(41) Escape - The Match

Summary

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Harold’s Old Time Radio

Episode 41: Escape – The Match

Date: August 8, 2026
Based on: “The Match” by James Oliver Curwood

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Overview

This episode of Escape, presented as part of Harold’s Old Time Radio, transports listeners to the harsh Canadian North Woods with a thrilling tale of fate, survival, duty, and the thin line between justice and mercy. “The Match” chronicles the manhunt for Billy Loring, a fugitive accused of murder, and the relentless pursuit by Sergeant Brokaw of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As the drama unfolds against the backdrop of an unforgiving arctic blizzard, the episode probes questions of morality, fate, and the randomness of destiny.

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Key Discussion Points & Narrative Breakdown

1. Opening and Dramatic Setup

[01:12 - 02:24]

• The episode begins with classic Escape ambiance: “You are fighting your way through a frozen wilderness…driving you on towards certain death is a man with a gun from whom you cannot escape.”
• The story’s context is set: a swirling fate beginning near the southern border of Canada and headed inexorably northward.

2. Background: The Crime and Billy’s Flight

[02:24 - 05:50]

• A confrontation between Billy Loring, his wife Jeannie, and a man named Thorne leads to Thorne’s accidental death (“His head hit a rock when he fell. He’s dead.” [05:05], Billy)
• Billy realizes he’ll have no chance in the camp and urges Jeannie to flee south with their child, while he escapes north:

“They probably won’t find Thorne until morning, so I’ve got to get out of here in the next half hour.” [05:14]

3. Introduction to the Law: Sergeant Brokaw

[05:50 - 08:48]

• Parallel narrative introduces Sergeant Brokaw, dogged Mountie, whose sense of duty is absolute:

“When you’re assigned to bring in a man, you bring him in. That’s all there is to it…I’ve never missed getting my men. Not so far. Not ever.” [07:26], Brokaw

4. The Arrest: Humanizing the Fugitive

[08:48 - 12:39]

• Brokaw tracks down and arrests Loring in his remote cabin during a blizzard.
• Loring reminisces about his wife and their life, deepening the listener’s sympathy for his situation:

“We got married on her birthday, so today’s our wedding anniversary, too…She said the best things in her life always happened on her birthday.” [10:16], Billy

• A sense of mutual respect and weariness is established between the hunter and the hunted.

5. Survival Crisis: Fire & The Blizzard

[13:12 - 19:47]

• The cabin catches fire, destroying all clothing, food, and—crucially—the matches.
• The men are forced to attempt the grueling 20-mile journey to the next cabin (Thoreau’s) without proper gear or a way to make fire.
• Brokaw refuses to trust Loring, believing he might be hiding knowledge of a closer shelter.

6. The Human Cost: Desperation on the Trail

[19:47 - 25:58]

• The march turns deadly:

“My wrists are bleeding…both of us…won’t last another half mile.” [23:38], Billy

• Brokaw’s resolve gradually cracks as he succumbs to the cold, finally offering a deal—“Pull us out of this and I’ll give you a 24 hours head start.” [25:11]

7. The Match: Fate Decided

[25:58 - 27:43]

• Billy remembers a single match in his pocket. With Brokaw too weak to strike it, they attempt to light a fire, using the paper wrapping a beloved photograph of Jeannie.
• The match, tragically, goes out before the fire can catch:

“Our only chance. And it went out.” [27:40], Brokaw

8. Climax and Resolution: Death and Salvation

[27:43 - 29:08]

• Brokaw staggers off stubbornly; the odds look hopeless.
• Billy is on the edge of death, hallucinating Jeannie’s voice:

“Billy, don’t go to sleep. Billy, wake up…the smoke. Don’t you remember…” [28:18]

• A spark from the failed match catches after all, saving Billy (“The fire, it’s burning. The fire.” [28:43])
• It’s implied Brokaw perishes, while Billy survives—his fate ambiguous, his salvation tinged with both relief and loss.
• Final narration questions the role of fate and chance in justice and destiny.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Brokaw’s unwavering resolve:

