 Tired of the everyday routine? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you escape! Escape! Transcribe to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. You are standing on the rolling deck of a pirate junk in the China seas and facing you is the sinister figure of the most feared man in the Orient a general who has just doomed you to death. Today with Bill Conrad starred as O'Hara we escape to China and the gripping story of pirate treasure as Charles Booth told it in his fascinating novel The General died at dawn. Yep, China was spitting me out like a cherry pit. I was sitting that afternoon on a bench in the strip of park that fronts the harbor of Shanghai and all I had in my pocket was an English shilling and it was counterfeit. Elle sat there and stared at a ship and her berth at the Asia Pacific docks she was a crack liner named Pearl of the Orient due to sail at 11 the following morning Europe bound by way of Suez. How bitterness, a counterfeit English shilling a need for physical action all of a sudden they melted into each other and bubbled into an idea. I left the harbor and made my way to French town to a narrow street of two and three-story buildings and into one of them and up a shabby stair and along a dim corridor to a door with Mark Ramsgate printed on it in gold letters. Ramsgate, I've come for the 1500 you owe me. Would you mind shutting the D-D-O-O-R? There's a simply killing draft. The 1500 Ramsgate, I want it now. Aren't you the persistent one though? Now where was it you say you advanced me this huge sum of money? Chunking four years ago. Oh, yes, chunking. I was in a nasty mess with the police and you simply flew to my aid as a fellow American, isn't that it? Delicious. But too, too fantastic. Start counting out the money, Ramsgate. Will you listen to the man? I'm a private investigator, Mr. O'Hara, not a banker or a missionary. I am not the most patient man on the China coast, Ramsgate. Mr. O'Hara, can you crack a walnut between your forefinger and thumb? I can. You see? Would you mind leaving now? I've scads of things to do. Um, what's this? Careful, careful. That's Ming. Oh? Yes. Gorgeous, isn't it? I use it for a goldfish bowl. It's empty. I didn't feed them. They lasted six days. Well, if you have no goldfish, you don't need the bowl. I'll smash you for that. I can be smashed. Try it. He was strong and very fast and he wore an enormous ring, which was damaging whenever he landed a punch. But he'd lost his coolness, his best asset, really, and it didn't last very long ago. Do you treat all your visitors like that, Mr. Ramsgate? Huh? Oh, hello. Come in, come in. Shut the door. Have a seat, Miss... Mrs. Mallory. Irene Mallory? Why, yes. May we speak privately, Mr. Ramsgate? Well, my friend on the floor is fast asleep. What can I do for you? I came to ask you to locate someone for me. A man here in Shanghai. There's a job to be done and he's the one for it. What's his name? O'Hara, Gerald O'Hara. Do you know him? Yes, yes. Who sent you to me? Papa Conti. O'Hara was at the Hotel Conti this morning, broke, and told Papa he expected to collect some money from a man named Ramsgate. Has he been here? I, uh... I can find him for you, but it's, uh, going to be expensive. My fee will be, uh... $1,500. Uh-huh. Five and five. One, two, three, four, five. Here you are. Thank you. Please work very quickly. Very quickly. Is there anything I can tell him concerning the job for which he is the one? Yes. Tellerman involves General Yang, Yang's business agent, and half a million dollars in gold. I'll be waiting at the Hotel Conti, Mr. Ramsgate. All right. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. You play the loveliest hand of poker, Mr. O'Hara. Got the $1,500 you came for, didn't you? Well, you bounced back fast. How much did you hear, Ramsgate? That's for me to know, you to find out. I will. Good afternoon, Mr. O'Hara. Good afternoon. Would you mind closing the D double... Door! Well, I had what I came for all right. I would argue the ethics of it with myself when the planks of the pearl of the Orient were beneath my feet. I was on my way to an atmosphere that didn't rot a man's brain with the dampness of things dead and done. I turned into Nanking Road and stopped in front of the Asia-Pacific office. In the plate glass window, the Gerald O'Hara who'd helped build the Trans-Siberian Railroad who'd gone after ivory and rubies and gold. That Gerald O'Hara took a look at the Gerald O'Hara who'd rocked Irene Mallory out of $1,500. And then I hailed a rickshaw until the boy to take me to the Hotel Pierre Conte. Ah, Gerald, my friend. Samarche? Samarche, Papa