 ...is the story of a man who never belonged anywhere, whose backyard is the world. A man whose ways of life are the dreams of escape for those who want action but never find it. The man, John Steele Adventurer. Some of my best friends are behind bars. They were born there. Maybe that's why they live such a long time. They're safer where they are. I'm talking about animals, lions in particular. I have an online story I call Buona Simba, like to tell you about it. Me? I'm John Steele, trademark adventure. I call this yarn Buona Simba. It's a title the native boys of Africa give to any white man who shoots a lion fairly and cleanly. It's a gesture of mild respect. Only when they gave Louis Condon the title of Buona Simba, it meant something else. Louis Condon knew his way around New York City. He boasted he could make or break any political running for any office. The only thing certain about him was he'd made a million dollars without breaking his back with hard work. I met him in Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya, him and his wife. Louis had run through the form. He wanted a beautiful wife and he looked for her in showbiz and came up with a real doll named Gwen St. Clair. Gwen was a blonde and gorgeous. The one thing that didn't hit you at first was that she had more depth than any gal with her looks really needed. It was a hot night, just before dinner, when she walked into the cocktail lounge of the Colony Hotel and spoke to me. Mind if I join you? What would it be? Oh, I don't know. You know your own taste. Oh, sometimes wonder. How about a pink gin? Okay. Johnny. There he is, Mr. Steele. Scotch and soda for me. Pink gin for the lady. You got a match? Sure. Where's Louis? Crossed the gunsmith. Oh. Buying a couple of rifles. He's going hunting? Yeah. He should have gone with that big safari yesterday. No, he says we'll catch up with it. You going along? That's what Louis says. Well, since you're in Africa, you may as well see some of the Bush Gunsley. I'm scared. You are? Awful scared. Oh, it won't be bad. You'll have some boys with you and a guy. No. No. Some native boys, yeah, but no guide. Well, the boys won't know the way to where the safari is. Well, I'm scared, just a thing. Well, here we are, Mr. Steele. Well, thank you, Johnny. Here. Sit this. Thanks. The safari can't be more than 50 miles up country. You'll go by jeep. You'll overtake it in no time at all. Look. Yeah. You were saying last night you're staying here for another two weeks. I'm trying to finish a book. Would you go with it? Go with you. Yeah. You don't need me, Gwen. You know this sort of country. Louis doesn't. He doesn't know the first thing about it. It'll make a lot of sense now if you'll hire the professional guide. Oh, he won't. You think he's smart? Well, here he is now. Would you go with it? Look, you're on your honeymoon. Some honeymoon. Easy, easy. It's okay. I turned my back in what happened. I find my bride drinking with another guy. It's okay, Steve. You're all right. Hey, baby, he's okay. Here he's okay, Louis. Hey, drink up, Steve. I'll buy drinks. We'll have champagne. Celebrating something? Sure. I'm good. Big game hunting me and Gwen here. Louis. Yeah, baby. Mr. Steele said he'd like to go with us. Yeah. Okay, Louis. Why not, Steve? You want to come along? Okay. Well, he is sure I won't be in the way. Yeah, it'll be okay. More to marry her. Hey, you know all about lions? Nobody knows all about lions. Yeah, that's good. So we'll go lion hunting and find out about them. What do you say, Steve? You want to go along? Sir, Steve. You and me and Gwen here are in a few native boys. When do you want to go? Tomorrow morning. Well, I doubt if you'll get many boys to go at such quick notice. Then we go without them. It has been done, I suppose. This is Louis Condon. Yeah, yeah, I know. I know. Sure you know, Steve. We get some boys okay. We don't get any if still okay. By me, it is. Yeah, I'm glad you're going with us, Steve. Yeah. Gotcha, baby. You're watching, eh? What's the matter with you? Just kidding, baby. Just kidding. You know me. Yeah, I'm beginning to. Suddenly, I didn't mind too much that she'd roped me in on this deal. I was curious. Curious about Louis Condon. I got to wondering how a man like that would behave up in the bushlands. Louis was accustomed to riding roughshod over people back home, and he was a big shot in every accepted sense of the term. We left for the bush the next morning with one boy. All we could get. We'd travel in a jeep type of motor lorry. By midday, we were well out into the plains, and it was hot. About as hot as East Africa can get. Bowsy sun. We should have stayed at the hotel. It's okay. Sure, why not? Nice