 And now, stay tuned for the program that has rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time than any other West Coast program in radio history. The Signal Oil program, The Whistler. Signal, the famous Go Farther gasoline, invites you to sit back and enjoy another strange story by The Whistler. I am The Whistler, and I know many things for I walk by night. I know many strange tales hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. Yes, I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak. And now for the Signal Oil company, The Whistler's strange story. Curiosity killed a cat. Two people sit on an old wharf piled high with lobster traps, wooden buoys and fishnets. But the dark half-puzzled eyes of the young man are not on those things, nor on the distant masts of the fishing smacks and draggers scuttling into the harbor. No, John Hawley sees only the sun-bleached prettiness of the woman opposite him and the sturdy lines of the trawler approaching the wharf. Both the woman and the boat belong to Captain Daniel Bailey. Yes, John, that's what you're thinking about, isn't it? Ever since you came home from the Merchant Marine to find your childhood sweetheart married to a miserly old man, you thought how easy it should be to get Captain Bailey's trawler, his gear, his house, his money, and his wife. And taking a job with a captain was only your first step. Favoring your bandaged finger, you pick up a brush and paint a red stripe around the lobster buoy. The mark that tells the world it's not wise to tamper with anything that belongs to Captain Daniel Bailey. Carrie glances nervously toward the trawler and back. I guess it'd look kind of funny me going back to the house now where the nautilus just landed. Yeah, Daniel sees you, Carrie. That was an old mad turtle. He just waved. Daniel took mad along the whole traps in your place. Can't figure why they came back so early. Weather, probably. I counted on crushing my finger to give us the whole day to get her, Carrie. You think Daniel guessed you did it on purpose? Well, I could stay ashore with his wife. Are you crazy? Not crazy. The body has to live with my husband and no how suspicious and mean he can be. I don't know. I remember when we were kids, we used to holler at him in the streets, call him a miser. And later I joined the merchant marine and while I'm gone you haven't married the old coop. We're not kids any longer, John. I know, but why did you do it, Carrie? I never had a house of my own. I never had anything. Money or clothes. Oh, that's a good one. He hooked you and never even lost his bait. Captain Daniel never spent a dime on you. No, he hasn't. Yeah, everybody knows he's been salting it away for years. Carrie, don't you know where? No, but I told you he doesn't believe in banks. We knew where to lay our hands on that dough. Well? I've been going out to haul lobster pots with him ever since he sprained his back, haven't I? Accidents happen pretty easy at sea. Daniel's a violent man, John. He won't sit by. Then, Carrie, the day we find out where his money is, you can get out your Sunday go to meet and dress. You always did look pretty in black. Give you a ball eye to me, Matt. Is she gone, John? Okay. These are off now. Hi there, Captain Dan. Good haul today. Fair, no thanks to you, John. Get that turn line out, Matt, and hop to it. Nice of you to come down to meet me, Carrie. I was meant to knit while John painted the buoy. Candice figured you would. Suppose you get back to the house now and see to supper. We got company. Figure out what to, Matt, for helping me out. That's one way of getting out of paying him. Matt's a friend of mine. Something you wouldn't understand, John. Think maybe we should invite John to supper too, Carrie? Whatever you say, Daniel. Seems like he needs somebody to help him nurse that crushed finger back to health. Right now, if you don't mind, I got to borrow John to help us sort lobster. Oh, I'll bring him home to supper. Well, you look right nice, Carrie. Quite a spell since you fixed yourself up like this. Quite a spell since we had company. Where do you think you're off to now? Want to go up to the attic for a minute. The supper's ready, Dan. Matt and John are already to sit down. It seems to me every time I call you for supper, you're designed to go to the attic. Yeah, Daniel likes to look at that old sea chest he's got up here. I don't know why he wasn't in it. Maybe put a little more in the day, Daniel. Seems like Matt's let the cat out of the bag about your private bank, Captain Dan. All right, suppose I have got some money tucked away. Hard work's just as important as ever, John. And that's what you're afraid of. I like all young people today. I'm going to start at the top. I don't see where scrimping and slaving are got you, Matt. Up at 4.30, embedded aid all your