 tired from a strenuous weekend spring fever give you the wanderlust want to get away from it all we offer you escape you are hanging by your fingertips on the sheer face of a nice cliff suspended a thousand feet above instant death with your strength running out and with no chance for escape escape designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure tonight we escape to the cold loneliness of a glacier high in the Swiss Alps and to a man who learned much about death as told in CE Montague's grim story action I in the Swiss Alps well above 12,000 feet a man clings with desperation to the frozen glass wall of the shalioc glacier hands and feet jammed into shallow steps chopped and iron-hard ice cold wind drives a spray of dusty sleep along the overhanging wall and the sun has fallen away among the crags to the west darkness lies one hour ahead the man has climbed with painful care a thousand feet up the glaciers face from the broken moraine of the foot and is moved now on to the underside of a great bulge in the ice a part of the wall which breaks out beyond the perpendicular and the man is forced to hang from slots cut by his axe much as a sloth hangs from a tree branch 12 more feet lie between him and the brow of the overhang six more steps to be chopped out with the axe and a thousand feet to void space waits beneath him a man is unable to lift his heavy axe for even one more stroke he's tired and he's 52 years old no experienced mountaineer would ever attempt the west face of the shalioc glacier and yet this man is an experienced mountaineer but why why what strange events have conspired to bring him along the path of his life and leave him hanging now in peril on the brink of eternity through what shadows has that path led him and where are those who saw him pass can we ourselves move back along it move back step-by-step against the river of time move backward along the life path of Christopher Bell my name is Jean Valjour and I am a guide for all the mountain trails on the vice-hearn and the shaliorn I talked with mr. Bell this morning as he was leaving the village though of course at the time I did not know that was his name the season is over you understand winter will come in another week or two and most all the visitors are gone so you see I was very surprised to hear a stranger call out to me in English hello I mean a good morning sir good morning I'm glad to see there's at least one of the early riser in the village besides myself only a few people are left in the village sir it is the end of summer the end of summer how well I know it by the way which of these paths takes me to the foot of the shaliar the one on the left but you will find no climbing there sir one arrives very soon at the glacier and can go no farther except of course to climb up it the glacier that is impossible it has never been done course not it's never been tried well there is not anyone who would be so foolish it isn't that there are plenty of foolish people in the world but even they hold on to their margin of safety margin of safety yes the difference between the point where a man thinks he's reached his limit and the point where the limit really is good you have a lot of work I mean I'm afraid I do not understand all right but take a mountaineer such as yourself now you look at a slope you estimate the effort needed to climb it then you estimate your own endurance and if there isn't a good size safety factor you just don't make the climb but it would be foolish not to do so yes I dare say it's all tied up in the fear of death hmm take that out of a man for one instant there's no telling what he might be able to do well what limit he might reach and how should a man lose that fear he can't he can't lose it has to be done for him by by things he turned and left me then this this mr. bell walked up the path toward the glacier that was early this morning and I did not see him again his talk with me made no sense and I could not understand what he meant to do or why he was going to do it I remember thinking ah what a strange man but I know really nothing more about him I believe he arrived in the village only last night and took a room in the Zinal in it was greater the gospel and I'm staying out the week here in Zinal to close up the inn for the winter I have known mr. bell for the last 30 years always before he came in the summer season for the climbing and I was most surprised when he arrived last night I opened one of the rooms and found something for him to eat and then later we sat and talked in front of the fire in a big empty lounge this is very good coffee madame gaspar oh thank you mr. bell had you let me know I would have had everything ready for you just like all the other times like all other times this one's a little different madame gaspar you might call it a special visit it is all so different now from the old days then it was you and your madame would come here and it was gaspar and I and a summer seemed to last forever I thought everything would be forever when she was alive now I'm rarely alone in the world as I am it is not good to be alone it gives one little reason for living and makes one no longer afraid of dying yes but there are stronger reasons for that than just being alone mr. bell you look so strange is is there something troubling you I know not now well there may have been but not now I should be leaving quite early in the morning for for a climb so I think I'll go on to bed good night madame gaspar mr. gaspar left the inn this morning before I wake and I have not seen him again I've never known him to act so strange before I have no idea what the reason is or what he may be planning to do but I'm sure something is troubling him perhaps it may be something connected with his business back in London my name is Matthew Brough I've been chief clerk in Mr. Bell's London office over the past 25 years I've always found him to be a considerate and dependable employer I've never noticed anything you might call unusual about him until one day about three weeks ago mr. Bell entered the establishment a bit late as I recall and passed immediately into his own office without acknowledging my customary greeting a little while after what he said for me well Matthew where do we go from here I can't say that I follow you mr. Bell and I mean the company's on a steady footing so if we use our heads at all we don't stand much chance of losing anything our position is quite secure on the other hand we can't expect to do any more growing were through expanding now on it's just a matter of operation almost endurable conditions up is it there's nothing more to look forward to nothing more to work for so as I said where do we go from here Matthew I'm putting you in charge of the business turning it over to you effective this week mr. Bell you you can't possibly mean oh yes I've just decided but what are you going to do I'm taking a trip I'm I'm going to Switzerland climb a mountain oh oh well then at least it's only temporary just for whatever time you're gone that's right yes for whatever time I'm gone just for whatever time I'm gone before the end of the week he had arranged all the necessary papers and had left London I haven't heard a word from him since who I presume he's somewhere in Switzerland actually however I haven't the faintest idea where mr. Bell may be right at this moment minutes pass on the glacier and the shadows grow longer from the jagged peaks to the west of the shalioc glacier and reach out with dark fingers toward the man who clings to the icy wall while his pounding heart beats out the number of his time on earth already those shadows have flowed into the awful depths below his swaying figure blurring the sharp points of the tumbled rocks a thousand feet down and making the harsh void seems soft and inviting the man's thoughts have grown as unwieldy as the heavy ice axe gripped in his hand he keeps trying to remember that he is Christopher Bell the human being and not a part of this free and empty space or he knows if he stops remembering that he may forget all else too and then let go there's been no reason for trying to locate mr. Bell since nothing of any importance has occurred during these three weeks I'm sure he's quite all right only one thing still puzzles me a bit the remarkable change in him on that morning three weeks ago I'd never heard him talk like that before and whatever the reason for it I'm quite sure it was something that happened that morning before he came to the office my name is John Haxford and I've been a conductor on the Westminster route for some 14 years now and during all that time mr. Bell has been a daily passenger of mine on the early morning in band as I recall it the first time anything you might say out of the way ever happened between us was one morning about three weeks ago I saw mr. Bell waiting at the usual place so I'll signal to the driver to stop good morning mr. Bell good morning I'll be right there yeah now let me come down and help you sir I'll make it if you just take my arm Mr. Haxford my arm please but I have taken your arms to me yes of course I'm sorry we go now there you are sir thank you I had a bit of a shock this morning I'm all right now well if it's all right now that's fine I say I take over the strap there now oh yes of course let me see I have the fair share somewhere oh yes here you are thank you sir and and thank you hi I'm afraid you brought something home to mine I don't understand what you mean sir well mr. Huxford have you ever had anyone take your arm and help you up a flight of steps no and I might say that I hope the day never comes when I well I'm sorry not at all thank you mr. Huxford thank you very much I don't rightly know what was wrong with him though it's certain that something was I haven't seen him for nearly three weeks now I can't imagine what it might have been what happened to him that morning before he got on the bus my name is Jenkins I've been Mr. Bill's personal valid for the past 12 years and seven months the master is traveling somewhere on the continent just a present been gone something over two weeks now decided rather suddenly I believe in fact I rather think something happened one morning about three weeks ago that caused him to make up his mind I really haven't faintest idea