On Stage 53-01-22 (04) Cargo

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold’s Old Time Radio

Episode: On Stage 53-01-22 (04) Cargo
Original Air Date: January 22, 1953
Podcast Date: September 17, 2025
Hosts/Stars: Kathy Lewis & Elliot Lewis
Writers: Morton Fine and David Friedkin

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Overview

This episode from “On Stage” dramatizes “Cargo,” a lush, moody radio play set in the exotic backdrop of the Amazon. The story follows Paul Kincaid, a hardened river pilot, and Isabel Warner, a woman haunted by loss and seeking a new future. Their journey upriver is part business, part pilgrimage, exploring guilt, redemption, and unexpected romance under the shadowy canopy of the jungle.

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Key Discussion Points & Narrative Highlights

1. Introduction and Setup (00:00–00:30)

• Elliot and Kathy Lewis introduce the play, mentioning listeners should expect a tale filled with love and adventure.
• The writers Morton Fine and David Friedkin are praised as creators of compelling radio drama.

2. Main Characters and Their Motivations (00:30–01:30)

• Isabel Warner (Kathy Lewis): Revealed as the “cargo” to be delivered to her fiancé, Julia, upriver.

• Paul Kincaid (Elliot Lewis): A jaded river man, carrying the scars of past violence.

• Corvo: Kincaid’s loyal assistant, provides both comic relief and insight into Kincaid’s soul.

• Revelation: Isabel’s brother was killed by Kincaid in the past, creating instant and heavy tension.

  "Just stare at you and be glad you’re all eaten up inside. Because you're a man who once cut another man's throat. Get a boy, put a knife in him and killed him. And he was my brother."
  — Isabel (Kathy Lewis), 01:36

3. Departure and Jungle Atmosphere (01:30–03:41)

• Journey begins in Matape, Brazil, as the trio board their launch, Jacquelina.

• The Amazon’s setting is evocatively described – heat, decay, and the ever-changing cycle of life and death.

  “The million things that grew into each other and choked each other and dripped, ripped and grew and died. And sprang to life again and grew. See it till the night comes.”
  — Paul Kincaid (Elliot Lewis), 02:47

4. Stop at Purupa – Gasoline and Ghosts (03:41–07:05)

• At a river town, Purupa, Kincaid gets gas on credit from Grady – a local character who needles him about his violent past and Isabel’s connection.

• Tension simmers as Grady and Isabel indirectly discuss Kincaid’s crime and Isabel’s true intentions.

  "Who’s the lady, cargo? Yeah, she said."
  — Grady, 03:56

5. Kincaid’s Haunted Past (07:05–11:14)

• Kincaid visits a grave (Jacquelina’s) in Porto de Mas and leaves a wild orchid, revealing grief for a lost love and the pain still raw from his actions.

  "Jacquelina. A girl I buried in that grave. A girl who wore a jungle orchid in her hair."
  — Paul Kincaid (Elliot Lewis), 09:58

• Corvo interrupts, apologizes for intruding, acknowledging the depth of Kincaid’s suffering.

  "The girl you loved her. Must have been very much."
  — Corvo, 09:45

6. Fever, Delirium, and Care (11:14–14:23)

• Kincaid falls into fever; Isabel nurses him through illness, quietly shifting their animosity toward intimacy.

  “And cold. Cold of fever. And of a face dead in swarming earth and decay. Of wild blossoms on a forest grave.”
  — Kincaid’s fever dream, 11:37

• They arrive at Palmbal, met by Julio, Isabel’s intended.

7. Julio and The Palace (15:28–17:37)

• Describes the opulent isolation of Julio’s estate; Kincaid recovers from fever in luxury but remains emotionally tormented.

• Julio senses the chemistry between Isabel and Kincaid, noting:

  “You must know… how she has nursed you near. To you more than to me she has been since you are here.”
  — Julio, 16:56

8. Confession and Forbidden Love (17:50–20:26)

• Isabel and Kincaid share intimate moments in the jungle, admitting love and the impossibility of returning to the past.

