 And now, tonight's presentation of radio's outstanding theatre of thrills. Suspense. Tonight, we bring you a story of courage on a safari in Africa. We call it Game Hunt. So now, starring Raymond Lawrence, here is tonight's suspense play, Game Hunt. Will you, Charlie? See how much farther this bush stretches. Yes, one. You now keep on, Mr. Babson, but more slowly. Seems to me it's been too slow up to now. It hasn't been, Mr. Babson. You leave the pace to me. The day had begun much the same as other mornings on the safari. They had left their base camp deep in the Kenya country before a cloudy dawn broke. Babson, an American businessman, our cross a professional hunter, and a semi-educated native tracker whose unpronounceable Masai name had been simplified to Charlie. During the weeks behind them there had been no vital call on courage. The game had been fleet of hoof rather than dangerous, and many hides and trophy heads had been gathered without undue incident. But, inevitably, a safari such as theirs enters a period when moments of peril will be met. It is the hope of the professional hunter that by this time all the killings of harmless animals will have prepared the amateur for the dangerous game. Assured him of his own power, tightened his reflexes so that he will operate correctly and calmly. Oftentimes it works that way. Our cross Babson and Charlie entered this hazardous phase when they started after Lyon. Well, here comes Charlie. Well? He's not far from a bidding on Zebra and a clearing. He's an ancient one who carries a great black mane. Good. We've worked hard for him. I hope he's worth it. Shall in your chamber? You think I'm that stupid, Mr. Ourcross? I just wanted to be sure. All right, all right. Well, can't we go on? The wind is shifting some, Charlie. The wind will help us long enough, I think. You think that because you're a lazy beggar and you want to stay on the game trail instead of fighting the bush? No, Bonner. The wind will help us long enough. There, Bonner. Even Hyene are a piece of his mind. Why are we waiting? Can we go on? We'll go on. There's your trophy, a black mane. He's a beauty. Can he smell us? Not with that nose full of Zebra blood he's got. Charlie, it holds. You won't be able to take him the way he is low behind the Zebra Babson, but he's bound to move before long. Now, let's settle into a good position and relax. Right. Look at him, Gorge. He's got a few hundred lazy days behind him. A wife to kill his food and nothing more than to eat and sleep and grow a fine mane so that he'll look good on somebody's wall. Your wall, Mr. Babson, I've got the place for it. The sun came up today for him just like every other day. But it's the last time he'll see you, thanks to you and Charlie and to me. Why not? We've brought a lot of the last sunrises, haven't we, Mr. Babson? Elan, Kudu, Kongoni, Horricks. No more suns for them. Well, don't you want me to kill him, our cross? No. I'm tired of it. Killing's bad unless it's for food or to save your own life. When I look, the wife is coming. She's prettier. Careful, Babson, he'll move now. He's a proper one now. Doesn't want a woman meddling, even if it is her kill. Watch it carefully, Mr. Babson. He's starting to move. Make your time. He's only chasing the old lady off. You come back for his meat. But he's moving away. He'll be back and give you a good shot as he comes. No, Babson. Not now, not now. Why did you fire? I hit him. You didn't stop him? I hit him well. I know I did. I might have done better if you hadn't been yelling at me. Oh, you'd have done better if you'd listened to me. You got shot in. He can live for days or weeks. He goes into the elephant grass over there. Sure, with the nearest place you can think of. Mr. Babson, there's your trophy's wounded and he's holed up. And he's the most dangerous animal in the world right now. You want to go in after him? No, no. I don't know enough about him. You're new enough to fire when I told you not to? Well, we've hunted over a week for a good head. That's all I was thinking of when I saw him running away. I wanted him. Right now, he wants you, Mr. Babson. Stay here. Charlie and I'll go in and try and get him. Why don't you leave him? He'll die. I know I hit him well. Not well enough. It's against the game laws to leave a wounded animal. And he'll charge any money he sees until he dies. Charlie, run back to the truck. Bring my flask, the big one. And the heavy rifle. Courage is defined as that quality of mind which enables one to meet danger and difficulties with firmness. Well, the call