WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:06.420 Suspense, which is usually heard at this hour on Thursday nights, is taking its customary 00:06.420 --> 00:08.180 summer holiday. 00:08.180 --> 00:25.500 Suspense returns to the air six weeks from tonight on Thursday, September 1st. 00:25.500 --> 00:31.680 You were hanging by your fingertips on the sheer face of an icy cliff, suspended a thousand 00:31.680 --> 00:49.020 feet above instant death, with your strength running out and with no chance for escape. 00:49.020 --> 00:54.600 We offer you Escape, designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour 00:54.600 --> 01:02.660 of high adventure. 01:02.660 --> 01:07.260 Tonight we escape to the cold loneliness of a glacier high in the Swiss Alps and to a 01:07.260 --> 01:10.020 man who learned much about death, as C.E. 01:10.020 --> 01:29.780 Martigew tells it in his famous story, Action. 01:29.780 --> 01:35.980 High in the Swiss Alps, well above 12,000 feet, a man plings with desperation to the 01:35.980 --> 01:39.580 frozen glass wall of the Chaliyoc Glacier. 01:39.580 --> 01:44.140 Thousand feet jammed into shallow steps, chopped in the iron-hard ice. 01:44.140 --> 01:51.060 A cold wind drives a spray of dusty sleet along the overhanging wall, and the sun has 01:51.060 --> 01:54.420 fallen away among the crags to the west. 01:54.420 --> 01:59.140 Darkness lies one hour ahead. 01:59.140 --> 02:04.500 The man has climbed with painful care a thousand feet up the glacier's face from the broken 02:04.500 --> 02:11.820 moraine at the foot, and has moved now on to the underside of a great bulge in the ice, 02:11.820 --> 02:16.740 a part of the wall which breaks out beyond the perpendicular. 02:16.740 --> 02:22.620 And the man is forced to hang from slots cut by his axe, such as a sloth hangs from a tree 02:22.620 --> 02:23.620 branch. 02:23.620 --> 02:31.140 Twelve more feet lie between him and the brow of the overhang, six more steps to be chopped 02:31.140 --> 02:39.660 out with the axe, and a thousand feet of void space waits beneath him. 02:39.660 --> 02:44.060 The man is unable to lift his heavy axe for even one more stroke. 02:44.060 --> 02:49.460 He is tired, and he is 52 years old. 02:49.460 --> 02:55.380 No experienced mountaineer would ever attempt the west face of the Chaliyoc Glacier, and 02:55.380 --> 03:01.340 yet this man is an experienced mountaineer. 03:01.340 --> 03:02.820 And why? 03:02.820 --> 03:04.300 Why? 03:04.300 --> 03:08.820 What strange events have conspired to bring him along the path of his life, and leave 03:08.820 --> 03:14.260 him hanging now, in peril, on the brink of eternity? 03:14.260 --> 03:20.840 Through what shadows has that path led him, and where are those who saw him pass? 03:20.840 --> 03:26.500 Can we ourselves move along it, move back step by step against the river of time, move 03:26.500 --> 03:43.620 backward along the life path of Christopher Bell? 03:43.620 --> 03:45.820 My name is Jean Vajour. 03:45.820 --> 03:50.220 I'm a guide for all the mountain trails on the Weisshorn and the Chalihorn. 03:50.220 --> 03:54.060 I talked with Mr. Bell this morning as he was leaving the village. 03:54.060 --> 03:58.300 Of course, at the time I did not know that was his name. 03:58.300 --> 04:01.300 The season is over, you understand. 04:01.300 --> 04:06.260 Winter will come in another week or two, and most all the visitors are gone. 04:06.260 --> 04:11.180 So you see, I was very surprised to hear a stranger call out to me in English. 04:11.180 --> 04:13.740 Hello there. 04:13.740 --> 04:16.620 Which of these paths takes me to the foot of the Chaliyoc? 04:16.620 --> 04:18.420 The one on the left. 04:18.420 --> 04:20.740 But you will find no chimney there, sir. 04:20.740 --> 04:24.420 One arrives very soon at the glacier and can go no farther. 04:24.420 --> 04:26.660 Except of course, to climb up it. 04:26.660 --> 04:28.300 The glacier? 04:28.300 --> 04:29.300 But that is impossible. 04:29.300 --> 04:31.060 It has never been done. 04:31.060 --> 04:32.060 Of course not. 04:32.060 --> 04:33.060 It's never been tried. 