November 22, 2025 • 29 mins
Rocky Jordan was a radio series about an American restaurateur in Cairo who each week became involved in some kind of mystery or adventure. The show was broadcast between 1948 and 1951. The two lead roles were Rocky Jordan and Captain Sam Sabaaya of the Cairo Police. For most of the show's history Jordan was played by veteran radio actor Jack Moyles, but he was later replaced by a movie star, George Raft, for the brief period in 1951. Jay Novello played Sabaaya throughout the entire series.
Hope you enjoy this episode of Rocky Jordan! Find more classic radio series at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Hope you enjoy this episode of Rocky Jordan! Find more classic radio series at theaterofthemind-otr.com - Audio Credit: The Old Time Radio Researchers Group. - All Podcasts @ Spreaker | Apple | YouTube | Spotify | iHeart | Amazon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm now for Rocky Jordan. Not far from the Musk
Sultan Hassan in Cairo stands the Cafe Tambourine, run by
(00:24):
Rocky Jordan. The Cafe Tambourine crowded with forgotten men, alive
with the babble of many languages. For this is Cairo,
where modern adventure and intrigue unfold against the backdrop of antiquity.
Tonight's story the Big Ditch.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Maybe there's a reason why I happen to settle down
in Cairo. Maybe because it's in a great river like
the Mississippi that flows down past Saint Louis, only the
Niles somehow different. Egypt lives by its rise and fall,
and when it starts to run low in summer, the
spirit of the people seemed to go down with it.
That includes me. And the best thing to give me
(01:17):
a lift is to see an old friend, even a
guy like Matt Gallagher. I had a big Saturday night
in the Tambourine and long about eleven in the morning,
and got the receipts out of the safe and sat
down to front table, or I could be under a
fan while counting up. I was just finished when there
was a knock at the door. I shoved the money
bag out of the collar. As I threw the latch
on the door, I saw his face through the window.
(01:39):
It hadn't changed much in five years, except for a
few new scars picked up in some waterfront drawls. He
barged in, like a big battered freighter riding out a storm,
A rapping me by the safety phrased, what wind blew
you in, Matt.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
How good wind it was?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Lad?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
For the stage of you again? I see it now?
Where was it then? John Cutter, Frisco, Singapore.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Don't make me remember you're thinking of that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Said two we had with the Sultan's daughter on his
dam board. We wrote it out in my lad.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Sure, by the way, how much money do I loan
you to get out of town? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Byguards, rocky by guards. Come now to set me up
with a nip with it? Sure, just add it to
your bill, he said, that's an idea, bringing around the
bottle of me, Lad, we'd be drinking.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
To our times. Just leave a little of the cash customers.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, never worry me, lad, Never.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Already one day he'll be marking my account paid for
and plenty of the.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Boat and I won't hold my breath to them, racket.
That's all us.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah? That parts for another, right, just one more to
this time?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Yeah, I got an answer to that, Lad, to fancy Bayon,
as lovely as lady as ever set her dainty feet
on the streets of Cairo.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Who up with it now, Rocky or being Sultan the lady?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All right? Who's Francy not a new girlfriend?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Aye?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Aye, sir?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
And there'll never be another with eyes as blows their
legs at Killarney. You never learned till you met all Rocky.
I know what you're thinking, but never again.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
This is the real thing. Tell me, when did a
girl ever committed your life that there wasn't trouble?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Lad? I won't have you saying that about Rancy. She
ain't like the other.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Sure, okay, okay, you say, maybe blue Eyes is hearing
Carol at the Shadrag Hotel pining her heart out for
me at this very minute.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Oh there's nobody like her me, Lad, you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Got it bad again.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
I and we'll be settling down if all goes well.
And that's what I'm wanting to talk to you about.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, how much?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
The fact of the matter is that I will be
needing a little money.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And I wondered when you get around to it.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
But you don't understand, lad, I'm cutting you in on what, Rocky,
how would you like to own the sewer's canal?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Great? How about it that the sewer? Sure?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I put it right alongside the Brooklyn Bridge. You think
I'm lying and no more than usual. But I'm telling
your rock like man, this is a touch and we
both know it.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
It's nothing of that kind.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You only show up once every four or five years,
but every time I end up with less money. Come on,
how much do you want?
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Now?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
That's more like than me? That you'll do one hundred
and fifty pounds?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
This sing it. I don't know why I'm doing this,
but I'll let you have twenty only twenty pounds.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Put the deal that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You're lucky. I had a good night.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I tell you day a touch, now, rock I'd call it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
A wedding present. Then, yeah, well the one of the night.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But how you do there's a phone in my office.
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I'll be waiting, Rocky.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
You can later that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It was a call asking for a contribution to the
Home for Indigent Goat herders. Oh. I brushed it off
naturally and went back front. The first thing I noticed
was that Gallagher was gone. Second, he'd taken the bottle
from the table with him. That's when I made for
the money bag behind the bar. Oh, it was there,
and so were a few loose piastres, but that was all.
(05:25):
I yanked. The front door opened, but the street was deserted,
not Gallagher. It made a smooth getaway than the super chief.
A little figuring told me that along with the twenty
i'd given him, he'd gotten off with a total of
one hundred and fifty Egyptian pounds, which comes to exactly
six hundred good round American dollars. Well, it's what you
get for helping a guy. I don't like being suckered,
(05:46):
so I didn't tell anybody, just waited around. He didn't
turn up among the other minute and a half people
around Cairo, so I decided he'd let out for places unknown.
I was sure of it. After a couple of weeks
went by, but I still hadn't cool and I got
a call from Captain Sam Sabayah, Jordan.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Is it possible that you know a man named Matt Gallagher?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Sure. I know I'm Sam, and I'm looking for him.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Indeed, for what purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'm gonna dig one hundred and fifty pounds out of
his hide that he owes me.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I fear you will have trouble collecting Jordan.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Ah, why come.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
To the morgue and you will see Matt Gallagher is
on his slab.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, you can't stay, sorry, a guy in a slab.
I wanted it over with him forgotten, so I caught
the first cab that came along for headquarters. Sam was
waiting for me and let me downstairs to the margue,
where he drove back one of the sheets gunshots.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
As you can see, Jordan.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wait to find him.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Sam lying in some out of the way ruins near
the old Babylon Roman Fortress in the old part of
the city.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
He had been dead for several days.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
How do you happen to call me?
Speaker 6 (06:59):
A peck from the cafe? Tambourine was in his pocket.
