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holtST<¥ tee NiWY / ) ( A STORY OF THE') V 1 f V C FREEING OF A A j) j"* — ~.— i—.. —..—— nr.. §— _ SYNOPSIS. Lieutenant Holton is detached from his command in the navy at the outset of the Spanish-American war and assigned to Important secret service duty. While din ing at a Washington hotel he detects a ■waiter in the act of robbing a beautiful young lady. She thanks him for his serv ice and gives her name as Miss La Tossa. a Cuban patriot. Later he meets her at a ball. A secret service man warns Hol ton that the girl is a spy. Senor La Tossa chides his daughter for her failure to secure important information from Holton. She leaves for her home in Cuba. Holton is ordered to follow her, They meet on the Tampa train. Miss La Tossa tells Holton she is a Cuban spy and expresses doubt regarding the sincerity of the United States. Holton is ordered to remain at Tampa to guard the troop transports. He receives orders to land Miss La Tossa, who is considered a dangerous spy, on Cuban soil. At sea he is overtaken by another warship which takes Miss La Tossa aboard and Holton is ordered to return to Tampa. He saves the transports from destruction at the hands of dynamiters and reports to Admiral Sampson for further duty. Holton is sent to e General Garcia’s com mand in the guise of a newspaper cor respondent to investigate Cuban plots against the American troops and to learn the plans of the Spanish navy. He de tects a trusted Cuban leader in the work of fomenting trouble among the Cubans in the interests of the Spaniards. Holton is seized by friends of the spy and later Is ordered executed as a spy. He escapes and saves the American troops from fall ing into a Spanish ambush. He learns from Gen. Garcia that the spy is Joss Cesnola, one of the most trusted leaders. Holton takes part in the battle atf San Juan. Disguised as a Spanish soldier he enters Santiago, goes at night to the home of Miss La Tossa. where he over hears a discussion of the Spanish plans hy leading army and navy commanders. He learns that the Spanish fleet will leave the harbor at Santiago on July 3. While attempting to leave the house he is con fronted by Miss La Tossa. Holton ce ments his friendship with Miss La Tossa toy assuring her that the Americans in tend to leave the island as soon as the Spaniards are driven out. CHAPTER XL—Continued. “I know, I know,” he laughed, , “but just the same, I think you had better leave the weapon in its holster. For I have —what do you Americans say?— ah, the drop on you!" j The girl stamped her foot. “Senor Cesnola, I command you to leave us; you are a guest here.” “I shall not leave you. On the con trary, I must ask you to slip that re volver from your friend’s belt.” He stopped, as though struck with a thought. “But you need not mind. I suggest merely that you quit the room; there is about to be an execu tion.” Holton stood facing the man, im movable as a statue. The girl stepped forward. “You are lying!” she cried. “There will be no execution.” “Oh, but yes, there will be!” was the smiling rejoinder, “and right before your eyes unless you retire.” “You fiend!” With a sudden, lithe movement she sprang in front of Hol ton. “Now fire, if you dare!” | Holton placed his hands upon her supple waist and lifted her to one side. ,The revolver darted forward to aim. The girl uttered a little cry and sprang \ fOW£f-> She Sprang in Front of Holton. back, seizing the American’s coat with her hands stretched behind her. “Miss La Tossa!” cried Holton. “You —you —” Cesnola’s face was working with the rage of a fanatic. “Out of the way, girl!” he cried, glancing behind him at the door of the opposite room, which he had closed as he left It. “That man is’a spy! He has got to die! He is an enemy, a enake in the grass, not worthy of a minute’s quarter!” Miss La Tossa never moved; and Holton, his mind working like light ning, did not attempt to put her aside. NO DOUBT ABOUT HIS CLASS According to Kansas City Paper, Harry Kemp Had No Difficulty Proving He Was a Tramp Poet. A New York letter the other week mentioned that lots of folks thought at the time that Harry Kemp was being three-sheeted through this land as “the tramp poet” that he was Just a ipoet. But they were wrong. Mr. Kemp is a hobo of purest ray serene. It is a pleasure to certificate him. : “I live,” said Mr. Kemp to an editor the other day, “in a shack on the Pali sades. I came into town today to sell ja poem. This is Friday, and I do not .want to go back to the shack before Monday afternoon.” j The editor took the poem and read itt very carefully and then looked at iKemp’s clothes —which were compara tively whole In several places—and ithen showed that he had a good busi ness mind. “I’ll give you,” said the editor, “$3 for this poem.” 