 Afraid to face the tax collector tomorrow, fed up with high prices, want to get away from it all. We offer you escape. You have shipped aboard a South Sea schooner with a ghost of its dead captain in command. A ghost who shoots guns, resurrects the dead, creates a terror from which you cannot escape. Escape. Produced and directed by William N. Robeson. And designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure. Tonight we escape across the limitless horizons of the South Seas. An Alfred noise version of a classic legend of blue water. The log of the evening star. The Haiti French Oceania June the 19th. The sailing schooner evening star reported missing since the first of April. Today was discovered a hundred miles west of here, drifting about in a dead calm, with all sails set, but not a soul on board. The ship when found was well stocked with food and water, and all three of her small boats were still present. The sun-baked body of the ship's cat was lying in the bow, and the mess table in the crew's quarters had been laid in preparation for a meal, which was never served. Otherwise, everything aboard seemed to be in order, and no solution can be offered to explain the whereabouts of the twelve persons who sailed on her from San Francisco. It appears that the fate of the evening star will remain permanently one of the weird and unsolved mysteries of the sea. My name is Harper. I'm first made of the South Seas schooner evening star. I'm writing this because I believe it my duty to make some record of the terrible things which have just occurred. Events I can't possibly enter in the ship's log. I can't of course be certain this account will ever come to light, because I'm not likely to live another 24 hours. I guess I should have been able to see it three weeks ago, on the day we sailed from San Francisco, but I didn't. I remember I was standing on the deck of the evening star, talking to Kato, the cook, while we waited for Captain Burgess to come aboard. We were due to sail in a half hour. Where do you think we go on this trip, Mr. Harper? Oh, I don't know, Kato. Marquesa's first? Bentahiti? Maybe on Australia. It's good to report. It's better on open sea. You said it. We'll seem very strange this trip without Captain Dayrell. Yeah. We'd had the same gang together for over two years. Some Canaka's, and the crew, you and I, and Burgess, Dayrell. I don't believe he's been dead four months now, isn't it? Yes. Captain Dayrell was a proud man. He was a good Captain. He's too bad he died. Yeah. Well, Burgess will make a good skipper, too. He was all right his first mate. Why he no come on board yet? Captain Burgess? Hmm. Well, I don't know. Just can't bear to leave that new bride is, I guess. You, you have seen her, Mr. Harper? You know her, maybe? No, no, I haven't. He's been staying down the coast somewhere ever since he got married a couple weeks ago. I don't even know who she is. New wife? New command? Ooh, he's a rocky man. Kato, I got a strong hunch you're a sentimentalist down underneath. Ooh, it's possible, Mr. Harper. It has been said... Hey, Kato, there's Burgess now coming down the pier. Ooh, is somebody with him, too? Yeah. I guess she's come down to see him off, huh? At least we'll get a chance. No. Well, that's Mrs. Dayrell. Yeah, maybe she go on ship, too. Just like old time. No, no, no. She wouldn't want to sail on the ship her husband died on. I wonder. No. Mr. Harper, Mr. Harper, look. Three birds fly around the mast. Yeah, I see him, Kato. He's really by that side. Really by that. Well, I don't know what you mean by that. Mr. Harper, is everything in order? Oh, right, Captain Burgess. We can sail any time you want. How are you, Mrs. Dayrell? Well, I just... Dayrell? Oh, yes, yes, of course. Mr. Harper, even though you're already acquainted with the lady, I'd like to present my wife. Your wife? We were married two weeks ago, Mr. Harper. I'm sailing with you on this trip. Well, that's fine. I'm glad to have you aboard, Mrs. Burgess. I mean, well, it'll be like old times. Old times, Mr. Harper? Well, I mean, all of us together and everything. Well, congratulations to both of you. Thank you, Mr. Harper. Look, I brought Satan along, too. He wouldn't miss this trip for anything. He's right at home. Oh, yes, Satan. Would