 log entry the catch scarlet queen philip carney master position 123 degrees west 38 degrees 17 minutes north gyro compass course 327 wind fresh sky fare remarks proceeding from ginseng korea to tiansin china with dead man aboard reason for death the lily in the chimolpo bar it was a fair trip and a fast one through the inland sea then south through the channel of jushima kaikyo and into the long rolling swells of the east china sea the scarlet queen was north of the trades now and she reached around the tip of the korean peninsula with the spanking passage wind of beam and swung her bows into the yellow sea the angle of the wind moved to bath when we trimmed her for the run up the korean coast the next day we ducked in ginseng harbour it was an unscheduled stop on the chartered voyage of the scarlet queen no kang contact to meet until we made shanghai and that meant no danger from kang's rival konstantino but we did need the port to take care of some minor ship repairs that we didn't have time for in kobe due to the konstantino trouble that developed around kang's boston geisha and chesapeake bay so ginseng was one port where i thought i could look for some relaxation instead of someone sneaking up behind me my chief mate gallagher and the crew turned to on sail repairs and i wandered up into the dusty city the street was typically oriental bustling with movement most of it concerned with carrying a burden of some time from one place to another forces parts trucks rickshaw's men bent double from heavy loads on their shoulders i was just passing under a hanging sign that advertised the chimalpo bar drinks served with or without ice when a voluminous voice boomed out of the narrow doorway leading into the dim interior yes you you think there's sparkle in my eyes for anyone else in sign there's a little sudden isn't it indeed it is a strange new white man doesn't happen to me every day one so beautiful as you not even every year you're pretty charming yourself well well come in won't you come out after you if i went so broad across the i can see for yourself have the ease out of this doorway sideways and well you can see for yourself her profile matched against the narrow opening left no need for words don't let it scare you dairy come on in there's opportunity for a man like you and the chimalpo bar and so mutual continues the voyage of the scarlet queen written by gildowd and bob tallman and starring elliott louis scarlet queen proudest ship to plow the seas bound for uncharted adventure every week a complete entry in the log and every week a league further in the strange voyage of the scarlet queen her name was lily swain and she went a long way toward filling the emptiness of the chimalpo bar the hair she fluffed up as i followed her in was a red wig her broad face held a few traces of earlier thinner beauty and they were exaggerated by heavy makeup she was about shoulder high her arms were solid from wrist to elbow with bracelets and the sags of her throat were held in by an inch and a half of jewel choker we have for you guests you mix drinks chop chop while you still one piece a boy then how sit down and tell the lily all about yourself a semen from your clothes a big one captain phil carney san francisco i don't say did you bring any american magazine no i didn't any newspapers phonograph records all the way out here from the states and you didn't bring anything american of course 25 years ago i wouldn't have asked for all these unanimous things you'd be enough well then i don't be embarrassed by you you go catchy hold miss ellis tell a big peasy man out here oh yes we see oh i'll be peasy not all right catchy with the other boys what did you say you were doing in chin sin i didn't say how can you be so mysterious with a too wide open friendly face unbend phil i won't sit on your lap well i'm not doing anything here i'm just passing through from here i'm going down the coast of china from there i'm going across the line into the shallow seas then maybe i'll come back is that the way you make your living well i can't have your own ship lily you're a nosy old busybody let's hear about you for a while all right so you don't want to talk about what you've done or what you're going to do i've been so kind before in this prison and that one i've been married to a few well then you'd understand there are opportunities in career for a young man like you if you've got the guts for it now meaning what just for example i know a certain party that would pay you $1,500 to get in a certain cargo from here to chin sin what is it guns or narcotics and they make any difference to you it might well it's neither it's perfectly legitimate i have a cargo of ginseng roots that'll bring $10,000 gold on the current chin sin market you know the chinese demand for the stuff they think it's the one herb of all medicine herbs fuel for everything from blood sickness to the opposite whatever that with inflation i've seen $300 offered for less than five pounds of it right in this room a few roots not bigger than turnips well that sounds pretty good lily i believe me phil if you'd stick with the lily you'd work a fortune out of the yellow sea all right a minute now i'll go get the papers well big piece a man is right oh phil this is my daughter alice phil connie captain connie's gonna take our cargo to chin sin what do you think of that looks all right to me buy phil another drink dearie i'll go get the papers ready for him to sign the same darling yeah she was easy to say yes to rust colored hair green eyes under cultivated brows and long lashes and a way of walking toward