life. I'd like to have some fun before I die. You're used to complain about your luck, Terry. Anything special on your mind? I get set up sometimes. I'll put the things on, you men sit down at the table. Well, there's the horn starting. I guess I sniffed up the weather all right, eh, Matt? Yeah, Daniel. Sure glad we aren't aboard the nautilus now. All right, all right, she's got a good compass. You know these waters as well as the rest of us, Matt. Maybe so, John, but too many men have piled up on the inner reef. Just the same. And how do you know where you're going and how to get there? I've never heard you sound so almighty sure of yourself, John. Well, it's a question of knowing all there is to know about a subject, Captain Daniel. Navigation or anything else. Like maybe there's just one thing holding you up and you'll find the answer to what you didn't know and you're all set. I don't know as I exactly get the drift all that, John. You understand him, Kerry? I think so, Daniel. Daniel's mind is on putting all that folding money in his seat, yes. No, no, I'm thinking more of the fog closing in, Matt. Eh, can't very well forget it with that fog horn sounding like it was calling the body to his doom. No, but if a horn always makes me think of it. Sure, Matt. Makes you think of death. Yes, sir. Yeah, does it that. How'd you know, John? Well, I guess you might say it makes me think of the same thing. At this point in the Whistler, I usually bring you a message about signal products. But tonight, at this season of Good Will Toward Men, I'd like to reserve these valuable seconds for a little later in the program in order to have time to bring you a message about one of your neighbors. A message which I hope will serve to further strengthen the bond of understanding and friendship between you and him. Well, John, it was quite a shot coming home from several years in the Merchant Marine to find your childhood sweetheart married to Captain Daniel Bailey, wasn't it? But your certain Kerry still loves you, aren't you? And you tell yourself that things will soon be much different. Especially now that you've made sure where the old miser keeps all his money. In an old iron sea chest in the attic. It's a cold and black Monday morning, two hours before dawn, as you walk into the cheerful beam of light coming from the Bailey kitchen window. Kerry is there getting her husband's breakfast. And you know she's thinking the same thing you are. How easy it is for accidents to happen at sea. Especially when there's a reason and a will to help them along. Then as you open the back door, you stumble over the sea chest. I hope you didn't hurt your toe on that chest, John. Be too bad if it kept you on land, too, like that crushed finger did. It's your fault for leaving it there, Dan. I can't see why you brought it down in the first place. I figure on the stone at the board of the boat. Get your mug up, John. Let's cast off. You know, Captain, it's your wife's coffee, not your 25 bucks a week that gets me up at this unholy hour to go out and haul traps with you. You know, I guess there was something about Kerry that interested you. A coffee, huh? Consider that a flattering remark, Kerry? I'm considering the work I got ahead of me, Dan. Sooner you two get yourselves in that chest out of my kitchen the happier I'll be. Well, that chest looks good and solid, Captain Dennell. Yeah, yeah, they made things the last in my father's day. I always thought a lot of that chest. Do you really think it'll be safe on the boat, Dan? An old, old sea chest? Why not, Kerry? I got a feeling it's better stowed away in a locker where I can keep my eye on it. Good sturdy lock there. Fine workmanship. Hey, put that chest down. There's only heft in it, Dan, huh? Well, I was figuring on carrying it to the boat for you, Captain. Well, you keep your hands off things that don't belong to you. Now you sweep down that coffee while I get a couple of lobsters trapped out of the shed if you're so anxious to carry something. All right, all right, all right, Captain. You don't need to get sore. You know, there's an old saying, John. Maybe you heard it. Curiosity killed a cat. Makes a lot of sense. Nobody keeps the keys of that chest, Kerry. One is key ring with the other. Yes, Jack. Alling gets to be hot work if he take his coat off before he went up in the door. He might have a chance. Maybe he took the money out, hid it somewhere else. No, not from the way he's acting. He suspects this, John. He's always moving the chest to the boat. Listen, the cabin's always locked, except when he's on board. He keeps that key on his ring, too. Don't you worry. When I'm ready, Kerry, Captain Dantle won't have things his way at all. You wonder about Captain Dantle as he shoulders the chest and walks behind you down to the wharf where you board the