Conte. Samarche. Do me a favor, will you have Mrs. Mallory paged and brought here and let me use this office for a few minutes? But of course. Hello, you've come to ask? Huh, who? Do you Mallory Cornu Laigo? Sadi Lau? Uh, Papa, about the money I owe you, I thought I'd have it for you today, but my lead blew up. I'm sorry. You're sorry, huh? We have known each other all these years. You bear the scar of a knife that was meant for me and you expect me to price you for money, huh? Gerald. Well, it's a bill and it's got to be paid. Yeah, then let me worry about it. There's no point in us both worrying, huh? Oh, that would be Mrs. Mallory. There's cognac on the desk. Uh, visitor for you, my friend. See you later, Gerald. Good evening, Mr. O'Hara. Oh, I suppose Conte told you who I was. No, I recognized you this afternoon. Oh. Um, here's the money you gave me. Oh? Do you know what the odds were when you handed it to me if you were ever seeing me again? Are you ready to cut my best friend's throat for the price of a ticket West? Wouldn't you prefer to leave with a good bit more than that? Oh, the half million you mentioned? Yes. Would you, uh, care to hear about it? Well, perhaps care is too strong a word, but I'll listen. There's a man named George Martel registered here. He's General Yang's business agent. Do you know him? Your eyes are lovely. I like your eyes. Yang had $500,000 worth of gold bars here in Shanghai. Can you guess why he kept his funds in bullion? I haven't been hard to abscond with almost half a ton of gold. And Martel has been converting that into American dollars for some time now. But there are two things he doesn't know. Yang is aware of what he's doing, learned about it last week. And Yang will be here in Shanghai tonight. Yang enjoys a good deal of tolerance in the city, but he's still in outlaw with a price on his head. He has no legal recourse. He's got thumb screws and jackboots. Don't you see what I'm getting at? Life isn't worth a grain of rice once Yang arrives. Yang's here now. What? He's here now. I saw Sergeant Wong, his ADC, dressed as a Cooley down at the docks this morning. All the better. Unless Martel shares the money with us, we won't help him escape from Shanghai. You, uh, you could arrange a way out for him, couldn't you? Oh, yes, yes. I know ways, but, uh... I'm not the man for the job, Mrs. Mallory. I'm as empty as a sucked egg. I'm tired, very tired. Just want a crawl out of Asia. I'm sorry. No pride? None. Certain? Positive? Not even enough to resent that? Or this? Why, you little... You're hurting my wrist, O'Hara. Come here to me. Where's Martel now? In the bar. Then he goes to dinner. That's his routine. You know his room number? Yes. Well, lead me to it. Was that the last release in the closet? Yes. Well, we know now that Martel doesn't keep the money in his room. That would have been too obvious. I'll never be deceived by the obvious, my dear. The techniques of hiding and finding haven't changed since Poe stated them in the proloined letter. The next move... Someone's coming down the hall. Out with the light. Martel! Behind the screen. What perfume do you use? It's marvelous. A heavenly room you have, Mr. Martel. Why, so comfy. Get to the point, Mr. Ramsgate. What is it you wanted to speak to me about? General Yang at the Shanghai Funds and what you intend to do with them. Have you been prying into my affairs? Just an old busybody on that. Don't try for a gun. Just don't. Well, what is it you want? All the money you have. And the alternative? I'll tell Yang of the naughty, naughty thing you've done. Mr. Ramsgate, I beg you. Either give me the money, or we'll be prepared to face Yang until... Oh, Hara. Hello, George. I rained to see if Ramsgate has a gun. George, have you met Mrs. Mallory? Oh, Hara. Here's the gun. Oh, good. Now see if George has one. Easy, George. Here it is. All right, I'll put it in your purse. George, you know me, don't you? I mean you know me. Yes, I know you, Hara. Are you going to accept Ramsgate's offer? I think that I wouldn't have done you any good. Yang has a price on your head right now, didn't you know? Oh, yes, Ramsgate would have taken your money and turned you over to Yang anyway. And I thought that I'd be able to think of some scheme while Yang was on his way. On his way? Yang's in Shanghai right now. No. Look, now, here's our proposition. One-third a piece to each of us, and I'll help you escape. One-third? To each of us, one-third to you. You better take it, George. Well? But tomorrow morning, Yang will have blocked every exit from Shanghai you could think of. You need us, George. And you know I