04:33.060 --> 04:35.780 There is not anyone who would be so foolish, monsieur. 04:35.780 --> 04:36.780 No, it isn't that. 04:36.780 --> 04:39.740 There are plenty of foolish people in the world. 04:39.740 --> 04:42.620 But even they hold onto their margin of safety. 04:42.620 --> 04:44.740 Eh, margin of safety? 04:44.740 --> 04:49.180 Yes, the difference between the point where a man thinks he's reached his limit, and the 04:49.180 --> 04:51.100 point where that limit really is. 04:51.100 --> 04:54.300 I'm afraid I do not understand this. 04:54.300 --> 04:57.340 All right, take a mountaineer such as yourself. 04:57.340 --> 05:01.180 You look at a slope and you estimate the effort needed to climb it. 05:01.180 --> 05:03.220 Then you estimate your own endurance. 05:03.220 --> 05:07.020 And if there isn't a good size safety factor, just don't make the climb. 05:07.020 --> 05:09.420 But it would be foolish not to do so. 05:09.420 --> 05:11.140 I dare say. 05:11.140 --> 05:14.980 Oh, it's all tied up in the fear of death. 05:14.980 --> 05:16.620 Take that out of a man for one instant. 05:16.620 --> 05:21.180 There's no telling what he might be able to do, or what limit he might reach. 05:21.180 --> 05:24.020 And how should a man lose that fear? 05:24.020 --> 05:25.020 He can't. 05:25.020 --> 05:26.500 He can't lose it. 05:26.500 --> 05:37.020 It has to be done for him by things outside. 05:37.020 --> 05:43.820 He turned and left me then, this Mr. Bell, and walked up the path towards the glacier. 05:43.820 --> 05:47.900 That was early this morning, and I did not see him again. 05:47.900 --> 05:53.660 His talk with me made no sense, and I could not understand what he meant to do, or why 05:53.660 --> 05:55.540 he was going to do it. 05:55.540 --> 05:59.940 I remember thinking, what a strange man. 05:59.940 --> 06:03.740 But I really know nothing more about him. 06:03.740 --> 06:19.660 I believe he arrived in the village only last night, and took a room in the Sinhal Inn. 06:19.660 --> 06:24.940 My name is Greta de Gaspar, and I am staying out the week here in Sinhal to close up the 06:24.940 --> 06:26.940 inn for the winter. 06:26.940 --> 06:33.580 I have known Mr. Bell for the last 30 years, always before he came in the summer season 06:33.580 --> 06:39.020 for the climbing, and I was most surprised when he arrived last night. 06:39.020 --> 06:43.620 I opened one of the rooms, and I found something for him to eat, and then later we sat and 06:43.620 --> 06:50.980 talked in front of the fire in the big empty lounge. 06:50.980 --> 06:53.180 This is very good coffee, Madame Gaspar. 06:53.180 --> 06:54.180 Thank you, Mr. Bell. 06:54.180 --> 06:59.380 Had you let me know you were coming, I would have had everything ready for you, just like 06:59.380 --> 07:00.380 all the other times. 07:00.380 --> 07:03.300 Like all the other times. 07:03.300 --> 07:05.380 This one's a little different, Madame Gaspar. 07:05.380 --> 07:08.380 You might call it a special visit. 07:08.380 --> 07:13.940 Oh, it is all so different now from the old days. 07:13.940 --> 07:22.020 Then it was you and your Madame would come here, and it was Gaspar and I. 07:22.020 --> 07:25.700 And the summers seemed to last forever. 07:25.700 --> 07:28.700 I thought everything would last forever when she was alive. 07:28.700 --> 07:32.340 Now I'm really alone in the world. 07:32.340 --> 07:34.140 As am I. 07:34.140 --> 07:36.900 And it is not good to be alone. 07:36.900 --> 07:39.940 It gives one no reason for living. 07:39.940 --> 07:46.460 But there may be stronger reasons for not wanting to live. 07:46.460 --> 07:49.540 Is there something troubling you, Mr. Bell? 07:49.540 --> 07:51.740 No, no, not now. 07:51.740 --> 07:55.700 There may have been, but not now. 07:55.700 --> 08:02.180 I shall be leaving quite early in the morning for a climb, so I think I'll go on to bed. 08:02.180 --> 08:06.060 Good night, Madame Gaspar. 08:06.060 --> 08:11.100 Mr. Bell left the inn this morning before I awakened, and I have not seen him again. 08:11.100 --> 08:14.420 I have never known him to act so strange before. 