The High and the Mighty Page #6

and send me on my way.

Mr Agnew, I don't know what's

eating you, and frankly, I don't care.

Why don't you go back

wherever you came from and sit down.

- Now, honey.

- This man's a nuisance.

I've no doubt I'm a nuisance.

I must have been

an even greater nuisance

when you and my wife were scheming

to avoid me in Honolulu,

- so you could be alone.

- You're right out of your head.

I took your wife to lunch twice

because she was a very nice girl.

And a long time ago

she happened to work for me.

The worst crime she is guilty of

is shaking my hand.

Now stop insulting her

and making a fool of yourself. Beat it.

I knew you'd have

some fancy explanation.

But I'm not such a fool

as you and my wife think I am.

I'm going to let you wonder

what I'm going to do.

Wonder and think and think,

as I've been doing.

I've heard about you for years

and I'm sick of the sound of your name.

You're quite a conqueror

with the ladies, aren't you?

That should interest you, madam.

- I've had enough of this.

- What's the matter with you guys?

- Hey, what's this all about?

- Easy, break it up.

He's crazy, he's got a gun.

We're on fire!

- Pull the bottle on it.

- Hobie, pull the bottle quick!

- Get on the radio. Tell San Francisco.

- San Francisco 420.

The prop! The whole prop is gone.

Yes, and you may lose your engine, too.

- She's off her mountings.

- Pull the other bottle, Dan.

- I'm starting for the water.

- San Francisco 420.

Thank you, sweet Lord.

I don't think she's gonna burn any more.

I can't raise San Francisco. Static.

- Try the secondary frequency.

- I've tried both.

Use emergency.

Give them a mayday call.

- Are we going into the water?

- No.

She flies lousy

with that engine hanging down,

but I think we can stay in the air.

- How long to the coast?

- Six hours, about.

But at regular cruising speed. I've not

figured it out for this sort of thing.

Figure it!

...mayday 420.

Mayday 420, anybody.

I got somebody. A ship.

This is the Cristobal Trader calling 420.

I can hear you very clearly.

You passed right over me

about 20 minutes ago.

Do you want me to relay

all your messages? Over.

Roger. Advise San Francisco

we've lost Number 1 propeller.

Fire started but is now out.

We are now at 5,000, but sinking.

Request they clear

all altitudes below us. Over.

Will do. Stand by.

This is Cristobal Trader

calling San Francisco.

Clear sea rescue from Oakland Control.

Right.

Warm up the ready plane. Intercept.

San Francisco wants to know

if you are going to ditch. Over.

Negative for now.

What's the state of the sea

about you, just in case. Over.

Heavy northwest swells.

We are rolling about 30 degrees.

It's very rough.

Keep that ship in the air if you can, boy.

It's wet down here. Over.

Thank you, Cristobal Trader. We'll try.

Attaboy, papa.

Some of these days, I'm gonna

get smart and go back to buttons.

- What's the poop?

- Eastbound lost a prop.

Had a fire but that's out.

Looks like he's headed for the drink.

- How far out is he?

-1,000 miles maybe.

My aching eyes!

This might well be my last show

and not a laugh in it.

I shouldn't have screamed,

but I was so scared.

My own heart is just returning

from the ceiling.

Troubles? Wait till I tell

the Good Neighbours about this.

I was almost asleep when someone

pulled the champagne cork.

This could become interesting.

Things were pretty interesting

before this happened.

Two apes were trying to kill each other.

Why don't you be a good boy

and go back and sit down.

I'm sure everything will be all right.

They'll come back from the flight deck

and explain in a minute.

I'm just gonna keep this for you

till we make San Francisco.

You can get in plenty trouble

with them things.

I'll get coffee for everyone.

Did you know space guns don't kill you?

No.

They just make you stiff.

You know, the funny part of all this,

is that for the first time

in my whole life, I'm innocent.

What I told him was the truth,

so help me.

This is gonna cost the taxpayers

a lot of money.

What would you have them do?

Swim home?

No Alameda, this is the Coast Guard

Rescue Coordination Centre.

- New position, Skipper!

- Name it!

To the coast, 5 hours, 47 minutes,

if we can hold this air speed.

- How's our fuel?

- Enough. Just.

We'll only need about 1,150 gallons,

we've 1,300 according to my graph.

- It's pinching things close...

- You can throw your graph away.

- Because we haven't got 1,300 gallons.

- How do you figure that?

The Number 1 tank. It read 200 gallons

when we lost our prop.

My guess is that when the prop left us,

it kicked holes in the wing.

Ruptured the tank.

We just can't make it this way.

I'll figure it up again, but the winds,

- maybe they'll change some.

- We're going into the drink.

It's just a question of when and where.

We've got plenty of time. Let's not rush

off into the heat of the day about this.

Let's hold on a while

and see what the wind does.

- We'll be closer to the coast.

- Water will be colder there.

And probably rougher, but I still think we

should stretch it out as long as we can.

I'll go along with you on that.

It'll give us more time

to get squared away.

I want you up here with me

when we really start down.

Meantime get everything

you can overboard.

Thousand pounds or so

will make a difference in our speed.

You want me to tell them

they're going into the drink?

Use your own judgement.

I guess I don't have to tell you people

that we've had a little trouble.

Maybe if I explain

exactly what has happened,

you'll feel better all around.

I'm not gonna minimise it,

nor will I make it any tougher

than it really is.

We've lost our Number 1 propeller.

This is just one of those things

that never happens but does

once in a billion flying miles.

We've extinguished the fire

with the carbon dioxide,

so there's no further danger from that.

But our speed has been considerably

slowed down

because the Number 1 motor

is partially twisted in its mountings,

causing a severe drag,

sort of like dragging your feet

in a rowboat.

I can't blame you

if you are a little scared, I am, too.

I've been flying since 1917

and I don't like this sort of thing

any better than you do.

However, with all that flying,

you'll notice that

I'm still very much alive.

Now comes the hard part.

- Can you take it?

- Please, tell us everything.

I think we all want to know.

We're really very lucky.

That propeller could have done

a great deal more damage.

Anyway, there are several holes in

the wing, that's where our fuel is stored.

Which means that we can't quite make

the California coast.

Can't we go back to Honolulu?

We'd already past the point

of no return when it happened.

We will probably have to ditch

this plane in the sea.

We'll all be killed.

There's just a chance that you'll only be

in the water a few minutes.

There's a rescue plane

already on its way to intercept us.

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