In this captivating episode of Mystery Theater, host EG Marshall introduces us to the intriguing world of second sight, a mysterious gift—or perhaps a curse—that allows individuals to foresee events before they happen. The story, "The Unearthly Gift," follows Ruth Ann Mitchell, a young woman with this extraordinary ability, as she navigates life in a remote lumber camp with her grandmother, Bridget Kearney. As Ruth Ann grapples with her visions, she finds herself caught in a web of danger and emotion, particularly when it comes to the enigmatic Tim Farrell, a new lumberjack at the camp.
As tensions rise, Ruth Ann's visions become increasingly ominous, foretelling danger for Tim and others in the camp. The episode explores themes of love, fate, and the burden of knowing too much about the future. With a dramatic climax involving a life-threatening confrontation and a race against time, Ruth Ann must confront her fears and the true nature of her gift. Will she be able to change the course of destiny, or is she doomed to witness the inevitable? Tune in to find out how this thrilling tale unfolds.
(00:21) Introduction to the Unearthly Gift
(01:21) Definitions and the Gift of Second Sight
(02:19) Tragedy Strikes at the Lumber Camp
(04:03) Ruth Ann's Vision and the Lumberjack's Fate
(07:00) New Arrival: Tim Farrell
(10:06) Ruth Ann's Burden of Second Sight
(14:00) A Narrow Escape from Death
(17:01) Granny's Wisdom and Ruth Ann's Dilemma
(25:14) Granny's Final Wish
(30:00) The Showdown with Big Red
(37:02) Ruth Ann's Final Confrontation
(40:08) A New Beginning for Ruth Ann
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[00:00:17]
Unknown:
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. All peoples have their separate legends, their superstitions, and their fears. Julius Caesar once said that all Gaul is divided into three parts. But whatever the political alignments, the Gallic people shared their legends in common, and none more persistent and accepted than the belief in the second sight. Usually called a gift, but one wonders if perhaps it is far more the reverse of that. Our mystery drama, The Unearthly Gift, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Ian Martin and stars Betsy Palmer.
Let's begin with two definitions of second sight. The unearthly capacity to see things impossible for ordinary people to see or the ability to foretell events in the future from the shadows they cast before them. A talent bequeathed to a large, raw boned, and rather plain girl called Ruth Ann Mitchell. She and her grandmother, Bridget Kearney, are the only women at a lumber camp high in the Bitterfoot Range, which sprawls across Idaho, Washington, and half of British Columbia. Ruth and granny cook and keep house for the lumberjacks.
[00:02:03] Unknown:
And what can I say, mum's aide? And granny, we feel very bad, especially Big Red.
[00:02:11] Unknown:
He was up there with Jason. I told him a hundred times he used a double rig, but he never wanted to listen. Well, where is Jason?
[00:02:20] Unknown:
He is in the wagon with Ruth. We'll have to take him down the mountain to Rockwall and the main office. I wanna see him. I know. I think that is not a good thing.
[00:02:32] Unknown:
He fell five, six hundred feet into that cabin. I I I wanna see him. Let her if she wants. Now you'll hurry back and into just just as soon as I'm sure Jason gets a burial, be fitting him. You've, you've got room to take me, Frenchie. Ma'am, may we
[00:02:51] Unknown:
if you are sure you must.
[00:02:53] Unknown:
It's what I owe him. Not enough, but all I can do. Oh, granny. If I knew, why couldn't I have stopped it? How can you hold back the hand of God's child? This is one bad road. Want me to drive, Benjie?
[00:03:25] Unknown:
Woman. Well, I know it like the back of my hand.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
My daddy was a in Greenwood's camps. And from the time I was 11, I I grew up there. And your father? When did he die? Oh, in the, the big fire. When the South Slope burned up. And your mother?
[00:03:43] Unknown:
She died having me. So you stay on with Granny. She is your only family. Yeah.
[00:03:49] Unknown:
Oh, I have to love. And Jason too,
[00:03:53] Unknown:
you lost.
[00:03:57] Unknown:
Jason. Jason was
[00:04:02] Unknown:
was kind to me. Why do you stay at the lonely camp like Greenwood with a bunch of roughneck like us?
[00:04:09] Unknown:
Where else would I go? To the city, you know, where perhaps you find a nice young man who Me? A plain awkward country galler stands head high or higher than most men
[00:04:21] Unknown:
and knows nothing but to just cook and to do the chores.
[00:04:25] Unknown:
Your son did not think you were so so planned. What did you mean about Jason when you said you you might have stopped it? Well,
[00:04:41] Unknown:
I, I I I had sort of a dream. I mean hours before you came back to camp. Just, well, just when it might have happened. I I I thought Frenchie, that I I saw the whole thing just the way it happened.
[00:05:03] Unknown:
My family was from Retania in France. We are also like the Irish, what you say, Yes. They are also what you say the the second side. That is a a gift you have.
[00:05:24] Unknown:
I, I I I don't know, Frenchie. I just don't rightly know. I I don't suppose I really ever wanna know.
[00:05:39] Unknown:
Pardon me, ma'am. You miss Mitchell? Yes. I am. I'm Tim Farrell, new jack for Greenwood's. Told me down at the office I'd be riding up the mountain with you. Well, that's right, mister Farrell. They're just, gassing up the old Jeep. Have you got got your gear ready? Most of it. What you see on me? My duffel bag and ax are right there by the pucks.
[00:06:00] Unknown:
Well, then I guess we're ready to go. Except first, I guess I should say howdy.
[00:06:06] Unknown:
Ain't used to shaking hands with a lady, but put it there. I'm, how about making a Tim? I ain't used to mister. Oh, well, yeah. Well, my name's Ruthann. Alright, Ruthann.
[00:06:18] Unknown:
Do we travel? Yes. We do. It's a rough trail, and I I really prefer going it while while it's still light.
[00:06:33] Unknown:
This old Jeep, man, was real nice. You were right about the trail. Maybe I should've let you drive. No. I knew you figured I shouldn't.
[00:06:44] Unknown:
Kinda nice to be a woman and just to sit down besides, you handle the Jeep real good. So you couldn't be Irish.
[00:06:56] Unknown:
Some generations back mostly. Though I'm just a roving lumberjack. Born in Montana, never been out of seven northwestern states in the good old US Of A. I don't figure you for all of that Irish either. Well, not so much on my father's side,
[00:07:11] Unknown:
but all the way down in my mother's. Oh, wait till you meet her mother, Granny Bridget. She cooks chow for all you, Jacks.
[00:07:19] Unknown:
Good chow. Best you've ever tasted. And I'm in love with her already. Now what do you do? Well, I help her. Well, now there's something to consider. If granny comes through as strong as you promise, I may be half in love with you already without knowing.
[00:07:42] Unknown:
Now that too far you brought back here three weeks ago, he is a charmer here. I I think so too. But, but what, dear? Well, I I I don't know how to talk about it, Granny. You'll see something in his future. I I I I don't wanna talk about it yet. Yet? It it it it just doesn't come clear. It's a full moon tonight. I reckon I'm just gonna walk myself some more before I, go to bed. Is it Tim you're going to meet? It's no wonder all but my own thoughts. Or maybe just to be alone and remember Jason. Don't wait up for me, granny. I'll not close an eye till I know you're back home safe and sound.
[00:08:39] Unknown:
Real pretty moon, ain't it, Bruce? I I I suppose, Big Red. I kinda hope you figure like like I do that ain't hung up there for nothing. Don't
[00:08:50] Unknown:
look to me. I I I'm not your woman. Not now
[00:08:54] Unknown:
or ever could be. You'd still shuck me off even with Jason gone? Or with Jason here.
