 From Hollywood, it's time now for Johnny Deller. Ralph Singles, Johnny. Mono Guarantee Insurance Company. Oh, hi, Riff. How's Hollywood's most eligible bachelor? Listen, miss. Are you kidding? That gal's coming out party, hit the society column of every newspaper in the country. Yeah, I know. So. Hey, wait a minute. Weren't you dating the luscious hilly ransom a while back? If you just don't appreciate the finer things of life. Oh, no. So what? What difference does it make? All that beauty, all that money? Well, why not? OK, I'm on my, uh, what's the catch, Riff? I'll, uh, deliver. Yeah, fine. I suppose you give me some idea. Hi, Riff. The action-packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator. Oh, it's truly Johnny Deller. Account submitted by special investigator Johnny Deller to the Mono Guarantee Insurance Company, Los Angeles office, following as an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the delectable damsel matter. Expense account at a $107 even, Hartford to New York and a DC7 mainliner to Los Angeles. Single is a good name for Riff. He has a knack for meeting wealthy, important people, particularly women. Yeah, they practically swoon under his spell, and he sells him insurance. I'm not sure I approve his lovin' and leadin' tactics, but it's no wonder he knew hilly ransom heiress to a couple of million bucks. Hi, Johnny. But he hadn't told me why he wanted me to meet her. And I was sure it wasn't just for a date. A daydreaming, Johnny? Huh? Your baggage is right here on the rack. Come on. I'll help you put in the car, and we'll take off. Oh, hi, Riff. Sure, where's the car? Over here in the parking lot. Hey, what were you dreaming about there at the luggage pickup? Oh, hilly guard ransom. Who else? And I take it you're a little romance with her, the one that hit the headlines a while back is all over. Oh, sure, sure. But I got her insurance business. All of it. And, Johnny, if I had to, I could live off the premiums of that one account alone. And it must be pretty big, because if I remember the way you live, fancy clothes, fancy apartment. Well, you can take it with you, boy. Besides, it's all good for my business. Here we are. Hey, you like this little old truck? The truck was a brand-new El Dorado beer Ritz, special paint job, gold fittings instead of chrome. Every accessory you can think of, including a bar in the back seat. Yeah, playboy party boy Riff single hadn't changed a bit. And if you make contacts, make them right where the money is. And if it's a pretty girl that has the money and you can charm her into your arms, baby. You made us say, OK, OK. And I'll tell me, Riff. Johnny, did you ever hear of the Cape Star? What's that? Well, it's an emerald. As big as a robin's egg in a 14-carat mounting loaded with diamonds and rubies, a brooch. Value, nearly 300,000 clams. This Hildegard ransom owns it? Uh-huh. Or did? How'd she lose it? Well, all I know is that she called me, and she said it was missing. And that she wants me to go out and have a look. Out where? Well, I don't want that wacky dame to get her hands on me again. Well, you heard of some of her crazy escapades. Like, at the time, she flooded half of the Bel Air estate. The what? Well, she didn't like the looks of a fire plug on her five acres up there. So she had to garden her plants on dynamite under it. Oh, oh, brother. Well, I've got to do something for laughs, she said. The old story of the idle rich with too much time on her hands, huh? Yeah, that's right. All that kind of stuff can lead to trouble sometimes. Worries, she rebelled there, did you say? Well, when she's home, which isn't often. Right now, I think it. What for, Sam Hill? Oh, sure, sure. All the comforts of home. Hear it out. Hello? All right, just 1-1-2-1. That's right, operator. One moment, please. I have a call for you. Oh, thanks. Oh, brother, when I get rich enough to put a mobile phone in my car. Oh, it doesn't cost much. As a matter of fact. Single, are you coming out here to see me, or aren't you? Oh, well, now, Hildy. The fifth time I've called, and ripped if you don't do something about my loss at the Cape Star, if you call the police. Well, sure, of course. I might have known you would. So they'll tell the papers. More publicity for you and that lousy insurance business. But Hildy, I always notify the police. But you know what that means. It means reporters, photographers, cops, half the town falling all over themselves when I get in. Hello, Hildy. So if you're somebody else and I don't mean the cops, if you don't get out of here, Johnny. Johnny. You take this, Johnny. Yeah, sure. Hello? Hello, didn't you hear what I said? Look, Miss, uh. What? Who's that? Johnny Dollar. Johnny. So he got you. Well, now, we all pay, won't you? Well, that depends. I don't know what to do. Cape Star, am I right? Well, look. Oh, I knew you would, honey. And I'll be waiting for you. Don't be fooled, Johnny. She really is that charming when she wants to be. OK, Rip, take me to her. Not quite. That old tub, she mentioned, is her 165-foot diesel yacht. What? And New Zeigengest is about four score and 70 miles offshore. Oh, do you expect me to walk? She also has a cruiser, a 58-footer parked down at Balboa. You can go in that. Then you'd better swing around, brother. We're driving north. Oh, there's a private airport up here off Sepulveda Boulevard, where I keep my plane. Your own plane? Sure. Holy smoke. Hey, Johnny Dollar, in a moment. And now for another episode in the life of Sergeant Donald Bellweather, my husband. You sent? No, no, I'm not sick. I came home early