DOC SAVAGE
                             Program Number Four
                           "The Sniper in the Sky"
                     (Adapted From DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE)

                                    CAST

DOC SAVAGE............Deep, cultured voice.
CARLSON...............Gruff, uncultured voice.
SNIPER................Nasal, tough guy voice.
MAN'S VOICE...........Disguised voice. Hollow, as if speaking through a tube.

BIZ:

1--Thunderstorm phonographic transcript to run throughout.
2--Footsteps on metal.
3--Explosion.
4--Gong.
5--Footsteps on wood.
6--Click of light switch.
7--Door slam.
8--Blows, grunts.

Playing Time: 14 minutes.
Script by: Lester Dent (Kenneth Robeson)

EFFECT:    (THUNDERSTORM, THEN BIRD WHISTLE TRILLING, WHICH FADES BEHIND
           ANNOUNCEMENT)
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, tonight the makers of Cystex present, for the
           first time on any wave length, one of a series of dramas featuring
           Doc Savage, the man of bronze. Doc Savage is a man who has been
           trained scientifically from childhood for probably the most unusual
           career a man ever followed. This life work of Doc Savage is to right
           wrongs and help those who are in trouble, traveling to the ends of
           the earth, if necessary, to do so. Doc Savage, whose development from
           childhood has been in the hands of the world's greatest scientists,
           is an amazing combination of scientific genius and physical daring.
           Doc has five assistants, each a learned scientist, a man with a world
           wide reputation, yet none of them being quite the equal of Doc Savage
           himself. We hope you will like Doc Savage, the man of bronze, as well
           as thousands of users have liked Cystex....
           Now, it is a black, stormy night in New York City, as tonight's drama
           opens, and two enemies of Doc Savage are climbing among the girders
           of an uncompleted skyscraper. They are eighty dizzy stories above the
           street.
BIZ:       (THUNDERSTORM, AND HOLD UNTIL CUE TO CUT) (SOUND OF FOOTSTEPS ON
           METAL)
VOICE:     (SHARPLY) Who's that?
SNIPER:    (PAUSE) It's me... Sniper. Who are you?
VOICE:     You don't need to know my name. I am the man who telephoned you.
SNIPER:    Yeah, I guess you are. Your voice sounds familiar.
VOICE:     IÕve been waiting for you. Come on over here... And be careful! The
           rain has made those girders as slick as glass.
SNIPER:    DonÕtcha worry about me, guy. Think I wanta fall eighty stories 
           though this mess of steel work?...Hey...you...you're wearin' a mask!
VOICE:     Not a mask, my friend... Just a handkerchief over the lower part of
           my face.
SNIPER:    How do I know you're the guy that called me?
VOICE:     You certainly wouldn't know it by looking at my face. We never met
           before.
SNIPER:    Who put you in touch with me?
VOICE:     An old friend of yours: Baron Charles Kingsley.
SNIPER:    Baron Kingsley, the big shot of the international spy business, eh?
           The lad who does the work these diplomat birds are afraid to monkey
           with, the fair-haired boy who got away with the plans for that
           fighting plane the English thought was such a big secret. Yeah... I
           know 'im.
VOICE:     You are satisfied I am all right.
SNIPER:    WhatÕs yer name, fella?
VOICE:     Never mind that. You take my money, keep your mouth shut and do what
           you are told. Or you can climb down out of these girders and I'll get
           somebody else for the job.
SNIPER:    Aw, keep yer shirt on. I'll do the job.
VOICE:     Have you got a rifle?
SNIPER:    Yeah. Brought it along in this trombone case. She's a swell gun...
           telescope sight, an' everything.
VOICE:     Look through the rain. See that lighted window?
SNIPER:    Yeah. It stands out plain in the dark.
VOICE:     Watch that window. When you see Doc Savage in front of it, shoot him.
SNIPER:    (SHOCKED) Shoot who did you say?
VOICE:     Doc Savage, the man of bronze. Maybe you've seen his pictures in the
           papers.
SNIPER:    Nix on this job, guy! Count me out!
VOICE:     Cold feet, eh?
SNIPER:    You bet they're cold. I don't want no part of this guy Doc Savage.
           Say, I've heard plenty about that bird. I'd sooner shoot at a case of
           dynamite, with me standin' on it!
VOICE:     Baron Kingsley told me you had some nerve.
SNIPER:    I got some brains, too... Brains enough to leave that Doc Savage
           alone. Say, that big bronze guy has been trained all his life to
           handle trouble. Combine a string of birds like Sherlock Holmes,
           Tarzan of the Apes and this feller Einstein, and you've got some idea
           of what this Doc Savage is like. Nix, brother, nix. I pick up my
           marbles and go home.
