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DE FOREST.\n\n_New York Times._\n\n\nThe Colonel was the idol of his bragging old regiment and of the\nbragging brigade which for the last six months he had commanded.\n\nHe was the idol, not because he was good and gracious, not because he\nspared his soldiers or treated them as fellow-citizens, but because he\nhad led them to victory and made them famous. If a man will win\nbattles and give his brigade a right to brag loudly of its doings, he\nmay have its admiration and even its enthusiastic devotion, though he\nbe as pitiless and as wicked as Lucifer.\n\n\"It's nothin' to me what the Currnell is in prrivit, so long as he\nshows us how to whack the rrebs,\" said Major Gahogan, commandant of\nthe \"Old Tenth.\" \"Moses saw God in the burrnin' bussh, an' bowed down\nto it, an' worrshipt it. It wasn't the bussh he worrshipt; it was his\nGod that was in it. An' I worrship this villin of a Currnell (if he\nis a villin) because he's almighty and gives us the vict'ry. He's\nnothin' but a human burrnin' bussh, perhaps, but he's got the god of\nwar in um. Adjetant Wallis, it's a ---- long time between dhrinks, as\nI think ye was sayin', an' with rayson. See if ye can't confiscate a\ncanteen of whiskee somewhere in the camp. Bedad, if I can't buy it\nI'll stale it. We're goin' to fight to-morry, an' it may be it's the\nlast chance we'll have for a dhrink, unless there's more lik'r now in\nthe other worrld than Dives got.\"\n\nThe brigade was bivouacked in some invisible region, amid the damp,\nmisty darkness of a September night. The men lay in their ranks, each\nwith his feet to the front and his head rearward, each covered by his\novercoat and pillowed upon his haversack, each with his loaded rifle\nnestled close beside him. Asleep as they were, or dropping placidly\ninto slumber, they were ready to start in order to their feet and pour\nout the red light and harsh roar of combat. There were two lines of\nbattle, each of three regiments of infantry, the first some two\nhundred yards in advance of the second. In the space between them lay\ntwo four-gun batteries, one of them brass twelve-pounder \"Napoleons,\"\nand the other rifled Parrotts. To the rear of the infantry were the\nrecumbent troopers and picketed horses of a regiment of cavalry. All\naround, in the far, black distance, invisible and inaudible, paced or\nwatched stealthily the sentinels of the grand guards.\n\nThere was not a fire, nor a torch, nor a star-beam in the whole\nbivouac to guide the feet of Adjutant Wallis in his pilgrimage after\nwhisky. The orders from brigade headquarters had been strict against\nilluminations, for the Confederates were near at hand in force, and a\nsurprise was purposed as well as feared. A tired and sleepy youngster,\nalmost dropping with the heavy somnolence of wearied adolescence, he\nstumbled on through the trials of an undiscernible and unfamiliar\nfooting, lifting his heavy riding-boots sluggishly over imaginary\nobstacles, and fearing the while lest his toil were labor misspent. It\nwas a dry camp, he felt dolefully certain, or there would have been\nmore noise in it. He fell over a sleeping Sergeant, and said to him\nhastily, \"Steady, man--a friend!\" as the half-roused soldier clutched\nhis rifle. Then he found a Lieutenant, and shook him in vain; further\non a Captain, and exchanged saddening murmurs with him; further still\na camp-follower of African extraction, and blasphemed him.\n\n\"It's a God-forsaken camp, and there isn't a horn in it,\" said\nAdjutant Wallis to himself as he pursued his groping journey. \"Bet you\nI don't find the first drop,\" he continued, for he was a betting boy,\nand frequently argued by wagers, even with himself. \"Bet you two to\none I don't. Bet you three to one--ten to one.\"\n\nThen he saw, an indefinite distance beyond him, burning like red-hot\niron through the darkness, a little scarlet or crimson gleam, as of a\nlighted cigar.\n\n\"That's Old Grumps, of the Bloody Fourteenth,\" he thought. \"I've\nraided into his happy sleeping-grounds. I'll draw on him.\"\n\nBut Old Grumps, otherwise Colonel Lafayette Gildersleeve, had no\nrations--that is, no whisky.\n\n\"How do you suppose an officer is to have a drink, Lieutenant?\" he\ngrumbled.\n\n\"Don't you know that our would-be Brigadier sent all the commissary to\nthe rear day before yesterday? A canteenful can't last two days. Mine\nwent empty about five minutes ago.\"\n\n\"Oh, thunder!\" groaned Wallis, saddened by that saddest of all\nthoughts, \"Too late!\" \"Well, least said soonest mended. I must wobble\nback to my Major.\"\n\n\"He'll send you off to some other camp as dry as this one. Wait ten\nminutes, and he'll be asleep. Lie down on my blanket and light your\npipe. I want to talk to you about official business--about our\nwould-be Brigadier.\"\n\n\"Oh, _your_ turn will come some day,\" mumbled Wallis, remembering\nGildersleeve's jealousy of the brigade commander--a jealousy which\nonly gave tongue when aroused by \"commissary.\" \"If you do as well as\nusual to-morrow you can have your own brigade.\"\n\n\"I suppose you think we are all going to do well to-morrow,\" scoffed\nold Grumps, whose utterance by this time stumbled. \"I suppose you\nexpect to whip and to have a good time. I suppose you brag on fighting\nand enjoy it.\"\n\n\"I like it well enough when it goes right; and it generally does go\nright with this brigade. I should like it better if the rebs would\nfire higher and break quicker.\"\n\n\"That depends on the way those are commanded whose business it is to\nbreak them,\" growled Old Grumps. \"I don't say but what we are rightly\ncommanded,\" he added, remembering his duty to superiors. \"I concede\nand acknowledge that our would-be Brigadier knows his military\nbusiness. But the blessing of God, Wallis! I believe in Waldron as a\nsoldier. But as a man and a Christian, faugh!\"\n\nGildersleeve had clearly emptied his canteen unassisted; he never\ntalked about Christianity when perfectly sober.\n\n\"What was your last remark?\" inquired Wallis, taking his pipe from his\nmouth to grin. Even a superior officer might be chaffed a little in\nthe darkness.\n\n\"I made no last remark,\" asserted the Colonel with dignity. \"I'm not\na-dying yet. If I said anything last it was a mere exclamation of\ndisgust--the disgust of an officer and gentleman. I suppose you know\nsomething about our would-be Brigadier. I suppose you think you know\nsomething about him.\"\n\n\"Bet you I know _all_ about him,\" affirmed Wallis. \"He enlisted in the\nold Tenth as a common soldier. Before he had been a week in camp they\nfound that he knew his biz, and they made him a Sergeant. Before we\nstarted for the field the Governor got his eye on him and shoved him\ninto a Lieutenancy. The first battle h'isted him to a Captain. And the\nsecond--bang! whiz! he shot up to Colonel, right over the heads of\neverybody, line and field. Nobody in the old Tenth grumbled. They saw\nthat he knew his biz. I know _all_ about him. What'll you bet?\"\n\n\"I'm not a betting man, Lieutenant, except in a friendly game of\npoker,\" sighed Old Grumps. \"You don't know anything about your\nBrigadier,\" he added in a sepulchral murmur, the echo of an empty\ncanteen. \"I have only been in this brigade a month, and I know more\nthan you do, far, very far more, sorry to say it. He's a reformed\nclergyman. He's an apostatized minister.\" The Colonel's voice as he\nsaid this was solemn and sad enough to do credit to an undertaker.\n\"It's a bad sort, Wallis,\" he continued, after another deep sigh, a\nvery highly perfumed one, the sigh of a bar-keeper. \"When a clergyman\nfalls, he falls for life and eternity, like a woman or an angel. I\nnever knew a backslidden shepherd to come to good. Sooner or later he\nalways goes to the devil, and takes down whomsoever hangs to him.\"\n\n\"He'll take down the old Tenth, then,\" asserted Wallis. \"It hangs to\nhim. Bet you two to one he takes it along.\"\n\n\"You're right, Adjutant; spoken like a soldier,\" swore Gildersleeve.\n\"And the Bloody Fourteenth, too! It will march into the burning pit\nas far as any regiment; and the whole brigade, yes sir! But a\nbackslidden shepherd, my God! Have we come to that? I often say\nto myself, in the solemn hours of the night, as I remember my\nSabbath-school days, 'Great Scott, have we come to that?' A reformed\nclergyman! An apostatized minister! Think of it, Wallis, think of it!\nWhy, sir, his very wife ran away from him. They had but just buried\ntheir first boy,\" pursued Old Grumps, his hoarse voice sinking to a\nwhimper. \"They drove home from the burial-place, where lay the\nnew-made grave. Arrived at their door, _he_ got out and extended his\nhand to help _her_ out. Instead of accepting, instead of throwing\nherself into his arms and weeping there, she turned to the coachman\nand said, 'Driver, drive me to my father's house.' That was the end of\ntheir wedded life, Wallis.\"\n\nThe Colonel actually wept at this point, and the maudlin tears were\nnot altogether insincere. His own wife and children he heartily loved,\nand remembered them now with honest tenderness. At home he was not a\ndrinker and a rough; only amid the hardships and perils of the field.\n\n\"That was the end of it, Wallis,\" he repeated. \"And what was it while\nit lasted? What does a woman leave her husband for? Why does she\nseparate from him over the grave of her innocent first-born? There are\ntwenty reasons, but they must all of them be good ones. I am sorry to\ngive it as my decided opinion, Wallis, in perfect confidence, that\nthey must all be whopping good ones. Well, that was the beginning;\nonly the beginning. After that he held on for a while, breaking the\nbread of life to a skedaddling flock, and then he bolted. The next\nknown of him, three years later, he enlisted in your regiment, a smart\nbut seedy recruit, smelling strongly of whisky.\"\n\n\"I wish I smelt half as strong of it myself,\" grumbled Wallis. \"It\nmight keep out the swamp fever.\"\n\n\"That's the true story of Col. John James Waldron,\" continued Old\nGrumps, with a groan which was very somnolent, as if it were a twin to\na snore. \"That's the true story.\"\n\n\"I don't believe the first word of it--that is to say, Colonel, I\nthink you have been misinformed--and I'll bet you two to one on it.\nIf he was nothing more than a minister, how did he know drill and\ntactics?\"\n\n\"Oh, I forgot to say, he went through West Point--that is, nearly\nthrough. They graduated him in his third year by the back door,\nWallis.\"\n\n\"Oh, that was it, was it? He was a West Pointer, was he? Well, then,\nthe backsliding was natural, and oughtn't to count against him. A\nmember of Benny Havens' church has a right to backslide anywhere,\nespecially as the Colonel doesn't seem to be any worse than some of\nthe rest of us, who haven't fallen from grace the least particle, but\ntook our stand at the start just where we are now. A fellow that\nbegins with a handful of trumps has a right to play a risky game.\"\n\n\"I know what euchered him, Wallis. It was the old Little Joker; and\nthere's another of the same on hand now.\"\n\n\"On hand where? What are you driving at, Colonel?\"\n\n\"He looks like a boy. I mean she looks like a boy. You know what I\nmean, Wallis; I mean the boy that makes believe wait on him. And her\nbrother is in camp, got here to-night. There'll be an explanation\nto-morrow, and there'll be bloodshed.\"\n\n\"Good-night, Colonel, and sleep it off,\" said Wallis, rising from the\nside of a man whom he believed to be sillily drunk and altogether\nuntrustworthy. \"You know we get after the rebs at dawn.\"\n\n\"I know it--goo-night, Adjutant--gawblessyou,\" mumbled Old Grumps.\n\"We'll lick those rebs, won't we?\" he chuckled. \"Goo-night, ole\nfellow, an' gawblessyou.\"\n\nWhereupon Old Grumps fell asleep, very absurdly overcome by liquor, we\nextremely regret to concede, but nobly sure to do his soldierly duty\nas soon as he should awake.\n\nStumbling wearily blanketward, Wallis found his Major and regimental\ncommander, the genial and gallant Gahogan, slumbering in a peace like\nthat of the just. He stretched himself a-near, put out his hand to\ntouch his sabre and revolver, drew his caped great-coat over him,\nmoved once to free his back of a root or pebble, glanced languidly\nat a single struggling star, thought for an instant of his far-away\nmother, turned his head with a sigh, and slept. In the morning he was\nto fight, and perhaps to die; but the boyish veteran was too seasoned,\nand also too tired, to mind that; he could mind but one\nthing--nature's pleading for rest.\n\nIn the iron-gray dawn, while the troops were falling dimly and\nspectrally into line, and he was mounting his horse to be ready for\norders, he remembered Gildersleeve's drunken tale concerning the\ncommandant, and laughed aloud. But turning his face toward brigade\nheadquarters (a sylvan region marked out by the branches of a great\noak), he was surprised to see a strange officer, a fair young man in\nCaptain's uniform, riding slowly toward it.\n\n\"Is that the Boy's brother?\" he said to himself; and in the next\ninstant he had forgotten the whole subject; it was time to form and\npresent the regiment.\n\nQuietly and without tap of drum the small, battle-worn battalions\nfiled out of their bivouacs into the highway, ordered arms and waited\nfor the word to march. With a dull rumble the field-pieces trundled\nslowly after, and halted in rear of the infantry. The cavalry trotted\noff circuitously through the fields, emerged upon the road in advance\nand likewise halted, all but a single company, which pushed on for\nhalf a mile, spreading out as it went into a thin line of skirmishers.\n\nMeanwhile a strange interview took place near the great oak which had\nsheltered brigade headquarters. As the unknown officer, whom Wallis\nhad noted, approached it, Col. Waldron was standing by his horse ready\nto mount. The commandant was a man of medium size, fairly handsome in\nperson and features, and apparently about twenty-eight years of age.\nPerhaps it was the singular breadth of his forehead which made the\nlower part of his face look so unusually slight and feminine. His\neyes were dark hazel, as clear, brilliant, and tender as a girl's,\nand brimming full of a pensiveness which seemed both loving and\nmelancholy. Few persons, at all events few women, who looked upon him\never looked beyond his eyes. They were very fascinating, and in a\nman's countenance very strange. They were the kind of eyes which\nreveal passionate romances, and which make them.\n\nBy his side stood a boy, a singularly interesting and beautiful boy,\nfair-haired and blue-eyed, and delicate in color. When this boy saw\nthe stranger approach he turned as pale as marble, slid away from the\nbrigade commander's side, and disappeared behind a group of staff\nofficers and orderlies. The new-comer also became deathly white as he\nglanced after the retreating youth. Then he dismounted, touched his\ncap slightly and, as if mechanically, advanced a few steps, and said\nhoarsely, \"I believe this is Colonel Waldron. I am Captain Fitz Hugh,\nof the --th Delaware.\"\n\nWaldron put his hand to his revolver, withdrew it instantaneously, and\nstood motionless.\n\n\"I am on leave of absence from my regiment, Colonel,\" continued Fitz\nHugh, speaking now with an elaborate ceremoniousness of utterance\nsignificant of a struggle to suppress violent emotion. \"I suppose you\ncan understand why I made use of it in seeking you.\"\n\nWaldron hesitated; he stood gazing at the earth with the air of one\nwho represses deep pain; at last, after a profound sigh, he raised his\neyes and answered.\n\n\"Captain, we are on the eve of a battle. I must attend to my public\nduties first. After the battle we will settle our private affair.\"\n\n\"There is but one way to settle it, Colonel.\"\n\n\"You shall have your way if you will. You shall do what you will. I\nonly ask what good will it do to _her_?\"\n\n\"It will do good to _me_, Colonel,\" whispered Fitz Hugh, suddenly\nturning crimson. \"You forget _me_.\"\n\nWaldron's face also flushed, and an angry sparkle shot from under his\nlashes in reply to this utterance of hate, but it died out in an\ninstant.\n\n\"I have done a wrong, and I will accept the consequences,\" he said.\n\"I pledge you my word that I will be at your disposal if I survive\nthe battle. Where do you propose to remain meanwhile?\"\n\n\"I will take the same chance, Sir. I propose to do my share in the\nfighting if you will use me.\"\n\n\"I am short of staff officers. Will you act as my aid?\"\n\n\"I will, Colonel,\" bowed Fitz Hugh, with a glance which expressed\nsurprise, and perhaps admiration, at this confidence.\n\nWaldron turned, beckoned his staff officers to approach, and said,\n\"Gentlemen, this is Captain Fitz Hugh of the --th Delaware. He has\nvolunteered to join us for the day, and will act as my aid. And now,\nCaptain, will you ride to the head of the column and order it forward?\nThere will be no drum-beat and no noise. When you have given your\norder and seen it executed, you will wait for me.\"\n\nFitz Hugh saluted, sprang into his saddle and galloped away. A few\nminutes later the whole column was plodding on silently toward its\nbloody goal. To a civilian, unaccustomed to scenes of war, the\ntranquillity of these men would have seemed very wonderful. Many of\nthe soldiers were still munching the hard bread and raw pork of their\nmeagre breakfasts, or drinking the cold coffee with which they had\nfilled their canteens the day previous. Many more were chatting in an\nundertone, grumbling over their sore feet and other discomfits,\nchaffing each other, and laughing. The general bearing, however, was\ngrave, patient, quietly enduring, and one might almost say stolid. You\nwould have said, to judge by their expressions, that these sunburnt\nfellows were merely doing hard work, and thoroughly commonplace work,\nwithout a prospect of adventure, and much less of danger. The\nexplanation of this calmness, so brutal perhaps to the eye of a\nsensitive soul, lies mainly in the fact that they were all veterans,\nthe survivors of marches, privations, maladies, sieges, and battles.\nNot a regiment present numbered four hundred men, and the average was\nnot above three hundred. The whole force, including artillery and\ncavalry, might have been about twenty-five hundred sabres and\nbayonets.\n\nAt the beginning of the march Waldron fell into the rear of his staff\nand mounted orderlies. Then the Boy who had fled from Fitz Hugh\ndropped out of the tramping escort, and rode up to his side.\n\n\"Well, Charlie,\" said Waldron, casting a pitying glance at the yet\npallid face and anxious eyes of the youth, \"you have had a sad fright.\nI make you very miserable.\"\n\n\"He has found us at last,\" murmured Charlie in a tremulous soprano\nvoice. \"What did he say?\"\n\n\"We are to talk to-morrow. He acts as my aide-de-camp to-day. I ought\nto tell you frankly that he is not friendly.\"\n\n\"Of course, I knew it,\" sighed Charlie, while the tears fell.\n\n\"It is only one more trouble--one more danger, and perhaps it may\npass. So many _have_ passed.\"\n\n\"Did you tell him anything to quiet him? Did you tell him that we were\nmarried?\"\n\n\"But we are not married yet, Charlie. We shall be, I hope.\"\n\n\"But you ought to have told him that we were. It might stop him from\ndoing something--mad. Why didn't you tell him so? Why didn't you think\nof it?\"\n\n\"My dear little child, we are about to have a battle. I should like to\ncarry some honor and truth into it.\"\n\n\"Where is he?\" continued Charlie, unconvinced and unappeased. \"I want\nto see him. Is he at the head of the column? I want to speak to him,\njust one word. He won't hurt me.\"\n\nShe suddenly spurred her horse, wheeled into the fields, and dashed\nonward. Fitz Hugh was lounging in his saddle, and sombrely surveying\nthe passing column, when she galloped up to him.\n\n\"Carrol!\" she said, in a choked voice, reining in by his side, and\nleaning forward to touch his sleeve.\n\nHe threw one glance at her--a glance of aversion, if not of downright\nhatred, and turned his back in silence.\n\n\"He is my husband, Carrol,\" she went on rapidly. \"I knew you didn't\nunderstand it. I ought to have written you about it. I thought I would\ncome and tell you before you did anything absurd. We were married as\nsoon as he heard that his wife was dead.\"\n\n\"What is the use of this?\" he muttered hoarsely. \"She is not dead. I\nheard from her a week ago. She was living a week ago.\"\n\n\"Oh, Carrol!\" stammered Charlie. \"It was some mistake then. Is it\npossible! And he was so sure! But he can get a divorce, you know. She\nabandoned him. Or _she_ can get one. No, _he_ can get it--of course,\nwhen she abandoned him. But, Carrol, she _must_ be dead--he was _so_\nsure.\"\n\n\"She is _not_ dead, I tell you. And there can be no divorce. Insanity\nbars all claim to a divorce. She is in an asylum. She had to leave\nhim, and then she went mad.\"\n\n\"Oh, no, Carrol, it is all a mistake; it is not so, Carrol,\" she\nmurmured in a voice so faint that he could not help glancing at her,\nhalf in fury and half in pity. She was slowly falling from her horse.\nHe sprang from his saddle, caught her in his arms, and laid her on the\nturf, wishing the while that it covered her grave. Just then one of\nWaldron's orderlies rode up and exclaimed: \"What is the matter with\nthe--the Boy? Hullo, Charlie.\"\n\nFitz Hugh stared at the man in silence, tempted to tear him from\nhis horse. \"The boy is ill,\" he answered when he recovered his\nself-command. \"Take charge of him yourself.\" He remounted, rode onward\nout of sight beyond a thicket, and there waited for the brigade\ncommander, now and then fingering his revolver. As Charlie was being\nplaced in an ambulance by the orderly and a sergeant's wife, Waldron\ncame up, reined in his horse violently, and asked in a furious voice,\n\"Is that boy hurt?\"\n\n\"Ah--fainted,\" he added immediately. \"Thank you, Mrs. Gunner. Take\ngood care of him--the best of care, my dear woman, and don't let him\nleave you all day.\"\n\nFurther on, when Fitz Hugh silently fell into his escort, he merely\nglanced at him in a furtive way, and then cantered on rapidly to the\nhead of the cavalry. There he beckoned to the tall, grave, iron-gray\nChaplain of the Tenth, and rode with him for nearly an hour, apart,\nengaged in low and seemingly impassioned discourse. From this\ninterview Mr. Colquhoun returned to the escort with a strangely\nsolemnized, tender countenance, while the commandant, with a more\ncheerful air than he had yet worn that day, gave himself to his\nmartial duties, inspecting the landscape incessantly with his glass,\nand sending frequently for news to the advance scouts. It may properly\nbe stated here that the Chaplain never divulged to any one the nature\nof the conversation which he had held with his Colonel.\n\nNothing further of note occurred until the little army, after two\nhours of plodding march, wound through a sinuous, wooded ravine,\nentered a broad, bare, slightly undulating valley, and for the second\ntime halted. Waldron galloped to the summit of a knoll, pointed to a\nlong eminence which faced him some two miles distant, and said\ntranquilly, \"There is our battle-ground.\"\n\n\"Is that the enemy's position?\" returned Captain Ives, his\nAdjutant-General. \"We shall have a tough job if we go at it from\nhere.\"\n\nWaldron remained in deep thought for some minutes, meanwhile scanning\nthe ridge and all its surroundings.\n\n\"What I want to know,\" he observed, at last, \"is whether they have\noccupied the wooded knolls in front of their right and around their\nright flank.\"\n\nShortly afterward the commander of the scouting squadron came riding\nback at a furious pace.\n\n\"They are on the hill, Colonel,\" he shouted.\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" nodded Waldron; \"but have they occupied the woods\nwhich veil their right front and flank?\"\n\n\"Not a bit of it; my fellows have cantered all through, and up to the\nbase of the hill.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" exclaimed the brigade commander, with a rush of elation. \"Then\nit will be easy work. Go back, Captain, and scatter your men through\nthe wood, and hold it, if possible. Adjutant, call up the regimental\ncommanders at once. I want them to understand my plan fully.\"\n\nIn a few minutes Gahogan, of the Tenth; Gildersleeve, of the\nFourteenth; Peck, of the First; Thomas, of the Seventh; Taylor, of\nthe Eighth, and Colburn, of the Fifth, were gathered around their\ncommander. There, too, was Bradley, the boyish, red-cheeked chief of\nthe artillery; and Stilton, the rough, old, bearded regular, who\nheaded the cavalry. The staff was at hand, also, including Fitz Hugh,\nwho sat his horse a little apart, downcast and sombre and silent, but\nnevertheless keenly interested. It is worthy of remark, by the way,\nthat Waldron took no special note of him, and did not seem conscious\nof any disturbing presence. Evil as the man may have been, he was a\nthoroughly good soldier, and just now he thought but of his duties.\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" he said, \"I want you to see your field of battle. The\nenemy occupy that long ridge. How shall we reach it?\"\n\n\"I think, if we go at it straight from here, we shan't miss it,\"\npromptly judged Old Grumps, his red-oak countenance admirably cheerful\nand hopeful, and his jealousy all dissolved in the interest of\napproaching combat.\n\n\"Nor they won't miss us nuther,\" laughed Major Gahogan. \"Betther slide\nour infantree into thim wuds, push up our skirmishers, play away wid\nour guns for an hour, an' thin rowl in a couple o' col'ms.\"\n\nThere was a general murmur of approval. The limits of volunteer\ninvention in tactics had been reached by Gahogan. The other regimental\ncommanders looked upon him as their superior in the art of war.\n\n\"That would be well, Major, if we could do nothing better,\" said\nWaldron. \"But I do not feel obliged to attack the front seriously\nat all. The rebels have been thoughtless enough to leave that long\nsemicircle of wooded knolls unoccupied, even by scouts. It stretches\nfrom the front of their centre clear around their right flank. I shall\nuse it as a veil to cover us while we get into position. I shall throw\nout a regiment, a battery, and five companies of cavalry, to make a\nfeint against their centre and left. With the remainder of the brigade\nI shall skirt the woods, double around the right of the position, and\nclose in upon it front and rear.\"\n\n\"Loike scissors blades upon a snip o' paper,\" shouted Gahogan, in\ndelight. Then he turned to Fitz Hugh, who happened to be nearest him,\nand added, \"I tell ye he's got the God o' War in um. He's the burrnin'\nbussh of humanity, wid a God o' Battles inside on't.\"\n\n\"But how if they come down on our thin right wing?\" asked a cautious\nofficer, Taylor, of the Eighth. \"They might smash it and seize our\nline of retreat.\"\n\n\"Men who have taken up a strong position, a position obviously chosen\nfor defense, rarely quit it promptly for an attack,\" replied Waldron.\n\"There is not one chance in ten that these gentlemen will make a\nconsiderable forward movement early in the fight. Only the greatest\ngeniuses jump from the defensive to the offensive. Besides, we must\nhold the wood. So long as we hold the wood in front of their centre we\nsave the road.\"\n\nThen came personal and detailed instructions. Each regimental\ncommander was told whither he should march, the point where he should\nhalt to form line, and the direction by which he should attack. The\nmass of the command was to advance in marching column toward a knoll\nwhere the highway entered and traversed the wood. Some time before\nreaching it Taylor was to deploy the Eighth to the right, throw out a\nstrong skirmish line and open fire on the enemy's centre and left,\nsupported by the battery of Parrotts, and, if pushed, by five\ncompanies of cavalry. The remaining troops would reach the knoll, file\nto the left under cover of the forest, skirt it for a mile as rapidly\nas possible, enfold the right of the Confederate position, and then\nmove upon it concentrically. Counting from the left, the Tenth, the\nSeventh, and the Fourteenth were to constitute the first line of\nbattle, while five companies of cavalry, then the First, and then the\nFifth formed the second line. Not until Gahogan might have time to\nwind into the enemy's right rear should Gildersleeve move out of the\nwood and commence the real attack.\n\n\"You will go straight at the front of their right,\" said Waldron,\nwith a gay smile, to this latter Colonel. \"Send up two companies as\nskirmishers. The moment they are clearly checked, lead up the other\neight in line. It will be rough work. But keep pushing. You won't have\nfifteen minutes of it before Thomas, on your left, will be climbing\nthe end of the ridge to take the rebels in flank. In fifteen minutes\nmore Gahogan will be running in on their backs. Of course they will\ntry to change front and meet us. But they have extended their line a\nlong way in order to cover the whole ridge. They will not be quick\nenough. We shall get hold of their right, and we shall roll them up.\nThen, Colonel Stilton, I shall expect to see the troopers jumping into\nthe gaps and making prisoners.\"\n\n\"All right, Colonel,\" answered Stilton in that hoarse growl which is\napt to mark the old cavalry officer. \"Where shall we find you if we\nwant a fresh order?\"\n\n\"I shall be with Colburn, in rear of Gildersleeve. That is our centre.\nBut never mind me; you know what the battle is to be, and you know how\nto fight it. The whole point with the infantry is to fold around the\nenemy's right, go in upon it concentrically, smash it, and roll up\ntheir line. The cavalry will watch against the infantry being flanked,\nand when the latter have seized the hill, will charge for prisoners.\nThe artillery will reply to the enemy's guns with shell, and fire\ngrape at any offensive demonstration. You all know your duties, now,\ngentlemen. Go to your commands, and march!\"\n\nThe Colonels saluted and started off at a gallop. In a few minutes\ntwenty-five hundred men were in simultaneous movement. Five companies\nof cavalry wheeled into column of companies, and advanced at a trot\nthrough the fields, seeking to gain the shelter of the forest. The six\ninfantry regiments slid up alongside of each other, and pushed on in\nsix parallel columns of march, two on the right of the road and four\non the left. The artillery, which alone left the highway, followed at\na distance of two or three hundred yards. The remaining cavalry made a\nwide detour to the right, as if to flank the enemy's left.\n\nIt was a mile and a quarter--it was a march of fully twenty\nminutes--to the edge of the woodland, the proposed cover of the\ncolumn. Ten minutes before this point was reached a tiny puff of smoke\nshowed on the brow of the hostile ridge; then, at an interval of\nseveral seconds, followed the sound of a distant explosion; then,\nalmost immediately, came the screech of a rifled shell. Every man who\nheard it swiftly asked himself, \"Will it strike _me_?\" But even as the\nwords were thought out it had passed, high in air, clean to the rear,\nand burst harmlessly. A few faces turned upward and a few eyes glanced\nbackward, as if to see the invisible enemy. But there was no pause in\nthe column; it flowed onward quietly, eagerly, and with business-like\nprecision; it gave forth no sound but the trampling of feet and the\nmuttering of the officers, \"Steady, men! Forward, men.\"\n\nThe Confederates, however, had got their range. A half minute later\nfour puffs of smoke dotted the ridge, and a flight of hoarse humming\nshrieks tore the air. A little aureole cracked and splintered over\nthe First, followed by loud cries of anguish and a brief, slight\nconfusion. The voice of an officer rose sharply out of the flurry,\n\"Close up, Company A! Forward, men!\" The battalion column resumed its\neven formation in an instant, and tramped unitedly onward, leaving\nbehind it two quivering corpses and a wounded man who tottered\nrearward.\n\nThen came more screeches, and a shell exploded over the high road,\nknocking a gunner lifeless from his carriage. The brigade commander\nglanced anxiously along his batteries, and addressed a few words to\nhis chief of artillery. Presently the four Napoleons set forward at a\ngallop for the wood, while the four Parrotts wheeled to the right,\ndeployed, and advanced across the fields, inclining toward the left of\nthe enemy. Next, Taylor's regiment (the Eighth) halted, fronted, faced\nto the right, and filed off in column of march at a double-quick until\nit had gained the rear of the Parrotts, when it fronted again, and\npushed on in support. A quarter of a mile further on these guns went\ninto battery behind the brow of a little knoll, and opened fire. Four\ncompanies of the Eighth spread out to the right as skirmishers, and\ncommenced stealing toward the ridge, from time to time measuring the\ndistance with rifle-balls. The remainder of the regiment lay down in\nline between the Parrotts and the forest. Far away to the right,\nfive companies of cavalry showed themselves, maneuvering as if they\nproposed to turn the left flank of the Southerners. The attack on this\nside was in form and in operation.\n\nMeantime the Confederate fire had divided. Two guns pounded away at\nTaylor's feint, while two shelled the main column. The latter was\nstruck repeatedly; more than twenty men dropped silent or groaning out\nof the hurrying files; but the survivors pushed on without faltering,\nand without even caring for the wounded. At last a broad belt of green\nbranches rose between the regiments and the ridge; and the rebel\ngunners, unable to see their foe, dropped suddenly into silence.\n\nHere it appeared that the road divided. The highway traversed the\nforest, mounted the beyond and dissected the enemy's position,\nwhile a branch road turned to the left and skirted the exterior of the\nlong curve of wooded hillocks. At the fork the battery of Napoleons\nhad halted, and there it was ordered to remain for the present in\nquiet. There, too, the Fourteenth filed in among the dense greenery,\nthrew out two companies of skirmishers toward the ridge, and pushed\nslowly after them into the shadows.\n\n\"Get sight of the enemy at once!\" was Waldron's last word to\nGildersleeve. \"If they move down the , drive them back. But don't\ncommence your attack under half an hour.\"\n\nNext he filed the Fifth into the thickets, saying to Colburn, \"I want\nyou to halt a hundred yards to the left and rear of Gildersleeve.\nCover his flank if he is attacked; but otherwise lie quiet. As soon as\nhe charges, move forward to the edge of the wood, and be ready to\nsupport him. But make no assault yourself until further orders.\"\n\nThe two next regiments--the Seventh and First--he placed in _echelon_,\nin like manner, a quarter of a mile further along. Then he galloped\nforward to the cavalry, and had a last word with Stilton. \"You and\nGahogan must take care of yourselves. Push on four or five hundred\nyards, and then face to the right. Whatever Gahogan finds let him go\nat it. If he can't shake it, help him. You two _must_ reach the top of\nthe ridge. Only, look out for your left flank. Keep a squadron or two\nin reserve on that side.\"\n\n\"Currnell, if we don't raich the top of the hill, it'll be because it\nhasn't got wan,\" answered Gahogan. Stilton only laughed and rode\nforward.\n\nWaldron now returned toward the fork of the road. On the way he sent a\nstaff officer to the Seventh with renewed orders to attack as soon as\npossible after Gildersleeve. Then another staff officer was hurried\nforward to Taylor with directions to push his feint strongly, and\ndrive his skirmishers as far up the as they could get. A third\nstaff officer set the Parrotts in rear of Taylor to firing with all\ntheir might. By the time that the commandant had returned to Colburn's\nambushed ranks, no one was with him but his enemy, Fitz Hugh.\n\n\"You don't seem to trust me with duty, Colonel,\" said the young man.\n\n\"I shall use you only in case of extremity, Captain,\" replied Waldron.\n\"We have business to settle to-morrow.\"\n\n\"I ask no favors on that account. I hope you will offer me none.\"\n\n\"In case of need I shall spare no one,\" declared Waldron.\n\nThen he took out his watch, looked at it impatiently, put it to his\near, restored it to his pocket, and felt into an attitude of deep\nattention. Evidently his whole mind was on his battle, and he was\nwaiting, watching, yearning for its outburst.\n\n\"If he wins this fight,\" thought Fitz Hugh, \"how can I do him a harm?\nAnd yet,\" he added, \"how can I help it?\"\n\nMinutes passed. Fitz Hugh tried to think of his injury, and to steel\nhimself against his chief. But the roar of battle on the right, and\nthe suspense and imminence of battle on the left, absorbed the\nattention of even this wounded and angry spirit, as, indeed, they\nmight have absorbed that of any being not more or less than human. A\nprivate wrong, insupportable though it might be, seemed so small amid\nthat deadly clamor and awful expectation! Moreover, the intellect\nwhich worked so calmly and vigorously by his side, and which alone of\nall things near appeared able to rule the coming crisis, began to\ndominate him, in spite of his sense of injury. A thought crossed him\nto the effect that the great among men are too valuable to be punished\nfor their evil deeds. He turned to the absorbed brigade commander, now\nnot only his ruler but even his protector, with a feeling that he must\naccord him a word of peace, a proffer in some form of possible\nforgiveness and friendship. But the man's face was clouded and stern\nwith responsibility and authority. He seemed at that moment too lofty\nto be approached with a message of pardon. Fitz Hugh gazed at him with\na mixture of profound respect and smothered hate. He gazed, turned\naway, and remained silent.\n\nMinutes more passed. Then a mounted orderly dashed up at full speed,\nwith the words, \"Colonel Major Gahogan has fronted.\"\n\n\"Has he?\" answered Waldron, with a smile which thanked the trooper and\nmade him happy. \"Ride on through the thicket here, my man, and tell\nColonel Gildersleeve to push up his skirmishers.\"\n\nWith a thud of hoofs and a rustling of parting foliage the cavalryman\ndisappeared amid the underwood. A minute or two later a thin, dropping\nrattle of musketry, five hundred yards or so to the front, announced\nthat the sharpshooters of the Fourteenth were at work. Almost\nimmediately there was an angry response, full of the threatenings and\nexecution of death. Through the lofty leafage tore the screech of a\nshell, bursting with a sharp crash as it passed overhead, and\nscattering in humming slivers. Then came another, and another, and\nmany more, chasing each other with hoarse hissings through the\ntrembling air, a succession of flying serpents. The enemy doubtless\nbelieved that nearly the whole attacking force was massed in the wood\naround the road, and they had brought at least four guns to bear upon\nthat point, and were working them with the utmost possible rapidity.\nPresently a large chestnut, not fifty yards from Fitz Hugh, was struck\nby a shot. The solid trunk, nearly three feet in diameter, parted\nasunder as if it were the brittlest of vegetable matter. The upper\nportion started aside with a monstrous groan, dropped in a standing\nposture to the earth, and then toppled slowly, sublimely prostrate,\nits branches crashing and all its leaves wailing. Ere long, a little\nfurther to the front, another Anak of the forest went down; and,\nmingled with the noise of its sylvan agony, there arose sharp cries of\nhuman suffering. Then Colonel Colburn, a broad-chested and ruddy man\nof thirty-five, with a look of indignant anxiety in his iron-gray\neyes, rode up to the brigade commander.\n\n\"This is very annoying, Colonel,\" he said. \"I am losing my men without\nusing them. That last tree fell into my command.\"\n\n\"Are they firing toward our left?\" asked Waldron.\n\n\"Not a shot.\"\n\n\"Very good,\" said the chief, with a sigh of contentment. \"If we can\nonly keep them occupied in this direction! By the way, let your men\nlie down under the fallen tree, as far as it will go. It will protect\nthem from others.\"\n\nColburn rode back to his regiment. Waldron looked impatiently at his\nwatch. At that moment a fierce burst of line firing arose in front,\nfollowed and almost overborne by a long-drawn yell, the scream of\ncharging men. Waldron put up his watch, glanced excitedly at Fitz\nHugh, and smiled.\n\n\"I must forgive or forget,\" the latter could not help saying to\nhimself. \"All the rest of life is nothing compared with this.\"\n\n\"Captain,\" said Waldron, \"ride off to the left at full speed. As soon\nas you hear firing at the shoulder of the ridge, return instantly and\nlet me know.\"\n\nFitz Hugh dashed away. Three minutes carried him into perfect peace,\nbeyond the whistling of ball or the screeching of shell. On the right\nwas a tranquil, wide waving of foliage, and on the left a serene\nlandscape of cultivated fields, with here and there an embowered\nfarm-house. Only for the clamor of artillery and musketry far behind\nhim, he could not have believed in the near presence of battle, of\nblood and suffering and triumphant death. But suddenly he heard to his\nright, assaulting and slaughtering the tranquillity of nature, a\ntumultuous outbreak of file-firing, mingled with savage yells. He\nwheeled, drove spurs into his horse, and flew back to Waldron. As he\nre-entered the wood he met wounded men streaming through it, a few\nmarching alertly upright, many more crouching and groaning, some\nclinging to their less injured comrades, but all haggard in face and\nghastly.\n\n\"Are we winning?\" he hastily asked of one man who held up a hand with\nthree fingers gone and the bones projecting in sharp spikes through\nmangled flesh.\n\n\"All right, Sir; sailing in,\" was the answer.\n\n\"Is the brigade commander all right?\" he inquired of another who was\nwinding a bloody handkerchief around his arm.\n\n\"Straight ahead, Sir; hurrah for Waldron!\" responded the soldier, and\nalmost in the same instant fell lifeless with a fresh ball through his\nhead.\n\n\"Hurrah for him!\" Fitz Hugh answered frantically, plunging on through\nthe underwood. He found Waldron with Colburn, the two conversing\ntranquilly in their saddles amid hissing bullets and dropping\nbranches.\n\n\"Move your regiment forward now,\" the brigade commander was saying;\n\"but halt it in the edge of the wood.\"\n\n\"Shan't I relieve Gildersleeve if he gets beaten?\" asked the\nsubordinate officer eagerly.\n\n\"No. The regiments on the left will help him out. I want your men and\nPeck's for the fight on top of the hill. Of course the rebels will try\nto retake it; then I shall call for you.\"\n\nFitz Hugh now approached and said, \"Colonel, the Seventh has attacked\nin force.\"\n\n\"Good!\" answered Waldron, with that sweet smile of his which thanked\npeople who brought him pleasant news. \"I thought I heard his fire.\nGahogan will be on their right rear in ten minutes. Then we shall get\nthe ridge. Ride back now to Major Bradley, and tell him to bring his\nNapoleons through the wood, and set two of them to shelling the\nenemy's centre. Tell him my idea is to amuse them, and keep them from\nchanging front.\"\n\nAgain Fitz Hugh galloped off as before on a comfortably safe errand,\nsafer at all events than many errands of that day. \"This man is\nsparing my life,\" he said to himself. \"Would to God I knew how to\nspare his!\"\n\nHe found Bradley lunching on a gun caisson, and delivered his orders.\n\"Something to do at last, eh?\" laughed the rosy-cheeked youngster.\n\"The smallest favors thankfully received. Won't you take a bite of\nrebel chicken, Captain? This rebellion must be put down. No? Well,\ntell the Colonel I am moving on, and John Brown's soul not far ahead.\"\n\nWhen Fitz Hugh returned to Waldron he found him outside of the wood,\nat the base of the long incline which rose into the rebel position.\nAbout the were scattered prostrate forms, most numerous near the\nbottom, some crawling slowly rearward, some quiescent. Under the brow\nof the ridge, decimated and broken into a mere skirmish line sheltered\nin knots and, singly, behind rocks and knolls and bushes, lay the\nFourteenth Regiment, keeping up a steady, slow fire. From the edge\nabove, smokily dim against a pure, blue heaven, answered another\nrattle of musketry, incessant, obstinate, and spiteful. The combatants\non both sides were lying down; otherwise neither party could have\nlasted ten minutes. From Fitz Hugh's point of view not a Confederate\nuniform could be seen. But the smoke of their rifles made a long gray\nline, which was disagreeably visible and permanent; and the sharp\n_whit! whit!_ of their bullets continually passed him, and cheeped\naway in the leafage behind.\n\n\"Our men can't get on another inch,\" he ventured to say to his\ncommander. \"Wouldn't it be well for me to ride up and say a cheering\nword?\"\n\n\"Every battle consists largely in waiting,\" replied Waldron\nthoughtfully. \"They have undoubtedly brought up a reserve to face\nThomas. But when Gahogan strikes the flank of the reserve, we shall\nwin.\"\n\n\"I wish you would take shelter,\" begged Fitz Hugh. \"Everything depends\non your life.\"\n\n\"My life has been both a help and a hurt to my fellow-creatures,\"\nsighed the brigade commander. \"Let come what will to it.\"\n\nHe glanced upward with an expression of profound emotion; he was\nevidently fighting two battles, an outward and an inward one.\n\nPresently he added, \"I think the musketry is increasing on the left.\nDoes it strike you so?\"\n\nHe was all eagerness again, leaning forward with an air of earnest\nlistening, his face deeply flushed and his eye brilliant. Of a sudden\nthe combat above rose and swelled into higher violence. There was a\nclamor far away--it seemed nearly a mile away--over the hill. Then the\nnearer musketry, first Thomas' on the shoulder of the ridge, next\nGildersleeve's in front, caught fire and raged with new fury.\n\nWaldron laughed outright. \"Gahogan has reached them,\" he said to one\nof his staff who had just rejoined him. \"We shall all be up there in\nfive minutes. Tell Colburn to bring on his regiment slowly.\"\n\nThen, turning to Fitz Hugh, he added, \"Captain, we will ride forward.\"\n\nThey set off at a walk, now watching the smoking brow of the eminence,\nnow picking their way among dead and wounded. Suddenly there was a\nshout above them and a sudden diminution of the firing; and looking\nupward, they saw the men of the Fourteenth running confusedly toward\nthe summit. Without a word the brigade commander struck spurs into his\nhorse and dashed up the long at a run, closely followed by his\nenemy and aid. What they saw when they overtook the straggling,\nrunning, panting, screaming pell-mell of the Fourteenth was victory!\n\nThe entire right wing of the Confederates, attacked on three sides at\nonce, placed at enormous disadvantage, completely outgeneraled, had\ngiven way in confusion, was retreating, breaking, and flying. There\nwere lines yet of dirty gray or butternut; but they were few, meagre,\nfluctuating, and recoiling, and there were scattered and scurrying\nmen in hundreds. Three veteran and gallant regiments had gone\nall to wreck under the shock of three similar regiments far more\nintelligently directed. A strong position had been lost because the\nheroes who held it could not perform the impossible feat of forming\nsuccessively two fresh fronts under a concentric fire of musketry. The\ninferior brain power had confessed the superiority of the stronger\none.\n\nOn the victorious side there was wild, clamorous, fierce exultation.\nThe hurrying, shouting, firing soldiers, who noted their commander\nriding among them, swung their rifles or their tattered hats at him,\nand screamed \"Hurrah!\" No one thought of the Confederate dead under\nfoot, nor of the Union dead who dotted the behind. \"What are you\nhere for, Colonel?\" shouted rough old Gildersleeve, one leg of his\ntrousers dripping blood. \"We can do it alone.\"\n\n\"It is a battle won,\" laughed Fitz Hugh, almost worshipping the man\nwhom he had come to slay.\n\n\"It is a battle won, but not used,\" answered Waldron. \"We haven't a\ngun yet, nor a flag. Where is the cavalry? Why isn't Stilton here? He\nmust have got afoul of the enemy's horse, and been obliged to beat it\noff. Can anybody hear anything of Stilton?\"\n\n\"Let him go,\" roared old Grumps. \"The infantry don't want any help.\"\n\n\"Your regiment has suffered, Colonel,\" answered Waldron, glancing at\nthe scattered files of the Fourteenth. \"Halt it and reorganize it, and\nlet it fall in with the right of the First when Peck comes up. I shall\nreplace you with the Fifth. Send your Adjutant back to Colburn and\ntell him to hurry along. Those fellows are making a new front over\nthere,\" he added, pointing to the centre of the hill. \"I want the\nFifth, Seventh, and Tenth in _echelon_ as quickly as possible. And I\nwant that cavalry. Lieutenant,\" turning to one of his staff, \"ride off\nto the left and find Colonel Stilton. Tell him that I need a charge in\nten minutes.\"\n\nPresently cannon opened from that part of the ridge still held by the\nConfederates, the shells tearing through or over the dissolving groups\nof their right wing, and cracking viciously above the heads of the\nvictorious Unionists. The explosions followed each other with stunning\nrapidity, and the shrill whirring of the splinters was ominous. Men\nbegan to fall again in the ranks or to drop out of them wounded. Of\nall this Waldron took no further note than to ride hastily to the brow\nof the ridge and look for his own artillery.\n\n\"See how he attinds to iverything himself,\" said Major Gahogan, who\nhad cantered up to the side of Fitz Hugh. \"It's just a matther of\nplain business, an' he looks after it loike a business man. Did ye see\nus, though, Captin, whin we come in on their right flank? By George,\nwe murthered um. There's more'n a hundred lyin' in hapes back there.\nAs for old Stilton, I just caught sight of um behind that wood to our\nleft, an' he's makin' for the enemy's right rair. He'll have lots o'\nprisoners in half an hour.\"\n\nWhen Waldron returned to the group he was told of his cavalry's\nwhereabouts, and responded to the information with a smile of\nsatisfaction.\n\n\"Bradley is hurrying up,\" he said, \"and Taylor is pushing their left\nsmartly. They will make one more tussle to recover their line of\nretreat; but we shall smash them from end to end and take every gun.\"\n\nHe galloped now to his infantry, and gave the word \"Forward!\" The\nthree regiments which composed the _echelon_ were the Fifth on the\nright, the Seventh fifty yards to the rear and left of the Fifth, the\nTenth to the rear and left of the Seventh. It was behind the Fifth,\nthat is the foremost battalion, that the brigade commander posted\nhimself.\n\n\"Do _you_ mean to stay here, Colonel?\" asked Fitz Hugh, in surprise\nand anxiety.\n\n\"It is a certain victory now,\" answered Waldron, with a singular\nglance upward. \"My life is no longer important. I prefer to do my duty\nto the utmost in the sight of all men.\"\n\n\"I shall follow you and do mine, Sir,\" said the Captain, much moved,\nhe could scarcely say by what emotions, they were so many and\nconflicting.\n\n\"I want you other wheres. Ride to Colonel Taylor at once, and hurry\nhim up the hill. Tell him the enemy have greatly weakened their left.\nTell him to push up everything, infantry, and cavalry, and artillery,\nand to do it in haste.\"\n\n\"Colonel, this is saving my life against my will,\" remonstrated Fitz\nHugh.\n\n\"Go!\" ordered Waldron, imperiously. \"Time is precious.\"\n\nFitz Hugh dashed down the to the right at a gallop. The brigade\ncommander turned tranquilly, and followed the march of his _echelon_.\nThe second and decisive crisis of the little battle was approaching,\nand to understand it we must glance at the ground on which it was to\nbe fought. Two hostile lines were marching toward each other along the\nbroad, gently rounded crest of the hill and at right angles to its\ngeneral course. Between these lines, but much the nearest to the Union\ntroops, a spacious road came up out of the forest in front, crossed\nthe ridge, swept down the smooth decline in rear, and led to a single\nwooden bridge over a narrow but deep rivulet. On either hand the road\nwas hedged in by a close board fence, four feet or so in height. It\nwas for the possession of this highway that the approaching lines were\nabout to shed their blood. If the Confederates failed to win it, all\ntheir artillery would be lost, and their army captured or dispersed.\n\nThe two parties came on without firing. The soldiers on both sides\nwere veterans, cool, obedient to orders, intelligent through long\nservice, and able to reserve all their resources for a short-range\nand final struggle. Moreover, the fences as yet partially hid them\nfrom each other, and would have rendered all aim for the present vague\nand uncertain.\n\n\"Forward, Fifth!\" shouted Waldron. \"Steady. Reserve your fire.\" Then,\nas the regiment came up to the fence, he added, \"Halt; right dress.\nSteady, men.\"\n\nMeantime he watched the advancing array with an eager gaze. It was a\nnoble sight, full of moral sublimity, and worthy of all admiration.\nThe long, lean, sunburned, weather-beaten soldiers in ragged gray\nstepped forward, superbly, their ranks loose, but swift and firm, the\nmen leaning forward in their haste, their tattered slouch hats pushed\nbackward, their whole aspect business-like and virile. Their line was\nthree battalions strong, far outflanking the Fifth, and at least equal\nto the entire _echelon_. When within thirty or forty yards of the\nfurther fence they increased their pace to nearly a double-quick, many\nof them stooping low in hunter fashion, and a few firing. Then Waldron\nrose in his stirrups and yelled, \"Battalion! ready--aim--aim low.\nFire!\"\n\nThere was a stunning roar of three hundred and fifty rifles, and a\ndeadly screech of bullets. But the smoke rolled out, the haste to\nreload was intense, and none could mark what execution was done.\nWhatever the Confederates may have suffered, they bore up under the\nvolley, and they came on. In another minute each of those fences, not\nmore than twenty-five yards apart, was lined by the shattered fragment\nof a regiment, each firing as fast as possible into the face of the\nother. The Fifth bled fearfully: it had five of its ten company\ncommanders shot dead in three minutes; and its loss in other officers\nand in men fell scarcely short of this terrible ratio. On its left the\nSeventh and the Tenth were up, pouring in musketry, and receiving it\nin a fashion hardly less sanguinary. No one present had ever seen, or\never afterward saw, such another close and deadly contest.\n\nBut the strangest thing in this whole wonderful fight was the conduct\nof the brigade commander. Up and down the rear of the lacerated Fifth\nWaldron rode thrice, spurring his plunging and wounded horse close to\nthe yelling and fighting file-closers, and shouting in a piercing\nvoice encouragement to his men. Stranger still, considering the\ncharacter which he had borne in the army, and considering the evil\ndeed for which he was to account on the morrow, were the words which\nhe was distinctly and repeatedly heard to utter. \"Stand steady,\nmen--God is with us!\" was the extraordinary battle-cry of this\nbackslidden clergyman, this sinner above many.\n\nAnd it was a prophecy of victory. Bradley ran up his Napoleons on the\nright in the nick of time, and, although only one of them could be\nbrought to bear, it was enough; the grape raked the Confederate left,\nbroke it, and the battle was over. In five minutes more their whole\narray was scattered, and the entire position open to galloping\ncavalry, seizing guns, standards, and prisoners.\n\nIt was in the very moment of triumph, just as the stubborn Southern\nline reeled back from the fence in isolated clusters, that the\nmiraculous impunity of Waldron terminated, and he received his death\nwound. A quarter of an hour later Fitz Hugh found a sorrowful group of\nofficers gazing from a little distance upon their dying commander.\n\n\"Is the Colonel hit?\" he asked, shocked and grieved, incredible as the\nemotion may seem.\n\n\"Don't go near him,\" called Gildersleeve, who, it will be remembered,\nknew or guessed his errand in camp. \"The Chaplain and surgeon are\nthere. Let him alone.\"\n\n\"He's going to render his account,\" added Gahogan. \"An' whativer he's\ndone wrong, he's made it square to-day. Let um lave it to his\nbrigade.\"\n\nAdjutant Wallis, who had been blubbering aloud, who had cursed the\nrebels and the luck energetically, and who had also been trying to\npray inwardly, groaned out, \"This is our last victory. You see if it\nain't. Bet you two to one.\"\n\n\"Hush, man!\" replied Gahogan. \"We'll win our share of um, though we'll\nhave to work harder for it. We'll have to do more ourselves, an' get\nless done for us in the way of tactics.\"\n\n\"That so, Major,\" whimpered a drummer, looking up from his duty of\nattending to a wounded comrade. \"He knowed how to put his men in the\nright place, and his men knowed when they was in the right place. But\nit's goin' to be uphill through the steepest part of hell the rest of\nthe way.\"\n\nSoldiers, some of them weeping, some of them bleeding, arrived\nconstantly to inquire after their commander, only to be sent quietly\nback to their ranks or to the rear. Around lay other men--dead\nmen, and senseless, groaning men--all for the present unnoticed.\nEverything, except the distant pursuit of the cavalry, waited for\nWaldron to die. Fitz Hugh looked on silently, with the tears of\nmingled emotions in his eyes, and with hopes and hatreds expiring in\nhis heart. The surgeon supported the expiring victor's head, while\nChaplain Colquhoun knelt beside him, holding his hand and praying\naudibly. Of a sudden the petition ceased, both bent hastily toward the\nwounded man, and after what seemed a long time exchanged whispers.\nThen the Chaplain rose, came slowly toward the now advancing group\nof officers, his hands outspread toward heaven in an attitude of\nbenediction, and tears running down his haggard white face.\n\n\"I trust, dear friends,\" he said, in a tremulous voice, \"that all is\nwell with our brother and commander. His last words were, 'God is with\nus.'\"\n\n\"Oh! but, man, _that_ isn't well,\" broke out Gahogan, in a groan.\n\"What did ye pray for his sowl for? Why didn't ye pray for his loife?\"\n\nFitz Hugh turned his horse and rode silently away. The next day he was\nseen journeying rearward by the side of an ambulance, within which lay\nwhat seemed a strangely delicate boy, insensible, and, one would say,\nmortally ill.\n\n\n\n\nSPLIT ZEPHYR.\n\nAN ATTENUATED YARN SPUN BY THE FATES.\n\nBY HENRY A. BEERS\n\n_Century Magazine, June, 1883._\n\n\nIt was the evening of Commencement Day. The old church on the green,\nwhich had rung for many consecutive hours with the eloquence of slim\nyoung gentlemen in evening dress, exhorting the Scholar in Politics or\ndenouncing the Gross Materialism of the Age, was at last empty and\nstill. As it drew the dewy shadows softly about its eaves and filled\nits rasped interior with soothing darkness, it bore a whimsical\nlikeness to some aged horse which, having been pestered all day with\nflies, was now feeding in peace along the dim pasture.\n\nIt was Clay who suggested this resemblance, and we all laughed\nappreciatively, as we used to do in those days at Clay's clever\nsayings. There were five of us strolling down the diagonal walk to\nour farewell supper at \"Ambrose's.\" Arrived at that refectory, we\nfound it bare of guests and had things quite to ourselves. After\nsupper, we took our coffee out in the little court-yard, where a\nfountain dribbled, and the flutter of the grape-leaves on the\ntrellises in the night wind invited to confidences.\n\n\"Well, Armstrong,\" began Doddridge, \"where are you going to spend the\nvacation?\"\n\n\"Vacation!\" answered Armstrong; \"vacations are over for me.\"\n\n\"You're not going to work for your living at once?\" inquired Berkeley.\n\n\"I'm going to work to-morrow,\" replied Armstrong, emphatically: \"I'm\ngoing down to New York to enter a law office.\"\n\n\"I thought you had some notion of staying here and taking a course of\ngraduate study.\"\n\n\"No, sir! The sooner a man gets into harness, the better. I've wasted\nenough time in the last four years. The longer a man loafs around in\nthis old place, under pretense of reading and that kind of thing, the\nharder it is for him to take hold.\"\n\nArmstrong was a rosy little man, with yellow hair and light eyes. His\nexpression was one of irresolute good nature. His temper was sanguine\nand expansive, and he had been noted in college for anything but\nconcentration of pursuit. He was gregarious in his habits, susceptible\nand subject to sudden enthusiasms. His good nature made him a victim\nto all the bores and idlers in the class, and his room became a\nfavorite resort for men on their way to recitation, being on the\nground floor and near the lecture-rooms. They would drop in about half\nan hour before the bell rang, and make up a little game of \"penny\nante\" around Armstrong's center-table. In these diversions he seldom\ntook part, as he had given it out publicly that he was \"studying for a\nstand\"; but his abstinence from the game in no wise damped the spirits\nof his guests. Occasionally his presence would receive the notice of\nthe company somewhat as follows:\n\n No. 1. \"Make less noise, fellows: Charley is digging out\n that Puckle lesson.\"\n\n No. 2. \"You go into the bedroom, Charley, and shut the door,\n and then you won't be bothered by the racket.\"\n\n No. 3. \"Oh, hang the Puckle! Come and take a hand, Charley.\n We'll let you in this pool without an ante.\"\n\n No. 4. \"Why don't you get a new pack of cards, Charley? It's\n a disgrace to you to keep such a dirty lot of old\n pasteboards for your friends.\"\n\nIn face of which abuse, Armstrong was as helpless as Telemachus under\nthe visitation of the suitors. The resolute air with which he now\ndeclared his intention of grappling with life had therefore something\ncomic about it, and Berkeley said, rather incredulously:\n\n\"I suppose you'll keep up your reading along with your law?\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the other; \"Themis is a jealous mistress. No; I'm going\nto bone right down to it.\"\n\n\"Haven't you changed your ideal of life lately?\" asked Clay, a little\nscornfully.\n\n\"Perhaps I have,\" said Armstrong, \"perhaps I've had to.\"\n\n\"What _is_ your ideal of life?\" I inquired.\n\n\"Well, I'll tell you,\" he answered, draining his coffee-cup solemnly,\nand putting it down with the manner of a man who has made up his mind.\nThe rest of us arranged ourselves in attitudes of attention. \"My ideal\nis independence,\" began Armstrong. \"I want to live my own life; and as\nthe first condition of independence is money, I'm going for money.\nCulture and taste, and all that, are well enough when a man can afford\nit, but for a poor man it means just so many additional wants which he\ncan't gratify. My father is an educated man; a country minister with a\nsmall salary and a large family; and his education, instead of being a\nblessing, has been an actual curse to him. He has pined for all sorts\nof things which he couldn't have--books, engravings, foreign travel,\nleisure for study, nice people and nice things about him. I've made\nup my mind that, whatever else I may be, I won't be poor, and I\nwon't be a minister, and I won't have a wife and brats hanging\nto me. I tell you that, next to ill health, poverty is the worst\nthing that can happen to a man. All the sentimental grievances\nthat are represented in novels and poetry as the deepest of human\nafflictions,--disappointed ambitions, death of friends, loss of faith,\nestrangements, having your girl go back on you,--they don't signify\nvery long if a man has sound health and a full purse. The ministers\nand novel writers and fellows that preach the sentimental view of life\ndon't believe it themselves. It's a kind of professional or literary\nquackery with them. Just let them feel the pinch of poverty, and then\noffer them a higher salary or a chance to make a little 'sordid gain'\nin some way, and see how quick they'll accept the call to 'a higher\nsphere of usefulness.' Berk, hand over a match, will you; this cigar\nhas gone out.\"\n\n\"Loud cries of 'We will--we will'!\" said Berkeley. \"But can it be? Has\nthe poick turned cynic, and the sickly sentimentalist become a\nmaterialist and a misogynist?\"\n\n(Armstrong was our class poet, and had worried the official muse on\nPresentation Day to the utterance of some four hundred lines filled\nwith allusions to Alma Mater, Friendship's Altar, the Elms of Yale,\netc. His piece on that occasion had been \"pronounced, by a well-known\nliterary gentleman who was present, equal to the finest productions of\nour own Willis.\")\n\n\"I'll bet the cigars,\" said Doddridge, \"that Armstrong marries the\nfirst girl he sees in New York.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Clay, \"his boarding-house keeper's daughter.\"\n\n\"And has a dozen children before he is forty,\" added Berkeley; \"a\ndozen kids, and all of them girls. Charley is sure to be a begetter of\nwenches.\"\n\n\"And writes birthday odes 'To My Infant Daughter' for the 'Home\nJournal,'\" continued Clay.\n\n\"No, no,\" said the victim of this banter, shaking his head solemnly.\n\"I shall give no hostages to Fortune. I mean to live snug and carry as\nlittle sail as possible: to leave only the narrowest margin out for\nFate to tread on. The man who has the fewest exposed points leads, on\nthe whole, the happiest life. How can a man enjoy himself freely when\na piece of defective plumbing, the bursting of a toy pistol, the\ncarelessness of a nurse, may plunge him into a life-long sorrow? I\ndon't say it's a very noble life that I propose to myself, but it's a\nsafe one. I'm too nervous and anxious to stand the responsibilities of\nmatrimony.\"\n\n\"If you can't stand responsibility,\" said Doddridge, \"I don't see why\nyou choose the law for a profession. You don't seem to me cut out for\na lawyer anyway. I always thought you meant to be some kind of a\nliterary chap.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Berkeley, \"why don't you go for a snug berth under the\ngovernment, or study for a tutorship here? That's the life that would\nsuit you, old man.\"\n\n\"Not at all,\" answered Armstrong; \"I have a horror of any salaried\nposition, or of any position where a man is obliged to conform his\nhabits and opinions to other people's. It is the worst sort of\ndependence. Now a lawyer in successful practice, and especially if he\nis a bachelor, is about as independent as a man can be. His relations\nwith his clients are merely professional, and what he does or thinks\nprivately is nobody's business.\"\n\n\"If you are going to be a mere lawyer,\" asked Clay, \"what becomes of\nyour education and your intellectual satisfactions, etc.?\"\n\n\"A man can get his best intellectual satisfactions out of the work of\nhis profession,\" answered Armstrong. \"Besides, as to that, there's\ntime enough. Fifteen years of solid work will enable one to put by a\nfair competence, if he lives carefully and has no one but himself to\nsupport; and then he will be free to take up a hobby. Oh, I shall\ncultivate a hobby or two after awhile. It keeps the mind healthy to\nhave some interest of the kind outside of one's business. I may take\nto book-collecting or numismatics or raising orchids. Perhaps I may\nbecome an authority on ancient armor; time enough for that by and by.\nAnd then I can cut over to Europe every summer if I like, and no one\nto interfere with my down-sittings or my up-risings, my goings-out or\nmy comings-in. Do you know,\" he went on, after a pause, \"how I always\nlook to myself in the glass of the future? I figure myself like old\nTulkinghorn, in 'Bleak House,'--going down into his reverberating\nvaults for a bottle of choice vintage, after the work of the day, and\nthen sitting quietly in the twilight in his dusky, old-fashioned law\nchambers, sipping his wine while the room fills with the fragrance of\nsouthern grapes. The gay old silver-top!\"\n\nThere was silence for a few minutes after Armstrong had finished his\ndeclaration. It was broken by Berkeley, who had risen, and was walking\nup and down in front of the fountain with his hands thrust into his\npockets.