 log entry the catch scarlet queen Position 123 degrees 8 minutes west 37 degrees 31 minutes north gyro compass course 237 wind fresh sky fair remarks Cleared port of san francisco at 2 30 p.m. Sailing delayed 19 hours due to death of first officer cause of death murder I Stood there in the pier that evening the ache in my frame reminding me that a long hard day of loading stores was behind me and Looked out over the bay Wasn't a night for stargazing or anything just typically san francisco damp and gray The kind most people trade off early for steam heat and drinks and short glasses, but for me that was good But scarlet queen nudged her fenders against the dock right below me She looked clean and young in her new white paint with her shining bright work picking up the pier lights like costume jewelry and a neon She was beautiful, and she was mine All 78 feet of her she rose and fell just a little even in the quiet harbor water Delicately lifting her pig your head out of the shadows now and then to give her a glance at the dock the scarlet queen a fresh young body looking forward from just under the bouse foot bold teasing dressed in only a crown and painted scarlet But that particular gray San Francisco night wasn't cut out for a romance between man and lacquered wood I didn't hear him as he walked up behind me But it didn't take me long to pick up the odor of a jail cell after he opened his mouth you fill up Connie Yeah, that's right. I'm castle homicide You know a man named David arm alone. Yeah, he's my chief mate. Who'd he kill? That's not what I'm interested in I want to know who killed him Come on. You got a dated headquarter. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. This is a little sudden on a full stomach What happened to him? How was he killed? The books are gonna call it murdered by a person a person's unknown Homicide wants to know you better And so begins the voyage of the scarlet queen with Phil Carney master of the proudest ship to plough the seas found for Unchanted adventure every week a complete entry in the log and every week a league further in the strange voyage of the Scarlet Queen Carney Philip M 29 height six two and a half wait 207 hair brown Stars or other identity landmark. Yeah, tattoo a three strand Turk said my right bicep A three strand Turk said it's a knot. You know that somebody else tie your shoelaces a knot Castle, I'm getting awful sick of this The schooner scarlet Queen street number street number. Well, how on it here 12 birth to embarked Darrow not permanent That might be a pretty permanent address at that Connie With me paying the rent my lease is up day after tomorrow. I will take care of that How long had you known Malone? That's uh, no about five days not about Connie. How long five days? I signed him on five days ago. What did you see him last exactly between 12 30 and one this afternoon I saw a stern end going around the warehouse at pier 12. He turned to the right Exactly, he went to room 218 the crown hotel on Columbus Avenue in the North Beach section Why because he's human I suppose they build hotels for people to go into he didn't look human when we found him look Castle I don't know anything about it. I'm sorry Malone's dead. He was a nice guy, but that's all I can give you I saw him between 12 30 and one the rest of the day I spent loading stores if you want proof I've got four seamen who worked with me all day. That'll carry me to the time you tap me on the shoulder What do you want a halo? Yeah, don't get sore. Can I have a cigarette? No, thanks. All I want is a cab back to the Embarcadero on you Yeah, sure. We'll take care of it. That's a couple more questions That patience act fits you about like a bare midriff evening evening gone. Thanks Connie might not last What information could Malone have learned on your scarlet Queen that somebody go to a lot of trouble to get him out of? What are you talking about Kessel Malone was tortured for a good long time And then somebody slipped or lost their temper. He didn't know anything. He didn't know why $50,000 was deposited in your name last year. I don't know what you're talking about. Hey Barrett bring Funston in The name Funston rang just a faint bell for me, but I recognized the little guy they brought in all right There was anybody you knew about my banking business. He did he worked there in the assistant cashiers office Down there he was just another face looking at you through rimless glasses, but here he looked like trouble Mr. Funston is this the man you say received that $50,000 letter of credit? I'm sorry mr. Carney, but the police you know yes, sir. He's the man remind me to bank someplace else next time That's all mr. Funston thank you I I hope you understand mr. Carney. I had to answer the question. Goodbye Funston. It's been grand You guys have got long noses, haven't you uh-huh when things smell as rotten as this It was deposited in the San Francisco Bank while you were in China with Marines Well, you're getting this Kessel. It was sent over as a letter of credit from a firm in Shanghai called Kang and son Most of it went to a local shipyard where your scarlet Queen