for it had suddenly come and there was a lack of it. None was really expected of Babson because his money had bought, along with other services and knowledge, that commodity which was our cross's courage. But our cross for the first time in his career didn't have the required amount for sale. In an intangible way, he was cheating his customer. The natives sensed this lack as he and the white man crossed the clearing. After long and intimate association, he thought he knew the hunter. But what he saw now made him, in his turn, uneasy. They passed the torn remains of the zebra and continued on toward the inevitable charge of the dying lion. I've finally got so that I hate them, Charlie. I've disliked them for a long time, but for almost a year I've hated them. Which, Bonner? The trophy hunters. Girls and the lords and the movie stars. The complainers about the sun and the rain and the flies. Now, the game isn't really as numerous as they've been led to believe by the movies taken from airplanes. Nobody's told them that an airplane flight in a truck safari aren't the same things. Isn't that right, Charlie? For me, Bonner, I hate the tall elephant grass. The elephant grass belongs here. It grows so the gut shot lions will ever place to hide. This lion, you all along, the one day I'd gut shooter would stop making ladies dresses in Chicago and come and visit America. Bonner, it is the wife. Does she tell him we come? If she has a great lion's love for him, yes. If she's shallow, she's killing the jackal and the hyena so that she can eat. You know as much about lions as anyone, why'd you ask me? I thought you had a very deep understanding of these two. I've been sarcastic about the gut shooter. Have you found sign? That way. It went into the grass beyond the highest antelope. All right. Maybe from the top of it we can see what we're getting into. It's the nastiest stand of cover I've seen. Grass is over eight feet high. Yes, Bonner. Can't see 15 paces into it. Take our friend only the time of a breath to cover that distance. Let's look for a sign. Blood. Dark and thick from deep inside. No artery cut, though. He's a slow bleeder, a ruddy slow bleeder. Give me the flowers, Charlie. We could wait, Bonner. Our friend will stiffen. Our friend will rest and lick his wounds and maybe stop the bleeding. Then we'd have no bloodstores for to follow him. We'll keep on going. We went in here. An old game trail. If it leads to water, we could find him there. And as he goes to the water and comes back to wait for us, there's more blood up ahead. The wind isn't for us now, Charlie. It's coming in from every quarter. You get us in from any direction. It's a smell of rain now, too. I don't catch it. You sure? It comes another hour, I think. If you smell up a rain, the blood's pour be washed away. You smell too much. You smell the fear that's in me, haven't you? For the first time, what is there about this lion and his wife? Nothing, except a new feeling that I have. This is the last time out with a trophy hunter. There are better things to do than this. The trophy hunters pay you much money. You're an incident beggar. Find some more for our signs. It is there. Ahead where he lie down. There you see. His head was here and looking this way. Sure. Down the back trail. Waiting for us. He was running when he got up. Look here, the claw signs. He's close enough that he caught our scent and got up and ran. He's not stiffened. And he's waiting again up ahead. There's nothing else to do, to wait for us and to fight, or to wait for the slower death. You have a wife and children, Charlie. How are they? Eat well, Warner. The doctor has done much to stop the sickness. Where'd you see them last? Before this hunt. You must want to get back to them as quickly as possible. Yes, Warner. Man, I see more sign up ahead. A wife again. She's closer. What direction? Where is she? The wind is against us now. We don't know where she is. No, Warner. Give me the flask. This does nothing to build bravery. I have never seen you when you needed to ask for it. I haven't either. I've never been afraid until this time. You've been to Nairobi, Charlie. Is it Warner? Is it Narcissus? No, there was too much noise. I hate to sit here, too. But I found myself there. It's more of a reason to live, I mean, a woman. Said she'd be my wife. I've never had before. A wife is good. Not with this kind of business in the elephant grass. When you think of a wife, you don't do well with the problem of a gut shot lion. She's the ancient one. Where's he waiting for us, Charlie? Oh, he has many