Unknown Broadcast | The Silent Horror: Hugh B. Cave’s New Guinea Jungle Nightmare

0:10 Well, hello there. Good to see you back, my dear. You know, I was just thinking, as I often do, pondering really about how I guess I have some kind of an odd fixation with deprivations. When I think of the things that scare me the most, of course, fictional things. Not well anyway, when I think about those things, I'm most scared by. Old radio. Because you can't see. It's a theater of your mind. But I also am more afraid of silent horror films because they are like a symphony of the mind, all those terrifying sounds your mind can create. This story is all about silent and I think you'll enjoy it a whole lot.

1:15 No Jo, you were somewhere else. Escape. We have a man who is to die at the hands, as Hugh Cave tells it in his horror. That w well, why I'll keep it hand up with you on the barn. There are strangers on me of course now that yeah. Take a look twenty one jewels with a suitcase along with Tom Dawson, the painter you with the little washed out guy always look kind of loss.

2:00 Nobody knew much about him except he painted good pictures. I didn't know much about Elizabeth either, that girl he brought up from Sydney, and it was pretty easy to guess about. She gave him the watch. Yeah, still runs if you want it. See got quite a tick if you hold it close up to your ear, and a little lot jungle drums way off in the distance. I suppose that's how it sounded to Tom Dawson there at the last when that watch meant life or death and they were waiting for him out there in the darkness. Oh that's quite a story, only. It's kind of hard to know what it starts, see with Elizabeth Pats. Anyhow, Tom was telling it in himself, in his own words. I think he'd start with elizabeths.

2:51 They didn't understands how I was between us, what she meant I. They gossiped a lot, the way they always do in tropic ports, but they didn't really know anything about Elizabeth. They didn't know how sweet and how convincing she could be, how she could wrap a man around her finger, like the time she gave. Me the watch. So on, Tom, open it, I wanna see if you like it. Like what e Lizabeth? Open it and see. You come home with a package and it's a watch. Mm, it's a good one too. It's made for the tropics, all sealed and everything. It'll run forever.

3:36 Yeah, and if where'd you find a watch like gues and Port Moresby. Well, I didn't exactly. I got it from Captain ducat du car here as a trading schooner. I used to know him in Sydney. Yes, I I think I heard him mention recently around the bar at the hotel. Probably he's been in Port for a couple of weeks. Do you really like it, Tom? The watch? I mean, sure, baby? Who wouldn't Now you can always tell just how long you've been away. From me, not case, I won't eat it all. It sounds like a heart beat, and they're hold it close. I guess that's what it is, in a way, a heart beat.

4:18 Of time measure. You're not your life, my life second by second. Well, Tom, that's a morbid idea. Do you love me? Crazy about you? You don't have to bring me presents to keep you that way? I want it to Tom. Yeah, I know, but this thing's too expensive, Elizabeth. I can't keep it, but you must. I gave it to you. It's worth a couple of hundred dollars. If you thought how you gonna pay for it? Well, I had some savings I didn't tell you about. I thought you were flat broke when I ran into you in Sydney. Well I wasn't, though. I look, Tom, why don't you forget it? Let me worry about it? And anyway, I've already paid for the watch?

5:08 Why prolong this story? Everybody else knew and I didn't. That so pure self delusion, cause. I had plenty of opportunity to know, and sinuations around the hotel bar, talk along the harbor front, remarks about Pierre du Carr. But like I say, I was crazy about Elizon and. I ignored it all, went on painting and didn't know. Maybe I didn't want to know. I'd been out on a two day painting trip of the native fishing boats. We got back to Port a day earlier and not expected. It was about midnight when I climbed onto the wharf with my canvases and headed around the harbor front. It walked about fifty yards when I heard it came from a schooner moored at the wharf just ahead of it.

5:56 I walked closer. There was no mistaking that. You're like all the others, full of words you don't mean. And the schooner was Pierre du cart But. I'm plenty words. You like to hear it? No, of course I like to hear them, And maybe that only shows I'm a fool too. No, I think it is not you and I have at fools. But that doesn't of yours. He's old and he's so bored. At the time, how did you watch, I said, didn't. Only he wondered how I was going to pay for it.

6:40 Some men would have killed one or both of 'em. Other men would have killed themselves. I didn't either. Standing there in the darkness, I realized suddenly that my whole life up to that moment had been completely useless, not and even Elizabeth, my Elizabeth, depending an illusion of my on like a painting, and the real woman too was useless, hollow nothing. I threw my paintings into the waters of the harbor, turned away into the. Night, and ran.