was built to a flock of coast companies for your cargo $50,000 mystery dollars Connie and a voyage to nowhere I wanted in the craft game and my article say Honolulu Honolulu with enough stores aboard for a two-year cruise What do you think you're kidding Connie? Why don't you talk? Why don't you get tired you're pumped a lot of bilge flush You're bluffing your heart out. You know it. All right, Connie You can go But we'll be hearing sure sure I'll send you a postcard from Honolulu be a Christmas card by the time you get there I'll take that cab now, huh? With 50,000 in mystery money. You can pay for it now get out of here I Would have traded places with any engine room hand on any great lakes for a ship after I left Kessel and I hate fresh water Almost as much as I hate engine rooms Kang had warned me when I signed with him in Shanghai The opposition he called him an octopus with a body in an office building in Hong Kong a brain called Felix van Gort and the tentacles Groping across the world for the prize Kang was sending me after a 10 million dollar prize somewhere in the South Pacific But only Kang knew where and only van Gort and Kang knew what it was I Didn't know who the San Francisco tentacle was but he warned me and I fed him alone to it I knew he'd been tortured for something even I didn't know the true destination of the scarlet Queen I locked my cabin door closed the ports and bought a couple of stiff drinks I checked my naval code on the disposition of the monies and effects of deceased semen and got Malone stuffed together In a pocket of one of his coats I found a match folder from the Gorgonia bar advertising pre-war whiskey and continuous entertainment On the inside was a name Helen and the number 218 So I kept it By 11 the next morning Malone was written off my books and my new chief mate was aboard an old salt by the name of Pritchard 1115 Kessels crack about that Christmas card made sense because the Coast Guard handed me a piece of paper saying my port clearance had been revoked indefinitely And at 1130 I was in my cabin cleaning a 45 automatic that I'd gotten out of a habit of wearing and That's when I met Gallagher big red Gallagher Hello skipper Who the devil are you and how'd you get a board? I wanted to talk to you. I'm red Gallagher My gangway watch. He's got orders. Nobody aboard tried skipper. Don't blame him, but you know how it is. I Wanted to talk to you He didn't have to explain He held up a hand about the size of a fielder's glove and rubbed the knuckles as if they were bruised He didn't have to say anymore It was about my size Wearing a shapeless stained white duck officer's cap faded dungarees and a jumper with the sleeves rolled up His face was heavy-featured but not flat his eyes gray and set off by crow's feet wrinkles from squinting into the sun And they were laughing at me, but no harm done skipper. He hasn't hurt bad Maybe he wasn't big enough to put you over the side. Oh wait a minute skipper Say it easy. We're just bust a lot of furniture and lose a lot of skin that way Don't be so jumpy. All right unload in a hurry and get out of here then What do you want? I hear you're looking for a new chief mate, and I want to sign on you're about two hours too late What my new mate signed on and listen If anybody told you the way to get a birth is to start knocking the crew around they gave you the wrong idea I wouldn't get into a dory with you. Oh, wait a minute skipper. I was made for this trip I've been with sail all my life, and I traded three years out of Sydney. I know that South Pacific How do you know where I'm going? If that scarlet beauty under your bow spray hadn't whispered to me I could have checked your bills of lating and found glass jewelry knives and general Pacific trading cargo It's who knows me for me Gallagher. That's because I've interested Give me the bread skipper. What do you say? I say get your sea boots off this ship I'm manned and loaded and ready to shove as soon as I get clearance When do you think that'll be skipper? What do you mean by that? There you go getting jumpy again That was a civil question. I just wanted to know how long that's all it'll be as quick as I can make it Yeah, I guess I can't blame you for that, but maybe it'll be long enough for me to try again You need me on this ship skipper I've lived a long time without you Gallagher Keep your eye on the newspaper shipping column. That's as close as you'll come to my sailing After he left I went to work on the 45 again and at about nine I got ready to follow the match folder The Gorgonia was a typical non-tourist North Beach bar good healthy fisherman up from Fisherman's Wharf Three women at the bar and one sitting in an electric organ up on a platform None of them had Helen printed on their backs But the only one whose name anybody would bother writing down was the gal making with the music Honey colored hair with a gardenia over the left ear White shoulders pushing out of a wider gown a face full of confidence in the rest of her and no wonder After I finished my drink. I walked back toward her Say, uh, excuse me, but would your name be Helen? Well, that's a novel approach