There was this small chance you might have seen him there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I have known Gallagher off and on for a long time.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
When did you see him last?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
A couple of sundays ago at my cafe? He borrowed
a pocket full of money when I wasn't looking.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
And you did not report this to me.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Geordians, it was a personal affair.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Personal affair. Indeed, too often you take matters into your
own hand. But someday you will learn.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
What else was in his pocket.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Say there was no money, if that is what you mean.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
What about identification?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
This passport and seamen's card. You may see them if
you like.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Thanks, also a few other personal articles if you get
to look at them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh, I've seen enough.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Now, Jordan.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
If there is anything more you can tell me about
this man, I think it all said. He's all yours
very well, But Jordan, give it some thought. I intended
this murder be disposed very quickly.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I could feel Sam's eyes on the back of my
head as I went out. He generally figures I'm holding
something back. This time he was right to begin with.
I'd never seen that man on the slab before. It
wasn't Matt Gallagher at all. Besides, Gallagher was a seaman,
and this was a fair skinned man with soft hands
that had never done a lick of rough work in
his life. I wondered if Sam had noticed that.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I had a hunch now that Gallagher was still kicking
around Cairo with my one hundred and fifty pounds, and
I wanted to first crack at him. What he had
to do with the murder and the switching identity was
anybody's guess. Looking in on Matt's girlfriend at the Shadrack
Hotel was one thing I'd avoided up to now, but
this is where I had to see it. It turned
out she was sharing a suite with somebody, so I
(08:47):
got the room number and went on up. The door
was opened by a friendly looking little guy with a
mustache and his gray hair potted in the middle.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Oh, yes, yes, what can I do for you?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I'd like to see Francie. Name's Jordan.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
Oh of course, of course, please come in.
Speaker 8 (09:05):
Thanks, where's uncle Julia.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
It's mister Jordan. Frency.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Oh so you're Rockey Jordan.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's right. Matt Gallagher mentioned my name.
Speaker 8 (09:16):
Yes, boss and pals, he said, big.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Olf, Yeah, Frenzy.
Speaker 7 (09:21):
Perhaps mister Jordan will be able to tell us.
Speaker 8 (09:23):
Give him time, uncle dear, Oh.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah, of course, of course, my dear.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, I am looking for Gallagher. Where is he? I
haven't seen him for weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
What's your guess?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
From what he told me? You want to know everything
about him?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
What did he tell you?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh? Something about you and him settling down real cozy.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Fine chats. You'd better show up in a hurry.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's all I gotta say. What's he up to, Francy.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
He's up towards girls and Irish whiskey.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
If you ask me what else?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
He's been acting crazy for the last month.
Speaker 8 (09:56):
A whild talk, brother.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
What he wasn't gonna do for me?
Speaker 8 (09:59):
By me and sables and yachts?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Did he say?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
With who cares? It wouldn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
What do you want with him?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
One hundred and fifty pounds do and payable?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Did is still it?
Speaker 8 (10:11):
From you?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
He didn't exactly sign a promisory note. Frency, My dear,
this is just as I told you.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I expressly do not approve of that man. For you.
Speaker 8 (10:18):
We've been all over that uncle Julius.
Speaker 7 (10:20):
What a girl of your culture and refinement. I cannot
understand what you see in a person like that man.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Stop trying?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Where do I look for him? Frenzy, you might take
a swim and the Siewers canaral.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
He says he's gonna buy it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
M Galli, I told you that too.
Speaker 8 (10:34):
That's what he's telling everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And the more he talks, the crazier he gets.
Speaker 8 (10:39):
All he needs is a little dog to swinger, he says,
And it's big time for us. Can you beat that guy?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Let me know when he shows up with him better'll
be in a hurry or washing out of his time
plenty quick? Okay, thanks?
Speaker 7 (10:52):
I oh, mister Jordan, mister Jordan, Yeah, Julius, about this robbery.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Have you mentioned it.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
To the police?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Not yet? Why? Well, it's for friends, He's sake.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
She's such a sensitive child.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, don't worry, Julius. What I've got to settle with
Matt Gallagher is between just him and me. I finally
show uncle Julius from my lapels, got out of the
Shadrack Hotel and back to my tambourine. As I walked
into the cafe, Chris flagged me down from behind the
bar and handed over a package wrapped in old, dirty paper.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
It's for you, Rocky.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I don't know, Messenger said he was supposed to give
it to you. Personal only got tired waiting.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And you say he was from yeah, Matt Gallagher, gallat,
he said, well, look, but even wrapped up so good.
I'm interested in what's inside.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
I'll careful it's coming apart.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
No here, help me here with you? Chris, you know
great jumpin' Jahasa fed Rocky?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
The bundle had come upon in my hands, and a
lot of strange looking pieces of paper really scattered all
around me. While Chris was getting together. I picked one
up and had a look like all the rest. It
was all looking and yellow, with everything written in French.
At the top in real fancy lettering, it read campaigne
one of us cell de Canal Maritime de Suez. I
(12:18):
began scrambling through the others, and they were all the
same except for a different serial number. I didn't need
to know much French to realize that these were shares
of stock. Yeh where I stood? I Rocky Jordan now
own part of the Suez Canal.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You are listening to The Big Ditch, an Adventure with
Rocky Jordan. You'll find mystery to your heart's content on
CBS fine yarns woven by some of radio's top mystery writers.
But you can also vary the fair with music and comedy.
Here's the comedy you won't want to miss Monday Night
on CBS Radio Theater. Mickey Rooney stars in Merton of
(13:10):
the Movies, a satire on the movie making industry. Remember
CBS Radio Theater tomorrow Monday Night at six. Now we
return you to Cairo and Tonight's adventure with Rocky Jordan
(13:31):
the Big Ditch.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
What would you do if somebody sent you a whole
stack of shares in the Suez Canal? Apron the wall
with him? Or ask a few questions? First? Well, my
curiosity got the best of me too, so I wrapped
up the bundle again and headed for the Chiro Securities Exchange.
I didn't expect to find the answer that a murdered
man was found with Matt Gallagher's identification on him. Oh,
(14:03):
why Gallagher had sent the shares to me? That was
something else. I finally got to the right man at
the exchange, gave him my name, open up the bundle
on his desk, and waited form to start a lamp. Yes,
mister Jordan, Oh what about these things?
Speaker 7 (14:18):
Hmmm, that's the company Universal de Siuez, I say, mister Jordan. Eh,
this is most remarkable. You're bringing such valuable securities in
this fashion.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
No, wait a minute, I'll tell me that the real thing.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Oh, enticking every detail, I've seen many of these. A
man is indeed fortunate to possess sewer's canal shares.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
What are they doing here? A big pardon? I mean,
doesn't the Suez belong to a government France or England.
