Reap the Wild Wind Page #10

Miss Claiborne had every

reason not to believe me.

JUDGE:
This is incredible.

Have you any questions, Mr. Tolliver?

STEVE:
None. KING: I certainly have.

So, Miss Claiborne, you

disabled this vessel?

Virtually knocked her apart

with your own little hands...

while a full crew of able seamen

stood around sucking their teeth.

No, gentlemen.

What you have heard is a girl

caught hopelessly between two men...

who have fought over her

as dogs fight over a bone.

STEVE:
I object to

this... JUDGE:
Sustained.

Didn't you play these men

one against the other...

encouraging each in turn?

Isn't that why they're both

hopelessly entangled in this disaster?

I won't answer that.

Isn't that why you're now trying

to undo what you've done...

by taking some part of Stephen

Tolliver's guilt to yourself?

Judge Marvin, we're not here to crucify

this woman who's not even on trial.

No, we're here to learn the

facts, and they're deadly plain.

Now we can understand this

vicious persecution of a man...

whose only crime is that he stands

between Tolliver and that girl.

Your Honour, when this case is over...

the court may bring me to trial on

Mr. Cutler's charges if it so desires.

But the government's case

against Jack Stuart is not over.

For years we've tried to find one witness

who wouid turn against this pirate ring.

That witness has been found.

I ask the court's leave to call a man who,

to save his own neck from the halter...

has made full confession.

Matthias Widgeon.

[Crowd exclaims]

Granted. Step down, Miss Claiborne.

- Did Widgeon talk?

- Yes.

He talked.

Call Matthias Widgeon,

mate of the Southern Cross.

BAILIFF:
Call Matthias

Widgeon. JAILER:
Widgeon!

Come on...

MAN:
Sheriff! Widgeon is dead!

Sheriff, Widgeon is dead!

JUDGE:
Doctor, in your opinion...

- how long has Widgeon been dead?

- Less than half an hour, Your Honour.

MAN:
[Whispering] Maybe good riddance.

Your Honour, this case must be

recessed for full investigation.

I can hardly recess in lieu of

a witness who can never appear.

- But if federal council wishes

to withdraw... - Withdraw?

But, Your Honour, America's

very life depends upon the sea.

This case goes far beyond

the fate of one man...

who betrayed his own command.

We must know whether any group of men

can endanger the safety of our seas...

by preying upon American commerce.

The government's witness

has been murdered...

but we elect to proceed.

KING:
Just a minute.

I agree that he was murdered,

silenced for what he knew.

I charge that Widgeon drove that ship on

the reef in direct conspiracy with you.

- You're off your course, Cutler.

- I told you he was a bad Yankee.

You can sustain that, too,

Will, if you've a mind to.

Certainly this poor, honest

seaman had no knowledge of it.

Why did he order his stokers

driven under the whip?

- That has not been shown.

- I'll show it now.

Call Salt Meat.

STEVE:
Your name is Salt

Meat? SALT MEAT:
Aye, aye, sir.

And you're a Barbados freeman

who served as stoker...

- aboard the Southern Cross?

- Aye, aye, sir.

You know Capt. Stuart's

voice, don't you?

I reckon I do.

- Didn't you hear him order full speed?

- Why...

KING:
Objection. JUDGE: Sustained.

You were in the stokehold at the

time of the wreck, were you not?

No, sir. I was in the orlop.

STEVE:
You were in the orlop?

Yes, sir. That's where I was...

when the steamer, she

smashed against that reef...

and I heard that dying scream.

You heard what?

When the reef tore out

the heart of that ship...

she screamed like a woman.

STEVE:
You mean you heard

tearing timbers, escaping steam.

Twenty years I know the sea...

like I knows day from dark.

But I never heard no sound like

that, except when a woman die.

STEVE:
Was there a woman

aboard? SALT MEAT: No, sir.

I think she go ashore before we sail.

- Who?

- The lady what talked to the Captain.

STEVE:
A lady?

STEVE:
You know who she

was? SALT MEAT:
No, sir.

STEVE:
What did she look like?

I don't rightly recomember

how she was dressed...

but she was wrapped in

a mighty pretty shawl.

- What kind of a shawl?

- What colour?

What kind of a shawl?

I don't know, but it was mighty pretty.

Kind of red and yellow.

Your Honour, I request permission

to interrupt this testimony...

- and recall Jack Stuart to the stand.

- Granted.

- That's all, Salt Meat.

- Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

Your Honour, this ghost story

has no bearing on the case.

No woman was rescued from that ship.

If one was aboard, murder must be

added to the charge of wrecking.

- Did the Southern Cross carry passengers?

- No.

But a woman came aboard

just before you cast off.

- What of it? She didn't sail.

- You sure of that?

Who saw her leave? Did you?

I ordered her ashore.

- She might've stowed away.

- She wouldn't have stowed away.

STEVE:
Then you knew her!

Yes. I knew her.

Jack. Was it Drusilla?

Yes. It was Drusilla.

STEVE:
Drusilla Alston? JACK: Yes.

Who screamed?

- Who screamed?

- Keep your head, Dan.

KING:
Dan, keep out of this!

If that scream was Drusilla,

I'll tear the throat out of you.

- She wasn't onboard.

- You're lying. You didn't see her leave.

KING:
Dan, shut up!

JUDGE:
Order in this court!

I call Dan Cutler to the stand.

I object to the questioning of a man

who's out of his mind with grief and fear.

JUDGE:
Overruled.

JUDGE:
Dan Cutler, take the stand.

- You loved Drusilla Alston, didn't you?

- Yes.

- She loved you?

- Yes.

And you were going to be married?

Yes.

She promised to come back to

you soon from Havana. Didn't she?

- Yes.

- On what ship?

The first one she could get.

And that happened to

be the Southern Cross.

I knew Drusilla, Dan. A

sweet and lovely young girl.

She begged you 100 times to

give up the rotten business...

you and your brother are in.

KING:
Objection. JUDGE: Sustained.

We heard the Faicon's

call through the fog.

Your boat, Dan...

waiting like a bird of prey

for the Southern Cross...

which you knew would strike. Didn't you?

Don't answer that.

But you did not know that your

sweetheart was aboard that doomed ship.

STEVE:
Did you? KING: Don't answer.

The Lord moves in a mysterious way, Dan.

You didn't hear that scream, but it'll

ring in your brain through all eternity.

- I don't believe she's down there.

- We don't know, Dan.

But some woman is down there...

under 10 fathoms of green water...

all alone in a dead ship...

where the shark and the giant

squid swim through the dark shadows.

It wasn't the ship that

screamed, Dan. It was a woman.

Maybe Drusilla.

- And you know the men who...

- Don't answer.

Your Honour, this...

STEVE:
They'd like to silence

you the way they silenced Widgeon.

It isn't me they're

afraid of, Dan. It's you...

because you know who is guilty.

If Drusilla's under that sea...

I'll send the men who put

her there straight to hell.

Even your own brother?

Even my own brother.

All day we've heard the prosecution

present a mass of lying insinuations...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes