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About this Episode
https://www.solgoodmedia.com Listen to hundreds of audiobooks, thousands of short stories, and ambient sounds all ad free! 'Golden Age Mysteries' features the best of mystery fiction from the golden age, where every plot thickens with danger and intrigue. Relive the classic stories that set the standard for today's mystery genre.
Hosts & Guests
Transcript
Listen to Herbert Marshall as the man called X.
Wherever there is mystery, adventure, intrigue.
In all the strange and dangerous places of the world,
there you will find the man called X.
From the oil fields of Iran to the fertile delta of the Nile,
the smoldering coals of ancient hatreds of militant nationalism,
threatened to burst into a fiery inferno that could well be the start of World War III.
And who would there be to say whether such a flaming holocaust came into being accidentally?
Or was deliberately ignited as a weapon of destruction aimed at the Western democracies.
The time is 9.45 pm.
The place, a dark crooked alleyway near the dark area of Cairo.
The fertile figure of a man moves cautiously,
hesitatingly through the black and colourful shadows of the Egyptian man.
Oh, why do I do these things anyway?
A guy could get his throat cut out here and for what?
A few measly bucks.
Believe me if it wasn't for that I'd never do it.
Where is Uncle Ahmed anyway?
He said he'd meet me here.
Where is he? Where is cousin Ismail?
Oh, where is anybody?
The eye of the fiend is.
Oh, Uncle Ahmed, it's so dark for a minute I thought you were somebody else.
Oh, you cure somebody else.
Quiet, Zilshmi, that is the blade of a knife you feel pressing against your throat.
It is?
Listen, there is a certain man aboard the British cruiser Hellenic out in the harbor.
A certain pusher can't thirst him.
He must board the Cairo port Saeed Express at midnight.
Compartment C3.
Within, he must have 100,000 pounds sterling.
Repeat that.
Cairo port Saeed Express, midnight.
Compartment C3, 100,000 pounds sterling.
You will see that he is there with the money.
Otherwise, your life will be fulfilled.
But what if he don't pour to go?
He will go, Zilshmi.
When you tell him that with the 100,000 pounds he will be able to purchase a half-penny stamp.
This story of Zilshmi sounds rather like a weirdy doesn't it, Kim?
It could be a trap, you know?
I doubt it, Jim.
I have a hunched pig on his uncle Ahmed could help us out on this.
I think they had done it.
Zilshmi said this knife-wielding character did mention the half-penny stamp.
Is it the one we're after?
It has to be.
What other stamp could possibly be worth a 100,000 pounds?
There's plenty of times that if it contains the data we want, then are we to find out?
Easy.
I'll be aboard the Cairo port Saeed Express at midnight.
It might take a bit of doing.
Egyptians are very partial to us at this moment, you know?
I don't know a bit of this guy.
It's changed clothes.
Go on.
Go as an Egyptian merchant.
Now I wade you your throat's cut before you leave the station.
I'll let you know how I come out.
No, no, no, hold on, Kim.
It might be decent enough to wait until I got my hat.
I'm going with you.
Are you sure this is the right car, Kim?
Yeah, there's a department to see five, four.
Here we are, C3.
Come in, please, gentlemen.
Come in, there's more than enough room for all of us.
Who you?
My name is Turos, gentlemen.
The Metro Turos.
This happens to be a private compartment, Mr. Turos.
What did you know?
Oh, yes, yes.
I was quite aware of that fact.
I have been waiting for you, Mr. Tristan, and for Commander Stevens.
Yeah.
How do you know who we are?
I have connections, sir, but that is not important now.
What is?
The fact, sir, that I am a philanthropist, a STEM collector,
and my reason for being here is the same as yours.
A certain hip and a stamp.
What stamp is that?
Gentlemen, some five years ago, a British intelligence agent
managed to infiltrate into a certain organization,
a Middle East Strategy Committee whose orders came from a city
which might well be called Moscow.
Am I correct, Commander Stevens?
You were saying something about a stamp, Mr. Turos.
Yes.
That agent managed to acquire quite a fund of information
about this committee, such as its concern with the Iranian oil situation.
It's interesting, the anti-British riots in Egypt,
and he inscribed it all every fact, name, place,
upon the back of a hip and a stamp.
Well, come now, Turos.
One could hardly write a phone number on the back of a stamp.
Let alone all that data you'll mention.
As you know, the agent was a specially trained calligraphy,
one who could inscribe the Lord's Prayer on the head of a pin.
So?
The agent was arrested by the committee and murdered.
The stamp disappeared.
It is now somewhere in Egypt,
evidently being sought by Russian agents,
by British agents, by certain Arabian potentates.
And by Demetro Turos.
Yes.
As you say, Mr. Turos, by Demetro Turos.
What's your interest in it?
Strictly financial.
That stamp is what a great deal of money to the interested parties I have mentioned.
Here, one of my cards.
I trust you will visit me one day soon at my home in Port Said.
Thank you, gentlemen.
Good night.
Well, now that you make of that, Ken,
one thing's for sure.
Our friend Turos is what informed about that hidden stamp.
She's not the man we came to meet.
Oh, that makes you think that?
Those blood stains on the carpet.
Blood stains on the...
Yes.
Right next to that window seat.
What in the world?
There's luggage space under that seat.
Let's take a look.
Yes.
Yes, indeed.
You think he was the man we were going to meet?
Yes.
And who slipped that knife into him?
Turos.
Could be.
And Turos must have the stamp.
I got it.
Why?
He would try to make a deal with us all.
He could claim he ended up in poppin' by accident.
And it must be somebody else above the train.
He'll be anybody.
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Spreaker, because if you're going to talk to yourself for an hour, you might as well publish it.
Yeah.
May we come in, gentlemen?
No, you're ill.
What do you want?
I am major Oscar McKinnon.
You should military police.
Men in the corridor are my agents, do not the camp resistance please.
What's your interest in us?
The cops under that seat makes the answer superfluous.
However, you are both under arrest for murder, raise your hands please.
Can raise them?
Better do as he says, Jim.
I thought it makes it easier to reach the emergency call.
Not for that if indeed you're not.
Just for your gym.
What about the major?
Not for his speech.
I'm sure he stays that way.
I've said to genius Ken, pulling an emergency call.
There's certainly no time to mess around with the murder charge.
But where do we go from here?
Fort Saeed.
Fort Saeed.
The stamps aboard this train.
That's where it's headed.
The window, Jim.
Look out that way.
Come out.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
The door.
Lovely city, Fort Saeed.
Despite the trouble we had getting here.
I must confess I don't feel one bit closer to that stamp.
That's why I want to visit our friend, Demetro Taurus.
He's the only lead we have.
Yes.
Well.
Yes.
According to the address in his car, there should be a zone.
Yes.
You go on and contact your agents in town.
See if they've learned anything.
I'll talk to Taurus here and we'll meet at the El Akba Hotel tonight.
Right.
Hello, Mr. Thirsten.
Welcome to Fort Saeed.
Well, loud.
And surprise to see me, Mr. Rex.
I should have known you were aboard that train last night.
What did you do?
See Taurus leave that compartment and follow him here?
That's right.
Only stood to reason you'd be showing up here, too.
So when the Taurus character left the house, I got there.
Yeah.
How long we've been here?
Only a couple of minutes, Mr. Rex.
Nobody else in the house?
No.
Not a show.
Well, what do we do now?
Look for a heap in a stamp.
The one worth a hundred thousand pounds.
Steering?
Yeah.
Well, that looks like a demo library over there.
Let's try it.
Hey, it's black and hidden.
My ounce.
You know, it's hard.
It's a lamp on this desk.
Hey.
Hey.
Huh?
Something's going on.
Huh?
Hey.
Hey.
Huh?
Some joy, Mr. Rex.
It must be plenty of dough in this stamp business.
And look at that painting of that cute cookie dancing.
Where are you?
We're interested in stamps.
Not dancing goes.
Remember?
Oh, sure, sure.
So?
Where do we start, Mr. Rex?
I suppose we try those albums on this desk.
Hey.
Look at those books.
All covered with leather and stuff.
Artificial diamonds and stuff.
Oh, those diamonds are real paper.
Oh, sure.
I knew it all the time.
Would they ever put diamonds on a book?
That was real.
That's right.
Then what are we waiting for?
Let's grab those books and scrub out of here.
Oh, shut up.
Find something, Rex.
Take a look at this page.
What's that to look at?
Just stamps.
Hey.
Hey, maybe one of them is that the one that Joker said
you should meet him on the train so you could pay him often.
And it's worth almost a half a million bucks.
Yeah.
Let's check him.
But how are you going to do that, Mr. Rex?
How are you going to look for?
There are little plastic envelopes.
We can see both sides.
Look for writing on the back.
Writing or what kind of writing?
No, any kind of writing.
Shit.
That is the metal figure.
Mr. Rex.
Sleepy.
Sleepy.
The lamp of smoke is turning.
Turning up from the lamp.
Drug.
Been drugged.
Gotta get out of here.
Oh.
Sure, Mr. Rex.
Gotta get out of here.
