 Auto-Lite and its 96,000 dealers bring you Mr. Herbert Marshall in tonight's presentation of Suspense Tonight Auto-Lite presents an adaptation of Jeffrey household's terrifying novel rogue mail Starring Mr. Herbert Marshall Yes, half what was that all about why I was just demonstrating the Auto-Lite electrical system half you were sure it goes to work every time you start your car Sound the horn Play the radio or turn on your lights or heater the electrical system does all that sure Have the Auto-Lite coil distributor a generator and all the other units and thousands of component parts They're all related by Auto-Lite engineering design and manufacturing skill and used as original factory equipment on many leading makes of our finest cars A real team operation a Harlow you said it have for the smoothest car performance money can buy No friends when your Auto-Lite equipped car needs replacement parts insist on Auto-Lite original factory part Be sure because from bumper to tail light. You're always right with Auto-Lite And now with rogue mail and the transcribed performance of mr. Herbert Marshall Auto-Lite hopes once again to keep you in Suspense I had him in my sights The biggest game on earth There was no mistaking him with his chaplain mustache and his mincing strut I spent a day checking all points commanding the terrace and I timed the guards on their beats Then I chose my spot On a grassy slope at the edge of a cliff I estimated the range of five fifty yards When the great man appeared I got the three pointers of my sights ready on the V of his waistcoat He was facing me Winding up his watch He would never have known what shattered him. That is if I'd meant to fire Just then I felt a slight breeze on my cheek I'd have to allow for wind That's a health trigger adjustment You don't understand it was only a sporting story Assession you directly dog Oh All fired all morning. I felt his eyes watching me. I felt strange So I turned back seven minutes early when I reached the purchase. He was going to kill our purer Your decision Who helped you nobody was alone. Were you acting for your government? Of course not. We're at peace so far Yes, I'm a sportsman a big game hunter With what we call a sporting stalk. Do you expect us to believe that? We would you wish it's true Take him inside. We'd break him That our way I need learn Is he conscious more or less, sir pop him up put him in that chair Can you hear me? Yes, quite well. Now we've checked your story Seems to be true Incredible but very english Yeah, a sporting stalk your english half My lesser half I can pass for english when I need to Corporal fingers things gun binoculars and papers. Yes, sir I ought to Vantage myself a bit before I leave But you're not leaving we can't release you Get appearance had left eye Into our hands. Oh, no, you would certainly want to get even with us I would you explain the state of your fingernails. I'm willing to call it even now Yes, I believe you really mean that There's no wonder we admire you english No, we can't risk it old man too much criticism abroad of our methods I tell you the story will die with me. It will indeed This very evening If you're concerned about world opinion my murder most certainly, but it won't be murder It will be an accident a sporting accident They drove me north 50 miles took me to the edge of a cliff and put me over All but my hands that was cunning Scrabbling at the rough rock would account for the state of my fingers when I was found I did hang on of course until I had to drop But they bungled the job There was a terrifying instant of pain when I clocked into something soft I had crashed into a patch of swamp small and deep when I moved I found I was wrapped in mud It was dark and I was quite numb I couldn't stand So I traveled on my belly using my elbows for legs leaving a track like a wounded crocodile I had only one thought to hide myself A mile two miles I came through a river and crawling into the shadows. I I made my trail look as if I had taken to the stream Then I crawled back over my own track to a tree I caught at a low branch The muscles of my hands were still intact And went up the first 10 feet in a single burst. I couldn't rest my legs on the lower branches without leaving a smear of blood I pulled myself higher When I reached the thick branches of the upper tree I wedged myself in Then I fainted the sound of their search woke me this afternoon I peered down and saw the half-english major two uniformed men and three dogs They couldn't swim these legs. We have to be sure You go downstream and go up with the dog. We must find his body I stayed in the tree all night Just before dawn I came down I could walk out through a passion, but I had to have different clothes or razor and many things So I might as well turn myself in Then a tall stooping man with a fishing rod came through the woods to the river bank I crept closer to study him His face was melancholy, but there was courage in it I had to take that one chance Uh, good morning any luck if I know I Who are you don't be afraid? I need help. Look look look with my hands Do you know how that was done? Yes, I mean I've heard No, I don't know anything. I have money if you'll help me. I