[00:09:00] Unknown:
So you you and me have nothing for each other. And don't you make no move to me even with Jason not here to stand between us.
[00:09:08] Unknown:
Big as you are. You think you could hold me off even if I really had a mind to I I hope I don't have to try. I don't guess you'll have to, Ruth Ann, as long as there are three of us. Who else you here, Lieutenant, would put out? If I'm not wanted.
[00:09:22] Unknown:
Ruth Anne? Let let let's just not make no fuss. Alright? I'm on my way back to bed anyways. Good night.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
Why don't you mind your own business, Farrow?
[00:09:32] Unknown:
I was about to ask you the same question. I'm warning
[00:09:35] Unknown:
you. You're new on this crew. Don't ask for any trouble. I don't.
[00:09:41] Unknown:
Just the same, don't push any on me, brother. And lay off for Ruth Anne. She don't like you no more than I do. I got you. She come down to woah. So, baby. That's even no sign more beautiful. No sound near the heart. When you stop sweeping here, big red on me, we cut out the next big tumble.
[00:10:27] Unknown:
Hand me the big kettle. There's a love, Ruth. Ruth? Oh, I I I'm I'm sorry, granny. I I was thinking of Tim Ferrill. Oh, I thought maybe that walk under the moon last night might not be all by yourself. Did you meet him then? Yep. Good idea too. Big Red was pestering me again just like before Jason died. You tell him he, as much as lays a finger on you, and I'll put broken glass in his grits now. Now don't you let that blue heart bother you. Well, it's not him that I'm worried about, Granny. It's Tim. Why? I'm I I I I'm trying to fight it, but I see it.
There's death and the shadow of death over Tim's shoulder, and and I'm somehow in the shadow too. Oh, Granny, why do I have to see it and and then still know that I can't stop it? And now, my warning, don't wreck your heart with what can't be changed. I told you before, Granny. I won't sit by if
[00:11:36] Unknown:
what is it, Colleen?
[00:11:38] Unknown:
What are you staring at? I see him now. They've topped a tree and pinstriped it. He's all long enough. No.
[00:11:53] Unknown:
No. I've got to stop it. I've got to stop it. Dear Mary and Helen,
[00:12:00] Unknown:
Watch over my lamb, whatever the lord has marked purple.
[00:12:14] Unknown:
In silent suffocation, an old woman prays for the one person she has left to love, a tortured girl with a terrible and unasked gift. What has that inner eye revealed to Lou Van as she races up the lumber trail to try to stop whatever threatens Tim Ferrell? At the stand of trees, the lumberjack crew is thinning out. Frenchie and Chuck Turkel are on the big crosscut, finishing the highcut, while big red, having finished the notch, is now driving the wedges. Down the mountain, Tim is methodically stripping the branches from the topped tree, his back towards them. This is the picture Ruth Ann saw in her mind's eye.
Sees now in actuality as she struggles breathlessly up the slope.
[00:13:18] Unknown:
Tim?
[00:13:21] Unknown:
Tim? Ruth Ann? What is it? Wrong from the Oh, I sure would never want one closer than that. You are right, Ruthann.
[00:13:54] Unknown:
You covered me
[00:13:55] Unknown:
with your body. Well, you risked your life to try to save me. I I can't figure why we're not playing Paul. That tree was headed straight for where I was standing. Yeah. What made it turn aside just far enough to miss us? The hand of God. Miss all the the team.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
How you are, doc? I thought it's alright, Frenchie. I don't know what happened.
[00:14:20] Unknown:
Ball path was set for 45 degrees off your line. Doc. Dot, no good time. Sure you ain't neither of your herd. I,
[00:14:29] Unknown:
oh, took a pretty good lick across the back from one of the branches. No. No. Don't don't move, Tim. No. I I can't keep lying on you. I know miss Ruth is right. Charlie has gone for this stretcher crew.
[00:14:42] Unknown:
Don't move till they are here. Yeah. But I I can't I I don't mind, Tim.
[00:14:46] Unknown:
I don't want you to move. You listen to a woman when she talk. If there is something and your back is broke, you move, you risk your life. Why take a shot? Well,
[00:15:08] Unknown:
that was a powerful good bowl of soup, Ruth Ann. Glad you liked it. Here. Let me take the tray. How's your back today? Oh, starable.
[00:15:19] Unknown:
Now I know that they ain't nothing broke. I feel I better be getting back on my feet. No, sir. You just stay right where you are till the doctor says that you can rise. Move that. Tell me something.
[00:15:31] Unknown:
I can.
[00:15:33] Unknown:
Where were you going when you come up the mountain that day?
[00:15:38] Unknown:
Why do you ask?
[00:15:40] Unknown:
I don't know. I had a feeling. I mean, I hadn't even yelled timber before you seemed to know that that was a maverick tree and it wouldn't felt right.
[00:15:54] Unknown:
Maybe it was just just intuition. I I was born and bred in tree country and around camps, and I but I I've gotta get back down. Granny needs my help.
[00:16:05] Unknown:
Lou Anne?
[00:16:07] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:16:08] Unknown:
I wanna thank you for saving my life.
[00:16:12] Unknown:
Well, if I had anything to do with it, I'm glad.
[00:16:16] Unknown:
Maybe someday I can find a way to make up
[00:16:25] Unknown:
for it. So it's taken the hour with our boy upstairs, Tim. Well, he saved my life. I thought it was tough a way around. I mean, with the branch he took across the shoulders would have it would have caught me right across my neck, granny, and snapped it like a chicken. He's a good lad. Are you in love with him? Tim's not for me, granny. Granny man. Oh, Namakusha. What makes you say the like of that? You know, granny. I don't want the gift, but I can't escape it. It's, oh, it's like a lead weight around my neck, all around my heart.
Did my mother have it, Kathleen? Yes. She did. And did she know about about my father? Not before she married him, or she would never have married him. It never comes till we're well out of our teens. But, granny, did she know that that he was to die so young? She knew. And about herself, she knew that too. And knowing that I would kill her in childbirth, she she still went ahead and had me. No. There's always the chance. The good Lord will change his mind. Look at you and Tim. Only he hasn't. What? Granny, I wish I could see it clearer. I stopped it once, but I I don't know if I ever could again.
Tim wears the shadow of violent death like like a collar. And and somehow, I'm the one who's hanging it there. Oh, granny. Granny, I I I don't know what to do.
[00:18:28] Unknown:
Hey, Tim. Hi, Jack. How's it going? Well, I reckon I'm about ready to come back and pull my weight. I'm getting tired of just chopping firewood. It's putting you back in shape, though. I hope. You sure are one lucky tree, Jack. When that big old tree kicked around and started to fall out of line, you was dead in its tracks. And then we seen those animals throw up our hands. And by that, if we both couldn't swear on a stack of Bibles, that old tree didn't just veer off to the left. So she just missed you. I guess the wind caught her. It must have been. Though I don't rather remember any wind that day.
Chuck, I wanna ask you if you'll remember something else about that day. Well, sure. Ask. Okay. You and Frenchie were making the saw cut, but Big Red cut the notch and he was setting the wedges. Right? Oh, yeah. And that tree was lined up to fall deuce out. Yes, sir, Tim. That was the line. And, you know, I was working away on the east. 45 degrees pretty near out of the fall line. Well, yes, you were for sure, Tim. Then how come she turned so out of line? You know, sometimes you'll get a tree that has a real tough core or twister on you. You or Frenchy ever had that happen to you before?
Well, no. Not as you'd see, but I've heard a tail out there. Red. Well, you You you you'd have to ask him. Does he go around bragging he can fell a tree on a dime and he ain't never missed? Well, I have hear them say to Antwood. Yeah. Well, maybe I just will go ask him. Look here, Tim. You better watch your step. You get it right up. Big Red is bad medicine.