Nautilus. It's interesting to see that he can't wait to get out of the harbor before locking the chest in the big locker on the starboard side, isn't it, John? Of course, it's probably coincidence that he suggests you both haul traps from the same dory when you reach the outer shoal and that he never once takes his jacket off, even when pulling up the heavy crates. It makes you wonder if he knows you plan to kill him. But you've got to wait for the right moment, don't you? And two days later, you think that time has come when Dantle's about to climb up over the side of the trawler from the dory riding below as you stand over him on the deck. Careful of your back, Captain. Let me give you a hand up. No, no, not yet. Let me get the door of my closer gun. Wouldn't want to fall between her and the Nautilus. Come on, get a hold of my hand. I'll hang on to you. Hey, would you look who's coming into view? Ahoy, there, Matt! What's Matt's motorboat doing out here beyond the reef? I thought he's took a shallower water. He changed his lobster traps the day before yesterday. That's funny. I wonder why. Because I suggested it, John. Now you can give me a hand up. That evening when you explained the carry that you failed, there's something almost like contempt in her eyes, isn't there, John? So you make up your mind tomorrow will be the day, no matter what. And by noontime, it looks as though Matt Tuttle was a blessing in disguise at that. You've finished your haul when Captain Dantle decides to give Matt a hand with his. You watch the captain set out alone in the dory, then you go quickly below to the cabin, where you saw him throw his jacket on the bunk. When he comes back, you'll have the sea chest open and the money in your pocket. There'll be no more hide and seek, no more waiting for the right set-up. You'll kill him in a cabin out of sight of Matthew's prying eyes. Later, there'll be ways of getting rid of the body. Eagerly, you pick up his jacket, and as your hand goes into the side pocket. I'll take my jacket back if you don't mind. Captain Dantle, I noticed you forgot your jacket. You think so? Toss it here. Then take the nautilus and head back to port. I'll be going back with Matt. He's expecting me. So I wouldn't try anything if I was you. Why, of course not, Captain. By the way, I won't be needing you anymore, John. I worked out a deal with Matt. He's going to help me. Oh, you intend to pay me for a full week? Not if you don't work it. Tomorrow's Friday. You want to make it your last day? You think of any reason why I shouldn't? Maybe. Now I got my keys, John. I'll be going. Just you better remember what I said about curiosity, killing a cat. You failed again, haven't you, John? You tell yourself Captain Dantle wouldn't be alive now if he hadn't caught you by surprise. If it hadn't been that Matt was expecting him. The next morning, you skip your mug of strong black coffee in Carrie's kitchen and go directly to the trawler to wait for Captain Dantle. This is your last chance. And you're afraid to let Carrie see the little fears and doubts crawling in your desperate mind. When a captain arrives, his mood is as cold and heavy and silent as the fog which hangs over land and sea. But just as you're about to cast off. Dantle? Hey, what do you want? I've decided to go out with you today, Dantle. Well, I'm counting on stormy weather when the fog lifts Carrie, but if you want, you're free to come aboard. Freezes sprung up, Dantle? Barometers fallen too. Well, it's time to make our haul anyway. We may catch it on the way back. Do you want to take the wheel, Captain? No, the less you have to do with this, both the better. Oh, look, Captain, I know it looked bad yesterday, but when I picked up your jacket, it was natural for me. Oh, I forgot all about that. I got other things on my mind. I reckon we all have. You mean the storm, Dantle? There'll be danger, will there, coming back? You know, you sound to my worried, Carrie. Mind if I ask why? No reason at all, Dantle. Well, as long as I'm at the wheel, maybe she'd feel safer, Johnny, if you was to explain that you can navigate these waters as good as me. Well, sure I can, Captain, but... Funny thing, you know, I don't remember you're worrying about my getting home safe before, Carrie. I suppose it's different when you're along yourself. I guess that's it, eh? Of course. I'm going on deck for a breath of air. As long as Dantle insists on staying at the wheel, John, I don't see why you have to stay in the cabin. Why wait till we reach the lobster grounds, John? Why not not? These are fishing waters, Carrie. Don't you see those other boats off there? You think they're blind? Still trying to put it off, aren't you? Another half hour will be there, Carrie. If the weather turns bad, can we get back without him? I've done it a hundred times. I know