  "I love you."
  — Paul Kincaid (Elliot Lewis), 19:55

• Isabel’s willingness to embrace her new feelings juxtaposed with her vow to Julio sets the stage for tragic consequences.

9. Treachery, Pursuit, and Climax (20:40–25:20)

• The two attempt to flee but are caught; Corvo is shot in the chaos by Julio.

• Isabel, wounded, pleads for survival and home.

  "Take me home."
  — Isabel, 25:24

10. Resolution: Down River and New Love (25:28–26:03)

• Kincaid carries Isabel to the boat, heading downriver toward a new beginning together.

  "I love you, Paul."
  — Isabel, 26:01

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Female Power, Bitter Love

  “Just stare at you and be glad you’re all eaten up inside... And he was my brother.”
  — Isabel, 01:36

• Jungle’s Relentless Cycle

  "The million things that grew into each other and choked each other and dripped, ripped and grew and died."
  — Kincaid, 02:47

• Kincaid’s Grief

  "A girl I buried in that grave. A girl who wore a jungle orchid in her hair."
  — Kincaid, 09:58

• Forbidden Love Confession

  "I love you."
  — Kincaid to Isabel, 19:55

• Hopeful End

  "I love you, Paul."
  — Isabel, 26:01

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction and Play Setup: 00:00–00:30
• Character Backstories Revealed: 01:31–03:41
• Gas Stop & Confrontation: 03:41–07:05
• Revelation at Jacquelina’s Grave: 07:05–11:14
• Fever & New Bonds: 11:14–14:23
• Julio’s Palace & Suspicion: 15:28–17:37
• Isabel & Kincaid’s Love Confession: 17:50–20:26
• Escape and Corvo’s Death: 20:40–25:20
• Final Escape & Confession: 25:28–26:03

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Tone & Atmosphere

• Moody, lyrical narration typical of Golden Age radio drama
• Atmosphere of tropical danger and emotional tumult
• Dialogue is raw, direct, and evocative of noir fiction and classic Hollywood adventure films

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Conclusion

“Cargo” is a tale of hard-won redemption, haunted love, and the search for peace in the wildest of places. The interplay of loss, guilt, and new romance reflect the complex emotional stakes, while the dangerous beauty of the Amazon forms a fitting backdrop. Through exceptional performances by Kathy and Elliot Lewis, the play explores how the past shapes the future—and how love can bloom even in the darkest jungle.

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Transcript

[Elliot Lewis]

Good evening. May I present my wife, Kathy?

[Kathy Lewis]

Good evening. Last week we presented a comedy about the theater for you and promised for this week, Love and Adventure.

[Elliot Lewis]

And so Morton Fine and David Friedkin, who wrote our opening show, the Stringbow Tie, and are possibly more familiar to all of you through Broadway's My Beat, came up with a story which we think you'll like.

[Kathy Lewis]

It's called Cargo, and it's about a man and a woman. The woman, Isabel Warner.

[Elliot Lewis]

The man, Paul Kincaid.

[Kathy Lewis]

Romantic setting for a story of love and adventure.

[Corvo]

Brazil. The small port town of Matape. On the river Amazon.

[Kathy Lewis]

At the edge of the river, a dock. And tied to it, a motor launch. Standing alongside the launch, a girl, Isabel Warner. And on the launch, two men, Paul Kincaid and his deckhand, assistant and friend called Corvo.

[Elliot Lewis]

She's the cargo, huh? She told you that?

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

See? See that one? Oh, senor. Senor.

[Elliot Lewis]

Funny, huh?

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Which is why I did not permit her aboard.

[Corvo]

Oh.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

To stand here on the Jacqueline. To look at you, the face of you right now. And to look down on the face of her on the dark.

[Elliot Lewis]

What do you want?

[Kathy Lewis]

You know what I want, Kincaid.