VOICE:     Twenty thousand dollars.
SNIPER:    (AMAZED) What?
VOICE:     You heard me. Twenty thousand dollars.
SNIPER:    You mean... twenty grand... for shootin' Doc Savage.
VOICE:     Take it or leave it.
SNIPER:    (LOW VOICE) Twenty gees... could do a lot on that... go to Havana and
           see the ponies run... Twenty thousand dollars... (LOUDER VOICE) All
           right, brother... it's a sale.
VOICE:     Stick your feet over here.
SNIPER:    What's the idea?
VOICE:     I am going to rub a mixture of tar and sand on your shoe soles,
           Sniper. Sand and tar will keep you from slipping when you make your
           get-away after shooting Doc Savage.
SNIPER:    Say, that ain't a bad idea.
VOICE:     All right...the stuff is on your shoes. I'm going to leave, now.
SNIPER:    Say, why do you want this Doc Savage rubbed out?
VOICE:     Never mind that.
SNIPER:    Is Baron Kingsley mixed up in it?
VOICE:     Your nose is getting too long, my friend.
SNIPER:    Okay, okay.
VOICE:     Get this, now... Nail Doc Savage with your first bullet.
SNIPER:    You're tellin' me! So long, Santa Claus.
BIZ:       (FOOTSTEPS ON METAL FADE BEHIND STORM CLOUD)
EFFECT:    (GONG)
BIZ:       (SOUND OF THUNDERSTORM MORE SUBDUED, AS IF HEARD WITHIN A ROOM)
           (KNOCK ON DOOR)
CARLSON:   Good evening, Mr. Savage. 'Tis a raw, rainy night outside.
DOC:       Come in, Captain Carlson. A little rain should not bother an old sea
           captain... Here, put your raincoat on top of the office safe.
CARSON:    You know, every time I see you, Doc Savage, you look bigger,
           stronger. What a lad you must be in a fight.
DOC:       You might call me a scientific product, Captain Carlson.
CARLSON:   Whatcha mean, matey?
DOC:       You see, early in childhood, I was turned over to a group of
           scientists and physical culture specialists to train.
CARLSON:   Your dad done that, I reckon, so you'd be fitted proper for your
           business of goin' all over the world, a'helpin' folks out of trouble,
           and sorta handin' out justice to them that's got it comin' to 'em.
DOC:       Exactly.
CARLSON:   Well, Doc Savage, you're sure aÕhelpin' me.
DOC:       We should be able to take the whole responsibility off your hands
           tonight, Captain Carlson. A representative of the United States
           government will reach this office within an hour.
CARLSON:   I'll be glad when he drops anchor in this office.
DOC:       Before he arrives, Captain Carlson, let us go over your story again.
           There's a point or two that we might clear up.
CARLSON:   What points?
DOC:       Go ahead with the story. I'll ask questions.
CARLSON:   Well, matey, the steamer was named the Northern Star. She sailed from
           New York back in 1918, about six weeks before the Armistice was
           signed. Her cargo was poison gas. She was full to the hatches with
           the stuff.
DOC:       Exactly what types of poison gas?
CARLSON:   Mustard gas and chlorine and phosgene, mostly.
DOC:       I believe you said it was the first, or one of the first, shipments
           of poison gas manufactured in the United States for use in the War.
CARLSON:   That's it, matey. Well, the Northern Star had clear sailin' on calm
           seas most of the way across the Atlantic. Then, one day off the Irish
           coast, an enemy submarine sighted us. We put on full steam and ran
           for it, with the bloomin' submarine right on our stern.
DOC:       The vessels were evenly matched in speed?
CARLSON:   Just about, except that maybe the sub was overhaulin' us at the rate
           of about a knot a day. I was one of the crew of the Northern Star.
           Believe me, matey, we done some tall worryin'. The U-boat would shoot
           at us every once in a while, and every time that happened, we thought
           of all that poison gas below hatches.
DOC:       We'll skip that. The submarine eventually caught the Northern Star, I
           think you said.
CARLSON:   Yep. The skipper of the steamer ran us in toward a little,
           uninhabited island off the northern coast of Ireland. And just as we
           got about half a mile off the shore... blooie! The submarine, she let
           us have it. The shell struck right at the water line.
DOC:       And the Northern Star sank?
CARLSON:   Yep. In shallow water. I was the only one who got off alive. You see,
           that shell broke open some poison gas containers.
DOC:       The Northern Star still lies there, in shallow water, with her cargo
           of poison gas.
