WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.000 Suspense. 00:01.000 --> 00:28.480 This is the man in black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense. 00:28.480 --> 00:34.040 From Hollywood, we bring you as star, Mr. Orson Welles, who this evening begins a four-week 00:34.040 --> 00:37.560 engagement as guest of these proceedings. 00:37.560 --> 00:42.440 In the interest of crime suspense, Mr. Welles and the producer of this series have scheduled 00:42.440 --> 00:48.520 four radio stories which they feel are particularly distinguished in our chosen field. 00:48.520 --> 00:53.560 The first of these is The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Garnel. 00:53.560 --> 00:57.840 And so with the performance of Orson Welles and the character of General Zoroff and Keenan 00:57.840 --> 01:04.280 Wynn as Sanger Rainsford, who learned from Zoroff what was the most dangerous game, we 01:04.280 --> 01:08.280 again hope to keep you in suspense. 01:08.280 --> 01:25.600 I haven't much time. 01:25.600 --> 01:29.320 Any moment now he may come in and when he does, I'm going to kill him. 01:29.320 --> 01:30.320 It's him or me. 01:30.320 --> 01:33.480 And I'm going to do my best to make it him. 01:33.480 --> 01:35.400 Or maybe it sounds crazy to you. 01:35.400 --> 01:36.400 I guess it does. 01:36.400 --> 01:41.200 It would have sounded crazy to me a few days ago when I was with Whitney on the yacht. 01:41.200 --> 01:42.880 I was on a pleasure trip. 01:42.880 --> 01:44.640 A pleasure trip. 01:44.640 --> 01:50.280 How were I, how could I, or anyone realize then the horror and torment I was to go through. 01:50.280 --> 01:55.000 How was I to know of Yvonne and the death swamp and the hounds? 01:55.000 --> 01:56.000 How was I to know of Zoroff? 01:56.000 --> 01:57.000 Think of it. 01:57.000 --> 02:02.720 It was only four nights ago that the ship went down. 02:02.720 --> 02:06.360 We'd been talking about this island, Ship Trap Island with Whitney, said it was called on 02:06.360 --> 02:07.360 the charts. 02:07.360 --> 02:10.760 I was sleepy and started on down below to turn in. 02:10.760 --> 02:14.080 I was mixing myself a nightcap when I looked up and saw it. 02:14.080 --> 02:16.520 A tremendous reef racing at us out of the fog. 02:16.520 --> 02:18.520 I screamed out a warning, but it was too late. 02:18.520 --> 02:19.520 We were right upon it. 02:19.520 --> 02:43.520 The ship exploded right on top of Whitney and members of the crew. 02:43.520 --> 02:46.920 I alone was standing safe out on the prow, but the force of the explosion hurled me into 02:46.920 --> 02:47.920 the blood-warm waters. 02:47.920 --> 02:52.160 Terrified at the suddenness and surprise, my stomach weakened sick at the thought of the 02:52.160 --> 02:53.160 others. 02:53.160 --> 02:56.800 The sea was eddying furiously around the sinking remnants of the ship. 02:56.800 --> 03:01.400 And a certain cool headiness came to me and made me swim desperately away, or I might 03:01.400 --> 03:04.640 not have lived to go through the horror which was soon to come. 03:04.640 --> 03:07.640 I struck out to the right in the direction of the island about which Whitney had been 03:07.640 --> 03:08.640 telling me. 03:08.640 --> 03:13.640 I had no recollection of how long I swam, but all at once I heard the muttering and growling 03:13.640 --> 03:14.640 of the sea breaking on the rocky shore. 03:14.640 --> 03:21.640 With my remaining strength, I dragged myself from the swirling waters. 03:21.640 --> 03:25.840 All in, gasping, my hands raw, I at last reached a flat place at the top. 03:25.840 --> 03:30.840 I flung myself down at the jungle edge and tumbled headlong into the deepest sleep of 03:30.840 --> 03:31.840 my life. 03:31.840 --> 03:43.840 When I awoke, I was in a strange place, having no idea how I had done it. 03:43.840 --> 03:48.120 Well, Yvonne, our friend seems to be awakening. 03:48.120 --> 03:51.800 Where is this? 03:51.800 --> 03:52.800 Where am I? 03:52.800 --> 03:55.200 Do not be alarmed, my friend. 03:55.200 --> 04:03.600 My man Yvonne found you out on the cliff and brought you here to be taken care of. 04:03.600 --> 04:04.920 Thank God there's life on this island. 04:04.920 --> 04:06.920 I hardly believed. 04:06.920 --> 04:07.920 Few people do. 04:07.920 --> 04:12.000 Yes, you are quite safe here in my castle, Mr. 04:12.000 --> 04:13.000 Rainsford. 