  “When I go after a man, I’m gonna get him sooner or later. And one way or another, I’m gonna bring him back. Every time.” [07:40]

• Loring’s reflection on love and isolation:

  “We’d never been apart until this came up…In another month or two, we’d have been back together.” [11:13]

• On the power of fate and chance:

  “Does justice depend on the striking of a match?” [29:08], Narrator

• Tragedy and irony:

  “Our only chance. And it went out.” [27:40], Brokaw

• Connection and memory as salvation:

  “Funny, I was thinking about her when I remembered the match. I guess she’s the one that’s really gonna light this fire.” [26:55], Billy

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------------|-------------| | Introduction/setting of the episode | 01:12–02:24 | | Billy confronts Thorne; accidental death | 03:37–05:13 | | Billy and Jeannie’s parting | 05:14–05:50 | | Brokaw’s code of duty, the chase begins | 07:26–08:08 | | Brokaw arrests Loring, discusses Jeannie | 08:48–11:34 | | Cabin fire—the crisis escalates | 15:12–16:13 | | On the trail; survival vs. duty conflict | 17:10–24:24 | | The deal—Billy offers a way out | 25:01–25:58 | | The match—the turning point | 25:58–27:43 | | The ambiguous, poetic ending | 29:08–30:18 |

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Tone & Style

The episode maintains a suspenseful, somber, and psychologically rich atmosphere, with a distinctly noir flavor. The language is direct, often stoic, capturing both the harshness of the landscape and the taciturn honor codes of the characters. Themes of loyalty, sacrifice, duty, love, and existential randomness are woven throughout, fitting the classic Escape mold of adventure with philosophical undertones.

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Final Thought

Escape – The Match stands out as a powerful meditation on justice, fate, and the small but pivotal choices that shape lives. The harsh environment is matched by the moral landscape, inviting listeners to consider where true justice lies: in duty, mercy, or in the hands of chance.

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Transcript

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[Billy Loring]

Escape.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

You are fighting your way through a frozen wilderness torn by the icy blast of an arctic blizzard. And driving you on towards certain death is a man with a gun from whom you cannot escape.

[Narrator/Host (Escape Radio Show)]

Escape. Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half hour of high adventure.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Tonight we escape to the Canadian north woods, to a lonely wilderness where justice finds strange paths, as James Oliver Kerwood told it in his famous story the Match.

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

Just below the Arctic Circle, where blizzards scream in the winter and tear frozen branches from the pine trees. Where the driven sleet cuts human skin like flying glass. There men know and fear the eternal spirit of the icy north, the great cold spirit that weaves the patterns of human destiny. Both weaves and destroys. Forever and again, the spirit throws out strange swirls of chance and coincidence that meet eventually in a terrible whirlpool which swallows up the old pattern and creates some new and different one for men to wonder and marvel at. One such swirl in time and space began months ago and far to the south in a logging camp near the southern border of Canada, where two men faced each other on a narrow trail in the light of a full moon. It began in violence and hatred.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

What do you want, Loring?

[Billy Loring]

Thornton? I've been talking to Jeannie. She told me what you did.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Well, what about it?

[Billy Loring]

She told me all of it. The whole thing.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Too bad, Loring. But if you can't keep your wife from casting her eye around, then that's your tough luck.

[Billy Loring]

There were no eyes cast around, and you know it.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

All right, then what are you gonna do about it?

[Billy Loring]

I'm not sure yet.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Then I'll tell you nothing. You haven't got a leg to stand on. I'm running this camp and every man in it. If you don't like what I do, then get out.

[Billy Loring]

I'm planning to stay.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

In that case, you'd better get used to the way I run things. Men and women. And the next time I drop.

[Billy Loring]

Are you dirty?

[Narrator/Storyteller]

That's it, eh?

