Suspense.
And the producer of radio's outstanding theater of thrills, the master of mystery and adventure,
William N. Rogerson.
Listen.
Listen, then, to Second Class Passenger, starring Sterling Holloway.
A tale well calculated to keep you in.
Suspense.
That's me, Ronald A. Dawson, Second Class Passenger.
Oh, I could have afforded First Class by pinching a little here and there, but nobody back at
Ralston's department store will ever know.
The important thing is that they'll say Ronald Dawson in Drapery is taking a cruise around
the world.
And then there's really very little difference in the accommodations.
And the Second Class passengers, well, they're every bit as interesting as the First Class
crowd.
Take Miss Patterson, for instance.
You'd look far to find a more charming, likable, altogether desirable young lady.
Just the life of the party.
We'd gotten to be quite good friends by the time our cruise put in at Mozambique, although
the competition was always stiff, I can tell you.
There were times I wished those other two, Jones and Twitchell, had missed a boat somewhere
along the line.
Well, we've still a good couple of hours before we sail.
How about a ride in one of these native carriages, Miss Patterson?
Do you think they'd be clean?
Personally, I doubt it.
Although I don't know if I should care too much now.
That whistle made me so wussy.
It would take a Greek to think up a drink like that.
Or to drink it.
Miss Patterson, you'd kill me.
We might do the fort, you know.
The guidebook says it's a main point of interest.
Let's see, built by the Portuguese in 1600s.
Oh, who cares?
I must say this is a dreary place.
It's not at all like what you'd imagine Mozambique to be.
It's a one-horse town, all right.
Main Street and a couple of alleys.
And so dirty, you'd think they'd do something about it in this day and age.
It would be a relief to get back on board ship and have a nice hot bath.
And real American food instead of that greasy fried octopus we had for lunch at that Greek
place.
Oh, isn't it awful?
Part of the broadening experience of travel.
Yes, I suppose so.
Like that cute idol I bought.
I can't wait to get it back.
Mr. Dawson.
Yes, Miss Patterson?
Where's my idol?
Oh, oh.
I thought Jones had it.
A twitchle.
Oh, not me, old man.
You insisted on carrying it for Miss Patterson, don't you remember?
Oh dear.
I must have ruined it.
Oh dear, I must have left it back at the Greek restaurant.
I'm so sorry.
Oh, I did so want that idol.
Don't you think you could go back for it, Mr. Dawson?
Well, yes, of course, that is.
But I wonder if I'll have time for the boat sale.
Oh, I'm sure you will.
If you hurry.
Certainly, old man.
You got more than an hour yet.
You'll pass, too?
Absolutely.
Well, then I suppose I'll have to.
You're so kind, my dear Mr. Dawson.
Now mind you don't miss the boat.
So I'll try not to.
Well, chances are actually that I'll catch up with you before you've reached the landing
stage.
And we'll wait for you till the very last minute.
Oh, that Jones.
Insisting I had time.
I knew there was time.
But I had no desire to run off after a heavy bronze curio and leave him and Twitchle alone
with Miss Patterson.
She was much too nice a person and they were just simply not her kind of people.
But there was no helping it now.
So I made my way back up the main street toward Lazarus's restaurant where we had had our
indigestible Greek lunch.
Main street of Mozambique looked different now in the quick African twilight.
The little saloons and the sidewalks were filling with men of every nationality and
color.
Many of them wore knives thrust through the belts of their thin white suits.
Knives that looked as sharp as the glances they threw at me.
Oh, I must confess I felt a little strange and unwanted.
Then lounging toward me in the crowd I saw a tall large woman wrapped in a sort of a
sheet thing and her brown face was unveiled.
She had very wide lips and they were painted scarlet.
And from the corner of her mouth bangled a cigarette.
Her eyes were heavily mascaraded and when she looked at me slowly terror seized me.
I was afraid she'd speak to me.
I didn't know what I should do or say but she didn't.
Instead she laughed.
Oh and the way the lotterers responded I was convinced that they were laughing with her
and at me.