Speaker 7 (14:43):
Or what commoner of mister Jordan? True, the British crown
owned seven sixteenths of the sewer's canal, thanks of course
to the brilliant statesmanship of Disraeli when he purchased them
from the Kadiv of Egypt. H Oh, yeah, sure, a
great man Israeli, a credit to the empire. Mister Look
getting back to these shares, oh, oh, quite carried away?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Sorry, are you trying to tell me that private individuals
can own shares in the Suez Canal?
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Most assuredly, many people are fortunate to own stock in
the sewerz Oh. The fact that it is thousands of
shares have been lost through the years. The company is
nearing its century mark.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
You know, Oh, how much are they worth?
Speaker 7 (15:22):
They sold originally for two hundred and fifty pounds a share.
They no runner as high as twenty thousand pounds each. Yes,
you have two hundred shares here, it's possible that dividends
have accumulated.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
All in all, these are worth.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
In your currency, approximately are sixteen million dollars.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
May I ask for you?
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Got them?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I bought them FO one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Oh, I say, mister Jordan, you're pulling my leg. I
wouldn't dare now. Of course these must be transferred to
your name.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Oh yeah, sure, but some other time.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
You mean you're taking them with you in this manner? Yeah, expert,
But why I've decided.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
To get my money back. I put the bundle inside
my coat and came out of there with a great
education on the Soez Canal, enough to know that there
was a sweet setup for a neat little racket. Only
it gets too big when a man's murdered and the
stuff's planted on me. Right then I know I had
(16:22):
a fine Gallagher and shut the whole bundle down his throat.
It was already evening, and I moved along the street,
not noticing the beggars or anything else, till a little
native water salesman started getting under my feet.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
If Indy, I have the pure fine water for you,
water like.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Chrystal, right, move along?
Speaker 8 (16:39):
Hem She oh, but it is not a de Nile
of Indy. My water is from the hidden springs of
the desert.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
If one piastre is all alaiatic, what's good now?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
It was some teams thin only for you no water.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Em she mister Jordan, did you learn the name?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
This concerns another matter. The a Frankie would be wise
to listen.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
All right, get it out.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Mister Jordan. There are certain people with money. They will bargain.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Way what what do they want?
Speaker 8 (17:09):
I cannot tell you who they are, but they are
interested in certain pieces of paper.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You tell certain people there's certain pieces of paper are
on for sale. Get it all, wife, Indy, Eh, you
know where Matt Gallagher is the name?
Speaker 8 (17:24):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Eh.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
That's helped, But perhaps there is another who can help you.
The Street of many knives, up the hill past the
rug weaver's hut.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I'll need more than that.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
I have the water burried your water like find whistle water.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I could have followed the water cellar, but already night
was setting in and I had another Errand it took
a lot of asking around and some strange looks, but
I was finally in the street of money knives. Nothing
more than a passageway that winds up through the desolate
native quarner to the east. It's a place of foreigner
doesn't go around even in daylight, much less at night,
and I could guess how it got its name. The
(18:04):
wild dogs were out, but they'd found something else and
didn't bother with me. Just before the street ended at
a hill, I found the rug weaver's hut and the
door just beyond. There was no light, but I knocked.
I thought I heard a quick movement inside, so I
locked again. I tried, the knob was locked. I put
my shoulder against the door, and one shots all I took.
The lock snapped, and I was inside just as a
(18:25):
hooking figure on from the shadows get powerful arms around
me and we went down. My knees came up and
we went on over, and I was on top of
my hand in his face, not in the smell of
Irish whisky.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Cut it short, mat, Rocky Ladder, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Held you fight, we'll skip.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
That's get some light in here.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
There's a candle on the corner table. But do you
have to light it now?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Let Why not?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Rocky boy? Am I glad to see you?
Speaker 5 (18:55):
You won't be mad hardly hand over my money, Rocky, Lad,
go easy on me.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I've been in for a rough time.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Whither hideout right?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Admitted to your Rocky.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
I'm scared of what the police A lot exactly, but
I'm in a bit of trouble.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
When i'd run to Francy, she's getting out a CARO.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, I tell you, lad, I'm giving her up. Francis
too good for the likes of me.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
Hah.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Anyhow, I've learned me less than Rocky. There's been a
bit of strip north of Johannesburg. I'm gone there and
dig for gold.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Come on with me now, I.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Start clearing it up. Matt, What about the guy down
on the morgue in the mall? You know he's dead.
He was carrying your seamen's card in your passport. Sure,
sure I know.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
But you don't think I killed him, Lady, You couldn't
think that I'd value life too much.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Spit it out. Gallagher?
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Who was he?
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Eh, Walter Logan. He used to work for the sewer's
company in Paris.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You get all those shares from him, right, me?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Boy? You are but a quick sale. Roder than fifty pounds.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
They'd be worth thousands. Why a price like that?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
Now, Rocky, you know I don't bother wood trifles. Ask
a lot of embarrassing questions.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Go on.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
We had a little rendezvout.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
I bought the shares, I left him and I wasn't
more in the block away and I heard the gunshots.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I ran back and found him dead.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
See anybody else around, No, Rocky, But.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I knew paperber cures in me. They always made things tough.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And poor Matt yaiger, come on, come on? Why the switch?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:29):
I had to think fast. If they thought I was dead,
they wouldn't be looking for me. So I put my
stuff in his pockets.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And why send the shares to me?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
That was our dear Rocky.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Anyhow, I was sort of hot, and I knew you'd
take care of them.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Eh, All that over a stack of worthless paper?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Worthless? What are your main Rocky?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
A lot of Suez shares have been lost. Nobody knows
what happened to them. You say, Logan worked for the
company in Paris. He could have found out the serial
lembers are the missing shares made up? Some to match
the real ones?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Count off it?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Sure he turns up with a bunch of lost shares.
And if he's lucky, no one's a wiser. Only he
wasn't so lucky. For now than that, I still want
my one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
But Rocky, I give it to you.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
If I hadn't all maybe I heard, maybe I just
fell him. But I knew there was somebody at the
door because I opened it a farefoot night I've tucked away.
I was after him fast, and just as I was
on the world and face. Mister Jordan's all right, what
is it now, pasta. You don't sell water around.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
Here, No, it concerns the other matter of think.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Ready to tell me who sent you?
Speaker 8 (21:34):
I cannot but about these certain pieces of paper. My
master offers you five thousand pounds. All oh, but mister Jordan,
he's prepared to go higher it possibly six or seven
thousand pounds.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I'll go the other way. The other way, Yeah, tell
your master he can have the pieces of paper for
one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 8 (21:56):
You will give them to me.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Not in your life for the liverman person. Well, I
meet you master at.