04:13.000 --> 04:15.440 I'm Sanger Rainsford of New York. 04:15.440 --> 04:16.440 Rainsford. 04:16.440 --> 04:17.440 Sanger Rainsford? 04:17.440 --> 04:18.440 Yes. 04:18.440 --> 04:27.320 Well, it is indeed a very great pleasure and honor to welcome you, Mr. Sanger Rainsford. 04:27.320 --> 04:29.760 You're the celebrated hunter, are you not? 04:29.760 --> 04:30.760 Yes, yes. 04:30.760 --> 04:31.760 You know me? 04:31.760 --> 04:34.200 By reputation only. 04:34.200 --> 04:38.240 I've read your book about hunting snow leopards in Tibet, you see. 04:38.240 --> 04:39.960 My name is General Zaroff. 04:39.960 --> 04:43.120 I am not English, Mr. Rainsford, but I went to a good school. 04:43.120 --> 04:45.240 Perhaps you recognize the colors of my tie. 04:45.240 --> 04:47.400 No, it makes no difference. 04:47.400 --> 04:50.600 I've lived too long in the jungle to be a snob. 04:50.600 --> 04:51.600 Well, I... 04:51.600 --> 04:52.600 Well... 04:52.600 --> 04:55.240 I can't tell you how happy I am to meet you, General. 04:55.240 --> 04:58.840 And I can't tell you how happy I am to meet you, Mr. Rainsford. 04:58.840 --> 05:00.920 But come, we shouldn't be chatting here. 05:00.920 --> 05:01.920 We can talk later. 05:01.920 --> 05:02.920 You must be hungry. 05:02.920 --> 05:03.920 Yes, I am rather. 05:03.920 --> 05:04.920 What? 05:04.920 --> 05:10.120 Ivan thought you'd like a robe, he's drying your clothes for you. 05:10.120 --> 05:11.120 Oh, thank you. 05:11.120 --> 05:13.640 Ivan is an incredibly strong fellow, but you mustn't mind his looks. 05:13.640 --> 05:17.640 His ears were cut off in battle, and he has the misfortune to be deaf and dumb. 05:17.640 --> 05:19.400 He is sensitive about his appearance. 05:19.400 --> 05:24.520 A simple fellow, really, but I'm afraid a bit savage. 05:24.520 --> 05:26.520 He's been in our family for years. 05:26.520 --> 05:29.240 Follow Ivan, if you please, Mr. Rainsford. 05:29.240 --> 05:31.880 I was about to have my luncheon just before you awoke. 05:31.880 --> 05:35.120 We can have it together now. 05:35.120 --> 05:36.560 Does the robe fit you all right? 05:36.560 --> 05:37.960 Oh, yes, yes, perfectly, thanks. 05:37.960 --> 05:38.960 I am so glad. 05:38.960 --> 05:41.520 You have quite a collection of heads here. 05:41.520 --> 05:44.920 Lions, tigers, elephants, moose, bears. 05:44.920 --> 05:47.280 I don't believe I've ever seen a more perfect specimen. 05:47.280 --> 05:48.280 They are nice. 05:48.280 --> 05:49.280 I take great pride in them. 05:49.280 --> 05:51.000 You have good cause. 05:51.000 --> 05:53.160 Coming from you, Mr. Rainsford, that is a great compliment. 05:53.160 --> 05:54.160 And here we are. 05:54.160 --> 05:55.160 You sit over there. 05:55.160 --> 05:56.160 Thank you. 05:56.160 --> 05:57.160 Mr. Tor, Ivan. 05:57.160 --> 06:02.880 We do our best to preserve the amenities of civilization here. 06:02.880 --> 06:03.880 Please forgive my in lapses. 06:03.880 --> 06:04.880 Of course. 06:04.880 --> 06:05.880 Yes. 06:05.880 --> 06:08.880 Well off the beaten track, you know. 06:08.880 --> 06:10.880 Shoo, shoo. 06:10.880 --> 06:12.880 Shoo, shoo. 06:12.880 --> 06:14.880 Shoo, shoo. 06:14.880 --> 06:19.160 This is my little pet, Mr. Rainsford. 06:19.160 --> 06:23.880 As a hunting falcon, Shoo, Shoo is of no further usefulness in the field. 06:23.880 --> 06:26.160 But I am fond of its company. 06:26.160 --> 06:29.160 Am I not, little sweetheart? 06:29.160 --> 06:31.480 Patience, my darling. 06:31.480 --> 06:34.000 I know you're hungry, my dear. 06:34.000 --> 06:35.000 We hunt tonight. 06:35.000 --> 06:39.680 Your, uh, your head's a really remarkable general. 06:39.680 --> 06:42.840 That, uh, that Cape Buffalo is the largest I've ever seen. 06:42.840 --> 06:44.800 Ah, that fellow, he's a monster. 06:44.800 --> 06:45.800 Did he charge you? 06:45.800 --> 06:49.600 Hurled me against a tree, fractured my skull, left me the scar. 06:49.600 --> 06:50.600 And I got the brute. 06:50.600 --> 06:55.120 I've, uh, I've always thought the Cape Buffalo is the most dangerous of all games. 06:55.120 --> 06:57.320 Ah, no, no, you're wrong. 