 Time to escape into the world of adventure. Time to forget for the next half hour the four walls of today. And escape beyond the horizons of the mind to yesterday and tomorrow. CBS and its affiliated stations present, escape. Tonight we escape with Rudyard Kipling and the two gentle scoundrels he created in his immortal story, The Man Who Would Be King. The time, some time before yesterday. The place, the north of India. The man who tells the story, Rudyard Kipling. One Saturday night it was my unpleasant duty to put the paper to bed alone. It was a pitchy black night, as stifling as night can be in India in June. It was very still, save for the ticking of the clock above my desk, which seemed to shatter the black heat of the night as the hands crept toward 3 a.m. And then from the passage outside my door, I heard voices. Who's there? Only us. Who are you? Oh, he don't remember us, Dan. Well, he don't. How could he forget having us turned back at the John Paul border? Told the authorities we was impersonating newspaper reporters he did. Wait. That flaming red beard and that bald head. Why, were your Daniel Gravit and Peachy Conaghan? The same. Well, what do you want? If it's money, I haven't any. If it's a fight, it's simply too beastly hot. You can rest yourself easy, sir, because we've come asking for naught except some information. We've been all over this country, and we've concluded that India isn't big enough for such as Daniel and me. So we're going away to be kings. Things in our own divine right. What? I, we shall be king. We've signed a solemn contract. We'll stay up the other. I'm neither of us to take a look at liquor or women until we become kings. Why, I've never heard of such a fantastic idea. But what is it you want of me? Not but to look at such maps of Kofiristan as you might have about. Maps of Kofiristan? That's where we've decided to go. But don't you realize that not one single Englishman has ever gone into the Kofiristan mountains and lived to come out again? If you're really mad enough to go there, you're a good deal more likely to become dead men than kings. We shall see. Anyway, I don't believe you have the slightest intention of traveling a mile outside of Delhi. Then you should come down to the Serai marketplace in the morning. Down where the caravans leave for the north. Yes, come down to the Serai in the morning and see then if we be liars. Robbers, liars, the blessing of pure God, your own son. Who will take the protection of heaven? You should not laugh at him, Sahib. The witless are under the protection of Allah. That's so, boy. Who is the fellow anyway? A mad priest, Sahib. We've arrived only this morning from Ajmir. Ah, yes, Sahib. Come to look at my camels. Loaded with toys to please the eye of an Amir. Oh, here now. Go about your business. I haven't any use for toys. These are wondrous toys indeed, Sahib. Fit for a king of Kofiristan. What? Good lord. Daniel Dravidt. Quiet. Come along. There's no camels just beyond the wall here. The blessings of pure can on the gracious Sahib who consents to look at the poor toys of a priest from Ajmir. Over this way. Where's Karnahan? Here we are. Permit me to present my servant Haseer Mir Khan. At your service, good man. Well, I'll be... Do you like our disguises? Do they pass? If they fool this crowd in the Serai, they're probably good enough to get you across the border and they're good enough to get you killed. Getting killed is no part of the contract Peachy and me draw it up. Although perhaps killing fits in with our plans in a different sense, feel around underneath the toys there in the camel bags. What? Go ahead. Good lord. Rifles. Twenty brand new martinis with ammunition to match. And twenty good reasons to make your death certain. Any python of the hill tribes would kill his own mother to get a rifle. Good harm of poor mad priests, Sahib. Ella protects me. Mad is right. Then so was Lord Clive on roads and Bonaparte. Drive out the camel's Peachy. We've a long way to go before we become kings. As I stood and listened to the camel bells fade away in the distance, I wondered. Wondered if it might not be a glorious thing to go to Kafiristan and be a king. Three years pass in India as much as they pass in any other land. It grows hot. Then the rains come and then the heat again. Some kernel at a hill station puts down an uprising. A new viceroy comes out from London. And the paper duly records the death of a sultan in Rajputana. And the trees in the courtyard grow a few feet taller. Finally, time in its circle