08:14.420 --> 08:20.900 I have no idea what the reason is or what he may be planning to do, but I am sure something 08:20.900 --> 08:23.260 is troubling him. 08:23.260 --> 08:35.780 Perhaps it may be something connected with his business in London. 08:35.780 --> 08:37.460 My name is Matthew Brough. 08:37.460 --> 08:42.340 I have been Chief Clerk of Mr. Bell's London office over the past 25 years. 08:42.340 --> 08:46.340 I have always found him to be a considerable, independent employer. 08:46.340 --> 08:51.420 I have never noticed anything you might call unusual about him until one day about three 08:51.420 --> 08:52.740 weeks ago. 08:52.740 --> 08:57.300 Mr. Bell entered the establishment a bit late, as I recall, and passed immediately into his 08:57.300 --> 09:00.500 own office without acknowledging my customary greeting. 09:00.500 --> 09:04.540 A little while afterward, he sent for me. 09:04.540 --> 09:08.540 Well, Matthew, where do we go from here? 09:08.540 --> 09:11.140 I can't say that I follow you, Mr. Bell. 09:11.140 --> 09:15.000 I mean the company's on a steady footing, so if we use our heads at all, we don't stand 09:15.000 --> 09:16.540 much chance of losing anything. 09:16.540 --> 09:18.260 Yes, our position is quite secure. 09:18.260 --> 09:23.060 On the other hand, we can't expect to do any more growing or through expanding. 09:23.060 --> 09:25.380 Now on, it's merely a matter of operation. 09:25.380 --> 09:27.020 Most enviable condition, sir. 09:27.020 --> 09:28.020 Is it? 09:28.020 --> 09:31.380 There's nothing more to look forward to, nothing more to work for. 09:31.380 --> 09:33.340 So where do we go from here? 09:33.340 --> 09:34.540 Well, sir, I... 09:34.540 --> 09:38.260 Matthew, I'm putting you in charge of the business, turning it over to you effective 09:38.260 --> 09:39.260 this week. 09:39.260 --> 09:42.100 Mr. Bell, you can't possibly mean that. 09:42.100 --> 09:43.100 Oh, yes. 09:43.100 --> 09:44.100 Yes, I've just decided. 09:44.100 --> 09:46.620 But what are you going to do, sir? 09:46.620 --> 09:47.620 I'm taking a trip. 09:47.620 --> 09:50.660 I'm going to Switzerland, maybe do a little mountain climbing. 09:50.660 --> 09:55.900 Oh, well, then at least it's only temporary, just for whatever time you're gone. 09:55.900 --> 09:57.380 Yes, that's right. 09:57.380 --> 09:59.420 For whatever time I'm gone. 09:59.420 --> 10:07.220 Just for whatever time I'm gone. 10:07.220 --> 10:11.540 Before the end of the week, he had arranged all the necessary papers and had left London. 10:11.540 --> 10:15.980 I haven't heard a word from him since, as though I presume he's somewhere in Switzerland. 10:15.980 --> 10:29.500 Actually, however, I haven't the faintest idea where Mr. Bell may be right at this moment. 10:29.500 --> 10:35.820 On the glacier, minutes pass and the shadows grow longer from the jagged peaks to the west 10:35.820 --> 10:43.060 of the Chaléoc and reach out with dark fingers toward the man who clings to the icy wall. 10:43.060 --> 10:48.380 The man's thoughts have grown as unwieldy as the heavy ice axe gripped in his hand. 10:48.380 --> 10:55.900 He keeps trying to remember that he is Christopher Bell, a human being and not a part of this 10:55.900 --> 10:58.660 free and empty space. 10:58.660 --> 11:06.300 For he knows if he stops remembering that, he may forget all else too. 11:06.300 --> 11:13.300 And then, let go. 11:13.300 --> 11:21.620 There's been no reason for trying to locate Mr. Bell since nothing of any importance has 11:21.620 --> 11:23.700 occurred during these three weeks. 11:23.700 --> 11:26.500 I'm sure he's quite all right. 11:26.500 --> 11:30.300 Only one thing still puzzles me a bit. 11:30.300 --> 11:33.700 The remarkable change in him on that morning three weeks ago. 11:33.700 --> 11:37.180 I'd never heard him talk like that before. 11:37.180 --> 11:41.980 And whatever the reason for it, I'm quite sure it was something that happened that morning 11:41.980 --> 11:52.740 before he came to the office. 11:52.740 --> 11:54.060 My name is John Oxford. 