06:57.320 --> 06:59.200 Wrong, sir. 06:59.200 --> 07:03.080 The Cape Buffalo is not the most dangerous game. 07:03.080 --> 07:05.160 Yvonne, the wine. 07:05.160 --> 07:06.960 Oh, no, oh. 07:06.960 --> 07:07.960 How does he understand you? 07:07.960 --> 07:08.960 He reads my lips. 07:08.960 --> 07:13.560 If you like the champagne, Mr. Rainsford, Yvonne chills it expertly. 07:13.560 --> 07:20.200 Uh, no, no, the, the Cape Buffalo is not the most dangerous game. 07:20.200 --> 07:24.840 Here in my preserve on this island, I hunt more dangerous games. 07:24.840 --> 07:27.640 Oh, what is there a big game on this island? 07:27.640 --> 07:28.640 The biggest. 07:28.640 --> 07:29.640 Really? 07:29.640 --> 07:33.120 Oh, it isn't here naturally, of course. 07:33.120 --> 07:34.600 I have to stock the island. 07:34.600 --> 07:36.600 Uh, what have you imported, General? 07:36.600 --> 07:37.600 Uh, jaguars? 07:37.600 --> 07:38.600 Jaguars. 07:38.600 --> 07:39.920 I hope you like filling me in, Mr. Rainsford. 07:39.920 --> 07:40.920 I do very much. 07:40.920 --> 07:41.920 Thank you. 07:41.920 --> 07:42.920 Uh, is it jaguars, General? 07:42.920 --> 07:44.680 No, no, no, no. 07:44.680 --> 07:48.040 Hunting jaguars ceased to interest me some years ago. 07:48.040 --> 07:50.040 I exhausted their possibilities. 07:50.040 --> 07:54.440 You see, I, there's no thrill left in jaguars. 07:54.440 --> 07:57.320 You understand, no real danger. 07:57.320 --> 07:59.520 I live for danger, Mr. Rainsford. 07:59.520 --> 08:02.800 Well, you will have some capital hunting. 08:02.800 --> 08:03.800 You and I. 08:03.800 --> 08:06.120 I shall be most glad to have your company. 08:06.120 --> 08:07.120 Yes, but what can you? 08:07.120 --> 08:08.120 I'll bet you you'll be amused. 08:08.120 --> 08:09.120 I know. 08:09.120 --> 08:11.760 I think you may say in all modesty that I've done a rare thing. 08:11.760 --> 08:14.680 Yes, I've invented a new sensation. 08:14.680 --> 08:18.840 May I pour you another glass of champagne, Mr. Rainsford? 08:18.840 --> 08:19.840 Thank you, General. 08:19.840 --> 08:21.480 God makes some men poets. 08:21.480 --> 08:22.760 Some he makes kings. 08:22.760 --> 08:23.760 Some beggars. 08:23.760 --> 08:25.580 But I've inevitable made a hunter. 08:25.580 --> 08:27.560 My hand was made for the trigger. 08:27.560 --> 08:31.500 My father once said that, made for the trigger. 08:31.500 --> 08:35.600 My whole life has been one prolonged hunt. 08:35.600 --> 08:38.240 I've hunted every kind of game in every land. 08:38.240 --> 08:42.480 It'd be impossible for me to tell you how many animals I've killed, grizzlies, and 08:42.480 --> 08:43.480 yore ungefo. 08:43.480 --> 08:45.880 Crocodiles and the Ganges, rhinoceroses in the East Africa. 08:45.880 --> 08:50.540 Listen, Africa, the way that Cape Buffalo hit me and made me up for six months. 08:50.540 --> 08:53.840 As soon as I recovered, I started to the Amazon to hunt jaguars, 08:53.840 --> 08:56.140 but I'd heard they were unusually cunning. 08:58.140 --> 08:58.940 They weren't. 09:00.340 --> 09:03.540 They were no match at all for a hunter with his wits about him, 09:03.840 --> 09:04.940 the high-powered rifle. 09:06.240 --> 09:07.740 I was bitterly disappointed. 09:09.040 --> 09:11.940 Lying in my tent with a splitting headache one night, 09:12.640 --> 09:15.040 a terrible thought pushed its way into my head. 09:16.240 --> 09:18.540 Hunting was beginning to bore me. 09:18.540 --> 09:20.540 And hunting, remember, had been my life. 09:22.040 --> 09:24.740 I've heard that in America, businessmen often go to pieces 09:24.740 --> 09:27.240 when they give up the business that's been their life. 09:27.240 --> 09:28.540 Yes, yes, I think so. 09:29.040 --> 09:31.040 I had no wish to go to pieces. 09:33.240 --> 09:35.040 I must do something. 09:35.840 --> 09:38.340 Now, mine is an analytical mind, Mr. Rainsford. 09:39.240 --> 09:43.040 Doubtless, that is why I enjoy the problems of the chase. 09:43.040 --> 09:44.040 Oh, no doubt, General. 09:44.040 --> 09:47.040 So I ask myself why the hunt no longer fascinated me. 09:47.040 --> 09:49.040 You are much younger than I am, Mr. Rainsford, 09:49.040 --> 09:52.040 and have not hunted as much, but you perhaps can guess the answer. 09:52.040 --> 09:52.540 What is it? 09:52.540 --> 09:53.540 Simply this. 09:54.040 --> 09:57.040 Hunting had ceased to be what you call a sporting proposition, 09:57.040 --> 09:58.540 as it had become too easy. 09:59.040 --> 10:00.540 I always got my quarry. 