Ah, that begins to fit. Susan Jones, daughter of the American partner of Jones and Shang-Pau. And you're after the Yen seal, too. How did you know? Never mind. But why did Shang-Pau say that you were dangerous? Because he's after the seal for himself. And it belongs to me. It was my father's, not the company's. He's trying to steal it from me. Or you from him. Honestly, Mr. Fairburn. Never mind. Where is the seal? Can we get it? Easily. He keeps it in a strong box in his hotel room. He showed it to me. Oh, I could have got it long ago. But I couldn't have gotten away. All right. Now, how do we get out of here? Would this help? Well, my gun. Definitely not. If I were to call a guard in. And I would have. Yes. You're a very practical girl. Are you ready? Yeah. Bing-jai. Bing-jai. Lai-lo. Lai-lo. What's the matter? Hi, D. Hi, D. What's the matter? Why did you call me? What's the matter? Sorry, old boy. All right, Miss Jones. Lead the way. He's in there. We'll have to. We'll have to do something. What? You leave it to me. You be ready when his back is turned. Miss Jones, I don't think I should let you, a young lady from Virginia. Shh. Is Grushenka. Ah, my blossom. Come in. So, at last, you come to me, my sweet one. Come to my... Good heavens. What did you do to him? Simple. A judo trick. My father insisted I learn judo. Did you kill him? No, no, no. But he'll be asleep for a couple of hours. Long enough for us to get the seal and get out of here. You back so soon, Master? Come on, Mao Tzu. We've got the seal. Let's go. How are we going to travel? We'll use this car. That's General Koong. Oh, I see. And that's his chauffeur, no doubt. You two get ready to jump in. I'm going to say hello to him. Oh, I say, oh, man, how are you? Let me shake your hand. That's it. Ah! Okay, let's go. We're going to have to get rid of this car soon. Mao Tzu, what's this village up ahead? Qingpeng. Can we get a train there? Oh, yes. Little train. Sometime. All right. Mao Tzu, you get rid of the car. We'll see about the train. Bad luck. No trains until morning. We'll have to stay here overnight. There's a little inn over there. Not exactly the kind of place I'd usually take a girl from Virginia, but the only trouble is Mao Tzu isn't back, and I can't speak Chinese. How do you say two single rooms? I can speak enough for that. Come on. Yes? Who is it? It's me, Susan. Oh, just a minute. Hello. May I come in? Sure. Here. I thought we really should have a drink, sort of a toast to our escape. Well, what is it? Oh, some special kind of Chinese wine. The proprietor says it's very good. I really don't think we should celebrate just yet. Of course, if I'm repulsive to you. Oh, no, no, nothing like that. You're beautiful. Of course. So shall we drink to my beauty? Yeah, to your beauty. Oh, such a little sip. I'm more beautiful than that. Oh, yeah. Down the hatch. There, now that's a big boy. Ah, you know, that wasn't bad. Not bad at all. Didn't know the Chinese made wine like that. Do you have more? That'll be enough. Well, what do you mean? In about two minutes, you'll be fast asleep. A sleep? Some of these Chinese wines are interesting. Special. Something like a Mickey. I don't think you'll be terribly sick, though, when you wake up. Susan, what is this? Simple, dear. I can buy a lot of négligés like this one with that $50,000. And I don't intend to share it with Shang-Pau any more than he does with me. So, well, I really hate to trouble your lamb, but I need the seal, your safe conduct pass, and your gun. Susan, you're a... No, names, Lambie. You're a chivalrous. And you're of a junior gentleman, remember? Susan. I'll leave you the cards, dear, so you can play solitaire. Bye-bye. Pleasant dream. Why, you... My head. How long has she been gone, Mao Tzu? Four, five hours. That's enough. We can't catch her now. I think maybe yes. How? She takes first train, is slow train. We take next train, is fast train. We catch her before she gets to Hong Kong. Good boy, Mao Tzu. Let's go. I believe you. Randolph. Sorry to startle you, my dear. No, don't reach. I'll just take your bag. I suppose the seal and my gun and my safe conduct pass are inside. Thank you. Oh, Randolph. Honestly, I'm so glad to see you. I've been hating myself for what I did to you. You have. Oh, yes. I really like you, Randolph. I wouldn't have done it except... except I needed the seal. You know a little girl like me alone in the world. I am alone, you know, Randolph. And the seal was my only inheritance from my daddy. I'd be penniless without it. You wouldn't want that, would you, Randolph? You ring my heart, Miss Jones. All right. I suppose it's just as well, really. This way, at least, I won't be a criminal. What do you mean? It's you who'll be the criminal, you and Sheng