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Show J "OUTWITTING THE HUN" I By Lieutenant Pat O'Brien 1 : I (Copyright. 1018. by Pit Alvi O'Drlen) S 111 'Vwtwvvivwwvw vvwvvw CHAPTER XVIII Continued. -12- I beckoned to tho chauffeur to go with mo up to. the office, ns I had no money with which to pay htm, and when ho bo- to tho consulnto I told them thnt II they would pay tho taxi faro I would tell them who 1 wis nnd how I happened to bo there. They know nt onco that I wns an escaped prisoner nnd they readily paid the chauffeur nnd Invited mo to iglvo soma account of myself. They trcntcd ino most cordially and wero Intensely Interested In tho brief account I gnvo them of my adventures. adven-tures. Word wns sent to tho consul general and ho Immediately sent for me. When I went in ho shook hands with mo, greeting mo Tcry heartily nnd offering mo u chnlr. Ho then sat down, screwed n,mon-oclo n,mon-oclo on his cyo nnd viewed mo from top to toe. I could sco thnt only good breeding kept him from laughing at tho spectacle I presented. I could seo lio wnntcd to laugh In tho worst way. "do nhend nnd laugh l" I said. "You can't offend mo tho way I fool, this blessed day!" and ho needed no tecond invltetlon. Incidentally It guvo mo a ; chance to lnugh nt him, for I was about as much amused as ho was. After ho had laughed himself about sick ho got up and clapped mo on tho 'back and Invited mo to tell him ray story. "Lieutenant," ho said when I had -concluded, "you can hnvo anything you want. I think your experience entitles you to It" "Well, consul," I replied, "I would llko n bath, a Rhnvc, n haircut and somo civilized clothes about ns badly as a man over needed them, I suppose, but beforo that I would llko to got a obla off to America to my mother telling her that I am safo and on my , way to England I" Tho consul gavo mo tho necessary Information and I had tho satisfaction of knowing beforo I left tho olllco that tho cable, with Its good tidings, was on Its way to America. Then ho sent for ono of Uio naval men who had been Interned there atneo Uio beginning of tho war nnd who wns nhlo to speak Dutch and told him to talco good caro of mo. After I had been bathed nnd shaved and had a haircut Ibought somo now clothes and had something to cat, and I felt llko a now man. As I walked through tho streets of Itottcrdam breathing tho air of froe- dom again nnd realizing that thcro was no longer any danger of being captured and taken back to prison, It was a wonderful sensation. I don't bcllovo thcro will ever be a country that will appear In my eyes quite as good as Holland did then. I had to bo somewhat careful, however, because Holland was futl of Ocnnnn .spies nnd I knew Uicy would bo keen to learn all they possibly could about my escape nnd my adventures so Uiat tho authorities In Belgium could meto out punishment to overyono who was In any respect to blamo for It. As I was In Itottcrdam only ono day, they didn't have very much opportunity to learn anything from mo. Tho navnl ofllccr who accompanied inu and acted ns Interpreter for mo ' Introduced mo to many other soldiers and sailors who had escaped from Bel-.glum Bel-.glum when tho Germans took Antwerp, Ant-werp, nnd as they had arrived In Holland Hol-land In uniform and under arms, tho laws of neutrality compelled their Internment In-ternment nnd they bad been thcro over since. Tho life of a man who Is Interned In a neutral county, I learned, Is anything any-thing but satisfactory. Ho gets ono month n year to visit his homo. If he lives lu England that Is not so bad, lut If ho happens to llvo farther wny, the time ho has to spend with Ws folks Is very short, ns tho month's leavo does not tako luto consideration tho tlmo consumed In traveling to uud from Holland. Tho possibility of escape from Holland Hol-land Is always thcro, but tho Ilrltlsh authorities have an agreement with tho Dutch government to send refugees refu-gees back Immediately. In this respect, re-spect, therefore, tho position of a man who Is Interned Is wGrso than that of a prisoner who, If ho docs succeid In making his escape. Is nnturully received re-ceived with open arms In his native land. Apart from this restraint, how-over, how-over, Internment, with all Its drawbacks, draw-backs, Is u thousand times, yes, u million mil-lion times, bolter than being a prisoner of war In Germany. It seems to mo that when tho war Is over and the men who hnvo been Imprisoned In Germany return home, thoy should bo given a bigger and creator reception than tho most victorious vic-torious array that ever marched into a city, for they will havo suffered and gone through moro than tho world will ever bo able to understand. No doubt you will And in tho German Ger-man prison camps ono or two fainthearted faint-hearted Individuals with a pronounced yellow streak who voluntarily gavn up tho struggle and gavo up their liberty lib-erty rather than risk their lives or limbs. Theso sad cases, however, nre, I am sure, extremely few. Nino hundred hun-dred and nlncly-ntno out of n thousand " ' of tho men righting In tho allied lines would ruth t j- KB in Ui front trenches, fighting every dny, with all tho horrors and all tho risks, than bo n prisoner of war In Germany, for tho men In Franco hnvo a very keen realization of what that means. Hut to return to ray day In Itottcrdam. Itottcr-dam. After I was fixed up I returned to tho consulnto and arrangements wero mndo for my transportation to England Eng-land nt once. Fortunately thcro was n boat leaving thnt very night nnd I wns allowed to tako passago on it. Just ns wo wero leaving Itottcrdam, the boat I was on rammed our own convoy, ono of tho destroyers, nnd Injured In-jured It so badly that It had to put back to port. It would hnvo been n Rtrango climax to my adventure If tho Oleaster had resulted In Uio sinking of my boa't and I hnd lost my ltfo whllo on my way to England after having successfully outwitted the Huns. Hut my luck was with mo to tho last, and whllo tho accident resulted re-sulted In Borao delay our boat was not seriously damaged nnd raado tho trip over In schedulo tlmo nnd without further fur-ther accident, another destroyer having hav-ing been assigned to escort us through tho danger zono In plnco of tho ono which had been put out of commission. commis-sion. When I arrived In London, tho reaction re-action from Uio strain I had been under for nearly three months Immediately Imme-diately beenmo appnrcnt. My nerves wero In such n stnto that It was absolutely abso-lutely Imposslblo for mo to cross tho street without being In deadly fear of being run over or trampled. I stood at tho curb, llko an old woman from tho country on her first visit to tho city, nnd I would not venture u cross until somo knowing policeman, recognizing recog-nizing my condition, camo to my as-slstnnco as-slstnnco nnd convoyed mo ncross. Indeed, thcro wns a great number of English officers nt homo nt all times "getting back their nerves" uftcr a long spell of nctlvo scrvlco nt tho front, so that my condition wns anything any-thing but novel to tho London bobbles. bob-bles. It wns not many days, however, beforo be-foro I regained control of myself and felt In first-class shnpe. ? Although tho Urlllsh authorities In Ilollnnd had wired my mother from Holland thnt I was safo and on my way to England, tho first thing I did when wo landed wns to send her n cablo myself. Tho cablo read as follows: "Mrs. II. J. O'Brien, Moracnce, III, S. A. "Just escaped from Germany. Letter Let-ter follows." As I delivered It to tho cablo dispatcher dis-patcher I could Just lmaglno Uio exultation ex-ultation with which my mother would rccelvo It and Uio prldo sho would feel as, sho exhibited It among her neighbors and friends. I could hear tho volley of "1 told you so's" Uiat greeted her good Ud-lugs. Ud-lugs. "It would tako moro than tho kaiser to keep l'at In Germany," I could hear ono of them saying. , "Knew ho'd bo back for Christmas, unywny," I could hear another ro-murk. ro-murk. "I bad an Idea thnt Pat and his comrades might spend Christinas In Berlin," I could hear another admitting, admit-ting, "but I did not Uiink any other part of Germany would appeal to him very much," "Mrs. O'Brien, did Tat wrlto you how many Gcrmnn prisoners ho brought back with him?" I coald hear Btil! another credulous frlctnl Inquiring. Inquir-ing. It was all very amusing and gratifying grati-fying to mo nnd I must confess I felt qulto cocky ns I walked Into tho war department to report. For tho next llvo days 1 wns kept very busy answering questions put to mo by tho military authorities regarding regard-ing what I hud observed