[Corvo]

What you're hired to do.

[Kathy Lewis]

So do it. I've got a man waiting for me four days away.

[Elliot Lewis]

Deliver me, because I need the money. If I didn't. You stand here on the dock and watch the Amazon.

[Kathy Lewis]

And be careful with my suitcase. It's got my wedding gown in it.

[Elliot Lewis]

You carry it around wherever you go, huh? Isabelle? With hopes.

[Kathy Lewis]

What do I do now?

[Corvo]

King Kid?

[Elliot Lewis]

Come on, get aboard.

[Kathy Lewis]

Put my fingernails against your cheek and pull down because of the way you talk. Kill you because of what you've done to me. Or just stare at you and be glad you're all eaten up inside. Because you're a man who once cut another man's throat. Get a boy, put a knife in him and killed him. And he was my brother.

[Elliot Lewis]

A bomb?

[Kathy Lewis]

Yes.

[Elliot Lewis]

A river drifter who needed to be killed. Your brother?

[Kathy Lewis]

Yes. And you did it.

[Corvo]

And this is what it's done to you, Eden.

[Kathy Lewis]

I'm glad. I used to wish you would die. I don't anymore. A man like you, a strong man, a long time dying. I'm glad.

[Elliot Lewis]

You're gonna stand here and talk.

[Kathy Lewis]

Listen, Kincaid. You'll take me aboard your boat. And you'll take me to Palm volume. And I'll get married.

[Elliot Lewis]

You, Senor Julio? You're not kidding, are you?

[Kathy Lewis]

No. I'll marry Julio. Because he asked me politely. He bought me a drink once in Point Grossa.

[Elliot Lewis]

And then he said he was lonely.

[Corvo]

Times like this, Kincaid. Like before. What do I do now to hurt you, Mark?

[Kathy Lewis]

Curio said marriage. Curio said he would send for me. He did. He sent you. Take me to him.

[Elliot Lewis]

From Matapi, where we started the pond. Four days by launch. One day of it on the Amazon to Harupa, a river town. Three more days down the Tonkantines river and there was this. Enough money to buy enough gas to Harupa. Then rely on credit. But mostly there was this. The day and the night it took to get there. 24 hours at the green edge of the world. Before you go over the sight of it. Sail it a hundred times like I have. And wonder what it would look like the next time. The heat would always be there. And the stink. The million things that grew into each other and choked each other and dripped, ripped and grew and died. And sprang to life again and grew. See it till the night comes. Then pick a clump of black and watch it wavers. Becomes defined. Becomes trees and lianas and green. And it's day again in Rivertown Purupa. And the man of the river town is named Brady.

[Grady]

Laddie, laddie. It's always a pleasure to extend you credit.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Who's the lady up for it?

[Elliot Lewis]

Cargo? I'll need enough gas to get me to Palm Valgrady.

[Grady]

Surely, surely, indeed. Oi, Sen. Blow gas for the Jacquelina.

[Elliot Lewis]

Give me a hand, Corvo.

[Corvo]

Cheers, senor.

[Elliot Lewis]

Who's the lady, cargo? Yeah, she said.

[Grady]

You said laddie. I wondered.

[Elliot Lewis]

Hey, where you going?

[Grady]

Oh, to offer the lady a drink. You want a drink, lady?

[Corvo]

No.

[Grady]

Oh, now, here, I'll wipe the bottle top for you.

[Elliot Lewis]

Get out of here, Grady.

[Grady]

Oh, are you wanting my gas for credit?

[Elliot Lewis]

No, I'll pay you.

[Grady]

Oh, surely, surely, laddie. What's your name, little dear? Drink and tell me. Here's the bottle.

[Kathy Lewis]

You get the message, mister?

[Grady]

Ah, it's been done before, little dear. The bottle slapped to the floor and the aughty lady. Well, I picked the bottle up and I tried again. Now, tell a Grady a name.

[Elliot Lewis]

Leave her alone, Grady.

[Grady]

Oh, but I'm a man with a curiosity who sells gas for credit to.

[Elliot Lewis]

Friends of mine, Isabel Warner. Isabel now and Warner of him.

[Grady]

Are you of him, little dear?

[Corvo]

What's he talking about?

[Elliot Lewis]

She's his brother.

[Grady]

He's a tidy one. Sister to the brother Kincaid killed. And you ride on his boat. Haughty. Now there's a one.

[Corvo]

Get him away from me.

[Grady]

Oh, no, no, little dear. He's in a vice. Paul Kincaid is. I'M a lonely man in a lonely place. And I'm needed now for the gas.

[Elliot Lewis]

Listen to me, Grady.

[Grady]

You listen to me. Is a thing of strangeness. You, Paul Kincaid to her. Killer of a brother for a woman in a jungle town. Now you to her.

[Corvo]

Tell me what were you there?

[Grady]

What, dearie?

[Corvo]

When he killed my brother?

[Grady]

Yes, in Porto de Moss. It was down the river.

[Corvo]

Tell me. Tell me, Grady. I've heard 10 different stories about it and I want to know.

[Grady]

Oh, over a bit of prettiness. It was a pretty thing named Jack Olina. The same as the launch. And a thing to kill her.

[Elliot Lewis]

Shut up, Grady.

[Grady]

You served your time for it, laddie. Forget it. The dear little one and me's getting on.

[Elliot Lewis]

Come on, come on.

[Grady]

Drink, little dear. We'll talk of whatever.

[Kathy Lewis]

Drink, Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

You begged, Grady. You really didn't.

[Grady]

I don't you want, laddie, eh? A time for it now. I'll warm the night with you.

[Corvo]

He'll drown, Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

This man will fish him out.

[Corvo]

Does it hurt or he cut you?

[Elliot Lewis]

It'll be all right. Carvo. Help me.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

This is the deep one, Paul. Another rings. Grady would have opened the place where your soul is.

[Elliot Lewis]

Stuff it closed.

[Grady]

Here.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Take a long drink.

[Elliot Lewis]

For an instant. Hold the room to the light. Then bring it down. And through curve of glass. The girl's face. Cargo girl. Jurios girl. Sister of a man. You've killed her face. Watching Corvo work the knife wound. Isabelle's face stilled in emerald moonlight.

[Corvo]

Drinking alone, Mr. Kincaid, it seems to me.

[Elliot Lewis]

Pour the lady a drink, Corvo. She's been through a lot. And her laughter mixes good with the night. Wilderness drifts inland on mist. Wind empties into the great fountains of jungle ferns. And dies there in one more twisting of pain. And Corvo finishes. So kick her over. Now. Take the wheel. Head the Jacquelina into rotting shore. Currents into sweep of forest river cargo a bride. Vermar Curio, plantation owner, coffee grower. Lonely fellow biting his nails against the time when an end to loneliness. Walks up his private dock with a suitcase in her hand. Content's bridal gown. Four days away for Jurio and for me. Two days to where the Tonkantin spills its jungle silt into the Amazon. And the dead city at its mouth, Porto de Mas. And walk alone through the dead city. A city of ruins. Dead city of a memory. And from a tangle of wilderness where once a street was. Pluck the moist wild orchid. Walk some more to fringe of lost city. To a place you've kept clear where memory lies. Where the dead girl lies. Where grave is. Neil. Lay the wild orchid on it. Press your face to her.

[Corvo]

What's that you're doing, Mr. Kincaid?

[Elliot Lewis]

What?

[Corvo]

I asked what you were doing, Mr. Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

Get out of here. Get out.

[Corvo]

Such a tender gesture. The wild orchid. And the attitude. Kneeling so gentle. Your face against the earth.

[Elliot Lewis]

I told you, get out. Get away from here.

[Corvo]

Your private place, Mr. Kincaid.

[Kathy Lewis]

Your lonely place. No trespassers allowed, huh?