Speaker 8 (22:01):
The ruins of the Minya Tower in Old Cairo. There
you will not be disturbed.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'll be there at eleven o'clock a little water seller
vanished in thin air, and I was back, dragging Gallagher
into the street and down the hill. I figured as
long as he started this thing for me, he could
be in at the finish. He complained like a dyspeptic
camel all the way, but I finally got him with
(22:27):
me to the tambourine, and there I put in a
quick call to sap Buy.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
What have you tried to say to me?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Geordan?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I told you the guy you're having the morgue isn't
Matt Gallagher, but you saw him yourself.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Why did you not tell me?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You didn't ask me, Sir, I.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Didn't of all the incredible then who is this man?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
His name's water Logan Jordan.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Listened to me. You have completely upset my investigation. You
have come dangerously, Sam.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Do you want to find Gallagher or not? I do,
and put on your snow shoes and mush on out
to the Menya Tower and Old Cairo.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Jordan. You will first explain this to me.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
See you there, Sam Gallagher heard every word of the conversation,
and he was crying real tears as I tucked the
pieces of paper under my arm and shoved him into
a taxi out front. Between him and the lazy taxi driver,
I had myself a time as we rolled south into
Old Cairo. Finally we drove through what, once centuries ago
(23:22):
is the gate to the Roman fortress called Babylon. A
little farther on that Cabby pulled up and he wouldn't
go an inch farther for all the fish in the nile,
So we walked it from there. In another quarter hour
we were nearing the crumbling Minia Tower, surrounded by ruins.
Just a few minutes before eleven. The full moon was out,
now almost white against the ancient sandstone walls. It was
(23:44):
quite a sight, but Gallagher was impressed.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Rocky, Rocky, I don't like it at all.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
We're early. Is nobody here?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
It's right there that Walter Logan was killed, don't you see, Yah?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Somebody might repeat themselves.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Look, Rocky, this.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Is not for me.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Let's get out of here. I'm sorry for getting you
into this landing. I'll make it up if it takes
the rest of my.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Life might not be long enough, man, No, Rocky, me boy,
that's exactly We'll wait here. Matt dug for a dark
corner and We waited not more than three or four minutes,
and we heard footsteps along the pass its way from
the way we'd come. Whoever it was, kept to the
shadows on the far side. The steps were confident, with
(24:29):
no trace of hesitation. It passed. Then the figure stepped
out under the moonlight beneath the tower. Franci, Matt, what
are you doing here? It came with me. Franci kind
of gets in on the deal. All right, let's get
it over with.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I don't understand it. I don't understand it at all.
Speaker 8 (24:51):
When did that muddle head of yours ever understand anything?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
But all this time?
Speaker 8 (24:54):
You playing you for.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
A sucker, Francy darned.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh no, no, no play it.
Speaker 8 (25:00):
He's a smart one.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Later, your little water boy mentioned an offer for certain
pieces of paper.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
Five thousand pounds.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Why did you make it?
Speaker 8 (25:09):
One hundred and fifty?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I'm satisfied.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Do you have them?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah? All right, give them to me. Oh, let's keep it, honest,
blue eyes.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Here's your money, now'll hand them over all yours.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Oh, we'll get a few things straight.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
Skip it, Rocky, Come on, o Julius, Yes, I'll take
over an offer and see joyous it's our glorious.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I've been walk careful man. That gun in his hand,
he use it.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
You're quite right, mister Jordan.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I'm jetting it now.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I should have known why you didn't like me, Uncle
Julius al Ris com.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Between Francy and what's bothering you? Julius, Matt and I
know too much. You've still got a lot of phony
shares to sell.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You could quite.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Well interfere with our plans.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I'm gonna kill you, just like you did Wald and Logan. Yes,
he fixed up with his stuff. Why drop it?
Speaker 7 (25:59):
It was a little man. Oh methods frightened him. He
began trying to dump the shares at quick prices. It
was no telling what he would do next.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I had to kill that leaves just you and Francy.
Great team.
Speaker 7 (26:11):
I give her full credit to Shee who messed he
minded all playing.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
It ain't true, It ain't truths hard I'll not have
you said that about Frances, You stupid ducts.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You'll faster its. You never liked me, and I don't
like you either.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
You Matt, keep back, he'll be poisoner a mind against
me no more. You full stop, You're nobody can stop
Matt Ganni.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Matt stopped two slugs head on and kept walking in
and his big narl hands are on the man's neck
and drying. Julius had no more chance than I tell you,
old kitty. All at once, it was a snap, and
he dropped like a wet bar rack. Matt stood over
him for a full second, and then he piled on
top of France. He was suddenly wild and running, and
(27:01):
I didn't follow because just then I saw Sam Sapaia
and a couple of his men coming up to meet her.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Hell.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
There was a lot of talk and explaining for a while.
Then Uncle Julius was wheeled off to the morgue, Matt
Gallagher to the hospital, and Francie off to a cell.
Sam kept the package. About an hour later, he and
I were resting at the table in my cafe Tambourine.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Jordan, and you you make very good coffee.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Sounds that wasting.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
You should confine your activities to just such things.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Is this? Oh? I'm willing, But when a poor sucker
like Gallagher comes around, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
It is possible there will not be another time.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ah takes more in a couple of slugs to knock
out a guy like him what Francie did to him
or heard him worse?
Speaker 6 (27:55):
Perhaps by the way, Jordan, I'm wondering now what I
should do about you.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Me what for?
Speaker 6 (28:05):
You are guilty of selling Count of its shares for
one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I it's a part time you looked in that package, Sam,
what do you mean My deal with Francie was for
certain pieces of paper. That's just what she got, all
torn out of the Cairo Gazette.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
It's CBS at the same time next week for another
story of adventure and intrigue when we take you Back
to Cairo and the Cafe Tambourine, run by Rocky Jordan
(29:00):
m Rocky Jordan, written by Larry Roman and Gohmer Cool,
stars Jack Moyles in the title role, and is produced
and directed by Cliff Powell, with original music by Richard
aroand Larry for speaking. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting
System
I'm now for Rocky Jordan. Not far from the Musk
Sultan Hassan in Cairo stands the Cafe Tambourine, run by
(00:24):
Rocky Jordan. The Cafe Tambourine crowded with forgotten men, alive
with the babble of many languages. For this is Cairo,
where modern adventure and intrigue unfold against the backdrop of antiquity.
Tonight's story the Big Ditch.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Maybe there's a reason why I happen to settle down
in Cairo. Maybe because it's in a great river like
the Mississippi that flows down past Saint Louis, only the
Niles somehow different. Egypt lives by its rise and fall,
and when it starts to run low in summer, the
spirit of the people seemed to go down with it.