Hey.
Get up.
Get the lamp.
Drugged from the lamp.
Got it.
I got to turn it out.
Turn it.
Turn.
We'll return to the man called X in just a moment.
Countries like people have their economic ups and downs.
And like people, the countries that cut to the roots of their problems
with the greatest ease progress the farthest and the fastest.
Our own country has become the envy of the world in this respect.
And why?
Because the better we produce, the better we live.
Throughout our history, living conditions have been geared to productivity,
improving with industry's vast strides, bringing shorter work hours,
more leisure time, and greater well-being to us.
And American production has taken place in a setting of liberty.
The liberty to work where one desires to profit from initiative and enterprise.
The American way has brought more benefits to more people than any other system in the world.
So that's what we mean when we say, the better we produce, the better we live.
And now act two of the man called X, starring Herbert Marshall, with Leon Balasco as Pagan-Zelchmit.
It is only a little colored piece of paper, a half-and-a-stand.
But on its back, it contains information that could quench the rising flames of unrest in the Middle East.
Or could lead to World War III.
And now, Ken Thurston is in Port Saeed, Egypt, searching for the stamp in the home of Dmitro Turos,
a search that is suddenly terminated when he and Pagan come under the influence of some strange drug.
So, Thurston, ascended, you are a gaining consciousness at last.
Yes, yes, looks as though.
Who are you?
I am known as Erderay.
Does the name mean anything to you?
That picture on the war in Turos' library.
The dancing girl.
I am flattered that you recognize me up in there.
Hey, young, where's the letter?
Your companion is sleeping comfortably in the cabin next to this one.
So, we're aboard ships.
The Abdullah Bay, encoded in the harbor of Port Saeed.
It is my husband's yacht.
Husband?
You have already met him.
The Metro Turos.
That is quite correct.
Why bring me here?
Is it so difficult to fathom it, Andy?
We are all after the same thing.
The hip and the stamp.
No, it still doesn't make sense.
Unless you work with your husband Erderay or against him.
The Metro is a pig.
Does that answer you?
No, it gives me a general idea.
Well, then let me give you more specific ones.
On the Port Saeed waterfront, there is a cafe known as the Star of Heaven.
Tonight, in the Star of Heaven, you may be able to find the hip and the stamp that you seek.
That's interesting. Anything else?
I understand. It will be in the custody of one I have heard referred to,
only as the man with the third green eye.
Well, not for enlightening, is it?
It will have to do.
I have told you all that I know.
Yes, but why?
I wish that stamp to be in the hands of its rightful owners, not in the Metro's.
And I intend to make certain of that personally.
Oh, how?
If you succeed in obtaining the stamp, you will come back here to the yacht with it.
Why should I come back?
There are two men wanted for a murder committed aboard the car of Port Saeed express.
A certain major Osman Kemal is in Port Saeed at this very moment.
He might well be interested in the whereabouts of one of those men.
Not for this subtle about your threat, sir.
There is nothing very subtle about war, first on the Sunday.
Well?
I'll try to be back tonight.
No, these carrots have cut your throat for nothing, even less maybe.
Why don't we give the spurs a couple of quick patterns?
No, not until we find the things we are looking for.
What things?
I hate this stamp.
A man with a third green eye.
I don't know what kind of talk is there.
About it, my family is your father.
For your family, the best coffee, black tea can have.
Thank you.
And for your family, highly milk, pure and sweet from the cow.
Milk?
But I ordered a triple scotch.
I changed the order.
What are we all year later?
Nothing, my family.
It has been paid for.
How do you like that?
First preloading, I get in six months and I'm hung up with milk.
Like a nice waiter, who arranged it?
The proprietor.
Abdul, how he's been.
How he's been?
Yeah, that is his standing near the rear door.
Famous, the first one.
That how he's been, Joker.
He's there.
Yeah, yeah.
Thank him for us, waiter.
And here for you.
Oh, thousands, nice to have been there.
May the blessing of Allah be with you.
That Mr. X, look at that how he's been guy.
What sort of trouble he's wearing?
Nice to see you, Taylor.
A brilliant green emerald.
Sure.
And it's sitting almost in the middle of his forehead.
A guy with a couple of drinks or two under his belt could even think maybe it was a third green.
I'm Mr. X, man.
That's right.
A third green.
Better guest to us.
What do you know?
I know.
I can assure you that Abdul, how he's been, is the man with a third green eye.
And the man who has the stand.
Quite nice of you to invite me so cordially to join your table, gentlemen.
The gun you've got inside that napkin says we have much choice.
Quite right, Mr. Toaster.
