 Adventures by Morse, Carlton E. Morse presents the land of the living dead featuring Captain Friday. If you like high adventure, come with me. If you like the stealth of entry, come with me. If you like blood and thunder, come with me. Judith English, daughter of the archaeologist Dr. Julian English, is in the hands of the werewolf and the other priests of the brotherhood of the living dead. Led by Tula, enemy priestess, who carried a flaming torch above her head, the procession of enemy agents and Indians swept down the underground passage beneath the La Jolla Monastery toward the stairway to the Sun. Judith was a captive in their midst, held by two gigantic Chakota Indians, their bronze skin shining in the light of the flares. And in a tiny cell just ahead of the jubilant victorious procession were Captain Friday, Skip Turner, Dr. English and Mrs. Santos. We had so far escaped the werewolf and his agents. We were on the point of leaping out and defying the whole procession in hopes of saving Judith, but Mrs. Santos urged us to wait. Alone, she stepped into the passageway hoping to save Judith through the aid of a strange mysticism known only to those familiar with ancient ways and rites of the Chakotas. But as she stepped out, a door suddenly opened, whether it been only the smooth wall of the underground passage. And the procession swept in and Mrs. Santos disappeared with them. And with them too went Judith. All this before our very eyes as we crouched appalled in the darkness of the little cell. We've let him get away quick before the door swing shot. Too late. Did you see him? Two big Indians was carrying Judith. That's Santos woman has tricked us again. I believed in her. She made me believe in her. She must be the devil incarnate. We're not finished yet, Doctor. How could I have trusted her to save Judith? Where's my judgment gone? I don't seem to have any reason of my own. If brands are once and for all as an agent of the living dead. But we can't stand here talking. We've got to do something. We've got to save Judith. All right. Come on. How many flashlights have we among us? They got mine when it put us in the dungeon. And mine? Well, I managed to save one. I'll lead the way. But we'll have to travel in darkness most of the way. They didn't even look for us in the dungeon. I wonder why. You're probably too anxious to get to the sacred city with Judith. I wish I knew who released you, Captain. Hey, you suppose we got a secret ally working for us? Maybe some woman hiding in the monastery? Yeah, but wondering about that myself. Keep close to me, Skip. Say, Doc, have you stopped to figure out our position? With the monastery in the hands of the brotherhood, our retreat is cut off. Ahead lies the sacred city, running over with our enemies. We're completely surrounded. Unless... Unless what, Dr. English? Unless we can find the secret passage indicated on the map that Maya Naib is so anxious to get hold of. Now, you mean the secret passage way into that room full of gold and jewels? Well, that's supposing Mrs. Santos didn't lie to us. Yeah, that's right. That is her story, ain't it? But you do believe in a secret passage, don't you? Yes, I think the doctor's map proves that. Hey, I just thought of something. Do you suppose that secret door that the werewolf and his gang disappeared through leads to the passage Mrs. Santos was talking about? She called it the River of Souls. Behind Joe? Say, that's right. Yeah. Remember, she said she thought the priest would carry Judith to the sacred city by the way of the River of Souls. Come on, let's turn back and work on that door. Don't be a sap, Skip. That door is two feet of solid stone. We'd all have long beards before we could force that door. No, I'm in favor of pushing ahead, climbing the stairway and heading them off in the sacred city itself. Well, if you think that... Hold it. There's something just ahead. Quiet. Hey, what? Who tripped me up? Was that you, Skip? Me. Of course not. What happened? I went down like a ton of bricks. Yeah, broke my flashlight. Now we are in the dark. Who done that? Where'd that laugh come from? Don't move, anyone. It's one of the Jakota vampire bats. We're trapped, Captain. Trapped? But I ask you, Master, have I not done well? Have I not more than fulfilled your orders? The monastery has fallen to us. I have taken a traitor and into your hands I can now deliver the widow of Roberto Santos. You are dirt under the feet of his highness, but enough of this. Kill the traitor. Keep Mr. Santos safe until it is my knife's desire to interview her. Get back to your post. She insists that you see her immediately. Since when has a prisoner... It would be wise to see her. So, why? Because bend your ear closer, Master, because she has knowledge of the map of the secret passage. Oh, then, of course, bring her to me. She is just outside the door. Master, this is Roberto Santos. Tell him to loosen my hands. Are they tied? You call yourself a master, and