\n\n\"You couldn't lead that sort of life if you tried,\" he said; \"you\naren't built for it.\"\n\n\"Don't you make any mistake,\" rejoined the other; \"it's the sort of\nlife I'm going to live.\"\n\n\"It's a cowardly life,\" retorted Berkeley.\n\n\"Did I say it wasn't? I said it was safe. You can call it what you\nlike.\"\n\n\"Well,\" replied Berkeley, seating himself again, \"my ideal career is\njust the opposite of that.\"\n\n\"Suppose you explain yours, then,\" said Armstrong.\n\nBerkeley hesitated a few moments before beginning. He was a lean,\ntallish fellow, with a Scotch cast of countenance, a small blue eye,\nhigh cheek bones, a freckled skin, and whity-brown hair. He had a dry,\ncautious humor, fed by much out-of-the-way reading. He had been\ndistinguished in college by methodical habits, a want of ambition, a\ndisposition to keep to himself, and a mixture of selfishness and\n_bonhomie_ which made him a cold friend but an agreeable companion.\nIt was therefore with some surprise that we heard him deliver himself\nas follows:\n\n\"I believe that the greatest mistake a man can make is in not getting\nenough out of life. I want to lead a full life, to have a wide\nexperience, to develop my whole nature to the utmost, to touch mankind\nat the largest possible number of points. I want adventure, change,\nexcitement, emotion, suffering even,--I don't care what, so long as it\nis not stagnation. Just consider what there is on this planet to be\nseen, learned, enjoyed, and what a miserably small share of it most\npeople appropriate. Why, there are men in my village who have never\nbeen outside the county and seldom out of the township; who have never\nheard a word of any language but English; never seen a city or a\nmountain or the ocean--or, indeed, any body of water bigger than Fresh\nPond or the Hogganum River; never been in a theatre, steamboat,\nlibrary, or cathedral. Cathedral! Their conception of a church is\nlimited to the white wooden meeting-house at 'the center.' Their\nart-gallery is the wagon of a travelling photographer. Their\nmetropolitan hotel is the stoop and bar-room of the 'Uncas House.'\nTheir university is the unpainted school-house on the hill. Their\nliterature is the weekly newspaper from the county town. But take the\nmajority of educated men even. What a rusty, small kind of existence\nthey lead! They are in a rut, just the same as the others, only the\nrut is a trifle wider. If I had my way I would never do the same work\nor talk with the same people--hardly live in the same place for two\ndays running. Life is too short to do a thing twice. When I come to\nthe end of mine I don't want to say _J'ai manque la vie_; but make my\nbrag, with the Wife of Bath,\n\n 'Unto this day it doth myn herte bote\n That I have had my world as in my time.'\"\n\n\"Well, how are you going to do all those fine things?\" inquired\nArmstrong. \"For instance, that about not living in one place two days\nrunning. I'm afraid you'll find that inconvenient, not to say\nexpensive.\"\n\n\"Oh, you mustn't take me too literally. I may have to travel on foot\nor take a steerage passage, but I shall keep going all the same. I\nhaven't made any definite plans yet. I shall probably strike for\nsomething in the diplomatic line,--secretary of legation, or some\nsmall consulship perhaps. But the principle is the main thing, and the\nprinciple is: Don't do anything because it's the nearest and easiest\nand most obvious thing to do, but make up your mind to get the best.\nLook at the lazy way in which men accept their circumstances. There is\nthe matter of acquaintance, for instance--we let chance determine it.\nWe know the men that we can't help knowing,--the ones in the next\nhouse, cousins and second cousins, business connections, etc. Here at\ncollege, now, we get acquainted with the fellows at the eating club or\nin the same society, or those who happen to sit next us in the\nclass-room, because their names begin with the same letter. That's it;\nit's just a sample of our whole life. Our friendships, like everything\nelse about us, are determined by the alphabet. We go with the Z's\nbecause some arbitrary system of classification has put us among them,\ninstead of fighting our way up to the A's, where we naturally belong.\nThe consequence is that one's friends are mostly dreadful bores.\"\n\n\"I'm sure we are all much obliged to you,\" murmured Clay,\nparenthetically.\n\n\"There are about two or three thousand people in the world,\" continued\nBerkeley, \"supremely worth knowing. Why shouldn't _I_ know them?---- I\nwill! Everybody knows two or three thousand people,--mostly very\nstupid people,--or, rather, he lets them know him. Why shouldn't he\nuse some choice in the matter? Why not know Thackeray and Carlyle,\nLord Palmerston and the Pope, and the Emperor of China and all the\ngreat statesmen, authors, African explorers, military commanders,\nartists, hereditary nobles, actresses, wits and belles of the best\nsociety, instead of putting up with Tom, Dick, and Harry?\"\n\n\"Berkeley, 'with whom the bell-mouthed flask had wrought!'\" exclaimed\nClay. \"Decidedly, Berk, you should take your coffee without cognac.\"\n\n\"Let me suggest,\" put in Doddridge, \"that some of those parties you\nmentioned are not so easy to get introductions to.\"\n\n\"Oh, I say again, you mustn't take me too literally. But even the top\nswells are easier to know than you think. All that is wanted is a\nlittle cheek. But take it in a smaller way; say that we resolve to\ncultivate the best society within our reach. Doubtless there are\nnumbers of interesting and distinguished people right here in New\nHaven whose acquaintance it would be worth while to have. But how long\nwould you beggars live here without making the least effort to look\nthem out, and meanwhile put up with the same old every-day bores--like\nme, or Polisson here? And it's the same way with marriage. A fellow\nblunders into matrimony with the first attractive girl that gives him\nthe opportunity. He knows, if he takes the time to think about it,\nthat there are a thousand others better than she, if he will wait and\nlook through the world a little. 'Juxtaposition in fine,' as Clough\nsays.\"\n\n\"Of course, with such a brilliant destiny before you, _you'll_ never\nmarry,\" said I.\n\n\"Yes, I think I shall. I fancy that the noblest possibilities of life\nare never realized without marriage. Yes, I can think of nothing finer\nthan to have a lot of manly boys and sweet girls growing up around\none. But when I marry it shall be so as to give completeness and\nexpansion to life, not narrowness and dullness. I shall never marry\nand settle down. Settle down! What a damnable expression that is! A\nman ought to settle _up_. I mean to have my fling first, too. I should\nlike to gamble a bit at Baden-Baden. I should like to go out to\nColorado and have a lick at mining speculations. I want to rough it\nsome too, and see how life is lived close to the bone: ship for a\nvoyage before the mast; enlist for a campaign or two somewhere and\nhave joy of battle; join the gypsies or the Mormons or the Shakers for\nawhile, and taste all the queerness of things. And then I want to\nfloat for another while on the very top-most crest of society. I want\nto fight a duel or two, elope with a marquise, do a little of\neverything for the experience's sake, as a man ought to take opium\nonce in his life just to know how it feels.\"\n\nWhether it was indeed the cognac, or only the unusual excitement\nattending this outburst of pent-up fire, Berkeley's cheek had got\na flush upon it. Perhaps, too, it was owing to the influences of\nthe day and the hour, the splash of the fountain, the rustle of\nthe vine-leaves, and the wavering shadows which played about the\ncourt-yard as the gas-jets flickered in the breeze of night, that made\nhis boastful words seem less extravagantly out of character than they\notherwise would. The silence which followed his speech was broken by\nClay, who sat with his foot on the rim of the fountain, balancing on\nthe hind legs of his chair, and looking thoughtfully at the slender\njet as it rose and fell. He still wore the dress suit in which he had\nfigured on the Commencement platform in the afternoon, and which set\noff the aristocratic grace of his slight figure. There was a pale\nintellectual light in his face, and his black eyes had the glow of\ngenius.\n\n\"I think,\" he began, \"that Berkeley makes a mistake in confounding a\nfull life with a restless one. I believe in a full experience too, but\nthe satisfactions should be inward ones. Take the matter of foreign\ntravel, for one thing, on which you lay so much stress. It is a great\nstimulus to the imagination, no doubt; but then foreign countries are\naccessible to the imagination by other means--through books and art,\nfor example. I think it likely that the reality is, quite as often as\nnot, disappointing. Place, after all, is indifferent. 'The soul is its\nown place': you can't get rid of yourself by going abroad, and it's\nhimself that a man gets sooner tired of than of anything else. Then as\nto acquaintances, I don't know that I should care to know personally\nsuch men as Thackeray and Carlyle, and the big composers and\nartists and other people that you mentioned. It might be equally\ndisenchanting. They put the best of themselves into their books, or\npictures, or music. I certainly would not seek their society through\na formal introduction, at all events. It is hard for a small man to\nkeep his self-respect in face of a great man when he obtains his\nacquaintance as a special favor. If I could meet some of those\nfellows, quite naturally and accidentally, on equal terms, I might\nlike it, but not otherwise. But, leaving that point out of account, I\nthink that the career which Berkeley proposes to himself would turn\nout very hollow. It would result in the superficial gratification of\nthe curiosity and the senses; and, as soon as the novelty got rubbed\noff, what is there left?\"\n\n\"So then,\" said Berkeley, \"you've swung into line with Armstrong, have\nyou? You mean to plod along in some professional rut too. What has got\ninto all our idealists?\"\n\n\"Not by any means,\" answered Clay. \"Armstrong talks about\nindependence, and yet destines himself to the worst kind of\ndependence--slavery to money-getting. Most people, it seems to me,\nspend the best part of their lives not in living, but in getting the\nmeans to live. We'll give Armstrong, say twenty years, to lay up\nenough money to retire on and begin to live. What sort of a position\nwill he be in then to enjoy his independence? His nature will have got\nso subdued to what it works in that the only safety for him will be to\nkeep on at the law.\"\n\n\"All right! Then I'll keep on,\" interjected Armstrong.\n\n\"What the devil do _you_ mean to do then?\" asked Berkeley of Clay.\n\n\"I don't quite know yet,\" replied the latter. \"I shall 'loaf and\ninvite my soul' whenever I feel like it. I shall live as I go along,\nand not postpone it till I am forty. I sha'n't put myself into any\nmill that will grind me just so much a day. I need my leisure too\nbadly for that. I presume I shall spend most of my time at first in\nreading and walking. Then, whenever I think of anything to write I\nshall write it, and if I can sell what I write to some publisher or\nother, so much the better. If not, go on as before.\"\n\n\"Meanwhile, where will your bread and butter come from?\" asked\nArmstrong.\n\n\"Oh, I sha'n't starve. I can get some sort of hack work--something\nthat won't take much of my time, and which I can do with my left hand.\nBut the great point, after all, is to make your wants simple; to live\nlike an Arab, content with a few dates and a swallow from the gourd.\n'Lessen your denominator.' It's easier than raising your numerator,\nand the quotient is the same.\"\n\n\"No, it's not the same,\" Berkeley retorted. \"Renunciation and\nenjoyment are not the same. It makes a heap of difference whether you\nhave a thing or simply do without it. The plain living and high\nthinking philosophy may do for Clay, whose mind to him a kingdom is;\nbut a fellow like me, whose mind is only a small Central American\nrepublic, can't live on the revenues of the spirit. The fact is, Clay,\nyou've read too much Emerson. I went into that myself once, but I soon\nfound out that it wouldn't wear. I want mine thicker. The worst thing\nabout the career of a literary man or an artist is that if he fails\nthere are no compensations; and success is mighty uncertain. Nobody\ndoubts that you are smart enough, Clay, and I am sure we expect great\nthings of you, whatever line you take up. But, for the sake of the\nargument, suppose you have grubbed along in a small way, living on\ncrusts and water, till you are fifty, without doing any really good\nwork. Then where are you? You haven't had any fun. You've no other\nstring to your bow. You haven't that practical experience of the world\nwhich would enable you to turn your hand to something else. You have\nno influence or reputation; for, of all poor things, poor art of any\nkind is the worst--hateful to gods and men and columns. In short,\nwhere are you? You're out of the dance; you don't count.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" added Armstrong, \"and you've no professional success or solid\nstanding in the community; and, what's worse, you've no money, which\nmight make up for the want of all the rest.\"\n\n\"I don't think you get my meaning. I may fail,\" said Clay, proudly; \"I\nmay never even try to succeed, in your sense of the word. I decline\nall mean competitions and all low views of success. The noblest ideal\nof life--at least, the noblest to me--is self-culture in the high\nmeaning of the word; the harmonious development of one's whole nature.\nArmstrong has drawn a picture of his future in the likeness of old\nTulkinghorn. I suppose we are all accustomed to put our anticipations\ninto some such concrete shape before our mind's eye. The typical\nsituation which I am fond of imagining is something like this: I like\nto fancy myself sitting in a dark old upper room in some remote\nfarm-house, at the close of a winter day, after three or four hours of\nsteady reading or writing. The room is full of books--the _best_\nbooks. There is a little fire on the hearth, there is a dingy curtain\nat the window. It is solitary and still, and when the light gets too\nscant to let me read any more, I fill my pipe, and go and stand in the\nwindow. Outside, there is a row of leafless elms, and beyond that a\ndim, wide landscape of lakes and hills, and beyond that a red, windy\nsunset. I can sit in that window and smoke my pipe and have my own\nthoughts till the hills grow black. There is no one to say to me 'Go'\nor 'Come'; no patient to visit; no confounded case on the docket next\nmorning at nine; no distasteful, mean, slavish job of any kind. How\ncan I fail to have thoughts worth the thinking, and to live a rich and\nfree life when I breathe every day the bracing air of nature and the\ngreat poets? Isn't such a life in itself the best kind of success,\neven if a man accomplishes nothing in particular that you can put your\nhand on?\"\n\n\"Yes, I know,\" said Armstrong, taking a long breath. \"I have felt that\nway too. But a man has got to put all that sternly behind him and do\nthe world's work for the world's wages, if he means to amount to\nanything. It's only a finer kind of self-indulgence, after\nall--egoistic Hedonism and that sort of thing.\"\n\n\"It won't be all standing at windows and looking at sunsets,\" added\nDoddridge. \"Has it ever occurred to you that, before entering on a\nlife of self-denial and devotion to rather vague ideals, a man ought\nto be mighty sure of himself? Can you keep up the culture business\nwithout growing in on yourself unhealthily, and then getting sick of\ninaction? Don't you think there will be times of disappointment and\ndoubt when you look around and see fellows without half your talents\ngetting ahead of you in the world?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" answered Clay, \"I shall have to make sacrifices, and\nI shall have to stick to them when made. But there have always\nbeen plenty of people willing to make similar sacrifices for\nsimilar compensations. Men have gone out into the wilderness or\nshut themselves up in the cloister for opportunities of study or\nself-communion, or for other objects which were perhaps at bottom no\nmore truly devotional than mine. Nowadays such opportunities may be\nhad by any man who will keep himself free from the servitude of a\nbread-winning profession. It is not necessary now to cry _Ecce in\ndeserto_ or _Ecce in penetralibus_. Oh, I shall have my dark days; but\nwhenever the blue devils get thick I shall take to the woods and\nreturn to sanity.\"\n\n\"You mean to live in the country, then?\" I inquired.\n\n\"Yes; most of the time, at any rate. Nature is fully half of life to\nme.\"\n\nAgain there was a pause.\n\n\"Well, you next, Polisson,\" said Armstrong, finally. \"Let's hear what\nyour programme is.\"\n\n\"Oh, nothing in the least interesting,\" I replied. \"My future is all\ncut and dried. I shall spend the next two years in the south of\nFrance--mainly at Lyons--to learn the details of the silk manufacture.\nThen I shall come home to go into my father's store for a year as a\nclerk in the importing department. At the close of that year the\ngovernor will take me in as junior partner, and I shall marry my\nsecond cousin. We shall live with my parents, and I am going to be\nvery domestic, though, as a matter of form, I shall join one or two\nclubs. I shall go down town every morning at nine, and come up at\nfive.\"\n\n\"Quite a neat little destiny,\" said Armstrong. \"I wish I had your\nbacking. Come, Dodd, what's yours? You're the only man left.\"\n\n\"I haven't made up my mind yet,\" said Doddridge, slowly.\n\nHe was a large, spare man, with a swarthy skin, a wide mouth, a dark,\nsteady eye, and a long jaw. There was an appearance of power and will\nabout him which was well borne out by his character. He had been a\nsystematic though not a laborious student, and while maintaining a\nstand comfortably near the head of the class, had taken a course in\nthe Law School during Senior year, doing his double duties with\napparent ease. He was a constant speaker in the debates of the\nLinonian Society, and the few who attended the meetings of that\nmoribund school of eloquence spoke of Doddridge's speeches as oases\nin the waste of forensic dispute, being always distinguished by vigor\nand soundness, though without any literary quality, such as Clay's\noccasional performances had. Berkeley, who covered his own lazy and\nmiscellaneous reading with the mask of eclecticism, and proclaimed\nhis disbelief in a prescribed course of study, was wont to say\nthat Doddridge was the only man that he knew who was using the\nopportunities given by the college for all they were worth, and really\ngetting out of \"the old curric\" that mental discipline which it\nprofessed to impart. Though rather taciturn, he was not unsocial, and\nwas fond of his pipe in the evening. He liked a joke, especially if\nit was of a definite kind, and at some one's expense touching a\ncharacteristic weakness of the man. There was at bottom something a\nlittle hard about him, though every one agreed that he was a good\nfellow. We all felt sure that he would make a distinguished success in\npractical life; and we doubtless thought--if we thought about it at\nall--that with his clear foresight and habits of steady work, he had\nalready decided upon his career. His words were therefore a surprise.\n\n\"What! you don't mean to say that you are going to drift, Dodd?\"\ninquired Armstrong.\n\n\"Drift? Well, no; not exactly. I shall keep my steering apparatus well\nin hand, but I haven't decided yet what port to run for. There's no\nhurry. I have an uncle in the Northwest in the lumber business, who\nwould give me a chance. I may go out there and look about awhile at\nfirst. If it doesn't promise much, there is the law to fall back upon.\nMy father has a fruit farm at Byzantium in western New York,--where I\ncome from, you know,--and he is part owner of the Byzantium weekly\n'Bugle.' I've no doubt I could get on as editor, and go to the\nLegislature. Or I might do worse than begin on the farm; farming is\nlooking up in that section. I may try several things till I find the\nright one.\"\n\n\"That's queer,\" said Armstrong. \"I thought you had made up your mind\nto enter the Columbia Law School.\"\n\n\"Hardly,\" answered Doddridge, \"though I may, after all. The main point\nis to keep yourself in readiness for any work, and take the best thing\nthat turns up--like Berkeley here,\" he added, drily.\n\nArmstrong looked at his watch and remarked that it was nearly\nmidnight.\n\n\"Boys,\" said I, \"in fifteen years from to-night let's have a supper\nhere and see how each man of us has worked out his theory of life, and\nhow he likes it as far as he has got.\"\n\n\"Oh, give us twenty,\" said Doddridge, laughing, as we all arose and\nprepared to break up. \"No one accomplishes anything in this latitude\nbefore he is forty.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt was in effect just fifteen years from the summer of our graduation\nthat I started out to look up systematically my quondam classmates and\ncompare notes with them. The course of my own life had been quite\nother than I had planned. For one thing, I had lived in New Orleans\nand not in New York, and my occasions had led me seldom to the North.\nThe first visit I paid was to Berkeley. I had heard that he was still\nunmarried, and that he had been for years settled, as minister, over a\nsmall Episcopal parish on the Hudson. The steamer landed me one summer\nafternoon at a little dock on the west bank; and after obtaining from\nthe dock-keeper precise directions for finding the parsonage, I set\nout on foot. After a walk of a mile along a road skirted by handsome\ncountry seats, but contrasting strangely in its loneliness with the\nbroad thoroughfare of the river constantly occupied by long tows of\nbarges and rafts, I came to the rectory gate. The house was a stone\ncottage, covered with trailers, and standing well back from the road.\nIn the same inclosure, surrounded by a grove of firs, was a little\nstone chapel with high pitched roof and rustic belfry. In front of the\nhouse I spied a figure which I recognized as Berkeley. He was in his\nshirt-sleeves, and was pecking away with a hoe at the gravel walk,\nwhistling meanwhile his old favorite \"Bonny Doon.\" He turned as I came\nup the driveway, and regarded me at first without recognition. He, for\nhis part, was little changed by time. There was the same tall,\nnarrow-shouldered, slightly stooping figure; the face, smooth-shaved,\nwith a spot of wintry red in the cheek, and the old humorous cast in\nthe small blue eyes.\n\n\"You don't know me from Adam,\" I said, pausing in front of him.\n\n\"Ah!\" he exclaimed, directly. \"Polisson, old man, upon my conscience\nI'm glad to see you, but I didn't know you till you spoke. You've been\nhaving the yellow fever, haven't you? Come in--come into the house.\"\n\nWe passed in through the porch, which was covered with sweet-pea vines\ntrained on strings, and entered the library, where Berkeley resumed\nhis coat. The room was lined with book-shelves loaded to the ceiling,\nwhile piles of literature had overflowed the cases and stood about on\nthe floor in bachelor freedom. After the first greetings and\ninquiries, Berkeley carried my valise upstairs, and then returning,\nsaid:\n\n\"I'm a methodical though not methodistical person, or rather parson\n(excuse the Fullerism); and as you have got to stay with me till I let\nyou go, that is, several days at the least (don't interrupt), I'll\nkeep a little appointment for the next hour, if you will excuse me. A\nboy comes three times a week to blow the bellows for my organ\npractice. Perhaps you would like to step into the church and hear me.\"\n\nI assented, and we went out into the yard and found the boy already\nwaiting in the church porch. Berkeley and his assistant climbed into\nthe organ loft, while I seated myself in the chancel to listen. The\ninstrument was small but sweet, and Berkeley really played very well.\nThe interior of the little church was plain to bareness; but the sun,\nwhich had fallen low, threw red lights on the upper part of the\nundecorated walls, and rich shadows darkened the lower half. Through\nthe white, pointed windows I saw the trembling branches of the firs. I\nhad been hurrying for a fortnight past over heated railways, treading\nfiery pavements, and lodging in red-hot city hotels. But now the music\nand the day's decline filled me with a sense of religious calm, and\nfor a moment I envied Berkeley. After his practicing was over the\norganist locked the chapel door, and we paced up and down in the\nfir-grove on the matting of dark red needles, and watched the river,\nwhose eastern half still shone in the evening light. After supper we\nsat out on the piazza, which commanded a view of the Hudson. Berkeley\nopened a bottle of Chablis and produced some very old and dry Manilla\ncheroots, and, leaning back in our wicker chairs, we proceeded to\n\"talk Cosmos.\"\n\n\"You are very comfortably fixed here,\" I began; \"but this is not\nprecisely what I expected to find you doing, after your declaration of\nprinciples, fifteen years ago, you may remember, on our Commencement\nnight.\"\n\n\"Fifteen years! So it is--so it is,\" he answered, with a sigh. \"Well,\n_l'homme propose_, you know. I don't quite remember what it was that\nI said on that occasion: dreadful nonsense, no doubt. As Thackeray\nsays, a boy _is_ an ass. Whatever it was, it proceeded, I suppose,\nfrom some temporary mood rather than from any permanent conviction;\nthough, to be sure, I slipped into this way of life almost by accident\nat first. But, being in, I have found it easy to continue. I am rather\ntoo apt, perhaps, to stay where I am put. I am a quietist by\nconstitution.\" He paused, and I waited for him to enter upon a fuller\nand more formal apology. Finally, he went on much as follows:\n\n\"Just after I left college I made application through some parties at\nWashington for a foreign consulate. While I was waiting for the\napplication to be passed on (it was finally unsuccessful), I came up\nhere to visit my uncle, who was the rector of this parish. He was a\nwidower, without any children, and the church was his hobby. It is a\nqueer little affair, something like the old field-kirks or chapels of\nease in some parts of England. It was built partly by my uncle and\npartly by a few New York families who have country places here,\nand who use it in the summer. This is all glebe land,\" he said,\nindicating, with a sweep of his hand, the twilight fields below the\nhouse sloping down toward the faintly glimmering river. \"My uncle had\na sort of prescription or lien by courtesy on the place. There's not\nmuch salary to speak of, but he had a nice plum of his own, and lived\ninexpensively. Well, that first summer I moped about here, got\nacquainted with the summer residents, read a good deal of the time,\ntook long walks into the interior,--a rough, aboriginal country, where\nthey still talk Dutch,--and waited for an answer to my application.\nWhen it came at last, I fretted about it considerably, and was for\nstarting off in search of something else. I had an idea of getting a\nplace as botanist on Coprolite's survey of the Nth parallel, and I\nwrote to New Haven for letters. I thought it would be a good outdoor,\nhorseback sort of life, and might lead to something better. But that\nfell through, and meanwhile the dominie kept saying: 'My dear fellow,\ndon't be in too much of a hurry to begin. Young America goes so fast\nnowadays that it is like the dog in the hunting story,--a _leetle_ bit\nahead of the hare. Why not stay here for awhile and ripen--ripen?' The\ndominie had a good library,--all my old college favorites, old Burton,\nold Fuller, and Browne, etc., and it seemed the wisest course to\nfollow his advice for the present. But in the fall my uncle had a\nslight stroke of paralysis, and really needed my help for awhile; so\nthat what had been a somewhat aimless life, considered as loafing,\nbecame all at once a duty. At first he had a theological student, from\nsomewhere across the river, come to stay in the house and read service\nfor him on Sundays. But he was a ridiculous animal, whose main idea of\na minister's duties was to intone the responses in a sonorous manner.\nHe used to practice this on week days in his surplice, and I remember\nespecially the cadence with which he delivered the sentence: 'Yea,\nlike a broken _wall_ shall ye be and as a ruined _hedge_.'\n\n\"He got the huckleberry, as we used to say in college, on that\nparticular text, and it has stuck by me ever since. The dominie fired\nhim out after a fortnight, and one day said to me: 'Jack, why don't\n_you_ study for orders and take up the succession here? You are a\nbookworm, and the life seems to be to your liking.' Of course, I\ndeclined very vigorously in the beginning, though offering to stay on\nso long as the dominie needed my help. I used to do lay reading on\nSundays when he was too feeble. Gradually, 'the idea of the life did\nsweetly creep into my study of imagination.' The quaintness of the\nplace appealed to me. And here was a future all cut out for me: no\npreliminary struggle, no contact with vulgar people, no cut-throat\ncompetition, but everything gentlemanly and independent about it. I\nhad strong doubts touching my theology, and used to discuss them with\nmy uncle; but he said,--and said rightly, I now think,--'You young\nfellows in college fancy that it's a mighty fine, bold thing to effect\nradicalism and atheism, and the Lord knows what all; but it won't\nstick to you when you get older. Experience will soften your heart,\nand you'll find after awhile that belief and doubt are not matters of\nthe pure reason, but of the will. It is a question of _attitude_.\nBesides, the church is broad enough to cover a good many private\ndifferences in opinion. It isn't as if you were going to be a\nblue-nosed Presbyterian. You can stay here and make your studies with\nme, instead of going into a seminary, and when you are ready to go\nbefore the bishop I'll see that you get the right send-off.' In short,\nhere I am! My uncle died two years after, when I was already in\norders, and I've been here ever since.\"\n\n\"I should think you would get lonely sometimes, and make a strike for\na city parish,\" I suggested.\n\n\"Why--no, I don't think I should care for ordinary parish work. The\nbeauty of my position here is its uniqueness. In winter I keep the\nchurch open for the Aborigines till they get snowed up and stop\ncoming, and then I put down to New York for a month or two of work at\nthe Astor Library. Last winter I held service for two Sundays running\nwith one boy for congregation. Finally I announced to him that the\nchurch would be closed until spring.\"\n\n\"What in the----: well, what do you find to do all alone up here?\"\n\n\"Oh, there's always plenty to do, if you'll only do it. I've been\ncultivating some virtuosities, among other things. Remind me to show\nyou my etchings when we go in. Did you notice, perhaps, that little\nhead over the table, on the north wall? No? Then I smatter botany\nsome. I'll let you look over my _hortus siccus_ before you go. It has\nsome very rare ferns; one of them is a new species, and Fungus--who\nexchanges with me--swore that he was going to have it named after me.\nI sent the first specimen to have it described in his forthcoming\nreport. But doubtless all this sort of thing is a bore to you. Well,\nlately I have been going into genealogy, and I find it more and more\nabsorbing. Those piles of blank-books and manuscripts on the floor at\nthe south end are all crammed with genealogical notes and material.\"\n\n\"I should think you would find it pretty dry fodder,\" I said.\n\n\"That is because you take an outside, unsympathetic view of it. Now,\nto an amateur it's anything but dry. There is as much excitement in\nhunting down a missing link in a pedigree that you have been on the\ntrail of for a long time, as there is in the chase of any other kind\nof game.\"\n\n\"Do you ever get across the water? Travel, if I remember right, played\na large part in your scheme of life once.\"\n\n\"Yes; I've been over once, for a few months. But my income, though\nvery comfortable for the statics of existence, is rather short for the\ndynamics, and so I mostly stay at home.\"\n\n\"Did you meet any interesting people over there? Any of the crowned\nheads, famous wits, etc., whom you once proposed to cultivate?\"\n\n\"No; nobody in particular. I went in a very quiet way. I had some good\nletters to people in England, but I didn't present them. The idea of\nintroductions became a bore as I got nearer to it.\"\n\n\"And, of course, you didn't elope with the marquise?\"\n\n\"Was that in my scheme? Well--no, I did not.\"\n\n\"You might have done worse, old man. You ought to have a wife, to keep\nyou from getting rusty up here. And, besides, a fellow that goes so\nmuch into genealogy should take some interest in posterity. You ought\nto cultivate the science practically.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'm past all danger of matrimony now,\" said Berkeley, with a\nlaugh. \"There was a girl that I was rather sweet on a few years ago. I\nwas looking up a pedigree for her papa, and I found that I was related\nto her myself, in eight different ways, though none of them very near.\nI explained it to her one evening. It took me an hour to do it, and I\nfancy she thought it a little slow. At all events, when I afterward\nhinted that we might make the eight ways nine, she answered that our\nrelationship was so intricate already that she couldn't think of\ncomplicating it any further. No, you may put me down as safe.\"\n\nAfter this, we sat listening in silence to the distant beat of\npaddle-wheels where a steamer was moving up river.\n\n\"The river is a deal of company,\" resumed my host. \"Thirty-six\nsteamers pass here every twenty-four hours. That now is the _Mary\nPowell_.\"\n\n\"Well,\" I said, answering not so much to his last remark as to the\nwhole trend of his autobiography, \"I suppose you are happy in this\nway of life, since you seem to prefer it. But it would be terribly\nmonotonous to me.\"\n\n\"Happy?\" replied Berkeley, doubtfully. \"I don't know. Happiness is a\nsubjective matter. You _are_ happy if you think yourself so. As for\nme, I cultivate an obsolete mood--the old-fashioned humor of\nmelancholy. I don't suppose now that a light-hearted, French kind of\nchap like you can understand, in the least, what those fine, crusty\nold Elizabethans meant when they wrote,\n\n 'There's naught in this life sweet,\n If man were wise to see't,\n But only melancholy.'\n\nThis noisy generation has lost their secret. As for me, I am content\nwith the grays and drabs. I think the brighter colors would disturb my\nmood. I know it's not a large life, but it is a safe one.\"\n\nI did not at the moment remember that this had been Armstrong's very\nsaying fifteen years ago, but some unconscious association led me to\nmention him.\n\n\"Armstrong and you have changed places in one respect, I should\nthink,\" said I. \"He is keeping a boarding-school somewhere in\nConnecticut. And instead of leading a Tulkinghorny existence in the\nNew York University building, as he firmly intended, he has married\nand produced a numerous offspring, I hear.\"\n\n\"Yes, poor fellow!\" said Berkeley; \"I fancy that he is dreadfully\noverrun and hard up. There always was something absurdly domestic\nabout Armstrong. They say he has grown red, fat, and bald. Think of a\nman with Armstrong's education--and he had some talent, too--keeping a\nsort of Dotheboys Hall! I haven't seen him for eight or nine years.\nThe last time was at Jersey City, and I had just time to shake hands\nwith him. He was with a lot of other pedagogues, all going up to a\nteachers' convention, or some such dreary thing, at Albany.\"\n\nI had an opportunity for verifying Berkeley's account of Armstrong a\nfew days after my conversation with the former. The Pestalozzian\nInstitute, in the pleasant little village of Thimbleville, was\nsituated, as its prospectus informed the public, on \"one of the most\nelegant residence streets, in one of the healthiest and most beautiful\nrural towns of Eastern Connecticut.\" Over the entrance gate was a\nRoman arch bearing the inscription \"Pestalozzian Institute\" in large\ngilt letters. The temple of learning itself was a big, bare, white\nhouse at some distance from the street, with an orchard and kitchen\ngarden on one side, and a roomy play-ground on the other. The latter\nwas in possession of some small boys, who were kicking a broken-winded\nfoot-ball about the field with an amount of noise greatly in excess of\nits occasion. To my question where I could find Mr. Armstrong, they\nanswered eagerly: \"Mr. Armstrong? Yes, sir. You go right into the\nhall, and knock on the first door to the right, and he'll come--or\nsome one.\"\n\nThe door to the large square entry stood wide open, and through\nanother door opposite, which was ajar, I saw long tables, and heard\nthe clatter of dishes being removed, while a strong smell of dinner\nfilled the air. I knocked at the door on the right, but no one\nappeared. Finally, a chubby girl of about ten summers came running\nround the corner of the house and into the front door. She was eating\nan apple, and gazed at me wonderingly.\n\n\"Is Mr. Armstrong in?\" I asked.\n\n\"Yes, sir; he's about somewhere. Walk into the parlor, please, and sit\ndown, and I'll find him.\"\n\nI entered the room on the right, which was a bleak and\nofficial-looking apartment,--apparently the reception-room where\nparents held interviews with the instructor of youth, or tore\nthemselves from the parting embraces of homesick sons at the beginning\nof a new term. There is always something depressing about the parlor\nof an \"institution\" of any kind, and I could not help feeling sorry\nfor Armstrong, as I waited for him, seated on a sofa covered with\nfaded rep. At length the door of an inner room opened, and the\nprincipal of the Pestalozzian Institute waddled across the floor\nwith his hand held out, crying:\n\n\"Franky Polisson, how are you?\"\n\nHe certainly had grown stout, and his light hair had retreated from\nthe forehead. He wore glasses and was dressed in a suit of rusty\nblack, with a high vest which gave him a ministerial look--a much more\nministerial look than Berkeley had. His pantaloons presented that\nappearance which tailors describe as \"kneeing out.\" He sat down and we\nchatted for half an hour. The little girl had followed him into the\nroom, and behind her came another three or four years her junior. The\nolder one stood by his side, and he kept his arm around her, while he\nheld the younger on his knee. They were both pretty, healthy-looking\nchildren, and kept their eyes fixed on \"the man.\"\n\n\"Are those your own kids?\" I inquired presently.\n\n\"Yes, two of them. I have six, you know,\" he answered, with a fond\nsigh: \"five girls and one boy. The lasses are rather in the majority.\"\n\n\"I heard you were quite a _paterfamilias_,\" I said. \"Won't you come\nand kiss me, little girl?\"\n\nTo this proposal the elder answered by burying her head bashfully in\nher father's shoulder, while the smaller one simply opened her eyes\nwider and stared with more fixed intensity.\n\n\"Oh, by the way,\" exclaimed Armstrong, \"of course you'll take tea with\nus and spend the evening. I wish I could offer to sleep you here; but\nthe fact is, Mrs. Armstrong's sister is with us for a few days, and\nthe parents of one of my boys, who is sick, are also staying here; so\nthat my guest chambers are full.\"\n\n\"Don't mention it,\" I said. \"I couldn't stay over night. I've got to\nbe in New York in the morning, and must take the nine-o'clock train.\nBut I'll stay to supper and much obliged, if you are sure I sha'n't\ntake up too much of your time.\"\n\n\"Not the least--not the least. This is a half holiday, and nothing in\nparticular to do.\" He bustled to the door and called out loudly,\n\"Mother! Mother!\"\n\nThere was no response.\n\n\"Nelly,\" he commanded, \"run and find your mamma, and tell her that Mr.\nPolisson--from New Orleans--an old classmate of papa's, will be here\nto tea. That's a good girl. Polisson, put on your hat and let's go\nround the place. I want to show you what an establishment I've got\nhere.\"\n\nWe accordingly made the tour of the premises, Armstrong doing the\ncicerone impressively, and every now and then urging me with emphatic\nhospitality to come and spend a week--a fortnight--longer, if I chose,\nduring the summer vacation.\n\n\"Bring Mrs. Polisson and the kids. Bring 'em all,\" he said. \"It will\ndo them good; the air here is fine; eleven hundred feet above the sea.\nNo malaria--no typhoid. I laid out four hundred dollars last year on\nsewerage.\"\n\nIt being a half holiday, most of the big boys had gone to a pond in\nthe neighborhood for a swim, under the conduct of the classical\nmaster,--a Yale graduate, Armstrong explained, who had stood fourth\nin his class, \"and a very able fellow,--very able.\"\n\nBut while we sat at tea in Armstrong's family dining-room, which\nadjoined the school commons, we were made aware of the return of the\nswimming party by the constant shuffle and tramp of feet through the\nhall and the noise of feeding in the next room. At our table were\npresent Mrs. Armstrong, her sister (who had a frightened air when\naddressed and conversed in monosyllables), the parents of the sick\npupil, and Armstrong's two eldest children. I surmised that the\nyounger children had been in the habit of sharing in the social meal,\nand had been crowded out on this occasion by the number of guests; for\nI heard them _fremunt_ing _in carcere_ behind a door through which\nthe waitress passed out and in, bringing plates of waffles. The\nremonstrances of the waitress were also audible, and, when the wailing\nrose high, my hostess's face had a distrait expression, as of one\nprepared at any moment for an irruption of infant Goths.\n\nMrs. Armstrong was a vivacious little woman, who, I conjectured, had\nonce been a village belle, with some pretensions to _espieglerie_ and\nthe fragile prettiness common among New England country girls. But the\nbearing and rearing of a family of children, and the matronizing of a\nhouseful of hungry school-boys in such a way as to make ends meet, had\nsubstituted a faded and worried look for her natural liveliness of\nexpression. She bore up bravely, however, against the embarrassments\nof the occasion. In particular, it pleased her to take a facetious\nview of college life.\n\n\"Oh, Mr. Polisson,\" she cried, \"I am afraid that you and my husband\nwere very gay young men when you were at college together. Oh, don't\ntell me; I know--I know. I've heard of some of your scrapes.\"\n\nI protested feebly against this impeachment, but Armstrong winked at\nme with the air of a sly dog, and said:\n\n\"It's no use, Polisson. You can't fool Mrs. A. Buckingham and one or\ntwo of the fellows have been here to dinner occasionally, and I'm\nafraid they've given us away.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she affirmed, \"Mr. Buckingham was one of you too, I guess,\nthough he _is_ the Rev. Mr. Buckingham now. Oh, he has told me.\"\n\n\"You remember old Buck?\" put in Armstrong. \"He is preaching near\nhere--settled over a church at Bobtown.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" I answered, \"I remember there was such a man in the class, but\nreally I didn't know that he was--ah--such a character as you seem to\ninfer, Mrs. Armstrong.\"\n\n\"Oh, he has quieted down now, I assure you,\" said the lady. \"He is as\nprim and proper as a Methodist meeting-house. Why, he _has_ to be, you\nknow.\"\n\nThis amusing fiction of the wildness of Armstrong's youth had\nevidently become a family tradition, and even, by a familiar process,\nan article of belief in his own mind. It reminded me grotesquely of\n_Justice Shallow's_ reminiscences with _Sir John Falstaff_: \"Ha,\nCousin Silence, that thou hadst seen that, that this knight and I have\nseen.... Jesu, Jesu, the mad days that I have spent!\"\n\nThe resemblance became still stronger when, as we rose from the table,\nthe good fellow beckoned me into a closet which opened off the\ndining-room, saying, in a hoarse whisper:\n\n\"Here, Polisson, come in here.\"\n\nHe was uncorking a large bottle half-filled with some red liquid, and\nas he poured a portion of this into two glasses he explained:\n\n\"I don't have this sort of thing on the table, you understand, on\naccount of the children and my--ah--position. It would make talk.\nBut I tell you this is some of the real old stuff. How!\" And he\nheld his glass up to the light, regarding it with the one eye of a\nconnoisseur, and then drank down its contents with a smack. I was\nconsiderably astonished, on doing the same, to discover that this dark\nbeverage--which, from Armstrong's manner, I had been prepared to find\nsomething at least as wicked as absinthe--was simply and solely\nBordeaux of a mild quality. After this Bacchanalian proceeding we went\nout into the orchard, which was reserved for family use, and sat on a\nbench under an apple-tree. Armstrong called his little boy who had\nbeen at supper with us and gave him a whispered message, together\nwith some small change. The messenger disappeared, and after a short\nabsence returned with two very domestic cigars, transparently bought\nfor the nonce from some neighboring grocer. \"Have a smoke,\" commanded\nmy host, and we solemnly kindled the rolls of yellow leaf, Armstrong\npuffing away at his with the air of a man who, though intrusted by\ndestiny with the responsibility of molding the characters of youth,\nhas not forgotten how to be a man of the world on occasion.\n\n\"Well, Charley,\" I began, after a few preliminary draughts, \"you seem\nto have a good thing of it. Your school is prosperous, I understand;\nthe work suits you; you have a mighty pretty family of children\ngrowing up, and your health appears to be perfect.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he admitted; \"I suppose I ought to be thankful. I certainly\nenjoy great mercies. It's a warm, crowded kind of life; plenty of\naffection,--plenty of anxiety too, to be sure. I like to have the boys\naround me; it keeps one's heart fresh, though in a way it's sometimes\nwearing to the nerves. Yes, I like the young rascals--I like them.\nBut, of course, it has its drawbacks. Most careers have,\" he added, in\na burst of commonplace.\n\n\"It is not exactly the career that you had cut out for yourself,\" I\nsuggested, \"when we talked our plans over, you remember, that last\nevening at New Haven.\"\n\n\"No, it's not,\" he acknowledged; \"but perhaps it is a better one. What\nwas it I said then? I really don't recall it. Something very silly,\nno doubt.\"\n\n\"Oh, you said, in a general way, that you were going in for money and\ncelibacy and selfishness,--just as you have _not_ done.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes; I know, I remember now,\" he said, laughing. \"Boys are great\nfools with their brag of what they are going to do and be. Life knocks\nit out of them fast enough; they learn to do what they must.\"\n\n\"Do you ever write any poetry nowadays?\"\n\n\"No, no; not I. The muse has given me the go-by completely. Except for\nsome occasional verses for a school festival or something of the kind,\nwhich I grind out now and then, I've sunk my rhyming dictionary deeper\nthan ever plummet sounded. The chief disadvantage of running a big\nschool like this,\" he continued, with a sigh, \"is the want of leisure\nand retirement to enable a man to keep up his studies. Sometimes I\nactually ache for solitude--for a few weeks or months of absolute\nloneliness and silence. Mrs. Armstrong has fixed me up a nice little\nprivate study,--remind me to take you in there before you go,--where I\nkeep my books, etc. But the children will find their way in, and then\nI'm seldom undisturbed anywhere for more than an hour at a time;\nthere's always some call on me,--something wanted that no one else can\nsee to.\"\n\n\"You ought to swap places with Berkeley for awhile. He's got more\nleisure than he knows what to do with.\"\n\n\"Berkeley! Well, what's he up to now? Philately? Arboriculture? What's\nhis last fad? You've seen him lately, you said. I met him for a minute\nin New York, a few years ago, and he told me he was going to an old\nbook auction.\"\n\n\"He's got genealogy at present,\" I explained.\n\n\"Genealogy! What hay! What sawdust! Aren't there enough live people to\ntake an interest in, without grubbing up dead ones from tombstones\nand town clerks' records? Berkeley must be a regular old bachelor\nantiquary by this time, with all human sympathy dried out of him. No,\nI wouldn't change with _him_. Would we, fatty?\" he said, appealing to\na small offspring of uncertain sex which had just toddled out the door\nand across the gangway to kiss its papa good-night.\n\nI took leave of Armstrong and his interesting family with a sense of\nincreased liking. His worldliness, good nature, and simple little\nenthusiasms and self-satisfactions had somehow kept him young, and he\nseemed quite the old Armstrong of college days. I afterward learned\nthat the excellent fellow had just finished his law studies, and was\npreparing to enter upon practice, when his father's health failed,\nforcing him to give up his parish, and leaving a number of younger\nbrothers and sisters partly dependent on Armstrong. He had accordingly\ntaken the first situation that promised a fair salary, and, having got\nstarted upon the work of teaching, had been unable to let go until it\nwas too late; had, indeed, got deeper and deeper in, by falling in\nlove and impulsively marrying at the first opportunity, and finally\nsetting up for himself at the Pestalozzian Institute. Poor fellow!\nGood fellow! _Amico mio, non della fortuna._\n\nMy next call was upon Clay, who had rooms in the Babel building in New\nYork, and was reported to be something of a Bohemian. He received me\nin a smoking jacket and slippers. He had grown a full beard which hid\nhis finely cut features. His black eyes had the old fire, but his\nskin was sallower, and I thought that his manner had a touch of\nlistlessness mingled with irritability and defiance. He was glad to\nsee me; but inclined to be at first, not precisely distant, yet by\nno means confidential. After awhile, however, he thawed out and\nbecame more like the Clay whom I remembered--our college genius, the\nbrilliant, the admired, in those days of eager hero-worship. I told\nhim of my visits to Berkeley and Armstrong.\n\n\"Berkeley I see now and then in town,\" said Clay. \"It was rather queer\nof him to turn parson, but I guess he doesn't let his theology bother\nhim much. He has a really superior collection of etchings, I am told.\nArmstrong I haven't seen for years. I knew he was a pedagogue\nsomewhere in Connecticut.\"\n\n\"Don't you ever go to the class reunions?\" I asked.\n\n\"Class reunions? Well, hardly.\"\n\n\"I should think you would; you are so near New Haven.\"\n\n\"How charmingly provincial you are--you Southern chaps! Don't you know\nthat, to a man who lives in New York, nothing is near? Besides, as to\nmy classmates at old Yale and all that, I would go round a corner to\navoid meeting most of them.\"\n\nI expressed myself as duly shocked by this sentiment, and presently I\ninquired:\n\n\"Well, Clay, how are you getting on, anyway?\"\n\n\"That's a d---- general question. How do you want me to answer it?\"\n\n\"Oh, not at all, if you don't like.\"\n\n\"Well, don't get miffed. Suppose I answer, 'Pretty well, I thank you,\nsir.' How will that do?\"\n\n\"Are you writing anything now?\"\n\n\"I'm always scribbling something or other. At present, I've got the\nposition of dramatic critic on the 'Daily Boreas,' which is not a very\nbad bore, and keeps the pot boiling. And I do more or less work of a\nhack kind for the magazines and cyclopedias, etc.\"\n\n\"I thought you were on the 'Weekly Prig.' Berkeley or somebody told me\nso.\"\n\n\"So I was at one time, but I got out of it. The work was drying me\nup too fast. The concern is run by a lot of cusses who have failed\nin various branches of literature themselves, and undertake, in\nconsequence, to make it unpleasant for every one else who tries to\nwrite anything. I got so that I could sling as cynical a quill as the\nrest of them. But the trick is an easy one and hardly worth learning.\nIt's a great fraud, this business of reviewing. Here's a man of\nlearning, for instance, who has spent years of research on a\nparticular work. He has collected a large library, perhaps, on his\nsubject; knows more about it than any one else living. Then along\ncomes some insolent little whipper-snapper,--like me,--whose sole\nknowledge of the matter in hand is drawn from the very book that he\npretends to criticise, and patronizes the learned author in a book\nnotice. No, I got out of it; I hadn't the cheek.\"\n\n\"I bought your book,\"[A] said I, \"as soon as it came out.\"\n\n[Footnote A: Dialogues and Romances. By E. Clay. New York: Pater &\nSons, 1874.]\n\n\"That's more than the public did.\"\n\n\"Yes, and I read it, too.\"\n\n\"No! Did you, now? That's true friendship. Well, how did you like it?\nDid you get your money's worth?\"\n\nI hesitated a moment and then answered:\n\n\"It was clever, of course. Anything that you write would be sure to be\nthat. But it didn't appear to get down to hard-pan or to take a firm\ngrip on life--did it?\"\n\n\"Ah, that's what the critics said,--only they've got a set of phrases\nfor expressing it. They said it was amateurish, that it was in a\nfalsetto key, etc.\"\n\n\"Well, how does it strike you, yourself? You know that it didn't come\nout of the deep places of your nature, don't you? You feel that you've\ngot better behind?\"\n\n\"Oh, I don't know. A man does what he can. I rather think it's the\nbest I can do at present.\"\n\n\"Why don't you go at some more serious work; some _magnum opus_ that\nwould bring your whole strength into play?\"\n\n\"A _magnum opus_, my dear fellow!\" replied Clay, with a shade of\nirritation in his voice. \"You talk as if a _magnum opus_ could be done\nfor the wishing. Why don't _you_ do a _magnum opus_, then?\"\n\n\"Why don't _I_? Oh, I'm not a literary fellow--never professed to be.\nWhat a question!\"\n\n\"Well, no more am I, perhaps. I don't think any better of the stuff\nthat I scribble than you do. It's all an experiment with me. I'm\ntrying my brushes--trying my brushes. Perhaps I may be able to do\nsomething stronger some day, and perhaps not. But at all events I\nsha'n't force my mood. I shall wait for my inspiration. One thing I've\nnoticed, that as a man grows older he loses his spontaneity and gets\nmore critical with himself. I could do more, no doubt, if I would only\nlet myself go. But I'm like this meerschaum here,--a hard piece and\nslow in coloring.\"\n\n\"Well, meanwhile you might do something in the line of scholarship, a\nhistory or a volume of critical essays--'Hours with the Poets,' or\nsomething of that kind, that would bring in the results of your\nreading. Have you seen Brainard's book? It seemed to me work that was\nworth doing. But you could do something of the same kind, only much\nbetter, without taking your hands out of your pockets.\"\n\nBrainard was a painstaking classmate of ours, who had been for some\nyears Professor of Mental and Moral Philosophy, English Literature,\nand European History, in a Western university, and had recently\npublished a volume entitled \"Theism and Pantheism in the Literature of\nthe English Renaissance,\" which was well spoken of, and was already in\nits third edition.\n\n\"Yes, I've seen the stuff,\" said Clay. \"My unhappy country swarms with\nthat sort of thing: books about books, and books about other books\nabout books--like the big fleas and little fleas. It's not literature;\nit's a parasitic growth that infests literature. I always say to\nmyself, with the melancholy Jaques, whenever I have to look over a\nbook by Brainard or any such fellow, 'I think of as many matters as\nhe; but I give Heaven thanks and make no boast of them.' No, I don't\ncare to add anything to that particular rubbish heap. You know Emerson\nsaid that the worst poem is better than the best criticism of it. The\ntrouble with me is that what I want to do I can't do--at present; what\nI can do I don't think it worth while to do--worth my while, at\nleast. Some one else may do it and get the credit and welcome.\"\n\n\"But you do a good deal of work that you don't care about, as it is,\"\nI objected.\n\n\"Of course. A man must live, and so I do the nearest thing and the one\nthat pays quickest. I got eighty dollars, now, for that last screed in\n'The Reservoir.'\"\n\n\"But,\" I persisted, \"I thought that money-making had no part in your\nscheme. You could make more money in a dozen other businesses.\"\n\n\"So I could,\" he answered; \"but they all involve some form of slavery.\nNow, I am my own master. After all, every profession has its drudgery,\nand literary drudgery is not the worst.\"\n\n\"Well,\" I conceded, \"independent of what you accomplish, I suppose\nyour way of life furnishes as many daily satisfactions as any. I\nsometimes envy you and Berkeley your freedom from business cares and\nyour opportunities for study. What becomes of most men's college\ntraining, for example? By Jove! I picked up a Greek book the other\nday, and I couldn't read three words running. Now, I take it, you\nmanage to keep up your classics, among other things.\"\n\n\"Oh, my way of life has its compensations,\" he answered. \"But Sydney\nSmith--wasn't it?--said that life was a middling affair, anyway. As\nfor the classics, etc., I find that reading and study lose much of\ntheir stimulus unless they get an issue in action,--unless one can\napply them directly toward his own work. I often think that, if I\nwere fifteen or even ten years younger, I would go into some branch of\nnatural science. A scientific man always seems to me peculiarly happy\nin the healthy character of his work. He can keep himself apart from\nit. It is objective, impersonal, makes no demand on his emotions. Now\na writing man has to put himself into his work. He has to keep looking\nout all the time for impressions, material; to keep trying to enlarge\nand deepen his own experience, and he gets self-conscious and loses\nhis freshness in the process.\"\n\n\"I am surprised to find you in New York,\" said I, by way of changing\nthe subject. \"I thought you had laid out to live in the country. Do\nyou remember that pretty little word-picture of a winter afternoon\nthat you drew us--something in the style of an _Il Penseroso_\nlandscape? I expected to find you domesticated in a Berkshire\nfarm-house.\"\n\n\"Yes, I remember. I tried it. But I find it necessary, for my work, to\nbe in New York. The newspapers--confound 'em!--won't move into the\nwoods. But, after all, place is indifferent. See here; this isn't\nbad.\"\n\nHe drew aside the window curtain, and I looked out over a wilderness\nof roofs to the North River and the Palisades tinged with a purple\nlight. The ferry boats and tugs plying over the water in every\ndirection, the noise of the steam whistles, and the clouds of white\nvapor floating on the clear air, made an inspiriting scene.\n\n\"I'm up among the architects here,\" continued Clay; \"nothing but the\njanitor's family between me and the roof.\"\n\nWe talked awhile longer, and on taking leave, I said:\n\n\"I shall be on the lookout for something big from you one of these\ndays. You know what we always expected of you. So don't lose your\ngrip, old man.\"\n\n\"Who knows?\" he replied. \"It doesn't rest with me, but with the\n_daimon_.\"\n\nI was unable to visit Doddridge, the remaining member of our group. He\nlived in the thriving town of Wahee, Minnesota, and I had heard of\nhim, in a general way, as highly prosperous. He was a prominent lawyer\nand successful politician, and had lately been appointed United States\ndistrict judge, after representing his section in the State Senate for\na term or two. I wrote to him, congratulating him on his success and\nasking for details. I mentioned also my visits to Berkeley, Armstrong,\nand Clay. I got a prompt reply from Doddridge, from which I extract\nsuch portions as are material to this narrative:\n\n \"The first few months after I left college I traveled pretty\n extensively through the West, making contracts with the\n farmers as agent for a nursery and seed-farm in my part of\n the country, but really with the object of spying out the\n land and choosing a place to settle in. Finally I lit on\n Wahee, and made up my mind that it was a town with a future.\n It was bound to be a railroad center. It had a first-rate\n agricultural country around it, and a rich timber region a\n little further back; and it already had an enterprising\n little pop. growing rapidly. To-day Wahee is as smart a city\n of its inches as there is in the Northwest. I squatted right\n down here, got a little raise from the old man, and put it\n all into building lots. I made a good thing of it, and paid\n it all back in six years with eight per cent. interest.\n Meanwhile, I went into Judge Pratt's law office and made my\n salt by fitting his boy for college--till I learned enough\n law to earn a salary. The judge was an old Waheer--belonged\n to the time-honored aristocracy of the place, having been\n here at least fifteen years before I came. He got into\n railroads after awhile (is president now of the Wahee and\n Heliopolis Bee-line), and left his law practice to me. I\n married his daughter Alice in 1875. She is a Western girl,\n but she was educated at Vassar. We have two boys. If you\n ever come out our way, Polisson, you must put up with us for\n as long as you can stay. I would like to show you the\n country about here and have you ride after my team. I've got\n a pair that can do it inside three minutes. Do you remember\n Liddell of our class? He is an architect, you know. I got\n him to come to Wahee, and he has all he can do putting up\n business blocks. We have got some here equal to anything in\n Chicago....\n\n \"Yes, I am United States judge for this district. There is\n not much money in it, but it will help me professionally by\n and by. I shall not keep it long. Do I go into politics\n much, you ask. I used to, but I've got through for the\n present. The folks about here wanted to run me for Congress\n last term, but I hadn't any use for it. As to what you are\n kind enough to say about my 'success,' etc., whatever\n success I have had is owing to nothing but a capacity for\n hard work, which is the only talent that I lay claim to.\n They want a man out here who will do the work that comes to\n hand, and keep on doing it till something better turns\n up....\n\n \"So Berkeley has turned out a dilettante instead of an\n African explorer. I heard he was a minister. He does not\n seem to have much ambition even in that line of life. I\n should think Armstrong had got the right kind of place for\n him. He was a good fellow, but never had much practical\n ability. You say very little about Clay. How is old\n 'Sweetness and Light,' any way? I saw some fluff of his in\n one of the magazines,--a 'romance' I think he called it.\n This is not an age for scribbling romances. The country\n wants something solider. I never took much stock in\n philosophers like Berkeley and Clay. There is the same thing\n the trouble with them both: they don't want to do any hard\n work, and they conceal their laziness under fine\n names,--culture, transcendentalism, and what not? 'Feeble\n and restless youths, born to inglorious days.'\"\n\nThis letter may be supplemented by another,--say Exhibit B,--which I\nreceived from Clay not long after:\n\n \"MY DEAR POLISSON: It occurs to me that your question the\n other day, as to how I was 'getting on,' did not receive as\n candid an answer as it deserved. I am afraid that you\n carried away an impression of me as of a man who suspected\n himself to be a failure, but had not the manliness to\n acknowledge it. You will say, perhaps, that there are all\n degrees of half success short of absolute failure. But I say\n no. In the career which I have chosen, to miss of\n success--pronounced, unquestionable success--is to fail; and\n I am not weak enough to hide from myself on which side of\n the line I fall. The line is a very distinct one, after all.\n The fact is, I took the wrong turning, and it is too late to\n go back. I am a case of arrested development--a common\n enough case. I might give plenty of excellent excuses to my\n friends for not having accomplished what they expected me\n to. But the world doesn't want apologies; it wants\n performance.\n\n \"You will think this letter a most extraordinary outburst of\n morbid vanity. But while I can afford to have you think me a\n failure, I couldn't let you go on thinking me a fraud. That\n must be my excuse for writing.\n\n \"Yours, as ever, E. CLAY.\"\n\nThis letter moved me deeply by its characteristic mingling of egotism\nwith elevation of feeling. As I held it open in my hand, and thought\nover my classmates' fortunes, I was led to make a few reflections.\nFrom the fact that Armstrong and Berkeley were leading lives that\nsquarely contradicted their announced ideas and intentions, it was an\nobvious but not therefore a true inference that circumstance is\nusually stronger than will. Say, rather, that the species of necessity\nwhich consists in character and inborn tendency is stronger than any\nresolution to run counter to it.\n\nBoth Armstrong and Berkeley, on our Commencement night, had spoken\nfrom a sense of their own limitations, and in violent momentary\nrebellion against them. But, in talking with them fifteen years later,\nI could not discover that the lack of correspondence between their\nideal future and their actual present troubled them much. It is matter\nof common note that it is impossible to make one man realize another's\nexperience; but it is often quite as hard to make him recover a past\nstage of his own consciousness.\n\nThese, then, had bent to the force of chance or temperament. But\nClay had shaped his life according to his programme, and had the\nresult been happier? He who gets his wish often suffers a sharper\ndisappointment than he who loses it. \"_So taeuscht uns also bald die\nHoffnung, bald das Gehoffte_,\" says the great pessimist, and Fate is\nnever more ironical than when she humors our whim. Doddridge alone,\nwho had thrown himself confidingly into the arms of the Destinies, had\nobtained their capricious favors.\n\nI cannot say that I drew any counsel, civil or moral, from these\ncomparisons. Life is deeper and wider than any particular lesson to be\nlearned from it; and just when we think that we have at last guessed\nits best meanings, it laughs in our face with some paradox which turns\nour solution into a new riddle.\n\n\n\n\nZERVIAH HOPE.\n\nBY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.\n\n_Scribner's Monthly, November, 1880._\n\n\nPRELUDE.\n\nIn the month of August, in the year 1878, the steamer _Mercy_, of the\nNew York and Savannah line, cast anchor down the channel, off a little\ntown in South Carolina which bore the name of Calhoun. It was not a\nregular part of her \"run\" for the _Mercy_ to make a landing at this\nplace. She had departed from her course by special permit to leave\nthree passengers, two men and one woman, who had business of a grave\nnature in Calhoun.\n\nA man, himself a passenger for Savannah, came upon deck as the\nsteamship hove to, to inquire the reason of the delay. He was a short\nman, thin, with a nervous hand and neck. His eyes were black, his hair\nwas black, and closely cut. He had an inscrutable mouth, and a\nforehead well-plowed rather by experience than years. He was not an\nold man. He was cleanly dressed in new, cheap clothes. He had been\ncommented upon as a reticent passenger. He had no friends on board the\n_Mercy_. This was the first time upon the voyage that he had been\nobserved to speak. He came forward and stood among the others, and\nabruptly said:\n\n\"What's this for?\"\n\nHe addressed the mate, who answered with a sidelong look, and none too\ncordially:\n\n\"We land passengers by the Company's order.\"\n\n\"Those three?\"\n\n\"Yes, the men and the lady.\"\n\n\"Who are they?\"\n\n\"Physicians from New York.\"\n\n\"Ah-h!\" said the man, slowly, making a sighing noise between his\nteeth. \"That means--that means--\"\n\n\"Volunteers to the fever district,\" said the mate, shortly, \"as you\nmight have known before now. You're not of a sociable cast, I see.