[Billy Loring]

Well, then drop that knife, Thorn. Drop it. Get up, Thorne. Come on, get up. On your feet. Get up. Soreness. What's the matter with you? Thorn. Thorn. That rock under his head, He's. He's dead, Janie.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Billy. Billy.

[Billy Loring]

What's wrong, Genie? I ran into Thorne a few minutes ago.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Oh, Billy. Your hands. What did you do?

[Billy Loring]

I hit him, Genie. He started to pull a knife, so I knocked him down. His head hit a rock when he fell. He's dead.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

No. Oh, no.

[Billy Loring]

They probably won't find Thorne until morning, so I've got to get out of here in the next half hour.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Leave?

[Billy Loring]

I'm new here, Jeannie. They don't know me. It's just my word. I wouldn't have a chance.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Where we go?

[Billy Loring]

Not you. You're going to take the baby and go back to the cottage in New York State.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Where are you planning to go?

[Billy Loring]

North, honey. A long ways north. I'll have a better chance up there in the woods.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Can't you, Billy? They always do.

[Billy Loring]

Don't worry. They won't catch me. And somehow, sooner or later, we're going to be back together again. Believe me.

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

And so in the south, one black swirl of chance is born and moves slowly northward through time and space. Moves even as the great Arctic storms move across the faces of continents. And there ahead of it, among the tumbled ridges of spruce and pine, another swirl of human fate moves at the whim of the bleak spirit of that frozen land. Moves first one way, then another, but centers always near. One certain red coated uniform of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police centers on the hard, lean figure of a man called Sergeant Brokaw.

[Billy Loring]

Nice shot, Sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Thanks, trooper.

[Billy Loring]

The captain sent me to wait.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

There's one of my Tagas still up out there.

[Billy Loring]

Dead center.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Brother.

[Billy Loring]

I wish I could shoot like that.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Work on it. Good shooting. Something you'll need if you stay in the Mounties, I guess.

[Billy Loring]

It's helped you plenty of times.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah, a few. What have you got there? Telegram.

[Billy Loring]

Oh, yeah. It's an order. The captain told Me to bring out to you. Here.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Let's see. Special assignment for apprehension and return of a fugitive. Name, Billy Loring. Height, 5ft, 11 inches. Weight. And so on and so on. Last Senior Hobbs, landing on October 3rd and reported heading north. Wanted for murder. Sergeant Brokaw. Signed instruction, bring back fugitive.

[Billy Loring]

They make it sound plenty simple, Sergeant. Bring back fugitive.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

That's just the way it oughta sound. When you're assigned to bring a man in, you bring him in. That's all there's to it. There's no excuse and no alibi for not doing it. You can take my word on it, trooper. I've been doing it for 12 years.

[Billy Loring]

And so far, you've never missed getting your men.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Not so far. Not ever. When I go after a man, I'm gonna get him sooner or later. And one way or another, I'm gonna bring him back. Every time. And that goes for this what's his name? Loring. You can bet your life.

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

And so they grew in time and space, these two great swirls of chance. The one hovering in the north and the other moving toward it slowly across a thousand miles and through 227 days. And one night at last, they met in a tiny, raw pine cabin hidden in the blizzard frozen marsh, hard up against the Arctic sea. And the wild whirlpool born from that meeting created strange new patterns of human life and death and destiny.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

All right, Loring, let's have your other wrist. There.

[Billy Loring]

You don't need these handcuffs. You've got me. That's that.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I don't take chances, Loring. You know it already, of course, but you're under arrest in the name of

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

the Crown for murder.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

You can sit down in that chair by the stove.

[Billy Loring]

Thanks. It's funny. I've lived here all winter, and I've had pretty good luck trapping. I've been selling furs to the Indians. In another month, I'd have had enough to go away and meet my wife. Then you come along.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Tough luck, Loring. And start back for the post in the morning. Or at least as soon as this blizzard lets up.