11:54.060 --> 11:58.540 I've been a conductor on the Westminster route for some 14 years now. 11:58.540 --> 12:03.100 And during all that time, Mr. Bell has been a daily passenger of mine on the early morning 12:03.100 --> 12:04.100 inbound run. 12:04.100 --> 12:10.380 As I recall it, the first time anything you might say, well, out of the way ever happened 12:10.380 --> 12:14.180 between us was one morning about three weeks ago. 12:14.180 --> 12:22.060 I saw Mr. Bell waiting at the usual place, so I signaled the driver to a stop. 12:22.060 --> 12:23.060 Good morning. 12:23.060 --> 12:24.060 Good morning, Mr. Bell. 12:24.060 --> 12:25.060 I'll be right there. 12:25.060 --> 12:28.060 Yeah, now let me come down and help you up, sir. 12:28.060 --> 12:29.060 I'll make it. 12:29.060 --> 12:31.700 If you'll just take my arm, Mr. Oxford. 12:31.700 --> 12:32.700 My arm, please. 12:32.700 --> 12:35.300 But I have taken it, Mr. Bell. 12:35.300 --> 12:36.300 Oh, yes, of course. 12:36.300 --> 12:37.300 I'm sorry. 12:37.300 --> 12:38.300 There we go. 12:38.300 --> 12:39.300 There we are, sir. 12:39.300 --> 12:40.300 Oh, thank you. 12:40.300 --> 12:47.780 I had a bit of a shock this morning. 12:47.780 --> 12:48.780 I'm quite all right now. 12:48.780 --> 12:52.540 Well, if it's all right now, then it's fine, I'd say. 12:52.540 --> 12:54.020 You take hold of that strap there now. 12:54.020 --> 12:55.020 Oh, yes, of course. 12:55.020 --> 12:56.020 Oh, just a moment. 12:56.020 --> 12:59.020 I have the fare here somewhere. 12:59.020 --> 13:00.020 Oh, yes. 13:00.020 --> 13:01.020 Here you are. 13:01.020 --> 13:02.020 Thank you, sir. 13:02.020 --> 13:03.780 No, no, thank you. 13:03.780 --> 13:07.420 Well, I don't quite understand what you mean, sir. 13:07.420 --> 13:11.460 Mr. Huxford, have you ever had anyone take your arm and help you up a flight of steps? 13:11.460 --> 13:14.900 No, and I might say I hope the day never comes when I... 13:14.900 --> 13:18.700 Well, I'm sorry, sir. 13:18.700 --> 13:20.020 Not at all. 13:20.020 --> 13:21.020 Thank you, Mr. Huxford. 13:21.020 --> 13:24.860 Thank you very much. 13:24.860 --> 13:29.300 I don't rightly know what was wrong with him, though it's certain that something was. 13:29.300 --> 13:32.460 I haven't seen him for nearly three weeks now. 13:32.460 --> 13:37.020 I can't imagine what it might have been that happened to him that morning before he got 13:37.020 --> 13:43.340 on the bus. 13:43.340 --> 13:49.460 My name is Jenkins, and I've been Mr. Bell's personal valet for the past 12 years and seven 13:49.460 --> 13:50.460 months. 13:50.460 --> 13:55.260 The Master is traveling somewhere on the continent of just the present, been gone something over 13:55.260 --> 13:59.060 two weeks now, decided rather suddenly, I believe. 13:59.060 --> 14:03.780 In fact, I rather think something happened one morning about three weeks ago that caused 14:03.780 --> 14:09.140 him to make up his mind, though I really haven't the faintest idea of what it might have been. 14:09.140 --> 14:13.740 I can remember noticing a very strange look on his face when he came down to breakfast 14:13.740 --> 14:17.980 that morning, but I thought nothing of it at the time. 14:17.980 --> 14:19.940 Good morning, Jenkins. 14:19.940 --> 14:20.940 Good morning, sir. 14:20.940 --> 14:23.220 I trust you had a pleasant night's rest. 14:23.220 --> 14:25.220 Oh, yes, yes, I did. 14:25.220 --> 14:26.220 Thanks, Jenkins. 14:26.220 --> 14:29.180 I'll be having the usual, orange juice, toast. 14:29.180 --> 14:31.780 No, no, no, no, I want nothing except some coffee. 14:31.780 --> 14:33.780 Very well, sir, I'll bring it right away. 14:33.780 --> 14:37.420 I can't let him find out. 14:37.420 --> 14:40.060 I can't let anyone find out about it. 14:40.060 --> 14:41.860 Maybe it's a little better now. 14:41.860 --> 14:42.860 Maybe it's going away. 14:42.860 --> 14:45.860 Maybe I'm giving it too much importance. 14:45.860 --> 14:51.140 No, no, it's still there, that same lack of feeling clear down the whole right side of 14:51.140 --> 14:52.140 my body. 14:52.140 --> 14:53.140 There. 14:53.140 --> 14:56.500 I can move my arms, my leg all right. 14:56.500 --> 14:59.500 There's no feeling in them. 14:59.500 --> 15:00.500 They're numb. 15:00.500 --> 15:06.980 It's simply that at 52 years of age, I've had a light stroke. 