[Elliot Lewis]

Come on, I'll take you back to the launch.

[Corvo]

No. You stay here as long as you want. I'll go back alone. Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

Yes?

[Corvo]

I'm sorry.

[Elliot Lewis]

For what?

[Corvo]

I'm sorry I followed you.

[Elliot Lewis]

Forget it.

[Corvo]

Sorry I said what I did. Sorry I stood there and watched. More than that, I'm ashamed.

[Elliot Lewis]

I told you, forget it.

[Corvo]

The girl you loved her. Must have been very much.

[Elliot Lewis]

You wouldn't know.

[Corvo]

Jacquelina.

[Elliot Lewis]

You need to know, huh?

[Corvo]

Girl you killed my brother for?

[Elliot Lewis]

Yes, I'll tell you because you need to know. Yes. Jacquelina. A girl I buried in that grave. A girl who wore a jungle orchid in her hair. And some scarlet things of linen about her.

[Corvo]

Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

That girl. Jacquelina Kincaid. Dead now. Like her city. Like me. And the flower for her hair. And the jungle grave. My place. Like you said. My.

[Corvo]

Mr. Kincaid. What's the matter with you?

[Elliot Lewis]

My place. Mine. Here. And from somewhere deep in forest. The sudden screeching of glee. And the furtive scurrying sounds. And moon gleam on a slow line of ants. Fever or death. And not care which. A flower had been placed. And then the remembered motion, the sway and rock of the Jacquelina. And try to get to the wheel. Be held back.

[Corvo]

Just lie there. Mr. Kinc. Corvo's doing all right here.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Here, let me handle this one. Senorita Warren.

[Corvo]

Let me help. I want.

[Elliot Lewis]

Ah.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Two days now you have been at his side. And this one appalls. You will not know what to do. Drink porn.

[Elliot Lewis]

And cold. Cold of fever. And of a face dead in swarming earth and decay. Of wild blossoms on a forest grave.

[Corvo]

Col. Paul.

[Elliot Lewis]

The touching of a new warmth. And it holds you close. And there's another face. And its breath is on your cheek. Against your eyes. Against your mouth. And the new fever dream takes hold. Where is the gentle face Rests its warmth at your side. Where was death? Where Its grave. And not remember.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Paul. Paul. Wake Paul. Pobrecito. Try to wake Paul. Or Tomball. We are here, Paul. Tied to Julio's dog. You understand what I say?

[Elliot Lewis]

Paul? Yeah, yeah. Palm bal.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

And this the Senor Julio approaches to us for his cargo. For you, Senorita Isabel Warner.

[Corvo]

Yes.

[Elliot Lewis]

The fever sickness Coral. Three days.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Asked the senorita. She will count also for you the nights at your side. To warm you when you are cold. To make cool you when you are burned.

[Elliot Lewis]

Was it you? Your face, the fever dream? You.

[Corvo]

You were very sick. Paul. Paul.

[Unknown Male Character (possibly a local or minor character)]

Your suitcase, senorita. With it a bride's gown that you will wear for your Uriel. I bring it for you.

[Corvo]

Paul, wait.

[Elliot Lewis]

Listen to me.

[Corvo]

No. Be still and listen to me. Something you said when you were in fever. When I did what? Garvo told you. Something you whispered against such as a.

[Julio]

Man'S face or gentle. Does she not? Kincaid, my bride to be. My Isabel.

[Elliot Lewis]

No, no.

[Julio]

Do not rise to me, Isabel. Finish saying to Kincaid your farewell. And I will pay him for my cargo.

[Corvo]

He has fever, Hero. He's very sick. He needs a doctor.

[Julio]

Oh, your wish, Isabel. Then I shall get for him a doctor. And Kincaid will be brought to my house.

[Elliot Lewis]

Forget it, Julio. Corvo will take care of me. We'll get out as soon nor King Kane.