what it might have been I can remember noticing a very strange look on his face when he came down to breakfast that morning but thought nothing of it at the time good morning Jenkins good morning sir I trust you had a pleasant night's rest yes yes yes I did thank Jenkins having the usual I was just toast and tea no no I I want nothing except some coffee very well sir I'll bring it right away I can't let him find out I can't let anyone find out about it maybe it's a little better now maybe it's going away maybe I'm giving it too much importance but still there that same lack of feeling clear down the whole right side of my body I can move my arm and leg all right there's no feeling in the numb it's simply that at 52 years of age I've had a light stroke your coffee sir oh thank you Jenkins would you care for something more sir no no that's all if you're pardon me sir you don't even quite yourself this morning I do hope you're not here no no no I'm all right I hope you won't mind my saying this Mr. Bell but you don't take very good care of yourself any more oh please it's been years now since you had a checkup not since the mistress passed away in fact I'm quite all right Jenkins I'm quite all right yes sir I'm relieved to hear it sir I'll bring your paper now sir is this what a man slaves his life away for to end up helpless dependent on others to be wheeled about put out in the sun taken in like some great fat lava that's disgusting pardon me sir I didn't quite hear you nothing nothing Jenkins is your paper sir oh thank you please call if you need anything else sir I'd be in the pantry I'd rather not go on I've got to face it this stroke is the first warning there'll be others worse ones and in a short time I'll be helpless there must be some way out not suicide but some way there's got to be some way the icy wall hardens into cold vitreous steel as the dust born shadows chill its surface the merciless ice is beginning to freeze the cramped joints of the man's fingers now and the heavy axe swings idly at his belt tracing a fumbling pattern on the thin air of the void how much longer can he cling to those slots in the glaciers face how much longer does he have to live 30 seconds a minute what's the margin of safety now and what does a man think of while his pulse beats slower and he waits to die strange how I'm able to go on hanging to this slope clinging on to life I can't feel another ounce of strength left in me strange to hide seems I could stay here forever becoming part of the glacier itself looking down at the rocks below not across the peaks and the ice I was right dying isn't so bad really not when it's like this rather pleasant in fact it looks so soft down there the shadows and the snow the wind perhaps I could let go float out on the wind like an eagle I'll be blown along by it like drifting snow the sun's gone now it will be full dark in a few minutes maybe I can hold on that long but everything is dark even the snow and the ice and who knows perhaps I'll watch the sunrise tomorrow and set again and even beyond I can't last even one full minute longer I'm through I'm finished I can't even last a half chips of ice sliding over the edge it's funny how a glacier sheds off that way I suppose the difference in temperature between day nice acts it was an axe no other sound in the world like it fell from up above the overhang there I must be somebody up there on the slope coming down from the top there is wait that's six seven eight that's a mountaineer's call for help someone's dropped his axe and he's in trouble up there it's right above this bulge if I can only oh no no no my throat my throat's to dry well six more steps to cut to reach the edge there all right I was done in I was finished and now five more steps it's a woman there's a man upon the slope I'll be with you in a minute get easy there everything's going to be all right yeah easy now let's get a step out for your feet just below the overhang there I heard the fellow up above call out it's got quite a voice on him he's enough step out here in a second you can put your feet on it you get your breath then we'll tackle the slope all right and now I'll scrape his ice away easy now that's better isn't it oh yes oh you're all right now just when you feel like it will we'll go on up my name is Christopher Bell by the way thank you I thought we were done I was cutting steps down ahead on the slope and I slipped and dropped my axe the rope held me but neither of us dare to move you're all right now as soon as you rest up a minute we'll cut some more steps back up the slope you should have started down this way you you've never been able to pass that ball yes I can see that now of course it's harder to tell when you're moving down the slope yes I suppose it is you were coming up the slope weren't you yes I I came up from the foot alone and without a rope and you deliberately climb onto the underside of an overhanging wall let's just say we're both foolhardy is that what you call it now if you've got your breath back now suppose we start up the slow oh yeah like to take my axe and cut the first step you trust me with it after I dropped my own