as to conditions condi-tions In Germany and behind tho lines. What I reported was take down by a stenographer nnd mado part of tho official records, but I did not Svo them my story in narrntlvo form. Tho information I was ublo to glvo was naturally of Interest to various brunches of tho service, and experts tu every lino of government work took It In turns to question me. Ono morning morn-ing would bo devoted, for Instance, to answering .questions of a military, nature Gcrmnn methods behind tho front lino trenches, tactics, morale of troops and similar matters. Then tho nvtntlon experts would tnko a whack at mo and discuss with me all I hnd observed of German flying corps methods nnd equipment. Then, again, tho food experts would lutcrrogato mo ns to what-1 had learned of food conditions In Germany, Luxembourg nnd Belgium, nnd ns I hnd lived protty close to tho ground for Uio, best pnrt of seventy-two days I was ablo to glvo them somo fairly nccurnto reports as to actual agricultural conditions, ninny of tho things I told them prob-nhly prob-nhly hnvlng moro slgnlflcunco to Uicm thnn they had tu me. Thcro were many things I hnd observed ob-served which I hnvo not referred to In these pages becauso their valuo to us might bo diminished If tho Gcrmnns knew wo wero nwaro of them, but tfcey wero all reported to tho authorities authori-ties and It was very gratifying to mo to hear that tho experts considered somo of them of tho greatest value. Ono of tho most amusing Incidents of my return occurred when I cnllcd at my bnnkcrs In London to got my personal per-sonal effectn. Tho practice In tho Boyal Flying corps when a pilot Is reported missing mis-sing Is to hnvo two of his comrades assigned to go through his belongings, check them over, destroy anything that it might not bo to his Interest to preserve, nnd send tho wholo business busi-ness to his banker or his home, ns tho enso mny bo. Every letter Is read through, but their contents Is never aftcrwurds dlscussid or revealed in any wny. If Uio pilot Is finally reported re-ported dead, his effects aro forwnrded to his next of kin, but whllo ho Is officially of-ficially only "missing," or Is known to .bo n prisoner of war, Uiey ara kept cither at tho squadron headquarters or sent to his bankers. In my enso ns soon lis It was learned that I had fallen from Uio sky, It was assumed that I had been killed and my chum, I'nul Itnncy, and another officer detailed to check over my effects. ef-fects. Tho list they mado and to which thoy affixed their signatures, as I havo previously mentioned, Is now In my possession and la ono of tho most treasured souvenirs of my adventure. My trunk wan sent to Cox & Co. In duo course, mid now that I was In London I thought I would go and claim It When I arrived at tho bank I applied ap-plied to tho proper window for ray mall and trunk. "Who aro you?" I was asked raUicr sharply. "Well, I guess no ono has any greater right to Pat O'Brien's effects than I have," I replied, "and I would bo obliged to you If you would look them up for me." "Thnt may bo all right, ray friend," replied tho clerk, "but according to our records Lieutenant O'Brien Is a prisoner of wnr In Germany, nnd wo enn't very well turn over his effects to anyone clso unless clUier you present pre-sent proof Uiat ho Is dead and that you aro his lawful representative, or clso deliver to us a properly authcnU-tlcatcd authcnU-tlcatcd order from him to glvo them to you." Ho was very posltlvo about It all, but qulto polite, and I thought I would kid him no moro. "Well," I said, "I can't very well present proofs to you that Pat O'Brien Is dead, but I will do the best I can to provo to you that ho Is alive, nnd if you haven't quite forgotten his signature sig-nature I guess I can wrlto you out an order that will answer all your requirements re-quirements and enable you to glvo mo l'at O'Brien's belongings without running run-ning any risks," nnd I scribbled my slgnaturo on a scrap of paper and handed It to him. Ho looked at mo carefully through tho latticed window, then Jumped down from tho high chnlr and camo outsldo to clasp mo by tho baud. "Good heavens, Icf tenant I" ho exclaimed, ex-claimed, as ho pumped my hnnd up and down, "how did you ever got nway?" and I had to sit right down and tell him nnd hnlf a dozen other people In tho bank all 'about my experiences. ex-periences. I had been In England about flvo days when I received n telegram .which, nt ilrst, occasioned mo almost XX none AT SACX. A irOST OtTlCB TELEOnAPllS.1 y.lT.lfo r.fr.' , "-- , , i (MwlTihPMi.) for FosUae Stamps. OW...IO,il.lc.Uri WJ . be. ,.,Jt'CI.J ChMgt. T . ...I. I Pyi i- . Sm HmiJ.ymH Om 4s9 6itZZt1 -Xiley An. AUiiiTT .,f, , I wry . tUWM) ! 