always fulfill my end of a contract. Help me, O'Hara. Help me, please. You accept? Yes. Good. Yes, O'Hara. Where's the money? I want it in my hand before I so much as make a move in your favor. Please. It's not here in the hotel, I mean. It's in the safe in my office in the room. Won't go there, will you? Well, let's go after it, George. Let's go after it. Let's go after it. Let's go after it. We left the hotel, can't we? I hailed a taxi and George gave the driver the address. It was just past the dinner hour and the night traffic was thickening. Across the harbor, I could see the lights of the Pearl of the Orient. Tomorrow morning, I thought to myself, tomorrow morning I'd be on deck, taking a last long look at China, the fortune in my pocket. Irene followed my glance and then smiled up at me and squeezed my arm. You ever been to France, Irene? Yes. You know the stretch along the coast of Normandy between off-loan and Travine? No. I, uh, I'd like to show it to you sometime. I'd like to see it sometime. Good. We got out at the shabby end of the rue Montauvain. Martel was trembling so violently that I had to take the key from his hand and open the door myself. Easy, George. I'll just take it easy. I'm in a bloody blue funk, O'Hara. Yeah, we know the feeling, George. Now, where's the money? It's in the safe. Small valise in the safe. Well, get it. You really can get me out of Shanghai? Look at me, George. I really can, can't I? Right, right. Now then, left 22. You know, there's a drink they drink in Normandy called Calvados, a brandy. Have you ever tasted? No. Really? Vast horizons will soon open for you, I think. There. Have you got it? Here, I'll take it. Where's the key? The bag's locked. Oh, here it went. I always carry it. O'Hara. What? Face at the window. Oh, the light. Shoot! Shoot, O'Hara! Well, I don't think I hid anything. Let's get back to the hotel. The street was deserted as we left Martel's office. I expected almost anything, but nothing happened, nothing at all, except that I slipped on the broken glass, scattered about the sidewalk, and almost broke my neck. And we took a taxi back to the hotel, Conti. No, we won't go to your room, George. Irene, we'll hold up in yours. Do you think we're safe here? Well, it's relative. We're safer in the Conti than any other place else in Shanghai, not that that's saying much. At least we have an ally here, Papa Conti himself. In you go, George. Thanks. Now, Irene, here's the money. Don't let this release out of your sight for a moment. Take the gun out of your purse now. You know how to handle it? Some. Sit down, George. Yeah. No, no, not on the chair. Sit on the floor, facing the wall. Now, look, Irene, you've got a double job. Keep George and the money in, and everyone else out. Understood. Oh, Hera, you're not going. I have to arrange your exit. Do you expect me to do it by telegram? Well, that reminds me, I'll need that 1,500 of yours again. How much do you weigh? 118. Delicious. Here's the 1,500. You'll be a repeat out of George's into the cut. Well, I'll be going now. I'll be back in about, oh, three hours at the latest. Lock the door after me. I'll see you soon. Take care of yourself, oh, Hera. Right. Wish I could think of something entirely reassuring, but all I can come up with is this. I think we've got a 50-50 chance of making it. They'll tell you Shanghai is the coldest, blooded, most cynical city in the world. Has none of the charm of Paris, nor the comfort of London, or the youth of New York. But as I made my roundabout way to the docks past the food shops and the dens and the coffin makers and the honky-tonk joints, I suddenly no longer cared about that. I felt vaguely excited and eager for the next moment. And then finally, I found the man I was looking for after a tour of the bars. He was a big-bearded sweet named Nelson, the owner and captain of an old bum freighter. And after an hour or so of negotiation, we had it straight. He'd have a taxi driven by himself parked near the alley two blocks from the conty, ready to pick Martell up at dawn and carry him to the ship. 1,500 down and another 15,000 from Martell when he was safe on deck. And that was that. I was back at the hotel by 2.30. Irene, Irene, it's O'Hara. Irene, Irene. I put my ear to the door and listened. Nothing. I grasped the knob to shake it and the door swung open. The lights were on and the room looked as though a tornado had gone roaring through. Bureau drawers open, clothes flung out, luggage slashed and Martell lay on upon the bed, staring at the ceiling. His face ripped badly. His hands and legs tied tightly. I walked over and put my fingers to his