[00:20:28] Unknown:
Hold it just a minute before you go inside, Chuck. Oh, hi, Big Red. Was you and Tim Farrall getting your heads so close together over up there by the wood pile? Oh, we was, we was just,
[00:20:41] Unknown:
Kennan.
[00:20:42] Unknown:
I seen he was asking you a powerful lot of questions. I'd like to know them questions
[00:20:49] Unknown:
and your answers. Oh. Oh, big red. You you you don't like to break my arm. I might just do that if you don't lose my Well, I I don't wanna make no trouble. Any trouble, I'll handle.
[00:21:05] Unknown:
You talk. Don't leave nothing out. I want every word.
[00:21:16] Unknown:
Now don't take on, so girl. You're in love with the boy. It's that, isn't it? Yes, Granny. I am in love with Tim, but that's only a little part of it. Now don't be too sure. Is he in love with you? Oh, granny. How could he be? I'm a play He won't go through that go round again. Granny, I'm trapped. First of all, I have the vision that all I bring to him is danger. And second well, if I want him to love me, how can I be sure that I'm not using the power to make him? I bought you some fresh wood for the stove.
[00:21:55] Unknown:
Hey. Did I, did I break in on something? Sure. Not at all, Tim. How are you feeling now? Oh, I guess I'm about back to where I was. Thanks to Ruthann.
[00:22:08] Unknown:
You'll excuse me, granny Bridget and Ruthann, but I got a little business here at Canthwie.
[00:22:15] Unknown:
You get yourself out of my kitchen red belly, and all your riffraff with you. Not till something gets straightened out. Well,
[00:22:24] Unknown:
speak up and go. I'm talking to you, Farrell. And this time you ain't hiding behind any skirts. Chuck Turco here tells me you're bad mouthing me, me, trying to say I dropped a tree across your back. I hadn't faced you with it yet.
[00:22:40] Unknown:
I wanted to get some more proof. But so long as you fetch the issue, that's what I have in mind. Glad you leave it on the table. Ow. Ed, why you do these? Who are you trying for?
[00:22:54] Unknown:
I'll handle this. Mister Farrell, I'm calling you out. Pick your weapon. Knives, axes, peevee poles are just bare hands. You and me's got a claim to settle. A claim? Well, let's just call it a plain falling out. Don't pay him any heed. You can keep out of this, Ruth Ann. Indeed I won't.
[00:23:19] Unknown:
You're like a bunch of children except that you're playing with lies. Ruth Ann,
[00:23:24] Unknown:
maybe I wanna be caught up. I'll stand no nonsense like this in my kitchen. Near under fifty years, I've served this camp. And I've never tolerated brawling in my kitchen. So you'll all take yourself out of here before I
[00:23:41] Unknown:
scare me. I'm out of here. No. Thank you, Wilkins. You're in the air. Granny. I'm not a Just Go back. You won't get your hair. Ruth Ann. Is it is it her heart? I I I don't know. I've never seen Granny sick before. Frenchy. We we should do that. Go bring the wagon. We're taking her to town and the nearest doctor. You speak well. I bring the wagon to the door.
[00:24:00] Unknown:
Granny, it's, it's nothing. It's, it's just a little it's a little faint and smile. Oh, darling. Maybe I'm, though I'm getting too old for so much excitement. Where's, where's where's who? Oh, I'm right here beside you. Put your arms around me. All
[00:24:24] Unknown:
right. Now the rest of you stand back. Don't crowd it. Move. Move. I'm still crowding you, Farrell. Not now, Big Red. There's a time for everything. Yours and mine will come. Name it. When I take Ruth Ann and Granny Carney down the mountain and make sure Granny has proper care, I'll be back. With Ruth Ann? That's up to her. If I had my way You're coming back, Tim.
[00:24:46] Unknown:
I'm coming too. Why? There are 45 lumberjacks that still gotta be fed till other arrangements are made. Granny will insist on that and
[00:24:58] Unknown:
then, Then
[00:25:01] Unknown:
what? Whatever's got to be unwound among us, it's gonna take the three of us to do it.
[00:25:14] Unknown:
How much does Ruth's second sight now see of the future? How much can she affect it, and how? Is the shadow of what's to come going to engulf her, or can it be dispersed and blown away? Is the unearthly gift something that can prevail against earthly circumstance? Black Falls boasts a livery stable, three assorted garages, a choice of hotels, no hospital, but a small clinic with four beds and a first rate, if overburdened, general practitioner. It couldn't have mattered less. The most efficient and highly staffed hospital would not have saved Bridget's tired heart. Like a stout old watch, the bearings were worn, The mainspring slackened.
[00:26:14] Unknown:
Are you there? Who then? I'm here, granny. I'm, I'm going away, you know. Oh, no. I I can see it in your eyes, move on and Do you know? Promise me something What? You won't go back to that camp Crash me. Who's to cook for all the men? And find another. There ought to be something better in life for you. I I don't know what it should be. You're telling me that you and the sick granny granny, me and Tim are a dream of yours, because you want only that's the best for me. But even if it could be, you know what lies between us, The gift or by another name. The curse.
Where does he know? He's gone back to camp and you let him go. How could I stop him? Can I I was needed here no longer Now go and follow him and leave you here My time is use up Come close Granny, I'm never very far away from you soon Soon you will be Let me say this while I can Some of us are the lucky ones I was How? I had the gift as well. Little I wanted it. It was clearer than yours, so I knew just exactly what to expect. I knew your grandfather, like your mother's co husband, would have gone from me early Granny, forgive me child I was just looking down the long corridor of time that I've left behind.
Where was I? It doesn't matter, Graham. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Twas this about the gift. It came to me late and left me early. I can wish you only the same, the earlier. The better. You mean suddenly, the second sight stopped. It it wasn't there. That's what I mean. If I still had it, wouldn't I be able to read better for what you're to do? How can you know if it's gone? It's like love. When love comes you can't mistake it if it's for real. And when the gift goes you'll know it. Just as sure. I love you both, and my love shall make you free.
Granny. Granny. Oh, Granny. What will I ever do about you?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
There is no weapon but the human arm. But, first I ask each if they must fight.
[00:30:06] Unknown:
Be glad. No man's gonna make the kind of charges Tim Farrell's been making about me behind my back.
[00:30:13] Unknown:
And, Tim, Red Pully rules this camp and all of you by fear. It's time someone challenged them. I'm doing that. Oh, you we'd come on set the bay. Now you're both right here. Let's get on with it. Tim, you heard the man. Let's get it over with. Thank you. What's going on? Miss Wolf, where you come from? The doctor drove me back.
[00:30:50] Unknown:
Stop it.
[00:30:51] Unknown:
Stop it. No. No. No. He's your luck. I have custom. You mean no one can stop it till one man is uphold. But he's too big and strong for Tim. What I tried to save is Roof, but your Tim killed me must find.
[00:31:03] Unknown:
If you won't stop it, I will. Now. Because I will it. Like this.
[00:31:11] Unknown:
Okay, Tenderfoot. Now I'm gonna spout the living hell out of you. You're not asking no mercy.
[00:31:18] Unknown:
Come on. Just try to stop me. Just what? Here's one last
[00:31:25] Unknown:
go by
[00:31:29] Unknown:
luck. What the
[00:31:31] Unknown:
I I I I are you gonna get up? I I can't. You quit? I
[00:31:51] Unknown:
What what Just just take it easy. You're alright.
[00:31:57] Unknown:
Ruth?
[00:31:57] Unknown:
Yes.
[00:32:00] Unknown:
Boy, it seems like seems like I've been here before.