places to be. Stupid, mischievous logic. Give me the big rifle. I'll carry it now. Here's one. Keep it dry because the rain is coming. You are listening to Game Hunt. A presentation in radio's outstanding theater of thrills. Suspense. Now, a message from CBS Radio. United States savings bonds when held in maturity pay 3% interest. That's guaranteed interest, not subject to any gamble whatsoever. In planning your savings program, you should have a steady flow of United States savings bonds as part of your plan to make sure that some of your earnings will reap guaranteed dividends. Ask at your bank about the bond a month plan by which deductions are made automatically in whatever amount you can afford. Buy United States savings bonds. And now we bring back to our Hollywood soundstage, Raymond Lawrence starring in tonight's production, Game Hunt. A tale well calculated to keep you in... suspense. The rain started to fall approximately 45 minutes after R. Cross and the native entered the stand of grass. Mr. Babson took refuge under a tree from where he could watch the jackal and the hyena whirring the remains of the zebra and the increasing numbers of vultures patiently awaiting their turn. He fully admitted to himself now that he'd been wrong ensuring the lie and the way he did. He was filled with self-incrimination at having sent two men to search out a danger that he had caused. He imagined their bodies being torn by the jackal and the hyena with the vultures waiting their turn. The center of the stand of grass was now a place of dull gray light and darker shadows and a place of sound. The beat of the rain and the gusty wind made any attempted silence unnecessary. In a way this was good because talk was a tension release that R. Cross very much needed. You still find sign in this much, Charlie? Too much, Bonner. He stayed on the old trail and his wife has been to him. Has been to him? See? Here. He's limping on the right leg in the back. Look at the size of that forepaw. He's bigger than I thought. Here are hers going the other way again. That puts her behind us now. She's hunting us, Charlie. We'll move on ahead. I'll watch the back trail. Charge may come from there first. This close, Bonner. Blood spores here again. We're very close. Or the rain would have washed it away, you see? Very close, Charlie. It'd be nice if we could see farther into this grass. We'll rest here for a while. You know why I wanted to stop, don't you? I've never seen this in you before. My robe of fear. And I'm not ashamed to show it to you because you're my friend and you've seen me in better times. Flash, please, Charlie. Quit this business. You'll stop all hunting? Except for a table and get a city job, a nice, safe, dull job in the city where you can go home every night after work. I've been a... She's still behind this? I've been a good hunter. It's been said that I think like an animal when I'm on the stalk that I know what the game's going to do before it's done. I've seen this with you. Not any more. Not after my robe. It left me. After the woman I thought only as a man. I've been very bad with Mr. Babson. I'm even very bad right now. You may have crossed the trail. Did you see her? Yes, Warner. I'm going to put her out of the way. We can't have her trading along behind. Where did she, Charlie? It was close to the ear that she crossed. Oh, father ahead, Warner. I see it now. Come on. If he fired it, I hope he did better than the last time. Is that you? Yes. You all right? I'm fine. I got the female. Then some of the grass against the wind so that we can locate you. Well, I see it. Here she is. She never did see me. She's lying with her back to me in the old game trail, looking in your direction, I guess. They are waiting for us. We were stalking each other. When she got up to move to the side, I saw my sights on her shoulder as simple as that. Oh, isn't she a beauty? Yes. Lovely. I had to go well next to the males. Where is he? We've been only a few paces away from him, but we haven't seen him yet. Mr. Babson, I told you to stay out in the clearing. Why'd you come in here? Because I felt like a coward letting you two finish a job that I'd bunk. I want you to go back. You've done enough for us killing the female. It was my excitement and bad shooting that caused it all. It's my responsibility more than yours. I'm saying with you. I'd call myself a coward every time I looked at my trophies if I didn't. All right. It's your privilege. If any time you feel like turning back, do it. I won't turn back. I'll be all right. Here is where we were