you like to look over the clearance papers, Captain Burgess? I've got them right here. No, thank you, Mr. Harper. I'll assume they're in order. We'll sail as soon as Mrs. Dayrell... as soon as my wife's trunk comes aboard. Yes, sir. I'll be in the cabin if you want it to be. Kato, would you take Satan and give him something to eat? I think he's hungry. He's busy. I'll take him right now. Come on, kitty. We go five times in a week. Well, Mr. Harper, we're all together again. That's right, Mrs. Burgess. We've even got Satan on board. Yes. All of us accept my husband. Your husband is down in the cabin, Mrs. Burgess. You mean we're all here except Captain Dayrell? Well, once out at sea, things straighten out a little, the way they always do. After a while, we got so we could think of her as Mrs. Burgess instead of Mrs. Dayrell. And after that, it wasn't so awkward. Captain Burgess stayed to himself quite a bit, but all in all, it was a fairly pleasant three weeks. Up until yesterday afternoon, I was standing in the bow, smoking, watching a school of dolphins skip out of the water when Mrs. Burgess came up behind me. Mr. Harper, I wonder if I could speak to you a moment. Of course, Mrs. Burgess. I'm terribly frightened. You're frightened? What about? Is he around anywhere? Is who around? My husband. I don't want him to hear me. What? No, Mrs. Burgess. I can't listen to that. No, please. You're the only one I can turn to. We're all in terrible danger, you know. Danger? What are you talking about? Mr. Harper, do you have any reason to think my husband may be not quite himself? Not quite himself? In what way? Do you think he may be insane? Of course not. Yes, but you don't understand. I understand one thing, Mrs. Burgess. I'd better get back to my duties. I quite agree with you, Mr. Harper. Captain Burgess. I believe you really should stay in the cabin, my dear. It's far too windy for you up here in the bow. Yes. I was just going. I mean, I'm going right now. She has a rather delicate throat, Mr. Harper. Catches cold easily. She used to be a singer, you know. Yes, sir. I know. Oh, yes. Yes, of course you do. But don't pay too much attention to anything my wife might say, Mr. Harper. She's... Well, she's upset. Just don't pay any attention to her. Something was wrong, all right. No question of that. I couldn't figure what. I couldn't think of any terrible danger. It seemed more likely it was Mrs. Burgess who was not quite herself. Well, anyway, the whole business didn't make much sense, so I shrugged it off and forgot about it. For a couple of hours. It was just at dusk. Most of the crew was below decks. I was sitting on the after-hatch, scratching the ears of Satan, the ship's cat. The sun was just dropping past the horizon, and Satan was purring, meowing. Everything was pretty peaceful. Until I heard those voices coming from Captain Burgess, Captain. No, no, really, I didn't. I wouldn't tell anybody, you know. It wasn't a matter of eavesdropping. They'd even forgotten anyone might hear them. You don't know. You're only saying it. I mean it all right. Then you don't care about me. You'll be with him. You can say that when you know about the thing that's here on board with us. It's your imagination. I told you that. Imagination, huh? Is that what you told Harper? Is it? No, no! Answer me! No, let go of me. Look out, Satan. This is what he wants me to do. No, no, no! Captain Burgess. Captain Burgess. Yes, Mr. Harper. What is it? I wondered if you wanted Cato to bring your dinner here to the cabin, sir. No, Mr. Harper. I'll eat at the wheel. Going off now. Tell him to bring it up right away. All right, Captain Burgess. Mr. Harper, listen carefully. You've got to help me. All right. How? Meet me on the afterdeck as soon as it's dark in an hour if I can get away from him. Did you want something else, Mr. Harper? No, sir. Nothing else, Captain. Suppose you go about your duties. But your wife, sir, doesn't she want something to eat? She does not, Mr. Harper. She's indisposed. She does not wish to be disturbed. Is that perfectly clear? Now I was convinced that there was danger aboard the evening star. I had a feeling that something deadly was stirring itself and coming awake below decks. The first night's shadows were bringing a