the bar that told as much of her background as you need it to know but the expression she brought back with her told me she wanted to share it all how does it feel to be the most popular man in ginseng phil oh well unreal somehow it's the chamomile bars the only place i've been what did the lily tell you that she had a cash of ginseng worth 10 000 bucks on the chin sin market but she didn't tell you where she got it i didn't ask her oh that gives me the line i wanted on your character i like it i think we could be very close friends i think that would be very nice then we're agreed but phil you'll have to be careful of her she lies what are you giving me she's told the truth so far hasn't she she knew your ship was in the harbor as soon as you did for one thing and she introduced me as her daughter but i'm not so would that get her nothing like the hearty mother's sexy daughter act full of normal guy around we've done it before but i'm fed up look phil she's a lot more desperate than she admits she stole that ginseng from some native plant as inland they're on a trail she's got to get it out of here before they find it you think i shouldn't load it then oh sure phil but you're crazy if you do it for fifteen hundred dollars you could have another thousand without even half trying she won't trust a native ship she's desperate i tell you pay you another drink for captain carney and one for me you don't even hint at what i said but hold off on that extra grand and see what happened and long now it's time for business again here the papers to sign maybe i'll see you later captain oh thank you literally my darling there's already one drink here and you promise sniveling i'll think it over phil this is ray hello ray raymond flemming culbertson sir my he's my partner in this place 90 percent of my work is keeping him away now really that is not the truth i've had not one single not one single drink since the fourth of july and you promise that i could have another one today he can't drink he falls down on one can't get up without another falls down upon us sir perhaps i could just have one on the table to look at until after we transect our brief business here just to look at well that isn't so good ray because i don't think we're going to transact any business i beg your pardon uh then by all means i do need to drink you're teasing me phil aren't you i don't like it lily this should be a simple business deal but everybody's too anxious to talk me into what it makes me think i've got you over a barrel and i'm more important than i realized i might listen for an extra thousand did you hear that my pet his words hang heavy i do need that drink drop it the hard bargain phil but you're all right you do have me over a barrel i'll give you the extra thousand if you'll swear that there'll be no more bargaining or questions come on now be a good boy you'll be a good girl with agreement signed by both of us and there'll be only one more thing i just want to see the cargo to be sure it's jinn saying ah phil and even be satisfied if you were 25 years older what a team we'd make come on i'll show you the stuff she let me down some earth steps to a dank cellar under the rear of the building we pulled the top few layers off of what looked like a pile of lumber and uncovered a stack of rough hemp bags about the size of cement sacks i pulled a few of them out of random and open them that was jinn saying all right and it looked like an easy deal for 2500 i shook lily's hand we went upstairs and signed the agreements and i went back to the ship about three hours after dark a crew of natives arrived with the cargo and started coming aboard an hour later we were making last-minute preparations for leaving galaga was below digging out some charts and i was on the deck watching two crewmen make ready to hoist the gangway aboard when i heard the footsteps coming down the pier leave the gangway boys i'm coming ashore is she dead yes poor pow you that killed him too how about ray i don't know i heard the lilies cream out in front when i went out i found her and power you ray wasn't there the only place i could think of to come was here what are you going to do with the hottest cargo and jinn centerboard i'd like to dump it and leave well you don't mean it they'll kill me too what's up skipper who's the ram trouble this is alice i'm sending her aboard break out enough rifles to arm the crew and stand by i got to go up into town for a little while the tumult boat borrowers as quiet as a tomb when i slipped in through his side entrance i eased as quietly as i could through the hauling into the main room there's something about dead fat people that makes them look deader than any other variety lilies swain slumped at a table with a red wig cocked over one ear a bracelet heavy arms hanging stiffly down at her side how you was spilled across the teakwood bars if you've been coming over at the saver when a bullet stopped him i started back towards the living quarters gingerly giving the rooms a once over and the third one i found him sprawled on a rumpled canvas cut he wasn't dead but the bottle on the floor beside him was i scooped him up through him across my shoulder and headed back toward the ship all right skipper you got him aboard now what please feel you'll still get your twenty five hundred dollars well i and i on the jinn saying now that the lilies dead we'll see that you get it they'll kill us if you leave us here why should this change things for i guess we've waited long enough eleven thirty break out the crew right stand by the cast off right i'll check titan karne's be up