[Billy Loring]

It'll be three days. It always is. What's your name?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Brokaw. Sergeant Brokaw.

[Billy Loring]

That's kind of funny somehow, today being the day you found me.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Glad I did. I hate to be camping out in that blizzard tonight. What's so funny about today?

[Billy Loring]

It's her birthday. I mean, my wife. Jeannie. Here, let me show you.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Hold it, Loring.

[Billy Loring]

Oh, no, no, no, no. It's all right. It's just her Photograph? Here, let me unwrap it. See?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

She's a pretty girl.

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, that and everything else, Sergeant. You married?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

No.

[Billy Loring]

Had some of her hair. That curl had spinned to the picture.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah. Red, isn't it?

[Billy Loring]

It's like red gold. We got married on her birthday, so today's our wedding anniversary, too. She wanted it that way. She said the best things in her life always happened on her birthday.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah, well.

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, I. I guess it was crazy. But I was so happy when I got up this morning about what day it was and only two months to go and all. I put two places at the breakfast table and I propped her picture up by one of them. I sat there talking to her while we ate together. I guess you get like that up here alone. I haven't seen a white man for three months. I had a little dog for a while, but he. He died about six weeks ago. And there wasn't any chance to get another one. Genie always liked dogs. Dogs and kids. You don't mind my talking this way, do you, Sergeant? Kind of helps him.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I don't mind. Why should I?

[Billy Loring]

Well, the thing is, we've always been so blamed crazy about each other. We'd never been apart until this came up. And then we had to be. And in another month or two, we'd have been back together.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

It's your own fault, Loring. It's not my concern. My job is to find you and bring you in. I've done part of that and I will do the rest of it.

[Billy Loring]

Maybe so. I warn you right now, Sergeant, I'll make it as tough for you as possible. I'm gonna get away if I can. You see, I promised her that we'd be together again.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

It's up to you, Loring. But if you start to play rough, I can play a whole lot rougher. One way or another, I'm gonna bring you in to stand trial. There's nothing can stop me.

[Billy Loring]

Maybe so, Sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

You see, I'm probably the hardest man in the whole Royal Canadian Mounted, Loring. And that's your hard luck, too, because you might have softened up another man with that stuff you were telling.

[Billy Loring]

You think that's why I talked about it?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I don't know and I don't care. The only thing that matters is that I've got a job to do. I always have done it, and I'm going to do it this time. You can depend on that.

[Billy Loring]

I guess duty's a big part of your life.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Not a big part of it, Loring. It's all of it. Now, if you don't mind, I've come 15 miles through the snow today. Last five against a blizzard. I'm tired. Let's turn in.

[Billy Loring]

All right. Sure.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

You can take the bunk. Leave your clothes on.

[Billy Loring]

Is it all right if I get that photograph off the table?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Go ahead. All right, put your feet together. Huh?

[Billy Loring]

What's the chain for?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Another reason to call me hard. I'm gonna padlock it around your ankles.

[Billy Loring]

You are cautious.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

That's. That's right, Lori. There. Call out if you want anything in the night. If you try to get up without calling, I'll kill you. I'll sleep here in the chair and this gun happens to be cocked.

[Billy Loring]

Thanks for warning me. Good night, sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Good night.

[Billy Loring]

By the way, Sergeant Brokaw.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah?

[Billy Loring]

It's too bad you never got married.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Why?

[Billy Loring]

Because when you go to sleep, you've nobody to dream about.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Billy. Billy, darling, can you hear me?

[Billy Loring]

Yes, Genie. Yes, darling.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Never mind the blizzard. It doesn't matter. We've been in storms before.

[Billy Loring]

Yes, I remember.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

And today's my birthday. And also the day we were married. Nothing can really hurt us. Everything's going to be all right.

[Billy Loring]

Yes, Genie. Yes. Everything is gonna be all right.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Billy.

[Billy Loring]

Yes, Jeannie?