yet you allow me to be dragged before you, bound like a common thief. Release her. Now what do you want? That which I have sought without a moment's rest these past three years. That which you have sought, Pa, is that all you have to say to me? It is everything to me. But the map, the map of the secret passage, the map now in the possession of that imbecile Dr. English. The map? This wearable dog said you had information concerning the map. I know nothing of the map. He's lying. I heard Dr. English telling her. Silence. Mrs. Santos, you are lying. You deny me what I ask. You think I will tell you anything? Take her to the torture chamber. Shave her head. Tie her to the stone bench. Perhaps when tiny drops of water have beaten down upon a skull for a dozen hours in the darkness, you will talk. My husband died with his lip sealed, master. Take her away. Un momento. Tell me. What is in store for Senorita English? Senorita English? Where is she? You did not know that she too is prisoner of your fellow agent here? There seems to be a lack of cooperation. Is this true, dog? Have you taken the girl? See, I have her. Why have you not said so? Tell me. Or by the God, the Maya naive, I will have you chained on the stairway to the sun. Since when has a master concerned himself with the fate of a woman? I found her. I captured her. She is lying. Miserable fool. Do you not know this girl? Do you not know that out of all the world of women, she has been selected by Maya and I have to sit beside him upon the golden throne? No, no. He cannot be. Maya naive has selected this girl? It is so. This very day she shall enter the sacred city by the river of soul. I will not give her up. You have lived like a cur. Now you shall die like a cur. Oh, bring me away. No, no. It is not much to ask, master, for all the service I have rendered. I ask for but one girl. It is not much. Hand me the whip. No, no, no. I will tell. I will tell. Do not whip my poor body. I will give all. Where is she? In the chamber beneath the stairway to the sun, at the head of the passage to the sacred city. For this rebellion, Maya naive himself will name a suitable torture. Now go. Take the woman to the torture. Come down the stairway. Go ahead and beware a false step. There is a poison spear against your back. Do not make one false move, Mrs. Santos. Miss Sheppendorf, am I? A werewolf. I shall have my revenge. The mad dog will turn on his masters. There is a way. There is a way. You may be rearranged. What are you saying? There is a way. You may be rearranged on your masters. Come. I will show you. But who are you? Who are you? What do you want with me? I am one of the masters from the sacred city of the living dead. I am your friend. But you've kidnapped me. Wait until the monks in the monastery discover that. Oh, the monks have been wiped out in Narita English. The monasteries in the hands of the brotherhood of the living dead. My father and his friends will hunt you down. Your father and his two friends were taken prisoner the same as you. You saw them. They'll find a way. They won't let anything happen to me. Do not be foolish child. And Mrs. Santos. Mrs. Santos will help me. Mrs. Santos is this moment in the torture chamber. She's in the hands of the werewolf. The werewolf? Oh, no. But, Narita English, you should not be unhappy. I have news for you. Splendid news. News? What news? What do you mean? Agents from all over the world have been seeking out for the high priest Maya Naheb, a suitable empress. A woman worthy to sit upon the golden throne in the sacred city beside him. You have been chosen. What are you saying? It is true. Maya Naheb has looked upon you and finds you pleasing. You are to be empress of the world. No, but there must be some mistake. I never, I never seen Maya Naheb, but never. But the high priest has seen you. There is no mistake. You're mad. Insane. You're a murderer. A murderer? All the brothers of the living dead are murderers. You kill, kill. You know nothing else. In three days you plan to murder the civilization of the world. You're all mad, mad. Mad? Who knows? And who can be certain that after all, madness may not be superior intelligence? Please, please let me go. What are you going to do with me? You must be calm, Senorita. Hysteria is not for an empress. What are you doing? Don't, don't look at me like that. Don't, don't. Come now, Senorita English. One would think I had come to do your harm. Instead I bring you the greatest honor that may befall a woman. I don't want to be an empress. I just want to be a girl. You make it very difficult. However I cannot leave you until you understand certain matters in connection with your marriage with Maya Naheb. No. Your preparation for becoming bride of the sun is going to be very tedious business I fear. What preparations? Mentally you are not prepared to enter the sacred city. All this will have to be corrected, changed. I won't change. I don't want to go to your sacred city. I'll kill