close to him. The blood is gone, but his marks still show. They stay on the trail. Not for long, I think. Let's find out how long. Here we are. He's off to the left. His back leg is very bad now. See here, Babson? The signs of his dragging it. It wouldn't mean anything to me without being told. I feel good now, Charlie. No now, Roby. What does that mean, no now, Roby? It's a vague term we sometimes use in our trade. Sort of unease in us. Now, this will go well if we all do our jobs carefully and calmly. You still want to stay with us, Babson? You don't have to, you know. I shouldn't want to. I suppose what I do... I feel good. I'm calm. I said a lot of bad things about you, Mr. Babson, and I thought a lot worse. I'm sorry. Oh. Now, this is really quite simple. We'll move in the line a few paces apart. You're on my left, Charlie, on my right. When he decides to come, he'll charge anything that moves, so freeze when he starts. Charlie and I'll draw his attention and swing his charge towards us. Well, this isn't a favor you, Babson. He's got a target. I'll have him broadside, you mean. Right. And don't move your position and keep firing until your rifle is empty. Reload and start firing again. We'll be doing the same. But he can carry a lot of steel. Right. A few paces this way for me. That's good. All right, Charlie. Take us to him. Yes, brother. Charlie, ahead. See the tops of the grass moving against the wind? I see it. I don't think we know where he is. All right, Babson. I'd like to see him. You will. Carefully now. We'll be less than 20 paces away when we first see him. Do you see him? Don't fire. We want him closer. Good lord. Hold, hold, Babson. He'll swing in this way. I can't stay. Freeze, Babson. Don't run. I can't hold. I can't. Cut! Does he die? Careful, Charlie. He's dead, Warner. He doesn't look it, Charlie. You'd think he's ready to charge again, wouldn't you? He's dead. No, he isn't. Not for Mr. Babson, he isn't. Warner. Get the trophy hunter and bring him here. Load his gun with expanding ammunition. Bullets to finish the thing. To smash it. I understand. I'm ashamed that I ran, but I just couldn't help it. There was nothing I could do. Of course there wasn't. Your first time and all? Where is he? From here. I'll show you. Over there. You can just see his head. Oh, yes, I see him. He'll be ready to charge again if we let him rest. I thought you'd like the final shots. I would. Put your sights right under his ear and a bit to the front. Check the safety. Go ahead. I hit him. Again, don't take any chances. One more. That'll do it, I think. Let's take a look at him. Congratulations, Mr. Babson. You've killed your life. But his head. He's worthless as a trophy. It's ruined. Isn't it a shame? I'm afraid it had to be this way. It's one of those things. It was a gesture of contempt toward many trophy hunters. The destruction of an already dead trophy. Childish perhaps for a man of our crosses age and experience. But it was important to him as the final act of his last hunt. Something that would be told and retold when old hunters gathered in Nairobi. A retribution that would be understood by the others. A thing that should happen to all uncontrollable gut shooters. The fear that was so important a part of the situation would never be mentioned. Except perhaps sometime very late at night to his wife when there would be true understanding of it. Suspense Raymond Lawrence starred in tonight's presentation of Game Hunt. Be sure to listen again next week when we bring you another presentation of Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills. Suspense. Suspense is produced and directed in Hollywood by Anthony Ellis. Tonight's story was written by Gil Dowd. The music was composed by Lucian Morawek and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Featured in the cast were Stacey Harris, Joseph Kearns and Jack Krushin. You bring the girl in the dance floor and will supply the music for a rock and roll dance party any Saturday night over most of these same stations. Starring Count Basie and Alan Freed, CBS Radio's rock and roll dance party features top name guest stars, plus the vocals of Joe Williams with Count Basie's band every Saturday night. And on the guest list for this Saturday you'll find the Cordettes and Tony Bennett. Add rock and roll dance party to your weekend listening, and your heart can go dancing even if you never tap a toe. Stay tuned now for five minutes of CBS News to be followed on most of these same CBS radio stations by the Jack Carson Show. Listens most to the CBS Radio Network.