[Julio]

The doctor. The things of my house, the gentleness of Isabel. And you will be well for the wedding of Isabel to me.

[Corvo]

Hurry over.

[Julio]

By Wednesday the priest and you will be to me the end of loneliness.

[Elliot Lewis]

To me.

[Julio]

Come, Isabel. Come, bride.

[Narrator/Announcer]

You are listening to Kathy and Elliot Lewis on stage. Tonight's play, Cargo Science chalked up its biggest year against polio in 1952 by discovering a temporary immunizing agent that already has saved many lives. To help continue this work, the national foundation for Infantile Paralysis asks more urgently that you join the March of dimes. In 1953.

[Elliot Lewis]

The River Town of Pambala. End of journey. And what was in it? This acres of coffee under cultivation, hovels, shacks. And a palace a quarter mile from the river. The Senor's Palace. Senor Mark Jurio, lord and master. And rich enough to have built a thing of gleaming white stone. Like something he'd seen in Portugal. He'd once told me. With mosque like roof and minarets with gardens and pools of speckled sunlight where strange birds came. The place where I got well again.

[Julio]

Let me see.

[Elliot Lewis]

You look better, Paul. Much better. Yeah, I feel fine. What day is it?

[Julio]

You always ask. Each day you share the excitement with me.

[Elliot Lewis]

It's Tuesday, isn't it?

[Narrator/Announcer]

One more day.

[Elliot Lewis]

Tell me something, Julio. How come? Well, Isabel. Uh huh.

[Julio]

Can you get up?

[Elliot Lewis]

Sure. I've been walking around all morning. Why?

[Julio]

What to Here, to the window. Now, down there in the garden.

[Elliot Lewis]

Look.

[Julio]

Isabel. She's a beauty. That's why.

[Elliot Lewis]

Oh.

[Julio]

And of gentleness and of compassion. Once in Pointe Grosse, I drank with her and talked. And all these things of her I knew and understood at once. Ah, but you must know.

[Elliot Lewis]

What?

[Julio]

How she has nursed you near. To you more than to me. She has been since you are here.

[Elliot Lewis]

I know.

[Julio]

Uriel.

[Elliot Lewis]

See? You love her.

[Julio]

She is.

[Elliot Lewis]

Yes, I know of beauty. You love her. Julio.

[Julio]

Tomorrow, in the afternoon, I marry her. Now, from you, an answer.

[Elliot Lewis]

Yeah.

[Julio]

How much time she spends with you?

[Elliot Lewis]

I'm leaving tomorrow. In the morning. Good.

[Julio]

I'm happy that you are that well.

[Elliot Lewis]

Paul?

[Corvo]

Paul, is that you?

[Elliot Lewis]

Yeah. Over here.

[Corvo]

You in the darkness are another shadow. I wasn't sure.

[Elliot Lewis]

His house chokes in on me. I had to get out.

[Corvo]

Walk with me, Paul. Away from me.

[Elliot Lewis]

All right.

[Corvo]

There's a place past where he's caged the wild birds. A grove.

[Elliot Lewis]

I know.

[Corvo]

What?

[Elliot Lewis]

I've watched you there.

[Corvo]

You. You saw me there?

[Elliot Lewis]

Paul Oreo took me to a window and told me to look. And it's where you were. And when he got out of the room, I came back to the window. And you were still there. And I watched you as you walked. And when you lay down and thought there was no one to see you, I watched. And a thing Julio had said.

[Corvo]

What, Paul? What did he say?

[Julio]

That you were of beauty.

[Elliot Lewis]

Your boy has a twisted way with words.

[Corvo]

You're right. I'm not beautiful.

[Elliot Lewis]

You want me to tell you? I have to tell you that tomorrow I get out of Pamba. Tomorrow you not beautiful.

[Corvo]

Not like the other ones.

[Elliot Lewis]

What?

[Corvo]

Not her beauty? No scarlet thing to wear on my shoulders. Just this. What I am.

[Elliot Lewis]

Listen to me.