1 ,from- rP Mmul Ulim it U Unit, If H8T TO It Wll WFWol W wittw U ft, IM imWM .It t t Lieutenant O'Brien's Answer to Summons of King Qeoras. 1 WWWVWVWWVWWWWV1 as much concern as tho unexpected sight of n Gcrmnn spll-d helmet had caused mo in Belgium. It read us follows: "Lieut. P. A. O'Brien, Itoynl Flying Corrs, Itcgcnt's Pnlnco Hotel, London: Lon-don: "Tho king Is very glad to hear of your cscapo from Germany. If you aro to bo In London on Friday next, December 7th, nis majesty will receive re-ceive you at Buckingham pnlaco at 10:80 a. m. Plcaso acknowledge. "CltOMEIt" Of course, there wns only ono thing to do nnd thnt was to obey orders. ord-ers. I was an officer In tho army nnd tho king wns ray commander In chief, I had to go, nnd so I snt down nnd sent off the following answer: "Enrl Cromer, Buckingham Pnlaco, London: "I will attend Buckingham pnlaco nis directed, Friday, Dcccibcr 7th, nt 10:20. XIEOT. TAT O'BIURN." In tho Interval that elapsed, I must confess, tho ordcnl of calling on Uio king of England loomed up moro dreadfully every day, nnd I really believed I would rather havo spent nn-other nn-other dny In tho empty houso In tho big city In Belgium or, soy, two moro days at Courtral, than to go through what I believed to bo In storo for me. Orders wero orders, however, nnd thcro wns no wny of getting out of It As It turned out It wnsn't hnlf as bad as I hnd feared on tho contrary, It was ono of tho most ngrccablo experiences expe-riences of my life. CHAPTER XIX. I Am Presented to the King. When tho dreaded 7th of December arrived, I hnltcd u toxical) nnd In ns mnttcr-of-fnet tono of volco ns I could command, directed tho chauffeur to drlvo mo to Buckingham palace, ns though I was paying my regulnr morning morn-ing call on tho king. My friends' version of this incident, I hnvo sluco heard, is that I seated myself In tho taxi and lenntng tlirough tho window said: "Buckingham pnlaco pnl-aco I" whereupon tho tnxl driver got down, opened Uio door and exclaimed threateningly: "If you don't get out quietly and chuck your drunken tnlk, I'll Jolly quick call n bobby, bll' mo, If I won't I" But I can only glvo my word that nothing of tho kind occurred. When I arrived at tho palace gate, tho sentry on gunrd nsked mo who I was and then let mo pnss nt onco up to tho front entrance of tho palace. Thcro I wns met by nn elaborately uniformed and equally elaborately decorated pcrsonago who, Judging by tho long row of medals ho wore, must hnvo seen long and distinguished service serv-ice for tho king. I was rclloved of my overcoat, lint and stick and conducted up a long stairway, where I was turned over to another functionary, who led mo to tho reception room of Earl Cromer, the king's secretary. Thero I was Introduced to another carl and a duko, whoso nnrao I do not remember. I was becoming so bewildered, bewil-dered, In fact, that It Is n wonder thnt I remember ns much as I do of this eventful dny. I had heard many times thnt beforo being presented to tho king a man is coached carefully ns to Just how ho Is to act and what ho Is to say and do, and all this tlmo I was wondering when this drilling would commence. I certnlnly had no Idea that I was to bo ushered Into tho august presence of tho king without somo preliminary InstrucUon. Enrl Cromer nnd Uio other noblemen talked to mo for a whllo and got inu to relate In brief Uio story of ray experience, ex-perience, and they appeared to be vory much interested. Perhaps they did It only to glvo mo coufldenco nnd ns a sort of rehearsal for tho main performance, which wns scheduled to take place much sooner thnn I expected. ex-pected. I hnd barely completed ray story whon tho door opened nnd nn attendant attend-ant entered nnd announced: "Tho king will rccelvo Leftcnnnt O'Brien I" If ho had announced thnt tho knlscr was outsldo with a squad of German guards to tako mo hack to Cnurtral ray heart could not havo sunk deeper. Earl