10:01.040 --> 10:02.040 Always. 10:02.540 --> 10:05.040 There's no greater bore than perfection. 10:05.040 --> 10:05.540 Cigarette? 10:05.540 --> 10:06.040 No, thank you. 10:06.040 --> 10:08.040 No animal had a chance with me anymore. 10:08.540 --> 10:10.040 Not a chance. 10:10.540 --> 10:12.040 That is no boast. 10:12.540 --> 10:14.540 It is a mathematical certainty. 10:14.540 --> 10:17.040 The animal had nothing but his legs and his instinct. 10:17.540 --> 10:20.040 Instinct is no match for reason. 10:20.540 --> 10:22.040 When I thought of this, 10:22.540 --> 10:25.540 it was a tragic moment for me, I can tell you. 10:26.540 --> 10:28.540 It came to me as an inspiration. 10:29.040 --> 10:30.040 What I must do. 10:30.040 --> 10:31.040 And that was? 10:32.540 --> 10:36.540 I had to invent a new animal to hunt. 10:36.540 --> 10:37.540 A new animal? 10:37.540 --> 10:38.540 Are you joking? 10:38.540 --> 10:39.540 Not at all. 10:40.540 --> 10:42.540 I never joke about hunting. 10:42.540 --> 10:44.040 I needed a new animal. 10:44.040 --> 10:45.040 I found one. 10:46.540 --> 10:48.540 So I bought this island, built this castle, 10:48.540 --> 10:50.040 and here I do my hunting. 10:50.540 --> 10:52.040 The island's perfect for my purposes. 10:52.040 --> 10:54.540 There are jungles, the maze of trails in them, 10:54.540 --> 10:56.040 hills, swamps, all kind of... 10:56.040 --> 10:57.040 Yes, but the animal... 10:57.040 --> 10:58.040 The animal, General Zahra... 10:58.040 --> 11:02.040 It surprised me with the most exciting hunting in the world. 11:03.540 --> 11:06.540 No other hunting compares with it for an instant. 11:07.040 --> 11:08.540 Every day I hunt. 11:08.540 --> 11:10.540 I never grow a tree. 11:10.540 --> 11:14.040 I hunt. I never grow bored now. 11:15.040 --> 11:18.040 For I have a quarry with which I can match my wits. 11:18.040 --> 11:19.040 Yes, but you still haven't... 11:19.040 --> 11:21.540 I wanted the ideal animal to hunt, so I said, 11:21.540 --> 11:24.540 what are the attributes of an ideal quarry? 11:25.540 --> 11:27.540 And the answer was, of course, 11:28.040 --> 11:31.040 it must have courage, cunning, 11:31.540 --> 11:33.040 and above all, 11:34.040 --> 11:36.040 it must be able to reason. 11:36.540 --> 11:38.040 Well, no animal to reason. 11:38.040 --> 11:39.040 I never... 11:39.040 --> 11:41.040 There is one that can. 11:41.040 --> 11:43.040 One? 11:43.040 --> 11:45.040 But you can't mean... 11:46.040 --> 11:48.040 And why not? 11:48.040 --> 11:51.040 Well, I... I can't believe you're serious, General Zorov. 11:51.040 --> 11:52.040 You're just joking. 11:52.040 --> 11:53.040 Joking? 11:53.040 --> 11:55.040 I'm quite serious. 11:55.040 --> 11:57.040 Speaking about hunting. 11:57.040 --> 11:59.040 Hunting? You're speaking about murder. 11:59.040 --> 12:01.040 Oh, dear me, that unpleasant word. 12:02.040 --> 12:05.040 I think I can show you that your scruples are quite ill-founded. 12:05.040 --> 12:06.040 Yes? 12:06.040 --> 12:08.040 I hunt the scum of the earth. 12:08.040 --> 12:12.040 Sailors from tramp ships, laskas, japs, mongrels, 12:12.040 --> 12:16.040 a thoroughbred horse, a hound is worth more than a squirrel. 12:16.040 --> 12:17.040 But these are men. 12:17.040 --> 12:20.040 Precisely. That is why I use them. 12:21.040 --> 12:23.040 It gives me pleasure. 12:24.040 --> 12:28.040 They can reason after a fashion, so they are dangerous. 12:28.040 --> 12:30.040 But where do you get them? 12:30.040 --> 12:33.040 You visit my training school. It is in the cellar. 12:34.040 --> 12:36.040 I have about a dozen pupils down there now. 12:36.040 --> 12:38.040 They're from the Spanish box Sanlucar, 12:38.040 --> 12:41.040 that had the bad luck to go with the rocks out there. 12:41.040 --> 12:44.040 Very inferior lot, I regret to say. 12:44.040 --> 12:47.040 Poor specimens, more accustomed to the deck than to the jungle. 12:47.040 --> 12:49.040 Another glass of minol. 12:49.040 --> 12:51.040 It's a game, you see. 12:51.040 --> 12:56.040 Sort of game. I suggest to one of them that we go hunting. 12:56.040 --> 13:01.040 I give him a supply of food and an excellent hunting knife. 13:01.040 --> 13:04.040 I give him three hours' start, time to follow, 13:04.040 --> 13:08.040 armed only with a pistol of the smallest caliber and range. 