\"\n\n\"I have made no acquaintances,\" said the short passenger. \"I know\nnothing of the news of the ship. Is the lady a nurse?\"\n\n\"She's a she-doctor. Doctors, the whole of 'em. There ain't a nurse\naboard.\"\n\n\"Plenty to be found, I suppose, in this place you speak of?\"\n\n\"How should I know?\" replied the mate, with another sidelong look.\n\nOne of the physicians, it seemed, overheard this last question and\nreply. It was the woman. She stepped forward without hesitation, and,\nregarding the short passenger closely, said:\n\n\"There are not nurses. This place is perishing. Savannah and the\nlarger towns have been looked after first--as is natural and right,\"\nadded the physician, in a business-like tone. She had a quick and\nclear-cut, but not ungentle voice.\n\nThe man nodded at her curtly, as he would to another man; he made no\nanswer; then with a slight flush his eye returned to her dress and\nfigure; he lifted his hat and stood uncovered till she had passed and\nturned from him. His face, under the influence of this fluctuation of\ncolor, changed exceedingly, and improved in proportion as it changed.\n\n\"Who is that glum fellow, Doctor?\"\n\nOne of the men physicians followed and asked the lady; he spoke to her\nwith an air of _camaraderie_, at once frank and deferential; they had\nbeen classmates at college for a course of lectures; he had theories\naverse to the medical education of women in general, but this woman in\nparticular, having outranked him at graduation, he had made up his\nmind to her as a marked exception to a wise rule, entitled to a candid\nfellow's respect. Besides, despite her diploma, Marian Dare was a\nlady--he knew the family.\n\n\"_Is_ he glum, Dr. Frank?\" replied Dr. Dare.\n\nBut the other young man stood silent. He never consulted with\ndoctresses.\n\nDr. Dare went below for her luggage. A lonely dory, black of\ncomplexion and skittish of gait, had wandered out and hung in the\nshadow of the steamer, awaiting the passengers. The dory was manned by\none , who sat with his oars crossed, perfectly silent.\n\nThere is a kind of terror for which we find that animals, as well as\nmen, instinctively refrain from seeking expression. The face and\nfigure of the boatman presented a dull form of this species of\nfear. Dr. Dare wondered if all the people in Calhoun would have that\nlook. The regarded the _Mercy_ and her passengers apathetically.\n\nIt was a hot day, and the water seemed to be blistering about the\ndory. So, too, the stretching sand of the shore, as one raised the\neyes painfully against the direct noon-light, was as if it smoked. The\nlow, gray palmetto leaves were curled and faint. Scanty spots of shade\nbeneath sickly trees seemed to gasp upon the hot ground, like\ncreatures that had thrown themselves down to get cool. The outlines of\nthe town beyond had a certain horrible distinctness, as if of a sight\nthat should but could not be veiled. Overhead, and clean to the flat\nhorizon, flashed a sky of blue and blazing fire.\n\n\"Passengers for Calhoun!\"\n\nThe three physicians descended into the dory. The other\npassengers--what there were of them--gathered to see the little group\ndepart. Dr. Frank offered Dr. Dare a hand, which she accepted, like a\nlady, not needing it in the least. She was a climber, with firm, lithe\nankles. No one spoke, as these people got in with the , and\nprepared to drift down with the scorching tide. The woman looked from\nthe steamer to the shore, once, and back again, northwards. The men\ndid not look at all. There was an oppression in the scene which no one\nwas ready to run the risk of increasing by the wrong word.\n\n\"Land me here, too,\" said a low voice, suddenly appearing. It was the\nglum passenger. No one noticed him, except, perhaps, the mate (looking\non with the air of a man who would feel an individual grievance in\nanything this person would be likely to do) and the lady.\n\n\"There is room for you,\" said Dr. Dare. The man let himself into the\nboat at a light bound, and the rowed them away. The _Mercy_,\nheading outwards, seemed to shrug her shoulders, as if she had thrown\nthem off. The strip of burning water between them and the town\nnarrowed rapidly, and the group set their faces firmly landwards.\nOnce, upon the little voyage, Dr. Frank took up an idle pair of oars,\nwith some vaguely humane intent of helping the --he looked so.\n\n\"I wouldn't, Frank,\" said the other gentleman.\n\n\"Now, Remane--why, for instance?\"\n\n\"I wouldn't begin by getting overheated.\"\n\nNo other word was spoken. They landed in silence. In silence, and\nsomewhat weakly, the pulled the dory high upon the beach. The\nfour passengers stood for a moment upon the hot, white sands, moved\ntoward one another, before they separated, by a blind sense of human\nfellowship. Even Remane found himself touching his hat. Dr. Frank\nasked Dr. Dare if he could serve her in any way; but she thanked him,\nand, holding out her firm, white hand, said, \"Good-bye.\"\n\nThis was, perhaps, the first moment when the consciousness of her sex\nhad made itself oppressive to her since she ventured upon this\nundertaking. She would have minded presenting herself to the Relief\nCommittee of Calhoun, accompanied by gentlemen upon whom she had no\nclaim. She walked on alone, in her gray dress and white straw hat,\nwith her luggage in her own sufficient hand.\n\nThe reticent passenger had fallen behind with the boatman, with\nwhom he walked slowly, closing the line.\n\nAfter a few moments, he advanced and hesitatingly joined the lady,\nbeginning to say:\n\n\"May I ask you--\"\n\n\"Ah,\" interrupted Dr. Dare, cordially, \"it is you.\"\n\n\"Will you tell me, madam, the best way of going to work to offer\nmyself as a fever nurse in this place? I want the _best_ way. I want\nreal work.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" she said, nodding; \"I knew you would do it.\"\n\n\"I came from the North for this purpose, but I meant to go on to\nSavannah.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know. This is better; they need _everything_ in this place.\"\n\nShe looked toward the gasping little town through the relentless noon.\nHer merciful blue eyes filled, but the man's look followed with a dry,\nexultant light.\n\n\"There is no porter,\" he said, abruptly, glancing at her heavy bag and\nshawl-strap. \"Would you permit me to help you?\"\n\n\"Oh, thank you!\" replied Dr. Dare, heartily, relinquishing her burden.\n\nPlainly, this poor fellow was not a gentleman. The lady could afford\nto be kind to him.\n\n\"I know nothing how we shall find it,\" she chatted, affably, \"but I go\nto work to-night. I presume I shall need nurses before morning. I'll\nhave your address.\"\n\nShe took from her gray sacque pocket a physician's note-book, and\nstood, pencil in hand.\n\n\"My name,\" he said, \"is Hope--Zerviah Hope.\"\n\nShe wrote without comment, walking as she wrote; he made no other\nattempt to converse with her. The two physicians followed, exchanging\nnow and then a subdued word. The dragged himself wearily over\nthe scorching sand, and thus the little procession of pity entered the\ntown of Calhoun.\n\nMy story does not deal with love or ladies. I have to relate no tender\npassages between the fever-physicians, volunteers from New York, for\nthe afflicted region of Calhoun. Dr. Marian Dare came South to do a\nbrave work, and I have no doubt she did it bravely, as a woman should.\nShe came in pursuit of science, and I have no doubt she found it, as a\nwoman will. Our chief interest in her at this time lies in the fact\nthat certain missing fragments in the history of the person known as\nZerviah Hope we owe to her. She hovers over the tale with a distant\nand beautiful influence, pervading as womanly compassion and alert as\na woman's eye.\n\nI have nothing further to say about the story before I tell it, except\nthat it is true.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThat night, after the physicians had gone about their business,\nZerviah Hope wandered, a little forlornly, through the wretched town.\nScip, the boatman, found him a corner to spend the night. It was\na passable place, but Hope could not sleep; he had already seen too\nmuch. His soul was parched with the thirst of sympathy. He walked his\nhot attic till the dawn came. As it grew brighter he grew calmer; and,\nwhen the unkindly sun burst burning upon the land, he knelt by his\nwindow and looked over the doomed town, and watched the dead-carts\nslinking away toward the everglades in the splendid color of the sky\nand air, and thought his own thoughts in his own way about this which\nhe had come to do. We should not suppose that they were remarkable\nthoughts; he had not the look of a remarkable man. Yet, as he knelt\nthere,--a sleepless, haggard figure blotted against the sunrise,\nwith folded hands and moving lips,--an artist, with a high type of\nimagination and capable of spiritual discernment, would have found in\nhim a design for a lofty subject, to which perhaps he would have given\nthe name of \"Consecration\" rather than of \"Renunciation,\" or of\n\"Exultance\" rather than of \"Dread.\"\n\nA common observer would have simply said: \"I should not have taken him\nfor a praying man.\"\n\nHe was still upon his knees when Dr. Dare's order came, \"Nurse wanted\nfor a bad case!\" and he went from his prayer to his first patient. The\nday was already deep, and a reflection, not of the sunrise, moved with\nhim as light moves.\n\nDoctor Dare, in her gray dress, herself a little pale, met him with\nkeen eyes. She said:\n\n\"It is a _very_ bad case. An old man--much neglected. No one will go.\nAre you willing?\"\n\nThe nurse answered:\n\n\"I am glad.\"\n\nShe watched him as he walked away--a plain, clean, common man, with\nunheroic carriage. The physician's fine eyes fired.\n\nTo Doctor Frank, who had happened in, she said:\n\n\"He will do the work of ten.\"\n\n \"His strength was as the strength of ten,\n Because his heart was pure,\"\n\nquoted the young man, laughing lightly. \"I don't know that I should\nhave thought it, in this case. You've taken a fancy to the fellow.\"\n\n\"I always respect an unmixed motive when I see it,\" she replied,\nshortly. \"But I've been in practice too long to take sudden fancies.\nThere is no profession like ours, Doctor, for putting the sympathies\nunder double picket guard.\"\n\nShe stiffened a little in her manner. She did not like to be thought\nan over-enthusiastic woman--womanish, unused to the world.\n\nThe weather, soon after the arrival of the _Mercy_, took a terrible\nmood, and a prolonged drought settled upon Calhoun. The days dawned\nlurid and long. The nights fell dewless and deadly. Fatal and\nbeautiful colors lurked in the swamps, and in the sifting dust, fine\nand hard, blown by siroccos across the glare of noon, like sands on\nthe shores of the Lake of Fire. The pestilence walked in darkness, and\nthe destruction wasted at midday. Men died, in that little town of a\nfew thousand souls, at the rate of a score a day--black and white,\npoor and rich, clean and foul, saint and sinner. The quarantine laws\ntightened. Vessels fled by the harbor mouth under full sail, and\nmelted like helpless compassion upon the fiery horizon. Trains upon\nthe Shore Line shot through and thundered past the station; they\ncrowded on steam; the fireman and his stoker averted their faces as\nthey whirled by. The world turned her back upon Calhoun, and the dying\ntown was shut in with her dead. Only, at long intervals, the _Mercy_,\ncasting anchor far down the channel, sent up by Scip, the weak, black\nboatman, the signs of human fellowship--food, physician, purse,\nmedicine--that spoke from the heart of the North to the heart of the\nSouth, and upheld her in those well-remembered days.\n\nZerviah Hope, volunteer nurse, became quickly enough a marked man in\nCalhoun. He more than verified Doctor Dare's prognosis. Where the\ndeadliest work was to be done, this man, it was observed, asked to be\nsent. Where no one else would go, he went. What no one else would do,\nhe did. He sought the neglected, and the s. He braved the\nunclean, and the unburied. With the readiness of all incisive\ncharacter acting on emergencies, he stamped himself upon the place and\ntime. He went to his task as the soldier goes to the front under\nraking fire, with gleaming eyes and iron muscles. The fever of the\nfight was on him. He seemed to wrestle with disease for his patients,\nand to trample death beneath his feet. He glowed over his cures with a\npositive physical dilation, and writhed over his dead as if he had\nkilled them. He seemed built of endurance more than mortal. It was not\nknown when he slept, scarcely if he ate. His weariness sat upon him\nlike a halo. He grew thin, refined, radiant. In short, he presented\nan example of that rare spectacle which never fails to command\nspectators--a common man possessed by an uncommon enthusiasm.\n\nWhat passed with him at this time in that undiscovered sea which we\ncall a man's inner life, it would not be easy to assert. So far as we\ncan judge, all the currents of his nature had swelled into the great,\npulsing tide of self-surrender, which swept him along. Weakness,\nwrong, memory, regret, fear, grief, pleasure, hope,--all the little\nchannels of personal life,--ran dry. He was that most blessed of human\ncreatures, a man without a past and without a future, and living in a\npresent nobler than the one could have been or the other could become.\nHe continued to be a silent man, speaking little, excepting to his\npatients, and now and then, very gently, to the lady, Dr. Dare. He was\nalways pliable to the influence of a woman's voice or to womanly\nmanner. He had, in the presence of women, the quick responsiveness and\nsudden change of color and sensitiveness of intonation which bespeak\nthe man whose highest graces and lowest faults are likely to be owing\nto feminine power.\n\nThis was a quality which gave him remarkable success as a nurse. He\nwas found to be infinitely tender, and of fine, brave patience. It was\nfound that he shrank from no task because it was too small, as he had\nshrunk from no danger because it was too great. He became a favorite\nwith the sick and with physicians. The convalescent clung to him, the\ndying heard of him and sent for him, the Relief Committee leaned upon\nhim, as in such crises the leader leans upon the led. By degrees, he\nbecame greatly trusted in Calhoun; this is to say, that he became\ngreatly loved.\n\nI have been told that, to this day, many people personally unknown to\nhim, whose fate it was to be imprisoned in that beleaguered town at\nthat time, and who were familiar with the nervous figure and plain,\nintense countenance of the Northern nurse, as he passed, terrible day\nafter terrible day, to his post, cannot hear of him, even now, without\nthat suffusion of look by which we hold back tears; and that, when\nhis name took on, as it did, a more than local reputation, they were\nunable to speak it because of choking voices. I have often wished that\nhe knew this.\n\nIt was the custom in Calhoun to pay the nurses at short, stated\nintervals,--I think once a week, on Saturday nights. The first time\nthat Hope was summoned to receive his wages, he evinced marked\nemotion, too genuine not to be one of surprise and repugnance.\n\n\"I had not thought,--\" he began, and stood, coloring violently.\n\n\"You earn your five dollars a day, if anybody in Calhoun does,\" urged\nthe official, with kindly brusqueness.\n\n\"It is not right; I do not wish to take the money,\" said the nurse,\nwith agitation. \"I do not wish to be paid for--saving--human life.\nI did not come to the fever district to make money; I came to save\nlife--_to save life_!\" he added, in a quick whisper. He had not slept\nfor four nights, and seemed, they noticed, more than usually nervous\nin his manner.\n\n\"The money is yours,\" insisted the treasurer.\n\n\"Very well,\" said Hope, after a long silence; and no more was said\nabout it. He took his wages and walked away up the street, absorbed\nin thought.\n\nOne morning, he went to his lodgings to seek a little rest. It was\nabout six o'clock, and people were already moving in the hot, thirsty\nstreets. The apothecaries' doors were open, and their clerks were\nastir. The physicians drove or walked hastily, with the haggard look\nof men whose days and nights are too short for their work, and whose\nhope, and heart as well, have grown almost too small. Zerviah noticed\nthose young Northern fellows among them, Frank and Remane, and saw how\nthey had aged since they came South,--brave boys, both of them, and\nhad done a man's brave deed. Through her office window, as he walked\npast, he caught a glimpse of Dr. Dare's gray dress and blonde, womanly\nhead of abundant hair. She was mixing medicines, and patients stood\nwaiting. She looked up and nodded as he went by; she was too busy\nto smile. At the door of the Relief Committee, gaunt groups hung,\nclamoring. At the telegraph office, knots of men and women gathered,\nduly inspiring the heroic young operator,--a slight girl,--who had not\nleft her post for now many days and nights. Her chief had the fever\nlast week,--was taken at the wires,--lived to get home. She was the\nonly person alive in the town who knew how to communicate with the\nouter world. She had begun to teach a little brother of hers the Morse\nalphabet,--\"That somebody may know, Bobby, if I--can't come some day.\"\nShe, too, knew Zerviah Hope, and looked up; but her pretty face was\nclouded with the awful shadow of her own responsibility.\n\n\"We all have about as much as we can bear,\" thought Zerviah, as he\nwent by. His own burden was lightened a little that morning, and he\nwas going home to get a real rest. He had just saved his last\npatient--the doctor gave him up. It was a young man, the father of\nfive very little children, and their mother had died the week before.\nThe nurse had looked at the orphans, and said: \"_He's got to live._\"\nThis man had blessed him this morning, and called the love of heaven\non his head and its tender mercy on his whole long life. Zerviah\nwalked with quick step. He lifted his head, with its short, black,\ncoarse hair. His eyes, staring for sleep, flashed, fed with a food the\nbody knows not of. He felt almost happy, as he turned to climb the\nstairs that led to the attic shelter where he had knelt and watched\nthe dawn come on that first day, and given himself to God and to the\ndying of Calhoun. He had always kept that attic, partly because he had\nmade that prayer there. He thought it helped him to make others since.\nHe had not always been a man who prayed. The habit was new, and\nrequired culture. He had guarded it rigidly since he came South, as\nhe had his diet and regimen of bathing, air, and other physical needs.\n\nOn this morning that I speak of, standing with his almost happy face\nand lifted head, with his foot upon the stairs, he turned, for no\nreason that he could have given, and looked over his shoulder. A man\nbehind him, stepping softly, stopped, changed color, and crossed the\nstreet.\n\n\"I am followed,\" said the nurse.\n\nHe spoke aloud, but there was no one to hear him. A visible change\ncame over his face. He stood uncertain for a moment; then shut the\ndoor and crawled upstairs. At intervals he stopped on the stairs to\nrest, and sat with his head in his hands, thinking. By and by he\nreached his room, and threw himself heavily upon his bed. All the\nradiance had departed from his tired face, as if a fog had crept over\nit. He hid it in his long, thin, humane hands, and lay there\nfor a little while. He was perplexed--not surprised. He was not\nshocked--only disappointed. Dully he wished that he could get five\nminutes' nap; but he could not sleep. Not knowing what else to do, he\ngot upon his knees presently, in that place by the window he liked to\npray in, and said aloud:\n\n\"Lord, I didn't expect it; I wasn't ready. I should like to sleep long\nenough to decide what to do.\"\n\nAfter this, he went back to bed and lay still again, and in a little\nwhile he truly slept. Not long; but to those who perish for rest, a\nmoment of unconsciousness may do the work of a cup of water to one\nperishing of thirst. He started, strengthened, with lines of decision\nforming about his mouth and chin; and, having bathed and cleanly\ndressed, went out.\n\nHe went out beyond the town to the hut where Scip the boatman lived.\nScip was at home. He lived quite alone. His father, his mother and\nfour brothers had died of the plague since June. He started when he\nsaw Hope, and his habitual look of fear deepened to a craven terror;\nhe would rather have had the yellow fever than to have seen the\nNorthern nurse just then. But Zerviah sat down by him on the hot sand,\nbeside a rather ghastly palmetto that grew there, and spoke to him\nvery gently. He said:\n\n\"The _Mercy_ came in last night, Scip.--I know. And you rowed down for\nthe supplies. You heard something about me on board the _Mercy_. Tell\nme, Scip.\"\n\n\"He's a durn fool,\" said Scip, with a dull show of passion.\n\n\"Who is a durn fool?\"\n\n\"That dem mate.\"\n\n\"So it was the mate? Yes. What did he say, Scip?\"\n\n\"I never done believe it,\" urged Scip, with an air of suddenly\nrecollected virtue.\n\n\"But you told of it, Scip.\"\n\n\"I never told nobody but Jupiter, the durn fool!\" persisted Scip.\n\n\"Who is Jupiter?\"\n\n\"Doctor Remane's Jupiter, him that holds his hoss, that he brung up\nfrom the fever. He said he wouldn't tell. I never done believe it,\n_never_!\"\n\n\"It seems to me, Scip,\" said Zerviah, in a low, kind voice, \"that I\nwouldn't have told if I'd been you. But never mind.\"\n\n\"I never done mean to hurt you!\" cried Scip, following him into the\nroad. \"Jupiter the durn, he said he'd never tell. I never told nobody\nelse.\"\n\n\"You have told the whole town,\" said Zerviah Hope, patiently. \"I'm\nsorry, but never mind.\"\n\nHe stood for a moment looking across the stark palmetto, over the\ndusty stretch of road, across the glare, to the town. His eyes blinded\nand filled.\n\n\"It wouldn't have been a great while,\" he said. \"I wish you hadn't,\nScip, but never mind!\"\n\nHe shook the gently off, as if he had been a child. There was\nnothing more to say. He would go back to his work. As he walked along,\nhe suddenly said to himself:\n\n\"She did not smile this morning! Nor the lady at the telegraph office,\neither. Nor--a good many other folks. I remember now.... Lord!\" he\nadded aloud, thought breaking into one of his half-unconscious\nprayers, which had the more pathos because it began with the rude\nabruptness of an apparent oath,--\"Lord! what in the name of heaven am\nI going to do about it?\"\n\nNow, as he was coming into the little city, with bowed head and broken\nface, he met Doctor Dare. She was riding on her rounds upon a patient,\nSouthern tackey, and she was riding fast. But she reined up and\nconfronted him.\n\n\"Mr. Hope! There is a hateful rumor brought from New York about you. I\nam going to tell you immediately. It is said--\"\n\n\"Wait a minute!\" he pleaded, holding out both hands. \"Now. Go on.\"\n\n\"It is said that you are an escaped convict,\" continued the lady,\ndistinctly.\n\n\"It is false!\" cried the nurse, in a ringing voice.\n\nThe doctor regarded him for a moment.\n\n\"I may be wrong. Perhaps it was not so bad. I was in a cruel hurry,\nand so was Doctor Frank. Perhaps they said a discharged convict.\"\n\n\"What else?\" asked Zerviah, lifting his eyes to hers.\n\n\"They said you were just out of a seven years' imprisonment for\nmanslaughter. They said you killed a man--for jealousy, I believe;\nsomething about a woman.\"\n\n\"What else?\" repeated the nurse, steadily.\n\n\"I told them I _did not believe one word of it_!\" cried Marian Dare.\n\n\"Thank you, madam,\" said Zerviah Hope, after a scarcely perceptible\npause; \"but it is true.\"\n\nHe drew one fierce breath.\n\n\"She was beautiful,\" he said. \"I loved her; he ruined her; I stabbed\nhim!\"\n\nHe had grown painfully pale. He wanted to go on speaking to this\nwoman, not to defend or excuse himself, not to say anything weak or\nwrong, only to make her understand that he did not want to excuse\nhimself; in some way, just because she _was_ a woman, to make her feel\nthat he was man enough to bear the burden of his deed. He wanted to\ncry out to her, \"You are a woman! Oh, be gentle, and understand how\nsorry a man can be for a deadly sin!\" but his lips were parched. He\nmoved them dryly; he could not talk.\n\nShe was silent at first. She was a prudent woman; she thought before\nshe spoke.\n\n\"Poor fellow!\" she said, suddenly. Her clear blue eyes overflowed. She\nheld out her hand, lifted his, wrung it, dropped it, and softly added,\n\"Well, never mind!\" much as if he had been a child or a patient,--much\nas he himself had said, \"Never mind!\" to Scip.\n\nThen Zerviah Hope broke down.\n\n\"I haven't got a murderer's heart!\" he cried. \"It has been taken away\nfrom me. I ain't so bad--_now_. I meant to be--I wanted to do--\"\n\n\"Hush!\" she said. \"You have, and you shall. God is fair.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the penitent convict, in a dull voice, \"God is fair, and\nso he let 'em tell of me. I've got no fault to find with _Him_. So\nnigh as I can understand Almighty God, He means well.... I guess\nHe'll pull me through some way.... But I wish Scip hadn't told just\nnow. I can't _help_ being sorry. It wasn't that I wanted to cheat,\nbut\"--he choked--\"_the sick folks used to like me_. Now, do you think\nI'd ought to go on nursing, Doctor? Do you think I'd ought to stop?\"\n\n\"You are already an hour late,\" replied the woman of science, in her\nusual business-like voice. \"Your substitute will be sleepy and\nrestless; that affects the patient. Go back to your work as fast as\nyou can. Ask me no more foolish questions.\"\n\nShe drew her veil; there was unprofessional moisture on her long,\nfeminine lashes. She held out her hearty hand-grasp to him, touched\nthe tackey, and galloped away.\n\n\"She is a good woman,\" said Zerviah, half aloud, looking down at his\ncold fingers. \"She touched me, and she knew! Lord, I should like to\nhave you bless her!\"\n\nHe looked after her. She sat her horse finely; her gray veil drifted\nin the hot wind. His sensitive color came. He watched her as if he had\nknown that he should never see her again on earth.\n\nA ruined character may be as callous as a paralyzed limb. A ruined and\nrepentant one is in itself an independent system of sensitive and\ntortured nerves.\n\nZerviah Hope returned to his work, shrinking under the foreknowledge\nof his fate. He felt as if he knew what kind of people would remind\nhim that they had become acquainted with his history, and what ways\nthey would select to do it.\n\nHe was not taken by surprise when men who had lifted their hats to the\npopular nurse last week, passed him on the street to-day with a cold\nnod or curious stare. When women who had reverenced the self-sacrifice\nand gentleness of his life as only women do or can reverence the\nquality of tenderness in a man, shrank from him as if he were\nsomething infectious, like the plague,--he knew it was just, though he\nfelt it hard.\n\nHis patients heard of what had happened, sometimes, and indicated a\nfeeling of recoil. That was the worst. One said:\n\n\"I am sorry to hear you are not the man we thought you,\" and died in\nhis arms that night.\n\nZerviah remembered that these things must be. He reasoned with\nhimself. He went into his attic, and prayed it all over. He said:\n\n\"Lord, I can't expect to be treated as if I'd never been in prison.\nI'm sorry I mind it so. Perhaps I'd ought not to. I'll try not to care\ntoo much.\"\n\nMore than once he was sure of being followed again, suspiciously or\ncuriously. It occurred to him at last that this was most likely to\nhappen on pay-days. That puzzled him. But when he turned, it was\nusually some idler, and the fellow shrank and took to his heels, as if\nthe nurse had the fever.\n\nIn point of fact, even in that death-stricken town, to be alive was\nto be as able to gossip as well people, and rumor, wearied of the\nmonotonous fever symptom, found a diverting zest in this shattered\nreputation.\n\nZerviah Hope was very much talked about in Calhoun; so much, that the\nRelief Committee heard, questioned, and experienced official anxiety.\nIt seemed a mistake to lose so valuable a man. It seemed a severity to\ndisturb so noble a career. Yet who knew what sinister countenance the\nmurderer might be capable of shielding beneath his mask of pity? The\nofficial mind was perplexed. Was it humane to trust the lives of our\nperishing citizens to the ministrations of a felon who had so\nskillfully deceived the most intelligent guardians of the public weal?\nThere was, in particular, a chairman of a sub-committee (on the water\nsupply) who was burdened with uneasiness.\n\n\"It's clear enough what brought _him_ to Calhoun,\" said this man.\n\"What do you suppose the fellow does with his five dollars a day?\"\n\nThe Committee on the Water Supply promptly divided into a\nSub-Vigilance, and to the Sub-Vigilance Committee Zerviah Hope's case\nwas referred. The result was, that he was followed on pay-day.\n\nOne Saturday night, just as the red-hot sun was going down, the\nsub-committee returned to the Relief Office in a state of high\nofficial excitement, and reported to the chief as follows:\n\n\"We've done it. We've got him. We've found out what the fellow does\nwith his money. He puts it--\"\n\n\"Well?\" for the sub-committee hesitated.\n\n\"Into the relief contribution-boxes on the corners of the street.\"\n\n\"_What!_\"\n\n\"Every dollar. We stood and watched him count it out--his week's\nwages. Every mortal cent that Yankee's turned over to the fund for the\nsufferers. He never kept back a red. He poured it all in.\"\n\n\"Follow him next week. Report again.\"\n\nThey followed, and reported still again. They consulted, and accepted\nthe astounding truth. The murderer, the convict, the miserable, the\nmystery, Zerviah Hope,--volunteer nurse, poor, friendless, discharged\nfrom Sing Sing, was proved to have surrendered to the public charities\nof Calhoun, every dollar which he had earned in the service of her\nsick and dying.\n\nThe Committee on the Water Supply, and the Sub-Vigilance Committee\nstood, much depressed, before their superior officer. He, being a just\nman, flushed red with a noble rage.\n\n\"Where is he? Where is Zerviah Hope? The man should be sent for. He\nshould receive the thanks of the committee. He should receive the\nacknowledgments of the city. And we've set on him like detectives!\nhunted him down! Zounds! The city is disgraced. Find him for me!\"\n\n\"We have already done our best,\" replied the sub-committee, sadly.\n\"We have searched for the man. He cannot be found.\"\n\n\"Where is the woman-doctor?\" persisted the excited chief. \"She\nrecommended the fellow. She'd be apt to know. Can't some of you find\nher?\"\n\nAt this moment, young Dr. Frank looked haggardly into the Relief\nOffice.\n\n\"I am taking her cases,\" he said. \"She is down with the fever.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt was the morning after his last pay-day--Sunday morning, the first\nin October; a dry, deadly, glittering day. Zerviah had been to his\nattic to rest and bathe; he had been there some hours since sunrise,\nin the old place by the window, and watched the red sun kindle, and\nwatched the dead-carts slink away into the color, and kneeled and\nprayed for frost. Now, being strengthened in mind and spirit, he was\ndescending to his Sabbath's work, when a message met him at the door.\nThe messenger was a boy, who thrust a slip of paper into his\nhand, and, seeming to be seized with superstitious fright, ran rapidly\nup the street and disappeared.\n\nThe message was a triumphal result of the education of the freedmen's\nevening school, and succinctly said:\n\n \"ive Gut IT. Nobuddy Wunt Nuss me. Norr no Docter nEther.\n\n \"P. S. Joopiter the Durn hee sed he'd kerry This i dont\n Serpose youd kum. SCIP.\"\n\nThe sun went down that night as red as it had risen. There were no\nclouds. There was no wind. There was no frost. The hot dust curdled in\nthe shadow that coiled beneath the stark palmetto. That palmetto\nalways looked like a corpse, though there was life in it yet. Zerviah\ncame to the door of Scip's hovel for air, and looked at the thing. It\nseemed like something that ought to be buried. There were no other\ntrees. The everglades were miles away. The sand and the scant, starved\ngrass stretched all around. Scip's hut stood quite by itself. No one\npassed by. Often no one passed for a week, or even more. Zerviah\nlooked from the door of the hut to the little city. The red light lay\nbetween him and it, like a great pool. He felt less lonely to see the\ntown, and the smoke now and then from chimneys. He thought how many\npeople loved and cared for one another in the suffering place. He\nthought how much love and care suffering gave birth to, in human\nhearts. He began to think a little of his own suffering; then Scip\ncalled him, sobbing wretchedly. Scip was very sick. Hope had sent for\nDr. Dare. She had not come. Scip was too sick to be left. The nurse\nfound his duty with the . Scip was growing worse.\n\nBy and by, when the patient could be left for a moment again, Zerviah\ncame to the air once more. He drew in great breaths of the now cooler\nnight. The red pool was gone. All the world was filled with the fatal\nbeauty of the purple colors that he had learned to know so well. The\nswamps seemed to be asleep, and to exhale in the slow, regular\npulsations of sleep. In the town, lamps were lighted. From a hundred\nwindows, fair, fine sparks shone like stars as the nurse looked over.\nThere, a hundred watchers tended their sick or dead, or their healing,\ndearly loved, and guarded ones. Dying eyes looked their last at eyes\nthat would have died to save them; strengthening hands clasped hands\nthat had girded them with the iron of love's tenderness, through the\nvalley of the shadow, and up the heights of life and light. Over\nthere, in some happy home, tremulous lips that the plague had parted\nmet to-night in their first kiss of thanksgiving.\n\nZerviah thought of these things. He had never felt so lonely before.\nIt seemed a hard place for a man to die in. Poor Scip!\n\nZerviah clasped his thin hands and looked up at the purple sky.\n\n\"Lord,\" he said, \"it is my duty. I came South to do my duty. Because\nhe told of me, had I ought to turn against him? It is a lonesome\nplace; he's got it hard, but I'll stand by him.... Lord!\"--his worn\nface became suddenly suffused, and flashed, transfigured, as he lifted\nit--\"Lord God Almighty! You stood by me! _I_ couldn't have been a\npleasant fellow to look after. You stood by _me_ in my scrape! I\nhadn't treated _You_ any too well.... You needn't be afraid I'll leave\nthe creetur.\"\n\nHe went back into the hut. Scip called, and he hurried in. The nurse\nand the plague, like two living combatants, met in the miserable place\nand battled for the .\n\nThe white Southern stars blazed out. How clean they looked! Zerviah\ncould see them through the window, where the wooden shutter had\nflapped back. They looked well and wholesome--holy, he thought. He\nremembered to have heard some one say, at a Sunday meeting he happened\ninto once, years ago, that the word holiness meant health. He wondered\nwhat it would be like, to be holy. He wondered what kinds of\npeople would be holy people, say, after a man was dead. Women, he\nthought,--good women, and honest men who had never done a deadly deed.\n\nHe occupied his thoughts in this way. He looked often from the cold\nstars to the warm lights throbbing in the town. They were both company\nto him. He began to feel less alone. There was a special service\ncalled somewhere in the city that night, to read the prayers for the\nsick and dying. The wind rose feebly, and bore the sound of the\nchurch-bells to the hut. There was a great deal of company, too, in\nthe bells. He remembered that it was Sunday night.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt was Monday, but no one came. It was Tuesday, but the nurse and the\nplague still battled alone together over the . Zerviah's stock\nof remedies was as ample as his skill. He had thought he should save\nScip. He worked without sleep, and the food was not clean. He lavished\nhimself like a lover over this black boatman; he leaned like a mother\nover this man who had betrayed him.\n\nBut on Tuesday night, a little before midnight, Scip rose, struggling\non his wretched bed, and held up his hands and cried out:\n\n\"Mr. Hope! Mr. Hope! I never done mean to harm ye!\"\n\n\"You have not harmed me,\" said Zerviah, solemnly. \"Nobody ever harmed\nme but myself. Don't mind me, Scip.\"\n\nScip put up his feeble hand; Zerviah took it; Scip spoke no more. The\nnurse held the 's hand a long time; the lamp went out; they sat\non in the dark. Through the flapping wooden shutter the stars looked\nin.\n\nSuddenly, Zerviah perceived that Scip's hand was quite cold.\n\n * * * * *\n\nHe carried him out by starlight, and buried him under the palmetto. It\nwas hard work digging alone. He could not make a very deep grave, and\nhe had no coffin. When the earth was stamped down, he felt extremely\nweary and weak. He fell down beside his shovel and pick to rest, and\nlay there in the night till he felt stronger. It was damp and dark.\nShadows like clouds hung over the distant outline of the swamp.\n\nThe Sunday bells in the town had ceased. There were no sounds but the\ncries of a few lonely birds and wild creatures of the night, whose\nnames he did not know. This little fact added to his sense of\nsolitude.\n\nHe thought at first he would get up and walk back to the city in the\ndark. An intense and passionate longing seized him to be among living\nmen. He took a few steps down the road. The unwholesome dust blew up\nthrough the dark against his face. He found himself so tired that he\nconcluded to go back to the hut. He would sleep, and start in the\nmorning with the break of the dawn. He should be glad to see the faces\nof his kind again, even though the stir of welcome and the light of\ntrust were gone out of them for him. They lived, they breathed, they\nspoke. He was tired of death and solitude.\n\nHe groped back into the hut. The oil was low, and he could not relight\nthe lamp. He threw himself in the dark upon his bed.\n\nHe slept until late in the morning, heavily. When he waked, the birds\nwere shrill in the hot air, and the sun glared in.\n\n\"I will go now,\" he said, aloud. \"I am glad I can go,\" and crept to\nhis feet.\n\nHe took two steps--staggered--and fell back. He lay for some moments,\nstricken more with astonishment than alarm. His first words were:\n\n\"Lord God! After all--after all I've gone through--Lord God Almighty,\nif You'll believe it--I've _got it_!\"\n\nThis was on Wednesday morning. Night fell, but no one came.\nThursday--but outside the hut no step stirred the parched, white dust.\nFriday--Saturday--no voice but his own moaning broke upon the sick\nman's straining ear.\n\nHis professional experience gave him an excruciating foresight of his\nsymptoms, and their result presented itself to him with horrible\ndistinctness. As one by one he passed through the familiar conditions\nwhose phases he had watched in other men a hundred times, he would\nhave given his life for a temporary ignorance. His trained imagination\nhad little mercy on him. He weighed his chances, and watched his fate\nwith the sad exactness of knowledge.\n\nAs the days passed, and no one came to him, he was aware of not being\nable to reason with himself clearly about his solitude. Growing weak,\nhe remembered the averted faces of the people for whom he had labored,\nand whom he had loved. In the stress of his pain their estranged eyes\ngazed at him. He felt that he was deserted because he was distrusted.\nPatient as he was, this seemed hard.\n\n\"They did not care enough for me to miss me,\" he said, aloud, gently.\n\"I suppose I was not worth it. I had been in prison. I was a wicked\nman. I must not blame them.\"\n\nAnd again:\n\n\"They would have come if they had known. They would not have let me\n_die_ alone. I don't think _she_ would have done that. I wonder where\nshe is? Nobody has missed me--that is all. I must not mind.\"\n\nGrowing weaker, he thought less and prayed more. He prayed, at last,\nalmost all his time. When he did not pray, he slept. When he could not\nsleep, he prayed. He addressed God with that sublime familiarity of\nhis, which fell from his lips with no more irreverence than the kiss\nof a child falling upon its mother's hand or neck.\n\nThe murderer, the felon, the outcast, talked with the Almighty\nHoliness, as a man talketh with his friends. The deserted, distrusted,\ndying creature believed himself to be trusted by the Being who had\nbestowed on him the awful gift of life.\n\n\"Lord,\" he said, softly, \"I guess I can bear it. I'd like to see\nsomebody--but I'll make out to get along.... Lord! I'm pretty weak. I\nknow all about these spasms. You get delirious next thing, you know.\nThen you either get better or you never do. It'll be decided by Sunday\nnight. Lord! Dear Lord!\" he added, with a tender pause, \"don't _You_\nforget me! I hope _You'll_ miss me enough to hunt me up.\"\n\nIt grew dark early on Saturday night. The sun sank under a thin,\ndeceptive web of cloud. The shadow beneath the palmetto grew long over\nScip's fresh grave. The stars were dim and few. The wind rose, and the\nlights in the city, where watchers wept over their sick, trembled on\nthe frail breeze, and seemed to be multiplied, like objects seen\nthrough tears.\n\nThrough the wooden shutter, Zerviah could see the lights, and the\nlonely palmetto, and the grave. He could see those few cold stars.\n\nHe thought, while his thoughts remained his own, most tenderly and\nlongingly of those for whom he had given his life. He remembered how\nmany keen cares of their own they had to carry, how many ghastly deeds\nand sights to do and bear. It was not strange that he should not be\nmissed. Who was he?--a disgraced, unfamiliar man, among their kin and\nneighborhood. Why should they think of him? he said.\n\nYet he was glad that he could remember them. He wished his living or\nhis dying could help them any. Things that his patients had said to\nhim, looks that healing eyes had turned on him, little signs of human\nlove and leaning, came back to him as he lay there, and stood around\nhis bed, like people, in the dark hut.\n\n\"_They loved me_,\" he said: \"Lord, as true as I'm alive, they did!\nI'm glad I lived long enough to save life, _to save life_! I'm much\nobliged to You for that! I wish there was something else I could do\nfor them.... Lord! I'd be willing to die if it would help them any. If\nI thought I could do anything that way, toward sending them a frost--\n\n\"No,\" he added, \"that ain't reasonable. A frost and a human life ain't\nconvertible coin. He don't do unreasonable things. May be I've lost\nmy head already. But I'd be glad to. That's all. I suppose I can\n_ask_ You for a frost. _That's_ reason.\n\n\"Lord God of earth and heaven! that made the South and North, the\npestilence and destruction, the sick and well, the living and the\ndead, have mercy on us miserable sinners! Have mercy on the folks that\npray to You, and on the folks that don't! Remember the old graves, and\nthe new ones, and the graves that are to be opened if this hellish\nheat goes on, and send us a blessed frost, O Lord, _as an act of\nhumanity_! And if that ain't the way to speak to You, remember I\nhaven't been a praying man long enough to learn the language very\nwell,--and that I'm pretty sick,--but that I would be glad to die--to\ngive them--a great, white, holy frost. Lord, a frost! Lord, a cool,\nwhite, clean frost, for these poor devils that have borne so much!\"\n\nAt midnight of that Saturday he dozed and dreamed. He dreamed of what\nhe had thought while Scip was sick: of what it was like, to be holy;\nand, sadly waking, thought of holy people--good women and honest men,\nwho had never done a deadly deed.\n\n\"I cannot be holy,\" thought Zerviah Hope; \"but I can pray for frost.\"\nSo he tried to pray for frost. But by that time he had grown confused,\nand his will wandered pitifully, and he saw strange sights in the\nlittle hut. It was as if he were not alone. Yet no one had come in.\n_She_ could not come at midnight. Strange--how strange! Who was that\nwho walked about the hut? Who stood and looked at him? Who leaned to\nhim? Who brooded over him? Who put arms beneath him? Who looked at\nhim, as those look who love the sick too much to shrink from them?\n\n\"I don't know You,\" said Zerviah, in a distinct voice. Presently he\nsmiled. \"Yes, I guess I do. I see now. I'm not used to You. I never\nsaw You before. You are Him I've heered about--God's Son! God's Son,\nYou've taken a great deal of trouble to come here after me. Nobody\nelse came. You're the only one that has remembered me. You're very\ngood to me.\n\n\"... Yes, I remember. They made a prisoner of _You_. Why, yes! They\ndeserted _You_. They let _You_ die by Yourself. What did You do it\nfor? I don't know much about theology. I am not an educated man. I\nnever prayed till I come South.... I forget--_What did You do it\nfor?_\"\n\nA profound and solemn silence replied.\n\n\"Well,\" said the sick man, breaking it in a satisfied tone, as if he\nhad been answered, \"I wasn't worth it ... but I'm glad You came. I\nwish they had a frost, poor things! _You_ won't go away? Well, I'm\nglad. Poor things! Poor things! I'll take Your hand, if You've no\nobjections.\"\n\nAfter a little time, he added, in a tone of unutterable tenderness and\ncontent:\n\n\"_Dear_ Lord!\" and said no more.\n\nIt was a quiet night. The stars rode on as if there were no task but\nthe tasks of stars in all the universe, and no sorrow keener than\ntheir sorrow, and no care other than their motion and their shining.\nThe web of cloud floated like exhaling breath between them and the\nearth. It grew cooler before the dawn. The leaves of the palmetto over\nScip's grave seemed to uncurl, and grow lax, and soften. The dust\nstill flew heavily, but the wind rose.\n\nThe Sunday-bells rang peacefully. The sick heard them, and the\nconvalescent and the well. The dying listened to them before they\nleft. On the faces of the dead, too, there came the look of those who\nhear.\n\nThe bells tolled, too, that Sunday. They tolled almost all the\nafternoon. The young Northerner, Dr. Remane, was gone,--a reticent,\nbrave young man,--and the heroic telegraph operator. Saturday night\nthey buried her. Sunday, \"Bobby\" took her place at the wires, and\nspelled out, with shaking fingers, the cries of Calhoun to the wide,\nwell world.\n\nBy sunset, all the bells had done ringing and done tolling. There was\na clear sky, with cool colors. It seemed almost cold about Scip's hut.\nThe palmetto lifted its faint head. The dust slept. It was not yet\ndark when a little party from the city rode up, searching for the\ndreary place. They had ridden fast. Dr. Frank was with them, and the\nlady, Marian Dare. She rode at their head. She hurried nervously on.\nShe was pale, and still weak. The chairman of the Relief Committee was\nwith her, and the sub-committee and others.\n\nDr. Dare pushed on through the swinging door of the hut. She entered\nalone. They saw the backward motion of her gray-sleeved wrist, and\ncame no farther, but removed their hats and stood. She knelt beside\nthe bed, and put her hand upon his eyes. God is good, after all. Let\nus hope that they knew her before they closed.\n\nShe came out, and tried to tell about it, but broke down, and sobbed\nbefore them all.\n\n\"It's a martyr's death,\" said the chief, and added solemnly, \"Let us\npray.\"\n\nHe knelt, and the others with him, between the buried and the\nunburied nurse, and thanked God for the knowledge and the recollection\nof the holy life which this man had lived among them in their hour of\nneed.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThey buried him, as they must, and hurried homeward to their living,\ncomforting one another for his memory as they could.\n\nAs for him, he rested, after her hand had fallen on his eyes. He who\nhad known so deeply the starvation of sleeplessness, slept well that\nnight.\n\nIn the morning, when they all awoke, these of the sorrowing city here,\nand those of the happy city yonder; when they took up life again with\nits returning sunrise,--the sick and the well, the free and the\nfettered, the living and the dead,--the frost lay, cool, white,\nblessed, on his grave.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIFE-MAGNET.\n\nBY ALVEY A. ADEE.\n\n_Putnam's Magazine, August, 1870._\n\n\nThere was something about the wholesome sleepiness of Freiberg, in\nSaxony, that fitted well with the lazy nature of Ronald Wyde. So,\nhaving run down there to spend a day or two among the students and the\nmines, and taking a liking to the quaint, unmodernized town, he bodily\nchanged his plans of autumn-travel, gave up a cherished scheme of\nRussian vagabondage, had his baggage sent from Dresden, and made ready\nto settle down and drowse away three or four months in idleness and\nnot over-arduous study. And this move of his led to the happening of a\nvery strange and seemingly unreal event in his life.\n\nRonald Wyde was then about twenty-five or six years old, rather above\nthe medium height, with thick blue-black hair that he had an\nartist-trick of allowing to ripple down to his neck, dark hazel eyes\nthat were almost too deeply recessed in their bony orbits, and a\ntroublesome growth of beard that, close-shaven as he always was,\nshowed in strong blue outline through the thin and rather sallow skin.\nHis address was singularly pleasing, and his wide experience of life,\ntaught him by years of varied travel, made him a good deal of a\ncosmopolitan in his views and ways, which caused him to be looked upon\nas a not over-safe companion for young men of his own age or under.\n\nHaving made up his mind to winter in Freiberg, his first step was to\nquit the little hotel, with its mouldy stone-vaulted entrance and its\ncolumned dining-room, under whose full-centered arches close beery and\nsmoky fumes lingered persistently, and seek quieter student-lodgings\nin the heart of the town. His choice was mainly influenced by a\nthin-railed balcony, twined through and through by the shoots of a\nvigorous Virginia creeper, that flamed and flickered in the breezy\nOctober sunsets in strong relief against the curtains that drifted\nwhitely out and in through the open window. So, with the steady-going\nand hale old Frau Spritzkrapfen he took up his quarters, fully\npersuading himself that he did so for the sake of the stray\nhome-breaths that seemed to stir the scarlet vine-leaves more gently\nfor him, and ignoring pretty Lottchen's great, earnest Saxon eyes as\nbest he could.\n\nA sunny morning followed his removal to Frau Spritzkrapfen's tidy\nhome. There had been a slight rain in the early night, and the\nfootways were yet bright and moist in patches that the slanting\nmorning rays were slowly coaxing away. Ronald Wyde, having set his\nfavorite books handily on the dimity-draped table, which comprised for\nhim the process of getting to rights, and having given more than one\nglance of amused wonderment at the naive blue-and-white scriptural\ntiles that cased his cumbrous four-story earthenware stove, and smiled\nlazily at poor Adam's obvious and sudden indigestion, even while the\nuneaten half-apple remained in his guilty hand, he stepped out on his\nbalcony, leaned his elbows among the crimson leaves, and took in the\nhealthful morning air in great draughts. It was a Sunday; the bells of\nthe gray minster hard by were iterating their clanging calls to the\nsimple townsfolk to come and be droned to in sleepy German gutturals\nfrom the carved, pillar-hung pulpit inside. Looking down, he saw\nthick-ankled women cluttering past in loose wooden-soled shoes, and\ndumpy girls with tow-braids primly dangling to their hips, convoying\nsturdy Dutch-built luggers of younger brothers up the easy that\nled to the church and the bells. Presently Frau Spritzkrapfen and\ndainty Lottchen, rosy with soap and health, slipped through the\ndoorway beneath him out into the little church-bound throng, and, as\nthey disappeared, left the house and street somehow unaccountably\nalone. Feeling this, Ronald Wyde determined on a stroll.\n\nSomething in the Sabbath stillness around him led Ronald away from the\nswift clang and throbbing hum of the bells and in the direction of the\nold cemetery. Passing through the clumsy tower-gate that lifts its\ngrimy bulk sullenly, like a huge head-stone over the grave of a dead\ntime of feudalism, he reached the burial-ground and entered the quiet\nenclosure. The usual touching reverence of the Germans for their dead\nwas strikingly manifest around him. The humbler mounds, walled up with\nrough stones a foot or two above the pathway level, carried on their\ncrests little gardens of gay and inexpensive plants; while on the tall\nwooden crosses at their head hung yellow wreaths, half hiding the\nhopeful legend, \"Wiedersehen.\" The more pretentious slabs bore vases\nfilled with fresh flowers; while in the grate-barred vaults, that\nskirted the ground like the arches of a cloister, lay rusty heaps of\nlong-since mouldered bloom, topped by newer wreaths tossed lovingly in\nto wilt and turn to dust in their turn, like those cast in before them\nin memory of that other dust asleep below.\n\nTurning aside from the central walk that halved the cemetery, Ronald\nstrolled along, his hands in his pockets, his eyes listlessly fixed on\nthe orange- fumes and rolling smoke that welled out of tall\nchimneys in the hollow beyond, an idle student-tune humming on his\nlips, and his thoughts nowhere, and everywhere, at once. Happening to\nlook away from the dun smoke-trail for an instant, he found something\nof greater interest close at hand. An old man stooped stiffly over a\nsimple mound, busied among the flowers that hid it, and by his side\ncrouched a young girl, perhaps fourteen years old, who peered up at\nRonald with questioning, velvet-brown eyes. The old man heard the\nintruder's steps crunching in the damp gravel, and slowly looked up\ntoo.\n\n\"Good morning, mein Herr,\" said Ronald, pleasantly.\n\nThe old man remained for an instant blinking nervously, and shading\nhis eyes from the full sunlight that fell on his face. A quiet face it\nwas, and very old, seamed and creased by mazy wrinkles that played at\naimless cross-purposes with each other, beginning and ending nowhere.\nHis thick beard and thin, curved nose looked just a little Jewish, and\nseemed at variance with his pale blue eyes that were still bright in\nspite of age. And yet, bearded as he was, there was a lurking\nexpression about his features that bordered upon effeminacy, and made\nthe treble of his voice sound even more thin and womanish as he\nanswered Wyde's greeting.\n\n\"Good morning, too, mein Herr. A stranger to our town, I see.\"\n\n\"Yes; but soon not to be called one, I hope. I am here for the\nwinter.\"\n\n\"A cold season--a cold season; our northern winters are very chilling\nto an old man's blood.\" And slouching together into a tired stoop, he\nresumed his simple task of knotting a few flowers into a clumsy\nnosegay. Ronald stood and watched him with a vague interest.\nPresently, the flowers being clumped to his liking, the old man pried\nhimself upright by getting a good purchase with his left hand in the\nsmall of his back, and so deliberately that Ronald almost fancied he\nheard him creak. The girl rose too, and drew her thin shawl over her\nshoulders.\n\n\"You Germans love longer than we,\" said Ronald, glancing at the\nflowers that trembled in the old man's bony fingers, and then\ndownwards to the quiet grave; \"a lifetime of easy-going love and a\nyear or two of easier-forgetting are enough for us.\"\n\n\"Should I forget my own flesh and blood?\" asked the old man, simply.\n\nRonald paused a moment, and, pointing downwards, said:\n\n\"Your daughter, then, I fancy?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Long dead?\"\n\n\"Very long; more than fifty years.\"\n\nRonald stared, but said nothing audibly. Inwardly he whispered\nsomething about being devilish glad to make the wandering Jew's\nacquaintance, rattled the loose groeschen in his pocket, and turned to\nfollow the tottering old man and firm-footed child down the walk.\nAfter a dozen paces they halted before a more ambitious tombstone, on\nwhich Ronald could make out the well-remembered name of Plattner. The\nchild took the flowers and laid them reverently on the stone.\n\n\"It seems to me almost like arriving at the end of a pilgrimage,\" said\nRonald, \"when I stand by the grave of a man of science. Perhaps you\nknew him, mein Herr?\"\n\n\"He was my pupil.\"\n\n\"Whew!\" thought Ronald, \"that makes my friend here a centenarian at\nleast.\"\n\n\"My pupil and friend,\" the feeble voice went on; \"and, more than that,\nmy daughter's first lover, and only one.\"\n\n\"Ach so!\" drawled Ronald.\n\n\"And now, on her death-day, I take these poor flowers from her to him,\nas I have done all these years.\"\n\nSomething in the pathetic earnestness of his companion touched Ronald\nWyde, and he forthwith took his hands out of his pockets, and didn't\ntry to whistle inaudibly--which was a great deal for him to do.\n\n\"I know Plattner well by his works,\" he said; \"I once studied\nmineralogy for nearly a month.\"\n\n\"You love science, then?\"\n\n\"Yes; like every thing else, for diversion.\"\n\n\"It was different with him,\" quavered the old man, pointing unsteadily\nto the head-stone. \"Science grew to be his one passion, and many\ndiscoveries rewarded him for his devotion. He was groping on the track\nof a far greater achievement when he died.\"\n\n\"May I ask what it was?\" said Ronald, now fairly interested.\n\n\"The creation and isolation of the principle of Life!\"\n\nThis was too much for Ronald Wyde; down dived his restless hands into\nhis trowsers' pockets again, and the groeschen rattled as merrily as\nbefore.\n\n\"I have made quite a study of biology, and all that sort of thing,\"\nsaid he; \"and, although a good deal of a skeptic, and inclined to\nfollow Huxley, I can't bring myself to conceive of life without\norganism. Such theorizing is, to my mind, on a par with the illogical\nsearch for the philosopher's stone and a perpetual motor.\"\n\nThe old man's eyes sparkled as he turned full upon Ronald.\n\n\"You dismiss the subject very airily, my young friend,\" he cried; \"but\nlet me tell you that I--I, whom you see here--have grappled with such\nproblems through a weary century, and have conquered one of them.\"\n\n\"And that one is--\"\n\n\"The one that conquered Plattner!\"\n\n\"Do I understand you to claim that you have discovered the\nlife-principle?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Will you permit an utter stranger to inquire what is its nature?\"\n\n\"Certainly. It is twofold. The ultimate principle of life is carbon;\nthe cause of its combination with water, or rather with the two\ngaseous elements of water, and the development of organized existence\ntherefrom, is electricity.\"\n\nRonald Wyde shrugged his broad shoulders a little, and absently\nreplied,\n\n\"All I can say, mein Herr, is, that you've got the bulge on me.\"\n\n\"I beg your pardon--\"\n\n\"Excuse me; I unconsciously translated an Americanism. I mean that I\ndon't quite understand you.\"\n\n\"Which means that you do not believe me. It is but natural at your\nage, when one doubts as if by instinct. Would you be convinced?\"\n\n\"Nothing would please me better.\"\n\nWith the same painful effort as before, the old man straightened\nhimself and made a piercing clairvoyant examination into and through\nRonald Wyde's eyes, as if reading the brain beyond them.\n\n\"I think I can trust you,\" he mumbled at last. \"Come with me.\"\n\nLeaning on the young girl's arm, the old philosopher faltered through\nthe cemetery and into the town, followed by Wyde, his hands again\npocketed for safety. Groups of released church-goers, sermon-fed, met\nthem, and once in a while some stout burgher would nod patronizingly\nto Ronald's guides, and get in response a shaky, sidelong roll of the\nold man's head, as if it were mounted on a weak spiral spring. Further\non they intersected a knot of students, who eyed them askance and\nexchanged remarks in an undertone. Keeping on deeper into the foul\nheart of the town, they passed through swarms of idle children playing\nsportlessly, as poverty is apt to play, in the dank shadows of the\nnarrow street. They seemed incited to mirth and ribaldry by the sight\nof Ronald's new friend, and one even ventured to hurl a clod at him;\nbut this striking Ronald instead, and he facing promptly to the\nhostile quarter from whence it came, caused a sudden slinking of the\ncrowd into unknown holes, like a horde of rats, and the street was for\na time empty save for the little party that threaded it. Ronald began\nto think that the old man's sanity was gravely called in doubt by the\ntownsfolk, and would readily have backed out of his adventure but for\nthe curiosity that had now got the upper hand of him.\n\nPresently the old man sidled into a dingy doorway, like a tired beast\nrun to earth, and Ronald followed him, not without a wish that the\narchitect had provided for a more efficient lighting of the sombre\npassage-way in which he found himself. A sharp turn to the right after\na dozen groping-paces, a narrow stairway, a bump or two against\nunexpected saliences of rough mortared wall, two steps upward and one\nvery surprising step downward through a cavernous doorway that took\naway Ronald's breath for a moment, and sent it back again with a hot,\ncreeping wave of sudden perspiration all over him, as is the way with\nmissteps, and two more sharp turns, brought the three into a black\nno-thoroughfare of a hall, whose further end was closed by a locked\ndoor. The girl here rubbed a brimstone abomination of a match into a\nmal-odorous green glow, and by its help the old man got a tortuous key\ninto the snaky opening in the great lock, creakily shot back its bolt,\nswung open the door, and motioned Ronald to enter.\n\nHe found himself in a long and rather narrow room, with a high\nceiling, duskily lighted by three wide windows that were thickly\nwebbed and dusted, like ancestral bottles of fine crusty Port.\nA veritable den it was, filled with what seemed to be the\nwrecks of philosophical apparatus dating back two or three\ngenerations--ill-fated ventures on the treacherous main of science.\nHere a fat-bellied alembic lolled lazily over in a gleamy sand-bath,\nlike a beach-lost galleon at ebb-tide; and there a heap of broken\nporcelain-tubing and shreds of crucibles lay like bleaching ship-ribs\non a sullen shore. Beyond, by the middle window, stood a furnace,\nfireless, and clogged with gray ashes. Two or three solid old-time\ntables, built when joiners were more lavish of oaken timber than\nnowadays, stood hopelessly littered with retorts, filtering funnels,\nlamps, ringstands, and squat-beakers of delicate glass, caked with\nlong-dried sediment, all alike dust-smirched. Ronald involuntarily\nsought for some huge Chaldaic tome, conveniently open at a favorite\nspell, or a handy crocodile or two dangling from the square beams\noverhead, but saw nothing more formidable than a stray volume of\n\"Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.\" Taking this up and glancing at its\nfly-leaf, he saw a name written in spidery German script, almost\nillegible from its shakiness--\"Max Lebensfunke.\"\n\n\"Your name?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes, mein Herr,\" answered the old man, taking the volume and\ncaressing it like a live thing in his fumbling hands. \"This book was\ngiven to me by the great Kant himself,\" he added.\n\nReverently replacing it, he advanced a few steps toward the middle of\nthe room. Ronald followed, and, turning away from the windows, looked\nfurther around him. In striking contrast to the undisturbed disorder,\nso redolent of middle-age alchemy, was the big table that flanked the\nlaboratory through its whole length. It began with a powerful galvanic\nbattery, succeeded by a wiry labyrinth of coils and helices, with\nlittle keys in front of them like a telegraph-office retired from\nbusiness; these gave place to many-necked jars wired together by twos\nand threes, like oath-bound patriots plotting treason; beyond them\nstood a great glass globe, connected with a sizable air-pump, and\nfilled with a complexity of shiny wires and glassware; next loomed up\na huge induction-magnet, carefully insulated on solid glass supports;\nand at the further extremity of the table lay--a corpse.\n\nRonald Wyde, in spite of his many-sided experience of\ndissection-rooms, and morgues, and other ghastlinesses to which he had\nlong since accustomed himself from principle, drew back at the\nsight--perhaps because he had come to this strange place to clutch the\nworld-old mystery of the life-essence, and found himself, instead,\nconfronted on its threshold by the equal mystery of death.\n\nHerr Lebensfunke smiled feebly at this movement.\n\n\"A subject received this morning from Berlin,\" he said, in answer to\nWyde's look of inquiry. \"A sad piece of extravagance, mein Herr--a\nluxury to which I can rarely afford to treat myself.\"\n\nRonald Wyde bent over the body and looked into its face. A rough, red\nface, that had seemingly seen forty years of low-lived dissipation.\nThe blotched skin and bleary eyes told of debauchery and drunkenness,\nand a slight alcoholic foetidness was unpleasantly perceptible, as\nfrom the breath of one who sleeps away the effects of a carouse.\n\n\"I hope you don't think of restoring this soaked specimen to life?\"\nsaid Ronald.\n\n\"That is still beyond me,\" answered the old man, mournfully. \"As yet I\nhave not created life of a higher grade than that of the lowest\nzoophytes.\"\n\n\"Do you claim to have done as much as that?\"\n\n\"It is not an idle claim,\" said Herr Lebensfunke, solemnly. \"Look at\nthis, if you doubt.\"\n\n\"This\" was the great crystal globe that rose from the middle of the\nlong table, and dominated its lesser accessories, as some great dome\nswells above the clustered houses of a town. Tubes passing through its\nwalls met in a smaller central globe half filled with a colorless\nliquid. Beneath this, and half encircling it, was an intricate maze of\nbright wire; and two other wires dipped into it, touching the surface\nof the liquid with their platinum tips. Within the liquid pulsed a\nshapeless mass of almost transparent spongy tissue.\n\n\"You see an aggregation of cells possessed of life--of a low order, it\nis true, but none the less life,\" said the philosopher, proudly.\n\"These were created from water chemically pure, with the exception of\na trace of ammonia, and impregnated with liquid carbon, by the\ncombined action of heat and induced electricity, in vacuo. Look!\"\n\nHe pressed one of the keys before him. Presently the wire began to\nglow with a faint light, which increased in intensity till the coil\nflamed into pure whiteness. Removing his finger, the current ceased to\nflow, and the wire grew rapidly cool.\n\n\"I passed the whole strength of sixty cups through it to show you its\naction. Ordinarily, with one or two carbon cells, and refining the\ncurrent by triple induction, the temperature is barely blood-warm.\"\n\n\"Pardon an interruption,\" said Ronald. \"You spoke of liquid carbon;\ndoes it exist?\"\n\n\"Yes; here is some in this phial. See it--how pure, how transparent!\nhow it loves and hoards the light!\" The old man held the phial up as\nhe spoke, and turned it round and round. \"See how it flashes! No\nwonder, for it is the diamond, liquid and uncrystallized. Think how\nthese fools of men have called diamonds precious above all gems\nthrough these many weary years, and showered them on their kings, or\ntossed them to their mistresses' feet, never dreaming that the silly\nstone they lauded was inert, crystallized life!\"\n\n\"Can't you crystallize diamonds yourself?\" asked Wyde, \"and make\nFreiberg a Golconda and yourself a Croesus?\"\n\n\"It could be done, after the lapse of thousands of years,\" replied\nHerr Lebensfunke. \"Place undiluted liquid carbon in that inner globe,\nkeep the coil at a white heat, and if Adam had started the process,\nhis heir-at-law would have a koh-i-noor to-day, and a nice lawsuit for\nits possession.\"\n\nRonald Wyde bent toward the globe once more and examined the throbbing\nmass closely, whistling softly meanwhile.