15:06.980 --> 15:07.980 Your coffee, sir. 15:07.980 --> 15:08.980 Oh, thank you, Jenkins. 15:08.980 --> 15:11.980 Would you care for something more, sir? 15:11.980 --> 15:13.580 No, no, that's all. 15:13.580 --> 15:17.740 If you'll pardon me, sir, you don't seem quite yourself this morning. 15:17.740 --> 15:19.020 I do hope you're not ill. 15:19.020 --> 15:20.940 Oh, no, no, I'm quite all right, Jenkins. 15:20.940 --> 15:25.980 I hope you won't mind my saying this, Mr. Bell, but you don't take very good care of 15:25.980 --> 15:26.980 yourself anymore. 15:26.980 --> 15:27.980 Oh, no, Jenkins. 15:27.980 --> 15:30.780 It's been years now since you had a checkup, sir. 15:30.780 --> 15:32.940 Not since the mistress passed away, in fact. 15:32.940 --> 15:34.220 I'm quite all right, Jenkins. 15:34.220 --> 15:35.780 I'm quite all right. 15:35.780 --> 15:39.260 Then I'm relieved to hear it, sir. 15:39.260 --> 15:40.260 I'll bring your paper now. 15:40.260 --> 15:48.260 Good Lord, is this what a man slaves his life away for, to end up helpless, dependent upon 15:48.260 --> 15:55.500 others, to be wheeled about, put out in the sun, taken in like some great fat lava? 15:55.500 --> 15:57.500 Oh, it's disgusting. 15:57.500 --> 16:01.500 But I've got to face it. 16:01.500 --> 16:04.500 This stroke is the first warning. 16:04.500 --> 16:09.500 There'll be others, worse ones, and in a short time I'll be helpless. 16:09.500 --> 16:10.500 Oh, there must be some way out. 16:10.500 --> 16:11.500 Not suicide, but some way. 16:11.500 --> 16:12.500 There's got to be some way. 16:12.500 --> 16:32.580 The icy wall hardens into cold, vitreous steel as the dust-borne shadows chill its surface. 16:32.580 --> 16:37.700 The merciless ice is beginning to freeze the cramped joints of the man's fingers now, and 16:37.700 --> 16:45.700 a heavy axe swings idly at his belt, tracing a fumbling pattern on the thin air of the 16:45.700 --> 16:46.700 void. 16:46.700 --> 16:51.380 How much longer now can he cling to those slots in the glacier's face? 16:51.380 --> 16:55.020 How much longer does he have to live? 16:55.020 --> 16:56.780 Thirty seconds? 16:56.780 --> 16:58.580 A minute? 16:58.580 --> 17:02.740 What's the margin of safety now? 17:02.740 --> 17:16.980 And what does a man think of while his pulse beats slower and he waits to die? 17:16.980 --> 17:23.180 Strange how I'm able to go on hanging to this slope, clinging on to life, when I can't feel 17:23.180 --> 17:26.380 another ounce of strength left in me. 17:26.380 --> 17:27.380 I was right. 17:27.380 --> 17:29.380 Dying isn't so bad, really. 17:29.380 --> 17:30.380 Not when it's like this. 17:30.380 --> 17:32.820 It's rather pleasant, in fact. 17:32.820 --> 17:38.660 It looks so soft down there, with the shadows and the snow and the wind. 17:38.660 --> 17:42.260 Perhaps I could let go and float out in the wind like an eagle, and be blown along by 17:42.260 --> 17:44.260 it like drifting snow. 17:44.260 --> 17:47.220 Ah, the sun's gone now. 17:47.220 --> 17:50.540 It'll be full dark in a few minutes. 17:50.540 --> 17:55.260 Maybe I can hold on that long, till everything is dark, even the snow and the ice. 17:55.260 --> 17:56.260 Who knows? 17:56.260 --> 18:02.260 Perhaps I'll watch the sunrise tomorrow and set again, and even beyond the... 18:02.260 --> 18:04.300 Oh no, no. 18:04.300 --> 18:07.700 I can't last even one full minute longer. 18:07.700 --> 18:09.100 I'm through, I'm finished. 18:09.100 --> 18:13.540 I can't even last a half minute. 18:13.540 --> 18:16.340 Chips of ice sliding over the edge. 18:16.340 --> 18:18.620 Funny how a glacier sheds off that way. 18:18.620 --> 18:23.340 And I suppose the difference in temperature between day and... 18:23.340 --> 18:24.340 Wait. 18:24.340 --> 18:26.940 An ice axe. 18:26.940 --> 18:27.940 That was an axe. 18:27.940 --> 18:29.940 No other sound in the world like it. 18:29.940 --> 18:32.380 It fell from up above the overhang there. 18:32.380 --> 18:37.980 There must be somebody up there on the slopes, coming down from the top. 18:37.980 --> 18:40.620 There is. 18:40.620 --> 18:42.140 Wait. 18:42.140 --> 18:43.620 That's... 18:43.620 --> 18:50.780 Five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. 