[00:32:04] Unknown:
Now that Granny's gone and and you're okay, I I'm going away.
[00:32:10] Unknown:
Well, if that's what you want, you you've got your own life to live. My own life. I ain't got the right to say it, but I was sort of hoping that we we'd be sharing it. But I got nothing to offer a woman yet.
[00:32:27] Unknown:
Which is not for each other, Tim. Don't you know? I'm a shadow over you
[00:32:34] Unknown:
that it's through me that you're risking your life. It appears to me it's through you it keeps getting saved.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Twice. The legend is the third time around, fate has to take its course. There's another cook here now, and I'm not needed. Forget me, Tim. Please just
[00:32:53] Unknown:
forget me. Look. Oh, sorry, sir. Hey. How you feel, Chop? I feel like I got run over by a bulldozer. It'll end. Something else won't, in the inside. Why did you make miss Ruth cry? It's kinda the other way around, Funchy. I guess I took a wrong notion. I want to marry that girl. But she does not want to marry you? That's right. Did she say why? I don't know. She's got some kind of crazy notion. She's a hex for me. If she say that, then it is one big shame. She must be bad medicine for you. She knows how. She has le dung, the gift.
She can read the future. Oh, come on. It is true. How do you think that big tree missed you that day? And now you make big red cryo. A heck with superstition, that's no real problem. What is a problem? Is it a man needs money to marry? And what do I have to offer? What?
[00:33:52] Unknown:
Big red? Yeah. I was just dragging what was left of me in here to say you whipped me fair and square and the best man won.
[00:34:00] Unknown:
You say you're leaving? I'll be on my way by tonight.
[00:34:05] Unknown:
Frenchie. What was that I heard him saying about he wanted to get over some money?
[00:34:11] Unknown:
The poor devil. He wanted to get married, but he has no stake.
[00:34:16] Unknown:
Oh, he wants money real bad.
[00:34:25] Unknown:
Hey there, Big Red.
[00:34:27] Unknown:
What are you doing so far from Cabo? Just stealing me a little breather, Chuck, and having a stroll.
[00:34:32] Unknown:
Half's in your ax in your hand?
[00:34:36] Unknown:
You see, your ax ain't mine. It belongs to Tim Farrow. What you doing with it? I got a use for it.
[00:34:44] Unknown:
I wouldn't think of him to land you in as in a fiddin'. He didn't. He might get sore and take a notion to whoop up on you again when he finds out.
[00:34:55] Unknown:
He's, too busy packing up to leave camp. Leave? Yep. Him and Ruth Ann. Soon as you get back with the jeep. Dragon they think they're gonna get spliced.
[00:35:08] Unknown:
How about that? Give me a lift back the cab. Oh sure, sure. Hop in. Got to pay money.
[00:35:17] Unknown:
Here's right behind us in Mac. All done up in that neat little envelope, Just like you, you. It'd be a lot of money to steal. There sure wouldn't be much doubt if a fella got caught quick enough just where it came from. What you talking about? Just keep on driving, Chuck. Only you take the road to the flume with the fork. I got some plans for you.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
What? What are you doing with my gear, Rhett? Oh, why,
[00:35:49] Unknown:
I was just gonna carry it out in the Jeep for you. I'll handle it myself. What's the Jeep doing outside there? Where's Chuck? Reckon he took the payroll over to the strut boss. You drawin' yours? No. And we'll ride over there and pick it up before I drive you and Ruth Ann down to town. She's coming with us? As if you didn't know.
[00:36:13] Unknown:
There's something funny going on. This isn't the way that the straw boss is on. Look out back here. What? Oh, it
[00:36:25] Unknown:
sure ain't, mister Loverboy. The road you're going this time, I'm sure you ain't coming back.
[00:36:36] Unknown:
I wonder why Chuck's so late getting back.
[00:36:39] Unknown:
Like to get down the mountain before dark. He should have been here at least one hour ago.
[00:36:45] Unknown:
I suppose Tim is going to leave with us. Oh, he has not much transport, miss Ruth.
[00:36:51] Unknown:
Why don't you take a chance and stay with him? You don't understand French. I do, but sometimes Le Grandeur is kind. And I think that Grandmere Bridgette would have wanted to Wait. Wait a minute, French. French. What is it?
[00:37:09] Unknown:
Oh, I see it now. I see it. Red, he has the payroll until supper. He has Tim knocked out and tied up at the fork on the way down the mountain. And Chuck is tossed up just below the big fin where it spills into the catch basin. He'll drive Tim unconscious into the ravine and send Chuck to die, ground up in the logs in the catch basin. It'll look because this pin killed him for the hero.
[00:37:48] Unknown:
Sir Claude, you must die. Frenchie,
[00:37:51] Unknown:
go get the rest of the Jackson and save Tim, Frenchie. I'll go get Chuck free.
[00:38:01] Unknown:
You you crazy red. Like a fox, Chuck. Ain't no woman gonna make a sucker out of red pilly? She turned me down for Jason while I took care of him. Climb. Climb?
[00:38:13] Unknown:
Up to the sluice? Why? Climb?
[00:38:15] Unknown:
Sorry, Chuck, but I gotta set this up just right. What what are you gonna do with Tim Tim's ax? I'm gonna bury it right in your skull, Chuck, so nobody has any doubts as to open it. Oh, no. No. You're not ready. Ruthann,
[00:38:32] Unknown:
how'd you get up here? Many of the time as a kid when the logs weren't running, I've shooted down the flume. From the camp right right to this station. Oh, I I knew I had to move fast to stop you. You can't. It's too late. I've burned all my bridges behind
[00:38:46] Unknown:
me. Now worst of all, it's got to be you too.
[00:38:50] Unknown:
But you can't touch me, Red. I have the gift. The gift? I turned the tree aside to save Tim. And I held you back from stopping him. All with the help of God. And now I'm gonna stop you again. Run, Chuck.
[00:39:05] Unknown:
Run. You're supposed to know how you can't talk to me. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Ruth Ann. From the beginning when you first come, you was all I wanted, but you turned me down.
[00:39:16] Unknown:
What? What are you doing? I'm gonna open a sloskate. There's 600,000
[00:39:20] Unknown:
board feet of logs already on the way down, and we're going with the first that comes.
[00:39:25] Unknown:
If I can't have you, no one else can. Hey. You hear me? I hear you. You'll touch low, man. You hear me? I hear you. You'll touch little man. I'll tell you. Hang on. The logs carried him right down the flume and over and into the catch basin. He was ground to pieces. I'm sure glad you're safe, Annie.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Are you still going?
[00:40:22] Unknown:
Well, Red is dead, but nothing between us has changed.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
One big thing has. What? When I thought I had the power to stop Red, I found I didn't, Tim. I just had to rely on myself and hang on to the axe that he was trying to swing down on you. Are are you are you telling me The gift's gone. I don't have to be afraid anymore. It's a new life. It sure is. What what did you call me back back then? Annie.
[00:40:57] Unknown:
That's a new name for a new life. And the one that's gonna be my wife's. Come on, Annie Farrell. Kiss me if you like the name.
[00:41:11] Unknown:
Anything you wanna give me is just exactly what I like.
[00:41:22] Unknown:
Think of all the gifts you personally may have lost in your time and how much you mourn them. Then think of the dread oppressive gift that Ruth Anne lost and celebrate it with her. Sometimes I do have stories to tell you that end with that fond, childish phrase, and so they lived happily ever after. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time.
[00:41:57] Unknown:
Pleasants, dreams.
[00:42:07] Unknown:
The preceding Mystery Theater program was furnished by the CBS Radio Network. This is WOR New York, an RKO general station.