Isn't it should I get back and try it over with Irene or Penelope? What's the difference? Could it end the same way? Can I play something for you? Oh, this one suits me if I can talk to you through it Dad for the life of me see what we'd have to talk about maybe some other time we can get around to that But I ran into an old mate of mine yesterday. He mentioned this place and you and now I'd like to locate him His name is Dave Malone You know him alone You sure he said he knew me. Yeah. Yeah, I thought so but Maybe he was just hoping huh? That must have been it because I don't know any Dave Malone. Yeah. Well, it was one of those things he mentioned your name So I thought I'd give it a try But I'll uh, I'll browse around Maybe I'll come back on my own sometimes. I hope you do I'll be here. Yeah And where that dress will you I? Had another drink at the bar and kept my eyes off her just enough to catch her looking at me with more than a Professional look once or twice. She did go off guard right after I threw Malaine's Malone's name at her I was sure of it. I finished my drink waved to her and went out the door like I had someplace to go But I stopped right after I got out of range of the windows counted five and he's back So I could just look in he was leaving the platform and I along with the good healthy fishermen Watched to take that white gown back to the phone booth It wasn't taking her long to contact somebody about me contacting her It was just chance so far, but there were Malone Helen and 218 a number of the murder room at the crown hotel It still could have been coincidence, but there isn't much room on the back of a match holder The crown hotel was a narrow brown stone front building Squeeze between two more narrow brown stone front building. I Looked in at the musty lobby Presenting I tried the door once to see if it was gonna ring a bell someplace and when nobody showed up I went in there was a dingy brown hunting scene hung on one wall and a dingy brown smell of bad ventilation hanging over everything There was an modest calendar from a Reno gambling club wasting its time behind the desk In a register book that had seen more lives than one thousand. I flipped the pages back to the day before found room two 218 Was registered to one John Smith And I'm just not impulse. I flipped back to the current date and found myself on top of a whole mess There sprawled in an awkward hand against room 218 was the single name Gallagher Room 218 and the name Gallagher all I needed to keep me going up those stairs Now I had to remember to enjoy bringing that 45 out of my shoulder host It was the picture of that wide grin and those gray eyes that are going through that door even if it hadn't been unlocked Brother, what's all the hardware for skipper? Why are you always aching for a beef when you and I run into one or not? Let's stole that warm friendship. Shall we let you do a little talking that you mean for a while I never say anything. I don't mean skipper. You'll learn that when you know me better That's what I'm here for a Gallagher. So start saying something you mean. I thought you'd get here before this What held you up something you mean I said that's right I knew you'd be bullying around this neighborhood with your chin up What do you think I took this room for wasn't waiting for you what interests me most is that you're dead sure I knew you'd like it skipper. I know you got to have somebody from alone before you can clear San Francisco You mean you're ready to confess not me skipper. I'm as clear as deep water. I got a witness Do I know who he is not especially I think you do skipper. He's the guy who killed Malone. They call him mr. Fox At about six last night. He was paying me two thousand bucks to sign on the scarlet Queen Yeah, that's sure clearing you on my log. It'll clear me a murder. That's only a misdemeanor in this game Now starting from Fox. Let's hear some more that you mean I think you and I going to team up and beat this thing by tomorrow. That's what I mean. You want that's right starting from the Fox He's working for Van Gort He didn't know that before you know it now. Oh, it's Van Gort Yeah, you're being cagey skipper and that's all right. You don't know what to say because you don't know how much I know I don't know how much you know, so we're even you're talking The Fox didn't learn what he wanted to learn from Malone. He tried too hard So he paid me two grand to sign on with you I supposed to go through your charts and tell him what part of the southern oceans you were making for him find out Everything about a Kang and son The payoff was going to be a grand a month for just keeping the finger on you when waiting to be contacted It was an easy deal someone in your family must have been born with shark fins not too far back Yeah, there's supposed to be a great uncle under the Jolly Roger skipper, but no fins yet But I got reasons. I'm telling you this because if they pay off like that for just a line on you I figure the real though is going to be made on your side. I Still want to ship with you But for you well, I'm I'm telling you Gallagher for the price of the queen. I