18:50.780 --> 18:56.220 That's a mountaineer's call for help. 18:56.220 --> 18:58.180 Someone's dropped his axe and he's in trouble up there. 18:58.180 --> 19:00.180 It's right above this bulge. 19:00.180 --> 19:03.180 If I can only... 19:03.180 --> 19:04.180 No. 19:04.180 --> 19:07.180 Throat's too dry. 19:07.180 --> 19:11.420 Well, six more steps to cut to reach the edge there. 19:11.420 --> 19:12.420 All right. 19:12.420 --> 19:13.420 Six more steps. 19:13.420 --> 19:14.420 Now, five more steps. 19:14.420 --> 19:21.420 Just about does it. 19:21.420 --> 19:26.420 The last step. 19:26.420 --> 19:37.420 Cut the rope and let me go. 19:37.420 --> 19:42.420 There's no use. 19:42.420 --> 19:47.420 I'm going to get you. 19:47.420 --> 19:50.420 I'm going to get you. 19:50.420 --> 19:51.420 Good Lord. 19:51.420 --> 19:52.420 It's a woman. 19:52.420 --> 19:53.420 Hold on there. 19:53.420 --> 19:54.420 I'll be with you in a minute. 19:54.420 --> 19:55.420 There. 19:55.420 --> 19:56.420 Somebody's coming. 19:56.420 --> 19:57.420 There's someone down here. 19:57.420 --> 19:58.420 Over the edge. 19:58.420 --> 19:59.420 Take it easy there. 19:59.420 --> 20:00.420 Everything's going to be all right. 20:00.420 --> 20:01.420 Oh, thank heaven. 20:01.420 --> 20:02.420 I don't know where you came from. 20:02.420 --> 20:03.420 Thank heaven you're here. 20:03.420 --> 20:04.420 Yes, I am. 20:04.420 --> 20:05.420 I'm going to get you. 20:05.420 --> 20:06.420 I'm going to get you. 20:06.420 --> 20:07.420 I'm going to get you. 20:07.420 --> 20:08.420 I'm going to get you. 20:08.420 --> 20:09.420 I'm going to get you. 20:09.420 --> 20:10.420 I'm going to get you. 20:10.420 --> 20:11.420 I'm going to get you. 20:11.420 --> 20:12.420 I'm going to get you. 20:12.420 --> 20:13.420 I'm going to get you. 20:13.420 --> 20:14.420 I'm going to get you. 20:14.420 --> 20:15.420 You're here. 20:15.420 --> 20:16.420 Here, here. 20:16.420 --> 20:17.420 Easy now. 20:17.420 --> 20:18.420 Let's get a step out for your feet here. 20:18.420 --> 20:19.420 I was just below the overhang there. 20:19.420 --> 20:21.900 I heard the fellow up above call out. 20:21.900 --> 20:23.820 He's got quite a voice on him. 20:23.820 --> 20:24.820 It's my husband. 20:24.820 --> 20:25.820 Oh, please, Harry. 20:25.820 --> 20:26.820 Easy now. 20:26.820 --> 20:27.820 Have a step out here in a second. 20:27.820 --> 20:28.820 You can put your feet on it. 20:28.820 --> 20:29.820 You get your breath. 20:29.820 --> 20:30.820 Then we'll tackle the slope. 20:30.820 --> 20:31.820 There now. 20:31.820 --> 20:32.820 That's it. 20:32.820 --> 20:33.820 I'll just scrape you with his ice away. 20:33.820 --> 20:34.820 Easy there. 20:34.820 --> 20:35.820 Oh, that's better, isn't it? 20:35.820 --> 20:36.820 Oh, good Lord. 20:36.820 --> 20:37.820 I'm going to get you. 20:37.820 --> 20:38.820 I'm going to get you. 20:38.820 --> 20:39.820 I'm going to get you. 20:39.820 --> 20:41.820 Oh, that's better, isn't it? 20:41.820 --> 20:42.820 Oh, yes. 20:42.820 --> 20:43.820 Oh. 20:43.820 --> 20:45.020 You're all right now. 20:45.020 --> 20:46.020 You just lean there. 20:46.020 --> 20:48.580 And when you feel like it, we'll go on up. 20:48.580 --> 20:51.900 Oh, my name is Christopher Bell, by the way. 20:51.900 --> 20:53.900 I'm Anna Gollum. 20:53.900 --> 20:56.500 Oh, thank you. 20:56.500 --> 20:58.100 I thought we were done. 20:58.100 --> 21:02.620 I was cutting steps down ahead in the slope, and I slipped and dropped my axe. 21:02.620 --> 21:06.660 The rope held me, but neither of us dared to move. 21:06.660 --> 21:08.460 Well, you're all right now. 21:08.460 --> 21:12.100 As soon as you rest a minute, we'll cut some more steps back up the slope. 21:12.100 --> 21:15.300 You know, you shouldn't have started down this way. 21:15.300 --> 21:17.740 You'd never have been able to pass that bulge. 21:17.740 --> 21:20.740 Yes, I can see that now. 21:20.740 --> 21:24.020 Of course, it's harder to tell when you're moving downslope. 