[00:42:18] Unknown:
You coming to bed, hon? Yep. Honey, I'll be I'll be right there. Just gotta turn out the light. Some things never change. Like, your kids always leaving tiny toys on the floor for you to step on, and GEICO saving folks lots of money on their car insurance.
[00:42:40] Unknown:
Sweetie, I think I left the downstairs light on.
[00:42:43] Unknown:
Please don't make me go. Fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more.
Come in. Welcome. I'm EG Marshall. All peoples have their separate legends, their superstitions, and their fears. Julius Caesar once said that all Gaul is divided into three parts. But whatever the political alignments, the Gallic people shared their legends in common, and none more persistent and accepted than the belief in the second sight. Usually called a gift, but one wonders if perhaps it is far more the reverse of that. Our mystery drama, The Unearthly Gift, was written especially for the Mystery Theater by Ian Martin and stars Betsy Palmer.
Let's begin with two definitions of second sight. The unearthly capacity to see things impossible for ordinary people to see or the ability to foretell events in the future from the shadows they cast before them. A talent bequeathed to a large, raw boned, and rather plain girl called Ruth Ann Mitchell. She and her grandmother, Bridget Kearney, are the only women at a lumber camp high in the Bitterfoot Range, which sprawls across Idaho, Washington, and half of British Columbia. Ruth and granny cook and keep house for the lumberjacks.
[00:02:03] Unknown:
And what can I say, mum's aide? And granny, we feel very bad, especially Big Red.
[00:02:11] Unknown:
He was up there with Jason. I told him a hundred times he used a double rig, but he never wanted to listen. Well, where is Jason?
[00:02:20] Unknown:
He is in the wagon with Ruth. We'll have to take him down the mountain to Rockwall and the main office. I wanna see him. I know. I think that is not a good thing.
[00:02:32] Unknown:
He fell five, six hundred feet into that cabin. I I I wanna see him. Let her if she wants. Now you'll hurry back and into just just as soon as I'm sure Jason gets a burial, be fitting him. You've, you've got room to take me, Frenchie. Ma'am, may we
[00:02:51] Unknown:
if you are sure you must.
[00:02:53] Unknown:
It's what I owe him. Not enough, but all I can do. Oh, granny. If I knew, why couldn't I have stopped it? How can you hold back the hand of God's child? This is one bad road. Want me to drive, Benjie?
[00:03:25] Unknown:
Woman. Well, I know it like the back of my hand.
[00:03:30] Unknown:
My daddy was a in Greenwood's camps. And from the time I was 11, I I grew up there. And your father? When did he die? Oh, in the, the big fire. When the South Slope burned up. And your mother?
[00:03:43] Unknown:
She died having me. So you stay on with Granny. She is your only family. Yeah.
[00:03:49] Unknown:
Oh, I have to love. And Jason too,
[00:03:53] Unknown:
you lost.
[00:03:57] Unknown:
Jason. Jason was
[00:04:02] Unknown:
was kind to me. Why do you stay at the lonely camp like Greenwood with a bunch of roughneck like us?
[00:04:09] Unknown:
Where else would I go? To the city, you know, where perhaps you find a nice young man who Me? A plain awkward country galler stands head high or higher than most men
[00:04:21] Unknown:
and knows nothing but to just cook and to do the chores.
[00:04:25] Unknown:
Your son did not think you were so so planned. What did you mean about Jason when you said you you might have stopped it? Well,
[00:04:41] Unknown:
I, I I I had sort of a dream. I mean hours before you came back to camp. Just, well, just when it might have happened. I I I thought Frenchie, that I I saw the whole thing just the way it happened.
[00:05:03] Unknown:
My family was from Retania in France. We are also like the Irish, what you say, Yes. They are also what you say the the second side. That is a a gift you have.
[00:05:24] Unknown:
I, I I I don't know, Frenchie. I just don't rightly know. I I don't suppose I really ever wanna know.
[00:05:39] Unknown:
Pardon me, ma'am. You miss Mitchell? Yes. I am. I'm Tim Farrell, new jack for Greenwood's. Told me down at the office I'd be riding up the mountain with you. Well, that's right, mister Farrell. They're just, gassing up the old Jeep. Have you got got your gear ready? Most of it. What you see on me? My duffel bag and ax are right there by the pucks.
[00:06:00] Unknown:
Well, then I guess we're ready to go. Except first, I guess I should say howdy.
[00:06:06] Unknown:
Ain't used to shaking hands with a lady, but put it there. I'm, how about making a Tim? I ain't used to mister. Oh, well, yeah. Well, my name's Ruthann. Alright, Ruthann.
[00:06:18] Unknown:
Do we travel? Yes. We do. It's a rough trail, and I I really prefer going it while while it's still light.
[00:06:33] Unknown:
This old Jeep, man, was real nice. You were right about the trail. Maybe I should've let you drive. No. I knew you figured I shouldn't.
[00:06:44] Unknown:
Kinda nice to be a woman and just to sit down besides, you handle the Jeep real good. So you couldn't be Irish.
[00:06:56] Unknown:
Some generations back mostly. Though I'm just a roving lumberjack. Born in Montana, never been out of seven northwestern states in the good old US Of A. I don't figure you for all of that Irish either. Well, not so much on my father's side,
[00:07:11] Unknown:
but all the way down in my mother's. Oh, wait till you meet her mother, Granny Bridget. She cooks chow for all you, Jacks.
[00:07:19] Unknown:
Good chow. Best you've ever tasted. And I'm in love with her already. Now what do you do? Well, I help her. Well, now there's something to consider. If granny comes through as strong as you promise, I may be half in love with you already without knowing.
[00:07:42] Unknown:
Now that too far you brought back here three weeks ago, he is a charmer here. I I think so too. But, but what, dear? Well, I I I don't know how to talk about it, Granny. You'll see something in his future. I I I I don't wanna talk about it yet. Yet? It it it it just doesn't come clear. It's a full moon tonight. I reckon I'm just gonna walk myself some more before I, go to bed. Is it Tim you're going to meet? It's no wonder all but my own thoughts. Or maybe just to be alone and remember Jason. Don't wait up for me, granny. I'll not close an eye till I know you're back home safe and sound.
[00:08:39] Unknown:
Real pretty moon, ain't it, Bruce? I I I suppose, Big Red. I kinda hope you figure like like I do that ain't hung up there for nothing. Don't
[00:08:50] Unknown:
look to me. I I I'm not your woman. Not now
[00:08:54] Unknown:
or ever could be. You'd still shuck me off even with Jason gone? Or with Jason here.
[00:09:00] Unknown:
So you you and me have nothing for each other. And don't you make no move to me even with Jason not here to stand between us.
[00:09:08] Unknown:
Big as you are. You think you could hold me off even if I really had a mind to I I hope I don't have to try. I don't guess you'll have to, Ruth Ann, as long as there are three of us. Who else you here, Lieutenant, would put out? If I'm not wanted.
[00:09:22] Unknown:
Ruth Anne? Let let let's just not make no fuss. Alright? I'm on my way back to bed anyways. Good night.
[00:09:28] Unknown:
Why don't you mind your own business, Farrow?
[00:09:32] Unknown:
I was about to ask you the same question. I'm warning
[00:09:35] Unknown:
you. You're new on this crew. Don't ask for any trouble. I don't.
[00:09:41] Unknown:
Just the same, don't push any on me, brother. And lay off for Ruth Anne. She don't like you no more than I do. I got you. She come down to woah. So, baby. That's even no sign more beautiful. No sound near the heart. When you stop sweeping here, big red on me, we cut out the next big tumble.