\n\n\"If you can create this cellular life, why not develop it still higher\ninto an organism?\"\n\n\"Because I can only create life--not soul. Years ago I was a\nfreethinker, now my discoveries have made me a deist; for I found that\nmy cells, living as they were, and possessing undoubted parietal\ncirculation, were not germs; and though they might cluster into a bulk\nlike this, as bubbles do to form froth, to evolve an animal or plant\nfrom them was far beyond me; that needs what we call soul. But, in\nsearching blindly for this higher power, I grasped a greater discovery\nthan any I had hoped for--the power to isolate life from its bodily\norganism.\"\n\n\"You have to keep the bottle carefully corked, I should imagine,\"\nlaughed Ronald.\n\n\"Not quite,\" said Herr Lebensfunke, joining in the laugh. \"Life is not\nglue. My grand discovery is the life-magnet.\"\n\n\"Which has the post of honor on your table here, has it not?\" inquired\nRonald, drawing his hand from his pocket and pointing to the insulated\ncoil.\n\nThe old man glanced keenly at his hand as he did so; at which Ronald\nseemed confused, and pocketed it again abruptly.\n\n\"Yes, that is the life-magnet. You see this bent glass tube surrounded\nby the helix? That tube contains liquid carbon. I pass through the\nhelix a current of induced electricity, generated by the action of\nthese sixty Bunsen cups upon a succession of coils with carbon cores,\nand the magnet becomes charged with soulless life. I reverse the\nstream--what was positive now is negative, and the same magnet will\nabsorb life from a living being to an extent only to be measured by\nthousands of millions.\"\n\n\"Then, what effect is produced on the body you pump the life from?\"\n\n\"Death.\"\n\n\"And what becomes of the soul?\"\n\n\"I don't quite know. I fancy, however, that the magnet absorbs that\ntoo.\"\n\n\"Can it give it back?\"\n\n\"Certainly; otherwise my life-magnet would belie its name, and be\nsimply an ingenious and expensive instrument of death. By reversing\nthe conditions, I can restore both soul and life to the body from\nwhich I drew them, or to another body, even after the lapse of several\ndays.\"\n\n\"Have you ever done so?\"\n\n\"I have.\"\n\nRonald looked reflectively downward to his boot-toe, but seemed to\nfind nothing there--except a boot-toe.\n\n\"I say, my friend,\" he spoke at last, \"haven't you got a pin you can\nstick in me? I'd like to know if I'm dreaming.\"\n\n\"I can convince you better than by pins,\" replied Herr Lebensfunke.\n\"Let me see that hand you hide so carefully.\"\n\nRonald Wyde slowly drew it from his pocket, as reluctantly as though\nit were a grudged charity dole, and extended it to the old man. Its\nlittle finger was gone.\n\n\"A defect that I am foolishly sensitive about,\" said he. \"A childish\nfreak--playing with edged tools, you know. A boy-playmate chopped it\noff by accident: I cut his head open with his own hatchet, and made an\nidiot of him for life--that's all.\"\n\n\"I could do this,\" said Herr Lebensfunke, pausing on each word as if\nit were somewhat heavy, and had to be lifted out of his cramped chest\nby force; \"I could draw your entity into that magnet, leaving you\nside by side with this corpse. I could dissect a finger from that\nsame corpse, attach it to your own dead hand by a little of that\npalpitating life-mass you have seen, pass an electric stream through\nit, and a junction would be effected in three or four days. I could\nthen restore you to existence, whole, and not maimed as now.\"\n\n\"I don't quite like the idea of dying, even for a day,\" answered Wyde.\n\"Couldn't you contrive to lend me a body while you are mending my\nown?\"\n\n\"You can take that one, if you like.\"\n\nRonald Wyde looked once more at the sodden features of the corpse, and\nsmiled lugubriously.\n\n\"A mighty shabby old customer,\" he said, \"and I doubt if I could feel\nat home in his skin; but I'm willing to risk it for the sake of the\nnovelty of the thing.\"\n\nThe old philosopher's thin face lit up with pleasure.\n\n\"You consent, then?\" he chuckled in his womanish treble.\n\n\"Of course I do. Begin at once, and have done with it.\"\n\n\"Not now, mein Herr; some modifications must be made in the\nconnections--mere matters of detail. Come again to-night.\"\n\n\"At what hour?\"\n\n\"At ten. Mein Voegelein, show the Herr the way out.\"\n\nThe girl, who had been moving restlessly about the room all this time,\nwith her wild brown eyes fixed now on Ronald, now on the old man, and\noftener in a shy, inquisitive stare on the corpse, lit a dusty\nchemical lamp and led the way down the awkward passages and stairs.\nRonald tried to start a conversation with her as he followed.\n\n\"You are too young, my birdling, to be accustomed to such sights as\nthis upstairs.\"\n\n\"Birdling is not too young, she's almost fourteen,\" said the girl,\nproudly. \"And she likes it, too; it makes her think of mother. Mother\nwent to sleep on that table, mein Herr.\"\n\n\"Poor thing! she's half-witted,\" thought Wyde as he passed into the\nstreet. \"By-by, birdie.\"\n\nHome he walked briskly, to be met under his flaming balcony by\nLottchen's kindly afternoon greeting. How had mein Herr passed his\nSabbath? she asked.\n\n\"Quietly enough, Lottchen. I met an old philosopher in the God's-Acre,\nand went home with him to his shop. Have you ever heard of Herr Doctor\nLebensfunke?\"\n\n\"Yes, mein Herr. Wrong here, they say;\" and she tapped her wide, round\nGerman forehead, and lifted her eyes expressively heavenward.\n\n\"Sold himself to the devil, eh?\" asked Wyde.\n\nLottchen was not quite sure on that point. Some said one thing, and\nsome another. There was undoubtedly a devil, else how could good\nDoctor Luther have thrown his inkstand at him? But he had never been\nseen in Doctor Lebensfunke's neighborhood; and, on the whole, Lottchen\nwas inclined to attribute the Herr Doctor's trouble to an indefinable\nsomething whose nature was broadly hinted at by more tapping of the\nforehead.\n\nRonald Wyde mounted the stairs, locked himself in his room, and wished\nhimself out of the scrape he was getting into. But, being in for it\nnow, he lit a cigar, and tried to fancy the processes he would have to\ngo through, and how he, a natty and respectable young fellow, would\nlook and feel in a drunkard's skin. His conjectures being too foggily\noutlined to please him, he put them aside, and waited impatiently\nenough for ten o'clock.\n\nA moonlight walk through the low streets, transfigured by the silver\ngleam into fairy vistas--all but the odor--brought him to Herr\nLebensfunke's house. Simple birdling, on the lookout for him, piloted\nhim through the unsafe channel, and brought him to anchor in the\ndimly-lit room.\n\n\"All is ready,\" said the philosopher, as he trembled forward and shook\nRonald's hand. \"See here.\" Zig-zags of silk-bound wire squirmed hither\nand thither from the life-magnet. Two of them ended in carbon points.\n\"And here, too, my young friend, is your new finger.\"\n\nIt lay, detached, in the central globe, and on its severed end atoms\nof protoplasm were already clustered. \"Literally a second-hand\narticle,\" thought Ronald; but, not venturing to translate the idiom,\nhe only bowed and said, \"Ach so!\" which means any thing and every\nthing in German.\n\nIt was not without a very natural sinking of the heart that Ronald\nWyde divested himself of his clothing, and took his position, by the\nold man's direction, on the stout table, side by side with the dead. A\nflat brass plate pressed between his shoulders, and one of the carbon\npoints, clamped in a little insulated stand, rested on his bosom and\nquivered with the quickened motion of the heart beneath it. The other\npoint touched the dead man's breast.\n\n\"Are you ready?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\nThe old man pressed a key, and as he did so a sharp sting, hardly\nworse than a leech's bite, pricked Ronald Wyde's breast. A sense of\nlanguor crept slowly upon him, his feet tingled, his breath came\nslowly, and waves of light and shade pulsed in indistinct alternation\nbefore his sight; but through them the old man's eyes peered into his,\nlike a dream. Presently Ronald would have started if he could, for\ntwo old philosophers were craning over him instead of one. But as he\nlooked more steadily, one face softly dimmed into nothing, and the\nother grew brighter and stronger in its lines, while the room flushed\nwith an unaccountable light. The little key clicked once more;\na vague sensation that the current had somehow ceased to flow,\nroused him, and he raised himself on his elbow and looked in blank\nbewilderment at his own dead self lying by his side in the daylight,\nwhile the sunrise tried to peer through the webbed panes.\n\n\"Is it over?\" he asked, with a puzzled glance around him; and added,\n\"Which am I?\"\n\n\"Either, or both,\" answered Herr Lebensfunke. \"Your identity will be\nsomething of a problem to you for a day or two.\"\n\nAided by the old man, Ronald awkwardly got into the sleazy clothes\nthat went with the exchange--growing less and less at home each\nminute. He felt weak and sore; his head ached, and the wound left by\nthe fresh amputation of his little finger throbbed angrily.\n\n\"I suppose I may as well go now,\" he said. \"When can I get my own self\nthere back again?\"\n\n\"On Thursday night, if all works well,\" said the old man. \"Till then,\ngood-day.\"\n\nRonald Wyde's first impulse, as he shambled into the open air, was to\ngo home; but he thought of the confusion his sadly-mixed identity\nwould cause in Frau Spritzkrapfen's quiet household, and came to a\ndead stop to consider the matter. Then he decided to quit the town for\nthe interminable four days--to go to Dresden, or anywhere. His next\nstep was to slouch into the nearest beer-cellar and call for beer,\npen, and paper. While waiting for these, he surveyed his own\nreflection in the dingy glass that hung above the table he sat by--a\nglass that gave his face a wavy look, as if seen through heated air.\nHe felt an amused pride in his altered appearance, much as a\nmasquerader might be pleased with a clever disguise, and caught\nhimself wondering whether he were likely to be recognized in it.\nApparently satisfied of his safety from detection, he turned to the\ntable and wrote a beer-scented note to Frau Spritzkrapfen, explaining\nhis sudden absence by some discreet fiction. He got along well enough\ntill he reached the end, when, instead of his own flowing sign-manual,\nhe tipsily scrawled the unfamiliar name of Hans . Tearing the\nsheet angrily across, he wrote another, and signed his name with an\neffort. He was about to seek a messenger to carry his note, when it\noccurred to him to leave it himself, which he did; and had thereby the\nkeen satisfaction of hearing pretty Lottchen confess, with a blush on\nher fair German cheek, that they would all miss Herr Wyde very much,\nbecause they all loved him. Turning away with a sigh that was very\nlike a hiccough, he trudged to the railway-station and took a ticket\nto Dresden, going third-class as best befitting his clothes and\nappearance.\n\nHe felt ashamed enough of himself as the train rumbled over the\nrolling land between Freiberg and the capital, and gave him time to\nthink connectedly over what had happened, and what he now was. His\nfellow-passengers cast him sidelong looks, and gave him a wide berth.\nEven the quaint, flat-arched windows of one pane each, that winked out\nof the red-tiled roofs like sleepy eyes, seemed to leer drunkenly at\nhim as they scudded by.\n\nRonald Wyde's account of those days in Dresden was vague and misty. He\ncrept along the bustling streets of that sombre, gray city, that\nseemed to look more natural by cloud-light than in the full sunshine,\nfeeling continually within him a struggle between the two incompatible\nnatures now so strangely blended. Each day he kept up the contest\nmanfully, passing by the countless beer-cellars and drinking-booths\nwith an assumption of firmness and resolution that oozed slowly away\ntoward nightfall, when the animal body of the late Hans would\ncontrive to get the better of the animating principle of Ronald Wyde;\nthe refined nature would yield to the toper's brute-craving, with an\nawful sense of its deep degradation in so succumbing, and, before\nmidnight, Hans was gloriously drunk, to Ronald's intense grief.\n\nTime passed somehow. He had memories of sunny lounges on the\nBruhl'sche Terrace, looking on the turbid flow of the eddied Elbe, and\nwatching the little steamboats that buzzed up and down the city's\nflanks, settling now and then, like gad-flies, to drain it of a few\ndrops of its human life. Well-known friends, whose hands he had\ngrasped not a week before, passed him unheedingly; all save one,\nwho eyed him for a moment, said \"Poor devil!\" in an undertone, and\ndropped a silber-gro' into his maimed hand. He felt glad of even this\nlame sympathy in his lowness; but most of all he prized the moistened\nglance of pity that flashed upon him from the great dark eyes of a\nlovely girl who passed him now and then as he slouched along. Once, a\nbeing as degraded and scurvy as his own outward self, turned to him,\ncalled him \"Dutzbruder,\" asked him how he left them all in Berlin,\nstared at Ronald's blank look of non-recognition, and passed on with a\nmuttered curse on his own stupidity in mistaking a stranger, in broad\ndaylight, for his crony .\n\nAnother memory was of the strange lassitude that seemed to almost\nparalyze him after even moderate exertion, and caused him to drop\nexhausted on a bench on the terrace when he had shuffled over less\nthan half its length. More than once the suspicion crept upon him\nthat only a portion of his vitality now remained to him, and that\nits greater part lay mysteriously coiled in Herr Lebensfunke's\nlife-magnet. And this, in turn, broadened into a doubting distrust\nof the Herr himself--a dread lest the old man might in some way\nappropriate this stock of life to his own use, and so renew his\nfast-expiring lease for a score or two of years to come. At last this\ndread grew so painfully definite, that he hurried back to Freiberg a\nday before his appointed time, and once more found his twofold self\nwandering through its devious streets.\n\nIt was long after dark, and a thin rain slanted on the slippery\nstones, as he again made his way through the deserted and sleepy paths\nof the town to the old philosopher's house. He was wet, chilled,\nweary, and sick enough at heart as he leaned against the cold stone\ndoorway and waited for an answer to his knock. The plash of the\nheavier rain-drops from the tiled leaves was the only sound he heard\nfor many minutes, until, at last, pattering feet neared him on the\ninside, and a child's voice asked who was there. To his friendly\nresponse the door was opened half-wide, and Voegelein's blank, pretty\nface peeped through.\n\nWas Herr Lebensfunke at home? No; he had said that he wasn't at home;\nbut then, she thought he was in the long room where mamma went to\nsleep. Could he be seen? No, she thought not; he was very tired, and,\nin her own--Voegelein's--opinion, he was going to sleep too, just as\nmamma did. And the wizened little face, with its eldritch eyes and\ntangled hair, was withdrawn, and the door began to close. Ronald\nforced himself inside, and grasped the child's arm.\n\n\"Voegelein, don't you know me?\"\n\nThe girl, in nowise startled, gravely set her flickering candle on the\ndoor-step, looked up at him wonderingly, as if he were an exhibition,\nand said she thought not, unless he had been asleep on the table.\n\n\"Good heavens!\" cried Ronald, \"can this child talk of nothing but\npeople asleep on a table?\"\n\nBut, as he spoke, a thought whirred through his brain. He drew the\npoor half-witted thing close to him and asked:\n\n\"Can Voegelein tell me something about mamma, and how she went to\nsleep?\"\n\nThe child rambled on, pleased to find a listener to her foolish\nprattle. All he could connect into a narrative was, that the girl's\nmother, some seven or eight years before, had been drained of her life\nby the awful magnet, and that, as the child said, \"the Herr Doctor\never since had talked just like mamma.\"\n\nHis dread was well founded, then. The old man's one dream and aim was\nto prolong his wretched life; could he doubt that he would not now\nmake use of the means he had so unwisely thrown in his way? He turned\nabout, half maddened.\n\n\"Girl!\" he cried, \"I must see the old man! Where is he?\"\n\nHe couldn't see him, she whined. He was asleep up there, on the table.\nAt one o'clock he had said he would wake up.\n\nHe pushed past her, mounted to the long room, pressed open the\nunfastened door, and entered.\n\nThe old man and the corpse of his former self lay together under the\nlight of a lamp that swung from the beam overhead. An insulated carbon\npoint was directed to each white, still breast. From the old man's\nhand a cord ran to a key beyond, arranged to make or break connection\nat a touch. By it stood a clock, with a simple mechanism attached that\nbore upon a second key like the first, evidently planned to press upon\nit when the hands should mark a given hour. The child had said that he\nwould wake at one, and it was now past midnight.\n\nRonald Wyde comprehended it all now. The wily old man's feeble life\nhad been withdrawn into the great magnet, and mixed therein with what\nremained of his own. In less than an hour the key would fall, and the\ndouble stream would flow into and animate his young body, which would\nthen wake to renewed life; while the cast-off shell beside it, worn to\nutter uselessness by a toilsome century, would be left to moulder as a\nmothed garment.\n\nSurely no time was to be lost; his life depended upon instant action.\nAnd yet, comprehending this, he went to work slowly, and as a\nsomnambulist might, acting almost by instinct, and well knowing that a\nblunder now meant irrevocable death.\n\nCarefully disengaging the cord from the old man's yet warm grasp, and\nsetting the carbon point aside, he lifted the shrivelled corpse and\nbore it away, to cast it on the white rubbish-heap in one corner.\nReturning to his work, he stripped himself, and laid down in the old\nman's place. As he did so, the distant Minster bells rang the\nthree-quarters.\n\nWas there yet time?\n\nHe braced his shoulders firmly against the brass plate under them,\nand moved the carbon point steadily back to its place, with its tip\nresting on his breast; the silk-wrapped wire that dangled between\nit and the magnet quivering, as he did so, as with conscious life.\nDrawing a long breath, he tightened the cord, and heard a faint click\nas the key snapped down.\n\nThe same sharp sting as before instantly pricked his breast, tingling\nthrills pulsed over him, beats of light and shadow swept before his\neyes, and he lost all consciousness. For how long he knew not. At last\nhe felt, rather than saw, the lamp-rays flickering above him, and\nopened his eyes as though waking from a tired sleep. Sitting up, he\ngave a fearful look around him, as if dreading what he might see. The\ndrunkard's body lay stretched and motionless beside him, and the clock\nmarked three. He was saved!\n\nSlipping down from his perilous bed, he resumed the old familiar\ngarments that belonged to him as Ronald Wyde, shuddering with emotion\nas he did so. Only pausing to give one look at the pale heap in the\nshadowy corner, and at the other sleeper under the now dying lamp, he\nquitted the room and locked its heavy door upon the two silent\nguardians of its life-secrets. When he reached the street, he found\nthe rain had ceased to drop, and that the cold stars blinked over the\nslumbrous town.\n\nBefore noon he had taken leave of Frau Spritzkrapfen, turned buxom\nLottchen scarlet all over by a hearty, sudden, farewell-kiss, and was\nfar on his way from Freiberg, with its red-vined balcony and its dark\nlaboratory, never again to visit it or them. And as the busy engine\ntoiled and shrieked, and with each beat of its mighty steam-heart\ncarried him further away, his thoughts flew back and clustered around\nwitless, brown-eyed birdling. Poor child, he never learned her fate.\n\n * * * * *\n\nI heard this strange story from its hero, one sunny summer morning as\nwe swept over the meadowy reaches of the Erie Railway, or hung along\nthe cliffside by the wooded windings of the Susquehanna. When he had\nended it, he smiled languidly, and, showing me his still-mutilated\nhand, said that the old doctor's job had been a sad bungle, after all.\nIn fact, the only physical proof that remained to verify his story,\nwas a curved blue spot where the ingoing current from the magnet had\ncarried particles from the carbon point and lodged them beneath the\nskin. Psychologically, he was sadly mixed up, he said; for, since that\ntime, he had felt that four lives were joined in him--his own, the\nremnant of Herr Lebensfunke's miserable hoard merged in that of poor\nbirdling's mother, and, last of all, Hans 's.\n\nHe left the cars soon afterward at Binghamton, watchfully followed by\na stout, shabby man with a three days' beard stubbling his chin, who\nhad occupied the seat in front of us, and had turned now and then to\nlisten for a moment to Ronald's rapid narration.\n\nA week later, and I heard that he was dead--having committed suicide\nin a fit of delirium soon after his admission to the Binghamton\nInebriate Asylum. The attendant who made him ready for burial noticed\na singular blue mark on his left breast, that looked, he said, a\nlittle like a horseshoe magnet.\n\n\n\n\nOSGOOD'S PREDICAMENT.\n\nBY ELIZABETH D. B. STODDARD.\n\n_Harper's Magazine, June, 1863._\n\n\nOsgood took a cane-bottomed chair whose edges had given way from the\napplication of boot-soles, cane and umbrella ferules, and studied his\npredicament. He commenced this necessary study early in the morning in\nhis room, which was in a boarding-house situated in this metropolis.\nThe early carts were taking their way down town through a blue haze,\nwhich in the country prefigured a golden day. The milkman, the\nwalk-sweeper, and the rag-picker, were the only creatures moving in\nOsgood's neighborhood. The time was propitious for meditation and\nresolve, but Osgood's head was not ready. The still Champagne that he\nhad drank the night before buzzed in his brain. With a glass of it in\nhis hand, under a side gas-light, in the drawing-room of his Aunt\nFormica, he had proposed marriage to a handsome dashing girl, and\nthe handsome dashing girl had accepted him. They swallowed the\nbubbles on the \"beaker's brim,\" thinking it was the Cup of Life\nthey were drinking from. Neither supposed that the moment was one\nof exhilaration or enthusiasm. Osgood never felt so serious, or so\ndetermined to face the music, as he called it, which was the short for\na philosophical design to march boldly through life, and shoulder its\nnecessities with a brave spirit and a martial air.\n\nOsgood was intelligent, agreeable, and handsome. He had advanced no\nfurther into life than to give this impression. He knew nothing more\nof himself than that he was intelligent, handsome, and \"plucky.\" He\nhad no father or mother, but he had an aunt who had married Mr.\nFormica; this pair, effete in themselves, belonged to that mysterious\nclass who are always able to get their relatives places under\nGovernment. When Osgood was eighteen they obtained a place in the\nSub-Treasury, which yielded him the income of fifteen hundred dollars.\nAunt Formica expected a great deal from him in the way of deportment\nand dress. The exigencies of his position, she observed, compelled him\nto do as those around him did. Of course he never laid up any of his\nsalary, but he kept out of debt, and in doing this he fulfilled the\nhighest duty that came within his province. His associates were young\nmen who had more money than he, and who expected him to spend as much\nas they spent. The houses he visited were inhabited by people who\ntook it for granted that all who came in contact with them were as\nrich as themselves. The Formica interest was large. When he went to\nWashington with his aunt, he went the rounds of the senators' houses\nand hotels in the way of calls, dinners, and parties. When he went\nto Boston with her he began his visits at the right hand of Beacon\nStreet, and branched into the streets behind it, where as good blood\nabides, though it has not the same advantage of the air of the Common.\nWherever he went expense was involved, in the way of gloves, bouquets,\ncards, fees to errand boys, exchange of civilities in lunches, cigars,\nale, brandy, sherry, stage, hack, and car fare, which he bore like a\nhero.\n\nLily Tree, the girl whom he proposed to marry, belonged to a family\nof the Formica species. It sailed through society all a-taut with\nconvention, and was _comme il faut_ from stem to stern. Lily and\nOsgood had always known each other. They passed through the season\nof hoop and ball, dancing-school, tableaux, and charades together;\nsympathized in each other's embryonic flirtations; and were such fast\nfriends that no one ever dreamed of any danger to them from love. But\nas the wagon that goes from the powder-mill in safety innumerable\ntimes at last carries the keg which explodes it, so Osgood and Lily at\nlast touched the divine spark which threw them out of their old world\ninto one they had not anticipated.\n\nThis was part of Osgood's predicament.\n\nWhat made him do as he had done?\n\nWhy had Lily accepted him?\n\nShe would never, he argued, consent to go out of the area which\nbounded her ideas, and which comprised a small portion of New York,\nBoston, Washington, and the tour of Europe, which meant a week in\nLondon, six months in Paris, and ten days in Rome. Unless he descended\nfrom the Sub-Treasury, and sought some business, such as making\nvarnish, glue, buttons, soap, sarsaparilla, or sewing machines, could\nhe marry? What shrewdness had he in the place of capital to bring to\nbear on the requirements of these Yankee callings? How he worried over\nthe prospect which looked so pleasant the night before! Champagne,\nflowers, light, and perfume were gone from it. He pitied himself in\nhis helplessness. The thought of Lily deprived of her delicate evening\ndresses, her diurnal bouquets, caramels, and her pecunious caprices,\nwas not pleasant. He could not see her in any light that made her so\nagreeable as in the light that he must certainly cause her to lose.\n\nSomething practical must be done.\n\nNaturally he looked into his pocket-book. There was eighteen dollars\nin it--all the money he had. It was the last day in the month,\nhowever, and he was entitled to draw one hundred and twenty-five\ndollars. He shut his pocket-book and looked into his closet. He\nfound there several pairs of patent-leather boots and a brilliant\ndressing-gown. \"Pooh!\" he said, peevishly, and shut the door. He then\nexamined his bureau: in its drawers were many socks, shirts, cravats,\nfour sets of studs and sleeve-buttons, and five scarf-pins. He rattled\nthe studs and buttons thoughtfully; but nothing came of it, and he\nclosed the drawers. His eye then fell on a dress-coat which he had\nworn for the first time the evening before. He resolved to take the\ncoat back to Wiedenfeldt, his tailor. This resolve was the nucleus\nprobably of his future undertakings. He finished dressing and left the\nhouse. Before reaching Wiedenfeldt he purchased and drank a bottle of\nCongress Water. He also stopped at a favorite restaurant and made an\nexcellent breakfast, and came away with a \"Relampagos\"--a small\ncigar of superior flavor--and three daily papers. His interview with\nWiedenfeldt was satisfactory; the coat was taken back, and when he had\nsettled the matter he felt as if a beginning had been made in a new\nand right direction.\n\nThat afternoon he drew his pay, and walked up town. The moment he\nentered his room his predicament fell upon him again, and his spirits\nsunk. He sat on the edge of his bed, so quiet in his misery that he\nbegan to hear the ticking of the watch in his pocket; it associated\nitself in his mind with the sound and motion of railroad-cars. He felt\nhimself traveling hundreds of miles away, listening all the while to a\nrhythmic sound, which said, \"Many a mile, many a mile.\" Why should he\nnot go \"many a mile, many a mile,\" in reality? He went out immediately\nand bought a valise. After that his demeanor was settled and\ntranquil. He then wrote three notes--to his chief, his Aunt Formica,\nand Lily. The first was a note of resignation; the second conveyed the\ninformation to his aunt that he was sick of his place, had thrown it\nup, and was going out of town for a change of air. He regretted, when\nhe began his note to Lily, that he had not sent her some flowers. A\nmomentary impulse to go and see her stayed his hand; but he remembered\nthat she must be at Mrs. Perche's \"sit-down supper\" that evening, and\nresumed writing. He begged her to enjoy herself, and not miss him\nwhile he was away. He did not know what to write besides, but put in\na few chaotic expressions which might or might not mean a great deal.\n\nWhile he put a few necessary articles in the valise he wondered where\nhe should go, never dropping the thought that he must go somewhere.\nThe remainder of his wardrobe, including the brilliant dressing-gown,\nhe packed in a trunk and locked it.\n\nHe rang the bell, and when the waiter came up asked for the landlady,\nMrs. Semmes. The waiter thought that it was not too late to see her in\nher own parlor, and lingered, with his hand on his chin and his eyes\non the valise.\n\n\"Jem,\" said Osgood, \"I have left some boots in the closet, and some\nshirts in the drawers, which are at your service.\"\n\nThe alacrity with which Jem changed his attitude and expression\nstruck Osgood with a sense of pain. \"How horribly selfish servants\nare!\" he thought, taking his way down stairs. Mrs. Semmes hoped there\nwas no trouble, and asked him to be seated. He looked at her\nearnestly; she was the only one to say farewell to. Never had he\nlooked Mrs. Semmes in the face before; he had only seen the hand into\nwhich he had placed the price of his board.\n\n\"I came to tell you, Mrs. Semmes, that I am about to leave town for\nthe present. Will you allow my trunk to remain here? If I do not\nreturn in a year and a day, break it open.\"\n\nMrs. Semmes promised to keep the trunk; took some money due her;\nwondered at his going away at that time of year, and asked him his\ndestination.\n\n\"I think I shall go to Canada,\" he answered, vaguely.\n\n\"There must be snow there, by the accounts.\"\n\n\"Where shall I go?\" he was about to say, but checked himself.\n\n\"If you were going East,\" she continued, \"you would find the ground\nbare enough, especially in the neighborhood of the sea: the sea-winds\nmelt the snow almost as soon as it falls.\"\n\n\"I think I will go East,\" he said, musingly. He sat so long without\nsaying any thing, staring straight before him, that Mrs. Semmes began\nto feel fidgety. She recalled him to the present by walking to the\nwindow. He started, bade her good-by, and retired.\n\nHe tossed about all night in a feverish sleep, tormented with dreams\nwhich transformed Lily into a small child which he was compelled to\ncarry in his arms, or furnished his Aunt Formica with a long spear,\nwith which she pursued him, and was forever on the point of overtaking\nhim.\n\nAt 8 o'clock A.M. he might have been seen by a detective at the\nTwenty-seventh Street depot. A few minutes after he was going through\nthe tunnel; and, emerging from that, he considered himself fairly\ndivided from New York. At the first station beyond the State-line\nof Massachusetts he consulted a map, and concluded to stop at the\njunction of the Old Colony Railroad. There he changed the route, and\nin the evening reached a town which seemed waiting to go somewhere\nelse, where he passed the night.\n\nThe next morning he started on his travels again toward Cape Cod. Five\nmiles beyond a large village, in a flat, sterile, gloomy region, he\nalighted with his baggage, and said, \"This is the place for me.\" The\ntrain went on, and the depot-master went into his little den without\nnoticing Osgood. Several tall school-girls, who had come to watch for\nthe train, strolled down a cross-road, and he was alone. He went to\nthe end of the platform and surveyed the country. He stood on the edge\nof a wide plateau along which ran the railroad-track. Beyond that a\nroad deviated through dismal fields, by unpainted houses, large barns,\nand straggling orchards. Below the plateau a wide marsh extended,\nintersected by crooked creeks, which gnawed into the black earth like\nworms. A rim of sea bordered the tongue of the marsh, but it was too\nfar off to add life to the scene. The sedge, giving up all hope of\nbeing moistened by the salt waves, had died in great circles, which\nlooked like mats of gray hair on some pre-Adamite monster's buried\nhead.\n\nOsgood determined to pursue the windings of the road. He plowed the\nsand for two miles, and at a sudden turn of the road came upon a\nhouse, with a number of barns and sheds attached to it. A dog with a\nstiff tail ran out from a shed and barked at him, and a pale-faced\nwoman in a muslin cap appeared at a window of the house. He knocked at\nthe door: she opened it.\n\n\"Will thee come in?\" she asked.\n\nHe entered, following her as he would have followed a ghost. She moved\na chair from the wall without the least noise, and he dropped upon it.\nAs he looked at her his identity seemed slipping away--seemed to be\nslipping into an atmosphere connected with her and her surroundings.\nShe brought him some water which she dipped from a pail near by, and\nheld the cocoa-nut dipper which contained it to his lips.\n\n\"Thee has come to us from strange parts, I reckon, from thy looks.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he answered, absently; \"I needed change.\"\n\n\"There has been no change here since the Indians went away. If thee\nwill look across the road thee can see the ground is strewed with the\nbits of shells from their feasts.\"\n\nHe went to the window, and again remarked to himself, \"This is the\nplace for me.\"\n\n\"Could you,\" he asked, going toward her, \"let me stay with you a\nwhile?\"\n\n\"Did thee come to the Marsh End station this morning?\"\n\n\"Yes; my valise is there.\"\n\n\"Thy parents are rich?\"\n\n\"I have none.\"\n\n\"Thee has been well cared for, though.\"\n\n\"I have not left home because of any--\" Misfortune, he was about to\nsay, but that did not seem to be the right word; so he tried to think\nof something else to say. She saw his embarrassment, and said,\nquickly,\n\n\"I never have harbored a stranger; but if Peter likes, he may take\nthee.\"\n\nOsgood thanked her so pleasantly that she determined he should stay.\nShe asked him his name, his age, his place of residence, his business,\nand his intentions. Except in regard to the latter, his answer proved\nsatisfactory; and when Peter returned at noon from the distant shore\nwith a load of sea-weed, she introduced Osgood as if he were an old\nacquaintance of whom Peter was in a state of lamentable ignorance. He\npushed his hat on the back of his head, shook hands with Osgood, and\nsaid, \"Maria, will thee give me my dinner?\" taking no further notice\nof Osgood till she had placed it on the table. It consisted of stewed\nbeans, boiled beef, apple-pie, and cheese. Osgood ate half a pie, and\nestablished himself in Peter's good graces.\n\n\"Thee will learn that Maria's pie-crust beats all,\" he said.\n\n\"Thee is ready to consent,\" said his wife, \"to keep young Osgood a\nwhile?\"\n\n\"I don't know yet,\" answered Peter.\n\nBut after dinner he harnessed his horse and went to the depot for\nOsgood's valise, which he carried upstairs and deposited in the spare\nroom. He then invited Osgood to take a look at the premises. He wished\nto make his own investigations in regard to Osgood without Maria's\nintervention. They lingered by the pig-sty, and while Peter scratched\nthe pigs with a cord-wood stick, exchanged views of men and things.\nPeter saw the capabilities of Osgood's character, and easily divined\nthe manner of life he had led. He knew him to be selfish from\nignorance, and because he had early formed the habits which impose\nself-indulgence. Something in the young man's bearing won his heart--a\ncertain impetuous simplicity and frankness which made him long to be\nof service to a nature unlike his own. Osgood found Peter genial,\nshrewd, and sad. Such a man he had never met. It seemed to him that\nPeter could set him straight in his own estimation; there was no\nnonsense about the old man, and yet he could see deep feeling in his\ndark, cavernous eyes. The feeling which had oppressed him passed\naway, and another took its place which contained restoration, and\nfaith in the future. He got into Peter's way by attempting to help\nfodder the cattle and \"slick up\" the barn. When the work was done, and\nwhile Peter fastened the barn-doors with an ox-bow, Osgood looked\nabout him. It was a March afternoon; no wind blew, and no sun shone;\nbut the gray round of the sky, which neither woods nor hills hid from\nhis sight, rolled over him in soft commotion. The reddish, barren\nfields stretched in their flatness beyond his vision, and the narrow\nroads of yellow sand ran to nowhere. The world of God, he thought, he\nsaw for the first time; and, away from the world of men, felt himself\na _man_.\n\nHe looked so kindly upon Maria when he entered the house that she\ndelayed the stream of the tea-kettle which she held over the teapot to\nadmire him. The supper was the dinner--cold, with an addition of warm\nbiscuits; and again Osgood ate himself into Peter's good graces.\n\nThe evening was passed in silence. Peter smoked, Maria mended, and\nOsgood reflected. A violent storm arose in the night, which lasted\nthree days. They were improved by Maria and Peter in overhauling\ngarden-seeds in the garret, and in setting up a leach-tub in the\nwood-house. Osgood assisted. When he was alone with Maria she talked\nto him of the boy who was lost at sea, and of the girl who died in\nchildhood; with the hungry eyes of a bereaved mother she looked upon\nhim, and his heart was touched with a new tenderness. When he was\nalone with Peter the old man sounded the depths of the young man's\nsoul with wise, pathetic, quaint speech; he went over the ground of\nhis own life, which had been passed on the spot where he now was, with\nthe exception of several mackerel voyages, and one in a merchant\nvessel to some of the southern ports of Europe. But when together\nPeter and Maria never talked with Osgood on personal matters. Between\nthem a marital silence was kept, which was more expressive than the\nconjugal volubility which ordinarily exists; it proved that they had\npassed through profounder experiences.\n\nWhen the storm ceased Peter went to the station for his Boston\nnewspaper, which he read to Maria, who took it afterward and read it\nover to herself. Brother Quakers, Peter's neighbors, who lived out of\nsight, dropped in from time to time to exchange a word with Maria, or\nhold talks outside with Peter, with one foot in the rut and the other\non the wagon-step. The present subject of interest, Osgood discovered,\nwas the approaching Quarterly Meeting, and the mackerel fishery. Peter\nasked him to accompany himself and Maria to the town where the meeting\nwas to be. They breakfasted at sunrise, when the day arrived, in full\ndress--Peter in a snuff- suit, and Maria in a series of brown\narticles--dress, shawl, and bonnet. They started in good spirits in an\nopen wagon, with an improvised seat for Peter in front. Beyond a belt\nof pine woods stood the meeting-house, and a mile beyond the\nmeeting-house lay the town, before a vast bay. Osgood drove alone into\nthe town, and spent several hours there. He visited the shops to find\nsome trifle for Maria, and then went through the town down to the\nshore. How happy he grew in the pure wind and the gay morning light!\nThe gulls rode over the foaming wave-crests and dipped into their\ngreen walls, and hawks swooped between the steadfast sky and heaving\ndeep. The sea traveled round and round before his eyes with a mad joy,\nand tempted him to plunge into it. He wrote his name in the heavy sand\nwith a broken shell, and the water filtered out the letters; then he\npaved it in pebbles with the word _Strength_.\n\nPeter and Maria were waiting for him when he returned to the\nmeeting-house with the wagon.\n\n\"Thee has been skylarking,\" she said.\n\n\"After something for you,\" he answered, putting in her hand a handsome\nwork-basket.\n\n\"Has thee so much money that thee must waste it on me, Osgood?\"\n\nBut she was pleased with the gift. They rode home amicably. Peter, as\na favor, allowed Osgood to drive, while he imparted to Maria sundry\nbits of information gained at the meeting.\n\n\"Mackerel\" went in and out at Osgood's ears without gaining his\nattention, till he caught at something Peter said about the _Bonita_.\nHe listened. Three vessels were about to sail from the town on a\nmackerel voyage, and the _Bonita_ was one of them. He comprehended\nthat Peter owned half the _Bonita_, and a plan struck him. He inquired\ninto the subject, and obtained its history. That evening he proposed\ngoing on a mackerel voyage, which proposal so fired Peter that he\ndeclared he had a mind to go too; but Maria quenched his enthusiasm by\ngoing over the programme of work that must be done at home. She made\nno opposition to Osgood's going, but set before him in plain terms the\nhardships of such a voyage. He was not to be deterred, and Peter gave\nhis consent, promising him a small share of the profits.\n\nOsgood wrote to his Aunt Formica that night, assuring her that he\nalready felt much better, and that he was about to enter into a new\nbusiness, of which she should hear more. He also wrote Lily Tree a\nminute, lengthy epistle. He described his situation with Peter and\nMaria; told her how much board he paid--two dollars and fifty cents a\nweek--and how well he had learned to do chores. He fed the pigs every\nday; he wished that she could see how well they thrived on the diet\nlately introduced by Peter and himself--a dry mash of boiled potatoes\nand meal, with an occasional horseshoe thrown in as a relish. Would\nshe, he wondered, have enjoyed the day that he, Maria, and Peter made\nsoft soap? He mentioned his intended voyage, and asked her if she\nliked sailors. Could he have the hope, he continued, of her sympathy\nin his future enterprises, which perhaps would differ from those she\nhad thought of for him? He avowed a change in himself. Would it affect\nher?\n\nHe sealed his letters, and began pacing his little room. Writing home\nhad brought his old life near him again; the distance it had come to\nreach him seemed enormous.\n\n\"It was only a few days ago,\" he thought, \"and yet I am so different!\"\n\nHe rolled up his paper window-curtain and softly raised the window.\nThe moon made the landscape look more vast and desolate than it was in\nthe light of day. Under the horizon it revealed a strip of sea which\nshone as if it were the portal of another world whose light was\nreflected thereon. Osgood felt that he was an imprisoned soul this\nside of it. The light gave him an intimation of immortality. \"Where is\nLily's soul?\" he asked. \"Has she any dream beyond the life she is in?\"\n\nWhen Lily received Osgood's note she was angry; so was Mrs. Formica\nwhen she received hers. An intuition that Osgood repented his rashness\ntouched Lily's pride, and preserved her silence. When the second\nletter came, she thought he had the intention of experimenting with\nher; a test, she concluded, was unendurable, not to be submitted to.\nShould she test him, and proclaim the engagement she meditated? it\nwould be a relief to do something. She could not reach him with a\nletter, for he had gone on a mackerel voyage beyond the limits of the\npost-office. She decided differently according to the light she had.\nUnlike Osgood, she was chained to the place she was in. She was alone,\ntoo; her mother was occupied with neuralgia, and her father was out of\ntown half his time, on mysterious agencies which referred to canals.\nThe newspaper reporters at Albany were well acquainted with Mr. Tree's\nname while they were putting into short-hand the doings of the\nLegislature. Mrs. Formica had no suspicion that Lily was the cause of\nOsgood's disappearance; she would not have regretted his absence so\nmuch on these grounds, for a match with Lily was not desirable.\n\nWithin a month Lily's engagement to Mr. Barclay Dodge was announced.\nHe was a young man of fortune, whose father owed his rise in the world\nto corn starch, and who had made himself known by spending large sums\nof money on pictures, landscapes mostly, which had been indorsed by\nthe public in exhibitions.\n\nMr. Barclay Dodge was happy; he had for more than two years followed\nLily through all vicissitudes attendant upon the career of a young\ngirl in society. From an exhilaration the pursuit had become a\ndesperation. He had never suspected any man of being his rival, and\naccounted for the acquaintance between Lily and Osgood by believing\nthat Lily was related to the Formica family. How she managed so\nsuddenly to convince Barclay Dodge that it was safe for him to propose\nis a mystery which none but a disappointed, contrary woman may\nreveal. He had the usual penetration of his sex in regard to such\nmysteries; he was a man of sense and experience, but he was in love,\nand when a man is in love he only analyzes himself, and all that he\nlearns is, that his love must be gratified.\n\nIn the whirl of his attentions, and the congratulations of her\nfriends, the time passed quickly; not so quickly, however, as to avert\nthe plan by which the Fates were to bring her to a knowledge of\nherself.\n\nBarclay proposed an immediate marriage. Lily declined the proposal\nwith so much vehemence that he dared not insist. He pulled his\nmustache in rage after he left her, and wondered why he did not\ninsist. By what means, he cogitated, could he make her yield her will\nto his? Her resistance he set down to coyness; all women had freaks;\nthey were alike in such matters. He divined after a while that she\nwould let go the lasso at any moment if he proved restive; so he\nplayed the submissive to perfection. If she ever saw his eyes flame,\nor any gesture which contained a threat, he never knew it; but every\nrevelation from him was a revelation to her of herself, and this was\nto be her education and her punishment.\n\n\"Where is your friend Osgood?\" he asked once.\n\n\"He has been away a long time,\" she answered, looking him full in the\nface, but with rather a stony expression in her eyes.\n\n\"He is your relative?\"\n\n\"Oh no.\"\n\n\"No? I thought so, always seeing you in the same places.\"\n\n\"Our families have been acquainted always.\"\n\n\"Do you think he is handsome?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"He is too short\" (Barclay was tall), \"and his eyes have a wandering,\nunsettled look.\"\n\n\"He is following his destiny by them,\" she answered, bitterly. \"I wish\nthat I could follow mine as a man can.\"\n\n\"Do you mean that you would like to follow Osgood's eyes?\"\n\n\"By no means; I must see destiny by your eyes.\"\n\nThe words were pleasant, but the tone was malicious. It made his heart\nbound as if an invisible foe had come into his atmosphere to do battle\nwith him, and he could do nothing.\n\n * * * * *\n\n \"'With the vapors all around, and the breakers on our lee,\n Not a light is in the sky, not a light is on the sea.'--\n\nbarring the lantern abaft,\" roared Osgood, from the deck of the\nschooner _Bonita_, which was tossing outside Cape Malabar.\n\n\"You may sing t'other side of your mouth afore long,\" bawled back the\nskipper. \"We ain't fur from the Cormorant Rocks; the wind p'r'aps will\nshove us on the ledge.\"\n\n\"What, when we are just going home with full barrels?\"\n\n\"The mackerel may be briled in Tophet for all we know.\"\n\nThe skipper was at the helm; Osgood and he were in the radius of a\nlantern which revealed their faces to each other. Outside of that was\npitch darkness; the rain drove in fierce slants against them, and the\nwind howled all round the sea.\n\nThe skipper did not look concerned, neither did Osgood; but they were\nboth wondering which would first break over the _Bonita_, the light of\nmorning or the sea.\n\n\"Them boys are asleep, I s'pose, wet to the bone?\" the skipper yelled.\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Let 'em sleep; there ain't a lanyard loose.\"\n\n\"What time must it be?\"\n\n\"Hard onto 'leven. My old woman's turned in long afore this, _she_\nhas; allus goes to bed on the stroke o' nine.\"\n\n\"She has thought of you to-night?\"\n\n\"She has give me a prayer or so; she's the strictest kind. Now I'll\nluff, there is a lull comin'; peskiest storms that have lulls in 'em.\nYou don't hear a swashing to a distance now?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Hark!\"\n\nA sound, not of wind nor sea, approached them--a rapid, rushing,\ncutting sound.\n\n\"Up with the helm!\" shrieked the skipper to himself. \"God Almighty,\nshe is down on us!\"\n\nOsgood leaped up. The bowsprit of a large ship was over him; he threw\nup his arms instinctively and caught at something; he felt his feet\ndrawing over the skipper's head, and that he thumped it with his\nboots. He knew no more. The great ship crushed and plowed the _Bonita_\ninto the waves as easily as a plow buries in the sod the stubble\nof the corn-field. Nothing signaled her destruction except the\nexclamation of the skipper; nothing remained in the wide sea to show\nit. Her timbers and the sleeping crew went to the bottom together.\nMorning dawned on the wild scene, revealing no floating spar, no rib\nof boat, no stave of tub or barrel, no sailor's hat, no remnant of\nsail, no shred of clothing; the jaws of the sea had closed over all.\nThe ship, a Liverpool liner, driven out of her course by the storm,\ncruised round the spot for a few hours, and then went on her way,\ntaking Osgood with her. He had clung to the folds of the forward sail;\nand there he was found with his left wrist dislocated, his body\nstrained and sore, and his mind wandering. He was no romantic sight\nwith his red flannel shirt, fishy trowsers, cowhide boots, and hands\npickled in brine. Still the ship's surgeon took to him, and found,\nwhen Osgood came to himself, that he had taken to a gentleman. He\nlent him a suit of customary black, and introduced him to his\nacquaintances. Osgood would have enjoyed the voyage across the\nAtlantic but for the horror which had fallen on his mind from the\ncatastrophe of the _Bonita_.\n\n\"How old are you?\" the surgeon asked him.\n\n\"About the first of March I was twenty-three; since then I have grown\nso old I have lost the reckoning.\"\n\n\"I'll have to give you quinine, my boy.\"\n\n\"Give me some of the tincture of Lethe.\"\n\n\"It is of no use to one to forget; don't be soft.\"\n\n\"Let us reason together, Sawbones.\"\n\nThe Doctor agreed, and Osgood began his story with, \"Poor Peter,\" and\nfinished it with asking, \"Do you think I love her?\"\n\n\"I'll bet a guinea,\" said the Doctor, \"that she is married.\"\n\n\"She isn't,\" replied Osgood, indignantly.\n\n\"I am sure that she is engaged, as you call it, to somebody besides\nyourself.\"\n\n\"I know better.\"\n\n\"What do you propose doing when you get home?\"\n\n\"What can I do with thirty dollars, which I left with Peter\nby-the-way?\"\n\n\"We shall see what we shall see when we come face to face with Aunt\nFormica. I intend going the rounds with you in New York. I am a\nstudent.\"\n\nHe carried Osgood to his country-home beyond Liverpool, where they\nstaid till the ship was ready to sail again. He amused his mother and\nsisters with stories of Osgood's adventures on sea and land, and\nrepresented him in the light of a \"Jarley's wax-works\" hero, till he\nwas fairly cured of his melancholy.\n\nFive months from the day on which he left New York Osgood returned,\nand stood on his Aunt Formica's door-steps with Dr. Black. They looked\nlike a pair of Englishmen. Both had shiny, red noses, shiny, hard,\nnarrow-brimmed hats, and shiny, narrow-toed boots, and the nap had\nbrushed off their coats.\n\nOsgood looked into the familiar area with emotion, and the Doctor\nlooked at the windows with curiosity.\n\n\"They must be out of town,\" he said; \"the house has been put in brown\nhollands.\"\n\nBut Osgood knew the habits of his aunt--knew that from the first of\nJuly till the first of October the house was put on an out-of-town\nfooting; and that she skirmished between city and country, or\nwatering-place. The bell was answered by a servant he did not know.\n\n\"I wish to see Mrs. Formica,\" he said, brushing past her, and entering\nthe dark parlor. \"Dr. Black and friend say.\"\n\nMrs. Formica came in a moment after with a slight air of amazement,\nwhich increased to astonishment when she saw her nephew. She gave a\nlittle yelp as he embraced her, and said, \"Where _have_ you been?\"\n\n\"To Cape Cod, and to Europe. I have been shipwrecked, aunt--that is, I\nlost my mackerel venture, and have been taken care of by my noble\nfriend, Dr. Black.\"\n\nAunt Formica grew pale at the word \"shipwrecked,\" and turned to Dr.\nBlack. Something in his face made her extend her hand and give him a\nwarm welcome.\n\n\"Black may stay here while he is in port, mayn't he? He will amuse you\nwith yarns about me.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" she replied. \"Now tell me the whole story.\"\n\nBetween Osgood and the Doctor it was related.\n\n\"Why did you ever go from me?\" she asked, wiping away a real tear.\n\n\"I believe, aunt, I shall keep up the business of going--it suits me.\nI can never live through your conventional cramps.\"\n\nShe did not think it prudent to combat him just then; but made a\nmental memorandum that something must be done that would change his\nfoolish resolution. A plan developed at dinner that evening.\n\n\"I had a note yesterday from Mrs. Senator Conch,\" said Mrs. Formica.\n\"She will be in Saratoga this week, and begs me to meet her there.\nFormica and I have been talking it over, Osgood, and we think that it\nwill be pleasant for Dr. Black and you to go up for a week. You will\ngo, Doctor?\"\n\n\"Thank you, Madam, provided Osgood is not averse.\"\n\n\"Any of our set there?\" Osgood asked.\n\n\"The Trees went up last Saturday with Barclay Dodge. They are making\nan extensive tour this year.\"\n\n\"What's Barclay Dodge along for?\"\n\n\"He is engaged to Lily Tree!\"\n\n\"Ah!\" said Osgood, looking at the Doctor, who could not help giving\nhim a malicious grimace. \"How long since? It's a capital match, ain't\nit?\"\n\n\"The engagement must have been announced soon after you left.\"\n\nThis reply put Osgood in a brown study. What impulse, he mused, had\nprompted Lily to give herself to Barclay Dodge? Would _he_ have done\nso?\n\nDr. Black commented on Osgood's face, and considered himself in a fair\nway to make studies.\n\n\"As far as money goes,\" continued Mrs. Formica, \"it may be called a\ngood match; but certainly not as far as family goes.\"\n\n\"Family!\" echoed Dr. Black, softly.\n\n\"His father was a tradesman,\" explained Mr. Formica, \"while Lily can\ngo back to her great-grandfather before trade need be mentioned.\"\n\n\"Old Mr. Tree's father,\" remarked his wife, \"was a brigadier-general\nin the Revolution.\"\n\n\"He was a drover, for all that,\" said Osgood.\n\nMrs. Formica changed the theme, and talked of Saratoga.\n\n\"We'll go,\" Osgood said, crossly; \"but I must first go to my tailor.\"\n\nMrs. Formica held a private conversation with him after dinner, gave\nhim a check, and told him not to worry about the future: she had a\nplan in view.\n\n\"Plans go by contraries with me, aunt.\"\n\n\"You owe it to me not to be perverse.\"\n\n\"I can't pay any debt.\"\n\nPrevious to going to bed Dr. Black and Osgood smoked several cigars.\n\n\"You strike me,\" said the Doctor, \"as growing to the dramatic just\nnow. One event runs into another with monstrous rapidity among you\nAmericans. How you differ from the English! How is it that you catch\nfortune by the hair so?\"\n\n\"We are passionate and quick-witted.\"\n\n\"And then you repudiate with ease.\"\n\n\"Bah! you imitate Sydney Smith.\"\n\n\"I did not mean in the sense of State bonds precisely.\"\n\n\"I think,\" Osgood groaned, \"that I begin to feel like a snob again.\nWhat shall I do to be saved?\"\n\n\"Go on in the groove that is making for you. I'll stand by and be the\nchorus. When I hear thy plaints of misery I will let fall the tear;\nbut remember that 'laws determine even the fates.'\"\n\n\"Bosh!\"\n\nExcept a dispute between the Doctor and Osgood concerning a slouched\nhat, which the Doctor would not wear, the party succeeded in starting\nand arriving amicably at the Union in Saratoga. In a few hours Mrs.\nFormica knew who was there. The Trees were at the Union. Mrs. Senator\nConch had taken a cottage; but the Senator himself had stopped at\nAlbany for a day to confer with the Governor. Old Madam Funchal of\nPhiladelphia was at Congress Hall, with her train, and Mrs. Romeo\nPipps Bovis and husband, from Boston. All her friends were round her;\nthat is, the traveling set she was in the habit of meeting; and her\nspirits rose to the occasion. These particulars she detailed, in a\nwhite muslin morning-dress, to Osgood, who, dressed in a new\ncream- suit, lounged in the doorway of a small parlor off the\nhall. He shouldered round just in time to come face to face with Lily\nTree, who was passing on the arm of Barclay Dodge. She stopped, of\ncourse, to shake hands with Mrs. Formica, whose apparently warm kiss\nfell on the edge of a braid of her chestnut hair with the weight and\ncoldness of a snow-flake. Her face settled into rigidity when she\nturned to speak to Osgood, and, like a transparent boy, he looked,\nwith all the earnestness his gray eyes were capable of, straight into\nhers. Aunt Formica and Barclay read a story at once upon the text his\ncountenance furnished; but they both made the mistake of believing\nthat Lily had rejected him. Lily was too much occupied in managing her\nown feelings to divine Osgood's. The imperative necessity of\nconcealment, which all tutored women feel, governed her. She laughed a\ngreat deal, though nobody said a witty thing, and kept her eyes going\nbetween Mrs. Formica and Barclay with a steadiness which equaled the\nmovements of the wax women in the Broadway shop windows. Mr. Formica\nand Dr. Black added themselves to the party, and the relief of an\nintroduction to the Doctor came to Lily. She approached him, and his\nhonest face induced her to skirmish lightly with him; but not a word\ndid he utter of the whys and wherefores of his being with Osgood. He\nwould not, at any rate, extend his self-elected office of chorus so\nfar as to include her. He felt a dislike toward her. She was too thin,\nhe thought; there was an air of wear and tear about her which was not\npleasant. He felt, too, that she knew more than Osgood; and a woman,\nin his estimation, should never be the intellectual superior of a man\nshe might make choice of. But the Doctor was an Englishman; his ideas\nof women had been developed by the cynical Thackeray and the material\nDickens. There was a line between the two classes of women he only\nbelieved to exist--the bad capable woman and the good foolish\nwoman--which could never be crossed by one or the other. The elements\nwhich go to make up a man, of good and evil mixed, never enter into\nthe composition of the women of Englishmen of the present time. It is\npossible that Lily discovered Dr. Black's impression: she discovered\nit so nearly that she was certain Osgood had talked of her with him.\nWhy had he? she wondered.\n\nIn a few minutes the party fell apart as naturally as it had come\ntogether. Lily went on her walk with Barclay; after which she retired\nto dress for luncheon, but instead of appearing thereat kept her room\ntill evening.\n\nOsgood avoided every body; he was tormented with an idea that Lily had\nsuffered. There was no reason for his thinking so; he derived the idea\nfrom reasoning with himself--reasoning which meeting with her had put\nin play. In the evening he went to the drawing-room, and waited till\nhe saw her come in. Barclay, who was waiting too, darted toward her,\nbut Osgood reached her first. When Barclay saw Lily take the arm which\nOsgood offered her, he turned away; but changing his mind again went\nup to them.\n\n\"Osgood,\" he said, in a frank voice, \"you have not congratulated me on\nmy engagement to your friend Lily.\"\n\nTalk of heroes and martyrs; was not Lily both, at that moment,\nstanding between these two men, with her hair dressed by a barber, and\nwearing a pale blue silk?\n\nShe eyed with a dainty air a little bouquet she held in her hand, of\ntea-roses and geraniums, and applied it to her nose with great\ndeliberation. She felt an impetus from Osgood's arm. He had not\nanswered Barclay, but was dragging her decorously out of the\ndrawing-room. When they were alone he spoke to her.\n\n\"I have faced death since I saw you. I have grown a man; but until\nnow, I did not know that I loved you. Which man do you belong to?\"\n\n\"I have faced life since I saw you,\" she answered, in a silvery\nvoice, \"and I belong to Barclay Dodge.\"\n\n\"Let us go back.\"\n\nShe tossed her bouquet over the railing of the veranda with a\nvindictive smile which would have astonished Osgood had he seen it.\n\nBarclay was on the threshold; he looked at Lily and missed the\nbouquet; it was not in Osgood's button-hole--what could she have done\nwith it? He looked at Osgood, and saw that his teeth were set with a\npassion which he could understand. Lily sat down in the nearest chair,\nand the young men moved away together.\n\n\"There is no need of any nonsense between us,\" said Osgood; \"I was\nunder a wrong impression regarding your engagement. I do offer my\ncongratulations.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" said Barclay, dubiously. And then they looked at each\nother with mad eyes. What a relief it would have been if they could\nhave fought to the death!\n\nOsgood left Barclay abruptly, and sought his Aunt Formica.\n\n\"Aunt!\" he said, in a mild voice, \"you need not ask Conch to blow any\nhorn for me. I am going to sea.\"\n\n\"You will be better when she is married,\" she answered, significantly.\n\n\"I intend to before that. Your surmise is incorrect. You do not know\nthat I ran away from Lily, as well as from you and the Sub-Treasury.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"I offered myself to her; she accepted me, and on the strength of it I\nleft her immediately. What do you think of me?\"\n\n\"_She_ is a little wretch. Did you care for her _very_ much?\"\n\n\"I thought she couldn't make a poor man a good wife, _after_ I had\nasked her to be such. And I thought a poor man wouldn't be a good\nhusband.\"\n\n\"It was the height of foolishness in both of you. It is most unwise\nfor two people who have had luxuries separately to join and give them\nup.\"\n\n\"Luxuries! I wish you knew Peter and Maria.\"\n\n\"Osgood, you are morbid.\"\n\n\"Now, aunt, hear me. I am resolved to choose my own life; you must let\nme go. Whatever way I go, I shall not disgrace you. Formica may give\nme a sailor's outfit, if he chooses. Meantime let us enjoy ourselves\nfor the remainder of the week.\" Notwithstanding she saw that he was\ndetermined, she applied to Senator Conch for a place, and he promised\nher one for Osgood in a department at Washington. When she told Osgood\nof it, he deigned no reply; but shook his head so fiercely that she\nforebore to trouble him.\n\nEvery day that he saw Lily she learned his nature by the contrast\nBarclay offered; she also learned to doubt herself. She never had been\nworthy of Osgood; it was fit that she should marry Barclay. She\ndoubted whether she could keep up the strain, which she knew Osgood's\nlove would impose upon her, of self-abnegation, self-denial,\nisolation, and independence. She was not sure that she did not prefer\nenervation with Barclay to action with Osgood. Barclay watched them\nboth. Jealousy gnawed his soul, not because he doubted Osgood, but\nbecause he had a suspicion that Lily once felt an interest in Osgood,\nwhich might be on the point of awakening. He tried experiments upon\nher feelings, pinched them, tore them up by the roots, extracted them\nwith wrenches of his will, applied slow fire; but he learned nothing.\nHis motive was so palpable to Osgood that he more than once felt on\nthe point of knocking him down, and had he seen any encouraging sign\nfrom Lily he would have done it. He sometimes sighed over Barclay's\nfailure, hateful as his conduct was.\n\nThrough the torture which Barclay applied to her she saw the passion\nwhich tortured him. Could a woman have been quailed into love she\nwould have been at his feet; for he broke loose from his feigned\nsubmission and savagely demanded an equal return of his love. Then\ncame the full measure of her punishment. She was incapable of rising\nto the strength, height, and abandon of Barclay's love. She was just\nas unworthy of him as she was of Osgood.\n\nHow she hated herself!\n\nSomehow she heard that Osgood was going to sea. It is probable that\nAunt Formica's feminine malice directed the disclosure to her ears.\nShe staggered Dr. Black a moment after she heard the report by asking\nif it was true.\n\n\"It is,\" he answered, with dignity, though inwardly scared.\n\nShe asked no other question of him, but snapped her fan together and\nwalked away.\n\n\"Lily does not want you to go to sea,\" he said, when next he saw\nOsgood.\n\nOsgood blew a ring of cigar smoke into the air and watched its\ndisappearance.\n\n\"If wedding rings would only disappear that way!\" said the Doctor.\n\nOsgood blew another. \"Include engagement rings,\" he said.\n\n\"One did vanish,\" replied the Doctor, slyly.\n\n\"I do not believe so. I swear she wears two this moment.\"\n\nHe left the Doctor, shut himself in his room, and wrote a long letter\nto Peter about himself, Lily, and Barclay, and posted it.\n\n\"Peter will understand me,\" he thought; \"and more than that, he will\nunderstand Lily.\"\n\nThe last day of the Formicas' stay in Saratoga came. Osgood and Dr.\nBlack appeared in traveling costume. Lily saw them enter the\nbreakfast-room, and followed them with her father. As she passed their\nchairs, she asked, \"Do you go to-day?\" Osgood bowed. Dr. Black engaged\nMr. Tree in making a remark.\n\n\"Why do you go?\" she asked.\n\n\"Because Barclay stays,\" he whispered.\n\nShe turned a fiery red and passed on. He looked across the table once\nand met her eyes. She thought they said \"_Farewell._\" A wild wish rose\nin her heart which compelled all her nature to give way to it, to\nspeak to him once more; to see him alone, and force him to tell her if\nhe loved her. She resolved to find him somewhere, at all hazards.\n\nDr. Black watched her also. His comment was, that she was \"coming to a\ncrisis,\" and was beautifully following out the laws which governed her\nsex. \"Why can't they be something without hysterics?\" he lamented.\n\"Osgood will break down if he is not got away.\" He mechanically turned\nback his wristbands.\n\nLily waited in an ante-room, whose door Osgood must pass on his way\nout, and when he came, beckoned to him.\n\n\"Say your farewell to me as you feel it,\" she said, her eyes in a\nblaze.\n\n\"I can not.\"\n\n\"You shall.\"\n\nHer eyes and her voice threw him into a tumult; had he followed the\ndesire which assailed him, he would have taken her in his arms and\ncarried her off. As it was, he looked at her, with a far-off look, as\nif he were calling some one to his aid.\n\n\"Osgood, Osgood!\" she cried.\n\n\"Lily!\"\n\nShe wrung her hands.\n\n\"Lily!\" he said again.\n\n\"No, no, you need not speak; you may go.\"\n\nBoth of them gained a victory.\n\n\"After I have gone,\" he said, \"if you think it proper, will you visit\nPeter and Maria?\"\n\n\"Peter and Maria?\"\n\n\"The friends I found when I left you, who helped me to find a better\nself--a self that at last finds _you_.\"\n\n\"I will go.\"\n\n\"To-morrow, then, I will write you of them.\"\n\nHe was gone.\n\nIn a few days she received a letter which contained the narrative of\nhis sojourn with Peter and Maria, and a letter of introduction to\nthem. She showed the letter to Barclay.\n\n\"Shall you meet him there?\"\n\nShe gave him no answer.\n\n\"On what terms are you with yourself?\" he continued.\n\n\"To answer candidly, bad terms.\"\n\n\"Could you marry that beggar on better?\"\n\n\"Alas! no.\"\n\n\"Tell me, are you satisfied with your choice?