turned up another night. Much like the one three years before. Once again I sat alone in the office, listening to the clock and waiting for some unimportant item to come over the wire from Europe. It was long after midnight when my office door slowly opened. I say, look here, you might knock first, you know. Good lord man. What's wrong? You don't know who I am, do you? No, no, I haven't the faintest idea. But here, you'd better sit down old fellow, you're in a bad way. Yes, thank you. It's a whole year I've been walking. Right here in this very office we settled it. You sitting right there and giving us the maps. You've been sitting there ever since. Three years. No, oh no. Why a man couldn't change that much in three years. You're not Pichi Kanahen. Yes. I was king of Kaffiristan. Me and Daniel draught real crown kings we was. Just as true as gospel. What in the name of heaven have they done to you, Pichi? Pichi? I knew Pichi Kanahen once. He's a king, wears a real golden crown on his head. So help me, it does. He's dead now though. No, no, no, you're Pichi Kanahen. You must pull yourself together. Yes, yes. Pull myself, you've got to keep looking into my eyes. Then maybe everything will go to pieces. All right, now tell me what happened, Pichi. We left the caravan at Jagdala. We struck off into the hills alone. Go on. Weeks it was, we travelled Daniel and me. First there wasn't no roads and after a while no food. But there was always the drums. Sometimes there was close. And sometimes farther off. But most of the time we could hear them somewhere. Here now, there's no place to be stopping up with you. I'm fearing it's no use Daniel. What's got into them? The poor beasts are done in and starved, same as ourselves. They'll go no further. Then we'll go on without them. I've not come this far to die on the side of a mountain. Wait, look Daniel, over the edge of the rocks. What men they are. There'll be a score or more of them. One goes ahead of the rest. And naught but bows and arrows. Break out a pair of the rifles, Pichi. Right you are, Daniel. It's now that we start to become kings. Yeah, and some countries as too. Easy now, Pichi. I'll drop the straggler at the rear first and then we'll lay a few at their feet. No arm to the one in front. We may need him. Now. That's not him by the eye, Nick! Look at them! Flat on their blooming faces. The leader is come out alone. Well and good. And we'll go part way to meet him, Pichi. But keep your rifle by. Look at them, Daniel. He be as fair as us, with yellow hair. So he does. Part of the lost tribes these people are. He's stopped. Oh, the Lord Harry, Pichi, we're in luck. It's the old Afghan tongue, he speaks. Speak up! Who are you and whence do you come? This Bashkai. How many people? They are numbered in the thousand. There are more villages in the hills? More than a man has fingers and toes. Hear that, Pichi? He is our kingdom made to order. And you! You're going to take us to Bashkai. Do you understand? I understand the voice of thunder that you speak. Oh, he's a smooth one, Pichi. He knows a thing or two. What's your name? Mazulkhan Shakalur. That's too long. What should we call him, Pichi? He has a look about him of an old soldier in friend of ours. Billy Fish. So he does. We bestow a new name on you. From now on you will be Billy Fish. As you command, I obey. All right. Put this on your drums. Tell them two kings have come out from the mountaintops. Two kings that speak in words of thunder so the earth trembles. Tell them two kings have come to Kafiristan. That you, Pichi? Daniel, why are you sitting here in the dark? I've been thinking. A man has to stop and think sometimes. Out of anything special, Daniel? Look at them, Pichi. Look at their blinking campfires are gleaming in the dark like the jewels in a crown. Aye, Daniel, you've done a fine job for sure. All 23 villages you joined together as one. It is the army you trained to be thanked for it. 2,000 men with a fair knowledge of bearing arms. Some's a bit green at it yet. There are hours now, every man, jackwoman and child. We own a body and soul. Aye, we're kings now, Daniel. Not proper kings yet, but we will be. Sooner than you think, Pichi. How's that? Billy Fish told me something today that fair amaze me. These people know the craft. You mean they're Freemasons, Daniel? I don't know why it's possible. So help me, it's gospel true. He give me the grip on everything. It's older the craft is, older than the memory of man. And up here in the hills they've been preserving it all these