to get some work done, but you're going to have to help me. Help you with what? Well, you got me into this. You're going to have to help me get out. Donald, you're not making sense. What did I get you into? Well, it all started this morning. I walked into the lieutenant's office, and I started bragging about how well my wife delivered her speech on safety at the BTA meeting. That was sweet of you. Yeah, sweet. But the lieutenant was quite impressed. In fact, he was so impressed he assigned me to give a talk on safety tomorrow at the enlisted men's meeting. Well, good for you, Sergeant. You can do it. Well, gee, I don't know, but what do I say? Well, just say that, uh, really? Here's some notes on traffic accidents. Just read these aloud. Oh, come on. Come on, just try them for size. Well, OK. But if a disaster wiped out every man, woman, and child in Springfield, Illinois, we'd be shocked, wouldn't we? So would the entire world. Yet a total of 95,000 accidental deaths occurred two years ago in the United States. That's about 10,000 more than the population of Springfield, the capital of Illinois. That's what you're doing fine. Now go on. And don't think the men in uniform are exempt from accidents. In one branch of the service alone, 600 were killed and 5,000 injured in a 12-month period. On many, many days during the Korean conflict, more servicemen lost their lives on the highway than on the battlefield. And wait a minute, Reba, these aren't notes. This is a full speech, all typed and ready. That's right, dear. I wrote it for you this morning. Well, how did you know? Well, your lieutenant and his wife were at the PTA meeting, dear. Put up job. I see it all now. I only hope I can do this fine speech justice. Oh, you will, darling. Well, I'll try. Oh, that's my Donald. That's my Donald. Hey, Johnny Duller, and the delectable Demso Matter. During the ride from Los Angeles to Balboa and Rip Singles' private plane, he admitted to me that he hadn't made all his money in the insurance business. Seems a rich uncle had conveniently died some years before. Lucky stiff, a riff, I mean. All I know, Johnny, is that Hildy took the Cape Star emerald along with her on this yachting trip, and now it's gone. Yeah, how much of a trip? Lord knows where she's been. She said she might have ended up in China, the Philippines, most anywhere. She has the money. She has the time. She's done everything under the sun that normal people do. So now she keeps looking for the unusual. Anything for a thrill? Yeah, well, when did she discover the stone was missing? She radioed to me today from out on the high seas. Yeah, she said she was certain she had it the day before that because she warned it. And then when she went to look for it, it was gone. Some member of the crew, do you suppose? I don't know. Maybe she dropped it overboard. You mean purposely to collect the insurance? Who knows? Oh, but if she has so much money. Who knows? Maybe she hasn't lost it at all. She just wants company. Oh, look, there's Newport and Balboa down below. I'll circle Hildy's little summer house before we land. Some little summer house turned out to be a mansion right on the waterfront. And tied up to the long dock was not only the cruiser, but a snappy little speedboat, a small sailboat, and a couple of outboards. All very nice. Not so the skipper of the cruiser. No, my order is the last time I spoke to the Hildemorel were to take you out to her, Mr. Single. Nobody else. Look, we just talked to Ms. Ransom by radio, and she wants you to take Mr. Dollar on that. And I tell you, my last order is what? Well, forget your last order. Hey, look, look, hey, wait a minute, please. Skipper, have you got a radio on this cruiser? Of course. All right then. Make contact with the Hildemorel. Find out for yourself. OK, I'll do it. At the same time, you can get a position. OK. We'll see. Here, he'll leave my love, or whatever else you can think of. Anything that'll keep her from switching her insurance to somebody else. You are a law-signer. You don't like me, do you? No. Were you ever really serious with her? Yeah, I'm sure. But I'm just not the marrying kind. So Johnny, the field is clear for you. And if you want to latch on to a few million bucks, she's really mighty sweet to track the gal. Well, let me know how you make out, Johnny. And please, find that emerald. I beg your pardon, sir. Yeah? We're ready to sail when I with the gentleman. You ready? OK, Skipper, let's go. It turned out to be a dilly, a luxury from Stambisterne. And the trip out to the Hildemorel took much longer than I expected. In spite of the powerful engines that sent us through the water at over 18 knots, it was well after dawn the next morning, when we hoped to, alongside the Hildemorel. And that 165-foot diesel yacht made the cruiser look like a broken-down rowboat. As for Hildi Rentson, foot 6 or 7, she was blonde and she was beautiful, with quick blue eyes that had fun and laughter sparkling in them, and a figure. Hi, Johnny. Welcome aboard the old tub. You call this floating palace a tub? Well, after the holes that got shot into it, the wonder was still afloat. You've been shot at? Off Formosa on the China coast. We had a ball. For a while, I thought some of the red aircraft were going to strafe us one night. Oh. But it got too dark for them. And the captain, the old, fuddy duddy, turned off all our running lights and we had it out to sea again. What, under the sun, were you doing off the China coast, Miss Rentson? No, it's Hildi. Oh, just finding out what goes on in the world. You know what I really