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PA3T THE GREAT ROMAN n <&) LOUli1) JO Arove//z//tron of the Men :f]r St/we At/we J*/u,/t/ce</ Vs^-> l-il*n Servicey l/ic.y L // 'ha/ton, Inc. Il ~ I T M t t;A5> I . ? MRS. VERNON CASTLE at Patria Charming. MILTON SILLS as Donald Parr. WARNER OLAND as Baron Huroki. DOROTHY GREEN as Fanny Adair. ? SYNOPSIS. Anticipating the long-threatened Japanese-Mexican invasion of the southwestern states, Patria <. "banning, an American girl of great wealth, with the assistance of her liance, Capt. i Humid Parr date U. S. A.) converts iter vast border ranchlands into what is virtually an armed camp. Baron liuioi.i, commanding the allied J:ip.iiH so-.Me\u an lorn s, bains her preparations, ami thinking to frush them before they ran heroine formidably, orders the invasion to begin immedialely. Warning reaches i'atria at the eleventh hour. FOURTEENTH EPISODE Border Peril. DAYBREAK. In the library of the Chnnning hacienda lights burned late into the night. Round a great oaken table in the middle of the room some ten persons sat in conference. The surface of the table was strewn with maps and papers?the former large-scale and minutely detailed topographical maps of the dimming properties and the adjacent country, both north and south of the border. A council of war was in progre.s. Something after midnight it drew toward its conclusion. A hush of thoughtful silence settled down upon the gathering. I'atria and Donald Purr and their aides?those commanding Iho several divisions of I'atria's little force of "watchmen"?mentally reviewing what had been said, reconiiing point by point such instructions us had been issued and the course of action which had been agreed upon. It was vitally important that nothing should lie neglected, forgotten, <^r overlooked. This business to which they were committed was so desperate, their Iiojh'S for its success so meager and forlorn, that the little company of patriotic adventurers dared neglect no least Item of precaution. According to reliable information a treat army was marching to invade the soil of the United States?an army made up of the allied forces of Mexico and Japan which hud for so lonjf been encamped in the fastnesses ot Vhe liilis Imuiediately south of iIa 'lander, uw ailing Tokiu's word to ad vmice. ' Today, apparently, il ;tt word hot; teen spoken; It was known that tin allied troops had broken eatnp am were in motion toward the border. *r-fAud it heeded only a iaust -?.i i' fk'lal examination of the maps on tin _4jible to demonstrate that the out feasible pt'.t.h or jUy throttgl the Outlining ; r > "., t.es. And the fot'C.- whieh l'atria hat fathered together to oppose tliis long threatened invasion were so pititull; outnumbered that their sole hope 0 surviving lay in the thoroughness o their preparations; only courage tha held life a thing of little niotm n guided h.v cool-headed Intelligence o the highest order could render eft'et tive the plans these few had made t surprise, outwit, ami repel the inva< CVS. . The shrilling of the telephone he Interrupted the silence. Parr took u tlie instrument, spoke brielly into i and lianded it to I'atrla. "A telegram for you," he said. The girl listened attentively to win %? ? !> l.lkllOlitl oi/11. \ fill t / > (till* I i I' 1 bo t 4 ?1 ^ ilO V'JIJllllllllH U I ' U I" in I I? > III* n ? graph operator ;it the nearest railron station, some twenty miles away, tie thanked liim niel eoolly hung ti 1 ? "Washington," she said, "acknov edging my wire warning them of th invasion. There will he an investig tion ordered immediately, and if n information proves well-found troops will be sent." "Nothing could be fairer than tha I'arr commented grimly. "1 think," said I'atriu to the co f?any "we have said all that could said tonight. We all know our duti The instructions you have received i not subject to change except in em gency?and then you must rely ui your wits to suve yourselves?and 1 rest of us. Now let us adjourn, t If we can, get a little sleep." Th aha teou o rrnn oeo 1 nwitmmont I ii'"i c n ur* n ^nivi ui hum v uu.iit chairs heing pushed back from table. The men rose, and waited little groups while one after anot went to say good-night to Patrla. shook the hand of each, and Dor did likewise. There were few w< spoken?but the handclasps were 1 and significant. These were possibly their last f wells. This unuttered thought formed every mind. Dawn would each at his post. Where sunRet sh< find them, none dared guess. One by one they went their v Into the night. At length Patrla lone with Donald Parr. He tui I . . . RIAr 0 E?f PREPAREDNESS '6EPfl