these waters like the pile of my hand. Look, Carrie, when we're almost there, I'll slip up behind him while he's still got his attention on the wheel. I'll be watching to see you do this time. No mistakes. It's got to be over before Matt Tuttle's boat gets there. For a half hour there's no sound but the steady chugging of the engine. And then suddenly it stops. Dead ahead is the first of Captain Daniel's lobster bulls. Carrie hands you the piece of lead pipe you dropped. There's no turning back now, is there, John? Holding the weapon in back of you, you silently open the cabin door and step inside. Captain Daniel isn't there. He's tied the wheel to a set course. And before you can turn... You can drop that lead pipe, John. I wouldn't want to shoot a man in the back. Now I'll let you and me step out on deck with Carrie. Look, Captain, I don't know what you're thinking, but... Thinking! For a whole week I've been trying to keep myself from being killed. And at the same time give you a chance to tip your hand. It would have been one or the other if you weren't so yellow. Well, you let me come along today, Daniel. I wondered if you wouldn't take a hand sooner or later, Carrie. You came along to give this young fellow some nerve. What are you going to do? Might kill you, John. Don't like that, eh? Well, I've always been a law-abiding man. I figure the sheriff will know what to do about attempted murder. And what about me, Daniel? You... you love this weak-kneed squirt, Carrie? Yes, Daniel, I always have. Then by thunder you can stand right alongside him and court. Huh, there's Matt's both coming in. We'll take him aboard. What does Matt Tuttle know about this, Daniel? Nothing, up till now. I don't wash my dirty linen in public. God much you don't, you tight-fisted penny-pinchin' old... Old miser, huh? Maybe, John. But it appears to me you're craving to get your hands on money. Beats mine all hollow. What do you mean? All you know. The way both of you perked up when Matt mentioned my old sea chest that night. Well, it was a sight to see. Right thence when I knew. Right thence when I decided to move it here on board. A man as mean and suspicious as you would be hard to fool. My money was the bait I hooked you to on. That sea chest was like a bait-bag bulge in with herring. And it pulled you into my trap like a couple of greedy lobsters. So all the time you were... You were a rope to hang yourself. And now let's have no more talk. We'll anchor and wait for Matt. You'll get up for it, John. Be ready to drop that anchor over the side. And I'll come along. Just in hope you'll give me calls to shoot you the way I'd like. And so, John, with Captain Daniel's revolver pointed squarely at your back, you move carefully before him up onto the slippery bow. He keeps his distance. He's not giving you a chance to turn on him, is he, John? Balancing yourself, you squat over the heavy anchor and move the line toward the chop. Then you notice someone. As old Daniel stops walking, watches for the right spot to drop anchor, he steps into a loop of the anchor rope. This gives you an opportunity you hadn't expected. With one move, you shove the anchor over. And the rope tightens around Daniel's leg, pulling him overboard and under the sea. John and me searched as long as we could. Daniel is gone. There's nothing more we can do. Thank you, Matt. I just... Don't try to say nothing now. And you, John, you... better get out of those wet clothes. It was mighty fine thing you did, going right over this side of the ice cream like that. I couldn't reach him, Matt. I think he got untangled from the anchor line all right, but he must have been in bad shape. Probably hit his head as he went over. I try not to think of it anymore. Luckily, I happened along when I did, though. Oh, you were a big help, Matt. Ain't just what I mean, Carrie. There was something praying on Daniel's mind. Some said he was worried about you two. When I look here, Matt... I wasn't one of them, John. Jumping catfish. I've known your kid since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. But Daniel rested solely. Had one of them suspicious minds. I don't think you should talk like that. But there might have been... well, talk about his death, Carrie. Luckily, my boat was close enough so as I can swear nobody was near him when he fell over. You got me to prove to folks it was an accident. Well, I've got to get back to my motorboat. She don't ride a storm like this boat, eh, John? I'll close your cabin door tight. By the time Matt gets through talking to folks, she'll be a hero, John. What a break! Soon as he gets out of the way, we'll start back, eh? Then we'll get that sea chest out of the locker and have a look at it. He called it a bait bag. Bulging with Harry and Carrie. To tempt a couple of greedy lobsters, John. Only this time, baby? You