This story was published in Radio Recall, the journal of the Metropolitan Washington Old-Time Radio Club, published six times per year.

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Missing Scarlet Queen Treasures - Part Two
by Stewart Wright © 2016
(From Radio Recall, October 2016)

We conclude our The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen missing episode plot summaries with Episode Ten, "The Dead Man and The Boac Idol," which was broadcast on September 04, 1947.

"Log entry, the ketch, Scarlet Queen, Philip Karney, Master … Position one twenty two degrees, forty minutes East. Thirteen degrees, twenty-two minutes North … Wind, light. Sky, fair … Remarks:---- Departed port of Masbate, nine A.M. after altercation (in Rainbow House … ) Reason for incident, --- The Dead Man and The Boac Idol … "

During a storm, on the way from Manila to Masbate in the Philippine Islands, lookout Neilson of the Scarlet Queen spots a Moro outrigger dugout canoe with a badly wounded, unconscious man in it. Karney has the crew lift the entire canoe with the man still in it onto the Queen and is able to revive the man.

The gravely wounded stranger tells Karney to give his father in Masbate the boat, but is unable to tell the skipper who his father is before he dies. From his effects, the identity of the man is determined to be Clement N. Russell. There is a business card, with a Masbate address and a name, Maxwell Nathan. There are also some rocks that might be ore samples.

After turning over the body to Masbate officials, Karney goes in search of Maxwell Nathan. He finds him in the office of the Malayan Company. Nathan tells Karney that that Russell's father is his business associate and is currently in British North Borneo.

Nathan mentions that the Malayan Company has been competing against very strong interests for certain gold concessions on Boac Mountain on the island of Marinduque. However, he hires Karney on another matter; to deliver an incredibly valuable wooden Boac Idol to Kruger, a heavy, florid man with a dueling scar on his left cheek, who will be staying at the Banton Hotel. The statue is one of a matching pair. Karney is to take it to Kruger, tell him he knows where the other one is and without telling him where, see if he is ready to arrange a meeting and complete the deal.

Later that evening Karney and Gallagher find Kruger with two men, Sidney and Remuldez, in the bar of the Banton Hotel. He tells Kruger what Nathan told him to say. Kruger is interested and suggests they go elsewhere to finish their talk about the statue.

Outside the Hotel, Kruger springs his trap, catching the Skipper and his Mate unprepared. They are taken at gunpoint by Kruger and his henchmen to a secluded warehouse. Sidney stays with Gallagher in another part of the warehouse. Kruger tells Karney that he knows they found Russell and that he believes the skipper has the second Idol. He tells Karney he has been offered $500,000 for the pair and offers Karney 30,000 pesos for the missing statue.

Kruger has Remuldez try to beat the information out of Karney on the location of the second Idol. Later, when he comes to in another room, Karney sees the thugs drag a badly beaten Gallagher into the room.

Sometime later, the conscious sailors hear someone approaching. They get ready to jump whoever enters. It turns out to be an armed Nathan who releases them. He tells them that Kruger and Remuldez are currently ransacking the Scarlet Queen in their search for the missing Idol. Nathan thinks that Karney may have it.

Nathan takes the two men to a safe place and provides liquor to revive them and tells them that he doesn't have the second Idol. He fills in the two mariners on the background of the statues; they were carved by one of Fernando Magellan's crewmen upon his discovery of the Philippine Islands. He also reveals the Russell was his son and doubles Kruger's offer of 30,000 pesos for the second statue. Karney orders Red to stay with Nathan.

Phil returns to the Queen; he believes he knows where Russell hid the Idol. He finds it in a compartment in one of the outriggers. He brings the second figure back to Nathan and the man tells Gallagher and Karney that he and Kruger were competing antique dealers in Germany before the War. Also, that Kruger had him falsely imprisoned and stole his wife. He has lured Kruger to Masbate with information on the Idols and that Nathan is not his real name and that he has arranged a meeting with Kruger.

When Kruger and Remuldez arrive, Red overpowers the henchman. Kruger recognizes his old competitor and offers him $100,000 for the pair. Nathan says he will exact payment for all that Kruger has stolen from him and empties the six shots of his revolver into his enemy. He tells Karney that the Idols were a ruse to bring Kruger and that they are worthless. Nathan had carved them himself. As a last favor, he asks Karney to summon the authorities.

Karney, Gallagher, and the Scarlet Queen head for Hong Kong and the delayed meeting with his boss, Ku Chei Kang.