7:22 Nearly three weeks later, my crazy flight from the past had carried me deep into the black hearted New Guinea, beyond the dank rainforests. Of the coast, up through the foothills. And amid slope jungles of bamboo and leanna, until I stood one morning in a narrow pass that led through steep walled rocks to a hidden valley, and I knew that civilization lay far behind. That the Papua natives who moved towards me were headhunters, cannibals, the cheaper the tribe. A giant of. A man, towering a footom more above me, raised his arms.

8:03 Why you come here? Why devil? I'm Tom Dorson. Why you come here? I've come to live with you, if I may. Where you come from a place called Port Moresby, many days from here. You're head man that place. No, No, And I don't have any wish to be headman here. You could not be head man you want? I Rama bu head man here. With hands alone, Rama Bu can kill any man in track. I don't doubt it can kill you too. I don't doubt that either.

8:43 I show you, I hold you, hold my head like this feel good? How are you like? I think you will not be a head man here. I think you not good for much anything. No, I guess I'm not. I guess that's why I ran away. Why I came here. You still want to live here. Yes, all right, you stay, but you cause trouble. I kid you understand, Yes, I understand. Good, that good bug.

9:38 The weeks went by and gave me a little time for thank you for rememory. I built a house at the far end of the valley, planted a garden, roamed the woods to search for berries and nuts, and live the life the natives live, timing each day by the watch, which I still wore on my wrist. I was fairly content, passed seem far away. Then Jerry came into my life. I've gone exploring in the north end of the valley, and when I came back at dusk, she was waiting in the door of my house. Young, brown skin beautiful.

10:20 Hello, Hello, my name is Jerry. I've been watching you. Why just because you did not notice me? Though? Why should I notice? Well? Are you not like other men? What are you doing here? I come to live with you. I don't want anybody living with you. It is not good to be alone. Who will sweep your floors. And cook for you? I do those things myself, but it is better. To have a woman, not for me. You will not let me stay? No, all right, I come again tomorrow. Maybe you change your minds.

11:01 Not a chance we see good night. That was the beginning, and in a way, the beginning of the end. Jerry came back the next day, In the next and the next, I argued, pled cursed, but nothing I could do would change that round eyed persistence of hers in the least. And then I made the first big mistake. It started the whole mess. It involved the watch. We were late night a little while longer. All the things I cooked for you would respoil. What of it? I didn't ask you to come here. I can cook for myself. Look, Jerry, I've told you over and over again, you've got to stop coming here because I said so.

11:51 Perhaps because you think I am luckily. You know better than me. Ill lovely, I do not understand you. I mean, you have no business hanging around here. Look, Jerry, I already have a woman, a wife, back in Port Moresby. You love her. Yes, she is coming here again. No, No, she won't be coming. Then. It does not matter. What good is she? That's not the point. Look, she gave me this. See it says from Elizabeth that's her name, to Tom that's me. What is this thing? So?

12:32 Watch? What does it do? Well? It counts the hours, tells what time the sun will come up, and tells when it will go down. How does it do these things? Is it magic? Well? Yes, in a way you can call it magic. And that is why you will not let me stay. Because the woman has give you this thing. That's right, But she is not coming here. No, she Isn't. You knew what I think? No, I think you speak fool.

13:13 Jerry talked, of course, told the villagers about the magic watch. By twos and threes, they came to look at it, stare at it solemnly, exchange a word or so of gossiped, and departed. I welcomed them. At first, realized how lonely I'd been except for Jerry's daily visits. Now I'd suddenly become a popular celebrity. But there was one thing I hadn't counted on, and that one thing was Ramabu. Much poking, village of magic thing. You'll keep here, rama Buo. Come see this thing. I'm glad you did. Welcome to my house. Hush, fine house you'll build with magic.

13:54 No, I just happened to know a few things about construction. Burther a house down. Thanks, not good for one, have better a house, than Headman are here? Do you want to see the watch? So this magic thing rama Bu hear about? Oh, it isn't really magic, It's just a watch. You and I know that. Gidi say magic, tell Sun and Moon. Well you know how women talk. Eh, magic thing? Fine house. You know what I say when you come here? Yes? What I say.

14:36 You said if I caused any trouble, you'd kill me? Is right? With these hands, I kill you. But I didn't think i'd caused any trouble. Just one way, go out the valley and God's watch all time. I'm not planning to escape, if that's what you mean. You remember now, Ramabu headman here and rama Bu can kill you. I watched him stride off, sneering, a little swaggering. I know, of course that he had the mind and attitudes of a ten year old child, that he was dangerous, but I didn't realize how deadly. Not then, so I went right ahead and made my one big final mistake.