That includes me. And the best thing to give me
(01:17):
a lift is to see an old friend, even a
guy like Matt Gallagher. I had a big Saturday night
in the Tambourine and long about eleven in the morning,
and got the receipts out of the safe and sat
down to front table, or I could be under a
fan while counting up. I was just finished when there
was a knock at the door. I shoved the money
bag out of the collar. As I threw the latch
on the door, I saw his face through the window.
(01:39):
It hadn't changed much in five years, except for a
few new scars picked up in some waterfront drawls. He
barged in, like a big battered freighter riding out a storm,
A rapping me by the safety phrased, what wind blew
you in, Matt.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
How good wind it was?
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Lad?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
For the stage of you again? I see it now?
Where was it then? John Cutter, Frisco, Singapore.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Don't make me remember you're thinking of that?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Said two we had with the Sultan's daughter on his
dam board. We wrote it out in my lad.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Sure, by the way, how much money do I loan
you to get out of town? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Byguards, rocky by guards. Come now to set me up
with a nip with it? Sure, just add it to
your bill, he said, that's an idea, bringing around the
bottle of me, Lad, we'd be drinking.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
To our times. Just leave a little of the cash customers.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yeah, never worry me, lad, Never.
Speaker 5 (02:27):
Already one day he'll be marking my account paid for
and plenty of the.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Boat and I won't hold my breath to them, racket.
That's all us.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah? That parts for another, right, just one more to
this time?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Yeah, I got an answer to that, Lad, to fancy Bayon,
as lovely as lady as ever set her dainty feet
on the streets of Cairo.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Who up with it now, Rocky or being Sultan the lady?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All right? Who's Francy not a new girlfriend?
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Aye?
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Aye, sir?
Speaker 5 (03:05):
And there'll never be another with eyes as blows their
legs at Killarney. You never learned till you met all Rocky.
I know what you're thinking, but never again.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
This is the real thing. Tell me, when did a
girl ever committed your life that there wasn't trouble?
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Lad? I won't have you saying that about Rancy. She
ain't like the other.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Sure, okay, okay, you say, maybe blue Eyes is hearing
Carol at the Shadrag Hotel pining her heart out for
me at this very minute.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Oh there's nobody like her me, Lad, you.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Got it bad again.
Speaker 5 (03:39):
I and we'll be settling down if all goes well.
And that's what I'm wanting to talk to you about.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Okay, how much?
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well?
Speaker 5 (03:48):
The fact of the matter is that I will be
needing a little money.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
And I wondered when you get around to it.
Speaker 5 (03:54):
But you don't understand, lad, I'm cutting you in on what, Rocky,
how would you like to own the sewer's canal?
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Great? How about it that the sewer? Sure?
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I put it right alongside the Brooklyn Bridge. You think
I'm lying and no more than usual. But I'm telling
your rock like man, this is a touch and we
both know it.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
It's nothing of that kind.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You only show up once every four or five years,
but every time I end up with less money. Come on,
how much do you want?
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Now?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
That's more like than me? That you'll do one hundred
and fifty pounds?
Speaker 2 (04:30):
This sing it. I don't know why I'm doing this,
but I'll let you have twenty only twenty pounds.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Put the deal that.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
You're lucky. I had a good night.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I tell you day a touch, now, rock I'd call it.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
A wedding present. Then, yeah, well the one of the night.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I'll take it.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
But how you do there's a phone in my office.
I'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
I'll be waiting, Rocky.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
You can later that.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
It was a call asking for a contribution to the
Home for Indigent Goat herders. Oh. I brushed it off
naturally and went back front. The first thing I noticed
was that Gallagher was gone. Second, he'd taken the bottle
from the table with him. That's when I made for
the money bag behind the bar. Oh, it was there,
and so were a few loose piastres, but that was all.
(05:25):
I yanked. The front door opened, but the street was deserted,
not Gallagher. It made a smooth getaway than the super chief.
A little figuring told me that along with the twenty
i'd given him, he'd gotten off with a total of
one hundred and fifty Egyptian pounds, which comes to exactly
six hundred good round American dollars. Well, it's what you
get for helping a guy. I don't like being suckered,
(05:46):
so I didn't tell anybody, just waited around. He didn't
turn up among the other minute and a half people
around Cairo, so I decided he'd let out for places unknown.
I was sure of it. After a couple of weeks
went by, but I still hadn't cool and I got
a call from Captain Sam Sabayah, Jordan.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Is it possible that you know a man named Matt Gallagher?
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Sure. I know I'm Sam, and I'm looking for him.
Speaker 4 (06:11):
Indeed, for what purpose.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'm gonna dig one hundred and fifty pounds out of
his hide that he owes me.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I fear you will have trouble collecting Jordan.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Ah, why come.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
To the morgue and you will see Matt Gallagher is
on his slab.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Well, you can't stay, sorry, a guy in a slab.
I wanted it over with him forgotten, so I caught
the first cab that came along for headquarters. Sam was
waiting for me and let me downstairs to the margue,
where he drove back one of the sheets gunshots.
Speaker 4 (06:45):
As you can see, Jordan.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Wait to find him.
Speaker 6 (06:49):
Sam lying in some out of the way ruins near
the old Babylon Roman Fortress in the old part of
the city.
Speaker 4 (06:55):
He had been dead for several days.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
How do you happen to call me?
Speaker 6 (06:59):
A peck from the cafe? Tambourine was in his pocket.
There was this small chance you might have seen him there.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
I have known Gallagher off and on for a long time.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
When did you see him last?
Speaker 2 (07:10):
A couple of sundays ago at my cafe? He borrowed
a pocket full of money when I wasn't looking.
Speaker 4 (07:15):
And you did not report this to me.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Geordians, it was a personal affair.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Personal affair. Indeed, too often you take matters into your
own hand. But someday you will learn.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
What else was in his pocket.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
Say there was no money, if that is what you mean.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
What about identification?
Speaker 4 (07:32):
This passport and seamen's card. You may see them if
you like.
Speaker 6 (07:35):
Thanks, also a few other personal articles if you get
to look at them.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Oh, I've seen enough.
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Now, Jordan.
Speaker 6 (07:44):
If there is anything more you can tell me about
this man, I think it all said. He's all yours
very well, But Jordan, give it some thought. I intended
this murder be disposed very quickly.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
I could feel Sam's eyes on the back of my
head as I went out. He generally figures I'm holding
something back. This time he was right to begin with.