VANCE n ft on Picture Piny of the Jor the International KT Kiler the Direction of 1 Copyright Stur Ctmpjnr. II I u in r. offering to take her in his arms, hut slu? shook her head with a little smile. "Not here," she he.cjred, "not here, Don dear?whilo there's moonlight in tho patio!" Oatehini: his hand she drew him with hoi* through tho doorway. . . . j Tho patio was vary still and peaceful and deserttd. Tho moonlight silvered it exquisitely. Its air was sweet With the seeiit of llowers. In the shadow of the old well in its center, l'atria released Donald's hand, and turned to him, lifting up her l'aee to his lips. . . . l'erhaps for the last time llow she found it possible to let him ?o. in the <. tuL she never understood. With a soiiM* of the unreality of it all she watehed his s. Idierly figure, in its khaki lie!d uniform. stride awa.v through the ehia.roseuro of milk-white moonlight and inky shadow, till he disappeared in {ho passageway loading to the fmnt of tlio house. Ami for a long tinio allot* ho li <1 gone she stood clasping tho ltamls upon w hit It his parting kisses had boon jift sstmI, ami slating at tin* spot where sho had last soon him. ll sooinotl so hideously wrong that those things otnild ho. that this world so hoauiilu! could ho tnado tho slaughter-pen of oinhaltlotl humanity. Sho thought of Franco, tlto land sho know tint! loved so well ; her last night in Franco had boon tt summer's night, ' mtioiisinil ton ami warm and sweet?oven as this night. Sho had sailotl l't?r Now Vork tho next day; ami tt week later tho grout war had brt>kon out. And now all northern France was the theater of horrors unspeakable. Ami tomorrow would see tin* inception of an effort to render her own United States a counterpart of Frame . . . The most she could hope for was that the preparations she had made would check temporarily the invading forces, give the country time to realize Its peril and arm against it. For the invasion, once launched, would never be stayed but by overwhelming force. If checked where the Chalining property met thp border, it would only recoil to strike a new and more effective blow. Even assuming the im, possible?that the dimming ranch should prove an Impregnable obstacle In Its path?it would need only to , sweep round It In order to reach a peaceful and defenseless land and blacken It with the Infamy of war, turn it into u place of death and terror t and torment and hideous waste, make . it a .sister to Belgium. . | And all because a purblind people j refused to see that the one way to i , stave off the sin of war was to make > i , tlie country so strong for defense that I no invader wen,pi ever dare set foot I across its ljoruei'8. "WtramL'Wfei* S:o\. ly the girl ascended to lier bed* . chamber. Its window.s "overlooked the south; j she stood in one of them for a Ion* J time staring incredulously at tin ] i mysterious distances that lay beyoni . i the boundary line between the tw< r i countries, the shadowed enigma o: % , >T"yp?o thMf rested so quietly there ii r | ? # * ^ 1 the face of the moon. * t ! Somewhere out there, soinewhen I between the border and those serratet mountains that walled in the southeri . hori/.on, thousands upon thousands o n men, armed ami equipped, wer 1- marching northward; troops of caval ! ry were marching with them; train II of ammunition, companies of artil p Icrv, machine-gun corps, all the dl i% visions of modern military service ^ were astir, under the clonk of th night. ? ,t Her imagination conceived tlui army of invasion In the guise of id great serpent crawling through til >n shadows to strike at the heart of sleeping giant, a loatliv, deadl , |. vicious thing that squirmed fotlll ds upon its way to do a ?i. e?J of inexeu j. able treachery and cruelty, ny The vision of that grout sorfV^i dl haunted all her dreams. She sleiit i fitfully. Between naps she lay awak t,"' staring wide-eyed into the darkne? every sense alert, straining to he m- any sound tluit might be the ov< !