'j The editor thought that Kemp would &sk for more and that he could do a “Out of the way,” repeated the Spaniard, with a sort of hissing of the breath. “Out of the way, or, by God! I’ll shoot through you.” There was the crash of an opening door. / “What’s this —this noise and shout ing?” came a deep voice. Holton, watching his enemy like a hawk, saw the revolver-barrel deflect ed from him, the man’s head turned in the direction whence the voice had come. Springing backward and side wise like a deer, Holton shot across the room. There was a loud report—a bullet singed his hair. The next instant he had leaped through the window, glass and all, and was on the porch. From here, as two bullets sped after him, he leaped down upon the back of a horse that was being held by a soldier. Striking the animal with the butt of his revolver, he went careering off through the darkness like a rocket. From the men on the drive, from men on the porch, came a rain of bul lets; and Holton, who had learned a trick or two in the way of horseman ship, slipped down along the animal’s body, shielding himself almost com pletely. But the horse was exposed, and a whining bullet pierced the steed to the heart. He suddenly plunged for ward, throwing Holton to the ground, then rolled over and was still. Holton landed on his knees, and, al though jarred, was not stunned. He scrambled along desperately, regain ing his feet, and struck out for the woods, about a hundred feet away. He toiled on for two hours, distanc ing all sounds of pursuit, and then flung himself on the wet ground like a tired animal and fell at once into a deep sleep. When he awoke the sun was shining through the trees. But it was not this that had roused him. It was the roaring of field ord nance and the racketing of small arms. Evidently they were at it again. • His one thought was that this was the 2nd of July, and that on the morrow the Spanish warships meant to dash out of the harbor and attempt an escape. His fleet must be warned. That was what he was there for, and this, from now on, must be the single aim of his life, the one thought in his mind, the supreme struggle of his body. By constant concentration upon the object (of his mission, he brought his mental condition into a sort of hys teria. The heat, too, had got into his brain. As ho stumbled over a" !og he would sob or curse, and once, when he tripped and was thrown flat, he lay for a second, weeping like a child. So he went on until once, upon climbing a tree to ascertain his posi tion, he looked down upon the upper waters of the harbor. He was on the hills to the right, and another hour’s journey would bring him within sig nal of his fleet. He struggled feebly, and then lay hack with the realization that, great as was the exigency,, he was not able to meet it. A sort of stupor, partly hunger, partly fatigue, stole over him, and he closed his eyes. It was night when he opened them again, starlit night. At first he could not recall where he was. Then he re membered, and with a start remem bered why he was there. He sat up and with difficulty got on his feet. Then he walked. He did not know he was walking; he had no con sciousness of moving, and no sense of direction; but his subconscious pow ers were leading him right. A breath of pure salt air blew on his face. He turned toward a line of brush and parted it, and there, below him, lay the Spanish fleet, their lights, reflect ed in the velvet waters, twinkling and winking. He heard the chug-chug of a steam launch, and several times the murmur of a voice rose to his ears. Farther down, in the moonlight, he could see the masts and funnel of Hob son’s Merrimae. Ships’ hells struck as he looked, and the sound floated sweetly to the hilltops. He turned his face seaward and walked along, partially revivified by his rest. At length a sense of open ness came upon him, the sensation of a vast void in front of him. He paused, and then stole noiselessly on ward, until at last, passing through a growth of manigut, the wide ex panse of the Caribbean lay before him. Here he flung himself on the ground and waited for morning. His limbs were aching with almost unbearable bit of pleasant bargaining. But he was disappointed. "I’ll take it,” said the tramp poet. "Three dollars is all I’ll need for three days in New York.”—Kansas City Star. Wonderful Chinese Financiers. At a time when legislators in this? country have been wrestling fof weeks over questions of currency re vision, it is startling to learn that China has developed a system of cur rency centuries ago, before this coun try was discovered by Columbus, when many of our ancestors were living in darkest feudalism, before the dawn of what we call modern civiliza tion. This fact was brought to notice a short time ago by the presentation to the British museum of a Chinese bank note, issued in the Ming dy nasty, along about 1268 A. D. The Chinese, apparently then as now, were ever adepts as financiers. The Chinese are the bankers of the east. They handle all the money, do all the banking, are the financial dic tators of the Orient. pain. His eyes burned with fever, his head throbbed. And yet all these things he regarded lightly, for the Caribbean was in front of him, and the American fleet would