can't tell you who's crazy in this room Nobody has skipper. You're gonna be a head to believe me. I'm not a head of you Gallagher I'm not crazy enough to turn my back on you listen to me You know you're fighting a big outfit as well as I do but I can clear up the mess here in Frisco I'll put you next to the Fox of this mermaid her name Helen How'd you get that she isn't hard to find well, that's right Helen Curran She led Malone to this room with a smile and promise either one would look good from her I know I was there good that makes it simple come on I'm gonna get your balloons kill us to prove who's that come or put me on a morgue slap for an extra two grand I'd trust you like I trust a compass at the North Pole. I take a gamble and it means your port clearance But you got to have bait that's you and you got to have somebody who can put it in the right place. That's me Come on. I'll show you how it works It was about quarter of 11 when I pulled my left ear for luck the last time followed him down to the lobby and took my last Look at that Reno calendar Gallagher looked like he was enjoying putting me on the block The only reason I could dream up for playing sucker was the idea that as long as I kept the line on him I was at least secure to something He squeezed me into the phone booth with him when he put the bait on the hook He held the receivers so I could get my ear into into a two and called Helen Curran at the Gorgonia. Hello, baby This is red. Well, it's about time. I thought you were coming in. Nothing came up. You get the garden Yeah, I'm wearing it right now. When can I show you how much I like it? Don't talk like that when I'm so far away listen, I ran into something about the Southern Oceans tonight. Oh How good sounded pretty close to me The guy come in there tonight looking for Dave Malone. Yeah, I told him I didn't know him I was smart, baby because that guy was Prichard He's the one who beat me out of the birth on the Scarlet Queen. That sounds funny red How'd you get all this? He stuck his head in the bar where I wasn't I recognize him He's got the information we want, baby. I Could have maybe pumped him for it But I thought it'd be better if you and the fox ran on it too. Maybe in your apartment later That's for you to work out. Where is he on his way back to the gargoyle? I Better tag along for the party don't you think Prichard's big? Yeah, all right, red Give me a half hour to get through the fox and call me back. I'll let you know where he'll pick you up Okay. Yeah, but baby take it easy till I get there. I Don't want that gardenia crushed on anybody's shoulder with mine Helen Kern's apartment was in the Bula arms on Russian Hill It was a little overdone and modernizing a setup that was dull mid-Victorian a few years back Light walls with Venetian blinds and flamingos and parakeets flying through verdant jungles and framed before they started And a bedroom with a right that she went into saying something about something comfy when she came back I saw clearly that she went for off-the-shoulder hostess gowns, too And I feel more comfortable What's the matter with me anyway, is there something I Always seem to stir the wrong approach in you, or are you just shy with you? You don't need an approach here Just move naturally You aren't shy at all. Are you just overconfident you've been spoiled by women it never hurt me? But then it's not very often as appealing as your brand. Do you think I'll spoil you? But I wonder if you'd hurt me Not even if I could Hey, wait a minute. I Couldn't hurt you if I wanted to could I I don't know It gets so lonesome at sea Like I said She knew her business and I had to keep remembering that it wasn't all crushed gardenias tonight We finally did get around to a drink out of a rat-hand covered bottle and I could tell by the heavy-lidded look She gave me over a glass that I was supposed to be a complete victim and as meek as a kitten with a full belly She knew her business, but knowing that she knew her business I went along with the kitten act, but I was as ready as a Tomcat when the door opened But I wasn't ready for who came through it. It was Funston He was still looking through the rimless glasses But now his eyes were steely hard and his mouth hung open a little like it was watering Only took one deep breath to realize that he was the fox Gallagher followed him in wearing the grin. Hey boss, wait a minute. Nothing's wrong. This guy isn't Prichard red What do you mean? That's right. This guy's Phil Carney the master of the scarlet Queen. I Was sitting on the couch and after a sellout like that There was no use standing up Helen left me like I'd broken out of the purple pox and Funston had a small caliber gun out Of an inside pocket fastened I could get my breath Gallagher still stood behind him looking at me with that grin red He's the one who was in to see me earlier. Never mind Helen. Something went wrong. Then this isn't the guy I talked never mind I said I'm well acquainted with him You're an impulsive man. Mr. Carney. What are you doing here? I like a game of bridge as well as the next guy you play a stupid game Mr. Carney, you should