[Corvo]

Cargo. Cargo that gave you the chance to.

[Elliot Lewis]

She's dead. She's dead.

[Corvo]

Say it once more, Paul.

[Elliot Lewis]

She's dead.

[Corvo]

But your love for her not dead.

[Elliot Lewis]

Will you listen to me?

[Corvo]

I'll listen.

[Elliot Lewis]

Pa. Jacquelina. Only this now. A launch, a boat I have that runs the jungle river. And the girl she was named after. Something that was found in fever and lost in another kind of fever and made dead. Isabelle. Isabelle.

[Corvo]

I'll wear the wild blossom in my hair wherever you say. Wait there. I'll wait.

[Elliot Lewis]

I love you.

[Corvo]

I will be Jacquelina. Whatever woman she was to you. Whatever woman's thing she did for you.

[Elliot Lewis]

This woman. Only this woman.

[Corvo]

Paul. Someone must have been watching someone. Wait, Senor Julio.

[Kathy Lewis]

In the garden.

[Elliot Lewis]

I saw them in the garden, Paul. They'll kill Us.

[Corvo]

Listen, I don't care.

[Elliot Lewis]

What are you talking about?

[Kathy Lewis]

I don't care.

[Corvo]

Paul, whatever happens now, what's going to.

[Elliot Lewis]

Happen is that we're going to get the boat and get to Matapi.

[Corvo]

If you say we will.

[Elliot Lewis]

Come on. There's the river. The boat's down.

[Corvo]

Corvo.

[Elliot Lewis]

Corvo dead? Shot dead. And the boat? Gone.

[Corvo]

I was wrong.

[Elliot Lewis]

What?

[Corvo]

I said.

[Kathy Lewis]

I didn't care.

[Corvo]

I was wrong.

[Elliot Lewis]

Whoever killed Corvo took the boat upstream into the jungle. He can't go far.

[Kathy Lewis]

Why not?

[Elliot Lewis]

Up that way. Rapids. There's only one place a boat could go. Upstream. About 10 miles down. Just before the rapid start, the river branches off and there's a stream that could take the boat, but not for long. Less than a mile.

[Kathy Lewis]

We'll never find it.

[Elliot Lewis]

We have to find it. Upstream is only jungle. We have to find it. If we don't, we'll rot. We'll find it.

[Kathy Lewis]

How?

[Elliot Lewis]

Follow the river?

[Kathy Lewis]

Yes.

[Elliot Lewis]

We'll find it, Isabel. I promise you. Yes. It was easy at first. The rim of the river was sand. A long, slow curve into night. An hour of it, no talk and no boat. Then the beach narrowed. And then the river became a twisting tunnel of darkness. Endless vines and creepers and roots that were suddenly there against you, holding you. Two hours, no boat, and the river became the. And the land's a river. And Isabel Falls gets up again. Walks through screen of jungle and night and terrible doubt and fear. Seven hours. And it happened. Isabelle.

[Corvo]

I can't.

[Elliot Lewis]

We'll rest.

[Corvo]

Just for a while.

[Elliot Lewis]

Yes.

[Kathy Lewis]

Why?

[Elliot Lewis]

You mean, why didn't he kill us back there? Where he killed Carlo?

[Corvo]

Yes.

[Elliot Lewis]

Wednesday, there'll be a priest there. The priest will hear about a dead native. It'll be easy to explain away. But a dead white man and a dead white girl. It won't be easy.

[Corvo]

You think he's waiting?

[Elliot Lewis]

Him or someone.

[Corvo]

We'll die in the jungle anyhow.

[Elliot Lewis]

Paul, listen. You hear that?

[Corvo]

What?

[Elliot Lewis]

The rapids. Listen.

[Corvo]

I'm all right. I can go on.

[Elliot Lewis]

And that was near the end of it there before the torrent began. A stream. The banks of it, sandy and easy. Walk and steam and heat. And there was a boat there.