Cromer beckoned mo to follow him and wo went Into a large room, whero I supposed I wns nt last to re-colvo re-colvo ray coaching, but I observed tho carl bow to a rami standing thcro and renlizod that I was standing In tho presence- Of tho king of England. "Your majesty, Leftcnnnt O'Brien I" Uio earl announced, and then Immediately Immedi-ately backed from tho room. I believed be-lieved I would hnvo followed right behind him, but by that tlmo tho king had mo by tho hand and was congratulating me, nnd ho spoko so very cordlnlly nnd democratically thnt ho put mo at ray case at once. Ho then asked mo how I felt and whether I wns in n condition to converse, con-verse, nnd when I told him I was, ho said hi would be very much pleased to hear my story in detail. "Wero yon treated any worse by tho Germans, tf tenant?" Ua nsked, "on account of being nn American? I've heard that the Germans hnd threatened threat-ened to shoot Americans serving In tho British nrmy If they captured them, classing them as murderers, becauso America was a neutral country coun-try nnd Americans hud no right to mix In tho war. Did you find thnt to bo tho case?" I told him that I had heard similar reports, but that I did not notlco any npprcclnblo dlffercnco In my treatment treat-ment from thnt necorded Britishers. Tho king declared that ho believed ray escape was duo to my pluck and will power nnd that It was ono of tho most rcmarkablo escapes ho had over heard of, which I thought was qulto a compliment coming us It did from tho king of England. "I hopo that all tho Americans will glvo ns good nn nccount of themselves ns you have, leftcnnnt" ho said, "and I feel qulto sure they will. I fully appreciate all tho scrvlco rendered us by Americans beforo tbo States entered en-tered Uio war." At this moment I nsked him If I was taking too much time. "Not nt nil, leftcnnnt, not nt oil 1 ho replied, most cordlnlly. "I was extremely interested In tho brief report re-port thnt camo to mo of your wonderful wonder-ful cscapo and I sent for you becauso I wanted to hear tho wholo story firsthand, first-hand, and I am very glad you wero ablo to come." I had not expected to remain moro thnn a few minutes, ns I understood thnt four minutes Is considered n long nudlcnco with tho king. Fifty-two minutes elapsed beforo I finally left thcro I During nil this tlmo I had dono most of tho talking, In rcsponso to tho king's request to tell my story. Occn-slonnlly Occn-slonnlly ho Interrupted to nsk n question ques-tion about n point ho wanted mo to niako clear, but for tho most part ho was content to play tho part of a listener. lis-tener. Ho seemed to bo very keen on everything every-thing nnd when I described nulim of tho tight holes I got Into during ray escnpo ho evinced his sympathy. Occasionally Oc-casionally I Introduced somo of tho few humorous Incidents of my ndvon-turo ndvon-turo nnd In every Instance ho laughed heartily. Altogether tho Impression I got of him wns that ho Is n very gcnlnl, gracious nnd nlcrt sovereign. I know I havo felt moro 111 nt enso when talking talk-ing to a major than when spcnklng to tho king but perhaps I had moro cnuso to. During tho wholo Interview we wero left entirely nlone, which Impressed Im-pressed mo ns slgnlflcnnt of tho democratic dem-ocratic manner of tho present king of England, und I certnlnly camo away with tho utmost respect for him. In nil my conversation, I recalled nfterwards, I novcr nddresscd tho king as "Your Majesty," but used the military "sir." As I was a British officer of-ficer and ho wns Uio hend of tho nrmy, ho probably npprcclntcd Uils manner of address moro than If I had used tho usual "Your Majesty." Perhaps ho attributed It to tho fact that I was nn American. At any rate, ho didn't cvlnco any displeasure at my departure from what I understand is the usual form of address. Before I left ho asked mo what my plans for tho future wero. "Why, sir, I hopo to rejoin my squadron nt tho earliest posslblo moment mo-ment I" I replied. "No, Leftcnnnt," ho rejoined, "that Is out of the question. Wo can't risk losing you for good by sending you buck to a part of tho front opposed by Germans, becauso If you wero unfortunate un-fortunate enough to bo captured again they would undoubtedly shoot you." "Well, If I can't servo In France, sir," I suggested, "wouldn't It