Though it is only 22 caliber, it would be quite deadly if aimed properly.
Well, sir, shall we indulge in some friendly conversation regarding a hip and a stand?
You must realize by now that I want it, sir.
Want it very badly.
And before this evening is out, I shall possess it.
Then why waste time with me?
My dear sir, it is hardly a waste of time to remove the last obstacle from one's path.
You will notice that the band is playing louder.
The music will surely reach a pitch where the sound of two shots muttered in this napkin.
You go entirely unnoticed.
Just like that, eh?
Just like that, sir.
Well, at least this time for me to finish this coffee.
My face, my face.
Let's have that gun, Toaster.
We'll get you first, Toaster.
Let's have it, Toaster.
I will.
What is the first one?
Come on, that rear door.
Yeah, but what are we going?
We've got a big big arm.
The man with a third green eye.
But why do we still hang around this joint, Mr. Riggs?
The rest of those jokers will be after us any minute.
How has Ben still got that heap you stamp?
And you think he's back here somewhere?
He's got to have an office someplace.
Maybe this is it.
Mr. Riggs?
Yes.
No, but who?
Why?
Take a look at his turban.
Mr. Riggs, the emerald.
The third green eye.
Yes.
Missy.
Missy.
So the man with a third green eye is there.
The first on a Sunday.
And the heap in his stamp is missing once again.
Looks like it heard me.
This is too bad.
But at least there is one consolation.
The Metro did not get his filthy hands on it.
Yeah.
Well, I'm keeping promise.
I was going to be going.
Well, well.
Major.
And you remember me first, then, Fendi?
Sure.
Looks like you pulled a neat double-crosser.
Perhaps it would not have been necessary if you had returned with the Heipani stamp first, then, Fendi.
So you're in on this too.
What about that military police gag?
Melius, up to a few, is to question you on Commander James Stevens at leisure.
Circumstances prevented that they bought the train.
Nothing, sir, presented.
No.
What do you think you'll find out from me?
The present whereabouts of the stamp?
You think I'm the one who killed Havis Bellon to put stamp on it?
No other explanation will feed the Circumstances.
Major Kamal, that questioning him.
He will tell us where it is hidden quickly enough.
Oh, you don't have to bother.
I'll tell you where it is.
But I want to get something straight first, huh?
What?
As I see it, Havis Bellon spread the word that he'd sell the stamp to the highest bidder.
And the vultures started gathering around.
Touros who had the money to buy it.
And the two of you sent me to the cafe to get it for you, so?
But you didn't figure that one of you would double-cross the other.
What do you mean?
While Touros and I kept each other busy, one of you killed Havis Bellon until the stamp.
Didn't you agree?
You're lying!
Better not wear such spicy perfume.
The scent was still in Havis Bell's office.
Now where's the emerald?
The one that's got the stamp concealed inside.
In your purse?
No.
No, no, see you from there.
No!
Okay, Major.
It's your move.
Sir, you did double-cross me, Audrey.
I should have known.
No, it's not.
Put away that gun.
You can't shoot me.
You can't!
Ah, yes.
Gary.
Everything okay, Ken?
It's under control, Jim.
Thanks.
You heard everything?
I didn't miss a word.
Oh, they're very exciting at the end there.
And I must say we run up against this unsavory character of crew of characters.
It's ever been my misfortune to me.
Who are you to talk?
You filthy, capitalistic pig!
Some day we will prove to the world who the truly superior people saw.
Oh, sure.
You're certainly trying hard enough.
Using the double-cross.
Murder.
Even war.
Or maybe someday you'll learn that there are no superior people.
Only a couple of billion human beings who want to live together in peace.
Who pray they won't have to fight to get it.
Now here's our star, Mr. Herbert Marshall.
Thanks for being with us.
And my thanks to Lucille Meredith,
John Dana, Ed Begley,
John Stevenson,
and Rue Krugman.
Next week, South America.
The baston of the Oranoko River,
where I believe it on,
a turn of dynamite,
and one Pegon's ultimate,
produce an explosion of fittings of whole country.
Pegon?
They're on the desk, of course.
So join us, won't you?
When next I return,
as the man called X.
Good night.
The man called X,
starring Herbert Marshall
as a J. Richard Kennedy production
with music by Milton Charles.
Tonight's story was written by Sydney Marshall.
This program was directed by Jack John Stone.
All characters and incidents on this program are fictitious.
And any resemblance to actual characters or incidents
is purely coincidental.
And now, until next week,
same time and station,
this is how gifted by the Oranoko River,
and this is how Gipney saying,
good night,
or the man called X.
This is NBC, the national...