[Corvo]

Paul Kincaid.

[Elliot Lewis]

Whoa.

[Corvo]

It was Uriel.

[Elliot Lewis]

Wait here, Isabelle.

[Corvo]

No. I said wait for what, Paul?

[Elliot Lewis]

He's got a gun.

[Corvo]

Wait for what, Paul?

[Elliot Lewis]

For me.

[Corvo]

No. I'm coming with you. That's the way it is. I'm coming with you.

[Julio]

Good morning.

[Elliot Lewis]

Hello, Julio.

[Julio]

And good morning to you, bride.

[Corvo]

Oh.

[Julio]

Oh, such a bedraggled bride.

[Kathy Lewis]

So it was a mistake Curio.

[Corvo]

Let us go back.

[Julio]

In case.

[Elliot Lewis]

What?

[Julio]

That's your boat. The Jacqueline. Why don't you try to take.

[Elliot Lewis]

So you can shoot me in the back when I board her?

[Corvo]

Hero. I want to talk to you.

[Julio]

Your wedding. Morning. My present to you.

[Elliot Lewis]

Talk.

[Kathy Lewis]

I'm sorry.

[Julio]

Sorry.

[Kathy Lewis]

I'll stay with you. Uriel. Let. Paul.

[Julio]

Let him go.

[Elliot Lewis]

Oh, no.

[Kathy Lewis]

You'll see. There's nothing I won't do.

[Elliot Lewis]

Bride.

[Julio]

Bride.

[Kathy Lewis]

Let him go.

[Julio]

He'll die. Bride. And you. You think you can shame me with this river rat? With this jungle filled with this?

[Elliot Lewis]

I'll kill you.

[Julio]

Kill you.

[Elliot Lewis]

Isabelle. Isabelle.

[Corvo]

Hurts. Paul. Am I going to die? Paul. Where he shot me. Hurts. I don't want to die.

[Elliot Lewis]

You won't die.

[Corvo]

Take me home.

[Elliot Lewis]

And I lifted her and I carried her across the sand. From the little piece of water to the boat. To Jacquelina, the name of a boat. And made a place for Isabel on the deck in the shade. Then I turned the boat around downstream. And then a thing happened. From somewhere far away. A small breeze rode a mist up the river and lay against the boat. And Isabel smiled at what once a choke of darkness was a million trees, clean and new in the morning. And Isabel said it.

[Corvo]

I love you, Paul.

[Elliot Lewis]

And we were going home.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Cargo, starring Kathy and Elliot Lewis. In a moment, Mr. And Mrs. Lewis will tell you about next week's play. Maybe Millie won't succeed in getting the boss's son, but you'll succeed in laughing when you meet Millie, starring Elena Verdugo. You can hear it every Thursday night over most of these same CBS radio stations. And now, Kathy and Elliot Lewis.

[Kathy Lewis]

Our thanks tonight for a beautiful script to Martin Fine and David Friedkin and.

[Elliot Lewis]

To the fine actors and friends who made it all come to life. John Dana, who neglected his picture career long enough to play Mark Julio.

[Kathy Lewis]

And Ben Wright, who returned from being a French policeman in Beirut by sunrise two weeks ago to play the villainous gasoline seller Grady tonight and Anthony Barrett.

[Elliot Lewis]

Friend and assistant to Paul Kincaid.

[Kathy Lewis]

Next week, Anthony Ellis suggested a story which we liked and which he has written for us, called A public furlough about a soldier on leave. Me, you and a motion picture actress. He wants a date with you. Me.

[Elliot Lewis]

And that's what's going to happen next week. Thank you all for listening and good night.

[Kathy Lewis]

Good night.

[Narrator/Announcer]

Music for tonight's story was composed by Fred Steiner and conducted by Lud Gluskin. The Kathy and Elliott theme is by Ray Noble. Kathy and Elliot Lewis on stage is transcribed and directed by Mr. Lewis. George Walsh speaking.