[00:10:27] Unknown:
Hand me the big kettle. There's a love, Ruth. Ruth? Oh, I I I'm I'm sorry, granny. I I was thinking of Tim Ferrill. Oh, I thought maybe that walk under the moon last night might not be all by yourself. Did you meet him then? Yep. Good idea too. Big Red was pestering me again just like before Jason died. You tell him he, as much as lays a finger on you, and I'll put broken glass in his grits now. Now don't you let that blue heart bother you. Well, it's not him that I'm worried about, Granny. It's Tim. Why? I'm I I I I'm trying to fight it, but I see it.
There's death and the shadow of death over Tim's shoulder, and and I'm somehow in the shadow too. Oh, Granny, why do I have to see it and and then still know that I can't stop it? And now, my warning, don't wreck your heart with what can't be changed. I told you before, Granny. I won't sit by if
[00:11:36] Unknown:
what is it, Colleen?
[00:11:38] Unknown:
What are you staring at? I see him now. They've topped a tree and pinstriped it. He's all long enough. No.
[00:11:53] Unknown:
No. I've got to stop it. I've got to stop it. Dear Mary and Helen,
[00:12:00] Unknown:
Watch over my lamb, whatever the lord has marked purple.
[00:12:14] Unknown:
In silent suffocation, an old woman prays for the one person she has left to love, a tortured girl with a terrible and unasked gift. What has that inner eye revealed to Lou Van as she races up the lumber trail to try to stop whatever threatens Tim Ferrell? At the stand of trees, the lumberjack crew is thinning out. Frenchie and Chuck Turkel are on the big crosscut, finishing the highcut, while big red, having finished the notch, is now driving the wedges. Down the mountain, Tim is methodically stripping the branches from the topped tree, his back towards them. This is the picture Ruth Ann saw in her mind's eye.
Sees now in actuality as she struggles breathlessly up the slope.
[00:13:18] Unknown:
Tim?
[00:13:21] Unknown:
Tim? Ruth Ann? What is it? Wrong from the Oh, I sure would never want one closer than that. You are right, Ruthann.
[00:13:54] Unknown:
You covered me
[00:13:55] Unknown:
with your body. Well, you risked your life to try to save me. I I can't figure why we're not playing Paul. That tree was headed straight for where I was standing. Yeah. What made it turn aside just far enough to miss us? The hand of God. Miss all the the team.
[00:14:16] Unknown:
How you are, doc? I thought it's alright, Frenchie. I don't know what happened.
[00:14:20] Unknown:
Ball path was set for 45 degrees off your line. Doc. Dot, no good time. Sure you ain't neither of your herd. I,
[00:14:29] Unknown:
oh, took a pretty good lick across the back from one of the branches. No. No. Don't don't move, Tim. No. I I can't keep lying on you. I know miss Ruth is right. Charlie has gone for this stretcher crew.
[00:14:42] Unknown:
Don't move till they are here. Yeah. But I I can't I I don't mind, Tim.
[00:14:46] Unknown:
I don't want you to move. You listen to a woman when she talk. If there is something and your back is broke, you move, you risk your life. Why take a shot? Well,
[00:15:08] Unknown:
that was a powerful good bowl of soup, Ruth Ann. Glad you liked it. Here. Let me take the tray. How's your back today? Oh, starable.
[00:15:19] Unknown:
Now I know that they ain't nothing broke. I feel I better be getting back on my feet. No, sir. You just stay right where you are till the doctor says that you can rise. Move that. Tell me something.
[00:15:31] Unknown:
I can.
[00:15:33] Unknown:
Where were you going when you come up the mountain that day?
[00:15:38] Unknown:
Why do you ask?
[00:15:40] Unknown:
I don't know. I had a feeling. I mean, I hadn't even yelled timber before you seemed to know that that was a maverick tree and it wouldn't felt right.
[00:15:54] Unknown:
Maybe it was just just intuition. I I was born and bred in tree country and around camps, and I but I I've gotta get back down. Granny needs my help.
[00:16:05] Unknown:
Lou Anne?
[00:16:07] Unknown:
Yeah.
[00:16:08] Unknown:
I wanna thank you for saving my life.
[00:16:12] Unknown:
Well, if I had anything to do with it, I'm glad.
[00:16:16] Unknown:
Maybe someday I can find a way to make up
[00:16:25] Unknown:
for it. So it's taken the hour with our boy upstairs, Tim. Well, he saved my life. I thought it was tough a way around. I mean, with the branch he took across the shoulders would have it would have caught me right across my neck, granny, and snapped it like a chicken. He's a good lad. Are you in love with him? Tim's not for me, granny. Granny man. Oh, Namakusha. What makes you say the like of that? You know, granny. I don't want the gift, but I can't escape it. It's, oh, it's like a lead weight around my neck, all around my heart.
Did my mother have it, Kathleen? Yes. She did. And did she know about about my father? Not before she married him, or she would never have married him. It never comes till we're well out of our teens. But, granny, did she know that that he was to die so young? She knew. And about herself, she knew that too. And knowing that I would kill her in childbirth, she she still went ahead and had me. No. There's always the chance. The good Lord will change his mind. Look at you and Tim. Only he hasn't. What? Granny, I wish I could see it clearer. I stopped it once, but I I don't know if I ever could again.
Tim wears the shadow of violent death like like a collar. And and somehow, I'm the one who's hanging it there. Oh, granny. Granny, I I I don't know what to do.
[00:18:28] Unknown:
Hey, Tim. Hi, Jack. How's it going? Well, I reckon I'm about ready to come back and pull my weight. I'm getting tired of just chopping firewood. It's putting you back in shape, though. I hope. You sure are one lucky tree, Jack. When that big old tree kicked around and started to fall out of line, you was dead in its tracks. And then we seen those animals throw up our hands. And by that, if we both couldn't swear on a stack of Bibles, that old tree didn't just veer off to the left. So she just missed you. I guess the wind caught her. It must have been. Though I don't rather remember any wind that day.
Chuck, I wanna ask you if you'll remember something else about that day. Well, sure. Ask. Okay. You and Frenchie were making the saw cut, but Big Red cut the notch and he was setting the wedges. Right? Oh, yeah. And that tree was lined up to fall deuce out. Yes, sir, Tim. That was the line. And, you know, I was working away on the east. 45 degrees pretty near out of the fall line. Well, yes, you were for sure, Tim. Then how come she turned so out of line? You know, sometimes you'll get a tree that has a real tough core or twister on you. You or Frenchy ever had that happen to you before?
Well, no. Not as you'd see, but I've heard a tail out there. Red. Well, you You you you'd have to ask him. Does he go around bragging he can fell a tree on a dime and he ain't never missed? Well, I have hear them say to Antwood. Yeah. Well, maybe I just will go ask him. Look here, Tim. You better watch your step. You get it right up. Big Red is bad medicine.
[00:20:28] Unknown:
Hold it just a minute before you go inside, Chuck. Oh, hi, Big Red. Was you and Tim Farrall getting your heads so close together over up there by the wood pile? Oh, we was, we was just,
[00:20:41] Unknown:
Kennan.
[00:20:42] Unknown:
I seen he was asking you a powerful lot of questions. I'd like to know them questions
[00:20:49] Unknown:
and your answers. Oh. Oh, big red. You you you don't like to break my arm. I might just do that if you don't lose my Well, I I don't wanna make no trouble. Any trouble, I'll handle.
[00:21:05] Unknown:
You talk. Don't leave nothing out. I want every word.
[00:21:16] Unknown:
Now don't take on, so girl. You're in love with the boy. It's that, isn't it? Yes, Granny. I am in love with Tim, but that's only a little part of it. Now don't be too sure. Is he in love with you? Oh, granny. How could he be? I'm a play He won't go through that go round again. Granny, I'm trapped. First of all, I have the vision that all I bring to him is danger. And second well, if I want him to love me, how can I be sure that I'm not using the power to make him? I bought you some fresh wood for the stove.