or anybody could make a mistake like that dropping an axe or climbing up under an overhang my name is Theodore Gordon and I'm the husband of the woman who slipped and fell on the wall of the glacier I'm a physician formerly of Harley Street London who I have practiced in Paris for several years now I met Mr. Bell when he and my wife reached the ice ledge where I stood waiting above them it's not immediately aware of his trouble but found out about it a short time later when we reached the rest hut at the top of the ridge while my wife heated water for tea at the far side of the room Bell and I fell into a much more personal conversation than strangers normally do but this sometimes happens when people have been very close to death at any rate Dr. Gerlin well you can see how it is the life of an Inverley doesn't seem very appealing tell me something Mr. Bell together you were pretty well done in when I called out there on the glacier you couldn't lift a hand then how do you account for being able to chop six steps into their ice in a matter of some five minutes I don't know exactly I was through I couldn't have lost a 30 seconds more when I realized someone was in danger and this numbness this lack of feeling in your right side it didn't bother you I didn't notice it isn't quite so bad now as a matter of fact and there's your answer Mr. Bell I don't believe I follow action when you were in action working because you had a reason living because you had to because somebody was depending on you then you were all right everything was back in its place again perhaps but a man can't spend all his time climbing up a mountain to save someone's life I don't mean physical action movement call it incentive if you like maybe that's a better way to put it incentive that's right the one top pressure that keeps life moving and growing and it's what you need well it's an interesting theory doctor it's only a theory I have the tea ready in a moment is anybody interested I am my dear lucky we brought it if no one minds I believe I'll have a turn outside while we're waiting of course not only be careful out there in the dark the ridge breaks off pretty sharply here oh yes I'll be careful oh um not to go if things were turned around I wonder if it would be any more than just a theory to you I'm over here Mrs. Gollum beautiful isn't it with the stars so clear and bright yes well there won't be any more clear nights before the winter storms it would be a shame to give it up you and I what do you mean I've got to say this quickly because I don't want my husband to know we're not the kind who commit suicide you and I but I think we understand each other well you you have to say more than that you deliberately climbed into a dead end out on that glacier deliberately extended your safety margin beyond all possible limits didn't you what do you mean we understand each other because I did the same thing I went ahead I picked that route down the slope but no please wait in 30 seconds I would have cut myself loose from that route oh we went to an awful lot of trouble so we wouldn't have to call it suicide didn't we I have a brain condition there's no point in going into it but it's incurable and sooner or later at any moment I shall go blind my husband doesn't know about it and I don't want him to mr. bell yes I'll make a bargain with you what sort of bargain I'm not brave really to go on living I need something to cling to I need to know all the time that there's someone else with courage too mr. Bell I'll go on living if you will I'd say you're amazingly brave if I were I could do it alone without having to make myself dependent on you and your courage that sort of thing could work both ways I wouldn't dare let you down nor could I you do you want to make the bargain shall we go on living mr. Bell as I said before I'm dr. Theodore Galen name it mr. Bell some three hours ago on the Shelley York glacier at the moment he's outside they had a few yards away talking to my wife I can hear the sound of their voices but I can't make out the words however I know what they're talking about what his answer would be my wife and I discussed that before she went out to join him you may have heard of my wife incidentally though it would likely have been under the stage name she uses in the Paris theater you see she's she's quite a talented actress escape is produced and directed by Norman McDonnell and tonight brought you action by C. E. Montague adapted for radio by less Crutchfield and featuring Joseph Kearns as Christopher Bell and Eric Rolf as the voice with Louis van Rooton as dr. Golan Marta Mitrovich as Greta Jeff Corey is broth Ray Lawrence as Huxford Barry Kroger as Jenkins and Joan Banks as Mrs. Golan the musical score was conceived and conducted by Wilbur hatch next week you are in mid-ocean a boarded jinx ship already three men have died and you know that some malignant forces aimed at you and you cannot escape next week escape with Joseph Conrad's great story the brute good night then until the same time next week when we again offer you escape this is CBS where 99 million people gather every week the Columbia broadcasting system