with you in a minute well i don't know don't know where to sit down go i just we're going to work i just want to tell you i'm going to make this worth your while you'll see phil okay really okay like i said that could be nice but this is no time for it i'm supposed to keep this ship from running around to do that i gotta concentrate now go on get over there and sit down all right and wait here till i get back all ours stand by the press line lake about me so we won't be on deck all night hey chief look i'll stay on the water keep your light on him what do you got red what's up a native out there in the water where you see him stop it at maybe i shouldn't have nailed him but he shouldn't have been swimming near the ship either we better get out of here before his friends show up now cast off i'll get the motor started cast off all right we crept away from the pier and went out into the cold blackness of the jinn sand harbor with only the pinnacle light glowing dully near the wheel it may have been coincidence but the discovery of the korean swimming near the queen made me wonder of a pair of dark eyes and a pair of sharp ears weren't behind the fact that a korean junk slipped into the stream on our stern i caught the milky curl of her bow wave shining in the murk behind us and she followed us as we headed out into the yellow sea i uh hope you don't mind if i make myself at home in your cabin no you're quite the coming of the place a woman's touch does it good once in a while you sound like we're far enough away from land for a to relax the closest is about a hundred phallums straight down what was the shooting just before we left a native was in the water near the ship what's the matter he didn't get bored nothing was that what he was trying to do but he's swimming towards the ship i don't know i don't know where he came from but he didn't get where he was heading what's the matter nothing feel really could we have a drink look if you got anything on your mind spill it then we'll have the drink there's a junk following us maybe the guy in the water was from her and they're still after the ginseng is that what you're worried about yes still i'm just still jittery that's all take it easy then we can outrun them to tinsen i know you can't feel like told you i'm just kind of shaky from everything now maybe that drink will help well you know the cargo stolen still carrying it aren't you what's that for just remember that line i had on your character i still like it and i still think we could be close friends you're becoming that way too put the drinks down feel we can have them later can't we it's a tough close reach from ginseng to tiansen and i spent most of my time at the wheel while we struggled along close haul but the wind a little better than four points off our starboard bow on the direct course it was a hard leg for crew and ship letting her off at intervals then up again on a new tack we'd covered our estimated distance by mid afternoon the next day we were bearing in on the peninsula of shantung some 200 miles north northeast of tiansen the wind had shifted closer to our beam we were easing off onto a more pleasant breeze it's on the beam man he's off the main and fifth in smoothly now i swung the wheel to left giving her a strong weather helm to meet the new drive of the wind i felt the break in the tension of the wheel and it's fun useless the sails were trampled on their booms and the scarlet queen was motionless in the middle of the yellow sea what the devil happened skipper run is gone i didn't have hold him anything at the wheel what kind of a scowl did i sign on she picked the yellow sea to break up satan red she didn't break up by herself yeah i didn't shoot that native quick enough did i that's what i'm thinking the queen's rudder wouldn't have gone without some help from a saw blade or something and i guess taking on a hot cargo didn't help much the thing nothing of that rudder you can pack them cargos and i drop it red start thinking about that junk that follows us out that fits too well what has to do with the meaning of this delay we paid our passage have we haven't turned the men to rigging a jury rudder of some kind red will make its dian sin on the power captain carney you accept a certain amount of responsibility when you accept the responsibility yeah yeah yeah yeah to say nothing of trouble come on in the captain carney i demand to know how i came aboard this ship in the first all right keep quiet when it's only a demand i have a right to that i should have left you there but i carried your board from the chamomile bar left me there indeed where do you think you agree he's drunk fail don't listen to him he's out of his head but alice my shut up hey get out of here get out on deck and get some air alice my dear considering everything come on go fell darling never mind i'm busy again things are beginning to add up what do you mean you breaking up over that swimmer back in the harbor and now the rudder goes that's what he was doing was he wrecking the rudder and that junk that followed us out it did follow us didn't it yes why if it was only to get the jim sen back you wouldn't know about it what else is there all right lily wanted to collect insurance on you yes she wanted to load a cargo of any kind of routes then your rudder was to be wrecked and then the junk was to board and sink you and she would collect ray and i talked her out of it so the real cargo of jim sen came aboard but it was too late to change the orders about your rudder and thinking you that's the truth so really it is yeah i guess we'll wait and find out if