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Remember one time in the forest we built a bonfire and roasted ears of corn? That was in the field back of the cottage.

[Billy Loring]

Yes. Two years ago. That was on your birthday too.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Yes. Yes. And do you remember how the smoke would always get in your eyes and how it would follow you around and make you cough and sneeze?

[Billy Loring]

Sure, I remember.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Remember the smoke, Billy? The smoke.

[Billy Loring]

Sure, I remember, Billy.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

The smoke. The smoke.

[Billy Loring]

What smoke? The cabin's on fire. Sergeant. Sergeant Brokaw, wake up. The cabin's on fire. Good Lord. Will you get this chain off my feet?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I can't walk no time.

[Billy Loring]

The whole roof's on fire. Here, I'll carry it.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Smokes. Can't see the door.

[Billy Loring]

Oh, don't hit.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Look at this.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Looks like we made it.

[Billy Loring]

Thanks, sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I gotta get back in there. All our stuff's in there.

[Billy Loring]

You can't make it. There goes the roof.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Hey, guess you know the spot we're in, Loring.

[Billy Loring]

Yes, I know. Our heavy coats, mittens, snowshoes and all of our food is burning up inside there.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

And it's 40 below and the blizzard just starting here. You can't lie there in the snow. Get that chain off your ankles. There you are.

[Billy Loring]

Thanks, sergeant. What about the handcuffs?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Hey, stay on Loring.

[Billy Loring]

Are you crazy? What difference does it make? We haven't a chance you know that as well as I do.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah, I know.

[Billy Loring]

We couldn't be any worse off. We don't even have a match. I saw you fill your case and put it in your coat. It's inside there. We don't even have a match.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I know that, Loring, and I know everything else. You gotta tell me. You don't have enough clothes to keep us from freezing to death. If we stay here and keep the fire going, we'll starve. It's 60 miles to the nearest post and 20 miles to Thoreau's, the next cabin down the trail. We might make 10 miles if we're lucky. More likely five.

[Billy Loring]

That's right. So why the handcuffs?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

You've been living up here for three months, Loring. I've got an idea. You probably know some cabin a lot closer than Thoreau's. Some Indian or a trapper, maybe. Not more than two or three miles away. You want to start breaking trail?

[Billy Loring]

Well, suppose I did. What of it? Something good has always happened to me on Jeanne's birthday. And I think it has this time, Sergeant. It's a lot easier to freeze to death than to go back and die the way I'd be doing it. So.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Oh, so it's like that?

[Billy Loring]

It's like that. Unless you want to make a deal.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

What kind of a deal?

[Billy Loring]

Take off these cuffs, give me that revolver, and I'll get you out of this. There's a cabin, all right.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Sorry, Loring. No deal.

[Billy Loring]

You're a fool, Brokaw. I got nothing to lose, but you're just tossing your life away. How about it?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

We'll take turns breaking trail. You can lead off first. We may as well start Where? Toro's, of course.

[Billy Loring]

20 miles. Why don't we sit down and freeze to death here instead of five miles from here?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Because I'll be five miles close. Closer to bringing you in. Come on.

[Billy Loring]

You're a fool, sergeant. You're beaten. You know it. Why don't you give in?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Come on, Loring. Let's get going. Loring, how far do you think we've come by now?

[Billy Loring]

I don't know. Let's rest for a minute.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah, I'm pretty winded myself. Five miles, you think?

[Billy Loring]

I'd say about four. Sixteen more to Thoreau's. Think we'll make it, Sergeant?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

We'll try it.

[Billy Loring]

We only had some way of building fires. We could stop and get warm once in a while.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Not even an Indian could build a fire in this blizzard without matches.

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, the wind is slacking off a

[Sergeant Brokaw]

bit, which Means it'll get colder. We better move on.

[Billy Loring]

Sergeant, how about taking off these cuffs? They're freezing to my skin. Look, I'm bleeding on both wrists.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Then why don't you take us to that cabin you know about?