I'd never seen that man on the slab before. It
wasn't Matt Gallagher at all. Besides, Gallagher was a seaman,
and this was a fair skinned man with soft hands
that had never done a lick of rough work in
his life. I wondered if Sam had noticed that.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
Well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
I had a hunch now that Gallagher was still kicking
around Cairo with my one hundred and fifty pounds, and
I wanted to first crack at him. What he had
to do with the murder and the switching identity was
anybody's guess. Looking in on Matt's girlfriend at the Shadrack
Hotel was one thing I'd avoided up to now, but
this is where I had to see it. It turned
out she was sharing a suite with somebody, so I
(08:47):
got the room number and went on up. The door
was opened by a friendly looking little guy with a
mustache and his gray hair potted in the middle.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Oh, yes, yes, what can I do for you?
Speaker 2 (08:58):
I'd like to see Francie. Name's Jordan.
Speaker 7 (09:02):
Oh of course, of course, please come in.
Speaker 8 (09:05):
Thanks, where's uncle Julia.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
It's mister Jordan. Frency.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Oh so you're Rockey Jordan.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
That's right. Matt Gallagher mentioned my name.
Speaker 8 (09:16):
Yes, boss and pals, he said, big.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Olf, Yeah, Frenzy.
Speaker 7 (09:21):
Perhaps mister Jordan will be able to tell us.
Speaker 8 (09:23):
Give him time, uncle dear, Oh.
Speaker 4 (09:25):
Yeah, of course, of course, my dear.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Well, I am looking for Gallagher. Where is he? I
haven't seen him for weeks.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
What's your guess?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
From what he told me? You want to know everything
about him?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
What did he tell you?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Oh? Something about you and him settling down real cozy.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Fine chats. You'd better show up in a hurry.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
That's all I gotta say. What's he up to, Francy.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
He's up towards girls and Irish whiskey.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
If you ask me what else?
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 7 (09:53):
He's been acting crazy for the last month.
Speaker 8 (09:56):
A whild talk, brother.
Speaker 7 (09:57):
What he wasn't gonna do for me?
Speaker 8 (09:59):
By me and sables and yachts?
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Did he say?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
What?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
With who cares? It wouldn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
What do you want with him?
Speaker 2 (10:07):
One hundred and fifty pounds do and payable?
Speaker 3 (10:10):
Did is still it?
Speaker 8 (10:11):
From you?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
He didn't exactly sign a promisory note. Frency, My dear,
this is just as I told you.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
I expressly do not approve of that man. For you.
Speaker 8 (10:18):
We've been all over that uncle Julius.
Speaker 7 (10:20):
What a girl of your culture and refinement. I cannot
understand what you see in a person like that man.
Speaker 8 (10:25):
Stop trying?
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Where do I look for him? Frenzy, you might take
a swim and the Siewers canaral.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
He says he's gonna buy it.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
M Galli, I told you that too.
Speaker 8 (10:34):
That's what he's telling everybody.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And the more he talks, the crazier he gets.
Speaker 8 (10:39):
All he needs is a little dog to swinger, he says,
And it's big time for us. Can you beat that guy?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Let me know when he shows up with him better'll
be in a hurry or washing out of his time
plenty quick? Okay, thanks?
Speaker 7 (10:52):
I oh, mister Jordan, mister Jordan, Yeah, Julius, about this robbery.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Have you mentioned it.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
To the police?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Not yet? Why? Well, it's for friends, He's sake.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
She's such a sensitive child.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Well, don't worry, Julius. What I've got to settle with
Matt Gallagher is between just him and me. I finally
show uncle Julius from my lapels, got out of the
Shadrack Hotel and back to my tambourine. As I walked
into the cafe, Chris flagged me down from behind the
bar and handed over a package wrapped in old, dirty paper.
Speaker 4 (11:31):
It's for you, Rocky.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
What is it?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
I don't know, Messenger said he was supposed to give
it to you. Personal only got tired waiting.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
And you say he was from yeah, Matt Gallagher, gallat,
he said, well, look, but even wrapped up so good.
I'm interested in what's inside.
Speaker 4 (11:46):
I'll careful it's coming apart.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
No here, help me here with you? Chris, you know
great jumpin' Jahasa fed Rocky?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
The bundle had come upon in my hands, and a
lot of strange looking pieces of paper really scattered all
around me. While Chris was getting together. I picked one
up and had a look like all the rest. It
was all looking and yellow, with everything written in French.
At the top in real fancy lettering, it read campaigne
one of us cell de Canal Maritime de Suez. I
(12:18):
began scrambling through the others, and they were all the
same except for a different serial number. I didn't need
to know much French to realize that these were shares
of stock. Yeh where I stood? I Rocky Jordan now
own part of the Suez Canal.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
You are listening to The Big Ditch, an Adventure with
Rocky Jordan. You'll find mystery to your heart's content on
CBS fine yarns woven by some of radio's top mystery writers.
But you can also vary the fair with music and comedy.
Here's the comedy you won't want to miss Monday Night
on CBS Radio Theater. Mickey Rooney stars in Merton of
(13:10):
the Movies, a satire on the movie making industry. Remember
CBS Radio Theater tomorrow Monday Night at six. Now we
return you to Cairo and Tonight's adventure with Rocky Jordan
(13:31):
the Big Ditch.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
What would you do if somebody sent you a whole
stack of shares in the Suez Canal? Apron the wall
with him? Or ask a few questions? First? Well, my
curiosity got the best of me too, so I wrapped
up the bundle again and headed for the Chiro Securities Exchange.
I didn't expect to find the answer that a murdered
man was found with Matt Gallagher's identification on him. Oh,
(14:03):
why Gallagher had sent the shares to me? That was
something else. I finally got to the right man at
the exchange, gave him my name, open up the bundle
on his desk, and waited form to start a lamp. Yes,
mister Jordan, Oh what about these things?
Speaker 7 (14:18):
Hmmm, that's the company Universal de Siuez, I say, mister Jordan. Eh,
this is most remarkable. You're bringing such valuable securities in
this fashion.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
No, wait a minute, I'll tell me that the real thing.
Speaker 7 (14:31):
Oh, enticking every detail, I've seen many of these. A
man is indeed fortunate to possess sewer's canal shares.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
What are they doing here? A big pardon? I mean,
doesn't the Suez belong to a government France or England.
Speaker 7 (14:43):
Or what commoner of mister Jordan? True, the British crown
owned seven sixteenths of the sewer's canal, thanks of course
to the brilliant statesmanship of Disraeli when he purchased them
from the Kadiv of Egypt. H Oh, yeah, sure, a
great man Israeli, a credit to the empire. Mister Look
getting back to these shares, oh, oh, quite carried away?
Speaker 4 (15:04):
You know.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
Sorry, are you trying to tell me that private individuals
can own shares in the Suez Canal?