neck. He was dead. A small release lay next to him on the pillow. It was open and empty. Made my way to the bathroom. Irene. O'Hara. Turn off that water. I was trying to stop the bleeding. Give me the towel. Now come on in the other room. What's happened? I don't know. A couple of hours after you left, there was a light knock at the door and a voice that sounded like yours said, open the door. Well, don't look at me like that. It was time for you to be back and I had the gun. I opened the door just to crack and suddenly a hand appeared and it turned out to lighten. And that's all. When I came to it was the way it is in there and I had a bump on my head. The money's gone. I know. Have any idea who did it? No, none. It could have been anybody. Could have been you. O'Hara. Why not? You had the chance and as you say, you had the gun. It could have been you. Yes, and it could have been you, but I don't think it was. Connect me with Mr. Conte, please. O'Hara. Hello, Papa Conte. So, O'Hara, look, will you come to Mrs. Mowlery's room immediately, please? Yeah. What are you going to do? Well, I want to speak to Papa Conte. He's probably the wisest man in Shanghai. Do you think I did it? I didn't say you did. I said it could have been you and it could have, too. But I ought to talk to Conte. There are things that bother me about the whole deal. I connect it in some way with slipping on the broken glass in front of George's office and George being beaten to death. Now, why should anyone have done that? The money was there and George was tied securely. Why beat him? And something about George's having to depend on me for a getaway. I always considered him a very cautious and careful man. He had the money. Surely he would have planned his own escape long before I ever. Well, that's probably, probably Conte. I'll get it. Yes, it is I. Come in, Papa. Good morning, Mr. O'Hara. Ramsky. Get inside, Papa Conte. All clear, General? O'Hara. Hello, Yang. Your rums get close at door. All righty. See if O'Hara is armed. A pleasure. I have it, General. So the dog is dead. And the bone is buried. Oh, I will find the bone. Well, first you must find the other dog. Perhaps I'm looking at him. Try to prove it. If you do not kill Martel, why have you not sent for the police? Shall I telephone them now? O'Hara, what would you do if you were in my position? Well, I'd search the luggage and personal property of all of those here. Then if I didn't find the money, the questioners, all of us, including Ramsky. And if I didn't find what I was looking for, I'd make my apologies and look elsewhere. It is good advice. I'll accept it. Conte, you have a baggage truck in your garage. Go outside. Give the key to Sergeant Wong. No tricks, Conte. My men are at every entrance and every floor. Ramsky. Yes, General? Go with Conte. Tell Tseng Fu to take a squad of men, pick up all the baggage belonging to Mrs. Mallory and Papa Conte and George Martel. Bring it to my headquarters. Tell them to take also Martel's body. Yes, General. Come along, Conte. O'Hara, you and Mr. Mallory will come with me. Where to? To the pier of Yen Luyian Company on Suzhou Creek. And then? To my Shanghai headquarters. The Lao Ping, a seagoing junkie, lies in the anchorage. Come, O'Hara. Come. It's almost four o'clock. How long do you intend to keep us aboard, Yang? The money is neither upon your person nor among your belongings. I must now persuade you to talk. Will you do so willingly? And if we do not? I will turn you over to my bodyguard. You have heard of them? Who hasn't? What have you heard? You know, something about your destiny being their destiny and their lives being your lives and that they would do anything under heaven that you commanded? That is correct. Will you talk, O'Hara? Look, General, I know nothing of Martel's death or the location of the money, as I've already told you. Mr. Mallory. I can't add anything to what I've already said. Not gonna. And Martel has been silenced. Pity. General, aren't you going to ask Ramsgate's? Ask me? Why? The General and I understand each other thoroughly. Don't we, General? It was I who told the General where to find you all. Didn't I, General? What could he possibly ask me? Well, during the past hour, I've thought of one or two things he might ask you. Yang, you've noticed the cuts on Martel's face? I noticed them now. Have you noticed the cuts on mine? They are like. And have you noticed the ring Ramsgate wears? General, excellency. There's a conspiracy to injure me in your eyes. Let me see the ring. Let me see it. Excellency. Steal fleck with blood. You kill a dog. Yes. Yes, excellency, I did. But only to