receive his warn ing as soon as God brought the dawn. CHAPTER XII. Destroying a Fleet. It was well past dawn when Holton awoke. He was in a panic of fear that he had permitted valuable time to elapse. He rose to his feet stiffly and broke through the bushes until the blue sea lay beneath him. His eyes were strained to the left, where the stern of the flagship was swinging to ward him. He noticed black smoke belching from the funnels. Evidently the New York was leaving her station when the ships of the enemy were pre paring to come out of the harbor where they had been bottled up for so long. Cold sweat stood out upon Holton’s forehead, and, hastily throwing aside his coat and tearing off his shirt, he took from beneath it a white signal flag, which he had carried around his body for days against just this emer gency. Breaking off a branch and knotting the corners of the flag to it, he sprang tensely into position. The flagship was leaving beyond peradventure. Her stern was still to ward him, and it was growing smaller. The admiral going away, of all times! In desperation he raced along the hill, trying to catch an angle where his signaling would be seen. Finally, seeing the futility of fur ther running, Holton stopped, and be gan swinging the flag right left, right left, with frantic energy. For five, ten minutes he repeated the T. E. call, hut without eliciting the slightest re sponse, and so, ceasing his exertions he watched the New York move away with tears springing from his eyes. The Brooklyn had swung broadside to him, and the picturesque ram be# and the tall funnels were as cleanly cut against the sea as a cameo. Ad miral Schley, he knew, was on board her, and must of necessity be the com mander-in-chief pending Sampson’s re turn. So it was to this rakish craft that he now turned his attention. Walking to a point as nearly abreast of her as he could get, he began snap ping the flag right and left, in the ef fort to attract her attention. If he could only get her now, and could de liver his message, there was no doubt that the New York could be recalled by a signal gun. So simple did this seem that he wondered why he had not thought of it before. He swung his flag with fresh ardor, but it was as though he were signaling to Mars, so far as any answer . was concerned. Holton could see a launch leaving the Indiana for the Massachu setts. Everything was peaceful. From the city drifted the sweet notes of the matin bells and through the trees he could catch glimpses of the red roofs and the blues and greens and browns of the houses of Santiago. Holton redoubled his efforts with the flag. It seemed as if he had moved his arms to and fro for an hour with out response. He had to rest. He low ered the flag and was leaning on the staff when suddenly from the bridge of the Brooklyn he saw a flutter of bunting. As he looked he read that vessel’s call letter. No doubt now they had seen his signal and were making In quiries. Quickly raising his flag over his head he repeated his E. E. call and then, as he caught the answering flashes of white from the Brooklyn, he began his messages. And this is 1 how it read: "Message to admiral from Lieuten ant Holton.” “All right. Ready.” “Cervera’s fleet will leave the har bor this morning.” There was a pause. Holton waved his flag frantically. “Did you get it?” There was still no answer. Finally it came. “Repeat.” , Holton scowled. ( “Cervera’s fleet will leave the har bor this morning.” There was another pause. "Who are you?” “Lieutenant Holton, United States navy.” After a short wait the flag on the Brooklyn flashed again. 'WOULDN’T DO AS A WITNESS Lawyer for the Defense Had No Use for a Writer of Fiction on His Side of the Case. Irvin S. Cobb, short story writer, re cently returned from a western trip to learn that a dear friend had been snared in a lawsuit. He hurried down Ito the friend's lawyer. “I want you ,to call me as a character witness,” said he. “Why, Jack’s the dearest, kindest, most honest white man in the world. I’ve got to go on the stand for that boy.” “Not while I’m his lawyer,” said the legal sharp. “I know just what would happen. The other man’s lawyer would ask you your occupation. And you’d say: ‘l’m a writer of fiction.’ And the lawyer | would get up and stand over you and look into the dark recesses of your soul for a time. And by and by, despairing of finding one sweet, as piring thought in you, he would turn ito the jury. And he would exchange an intelligent, libelous smile with those 12 sturdy souls. And then he j would go back to his chair, and with- THE FROSTBURG SPIRIT, FROSTBURG, MD. “The admiral sends his compliments —and his thanks.” There followed several up and down movements of the flag, indicating that Admiral Schley had received all he wanted to know and that his mind was already turning to more important matters of the hour. As Holton threw his flag aside and turned shoreward he saw two tall col umns of black smoke arising from the direction of the harbor. They were coming! He dashed for his flag, hut even as he did so he saw the flash of a tier of guns from Morro and Socapa, and then suddenly, as he glanced down toward the mouth of the bay, he saw a leaden-colored cruiser, with yellow and red flag of Spain snapping defiant ly from her jack-staff, appear from be hind the hills, and then, as a panther dashes from a cave in the mouth of which hunters have kindled a fire, she turned to the right and dashed into the open sea. It seemed an age, but it was not more than a few seconds, when a ter rific roar shook the waters, and a burst of flame and gases rolled from a turret of one of the American ships. Holton marked the course of the great thirteen-inch shell, saw the great, dark shape dart with lightning speed toward the Vizcaya, saw it hur tle over the deck, ricochet on the wa ter, and explode in the woods beyond. Then the earth shook with fearful noise. From all the American ships, and from those of the Spaniards, great guns vomited forth their messengers of death and destruction. The sky grew dark, and a yellowish pall set tled upon the sea. As Holton stood tense, following the combat as in a trance, he heard a tre mendous explosion, and saw the Ma rie Theresa list sharply, and then saw her turn in toward the land, where she soon grounded. He could see men clinging to her decks. It was clear that the American ves sels were overhauling the enemy’s ships, although Holton had under stood that, as regards speed, our ves sels were inferior. The discharge of guns was incessant Almost directly beneath him he saw two Spanish de stroyers disengage themselves from the larger vessels and swing about, evidently with the intention of return ing to the harbor; but, like a hawk, a The Earth Shook With Fearful Noise long, rakish American craft, a con verted yacht, pounced down upon them, letting fly with her machine guns and six-pounders as she came. The torpedo boats fought back with all the venom of maddened serpents, but gallant Walnwright and the Glou cester were not to be denied, and, un der the fury of his onset, the two de stroyers succumbed like craft of card board, disabled and sinking within the course of what seemed to Holton a very few minutes. He could see two or three of the larger Spanish vessels aground now, flames seething from hatchways, the men of the crew leaping into the sea. Liefboats from the American vessels were among them, attending to the work of rescue as diligently as, but a few moments before, they had set themselves to the task of dealing death to their foes. (TO BE CONTINUED.) out even troubling to look in your direction he would say: ‘That is quite enough, Mr. Cobb. You may stand down.’ ” Animal Training. Most people have heard of the cele brated calculating horses of Elberfeld, who can do anything up to calculating square roots, in addition to being pro ficient at spelling. It would now ap pear, according to the Paris Press, that although these feats are actually performed they are due to a very clever device. An animal trainer has informed the Matin that he has util ized a system of wireless telegraphy for training animals to do all sorts of tricks. The receiver is placed on the horse’s bridle, while the trainer or an assistant manipulates the transmit ter, and by a code of signals, which are not difficult to teach, the animals can be made to give any desired “an swer.” It is suggested that this sys tem is used in the case of the cele brated Elberfeld horses. Prior to the utilization of wireless telegraphy, the trainer mentioned employed a method of signals by means of a toothpick. Pretty Costume for Club Meeting M, ' <: y \ M 'y\‘ • : .•' .ffiSgfk \ K3js V '•’ .•:•# * I FOR the club woman, or one who attends any informal afternoon function, here Is a simple and smart costume. It is designed on very con servative lines, but provided with the most popular of the present style touches to make it acceptable to the most up-to-date wearer. It is a model especially well adapted to a stout figure. The small coat hangs closer than the majority of those equally smart. Its cut sets the material close to the arm and nar rows the shoulders. The sleeves are easy, in straight lines and three-quar ter length. There is a deep and rath er narrow “V” at the throat, and the basque is long, sloping down toward the back. It is unfinished except for the sewing at the bottom. Thus the long line of the figure is not broken by the separate coat. It is noticeable hat all the lines of the coat tend to preserve length of line, in the figure. The skirt is fuller than the average, with the effect of being a double skirt at the front. It is cut wide enough to allow it to be caught up in plaits at the left knee under a soft rosette of chiffon. A piece is let in at the front, but the split or overlapping breadth is absent and there is worn enough for a comfortable step. ■ At the long “V” at the front a little soft white chiffon is let ir. and a strand of the ever-present white beads finishes the neck dress. The jacket laps at the front with fastening