\"\n\nShe looked so irresolute that he trembled and was sorry that he had\nasked the question. Her better angel took wings, however, and she laid\nher hand on his shoulder, saying, \"I make no other.\"\n\nSo she went on her travels with Barclay in her train, and Osgood went\non a voyage in the _Stormy Petrel_ as third mate. When autumn came,\nand the travelers had returned to town, Lily grew miserable. One day\nshe told Barclay that she wanted to read him a poem. He composed\nhimself to listen, and she read \"The Palace of Art.\"\n\n \"'What is it that will take away my sin,\n And save me lest I die?'\"--\n\nshe repeated.\n\n\"Barclay,\" she entreated, \"let me throw _your_ royal robes away, and\ngo to those friends of Osgood's, where I may learn that I am either\nworthy of you or of him.\"\n\nA stormy scene ensued. He would neither allow her to go, he said, nor\nwould he give her back her promise to him. But she was firm, and said\nthat she must go. His imprecations and his tears agitated her, but did\nnot shake her resolution. She had a battle with her father also when\nshe mentioned the subject, but she triumphed over him so far as to\nmake him promise to accompany her. She sent the letter of introduction\nto Peter, and received a pithy reply from him. He advised her to come.\nWith Peter and Maria she learned why Osgood wished her to visit them.\nShe left them with a request that they should allow her to return\nwhenever she should wish.\n\nShe found Barclay sullen and unhappy; but in spite of himself she\nconvinced him that they were not intended for each other. It was a\nwork to persuade him to the contrary; but at last they parted not as\nfoes but friends.\n\nWhen the engagement was annulled she took pains to ascertain from the\nowners of the _Stormy Petrel_ what time she was expected home, and\nbefore the date of her arrival she went on a visit to Peter and Maria.\n\nThere she studied the Marine List till she saw that the _Stormy\nPetrel_ was in port. She said nothing of the fact to Peter, but as he\nread the Marine List too, he found it out for himself. He went away in\nhis wagon a few mornings afterward, and when he returned Osgood was\nbeside him.\n\n\"Thee is as white as a ghost, Lily,\" said Maria, after a few minutes.\n\nOsgood put his arm round her, and they kissed each other. Peter pushed\nhis hat on the back of his head, and kissed Maria, and said, \"Give me\nmy dinner.\"\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:\n\nMinor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; otherwise\nevery effort has been made to remain true to the authors' words and\nintent.\n\n\n\n\n\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's Stories by American Authors, Volume 8, by Various\n\n*** ","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}} +{"text":"\n\nTable of Contents\n\nTitle Page\n\nCopyright Page\n\nDedication\n\nI\n\nII\n\nIII\n\nIV\n\nV\n\nVI\n\nVII\n\nVIII\n\nIX\n\nX\n\nXI\n\nXII\n\nXIII\n\nXIV\n\nAfterword\n**PRAISE FOR THE** _**NEW YORK TIMES**_ **BESTSELLING** _**MEN AT WAR** _**SERIES**\n\n\"WRITTEN WITH A SPECIAL FLAIR for the military heart and mind.\" _\u2014The Kansas Daily Courier_\n\n\"SHREWD, SHARP, ROUSING ENTERTAINMENT.\"\n\n_\u2014Kirkus Reviews_\n\n\"CAMEOS BY SUCH HISTORICAL FIGURES as William 'Wild Bill' Donovan, Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., David Niven, and Peter Ustinov lend color . . . suspenseful.\" _\u2014Publishers Weekly_\n\n**W.E.B. GRIFFIN'S ACCLAIMED BESTSELLERS**\n\n_**BLOOD AND HONOR**_\n\n\"ROUSING . . . AN IMMENSELY ENTERTAINING ADVENTURE. \" _\u2014Kirkus Reviews_\n\n\"INTRICATELY PLOTTED and packed with those accurate details that fans of Griffin have come to expect.\" _\u2014Booklist_\n\n_**HONOR BOUND**_\n\n\"A TAUTLY WRITTEN STORY whose twists and turns will keep readers guessing until the last page.\" _\u2014Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"A SUPERIOR WAR STORY.\" _\u2014Library Journal_\n\n**W.E.B. GRIFFIN'S CLASSIC SERIES**\n\n_**THE CORPS**_ W.E.B. Griffin's bestselling saga of the heroes we call Marines . . .\n\n\"THE BEST CHRONICLER OF THE U.S. MILITARY EVER TO PUT PEN TO PAPER.\" _\u2014Phoenix Gazette_\n\n\"A BRILLIANT STORY . . . NOT ONLY WORTHWHILE, IT'S A PUBLIC SERVICE.\" _\u2014The Washington Times_\n\n\"GREAT READING. A superb job of mingling fact and fiction . . . [Griffin's] characters come to life.\" _\u2014The Sunday Oklahoman_\n\n\"THIS MAN HAS REALLY DONE HIS HOMEWORK . . . I confess to impatiently awaiting the appearance of succeeding books in the series.\" _\u2014The Washington Post_\n\n\"ACTION-PACKED . . . DIFFICULT TO PUT DOWN.\"\n\n_\u2014Marine Corps Gazette_\n\n_**BROTHERHOOD OF WAR**_\n\nA sweeping military epic of the United States Army that became a \n _New York Times_ bestselling phenomenon . . .\n\n\"A MAJOR WORK . . . MAGNIFICENT . . . POWERFUL . . . If books about warriors and the women who love them were given medals for authenticity, insight and honesty, _Brotherhood of War_ would be covered with them.\" _\u2014_ William Bradford Huie, author of _The Klansman_ and _The Execution of Private Slovik_\n\n\" _Brotherhood of War_ gets into the hearts and minds of those who by choice or circumstances are called upon to fight our nation's wars.\" \u2014William R. Corson, Lt. Col. (Ret.) U.S.M.C., author of _The Betrayal_ and _The Armies of Ignorance_\n\n\"Captures the rhythms of army life and speech, its rewards and deprivations . . . A WELL-WRITTEN, ABSORBING ACCOUNT.\"\n\n_\u2014Publishers Weekly_\n\n\"REFLECTS THE FLAVOR OF WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE A PROFESSIONAL SOLDIER.\" \u2014Frederick Downs, author of _The Killing Zone_\n\n\"LARGE, EXCITING, FAST-MOVING.\" \u2014Shirley Ann Grau, author of _The Keeper of the House_\n\n\"A MASTER STORYTELLER who makes sure each book stands on its own.\" \u2014 _Newport News Press_\n\n\"GRIFFIN HAS BEEN CALLED THE LOUIS L'AMOUR OF MILITARY FICTION, AND WITH GOOD REASON.\"\n\n_\u2014Chattanooga News-Free Press_\n\n_**BADGE OF HONOR**_\n\nW.E.B. Griffin's electrifying epic series of a big-city police force . . .\n\n\"DAMN EFFECTIVE . . . He captivates you with characters the way few authors can.\" \u2014Tom Clancy\n\n\"TOUGH, AUTHENTIC . . . POLICE DRAMA AT ITS BEST . . . Readers will feel as if they're part of the investigation, and the true-to-life characters will soon feel like old friends. Excellent reading.\" \u2014Dale Brown, bestselling author of _Storming Heaven_ and _Fatal Terrain_\n\n\"COLORFUL . . . GRITTY . . . TENSE.\"\n\n_\u2014The Philadelphia Inquirer_\n\n\"A REAL WINNER.\" _\u2014New York Daily News_\n\n\"NOT SINCE JOSEPH WAMBAUGH have we been treated to a police story of the caliber that Griffin gives us. He creates a story about real people in a real world doing things that are AS REAL AS TODAY'S HEADLINES.\" \u2014Harold Coyle, bestselling author of\n\n_Team Yankee_ and _Sword Point_\n\n\"FANS OF ED McBAIN'S 87TH PRECINCT NOVELS BETTER MAKE ROOM ON THEIR SHELVES . . . _Badge of Honor_ is first and foremost the story of the people who solve the crimes. The characters come alive.\" \u2014 _Gainsville (GA) Times_\n\n\"GRITTY, FAST-PACED . . . AUTHENTIC.\"\n\n\u2014Richard Herman, Jr., author of _The Warbirds_\n_**Titles by W.E.B. Griffin**_\n\n**HONOR BOUND** HONOR BOUND BLOOD AND HONOR SECRET HONOR\n\n**BROTHERHOOD OF WAR** BOOK I: THE LIEUTENANTS BOOK II: THE CAPTAINS BOOK III: THE MAJORS BOOK IV: THE COLONELS BOOK V: THE BERETS BOOK VI: THE GENERALS BOOK VII: THE NEW BREED BOOK VIII: THE AVIATORS BOOK IX: SPECIAL OPS\n\n**THE CORPS** BOOK I: SEMPER FI BOOK II: CALL TO ARMS BOOK III: COUNTERATTACK BOOK IV: BATTLEGROUND BOOK V: LINE OF FIRE BOOK VI: CLOSE COMBAT BOOK VII: BEHIND THE LINES BOOK VIII: IN DANGER'S PATH BOOK IX: UNDER FIRE BOOK X: RETREAT, HELL!\n\n**BADGE OF HONOR** BOOK I: MEN IN BLUE BOOK II: SPECIAL OPERATIONS BOOK III: THE VICTIM BOOK IV: THE WITNESS BOOK V: THE ASSASSIN BOOK VI: THE MURDERERS BOOK VII: THE INVESTIGATORS BOOK VIII: FINAL JUSTICE\n\n**MEN AT WAR** BOOK I: THE LAST HEROES BOOK II: THE SECRET WARRIORS BOOK III: THE SOLDIER SPIES BOOK IV: THE FIGHTING AGENTS BOOK V: THE SABOTEURS\n\n**PRESIDENTIAL AGENT** BOOK I: BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT BOOK II: THE HOSTAGE\n\n**THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP** \n**Published by the Penguin Group** \n**Penguin Group (USA) Inc.** \n**375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA** \nPenguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada \n(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) \nPenguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England \nPenguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) \nPenguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia \n(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) \nPenguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi\u2014110 017, India \nPenguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand \n(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) \nPenguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, \nSouth Africa\n\nPenguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England\n\nThis is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.\n\nTHE FIGHTING AGENTS\n\nA Jove Book \/ published by arrangement with the author\n\nCopyright \u00a9 1987 by W.E.B. Griffin.\n\nOriginally published under the pseudonym Alex Baldwin.\n\nAll rights reserved. \nNo part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form \nwithout permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in \nviolation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. \nFor information, address: G. P. Putnam's Sons, \na division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., \n375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.\n\neISBN : 978-0-515-13052-2\n\nJOVE\u00ae \nJove Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, \na division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., \n375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014. \nJOVE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. \nThe \"J\" design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.\n\n\n_For Lieutenant Aaron Bank, Infantry, AUS, detailed OSS (later, Colonel, Special Forces) and Lieutenant William E. Colby, Infantry, AUS, detailed OSS (later, Ambassador and Director, CIA)_\n\n_As Jedburgh Team Leaders operating in German-occupied France and Norway, they set the standards for valor, wisdom, patriotism, and personal integrity that thousands who followed in their steps in the OSS and CIA tried to emulate._\n**Prologue**\n\nSince General Douglas MacArthur's departure for Australia from the Fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay was in compliance with a direct order from President and Commander -in-Chief Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was the General's belief that the move was nothing more than a transfer of his headquarters. He believed, in other words, that the battered, outnumbered, starving U.S. and Philippine troops in the Philippine Islands would remain under his command.\n\nHe believed specifically that Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright, a tall, skinny cavalryman who had been his deputy, would, as regulations and custom prescribed, remain under his orders.\n\nGeneral MacArthur's last order to Wainwright\u2014on the small wooden wharf at Corregidor just before MacArthur, his wife, his son, and a small staff boarded the boats that would take them away\u2014was verbal: He told Wainwright to \"hold on.\" Wainwright understood this to mean that he was forbidden to surrender.\n\nSince he had been promised reinforcement and resupply of his beleaguered forces by Roosevelt himself, MacArthur believed that as long as the Fortress of Corregidor held out, Roosevelt would be forced to make good on his promise of reinforcement. The island of Luzon, including the capital city of Manila, had fallen to the Japanese. But there were upward of twenty thousand reasonably healthy, reasonably well-supplied troops under Major General William Sharp on the island of Mindanao. That force, MacArthur believed, could serve as the nucleus for the recapture of Luzon, once reinforcements came.\n\nMacArthur accepted the possibility that Corregidor might fall. But if that should happen, he believed that Wainwright should move his three-starred, red general's flag and the other colors to Mindanao, assume command of General Sharp's troops, and continue the fight.\n\nBefore MacArthur reached Brisbane, however, traveling first by PT boat and then by B-17 aircraft, General Wainwright began to receive orders directly from Washington, from General George Catlett Marshall, the Chief of Staff.\n\nGeneral MacArthur and General Marshall were not friends. For instance, some time before the war when Marshall was a colonel at Fort Benning, MacArthur, then Chief of Staff of the Army, had officially described Marshall as unfit for command of a unit larger than a regiment. Several such incidents did not bring the two closer.\n\nIt was made clear to General Wainwright by the War Department that he was no longer subject to General Mac-Arthur's orders, and that the conduct of resistance in the Philippines was entirely his own responsibility.\n\nWithout MacArthur's knowledge or consent, the decision had already been made by President Roosevelt, acting with the advice of General Marshall and Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower (who had once served as Mac-Arthur's deputy in the Philippines), that not only was reinforcement of the Philippines impossible\u2014given the relative capabilities of the United States and Imperial Japanese navies\u2014but that the first priority in the war was the conflict against the Germans in North Africa and Europe.\n\nOn May 1, 1942, there were thirteen thousand American and Philippine troops (on a three-eighths ration) in the granite tunnels of Corregidor Island. These included a large number of wounded and all the nurses evacuated from Luzon in order to spare them rape at the hands of the Japanese. That day, Japanese artillery fired sixteen thousand rounds at Corregidor, one heavy shell landing every five seconds. And that many shells were fired the next day. And the next day. And the next.\n\nOn the night of May 5, 1942, when it became evident to General Wainwright that the Japanese were about to make an assault on the fortress, he radioed General Sharp and other commanders elsewhere in the Philippines, releasing them from his command.\n\nAlthough most of the heavy coast artillery cannon on the island had already been destroyed by Japanese artillery, there were enough smaller cannon and automatic weapons still available to Wainwright's forces so that Japanese losses in the assault were severe. But the Japanese were both determined and courageous, and a foothold was gained.\n\nThe fall of Corregidor was no longer in doubt.\n\nThere was nothing to be gained by further resistance. In fact, further resistance would have meant that the Japanese would have trained cannon at the mouth of Malinta Tunnel. These would have swept the tunnel clean of nurses and wounded and the rest of the garrison as effectively as a hose washing down a drainage pipe.\n\nWainwright sent his aide, carrying a white flag, and a staff officer to treat with the enemy.\n\nSoon after that, General Wainwright met with his counterpart, Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, on the porch of a small, bullet-pocked frame house on Luzon. The shaven-headed Homma, although he spoke fluent English, addressed Wainwright through an interpreter.\n\nHomma was not interested in the surrender of Corregidor. He demanded the absolute, unconditional surrender of all American troops in the Philippine Islands. If General Wainwright were not prepared to offer absolute surrender of all U.S. forces, he would resume tactical operations. By this, he clearly meant wiping out the Corregidor garrison.\n\nAccompanied by a Japanese lieutenant named Kano, who had been educated in New Jersey, General Wainwright was taken in a captured Cadillac to the studios of radio station KZRH in Manila. There he broadcast a message to all commanders of all U.S. military and naval forces in the Philippines. As senior U.S. officer in the Philippines, he ordered all American forces to immediately suspend hostile action and to make all preparations to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army.\n\nNot all Americans chose to obey General Wainwright's final order.\n**I**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, MINDANAO-VISAYAN FORCE UNITED STATES FORCES IN THE PHILIPPINES 28 DECEMBER 1942**\n\nBrigadier General Wendell W. Fertig, Commanding, Mindanao-Visayan Force, wore two items not commonly seen on general officers of the U.S. Army: a goatee with mustache and a cone-shaped, woven-reed hat perched at a cocky angle on his head. From this dangled what looked like a native bracelet.\n\nGeneral Fertig, a trim, red-haired man of forty-one, was not a professional soldier. He had not gone to West Point; rather, he had entered the military service of the United States just over a year before, directly commissioned as Captain, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army Reserve. The U.S. Army in the Philippines had been delighted to have the services of an experienced civil engineer, in particular one who was familiar with the Philippines. When he had entered the Army, Fertig had sent his wife and family to safety in Colorado.\n\nFrom the time of the Japanese invasion until the surrender ordered by General Wainwright on May 5, 1942, Fertig had been primarily involved in the demolition\u2014usually by explosive\u2014of roads, bridges and tunnels, supply and petrol dumps, and other facilities to deny their use to the enemy. Many of the facilities he destroyed he had built before the war.\n\nOn May 5, 1942\u2014by then twice promoted\u2014Lt. Colonel Fertig willfully and with full knowledge of the consequences elected to disobey the lawful order of his military superior, Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright, to immediately cease hostile action against the Imperial Japanese Army and to make all preparations to surrender.\n\nHe went instead into the mountains of Mindanao, with every intention of waging what hostile action he could against the Japanese. With him at the beginning were Captain Charles Hedges, another newly commissioned reserve officer of the Army, Chief Petty Officer Ellwood Orfett, USN, and Private Robert Ball, USA.\n\nThings did not go well at first for the little group. To avoid Japanese capture, they had to live in the jungle, eating what they could find there. Or else they ate the native food Moro tribesmen furnished them every now and again\u2014at the risk of their lives.\n\nOnce, they watched from the jungle as a long line of American prisoners\u2014their officers bareheaded and with their arms tied behind them\u2014were moved to a prison camp.\n\nAlthough they encountered some yet-to-surrender Philippine troops, there was no rush to Fertig's colors. Most of the Filipinos, in and out of uniform, sadly suggested to them that the war was over and that the only logical course for the ragtag quartet to follow was to surrender.\n\nBut Fertig, if personally modest, had a somewhat grand notion of the role he could play in the war. He kept a diary, which has survived, and in it, in a rice paddy near Moray, he wrote:\n\n\"I am called on to lead a resistance movement against an implacable enemy under conditions that make victory barely possible. . . . But I feel . . . my course is charted and that only success lies at the end of the trail. . . . If we are to win only part of the time and gain a little each time, in the end we will be successful.\"\n\nLt. Colonel Fertig gave a good deal of thought to the reluctance of the Filipinos and other Americans who had not surrendered to join him. He finally concluded that this was because they quite naturally thought he was simply one more middle-level brass hat, one more American civilian temporarily commissioned into the Army.\n\nThey would, on the other hand, follow a real soldier, he realized. He improved on this: If there were a _general officer_ who announced himself as the official representative of the United States and Philippine governments, that individual would command the respect of everybody.\n\nOn October 1, 1942, on the back of a Delinquent Tax Notice, Fertig wrote a proclamation in pencil and nailed it to a tree:\n\nA Moro silversmith hammered out two five-pointed stars\u2014the rank insignia of a brigadier general\u2014from silver dollars, and Fertig pinned them to his collar points.\n\nIt was likely, Fertig knew, that his proclamation would be blown by the wind from the tree before anyone saw it. Or if it stayed on the tree (the distribution list, for instance, was a bluff; the delinquent tax form was the only sheet of paper he had), that whoever read it would either laugh or conclude there was a crazy American running loose.\n\nBut two days later, as the quartet was walking along the beach beside a Mindanao jungle, ready to rush in and hide if Japanese soldiers appeared, a wiry little Moro wearing vestiges of a uniform and carrying a Model 1917 Enfield U.S. Army rifle stepped into view. And then others appeared, until there were almost two hundred of them.\n\nThe wiry little Moro saluted crisply and in the best English he could manage informed General Fertig that he and his men were at the General's orders, and with respect, could he suggest they go into the jungle, for there were Japanese just a short distance down the beach.\n\nSoon other Filipinos appeared, as well as other Americans who had decided to take their chances in the mountains and the jungles rather than enter Japanese captivity. No one seemed to question the stars on Fertig's collar points; they all seemed happy to be able to place themselves under the orders of someone who knew what he was doing.\n\nA reasonably safe headquarters was established. Though it was not defensible, it was in a location that would be invisible from the air and difficult to locate on the ground. And even if located, it would be very difficult to surround. If Japanese appeared, Fertig and his forces would be able to vanish into the mountains before the Japanese got close.\n\nRemaining free was the first priority.\n\nThe second priority, as Fertig saw it, was to make his presence known to others who had not surrendered and who could join his forces; to the Japanese, who would be obliged to tie down forces on a ratio of at least seven to one in order to look for and contain him; and to the U.S. Army.\n\nThere were risks involved in making the U.S. Army aware of what he was doing. For one thing, he simply might be ordered to surrender. He thus decided that if such an order came, he would not acknowledge it. For another, the U.S. Army was likely to frown both on his self-promotion to brigadier general and on the authority he had vested in himself to take command of Mindanao and proclaim martial law.\n\nFertig decided that these risks had to be taken. There was simply no way he could arm a guerrilla force as large as he envisioned by stealing arms from the Japanese. And the only possible source of arms was the U.S. Army, which could either make airdrops or possibly send a submarine. And then on top of that, just about as important as arms was medicine, especially quinine. And the only possible source of medicine was the Army.\n\nWhat he really needed most of all was money. Not green-backs. Gold. Preferably twenty-dollar gold coins. Lots of twenty-dollar gold coins. With them he could pay his troops, which would lend sorely needed credence to Brigadier General Fertig and his authority. And he could buy food and possibly medicine, and make gifts to Moro chieftains and others who could thereby be persuaded to help him.\n\nThere was one major problem with informing the U.S. Army of the existence of the Mindanao-Visayan force of United States forces in the Philippines: Headquarters, USFIP, had no radio. And if it could somehow get hold of a radio, it had no generator to power it. And if USFIP came into possession of a radio and a generator, and could somehow begin to transmit, there was a very good possibility that the U.S. Army Signal Corps radio operators in the States would not reply. They would presume that the Japanese were playing games with them, because any message from legitimate American forces would be encrypted, that is, sent in code.\n\nActing on the authority he had vested in himself, Fertig commissioned Chief Petty Officer Orfett and Private Ball as second lieutenants. Lieutenant Orfett was put in charge of a deserted coconut-oil mill. Coconut oil could be sold or bartered. Lieutenant Ball was appointed signal officer, USFIP, and ordered to establish communications with the U.S. Army in Australia. He was to use his own judgment in determining how this could be best accomplished.\n\nLieutenant Ball appointed as his chief radio operator a Filipino high school boy by the name of Gerardo Almendres. Almendres, before war came, had completed slightly more than half of a correspondence course in radiotelephony. Using the correspondence course schematic diagrams as a guide, Almendres set about building a shortwave transmitter. Most of his parts came from the sound system of a motion picture projector that had been buried to keep it out of Japanese hands.\n\nA boatload of recruits from Luzon arrived. It comprised the remnants of a Philippine Scout Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment: six master sergeants, one of them an American. With them they had an American captain who had deserted USAFFE, U.S. Army Forces, Far East, and taken to the jungles, rather than face certain capture on Corregidor.\n\nThe captain, Horace B. Buchanan, USMA '34, a slight, balding man showing signs of malnutrition, provided the second item necessary to establish communication with the U.S. Army in Australia. It was a small metal box bearing a brass identification tag on which was stamped:\n\nSECRET Device, cryptographic, m94 serial number 145. It is absolutely forbidden to remove this device from its assigned secure cryptographic facility SECRET\n\nGeneral Fertig had never seen one before. He found it fascinating.\n\nIt consisted of twenty-five aluminum disks. Each disk was about the size of a silver dollar and just a little thicker. The disks were stacked together and laid on their edges, so they could rotate independently on an axle. The stack of disks was about five inches long. On the outside of each disk there was printed an alphabet, sometimes A, B, C in proper sequence and sometimes with the characters in a random order.\n\n\"How does it work?\" Fertig asked.\n\nCaptain Buchanan showed him.\n\nEach of the disks was rotated until they all spelled out, horizontally on the \"encrypt-decrypt line,\" the first twenty-five characters of the message they were to transmit. That left the other lines spelling out gibberish.\n\nCryptographic facilities were furnished a Top Secret document, known as the SOI (Signal Operating Instructions) . Among other things, the SOI prescribed the use of another horizontal line, called the \"genatrix,\" for use on a particular day. The gibberish on the genatrix line was what was sent over the air.\n\nActually, Buchanan explained, the SOI provided for a number of genatrix lines, for messages usually were far longer than twenty-five characters. The genatrix lines were selected at random. One day, for example, Lines 02, 13, 18, 21, 07, and so on were selected, and Lines 24, 04, 16, 09, 09, and so on, the next.\n\nWhen the message was received, all the decrypt operator had to do was consult his SOI for that day's genatrix lines. He would then set the first twenty-five characters of the gibberish received on that genatrix line on his Device, Cryptographic, M94, and the decrypted message would appear on the encrypt-decrypt line. He would then move to the next prescribed genatrix line and repeat the process until the entire message had been decrypted.\n\nThe forehead of the red-goateed brigadier general creased thoughtfully.\n\nBuchanan read his mind.\n\n\"In an emergency, Sir,\" Buchanan said, \"in the absence of an SOI, there is an emergency procedure. A code block . . .\"\n\n\"A what?\" Fertig asked.\n\n\"A five-character group of letters, Sir,\" Buchanan explained, \"is included as the third block of the five five-character blocks in the first twenty-five characters. That alerts the decrypt operator to the absence of an SOI.\"\n\n\"And then what?\"\n\n\"First, there is a standard emergency genatrix line sequence. The message will then be decrypted. The receiving station will then attempt to determine the legitimacy of the sender by other means.\"\n\n\"Such as?\"\n\n\"His name, for one thing. Then the maiden name of his wife's mother, the name of his high school principal, or his children. Personal data that would not be available to the enemy.\"\n\nGeneral Fertig nodded.\n\n\"You are a very clever fellow, Buchanan,\" Fertig said. \"You are herewith appointed cryptographic officer for United States forces in the Philippines.\"\n\nThat left two connected problems. The first was to get Gerardo Almendres's International Correspondence School transmitter-receiver up and running. That would require electrical power, and that translated to mean a generator would be required.\n\nBuchanan had no idea how that could be handled, but both he and Lt. Ball suggested that perhaps Master Sergeant George Withers might be of help. Withers was the NCOIC (noncommissioned officer in charge) of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment on whose boat Buchanan had escaped from Luzon. He was a competent fellow; master sergeants of the Regular U.S. Army are almost by definition highly knowledgeable and resourceful. He had, after all, managed to acquire and hide the boat and bring his detachment safely to Mindanao on it.\n\nMaster Sergeant Withers was summoned.\n\nHe was obviously uncomfortable, and after some gentle prodding, General Fertig got him to blurt out:\n\n\"The truth of the matter is, General, I'm not sure I'm a master sergeant.\"\n\n\"Would you care to explain that, Sergeant?\"\n\nWithers explained that he had been a staff sergeant assigned to an Army ammunition depot on Luzon when he had been suddenly transferred to a Philippine Scout Explosive Ordnance Disposal Detachment.\n\n\"There was fifteen Scouts, General . . . we lost ten before we finally got out. Anyway, Sir, two of them was technical sergeants. They didn't know nothing about explosives, they'd come out of the Twenty-sixth Cavalry with Lieutenant Whittaker when it got all shot up and was disbanded.\"\n\n\"Lieutenant Whittaker? A cavalry officer? Was he killed, too?\" General Fertig asked.\n\n\"No, Sir, and he wasn't a cavalry officer, either. He was a fighter pilot. They put him in the cavalry after they ran out of airplanes, and then they put him to work blowing things up when the Twenty-sixth Cavalry got all shot up and they butchered their horses for rations. He was a fucking artist with TNT . . .\"\n\n\"What happened to him?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" Withers said. \"The brass on Corregidor sent for him. That's where we got Captain Buchanan. He was sent to fetch Lieutenant Whittaker, and he talked Lieutenant Whittaker into letting him come with us.\"\n\n_It made sense,_ Fertig thought, _that a demolitions expert . . . \"a fucking artist with TNT\" . . . would be summoned to Corregidor to practice his art just before the fortress fell. Poor bastard, if he wasn't dead, he was now in a prison camp. With a little bit of luck, he could be here, and free. USFIP could use a fucking artist with TNT._\n\n\"You were telling me, Sergeant,\" General Fertig said, \"about your rank.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir. Well, Lieutenant Whittaker thought that since I knew about explosives, and the Scouts didn't, it would be awkward with two of the Scouts outranking me, so he said, right when I first reported to him, that I had been promoted to master sergeant. I'm not sure he had the authority to do that, Sir. I wasn't even on the technical sergeant promotion list.\"\n\nSgt. Withers looked at General Fertig for the general's reaction. His face bore the look of a man who has made a complete confession of his sins and has prepared himself for whatever fate is about to send his way.\n\n\"Sergeant Withers,\" General Fertig said. \"You may consider that your promotion in the field, by my authority, has been confirmed and is now a matter of record.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Sgt. Withers said. \"Thank you, General.\"\n\n\"The reason I asked you in here, Sergeant,\" General Fertig said, \"is to ask for your thoughts on a problem we have. We have need of a source of electrical power.\"\n\n\"What for, Sir?\"\n\n\"To power our radio transmitter.\"\n\nWithers hardly hesitated.\n\n\"There's a diesel on the boat\u2014\"\n\n\"We sank the boat.\"\n\n\"We sunk it before on Luzon,\" Withers said, undaunted. \"The engine's sealed. I'll take my Scouts down there and get it.\"\n\n\"And how will you get it up here?\"\n\n\"We'll steal a water buffalo and make a travois . . . like the Indians had? . . . No problem, General.\"\n\n\"The sooner the better, Sergeant,\" General Fertig said.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **NAVAL COMMUNICATIONS FACILITY MARE ISLAND NAVY YARD SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 5 JANUARY 1943**\n\nThe radioman second looked to be about seventeen years old. He was small and slight, and his light brown hair was cropped close to his skull. He wore government-issue metal-framed glasses, and his earphones made his head look very small.\n\nBut he was good at his trade, capable of transcribing the International Morse Code coming over his Hallicrafters receiver far faster than it was being sent. He had time, in other words, to read what he was typing instead of just serving as a human link in the transmission process.\n\nHe raised one hand over his head to signal his superior while with the other, with practiced skill, he took the sheet of paper in his typewriter out and fed a fresh sheet.\n\nThe lieutenant junior grade who came to his station looked very much like the radioman second, except that he was perhaps four years older and just a little heavier. But he was slight, too, and wore glasses and looked very young.\n\nHe took the sheet of yellow paper from the radioman second and read it:\n\nMFS FOR US FORCES AUSTRALIA \nMFS FOR US FORCES AUSTRALIA \nACNOW BRTSS DXSYT QRSHJ ERASH \nPOFTP QOPOQ CHTFS SDHST ALITS \nCGHRZ QMSGL QROTX VABCG LSTYE \nACNOW BRTSS DXSYT QRSHJ ERASH \nPOFTP QOPOQ CHTFS SDHST ALITS \nCGHRZ QMSGL QROTX VABCG LSTYE \nMFS STANDING BY FOR US FORCES AUSTRALIA \nMFS STANDING BY FOR US FORCES AUSTRALIA\n\n\"What the hell is this?\"\n\n\"Look at the third block, Sir, \" the radioman second said.\n\n\"What about it?\"\n\n\"It was the emergency code, no SOI, when the Army was still using the old M94,\" the radioman second said.\n\n\"Who's MFS?\" the j.g. asked.\n\n\"There's no such station, Sir,\" the radioman second said.\n\n\"What do you think?\"\n\n\"I think it's the Japs playing games,\" the radioman said.\n\n\"Well, what the hell, I'll send it over to the Presidio,\" the j.g. said. \"Maybe they've still got an M94 around someplace. \"\n\n\"You don't think I should give them a call back?\"\n\n\"They weren't trying to reach us, they were calling Australia. Let Australia call them back.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 10 JANUARY 1943**\n\nMotor Machinist's Mate First Class Charles D. Staley, USN, in compliance with his orders, presented himself at the National Institutes of Health building.\n\nFive weeks before, Staley had been running the tune-up shop at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center motor pool, outside Chicago. It was a hell of a thing for a first class petty officer with eighteen years' service to be doing with a war on; but Staley was a Yangtze River Patrol sailor, and he had learned that Yangtze River Patrol sailors who had managed to make it back to the States\u2014instead of either getting killed or captured in the Philippines\u2014seemed to get dumb billets like that. The Navy didn't seem to know what to do with them, so it gave them billets like running a motor pool, shit that had to be done but had little to do with ships or fighting a war.\n\nAnd then the personnel chief had called him in and said there was a levy down from BuPers\u2014the Navy Bureau of Personnel\u2014for someone with his rate, who had been a China Sailor, and who was unmarried. The personnel chief said he had to volunteer, for the billet was \"classified and hazardous.\" Reasoning that anything had to be better than cleaning carburetors, Staley volunteered.\n\nFive days later, his orders came through. For the first time in his service, Staley was flown somewhere in a Navy airplane. He was flown to Anacostia Naval Air Station in Washington, where a civilian driving a Plymouth station wagon met him and took him to a large country estate in Virginia about forty miles from Washington. Some very rich guy's house\u2014there was a mansion, and a stable, and a swimming pool, set on 240 acres in the middle of nowhere\u2014had been taken over by the government for the duration.\n\nA real hard-nosed civilian sonofabitch named Eldon C. Baker had given him and ten other guys a short speech, saying the purpose of the training they were about to undergo was to determine if they met the standards of the OSS. Staley didn't know what the hell the OSS was, but he'd been in the service long enough to know when to ask questions and when not to ask questions, and this was one of the times not to ask questions.\n\nBaker, as if he had been reading his mind, almost immediately made that official.\n\n\"This is not a summer camp,\" Baker said, \"where you will make friends for life. You are not to ask questions about the backgrounds, including girlfriends and families, of other trainees, and if a trainee asks you questions that do not directly concern what is going on at the school, you will report that immediately to one of the cadre.\"\n\nBaker had made it clear that if you reported it, the trainee who had asked the questions would be immediately \"relieved\" (which Staley understood to mean thrown out on his ass), and if you didn't report it, _you_ would be relieved.\n\nThey would be restricted to the camp, Mr. Baker told them, for the length of the course, or unless \"sooner relieved for cause.\"\n\nThe training itself had been part boot camp\u2014running around and learning about small arms; part how to fight like a Shanghai pimp\u2014in other words, with a knife, or by sticking your thumbs into a guy's eyes, or kicking him in the balls; part how to blow things up; and part how to be a radio operator. Staley hadn't had any trouble with any of it, but some of the other guys had had a hell of a time, and although they had said as little as possible about themselves, Staley had been able to figure out that most of the other guys were college guys, and he would have laid three to one that at least three of them were officers. Of the twelve guys who started, six made it through. Three got thrown out, one broke his leg climbing up the side of a barn, and two just quit.\n\nSome Army full-bull colonel, a silver-haired Irishman wearing the blue-starred ribbon of the Medal of Honor (the first one Staley had ever seen actually being worn), came to the estate just before they were through with the course and shook their hands; Staley was able to figure out from that that whatever was going on involved more than one service.\n\nTwo days before, the cadre had loaded them all in station wagons, taken them to Washington, and handed them $300 and a list of \"recommended civilian clothing.\" Staley had bought two suits, six shirts, a pair of shoes, and some neckties.\n\nThe night before, one at a time, Baker had called everybody in and given them their orders, which they were not to discuss with anyone else. Staley didn't know what to make of his. He was ordered to report in civilian clothing to the National Institutes of Health, in Washington, D.C.\n\nThey had brought him there in one of the station wagons.\n\nThere was a receptionist in the lobby, and a couple of cops.\n\nHe went to the receptionist, not sure what to do about his orders. They were stamped SECRET, and you don't go around showing SECRET orders to every dame behind a plate-glass window with a hole in it.\n\n\"I was told to report here,\" Staley said, when she finally looked at him.\n\n\"May I have your name, Sir?\" she asked.\n\nWhen he gave it to her, she looked at a typewritten list, then handed him a cardboard badge with VISITOR printed on it and an alligator clip on the back of it so that he could pin it to the lapel of his new suit. Then she called one of the cops over.\n\n\"Would you take Mr. Staley to Chief Ellis, please?\" she said.\n\nThe cop smiled and made a _come with me_ gesture with his hand. Staley followed him to an elevator, and they rode up in it and then went down a corridor until they came to a door with a little sign reading \"Director.\" Inside that door was an office with a couple of women clerks pushing typewriters, an older woman who was obviously in charge, and a door with another sign reading \"Director\" on it.\n\n\"This is Mr. Staley,\" the cop said.\n\n\"The Chief expects him,\" the gray-haired woman said with a smile. Then she looked at Staley. \"Go on in,\" she said.\n\nStaley stopped at the door and, conditioned by long habit of the proper way to report to a commanding officer, knocked and waited to be told to enter.\n\n\"Come in,\" a male voice called.\n\nThere was another office beyond that door, furnished with a large, glistening desk, a red leather couch, and two red leather chairs. Sitting at the desk, sidewards, so he could rest his feet on the open lower drawer of the desk, was a chief boatswain's mate, USN, smoking a cigar and reading a newspaper.\n\n\"Whaddayasay, Staley?\" the Chief said. \"Getting any lately?\"\n\nIt took a moment before Staley was sure who the Chief was, then he said, \"Jesus H. Christ! Ellis!\"\n\nEllis swung around in his high-backed chair and pushed a lever on an intercom box.\n\n\"Could somebody bring us some coffee?\" he asked. Then he turned to Staley and gestured toward the red leather couch. \"Sit down,\" he said. \"Take a load off.\"\n\nChief Boatswain's Mate J. R. Ellis, USN, was wearing a brand-new uniform. There were twenty-four years' worth of hash marks on the sleeve. The uniform was his Christmas present to himself. It was custom-made. He had had custom-made uniforms before, but in China, when he'd been with the Yangtze River Patrol. But he hadn't been a chief then, and custom-made uniforms cost a hell of a lot less in China than they did in the States. Chief Ellis had figured, what the hell, he had never even expected that he would make chief, why the hell not get a stateside custom-made uniform. He could afford it.\n\nThe last time Staley had seen Ellis had been in Shanghai, and Ellis had been right on the edge of getting busted from bosun's mate first and maybe even getting his ass kicked out of the Navy. Ellis had been on the _Panay_ when the Japs sank it in December 1937. After he'd swum away from the burning _Panay,_ Ellis just hadn't given much of a damn for anything. Staley understood that: How the hell could you take pride in being a sailor if your government didn't do a goddamn thing to the goddamn Japs after they sank a U.S. man-of-war and killed a lot of sailors while they were at it?\n\nBut he had never expected to see Ellis as a chief, and certainly not in a billet where he was obviously some kind of a big wheel.\n\nOne of the typists came in with two cups of coffee, in nice cups and saucers, not mugs.\n\n\"There's cream and sugar,\" she said, smiling at Staley, \"but Chief Ellis never uses what he calls 'canned cow.' \"\n\n\"Black's just fine, Ma'am,\" Staley said.\n\nWhen she left, curiosity got the better of him.\n\n\"What the hell is going on around here, Ellis?\" he asked.\n\n\"I've been trying to figure out how to tell you that,\" Ellis said. \"I guess the quickest way is the chain of command.\"\n\n\"Huh?\"\n\n\"Tell me about the chain of command.\"\n\nStaley looked at him in confusion. Ellis was obviously dead serious.\n\n\"Tell me,\" Ellis repeated.\n\n\"Well,\" Staley said, \"I'm first class, and you're a chief, so I report to you, and you report to some officer, and he reports to some senior officer, and it works its way to the top, all the way, I suppose, to the Chief of Naval Operations. \"\n\n\"All the way to the President,\" Ellis corrected him. \"The Chief of Naval Operations reports to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and _he_ reports to the President, who is Commander-in-Chief.\"\n\n\"So?\" Staley said.\n\n\"The way it is here,\" Ellis said, \"is that you report to me, and I report to the Colonel . . . you met him, he was out to look things over in Virginia. . . .\"\n\n\"The guy with the Medal of Honor?\"\n\n\"Colonel William J. Donovan,\" Ellis said. \"I work for him, and he works for the President. I mean, directly. He gets his orders from the President. Nobody else can tell him what to do.\"\n\nStaley said, \"No shit?\"\n\n\"You're going to have to learn to watch your language around here, Charley,\" Ellis said, almost primly.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Staley said. \"Where do I fit in around here?\"\n\n\"You're going to be the Colonel's driver,\" Ellis said. \"And don't look down your nose at it. There's more to it than driving a car.\"\n\n\"Such as?\"\n\n\"There's a lot of people would like to see him dead, for one thing. Your first job is to see that don't happen.\"\n\n\"Like a bodyguard, you mean? Is that what all that crap in Virginia was for?\"\n\nEllis nodded, but then explained. \"Baker got to the Colonel,\" he said. \"Everybody who comes into the OSS gets run through that school. For a while, I thought they were going to make me go.\"\n\n\"What exactly is this 'OSS'?\"\n\n\"It stands for 'Office of Strategic Services,' \" Ellis said. \"It's sort of like the FBI and Office of Naval Intelligence put together, plus Errol Flynn in one of them war movies where he parachutes behind enemy lines and takes on the whole Jap army by himself.\"\n\n\"Give me a for example,\" Staley said.\n\n\"The school was supposed to teach you Rule One around here,\" Ellis said. \"You don't ask questions. If they figure you should know something, they'll tell you. You ask the wrong questions around here, and you'll wind up counting snowballs on Attu.\"\n\n\"Can I ask what you do around here?\" Staley asked.\n\n\"I'm on the books as 'Special Assistant to the Director, ' \" Ellis said. \"What that means is that I do everything and anything that makes life easier for him, and keeps him from wasting his time. And what you're going to do is help me do that.\"\n\n\"Plus being a bodyguard, you said,\" Staley said.\n\n\"We don't talk about that,\" Ellis said. \"He's got body-guards, mostly ex-FBI guys and ex-Secret Service guys. And he ducks away from them whenever he can. _That's_ when you cover him. Get the picture?\"\n\nStaley nodded. \"I get the feeling you get along pretty good with him.\"\n\n\"I never met anybody smarter or nicer,\" Ellis said flatly. \"Or who works harder.\"\n\n\"How come I got this job?\"\n\n\"The Colonel came in here about two weeks ago,\" Ellis said, \"and found me working about midnight. And he said, 'I thought I told you to get some help.' And he sounded like he meant it. So I asked myself, Do I want some FBI guy who looks down his nose at a sailor and is going to be pissed when he has to take orders from me? And unless I could think of something else, that's what was going to happen. So I called the Navy, BuPers, and told them to find me ex-China Sailors in the States.\"\n\n\"You _told_ the Navy?\" Staley asked.\n\nEllis, grunting, took a small leather wallet from his hip pocket and handed it to Staley.\n\n\"It means what it says on there,\" he said. \"You carry one of those things, everybody in the government, civilian agencies, as well as any military, has got to give you what you ask for. If they don't like it, they can bitch, later, after they give you what you ask for.\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ!\" Staley said, and handed the OSS credentials back.\n\n\"You're going to get one of those,\" Ellis said. \"You fuck up with it, Charley, we'll send you someplace that'll make Portsmouth navy prison look like heaven. And no second chances. You read me?\"\n\n\"Loud and clear, Chief,\" Staley said.\n\n\"You're also going to get a badge and credentials saying you're a deputy U.S. marshal. That's in case anybody asks why you're carrying a gun. You try to get by with that. I mean, you don't show the OSS credentials until you don't have any other choice. You understand?\"\n\nStaley nodded.\n\n\"Same thing applies to the marshal's credentials. Fuck up with them once, and you're finished.\"\n\n\"Okay, okay,\" Staley said.\n\n\"So like I was saying, the Navy found you in Great Lakes, and I remembered that we always got along pretty good, and that you weren't as dumb as you look, so I told them to see if you would volunteer. And you did. And you got through the school all right, and here you are.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Staley said. \"Here I am.\"\n\n\"You can walk out of here right now, Charley,\" Ellis said. \"I'll get you any billet you want in the Navy. But if you stay, you're here for good. And there's liable to be more to it before we're done than driving the Colonel's Buick.\"\n\nHe looked at Staley and waited for a response.\n\n\"I'm in, Chief,\" Staley said.\n\nEllis nodded and then dialed one of the three telephones on his desk.\n\n\"I'm sending a guy named Staley down there,\" he said. \"Get him credentials, and take him by the arms room and get him a .45 and a shoulder holster, and then take him over to the house.\"\n\nHe hung the phone up.\n\n\"You'll get a rations and quarters allowance from the Navy,\" Ellis said, \"and a rations and quarters allowance from us. Otherwise you would wind up sleeping on a park bench and starving. Until you can find someplace to live, we'll put you up in the garage at the house.\"\n\n\"The house?\"\n\n\"It's a mansion over in Rock Creek we have,\" Ellis explained. \"There's a couple of apartments over the garage. Nice. Get yourself settled, and then come back here in the morning. I probably shouldn't have to tell you this, but I will. There's two women at the house. They're absolutely off-limits.\"\n\n\"Got it,\" Staley said.\n\n\"You fixed all right for money?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"Fine.\"\n\nEllis pushed a lever on the intercom.\n\n\"Will you have somebody take Staley to the photolab, please?\" he said, then gestured for Staley to leave.\n\nEllis was pleased with the way things had turned out with Staley. It had been a risk, recruiting him. But he'd done well in the school (that sonofabitch Baker had even been impressed; he'd called and said he had a job for Staley if what he was going to do in Washington was \"relatively unimportant\"), and now that Ellis had talked to him, he thought he could handle what was expected of him here, and, very important, that he would get along with the Colonel. He hadn't been worried about how Staley would get along with Captain Peter Douglass, Sr., USN, Donovan's deputy (a Navy petty officer and a Navy officer would understand each other), but the Colonel might have been a problem.\n\nColonel \"Wild Bill\" Donovan had been one hell of a soldier in his day. He'd won the Medal of Honor in France with the \"Fighting 69th,\" the National Guard regiment from New York City. Between wars, he'd been a rich and powerful lawyer in New York City and Washington. He had little patience for people he decided were fools. But Staley was no fool. The way he'd handled himself at the school and the way he acted now had proved that. He would fit in.\n\nEllis thought of his responsibilities\u2014now to be shared with Staley and maybe even a couple of others, if he could find the right men\u2014rather simply: It was his job to make things easier for the Colonel. Sometimes that meant he would fry up ham and eggs in the kitchen of the Colonel's Georgetown town house. And sometimes it meant that he went around the world with the Colonel, serving as bodyguard and confidant and sort of private secretary and transportation officer. You name it, he did it.\n\nAnd he got to learn a lot. He was _supposed_ to read everything the Colonel read, so that if he had to do something for the Colonel, the Colonel wouldn't have to waste his time explaining things. Some of the stuff he had to read was really pretty dull, but sometimes it was interesting. As far as he had been able to figure out, there was only one secret the Colonel knew that he didn't. Ellis had concluded that Captain Douglass knew that secret, because when Ellis had started getting nosy, Douglass got his back up.\n\nThat secret had something to do with what an Army brigadier general named Leslie Groves was doing at a secret base in the Tennessee mountains with something called uranium. That's what he'd asked Captain Douglass, \"What's uranium?\"\n\nThat's what had gotten Douglass's back up.\n\n\"Now hear this clearly, Chief. You don't ask that question. You don't mention the word 'uranium' to me, or to Colonel Donovan, and certainly not to anyone else. You understand that?\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir.\"\n\nEllis was confident that when the time came, he would find out what uranium was, and what General Groves was doing with it.\n\nSome of the interesting things that came with the job had nothing to do with secrets.\n\nWhat he had been doing when Staley had reported in, for example. He had been reading the _Mainichi._ He didn't think there were very many other people who got to do that. The _Mainichi_ was the English-language newspaper published in Tokyo. The edition he had in his hands was only ten days old. Ellis wondered how the hell they managed to get one in ten days halfway around the world from the Jap capital. But they did. And they did it regularly.\n\nIt was full of bullshit, of course.\n\nFor example, there was a story in the _Mainichi_ today that troops under some Jap general with an unpronounceable name had destroyed the headquarters of Major General Fertig on Mindanao, killed General Fertig, and sent the rest of his troops running off to the mountains to starve.\n\nThe reason Ellis knew the story was pure bullshit was that he had been at a briefing in the situation room when guerrilla activity in the Philippines had been discussed. A full-bull colonel\u2014a guy who had gotten out of the Philippines with MacArthur and then had been sent to Washington as a liaison officer and who should know what he was talking about\u2014had said that while there was a chance that small units of a dozen or so men could evade Japanese capture for as long as several months, there was no possibility of organized \"militarily significant\" guerrilla activity in the Philippines.\n\nAnd there was no General Fertig. Ellis had checked that out himself. The only guy named Fertig in the Philippines was a light colonel, a reserve officer reliably reported to have blown himself up taking down a bridge.\n\nAccording to the _Mainichi,_ this nonexistent general had at least a regiment, which the Japs wiped out to the last man at least once a week.\n\nThe messenger appeared in Chief Ellis's office with the distribution. The messenger was an Army warrant officer in civilian clothes. There was no love lost between them. The warrant officer naturally wondered how come he was wandering around the halls of the National Institutes of Health, delivering the mail like a PFC clerk, while this swab-jockey got to sit around with his feet on a desk reading a newspaper.\n\nEllis signed his name twenty-seven times, acknowledging receipt of twenty-seven Top Secret documents, each of which had to be accounted for separately, and then signed twice more for a batch of Secret, and Confidential, Files.\n\nWhen the messenger had gone, he scanned the titles of the Top Secret documents. He recognized every one of them. They had been here before. Then he read the titles of the Secret documents and scanned through the half dozen he had not seen before. Finally, he turned to the Confidential titles and saw nothing of interest except the regular of-possible -interest memorandum, which Ellis thought of as the \"What-the-Hell-Is-This? List.\"\n\nThis was a compilation of intelligence data that didn't fit into any of the established categories. A report that the Germans had bought a ferryboat in Spain, for example. Or that the Italian Gendarmerie had lost another battle against the Mafia in Sicily. It had come to someone's attention in one of the intelligence agencies. He hadn't known what to do with it, but maybe somebody else could make something of it. When that happened, it was circulated on the of-possible-interest memorandum.\n\nEllis read it faithfully. And his eyebrows went up when he came to item six:\n\n1:6. The Presidio of San Francisco has received from Mare Island Communications Facility an encrypted message transmitted by an unknown station operating in the 20-meter band. The message was encrypted using an apparently captured M94 encryption device.\n\nThe message was addressed to \"U.S. Forces in Australia.\"\n\nThe decrypted message follows: We Have the Hot Poop from the Hot Yanks in the Phils. Fertig Brig Gen\n\nThe station identified itself with the call letters MFS and reported itself standing by.\n\nComment: There is no station with call letters MFS. There is no General officer in the USA or USMC by the name of Fertig. This is therefore presumed to be a Japanese subterfuge. No attempt to contact the calling station has been made.\n\nChief Ellis called the office of the adjutant general in the Pentagon, where he ascertained that there was no confirmed report of the death of Lt. Colonel Wendell W. Fertig, or that he had been captured. His status was missing and presumed dead. He got the name and telephone number of Colonel Fertig's next of kin, Mrs. Mary Fertig, his wife, in Golden, Colorado.\n\nAnd then he took a red grease pencil and drew a box around Item 6 on the What-the-Hell-Is-This? List, tore that sheet from the file, and moved it to the top of the stack of Top Secret documents. Then he carefully scissored the clipping about the glorious victory of Japanese forces over Major General Fertig from the _Mainichi_ and stapled that to the What-the-Hell-Is-This? List.\n\nTwenty minutes later, Colonel William Donovan marched into the office, his face betraying that the morning session at the White House had been difficult.\n\n\"I would kill for a cup of coffee,\" he greeted Ellis as he walked past his desk.\n\nWhen Ellis carried the coffee into the office, Donovan was dangling the page torn from the What-the-Hell-Is-This? List between his thumb and forefinger.\n\n\"What the hell is this?\" he asked.\n\n\"I think it's interesting,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"You want to try to call that station back?\" Donovan asked.\n\nEllis nodded.\n\n\"Have it done,\" Colonel Donovan ordered.\n\n\"Colonel, things get lost in proper channels,\" Ellis said.\n\nDonovan considered that a moment.\n\n\"Meaning you want to go out to California?\"\n\n\"I could be back in three days,\" Ellis said. \"Before it got there through channels.\"\n\n\"You have a gut feeling, Chief?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"Yes, Sir, you could put it that way.\"\n\n\"Okay,\" Donovan said.\n\nChief Ellis called the chief at Flight Operations at Anacostia Naval Air Station, on the other side of the District of Columbia.\n\n\"Hey, Chief, how they hanging? This is Chief Ellis.\"\n\n\"How's my favorite China Sailor? What are you trying to beat me out of today?\"\n\n\"I need a seat for somebody very important on the next plane to Mare Island.\"\n\n\"Is he self-important, or just very important?\"\n\n\"Actually, he's a pretty good guy.\"\n\n\"Reason I ask is I got a half-dozen torpedo bombers being ferried from Baltimore to load on a carrier at Mare Island. If this guy's not too ritzy to ride in a torpedo bomber . . .\"\n\n\"From Anacostia or Baltimore?\"\n\n\"Here. They're picking up people here. That's how I know about it.\"\n\n\"When?\"\n\n\"How soon can he get here?\"\n\n\"He's on his way.\"\n\n# **4**\n\n## **UNITED STATES NAVY BASE, MARE ISLAND SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 12 JANUARY 1943**\n\nThe radioman second had seen the base commander only once before, and then he had been riding by in his Navy gray Packard Clipper with its three-starred vice admiral's plate.\n\nAnd now here he was, in the radio room, looking right at him.\n\n\"Stand at ease, son,\" the Admiral said, almost kindly. \"This is Chief Ellis, and he wants to ask you some questions. \"\n\n\"You picked up a message from somebody calling themselves MFS, right?\"\n\n\"That's right, Chief.\"\n\n\"You heard them again?\"\n\n\"They're on every day, for ten, sometimes twenty minutes, \" the radioman second said. \"They were on, oh, hell, twenty minutes ago.\"\n\n\"See if you can raise them,\" Ellis said.\n\nThe Vice Admiral's eyes went up, but he said nothing. He had seen the card signed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.\n\n\"Go on,\" Ellis repeated. \"See if you can raise them.\"\n\nThe radioman second turned to his key and moved it quickly.\n\n\"I sent 'KSF calling MFS,' \" he replied.\n\n\"I read code,\" Ellis said, not arrogantly.\n\nThere was no immediate reply.\n\nThe radioman second tapped his key again. When the transmitter was activated, the receiver was automatically shut down. When he turned the transmitter to standby, the receiver was issuing a series of dots and dashes.\n\nThe radioman second, without thinking, tapped it out on his typewriter. The Vice Admiral leaned over to read:\n\nMFS STANDING BY FOR KSF\n\n\"Send this,\" Ellis said, and handed the radioman a sheet of paper, on which was typed\n\nKSF TO MFS SEND ENCRYPTED FOLLOWING FIRST NAME OF FERTIG SECOND NEXT OF KIN NAME AND DATE OF BIRTH KSF BY\n\n\"Send it twice, and then wait,\" Ellis ordered. \"If he's using one of these things, it'll take him a minute.\"\n\nHe held up a Device, Cryptographic, M94. He'd had a hell of a time finding one and had annoyed the Presidio of San Francisco no end by requisitioning theirs.\n\nFive minutes later, MFS came back on the air, and the radioman second quickly typed it.\n\nMFS TO KSF QEWRG SJTRE SDIQN SPIID CVKQJ MFS BY\n\nIt didn't take Ellis long to work the Device, Cryptographic, M94; there had been one on the _Panay._\n\n\"Hot damn!\" he said, after a minute. Then he ordered: \"Send 'We are ready for your traffic,' \" and then he corrected himself. \"No, send 'Welcome to the net, we are ready for your traffic.' \"\n\nThen, without asking permission, Chief Ellis picked up the telephone and told the Navy operator to get him Mrs. Mary Fertig in Golden, Colorado.\n\nThe telephone operator said that no long-distance calls could be placed without the authority of the communications officer and an authorization number.\n\n\"I'm going to need an authorization number,\" Ellis said to the communications officer.\n\nThe Admiral motioned for Ellis to hand him the telephone.\n\n\"This is Admiral Sendy,\" he said to the telephone. \"Put the call through.\"\n\nIn Golden, Colorado, Mrs. Mary Fertig answered her telephone.\n\n\"Ma'am,\" Ellis said. \"This is Chief Ellis. You remember me?\"\n\nOf course she remembered him. He had telephoned late the night before and said he couldn't tell her why he wanted to know, but could she give him the full name and date of birth of her oldest child? He had woken her up, and she hadn't been thinking too clearly, so she had given it to him. Later, she had worried about it. There were all kinds of nuts and sick people running loose.\n\n\"Yes, I remember you, Chief,\" Mrs. Fertig said somewhat warily. \"What do you want now?\"\n\n\"Ma'am,\" the salty old chief bosun's mate said, \"we're in contact with your husband. I thought maybe you'd want to say something to him.\"\n\n\"Where is he?\" she asked, very softly.\n\n\"Somewhere in the Philippines, that's all we know,\" Ellis said. Then he said, \"Wait a minute.\"\n\nThe radioman second had handed him a brief decrypted message.\n\nFOR MRS FERTIG QUOTE PINEAPPLES FOR \nBREAKFAST LOVE END QUOTE\n\nEllis read it over the telephone.\n\nIt took Mrs. Fertig a moment to reply, and then, when she spoke, it was with an audible effort to control her voice.\n\n\"My husband, Chief Ellis,\" she said, \"is on the island of Mindanao. We used to go there to play golf at the course on the Dole Plantation. And we ate pineapples for breakfast. \"\n**II**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **SHEPHEARD'S HOTEL CAIRO, EGYPT 23 JANUARY 1943**\n\nCaptain James M. B. Whittaker, U.S. Army Air Corps, was twenty-five years old. He was tall, pale blond, and slender, with leopard-like moves. He was wearing a superbly tailored pink-and-green uniform and half Wellington boots. The uniform and the boots had both come from Savile Row in London. The boots had cost just about as much money as the Air Corps paid Captain Whittaker each month, and the uniform had cost a little more than the boots.\n\nWhittaker had never considered what the uniform and boots had cost, mostly because he really had no idea how much money he had. Whatever his civilian income was, it was more than he could spend. There was a lawyer in New York who looked after his affairs and saw to it that there was always a comfortable balance in his Hanover Trust checking account.\n\nThis is not to suggest that Whittaker was simply a rich young man who happened to be in uniform. There were silver pilot's wings on the breast of his green blouse. He was checked out (qualified to fly) in fighter, bomber, and transport aircraft. Beneath the wings were ribbons representing the award of the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, several lesser awards for valor, and brightly colored ribbons indicating that he had had overseas service in both the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation.\n\nAt the moment, Captain James M. B. Whittaker, Harvard University '39, was solemnly considering what he believed to be irrefutable evidence that he was a miserable, amoral, good-for-nothing sonofabitch.\n\nThis solemn consideration sometimes came upon him when he'd taken a drink or two more than he should have. When he had a load on (and he had been drinking, more or less steadily, for the last three days), truth raised its ugly head, and he could see things with a painful clarity.\n\nHe had started drinking before he'd boarded the MATS (Military Air Transport Service) C-54 at London's Croydon Airfield.\n\nTaking leave of Liz Stanfield had been very painful. He loved Liz and she loved him, and there were certain problems with that. For one thing, Captain Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, the Duchess of Stanfield, WRAC (Women's Royal Army Corps), a pale-skinned, splendidly bosomed, lithe woman in her middle thirties, was not really free to love him. There was a husband, Wing Commander the Duke Stanfield, RAF. He was down somewhere, \"missing in action, \" the poor sonofabitch.\n\nOnly a miserable, amoral, good-for-nothing sonofabitch, such as himself, Capt. Whittaker reasoned, would carry on the way he had with a married woman whose husband was missing in action, and a fellow airman to boot. That was really low and rotten.\n\nAnd it wasn't as if he was free, either. He was in love himself. Her name was Cynthia Chenowith, and he had loved her from the time he was thirteen and she was eighteen, and he had gotten a look at her naked breast as she hauled herself out of his uncle Chesty's swimming pool at the winter place in Palm Beach.\n\nIt didn't matter that Cynthia professed not to love him (that was the age difference, he had concluded): _He_ loved her. And a man who loves a woman with his entire soul, who wants to spend the rest of his life with her, caring for her, making babies, is not supposed to go around fucking married women. Unless, of course, he is a miserable, good-for -nothing sonofabitch.\n\nCapt. Whittaker had had the foresight to bring with him on the MATS C-54 three quart bottles of single-malt Scotch whiskey. Half of one had gotten him to Casablanca, and the other half had sustained him from Casablanca to Cairo.\n\nSince he had been in Cairo, he'd worked his way through all of the second bottle and one quarter of the third. The airplane was broken. The pilot had told Capt. Whittaker, as a courtesy to a fellow flyer, that he'd lost oil pressure on Number Three and had no intention of taking off again until they had replaced\u2014rather than repaired\u2014 the faulty pump. One was being flown in from England. When it had been installed, they would continue on their flight, which would ultimately terminate in Brisbane, Australia.