 Log entry, the catch scallop queen, Philip Carney master. Position 12 degrees, 12 minutes south, 130 degrees, four minutes west. Wind fresh, sky fair. Remarks, cleared Darwin, Australia after altercation in Bono Hotel. Reason for incident, the fang rubies in the Black Siamese. Two trading schooners at a dock in Darwin for three days, unloading the stuff we brought in from Port Moresby and taking on a cargo for Singapore. My chief mate Gallagher and my crew were in town, spending a few well earned hours of shore leave. I was alone on the poor deck. I'd been watching the busy lighters wallowing between the shore and the merchantmen that were anchored in the stream. Then I started toward the cabin. I got to the showered rail and time to see a man hurrying along the dock. He was carrying a black cat in his arms. He looked back over his shoulder at the schooner on our stern, and just before he reached our gangway, he tossed the cat aboard. It landed lightly on its feet, about two yards from it. As bad as the act was, the guy carried it through. Sever, here, Sever, come here. Oh, my Siamese seems to have jumped aboard your ship. Why, I come aboard after him. I saw how he came aboard. I'll toss him back to you. I'm sorry, but I have to come aboard after him. He started to cross the gangway. Second shot caught him and slammed him into the guard rail. He careened off of it and hit the deck in front of me. By instinct, I headed for cover and waited for more shots. I didn't think they, I didn't think. After a few seconds, I moved over to him. Can you, can you hide me? Sure, sure, I'll hide you. I don't let my sister know until I feel better. A crew had cut her mooring. She was moving away from the dock. I was left with a dead man and a black Siamese that looked up at me with motionless yellow eyes. Mutual continues, The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, written by Gildowd and Bob Tolman and starring Elliot Lewis. Queen, proudest ship to plow the seas, bound for uncharted adventure. Every week, a complete entry in the log and every week, a league further in The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen. The criminal investigation department, Captain Carney. Oh, yeah. We're much obliged to you for notifying us of this incident. I'm sorry. We're obliged that you didn't give him the heave-ho into the water, which is becoming a habit in this part of the city. All right, so you've been shot, have you, Chappy? Hmm, you're a bit of a mess, aren't you, Chappy? I haven't touched him except to put the sail thought over. Well, now let's, ah, you've got a pocket book, eh? Well, we'll have a look at that. Carol Scott, Blakely Square, Canberra. That's better. Um, Ashenden? Yes, sir. Got him off, Ashenden? Yes, sir. Now, Captain, suppose you give me your version of the incident in chronological order. I don't have much of a version, Inspector. He came along the dock from a stern of my ship tearing a black Siamese. He tossed the cat aboard, then pretended that it jumped and that he was chasing it. That's the cat. He's been sitting there ever since. Oh, that's an odd one. The guy got halfway across the gangway. Somebody on the schooner got him with a rifle. Hey, tell me, what was the name, registry description of said schooner, and in what direction did she proceed? Why? Well, I don't know her name or registry. She's gaff-rigged, painted gray above the waterline between 50 and 60 feet overall. She hugged the shore after she left here. I lost her behind the warehouse there on the point. Oh, this the idea is obliged to you, Captain. Of course, since you're an eyewitness to the crime, you will remain in Darwin and keep the department no difference. Ah, not a chance, Inspector. I've got a time contract on this cargo we're doing Singapore. Then I shall have to station CID guards upon your ship to prevent you sailing. Why don't you take your CID guard? I'll have the guards here in a drippy, Captain. Hey, the cat the least you can do is take them. I guess to you, Captain, from the department. Thanks. I put a bottle and glass on my desk, and between a couple of drinks entered the incident and the log. When I stood up and turned around, the cat was just inside the passageway. He followed me in, and he sat there looking at my face. But devil you won't want it. Can't you do anything but sit there and stare? Ooh, you're in a lot of company, you are. Hey, get off of that bunk. You think you are anyway. Come on, get off and