myself before I marry Maya Naheb. All this has been anticipated. Maya Naheb himself foresaw the impossibility of your ever becoming reconciled to his way of life until, until certain changes have been made in your person. What do you mean? However desirable the physical. Maya Naheb knows that until your mind and soul become the mind and soul of a jicota girl, you cannot afford him the happiness which is his august right. My mind? Are you going to make me mad too? Is that what you're going to do to me? Now, now you will be no more mad than you are at this moment. You will just be taught the jicota way. Go away. Go away. Don't come near me. You must overcome this hysteria, Senorita. You are making my work very difficult. It can be made so simple. What are you going to do? What is it you want of me? I'm going to remove your soul, your mind if you prefer from your body for a time. You mean my brain? You're going to take my brain away from me? Judith has been told her destiny. She has fallen into the hands of one of the masters of the city of the living dead. He has told her she has been selected as the girl who will sit on the golden throne at the right hand of the evil high priest Maya Naheb. Because she rebels the master has just said, I am going to remove your soul, your mind if you prefer from your body for a time. You mean my brain? No, Senorita. Your physical being will not be harmed. No mar, no blemish shall ever come to it. It is the inner person, the soul of which I speak. Oh no. There will be no discomfort to you. In the sacred city there is waiting the body of a young and lovely jicota girl into that body, your soul, your mind. All that gives you individual comprehension will be placed. Why don't you kill me? Let me die. That is very foolish. It will only be a temporary exchange that jicota girl will become you and live here in the cell beneath the stairway to the sun while you will become the jicota girl. You will live the life of a jicota in the sacred city until your mind and soul have become the life and soul of an Indian. Let me die. And when the time shall come, you will be given back this lovely body of yours and I shall lead you to my and I have been placed you by his side upon the throne of gold, empress of the world. Why? Why? Harshanau, Senorita, you must not be frightened. Come. I will show you how very simple it will all be. What are you going to do? Show you something that will ease your mind. Show you what lies in the next room. It will help you to understand what is to happen to you. The childish science of modern civilization would give much to understand what lies beyond this door. Enter. What is it? Where are we? Is it a tomb? No, it is just a room where men rest from this world for a time. Are all these men dead? Here, come closer, Senorita. Look at them. Why? Why, they're Spaniards and they're dressed. Dressed at the conquerors of South America, dressed in the year 1521. See the armor, the swords, the gay dress? They are the conquerors of Chile. But they're all dead. They are as men who have laid themselves down for a rest. They are not dead, Senorita. Not dead. What are you telling me? Men 400 years old, not dead. They are not dead. Their souls, their minds are in the sacred city of the living dead. Is that what's going to happen to me? We keep their bodies here. You mean their minds are in the bodies of the Chikota Indians? That is it exactly. Oh no. You are the first outsider ever to see this wonderful phenomenon, a science which has descended to us from the beginning of time, passed from hand to hand by the Chikota Masters. Please, please take me back to my father. Do not ask the impossible, Senorita English. Come, it is time our task was begun. You will sit here on the stone bench. No, no. What, what are you going to do? Sit down, please. It will do no good to fight against it. My mind is many times stronger than yours. No, no, no, no. I, I won't look at you. I won't look at you. No. You are going to do what I tell you. You are going to do what I ask of you. You are now going to lift up your head. Lift up your head. You are going to look into my eyes, into my eyes. You are going to sit beside my Anaheim on the throne of gold in the city of the sun, Empress of the world. You are going to be Empress of the world. Captain, Captain Friday. Here I am, Skip. Where's Dr. English? Right here, where's Skip? What was that noise, Captain? There's someone in here with us. Sounds like he's over yonder. So, Blaine Dark, you can't see nothing. Moves around as though he had wings. First, he's here, then over there. And not a sound. Not a footstep, stand still. Listen. Captain, there's a cell here. Do I write? Let's shut ourselves in. I don't like this fellow, whatever he is. Yeah, he can't get out of through these iron balls. He's in here with us. Who are you? What do you want? Answer me. Who are you? I'm nameless. Spoke, Captain. It's Spoke. No name. What do you mean by that? Names. What are you