Oh, I must say I was relieved to reach the entrance of Ladworth's restaurant.
Good evening sir, a little dinner for the gentlemen?
Oh no, no, no thank you.
Well as a matter of fact I just lunched here today.
Very good, excellent meal.
Thank you sir.
Oh see I left a curio here, probably under the table.
Have you found it?
A curio?
Yeah it's some sort of a brass god I think.
It was wrapped in a newspaper?
Yes, yes we got him right here for you.
Oh that's good.
See I'm in a hurry to get back to the boat.
Oh yes you hurry pretty soon as you're going to rain.
Rain?
There's not a cloud in the sky?
Oh you'll see, every night you're in Mozambique.
Well you ought to know I suppose.
Still I doubt it.
Oh here, buy yourself a cigar.
Oh thank you sir, thank you.
You hurry quick before you're going to rain.
Yeah well don't you worry about me.
I'm not made of sugar you know.
In just a few moments I'd been inside that restaurant, it had grown quite dark.
That sudden nightfall of the tropics.
I looked overhead and clearly saw the stars.
Felt thinking what a bad weather forecast of the Greek was.
I tucked Miss Patterson's silly bronze idol under my arm and started off for the waterfront.
I hadn't gone 200 yards when a large warm drop of rain splattered on the back of my
neck.
Then two more on my head.
Before I could take cover under the arch it was raining like Indiana in April.
And it didn't look like it would let up soon either.
I wondered if there might not be a shorter way to the waterfront.
From the main street and then the long way to the left along the docks.
Surely one of the alleys that turned off to the left would lead me directly to the harbor
and the landing stage.
So I turned into the alley.
Four steps from the main street and I was engulfed in darkness.
Waiting through filth and mud up to my ankles.
But I was certain that I was on the right track so I strode on.
And walked straight into a blank wall.
Well I turned to retrace my steps but I could see no lights anywhere.
I felt along the wall until it gave into another alley.
Well I followed it to another blank wall.
Oh now I knew I was lost.
And now it began to rain in earnest.
I don't know how far I walked through those foul smelly alleys.
I don't know for how long but at last feeling my way through I saw a slid of light.
A horizontal flicker bettening beneath the door.
And I heard voices.
I lifted the bronze idol and stepped on the door with it.
The voices stopped.
What do you want?
Oh I've lost my way.
I went through and through and I don't know where I am.
Please may I come in.
Of course you can come in.
You aren't exactly who we expected but come in, come in.
What is that?
I beg your pardon.
That parcel you are carrying.
Oh it's a souvenir.
It's sort of an idol I think.
A friend of mine left it.
And you, you're a tourist from the cruise boat, eh?
Well yeah, that's right.
How'd you know?
Well this wasn't very difficult.
What are you doing here so late and so wet?
The boat sails soon.
Yeah I know.
I see, see I was trying to take a short cut to the landing stage.
I got lost somehow.
No?
I came ashore with some friends from the second class.
I left them to come back and fetch this idol and well here I am.
Hang on.
Yeah?
Give the young man a chair.
Oh.
Well thank you very much.
But see I must go on as soon as the rain stops.
If you could direct me.
Well it will not stop for a while yet so you may as well wait here.
Yes, we will be able to provide some unscheduled excitement for our second class children's
home as soon as your friends arrive my dear.
Friends?
The police are not my friends.
Well you'll let them to us.
Would you walk about with your knives forever while I take all the risks?
Seven months you have done what you willed.
Untouched.
I bought your freedom for seven months with smiles and love.
You could have talked with the prefect of police again.
Again and again and for what?
Life is not spending money.
One pays for leaving my friend with work.
Sometimes with jail.
I have paid.
Now it is your turn.
You could have helped us once more.
Only once more than we could have been out of this sewer and down the coast of Lorenzo
Market, Cape Town.
No I didn't.
Why didn't you help us once more?
Yes, why?
Always you say once more, once more.
Now there is no more.
You are a sheeppecker defiled in the...