Speaker 7 (15:09):
Most assuredly, many people are fortunate to own stock in
the sewerz Oh. The fact that it is thousands of
shares have been lost through the years. The company is
nearing its century mark.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
You know, Oh, how much are they worth?
Speaker 7 (15:22):
They sold originally for two hundred and fifty pounds a share.
They no runner as high as twenty thousand pounds each. Yes,
you have two hundred shares here, it's possible that dividends
have accumulated.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
All in all, these are worth.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
In your currency, approximately are sixteen million dollars.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
May I ask for you?
Speaker 4 (15:43):
Got them?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I bought them FO one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 7 (15:46):
Oh, I say, mister Jordan, you're pulling my leg. I
wouldn't dare now. Of course these must be transferred to
your name.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Oh yeah, sure, but some other time.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
You mean you're taking them with you in this manner? Yeah, expert,
But why I've decided.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
To get my money back. I put the bundle inside
my coat and came out of there with a great
education on the Soez Canal, enough to know that there
was a sweet setup for a neat little racket. Only
it gets too big when a man's murdered and the
stuff's planted on me. Right then I know I had
(16:22):
a fine Gallagher and shut the whole bundle down his throat.
It was already evening, and I moved along the street,
not noticing the beggars or anything else, till a little
native water salesman started getting under my feet.
Speaker 8 (16:33):
If Indy, I have the pure fine water for you,
water like.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Chrystal, right, move along?
Speaker 8 (16:39):
Hem She oh, but it is not a de Nile
of Indy. My water is from the hidden springs of
the desert.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
If one piastre is all alaiatic, what's good now?
Speaker 3 (16:47):
It was some teams thin only for you no water.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Em she mister Jordan, did you learn the name?
Speaker 8 (16:56):
This concerns another matter. The a Frankie would be wise
to listen.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
All right, get it out.
Speaker 8 (17:03):
Mister Jordan. There are certain people with money. They will bargain.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Way what what do they want?
Speaker 8 (17:09):
I cannot tell you who they are, but they are
interested in certain pieces of paper.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
You tell certain people there's certain pieces of paper are
on for sale. Get it all, wife, Indy, Eh, you
know where Matt Gallagher is the name?
Speaker 8 (17:24):
I do not know.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Eh.
Speaker 8 (17:26):
That's helped, But perhaps there is another who can help you.
The Street of many knives, up the hill past the
rug weaver's hut.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I'll need more than that.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
I have the water burried your water like find whistle water.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
I could have followed the water cellar, but already night
was setting in and I had another Errand it took
a lot of asking around and some strange looks, but
I was finally in the street of money knives. Nothing
more than a passageway that winds up through the desolate
native quarner to the east. It's a place of foreigner
doesn't go around even in daylight, much less at night,
and I could guess how it got its name. The
(18:04):
wild dogs were out, but they'd found something else and
didn't bother with me. Just before the street ended at
a hill, I found the rug weaver's hut and the
door just beyond. There was no light, but I knocked.
I thought I heard a quick movement inside, so I
locked again. I tried, the knob was locked. I put
my shoulder against the door, and one shots all I took.
The lock snapped, and I was inside just as a
(18:25):
hooking figure on from the shadows get powerful arms around
me and we went down. My knees came up and
we went on over, and I was on top of
my hand in his face, not in the smell of
Irish whisky.
Speaker 5 (18:34):
Cut it short, mat, Rocky Ladder, I didn't know.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Held you fight, we'll skip.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
That's get some light in here.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
There's a candle on the corner table. But do you
have to light it now?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
Let Why not?
Speaker 3 (18:52):
Rocky boy? Am I glad to see you?
Speaker 5 (18:55):
You won't be mad hardly hand over my money, Rocky, Lad,
go easy on me.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
I've been in for a rough time.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Whither hideout right?
Speaker 3 (19:04):
Admitted to your Rocky.
Speaker 5 (19:06):
I'm scared of what the police A lot exactly, but
I'm in a bit of trouble.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
When i'd run to Francy, she's getting out a CARO.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
Well, I tell you, lad, I'm giving her up. Francis
too good for the likes of me.
Speaker 8 (19:21):
Hah.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
Anyhow, I've learned me less than Rocky. There's been a
bit of strip north of Johannesburg. I'm gone there and
dig for gold.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Come on with me now, I.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Start clearing it up. Matt, What about the guy down
on the morgue in the mall? You know he's dead.
He was carrying your seamen's card in your passport. Sure,
sure I know.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
But you don't think I killed him, Lady, You couldn't
think that I'd value life too much.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Spit it out. Gallagher?
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Who was he?
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Eh, Walter Logan. He used to work for the sewer's
company in Paris.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
You get all those shares from him, right, me?
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Boy? You are but a quick sale. Roder than fifty pounds.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
They'd be worth thousands. Why a price like that?
Speaker 5 (20:04):
Now, Rocky, you know I don't bother wood trifles. Ask
a lot of embarrassing questions.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Go on.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
We had a little rendezvout.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
I bought the shares, I left him and I wasn't
more in the block away and I heard the gunshots.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
I ran back and found him dead.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
See anybody else around, No, Rocky, But.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I knew paperber cures in me. They always made things tough.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
And poor Matt yaiger, come on, come on? Why the switch?
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Well?
Speaker 5 (20:29):
I had to think fast. If they thought I was dead,
they wouldn't be looking for me. So I put my
stuff in his pockets.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And why send the shares to me?
Speaker 3 (20:37):
That was our dear Rocky.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Anyhow, I was sort of hot, and I knew you'd
take care of them.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
Eh, All that over a stack of worthless paper?
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Worthless? What are your main Rocky?
Speaker 2 (20:50):
A lot of Suez shares have been lost. Nobody knows
what happened to them. You say, Logan worked for the
company in Paris. He could have found out the serial
lembers are the missing shares made up? Some to match
the real ones?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Count off it?
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Sure he turns up with a bunch of lost shares.
And if he's lucky, no one's a wiser. Only he
wasn't so lucky. For now than that, I still want
my one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
But Rocky, I give it to you.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
If I hadn't all maybe I heard, maybe I just
fell him. But I knew there was somebody at the
door because I opened it a farefoot night I've tucked away.
I was after him fast, and just as I was
on the world and face. Mister Jordan's all right, what
is it now, pasta. You don't sell water around.
Speaker 8 (21:29):
Here, No, it concerns the other matter of think.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Ready to tell me who sent you?
Speaker 8 (21:34):
I cannot but about these certain pieces of paper. My
master offers you five thousand pounds. All oh, but mister Jordan,
he's prepared to go higher it possibly six or seven
thousand pounds.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I'll go the other way. The other way, Yeah, tell
your master he can have the pieces of paper for
one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 8 (21:56):
You will give them to me.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Not in your life for the liverman person. Well, I
meet you master at.