21:24.020 --> 21:27.020 Yes, I suppose it is. 21:27.020 --> 21:30.100 You were coming up the slope, weren't you? 21:30.100 --> 21:33.100 Yes, I came up from the foot. 21:33.100 --> 21:40.700 I was down and without a rope, and you deliberately climb onto the underside of an overhanging 21:40.700 --> 21:42.540 wall. 21:42.540 --> 21:45.780 Let's just say we're both foolhardy. 21:45.780 --> 21:47.780 Is that what you call it? 21:47.780 --> 22:03.780 Well, if you've got your breath back now, suppose we start up the slope. 22:03.780 --> 22:07.620 My name is Theodore Gollin, and I am the husband of the woman who slipped and fell on the wall 22:07.620 --> 22:08.620 of the glacier. 22:08.620 --> 22:12.300 I'm a physician, formerly of Harley Street, London. 22:12.300 --> 22:15.860 I've practiced in Paris for several years now. 22:15.860 --> 22:20.020 I met Mr. Bell when he and my wife reached the ice ledge where I stood waiting above 22:20.020 --> 22:21.020 them. 22:21.020 --> 22:25.900 I was not immediately aware of his trouble, but found out about it a short time later 22:25.900 --> 22:29.140 when we reached the rest hut at the top of the ridge. 22:29.140 --> 22:33.820 While my wife heated water for tea at the far side of the room, Bell and I fell into 22:33.820 --> 22:38.660 a much more personal conversation than strangers normally do. 22:38.660 --> 22:45.060 This sometimes happens when people have been very close to death. 22:45.060 --> 22:51.980 Well, at any rate, Dr. Gollin, you can see how it is. 22:51.980 --> 22:56.060 The life of an invalid doesn't seem very appealing to me. 22:56.060 --> 22:58.020 Tell me something, Mr. Bell. 22:58.020 --> 23:01.580 I gather you were pretty well done in when I called out there in a glacier. 23:01.580 --> 23:04.060 Couldn't lift a hand. 23:04.060 --> 23:08.660 Then how do you account for being able to chop six steps into that ice in a matter of 23:08.660 --> 23:11.180 some five minutes? 23:11.180 --> 23:13.180 I don't know exactly. 23:13.180 --> 23:14.420 I was through. 23:14.420 --> 23:16.820 I couldn't have lasted 30 seconds more. 23:16.820 --> 23:19.860 But when I realized somebody was in danger, I forgot about it. 23:19.860 --> 23:23.940 And this numbness, this lack of feeling in your right side, didn't bother you? 23:23.940 --> 23:25.700 No, I didn't notice. 23:25.700 --> 23:28.260 It isn't quite so bad even now. 23:28.260 --> 23:30.420 Here's your answer, Mr. Bell. 23:30.420 --> 23:32.820 I don't believe I follow you. 23:32.820 --> 23:33.820 Action. 23:33.820 --> 23:39.620 When you were in action, working because you had a reason, living because you had to, because 23:39.620 --> 23:44.100 somebody was depending on you, then you were all right. 23:44.100 --> 23:45.700 Something was back in its place again. 23:45.700 --> 23:46.700 Perhaps. 23:46.700 --> 23:50.460 But a man can't spend all his time climbing up a mountain. 23:50.460 --> 23:52.540 I don't mean physical action, movement. 23:52.540 --> 23:55.380 Call it incentive, if you like. 23:55.380 --> 23:56.820 Maybe that's a better way to put it. 23:56.820 --> 23:58.100 Incentive, huh? 23:58.100 --> 24:02.660 It's the one top pressure that keeps life moving and growing. 24:02.660 --> 24:04.460 And it's what you need. 24:04.460 --> 24:07.340 Well, it's an interesting theory, Doctor. 24:07.340 --> 24:09.860 But it's only a theory. 24:09.860 --> 24:11.860 I'll have the tea ready in a moment. 24:11.860 --> 24:12.860 Anybody interested? 24:12.860 --> 24:13.860 I am, my dear. 24:13.860 --> 24:14.860 It's like we brought it. 24:14.860 --> 24:18.980 If no one minds, I believe I'll have a turn outside while we're waiting. 24:18.980 --> 24:20.500 Be careful out there in the dark. 24:20.500 --> 24:22.100 The ridge breaks off pretty sharply here. 24:22.100 --> 24:24.100 Oh, I'll be careful. 24:24.100 --> 24:31.540 Doctor Gollum, if things were turned around, I wonder if it'd be any more than just a theory 24:31.540 --> 24:32.540 to you. 24:32.540 --> 24:48.620 Mr. Bell, where are you? 24:48.620 --> 24:50.620 I'm over here, Mrs. Gollum. 24:50.620 --> 24:52.620 Beautiful, isn't it? 24:52.620 --> 24:56.180 With the stars so clear and bright. 