[Billy Loring]

Want to make that deal?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

No deal.

[Billy Loring]

No deal, no cabin.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Then I'm sorry for you, Loring, but the cuffs stay on.

[Billy Loring]

Why? What difference can it make? We'll both be dead in two hours anyway.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

If we are, you'll still be wearing those cuffs. And this gun will still be in my holster. Dead or alive, you'll still be my prisoner.

[Billy Loring]

The hardest man in the Mounties.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Are you ready, Loring?

[Billy Loring]

Sure, why not?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I'll let out for a while. Come on, let's go.

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[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

Of all those who dwell in this frozen land, the bleak, cruel spirit of the north is known best to men. On the open trail. There, facing the breath of the blizzard, eyes blinded by the driving sleep, a man feels his soul grow small within him. And when that happens, his mind may turn to strange fantasies. And to memories of a faraway voice.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Billy, can you hear me, Billy?

[Billy Loring]

Yes, Genie.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Everything's going to be all right. Billy. I love you, and everything's going to be all right.

[Billy Loring]

Sure, honey.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

The snow doesn't matter and the blizzard doesn't matter. They'll be gone soon and they'll be only us.

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, I can see you now, standing there at the gate in front of the cottage.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

That's right, darling. Don't look at the snow and the icy trees and the storm. Look at me instead. See?

[Billy Loring]

Yeah. It's spring and the sun shining.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

And I'm wearing my hair the way you've always liked it. It's in curls, all tumbled. See, Billy? Yeah.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah.

[Billy Loring]

Oh, Jeannie. Gen. But. Brokaw. Brokaw. What's the matter?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Held off. Tired. Rest of her.

[Billy Loring]

You can't lie there like that. You'll be asleep in five minutes. That'll be the end.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Thoroughs. How much farther?

[Billy Loring]

Around 14 miles. Come about six altogether.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Your hands in pretty bad shape?

[Billy Loring]

I don't know, sergeant. I can't feel anything now.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Might as well take those cuffs off. Stick out your hands.

[Billy Loring]

Thanks, sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Here's my gun.

[Billy Loring]

How come?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I'm through beat. I'm giving in. Loring, take us to that cabin. What's wrong with you?

[Billy Loring]

You're too late, sergeant.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

What do you mean?

[Billy Loring]

That cabin's about two miles from where mine was. We're over four miles from it now. Neither one of us can last another half mile.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Neither. Yeah, I guess you're right. Well, looks like you win, Loring.

[Billy Loring]

You might call it that. It's tough on you, though. I was gonna die anyway.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Well, may as well keep moving.

[Billy Loring]

Why, this is as good a place as any.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Not gonna stop trying. As long as I can move, you can do what you like, Glory. I'm going on.

[Billy Loring]

Wait a minute, Sizer. If we had a fire and we could get warm for a while, then we can make that cabin without much danger.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Yeah, we have it.

[Billy Loring]

Suppose I say the word that'll save both of us. Get us out of this, will you? Go back to headquarters and tell them I'm dead.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

No. No, I can't do that. In 12 years of the service, I haven't run up a white flag once. I'm not gonna do it now. Dying or no dying duty. Call it whatever you want. We'll make you a square offer, though. Pull us out of this and I'll give you a 24 hours head start. As soon as we're both on our

[Billy Loring]

feet again, you're all Right, Brokaw? Funny, I don't even know why I'm doing this. I couldn't let you go on down the trail. You'd stumble into a drift and be dead before you'd made half a mile. And I'd have been safe then. Funny, I don't know why I'd do it. Maybe it's on account of her.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

What's your plan, Laurie? What have you got in mind?

[Billy Loring]

I'll take the offer of 24 hours. Brokaw, I've got a match.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

A match?

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, just one. I remember dropping it in my pants pocket yesterday. It's on this side. Maybe you can get to it. Your hands are in better shape than mine.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

All right. I can't seem to. Yeah. Yeah, here it is.