it is on that i didn't know how much of a story to take but with the queen wallowing like a crippled duck in the middle of the yellow sea i couldn't find anything else to believe it took 30 seconds underwater to prove part of it my rudder stock had been cut and pried partly loose from the stern post whoever done the job was to be complimented the hard weather helm i'd given it had been the final breaking touch and it was going to take a ship repair yard before the scarlet queen would be herself again the rest of her story turned into fact later that afternoon when the ugly high stern junk hoven decided in the west and bored down on us from starboard i sent alice and ray into the cabin broke out the rifles and stationed the crew along the port side under what covered the main house after them then with gallagher covering me with a 30 30 i stood up waited while she made her turn into the wind posted to a stop about 20 feet away native with a rifle slung across his shoulder stuttered a rail your need help go on the line we come up shut up charlie she's moving in on the skipper your need help we come up get on the way you're not coming aboard i gotta be done skipper let me have him it's just a question of who opens fire first the cockpit beside gallagher and stayed there pecking at every dark head that pops into that and the opening glory of shot stopped neither of the ships offering any targets but their plans were working out ours were it the current was pushing the junk slowly closer to us and they were saving everything for a frenzied rush to board us when she touched our side we had to move somewhere to keep them away i headed toward the motor controls near the wheel i raised a spurt of shots from them in a few slugs exploded slivers of water around my head as i dropped to my belly again and pushed the starter with my hand they figured out my moves some dark crewmen jump to meet it two of them dropped under our fire but the others got the slotted sails trimmed and the junk moved slowly forward but even crippled the scarlet queen could beat that maneuver so in the full reverse we wallow the way in the complete circle to make our side again and gallagher and the crew were dropping every helmsman that climbed to her height turned the man that tiller and the water distance between us slowly widens until she was out of range i sent gallagher to check on the crew and i went into the cabin oh wait a minute what's the matter with ray he said i told him to say never mind i'll finish the story so he got to his feet went to the port hole and stayed there until a stray shot nailed it yeah i told him yeah now i'll tell you the truth so what do you mean what do you want to tell me i don't know what you mean we're trying to be clever because you aren't you're just rotten show me a bullet hole in the screen and that port he's lying under we could do that with a pencil couldn't we yeah move him over under the other one a slug came through there you're awfully slow gorgeous till it would look all right on the record wouldn't it we were attacked by pirates and he was just killed that's all and lily too well we tell him about her so you don't think that you got ray drunk and kill lily and pow you know does it sound like you not for a lousy ten thousand dollars worth of gin sank so what's the difference they were two wasted people they were no good to anyone so if you'd help me look what we'd have we can share the money from the gin sank ten thousand dollars fill and our close friendship darling it could be good couldn't it fell we're the same kind of people darling i'll think it over gorgeous go on over there and sit down i'm too upset to kiss you now in an hour the korean stranger had disappeared over the horizon and with a few spars a weighted hatch cover over the stern and the backs of two crewmen leaning on makeshift tackle i had a shaky control of the scarlet queen again and we headed in on our course to tian sin we eased into an easy sailing position with the wind on our quarter and i cut the motor to make sense with our jury rudders so the men jump the mitten had it going a few bullet scars swung over my head as the sail caught the breeze and stretched out on the port side jury tackle heaved in to meet the swing patiently wallowed forward but at least she was underway well but you wouldn't call it ideal skipper the crew wanted me to ask you what we were going to do with that still shall we pass them to the shock not saving him to bargain with the dame katt skipper with both of the mobile board and the car goes still here yeah then we tell the story and we'd sell the ginseng yeah it's quite a problem skipper and uh away a little out of money how do you figure i'm deciding to turn her in for murder and take the cargo or let her go and take half turn and take the cargo heads we let her go and take half okay better make it two out of three don't you think we're adding yeah yeah i say flip it all the way from here to tn send just always fair to everybody and comes out all right you're a clear thinker rad but the suspense is caught me drink skipper after you made after you log entry catch scarlet queen 5 30 p.m. miles traveled 6,873 wind brisk sky fair sea smooth with gentle roll ship secure for night find philip carney master says phil carney with ed max as gallagher dj thompson was heard as the lily charles steel played ray jack crucian was powell you and ellis was played by mary lansing music scored and directed by richard oran the scarlet queen a command radio production directed by james Burton is written by gill dowd and bob tallman charles harlington speaking