\n\nUntil the airplane was repaired, there was a good deal to see and do in Cairo.\n\nMadame Jeanine d'Autrey-Lascal\u2014who was thirty, tall for a French woman, blond, blue-eyed, and who saw no need to wear a brassiere\u2014leaned close to Capt. Whittaker and laid her hand on his.\n\nMadame d'Autrey-Lascal had been left behind in Cairo when her husband, who had been managing director of the Banc d'Egypte et Nord Afrique, had gone off to fight with the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle. She had been in the bank lobby when Capt. Whittaker had appeared to change money and to see if the bank, with which his family's firm had had a long relationship, could do something about getting him into a decent hotel. He had spent the previous night in the transient officers' quarters at the airfield and really didn't want to do that again.\n\nThey had been introduced quite properly, after which it had seemed to Madame d'Autrey-Lascal simply the courteous thing to do to offer to drive him to Shepheard's Hotel. The bank would call in as many favors as it could to get him accommodation in Shepheard's. No promises. The place was always jammed.\n\nThe assistant manager who greeted them said that he would try to find something. No promises. But perhaps if the Captain would not mind waiting for a bit in the bar . . .\n\nIt had seemed to Madame d'Autrey-Lascal that simple courtesy dictated that she not just leave him stranded high and dry in the bar at Shepheard's. If the bank's influence could not get him into Shepheard's, then something else would have to be arranged.\n\nCapt. Whittaker spoke French, which was unexpected of an American, and they chatted pleasantly. She told him that her husband was off with General de Gaulle, and he told her a story about de Gaulle that took her a moment to understand. It seemed that General de Gaulle had declined an invitation to visit with President Roosevelt, on the grounds that it was too long a walk.\n\nBut finally she understood and laughed, and then he told her about London. She hadn't been in London since 1939, and she found what he told her very interesting.\n\nBy the time they had had three drinks from his bottle of single-malt Scotch whiskey, it occurred to Madame d'Autrey-Lascal that it didn't look as though the assistant manager was going to be able to find a room for him in Shepheard's (and if he did, it would be little more than a closet), and that there was absolutely no reason she couldn't put him up overnight, or for a day or two, at her house.\n\nThe first time she suggested this, Capt. Whittaker smiled at her (and she noticed his fine, even teeth) and told her that she was very kind, but he wouldn't think of imposing.\n\nShe told him it would be no imposition at all; the house was large, and at the moment empty, for her children were spending the night with friends.\n\nHe repeated that he wouldn't think of imposing. And then he lapsed into silence, broken only when she laid her hand on his.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Whittaker said. \"I was thousands of miles away.\"\n\n\"Thousands of miles away, you would probably have a hotel room,\" Madame Jeanine d'Autrey-Lascal said. \"Here, you don't. I think you are very sweet for not wanting to impose on me, and very foolish for not believing me when I say it will not be an imposition.\"\n\nHe turned his hand over and caught hers in it.\n\n\"And you are very kind to a lonely traveler,\" he said.\n\n_And I knew the moment I saw you in the bank manager's office that you had an itch in your britches, and miserable, amoral, no-good sonofabitch that I am, given half a chance, that I would wind up scratching it._\n\n\"You have such sad eyes,\" Madame d'Autrey-Lascal said, very softly, as she looked into them.\n\nAnd then, finally, she reclaimed her hand and stood up.\n\n\"Shall we go?\" she asked.\n\nWhittaker followed her out of the crowded bar. As they walked across the lobby, she took his arm.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **OSS STATION CAIRO SAVOY HOTEL, OPERA SQUARE 24 JANUARY 1943**\n\nThe Chief, Cairo Station, was Ernest J. Wilkins, thirty-six, a roly-poly man whose face darkened considerably whenever he was upset. He was upset now, and smart enough to know that he was. Before speaking, he went to his window and looked out at the statue of Ibrahim, sitting on his horse in the middle of Opera Square. And then he looked at the Opera building itself, until he was sure he had his temper under control.\n\nThen he turned and faced the three men standing in front of his desk. They were his deputy, his administrative officer, and his liaison officer to the British.\n\n\"Well, where the hell could he be?\" he asked.\n\n\"I think,\" his administrative officer said, \"that we can no longer overlook the possibility of foul play.\"\n\n\"Horseshit,\" Wilkins snapped. \"If anything had happened to him, we would have heard it by now. And since nobody knew he was coming, how the hell could they get anything like that going so quick?\"\n\nHis administrative officer had no response to that and said nothing. Wilkins had hoped that he would say something, so that he could jump his ass.\n\nWilkins lost his temper again.\n\n\"Jesus Christ,\" he flared. \"Do you realize how goddamned inept this makes us look?\" He saw the message on his desk and picked it up and read it aloud:\n\nURGENT \nFROM OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR WASHINGTON \nTO CAIRO FOR WILKINS \nINTERCEPT CAPTAIN JAMES M. B. WHITTAKER USAAC EN \nROUTE LONDON TO BRISBANE VIA MATS FLIGHT 216 \nSTOP REDIRECT WASHINGTON FIRST AVAILABLE AIR \nTRANSPORT STOP ADVISE COMPLIANCE AND ETA \nWASHINGTON STOP DONOVAN\n\n\"You'll notice,\" Wilkins said, \"that it's signed 'Donovan. ' Not 'Douglass for Donovan,' or 'Chenowith for Donovan,' or even 'Ellis for Donovan.' 'Donovan' himself, goddamnit. And what he's asked us to do isn't going to be written up in a history of intelligence triumphs of the Second World War. All Colonel Donovan asks is that we find some Air Corps captain that he knows is on a MATS flight and send the sonofabitch to Washington.\"\n\n\"Skipper,\" his deputy said to Wilkins (in deference to Wilkins's pre-OSS service as a Naval officer), \"I'll lay even money he's off somewhere getting his ashes hauled.\"\n\n\"Where, for Christ's sake? In the bushes in Al Ezbekia Park, no doubt? For three goddamn days? He's not in a hotel, we know that. And he's not with any high-class whore, or we'd know that, too . . . and goddamn, I found it embarrassing to have to call the Egyptian cops and ask them to check their whores for him. . . .\"\n\nHe stopped and looked out the window at Opera Square again.\n\n\"The Chrysler here?\" he asked, reasonably calmly, when he turned around a moment later.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" his deputy said.\n\n\"Nobody stole the wheels? The driver is present and sober?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"I'll be back,\" Wilkins said, and headed for the door.\n\n\"Going to the airport, Sir?\"\n\nWilkins glared at what he considered to be a stupid question.\n\n\"I'll lay even money he'll show up for the flight, Skipper, \" his deputy said reassuringly.\n\n\"And if he doesn't? What if he got tired of waiting for them to fix the engine and hitchhiked a ride to Brisbane? That MATS flight isn't the only plane headed in that direction. How the hell am I going to say anything to Donovan without looking like a horse's ass?\"\n\nWith an effort, Wilkins kept from slamming the door after him.\n\nThe 1941 Chrysler Imperial was equipped with the very latest in automotive transmission technology. This was called \"fluid drive.\" In theory, it eliminated the need to shift gears. In practice, it didn't work, the result being that it crawled away from a stop. The Chrysler was, Wilkins decided on the way from Opera Square to the airfield, north-east of Cairo, probably the worst possible automobile in the world for Cairo traffic, less practical than a water buffalo pulling a wooden-wheeled cart.\n\nAt the MATS terminal, he sought out the military police captain in charge of security, showed him his OSS identification, and said that it was absolutely essential that he locate one Captain Whittaker, James M. B., USAAC.\n\nTen minutes later, three military police brought Captain Whittaker and a strikingly beautiful woman to the MP captain's office. A flyboy, Wilkins decided somewhat sourly. A good one, to judge by the DFC. He wondered what the OSS wanted from a flyboy.\n\n\"This gentleman wishes to see you, Captain,\" the MP captain said.\n\nWhittaker smiled.\n\n\"As long as it won't take long,\" Whittaker said with a smile. \"They're loading my plane.\"\n\n\"You won't be making that flight, Captain,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"Says who?\"\n\n\"Says me.\"\n\n\"And who are you?\"\n\n\"That's not really important,\" Wilkins said. \"You'll have to take my word for it. You're coming with me.\"\n\nWhittaker looked at him with amusement in his eyes, his left eyebrow cocked quizzically.\n\n\"That just won't wash,\" Whittaker said.\n\nWilkins took his OSS identity card and held it out.\n\nCaptain Whittaker fumbled in his pockets and came out with a nearly identical card and held it out. Wilkins saw that there were two differences in the cards. His own card bore the serial number 1109 and was signed \"for the Chairman, The Joint Chiefs of Staff\" by Captain Peter Douglass, Sr., USN. Whittaker's card bore the serial number 29 and was signed by Colonel W. J. Donovan, GSC, USA. Obviously, this handsome flyboy had been in the OSS almost from the beginning.\n\n\"What is all this, mon cher?\" the Frenchwoman asked, softly, in French.\n\n\"Nothing at all,\" Whittaker replied, in French, and then looked at Wilkins, waiting for an explanation.\n\nWilkins handed him the radiogram from Donovan.\n\n\"I'll be damned,\" Whittaker said. \"When's my plane?\"\n\n\"Tomorrow,\" Wilkins said. \"At 0915. You had a seat on this morning's flight, but you missed it.\"\n\n\"It appears,\" Whittaker said to the Frenchwoman in French, \"that we're going to have to climb the Great Pyramid again.\"\n\nShe blushed attractively.\n\n\"There are quarters available, if you've checked out of your hotel,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"That's very kind of you, Sir,\" Whittaker said. \"But that won't be necessary. I'll be staying with a friend.\"\n\nThe Frenchwoman blushed attractively again.\n\n\"War is hell, isn't it?\" Whittaker, smiling broadly, asked Mr. Wilkins.\n\n# **3**\n\n## **VIRGINIA HIGHWAY 234 NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C. 25 JANUARY 1943**\n\nThere were four men in the 1942 black Buick Roadmaster, riding in silence.\n\nThere had been a little snow, but the road was clear, and the illuminated needle of the speedometer pointed just past seventy miles per hour. There was virtually no traffic on the road, not even the glow of distant headlights over the gentle hills before them.\n\nWhen the flashing red signal lantern suddenly appeared in the road before them, Chief Ellis was startled. But, even as the driver started stabbing at the brakes, Ellis reached under the seat and came out with a Thompson machine-pistol.\n\nIn the backseat, Colonel William J. Donovan looked up from the document he was reading. Ellis had rigged a really nice reading light on a flexible shaft. The light turned automobile rides into work sessions rather than wastes of time.\n\n\"What is it?\" Captain Peter Douglass asked.\n\n\"Dunno,\" Ellis replied, and then, almost immediately, \"It's the fucking cops!\"\n\n\"How fast were we going?\" Donovan asked calmly.\n\n\"About seventy, Sir,\" Staley, the driver, said.\n\nStaley was in civilian clothing. Ellis was in uniform, except for his brimmed chief's cap, which was on the seat beside him. But in his blue, insignia-less overcoat, he appeared at casual glance to be a portly, ruddy-faced civilian.\n\nEllis shoved the Thompson back under the front seat as the driver pulled onto the shoulder.\n\nThe Virginia state trooper, in a stiff-brimmed hat, swaggered up to the car.\n\n\"May I see your license and registration, please, Sir?\" he asked, with ritual courtesy.\n\nThey were handed over.\n\n\"Sir, are you Charles D. Staley, of this Q Street, Northwest, address, in the District?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the driver said.\n\n\"And this vehicle is the property of . . .\" He paused to examine the registration with his flashlight. \". . . W. J. Donovan?\"\n\n\"Yes, it is.\"\n\n\"Does Mr. Donovan know you are driving his vehicle?\"\n\n\"I'm Donovan,\" Donovan said. The trooper flashed his light in Donovan's face.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" he said. He returned his attention to the driver. \"Sir, you went through a speed-detection area. You were clocked, over a measured quarter mile, at seventy-three point six miles per hour.\"\n\n\"I didn't realize I was going that fast,\" the driver said.\n\n\"Two state troopers will testify that you were, Sir,\" the trooper said. \"I'm going to have to issue you a citation. You will be charged with reckless driving. The law is that any speed twenty miles in excess of the posted speed limit is considered reckless driving. Are you aware, Sir, that in order to conserve gasoline and rubber for the war effort, the speed limit across the nation is now thirty-five miles per hour?\"\n\n\"I heard about that,\" the driver said dryly.\n\n\"If you are found guilty in a court of law\u2014the place and time of your required appearance will be on the citation I am about to give you\u2014your local ration board will be notified of this violation. You have a C sticker, which means that you agreed in writing to make a genuine effort to conserve the gasoline authorized for you. I think you will agree that driving seventy-three point six miles per hour does not conserve fuel.\"\n\n\"I was in sort of a hurry,\" the driver said.\n\n\"So are our boys in uniform,\" the state trooper said. \"In a hurry to get the war over. And personally, I think we should do all we can to help them.\"\n\n\"Ellis!\" Donovan warned softly.\n\n\"Can I go now?\" Staley asked, taking the citation.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the state trooper said, and marched off.\n\nThe driver cranked up the window.\n\n\"Sorry about that, Colonel,\" he said.\n\n\"Hell, I told you to step on it,\" Donovan said. \"Ellis, give Staley money to pay the fine. If there are any other complications, let Captain Douglass know.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"And as soon as we're over the next hill,\" Donovan said, \"step on it.\"\n\nTwenty minutes later, the Buick was in the Rock Creek section of the District of Columbia, moving down Q Street, Northwest. They came to an estate surrounded by an eight-foot -high brick wall. The driver switched from low beam to high beam and back again, and a moment later turned off Q Street, stopping the Buick with its nose against a heavy, solid gate in the wall.\n\nA muscular man in civilian clothing stepped out of the shadows and walked to the car. The driver turned the interior lights on for a moment, and then off again.\n\nThe muscular man touched the brim of his snap-brim hat. A moment later, the double gate swung inward. As soon as the car was inside, the gates closed after it.\n\n\"Ellis,\" Donovan said, \"I hate to make you an orderly, but it would save us a lot of time if you went by my house and packed a bag. And get your own while you're at it. Then we can go from here to Union Station.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"The Secret Service sent over the passes?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"I'll check on that, too, Sir,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"I don't want to find myself waving bye-bye on the platform as the President goes off to Georgia by himself,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"No, Sir, I'll see we're aboard the train,\" Ellis said.\n\nDonovan and Douglass got out of the car and entered the turn-of-the-century mansion through the kitchen door. The kitchen was enormous and furnished with restaurant-size stoves and refrigerators.\n\nA tall young woman with blond hair hanging to her shoulders came into the room. She wore a simple black dress, a single string of pearls, and just above her right breast a miniature pair of pilot's wings. Captain Douglass's eyes betrayed a moment's surprise and special interest in the wings. He was sure he knew their source: His wife had an identical pair, sent from London by their son. What seemed like last week, their son had seemed an eager-eyed West Point cadet; and now, at twenty-five, he was a lieutenant colonel. His son also liked this girl very much.\n\n\"Good evening,\" Charity Hoche said with a radiant smile. Her accent betrayed her origins: Charity Hoche had been raised on a twenty-acre estate in Wallingford, which was one of the plusher suburbs of Philadelphia, and educated at Bryn Mawr.\n\n\"Hello, Charity,\" Donovan said. \"Mr. Hoover here?\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" she said. \"And no calls, either. From him.\"\n\n\"Time and J. Edgar Hoover wait for no man,\" Donovan said. \"What are we going to feed him?\"\n\n\"Capon,\" she said. \"And wild rice.\"\n\n\"Good.\" Donovan chuckled. \"Eating chicken with a knife and fork is not one of J. Edgar's strong points. He always makes me feel he'd rather eat one with his hands. After biting off the head, of course.\"\n\n\"And,\" Charity said, \"a very nice Chateau de Long Chablis, '35.\"\n\n\"Where the hell did we get that?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"Actually, I brought it from home,\" Charity said. \"I knew this was important.\"\n\n\"And you wanted to butter up the boss, too,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"Guilty,\" Charity said with a smile.\n\n\"I might decide to keep you here for your father's cellar, \" Donovan said.\n\n\"As opposed to what?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Charity wants to go to England,\" Donovan said. \"I can't imagine why.\"\n\nCharity chuckled deep in her throat.\n\nA very sexual young woman, Captain Douglass thought. Not quite what he had hoped for Peter Douglass, Jr. He wanted for Doug a girl just like the girl who had married dear old dad when he'd been an ensign fresh from Annapolis. Not this Main Line socialite who was used to spending more money on her clothing than Doug (even as an Air Corps lieutenant colonel drawing flight pay) made in a year. And who, according to the FBI's CBI (Complete Background Investigation) on her, was a long way from having any claim to a virginal white bridal dress.\n\nHe was really worried, he thought, that Charity looked on Doug as this year's chic catch, a dashing hero, rather than as someone whose life she would share.\n\n\"There have been some cables from London,\" Charity said. \"Nothing important, except that Fulmar and Fine have left for Lisbon. And there's one from Cairo, with Jimmy Whittaker's ETA.\"\n\n\"Good,\" Donovan said. \"I wasn't sure we could catch him.\"\n\n\"Apparently, they had some trouble finding him,\" Charity said. \"The cable said that he had not checked in with them, which is why he wasn't on an earlier plane.\"\n\n\"I wonder what her name was?\" Donovan chuckled.\n\n\"Jeanine d'Autrey-Lascal,\" Charity furnished. \"Her husband ran a bank there before the war and is now with General de Gaulle.\"\n\n\"Wilkins sent that, too?\" Donovan chuckled. \"Thorough, isn't he?\"\n\n\"Wilkins described her as Jimmy's 'good friend,' \" Charity said.\n\n\"Pilots do get around, don't they, Charity?\" Donovan teased.\n\n\"Until they're finally forced to land,\" Charity said. \"What goes up, they say, has to come down. Eventually, if they're lucky, a Delilah comes into their lives.\"\n\n\"As in Samson-and?\" Donovan chuckled. \"You're planning on giving young Douglass a haircut?\"\n\n\"I don't really think that's what Delilah did to Samson,\" Charity said. \"But if that's what it takes . . .\"\n\nBoth Donovan and Douglass laughed, but Douglass's laughter seemed a little strained. If he had correctly understood Charity, and he was afraid he had, she had as much as said that she was going to drain Doug sexually to the point where straying would be physically impossible.\n\nA buzzer buzzed four times.\n\n\"The Director has arrived,\" Charity said. \"Are you going to meet him outside, or would it be better if we all prostrated ourselves in the entrance foyer?\"\n\nDonovan laughed heartily. He genuinely enjoyed Charity Hoche.\n\n\"Let's meet him outside and bring him in through the kitchen,\" Donovan said.\n\nThey went back to the cobblestone driveway that separated the mansion from the stable\u2014still so called, although it had been converted to a five-car garage\u2014as a Cadillac limousine, bristling with shortwave radio antennae, rolled majestically in.\n\nThere were two neatly dressed young men in the front seat, one of whom jumped out to open the door the instant the car stopped.\n\nJ. Edgar Hoover, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, got out.\n\n\"Hello, Edgar,\" Donovan said. \"I'm glad you could find the time.\"\n\n\"It's always a pleasure, Bill,\" Hoover said, firmly shaking his hand. He nodded curtly to Captain Douglass. \"Douglass, \" he said.\n\n\"Mr. Director,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"And you know Miss Hoche, I believe, Edgar?\"\n\nHoover beamed.\n\n\"How nice to see you, my dear,\" he said. \"And how is your father?\" Before Charity could open her mouth, he went on, \"You be sure to give both your mother and father my kindest regards.\"\n\n\"Of course,\" Charity said.\n\n\"Would you like a little belt, Edgar?\" Donovan asked. \"Or would you rather go right in to dinner?\"\n\n\"This is one of those days when I would dearly like a little taste,\" Hoover said, \"and just don't have the time.\"\n\n\"Well, we'll give you a rain check,\" Donovan said. \"I'm trying to be very nice to you, Edgar.\"\n\n\"That sounds as if you want something,\" Hoover said, jovially, as they entered the house through the kitchen.\n\n\"Actually,\" Donovan said, \"I was hoping you might have a contact with the state police in Virginia.\"\n\n\"I can probably help,\" Hoover said. \"What is it you need?\"\n\n\"You know somebody that can fix a speeding ticket?\" Donovan asked.\n\nHoover looked at him in genuine surprise.\n\n\"Seventy-three-point-six in a thirty-five-mile zone,\" Donovan said, straight-faced. \"The cop said that we'd probably lose our C-ration sticker, too.\"\n\nHoover smiled.\n\n\"Darn you, Bill,\" he said. \"You really had me going there for a minute.\"\n\n\"Oh, Edgar, you know better than that. I'd never ask you to fix a speeding ticket.\"\n\n\"You didn't really get one, did you?\" Hoover asked.\n\n\"Less than an hour ago,\" Donovan said. \"On the way here. But don't worry about it, Edgar. I'm going to ask the boss for a presidential pardon.\"\n\nHoover's smile was now strained.\n\n\"As soon as we get our business out of the way, Edgar, we're headed for Warm Springs,\" Donovan said. \"On his way down there, Franklin's always in a very good mood. _He'll_ take care of the speeding ticket, I'm sure.\"\n\nHoover marched ahead of him toward the dining room. He knew the way.\n\nDonovan glanced at Charity Hoche. She smiled and gave him a nod of approval. He had put Hoover off balance, and with consummate skill that Charity appreciated. First, by the suggestion of an insult: that the nation's ranking law-enforcement officer, Mr. G-Man himself, would fix a speeding ticket, and then with the announcement that he was going to Warm Springs with President Roosevelt (whom he was privileged to call by his first name) on a trip on which Hoover had obviously not been invited.\n\nThere were very few people who could discomfit J. Edgar Hoover. Donovan, Charity thought, could play him like a violin.\n\nThe table was set for three.\n\nCharity waited until they were seated, then started to leave.\n\n\"I'll serve now, if that would be all right,\" she said.\n\n\"Fine,\" Donovan said, and then, as if he had just thought of it, \"Oh, Charity, there was one more cable from London, a personal to me from Stevens.\"\n\n\"Something I should know about?\"\n\n\"I want you to get it decoded,\" Donovan said. \"The message is 'Katharine Hepburn's Fine by Me.' \"\n\nShe smiled at him. It needed no decoding. Donovan had apparently cabled Lt. Colonel Ed Stevens, Deputy Chief of London Station, asking how he felt about Charity's being transferred there. Making light of her Main Line Philadelphia accent, Charity was known as \"Katharine Hepburn.\"\n\n\"Oh, Uncle Bill,\" Charity blurted, and ran to him and kissed him wetly on the cheek. \" _Thank_ you!\"\n\n\"Serve dinner, Miss Hoche,\" Donovan said. \"The Director looks hungry.\"\n\nHoover did not turn over his glass when a middle-aged maid produced the bottle of Chateau de Long '35.\n\nDonovan interpreted this as a good sign: that Hoover had not come to this meeting with a litany of OSS offenses against the FBI.\n\nThe relationship between the Director of the FBI and the Director of the OSS was complex. When a new broom had been needed to sweep out the scandal-ridden Federal Office of Investigation, the post had been offered to Donovan, both because of his public image as a war hero of untainted honesty, and because of his political influence. He had declined, and taken some effort to see that the job went to J. Edgar Hoover, then a young Justice Department lawyer. When the FBI was established in 1935, Hoover\u2014again with Donovan's support\u2014was named its first director.\n\nBy the time Donovan returned to public service, shortly before the war, as the $1.00-per-annum Coordinator of Information, the predecessor organization to the OSS, Hoover had become a highly respected fixture in Washington, very nearly above criticism.\n\nThe FBI was without question the most efficient law-enforcement agency the nation had ever known, and the credit was clearly Hoover's.\n\nAnd when the idea of a superagency to sit atop all the other governmental intelligence agencies came up, Hoover perhaps naturally presumed that it would fall under the FBI. He was bitterly disappointed when that role was given to the Office of the Coordinator of Information, and his old friend and mentor Bill Donovan was named as its head.\n\nHoover was a skilled political infighter with many friends on Capitol Hill and within Roosevelt's inner circle. He did not simply roll over and play dead. He got President Roosevelt to agree that the FBI should retain its intelligence and counterintelligence roles, not only within the United States but in Latin and South America as well. And he got Roosevelt to keep Bill Donovan's agents in South America under his own control by claiming the right to \"coordinate\" all their activities. Clearly, he could not coordinate their activities unless they made frequent and detailed reports of their activities to the FBI.\n\nDonovan, because he acknowledged the battle as lost, or perhaps because Latin and South America were low in his priorities, gave Hoover his way. Not completely, of course, but he paid lip service to the notion that Hoover had been given North and South America as his area of operations.\n\nHoover saw Donovan for what he was: a highly competent man with a sense of morality and patriotism that was close to his own\u2014and a good friend. But he also saw Donovan as someone who was challenging his (the FBI's) authority in all things concerned with espionage. And this was especially galling because Donovan had the same access to the President's ear that Hoover did. Despite their sharp political and ideological differences, Donovan and Roosevelt had been friends since they had been students at the Columbia School of Law.\n\nAnd, with consummate skill, Roosevelt played games with them\u2014Hoover and Donovan\u2014sometimes pitting one against the other, and other times assuring one that the other regarded him as the greatest patriot and most efficient employee on the government payroll.\n\nAnd both Hoover and Donovan understood that the most dangerous thing that could happen to either was to force Roosevelt to choose between them. As confident of their own ability and their own influence with Roosevelt as they each were, neither was assured that the other would ever be asked for his resignation.\n\nTonight, with nothing specific on the agenda, they exchanged tidbits. Hoover told Donovan and Douglass what his agents had uncovered in Latin and South America. Donovan heard nothing he thought was very important. Much of what Hoover told him, he had heard before.\n\nHoover, only half joking, said that he was on the edge of doubling his security force at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the refining of uranium was getting under way in a top-secret plant. He would use half the force, he said, to keep the Germans from finding out what was going on, and the other half to keep the scientists\u2014fifty percent of whom, he said, were \"pinkos\"\u2014from passing what they knew and were learning to the Soviets. There was no question in his mind, Hoover said, that the scientist in charge, J. Robert Oppenheimer, was as left of center as Vladimir Lenin.\n\n\"And it's delicate, you know, Bill, with the Boss,\" Hoover said. \"If he has one flaw in his political judgment, it has to do with the Russians. He thinks Joe Stalin is sort of the Russian senator from Georgia. And that he can buy him off with a dam or a highway.\"\n\nDonovan laughed.\n\n\"You think there's a genuine danger of somebody actually spilling the beans to the Russians?\" he asked.\n\n\"Not so long as I'm in charge of security,\" Hoover said. \"Instead of, for example, Henry Wallace.\"\n\nHe said it with a smile, but Donovan understood that Hoover regarded the Vice President and several of the people around him as bona fide threats to the one great secret of the war: that the United States was engaged in building a bomb that would use as its explosive force nuclear energy, a force\u2014presuming theory could be turned into practice\u2014that would give one five-thousand-pound bomb the destructive force of twenty thousand tons of TNT.\n\n\"Henry doesn't know about Oak Ridge,\" Donovan said. \"And the President tells me he has no intention of telling him.\"\n\n\"Franklin Roosevelt has been known to change his mind to fit the circumstances of the moment,\" Hoover said, adding dryly, \"I'm surprised you haven't noticed.\"\n\nDonovan chuckled appreciatively.\n\n\"On the subject of Oak Ridge, Edgar,\" Donovan said, \"there's something coming up\u2014\"\n\n\"Oh?\" Hoover interrupted.\n\n\"We are going to try to bring some German scientists here,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"You mean, get them out of Germany?\" Hoover asked, surprised. \"Can you do that?\"\n\n\"In the next couple of days,\" Donovan said, \"we're going to make sort of a trial run.\" He waited for Hoover to interrupt him again, and when he didn't, went on. \"The first man we're going to bring out is a metallurgist\u2014\"\n\nNow Hoover obliged him. \"Why a metallurgist?\"\n\n\"I've told you about the German flying bombs and jet-propulsion engines,\" Donovan said. \"I finally managed to convince the President that they pose a real threat, no matter what the Air Corps says, to our plans for the massive bombing of Germany. I have permission to do what I can to at least slow down the production of jet-propulsion and rocket engines. Both require special metal alloys and special techniques to machine the special alloys. The idea is that when we find out what kind of special metal and what kind of special techniques are required for the necessary machining, we will just put those locations on the top of the bombing priority list.\"\n\nHoover grunted, then asked, \"What's this got to do with Groves's bomb? With Oak Ridge?\"\n\n\"If we succeed in getting the metallurgist safely out, and see how much attention the Germans pay to his disappearance, we'll start bringing out the mathematicians and physicists we need . . . or whose services we don't want the Germans to have.\"\n\n\"And if they catch you bringing out the metallurgist, the Germans won't connect it with the Manhattan Project?\" Hoover asked.\n\n\"Precisely,\" Donovan said. \"If we get to the point where we do bring nuclear people out, once they get to this country, they'll be your responsibility, protecting them at either Oak Ridge or White Sands. I thought perhaps, presuming we get the metallurgist out, you might want to use him as sort of a dry run yourself.\"\n\n\"You keep saying 'if' and 'presuming' you can get him out,\" Hoover said. \"There's some question in your mind that you will? Or do you believe the operation won't work?\"\n\n\"We have high hopes, of course,\" Donovan said, and went on to explain that the OSS had set up a new escape route \"pipeline,\" which ran through Hungary and Yugoslavia, for the sole purpose of getting the \"special category\" people out of Germany. The normal, in-place pipelines took people off the European continent through Holland and France to England.\n\nHoover displayed a deep curiosity in the details of the new pipeline, and Donovan explained the operation to him, wondering if the FBI Director's curiosity was professional or personal. Hoover, he knew, liked to think of himself as an agent rather than an administrator. Donovan suspected that Hoover was vicariously crossing the border from Germany into Hungary, and then walking out of Yugoslavia in the company of Yugoslavian partisans.\n\nWhen the explanation was finally over, Hoover grunted, then looked at Captain Douglass.\n\n\"You don't seem to have much to say, Douglass,\" he said.\n\n\"I ask Pete to sit in on the more important meetings, Edgar, so I don't have to spend time repeating to him what was said.\"\n\n\"I was thinking along those lines myself,\" Hoover said. \"That it's going to take me some time to repeat all this to Tolson.\" Clyde Tolson was Deputy Director of the FBI and Hoover's closest friend. They shared a house.\n\n\"If Clyde was cleared for the Manhattan Project,\" Donovan said, \"I'd be the first to say bring him along.\"\n\n\"Clyde knows about the Manhattan Project,\" Hoover said. \"He's my Deputy.\"\n\nDonovan was not surprised that Hoover had made Tolson privy to the secrets of the Manhattan Project, but he was surprised that Hoover had admitted it so openly to him. Tolson, like Vice President Wallace, was not on the shortlist of people authorized access to information concerning the atomic bomb.\n\n\"Then you should have brought him with you, Edgar,\" Donovan said. \"Clyde's an old pal. He doesn't need a formal invitation to break bread with us.\"\n\nHoover, Donovan realized, had just put him on a spot. Should he run, as he was supposed to, to Roosevelt and tattle that the head of the FBI had taken it upon himself to breach security? If he did, would it turn out that Hoover had gotten permission from Roosevelt to tell Tolson? Which would make him look the fool. And if he didn't go, would Roosevelt find out, and be justifiably angry that he had known and said nothing?\n\nHe decided that this was one of those rare instances where it was necessary to be very open with Hoover.\n\n\"Edgar, does Roosevelt know you've decided it was necessary to brief Clyde?\"\n\n\"No,\" Hoover said, and met his eyes. \"Are you going to tell him?\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" Donovan said. \"I've been hearing rumors about Clyde. He's supposed to be about as pinko as Henry Wallace.\"\n\nHoover laughed, but his smile was strained.\n\n_I'll let you worry about whether or not I'm going to tell Roosevelt,_ Donovan thought. _That hand went to me. Another proof of the theory that when you really don't know what to do, try telling the truth._\n\nHoover looked at his wristwatch and stood up.\n\n\"I had no idea how late it is,\" he said.\n\n\"I'll walk you to your car, Edgar,\" Donovan said.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **UNION STATION WASHINGTON, D.C. 30 JANUARY 1943**\n\nStaley had no trouble picking Capt. James M. B. Whittaker out of the crowd of people walking away from the train, although many of them were in uniform, and almost a dozen of those in uniform were captains of the U.S. Army Air Corps.\n\n\"Look for a guy who looks like an Air Corps recruiting poster,\" Chief Ellis had told him. \"Tall, good-looking, and either the sloppiest officer you ever saw, or the sharpest. Depends on how he feels right then.\"\n\nCapt. Whittaker, Staley concluded, had decided to be sharp. He was wearing a perfectly tailored pink-and-green uniform, and he was in the process of putting on a camel's-hair short coat when Staley spotted him. His brimmed cap had the fifty-mission crush, an affectation of a fighter pilot, but except for that, he looked as if he had just walked out of a clothing store window.\n\nStaley intercepted him, catching himself just before he started to salute. He was not quite used to wearing civilian clothes and acting like a civilian.\n\n\"Captain Whittaker?\"\n\n\"Guilty,\" Whittaker said, smiling at him.\n\n\"I'm standing in for Chief Ellis, Sir,\" Staley said. \"Let me give you a hand with your gear.\"\n\n\"Since you're foolish enough to volunteer,\" Whittaker said, \"you can have the heavy one. Where's Ellis?\"\n\n\"He's in Georgia, Sir,\" Staley said.\n\n\"With the Colonel? And our commander-in-chief?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Staley said, wondering how Whittaker could have known that.\n\nWhen they were in the Buick, Whittaker said, \"Well, I appreciate you meeting me, but I could have taken a cab.\"\n\n\"To Virginia?\" Staley blurted. Ellis had told him that Whittaker was rich, that, in fact, he owned the house on Q Street, but the notion of taking a forty-mile taxi ride startled him.\n\n\"Virginia? I'm talking about Q Street.\"\n\n\"Sir, I'm supposed to take you to Virginia,\" Staley said.\n\n\"I'm going to the house on Q Street,\" Whittaker said firmly. \"If that makes it awkward for you, just drop me at the next corner. I'll catch a cab, and we'll say you couldn't find me at Union Station.\"\n\n\"They expect you in Virginia,\" Staley protested.\n\n\"In a word, fuck 'em,\" Whittaker said, then, quickly, \"Right over there, there's a cab.\"\n\n\"I'll take you to the house,\" Staley said. \"Nobody said anything about me making you go to Virginia. But if you tell them I told you . . .\"\n\n\"I'll cover you,\" Whittaker said. \"You know what goes on in Virginia, I suppose? They do all sorts of obscene things out there, like push-ups and running for miles before they have breakfast.\"\n\nStaley laughed. \"I went through it.\"\n\n\"Then you must know a prick by the name of Eldon C. Baker,\" Whittaker said, \"which is another reason I'm not going to Virginia.\"\n\n\"I know him,\" Staley said.\n\nWhen they got to the house on Q Street, Northwest, the guard would not pass the Buick through the gate until Whittaker showed him his credentials.\n\nAnd when they walked into the kitchen, Charity Hoche, in her bathrobe, was waiting for them.\n\n\"You're not supposed to be here, Jimmy,\" she said.\n\n\"Jesus, and I was hoping for something along the lines of 'Welcome home, Jimmy.' \"\n\n\"They expect you in Virginia,\" Charity said.\n\n\"I hope they're not holding their breath,\" Whittaker said. \"Aren't you going to ask me about Doug?\"\n\n\"How's Doug?\"\n\n\"Bearing up rather well, considering,\" he said.\n\n\"Bearing up rather well considering what?\"\n\n\"That he's the official stud for the London-area Red Cross girls,\" Whittaker said. \"Some of them are real man-eaters. \"\n\n\"Damn you,\" she said.\n\n\"Actually, the last time I saw him, he was staring moodily off into space, muttering Browning sonnets,\" Whittaker said. \" 'How do I love Charity? Let me count the ways. . . . I love her . . .' \"\n\n\"That's better,\" Charity said. \"I'm going over there. I found out a couple of days ago.\"\n\n\"Well, that should certainly change his social life,\" Whittaker said, and then he asked the question that had been on his mind since he first saw Charity.\n\n\"Where's the regular house mother?\"\n\n\"Cynthia's at the place in Virginia,\" Charity said.\n\n\"What's she doing there?\"\n\n\"Going through the course,\" Charity said.\n\n\"What course?\"\n\n\"The regular course,\" Charity said.\n\n\"What the hell is that all about?\" he asked.\n\n\"What do you think?\" Charity asked.\n\nThe notion that Cynthia was undergoing training to become an agent was so preposterous that he didn't pursue it.\n\n\"I'll go out there in the morning,\" he said. \"Is my car here?\"\n\n\"It is, but I'm not sure they allow you to have a car out there,\" Charity said.\n\n\"I'll take my chances,\" he said. \"Now, if you will give me some whiskey to drink, I'll brief you on the competition you're going to face when you get to England. And just for the record, Charity, I came here over the very strenuous objections of this gentleman.\"\n\n\"Staley's my name, Captain,\" Staley said, and offered his hand. Staley liked Whittaker. Ellis had said he would. He himself hadn't been so sure. Officers are officers. But there was something about this guy that made him special.\n\n\"Over the strenuous objections of Mr. Staley,\" Whittaker said. \"And now can I have some booze?\"\n\nHe woke early, his body clock confused by the distances he'd covered, and aware that sometime around two in the afternoon, he would get very sleepy. Worse, he thought, his mind would be dulled. And he wanted to be sharp when he saw Cynthia.\n\nHe took a shower in the large, tiled, two-headed shower where legend had it that Chesley Haywood Whittaker, his uncle \"Chesty,\" had died of a stroke. The truth was that Chesty Whittaker had died in the saddle, on Pearl Harbor Day, and that Chief Ellis had manhandled the body over here so that it could be \"found\" in his own shower rather than in the bed of a young woman, the daughter of a college classmate, with whom he had had a two-year affair. The young woman's name was Cynthia Chenowith.\n\nOnly a few people knew what had really happened: Wild Bill Donovan\u2014who had been Chesty's lifelong crony and with whom he had flown to Washington when Donovan had been summoned to the White House\u2014knew. And Captain Douglass knew. And Chief Ellis. And Dick Canidy, Whittaker's school chum and now number-three man in London for the OSS. And, of course, Jimmy Whittaker knew. He didn't think Cynthia knew he knew, and that was the way he wanted to keep it. It didn't matter to him, he told himself\u2014and most of the time, he believed, it didn't.\n\nBut he thought about it in the shower, and he thought about it when he backed the Packard out of the garage. The 1941 Packard 280 convertible coupe had been Chesty's. Presumably, Chesty and Cynthia had been in it together on many happy occasions. He didn't think they had made the beast with two backs in the backseat, but it was reasonable to presume that they had held hands, and kissed, and that sort of thing.\n\nDespite the cold, when he was out of the District, he pulled to the side of the road and put the roof down. He had the heater going full blast, and he left the windows up, and it was really rather pleasant.\n\nA quarter of a mile off the state highway into the Virginia property, well out of sight of the highway, a guard post had been erected, and Whittaker learned that Charity had been right about the car. They expected him, but not at the wheel of a car.\n\n\"I really don't know what the hell to say,\" the guard, wearing the uniform of a member of the National Park Service police, said. \"I got your name on the list, Captain, but as a trainee, and trainees can't have private cars.\"\n\n\"But as I've shown you, I'm not a trainee,\" Whittaker said. \"Look, call Baker and tell him I'm here, and driving a car.\"\n\nThe guard went into his little shack and a moment later came out again, and said, \"Mr. Baker says come right to his office, Captain. It's in the main house. You can't miss it.\"\n\nThe road wound through a stand of pine trees, and as he was coming out of it, he passed a group of twelve or fifteen trainees taking a run. They were carrying, in front of them, at \"Port Arms,\" Springfield Model 1903 caliber .30-06 rifles, not that it was expected they would ever use one, but to make the physical conditioning a little tougher.\n\nHe slowed down and glanced out the side window at them as he passed them. And saw Cynthia Chenowith. She had her hair hidden under a GI fatigue habit, and the truth was that he saw her breasts flopping around under her fatigue jacket and marveled at that for a moment before he recognized her.\n\n\"Oh, shit!\" he said with great disgust, then stepped on the accelerator.\n\nEldon Baker's office was in what had been the breakfast room of the mansion, a rather small room whose floor-length doors opened onto a flagstone patio, and beyond that to a flat grassy area that Whittaker remembered as having been a putting green.\n\nBaker was sitting behind a government-issue gray metal desk when Whittaker walked in. He was a pudgy-faced man in his thirties. He was wearing fatigues, but where an officer would have worn the insignia of his rank and branch of service, there was a square insignia embroidered in blue: a triangle within the square, and the letters \"U.S.\" It was the insignia worn by civilian experts attached to the U.S. Army in the field. Baker had been a State Department intelligence officer before joining the OSS, where he was listed on the OSS Table of Organization as \"Chief, Recruitment and Training.\" So far as Whittaker knew, he had never been in the service.\n\n\"Well, hello, Jim,\" Baker said. \"We rather expected you last night.\"\n\n\"You look very military, Eldon,\" Whittaker said. \"Am I expected to salute?\"\n\n\"We don't salute around here,\" Baker said. \"Neither do we wear insignia of rank or branch of service.\"\n\n\"Can I ask you a question?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"What are you doing here? Well, that's very simple. You haven't gone through the course and . . .\"\n\n\"What is Cynthia Chenowith doing running around in fatigues and carrying a Springfield?\"\n\n\"Isn't that self-evident? She's going through the course. And doing rather well. Frankly, much better than I expected she would.\"\n\n\"To what end?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"Again, isn't that self-evident?\"\n\n\"You're out of your fucking mind, Eldon,\" Whittaker said matter-of-factly. \"What the hell is the matter with you?\"\n\n\"I had hoped that our relationship would be amicable,\" Baker said. \"You're making that difficult.\"\n\n\"Are you telling me you seriously propose to send that girl out operationally?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"Nothing specific at the moment, but when the opportunity presents itself . . .\"\n\n\"And Bill Donovan's going along with that insane notion? \"\n\n\"Obviously, it has Colonel Donovan's approval,\" Baker said. \"And, as obviously, it's really none of your business, is it?\"\n\n\"I'm making it my business,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Have you some explanation for not coming here as you were directed to do?\" Baker said. \"You will notice I have changed the subject.\"\n\n\"I don't have to explain anything to you, Eldon,\" Whittaker said. \"I don't work for you. I don't even know what I'm doing in the States.\"\n\nThere was more, Whittaker thought, than simple chemistry to explain why he had disliked Eldon Baker from the moment he had met him. He could prepare a long list of Things-Wrong-with-Eldon-Baker, headed by Baker's ruthlessness, and running down to such items as pompous, overbearing, and the compleat bureaucrat, but it was the chemistry primarily responsible for the inevitable verbal flare-ups whenever they were together.\n\nBaker now chose to tolerate Whittaker.\n\n\"There's a mission envisioned for you,\" he said.\n\n\"What kind of a mission?\"\n\nBaker ignored the question.\n\n\"Prior to which it has been decided that you will go through the course.\"\n\n\"Decided by whom?\"\n\n\"It's OSS policy,\" Baker said, \"that everybody will go through the school.\"\n\n\"You're weaseling,\" Whittaker said. \"Donovan doesn't know you expect me to go through this school of yours for spies, does he? You were just going to tell me that's the 'way it is.' Screw you, Eldon. That won't work. Canidy told me that Donovan told him that neither one of us had to do this. For Christ's sake, I was _running_ the school in England. \"\n\n\"You have no training in infiltration by rubber boat from a submarine,\" Baker said. \"Obviously, it was not my intention to send you through the whole course . . .\"\n\n\"Oh?\"\n\n\"And actually, I had planned to ask you to teach a few hours. I thought it would really get and keep the men's attention if they understood they were being taught by someone who had been operational.\"\n\n\"If that's a bone you're throwing, gnaw on it yourself,\" Whittaker said. He started out of the room, then turned and stopped at the door. \"I'm going back to Washington,\" he said. \"And it's going to take Wild Bill himself to order me back here. And then I may not come.\"\n\n\"Obviously, there's no purpose in debating this with you,\" Baker said.\n\nWhen he went outside the building, determined to find Cynthia, Whittaker saw her immediately. In the time it had taken him to go through the confrontation with Baker, her group of trainees had run from where he had seen them on the road to the mansion.\n\nPresumably, he decided, they had run all the way. Cynthia and another woman, both of them red-faced and heaving from the exertion, were sitting on the ground, their backs against a wall.\n\nHe walked over to her. She looked up at him but said nothing.\n\nOne of the senior trainees walked quickly up to him. He was tall and muscular and very handsome, and looked somehow familiar to Whittaker.\n\n\"May I help you, Sir?\" he asked.\n\n\"Take a walk,\" Whittaker said.\n\nHe met Cynthia's eyes. \"What the hell do you think you're doing?\"\n\n\"What does it look like?\" she replied.\n\n\"Jesus Christ, if it wasn't so stupid, it would be funny,\" he said.\n\n\"Jimmy, why don't you just turn around and walk away from here?\" Cynthia asked.\n\nInstead, he reached down and grabbed her wrist and jerked her to her feet.\n\n\"What do you think you're doing?\" she snapped.\n\nHe kissed her, moving so quickly there was no time for her to avert her face, and so surprising her that it was a moment before she twisted free.\n\nOne of the trainees laughed and applauded.\n\n\"What was that all about?\" Cynthia said, seeming torn between outrage and tears. \"Why did you do that?\"\n\n\"Two reasons,\" he said. \"To remind you that you're a woman. And because I love you.\"\n\n\"Damn you!\" Cynthia said, fighting an infuriating urge to cry.\n\n\"Now, just a minute here!\" the senior trainee said.\n\n\"Greg, don't!\" Cynthia called quickly. \"He's crazy. He'll kill you!\"\n\nThe trainee looked at him warily and with great interest.\n\n\"Relax,\" Whittaker said. \"I'm a lover, not a fighter.\" Then, feeling very pleased with himself, he walked over to the Packard, got in, and started it up.\n**III**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, 344TH FIGHTER GROUP ATCHAM ARMY AIR CORPS STATION, ENGLAND 31 JANUARY 1943**\n\nRank hath its privileges. In this case that meant that the commanding officer of the 344th Fighter Group was driven in a jeep from the final briefing to the revetment where his aircraft was parked. The other pilots rode jammed together in the backs of trucks.\n\nThe commanding officer of the 344th Fighter Group, Eighth United States Air Force, was Lieutenant Colonel Peter (\"Doug\") Douglass, Jr., USMA '39, a slight, pleasant -appearing officer who looked, until you saw his eyes, much too young to be either a fighter group commander or a lieutenant colonel. He was, in fact, twenty-five years old.\n\nHe was wearing a horsehide A-2 jacket, which had a zipper front and knit cuffs. On its back was painted the flag of the Republic of China and a legend in Chinese stating that the wearer had come to China to fight the Japanese invader, and that a reward in gold would be paid for his safe return in case he fell from the sky.\n\nDoug Douglass had been a member of the American Volunteer Group in China and Burma, a \"Flying Tiger,\" one of a small group of pilots who, before the United States had entered the war, were recruited from the Army Air Corps, the Marines, and the Navy to fly Curtiss P-40 fighters against the Japanese. On the nose of his P-38F there were painted ten small Japanese flags, called \"meatballs, \" each signifying a Japanese kill. There were also painted six swastikas, representing the kills of six German aircraft, and the representation of a submarine.\n\nWhile attacking the German submarine pens at Saint-Lazare, then-Major Douglass had attempted to skip-bomb a five-hundred-pound aerial bomb into the mouth of the pens. He hadn't made it. But his bomb had struck, literally by accident, a U-boat tied to a wharf just outside the mouth of the pen. It had penetrated the hull in the forward torpedo room, and what was known as a \"sympathetic explosion\" had occurred. The explosives in the bomb and in God-alone -knew-how-many torpedoes had combined, and the submarine had simply disappeared, leaving few recognizable pieces.\n\nDouglass and his group had been accompanied on the mission by photo reconnaissance aircraft, and there was a motion picture record of the five-hundred-pound bombs dropping from Douglass's wings, and of one of them striking the submarine, and of large chunks of the submarine hull floating lazily through the air. There was no question about it, mistakes counted, it was a confirmed kill.\n\nNewly promoted Lieutenant Colonel Douglass had given in to the \"suggestion\" by his division commander that he paint a submarine on the nose of his P-38F not because he considered it a victory but because it signified that he had been on the Saint-Lazare raid. He had lost forty percent of his aircraft\u2014and his pilots\u2014on that raid.\n\nA story made the rounds that after the raid Douglass had walked into Eighth Air Force Headquarters and decked the Plans & Training officer who had ordered the mission. And that the bloody nose he'd given the chair-warmer had given the brass a choice between court-martialing a West Pointer who was a triple ace or promoting him, and they'd opted in favor of the promotion.\n\nToday, there was with him in the jeep as it made its way down the parking ramp at Atcham another pilot wearing an identical A-2 jacket with the Chinese flag and calligraphy painted on its back. He was taller and heavier than Douglass, and, at twenty-six, a year older. His name was Richard Canidy, and he had been Lt. Col. Douglass's squadron leader in the Flying Tigers.\n\nHe was not a member of the 344th Fighter Group, nor, despite the gold leaves of a major pinned to his A-2 jacket epaulets, even an officer of the Army Air Corps. Canidy (BS, Aeronautical Engineering, MIT '38) had first been recruited from his duty as a lieutenant junior grade, USNR, instructor pilot to be a Flying Tiger, and from the Flying Tigers to be a \"technical consultant\" to the Office of the Coordinator of Information.\n\nThe Office of the Coordinator of Information had been redesignated the Office of Strategic Services, and Canidy was now officer in charge, Whitbey House Station, OSS-England, which made him the third-ranking OSS officer in England. Civilians, in a military environment, attract attention. But little attention is paid, particularly at the upper levels of the military hierarchy, to majors. It had been arranged with the Army Air Corps to issue \"Technical Consultant Canidy\" an AGO card from the Adjutant General's Office, identifying him as a major, and to ensure that if inquiries were made at Eighth Air Force or SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force) there would be a record of a Canidy, Major Richard M., USAAC.\n\nCanidy was not supposed to be flying with the 344th Fighter Group on this mission. Indeed, if either he or Lt. Col. Douglass had asked their superiors for permission for him to come along, the request would have been denied.\n\nDouglass wasn't sure why Canidy wanted to go. He guessed that it had something to do with Jimmy Whittaker getting his ass shipped to Australia, and with Eric Fulmar and Stanley Fine having disappeared suddenly from Whitbey House, destination and purpose unspecified. Canidy's old gang, with the exception of Lt. Commander Eddie Bitter, USN (another ex-Flying Tiger), and of course Douglass himself, had been broken up. A deal like that, being with your buddies, was of course too good to last.\n\nOnce, at Whitbey House, Douglass with most of a quart of Scotch in him, had looked at the others with a sudden wave of warmth: _They were good guys, the best, and they were his buddies; he would never, as long as he lived, have better friends._ And then he had made what had seemed in his condition to be a profound philosophical observation: _\"War, like politics, makes strange bedfellows.\"_\n\nThe undisputed leader of the gang, the best natural commander Douglass had ever seen\u2014and the test had been combat\u2014was Canidy. And Canidy was not, like Douglass (West Point) and Bitter (Annapolis), a professional warrior, but almost the antithesis, an MIT-trained aeronautical engineer who made no secret that he found most of the traditions sacred to the professional military hilarious.\n\nThe wise man, the philosopher so to speak, of the gang was Captain Stanley S. Fine, a tall ascetic Jew who had been a Hollywood lawyer before he had been recruited for the OSS from command of a B-17 Squadron. If closing with the enemy and killing him with bare hands was the ultimate description of a warrior, then the gang's most ferocious members were unlikely warriors. Eric Fulmar was the son of a movie star and a German industrialist, and Jimmy Whittaker was a wealthy socialite who addressed the President of the United States as \"Uncle Franklin.\"\n\nDouglass knew that if coincidence had thrown these men together in any normal military organization, and if, improbably, they had become buddies there, any commanding officer with enough sense to find his ass with both hands would have broken up the gang and transferred them as far from each other as possible\u2014as awesome threats to \"good military order and discipline.\"\n\nBut they weren't in any normal military organization. They were in the Office of Strategic Services.\n\nLt. Col. Douglass knew more about the OSS than he had any right to know. He wasn't even supposed to know about Whitbey House, much less spend most of his free time in the requisitioned mansion, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Stanfield. But he was a special case. Not only had he been Dick Canidy's wingman in the Flying Tigers, but his father was Captain Peter Douglass, Sr., deputy director of the OSS, Colonel Wild Bill Donovan's number two.\n\nDavid Bruce, Chief of London Station, and his deputy, Lt. Col. Ed Stevens, simply ignored Douglass's illegal presence at Whitbey House when they saw him there. Canidy and the others didn't talk about what they were doing in Douglass's presence, or tried hard not to, but it was difficult to remember all the time that Douglass didn't have the Need-to-Know, and things slipped out.\n\nWhen Canidy had hinted that he wouldn't mind getting checked out in the P-38F, Douglass had known that the next inevitable step would be for him to go along on a mission. But it would have been difficult to tell his old squadron commander, on whose wing he had first experienced aerial combat, that that was against regulations and therefore impossible. It would have been difficult if he had wanted to say \"no,\" and he didn't want to say no.\n\nHe was the group commander, and no one asked questions when they saw him personally showing an Air Corps major around a P-38F, or when he scheduled a couple of P- 38Fs for training flights and went along with the major.\n\nIf Dick dumped a P-38F while he was learning, Douglass decided, he would just say that he was flying it. That would work unless Canidy killed himself, in which case it wouldn't matter. That fear turned out to have been academic. Canidy hadn't had any trouble with the P-38F. He was a good pilot, and an experienced one. He had several thousand hours in the air. Many of Douglass's pilots had less than two hundred fifty.\n\nWhen the jeep stopped in front of the revetment in which waited the P-38F that Canidy would fly today, and Canidy started to get out, Douglass touched his arm.\n\n\"I'll fly your wing, if you like, Skipper,\" he said.\n\nCanidy smiled at him, touched by the gesture.\n\n\"I'm just going along for the ride, thank you, _Colonel,_ \" he said.\n\nDouglass nodded and motioned for the driver to continue.\n\nCanidy walked into the revetment. The crew chief, a young technical sergeant, threw him a casual salute.\n\n\"Good morning, Major,\" he said.\n\n\"Morning,\" Canidy said. \"You've wound both rubber bands, I presume?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the crew chief said.\n\nCanidy, with the crew chief trailing him, walked around the airplane, making the preflight check. He found nothing wrong and nodded his approval of the aircraft's condition.\n\nThey walked back to the nose of the aircraft, where the crew chief held out a sheepskin flying jacket to Canidy, and then when Canidy had put his arms into it, steadied him as he pulled sheepskin trousers over his uniform trousers.\n\nCanidy started to climb the ladder to the cockpit, which sat between the twin engines. And for the first time he saw what was painted on the nose. The Flying Tiger's shark's jaw, and \"Dick Canidy,\" in flowing script, and beneath it five meatballs.\n\n\"That was very nice of you, Sergeant,\" Canidy said. \"Thank you very much.\"\n\n\"The Colonel thought you'd like it, Major,\" the crew chief said. \"He was your squadron CO in the Flying Tigers, wasn't he?\"\n\n\"Right,\" Canidy said. It was not the time for historical accuracy.\n\nHe climbed into the cockpit. The crew chief climbed the ladder after him, carrying sheepskin boots. Canidy, not without difficulty, put them on, and then the crew chief helped him with the parachute straps, and finally handed him the leather helmet and oxygen mask, with its built-in microphone.\n\n\"Go get a couple, Major,\" the crew chief said. \"God go with you.\"\n\nCanidy smiled and nodded.\n\nThe crew chief climbed down the ladder, then removed it from where it hooked on the cockpit. Another crew member, as Canidy ran the controls through their limits, rolled up a fire extinguisher. Then he and the crew chief looked up at the cockpit, waiting for Canidy's next order.\n\nCanidy looked down and saw they were ready for him.\n\n_This is not the smartest thing I have ever done,_ Canidy thought. _I know better. Only a goddamn fool goes off voluntarily into the wild blue yonder, from which he stands a good chance indeed of dying in flames._\n\nThe alternative was sitting around Whitbey House going nuts. Christ only knew what Donovan had in mind for Jimmy Whittaker. And at this moment, Eric Fulmar was somewhere in Germany wearing the uniform of an SS-Obersturmf\u00fchrer (first lieutenant). If the SS caught him in that, they would be inspired to see that his death was preceded by their most imaginative interrogation techniques.\n\nIt was either this\u2014which by stretching a point could be considered flying a reconnaissance mission himself that otherwise the Air Corps would have to make\u2014or drink. Or go nuts.\n\nHe flipped the Main Power Buss on, then adjusted the richness control of the left engine. He looked down from the cockpit.\n\n\"Clear!\" he called.\n\n\"Clear, Sir,\" the crew chief called back.\n\nCanidy leaned forward and held the ENGINE START LEFT toggle switch against the pressure of its spring.\n\nThe left engine began to grind, and the prop began to turn, very slowly. Then the engine caught for a moment, bucked, and spit. The prop became a silver blur.\n\nThere had been time to think. He was just along for the ride. He was riding Douglass's wing, throttled back at 25,000 feet so as not to outrun the bomber stream of B- 17Es at 23,000 feet. Douglass had the responsibility for the flock of sheep. All Canidy had to do was maintain his position relative to Doug.\n\nThe first thing he thought was that this was where he really belonged. He was a pilot, and a good one, a combat-experienced pilot. And also an aeronautical engineer. He knew what he was doing here. He should have fought this war as a pilot.\n\nBut other thoughts intruded. Experience was relative to somebody else's experience. Relatively speaking, he was an old-timer in the intelligence business, not because he'd done so much but because hardly anybody else had done anything at all. The Americans, as the British were so fond of pointing out whenever they found the opportunity, were virgins in the intelligence business.\n\nThere had been a cartoon one time on the bulletin board at MIT in Cambridge: \"Last Weak I Cudn't Even Spell 'Enginnear' And Now I Are One.\"\n\nThere should be one on his corkboard in his office, he thought: \"Last Year, I Didn't Even Know What An Action Officer Was, But Look At Me Now!\"\n\n_And I am now possessed of knowledge,_ he thought, _that would scare the shit out of those guys in the bombers. They have been told so often\u2014by people who believe what they are saying\u2014that the \"box\" tactic\u2014_ which provided a theoretically impenetrable fire zone of .50-caliber machine-gun fire _\u2014is going to keep them safe from harm that they tend to believe it._\n\n_They question what they are told, of course. They're smart enough to figure out\u2014or have learned from experience\u2014that German fighters will get past the fighter escort and then penetrate the box. But they hope that the fighter escorts will grow more skilled and the .50-caliber fire zones will be refined so that things will get better, not worse, and that all they will really have to worry about is flak._\n\n_I know that the Germans have flight-tested fighter aircraft propelled not by airscrews but by jets of hot air. I know that these aircraft will fly two or three hundred miles_ _per hour faster than our fighters, which means the Germans will be able to just about ignore our fighter escorts. And I know that the best aerial gunner in the world isn't going to be able to hit a small fighter approaching at closing speeds over eight hundred miles per hour._\n\n_And I know that unless we can stop the Germans from getting their jet fighters operational, there is going to be an unbelievable bloodbath up here._\n\n_It is for that reason that I can intellectually, if not emotionally, justify sending Eric Fulmar into Germany. If we can find out from the guy he's bringing out what the Germans need to build their jet engines, maybe we can bomb their factories out of existence before they can start turning out engines. In the cold, emotionless logic of my profession, that justifies dispatching an agent, even running the risk that if he is caught, the Sicherheitsdienst will begin his interrogation by peeling the skin from his wang, before they get down to serious business._\n\n\"Dawn Patrol Leader,\" Douglass's voice came over the air-to-air. \"Dawn Patrol Two. We just crossed the German border.\"\n\nUnder the black rubber oxygen mask that covered the lower half of his face, Canidy smiled. What seemed like a very long time ago, when he and Doug had been assigned to fly patrols at first light looking for Japanese bombers on their way to attack Chungking, they had, feeling very clever about it, chosen \"Dawn Patrol\" as their air-to-air identity. Errol Flynn had recently played a heroic fighter pilot in a movie with that name.\n\n\"If you see Eric, wave,\" Canidy said to his microphone. He immediately thought, _Now, that wasn't too smart, was it?_\n\n\"No shit?\" Douglass replied. This time Canidy didn't reply.\n\nFive minutes later, Douglass came on the air again.\n\n\"Blue Group Leader. We have what looks like two squadrons of ME-109s at ten o'clock. Baker and Charley flights, hold your positions. Able will engage. Able, follow me.\"\n\nCanidy looked for the German fighters and found them, maybe twenty-five black specks in a nose-down attitude, obviously intending to strike the bomber stream from behind and above.\n\nThe Germans preferred to attack from above, preferably from above and to the rear, but from above. Diving at the P-38Fs on their way to the bomber stream beneath would give the Messerschmitts a considerable advantage. With the American fighters between the B-17s and the Germans, the B-17 gunners would have their fields of fire restricted unless they wanted to run the risk of hitting the P-38Fs. And with just a little bit of luck, machine-gun and cannon fire directed at the P-38Fs might strike one of the bombers beyond them.