stay there. After I pushed him to the deck, twisted around, and with his tongue washed the place where I touched him. Then he jumped back on the bunk. After three more tries, I gave up, and he went to sleep on my pillow. After a few more drinks, I gave up again. The CID men had arrived to guard the queen, and everything aboard was secure. So I packed some personal gear for sure. Let the coins decide whether I'd take the cat or leave him. I picked up the tail, so I picked him up and went ashore. I finally found a safe-looking pet shop that would board the cat. And with Siva in tender hands, I rode a bus to the middle of town. I located a room at the Queensland House, checked in, and after reporting my address, the CID had dinner and went to my room. I stretched out on the first double bed I'd seen in months. I must have dozed off, because it took me a while to realize that the sound I heard was a knock on my door. Yeah. Who is it? Yeah, all right, wait a minute. Yeah, what? Are you Philip Carney? That's right. I've been to the police. They told me where you were. Hmm? I'm Paula Scott. Harold Scott was my brother. Oh, you want to come in? Yes, thank you. I'm sorry about your brother. Thank you. You were with him, weren't you? For a few minutes. I don't think it was bad. The way he went, I mean, things like that just sound as though they were awful rough. You're telling the truth, aren't you? Yes, I am. If it helps any, and I don't suppose it does, he didn't even know he was going. He just stopped talking. What was he talking about? About getting well. Oh, I'm glad to know that. Yeah. What else did he say? See, I've got to know. It isn't one of those masochistic things I've just got to know. Why don't you sit down? All right, thank you. I'm sorry, there's no place for you. Oh, yes, one chair room. I use the bed. Well, there wasn't much said because there wasn't much time. He wanted me to hide him and he didn't want me to let you know until he got better. That was all. The police told me you have Ciba. The cat? Yeah, I put him in a pet shop where he'll get good care, I think. Mr. Carney, I want to talk to you. I know who I held was killed and I know who killed him. Did you tell the police? No. Why not? Because I want to stay alive. That's who of them. If the police go to one, the other will come after me. You want to tell me? Yes, his... His name is Hugo Cashin, he's my uncle and he has a horrible little creature with him, Meryl Ferris. Have you ever heard of the Cashin interest? Well, harbors and the anchorages are the only things I know about in Australia. They were built by Leland Cashin. Mining, sheep, contracting, shipping, everything else that makes money, I guess. Leland, he's your uncle too. He was. He was killed in a motor accident near Canberra two weeks ago, leaving Harold and me the entire state. Hugo Cashin is alive and we die, it goes to him. There's only one left to outlive now. Look, I don't like despairing women. Do you want me to try and help you? That isn't why I... Never mind why you came. If you want me to help you, act normal. Cry, put your hair, get drunk, do something. Don't sit there looking as patient as one of your estate sheep. Yes, I'm sorry, I... I want you to help me. All right. Somebody should have taught you to cry when you were young, you'd feel bad. I can't help it. Sure. You learned early not to let your feelings show. You want anything to eat? No, I... Well, go on in and wash your face and comb your hair. I'll have dinner set up. I figured it would take a lifetime to make her unbend and then get rid of some of that reserve and some of that self-control that was tying her up and knots inside. Well, a few drinks before she ate and a few more afterward made a good start. Captain Carney, how did you know so much about me so soon after you met me? Well, you're a pretty obvious little girl. Oh, dear, I am not. How did you? You're quite right, you know. Well, you carry a very active kind of magic around with it. You're afraid of it. Man, the reaction it has on guys like me is so you've developed a fine, icy attitude to hide that rare emotion. Oh, you make me sound... Well... Conceited? I'm not, really. I wonder what it is. I'm certainly not beautiful. Nobody's ever told me I'm beautiful and really meant it just like that. Well, just be patient. You'll get old and crotchety someday and you won't have a thing to worry about. Oh, a little while ago I didn't think I'd get much older. You know something, I... I haven't felt this way for... Seems like forever. I mean, of course, about not being afraid of Hugo and Mel. Yeah. I suppose it's because I don't feel quite so alone now. Well, that's good. Uh, tell me, did Hugo and Merle keep you shadowed when they checked the hotel register? I'm sure they would. Well, and they know you're here. They... But how? Because I took a room for you and your name when I ordered dinner at the other end of the hall. Captain, I can't stay. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I'm going to stay in that room. You're going to stay here. I changed the registration of this room, too. It's another name, very dear friend of mine. I'm the police force, Inspector Tomkin. How will they come to that room? I know they will. Well, it seems to be the best way to contact. But I really... Here's the key to this room. Leave the key in after you've locked the door, jam one of your hairpins in with it. Yes. It's all right, Captain. Swap. All right. You're going to go now? Well, yeah, it's getting late. I see. I don't think I want you to go. Well, I've got to. You'll be all right. Wait. What for? I just want... I... And look, if I don't have some news for you tonight, I'll see you in the morning. And keep your door locked. Yes, all right. Good night. Good night, Captain. When I got in the room registered to Paula Scott, I locked the door, leaving the key in. And I did what I could to make the room look lived in to anyone cracking the door slowly to come in. It was 11.30 when I turned out the lights and settled down to wait. The building was quiet, but the restless throb of the city came through. Now a minute deep-throated the call from the harbor. I'd looked at my watch at 1.15 a.m., and it couldn't have been 10 minutes later that I caught a sound so faint that I felt it rather than heard it. Then I waited for the key to be pushed out of the lock. It was a long silence before I heard the lock click, and another before the door started to swing silently open. A slim bear arm came in first, shadowy in the faint light from the hall. A slight figure followed. Then I caught the flicker of a knife blade. I moved just before he got all over me. That's the shiver this elbow bends backward for the rest of your life. Well, it's your elbow. Move back to the door. Put the light on you. I might have that. You're an ugly little guy. What are you carrying besides that knife? You go well healed, don't you? Only five caliber. You must be a marksman, huh? Playing with that small caliber. Service automatic, that one I'll keep. Any more? I go. I go, that's all. Now get your leg up. You do that too, huh? You're a regular blasted artillery battalion, aren't ya? Any more? All right, any more. I go now. All right, so as I get you safe in that corner. Oh, play off. No, stop! Kid, aren't ya? How old are you? Old enough to get stupid. You sound like stateside. Tell him when you see him to cancel the time I got coming, I'll go back. You're Merle Ferris, huh? Booting you around this room until you do. God damn, that cat. What makes you think she's got the cat? Somebody's got it. She got the rest of the stuff they took in with her brother's but I got the cat. Eh, you'd have money in a bank if you did. Huh? What makes the cat so hot? What's the difference? If you got it cashin' we'll give you enough for it so you can hire guys like me for you to knock around. That sounds good. Come on, get up. Where is Cashett? A hotel, four or five blocks down. Hey, are you getting my stuff back? You and me will get along all right now. You go like you are and I'll keep the 45. Then I know we'll get along. Cashin' still will be locked. If he ain't standing in it, it will be. Then I'll do the knockin'. What's the matter, you jumpy? Just careful. You think we got knockin' signals like school boys? You read too much. Yeah, this is it. All right, over the swim. Answer him, you're alone. It's me, Mr. Cashin'. All right, get over here in front of me. What's this, aye? If you don't like it, run your own errands from now on. I'll poke you, stay in the middle of the room. Perhaps if I understood, young man. You got the cat. Scott gave it to him. So, Paula didn't get it. Well, young man, you and I must reach an agreement at once. I will pay you fabulously for the black's armies. I'll have to know why you want them before I sell. Well, certainly. With that cat in my position, young man, I will prove that Paula Scott is guilty of murdering