don't want money. I'm English It's better for you not to know my name or what I've done, but I need clothes food gloves to hide these hands or razor to shave Things that can't be traced back. Wait, don't go. Where are you going? You need something to hide that eye too Ah A patch I think Yes, an eye patch would be best I'll put the things under that tree He was back on an hour But I waited till dark to pick up the bundle I changed shaved adjusted the eye patch and started myself in the mirror It was a fair disguise That same night I stole a punt And pushed off downriver. It took me a week to reach the sea There was a large harbor there and walking along the wharves. I saw several English ships From two English sailors I met in a bar I learned that one freighter was sailing this morning for London Her first mate was named mr. Vayner mr. Vayner the police didn't catch you Didn't you know they've searched every ship in the harbor found that punt you abandoned How they place it to me they had reports of a man wearing a black eye patch seen on the river And so I know who you are. Can you help me? I could hide you in the storeroom. No, no touristy No place in the hold I've got it Come on anyone see you come aboard. I don't think so. Everybody's assured except me and the cook There's time to hide you It's all clear Come on run Keep your head down police might come back spot you from the wharf What's this manhole cover for empty freshwater tank Up in past I'll bring you food and blankets Would you like some whiskey very much? Thanks And mr. Vayner when we dock in the Thames, will you keep a sharp lookout? See if the ship's watched you'll be safe in England, sir Maybe but I'm going to look before I leave. We're docked And you're right, sir. There's a funny-looking champ watching the gates Could I row a shore? I have the dinghy ready under the starboard quarter fine I'll leave it at the hurlingham east wall so you can pick it up. Have you friends, sir? Who'll hide you? I can't let them be involved. I'll see my lawyer first thing in the morning. Then I'll disappear Well come in quickly We're taking a frightful risk coming here. I know Saul that I have to There's no telling who saw you come into the building I noticed the man in the black hat feeding the birds in the courtyard Yes, he's been there all week and I just glimpsed a certain major You mean you know him when he called on me and asked all those pointed questions about why I thought he was lying He said he was a friend in a neighbor called himself major keves smith. He's no friend, Saul He's a half-english major in the german army. Oh, you tangled up with the Germans Why their ambassador's been asking about you too. I can't tell you Saul. I'm in a mess I can't go to the police or involve the government in any way I have to disappear and I need five thousand pounds in cash And I'll send Sims out to cash a check But uh They'll follow you when you leave Black hat and the major they'll try But I'll shake him somehow When I started with a hoben underground station the man in the black hat was close behind me Then I saw before I died into the station But he stopped at the newsstand that puzzled me Until I looked further back and spotted the major moving toward me fast through the crowd Our eyes met and clashed in recognition and suddenly I saw their plan Black hat would stay behind to guard the exit. The major would keep on my heels I ran to the escalator and went down to the third level And I raced across the platform through a southbound train I jumped aboard and worked my way forward peering out The major was delayed on the jam platform But he fairly hurled himself through the same door I'd entered while I stepped off the train through another door The door said shut the train hauled the major off to Piccadilly I started back toward the escalator then stopped in panic Black hat was there on the platform been there all along not at the newsstand I plunged into that truck like a frightened rabbit Black hat when I was alone he moved toward me his hand poised over a pocket. I was sure he'll the gun I jumped off the platform and ran keeping well away from the third rail His footsteps popped behind me The tunnel curved into blackness Just beyond the curve. I flattened myself against the tunnel wall Major wants to talk to you Just come along talk You lead a gun in your hand to talk Bringing you mr. Herbert Marshall in rogue mail Tonight's production in radio's outstanding theater of thrills South spend Well hap how's the team you mean our basketball team harlow Oh, I mean the auto light team in your auto light equipped car that team of auto light electrical system units Including a coil distributor generator starting motor and all their thousands of component parts Why they're all related by auto light engineering design and manufacturing skill to give your car the smoothest performance money can buy The auto light electrical system does a big job Hey harlow you said it hap and it's vitally important to the smooth and efficient operation of your auto light equipped car Then I'm off to treat my card to a periodic checkup at my nearest authorized auto light service station harlow Right hap and friends. It will pay you to do the same