\n\nCanidy waited until Douglass was out of the way, then tested his guns (he had tested them over the English Channel, but it was better to test them again than to find himself nose up against a Messerschmitt with a bad solenoid and no guns) and pushed the nose up and to the left and stayed on Douglass's wing.\n\nHe felt his hands sweating inside his gloves, and knew that it was a manifestation of fear.\n\nThe attacking Messerschmitts split into two groups, one to continue the attack on the bomber stream, the other to engage the American fighters. The tactic had obviously been preplanned.\n\nThe P-38Fs had not been able to gain much speed from the time they left their original position to rise to the attack, but the Germans were running with their needles on the DO NOT EXCEED red line, and the closing speed was greater than Canidy expected. He was sure that his three-second burst had missed the Messerschmitt he had aimed at.\n\nTurning outside of Douglass, he felt the world grow red, then almost black, as the centrifugal forces of the turn drained the blood from his head.\n\nThe twin 1,325-horsepower Allison engines, with their throttles shoved forward to FULL EMERGENCY MILITARY POWER indent, were screaming. Full Emergency Military Power was hell on fuel consumption, and cut deeply into the operational life of engines, but the extra power, when needed, was worth the cost. When they came out of the 360-degree turn, they were running a little faster than the Messerschmitts. They gained on them slowly and followed them through the bomber stream.\n\nThe tracers from the bombers' guns seemed to fill the sky; there was a real possibility that he would be hit, and that prospect was frightening. But the fear was overcome by what Canidy, very privately, thought of as the animal urge to kill. Man\u2014because he fancied himself civilized\u2014 liked to pretend he entered combat reluctantly. And he prepared for combat reluctantly. But once he was in it, he was far less removed from the savage than he liked to believe. He wallowed in the prospect of killing the enemy.\n\nThe pair of Messerschmitts he and Douglass were chasing pulled out of their dives. To be sure of a killing burst from his battery of eight .50-caliber Brownings (the mark, Canidy thought approvingly, of the experienced fighter pilot; \"don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes\"), Douglass, who had crept ever closer to the German before him, was taken by surprise. His P-38F could not respond in time, and he had lost his opportunity to fire.\n\nCanidy was two hundred yards behind him. Without thinking of what he was doing, he moved the nose of his P38-F from the Messerschmitt he had been following to the one that had gotten away from Doug. The plane vibrated for a moment from the recoil of eight heavy machine guns, then he aimed at the first plane, this time firing a three-second burst.\n\nHe saw his tracer stream move from just in front of the Messerschmitt to the engine cowling, then to the left wing. There was a hint of orange, and then the wing tank exploded.\n\nCanidy pulled up abruptly and looked around for the other fighter. He couldn't find it for a moment, and then he saw it, smoke pouring from its engine nacelle as it spun toward the cloud cover below. He looked for a parachute but didn't see one.\n\nAnd then Douglass was on his wing.\n\n\"Two more,\" Douglass's voice came over the air-to-air. \"How the hell are we going to explain that?\"\n\n\"That'll make seventeen for you, won't it, Colonel?\" Canidy replied.\n\n\"Bullshit!\" Douglass said, then switched frequencies. \"Blue Group Able, this is Blue Group Leader. Form on me in Position A.\"\n\nThe P-38Fs scattered all over the sky began to turn and to resume their original protective positions over the B-17 stream.\n\nCanidy reached inside his sheepskin jacket, then inside his uniform jacket and came out with a Map, US Army Corps of Engineers: Germany.\n\nIt wasn't an aerial navigation chart, but rather one intended for use by ground troops. It could also be used by a pilot who intended to navigate by flying close enough to the ground and following roads and rivers. Canidy had taken it with him to the final briefing, and copied onto it the course the bomber stream would fly. Once they had joined the bomber stream, over a known location, it was not difficult to plot from that position and time where the head of the bomber stream would be at a given time.\n\nIt wasn't precise, but Canidy had had experience in China navigating with a lot less. He looked at his watch, then scrawled some arithmetic computations on the map. He put a check mark on the map. The way he had it figured, the lead aircraft of the bomber stream was now passing over a relatively unpopulated area of Germany, southeast of Dortmund. He made some more marks on the map, then touched his air-to-air microphone switch.\n\n\"Dawn Patrol Two,\" he called.\n\n\"Go ahead,\" Douglass replied a moment later.\n\n\"There's something I want to see,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Say again?\"\n\n\"I say again, I'm going to have a look at something I want to see,\" Canidy said. \"I'll be back in about two zero minutes.\"\n\n\"Dick, are you all right?\" Douglass asked, the concern in his voice clear even over the clipped tones of the radio.\n\n\"Affirmative,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Permission to leave the formation is denied,\" Douglass said.\n\nCanidy ignored him. He dropped the nose of the P-38F and headed east. He knew that Douglass could not simply ignore his responsibilities as fighter escort commander; so Douglass would not follow him.\n\nCanidy dropped through the bomber stream, more than a little surprised that at least one gunner didn't get excited and take a shot at him. In a P-51 or a P-47, that probably would have happened. But the twin-engine, twin tail boom shape of the P-38F was distinctive. There was no German plane that looked even remotely like it.\n\nWhen he passed through 11,000 feet, he took the oxygen mask from his face and rubbed the marks it had made on his cheeks and nose, and under his chin. He loosened the snaps of the sheepskin jacket. It was cold, but not nearly as bitter cold as it had been at 25,000 feet, nearly five miles up.\n\nHe dropped to 2,000 feet and trimmed it up to cruise at 300 miles per hour. If the air were still, that would have moved him across the ground at five miles per minute. The air wasn't still, of course, but it still helped to have that stored in the back of his mind. He was making, roughly, a mile every twelve seconds.\n\nHis chronometer showed that he had left the formation thirteen minutes before when he found what he was looking for. The River Eder had been dammed near Bad Wildungen, making a lake with a distinctive shape. He passed east of it, far enough so that if there was antiaircraft protecting the dam, he would not be in its range.\n\nHe reset the second counter on the chronometer.\n\nAlmost exactly six minutes later, which would put him thirty miles from the dam, he spotted what had to be the River Lahn. Right, he thought, where it should be.\n\nHe banked sharply to follow the river south, and dropped even lower toward the ground. He would be very vulnerable if he was attacked from behind and above. He was counting on not being detected until he had seen what he had come looking for. He was also counting on the probability that whatever Germans were airborne would be directing their efforts toward the bomber stream and its escorts, rather than trying to look for one lone fighter on the deck.\n\nHe saw first the medieval castle on the hill in Marburg, then he dropped his eyes just ahead of him and to the right.\n\nAnd there it was, the Marburg Werke of Fulmar Elektrische GmbH.\n\nHe retarded his throttle and extended the flaps, and when it was safe, lowered his wheels. Technically, lowering the gear was a sign of surrender. But in order to surrender, there had to be someone to surrender to, and there was no German in sight. He lowered his wheels to slow the P- 38F down. He wanted as good a look as he could get.\n\nHe passed so low and so slow that he thought he could see surprise on the faces of the workmen who were erecting fences and framework for camouflage netting around and over the new, square, windowless concrete block building.\n\nAnd then he was past it. He shoved the throttle ahead and retracted his gear and flaps and pulled back on the stick.\n\nHe wondered if Eric was down there and could hear, or perhaps even see, the American fighter as it climbed steeply into the sky.\n\nHe hadn't seen anything of great significance. And he wasn't even sure that the Germans really intended to use the Marburg facility's electric furnaces to make the special alloy steel parts for their jet-propulsion engines. But it was important that he have a look for himself. Now that he'd done so, he was glad that he had\u2014even if his fund of knowledge was not appreciably greater than it had been.\n\nThe odds were that he would be responsible for mounting a mission against that particular factory. He wanted to know what something that would certainly cost American lives looked like. And he would now be in a position to recommend the path attackers would take. Having been there, he was now an expert.\n\nAs he came out of a cloud layer at 15,000 feet, he saw the bomber stream above him. When he reached 20,000 feet, .50-caliber tracers from several of the bombers began to arc in his direction.\n\nThat was bad, but worse would follow. There was a mob instinct. _If the guy in the next plane is firing at that airplane, maybe he can see something I can't, like Maltese crosses on the wings. Why take a chance?_\n\nCanidy put the P-38F into a steep dive away from the bomber stream, to get out of range, and when he felt safe, he went to 23,000 feet and caught up with the fighter escort. He got there just as a swarm of Messerschmitts based near Frankfurt began their attack, and the fighter formations broke up to repel it. He didn't find Douglass until long after the bombing run, when they were headed home.\n\nWhen he pulled beside him, Douglass took off his glove so there would be no question but that he was giving Canidy the international aviation hand signal known as \"The Finger.\"\n\nThe commanding officer of the 344th Fighter Group went on the air-to-air.\n\n\"You goddamn sonofabitch,\" he said. \"I was worried about you.\"\n\n# **2**\n\n## **EAST RAILWAY STATION BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 1145 HOURS 31 JANUARY 1943**\n\nWhen the Opel Admiral was found parked in the reserved area of the East Railway Station, it quite naturally caused a certain curiosity among the Gestapo agents assigned to the station.\n\nFor one thing, there were few Admirals\u2014which was to the line of Adam Opel GmbH automobiles as Cadillac was to General Motors\u2014around anywhere, and possession of one was a symbol of power and authority. This one, moreover, bore Berlin license plates, a CD (Corps Diplomatique) plate, and affixed to the Berlin license tag where the tax sticker was supposed to go, a sticker signifying that taxes had been waived because the automobile was in the service of the German Reich, and specifically in the service of the SS-SD.\n\nObviously, whoever had parked the car was someone of high importance. The question was just who he was.\n\nFirst things first. Josef Hamm, the ranking Gestapo agent, ordered that the Hungarian railway police be \"requested\" to station a railway policeman to watch the car. If there was one thing known for sure, it was that, whoever the high official was, he would not be at all pleased to return to his car and find that someone had taken a key or a coin and run it along the fenders and doors. There had been a good deal of that, lately. A number of Hungarians took offense at the Hungarian-German alliance generally, and at the large\u2014and growing\u2014presence of German troops and SS in Budapest specifically, and expressed their displeasure in small, nasty ways.\n\nThen Hamm called the security officer at the German embassy and asked whom the car belonged to.\n\n\"It probably belongs to von Heurten-Mitnitz,\" the security officer said. \"That would explain the SD sticker, and he's the type to have an Admiral.\"\n\n\"Who's von Heurten-Mitnitz?\"\n\n\"Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz,\" the security officer said. \"He's the new first secretary.\"\n\n\"How does he rate an SD sticker?\"\n\n\"Because when he's bored with wearing striped pants, he can wear the uniform of a Brigadef\u00fchrer SS-SD,\" the security officer said. \"You could say that von Heurten-Mitnitz is a very influential man. His brother is a great friend of the F\u00fchrer. If you'd like, I can check the license plate number by teletype with Berlin.\"\n\n\"How long would that take?\"\n\n\"Thirty, forty minutes,\" the security officer said.\n\n\"I'll call you back in an hour,\" Josef Hamm said. \"Thank you, Karl.\"\n\nWhen he called back, Hamm was told that von Heurten-Mitnitz did not own the Admiral. It was owned by Standartenf\u00fchrer (Colonel) Johann M\u00fcller, of the SS-SD.\n\n\"Do you think he knows von Heurten-Mitnitz is driving it?\"\n\n\"I think if it was stolen, Josef,\" the security officer said sarcastically, \"they probably would have said something. M\u00fcller is with the F\u00fchrer at Wolf's Lair. Nobody takes a personal car there. So maybe he loaned it to von Heurten-Mitnitz.\"\n\n\"Have you seen this von Heurten-Mitnitz? What's he look like?\"\n\n\"Tall, thin, sharp-featured. Classy dresser. If you're thinking, Josef, of asking von Heurten-Mitnitz what he's doing with M\u00fcller's car, I wouldn't.\"\n\n\"I'm thinking of finding the new First Secretary when he comes back and telling him that if he will be so good, when he leaves his car at the station, as to tell us, we will do our very best to make sure some Hungarian doesn't piss on his engine or write a dirty word on the hood with a pocketknife.\"\n\nThe security officer chuckled. \"You're learning, Josef,\" he said, and then hung up.\n\nJosef Hamm and two of his men were waiting at the end of the platform when the 1705 from Vienna pulled in. The two men positioned themselves at opposite ends of the three first-class cars, and, when one of them spotted a \"tall, sharp-featured, classy dresser\" getting off, he signaled to Josef Hamm by taking off his hat and waving it over his head, as if waving at someone who had come to meet him at the train.\n\nHamm saw that Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz was indeed a classy dresser. He wore a gray Homburg and an overcoat with a fur collar. With him were three people, an Obersturmf\u00fchrer-SS and a man and woman who looked like father and daughter.\n\nWhen they had almost reached the police checkpoint at the end of the platform, Hamm walked around it and up to von Heurten-Mitnitz.\n\n\"Heil Hitler!\" Hamm said, giving a quick, straight-armed salute. Von Heurten-Mitnitz made a casual wave in return.\n\n\"Herr Brigadef\u00fchrer von Heurten-Mitnitz?\" Hamm asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said, but did not smile.\n\n\"Josef Hamm at your service, Herr Brigadef\u00fchrer,\" he said. \"I have the honor to command the Railway Detachment, Gestapo District Budapest.\"\n\n\"What can I do for you, Herr Hamm?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked, obviously annoyed to be detained.\n\n\"First, let me get you past the checkpoint,\" Hamm said.\n\n\"This officer and these people are with me,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\nThe young SS officer raised his hand in a sloppy salute.\n\n\"Make way for the Brigadef\u00fchrer and his party!\" Hamm called out as he led them to and past the checkpoint.\n\n\"Very kind of you,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz mumbled. \"Now, what's on your mind?\"\n\n\"Herr Brigadef\u00fchrer,\" Hamm began, \"if you would be so kind as to notify one of my men whenever you park your car here at the station\u2014\"\n\n\"Why would I want to do that?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz interrupted.\n\n\"\u2014then I can make sure that no one bothers it while you are gone.\"\n\nHelmut von Heurten-Mitnitz looked at Hamm without speaking, but a raised eyebrow asked, What the hell are you talking about?\n\n\"There have been unfortunate incidents, Herr Brigadef\u00fchrer, \" Hamm explained, \"where cars have been . . . _defiled_ . . . by unsavory elements among the Budapest population. Paint scratched. Worse.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz seemed to consider this a moment, and then he smiled.\n\n\"I believe I am beginning to understand,\" he said. \"You saw my car parked, and took the trouble to find out whose it was, and then to meet me. How very obliging of you, Herr Hamm! I am most grateful.\"\n\n\"It was my pleasure, Herr Brigadef\u00fchrer,\" Hamm said.\n\n\"You can do me one other courtesy,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"Please do not use my SS rank when addressing me. The less well known it is in Budapest, the better, if you take my meaning. I also hold the rank of minister.\"\n\n\"That was thoughtless of me, Herr Minister,\" Hamm said. \"I beg the Herr Minister's pardon.\"\n\n\"Don't be silly, my dear Hamm,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"How could you have known?\"\n\n\"Is there any other way in which I can help the Herr Minister?\" Hamm said.\n\n\"I can't think of one,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said after a moment's hesitation. He offered his hand. \"I am touched by your courtesy, Herr Hamm, and impressed with your thoroughness. I shall tell the Ambassador what you've done for me.\"\n\nThey were by then standing beside the Admiral. Hamm opened both doors and, after the father and daughter had gotten into the backseat, closed them. The young SS officer walked around the rear of the car and slipped in beside von Heurten-Mitnitz. Hamm gave another salute, which von Heurten-Mitnitz returned casually, and with a smile, and then Hamm stood back as von Heurten-Mitnitz backed the Admiral out of its parking space.\n\n_All things considered,_ Hamm thought, _I handled that rather well._\n\nWhen they were a few yards from the station, the tall, gray-haired man in the backseat spoke. \"My God, when he stopped you, I thought I was going to faint.\"\n\n\"You really don't faint when you're frightened, Professor, \" the young SS officer said. \"Fear causes adrenaline to flow, and that increases, not decreases, the flow of blood to the brain. Shutting off blood to the brain is what makes you faint.\"\n\n\"Oh, my God!\" the young woman in the backseat said with infinite disgust.\n\nHelmut von Heurten-Mitnitz chuckled.\n\n\"How very American,\" he said.\n\nThe young SS officer carried an identification card that identified him as Obersturmf\u00fchrer-SS Baron von Fulmar, of the personal staff of the Reichsf\u00fchrer-SS. It was a forgery, a very good one. In a safe at Whitbey House, Kent, there was a bona fide identity card issued by the Adjutant General's Office, U.S. Army, identifying him as FULMAR, Eric, 1st Lt., Infantry, Army of the United States.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" the gray-haired man asked. He was Professor Doktor Friedrich Dyer, until two days before of the Metallurgy Department, College of Physics, the University of Marburg. His name was now being circulated over SS-SD and police teletypes. He was being sought for questioning regarding the murder of SS Hauptsturmf\u00fchrer (Captain) Wilhelm Peis. The teletype message said that he was probably accompanied by his daughter Gisella, that it was possible that they would try to flee the country, and that authorities in ports along the English Channel should consequently be on special alert.\n\n\"To Batthyany Palace,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"It's on Holy Trinity Square. Not far from here.\"\n\n\"And what happens there?\" Professor Dyer asked.\n\n\"I don't know about anybody else,\" Fulmar said. \"But I intend to go to work on a bottle of brandy.\"\n\n\"That's not what I meant,\" Professor Dyer snapped.\n\n\"You'll be told what you have to know, Professor,\" Fulmar said, \"when you have to know it. The less you know, the better. I thought I'd made that plain.\"\n\nProfessor Dyer exhaled audibly and slumped against his seat. His daughter flashed a look of contempt at the back of Fulmar's head, and shook her own head in resignation.\n\nBatthyany Palace, directly across Holy Trinity Square from St. Matthias's Church, had been built at approximately the same time (1775-77) as the royal castle (1715-70) atop Castle Hill. Twelve-foot statues of barechested men on the facade appeared to be carrying the upper stories on their shoulders, earning the admiration of ten-foot, large-bosomed granite women twined around pillars at each of three identical double doors.\n\nThe door at the left was a fake. The center door opened into the entrance foyer of the palace, and the door at the right was the carriage entrance. Von Heurten-Mitnitz turned off the square and stopped the Admiral with its nose against the right door and blew the horn. A moment later, one by one, the double doors opened. He drove through, and the doors closed after him.\n\nBeatrice, Countess Batthyany and Baroness von Steighofen, was standing in a vestibule waiting for them. She was a tall, generously built woman in her early thirties. She was wearing a sable coat that reached nearly to her ankles and a matching sable hat under which a good deal of dark red hair was visible. Von Heurten-Mitnitz drove past her into a courtyard, turned around, and returned to the vestibule, where he stopped.\n\nThe Countess went to the rear door and pulled it open.\n\n\"I'm the Countess Batthyany,\" she said. \"Won't you please come in?\"\n\nProfessor Dyer and his daughter got out of the car and, following the direction indicated by the Countess's outstretched hand, walked into the building. The Countess turned to smile at Fulmar. \"And you must be dear cousin Eric,\" she said, dryly. \"How nice to finally meet you.\"\n\nFulmar laughed. \"Hello,\" he said.\n\nShe turned to von Heurten-Mitnitz, who had walked around the front of the car.\n\n\"I see everything turned out all right,\" she said.\n\n\"The Gestapo man at the station personally led us past the checkpoint,\" he said.\n\n\"Oooh,\" she said. \"I suppose you could use a drink.\"\n\n\"I could,\" Fulmar said.\n\nShe turned to look at him again.\n\n\"You look like Manny,\" she said. \"You even sound like him. That terrible Hessian dialect.\"\n\nHe chuckled.\n\n\"Let's hope you are luckier,\" the Countess said as she started into the house.\n\n\"Let's hope there's some of his clothing here, and that it fits,\" Fulmar said. \"Particularly shoes.\"\n\nShe turned and looked at him again, this time appraisingly.\n\n\"You're a little larger than Manny was,\" she said. \"But there should be something. I gather you want to get out of that uniform?\"\n\n\"They're looking for an Obersturmf\u00fchrer who looks like me,\" Fulmar said. \"There was a Gestapo agent at the border who thought he had found him.\"\n\n\"That close?\" she asked.\n\n\"I think it's been smoothed over,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"It was close, but I think it . . . is smoothed over.\"\n\nThe Countess considered what he had said and nodded her head.\n\nHeating the enormous old palace had under the best of circumstances always been difficult. Now, without adequate supplies of coal, it had proved impossible. It wasn't as if she didn't have coal. There were half a dozen coal mines running around the clock on Batthyany property, and she could have all the coal she wanted. The problem was getting the coal from the mines to Batthyany Palace. That required trucks, and she had been allocated one truckload per month. She didn't always get that, and even when she did, one truckload was nowhere near enough to heat the palace.\n\nShe didn't even bother to try to heat the entire lower floor of the palace, nor the two upper floors. They had been shut off with rather ugly and really not very effective wooden barriers over the stairwells. Only the first floor was occupied (in America, the second floor). The Countess was living in a five-room apartment overlooking Holy Trinity Square, but she often thought she might as well be living in the basement for all she got to look at the square. Most of the floor-to-ceiling windows had been timbered over to preserve the heat from the tall, porcelain-covered stoves in the corners of the rooms. The two windows (leading to the balcony over the square and the garden in the rear) that were not covered over with timber were covered with seldom -opened drapes.\n\nThe Dyers, not knowing where to go and looking uncomfortable, waited for the others to catch up with them at the foot of what had been the servants' stairway to the first floor. The Countess went up ahead of them. They came out in the large, elegantly furnished sitting room overlooking the square.\n\nFulmar immediately sat down on a fragile-looking gilded wood Louis XIV sofa and began to pull his black leather boots off.\n\nThe Countess looked askance at him, but von Heurten-Mitnitz sensed there was something wrong.\n\n\"Something wrong with your feet?\" he asked.\n\n\"These goddamned boots are four sizes too small,\" Fulmar said. \"I soaked them with water, but it didn't help a whole hell of a lot.\"\n\nWhen he had the boots off, he pulled a stocking off and, holding his foot in his lap, examined it carefully.\n\n\"Goddamn, look at that!\" he said. The skin was rubbed raw, and was bleeding in several places.\n\nThe Countess walked to the sofa, dropped to her knees, and took the foot in her hand.\n\n\"How did you manage to walk?\" she asked.\n\n\"Why, Cousin,\" Fulmar said, \"I simply considered the alternative.\"\n\n\"You'll have to soak that in brine,\" she said. \"It's the only thing that will help.\"\n\n\"By brine, you mean salt in water?\" he asked, and she nodded.\n\n\"Before we do that, I would like a very large cognac,\" he said, and pulled off the other sock. The other foot was worse. The blood from the sore spots had flowed more copiously, and when it had dried, it had glued the sock to the wounds. He swore as he pulled the stocking off.\n\nThe Countess walked to a cabinet and returned with a large crystal brandy snifter.\n\n\"I'll heat some water,\" she said. \"And make a brine.\"\n\n\"And pickle my feet,\" Fulmar said dryly. \"Thank you, Cousin, ever so much.\"\n\n\"Why do you call her 'cousin'?\" Professor Dyer asked.\n\n\"We are, by marriage,\" the Countess said. \"My late husband and Eric are, or were, cousins.\"\n\n\"Your late husband?\" the professor asked.\n\n\"The professor tends to ask a lot of questions,\" Fulmar said mockingly.\n\n\"My husband, the late Oberstleutnant [Lieutenant Colonel] Baron Manfried von Steighofen, fell for his fatherland on the eastern front,\" the Countess said dryly.\n\n\"And you're doing this?\" the professor asked.\n\n\"It's one of the reasons I'm doing 'this,' my dear Herr Professor,\" the Countess said.\n\n\"And the other?\" Fulmar asked.\n\n\"Is it important?\"\n\n\"I'm curious,\" Fulmar said. \"If I were in your shoes, I would be rooting for the Germans.\"\n\n\"If I thought they had a chance to win, I probably would be,\" she said matter-of-factly. \"But they won't win. Which means that the Communists will come to Budapest. If they don't shoot me, I'll find myself walking the square outside asking strangers if they're looking for a good time.\"\n\n\"Beatrice!\" von Heurten-Mitnitz exclaimed.\n\n\"Face facts, my dear Helmut,\" the Countess said.\n\n\"The flaw in your logic,\" Fulmar said, \"is that you are helping the Russians to come here.\"\n\n\"In which case, I can only hope that you and Helmut will still be alive and in a position to tell the Commissar what a fearless anti-fascist I was,\" she said. \"There's a small chance that would keep them from shooting me out of hand.\" There was a moment's silence, and then she went on. \"What I'm really hoping for is that there will be a coup d'\u00e9tat by people like Helmut against the Bavarian corporal, and in time for whoever takes over to sue for an armistice. If there's an armistice, perhaps I won't lose everything.\"\n\n\"Huh,\" Fulmar grunted.\n\n\"And what has motivated you, my dear Eric,\" the Countess said, \"to do what you're doing?\"\n\nIt was a moment before he replied. \"Sometimes I really wonder,\" he said.\n\nThe Countess nodded, then turned to Gisella Dyer.\n\n\"Would you help me, please?\" she said. \"I made a guly\u00e1s, and if you would help serve it, I'll heat some water to 'pickle' Eric's feet.\"\n\nThe sting of the warm salt water on his feet was not as painful as Eric Fulmar had expected, and he wondered if this was because he was partially anesthetized by the Countess's brandy, or whether his feet were beyond hurting. The guly\u00e1s was delicious, and he decided that was because it was delicious and not because of the cognac\u2014or because they'd had little to eat save lard and dark bread sandwiches since leaving Marburg an der Lahn.\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz waited until they were finished and Fulmar was pouring a little brandy to improve his small, strong cup of coffee, and then he said:\n\n\"I think it would be best if I knew precisely what has happened since you entered Germany, Eric.\"\n\n\"A synopsis would be that everything that could go wrong, did,\" Fulmar said.\n\n\"What about the Gestapo agent? Did you have to kill him?\"\n\n\"I killed him when he opened the luggage that had been left on the train for me,\" Fulmar said matter-of-factly, \"and found the Obersturmf\u00fchrer's uniform. And then the boots didn't fit.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz nodded. \"And in Marburg, was what happened there necessary?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course it was,\" Fulmar said impatiently. \"I don't like scrambling people's brains.\"\n\n\"You could learn some delicacy,\" the Countess said.\n\n\"We are not in a delicate business, Cousin,\" Fulmar said.\n\n\"But that's it? There's nothing else I don't know about?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\nFulmar's hesitation was obvious.\n\n\"What else?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz persisted.\n\n\"I was recognized on the train,\" he said. \"Before I got to Frankfurt. On the way to Marburg.\"\n\n\"By whom?\"\n\nThere was another perceptible hesitation.\n\n\"Christ, I really hate to tell you,\" he said. \"I don't want you playing games with her.\"\n\n\"I think I have to know,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"Fuck you,\" Fulmar said. \"You have to know what I goddamn well decide to tell you.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz stiffened. He was not used to being talked to like that. But he kept control of himself.\n\n\"Someone you knew when you were at Marburg?\" he asked reasonably. And then, when Fulmar remained silent, he added, \"I don't want to sound melodramatic, but I will be here when you are safe in England.\"\n\n\"Tell him, Eric,\" the Countess said. \"As you pointed out, we are not in a delicate business.\"\n\n\"I don't want you trying to use her, you understand me? Her, or her father.\"\n\n\"Who recognized you?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz persisted gently.\n\n\"Elizabeth von Handleman-Bitburg,\" Fulmar said.\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz's eyebrows went up. The Countess looked at him with a question in her eyes.\n\n\"Generaloberst von Handleman-Bitburg's daughter?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\nFulmar nodded.\n\n\"Possibly it's meaningless,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"She met a young Obersturmf\u00fchrer whom she had once known. Was there any reason you think she was suspicious? \"\n\n\"Her father had told her that I was seen in Morocco in an American uniform,\" Fulmar said. \"She knew.\"\n\n\"And what do you think she will tell her father?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"Nothing,\" Fulmar said. \"She won't tell him a thing.\"\n\n\"I wish I shared your confidence,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"The only reason I'm telling you this,\" Fulmar said, \"is because I don't want you to protect your ass by taking her out.\"\n\n\"Telling me what?\"\n\n\"We spent the night together,\" Fulmar said. \"Okay? Get the picture?\"\n\n\"Yes, I think I do,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"If anything happens to her,\" Fulmar said. \"I will . . .\"\n\n\"Don't be childish,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"I was about to say something childish,\" Fulmar said. \"Like I will come back here and kill you myself. But I won't have to do that. All I'll have to do is make sure the Sicherheitsdienst finds out about you.\"\n\n\"My God!\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"I made a mistake in telling you,\" Fulmar said.\n\n\"No, you didn't, Eric,\" the Countess said. She walked to von Heurten-Mitnitz and put her arm in his, then stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. \"Helmut understands that even in the midst of this insanity, people fall in love.\"\n\nFulmar looked through them, then chuckled.\n\n\"Well, I'll be goddamned,\" he said. \"The Merry Widow in the flesh. \"\n**IV**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **THE MAYLAYBALAY-KIBAWE HIGHWAY ISLAND OF MINDANAO COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES 4 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe mountainous center of the island of Mindanao is virtually inaccessible by motor vehicle, and accessible by foot only with great difficulty. It was for that reason that Brigadier General Wendell Fertig Commanding, U.S. Forces in the Philippines, had elected to place his headquarters and the bulk of his force in the mountains: the Japs had a hell of a hard time getting in there, and when they tried it, he was always notified in plenty of time to plan his defensive strategy.\n\nAlmost without exception, that strategy was to evacuate his headquarters and, from positions in the mountainous jungle nearby, observe how close the Japanese had come to finding it.\n\nSo far they had failed, although on occasion they had come across outposts or villages where he had stationed small detachments of his guerrilla force. That was, he knew, a somewhat grandiose manner of describing the six, or eight, or a dozen armed men living in those villages and earning their support from the villagers by working in the fields.\n\nWhen the Japanese had proof (or strongly suspected) that a village was harboring guerrillas, they burned it to the ground. They would have shot the village leaders, had they caught them, but the villagers\u2014men, women, and children, as well as the guerrillas\u2014invariably found safety in the surrounding jungle when Japanese appeared.\n\n_Pour l'encouragement de les autres,_ the elders of several villages that had not been housing guerrillas had been shot, and their villages burned down by the Japanese. The result of this had been to increase the number of natives willing to support U.S. forces in the Philippines. The remaining men would have been happy to enlist in USFIP, but Fertig had neither food to feed them nor arms with which to equip them.\n\nThe Japanese had quickly learned, too, that their expeditions into the mountains were very expensive\u2014and did little good. They were almost always engaged by Fertig's guerrillas. Not in pitched battles, not even in situations that could be considered an armed engagement. Although Fertig liked to think that he was doing to the Japanese what the Minutemen had done to the English on their way back from Concord\u2014causing them serious harm by attacking their formations with accurate rifle fire from the surrounding forests\u2014all he was really able to do was harass the Japanese patrols.\n\nWhen it was absolutely safe to do so\u2014in the sense that there was a sure escape route into the impenetrable jungle\u2014and when there was an absolutely sure target, two or three or half a dozen shots would ring out from the jungle, and one or two or three sweating Japanese soldiers marching along a trail would be killed or wounded.\n\nWith some exceptions\u2014there were some guerrillas who had as much as one hundred rounds of ammunition, which they were unwilling to share), most of Fertig's troops had no more than twenty-five rounds of ammunition for their Model 1917 Enfield .30-06-caliber rifles, or their Arisaka 7.7mm-caliber captured Japanese rifles, or their Winchester or Savage hunting rifles, or their Browning and Remington shotguns.\n\nFertig's guerrillas were not equipped to engage Japanese forces in battle.\n\nBefore long, the Japanese, who were not fools, had for all practical purposes abandoned their expeditions into the mountains. Fertig wasn't posing any bona fide military threat to their occupation. He was contained. And they could live with him until such time as the Filipinos came to understand that it was in their best interest to cooperate with the Japanese, to enter willingly into the Japanese Greater Co-Prosperity Sphere. At that point, they would stop feeding and supporting Fertig's guerrillas, and the threat would be over.\n\nThe Japanese had turned to winning the hearts and minds of the people. Propaganda detachments, protected by company-size detachments of riflemen, began to visit villages on the periphery of Fertig's mountainous jungle area of operations. The propaganda detachments carried with them 16mm motion picture projectors and generators and gifts of food and candy. They would set up a screen and show Charlie Chaplin and Bugs Bunny motion pictures, along with newsreels of the fall of Singapore, and of Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright surrendering to General Homma, and of long lines of American soldiers\u2014 hands in the air in surrender\u2014entering Japanese captivity.\n\nAnd then there would be a speech, or speeches, most often by Filipinos already convinced that the future of the Philippine people lay with their Japanese brothers. The speeches would invariably contain sarcastic references to General Fertig and his so-called U.S. forces in the Philippines.\n\n_Where were they? If they hadn't already died of starvation, hiding out like rats in the jungle, why weren't they attacking the Japanese?_\n\nGeneral Fertig was aware of the problem, and aware that it had to be dealt with. With some reluctance, he had concluded that the only way to deal with it was by doing exactly what he believed he was probably incapable of doing: engaging a Japanese company-strength unit in a battle. A battle in which there would be a winner and a loser, not just a dozen shots fired from concealment in the jungle.\n\nThe Japanese cooperated in two ways that helped Fertig's plans. First, they were methodical. Their propaganda detachments had a schedule. And Fertig obtained a copy of it from a Filipino woman who had been employed by the Japanese as a typist. Secondly, when it had become apparent to the Japanese that Fertig was unwilling to attack the propaganda detachment convoys, they had grown a little careless.\n\nWhen the first convoys had gone out, fully expecting to be attacked, they had moved slowly and with great caution. They had sent a point ahead and they were prepared to fight at any moment. Now, as a general rule of thumb, the troops in the trucks did their best to sleep when they were on the road. Their officers indulged them, for they believed that if Fertig were going to attack, he would do so at night. The way to preclude that was to establish a strong perimeter guard. That required the use of wide-awake soldiers. It was better that the troops get what sleep they could when they could, so they would be wide-awake guards at night.\n\nTwo highways crossed the main portion of the island of Mindanao, both running north-south, one to the west of the mountains, the other to the east. There was no highway running east-west through the mountains. The terrain was difficult, construction would be practically impossible, and there was no economic justification to build such highways.\n\nThe place Fertig picked for the attack on the convoy was almost exactly equidistant between Maylaybalay and Kibawe on the highway that crossed Mindanao to the west of the mountains. The nearest Japanese reinforcements would be twenty-three miles north in Maylaybalay, or twenty-one miles south in Kibawe. In one possible scenario\u2014where one of the trucks would escape the ambush and run for help\u2014it would be anywhere from an hour and a half to two hours before Japanese reinforcements could reach the ambush location.\n\nIn another\u2014and much worse\u2014possible scenario, they would not be able to totally overwhelm the Japanese in twenty minutes. In that scenario, the Japanese troops would be equipped with both machine guns and mortars. If they were not able to knock out the mortars and machine guns in the first minute or two of the ambush, overwhelming the Japanese would be difficult and time-consuming.\n\nAnd overwhelming the Japanese quickly was absolutely necessary. The initial attack would consume a great percentage of available ammunition, including their entire stock of fourteen fragmentation hand grenades. Fertig's only possible source of resupply was from the bodies of vanquished Japanese. There would be no question of breaking off the attack and making for the mountains. And the longer it took to overwhelm the Japanese, the more time they would have to defend themselves, which meant the more ammunition they would expend, and the less there would be for the guerrillas to capture.\n\nThere were other problems, of course. For one thing, statistically\u2014and this was not a reflection on the Filipinos' loyalty generally\u2014he had to assume that several of his troops were in Japanese service. A father, or a wife, or a child was in Japanese \"protection,\" with the understanding that as soon as proof came of the \"loyalty\" of the guerrilla the father or wife or child would be released. Loyalty could be proved by getting word to the Japanese of where and when there would be an ambush of Japanese forces, or where and when Fertig or one of his senior officers could be found.\n\nIt was not black and white. The same guerrilla who would decide that his greater loyalty lay to his family, and that therefore he should let the Japanese know where they could find Fertig, could more often than not be counted upon to be willing to lay his life on the line sniping at a Japanese patrol.\n\nWhat this situation required was keeping secret the actual place and time of the planned attack until virtually the last minute, so that the guerrilla with a member of his family in Japanese \"protection\" would not have the opportunity to communicate with the Japanese.\n\nTo assemble the 120-150-man force he considered the optimum for the ambush of the propaganda detachment, therefore, Fertig had to pick several sites within two hours' march of the ambush site. In the event, he picked five different sites, then sent word by runner to various guerrilla cells\u2014numbering in the aggregate just over two hundred men\u2014to assemble into five larger groups at the designated sites.\n\nHis experience had taught him that about sixty percent of the guerrillas summoned would appear at the designated site at the proper time.\n\nFive hours before the propaganda detachment and its company of guards was scheduled to reach the ambush site, a second group of runners was sent to the five assembly areas, bearing orders for the men to come to the final assembly point. From the moment the runners reached the five sites, it was presumed that anyone leaving intended to betray the troops to the Japanese. If someone ran and it was impossible to capture him, the operation would be called off, and the guerrillas would disperse. If someone ran and was caught, he would be beheaded. Beheading with a heavy, razor-sharp machete was supposed to be more or less painless, and it did not expend ammunition.\n\nOne hour before the Japanese were to pass the ambush site, the last group of guerrillas arrived. No one had disappeared, or tried to. The force now totaled 136 men; and two of the guerrillas, formerly Philippine Scouts, had brought with them BARs\u2014Browning Automatic Rifles\u2014and seven loaded magazines.\n\nFertig was of two minds about using the BARs. They were splendid weapons, and God knew his troops needed something to counter the Japanese Namimba machine guns the guards would certainly have. But he had only seventy rounds per gun\u2014three and a half magazines. And every round that ripped through the BARs with such speed could be fired one at a time from an Enfield in sniping fire, where the kill-per-cartridge rate was so much more effective.\n\nIn the end, he decided that the more fire expended at the beginning of the assault, the sooner the Japanese would be overwhelmed, and thus the more ammunition could be taken from their bodies.\n\nFertig then explained the tactics of the attack, which were very simple.\n\nThe force would be divided into two elements, with two-thirds of the force close to one side of the road. From there a devastating fire could be delivered at close range. The second element, commanded by Fertig and consisting of the remaining third of the force, with both BARs and ten of the fourteen fragmentation grenades, would be on the opposite side of the road.\n\nOn signal, which would be when Fertig and a former Philippine Scout opened fire with their Enfield rifles on the driver of the first vehicle in the convoy, the smaller force would bring BAR fire to bear on the trucks carrying the troops. Other riflemen would disable the last truck in the convoy, preferably by killing its driver.\n\nAt this point, Fertig authorized the throwing of one\u2014 only\u2014fragmentation grenade at each troop-carrying truck.\n\nThe Japanese convoy would thus be immobilized, and it was to be hoped that many, if not most, of the truck-borne troops would be killed before they exited the trucks.\n\nSome, of course, would survive. Most, Fertig believed, would exit toward the ditch and forest opposite the direction from which they had been attacked.\n\nThey would then present themselves as targets to the bulk of the ambush force. Meanwhile, the third of the force that had opened the attack would rapidly divide itself in half, half going to the head of the convoy, and half to the tail. This would get them out of the line of fire of the larger ambush force and leave them in a position to fire upon any Japanese from the sides.\n\nFertig did his best to impress upon his men the absolute necessity of aimed fire. They were dangerously short of ammunition, and there was absolutely no excuse for a guerrilla to fall from a bullet fired by another guerrilla.\n\nEveryone seemed to accept his reasoning. But Fertig knew that even the most phlegmatic of people got excited once the crack of small-arms fire filled the air. And by no stretch of the imagination could his force be called at all phlegmatic.\n\nIn the engagement that followed, the ambush force of United States forces in the Philippines, Brigadier General W. W. Fertig commanding, triumphed over the 1104th Army Information Detachment and Company 3, 505th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Japanese Army. There were no Japanese survivors.\n\nUSFIP suffered eleven dead (including the Philippine Scout who had opened the engagement at General Fertig's side, and of whom he had been extraordinarily fond) and thirty-six wounded. Of the thirty-six wounded, twenty would subsequently die. USFIP had virtually no medical supplies.\n\nThe Japanese, once they overcame their initial surprise, had fought gallantly and well. It was more than half an hour before the last of them had died for his Emperor. By the time the engagement was over, the Japanese had expended a large part of their ammunition.\n\nOn balance, USFIP had more weapons after the ambush than before, including two 60mm mortars and sixty rounds for them, several Nambu pistols, nearly two hundred Arisaka rifles, and one Namimba machine gun. Countering this increase was the expenditure of .30-06 ammunition and hand grenades. An Enfield or a BAR without .30-06 ammunition is simply a finely machined piece of steel, not a weapon. And the Japanese had expended all of their hand grenades before they were overwhelmed, the last dozen of them as instruments of suicide.\n\nJust before he disappeared back into the jungle, General Fertig took a last look at the carnage on the highway.\n\nThe Japanese, if for no other reason than to save face, would rush reinforcements up here. Patrols would be sent into the jungle.\n\nThere would be an opportunity for other ambushes, perhaps not as overwhelmingly successful as this one, but successful enough to kill many Japanese, to force the Japanese to expend fuel and manpower on one patrol after another\u2014 and to lose face.\n\nThere was a caveat. To conduct other ambushes, he would need ammunition. He had come out of the ambush with only marginally greater stocks of ammunition than he had going in, and that was for the Japanese Arisaka rifles, not the Enfields and the BARs.\n\nHe turned and entered the jungle. He would now go back into hiding.\n\n_How the hell can I wage a war if they won't supply me with what I need? Supply me with what I need? The sons-ofbitches won't even talk to me!_\n\n# **2**\n\n## **THE HOUSE ON Q STREET, NORTHWEST WASHINGTON, D.C. 4 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nChief Ellis found Captain James M. B. Whittaker in the billiards room in the basement. There were two tables in the darkly paneled room: a standard English billiards table, and a somewhat smaller pocket billiards table. Whittaker was alone at the smaller table.\n\n\"Anchors aweigh, Chief,\" Whittaker said, looking up from the table when he saw Ellis. He had carefully arranged balls at the lip of each of the pockets on the table. What he was trying to do was sink as many of them as he could with one shot.\n\nEllis waited until he had made the shot\u2014sinking four of the six balls\u2014before replying.\n\n\"I hear you've been a bad boy again, Captain Whittaker, \" Ellis said.\n\n\"Was Baker waiting for you when you got back?\" Whittaker asked, and then, before Ellis could reply, he asked, \"Who's your friend?\"\n\nEllis had with him a Navy white hat, a small man made to look even smaller by his waist-length Navy blue peacoat. He wore round-framed GI glasses. He looked, Whittaker thought, like a Sea Scout.\n\n\"Radioman Second Joe Garvey, say hello to Captain Jim Whittaker,\" Ellis said.\n\nThe sailor snatched off his white hat and came to attention.\n\n\"How do you do, Sir?\" he asked.\n\n\"Poorly, now that you ask,\" Whittaker said, smiling at him. \"Didn't your mother warn you to avoid evil companions when you joined the Navy?\"\n\nThen he saw that his joke had fallen flat and that the young sailor was uncomfortable, not amused. Whittaker came quickly around the pool table and, smiling, offered his hand.\n\n\"Hello, Garvey,\" he said. \"If you're with Chief Ellis, you must be somebody special. I'm happy to meet you.\"\n\nGarvey shook his hand and smiled uneasily.\n\n\"You ever know somebody named Fertig?\" Ellis asked.\n\nWhittaker thought it over. \"There is a faint tinkle of the bell of memory,\" he said.\n\n\"In the Philippines?\"\n\n\"I put that together,\" Whittaker said, \"but that's as far as it goes. Is there some reason I should know him?\"\n\n\"He's still in the Philippines,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"Poor sonofabitch,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Garvey's been talking to him on the radio,\" Ellis said.\n\nWhittaker's face fit up with curiosity.\n\n\"He's in the mountains of Mindanao,\" Ellis said. \"He says there's an army sergeant named Withers with him.\"\n\n\"I knew a guy named Withers over there,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"You want to find out if it's the same one?\" Ellis said.\n\n\"I don't think this is just idle curiosity on your part,\" Whittaker said.\n\nEllis shrugged.\n\n\"How could we do that?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"You got time to take a ride over to the Navy commo facility in Virginia?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"You're starting to act like Captain Douglass,\" Whittaker said. \"You answer questions with another question.\"\n\n\"Well, I don't 'manifest a belligerent and uncooperative attitude,' \" Ellis said.\n\n\"Is that what that sonofabitch said?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"There was more,\" Ellis said. \"There was something about 'subjecting a trainee to a humiliating public display of affection.' Two pages, single spaced.\"\n\n\"Has the Colonel seen it?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"Not yet,\" Ellis said. \"I intercepted it. I can lose it, but Baker's going to expect some kind of a reply, so you better start thinking about that. And about the fact that the Colonel thinks you're in Virginia running around in the woods.\"\n\n\"Hmmm,\" Whittaker said, considering that.\n\n\"You want to take a run over to Virginia?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"Nothing would give me greater pleasure,\" Whittaker said. He turned to put the pool cue in its rack. \"We'll have lunch on the way,\" he said. \"I want to go to that three-for-a -quarter hamburger place.\"\n\n\"White Castle?\" Ellis asked incredulously.\n\n\"White Castle,\" Whittaker confirmed happily. \"And eat a dollar's worth, with a large fries and a Dr Pepper.\"\n\n\"Maybe Baker's right,\" Ellis said. \"He says he thinks you may be crazy.\"\n\n\"In that case, you can buy your own hamburgers,\" Whittaker said as he took his tunic from a bentwood coatrack.\n\nAn hour and a half later, a lieutenant commander signed them into his log, then took them past a Marine MP guarding access to a gray painted steel door with RADIO ROOM\u2014 POSITIVELY NO UNAUTHORIZED VISITORS painted on it.\n\nThe officer on watch, a young lieutenant j.g. with a blond crew cut, got up from his desk and walked to meet them.\n\n\"These people wish to use one of your transmitters,\" the lieutenant commander said. \"They have their own operator. \"\n\n\"Sir?\" the j.g. asked, not sure he had heard correctly.\n\n\"We'd like to use that Collins, Lieutenant,\" Chief Ellis said, nodding his head toward one of a row of transmitters lining the wall.\n\nThe j.g. looked at the lieutenant commander for instructions. Strange people coming into the transmitter room was unusual; it was absolutely out of the lieutenant's experience that they should be given access to the equipment.\n\n\"Do it, Mr. Fenway,\" the lieutenant commander said.\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" the j.g. said, and motioned Garvey to follow him. He led him to a small cubicle holding a telegrapher's key, a typewriter, and a control panel. Garvey, still wearing his peacoat, pulled up a chair and reached for a set of earphones.\n\nHe tapped the key tentatively, then adjusted set screws on its base and tried it again. He rolled paper into the typewriter, then tuned both the receiver and the transmitter.\n\nThen he started to tap the key.\n\nEllis and Whittaker walked and stood behind him, and looked over his shoulder.\n\n\"All they've got is an old M94,\" Ellis said. \"There's no sense even trying to encrypt. We're talking in the clear.\"\n\n\"I have no idea what you're talking about,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"It's a coding device,\" Ellis explained. \"But we have to presume the Japs got at least one of them.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"When we raise them, you're going to have to think of some way to find out if this Withers guy is the one you were with, and do it so the Japs will be as confused as possible. \"\n\n\"Ask him if he still has the watch,\" Whittaker said. \"Call him Sergeant Boomboom. Sign it, Polo.\"\n\nGarvey's fingers flew over the typewriter keys. It was an automatic reaction to what he had heard in his earphones. Ellis and Whittaker looked at what he had typed:\n\nMFS FOR KGS BY\n\n\"Send 'For Sergeant BoomBoom,' \" Ellis ordered, \" 'Have you got the watch. Signed Polo.' \"\n\nGarvey tapped the message out with his key.\n\n\"What's with the watch?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"I gave him my watch, just before I left,\" Whittaker said.\n\nThere was a long wait before Garvey started typing again.\n\nMFS FOR KGS AFFIRMATIVE WHERE POLO MFS BY\n\n\"Send 'Polo Washington,' \" Whittaker ordered. \" 'Where Scarface.' \"\n\nMFS FOR KGS SCARFACE EVERYBODY HERE MFS BY\n\n\"Send 'Send Third Letter Scarface Last Name,' \" Whittaker ordered.\n\nMFS FOR KGS VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV MSF BY\n\n\"Send 'Glad You All Made It,' \" Whittaker said.\n\nMFS FOR KGS FOR POLO FROM SCARFACE VAYA CON DIOS MFS BY\n\n\"Send,\" Whittaker began, and then his voice broke, and when Ellis turned to look at him, he saw tears running down his cheeks.\n\n\"Send,\" Whittaker went on, \" 'Hold On. The Twenty-sixth Will Ride Again. God Bless You All. Polo.' \"\n\nMFS FOR KGS MFS OUT\n\nCaptain James M. B. Whittaker, rather loudly, blew his nose. When he spoke, he had his voice under control.\n\n\" 'Scarface' is Master Sergeant Victor Alvarez, late of the Twenty-sixth Cavalry, Philippine Scouts. He was in the habit of calling Sergeant Withers 'Sergeant BoomBoom' because Withers blew things up.\"\n\n\"Clandestine station in the Philippines?\" the lieutenant commander asked. Whittaker nodded. \"Poor bastards!\"\n\n\"Thank you for your assistance, Commander,\" Whittaker said formally. \"Let's get out of here, Ellis.\"\n\nWhen they got in the Buick Roadmaster, Ellis reached into the glove compartment and came out with a pint bottle of Old Overholt. He handed it to Whittaker.\n\n\"Good for the sinuses,\" he said.\n\n\"I wish I had gone with you to Warm Springs, Ellis,\" Whittaker said tensely. \"It would have given me a chance to ask Uncle Franklin why the hell we have abandoned those guys.\"\n\n\"I suppose that's why the Colonel wanted you to run around in the woods in Virginia,\" Ellis said. \"Every time you tell off your uncle Franklin, he has to pick up the pieces.\"\n\n\"And what, exactly, he plans to do about it,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"You might as well hear this now,\" Ellis said. \"They asked for money. There is Army brass, both here and in Australia, who are against it, because they think the Japs are using those people . . . what the Colonel calls 'turned agents.' \"\n\n\"How much did they ask for?\" Whittaker asked.\n\nEllis thought it was a strange question, but told him.\n\n\"A million, in gold, gold coins, for openers.\"\n\n\"They say what for?\"\n\n\"We're talking in the clear, Captain,\" Ellis said. \"You can't expect them to offer details.\"\n\n\"When can I get to see the Colonel?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"He said that I should go to Virginia and pick you up and see if we could raise MFS,\" Ellis said. \"I think he wanted to see if you thought they were being controlled by the Japs. To answer your question, Captain, that's where we're going now.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 4 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nColonel William J. Donovan was in civilian clothing: a well-cut, double-breasted Glen plaid suit, a crisp white shirt, and a red-and-blue finely patterned necktie. He looked, Whittaker thought, like a successful lawyer about to sue Chrysler or DuPont for a lot of money.\n\nWhen Whittaker entered the office, Donovan walked around his desk with his hand extended, and then the handshake gave way to a quick embrace.\n\n\"Good to see you, Jimmy,\" he said. \"How did you find the place in Virginia?\"\n\n\"I'd been there before,\" Jimmy said. \"And Staley drew a map. No problem.\"\n\n\"Why do I suspect you purposely misunderstood me?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"You mean 'what did I think of the place'?\"\n\nDonovan nodded.\n\n\"Baker and I crossed swords again,\" Whittaker said. \"He seems to feel I 'manifested a belligerent and uncooperative attitude.' I also 'subjected a trainee to public humiliation.' \"\n\n\"Oh, Jimmy,\" Donovan said, both angry and resigned. \"What the hell was that all about?\"\n\n\"Well, the belligerent and uncooperative attitude is something that seems to happen when I get in the same room with Baker,\" Whittaker said. \"It seems to be contagious. Canidy has the same thing happen to him.\"\n\n\"We're talking about you, not Dick Canidy,\" Donovan said. \"What happened with the trainee? What was he doing so wrong you felt you had to humiliate him?\"\n\n_\"Her,\"_ Whittaker corrected him. \"I kissed _her._ \"\n\n\"Cynthia?\" Donovan asked. Whittaker nodded. \"I don't know why I'm smiling,\" Donovan added. \"I'm sure she didn't think it was funny. You'll notice that I am assuming she didn't want to be kissed.\"\n\n\"That girl doesn't know what she wants,\" Whittaker said. \"For example, she has some absurd notion that she wants to go operational. When I saw her, she was all dressed up in fatigues and carrying a Springfield at port arms. I found her irresistible. I wonder what a psychiatrist would make of that?\"\n\n\"You made your peace with Baker?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"I left,\" Whittaker said. \"He's probably still mad.\"\n\n\"You left?\" Donovan asked, confused. \"You mean, when Ellis came for you?\"\n\n\"I left about thirty minutes after I got there,\" Whittaker said. \"I've been at the house.\"\n\n\"I left orders that you were to be taken out there,\" Donovan said coldly.\n\n\"Staley told me,\" Whittaker said. \"He was pretty insistent. \"\n\nDonovan looked at him coldly, waiting for a further explanation.\n\n\"I could offer some excuse, like I would probably have broken Baker's arms if I stayed, but the real reason I left was that Baker was acting as if he was controlling me.\"\n\n\"That's what he's paid to do,\" Donovan said sharply.\n\n\"I don't know what you've got planned for me, why I'm here and not in Australia, but if it means that Baker is my control, you're going to have to get yourself another boy.\"\n\n\"You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, Jim,\" Donovan said. \"And this is one of them. Just who the hell do you think you're talking to?\"\n\nWhittaker's reply came a long moment later.\n\n\"I know I'm talking to the head of the OSS,\" he said. \"Not Uncle Bill, who used to bounce me on his knee. I'm not asking for any special treatment. I don't know what my alternatives are, but whatever they are, I'll take them, rather than go anywhere with him as my control.\"\n\nDonovan glared at him.\n\n\"You have a reason for feeling that way, I presume?\"\n\n\"There are two kinds of controls,\" Whittaker said. \"Both profess great sadness when somebody gets bagged. One kind means it. Baker is the other kind. Baker is too willing to accept risks with somebody else's life. He sees 'the big picture' much too clearly.\"\n\nThey locked eyes for a moment, and then Donovan asked, \"Did Ellis mention anything about dinner tonight?\"\n\nThe question surprised Whittaker.\n\n\"No,\" he said. \"He didn't.\" Then he thought a moment. \"Don't tell me I'm to have dinner with Baker?\"\n\n\"Not with Baker,\" Donovan said. And then, when he was sure in his own mind that Ellis hadn't said anything about the dinner and that Whittaker in fact did not know, he added, \"With the President.\"\n\n\"Oh?\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"There will be no repetition, nothing remotely resembling a repetition of what happened the last time you had dinner with him,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"I was a little crazy the last time,\" Whittaker said. \"And I don't want to find myself locked up in a loony bin again.\"\n\n\"You take my point,\" Donovan said evenly.\n\nWhittaker nodded. \"Is dinner his idea, or yours?\" he asked.\n\n\"His idea,\" Donovan said. \"But when I told him you were in Washington, I was pretty sure he'd want to see you.\"\n\n\"You're being devious again,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Trust me, Jimmy,\" Donovan said, smiling.\n\n\" _You,_ I trust,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Ellis has some dossiers, and some other material, I want you to look at,\" Donovan said. \"By the time you're finished, I should be finished here; and we can go over to the house.\"\n\nThe President of the United States traveled from 1600 Pennsylvania to Embassy Row in a four-car convoy: There was a District of Columbia police car with flashing red lights; then a black Chevrolet full of Secret Service agents; a 1939 Packard limousine (not _the_ presidential limousine); and finally another Chevrolet packed with Secret Service agents.\n\nThe gate in the wall was already open when the convoy arrived. The police car and the tailing Secret Service car pulled to the curb and stopped. The lead Secret Service car and the Packard drove through the gate, which closed immediately after them.\n\nWhen the two cars stopped, two burly Secret Service agents half trotted to the limousine. One of them reached in and swung the President's feet outward. Then he hauled him from the car and erect. Then he and the other agent, with an ease born of practice, made a cradle of their locked arms and carried him to and up the kitchen stairs. By the time they got there, a third Secret Service agent had taken a collapsible wheelchair from the trunk of the Chevrolet, trotted with it to the kitchen, and had it unfolded and waiting when the President was carried to it.\n\n\"One of you,\" the President of the United States said, \"smells of something that didn't come out of an after-shave bottle. 'My Sin'?\"\n\nThe burly Secret Service agent now pushing the wheelchair chuckled.\n\n\"No comment, Mr. President,\" he said.\n\nThe other agent trotted ahead and pushed open doors until he reached the double sliding doors to the library, both of which he slid open.\n\n\"Is this the place with the booze?\" the President asked as he was rolled in.\n\nDonovan and Whittaker, who had been sitting on identical couches at right angles to a carved sandstone fireplace, stood up.\n\n\"Good evening, Mr. President,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"That'll be all, Casey,\" the President said. \"If I need it, the Colonel can push me around.\"\n\nThe Secret Service agent left the room, closing the double doors carefully behind him.\n\n\"Well, Jimmy,\" the President said. \"You look a hell of a lot better than the last time I saw you.\"\n\n\"Good whiskey and fast women, Uncle Frank,\" Whittaker said.\n\nHe went to Roosevelt and offered his hand. Roosevelt ignored it. He gripped his arms with both hands, and with strength that always surprised Whittaker, forced his body down so that his face was level with Roosevelt's. Roosevelt studied him intently for a moment, and then, nodding his head in approval, let him go.\n\n\"Chesty would be very proud of you,\" the President said. \"I am.\"\n\nHe let that sink in a moment, then changed the tone. \"I had a letter from Jimmy,\" he said. \"You know about Jimmy?\" James Roosevelt, the President's eldest son, was commissioned in the USMC. He was second in command of the Marine Raiders in the Pacific.\n\n\"Somebody talked him into joining the Marines,\" Whittaker said. \"I thought he was smarter than that.\"\n\nRoosevelt laughed heartily.\n\n\"I think he was taken with the uniform,\" he said. \"Anyway, he asked about you.\"\n\n\"Give him my regards,\" Whittaker said.\n\nDonovan handed the President a martini glass.\n\n\"I think you'll like that, Franklin,\" he said. \"Basically, it's frozen gin.\"\n\nRoosevelt sipped the martini and nodded his approval.\n\nRoosevelt asked about England, first generally, and then specifically about David Bruce, the OSS Chief of Station in London, and finally about Canidy.\n\n\"Your friend Canidy's all right?\"\n\n\"Just fine,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"I'm sorry that Bill and I can't tell you why, Jimmy,\" Roosevelt said, \"but that Congo mission the two of you flew was of great importance.\"\n\n\"I thought it probably was of enormous importance,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Why did you think that?\" Roosevelt asked. His famous smile was just perceptibly strained.\n\n\"The airplane Canidy and I flew was a brand-new C-46, fitted out like the Taj Mahal, and intended to fly Navy brass around the Pacific.\"\n\n\"Nothing is too good for our boys in the OSS,\" Roosevelt joked, exchanging a quick glance with Donovan.