Speaker 8 (22:01):
The ruins of the Minya Tower in Old Cairo. There
you will not be disturbed.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'll be there at eleven o'clock a little water seller
vanished in thin air, and I was back, dragging Gallagher
into the street and down the hill. I figured as
long as he started this thing for me, he could
be in at the finish. He complained like a dyspeptic
camel all the way, but I finally got him with
(22:27):
me to the tambourine, and there I put in a
quick call to sap Buy.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
What have you tried to say to me?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Geordan?
Speaker 2 (22:34):
I told you the guy you're having the morgue isn't
Matt Gallagher, but you saw him yourself.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
Why did you not tell me?
Speaker 2 (22:39):
You didn't ask me, Sir, I.
Speaker 4 (22:41):
Didn't of all the incredible then who is this man?
Speaker 2 (22:46):
His name's water Logan Jordan.
Speaker 4 (22:47):
Listened to me. You have completely upset my investigation. You
have come dangerously, Sam.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Do you want to find Gallagher or not? I do,
and put on your snow shoes and mush on out
to the Menya Tower and Old Cairo.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
Jordan. You will first explain this to me.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
See you there, Sam Gallagher heard every word of the conversation,
and he was crying real tears as I tucked the
pieces of paper under my arm and shoved him into
a taxi out front. Between him and the lazy taxi driver,
I had myself a time as we rolled south into
Old Cairo. Finally we drove through what, once centuries ago
(23:22):
is the gate to the Roman fortress called Babylon. A
little farther on that Cabby pulled up and he wouldn't
go an inch farther for all the fish in the nile,
So we walked it from there. In another quarter hour
we were nearing the crumbling Minia Tower, surrounded by ruins.
Just a few minutes before eleven. The full moon was out,
now almost white against the ancient sandstone walls. It was
(23:44):
quite a sight, but Gallagher was impressed.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Rocky, Rocky, I don't like it at all.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
We're early. Is nobody here?
Speaker 3 (23:55):
It's right there that Walter Logan was killed, don't you see, Yah?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Somebody might repeat themselves.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
Look, Rocky, this.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
Is not for me.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Let's get out of here. I'm sorry for getting you
into this landing. I'll make it up if it takes
the rest of my.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Life might not be long enough, man, No, Rocky, me boy,
that's exactly We'll wait here. Matt dug for a dark
corner and We waited not more than three or four minutes,
and we heard footsteps along the pass its way from
the way we'd come. Whoever it was, kept to the
shadows on the far side. The steps were confident, with
(24:29):
no trace of hesitation. It passed. Then the figure stepped
out under the moonlight beneath the tower. Franci, Matt, what
are you doing here? It came with me. Franci kind
of gets in on the deal. All right, let's get
it over with.
Speaker 3 (24:47):
I don't understand it. I don't understand it at all.
Speaker 8 (24:51):
When did that muddle head of yours ever understand anything?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
But all this time?
Speaker 8 (24:54):
You playing you for.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
A sucker, Francy darned.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
Oh no, no, no play it.
Speaker 8 (25:00):
He's a smart one.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Later, your little water boy mentioned an offer for certain
pieces of paper.
Speaker 8 (25:07):
Five thousand pounds.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
Why did you make it?
Speaker 8 (25:09):
One hundred and fifty?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I'm satisfied.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Do you have them?
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah? All right, give them to me. Oh, let's keep it, honest,
blue eyes.
Speaker 5 (25:18):
Here's your money, now'll hand them over all yours.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Oh, we'll get a few things straight.
Speaker 5 (25:25):
Skip it, Rocky, Come on, o Julius, Yes, I'll take
over an offer and see joyous it's our glorious.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
I've been walk careful man. That gun in his hand,
he use it.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
You're quite right, mister Jordan.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
I'm jetting it now.
Speaker 5 (25:40):
I should have known why you didn't like me, Uncle
Julius al Ris com.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Between Francy and what's bothering you? Julius, Matt and I
know too much. You've still got a lot of phony
shares to sell.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You could quite.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Well interfere with our plans.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
I'm gonna kill you, just like you did Wald and Logan. Yes,
he fixed up with his stuff. Why drop it?
Speaker 7 (25:59):
It was a little man. Oh methods frightened him. He
began trying to dump the shares at quick prices. It
was no telling what he would do next.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I had to kill that leaves just you and Francy.
Great team.
Speaker 7 (26:11):
I give her full credit to Shee who messed he
minded all playing.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
It ain't true, It ain't truths hard I'll not have
you said that about Frances, You stupid ducts.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
You'll faster its. You never liked me, and I don't
like you either.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
You Matt, keep back, he'll be poisoner a mind against
me no more. You full stop, You're nobody can stop
Matt Ganni.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Matt stopped two slugs head on and kept walking in
and his big narl hands are on the man's neck
and drying. Julius had no more chance than I tell you,
old kitty. All at once, it was a snap, and
he dropped like a wet bar rack. Matt stood over
him for a full second, and then he piled on
top of France. He was suddenly wild and running, and
(27:01):
I didn't follow because just then I saw Sam Sapaia
and a couple of his men coming up to meet her.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
Hell.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
There was a lot of talk and explaining for a while.
Then Uncle Julius was wheeled off to the morgue, Matt
Gallagher to the hospital, and Francie off to a cell.
Sam kept the package. About an hour later, he and
I were resting at the table in my cafe Tambourine.
Speaker 4 (27:30):
Jordan, and you you make very good coffee.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Sounds that wasting.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
You should confine your activities to just such things.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Is this? Oh? I'm willing, But when a poor sucker
like Gallagher comes around, what are you gonna do?
Speaker 4 (27:45):
It is possible there will not be another time.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Ah takes more in a couple of slugs to knock
out a guy like him what Francie did to him
or heard him worse?
Speaker 6 (27:55):
Perhaps by the way, Jordan, I'm wondering now what I
should do about you.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Me what for?
Speaker 6 (28:05):
You are guilty of selling Count of its shares for
one hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
I it's a part time you looked in that package, Sam,
what do you mean My deal with Francie was for
certain pieces of paper. That's just what she got, all
torn out of the Cairo Gazette.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
It's CBS at the same time next week for another
story of adventure and intrigue when we take you Back
to Cairo and the Cafe Tambourine, run by Rocky Jordan
(29:00):
m Rocky Jordan, written by Larry Roman and Gohmer Cool,
stars Jack Moyles in the title role, and is produced
and directed by Cliff Powell, with original music by Richard
aroand Larry for speaking. This is CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting
System
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.