>< ture to tomorrow's tragedy, fan< es. Ing that she heard the confused h n*e rythmic shuffle of those thousands op. marching feet. ion Towards dawn she fell into a p the found and dreamless slumber of < ind haustlon, from which she was awi ened In broad daylight by the sou of of distant firing. the Leaping from her bed she sol: in binoculars and ran to the window, her But the glasses showed her nothi She at first. The sounds of firing pers laid ed?great thudding detonations >rds compauiod by the screaming of shr firm nel in the air and shattering oxj slons as the shells found their hill are- But nothing In the face of the 1) In- beyond the border revealed the sou find the firing or betrayed the fact t ould ?n.v considerable body of troops i neurlng the boundary line, rays Only !n the air three wnrpla was hung, like buzzards, soaring, dar rned swooping above the border coum nn<l from thorn, now and again, smoke > Lm?id!is wore dropped, signaling in code I to the gunners of that liuUlon battery. I Dressing in the maddest haste, l*a- i Iria ran from her room, and without j 1 pausing to liml and question anyone}i who might be about the house, left the < patio by the passageway. < In front of the house her motor- 1 car was watting?by prearranged order?in charge of an orderly. From 1)i 111. as she drove toward the aviation ] lield, she learned little or nothing, lie ] had arrived at the house with the car i at about the time when the tiring began. lie could tell lier no more limn that the end of a sleepless night had found every man upon the ranch at his post and prepared to sell ids life to the highest bidder. On the way they passed a squad of men operating an anti-airplane gun? which they had just brought into action. They worked steadily, methodicallv. intelligently, as if thev were well-aceustoinod to their business instead of the novices they were in all save drilling. And the accuracy of their firing was astonishing. Ry the time Ratria arrived at the aviation field, a lucky shot had brought down one of the hostile aircraft, another was winging southward as fast as its engine would move it, and the third was engaged in a duel with two planes sent lip by Ratria's corps. Fascinated, she stood Watching this spectacle long after her own biplane had been wheeled out of its hangar and made ready for her ascent. The three in the air were so high that they seemed little larger than swallows, and like swallows they wheeled and swooped, spitting fire at one another, their planes (lushing in the young sunlight like swords. In the end the invader took refuge in flight, the two defenders snapping at his heels; and so they drifted from sight, far south of the border. The distant firing had now become more fast and furious. Clambering into the seat of her bl plane. Fatria grasped tIn* controls and gave the word to start the engine. Five minutes later she was at an elevation whence she commanded a view of the country north and south of the boundary line. That report had not erred in saying that the Japanese and Mexicans meant to Invade in force was dismayingly disclosed. The roads to the south of the arroyo which marked the international line were choked with regiments of horse and foot. Fatria's wildest fears laid not prepared her for the sight of so vast an army. Her heart sank; the handful of men with which she had thought to oppose this army seemed more than ever pitifully inadequate. She had expected them to be outnumbered ten to one; the truth was that they were outnumbered a hundred to one. Yet they were fighting gallantly? as gallantly n? if they imagined that the odds against them were less brutally disproportionate. Which none -did. Under cover of the sand-lmg parapet of the first trenches?immediately to the north of the bridge spanning; the arroyo?several companies were doing good service under gulling conditions, sweeping the approaches to the bridge with machine-gun fire while suffering a rain of shrapnel. . This last Caine from that hatterj which had awakened Fatria wllh it? first shots. It was sheltered behind i [I hill at some distance south of tin bridge, and its gunners, having got th< range of the trenches, were subjecting , them to a idtter fire, constant an< I deadly. Already (Pntria saw) then f was a constant procession of wounde< - moving by communicating trenches t< 1 ihe rear, either in stretchers or mnk > ing a laborious Journey afoot?assisted f jierehanee, by some comrade's shoul 1 tier. And already the ground beyon , the paranet was littered with bodie ? . of their dead. 1 And this was only the beginning. . . i To the man in tlie observer's seat b f her side Pntria communicated certal e Instructions which lie swiftly tram I- !?> /. M'lfiilncc tin iticU'iwt UH h J <1 I Y \1 \ I'1 v"' ? " I' s the operator at the headquarters Pi I- tria's people had established well bar i- of the main line trenches. Within fiv , minutes the effect of her orders \\?j e apparent. The first line trenches wet , being rapidly vacated, their occupnn it hastening hack to the greater seotirit a of the main line. While one of PaiT ic masked batteries, going on inform a tion communicated by Patria, got tl y, range of the Japanese guns beyond tl ly ( hill and began to pound them rner< s- lessl.v. rI*ho evacuation of the flrst:lli r>t trenches was accomplished barely 11. tinie, even as Patria had fores'e :e,-l I.. ? <s, ar . :?r? 