[Billy Loring]

It's dry too. Don't drop it. It's the only one.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

We gotta have some branches dry by here. You hold it while I get some off that birch tree.

[Billy Loring]

All right.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Mash. Mash. Don't drop it.

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

Line.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Holo.

[Narrator/Storyteller]

Calf.

[Billy Loring]

Yeah, I got it.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Box. Dry underneath. Ought to be all right.

[Billy Loring]

Started. That should burn all right.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

We ought to have some dry paper just to make sure.

[Billy Loring]

I've got some. Hold the match.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Oh, paper wrapped around that photograph.

[Billy Loring]

There you are. Funny, I was thinking about her when I remembered the match. I guess she's the one that's really gonna light this fire.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Well, there it is. You wanna strike it or you want me to?

[Billy Loring]

You go ahead. My hands are still pretty stiff.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

All right. You wanna have something dry to scratch it?

[Billy Loring]

There's a gun file in my same pocket. Reach in and get it.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

All right. Yeah. Yeah, Here it is.

[Billy Loring]

All right. Well, it's up to her now. All right, Genie, strike the match. Oh, Broko. Oh, Broko. What's the matter?

[Sergeant Brokaw]

The match lowering. It went out.

[Billy Loring]

No.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Our only chance. And it went out.

[Billy Loring]

So that's that.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I gotta get moving. I gotta get this rock.

[Billy Loring]

Broko, you can't make it.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

I gotta go on. As long as I'm alive, I gotta keep going. I gotta keep going.

[Billy Loring]

Broko, you don't have a chance. Broko, he's gone. Well, what's the difference here? Or half a mile farther? It's not so bad. It's kind of peaceful. Dreamy. So peaceful. It's just like going to sleep.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Billy, don't go to sleep. Billy, wake up.

[Billy Loring]

Everything's gonna be all right.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Genie, wake up. Darling, you can't go to sleep. You've got to wake up.

[Billy Loring]

Everything's all right.

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

The smoke. Billy, don't you remember the Smoke.

[Billy Loring]

Huh?

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

We're going to be together again. Open your eyes.

[Sergeant Brokaw]

Huh?

[Jeannie (Billy's Wife)]

Together again, Billy. Open your eyes.

[Billy Loring]

One smoke. The fire, it's burning. Spark from that match must have caught Genie. The fire is burning. The fire.

[Narrator/Descriptive Voice]

And so one man finds eternal sleep on the frozen breast of the snow. And one man dreams beside a fire whose tongues of flame are like the red curls of a woman's hair. When the blizzard has stripped the little things away and the soul of a man stands facing the blast, clean and bare and alone, then what is right and what is wrong? Does justice depend on the striking of a match? Is human destiny only a thing of accident and of chance? Ask the icy voice of the Arctic storm. Ask the cold, bleak spirit of the Great North Woods.

[Narrator/Host (Escape Radio Show)]

Escape is produced and directed by Norman MacDonald. And tonight, brought to you the Match by James Oliver Kerwood. Adapted for radio by Les Crutchfield. With Frank Lovejoy as Billy Wilms, Herbert as Sergeant Brokaw, Cynthia Corley as Genie, Nestor Piva as Thorn and Clark Cuny as the trooper. With Stan Waxman as the narrator. The musical score was conducted by Wilbur Hatch. Next week,

[Narrator/Storyteller]

you are trapped on a remote plantation in the crawling Amazon jungle. And an immense river of ravenous ants is closing in on you, swarming in to eat you alive. A deadly black army from which there is no escape.

[Narrator/Host (Escape Radio Show)]

Next week, we bring back the escape story you have most requested in your letters. Carl Stevenson's gripping tale, Leiningen vs. The Ants. Good night, then, until this same time next week, when once again, we offer you Escape. This is cbs, the Columbia Broadcasting System.

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