24:56.180 --> 24:57.180 Yes. 24:57.180 --> 25:01.580 Well, there won't be many more clear nights before the winter storms. 25:01.580 --> 25:04.340 It would be a shame to give it up, you and I. 25:04.340 --> 25:06.620 What do you mean? 25:06.620 --> 25:09.060 I've got to say this quickly. 25:09.060 --> 25:11.740 We're not the kind to commit suicide, you and I. 25:11.740 --> 25:12.940 What? 25:12.940 --> 25:16.740 You deliberately climbed into a dead end out on that glacier. 25:16.740 --> 25:19.660 And I did the same thing. 25:19.660 --> 25:22.620 I went ahead and I picked the route down that slope. 25:22.620 --> 25:23.620 Sure you... 25:23.620 --> 25:24.620 No, wait, wait. 25:24.620 --> 25:28.780 In 30 seconds, I would have cut myself loose from that rope. 25:28.780 --> 25:34.260 Oh, we went to an awful lot of trouble so we wouldn't have to call it suicide. 25:34.260 --> 25:35.260 You? 25:35.260 --> 25:37.020 But why? 25:37.020 --> 25:38.900 I have a brain condition. 25:38.900 --> 25:42.740 There's no point in going into it, but it's incurable. 25:42.740 --> 25:46.380 Sooner or later, at any moment, I shall go blind. 25:46.380 --> 25:47.380 Oh, no. 25:47.380 --> 25:51.340 My husband doesn't know about it and I don't want him to know. 25:51.340 --> 25:52.780 I'll make a bargain with you. 25:52.780 --> 25:55.580 What sort of bargain? 25:55.580 --> 25:58.420 I'm not brave, really. 25:58.420 --> 26:01.740 To go on living, I need something to cling to. 26:01.740 --> 26:06.020 I need to know all the time that there's someone else with courage, too. 26:06.020 --> 26:10.820 Mr. Bell, I'll go on living if you will. 26:10.820 --> 26:12.780 I'd say you're amazingly brave. 26:12.780 --> 26:18.940 If I were, I could do it alone without having to make myself dependent on you and on your 26:18.940 --> 26:20.980 courage. 26:20.980 --> 26:24.620 That sort of thing would work both ways. 26:24.620 --> 26:27.980 I wouldn't dare let you down. 26:27.980 --> 26:29.500 Nor could I you. 26:29.500 --> 26:33.660 Do you want to make that bargain? 26:33.660 --> 26:36.620 Shall we go on living, Mr. Bell? 26:36.620 --> 26:42.780 As I said before, I am Dr. Thurda Gollin. 26:42.780 --> 26:47.260 They met Mr. Bell some three hours ago on the Shalyukh Glacier. 26:47.260 --> 26:50.940 At the moment, he's outside the hut a few yards away talking to my wife. 26:50.940 --> 26:55.540 I can hear the sound of their voices, but I can't make out the words. 26:55.540 --> 27:00.900 However, I know what they're talking about and what his answer would be. 27:00.900 --> 27:05.020 My wife and I discussed that before she went to join him. 27:05.020 --> 27:08.860 You may have heard of my wife, incidentally, but would likely have been under the stage 27:08.860 --> 27:11.300 name she uses in the Paris theater. 27:11.300 --> 27:37.300 You see, she's quite a talented actress. 27:37.300 --> 27:40.420 Escape is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald. 27:40.420 --> 27:42.900 Tonight we have presented Action by C.E. 27:42.900 --> 27:46.260 Montague, adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield. 27:46.260 --> 27:51.260 Featured in the cast were Joseph Kearns as Mr. Bell, with Maria Palmer, Wilms Herbert, 27:51.260 --> 27:55.340 Ben Wright, Jeff Corey, Tudor Owen, and Bill Johnstone. 27:55.340 --> 28:10.660 Special music arranged and conducted by Wilbur Hatch. 28:10.660 --> 28:16.060 Next week, you are trapped in the native quarter of Mozambique with the police closing in on 28:16.060 --> 28:23.700 you while at your feet lie two dead men and standing beside you is a sultry girl who offers 28:23.700 --> 28:36.180 you escape. 28:36.180 --> 28:41.820 Next week, we escape with a gripping story by Percival Gibbon entitled Second Class Passenger. 28:41.820 --> 28:58.940 Be with us next week at the same time when once again we offer you escape. 28:58.940 --> 29:03.540 And now stay tuned for Casey, crime photographer, to hear the story of Durable Dennis. 29:03.540 --> 29:08.300 It'll be along in just a few moments on most of these same CBS stations. 29:08.300 --> 29:14.900 This is Tip Corning speaking. 29:14.900 --> 29:42.140 This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System.