'J'- . . i* ut ' ^ try; Th?y Were _ ??q-g*? ...... LIL 'ui'uruimi-"" vhen issuing the order. They conld 1 uive been held only at a cost too high or their value. As they were emptied, > eghnent alter regiment of Japanese nfantry which had been waiting till lie batteries had prepared their way, /horned across the bridge with irresistible impetus and swept over the trenches like a living wave. Not, however, entirely without opposition. One man had, for reasons of his own, elected not to retreat. Alone he greeted the onslaught with machine-gun lire, spraying death over the bridge and its approaches. Dozens of the charging troops fell before he run out of ammunition or was silenced by a shot well aimed ; Putriu never knew how the fellow met his end. He was, one minute, working his weapon busily and methodically; the next, he was silenced ; ami his fate was masked by the hordes that took possession of the trendies. As this happened, Patrla's observer touched her arm to draw her attention to their personal peril. So absorbed had she been in the action beneath j her that she?and for that matter, her t observer as well?had altogether neglected to look sifter the safety of the * biplane. ( It was now menaced by no less than ' three Japanese sdr scouts?lightly * armored biplanes carrying two passengers and equipped with machine ' guns. . ' Soaring out over the battlefield sit a great height, these assassins of the air had chosen shrewdly the right moment to strike at Patria's 'plane. The hitter happened to occupy the lower levels of the air alone, at that time; no other machines of I'atria's living corps wore at hand; the two which had pursued the first hostile airplane beyond the border wore lost to view in the heat haze that veiled the south, their fate a mystery; all others were still in the hangars or delayed l*y minor circumstances at the aviation field. Upon the lonely craft piloted hv I'atria, then, the three Japanese dropped down from their high level with the ferocity of hawks, opening tire with their machine guns as soon as they got within range, and attacking the dovoted biplane from three sides. Taken utterly by surprise?with no more than the touch of her observer's warning hand upon her arm by way of preface to a hailstorm of bullets? I'atrla did the only possible thing permitted by the conditions, that is, sought safety in forthright tlight. And since she was hemmed in on the north, east and west, she was obliged to drive into tlie south. For a few moments she expected each breath to he her last. Pullets whistled and sang between the planes or tore their flimsy surfaces or glanced from twanging struts and cables like sleet through the ribs of a coverless umbrella. It seemed nothing short of Tnt rn r>n litn < Hint mme fmiml lodirment in either Patria or the observer. I Then, however, the slightly superior speed of the American engines began to make Itself felt. Patria drew slightly ahead and at the same time tilted the nose of her machine ?and begun to climb. Immediately the tiring of the machine guns ceased, and the three Japanese closed in behind and stretched out in determined pursuit. The four swept away Into the southern skies like leaves whirling before a squall. * Climbing steadily, Patria gained tlie 1 5.000-foot level at a distance of some 2 miles within the Mexican side of the. 2 border, her three pursuers outpaced S but undiscouraged hovering in the ofi ling like wolves that wait for a winded e stag to fall. 1( And now forP.r \\ *'o to favor tlie o American for u lit tie. out of the haze - in the south a fifth aircraft was npI, proachlng. For some time in doubt a* I- to whether it was another enemy craft d or possibly an American survivor of s that triangular duel which had resulted from the first air skirmish of the . day, Patria was quickly able to recogy nize certain peculiarities of const rucn lion which unmistakably Identified the *- newcomer as one of her own corps, y There was. however, no way of tell i- ing how it was manned, whether by its k original crow or by tbe Japanese who e might have captured the 'plane. But is all doubts us to this were soon set at e rest by the action of one of I'atrin'h ts pursuers in abandoning his first ob tv Jective and sweeping off at a tangent 's to engage tire stranger?who cheerful a- ly greeted this new antagonist with t le withering blast of machine-gun lire, le ("Mrclin'g warily, like prizefighter: 1- sparring for an opening, Spitting fin and hatred, tlie two were