Sir, I beg your pardon sir.
What?
That's no way to speak to a lady.
What?
No, I'm serious.
I am very serious.
I do not like to hear such language used to a lady.
I must ask you to apologize.
What the devil have you got to do with this?
You just came out of the rain from the second class.
Please, please don't fight with him.
There is trouble enough already.
What the devil right has he got to come in here and...
Yesterday you stabbed the Egyptian.
And what of it?
Don't stab this one.
Do you want the police to find you here with a corpse?
A corpse?
What does it matter how the police find us?
We wait for them because we have no choice.
You put them on us.
Well, we should do away with you.
Why do you lie?
Even to yourself.
Why must you hide your own blame behind my skirts?
Great Mother of Heaven, you are neither man nor beast.
You are just...
Don't you dare say that.
Dare?
You are just a thief and a macro.
No one says that to me and lives.
He's got a knife.
Macro, macro.
No, you don't.
Why you should be afraid of me.
You are a thief and a macro.
You are just a thief and a macro.
Why you swine-hole.
Can you stand back or I'll brain you with this idol as I brain him?
You do what?
You think I carry only a knife?
Hey, dog, I have waited for this moment.
He forgot I carry a knife too.
Oh my goodness.
Look what I did to that one with this bronze idol.
It makes a good weapon, your idol.
It was a grand blow.
A king's blow.
Hmm, you cannot help him now.
I've killed a man with this little curio and you've killed another one with your knife.
Blow out the candles.
Now come.
It is not raining so hard.
Shhh, it's the police.
They have come for these two.
What do we do?
There is a door nearby.
We must find it.
Feel along the wall here.
Yes.
Father.
Father, it must be here.
Oh, yes, here it is.
Push, push it in.
It won't budge.
It's bolted from the inside.
You must push it in.
It is the only way.
Oh, yeah.
Look, would you hold this idol for me?
I have it.
Right, now.
Not yet.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Hit it down.
Not yet.
Hit it again.
It's giving, I think.
Once more.
Good, my friend, my great strong friend.
Up these stairs now, quickly.
Where are we going now?
To the roof.
The rain has stopped.
Yeah.
The stars are coming out.
There is your ship out in the harbor.
Oh, I must get to it.
You hear them?
We are not safe yet.
Over to the wall, to the next roof.
Hurry.
Now, over the next parapet.
Right.
Up you go.
Come up quietly.
What's that down there?
A tent?
Yes.
People are asleep.
You must walk like a cat.
Who are they?
Who knows?
If they see us, they will think you have come after their woman.
Oh, but, no, see, I could say that...
There would be nothing to say.
Shh, shh.
Someone is calling out of the tent.
And he's coming this way?
Yes.
Why hasn't he seen us?
His eyes are clouded with sleep, perhaps.
And if he sees us?
It will be too late.
Then he won't.
There, and there.
I guess that took the fight out of him.
Take this, my little knife.
Just a prick, and he is quite safe.
Oh, no, no, see, he's quiet enough now.
He won't harm us.
I really did him in, didn't I?
It was splendid.
We don't need a bare hands to take an armed man.
Armed?
I didn't know he was armed.
Of course, that you may always be sure.
Look, there in his loincloth.
A dagger?
Yes.
You are truly magnificent, my friend.
You are a man.
You are a woman.
Of course, I don't expect you to believe any of this.
Looking back, I'm still unsure it really happened to me.
It's as though I dreamed it.
Perhaps I did.
No, that's nonsense.
See, for there's the scar on my lower lip here,
where she bit me.
I didn't feel a thing at the time.
But there's the scar.
It was mad, I know, but I guess I just must have surrendered
completely to the wild spirit of the African coast.
I didn't seem to see the great ship anymore
lying out there in the harbor,
her lights blinking on the comforts of civilization
and the second class.
No, all my senses were focused on the slim,
breathtaking figure leading me across the rooftops
to a shadowy destination in which only one thing was certain.
She would be there.