terrible, threatening tenseness. I felt that I ought to scream to keep from laughing. Yet there was nothing to laugh about. I was quite certain that if I hadn't knocked on that door, Captain Burgess would have killed his wife. But why? Well, I hadn't found any sensible answer by the time Kato brought a tray of food to my cabin. Good evening, Mr. Harper. Oh, put it there in the chart table, would you? Thank you, Mr. Harper. How's it look on deck, Kato? Oh, deck. I do not understand you, Mr. Harper. I mean, well, is it dark yet? Oh, it's getting dark soon, I think. And I think tonight is not a good night. What do you mean by that? It's something bad on board ship, Mr. Harper. I don't understand what. I don't see it. I don't hear it. But inside, I sense it all the time, grow bigger. Well, that's your imagination, Kato. Is the imagination bother you, too, Mr. Harper? This morning, three birds fly over ship together. All day, I've been marching since. Again, tonight, three birds fly over ship together. Well, what about it? It's the sign of death, Mr. Harper. Tonight on this ship, somebody die. You all right, something else, maybe? No. No, Kato, that's all. Thank you, Mr. Harper. Good night, please. So, I wasn't the only one on board who was feeling something was wrong. I wondered if Kato knew any more of what was back of it than I did. You couldn't tell by looking at him. You could be busting with joy or scared half to death, and that face of his would never show either one. Anyway, ten minutes later, I was out on the dark fan-tail, watching the moon cast shadows from the rigging. After a while, I heard her calling my name. Mr. Harper. Mr. Harper. Here I am, Ms. Burgess. Oh, thank heaven. Where's the captain? I don't know. He didn't come back to the cap. All right. Now, suppose you tell me what it's all about and talk fast. I don't know what it's about, Mr. Harper, not really. I only know that my husband has gone insane. You told me that earlier. What makes you think so? He tried to kill me. Yes, I know. Why? Because of last night. He came into my cabin and woke me up. He was trembling. Why does a sheep? But why? He said he'd just seen Captain Dayrell on deck. Dayrell? But he's... Yes, he died four months ago. I told him he imagined it. He keeps talking about it. He says Captain Dayrell has come back to punish us. Punish you? For what? Well, but not waiting longer to get married. Oh, you've got to do something. Well, if I use force, Mrs. Burgess, it's the same as mutiny. Yes, but he's insane. He may do anything. Yes, you're right there. I don't know, but what... Wait. Hmm? There by the mast. It's Dayrell. No! There wasn't any doubt about it. The moonlight behind him threw his shadow toward us on the deck. And he had on that tall, peaked cap. And the white muffler he'd always worn when he was alive. He didn't move, didn't say anything. Just stood there, looking at us. No! Please! Mrs. Burgess! No! No! Before I could stop her, Mrs. Burgess turned around for the rail and jumped overboard. No! One of the Kanakas saw her, grabbed a life preserver and went in after him. I ran to the longboat hanging in the davits of the Port Rail. Well, what happened, Mr. Hopper? I don't know. Let's get this boat in the water. Mrs. Burgess is overboard, along with one of the boys. Did you see anything on deck? Oh, what is he? I don't believe... All right, come on. Move. Here. Take the oars. Schooner's not got much steerage away, so they shouldn't be far astern. Come on! Come on! Somebody's shooting on deck! All right, never mind. Keep rowing, will you? We'll find out about it later. We've got to pick up those two before they go under. We didn't find them, though. The shooting on board stopped after a while. We rode around for a half hour or more. We couldn't find a trace of them. Finally, there wasn't anything else to do. So I told the canocker to pull for the schooner. We were about ten yards away from the side when... I looked up at the rail and there stood Dayrell. He didn't say anything. Just stood there. He had a gun in his hand. Dayrell, what are you trying to do? Grab that oar, Joe. We've got to get away from him. We were drifting away from the side of the schooner. I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder with a bullet hit. But the