deal. Yeah? Yeah? Is it going to be like this all the way? No. It'll get worse during the afternoon. Yeah? And you better keep your hat on. Yeah. Yeah. See, I'll make such a fuss, Louis. I got a lot of weight. It gets me. You could lose a few pounds, huh? Don't make jokes with me, baby. Well, you could lose a few pounds. You could use a few. You're complaining? I shut up, baby. Hey, look who's to steal his animals over there. Tommy's. Sort of an antelope. They're cute. They're kind of crazy mixed up, but they're cute. There's a lot of things out here. Just keep your eyes open. They're still. Yeah? A bush would stop someplace. If you want to. There's some trees up there ahead of us. All right, we'll make camp there. You hear that, George? We'll make camp under those trees. It's one-off. Huh? Hey, stop this lousy truck for a minute. It's one-off. What's the matter, Louis? Over there. I saw something moving that grass. What about it? Some animal, maybe. Why not? Put that rifle down, Louis. Put it down, nothing. Look, there's a law against shooting from a truck. If you must shoot at something, get out of the truck. Okay, okay. I said okay. What do you see? There's something moving in the grass. Some small animal. How'd you fire, Louis? Something moving. An animal. You hear me? Don't shoot. He shot. I killed a lion. Yeah, he certainly did. A cub. A baby lion. That's what you killed, Louis. A baby lion. Okay, okay. So it's still a lion. A baby lion? And he killed it? Killed it. Ah, Buona Simba. Oh, oh, oh. Buona. Buona Simba. Buona Simba. What's that mean? I said what's it mean? He thinks you're a great lion killer, Louis. He thinks you're a very brave man for shooting a lion cub. Look, look, Steve. That's not going to lie about this. I'm a big man, see? I wouldn't want to get rough. Louis. Look, pal, I'll shoot what I like. I don't ask, see? I don't ask no pump like you want it. You want to play it rough, man? I'll teach you, pal. I'll teach you. Now, what's that? Steve, what's that? A lion. Maybe a lioness. Maybe the cub's mother. This is a very unhealthy place to be in, or it will be when she finds a dead cub. It's a mother lion, Louis. I know it is. Okay, okay. Now, let's get out of here, Steve. I said, let's get out of here. The beginning of danger and the peace of the unknown. There's much of these when, in a moment, we hear more in the story of John Steele Adventurer. Africa is a funny place. Sportsmanship means a lot in a good many places around the world. But in Africa, it's the law. And the law is very simple. You break it, and you go to jail or you're heavily fined, and you don't get your hunting permit renewed. We pushed on. The lioness would find her dead cub back to shore. If we were around, she'd attack. And someone, me, would have to shoot her in self-defense. And I didn't want to. So we pushed on all that afternoon. Louis was in a cold sweat. Somehow, the mental picture he had of the lion is finding the cub he'd killed, scared him. It was close to sundown when we made camp. I chose a spot out in the open, some 15 miles of rough country between us and where the cub had been killed. One a-ching-ba-la, one a-ching-ba-la, one a-ching-ba-la. Shut up! I said, shut up! Take it easy, Louis. Let's try to make a monkey out of me. Oh, cut it out. We're here, Louis. So I killed the lion cub, so what? That boy will have to report it when we get back. Report, report. Who cares? Well, it won't make you popular. Hey, still. Yeah? I haven't forgotten. Excuse me now. I'll take a look around. Uh, settle with that punk. Oh, relax. Don't tell me what to do, baby. It just makes me sick, Louis. What does? I don't know. Maybe I'm crazy, but I keep thinking of that lion as finding a dead baby. What about it? Animals have got feelings, Louis. Yeah. Sure they have. Forget it. I wish I could. I'm scared, Louis. I'm always scared, baby. It's so lonely out here. It's just like the end of nowhere. A lousy place. And you wanted to come up here. Yeah, the boys in New York. Oh. Being African, going home without shooting a lion. You could have bought a lion skin in the town. Yeah, yeah, I should have done that. Oh, bugs crawling over everything. They're not going to mind to go back. Suit me fine. Yeah, maybe we'll go back, baby, huh? What's so funny? You. Look. You talk so big, but when the chips are down... Look, baby, don't get me right up, huh? I don't know. I was just thinking. That's all. Thinking what? About you and me. It's so funny. You did okay, baby. Sure. Three main coats, flashy apartment on Fifth Avenue, and limousine to take you shopping. May you never had anything. Yeah, remember that. That's what I mean. It's funny. You know something, Louis? What? You know