wanted to do? Why? They have visited to Joe Enlai. The Red General? Why not? But they wouldn't let us ashore long enough without a lot of fuss and bother, so. Now, let's go into my quarters and talk about the Cape Stocks. Yeah, OK. I could kill that Rip Singler for not coming out here. But I'm so glad you could. Hmm. You're even better looking than I'd heard. Ah. Are you as much of a wolf as Rip says you are? Oh, well, now, wait a minute. OK, I'll find out for myself. It might be fun finding out. You tell me. In a minute, I began to wonder. Maybe Rip wasn't the only one in this affair who turned on the charm to further his own ends. Hildi Rentson, let's face it, was a wealthy ne'er to well who'd do anything for a thrill. Couple her with a character like Rip Single. Yeah, I wondered. But then, walking along the deck with her, I saw something that suddenly changed my mind. One of the crew who ducked into a doorway when he spotted me, who I wasn't sure. But I had a sudden mental image of his eyes somewhere in the past, looking at me over the sights of a gun. You know who said that man is free, who is protected from injury. Those words came from Daniel Webster, one of the most eloquent orators in American history. Webster knew that a man could not be free unless he lived in a country which recognized his right to freedom and created laws to protect that freedom. A slave state may say that its citizens are free, but as long as a single citizen can be harmed by the whim of a country's rulers, true freedom does not exist. A man is free only if his rights to freedom are protected. Remember the words of Daniel Webster. They are part of your American heritage. The free man must be protected from injury. And now act free of yours truly, Johnny Duller, and the delectable damn so-matter. Report the loss of the emerald, but sit down, Johnny, and I'll have some drinks brought in. OK, thanks. Now listen. Because of where we've been on this trip, we'll have to go through customs, and there'll be the police and the reporters and so on. And whoever took the Cape Star might have a chance to. Oh, what's the matter? That drawer where I kept it. I'm sure I left that closed after I'd hunted for it, and excuse me. Johnny. Yeah. Look. Look, it's here. The Cape Star, it's back. You're sure? Yes, of course, here. Look at it. And you're sure it wasn't there before? Of course I am. I turned this cabin upside down. Hildy, this isn't some kind of a gag, is it? What? I mean, you're having me come all the way out here to find something that wasn't lost after all? Johnny. Johnny, how can you say such a thing? Of course not. Now that you are here, and the Star is safe and sound, I think we'll have fun together, huh? Hildy. I've got so tired of the other guests I have on board. Stuffy old professor Randolph and his boring wife, Charlie Burton, and that girl. He's always pawning over. The Cape Star was actually missing? I swear it, Johnny. All right, then. I still have a job to do. I want to meet these guests of yours. Also, I want to talk to the crew. Of course, Johnny. It's late. I'll have some drinks brought in. We can plan ourselves a ball between now and when we put on deport. Yes? Miss Ransom. Yes, Captain? One of the men, one of the crew, named McCarty. Yes? It looked like a appendicitis, ma'am, and I took the liberty of sending him ashore on the cruiser. It'll get there long before we can. Well, of course, Captain. You've done exactly right. Wait a minute. I'm not so sure of that. Why, Johnny? McCarty, huh? Short, dark with a scar on his chin? Yes, sir. They've already left it. What? Yes, sir. Tender one that McCarty is the man I want. Johnny. Hildy, we've got to stop. The call to the cruiser brought no response. And I had a sneaking suspicion. The skipper of it had a gun in his back, a gun held by the supposedly sick McCarty. And the yacht, despite its size and power, could never catch up with that cruiser in 1,000 years. If you're right, Mr. Dollar, we'll radio to the Coast Guard and intercept it. But I couldn't be sure that I was right. And then I noticed the speedboat slung between davits on the yacht's after-deck. Of course, Johnny. And I'll go after them with you. Oh, no, you won't. Yes, sir. 10 minutes later, however long it took to get the speedboat over side, the first mate and I were tearing across the ocean in pursuit of the cruiser. But McCarty flew on. The smash at the mate had pulled me out of the drain. By then, what he was doing, Johnny, was that man who called himself McCarty? My hell, he's smuggling. Narcotics that he picked up in China. He knew he'd never get through customs when we came to port, so he stole the Cape Star. Just long enough to make sure the cruiser would come out to us. He knew I'd send for somebody. Oh, yeah, I get it. Then he played sick to go back on the cruiser. That way he'd avoid customs and the police. Yes, honey. Or is he now? Well, oh, locked up. And after the way you hit him with that flare, well, now he is sick. Darn it. He didn't have to get him into a doctor. Gee, Johnny, you and I could cruise around with me as well. It will be two or three days before we get to port. Pensacon total, including transportation back to Hyde for $230 a year. Remarks? That's funny, isn't it? You never know what you're going to get into when you take on even the most routine kind of case. You, as truly, Johnny Donner. Johnny Donner. Jack Stratton, Barney Phillips, Jack Moyles, and Frank Gerstle. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. Wide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and Television Service.