15:29 We will return to Escape and tonight's story, The Silent Horror in just a moment. Lots of folks will be driving on our highways during the Labor Day weekend. It's a weekend for pleasure, So let's keep it pleasant for everyone. Obey the traffic laws, don't speed, stay on the right side of the road, and don't drink when you drive. Be careful. The life you save may be your own. And now back to escape.

16:14 It's radio station two fco. Yes, that's so what You're right. It's the same watch have figured in all of Tom DAWs AND's troubles, right up to the end, or especially at the end. You might say, of course I didn't get it from Tom himself. Now, our backcountry trader the name of Will Dome has boarded in one night, has been hanging. There behind the bar ever since. Now once in a while i'll wind it up when some stranger asks me what it's there for. Lot you did ticks away as good as new. It Will was the fellow I got the story from, too. But sometimes, listening to that watch ticking away, I can almost imagine that Tom's telling the story himself in his own words.

17:00 The week after Ramabu came to see the watch, I started on a new project. Weeks before, I'd found a spring in a waterfall halfway up the cliffs behind my house, and I thought of a way to use hollow bamboo tubes to pipe the water to my kitchen. I spent nearly a. Month cutting the bamboo, carrying it up to the cliff, and fitting the links together. And then one day everything was ready, and I turned the water into my new aqueduct. The village has heard it for us, and came to marvel, taste the water, and look at me askance. Jerry was around during all those weeks. There seemed to be nothing I could do to get rid of it, or perhaps I was growing less inclined to get rid of it.

17:43 I suppose I should have expected trouble. But I didn't. When trouble finally did come, it came right to my door. What is this? What's Ramabu? What's this all about? I come find out A man who live in better house than Ramabu, man who make what river come to a house, can also fight. Fight You want spear, blood or hand? I don't want any of them. What reason have I got to fight with you? Maybe you won't be a head man.

18:25 Of course not. I told you that before I've got. Any People say you big man, say we fight? See who is headman? I see? I don't have a choice. Is Eddie you want spear bare hand. What's the difference. I'm not good at any of it was pleasant. I thought, maybe, well, let's get on with it. I kill you bare hand, lift you highlight this roy on ground. I kill your magic man. Stop if you kill him, the magic thing that makes the son come up with stop?

19:09 He told me so, lie not true? Your son again? Holy night, jo. Ody bango. It is. They will not let you kill him. Put him down, put. Him down, you tell him lie, yay, you'll live for a while. But I think this magic thing like bamboo sway and win. I think one day it stopped. Maybe when it stop, I think sons still come up. If that happened, I kill you, Cherry, I.

20:06 Guess I owe you my life such as it is, whatever you wanted me. What's yours? Do you excu know the woman and put mosque no? And do you love me, Cheery? If I dared love any woman, it would be you. I did her fool that you. I I wish I let him kid him. Rama book came the next morning to look at the watch. He saw that it was running and left without a word.

20:48 And he came the next day and the next and the next. First it was amusing, but gradually the terror began to creep that as long as it ran, I'd live, and whenever it stopped, for whatever reason, I'd die. I took the wine that half a dozen times a day and hold it to my ear, and listening to him. The drums in the village seem to be constant, and the drums are watching. My own heartbeat became mixed into one crazy quilt of sound. Crazy is still when I came down with malaria, When Ramabu came and saw the fever in my face, he smiled and left, and I cursed him as I well know. Watch for the third time since dawn. Two nights later, Jerry slipped into my room. You are see now you've heard. You are see. It's a fever. Where have you been all the week?

21:32 They would not let me come tonight? They ran away for a wife. I mean, if my father accepts the marriage gives me, I aim to be the wife. Rama boo. He has hit and I had no choice. Do you care? What if I did? I asked you, do you. If you were married to me? You could only look forward to being a widow. There is a wif if you start what is room? Let me have it. I gotta get a start. I must have forgotten the wine. What are you doing? What are you saying? We'll run it, We'll run Rammable find out what. Is this running?

22:12 Hold it to your ear. Huh it was the room it starts. I thought it was a watch. I thought it was a watch. There is a way out of the selly. I know a Jerry twenty guards watch. No, I mean another one. It is behind the waterfall where you meet the magic thing of bamboo. A little path goes off the cliff, very steep. Could I have time? If we can go together, if you care. But I'm sick. Maybe in a day or the magic stops a day or two. Maybe too late. If i'd known about it a week ago before I. Cut them few days, I may be married to Ramab all. Right, marry him. Don't say that I sack Jerry. I can't tell it.