doing here? It is my punishment. As long as life remains in me, I am to roam it. So you have eyesight. Can you see in this dark? You see in the sunshine. What do you want with us? Cell, to talk with you, to make you suffer as I have suffered. The man's mad. Perhaps you too will be mad before you leave this place. Oh, what can you do to us? There's three of us against you. I can tell you of the fate that await one nearer and dearer to you. You mean Judith? You can tell us about Judith. Easy, Skip. Thank heavens. Where is she? Where? But first, hear what they are doing to her. What is happening to her this very minute. Oh, tell us. Tell us. Are they torturing her? Do you know what they are doing? They are taking her mind, her soul from her body. They are giving her soul to a Jakota Indian girl. What have I done with these? The Indian girl will wear this white soul, the soul of your daughter, until it is warped and deformed to fit the Jakota cold of life. Oh, I don't believe it. It's a lie. The masters can do strange things with the soul. Take it from a man and send it. Would he please? I've got my revolver trained on you. Open this door, I'll show you. It's he, dear. It's no use, Captain. He has eyes like a cat. Thousands and thousands of men have been brought to these dungeons for their souls, plucked of their souls. Who souls in the city of the living dead? Oh, stop. I don't want to hear any more. Doctor, did you hear that? The river of souls. Mrs. Santos mentioned that. She thought it was the passage to the sacred city. A passage for souls. A passage no one has ever seen. A passage for souls. Poor pitiful souls. Sometimes there are so many that the light of the sun cannot shine through. Surely this is the maddest thing I have ever heard. Yes, but how much of its madness and how much the truth he knows about Judith. And now, now, Doctor English, I'm going to reveal to you the hiding place of your daughter. You're going to let us out of here? When I have finished. But listen, you will find her in the room beneath the stairway to the sun. The room at the head of the underpassage to the sacred city. The underpassage. That must be the passage the werewolf took Judith into. And you will reach it through the torture chamber. Yes. Yes, we've been there. We know where that is. Then hurry, else you will be too late. I give you your freedom. Now, the door's open. Come on, quickly. Hello, where are you? Yeah, he's gone. Vanished. I'm no time to look for him. We've got to find Judith. All right. Up the stairs to the torture chamber. It's about a hundred steps up if I remember. Look out for these skeletons chained to the wall. Don't step on them. Don't think of the dead now. Our object is to get Judith. Now save your breath. Run on your tiptoes. Look, a lighter chamber up ahead. Hey, it's a torture chamber. I recognize it. Not so fast, Skip. Well, there's a light there liable to be guards. Easy now. No noise. See anything, Captain? No. Place is empty. Not a sound but the dripping water. The light we saw is from the burning torch in the wall. There's an opening in the wall on the other side of the room. Yeah, where do I get that torch? We'll need that light. All right. Come on. I'll lead the way. Here's our passage. That madman knew what he was talking about. If we get caught where there's light, we're sunk. There's no way of putting it out quickly. I wonder how far we've got to go. Look ahead. We're running into a coldy sack. A blank wall. Then we've been fooled. Nothing of the kind. There's a door. Supposed to slot. I would soon see about that. It's unlocked. It's a huge stone chamber. Easy now. Here we go. Judith! Judith! Where's she? She isn't here. Oh, we've been tricked. Nothing here. Wait a minute. What's that behind the stone bench? I think it's a body. Well, Captain, they've killed it. They've killed Judith. Shut up, you fool. It's the body of a man. You sure? Look for yourself. Snap out of it now, Skip. Captain, hold your torch over here. Yeah. Look, it's one of the masters. Masters? One of Mayan Nahib's right-hand men. You can tell by his dress. You're stabbed through the heart. And... well, look. It's my sacrificial knife. Your knife, Doctor. Yeah, she is. You remember, Captain, the one I had in San Francisco. Are you certain, Doctor? How did it get here? Well, yeah. I know it's mine. Look, there are my initials on the handle. But what's it doing here? Mrs. Santos saw it while she was in the house. She begged me for it. Said it might be of use to us. That it had as great religious significance. And you gave it to her? Yes. Well, then Mrs. Santos has turned out to be a murderous as well as a traitor. Yes, but what about Judith? We've got to find Judith. The knife carried by Mrs. Santos has slain one of the masters. But where is she now? Where is the werewolf? And above all, where is Judith? Next week at this same hour, you will hear episode eight of The Land of the Living Dead. You are listening to Adventures by Morse.