concealed by an inverted PARISIAN WOMEN OCCUPIED WITH TWO NEW “FADS” AT the present moment there are two very prominent fashions gov erning Paris. One of these is white hair. The other is red fox. Early last spring there was noticed the growing fashion of wearing pow dered hair. All through the summer season one saw the most wonderful, and often very beautiful, heads of sil- Model of White Souple Satin. Three Tier Tunic of White Lace With Black Maline Bow at Waist. ver hair at the opera, and at the The ater des Champs Elysees, on Russian Ballet nights. The Parisiennes started this fash ion. Then, almost immediately, it was taken up by women of other nations, especially by American beauties. Now it is the fashion to wear pow dered hair in the day time as well as by night This does not pure “V” shaped piece of the material. There is a plaiting of lace about the throat and small ribbon decoration at the right side byway of garniture, a short satin girdle of plaited ribbon fastens with hooks and eyes at the left side under extremely small made ornaments. The hat is of hatter’s plush, with facing of velvet in black. The para dise wreath in shaded flame color gives brilliance and distinction to the entire toilette. It will be noticed that the long gloves are glace kid in black. They make the arms look very slender and reduce the apparent size of all hands remarkably. Very thin women should not wear them. High surfaced black is not for them. The sleeves are fin ished with a band of satin. To study this costume is more con vincing than- describing it to show that it has been carefully thought out as adapted to the full figure. The narrow drooping brim of the hat makes the most of the length of the neck, since it does not conceal it. The feather swirl is light, following the brim line almost exactly. The shape is extremely graceful. It is by such careful thinking out and management of line that grace is arrived at. Developed in black or grey or mauve or taupe, this is a good model, but for the purpose of re ducing the apparent size of the figure black is the best choice. JULIA BOTTOMLEY. white hair, such hair as one sees at a fancy dress ball. The powdered hair now r so fashionable in Paris is, as a rule, quite dark in parts. It is obvious ly powdered at the sides and in front. The great drawback to this fashion is this: Powdered hair makes con siderable demands upon one’s toilet, and upon one’s personality, generally. It seems to silently call for a special style of dress. It cannot be worn, suc cessfully, with “just anything.” In the evening these difficulties dis appear entirely, for modern evening gowns are so ornate and elaborate that they seem to harmonize, natural ly, w r ith powder. As to the second “fad,” what can be said? Red fox skins have become übiquitous in Paris. All through last summer, and autumn, the most ex clusive Parisian beauties were making sensational successes in white linen and satin sea-side costumes, accom panied by a brilliant red fox skin, in the shape of a flat tie. Skins or the ordinary red fox looked all right when adopted as an eccen tric “fad,” by ultra smart women, and in conjunction with fragile summer dresses; they look hopelessly common when adopted as a regular winter fur and worn with handsome tailored suits of cloth and velvet. Neverthe less, the red-fox-rage is apparently in a healthy condition. It seems likely to last all through the winter. And the pity of it is that already the shop windows are filled with imitation red fox skins, worthless furs which have no meaning and which would make any costume look ordinary. This was, of course, inevitable, but it is never theless deplorable. The newest combs are large and flat, tand the correct thing is to wear them at the back of the head, low down, in Greek style. Some of these combs are of rare beauty. The artis tic jewelers of Paris are past masters at work of this kind, and the most wonderful things are done with carv ed jade, inset with precious stones, and with transparent horn incrusted with diamonds and traced over with gold. Sometimes these beautiful combs are accompanied by an elaborate clasp which is worn at the breast or is used to fasten the wide sash, at one side. Philately and History. An interesting chapter in philatelic history, and in the history of Europe, is closed by the decision to suppress the foreign postal agencies in Crete as the result of the union of that is! and with Greece. Austria, Great Brit ain, France, Russia, and Italy have all maintained post offices in Crete, as in Turkey, and there is at the moment much speculation in philatelic circles as to whether the Levantine post of fices maintained by the powers, among which Germany is also in i eluded, will not be closed as well. NEVER POPULAR TAX Assessments on Incomes Always Opposed. Great English and American States men Have Gone on Record in Op position to Plan —Lincoln’s Words of Denunciation. When Edward Gibbon, the historian, tells us that the Roman emperors as certained the incomes of their