canocker was worse off. The blood was running down over his face from a hole in the center of his forehead. That's when I passed out. When I came to it was broad daylight. The boat was lying. I was lying in and was bumping up against the side of the schooner. Captain Burgess was calling down on me from the rail. Mr. Harper, are you alive? I'm all right, Captain Burgess. It's been a horrible night, Mr. Harper. It's all right now. Can you help me abort, sir? Yes. Can you lift up your arms? Yes, sir. Here. Easy now. Kato. Give me a hand here. Careful now. All right. It's a pretty bad wound. Kind of weak. Guess I lost a lot of blood. Sorry about your wife, sir. We couldn't find her. I know. There's only three of us left alive on board now, Mr. Harper. You and I and Kato here. What happened? You may not believe it. It was Captain Dayrell. Yes, I saw him. Got a hold of the ship's guns and killed the whole crew. Locked me in the cabin while he did. But he's dead, Captain Burgess. We buried him at sea four months ago. No matter. He's come back now, Mr. Harper. It's his ship, the evening star, isn't he? No, it's not possible. A man is dead. I mean, my wife said when I told her I'd seen him. Said I was crazy. I think she knows better now. Maybe we could search the ship. Kato and I went through the daylight this morning. We found nothing. Well, there has to be some explanation. There is. The wicked shall be punished for their sins. What do you mean by that? Nothing, Mr. Harper. Nothing at all. Well, I was his friend. You always thought a lot of Captain Dayrell. You know that, don't you, Mr. Harper? Yes, sir. It's all right now in the daylight. But he'll come back tonight as soon as it's dark. It's only the three of us now to face him, Mr. Harper. Four. Four, if you count Satan. And I'm thinking there's more than one Satan on board this ship. They helped me to the bunk in my cabin and left me there. That was about noon today. I could tell by the look on Captain Burge's face that while it was pretty certain I wasn't going to live. That's why I decided to write this account. Try to set down everything that happened. In a way, this is the real log of the evening star, even if it doesn't make much sense. Anyway, right after sundown, Kato brought me and Atreia food. How do you feel now, Mr. Harper? I guess not too bad, Kato. You like something to eat, maybe? Later, maybe. You can leave it there, huh? Yes, but you eat now. Retta, I think we all dead. Has anything happened yet? He's not dark yet. When he's dark, then he come. Yeah. Where's Captain Burge's? I don't see him. He's hide somewhere, I think. Kato, all those who were killed last night, what happened to their bodies? He's buried in sea. This morning I helped Captain Burge's. You like something else, maybe? No thanks, Kato. Then I go burn much incense, make peace with many gods. For the last time now, I think. Goodbye, Prince. I lit the lamp over the bunk and I lay there for a long time. I don't know how long. I didn't know where Captain Burge's and Kato were and what they were doing. I kept waiting to hear the sound of shooting. Kept lying there, dreading it. And then gradually, I began to realize that somebody was singing on board. Way off. And I knew that voice. I'd heard it somewhere before singing the same song. It was Mrs. Burge's. Mr. Love, would you hear it? I hear it, Captain Burge's. What in the name of heavens going on? She's come back too. She's in there with him now in the cabin. Oh, that's impossible. She drowned last night. She's dead. They're both dead, but they've come back. They're in the cabin now and she's singing for him. She never sang for me, Mr. Harper, but now she's singing for him. Come, Mr. Harper, you've got to help me. I tell you, they're both in the cabin right now. Yes, sir. I don't know if... It's too weak. I forgot. I'll go alone. I'll stop them somehow. I've got to stop them. I pulled myself up in the bunk and I put my feet on the floor. Weak or not, one way or another, I had to get to that cabin. I managed to stagger outside onto the deck. Captain Burge had disappeared somewhere and there was no sign of anything moving there in the moonlight except Satan the Captain came up and rubbed against my ankles. The singing had stopped and the ship was quiet. I made