te'uipornrli; he J forgotte\ by Patria. who bad presslni in personal matters demanding IhstriVi en attention. ?? ii ?? n i . . . M ,m " * J ( Flflbtlno Vatlarttly. ? X . v 9^ ^'&'0<$ '< < :x>: >; V ?5!?SI* i'i';; : J&o W.;< Patria's Fears Had Not Prepared Her \ With this re-enforcement reduc'lny | he odds against iter to two to one. she 'Xocuted a maneuver which her suterior speed had made feasilde through .:i\iny her a tolerably lony lead, wheeled figuratively oil her heel?that Is, in as narrow a circle as the biplane I'otild compass?and ^avc battle. Handling the machine yun outplaced beside her, the observer opened lire at lony ran ye, as soon as he could briny the weapon to hear, and scored iirst blood by winging one of (heir two antagonists so severely 111:it In* was forced to abandon tin.* combat :i11< 1 descend for repairs. The other proved more elusive and stout-heniled. I M i vi n with superb skill. It danced through the siir \\ i111 tipp.'iront ly :is little stability its tt midge, making Itself a target wellnigh as fugitive ?s a mote lit a sunbeam. Bolt after bolt of ammunition was fed by i'atriu's observer Into his machine gun and wasted on empty air, thanks to the evasiveness of the Japanese. That the latter laid no better litok in scoring off I'atriu's 'plane %\as little satisfaction. There was only room for exasperation In the minds of the Americans, that the end must be so long delayed?aside from the settled determination that weighed upon their senses with the power of obsession that tlx' duel could and should end hut one way?with the extermination of their opponent. Providing that were accomplish! d. and assuming that the other American biplane was similarly successful in the contest now raging between it and the Japanese, something like a thousand feet below them, the hostile air fleet would he rather effectively crippled? judging ny ine minuter or piauex which it had thus fur discovered?ami the disparity between the forces of invasion ami defense would, by that much at least, bo reduced. And yet?moment after moment passed without either side scoring a crippling hit. The 'planes of both were fairly riddled by the streams of bullets they exchanged; Patria's observer had suffered a slight flesh wound In the shoulder. She herself had repeatedly felt the wind of bullets winging past her face?as though the Icy tongue of I>eath were licking It. i As for the other side, there was reason to believe, from what they Could see. that the pilot was nursing a wounded hand. Hut this had not served to discourag" him. lie pursued his ef' forts to enable his observer to deal I'atrla's craft a mortal blow with unabated jurrimncss, skill and cunning. Then, of a sudden, it was manifested that the store of ammunition at the command of the Japanese had run out. He fired one final gust of bullets, then in a tw inkling abandoned the field, dropping almost headlong from thai high level whereon they had fought. AVM+l. ?n/?rn luitl/in i\f VlUilV'V 1 F1 IT I I || li'' IIIWIV I1WI n/ai W in \ . V ,? her luimar tTinn she would have f< ! 1 had the Japanese been a tiger-shark Patria tore down the air lanes In pur suit, the planes of her machine at '! times so steeply Inclined that the.) I j seemed well-nigh vertical. Only th< ' | most consummate mastery of the ar '! of flying could have made such a fen II possible*. 'j And then. In a twinkling. It. was al I over. They were dropping like twit *' plummets, the Japanese airplane sonn II two hundred feet below Putrin's an< a little distance to one side. Tbe ot * [ server, training his weapon with th ' ' greatest coolness, ran his last hoi ^ j'of cartridges through the machine 1 % , oqc last roaring blast?and scored. *' The Japanese 'plane seemed jriomor ' tortly to be mysteriously checked 1 mldflltfht. It huhg for a little as I checked by the grasp of some groa Invisible hand. Then, as If that han were slowly closing upon It, the thin , crumpled like n broken toy?crumple pitifully in upon Itself and fell flutto 1 ing aimlessly, turning over and ov? with ever Increasing rapidity, at throwing off two limp, sprawllr i shapes of men that distanced It to tl earth, Whirling horribly. With a supreme effort Pntrin right* her machine, brought It to an ev< 1 keel, und steadied it upon a nomowai I 'course. i Only fixed refusal to permit hersc to think of what had happened o rtbled her to accomplish this. She w afflicted with violent Inclination nausea. Of nil forms of death, for t time being, this seemed to her t imrst terrible?this death of vlolen In midair which she hml savogt dealt out to the enemies of her cm try. But what was needed to restore 1 nerves to their normal steadiness w presently accorded by the enemy hi self. tL/?