I suppose in that moment, armed only with that bronze idol,
I was invincible.
At last she led me down a creaking wooden stair
that hung precariously on the sheer side of a house,
and once more we were in the mud of a gloomy alley.
Even the way she slid her arm along mine,
softly grasped my hand,
filled me with greater power than I had ever known.
Hand in hand we made our way down the alley
and out into a little square
where a night breeze rustled in the palms
and smelled of the sea,
and across the way a dim light showed through a big open door.
The little church of San Sebastian.
Oh, but un penteas que vayas.
The police.
After all this.
No vayas fugir.
Uh, que que vocia quer?
Yo tengo tem para levar vocia.
Por que?
Vengo conmigo.
Capitão, nao outra maneira de sair?
No, vocia esta preso.
So what's the matter with him?
What's he want?
He says he won't let me go.
Oh, he won't, won't he?
What's he want you for?
Oh, my friend, these little policemen,
they always arrest me when they get a chance.
It is tiresome.
No faz mais. Vamos.
Listen, copper, you scram, see?
Take it on the lamb.
Take a powder.
Look, look, look, another word out of you.
Look, look, I said scram.
Run, run before he can get to his feet.
No, not that way.
To the church, to San Torello.
My magnificent one.
You feel no one.
You fight for me.
So long as there is anyone to fight.
Yes.
Now there will always be someone to fight.
They will never leave us alone.
Will they follow us in here?
These police might do anything.
But I know one door.
They will not dare follow us through.
Where is that?
Come, this way.
Here.
This door.
Let me wrap my skirts close.
Now, come cleanly through the middle.
Do not, please do not rub the walls as you come.
There.
There.
There.
There.
We are safe for a while.
They will not follow us through that door.
Why not?
It was the door of the lepers.
The door of the lepers?
It is all right.
We did not touch the portal.
See, down the alley are the lights of the waterfront.
Yeah.
Where do we go now?
We have a little time now to breathe the clean air of the harbor.
And then I know a little place where we...
Shh, someone is coming.
Step back in the shadow until they have passed.
There is something at the range door.
Listen, what is it?
Certainly was something to write home about.
I wonder what's happened to good old Dos.
Bridge, no doubt.
Oh, I do hope he's found my idol.
Oh, the idol.
I must return the idol.
No, don't.
My friend, this is the greatest danger of all.
Goodbye.
Don't go.
Magnificent one, don't go.
Goodbye.
Hello there.
Why, here's Mr. Dawson.
Well, I guess I got here before you, it seems.
Did you find the idol?
Yes, but for a moment there I was afraid I would miss the boat.
I say, old man, you're a bit disheveled.
I got caught in the rain.
And my idol, Mr. Dawson, you got it all dirty.
Yes, it is a bit must, I'm afraid.
I dropped it once or twice.
Well, that was clumsy of you.
Well, nothing that a little soap and water won't put to rights, I dare say.
Well, we'd better hurry along.
I'd hate to have to spend any more time in this dreadful place.
And so should I.
Well, there's the whistle.
Last warning.
Come on, everybody.
Yes, come on, Dawson.
We'll miss the boat.
Yo, yo, in just a moment.
I say, who's that standing over there in the shadow of that alley?
Where?
There.
I could have sworn I saw someone wave goodbye to you.
Perhaps you did.
Goodbye to Mozambique.
To adventure.
To romance.
Oh, that's good.
That's very good.
Adventure.
Romance.
In this pest hole.
Twitchell, what would you say if I told you I just killed a man?
Fled over the rooftops of the city.
Made love to a beautiful woman.
Fought the police.
Escaped through the left of the gate.
I'd say you had the wildest imagination.
I never heard of it.
Nothing like that ever happens to a second class passenger.
Come on, Mr. Dawson.
We'll miss the boat.
Suspense.
In which Sterling Holloway starred in Second Class Passenger,
adapted by William and Robeson from the story by Percival Gibbon.
Listen.
Listen again next week when we return with another tale
well calculated to keep you in...
Suspense.