my way forward and finally was looking through the skylight down into the captain's cabin. One lamp was lit. Its light fell on the hunched figure that strode about the cabin. Cap pulled down low, hands sunk in his pockets, all the old familiar gestures. It was Captain Dayrell and he was alone. I crouched there with a skylight shivering from the night wind and from the terror inside of me, watching that awful figure. After a while it walked over and stood beside the phonograph. Then I realized where that voice had come from. Dayrell had always been crazy about his wife's singing and he'd made a lot of records of her voice. He was playing one of them now. The song went on and he paced back and forth. I still couldn't figure it out. And then for just a moment the white muffler fell back from his throat and for the first time I saw Captain Dayrell's face. I'm not sure how I managed to stumble back here to my cabin. I'm writing this now just as rapidly as I can. I may be interrupted at any minute. If that happens, I'll try to slip it behind the map here on the cabin wall in the hopes that it may be... I can hear him coming now. Whoever may read this, please try to get word to my family in San Francisco. Yes? Come in. I thought you might be asleep, Mr. Harper. How could anybody sleep, Captain Burgess, as long as Dayrell's loose on board? Yes, that's true, Mr. Harper. Should have seen him down there in the cabin. And her, too. He was walking up and down as proud as ever. And she was singing for him just like she used to. We should have seen him. I did see him. He never sang for me like that, not at... You saw him? Did he look natural? Just as always? Captain Burgess, it was you I saw dressed up in Dayrell's clothes that were stored in the sea chest there in the cabin. Oh, no, Mr. Harper, you're mistaken. It was his spirit come back to punish us. It was you all the time, you who fired those shots last night. You're insane. That's what she said, too. That's because he told her. Because it's the truth. Now he's been talking to you. He's talked to nobody. He's dead. And you've never seen him except in your own guilty conscience. Just what is that killed Captain Burgess? Did you kill him? Don't, don't! Don't say that, Mr. Harper. I was his friend. I thought a lot of him and Mrs. Dayrell, too. Everybody knew who were friends. Did he tell you that? You're completely mad. Don't say that, Mr. Harper. I've got to save you from him. He talks to you and you're weak and you can't run away. I've got to save you. Captain Burgess, put on that gun. Don't, don't, don't! I've got to save you! I've got to go someplace where he can't find us, Mr. Harper. Go up deck. I'll take you, Mr. Harper. Come on. Don't worry. I'll save you from him. It's his ship. Everything on it. He wants it back. We've got to give it to him, Mr. Harper. Got to let him have it. Got to get off the ship. Captain Burgess, what is happening? It's you, Dayrell! Go away! It's no, Captain Dayrell. It's me, Keto. You can't stop us, Dayrell! I'll show you! No, no! You see, Mr. Harper, I killed him. Dayrell! Now he can't stop us. There he is again. There by the mass. See you, Mr. Harper. He's coming this way. He won't stop. Got to get away. Got to save you, Mr. Harper. Here, here's the rail. I'll help you. There! See? He's gone, Dayrell. Now, there's just me. And I'm going, too. You see, it's all yours now. The evening star just like you wanted it. No, no! Look back! I'm going! I'm going! No! Escape is produced and directed by William N. Robeson. And tonight brought you the Log of the Evening Star by Alfred Noyes. Adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield, with Jack Webb as Harper, Alan Reed as Captain Burgess, Gail Page as Mrs. Burgess, Louis van Rooten as Keto and the Cat, and Petal Kovig as the Conica. Music is conceived and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Next week... When you're tired out from doing nothing all weekend, when Blue Monday stares you in the face, next week at this time, when your problems seem just too much for you, we offer you escape. Next week we bring you another exciting story of high adventure. Good night then until this same time next week, when once again we offer you escape. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.