my brother, Leland Cushan. Are you nuts? Well, the cat's a valuable bit of evidence. With him and with him only, we can prove that Leland was killed, not in a motor accident, as he's believed, but cold-bloodedly in his home by that girl and the deceased brother, see? Then the cat will clear everything up. The cat, together with a certain document, which Leland was carrying at the time he was killed, see? Where is the certain document? Well, Paula has it hidden. But for the cat in our position, we'll route it out and her with it. OK. I'll make a deal with you. I'll be back here with the cat in an hour and a half. My first stop was the pet shop where I parked Siva. I banged on the door until I aroused the sleepy owner, apologized for same, and retrieved the black Siamese. Then I headed for the Queensland house. I'll be right there. Captain, nothing wrong? And Siva? Yeah, here's the cat. I didn't know you were going to bring him here. Why did you lie to me, Paula? I didn't mean to. Was it all an act? Oh, you can't mean that. What's the real story about your uncle's death? I see. You've seen Hugo Cashin. That's it. You see, I didn't know what to tell you. What if it was murder? What good would it do to have it all stirred up again? Depends on who did the murdering. What do you mean? Who killed him, Paula? Why, Hugo Cashin and Mel Therese, I, it really hurt to me to tell you this. My brother was involved, yes. He didn't do the actual killing. But after it was over, he was the one who pushed the car and the body off of Cumberhills. He found some evidence in Uncle Leland's breast pocket that would prove murder, no matter how hard they tried to hide it. I want to see that evidence. Cashin told me it would prove that you and your brother committed the murder. He's lying. All right, what's the evidence? Part of it is the cat. The other part is in my handbag. Yeah? Here it is. Here, it's the pedigree Uncle Leland was carrying in his pocket. And see? The bullet hole? The folded paper she had at me would have fit tightly into a legal-sized envelope. The bullet hole was roughly in the middle. The angular pedigree lines traced Siva's family back to an ancestor living early in the 1700s. At the top, there were four photographs of Siva. One of them showed him with his mouth open in a yawn. You could see two tiny dark stones that were set, one in each of his upper fangs. She put the cat in her lap and opened his mouth. There. You see? There are the fang lubies that show up in the photograph. Oh, yeah. It's the mark of the Pasha line of Siamese. Since Siva's the only one outside of the Asiatic continent, this pedigree chart can't belong to anyone but him. Well, it doesn't prove much yet. Could have been my cat. No, no, no, it couldn't. Couldn't belong to anyone in the world but Uncle Leland. He was a member of the International Cat Fanciers Club. Their system of identification is legally recognized everywhere. Look here. Here on Siva's left thigh, right here. Apart the fur, you can see a mark on the skin. Of course. Yeah, a tattoo. Yes, Daman was a kitten. To identify Miss Leland cations in any court in the world. I guess that's good evidence, but I don't get this. How does it prove murder? Don't you see? The tattoo proves that Siva belonged to Uncle Leland. His pictures prove that the pedigree is Siva's. Therefore, the bullet hole in the pedigree papers prove that Uncle Leland was shot and not killed in a motor accident. Now, I got it. I've kept the pedigree. My brother was hiding, see if I bought a ship in Harbor. I suppose Hugo found out he was there. My brother was trying to escape onto your ship when they shot him. Anybody get dressed, Paula? Where are we going, Cat? Get these two stories together. You don't know whether to believe me or not, do you? Your cat and your rubies and charts still haven't proved anything but murder. They haven't proved who did the murder. I know. What can I do, Captain? You can call the police. Call them and tell them to meet us in room 12, Bono Hotel in 45 minutes. I'll go find a car we can hire and meet you downstairs. A few minutes later, Paula, Siva, and I were riding to the Bono Hotel in silence. We took the cat when we got there, and I pushed her behind me as we climbed the stairs. I pushed her to a stop at the door. I wasn't quite sure of what I'd do inside if she were guilty. It was 35 minutes after she had or had not called the police that I wrapped on the door of Hugo Cashin's room. Who is