13:08.040 --> 13:14.040 If my quarry eludes me for three whole days, he wins the game. 13:15.040 --> 13:20.040 If I find him, he loses. 13:21.040 --> 13:23.040 Suppose he refuses to be hunted. 13:23.040 --> 13:26.040 I give him his choice, of course. 13:26.040 --> 13:30.040 He need not play that game if he does not wish to. 13:30.040 --> 13:34.040 If he does not wish to hunt, I turn him over to Ivan. 13:35.040 --> 13:40.040 Ivan once had the honor of serving as official knouter to my old king, 13:40.040 --> 13:43.040 and he has his own ideas of sport. 13:43.040 --> 13:49.040 Invariably, Mr. Rainsford, invariably they choose the hunt. 13:49.040 --> 13:51.040 And if they win? 13:52.040 --> 13:55.040 To date, I have not lost. 13:55.040 --> 14:00.040 I do not wish you to think me a braggart, Mr. Rainsford. 14:00.040 --> 14:05.040 Many of them afford only the most elementary sort of problem, I assure you. 14:05.040 --> 14:09.040 Occasionally I strike a tartar. 14:09.040 --> 14:14.040 So, so remembers the tartar, don't you doubt me? 14:15.040 --> 14:18.040 Yes, he almost did win. 14:19.040 --> 14:22.040 I eventually had to use the hounds. 14:22.040 --> 14:26.040 You see? Wait a moment, I'll open the window. 14:27.040 --> 14:29.040 Hello, boys! 14:35.040 --> 14:37.040 Rather good lot, I think. 14:37.040 --> 14:39.040 They're let out at seven every night. 14:39.040 --> 14:42.040 If anyone should try to get into my castle or out of it, 14:42.040 --> 14:45.040 something extremely regrettable to curtail. 14:46.040 --> 14:47.040 But enough of this, come on. 14:47.040 --> 14:52.040 I'll show you a collection of heads I'm quite sure you've never seen before. 14:52.040 --> 14:54.040 Join me in the library for coffee. 14:54.040 --> 14:57.040 I hope that you will excuse me tonight, General. 14:57.040 --> 14:59.040 I'm really not feeling well at all. 14:59.040 --> 15:03.040 Indeed. I know what it is, my old complaint. 15:03.040 --> 15:06.040 On you, you boredom, you need some excitement. 15:06.040 --> 15:09.040 Tonight we'll hunt. 15:09.040 --> 15:13.040 Hey, Mr. Rainsford, you and I. 15:13.040 --> 15:16.040 You're wrong, General. I won't hunt, I won't murder. 15:16.040 --> 15:18.040 As you wish, my friend. 15:19.040 --> 15:22.040 The choice rests entirely with you. 15:22.040 --> 15:26.040 But may I not venture to suggest that you will find my idea of sport 15:26.040 --> 15:29.040 more diverting than Ivan's? 15:31.040 --> 15:32.040 You... 15:32.040 --> 15:33.040 My dear fellow. 15:33.040 --> 15:36.040 You don't mean that you plan to hunt me. 15:37.040 --> 15:42.040 My dear fellow, have I not told you, 15:42.040 --> 15:46.040 I always mean what I say about hunting. 15:47.040 --> 15:49.040 This is really an inspiration. 15:50.040 --> 15:54.040 I drink to a fulmin worthy of my steel at last. 15:54.040 --> 15:57.040 I simply can't believe it. 15:57.040 --> 15:59.040 This must be some sort of dream. 15:59.040 --> 16:02.040 You'll find the game worse playing, Mr. Rainsford. 16:02.040 --> 16:05.040 Think of it, your brain against mine, your woodcraft against mine, 16:05.040 --> 16:09.040 your strength, your stamina against mine, outdoor chess. 16:09.040 --> 16:13.040 And the stake is not without value, eh? 16:13.040 --> 16:14.040 And if I win... 16:14.040 --> 16:16.040 I'll cheerfully acknowledge myself defeated 16:16.040 --> 16:18.040 if I do not find you by midnight of the third day. 16:18.040 --> 16:21.040 My sloop will place you on the mainland nearer town. 16:21.040 --> 16:23.040 You can trust me. 16:23.040 --> 16:26.040 I'll give you my word as a gentleman and a sportsman. 16:27.040 --> 16:30.040 Of course, you in turn must agree to say nothing of your visit here. 16:30.040 --> 16:32.040 I will agree to nothing of the kind. 16:33.040 --> 16:34.040 Oh. 16:35.040 --> 16:37.040 Well, in that case. 16:37.040 --> 16:39.040 But why discuss that now? 16:39.040 --> 16:43.040 Three days hence we can discuss it over a bottle of Ouvrie Coe, unless... 16:45.040 --> 16:48.040 Well, your choice, Mr. Rainsford. 16:48.040 --> 16:50.040 I'm a hunter. You know my choice. 16:50.040 --> 16:53.040 Ilan here will supply you with hunting clothes, food and knife. 16:53.040 --> 16:56.040 I'd suggest you wear moccasins. They leave a poorer trail. 