remember that your red Queen is not the top of the suit. She'll do He'll never win a trick. You'll never use her. You know what I mean Yeah, I know what you mean, but you're bluffing fun Either that or you're double-crossing Van Gorten talking for yourself fighting to stay clear of Malone's murder. I want more than talk Yeah, you're still bluffing You know what I hurt me because with me out of the way Van Gort's octopus would have nothing to follow Wise up funston. You don't scare me. I'm too valuable. All right I'll pay you twenty five thousand dollars for the destination of your scarlet Queen. I can't hear you There are methods that talk louder than money You're bluffing again. You never get it that way either and what did Van Gort say if you laid me next to Malone That's something I'll have to find out at the moment that looks better than a rest for murder Stand up Carney. You're really on a spot funston. You're even getting the double-cross from your own people in this room Now who's bluffing Carney? I mean you're getting it from Gallagher. He knew who I was tonight Gallagher You have to rush me. I'm all right skipper. I'll take them. What's the mermaid I? I Raced her across the room to a table. She had a drawer open and a nickel-plated revolver half out of it by the time I grabbed it Drop it sister drop it I said drop it Calm down sister get over there and come down Had to buy the arm and tossed her across the room and had that 45 out before she landed I twisted a look at funston and Gallagher had hit him hard enough to keep him from opening until Christmas He was tangled up with a throw rug and not thinking about a thing. Oh skipper. There's your port clearance spread all over the room Yeah Now what the devil is the idea of you leaving me to shake hands with that gun of funston for so long? I had to do it skipper. He knew I didn't have Pritchard up here And I had to play along till we got ready to move he knew yeah He had some of his playmates guarding the Scarlet Queen. He knew Pritchard never came as short as I Yeah, but we're a great team skipper We're standing up and they're lying down. I'll agree with you there red Keeping that way. Will you I got a proud call to make the homicide? Castle got what he wanted from funston and Helen Curran They didn't know any more about the whole story than I did. They were just stooges for Van Court But they couldn't answer made Castle more curious than ever and I told him what I could under legal pressure Which was just that Kang was sending me some place for some thing where or what? I didn't know after Pritchard heard about what we'd been through. He decided he'd like it better on a harbor tug By to the next morning Gallagher was signed on and we cast off from pier 12 We went through the Golden Gate under power sitting on the wheel box with a bottle to clean us We followed the channel boys out to the Peralons picking up that good deep water roll The Northwest trade started singing through the rigging. I Felt like a man getting his back out of a cast and walking again The crew perked up to and they fell to the will when Gallagher started falling orders The men liked them too even the one he'd slugged had a pull from the bottle and shook hands with them They took their stations at the mainsail Report And if the handiards hoisted away smartly and the peak of the mainsail climbed at the mast and the white strong Expansive it fell it out and pulled I get feeling at the wheel The gypsal boomed up and the mason Scarner Queen was glad to be free too She took the phone on her teeth and charged every swell or so She were carrying on a one-woman war with a whole Pacific is the rig heavy enough for you skipper We're showing eight knots on the taff rail line. It's good enough We'll hold her phone by until nightfall and then ease her off some you got a fine lady here skipper I'm behaving like a queen. She's right for southern waters. She'd better be mate. She'd better be How long we're gonna be down there? We may never get there. So who cares how long it'll be not me I'm not married. You are now mate sort of scarlet Queen the pick on us I'm gonna get sick of sharing women with you But let me take the wheel with you. We got to have a honeymoon sometime sure take over Hey, of course, it's 237 on a general compass got her got her Hey, she's got spirit. You'll get us to Molokai Channel in less than 14 days That means the Royal Hawaiian bar in less than 14 nights. What a wife What a honeymoon What a drink skipper after you mate after you log entry catch scarlet Queen by 30 p.m. Miles traveled 31 when brisk sky fair See choppy with high cross well main soul and mason reef ship secure for night Sign Philip Carney master We'll into further adventure on the voyage of the scarlet Queen next week at this same time for to call Honolulu The voyage of the scarlet Queen is written by Gilt out and Bob Talman our duck plays Phil Carney with Elliot Lewis as red Gallagher William Conrad was inspector Castle Junius Matthews was Funston and Helen was played by Kathy Lewis Music scored and conducted by Richard Iran the Scarlet Queen directed by Jim Burton is a command radio production