it? Carney. Coming, Captain. He's brought the scout down. Paula. Move back in the room. Merle, get over in the corner. Stay there. Don't worry about me, tough guy. Captain, I'm disappointed in you. Why? This was to be an arrangement strictly between us. If I'd known that you were as untrustworthy as to bring Paula to interfere with- I'm not interfering, Hugo. Look, Cashin. We've got the cat here. That's what you wanted. I've heard the same story from both you and Miss Scott. It was good both times. Oh, what has this girl been saying? I told her to call the police and tell them to meet us here. I don't know whether she did or not. What do you think, Cashin? She- she'd be a fool, Joe. If she's guilty, I guess you're right. Here, Cashin. You can have the same deal. If she didn't call him, you'd just as soon, wouldn't you? Your call, please. Well, Cashin? Your call, please. Cashin, you're not going to let him call the cops. Why not? They can prove nothing. Your call, please. Give me the police. They can prove nothing. With my record, I'm not sitting in no jail cell while they sweat the truth out of you. All right. Get the cat and come on now. No, no, no, stay away. Cashin. Bill, he's taking Siva. He'll kill him. Oh, you there and stop. Fire action doesn't stop those men. Cashin, Carney. Come on, let's get out of here. Oh, Cashin, there you are. I thought you'd be here about when I saw those blighters making off with your cat. They wouldn't stop. I had to wing them. Yes. But the cat is unharmed now. Here you are with the respects of the CID. Well, thanks, Inspector. I did the scoundrels try to steal anything else. Like Inspector, this wasn't a robbery. The men you nailed committed that murder on my ship yesterday. Oh, well, the department is Johnny on the spot, you might say. The summons we got was from some poor lady sobbing into the telephone. What? Cheerio. Yeah, see, Paula, that was you? Wasting some of that rare emotion on a telephone? Of course not, Captain. Captain, the inspector must have been mistaken. Just must have been a bad connection. Oh, come on now. Now you're overdoing it. No, it'll be all right. I'm sorry. No, you're a big girl with an estate now. Everything's making money. Oh, no, I don't care about the money. It's you. If you could manage to stay. I can't stay gorgeous. I got a cargo aboard on a time contract. I got to get it to Singapore. There you are. Here's your cat. Yes, of course, thank you. Yes, I understand. You have a commitment. And you'd rather go on your ship than stay? That's nothing. It's nothing personal, Paula. And I'll make your promise. If I ever settle down on an estate in Australia, it'll be yours. Later, using the first faint light and the first fresh breeze of dawn, we stood out into the harbor. And bang, and make sound. City nom sailors that stumbled to their stations and groped for the hadiots. It was hard to tell what was in their eyes outside of exhaustion as they watched the city lights take a stand. Look at self and tighten as it was hauled aloft. The jibs went out. And the mizzen. And the scarlet queen coasted into the morning with the foam at her starboard rail shining brightly. And the first reflection of the sun from the sky. Reporting to the bridge, sir. Is everything to your liking aloft and below? Good gotten into you, Red. You spend your time reading sea stories as if they're something of Darwin? No, just feeling fit and hearty, Skipper. Glad to be aboard. I ran head on into a situation, a woman, Red. Yeah. Oh, a lot of good home cooking and stuff. But she wanted me to settle down and share a property. An estate, Red? Yeah, a little truck farm. Yeah, well, I guess it might not be bad for a while. Evenings on the veranda and all that. Did she have a cat, Red? Yeah, a little white alley cat. And she thought you were crazy for leaving and you told her it was nothing personal, huh? Yeah, how'd you know that? Women, Red. They're never happy till they got a guy lashed down someplace. Yeah, imagine spending all your life walking on a floor that never rolls off pitches, huh? Skipper, I guess we got the right kind of woman. Wooden and lively. Here's, Skipper, to the queen of the Scarlet Queen. After you, mate. After you. Log entry, the catch Scarlet Queen, 5.30 PM. Wind, fresh, sky fair. Sea calm with long crosswell. Ship secure for night. Signed, Philip Carney, master. I invite you to sail into a further adventure on the voyage of the Scarlet Queen next week at the same time.