16:56.040 --> 17:00.040 I'd suggest too that you avoid the big swamp in the southeast corner of the island. 17:00.040 --> 17:02.040 We call it Death Swamp. 17:02.040 --> 17:04.040 This quicksand there. 17:04.040 --> 17:07.040 Well, I must beg you to excuse me now. 17:07.040 --> 17:10.040 We always take our siesta after our lunch. 17:10.040 --> 17:12.040 Don't we, Shoo Shoo? 17:14.040 --> 17:18.040 My little pet. You'll hardly have time for a nap, I fear, Mr. Rainsford. 17:18.040 --> 17:21.040 You'll want a start, of course. 17:22.040 --> 17:24.040 I shall not follow through dusk. 17:25.040 --> 17:29.040 Hunting at night is so much more exciting than by day, don't you think? 17:29.040 --> 17:33.040 Well, au revoir, Mr. Rainsford. 17:34.040 --> 17:36.040 Au revoir. 17:48.040 --> 17:52.040 I'd fought my way through the bush for two hours, repeating to myself over and over again, 17:52.040 --> 17:55.040 I must keep my nerve, I must keep my nerve. 17:55.040 --> 17:58.040 My whole idea at first was to put distance between the two of you. 17:58.040 --> 18:04.040 And at this end I had plunged along through the thicket spurred on by the sharp rowls of something very much like panic. 18:04.040 --> 18:06.040 Now I had got a grip on myself. 18:06.040 --> 18:09.040 I'd stopped. I was taking stock of the situation. 18:09.040 --> 18:11.040 I saw that straight flight was futile. 18:11.040 --> 18:15.040 Inevitably it would bring me face to face with the sea. 18:15.040 --> 18:17.040 Well, I'll give him a trail, I murdered. 18:17.040 --> 18:21.040 And I struck off from the rude path I had been following and into the trackless wilderness. 18:21.040 --> 18:24.040 I made a series of intricate loops. I doubled back on my trail again and again, 18:24.040 --> 18:28.040 recalling all the lore of the fox hunt, all the dodges of the fox. 18:28.040 --> 18:30.040 Night found me exhausted. 18:30.040 --> 18:34.040 My hands and face lashed by the branches on a thickly wooded ridge. 18:34.040 --> 18:40.040 My need for rest was imperative and I thought, I played the fox, now I must play the cat of the fable. 18:40.040 --> 18:44.040 A big tree with a thick trunk and outspread branches was nearby. 18:44.040 --> 18:50.040 And taking care not to leave the slightest mark, I climbed up and stretched out among the broad limbs. 18:50.040 --> 18:53.040 Rest brought me new confidence in myself. 18:53.040 --> 18:56.040 It brought me new confidence and almost a feeling of security. 18:56.040 --> 19:02.040 Even so expert a hunter as General Zoroff cannot face me here, I assured myself. 19:02.040 --> 19:08.040 An apprehensive night crawled slowly by, my mind keenly alert for any sound, any warning. 19:08.040 --> 19:10.040 Towards the dawn, an instinct I never knew existed. 19:10.040 --> 19:15.040 Like an animal was possessed and held me to look far off in the distance in a wettly direction. 19:15.040 --> 19:20.040 Sure enough, following the trail with the sureness of a bloodhound came General Zoroff. 19:20.040 --> 19:27.040 Nothing escaped those searching black eyes, no crushed blade of grass, no bent twig, no mark, no matter how fine in the moss. 19:27.040 --> 19:32.040 My heart pounding furiously, I slid down quickly from the tree and struck off again into the woods. 19:32.040 --> 19:36.040 I knew I had to do something desperate, I knew that I had little time in which to do it. 19:36.040 --> 19:42.040 Three hundred yards from my hiding place I stopped where a huge dead tree leaned precariously on a smaller living one. 19:42.040 --> 19:48.040 Throwing off my sack of food, I took my knife from its sheath and began to work with all my energy. 19:48.040 --> 19:54.040 The job was finished at last, and I threw myself down behind a fallen log three hundred feet away. 19:54.040 --> 19:56.040 I did not have to wait long. 20:01.040 --> 20:13.040 Shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, shoo, patience, patience my darling, you'll be fed. 20:13.040 --> 20:22.040 Rainsford, Rainsford, Rainsford. 20:25.040 --> 20:26.040 Got him. 20:26.040 --> 20:42.040 Rainsford, if you are within sound of my voice, as I suppose you are, let me congratulate you. 20:42.040 --> 20:48.040 Not many men know how to make a male-eye mancatcher. 20:48.040 --> 20:52.040 Luckily for me, I too have hunted in Malacca. 20:52.040 --> 20:56.040 You are proving interesting, Mr. Rainsford. 