and me are the ones that got away. Now, friends, for that message I mentioned earlier. That message about one of your neighbors. This neighbor is someone who often doesn't get a chance to spend as much time as he'd like to getting acquainted with you. Because he feels you'd rather have him concentrate on serving you promptly and efficiently. Checking your tires, your radiator, your oil, your batteries. He's your signal dealer, of course. But who is he, really? Well, as you know, signal dealers are independent dealers. That means each signal dealer has invested his own money in his own business. So naturally, being a small businessman, he knows what's made America great. He's a strong believer in America. The kind of citizen you can be proud to do business with. Secondly, before deciding to go into business for himself, he, like most signal dealers, probably had long experience servicing automobiles. Experience which can be valuable in making your car run better and last longer. Moreover, each signal dealer realizes that his income and success depend upon pleasing you so well you'll want to deal with him regularly. That's why your signal dealer tries to give such thorough, such conscientious service. If all this adds up to the kind of service man you'd like to have looking after your car, then here's a suggestion. Sometimes soon, before Christmas, stop at the signal dealer's nearest you and exchange some little friendly words, such as how you enjoy this radio program or the chuckle you get out of the cartoons on signal billboards or even the weather. You'll be making that dealer's Christmas a much, much merrier one. And you'll be getting even better acquainted with a good fellow American who is in business there to serve you. It was easier than you had dared hope wasn't it, John? Captain Daniel Sput caught in the anchor line that dragged him overboard to his death and your diving in after him took care of the rest, didn't he? And you're perfectly safe because Matt Tuttle saw the accident. We'll even swear you risked your life to rescue Captain Daniel. You head the Nautilus back toward Port. Leave Carrie at the wheel. Get the Captain's sea chest and rejoin Carrie. The storm is increasing in fury so you place the chest on the chart stand by the compass and take the wheel. But soon your curiosity overcomes you. You turn the wheel over to Carrie again and start to open the chest. Just a few twists of the blade and we... Carrie? What, John? That bellboy sounds to port. You'll be to stab it. Keeping the compass just like it says. I see. Oh, well, when rain cuts your visibility you get to imagining all sorts of things about the rest. Get on with the chest, why don't you? Oh, a lot, Rope. The lid's kind of stiff when I'm getting it. Carrie, give me that wheel. What are you doing, John? You turned us off our course. You mean I'm trying to? What are you talking about? We're too close to that reef. The wind and current are against us. We're being pushed under the rocks. Any second, Carrie. I thought our course was north. It was. But I put that iron chest on the chart stand and affected our compass. We're headed right under the inner reef. If I hadn't been so excited about the money I'd have remembered that chest with that iron. John, look, the chest is empty. Empty? Yes, except for your old chart foot for yourself. Well, that's what that scheming Captain Daniel was up to. I knew we were dying of curiosity about that old seat chest and he knew it was empty. The fire is his money, John. I don't know. Now we'll never know. Let that whistle be your signal for the signal oil program The Whistler each Sunday night at this time. Signal Oil Company has asked me to remind you during this busy pre-holiday season it's especially important to drive at sensible speed, be courteous, and obey traffic regulations so that some avoidable accident doesn't mar your merry Christmas. Featured in tonight's story were Bill Foreman as The Whistler, Lamont Johnson, Peggy Weber, Griff Barnett, and Charles Seal. The Whistler was produced and directed by George W. Allen with story by Jack Kelsey, music by Wilbur Hatch, and was transmitted overseas by the Armed Forces Radio Service. The Whistler is entirely fictional and all characters portrayed on The Whistler are also fictional. Any similarity of names or resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Remember to tune in at this same time next Sunday when The Signal Oil Company will bring you another strange story by The Whistler, entitled Christmas Gift, in which a nice girl pays a high price for a single mistake and then receives an unexpected Christmas gift. Marvin Miller speaking for The Signal Oil Company. Stay tuned now for our Miss Brooke starring Eve Arden, which follows immediately over most of the East Station. This is the CVS Radio Network.