what I see when I look at you? Yeah, what? All I see is three main coats. What's so funny about that? It's funny. That's all. I ought to see something else when I look at the guy I married. Louis. Well? I don't love you. Sure, I married you, but I don't love you. Yeah, this stinking heat and you want to start an argument. Me? Out here in Africa yet with big Louis Condon. That's a laugh, you know? Listen, you dumb- Did you hear that? Lousy line, huh? That was a line, wasn't it? I don't know. How should I know? It sounded like one. Maybe it's the mama lion, you know, the cub you killed. What are you trying to do, baby? What are you trying to do? You're trying to scare me, huh? Look, Louis don't scare. Why wouldn't you be scared? I'd be scared if I thought that lioness had followed us up here. Followed us? You're crazy. I didn't say it had followed us. Did I? I just said I'd be scared if I thought so. She used to certainly like to twist words around, Louis. Still? Yeah. What do you think? About what? That lion just now. That lion country? Yeah, you don't think it could have been that one we heard this morning? The cub's mother? Be crazy, huh? For 15 miles from where that happened. Yeah, she couldn't have followed us, could she? Could have, I suppose. Steel isn't funny. Listen, there may be 20, 30, even 50 lions in this neighborhood. Why should the one we just heard be the same one of this morning? Yeah. They all sound like, huh? One on chemo, one on chemo. What's with you? Let him alone. George, put some more wood on the fire and cut off the nonsense. You hear me? Oh, yes, one on. Yeah, she seemed close at that time. No way you're going to hear that all night in words. You'll hear screaming, the leopard killing a monkey, all sorts of sounds. Just don't take any notice. It happens every night. Get some sleep. We can only start in the morning if we're going to overtake that safari. How have George put up the tent for you? We're all here to sleep. All right, here on the ground seat by the fire. I'm used to the old. We should have brought along another tent. Steel? Yeah? What about somebody keeping a watch? I'll take turns with George. Ah, okay. Don't you worry about it. Don't worry about that either. Why can't you go to sleep? I've been lying here listening. Don't let me sleep. It's a lousy tent. I can't breathe. Oh, Louis, please. How can you sleep? I would if you'd just let me. Let's go back, baby. Let's go back to town, huh? Yeah, tomorrow morning. Not tonight. Are you crazy or something? Oh, quit waking me up, will you? I'll blow my top if I stay here. Oh, how should I know? How should I know? How should I know? How should I know? How should I know? How should I know? Where do you think you're staying? It's the night. What's the matter, Louis? You can't sleep? No. I walk too far out of camp. Oh, I smoke. I have cigarettes here. Nah, I got my own on the truck. I'll kill him. Hey, Louis, what are you doing? Louis, come back here. I'll drive in these steel, I'll blast you. One hand see. He go crazy, H continues to Thanksgiving... Something pretty close to it. Back to town. That's my guess He's gonna get lost wanna be not gonna find him way back. He go run and run in trouble All the trail is pretty clear He creates a follow. All right The wife must be asleep. We go turn her. No point in telling her until morning anyway We go back in winning winner. Yeah, we go back and it's gonna be a long trek George Come on George The lioness was backing away from the tent probably startled by the girl screams The animal was a beauty in the moonlight. She seemed the color of pale gold the moment she spotted George and me She sprang towards the bush. I did take aim, but I didn't fire. Why? Maybe because she'd done no harm. Maybe because she was a female. Maybe because she was so beautiful That could have been another reason I Look up and I could hear something missing about just outside the tent and all of a sudden it poked its head under the Dent and look right here George. There's a bottle of brandy in my duffel bag. Got it. Will you if I know I get It poked his head right in the tent and I looked around it was looking for Louie It was looking for Louie. I know it was I felt it. It didn't even take any Come on, take it easy. Take it easy. You don't understand what I'm trying to tell you look look now listen Will you I know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I could feel it That animal was looking for Louie Not me not anybody else Suspense and action one leads to the other and the result will hear in a moment with a climax of another adventure with John Steele Lane awake nights trying to figure it out Maybe the lion is sniffing around Gwen's tent that