avenge you. Only to avenge what? Where is the money? I don't know. I swear I don't know. You lie. No. No, no. When I opened the valice the woman was guarding, it was empty. It was empty. No. General. General, don't touch me. Don't touch me. Yang, look out. He has a knife. Excellency, no, I didn't mean to. No, don't shoot. Excellency, don't, don't, don't shoot. Wang. Wang. Wang Chun, are you? O'Hara, what is he ordering him to do? Something about killing us. O'Hara. Yang, this is a thing I never expected to see a man of destiny stabbed by a fat fool while his bodyguard, his loyal bodyguard of 12, stands by and watches. You'll find it amusing. Before I die, you and your friends will be dead. Can you laugh at that also? Perhaps, but not as much as all China will laugh at Yang's loss of face. China will laugh for centuries to come at the story of how Yang was killed while his devoted bodyguard lived. China will not laugh at Yang. My bodyguard will not live. They will have shot one another. At whose command? At my command. It will be there, will also. They have lost face, too. Numerably, can they continue to live? No one will believe that your bodyguard foolish enough to let you be stabbed would obey a command to kill themselves. Your name will be a laughing stock. No. They will joke about you in the teahouses. No. Your sons will die of shame. No. And why? Because 12 dead fools with rifles in their hands will be all that you have to speak for you. No, you lie. You lie. I will show you. Guodikping. Guodai. You guai. Toe you gua. See how they line up facing each other, six to six. They face each other, but they do not aim at each other. Merjin. Do you see how they take aim at each other, O'Hara? They take aim at each other, Yang, but they do not fire. They will. They will when I command. Now watch. And you will see a thing to make you marvel. To marvel again whenever you remember, Yang. Kai Po! Was Yang not right? Was he not right? This is it. Goodbye, Papa Conti. Goodbye, Gerald, and much good luck. And to you also, Mrs. Marory. Thank you, Papa Conti. I'll send you a piece of the wedding cake. Do that, yes? Thanks for everything. I'll repay you the loan as soon as I can. Of course, of course. Gerald, Mrs. Marory, could you stand a rather bitter joke upon yourselves? No. What's that? About the money you two sought. A letter came from George Mattel this morning. It is from a brokerage firm here in Shanghai. It says, dear George, this is to confirm our conversation of this morning. Unless you can raise $40,000 additional margin, we will be forced to sell you out. We are regret doing this to so good a customer, especially in the light of the half million dollar loss you suffered these last two months. But businesses, et cetera, et cetera, you're sincere. You understand, Gerald? Yes, yes, I thought it might be something like that. That's why he didn't arrange for his own escape. Each day, he expected to recoup his losses. And he tricked us in his office on the Roumont-au-Van. He didn't want us to learn the police was empty, and so he pretended to have seen that face at the window. That's right. And then when we put out the lights, he must have thrown something through the glass, a paper weight of the like. That's what puzzled me about the broken glass that was on the sidewalk and not in the room. It was also why Rumsgate killed him. He couldn't make Rumsgate believe his story. Yeah. Um, Papa Conti, may I have the letter? I'd like it for a souvenir. But of course. Thank you. Well, au revoir, Gerald. Au revoir, Mabel. I wave to you from the show. Goodbye. Goodbye, Papa. No regrets, O'Hara. Regrets? None. No regrets for the past and no doubts for the future. Escape is produced and directed by Norman McDonald. Today, we have presented transcribed the general died at dawn by Charles Booth, adapted for radio by Walter Newman with editorial supervision by John Dunkel. Stard as O'Hara was Bill Conrad. Featured in the cast were Estelle Dodge, Larry Dobkin, Ben Wright, John Daener, Jack Prussian, and Peter Prouse. Special music was arranged and played by Ivan Dittmarz. Next week, we escape with the unusual story, The Great Impersonation by E. Phillips Oppenheim. Be sure to tune in at the same time next week when, once again, we offer you escape. The adventures of Ozzie and Harriet are now heard every Sunday night on most of the same CBS stations just before the Jack Benny show. This is Roy Rowan speaking. Now, stay tuned for five minutes of the latest news and the Let's Pretend program, which follow immediately over most of the same CBS network stations. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.