visit your car dealers or nearest authorized auto light service station You'll find the authorized auto light service station nearest to you listed in the classified section of your telephone directory Or call western union by number and ask for operator 25 And remember from bumper to tail light. You're always right with auto light And now auto light brings back to our hollywood soundstage Mr. Herbert Marshall in elliott louis's production of rogue mail A tale well calculated to keep you in South spend I can still hear his scream when he fell on the third rail It echoed along the tunnel A queer place for a soul to find itself adrift I had to leave london hide somewhere in the country But a series of shops. I bought camping equipment a primer stove pans a sleeping bag A heavy sling shot And a hunting knife I couldn't buy a gun without having it registered Finally, I bought a bicycle and by evening I was pedaling southwest told dorset looking I hope like a carefree man on a rambling holiday I picked my hiding place Above marshwood veil between two lonely farms. It's not on any map Chilt with deadwood blocked at both ends by tangled thorn nobody would ever find it except a curious child Which is why I knew of it Fall in love one becomes a child again That bit of road had been our discovery hers and mine During the brief two weeks which were to begin our life together Two weeks which were instead our last Our only time The next days I slept and watched nights. I worked I curled back 10 feet into the soft stand over the bank Following out a low room in the house My chimney went straight up into a blackberry bush over the entrance I fitted a heavy door camouflage with sandstone dust And dead twigs and vines If anyone should blunder into that piece of road, you'd see no sign of my hiding place I would be warm dry reasonably well fed Troubled only by my memories my loneliness Then one morning down my chimney Came a thin black powerful dawn cap Who seemed to think me the trespasser Hello there here here share a biscuit Mmm, nobody a civil old man. Would you rather have some bully beef? Yeah, yeah, yeah I bet that's the first cooked meat and beaten What do you live on mostly mice peasants? Look at your ribs. You haven't had good hunting your way Ha ha The bully beef brings out your better nature Maybe you'll let me scratch your ear Huh? Oh, hey, why you're a veritable of modious as modious demon of hatred and malignity Now you see I'm looking at you That's I won't tell anyone Stick around and keep me from being lonely I won't tell a soul that old as modious is a sentimental fool But in the end my loneliness seemed more acute In the long nights on that silent hillside I was haunted by a memory of her violet eyes By a futile wish that I'd followed my premonition forced her to stay with me in England strange When I first heard that she was dead I'd suffered very little But at night in that cave remembering I felt such pain The next afternoon lying hidden in the top of an oak tree. I saw a car drive into the yard of the farm to the east A man climbed out carrying a gun case and bag The car drove away and the man went into the farmhouse I stayed in the tree and the evening saw the farmer in his visitor emerge with guns under their arms Probably going out to hunt wood pigeons After a while they came out from a ticket to my left The farmer's visitor was Major Keeve Smith We haven't much luck for your first evening shooting, sir. Oh, that's all right. I have two weeks holiday of What behind that growth of hawthorn over there? Oh, nothing with dead wood and more hawthorn. Ah, I ought to find pigeons nesting in there Most likely the course of the cot What cat go perish in black cat can't shoot him can't tame him neither But sir, there he goes now that black devil wet Oh, yes into the head He's very fat for a stray, isn't he? I was underground nine days watching daylight and starlight through my chimney Then the smoothiest disappeared And that night I heard noises There were two men They were moving something heavy Then I heard a thud against the door and I knew with teller that my door was barred I was trapped underground Can you hear me? Yes Wonder how I found you It was a cat I was sure that somebody was feeding him how sentimental you English are about animals Can't you give me a cleaner death than this my dear fellow? I don't want you to die at all Put your signature on a document I have here and I'll release you immediately a document which says what? Well, I'll read you the most important sentence On april the fifth I attempted to assassinate the leader of the german people and did so with the knowledge of the british government See it's a very simple straightforward statement. It's a pack of lies. Oh come on. Oh, it works Truth is relative Think about it overnight old fellow I'll be back at seven in the morning. Oh Who do you have on night duty? They've paid hand swiss fellow you must have realized it took two of us to lift the log of firing your door But by the way, why did you try to assassinate our leader? I told you I wanted to see if it was possible And then I didn't think his death would be any loss. Ah, then you did mean to shoot I'm glad you finally admit it Why yes