[00:21:55] Unknown:
Hey. Did I, did I break in on something? Sure. Not at all, Tim. How are you feeling now? Oh, I guess I'm about back to where I was. Thanks to Ruthann.
[00:22:08] Unknown:
You'll excuse me, granny Bridget and Ruthann, but I got a little business here at Canthwie.
[00:22:15] Unknown:
You get yourself out of my kitchen red belly, and all your riffraff with you. Not till something gets straightened out. Well,
[00:22:24] Unknown:
speak up and go. I'm talking to you, Farrell. And this time you ain't hiding behind any skirts. Chuck Turco here tells me you're bad mouthing me, me, trying to say I dropped a tree across your back. I hadn't faced you with it yet.
[00:22:40] Unknown:
I wanted to get some more proof. But so long as you fetch the issue, that's what I have in mind. Glad you leave it on the table. Ow. Ed, why you do these? Who are you trying for?
[00:22:54] Unknown:
I'll handle this. Mister Farrell, I'm calling you out. Pick your weapon. Knives, axes, peevee poles are just bare hands. You and me's got a claim to settle. A claim? Well, let's just call it a plain falling out. Don't pay him any heed. You can keep out of this, Ruth Ann. Indeed I won't.
[00:23:19] Unknown:
You're like a bunch of children except that you're playing with lies. Ruth Ann,
[00:23:24] Unknown:
maybe I wanna be caught up. I'll stand no nonsense like this in my kitchen. Near under fifty years, I've served this camp. And I've never tolerated brawling in my kitchen. So you'll all take yourself out of here before I
[00:23:41] Unknown:
scare me. I'm out of here. No. Thank you, Wilkins. You're in the air. Granny. I'm not a Just Go back. You won't get your hair. Ruth Ann. Is it is it her heart? I I I don't know. I've never seen Granny sick before. Frenchy. We we should do that. Go bring the wagon. We're taking her to town and the nearest doctor. You speak well. I bring the wagon to the door.
[00:24:00] Unknown:
Granny, it's, it's nothing. It's, it's just a little it's a little faint and smile. Oh, darling. Maybe I'm, though I'm getting too old for so much excitement. Where's, where's where's who? Oh, I'm right here beside you. Put your arms around me. All
[00:24:24] Unknown:
right. Now the rest of you stand back. Don't crowd it. Move. Move. I'm still crowding you, Farrell. Not now, Big Red. There's a time for everything. Yours and mine will come. Name it. When I take Ruth Ann and Granny Carney down the mountain and make sure Granny has proper care, I'll be back. With Ruth Ann? That's up to her. If I had my way You're coming back, Tim.
[00:24:46] Unknown:
I'm coming too. Why? There are 45 lumberjacks that still gotta be fed till other arrangements are made. Granny will insist on that and
[00:24:58] Unknown:
then, Then
[00:25:01] Unknown:
what? Whatever's got to be unwound among us, it's gonna take the three of us to do it.
[00:25:14] Unknown:
How much does Ruth's second sight now see of the future? How much can she affect it, and how? Is the shadow of what's to come going to engulf her, or can it be dispersed and blown away? Is the unearthly gift something that can prevail against earthly circumstance? Black Falls boasts a livery stable, three assorted garages, a choice of hotels, no hospital, but a small clinic with four beds and a first rate, if overburdened, general practitioner. It couldn't have mattered less. The most efficient and highly staffed hospital would not have saved Bridget's tired heart. Like a stout old watch, the bearings were worn, The mainspring slackened.
[00:26:14] Unknown:
Are you there? Who then? I'm here, granny. I'm, I'm going away, you know. Oh, no. I I can see it in your eyes, move on and Do you know? Promise me something What? You won't go back to that camp Crash me. Who's to cook for all the men? And find another. There ought to be something better in life for you. I I don't know what it should be. You're telling me that you and the sick granny granny, me and Tim are a dream of yours, because you want only that's the best for me. But even if it could be, you know what lies between us, The gift or by another name. The curse.
Where does he know? He's gone back to camp and you let him go. How could I stop him? Can I I was needed here no longer Now go and follow him and leave you here My time is use up Come close Granny, I'm never very far away from you soon Soon you will be Let me say this while I can Some of us are the lucky ones I was How? I had the gift as well. Little I wanted it. It was clearer than yours, so I knew just exactly what to expect. I knew your grandfather, like your mother's co husband, would have gone from me early Granny, forgive me child I was just looking down the long corridor of time that I've left behind.
Where was I? It doesn't matter, Graham. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Twas this about the gift. It came to me late and left me early. I can wish you only the same, the earlier. The better. You mean suddenly, the second sight stopped. It it wasn't there. That's what I mean. If I still had it, wouldn't I be able to read better for what you're to do? How can you know if it's gone? It's like love. When love comes you can't mistake it if it's for real. And when the gift goes you'll know it. Just as sure. I love you both, and my love shall make you free.
Granny. Granny. Oh, Granny. What will I ever do about you?
[00:29:59] Unknown:
There is no weapon but the human arm. But, first I ask each if they must fight.
[00:30:06] Unknown:
Be glad. No man's gonna make the kind of charges Tim Farrell's been making about me behind my back.
[00:30:13] Unknown:
And, Tim, Red Pully rules this camp and all of you by fear. It's time someone challenged them. I'm doing that. Oh, you we'd come on set the bay. Now you're both right here. Let's get on with it. Tim, you heard the man. Let's get it over with. Thank you. What's going on? Miss Wolf, where you come from? The doctor drove me back.
[00:30:50] Unknown:
Stop it.
[00:30:51] Unknown:
Stop it. No. No. No. He's your luck. I have custom. You mean no one can stop it till one man is uphold. But he's too big and strong for Tim. What I tried to save is Roof, but your Tim killed me must find.
[00:31:03] Unknown:
If you won't stop it, I will. Now. Because I will it. Like this.
[00:31:11] Unknown:
Okay, Tenderfoot. Now I'm gonna spout the living hell out of you. You're not asking no mercy.
[00:31:18] Unknown:
Come on. Just try to stop me. Just what? Here's one last
[00:31:25] Unknown:
go by
[00:31:29] Unknown:
luck. What the
[00:31:31] Unknown:
I I I I are you gonna get up? I I can't. You quit? I
[00:31:51] Unknown:
What what Just just take it easy. You're alright.
[00:31:57] Unknown:
Ruth?
[00:31:57] Unknown:
Yes.
[00:32:00] Unknown:
Boy, it seems like seems like I've been here before.
[00:32:04] Unknown:
Now that Granny's gone and and you're okay, I I'm going away.
[00:32:10] Unknown:
Well, if that's what you want, you you've got your own life to live. My own life. I ain't got the right to say it, but I was sort of hoping that we we'd be sharing it. But I got nothing to offer a woman yet.
[00:32:27] Unknown:
Which is not for each other, Tim. Don't you know? I'm a shadow over you
[00:32:34] Unknown:
that it's through me that you're risking your life. It appears to me it's through you it keeps getting saved.
[00:32:41] Unknown:
Twice. The legend is the third time around, fate has to take its course. There's another cook here now, and I'm not needed. Forget me, Tim. Please just
[00:32:53] Unknown:
forget me. Look. Oh, sorry, sir. Hey. How you feel, Chop? I feel like I got run over by a bulldozer. It'll end. Something else won't, in the inside. Why did you make miss Ruth cry? It's kinda the other way around, Funchy. I guess I took a wrong notion. I want to marry that girl. But she does not want to marry you? That's right. Did she say why? I don't know. She's got some kind of crazy notion. She's a hex for me. If she say that, then it is one big shame. She must be bad medicine for you. She knows how. She has le dung, the gift.