22:55 Go ahead and marry him if you want to let me alone. Had tossed away the hours at night and day, lying on my cot, bathed and sweat, and the time itself seemed to yell into one great mass of fever with no form, no dimensions, and the. Fever sang in my ears when I strained to hear the watch, and sometime I mistook the drums. Of my own heart. I fought to stay awake, to keep my senses to lift, fought against odds that grew greater about the hour. Sometimes, in my deliriumer I thought that Jerry had slipped into the room like a ghost, had wound the watch and talked to me and left.

23:52 But I could never remember anything that she'd said. And then finally, one night, just before I walk now, suddenly terror was in the room. The name of the terror was silence. Jerry, Jerry, are you here? There's no sound. It's like it stopped. The watch has broken and stopped. Sometimes in a fever there comes a moment of clarity and strength, and I knew suddenly what I must do.

24:35 Without trying to find the watch, I leaped from my cotton. Headed for the waterfall. By daylight, I was half way up the rock wall, drenched by the falling spray and dog tired. But the slope from here on was. Gentler, and I kept moving on up the cliff now and then I stopped to look back, and that's when I saw Jerry. But I saw something else too. It Jerry was one hundred feet below me, and beyond her, at the base of the cliff was Ramabu, and half to try. There was nothing I could do now but pray, Mommy.

25:20 I saw Ramabu raise his boat, draw back the arrow and let it go. I saw her fall and lie there on the rocks. I saw Ramabu pick her up, carry her back towards the village. I know the greatest thing I'd ever owned was gone. My life was once again, and this time truly useless. I turned and plunged into the jungle.

26:07 Well, I suppose it was a couple of three months later when Tom Dawson showed up in Port Moresby again. Elizabeth had sold all these paintings and left on du Card's schoon along before. So Tom moved into his old house, and he stayed pretty clear of everybody except for a night here in the bar. Now and then he didn't tell any of us what he'd done or where he'd been. And I suppose we never won't know, and he had hadn't been for a coincidence that happened one night. Yes, I was tending bar, just as I am. Now, and suddenly some fellow walks up and slaps a carna by your feto? Will you tawd us is back at down? Well, I'm six months drying round ago. Oh so far back country, never even heard of bead?

26:50 How can you see them? Oh? Say? I stumbled at something? You remember that, paiter Tom Dawson there, yes, you remember that watch? What the name give him? Well? There it is? Well where'd you get that? In a forsakenest piece of country I've ever found in twenty years of trading. Believe me, Joe, where'd you get that watch? Hey? Jovah? Tom? You know well, Jonas, where'd you get that watch? Well? I guess from the person you left it with. I didn't live it with anybody. That's not what she says. She what do you mean? Tell me who was it? Jerry? Yeah, yeah, that's a name. She's alive there, twice as natural. She's living in that house you have built alone if your interest. What about him, oh the head man?

27:34 Yes, yeah, well it seems he lost face when he lets you get away. They figured you for their good luck or something. Anyway, they boot them them out a long time ago. Jerry. She's all right. She's living in my house. Yeah, yeah, alone. She made that plenty clean in case. Thanks for everything. Yeah, I'm glad. Hey, hey, where you're going? Well, what about this watch? It's yours? Well i'll be up. Hey, Joe, Yes, I'll trade you this watch a bottle. How about it?

28:15 Well that was five or six years ago. Nobody around here has never seen Tom Dawson since, because all of us have got a pretty good idea where he went. Yeah, and I'll lay on down. One thing's trying to I'll bet you he's acting. Another direction of Norman McDonald's Escape has Brought You The Silent Horror by Hugh Cave, specially adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield, starring Harry Bartel with Georgia Ella's. Featured in the cast were Jack Krushian, Ben Right and Diamond, Stan Waxman, and Lou Krugman. The special music for Escape is composed and conducted by Leith Stevens.

29:24 You know, I'm not sure if it's necessarily the sensory deprivation or if it's something different. Of course, it could just be good old fashioned American nostalgia, because we all love the things we grew up with. Don't wing, don't act like you don't collect those little gidgets and gadgets from when you were a young person. I know, I do. Oh what's that? Oh no, no, no, no, no, don't even worry. It isn't even capable of bleeding. Well, I suppose the night has come to an end. The sun will be up soon, so that means I have to bid you a good bye. Parting is always the hardest part.

30:05 So go on home, snuggle up in your warm bed and do me one favor. Be thankful for what you have, and I'll be here tomorrow.