I did mean to shoot I've given myself away not to him to myself It had not been a game I had rarely meant to kill the head of a state I must have been mad and indeed I was driven mad by rage and grief so great. I didn't let myself know what I was thinking I'm a man who was loved only once and didn't know it until she was dead They killed her he That leader killed her She was so swift so sensitive so generous of spirit. She made the cause of all oppressed unhappy people her own And so they caught her and killed her for reasons of state And so I had declared war on them one man at war with the nation And I would have destroyed their leader If the wind hadn't shifted I slipped and was awakened by the sound of shot And then something was stuffed down my chimney shutting off my only source of fresh air Hours passed The air grew foul and I banged on the door Keith Smith paid no attention. Finally I reached up the chimney to see what he'd stuffed it And pulled poor as modious down into my cave He'd been shot at close quarters I was choking with sorrow and rage It wasn't an easy shot old man very difficult and sporty. That's a lie. He trusted you because he learned to trust me Oh, well, perhaps you're right The angler sex and love of animals is a weakness. I'm happy to be without And so with the death of us modious The major condemned himself to death All my plans were directed to that end I had no gun No access to my victim except through the chimney hole No weapon but the slingshot There was only one way to kill him To shoot a lethal missile through that opening After some hours, I hit on an iron spit with my weapon To be fired by the slingshot Then I set about rearing the major to the hole Ah Want to talk Yes, I've been thinking You'd only use that document in case of a war. Is that right exactly So it doesn't matter if I sign it or not since there isn't going to be a war You're perfectly right the mere formality Then hand it down Give me a pen and a flashlight right away. Glad you decided to be sensible You're a cut above the average Englishman There it is got it. Yes Uh, here's the pen. Uh, where are you? I can't see I There was a look of surprise in his eyes But he was already dead The iron spit took him square above the nose then he toppled backward Immediately I had to wear my end of the chimney until it was large enough to receive my body Then I burst out into the blackberry bush The major was lying on his back with the spit projecting through the back of his skull I searched him to this revolver burned that scandalous document he'd meant me to sign And sat down to wait It was dark when I heard the Swiss agent coming Then it was a few pieces of way. I flashed the light on him Put your hands up Now walk over here slowly What do you want your gun turn around? Oh You you killed the major Oh, please, sir Don't turn me in they will hang me. They will hang me for treason. Now we are at war At war. Oh, yes, sir. It came over for a while. Germany is marched into poland. England has declared war And so my private war merged with the greater cause And I had no need to worry further about the ethics of my revenge They were the same as the ethics of war true It had not been as I had claimed a sporting stock But you can't call me unsporting After all If I pulled the trigger I would have achieved one of the two or three most difficult shots in the world Suspense Presented by auto light tonight star mr. Herbert Marshall This is harlow wilcox speaking for auto light the world's largest independent manufacturer of automotive electrical equipment Auto light is proud to serve the greatest names in the industry That is why during the early months of 1952 The auto light family will join together in saluting the leading car manufacturers who install auto light products as original equipment right on their assembly line The auto light family is made up of the nearly 30 000 men and women in 28 great auto light plants from coast to coast As well as more than 18 000 auto light stockholders 97 000 auto light distributors and dealers in the united states and thousands more in canada and throughout the world The auto light family will salute the packard motor car company in the next auto light suspense television program So if you live in a television area check the day and time of suspense on television So that you won't miss this program and remember from bumper to tail light You're always right with auto light Next week on suspense our star will be mr. Jeff Chandler in a story taken from life A factual document concerning the san francisco tong wars, which we call the case against lu doc In weeks to come we shall also present miss agnes moorhead mr. Charles boye and mr. j carol nasch all on suspense Suspense is transcribed and directed by elliot lewis with music composed by lucian morrowick and conducted by lutt bluskin Rogue male was adapted for suspense by sylvia richards from the novel by jeffrey household In tonight's story ben rite was heard as the major featured in the cast where larry dobkin ramsey hill harry brotel pewter oan joseph currant william john stone and earl king Herbert marshal may be heard each week on his own radio program the man called x This is the cbs radio network