Pao. What? Well, what are you going to do about it? I don't know. I'll have to think. Well, think fast. We'll be in Hong Kong in an hour. Well, Randolph, what are you going to do? Come on. Let's get out of the station and then we can... Greetings, old chap. Just stand where you are. And you, too, mademoiselle. Randolph, who are these men? Some old friends. And this time, I'm afraid they're prepared. I can feel their preparation in the small of my back. Yeah, so much. I bet you could have found a dirtier smellier back room to bring us to. Shut up. They haven't got it. They must have. I tell you I've searched. They haven't got it. Come on, tell us. Where is it? Who are you working for, General Kung? Where did you put it? Put what, gentlemen? Do you know all right, the seal? I don't know. Maybe I lost it. Wait, wait. Save it until the bus gets here. You'll know how to make them talk. Just the Chinese. Yeah, yeah, but it may be ours. Well, there is cars. Why not play where we are waiting? Well, that's an idea. Why not? You deal, Frenchman. Randolph, darling. If General Kung... Don't worry. I'll think of something. I know you will. You're wonderful. But just in case I want you to know, I am sorry for what I did. Hey, you kissed me. Yes. Did you like it? Yes. My hands are tied. But I've got an idea. Just a minute. All right. Deal with my Frenchie. What's the matter? Afraid to let me play with you? Afraid I'll beat you again? Well, what do you say, Chaps? Why not? Yes, money? How about money? Oh, I'll untie him. Raise. Call. Three tens. Three aces. Four deuces. Four kings. Straight flush. Straight flush. Royal flush. Oh, he's cheating. He must be. I'll kill him. I'll kill him. Darling, you knocked them all out. What a mess. My cards all over the room. Leave them. Let's get out of here. Listen. Listen to me. Maybe he's the general. Hurry, hurry. Just a minute. I've got a fan. There. All right. Let's go. Good evening. Not leaving so soon. Oh, ching pao. So Mao Tzu found you. Good thing I sent him off to... But wait a minute. How did you know where to find us? Perhaps if we will go back into... No, wait a minute. We want to talk to you. There is no need for me to talk to Miss Jones. Or to you. You are through. Just hand over the yin seal. Randolph, he's got a gun. So you are a double crosser. Randolph. There. Goodbye to Hong Kong. Yes. Goodbye forever. It will be good to see Virginia again, won't it, darling? Yes. Although I left under something of a cloud, I suppose they'll give a married man a new chance. No doubt of it. Especially since he's reformed. Lamy, you've never told me. And I haven't asked you, but... But whatever you did with that seal, I'm glad we don't have it. It would have been wrong to start our married life with dishonesty like that. Susan, I... And now that you are married, there'll be no more fighting. And that means no more poker. And because it's a symbol of the old life, I brought up your pack of cards. And here. Here's an end to it. No! Wait! Susan! Why, Lamy? Lamy, what is it? What's the matter? Well, only through your old pack of cards overboard. If it means that much, you can always get a new pack. But you don't understand. In that pack of cards. Concealed in the lining of the box was the Yin seal. You've just thrown $50,000 into the ocean. Escape is producing. Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robson. Tonight we have presented The Ambassador of Poker by Ahmad Abedlah, adapted for radio by John Dunkel. Featured in the cast were Elliott Reid as Randolph C. Fairburn, Lucille Meredith as Susan Jones, Ben Wright as Shang Pao, Benson Fong as General Kung, and Richard Liu as Mao Tzu. Also heard were John Daener, Ramsay Hill, Bill Conrad, and Rick Valin. Special music was arranged and played by Ivan Dittmar. Next week. You are standing on an ancient pyramid hidden in the depths of Yucatan. Somewhere beneath your feet lies a sacred shrine with millions in jewels and gold. But from the impenetrable jungle and the fanatic high priests of the Mayas, there can be no escape. Next week, we escape with the story of a man and woman whose lust for gold led them to dangerous defiance of the laws of a primitive but still powerful cult. As Les Crutchfield and Paul Pierce tell it in The Golden Snake. Goodbye then until the same time next week when once again we offer you escape. Everyone wants to give a helping hand to America's crippled children. That's why everyone is buying Easter seals. Money from the sale of these seals helps to carry on the good work and variety for crippled children and adults which conducts an extensive program of education, research and personal care for the physically handicapped. So do your part by buying Easter seals. This is CBS The Columbia Broadcasting System.