night was the mom of the cub Louie had killed. I don't know Anyway, it took George the native boy Gwen and me two days to get back to town. It was nice when we reached the hotel Louie was there. I didn't want to see him Gwen had to she was his wife. Okay. Okay. Okay. I killed a cop So what do I get indicted by a grand jury for it? What is this anyway now look? It's crazy. It's crazy. Yeah, I heard something like a lion you get whines on the brain. Yeah, yeah, it'd be crazy Fender like it was outside in the garden Not not there Where are you going down to the bar? I need to pick me up that guy still he's down there waiting for you And why should you care you let me with him up there in the jungle didn't you know joking mr. Steele I did it was a lion we had just then could have been Wouldn't be the first time one came in his poster town as this we had one come out in the hotel gardens last year Well, there's no reason why not Johnny this hotel is on the edge of town Just step outside the grounds and you're practically in the bush country. You see out that window mr. Steele what men were before we've got a lion here or what? It'd be fantastic. Oh Hello Gwen. Hi, Mr. Steele. Hi John evening. Mrs. Carlton wasn't be my regular I guess thank you It is well so what they sometimes wonder this way it's nothing to be alarmed about Somebody sees the lion on one of the lower roofs it's her no no no go ahead and Louise upstairs alone the windows are open Well, if it'll make you feel better, let's go up to him. I know what she followed us back She knew we'd take her to where Louie was. I just know it. She's calling you better drink this She needed no no mr. Steele. Shall we go sure we'll go when The shooting at her outside in the grounds. Let's go upstairs I got an awful feeling mr. Steele When you're just building something up in your mind. No, it's a feeling. You know what I mean I I get awfully strong feelings somebody once told me I was psychic you think I could be Yeah, you could be It's in the room. All right. All right. The door's closed. It's her steel. It's her You see mr. Steele she found where Louie is go on back. I'll see if anything's in the room. Don't you open that door? Okay, okay, but let me listen a while outside Do you hear anything inside? No, not a thing for me I'm open the door. God. Love interest. Be careful. Yeah. Yeah, very nothing here The chair in the window been knocked over Well, I guess Louie did see the lion. She's gone, huh? Well, she's not in this room the bedroom was closed So she's not in there Crazy By this time several search parties were forming The rest of the hotel guest jammed the cocktail lounge for safety A few of the old hands myself included spread out through the grounds singly armed with high powered rifles Singly did I say? I was wrong. I had blend with me. I couldn't get rid of her the whole thing seemed to fascinate her I couldn't No, I guess not I'm not really scared for myself for anybody else except Louie. You're quite convinced, huh? I know what i'm talking about. That animal could be five miles away from here by now He just wandered into the hotel grounds got confused. She's scared and ran off Mr. Steele, I don't believe it one of the men saw her a lioness a young one light colored It must be the same one You still I'm not sure Where where about cross there this side of the hotel brushes An animal could have been a big dog Could have been maybe don't move I'll make a sound No, you stay here. It's her and she's got somebody a man. She's dragging you along the road. Wherever you are. It's louis She's got louis. I know she I can't shoot from this distance the lights too uncertain. I might hit louis She's looking back at it. I'm gonna try and get closer to her. She found louis I know she would It was a clean shot just one the animal sank to the ground dead I had to do it. She'd have been hunted anyway until she was killed Louie was in bad shape. She'd mauled him, but she hadn't killed him yet My shot brought everybody to the scene and louis rushed to the hospital Gwen and I went there and we waited He's awful sick, huh? Yeah, he's had a bad scare too Poor guy But but now you know, don't you mr. Steel? Know what? It was the same lion We saw her It was the same one She followed us 50 miles to find louis And no, Gwen. I I don't really think she was the same one just uh Quitter coincidence. That's all Oh, mr. Steel, you know different You just don't want to admit We'll never know Gwen We're taking a standby for adventure with john steel and in a moment john steel returns with more of his story This is john stave Be around next week. Uh and remember adventure is where you find it, but don't look for it. It may find you