subjects by burning them at the stake, we feel little regret that the glory of Rome is no more. When we read how the busi ness men of the middle ages, especial ly the very successful Jews, were in geniously tortured to make them re veal their incomes we see some ad vantages in not living even in that picturesque period. But we must not exult prematurely! The English income tax is the model upon which the present federal in come tax is based. A quarter of a century after the English tax went in to force it was repealed with an en thusiasm that is worth recalling. Dur ing the Napoleonic wars the income tax had been endured as a necessary evil. But after Waterloo popular op position could no longer be restrained. The house of commons was deluged \yith petitions from all parts of the kingdom. From the “merchants, bank ers and traders of the city of London” came a petition with 22,000 signatures expressing “abhorrence of a tax repug nant to everything like British feel ing.” Throughout the debates in the com mons at this time it was always the inquisitorial nature of the tax, an in herent evil, rather than the high rates which aroused most bitter hostility. The intensity of feeling may be gath ered from Brougham’s very popular proposal that all records of the tax be burned that posterity should never know that such a tax had existed. Well may the Democrats ponder over thdse things! Gladstone’s denunciation of the in come tax came just ten years after Abraham Lincoln, who must have had in mind England’s experience, wrote “to the voters of Illinois;” “By the direct tax system the land must be literally covered with assessors and collectors, going forth like swarms of Egyptian locusts, devouring every blade of grass and other green thing." We do not wish to press the analogy between Democratic tax officials and locusts or any other kind of insects, in structive though such analogy be. We do wish, however, to counsel great re straint and good sense in administer ing what* has proved in all times and places to be the most unpopular of taxes. Wilson’s Mexican Policy. Unpleasant is the prospect which lies before us if President Wilson in his schoolmaster’s conceit shall carry us into a foolish and ruinous war with Mexico. Not in the lifetime of a gen eration would we be able really to compose the country; and even when it should be done, if ever, the result would involve an unending responsi bility and a permanent source of trou ble. To maintain Mexico as a con quered province would put upon us a strain to which our system is not adapted and which it could hardly sustain. To incorporate Mexico with in our own system with her myriads of ignorance and alien incapacity would be a policy of utmost hazard, probably one tending to national de struction. And this being so, we ought by every expedient consistent with honor and dignity to avoid the kind of mix-up in which the president’s course, if it shall be persisted in, is more than likely to involve us. Plea for Party Unity. In a recent speech former Vice- President Charles W. Fairbanks said: “Circumstances which unfortunately led to party division a year ago no longer exist. The Democratic party is in full power, and it can be over thrown only by the united effort of the great body of those who believe in Republican principles. I have no doubt whatever that the logic of events will bring all Republicans into co-operation again. This chnnot be accomplished by coercion of any sort; it must come about naturally by the exercise of a spirit of tolerance and patience; old scores should be forgot ten. As President McKinley happily put it, ‘lt does not do to keep books in politic®.’ ” Taft the Statesman. The instances of the election of able judges by the people the former head of the nation regards as exceptions that indicate the ability of the Ameri can people to make the best of a bad system. There, then, Is the gauntlet of the able jurist who occupied the White House thrown down to the ad vocates of the plan to cast the judi ciary into the political arena for a scrambling over ad to the populace for the rending of its robes. Always Minority Party. The Democratic party, nationally, has never ceased to be a minority party. The party has been put in power nationally by a split of the Republican party. The Democratic party will remain in the ascendency nationally so long as the Republican party stays divided —so long and no longer. The Republican party can reassert itself as the governing party nationally and in normally Repub lican states just as soon as the di vided wings get together. Taft’s Broadmindedness. William Howard Taft took occasion the other day to pay a glowing trib ute to Grover Cleveland. Every little while Mr. Taft says something which indicates that he is a broad states man in more ways than one. T. R. Should Speak Little Louder. “The Republicans must come to us,” said Colonel Roosevelt in a letter read to a band of his followers on the day of tho Maine election. And then they read the returns. —St. Louis Republic.