What happens
United States Marshal Wild Bill Hickok and his deputy Jingles are returning from St. Louis aboard the riverboat River Queen, bound for St. Joe. Captain Whiteface has promised to deliver a valuable cargo for merchant Mayberry by a set deadline, and a rival captain, Backton, is threatening him. When the river pilot is found dead and the engineer is knocked out, with the boiler's safety valve tampered with, the danger mounts. Bill and Jingles must keep the boat moving through the night and fog while suspicion falls on several passengers and crew.
A riverboat, the River Queen, on the Mississippi River heading toward the mouth of the Missouri and St. Joe, in the 1800s.
Characters: Wild Bill Hickok, Jingles, Captain Whiteface, Mayberry, Captain Backton
Listen for: Listen for Bill's remark that the boat must have wood for the boiler, and the whistle signal that guides the boat past the bonfires on the riverbank.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.