20:56.040 --> 21:00.040 Hmm, very interesting. 21:00.040 --> 21:04.040 The tree brushed my shoulders, I jumped back. 21:04.040 --> 21:06.040 I'm going to have a wound rest. 21:06.040 --> 21:08.040 So does flight. 21:08.040 --> 21:12.040 I shall be back, Mr. Rainsford. 21:12.040 --> 21:22.040 I shall be back. 21:22.040 --> 21:26.040 It was flight now, a desperate, hopeless flight that carried me on for hours. 21:26.040 --> 21:28.040 I don't know where I got the strength. 21:28.040 --> 21:32.040 I kept telling myself over and over again that I must keep my nerve. 21:32.040 --> 21:35.040 That I was competing with a monster, a super huntsman. 21:35.040 --> 21:39.040 Dust came, then darkness, and still I managed to press on. 21:39.040 --> 21:44.040 The ground grew softer under my moccasins, the vegetation grew rancor, denser. 21:44.040 --> 21:46.040 Insects bit at me savagely. 21:46.040 --> 21:50.040 Suddenly as I stepped forward, my foot sank into the ooze. 21:50.040 --> 21:55.040 I tried to wrench it back, but the muck sucked viciously at my foot like a giant leech. 21:55.040 --> 21:57.040 With a violent amity, I tore my foot loose. 21:57.040 --> 21:59.040 I knew where I was then. 21:59.040 --> 22:02.040 Death's swamp and its quicksand. 22:02.040 --> 22:05.040 The softness of the earth had given me an idea. 22:05.040 --> 22:10.040 I stepped back from the quicksand a dozen feet or so and began to dig. 22:10.040 --> 22:17.040 When the pit was above my shoulders, I climbed out and from some hard saplings cut stakes and sharpened them to fine points. 22:17.040 --> 22:21.040 These stakes I planted in the bottom of the pit with the point sticking upwards. 22:21.040 --> 22:26.040 As fast as I could, I wove a rough carpet of weeds and branches and with it covered the mouth of the pit. 22:26.040 --> 22:31.040 And wet with sweat and aching with tiredness, I crouched behind the stump of a lightning charmed tree. 22:31.040 --> 22:33.040 Oh, I knew Zorop was coming. 22:33.040 --> 22:36.040 I could hear the paddling sound of his feet on the saunter. 22:36.040 --> 22:39.040 Zorop was coming and coming fast. 22:39.040 --> 22:42.040 He was not feeling his way along foot by foot. 22:42.040 --> 22:45.040 Crouching air, I could not see him nor see the pit. 22:45.040 --> 23:08.040 I lived a year and a minute frozen, every muscle tensed. 23:08.040 --> 23:11.040 Very good, Rainfuz. 23:11.040 --> 23:14.040 Very good. 23:14.040 --> 23:17.040 You've done well. 23:17.040 --> 23:23.040 Your Burmese tiger pit has claimed one of my finest towns. 23:23.040 --> 23:27.040 Again you score. 23:27.040 --> 23:34.040 I think, Mr. Rainfuz, I'll see what you can do against my whole pack. 23:34.040 --> 23:37.040 I'm going back to get them now. 23:37.040 --> 23:49.040 Thank you for a most amusing evening. 23:49.040 --> 23:55.040 At daybreak lying near the swamp, I was awakened by a sound that made me know I had new things to learn about fear. 23:55.040 --> 23:58.040 It was a distant sound, faint and wavering. 23:58.040 --> 23:59.040 But I knew it. 23:59.040 --> 24:02.040 It was the baying of a pack of hounds. 24:02.040 --> 24:03.040 I could do one of two things. 24:03.040 --> 24:05.040 I could stay where I was and wait. 24:05.040 --> 24:07.040 That was suicide. 24:07.040 --> 24:08.040 I could flee. 24:08.040 --> 24:10.040 That was postponing the inevitable. 24:10.040 --> 24:13.040 I had put my very last hope into that tiger pit. 24:13.040 --> 24:15.040 For a moment I stood there thinking. 24:15.040 --> 24:20.040 All at once an idea that held a wild chance came to me and tightening my belt I headed away from the swamp. 24:20.040 --> 24:22.040 The baying of the hounds drew nearer. 24:22.040 --> 24:24.040 They would be on me any minute now. 24:24.040 --> 24:26.040 My mind worked frantically. 24:26.040 --> 24:28.040 I thought of a native trick I had learned in Uganda. 24:28.040 --> 24:33.040 I caught hold of a springy young sapling and to it fastened my hunting knife with the blade pointing down the trail. 24:33.040 --> 24:36.040 With a bit of wild grapevine I tied back the sapling. 24:36.040 --> 24:38.040 Then I ran for my life. 24:38.040 --> 24:42.040 I raised their tentifying crosses as they heard them and felt the fresh scent. 24:42.040 --> 24:44.040 I knew then how an animal at bay feels. 24:44.040 --> 24:46.040 At last I had to stop to get my breath. 24:46.040 --> 24:49.040 The baying of the hounds stopped just as suddenly. 24:49.040 --> 24:51.040 And with it my heart stopped too. 24:51.040 --> 24:53.040 They must have reached the knife. 24:53.040 --> 24:55.040 Excitedly I shunted up a tree and looked back. 24:55.040 --> 24:57.040 My pursuers had stopped all right. 24:57.040 --> 25:01.040 But the hope that had been in my brain when I climbed died. 25:01.040 --> 25:05.040 For in the shallow valley I saw that General Zorok was still on his feet. 25:05.040 --> 25:07.040 But I was not. 25:07.040 --> 25:09.040 Apparently he had come along to hold the hounds. 25:09.040 --> 25:13.040 The knife driven by the recoil of the springing tree had splintered through his chest. 25:13.040 --> 25:16.040 I'd hardly tumbled to the ground when the pack took off to cry again. 25:16.040 --> 25:20.040 Nerve, nerve, nerve, nerve I patted aside their shawl. 25:20.040 --> 25:22.040 A blue gap showed between the trees dead ahead. 25:22.040 --> 25:24.040 The hounds were almost on top of me. 25:24.040 --> 25:26.040 I forced myself on towards that gap. 25:26.040 --> 25:27.040 I reached it. 25:27.040 --> 25:29.040 It was the shore of the sea. 25:29.040 --> 25:32.040 Across the cove I could see the gloomy gray stone of the castle. 25:32.040 --> 25:35.040 Twenty feet below me the sea rumbled and hissed. 25:35.040 --> 25:36.040 I hesitated. 25:36.040 --> 25:37.040 I heard the hounds. 25:37.040 --> 26:00.040 Then I looked far out into the sea. 26:00.040 --> 26:02.040 Oh yes. 26:02.040 --> 26:04.040 The sea was good to me. 26:04.040 --> 26:07.040 And I'm here safe in the General's bedroom waiting for him. 26:07.040 --> 26:10.040 Three days are up and I've eluded him. 26:10.040 --> 26:12.040 But now I must go further. 26:12.040 --> 26:16.040 In a moment we will meet, he and I, and he will be unarmed. 26:16.040 --> 26:18.040 Only one of us is going to live. 26:18.040 --> 26:26.040 You understand that now. 26:26.040 --> 26:31.040 Quiet, Shushu. Shushu. 26:31.040 --> 26:34.040 You must be patient dear. 26:34.040 --> 26:37.040 You must forgive me. 26:37.040 --> 26:42.040 You're hungry, I know. 26:42.040 --> 26:44.040 Shushu. 26:44.040 --> 26:45.040 Rainsford. 26:45.040 --> 26:48.040 General. 26:48.040 --> 26:50.040 Rainsford. 26:50.040 --> 26:52.040 How on earth did you get here? 26:52.040 --> 26:53.040 A swam. 26:53.040 --> 26:56.040 I found it easier and quicker than walking through the jungle. 26:56.040 --> 27:00.040 I congratulate you. 27:00.040 --> 27:02.040 Strong. 27:02.040 --> 27:03.040 You've won the game. 27:03.040 --> 27:05.040 Oh no, General. 27:05.040 --> 27:08.040 I'm still a beast at bay here. 27:08.040 --> 27:10.040 Get ready, General Zaroff. 27:10.040 --> 27:11.040 Swords. 27:11.040 --> 27:13.040 Yes, two of them. 27:13.040 --> 27:16.040 I see. 27:16.040 --> 27:18.040 Oh very good. 27:18.040 --> 27:19.040 Very good, Rainsford. 27:19.040 --> 27:22.040 One of us then is to furnish a repast for the hounds. 27:22.040 --> 27:29.040 The other will sleep in this very excellent bed. 27:29.040 --> 27:32.040 Excellent. 27:32.040 --> 27:34.040 On guard, Rainsford. 27:34.040 --> 28:03.040 Get ready, General Zaroff. 28:03.040 --> 28:24.760 It was just as my late host said it would be. 28:24.760 --> 28:43.880 A very excellent bed. 28:43.880 --> 28:50.480 And so closes the most dangerous game by Richard Carmel starring Orson Welles, tonight's tale 28:50.480 --> 28:57.120 of suspense. 28:57.120 --> 29:01.000 Mr. Welles was General Zoroff and Keenan Wynne, Rainesburg. 29:01.000 --> 29:06.040 This is your narrator, the man in black who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend 29:06.040 --> 29:12.800 this half hour in suspense next week, same time when Orson Welles will again be our star 29:12.800 --> 29:15.720 in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story, The Lost Special. 29:15.720 --> 29:21.000 The producer of suspense is William Spear who tonight also directed the broadcast and 29:21.000 --> 29:25.680 who with Bernard Herman the conductor, Lucian Malawick who composed the original score and 29:25.680 --> 29:44.840 Private Jack Anson Trink, the radio author, collaborated on tonight's suspense. 29:44.840 --> 29:49.160 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.