*' ror the Sight o* Vast an Army. fl The linnl act of the tragedy ha<T I taken place barely fifteen hundjWd I feet above the earth; and in thCjfen- I suing struggle with herself I'atria hud I negleeuMl to tilt the 'plane so as to lift I them t<^ a higher and safer level. Now I abruptly something that sounded as- Afl tonishingly like the voice of tin angry dog 1?;irkt'il sharply at them from he low, lour times in swift sueeession, I ink! a second later tour shells of I shrapnel sprayed out a trille to the- I right of tin- biplane anil well above it. An ani i-airera11 gun, a two-pounder p<111i piiai ununited in an armored >notorear, was getting their ran^e. Its next bell of shells would explodfl^ ill liiueli more uneoinforiabl(> pi'oxliuitScw to ilieiu?and did. lbit by this time Pntria was aiming for the zenith at tho ^ sharpest angle eonipatible with safety.. I'or something like live minutes the shells pursued them, then gave up the task as hopeless, and diverted their attention to the other American airplane. which had apparently coine off a victor in its encounter, and wum winging horderwards about half a mile astern of Pallia's 'plane. Put in this instance, us- well, the pom-pom failed to accomplish more than to frighten its target to a level beyond Its range. As they swept bick across the boundary line tin* progi" ?s of the battle^ raging below was disclosed to them in painlul detail. The initial ro\eises dealt out to 1ho d? tenders were being driven borne by the .I a pum-so ami Mexicans in the most iiieihodieal and businesslike tashloi?. Thousands of troops had been thrown across the border, occupying the lirst-line trenOhes abandoned by ratlin's oi'di r. and busily intrenching themselves still further close In under the main-line trenches, undismayed by the withering rifle and machine-gun i lire that was sleeted upon them from the latter. )t r Klsew here tiny were taking ad' vantage of everything left open to them. The hacienda?left open to cupI ture through design?was a center of amazing activities, apparently having m been commandeered as a- held head- rfM quarters. The Japanese and Mexican tlags flew ahove It. Armored motor- I cars were parked before lb A field telephone was being wired; to the ecu- 1 t tral switchboard established in one of its rooms. Men in uniform swarmed I in and around it like ants. ! lieyond the ridge that stood between ) it and the border, a field battery was unlimbering to shell the main-line trenches. As I'atria descended to the aviation field, stretcher bearers were moving along one side of that cleaned space* , in apparently interminable procession, to each pair its burden of mangled and I . . tormented humanity. V With a sharp pang of four for Don- 1 aid, 1'utria ran to the Held tteftfalqunr- J tors and had herself put into coUB/nunl- jfl 1 cation with the main-line trenches. I It seemed that she was never to sue- fl ceed in getting Donald to the tele- 1 ! phone. Not till Ids accents greeted her 1 ' | was she able to draw a free breath. 3 ' i (KXI) OK roritTKKNTII KTISOD 10.) jfl Lifting Power of Heat. 4 1 Weight can he raised by heat, and in this agent is a great source of me- * ' chanlcal power. 1 A potind of coal produces by its '' combination with oxygen an amount of heat which, if mechanically applied, would suffice to raise a weight of ldO , ** pounds to a height of 20 ndlestfjbove > * trie earth's surface. Conversely, 100' f* n pmtfids falling from a height of 2(> nilles and striking agtiinst the earth *" would generate an amount of heat ?i equal to lhat. developed by the com- c bust ion of a pound of coal. jfl Wherever work is done by heat, heat M disappears. A gun which fires a bull fl * is loss heated tliiin one which 11 res ft <i ^ blank cartridge. The quallty'of boat Jj r" communicated to the boiler of n work"r lug steam engine is greater than that, j 1(1 which could be obtained from the re- l| condensation of the steam after It bad t. 10 done Its work, and the amount of work J performed Is the exact equivalent of ^ ^ the amount of heat lost. ?n ?? i. rd No Help. 3 "Why don't you get married and have a wife to soothe your troth'sV" v n" "I don't see much to It. (lot a friend j as who even married two women. When j 1? he was pinched for bigamy neither he | wife went near him."?Kansas Olty il he Journal. ce 'ly Maybe He's Modeat. in- "I can't understand It." jb "What?" ier | "He's been working at his present.W 'us Job for f.vo months now and doe.-'n t ^ iu- ' claim that lus pay has been raised # | three times already." M