She can read the future. Oh, come on. It is true. How do you think that big tree missed you that day? And now you make big red cryo. A heck with superstition, that's no real problem. What is a problem? Is it a man needs money to marry? And what do I have to offer? What?
[00:33:52] Unknown:
Big red? Yeah. I was just dragging what was left of me in here to say you whipped me fair and square and the best man won.
[00:34:00] Unknown:
You say you're leaving? I'll be on my way by tonight.
[00:34:05] Unknown:
Frenchie. What was that I heard him saying about he wanted to get over some money?
[00:34:11] Unknown:
The poor devil. He wanted to get married, but he has no stake.
[00:34:16] Unknown:
Oh, he wants money real bad.
[00:34:25] Unknown:
Hey there, Big Red.
[00:34:27] Unknown:
What are you doing so far from Cabo? Just stealing me a little breather, Chuck, and having a stroll.
[00:34:32] Unknown:
Half's in your ax in your hand?
[00:34:36] Unknown:
You see, your ax ain't mine. It belongs to Tim Farrow. What you doing with it? I got a use for it.
[00:34:44] Unknown:
I wouldn't think of him to land you in as in a fiddin'. He didn't. He might get sore and take a notion to whoop up on you again when he finds out.
[00:34:55] Unknown:
He's, too busy packing up to leave camp. Leave? Yep. Him and Ruth Ann. Soon as you get back with the jeep. Dragon they think they're gonna get spliced.
[00:35:08] Unknown:
How about that? Give me a lift back the cab. Oh sure, sure. Hop in. Got to pay money.
[00:35:17] Unknown:
Here's right behind us in Mac. All done up in that neat little envelope, Just like you, you. It'd be a lot of money to steal. There sure wouldn't be much doubt if a fella got caught quick enough just where it came from. What you talking about? Just keep on driving, Chuck. Only you take the road to the flume with the fork. I got some plans for you.
[00:35:45] Unknown:
What? What are you doing with my gear, Rhett? Oh, why,
[00:35:49] Unknown:
I was just gonna carry it out in the Jeep for you. I'll handle it myself. What's the Jeep doing outside there? Where's Chuck? Reckon he took the payroll over to the strut boss. You drawin' yours? No. And we'll ride over there and pick it up before I drive you and Ruth Ann down to town. She's coming with us? As if you didn't know.
[00:36:13] Unknown:
There's something funny going on. This isn't the way that the straw boss is on. Look out back here. What? Oh, it
[00:36:25] Unknown:
sure ain't, mister Loverboy. The road you're going this time, I'm sure you ain't coming back.
[00:36:36] Unknown:
I wonder why Chuck's so late getting back.
[00:36:39] Unknown:
Like to get down the mountain before dark. He should have been here at least one hour ago.
[00:36:45] Unknown:
I suppose Tim is going to leave with us. Oh, he has not much transport, miss Ruth.
[00:36:51] Unknown:
Why don't you take a chance and stay with him? You don't understand French. I do, but sometimes Le Grandeur is kind. And I think that Grandmere Bridgette would have wanted to Wait. Wait a minute, French. French. What is it?
[00:37:09] Unknown:
Oh, I see it now. I see it. Red, he has the payroll until supper. He has Tim knocked out and tied up at the fork on the way down the mountain. And Chuck is tossed up just below the big fin where it spills into the catch basin. He'll drive Tim unconscious into the ravine and send Chuck to die, ground up in the logs in the catch basin. It'll look because this pin killed him for the hero.
[00:37:48] Unknown:
Sir Claude, you must die. Frenchie,
[00:37:51] Unknown:
go get the rest of the Jackson and save Tim, Frenchie. I'll go get Chuck free.
[00:38:01] Unknown:
You you crazy red. Like a fox, Chuck. Ain't no woman gonna make a sucker out of red pilly? She turned me down for Jason while I took care of him. Climb. Climb?
[00:38:13] Unknown:
Up to the sluice? Why? Climb?
[00:38:15] Unknown:
Sorry, Chuck, but I gotta set this up just right. What what are you gonna do with Tim Tim's ax? I'm gonna bury it right in your skull, Chuck, so nobody has any doubts as to open it. Oh, no. No. You're not ready. Ruthann,
[00:38:32] Unknown:
how'd you get up here? Many of the time as a kid when the logs weren't running, I've shooted down the flume. From the camp right right to this station. Oh, I I knew I had to move fast to stop you. You can't. It's too late. I've burned all my bridges behind
[00:38:46] Unknown:
me. Now worst of all, it's got to be you too.
[00:38:50] Unknown:
But you can't touch me, Red. I have the gift. The gift? I turned the tree aside to save Tim. And I held you back from stopping him. All with the help of God. And now I'm gonna stop you again. Run, Chuck.
[00:39:05] Unknown:
Run. You're supposed to know how you can't talk to me. I'm sorry it has to be this way, Ruth Ann. From the beginning when you first come, you was all I wanted, but you turned me down.
[00:39:16] Unknown:
What? What are you doing? I'm gonna open a sloskate. There's 600,000
[00:39:20] Unknown:
board feet of logs already on the way down, and we're going with the first that comes.
[00:39:25] Unknown:
If I can't have you, no one else can. Hey. You hear me? I hear you. You'll touch low, man. You hear me? I hear you. You'll touch little man. I'll tell you. Hang on. The logs carried him right down the flume and over and into the catch basin. He was ground to pieces. I'm sure glad you're safe, Annie.
[00:40:20] Unknown:
Are you still going?
[00:40:22] Unknown:
Well, Red is dead, but nothing between us has changed.
[00:40:28] Unknown:
One big thing has. What? When I thought I had the power to stop Red, I found I didn't, Tim. I just had to rely on myself and hang on to the axe that he was trying to swing down on you. Are are you are you telling me The gift's gone. I don't have to be afraid anymore. It's a new life. It sure is. What what did you call me back back then? Annie.
[00:40:57] Unknown:
That's a new name for a new life. And the one that's gonna be my wife's. Come on, Annie Farrell. Kiss me if you like the name.
[00:41:11] Unknown:
Anything you wanna give me is just exactly what I like.
[00:41:22] Unknown:
Think of all the gifts you personally may have lost in your time and how much you mourn them. Then think of the dread oppressive gift that Ruth Anne lost and celebrate it with her. Sometimes I do have stories to tell you that end with that fond, childish phrase, and so they lived happily ever after. This is EG Marshall inviting you to return to our mystery theater for another adventure in the macabre. Until next time.
[00:41:57] Unknown:
Pleasants, dreams.
[00:42:07] Unknown:
The preceding Mystery Theater program was furnished by the CBS Radio Network. This is WOR New York, an RKO general station.
[00:42:18] Unknown:
You coming to bed, hon? Yep. Honey, I'll be I'll be right there. Just gotta turn out the light. Some things never change. Like, your kids always leaving tiny toys on the floor for you to step on, and GEICO saving folks lots of money on their car insurance.
[00:42:40] Unknown:
Sweetie, I think I left the downstairs light on.
[00:42:43] Unknown:
Please don't make me go. Fifteen minutes could save you 15% or more.
Introduction to the Unearthly Gift
Definitions and the Gift of Second Sight
Tragedy Strikes at the Lumber Camp
Ruth Ann's Vision and the Lumberjack's Fate
New Arrival: Tim Farrell
Ruth Ann's Burden of Second Sight
A Narrow Escape from Death
Granny's Wisdom and Ruth Ann's Dilemma
Granny's Final Wish
The Showdown with Big Red
Ruth Ann's Final Confrontation
A New Beginning for Ruth Ann