CARLSON:   I guess she does. There ain't no record of her ever havin' been
           found. 
DOC:       Now, Captain Carlson, your story is that the submarine picked you up,
           and you were placed in an enemy prison camp. You were in prison
           continuously until a few weeks ago.
CARLSON:   That is right, matey.
DOC:       But wartime prisoners were released after the Armistice.
CARLSON:   They didn't release me.
DOC:       Is it not true, Captain Carlson, that you were released from military
           prison, but were caught and convicted of shooting a man in the enemy
           country, and have been in a civil prison for that crime until a few
           weeks ago?
CARLSON:   You checked up on me, eh?
DOC:       Why didn't you tell about that?
CARLSON:   Well(PAUSE). I ain't exactly proud of it. I didn't intend to kill the
           fellow... Hit him with my fist... It was kind of an... accident.
DOC:       All right. Let's finish your story. You came to the United States
           after your release from prison, and you told a man named Baron
           Kingsley about the Northern Star and her cargo of gas.
CARLSON:   That's it.
DOC:       Baron Kingsley is a notorious dealer in international secrets, and an
           arms smuggler as well.
CARLSON:   I didn't know that at the time I told him about the gas. I got quite
           a surprise when he offered me money for the location of the ship. I
           sure did, matey.
DOC:       He probably has markets for that poison gas. It is rumored some of
           those European countries are stocking up heavily with such stuff, and
           not too careful about where they get it.
CARLSON:   Well, when I turned 'im down, he kind of began to blow a gale.
           Threatened to kill me, he did, if I didn't open my hatch an' tell him
           where the Northern Star lays.
DOC:       So you came to me.
CARLSON:   Yep. I heard that Doc Savage was the lad to go to when you got into a
           jam. I told you the whole yarn.
DOC:       You even told me the location of the Northern Star.
CARLSON:   Guess you remember it, don't you? I've heard you've got quite a
           memory.
DOC:       I remember it. When the United States government man gets here, I am
           going to give him the latitude and longitude figures.
CARLSON:   What'll the government do, matey?
DOC:       Send a destroyer to the wreck and destroy the gas, it is likely. The
           deadly stuff will certainly not be allowed into the hands of some
           country which will use it.
CARLSON:   Good riddance, Mr. Savage. Br-r-r! Reckon I'll put my raincoat on.
           Kinda chilly in here.
DOC:       The window is up a crack. I'll lower it.
BIZ:       (FOOTSTEPS)
DOC:       (AWAY FROM MIKE) It is still raining
BIZ:       (EXPLOSION)
DOC:       Down! Down! Get on the floor!
CARLSON:   That was a bullet!
BIZ:       (EXPLOSION)
CARLSON:   Another one! Savage, you hit?
DOC:       No. That window is supposed to be bulletproof.
CARLSON:   But it broke, matey.
DOC:       I know. Those bullets are from a high-power rifle. The glass merely
           deflected the first one slightly.
BIZ:       (EXPLOSION)
DOC:       Keep flat on the floor. Those are explosive bullets. They'd blow a
           man to pieces. I'll turn off the lights
BIZ:       (CLICK OF LIGHT SWITCH)
DOC:       That's better... Now I'll try to spot the flash of his gun from the
           window.
BIZ:       (EXPLOSION)
DOC:       There's the flash! It's in the steel-work of that partly completed
           skyscraper. Come on! We're going after him.
BIZ:       (FOOTSTEPS) (DOOR SLAM) (FOOTSTEPS)
DOC:       Elevator! Elevator... All right, here's a cage... Down boy, fast.
BIZ:       (STORM LOUDER) (FOOTSTEPS AND HOLD UNTIL CUE TO CUT)
DOC:       There's the building, ahead.
CARLSON:   (AWAY FROM MIKE, YELLS) Pull in a little sail, matey. Yer leavin' me
           behind.
DOC:       Here we are. Only the steel-work is up, and they've got a board fence
           around it... There must be an entrance somewhere.
CARLSON:   Man, you can run like a scared seagull flies, Mr. Savage.
SNIPER:    (GROANS) OhÑh-h-h!
CARLSON:   Hey! What was that?
DOC:       Sounded like a groan. Let's see. . . (AWAY FROM MIKE)... it seemed to
           be over this way.
CARLSON:   My bloomin' matches is soaked. Say, it's darker'n the hold of a coal
           schooner.
DOC:       Here he is!
CARLSON:   Let's see.
BIZ:       (RAPID FOOTSTEPS)
CARLSON:   Whew! He must have fallen off the top.
DOC:       Slipped on the girders, no doubt.
CARLSON:   Is he... in Davy Jones' locker?