bo feasible feas-ible for mo to ily In Italy or Salon-lea?" Salon-lea?" "No," ho replied, "that would bo almost as bad. Tbo only thing that I can suggest for you to do is cither to tuko up InstrucUon a very valuable valu-able form of scrvlco or perhnps It might ho safe enough for you to servo In Egypt, but Just at present, lefteiintit, I think you havo dono cuough unywny." Then ho roso nnd shook hands with mo und wished me tho best of luck, and wo both snld "Good by." In tho udjolnlng room I met Enrl Cromer ngnln, and as ho accompanied mo to tho door seemed to bo surprised nt tho length of my visit. As I left tho pnlaco n policeman and a sentry outsldo camo smartly to attention. Perhaps they figured I had been made a general. As I was riding back to tho hotel In n taxi I reflected on tho rcmarkablo rcmark-ablo course of events which In tho short spaco of nlno months had taken mo through so much nnd ended up, llko tho finish of n book, with ray being be-ing received by his majesty, the king I When I first Joined tho Itoynl Flyltig corps I nover expected to see tho lusido of Buckingham palace, much less being received by tho king. CHAPTER XX. Home Arjaln. That snmo day, in tho ercnlng, I was tendered a banquet at tho Hotel Savoy by a fellow officer who had j bet thrco other friends of mlno that : I would bo home by Christmas. This : wager had been mado nt tho tlmo ho ! heard that I was a prisoner of war, ! and tbo dinner wns tho stnkc. f'sl The first Intimation ho hud of my rH safo return from Germany nnd tho il fnct that he had won ids bet was a lH telegram I sent hlra reading as fol- ' i "Lieut Louis Grand: "War bread bad, so I camo home. "PAT." Ho said ho would not part with ' fl that incssago for n thousand dollars. Other banquets followed In fnst sue-cession. sue-cession. After I bad survived nlno of ) them I figured Uint I wns now In n much danger of succumbing to a our- . felt of rich food ns I hnd previously 'J been of dylug from starvation, and for my own protection, I decided to leave Loudon. Moreover, ray Uioughts nnd ray heart were turning bnck to tho lnnd of my birth, whero I knew thero wns n loving mother who was , longing for moro substantial evidence of ray safo cscapo thnn Uiu cables and , letters sho hnd received. Strangely enough, on the boat which carried mo across the Atlantic, I saw an It F. 0. rami Lieutenant Luscel- fl I wnlkcd over to him, held out my hand nnd said "Hello I" Ho looked at me steadily for at least i a "My friend, you certainly look llko j Pnt O'Brien," ho dcclnrcd, "but I can't -bcllovo ray eyes. Who nre you?" fl I quickly convinced him thnt his eyes wero still to bo relied upon, and Uien ho stared at mo for nuather mln- , uto or two, slinking his hend dubt- , ousiy. 1 Ills raystlficntlon wns quite cxpll- .1 cablo. Tho last tlmo ho hnd seen mo I wns going down to curth with n H bullet In ray fnco and my ninchtno do- i lng n splnnlng-noso dive. Ho wns ono of my comrades In tho (lying corps The King Had Me by the Hand. nnd wns In tho fight which resulted In ray capture Ho said ho had read the report that I wns n prisoner of wnr, but ho had never believed It as ho did not think It posslblo for mo to survive that fall. Ho was ono of tho few men living out of eighteen who wero orlgtnnllj In my squadron I do not menu the eighteen wlUi whom I sailed from Canada Inst May, but tho squadron 1 Joined In France. As wo sat on tho deck exchanging experiences, I would frequently no-tlco no-tlco him gazing Intently In ray fact as If ho wero not quite sure that tht wholo proposition was not a hoai and that I was nn Imposter. Outsldo of this unexpected meet lng, my trip was uneventful. I nrrlved nt St. John, New Bruns wick, and eventually In tho t little town of Mouicnce, III., on tho Kan-kakce Kan-kakce I have said that I was novcr hnppy to arrive In a country as I wai when I set foot on Dutch soli. Now, I'm afraid I shall have to tnko thai statement bnck. Not until I flnallj landed In Moincnco nnd renllzcd thai I wns again In tho town of my child-hood child-hood days did I enjoy that feeling' ol nbsoluto security which ono novel really appreciates until nftcr a vlsll to foreign parts. Now thnt I nm bnck, the wholo ad venturo constantly recurs to mo as i d renin, aud I'm never qulto sure that I won't wako up nnd find It so. (THE END) |