years. While some of the high priests know up through the fellow craft. But they don't know the third degree. See it, Pichi? They don't know the third degree. But we do. Daniel, what is it you're fixing to do? Do, we're going to be proper kings. We're going to get them going and coming now. I'm going to turn the whole country into one grand lodge. Raise some of the priests to third degree. And for me, I'll be the grandmaster of Kafiristan. Oh, but you ain't got the right to. We never been officers in no lodge. Right. What's a king got to do with asking for a right? Oh, I'm against it, Daniel. It's no good to go fooling around with the craft. Ah, you talk like an old woman. The thing'll work, I know it will. We'll make it a blooming ceremony. Regular aprons with the symbol and the marks. All of us, Pichi. The kings of Kafiristan. Everything is prepared, master. And the priests and the people wait. Well, they don't have to wait much longer, Billy. Here now, Pichi, how do you like my apron? It's our wondrous sight for fair, Daniel. Made of white herm in skin, it is. And the master's mark with emerald studded. The mark? You know the meaning of the mark? That I do. What's got into you, Billy? Not. But there's a thing that's passing strange, master. Strange and rubbish. Come along now. Ready, Pichi? Right with you, Daniel. Then out we go. On to the temple steps. We'll give them what for. Knock their blinking eyes out. That's what we'll do. What's wrong with the priests, Billy? It looks like trouble, Daniel. No. Stand where you are, master. They recognize the mark. That great stone in the floor. Why do they turn it over? Wait. Speak up, Billy Fish. What's the meaning of it? See for yourself. Look. Daniel. Carved under back of the stone. That is the master's mark, all right. And the same as the sign you wear. Only a few of the priests have known of the hidden mark on the stone. What does it mean? The many who have doubted you were a god. Doubt no longer. And you, Billy, what do you think? I, master, I think that now it is the time for these. Daniel. Golden crumbs. Aye, how they glitter. Fit for the brow of a king. It is what we came for. Here, now. Put them on. We'll crown ourselves in our own right. Listen to them. You know something, Peachy. We come here to be kings, and that we are, all right. But blamed if we ain't a couple of blooming gods to boot with a million people bowing on their knees before us. Well enough, Peachy. So it was gods you became as well as kings. But then what happened? What became of Daniel Dravert? Dravert? I knew Daniel Dravert once. He's the king now who Daniel is. Where's the golden crown? Carnar was with him. Peachy, try to pull yourself together. I'll try. Now, you became kings, you and Daniel. Kings of all Kephiristan. He was a fine figure Daniel was with his red head wearing that golden crown. Kept himself aloof from the people, so to speak. And when he walked up for the temple the fair crawled on their stomachs to worship him. But what happened, man? What happened? Well, I figure mostly it was winter coming on. The winds were starting up and the clouds were blowing down from the north. Oh, it could blow Peachly cold, that winter wind. Hey, who's out there? That you, Billy? Can't sound it anyway. Well, what's this? I brought you food, master. Steal the wire sheep with curry and rice. Up off your knees, girl. Bring it inside. Place it there. Now, you're a well-favoured wench. I do not understand. Why were you crawling on your knees? It is a fitting way to approach the god of Kephiristan. What's your name, girl? Maruma, Benja. Maruma? You married? It has not yet been my happy fortune, master. Are you afraid of me? You are a girl. I mean, how do I seem to you? Do you find me pleasing or what? Your face is more wondrous than the noonday sun. And your look, your look of eagles. Very well. You may leave now. Thank you, master. Maruma, eh? Peachy! Peachy! You calling me, Daniel? Oh, the food's here, eh? Good. Mark that wind outside. Winter's about due to strike and fill the trails with snow. There'll be little moving about before spring. Right, you are. Peachy, I've decided to take a wife. But you can't do it, Daniel. We made a contract. That was till we were kings. Well, kings we've been many months now. Oh, but it's no good. I tell you now, I'm against it. Against it? You was against using the craft, too. But look what it done for us. Oh, but this is different. Billy Fish'll tell you no, too, the same as I do. Billy Fish, huh? Who's the king here, him or me? My mind's made up. Three days from now, I shall have me a wife. And you can put it on the drums and tell every blighter out there in the hills. The kingdom of Kaffiristan is going to have a queen. What's keeping her, Peachy? They should have brought her in here half an hour ago. I don't know, Daniel. How about you, Billy Fish? You put them up to stall in off-deliberate like? Certain preparations must be made, muster. She's across the court with some of the priests. Maybe they're trying to harden her up a bit, Daniel. She thinks she's going to die, you know. Die, indeed. Well, I hunt only. Muster, it is against the laws of heaven for a woman to marry a god. I'm not a god. I'm a man. You know that by now, Billy? No. And they should not want to think so, muster. But either way, this can mean only trouble. I beg you to reconsider. And I beg you to shut up, Billy. I'm through waiting. I'm going over there. Muster, please. We've got to go with him, Billy. And I'm thinking it's going to mean trouble. How many men can you defend and defend on? No more than 20 with rifles. Most of my men are in Boshkai. Then what should we do? We shall have to make a run for it, I fear. We might be safe in Boshkai. Come on, now, you buckling fools. Bring out the girl. Well, that's better. Here, girl, this is no way for a bride to behave. Just smile now and give us a kiss. Oh, the wench has bitten me. Bloodbusters, don't let them see the blood. What is this, Ross? It's too late. Mark Daniel, they're coming with knives. They can't do this. I'm the king. You've got to run for it, Buster. Come on, Daniel, come on. Come back and beat their blasted heads in. That's what I'll do. Oh, Daniel, we'll be back all right. How much further, Billy? Only short way beyond this ridge, Buster. Well, so far, so good. Last, then, blooming drums are stopped. We're at the top, Daniel. The right good climb it's been. Oh, wait. Look, seems the drums have come before us, Buster. Less than a thousand of them stand in the acquired light. With them wicked long knives in their hands. There'll be no getting past them, Daniel. Go back, Billy Fish, and take your men away with you. Go with them, Peachy. It's me they want. I did it. Me, the king. No, Don. I'm sticking with you. Billy Fish, you clear out. I am your friend. I stay with you. You're a good man, Billy. They'll be coming now, Daniel. Peachy, forget it, Daniel. I forgive you freely and fully. Then let them come. There'll be one thing they can't change, Peachy. We've been kings. Kings in our right. Kings of all Kapiulistan. Open poor Billy Fish like a blowminell in their den. They're in the snow and the rocks. Good lord, man. But you, Peachy, you got away from them. Light no way did I get away from them. They had us prepared all right. Struck me out on a tree. Drove nails right through my hands. They did see. But I fooled them all right. Because morning came. I wasn't no wise dead. Then I made them think I'd lost my senses. I was afraid of me because I was protected by Allah. They cut me down then. And after a while, they let me go. You poor devil. But what a rabbit. What happened to Daniel? Daniel's a king. He wears a golden crown. But now what happened to him? He's never left me. All them long months walking on the road back. He kept me safe. The mountains they danced at night. But Daniel held up his hand. And Peachy came along, bent the boot. I'd never let go of Daniel's hand. Nor Daniel said that they gave me in the temple as a present now. Here, in this bundle. You knew old Daniel, sir? Him that was a monarch once. Look at him now. Now you've seen that we was really kings. I'll be on my way. You'll... Pardon me, sir. I let him go. There was little else to do. He was only hours away from his death. I sat there and stared at the bundle he'd left lying on my desk. Stared as the pale shafts of dawn struck fire in the red beard. Stared at the golden crown, sitting too large and heavy upon the wrinkled, mummified head of Daniel Dravert. The man who would be king. Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson. Tonight's story, Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King was adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield and featured Raymond Lawrence's Peachy, Eric Snowden as Daniel Dravert and Herbert Rawlinson as Kipling. Musical effects were created and conducted by Sy Fuhr. Next week, CBS and its affiliated stations invite you to escape in Operation Florida Lee, an episode from the files of the OSS. And so, goodnight. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.