DOC:       Yes. That groan was his last.
CARLSON:   Dead, eh? Say... I see you got a flashlight.
DOC:       Yes... we'll examine him. Hm-m-m...
CARLSON:   What is it?
DOC:       A high-powered rifle, loaded with explosive bullets.
CARLSON:   Then he's the pirate that shot at you!
DOC:       Something else, too... Here, take a look.
CARLSON:   Some stuff smeared on his shoe soles.
DOC:       Grease.
CARLSON:   What?
DOC:       Ordinary axle grease.
CARLSON:   Reckon he could've been double-crossed, Mr. Savage?
DOC:       What, Captain Carlson?
CARLSON:   Maybe somebody hired him to shoot at you, and smeared the grease on
           his shoes, tellin' him it was somethin' to keep him from slippin' on
           them wet steel girders. They mighta wanted him to fall them eighty
           floors after he shot at you.
DOC:       ItÕs a thought.
CARLSON:   But why'd they wanta shoot you?
DOC:       Very simply explained. I knew the location of the steamer Northern
           Star and her cargo of poison gas, and would have turned the
           information over to the government men. That would ruin anyone's
           chances of salvaging the poison gas and selling it to some foreign
           country which is arming secretly. Therefore... they wanted to
           eliminate me.
CARLSON:   I wonder, matey, who put grease on that fellow's shoes so he'd fall
           to his death, besides hirin' him to shoot at you?
DOC:       I already know who it was, Captain Carlson.
CARLSON:   What?
DOC:       Our friend... the villain in the piece... gave himself away.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, within one minute Doc Savage will place his
           hand on the man who attempted to shoot him. Did you catch the clue
           which told Doc Savage who the mastermind was? The clue was touched
           upon three times in the action of this play. You got it? No? Well,
           switch off your radio for fifteen seconds, while we tell you about
           Cystex, then turn it on again and see if your powers of observation
           are developed as much as they should be. Now, about Cystex, spelled
           C-Y-S-T-E-X. Cystex is prescribed by physicians and druggists
           everywhere as a valuable remedy for the most stubborn cases of kidney
           and bladder disorders. Cystex starts its efficient work in a few
           minutes after taking. Cystex is simply an aid to the kidneys in their
           work of cleansing the body of acids and poisonous waste matter.
           Cystex contains no harmful narcotics, dopes or habit-forming drugs.
           And Cystex is on sale at all good drug stores.
           Now... Doc Savage is going to seize the man who tried to hire him
           killed.
CARLSON:   But who is the villain... in the piece?
DOC:       Captain Carlson, you did not see the flash of that fellow's rifle
           when he was shooting, did you? I know you did not. You were not
           standing in a position in my office where you could have seen it.
CARLSON:   You're right. I didn't see it.
DOC:       Then how did you know from what floor the rifleman was shooting?
CARLSON:   I didn't know.
DOC:       But you let it slip three times in your conversation. The eightieth
           floor!
CARLSON:   (FLABBERGASTED) Uh, uh--
DOC:       (INTERRUPTS) Did Baron Kingsley offer you so much money for the
           location of the steamer Northern Star and her cargo of poison gas
           that you could not resist the temptation?
CARLSON:   You're crazy!
DOC:       The shots were fired from the eightieth floor. You did not see the
           flashes, and you had no way of knowing where they came from, unless
           you yourself had planted that sniper on the eightieth floor.
CARLSON:   Why, you...
BIZ:       (BLOWS) (GRUNTS) (STRUGGLE)
CARLSON:   (GROANS) Oh-h-h! You're breaking my arms.
DOC:       They are in no danger of breaking if you stand still.
CARLSON:   Leggo me... (YELLS) Ow-w-w-w! Don't... don't use those bronze hands
           on me again.
DOC:       Then stand still.
CARLSON:   What are you gonna do with me?
BIZ:       (SOUND OF DISTANT POLICE WHISTLE)
DOC:       You seem to have settled that matter yourself. That last yell of
           yours has aroused a policeman.
EFFECT:    (GONG)
ANNOUNCER: So, when Captain Carlson let slip that the sniper had fallen from the
           eightieth floor, he gave himself away. Did you catch it? If you did,
           believe it or not, you have powers of observation developed beyond
           those of the ordinary individual. Doc Savage is a man trained in many
           branches of science, and not often does his mere power of observation
           solve a problem. Tune in next week at this same time and hear the man
           of bronze employ some of his fabulous fund of scientific learning.
           These copyrighted episodes from the life of Doc Savage are presented
           to you by Cystex with the permission of Doc Savage Magazine.