\n\nThe mission, ordered by Roosevelt himself, had been to bring ten tons of bagged ore from Kolwezi in the Katanga Province of the Belgian Congo. Only four people\u2014the President; Donovan; Capt. Peter Douglass, Donovan's deputy; and Brig. General Leslie R. Groves, director of something called \"The Manhattan Project\"\u2014knew that the ore was uraninite. The Manhattan Project was intended, in the great secret of the Second World War, to refine the uraninite into uranium 235, and from the uranium 235 to construct a bomb, an \"atomic bomb\" that would have the explosive equivalent of twenty thousand tons of TNT.\n\nRoosevelt's, and Donovan's, great fear was that the Germans, among whose scientists were some of the greatest physicists in the world, and who were known to be conducting their own nuclear research, would learn of the American effort and increase their own research effort. Whoever could produce the first nuclear weapons would win the war.\n\n\"Canidy,\" Donovan said very quickly, to shut off any possibility that Whittaker\u2014now that he'd made his little joke\u2014might ask why it was of great importance and that the President just might tell him, \"shot down two German fighters, Messerschmitts, near Dortmund three days ago.\"\n\n\"Good for him!\" the President said, pleased to change the subject.\n\n\"Bad for him,\" Donovan said. \"He's not supposed to be flying missions as a fighter pilot.\"\n\n\"He must have had his reasons,\" Whittaker said loyally.\n\n\"You and Dick always have your reasons,\" Donovan said dryly.\n\n\"Come on, Bill,\" the President said. \"You're just jealous. I'm sure that you would rather be in the field with a regiment than doing what you're doing.\"\n\n\"I do what I'm told,\" Donovan said. \"And I naively expect people who work for me to do what they're told.\"\n\n\"Did I hear a subtle reprimand?\" Whittaker asked. \"Or is that just my guilty conscience?\"\n\n\"Well, Jimmy, what have you been doing that you shouldn't?\" Roosevelt asked.\n\nDonovan walked to Roosevelt and topped off the President's martini from a heavy crystal mixer.\n\n\"Not doing what he should have been doing, Franklin,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"What was that?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"Learning how to get into a rubber boat from a submarine, \" Donovan said.\n\n\"Why would I want to do that?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"Scheduled Pan American service to the Philippines has been temporarily suspended,\" Donovan said. \"A submarine's the only way we know to get you into the Philippines.\"\n\n\"Is that where I'm going?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"That hasn't been decided yet,\" the President said coldly. \"Whether you or anybody else is going into the Philippines.\"\n\n\"Now that you mention it, Uncle Frank . . .\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"I don't think I'm going to like it, Jim,\" Roosevelt said. \"But finish that.\"\n\n\"Why have we abandoned the people in the Philippines? \" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"What makes you think we have?\" Roosevelt replied, just a little indignantly. He was not used to having his decisions questioned by anyone. \"There was simply no way to reinforce MacArthur before the Japanese overwhelmed him, and there is simply no way, at this time, that we can consider an invasion. It's just too far away, and we just don't have the logistical capability.\"\n\n\"I'm talking about the guerrillas,\" Whittaker said. \"The people who haven't quit. The ones in the mountains.\"\n\nIt was a moment before Roosevelt replied.\n\n\"I was about to say, Jim, that you are emotionally involved, and that unfortunately I can't always do what my emotions tell me I should. But then it occurred to me that you have a greater right to be emotionally involved than most people. So I will not change the subject. The answer to your question is that the best advice I can get is that there are no guerrillas. I tend to place faith in that advice, because it comes to me from Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall, and it is the first thing I can think of that they have agreed upon since 1935.\"\n\n\"There are at least ten guerrillas, Uncle Frank,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"How can you possibly know that?\"\n\n\"I talked to them on the radio this afternoon,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"You did?\"\n\n\"I did,\" Whittaker said.\n\nRoosevelt looked at Donovan.\n\n\"You arranged that, Bill? He's talking about this self-appointed general . . . what's the name?\"\n\n\"Fertig,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"Fertig,\" Roosevelt repeated. \"Jim,\" he said kindly, \"it is the opinion of everybody but Bill Donovan that the Japanese, for whatever reason, are using prisoners, attempting something. Most likely, that they hope to get us to send them a million dollars in gold by submarine. Whereupon, they will take the million dollars and sink the submarine.\"\n\n\"Uncle Frank, I talked on the radio this afternoon with two of _my_ men.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, 'your' men?\"\n\n\"When MacArthur ordered me from Luzon to Corregidor, I gave my wristwatch to my sergeant, a guy named George Withers. And I told him when Luzon fell, he should make his way, him and the Philippine Scouts I had, to Mindanao. I talked to him and to one of the Philippine Scouts this afternoon. They're on Mindanao and waiting for help.\"\n\n\"And they said what their Japanese captors told them to say.\"\n\n\"There is no way the Japanese could know what they used to call me and I used to call them,\" Whittaker said. \"They're on Mindanao, and they're free, and God damn it, we have a duty to help them.\"\n\n\"You mean, send them the million dollars?\"\n\n\"And a radio, and quinine, and ammunition,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"They _have_ a radio,\" Roosevelt said. \"You talked to them.\"\n\n\"They need an encryption device,\" Whittaker said. \"So the Japs won't be able to listen in.\"\n\n\"Bill?\" the President asked.\n\n\"We need to send somebody in there who can separate fact from fantasy, and then come out armed with facts on which further decisions can be made,\" Donovan said. \"The basic fact of guerrilla warfare is that one guerrilla can tie down at least seven troops. . . .\"\n\n\"So you keep telling me,\" Roosevelt said. \"And you think Jimmy is the man to go to the Philippines, have a look around, and then come out?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"And since the Japanese are listening to the guerrilla radio, and since there is no way we can code what we are sending, how do you propose to let the people in the Philippines know where and when he's coming? With the Japanese listening in, I mean?\"\n\n\"We're working on that, Franklin,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"The translation of which is, 'we hope to think of something'? \"\n\nDonovan didn't reply.\n\n\"And you're willing to put your neck in the noose again, Jimmy?\" Roosevelt asked.\n\n\"Being very cold-blooded about it,\" Whittaker said, \"I seem to be the round peg for that round hole.\"\n\n\"You already escaped once from the Philippines,\" Roosevelt said. \"How often do you think you can do that?\"\n\n\"I hear that Jimmy nearly got himself blown away during the Makin Island Raid,\" Whittaker replied.\n\n\"'Blown away'?\" Roosevelt said. \"Interesting euphemism. \" It was obvious that he was making his decision.\n\n\"All right,\" he said finally. \"Do it. I'll avoid telling George Marshall as long as I can. And I don't think we should tell Douglas MacArthur until you come out.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Mr. President,\" Donovan said.\n\nRoosevelt was not through. \"And come out you will, Jimmy. You understand that? You will go in there, and have a look around, and come out. You may consider that a direct order.\"\n\n\"I suppose that means I'll have to go freeze my ass learning how to get into a rubber boat from a submarine?\" Whittaker asked.\n\nRoosevelt and Donovan chuckled.\n\n\"Now we get down to price,\" Whittaker said. \"I have a price.\"\n\n\"Everybody else seems to,\" Roosevelt said dryly. \"What's yours?\"\n\n\"Cynthia Chenowith is my control,\" Whittaker said. \"Reporting directly to Colonel Donovan.\"\n\n\"I think I see a hook in there,\" Roosevelt said. \"What's all that about?\"\n\n\"Cynthia was the control for the Kolwezi operation,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Cynthia is going through the agents' course,\" Donovan said. \"That runs against Jimmy's notions of the proper role of women.\"\n\nRoosevelt chuckled. \"Mine, too,\" he said. \"Eleanor, maybe. But Cynthia?\"\n\nWhittaker laughed.\n\n\"That would be your decision, of course, Bill,\" the President said.\n\n\"Okay,\" Donovan said. \"You win, Jimmy. I think she'll be furious, Jimmy, but that's your worry.\"\n\n\"She'll be alive,\" Whittaker said simply. \"I would much rather have her pissed and alive than happy, heroic, and dead.\"\n\n\"Are you getting hungry, Franklin?\" Donovan asked. \"Or would you rather have some more frozen gin?\"\n\n\"Why does it have to be either\/or?\" Roosevelt asked, holding his glass up to be refilled.\n\nDonovan pushed the servant call button twice, then went to refill Roosevelt's glass.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE LONDON, ENGLAND 5 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nHelene B. Dancy, Captain, WAC (Women's Army Corps), U.S. Army, administrative assistant to London Chief of Station David Bruce, was of two minds about Richard Canidy. When she didn't see him for a while, she began to mirror her boss's opinion of him: that Canidy wasn't a team player, that he was often doing things\u2014going off with Capt. Douglass's son as a fighter pilot was the most recent example\u2014that brought into question the wisdom of his having as much authority and autonomy as he did.\n\nBut when she was with him, most of her disapproval seemed to vanish. It was absurd to think that anything could happen between them\u2014Helene B. Dancy had been commissioned in the WAC from her job as executive secretary to the senior vice president for real estate, the Prudential Insurance Company, thirty-six hours before she turned thirty and became ineligible because of her age\u2014but she privately admitted that Richard Canidy was the most desirable male she had ever seen. And when she'd been with The Rock, she'd seen a large number of desirable men.\n\nShe thought you could tell a lot about a man by his eyes, and when she looked into Canidy's eyes, she saw gentleness and strength and compassion. And when she did that, she felt about nineteen years old.\n\n\"Good morning, Dancy,\" Canidy greeted her. \"What's the latest fire from the dragon's mouth all about?\"\n\n\"Good morning, Major Canidy,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\n\"Well, have I done something new, or is he still mad from the last time?\"\n\n\"You really did put him on a spot with the Air Corps, Major,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\n\"I know,\" Canidy said, smiling at her.\n\nHelene thought he had very nice teeth, which gave him a very nice smile.\n\n\"White is black, up is down,\" Canidy went on, \"and I am supposed to apologize for taking a shot at the bad guys.\"\n\n_There is,_ Helene thought, _a certain undeniable logic to what he says. You'd think they'd want to give him a medal for shooting down enemy planes, not be furious with him._\n\n\"Major Canidy,\" she said chastisingly.\n\n\"I let all the pretty girls call me 'Dick,' \" he said.\n\n\"You are impossible,\" she said. \"This is supposed to be a military organization.\"\n\nCanidy's face registered great surprise.\n\n\"You're kidding!\" he said.\n\n\"Mr. Bruce is down in crypto,\" she said. \"You are to wait.\"\n\n\"And you're not going to tell me what I've done wrong, are you, Dancy?\"\n\n\"No,\" she said, unable to resist smiling back at him. \"But it may have something to do with this.\"\n\nShe opened her drawer and took from it a TOP SECRET cover sheet.\n\nAs he took it from her, she said softly, \"If it doesn't come up, it would probably be better if you didn't mention I'd shown you that.\"\n\nCanidy raised the cover sheet and read the partially decrypted message. Even if the Germans intercepted the message and succeeded in decrypting the text, they would not know the meaning of the code words.\n\nEXLAX FOUR PROCEEDING ALL WELL YACHTSMAN\n\n\"Speaking to you both as your military superior, Captain, \" Canidy said, \"and as someone you _know_ has the Need-to-Know, have there been any developments in the Balkans I should know about?\"\n\nShaking her head and smiling, Capt. Dancy said, \"You have it in your hand.\"\n\n\"Well, now you're off the hook with the dragon,\" Canidy said. \"I _asked_ you for this. You had no choice but to give it to me.\"\n\nShe smiled at him. She thought that was nice of him.\n\n\"Have you got a copy of the OPPLAN [Operations Plan] here, or am I going to have to root around in the basement? \"\n\nCapt. Dancy walked to a sturdy safe from which, quite unnecessarily, for the door was ajar, hung a sign reading \"Open\" and took from it a manila folder with TOP SECRET stamped on it.\n\nCanidy unfolded a map. On it was drawn in grease pencil Eric Fulmar's route into Germany, and his escape route. Along it were marked, in Roman numerals, the stages of the route. There was a I at Marburg an der Lahn, in Germany. There was a II beside Vienna on the map, and a III beside Budapest. The fourth leg of the route ended at P\u00e9cs, in southwest Hungary.\n\nP\u00e9cs was the site of the Batthyany family coal mines. Most of the coal in Hungary is low-grade \"brown\" coal. The mines at P\u00e9cs produced a high-grade anthracite that for hundreds of years had contributed to the Batthyany wealth. Now it was of value because one of the heavy, multiwheeled Tatra trucks that had carried bagged anthracite to Budapest (including, through the influence of Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz, some to Batthyany Palace) had returned to P\u00e9cs with Eric Fulmar and Professor Dyer and his daughter concealed in a box under a stack of coal bags.\n\nProfessor Dyer was a physicist. There was a tenuous connection between physics the science and physics as in laxative. Hence, \"Ex-Lax.\" In the planning stages of the operation, when they were picking code names, David Bruce had reluctantly admitted that the Germans would probably be baffled by references to a laxative, although he privately thought Canidy's suggestion was one more indication that Canidy was not as serious as he should be.\n\n\"Yachtsman\" was an OSS agent in Hungary. He was a first-generation American from Hamtramck, Michigan, who had learned Hungarian from his mother. Equipped with the appropriate forged identity documents, he was employed with relatives as a deckhand on a Danube River barge. It permitted him to move around the country and, when necessary, to disappear from the barge for a couple of hours, or days.\n\nCompletely decoded, Yachtsman's message meant that Fulmar and the Dyers had made it from Budapest safely to P\u00e9cs, and were proceeding to V. This leg of the route was by barge. \"Ex-Lax\" would travel down the barge canal built under the auspices of Emperor Franz Josef of Austro-Hungary to transport coal from P\u00e9cs to the Danube.\n\nThe barge canal crossed the border between Hungary and Croatia (Yugoslavia) in a sparsely populated region near Ben Manastir, and joined the Danube at Batina. Shortly before reaching Ba\u010dka Palanka, where the Danube turned east toward Belgrade in another desolate, unpopulated area, there would be a signal\u2014in response to lights arranged in a special way on the barge\u2014from the western shore of the Danube.\n\nThe barge would then move close enough to the bank for Fulmar and the Dyers to jump off and pass into the hands of \"Postman,\" the senior of four OSS agents with the guerrilla forces of Colonel Dra\u017ea Mihajlovi\u0107 late of the Royal Yugoslav Army.\n\nCanidy had a little trouble with the bland assurances by radio of Postman\u2014an American of Yugoslavian parentage who had literally been a mail carrier in the States\u2014that this leg of the trip could be safely and conveniently accomplished by truck. According to Postman, the trucks (and the diesel fuel to run them) had been captured by Mihajlovi\u0107 from the Germans, and the Colonel's warning system was so effective that he ran them up and down forest and mountain roads of Croatia and Bosnia and Hercegovina on regular supply and transport missions as if the Germans weren't there and actively looking for him.\n\nVI was the town of Metkovi\u0107 on the Neretva River, fifteen miles from Neretljanski Kanal, a sheltered, natural body of water that opened onto the Adriatic Sea. At Metkovi\u0107, Ex-Lax would be turned over to an agent of the British Special Operations Executive who would arrange for their transport by fishing boat to the island of Vis, VII. The SOE agent's code name, \"Saint Peter,\" was another Canidy suggestion to which David Bruce had somewhat uneasily agreed.\n\nVis was entirely in British hands, though the Germans, who made periodic sweeps of the island, did not suspect it. There was a hidden wharf, onto which supplies could be off-loaded from submarines for transshipment to the mainland. And, between two hills, there was a 4,900-foot runway. A stream flowing across the field seemed to entirely discount the notion that the long valley could be used as a landing strip. But the stream had been altered. There was a twenty-yard-wide stretch where the water was only a foot deep. To observers both on the ground and in the air, it looked for all intents and purposes to be just an area of turbulent water.\n\nExlax will be transported from VII to Cairo, Malta, or such other final destination as the circumstances at the time dictate by U.S. aircraft. In the event this is impossible, Exlax will be evacuated from VII by Royal Navy submarine on a space-available basis.\n\n\"You look deep in thought, Richard,\" David Bruce said as he came into the office, trailed by Lt. Col. Edmund T. Stevens, his deputy. Bruce and Stevens were tall and erect and well-tailored. There was a West Point ring on Stevens's hand. He had resigned from the Army before the war and had been in England when the war broke out, running his wife's food and wine import-export business.\n\n\"Either of you ever collect stamps when you were kids?\" Canidy asked. \"Ever have any from Bosnia-Hercegovina? \"\n\n\"I don't really recall,\" Bruce said impatiently.\n\n\"They had some that were triangular,\" Canidy said, \"that intrigued me.\"\n\n\"I remember those,\" Col. Stevens said.\n\n\"Come on in, Richard,\" Bruce said. \"I fear we are about to have another of our arguments.\"\n\n\"What have I done now?\" Canidy asked, folding the map and handing it to Capt. Dancy.\n\n\"I presume you have the Yachtsman message?\" Bruce asked, after he'd taken a look at the folder.\n\n\"Captain Dancy gave it to me with great reluctance,\" Canidy said, \"only after I threatened to write her name and phone number in phone booths in pubs all over town.\"\n\n\"Major Canidy,\" Capt. Dancy said, \"you're impossible.\" But she was smiling.\n\nBruce closed his office door after they were inside.\n\n\"It isn't what you've done . . . unless, of course, there's something I don't know about yet . . . it's what you are planning to do.\"\n\n\"What would that be?\"\n\n\"Go to Vis to pick up Ex-Lax yourself,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"Have you made up your mind about that, or are you open to my reasoning?\"\n\n\"I'm always willing to listen,\" Bruce said with a smile, \"even when you make it difficult. But this, you should be forewarned, is coloring my thinking.\"\n\nHe took a sheet of yellow foolscap from his desk drawer and handed it to Canidy.\n\nROUTINE FROM OSS WASH DC FOR OSS LONDON PERSONAL BRUCE PLEASE RELAY CANIDY QUOTE CONGRATULATIONS ON DOUBLE KILL UNQUOTE STOP PRESUME HE HAD REASONS FOR BEING WHERE HE WAS STOP REGARDS STOP DONOVAN\n\n\"Looks like he's giving me the benefit of the doubt,\" Canidy said. \"In my experience, the Colonel is not at all subtle. That message could just as easily have read, 'Ground the sonofabitch.' \"\n\nStevens chuckled, earning himself a dirty look from Bruce.\n\n\"Grounding you might make sense, Richard,\" Stevens said. \"From this side of the desk, perceptions are a little different.\"\n\n\"The arguments I made are still valid,\" Canidy argued. \"And to refresh your memory they were (a) that the Air Corps is already bitching about our photorecon missions; and (b) that laying on a mission we would have had to fight over would have called unwanted attention to the Fulmar Werke.\"\n\n\"So are my counterarguments that you're pretty far up in the scheme of things for us to lose you if you get shot down,\" Bruce said. \"But that's over. What you have to do now is convince me there are reasons why we should not just tell the Eighth Air Force what we need, and have them do it. Or even why it is necessary to bring Ex-Lax out by air at all. Why shouldn't they come out on a British submarine? \"\n\n\"Arrogance,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I beg your pardon? My arrogance, or yours?\" Bruce asked.\n\n\"Mine.\" Canidy chuckled. \"I want to take a good look at the field on Vis myself,\" Canidy said. \"I arrogantly don't trust anybody else's enthusiastic opinion of how good it is. I don't want to lose Ex-Lax, or whoever we bring out later, at stop VII because of pilot error. I want to make that landing and takeoff by myself, so I can tell somebody else how to do it.\"\n\nThe look on Bruce's face, Canidy thought, was not one of acceptance, but he thought Stevens understood.\n\n\"I can also argue,\" Canidy continued, \"that we don't want to involve the English in this operation any more than we have to. If we start demanding space on their submarines, they are going to want justification.\"\n\nHe stopped again and looked at Bruce. After a moment, Bruce made a \"give me more\" gesture with his hand.\n\n\"We have the B-25,\" Canidy said, \"already rigged for this sort of passenger-haul mission, with auxiliary fuel tanks and even seats. If we ask the Air Corps, they're going to have to modify one of their aircraft, and they will naturally ask questions.\"\n\n\"Unless we let them use our B-25,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"I was afraid you'd think of that,\" Canidy said. \"And I'm prepared. I think we would have trouble getting it back from them. If they get their hands on it, David, they're liable to remember it's on loan. Think 'lawn mower,' as in borrowed from next-door neighbor.\"\n\nBruce shook his head.\n\n\"And for a crew?\"\n\n\"I thought about asking for an Eighth Air Force volunteer, \" Canidy said. \"If he turns out okay, we can draft him, permanently. If he doesn't, we send him back.\"\n\n\"Just a copilot?\" Stevens asked.\n\n\"No,\" Canidy said. \"Before we sent him to Switzerland, I was planning to take Stanley Fine. And then, before we sent him to Australia, I was going to take Jimmy Whittaker. Now, I think Dolan.\"\n\nBruce's eyebrows rose again.\n\n\"Why Dolan?\" he asked.\n\n\"He's an old pilot\u2014\" Canidy began.\n\n\"That's what I mean,\" Bruce interrupted reasonably.\n\nChief Aviation Motor Machinist's Mate\u2014formerly, until physically disqualified, Chief Aviation Pilot\u2014John B. Dolan, USN, had, after twenty-six years of service, retired from the Navy to go to Burma and China with the Flying Tigers as a maintenance officer. Afterward, he had managed to acquire a reserve commission in the Navy as lieutenant commander and had been sent by the Navy to England as the aviation maintenance officer for Operation Aphrodite. That was the code name for an attempt to convert worn-out B-17 aircraft into radio-controlled flying bombs, to be used against the German submarine pens at Saint-Lazare, which had proven immune to attack by conventional aerial bombardment.\n\nEisenhower, his patience with Air Corps-Navy squabbling exhausted, had turned Project Aphrodite over to the OSS. Dolan had been delighted. Canidy had been put in charge of the project, and he had known Canidy at the Pensacola, Florida, Naval Air Station when they had both been in the American Volunteer Group. Dolan had correctly guessed that Canidy would not watch his every move the way the Air and Navy brass had been doing.\n\n\"We intrepid birdmen have a saying,\" Canidy said. \" 'There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.' \"\n\n\"Very interesting,\" David Bruce said.\n\nColonel Stevens gave in to the temptation. \"And where, Richard, would you say that profound observation leaves you?\" he asked innocently.\n\n\"Why, I thought you knew, Colonel,\" Canidy said, smiling broadly, \"that I intend to be a very old pilot.\"\n\n\"Not the way you're going, you're not,\" Stevens said. \"But, okay, Richard, you have . . . just barely . . . made your point.\"\n\n\"I presume Commander Dolan is physically up to it?\" Bruce asked. \"Specifically, that he's had a recent flight physical?\"\n\n\"It's in his records,\" Canidy said. \"Look for yourself.\"\n\n\"I just might,\" Bruce said.\n\nThere was a Report of Physical Examination (Flight) in Lt. Commander Dolan's records. Canidy did not think that David Bruce would notice the astonishing similarity between the handwriting of Commander A. J. Franklin, Medical Corps, USNR, who had signed the examination, and that of Lt. Commander John B. Dolan, USNR.\n\nCanidy intended to see that the old sailor didn't overexert himself on the flight. But he really wanted the old \"Flying Chief\" with his eight-thousand-plus hours in the air with him, heart condition or not. Experience was far more valuable than youth and health on a flight like this.\n\n\"It just makes sense for me to go,\" Canidy argued. \"It accomplishes what has to be done with the least fuss.\"\n\nBruce studied him thoughtfully for a moment, then asked, \"Ed?\"\n\n\"You will take good care of Commander Dolan, won't you, Dick?\" Stevens asked, and when Canidy looked at him, Canidy knew that he knew who had signed Dolan's flight physical.\n\n\"It'll be the other way around, Colonel,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I think we should defer to Dick's judgment,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"So be it,\" Bruce said resignedly.\n\nCanidy thanked Stevens with a slight nod of his head. Stevens responded with a slight shrug of his shoulders. The message was clear. He had meant what he had said about deferring to Canidy's judgment.\n\nCanidy stopped by Capt. Dancy's desk on his way out.\n\n\"Would you ask the Air Corps to furnish us with short-and long-term weather forecasts for from here to Casablanca, and from Casa to Malta, and from Malta to the Adriatic, starting right now?\" he asked.\n\n\"I was afraid you'd talk him into it,\" she said. \"You want them here, or do you want me to send them out to Whitbey House with the courier?\"\n\n\"Send them to Dolan,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Will he know what they're for?\"\n\n\"He will after I tell him,\" Canidy said. \"I'm going out there now.\"\n\n\"I thought you would be staying in London,\" she said.\n\n\"No reason for me to do that,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Yes, there is,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"She's back. She called earlier.\"\n\n\"You didn't tell me,\" Canidy said. It was more of a question than a reprimand.\n\n\"She said that she would be at Broadcast House until half past five, and after that at her apartment, if I happened to see you,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\nSometimes, Capt. Dancy realized, she was just a little jealous of Ann Chambers, for being young and pretty, and for being able to light up Dick Canidy's eyes at the mere mention of her. And sometimes, like now, she felt like Canidy's sister, or for that matter like his mother, happy that he had a nice, decent girl.\n\n\"You will call in when you decide where you're going to spend the night?\" Capt. Dancy asked.\n\n\"Yeah, sure,\" Canidy said. Then he suddenly leaned across Capt. Dancy's desk and kissed her on the forehead.\n\n\"Major Canidy,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"You're impossible.\"\n\n# **5**\n\n## **WOBURN MANSIONS, WOBURN SQUARE LONDON, ENGLAND 5 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nBefore the war, the private park in the center of Woburn Square had been an area of manicured lawns and flower beds and curving walks beneath ancient trees, all surrounded by a neat fence. Now, only the fence and the trees were left. A bomb shelter had been excavated, and several corrugated sheds had been erected by the Fire Protection Service to store firefighting equipment.\n\nIt had been needed. There were ugly gaps in the rows of limestone-faced houses where German bombs had landed. There had been twenty-four entrances on all four sides of Woburn Square in 1940. Now there were fourteen.\n\n16, Woburn Mansions had not been hit, although the limestone facade had been darkened by the furious fires that had raged down the street on both sides; and there was plywood nailed over what once had been beveled glass windows in the entrance door.\n\nBut inside, it was much as it had always been, a quietly elegant building holding five large, floor-size apartments. The basement apartment and the one on the top floor were smaller than the three main apartments, but they all had large, high-ceilinged rooms and central heating, which was an uncommon luxury.\n\nThe first-floor flat, which would have been the second-floor flat in America, was occupied by Miss Ann Chambers. Technically, it was assigned to the Chambers News Service and intended to house all Chambers News Service female employees in London. The SHAEF billeting officer had been informed that the Chambers News Service ultimately planned to have six to eight female employees with correspondent status stationed in London. That would effectively fill the three bedrooms with the regulation two officer -equivalent persons per room.\n\nThe SHAEF billeting officer had not been told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, which was that the Chambers News Service had no plans at all to station any additional female correspondents in London. Brandon Chambers, Chairman of the Board of the Chambers Publishing Company, did not believe that women should go to war as correspondents or anything else. The rule was bent only in the case of his daughter, and that was not really nepotism. Rather, Brandon Chambers had believed his daughter when she told him that either he send her to London as a war correspondent, or she would go to work for Gardiner Cowles\u2014the publisher of, among other things, _Look_ magazine\u2014with whom he had carried on a running feud for twenty years, and who was just the kind of a sonofabitch to give Ann a job just because he knew it would annoy her father.\n\nAnn Chambers had had the London bureau chief tell the billeting officer the story of the five to seven soon-to-arrive female accredited correspondents not because she was the spoiled daughter of a very rich man who considered herself entitled to private quarters (in fact, the other two bedrooms were more often than not occupied by roomless journalists of both sexes), but because Ann intended to share her own bed, whenever possible, with Richard Canidy, and she didn't want anybody around when that might happen.\n\nIf she had a permanent roommate, or roommates, it would not have been possible, for example, to do what she and Richard Canidy were doing now, which was recovering from an enthusiastic, wholly satisfying roll in the hay (actually a roll on a dozen large pillows covered with Chinese silk) at quarter to six in the evening before the fire-place in the sitting room.\n\n\"I don't suppose,\" Ann said, her face against his chest, \"that I will have to ask if you have been a good boy while I was gone, will I?\"\n\n\"If you don't ask, I won't have to lie about it,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"You bastard!\" she said, and jerked a hair from his chest.\n\n\"Two can play at that game,\" he warned.\n\n\"And you would, too,\" she said, shifting her midsection to avoid his searching hand. She failed.\n\n\"You've heard the expression 'by the short hairs'?\" he asked.\n\n\"Let go,\" she said. \"I'll be good.\"\n\n\"Who wants good?\" he asked.\n\n\"Wicked?\" she asked.\n\n\"You got it,\" he said, and let her go.\n\nShe got to her feet and walked out of the room, with an exaggerated shake of her tail. In a moment she was back. She tossed him a dressing gown and shrugged into a sheepskin high-altitude flyer's jacket. It was far too large for her, but it was warm.\n\n\"You look like you should be painted on the fuselage of a B-17,\" Canidy said. \" 'Dick's Delight' or something like that.\"\n\n\"Is that a compliment or a complaint?\" she asked.\n\n\"Compliment,\" he said.\n\n\"You like me to wear it because when I bend over you can see my fanny,\" she said.\n\n\"And everything else,\" he said. \"That's why you wear it, to excite me.\"\n\n\"So what else is new?\" Ann said.\n\n\"You're about to get a roommate,\" he said.\n\n\"You'll be spending some time in London?\"\n\n\"No,\" he said. \"As a matter of fact, I've got a little trip to make. I'll be gone a week or ten days.\"\n\n\"Where are you going?\" she asked quickly, softly.\n\n\"You're not curious about your roommate?\" he asked, ignoring the question.\n\n\"Where are you going, Dick?\" she insisted.\n\n\"Come on, Annie,\" he said. \"You know the rules.\"\n\n\"To hell with the rules, and don't call me 'Annie,' \" she said.\n\n\"Yes, Ma'am.\"\n\n\"After Fulmar?\" Ann asked.\n\n\"Who?\"\n\nShe dropped to her knees on the pillows beside him.\n\n\"He's all right, isn't he?\" she challenged. \"I know you\u2014\"\n\n\"And I know you, as Moses said to the slave girl.\"\n\n\"And if he wasn't, you'd be miserable. And if you didn't know, you'd be all tense. You're relaxed and making jokes, and that means that you've heard something good.\"\n\n\"That's not why I'm relaxed, as Samson said to Delilah,\" Canidy said. \"But, yeah, honey, he's all right. I was a little worried, but the rough part of what he was doing is over.\"\n\n\"Oh, baby, I'm happy for you,\" she said.\n\n\"And you're not curious about your roommate?\"\n\n\"I don't know what you're talking about,\" she said. \"I don't have roommates. If I had a roommate, I couldn't greet you at the door wearing nothing but a sheepskin jacket and a smile. So I don't want a roommate. Get the idea?\"\n\n\"What about good ol' Chastity?\"\n\n\"Charity,\" she corrected him automatically. Then, \"Charity? She's coming here?\"\n\n\"In the next couple of days,\" Canidy said. \"What I was thinking was that maybe you could take a couple of days off.\"\n\n\"For what purpose?\" she asked suspiciously.\n\n\"So she could stay here with Doug Douglass,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"If she moved in here, I'd never get rid of her,\" Ann said. \"How long is she going to be in London, anyway?\"\n\n\"Permanently,\" he said.\n\n\"Then no, period,\" Ann said. \"Charity cannot stay here. She would move in, and I wouldn't have the heart to throw her out, and that would be the end of us making love on the pillows.\"\n\n\"In that case, screw her,\" Canidy said. \"Your logic is irrefutable. \"\n\nShe threw herself at him and nibbled his ear.\n\n\"You keep that up, you know what's going to happen,\" he said.\n\n\"I hope, I hope, I hope,\" Ann said. Then she said, \"Damn, I'm glad Eric's all right. I love you when you're like this.\"\n\n\"Like what?\"\n\n\"Happy and horny,\" Ann said. \"Where is he?\"\n\n\"Ah, come on, Mata Hari,\" he said.\n\n\"I was just trying to find out how long you'd be gone, and where you'll be going.\"\n\n\"Eric at this very moment is somewhere on the European landmass, riding down a forest road between towering pines,\" he said. \"That tell you anything?\"\n\n\"No,\" she said. \"And I don't really mean to pry.\"\n\n\"I know,\" he said.\n\nEric Fulmar, at that very moment, was walking down a basement corridor in the municipal jail in P\u00e9cs, Hungary. He was handcuffed to Professor Friedrich Dyer, and both of them wore chain hobbles.\n\nA member of the Black Guard, an SS-like organization owing its allegiance to Admiral Horthy, the Regent of Hungary, stopped them by a cell, unlocked the handcuffs, and pushed Professor Dyer inside. Then he pushed Fulmar into motion again, until he came to the next cell door. He retrieved his handcuffs, then pushed Fulmar into the cell.\n**V**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **OSS VIRGINIA STATION 5 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCynthia Chenowith had elected to skip the evening meal. When she had finished her bath, she would dine on Ritz crackers and canned Vienna sausages and Nescaf\u00e9 from the PX store. The Vienna sausages tasted like soap and would more than likely give her indigestion, and boiling water for the Nescaf\u00e9 (indeed, possessing an electric hot plate) was a specific violation of station regulations for trainees, but she desperately needed a bath, and she didn't want to go to supper, or for that matter to leave the privacy of her room.\n\nHis name was Horace G. Hammersmith. It had been impossible in the case of Lt. Horace G. Hammersmith, Signal Corps, U.S. Army, to obey either the spirit or the letter of the regulation that forbade any interest in, or discussion of, the private life of fellow trainees. Horace Hammersmith was also known as Greg Hammer, and Greg Hammer was a movie star in private life. He wasn't up there with Clark Gable or Tyrone Power, but his rough-hewn face, his astonishingly golden wavy hair, and his football player's build had left no question in any of the trainees' minds from the moment they first saw him that Lt. Horace G. Hammersmith was _really him!_\n\nAnd from the moment Lt. Hammersmith had seen Miss Chenowith, he had made it plain that he found her fascinating. At first, Cynthia had thought it was simply a case of movie-staritis. Without arrogance, as a simple statement of fact, she realized that she was the best looking of the half-dozen women at Virginia Station. As a movie star accustomed to the adoration of his female fans, Cynthia reasoned, Hammersmith had come to believe that the pick of the herd, or the pride, or the flock, or whatever word fitted the half-dozen women at Virginia Station, was his.\n\nHis Training Group had begun training six weeks before Cynthia's. The way the school was set up (before she had come to Virginia Station as a trainee, Cynthia had read Eldon Baker's training syllabus), incoming trainees were placed under the supervision of trainees who had finished their training and were awaiting assignment. The announced purpose was to spare the training staff the mundane work of seeing to the issue of equipment, the first painful hours of calisthenics, the explanation of the rules, and so on. The real reason was so that the training staff could judge how well the \"senior\" trainees dealt with subordinates\u2014to see if they could inspire cooperation. There was no place on an operational OSS team for someone who antagonized, intentionally or otherwise, the others on the team.\n\nLt. Horace G. Hammersmith had been as good and as natural a leader of his peers at Virginia Station as Greg Hammer had been a leader in the movies. Despite herself, Cynthia had come to like him. And she found that her first snap judgment of him had been almost entirely wrong. She had found Hammersmith to be really shy, rather than being arrogant. And she learned that, rather than being awed with himself as a movie star, he thought the whole movie business was rather funny.\n\nOver the weeks, she had learned that he was an electrical engineer who had been sent to Los Angeles by the Murray Hill division of the Bell Telephone Laboratories to supervise the installation of a recording studio at Continental Studios.\n\n\"Lana Turner,\" he told her one afternoon while they were taking a five-minute break on a ten-mile run, \"was discovered in Schwab's Drug Store. I was discovered having dinner with a vice president of Continental Studios, Stan Fine, at the Villa Friscati.\"\n\n\"Stanley Fine?\" she asked, genuinely surprised.\n\n\"Uh-huh,\" he said.\n\n\"We're not supposed to be talking about our private lives, you know,\" she said.\n\n\"I know,\" he said, \"and I also know you know Stan.\"\n\nThen he'd looked at his watch, and the five-minute break was over, and he'd jumped to his feet and blown his whistle, and they'd resumed the ten-mile run. That night, at supper, he had sat down beside her and resumed the conversation where he'd broken it off.\n\n\"Over a steak, which Bell Labs was paying for, I was explaining to Stanley why it was going to cost Continental Studios a bunch of money more than they expected to get what they wanted, when this fat little bald-headed man walked up to the table and said, in an accent you could cut with a knife, 'So tell me, Stanley, who's your friend? And vy I haven't zeen any film?' \"\n\n\"Max Liebermann,\" Cynthia said, laughing at Hammersmith's apt mimicry of the founder and chairman of the board of Continental Studios.\n\n\"Right,\" Hammersmith said. \"But I didn't know who he was. So Stanley said, 'Uncle Max, he's the engineer from Bell Telephone.' \"\n\n\" 'What I vant to know is can he ride a horz?' Max said,\" Hammersmith went on. \" 'If he can ride a horz, I tink he's Major Porter. We god a hell uf a problem wit dat, Stanley, if I god to tell you.' \"\n\nBy then, Cynthia was giggling at the mimicry.\n\n\"It didn't take much to corrupt me,\" Hammersmith had gone on. \"All it took to get me before the cameras was as much by the week, on a year's contract, as Bell Labs was paying me by the month. And luckily, I could ride a 'horz.' \"\n\n\"I saw _Calvary Raid,_ \" Cynthia said. \"You were very good.\"\n\n\"That's because my only lines were 'Yes, Sir,' and 'Sound the Charge!' \" Hammersmith said. \"Anyway, Stan and I became pals. And he got me into this, and he wrote me a letter saying if I got to Washington and desperately needed a place to stay, I should call a Miss Cynthia Chenowith and say I was a friend of his. Unless there is another Cynthia Chenowith?\"\n\nHorace G. Hammersmith had not so much as touched her hand, except in the line of duty. But neither had he for long taken his eyes off her whenever they were around each other.\n\nAnd now he was going. He was going operational. She wondered where, and doing what. And she just wasn't up to spending his last night here with him. In the morning, she would have breakfast with him, and maybe even go to the station wagon with him, and kiss his cheek.\n\nBut she didn't want to see him tonight. Tonight, there would be just too much of a temptation to give him what he wanted, even if he didn't ask for it. She didn't want him to go operational with her on his mind. She didn't love him, but she really liked him, and she was almost sure he thought he was falling in love with her. Whatever they were going to have him doing, the one thing he didn't need was her on his mind any more than she already was.\n\nThe bathtub was full. So when Cynthia sensed the water was cooling, she had to let water out before filling it again with hot water. She bent her left leg, in order to get a good look at her foot, then vigorously rubbed away a layer or two on the calluses. Then she repeated the operation on the right foot.\n\nAnd finally she stepped out of the tub and toweled herself dry. Then she took the towel and wiped the condensation from the full-length mirror on the door and examined herself in it.\n\nShe \"made muscles,\" as she had seen men do, and was surprised\u2014and not sure whether she was pleased or disappointed\u2014that she could see no development in her biceps. With all the push-ups and pull-ups she'd done, she had expected some.\n\nShe had bruised, ugly blue areas in several places. The largest area was in her right shoulder, from the recoil of the Springfield rifle, and the Garand rifle, and the Winchester shotgun, and the Thompson submachine gun she had fired on the range. She had fallen twice on the obstacle course. There was a bruised area on her lower stomach, a souvenir of an encounter with a peeled log when she had tripped running up an obstacle, and another on her right leg, just above her knee. She had earned that battle stripe just by stumbling, exhausted, and landing on the goddamned Springfield.\n\nFinally, there was a raw spot on the web of her right hand, where the Colt .45 automatic pistol had \"bitten\" her.\n\nShe dried that spot very carefully with a wad of toilet tissue and then applied Merthiolate and a Band-Aid. And then she took a large economy-size tube of Ben-Gay and applied it liberally to all the bruised areas.\n\n_If Greg should come up here,_ she thought, _I will smell like the men's locker room, and maybe that will dampen his ardor._\n\nStill naked, she washed and dried her hair, wrapped her head in a towel, and then finally put on what she considered a grossly unfeminine set of pajamas. They were from the PX, too. Flannel, with a particularly ugly red-and-brown pattern. She put a bathrobe over the pajamas, examined herself a final time in the mirror, stuck her tongue out at herself, and then went into her bedroom.\n\nShe sat down at a government-issue gray metal desk, which was conspicuously ugly in comparison to the rest of the furniture, turned on the desk lamp, and took a brown-paper -bound book from a rack. The book was titled _U.S. Field Manual, FM 21-10: The Law of Land Warfare._\n\nThere would be a written examination to make sure the trainees knew what the Hague and Geneva Conventions had had to say about where the line was between a soldier, who was entitled to treatment as a prisoner of war, a partisan, and a spy. Under the law of land warfare, partisans and spies could be shot.\n\nCynthia had serious doubts that either the Germans or the Japanese were going to pay much attention to the fine print, but the course was a part of the curriculum, and she had to pass it to graduate. And she was determined to graduate.\n\nThirty minutes later, just after she had opened a can of Vienna sausages and was trying without much success to get one of the tightly packed little obscenities out of the can, there was a knock at her door.\n\nShe didn't respond. If it was Horace G. Hammersmith and she didn't respond to his knock, he might take the hint and go away.\n\nBut after a moment, there was another knock, this time far more demanding.\n\n\"Who is it?\"\n\n\"Eldon Baker.\"\n\n\"Come on in,\" Cynthia called.\n\nBaker entered the room.\n\n\"Studying,\" Cynthia said unnecessarily.\n\nShe saw that Baker had seen the hot plate and the jar of Nescaf\u00e9 and wondered if he would turn her in. He knew that she had a close relationship with Colonel Donovan and Captain Douglass; the other training personnel did not.\n\n\"Have you got a minute so that we can talk?\" Baker asked.\n\n\"I should study, Eldon,\" she said, \"but sure.\"\n\n\"Don't worry about the examination,\" he said as he closed the door. \"You won't be taking it.\"\n\n\"Oh?\"\n\n\"I have just had a telephone call from Chief Ellis,\" Baker said. \"You are to go to Washington to the house on Q Street with the station wagon in the morning.\"\n\n''Oh?\" she repeated.\n\n\"You will take your things with you,\" Baker said. \"According to the Chief, you will not be coming back. At least as a trainee.\"\n\n\"What's this all about?\" Cynthia asked.\n\nShe was sure she knew.\n\n_Oh, goddamn you, Jimmy!_\n\n\"Chief Ellis did not elect to tell me,\" Baker said. \"But I think we can both make an educated guess, can't we?\"\n\n\"Whittaker?\" Cynthia asked.\n\n\"Doesn't it seem that way to you?\" Baker said. \"I can't tell you how annoyed this makes me.\"\n\n\"Why should it bother you? He's not offering you his unasked-for male protection.\"\n\n\"After some thought,\" Baker said, \"after Captain Whittaker's visit, I decided I could not overlook it. That, in other words, I had to make an official issue of it.\"\n\n\"I don't think I quite follow you,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"In addition to what he did to you,\" Baker said, \"he had a run-in with me. He was insubordinate. Technically, I suppose, he's AWOL. He was ordered to report here for training. He decided, on his own, that he'd really rather not do that. I wrote a letter reporting what had transpired to Colonel Donovan.\"\n\nCynthia wondered why that bothered her, why she felt a surprising flash of anger. Baker was right. Jimmy Whittaker was an Air Corps officer. Officers do what they are told to do. And there was absolutely no excuse for his having kissed her the way he had, making a fool of her in front of the others.\n\n\"It would appear that the rules which apply to everyone else in the OSS, myself included, do not apply to Captain Whittaker.\"\n\n\"We don't know that's what's happened,\" she said.\n\n\"I felt sure that Colonel Donovan would understand my motives in making an official report of what happened,\" Baker said. \"That, rather than trying to get Whittaker in trouble, my concern was for the overall discipline of the organization. I felt confident he would understand that it was not a personality clash between Captain Whittaker and myself, but rather an impersonal incident in which an agent willfully disobeyed his superior, with the result that the authority of the Director of Training was seriously undermined. \"\n\nHe waited for her to respond to that, and then, when she did not, went on, \"Obviously, I was wrong. The only response to my letter was the telephone call just now. When Whittaker left here, after telling me that I was 'out of my mind' for having you in the school, he said that he was going to see the colonel. I had the impression he meant both about his coming here and about you.\"\n\n\"He's known Colonel Donovan all his life,\" Cynthia said softly.\n\n\"And so have you,\" Baker said.\n\nCynthia looked at him.\n\n\"You want me to go to Colonel Donovan?\" she asked.\n\n\"I thought you might consider it,\" Baker said. \"For what a fraternal organization would call 'the good of the order.' \"\n\n\"I'm going to see Colonel Donovan,\" Cynthia said. \"I intend to graduate from this school.\"\n\n\"I thought perhaps you could make it clear to him why this whole sequence of events is so distressing to me,\" Baker said.\n\nCynthia's mind was rushing ahead.\n\n\"If I'm to go to Washington in the morning,\" she said, \"what do I do about turning in my equipment, settling things?\"\n\n\"I'll take care of that for you myself,\" Baker said.\n\n# **2**\n\nIt had taken a long time for Cynthia to go to sleep, and she had gone to sleep angry.\n\nAnd she had awakened still angry, and had grown angrier with the realization that there was not going to be time to pack and dress and eat breakfast, too, and that she was just going to have to miss breakfast.\n\nThere was a small silver lining to the black cloud, she thought. It would be the first time that Greg had seen her dressed up in anything fancier than a skirt and a sweater, or wearing any makeup except a faint touch of lipstick. She had a moment to enjoy that before thinking that it probably would be better if he didn't get to see her that way. It would fuel what she suspected he felt for her.\n\nWhen she carried her luggage downstairs, he was in the entrance foyer. It was the first time she had seen him dressed up, too. He was in his pink-and-green lieutenant's uniform, wearing his new silver parachutist's wings.\n\nHe smiled when he saw her.\n\n\"Baker said you would be going to Washington,\" he said. \"He didn't say why, and he didn't tell me how pretty you are in your civilian clothing.\"\n\n\"Good morning, Greg,\" she said.\n\nShe wondered what his destination was, and when they had passed the checkpoint, she asked him.\n\n\"I don't know,\" he said.\n\nCynthia leaned forward and asked the driver, \"Where are you taking Lieutenant Hammersmith?\"\n\n\"The house on Q Street,\" the driver replied. \"He's to see Chief Ellis.\"\n\n\"What's the 'house on Q Street'?\" Greg Hammersmith asked.\n\n\"It's a mansion near Rock Creek Park,\" she said. \"We use it as both a safe house and sort of a hotel for transients.\"\n\n\"You've been there before, I gather.\"\n\n\"I used to run it,\" she said.\n\n\"And am I permitted to ask where you're going?\" he asked.\n\n\"I'm going there too,\" she said.\n\n\"And am I permitted to ask why?\"\n\n\"No,\" she said. \"I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"Then, in the short time remaining to us, Miss Chenowith\u2014\" he began.\n\n\"Don't, Greg,\" she said. \"Please don't\u2014\"\n\n\"What I was going to say, you have apparently figured out all by yourself,\" he said.\n\nShe looked at him and met his eyes, then averted her eyes and avoided looking at him on the rest of the way to Washington.\n\nWhen she walked into the kitchen, she asked the cook if Chief Ellis was around.\n\n\"In the dining room with Captain Whittaker,\" the cook replied.\n\n\"Come on, Greg,\" Cynthia said, aware that her temper was up and not caring.\n\nCaptain Whittaker and Chief Ellis were eating either a late breakfast or an early lunch. They were having eggs with their steaks, she saw, so it had to be breakfast.\n\n\"I think you know Miss Chenowith, Chief,\" Whittaker said when he saw her. \"Otherwise known as 'Super-woman. 'And I don't know the name of the gentleman with her, but he is the one who almost came to her aid when I publicly humiliated her.\"\n\n\"Damn you!\" Cynthia flared.\n\n\"My name is Hammersmith,\" Greg said coldly.\n\n\" 'My name is Hammersmith, _Sir,_ ' \" Whittaker said. \"We try very hard to observe the military amenities around here, don't we, Chief?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Ellis said. \"That we do, Sir.\"\n\n\"Sit down, Cynthia,\" Whittaker said. \"Take a load off. Have a bite to eat. We have several hours to kill.\"\n\nGlowering at him, she walked to the head of the table and stabbed the call button on the floor with her toe.\n\n\"For a moment, there, I thought she was going to slug me with her purse,\" Whittaker said. \"Didn't it look that way to you?\"\n\n\"You sonofabitch,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"Nice to see you, too, Miss Chenowith,\" Whittaker said.\n\nThe cook appeared.\n\n\"Yes, Ma'am?\"\n\n\"I'd like some breakfast,\" Cynthia said. \"Greg, are you hungry?\"\n\n\"I missed breakfast,\" he said.\n\n\"Bring us, please, the same thing they had,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"You may sit down, Lieutenant,\" Whittaker said.\n\nLieutenant Hammersmith didn't move.\n\n\"I'll rephrase,\" Whittaker said. \"Sit down, Lieutenant.\"\n\n\"Damn you, play your games with me, but leave Greg alone.\"\n\n\"'Greg'?\" Whittaker parroted mockingly. \"Wonder-woman to the rescue of 'Greg'?\"\n\n\"You really are a bastard, Jimmy,\" she said.\n\n\"You miss the point, Cynthia,\" Whittaker said. \"The one thing I demand of my subordinates when I'm off saving the world for democracy is what they call instant, cheerful obedience.\"\n\n\"What is that supposed to mean?\" Cynthia flared.\n\n\"I'm about to go into the Philippines,\" Whittaker said. \"If the lieutenant here is half the radio wizard Douglass tells me he is, and if I'm convinced he'll take orders, he's going with me.\"\n\n\"That's operational information,\" Cynthia flared. \"That's Top Secret. I'm going to tell Colonel Donovan you've been running off at the mouth again, and Ellis, damn you, too, you're my witness.\"\n\n\"Oh, you've got the Need-to-Know, Cynthia,\" Whittaker said. \"You're the control.\"\n\nShe looked at him and saw in his eyes that he was telling the truth.\n\n\"I'm not thrilled about you being my control, frankly,\" Whittaker said. \"But it was the only way I could think of to get you out of that school.\"\n\n\"Why did you do that?\" Cynthia snapped. \"What gave you the right?\"\n\n\"I already told you,\" he said. \"I love you, and all's fair in love and war. This seems to be both, so anything goes.\"\n\n\"Damn you, Jimmy!\" she said, furious that she felt like crying.\n\n\"That may pose certain problems between us, Captain,\" Hammersmith said.\n\n\"How is that?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"I'm in love with her, too,\" Greg Hammersmith said.\n\n\"Oh, Greg!\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"From this point, then, Lieutenant, you are advised not to turn your back on me,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Fair enough,\" Hammersmith said.\n\n\"You look vaguely familiar to me, Lieutenant,\" Whittaker said. \"Do we know each other?\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Hammersmith said.\n\n\"He's the actor, Captain,\" Chief Ellis said. \"Greg Hammer? \"\n\n\"Oh, yeah,\" Whittaker said. \"I'll be damned. How'd a movie star get in the OSS?\"\n\n\"I'm a friend of Stan Fine's,\" Hammersmith said. \"When the Army announced that I would be stationed as an instructor at Fort Monmouth for the indefinite future, I asked him to get me out of it.\"\n\n\"I'm really sorry you told me that,\" Whittaker said. \"I always find it difficult to cut the throats of friends of friends of mine.\"\n\n\"Catch me asleep,\" Hammersmith said. \"I'm very vulnerable when I'm asleep.\"\n\n\"You just volunteered to run around in the Philippines, Lieutenant,\" Whittaker said. \"How do you feel about that?\"\n\n\"I thought I had to prove I was a radio wizard first,\" Hammersmith said.\n\n\"That was before you told me you have the hots for our girl . . . ,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Damn you!\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"Obviously,\" Whittaker went on, \"I could not go off to run around in the jungle and eat monkeys and leave you here to pursue yon fair maiden by yourself.\"\n\n\"Obviously not,\" Hammersmith said, and chuckled.\n\n_Damn it,_ Cynthia thought, _they like each other!_\n\n# **3**\n\n## **FERSFIELD ARMY AIR CORPS STATION BEDFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 7 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFirst Lieutenant Henry \"Hank\" Darmstadter, U.S. Army Air Corps, a stocky, round-faced young officer of twenty-three, was not sure why he had volunteered for a \"classified assignment involving great personal risk\" or why he had been accepted.\n\nAs a simple statement of fact, rather than from modesty, he understood that he was not the world's greatest airplane driver. There was proof of this. He had twice\u2014once in basic and again in advanced\u2014been sent before the elimination board. The first time, the reason had been simple. He had suffered airsickness.\n\nThe only reason he had not been eliminated in basic and sent to navigator's or bombardier's school, or for that matter to aerial gunner's school, was that his class had an extraordinary number of cadets who also suffered from airsickness, plus half a dozen guys who had just quit. The elimination board had considered all those cadets who had an airsickness problem and decided that Darmstadter, H., was the least inept of the inept.\n\nThey really couldn't eliminate all of those who under other circumstances should have been eliminated. Pilots were in short supply, and the demand was growing. When he had been given another \"probationary period\" by the elimination board, it had two conditions. The first was official: that he \"demonstrate his ability to perform aerobatic maneuvers without manifesting signs of illness or disorientation. \" Translated, that meant that he do a loop without getting airsick. The second, unofficial, unspoken condition was that he understand he would not get to be a fighter pilot or a bomber pilot, and that there was a good likelihood, presuming he got his wings, that he would be assigned to a liaison squadron, flying single-engine two-seaters. Or even be assigned to the Artillery to fly Piper Cubs directing artillery fire.\n\nHank Darmstadter had conquered his airsickness. He wasn't sure whether this was because he had grown accustomed to the world turning at crazy angles or to being upside down, or because he had simply stopped eating when he knew that he was going to be flying.\n\nHe had been given his wings and his second lieutenant's gold bar and sent to advanced training. Not in P-51s or P- 38s or B-17s or B-24s, but in C-45s. The C-45 was a small, twin-engine aircraft built by Beech. It had several missions in the Army Air Corps, none of them connected directly with bringing aerial warfare to the enemy. It was used as a small passenger transport, and it was used as a flying classroom to train navigators and bombardiers.\n\nTwo weeks before Hank Darmstadter was to graduate from advanced training in the C-45 aircraft, he had, flying solo, dumped one. He had lost the right engine on takeoff, and if he had had one hundred feet less altitude, he would have gone into the ground. But the hundred feet made the difference, and he had been able to stand it on its wing and make a 360-degree turn and get it back onto the runway, downwind and with the wheels up, just as the second engine cut out.\n\nThirty seconds after he had scrambled out the small door in the fuselage, there had been a dull rumble, and then a larger explosion as the fuel tanks ignited and then exploded.\n\nWhen he appeared before that elimination board, they had discussed the accident and Darmstadter, 2nd Lt. H., as if he were not there. In the opinion of one of his examiners, if he was that far along in the course, he should have known and demonstrated the proper procedure to follow in the case of engine failure on takeoff. And the proper procedure was not to make a dangerous 360 and land the wrong way on the runway as Darmstadter had done, but to make the proper adjustments for flight on one engine, then to circle the field and gain sufficient altitude to make a proper approach (that is, from the other direction, into the wind).\n\nAnother of his examiners, to Darmstadter's considerable surprise, had taken the position that since no one was with him in the cockpit, they didn't know what had happened, and that it wasn't really fair to assume that he had done what he had done from panic; that he was entitled to the benefit of the doubt; and that Darmstadter's best judgment had been to do what he had done.\n\nThere had been seven officer pilots on the elimination board. The vote\u2014it was supposed to be secret, but the president of the board told him anyway\u2014was four to three not to eliminate him. He would be permitted to graduate and to transition to Douglas C-47 aircraft.\n\nThe C-47\u2014the Army Air Corps version of the Douglas DC-3 airliner\u2014was supposed to be the most forgiving aircraft, save the Piper Cub, in the Army Air Corps. Douglas was building them by the thousands, and each of them needed two pilots. They were used as personnel transports and cargo aircraft. Most of the C-47s being built would be used in support of airborne operations, both to carry paratroopers and to tow gliders.\n\nHank Darmstadter had understood that his glamorous service as an Air Corps pilot would be in the right\u2014copilot's\u2014seat of a C-47 Gooney Bird. He would work the radios and the landing gear and the flaps, while a more skillful pilot would do the flying.\n\nAnd that's what he had done at first when he'd come to England. But then the system had caught up with him. He had received an automatic promotion to first lieutenant, based solely on the length of his service. It was the policy of the troop carrier wing commander that the pilot-in-command, whenever possible, be senior to the copilot. And Darmstadter had picked up enough hours, and enough landings and takeoffs as a copilot, to be qualified as an aircraft commander.\n\nTen days before, when his squadron had returned from a practice mission\u2014in empty aircraft practicing low-level formation flight as required for the dropping of parachutists\u2014the troop carrier wing commander had gathered the pilots in a maintenance hangar and told them Eighth Air Force was looking for twin-engine qualified pilots for a \"classified mission involving great personal risk\" and that those inclined to volunteer should see the adjutant.\n\nOnly three Gooney Bird pilots had volunteered. The other two were pilots who desperately wanted to be fighter pilots, and believed that unless they did something, anything, to get out of Gooney Birds, they would spend the war in a Gooney Bird cockpit.\n\nHank Darmstadter, who himself would have loved to be a fighter pilot, didn't think there was any chance at all of getting to be one by volunteering for this \"classified mission. \" He could think of no good, logical reason for his having volunteered. Without false heroics, he understood that there was hazard enough in either towing gliders or dropping parachutists when there were a hundred Gooney Birds all doing the same thing at the same time in a very small chunk of airspace.\n\nThe one reason he had volunteered was that he had wanted to, and he was perfectly willing to admit that it was probably a goddamned dumb thing to do.\n\nWhen he saw the adjutant, there was a short questionnaire to fill out. It asked the routine questions, and a couple of strange ones. One question was to rate his own ability as a pilot, with five choices from \"completely competent\" down through \"marginally competent.\" Darmstadter had judged himself in the middle: \"reasonably competent, considering experience and training.\" Another question wanted to know if he spoke a foreign language, and if so, which one and how well. And the last question was whether or not he had any relatives, however remote the connection, living on the European continent, and if so, their names and addresses.\n\nHe was tempted to answer \"no\" to both questions, but in the end, he put down that he understood German, and that he had a great-uncle, Karl-Heinz Darmstadter, and presumably some other relatives, in Germany but that he didn't know where.\n\nHe hadn't quite forgotten about having volunteered, but he had put it out of his mind. For one thing, he felt pretty sure if they were making a selection of volunteers, they would probably have a dozen better qualified people than a Gooney Bird driver to pick, and for another, considering the Army Air Corps bureaucracy, it would take three weeks or a month before they told him \"thanks, but no thanks.\"\n\nAt four o'clock this morning, the charge of quarters had come to his Quonset hut, and told him the adjutant wanted to see him. The adjutant had handed him a teletype message:\n\nPRIORITY \nHQ EIGHTH US AIR FORCE \nCOMMANDING OFFICER 312TH TROOP CARRIER WING \n1ST LT HENRY G. DARMSTADTER 03434090 2101 TROOP \nCARRIER SQUADRON TRANSFERRED AND WILL \nIMMEDIATELY PROCEED FERSFIELD ARMY AIR CORPS \nSTATION REPORTING UPON ARRIVAL THEREAT TO \nCOMMANDING OFFICER 402ND COMPOSITE SQUADRON \nFOR DUTY. OFFICER WILL CARRY ALL SERVICE RECORDS \nAND ALL PERSONAL PROPERTY. CO 312TH TCW DIRECTED \nTO PROVIDE MOST EXPEDITIOUS AIR OR GROUND \nTRANSPORTATION. \nBY COMMAND OF LT GENERAL EAKER \nA.J. MACNAMEE COLONEL USAAC ADJUTANT GENERAL\n\nAt 0400 there was soup thick enough to cut with a knife, and the weather forecast said \"snow and\/or freezing rain,\" so the most expeditious air or ground transportation had been a jeep. It had been a five-hour drive, and Darmstadter had been stiff with cold when they were passed inside the Fersfield gate by an MP wearing his scarf wrapped around his head against the cold.\n\n\"The 402nd's way the hell and gone the other end of the field, Lieutenant. When you see a B-17 graveyard, you found it,\" the MP said.\n\nAs they drove down a road paralleling the north-south runway, past lines of B-17s in revetments, Darmstadter was surprised to hear an aircraft approaching, engines throttled back for landing. He stuck his head out the side of the jeep and looked at the sky. It was neither raining nor snowing, but conditions were far below what he thought of as minimums of visibility.\n\nAnd then he saw the airplane. It was a B-25, and for a moment he thought the pilot had overshot the runway and would have to go around. But the pilot set it down anyway.\n\n_Damned fool!_ Darmstadter thought, professionally.\n\nThey reached the end of the runway. There was, as the MP had said, a B-17 graveyard: fifteen, maybe twenty, battered and wrecked and skeletal B-17s, some missing engines, some with no landing gear, their fuselages sitting on the ground. Three battered B-17s, Darmstadter saw with confused interest, were still flyable, to judge by their positions near the taxi ramp and by the fire extinguishers and other ground equipment near them. But the tops of their fuselages, except for portions of the pilots' windshields, were gone, as if someone had simply taken a cutting torch and cut them away. Someone, for reasons Darmstadter could not imagine, had turned three B-17s into open-cockpit aircraft.\n\nThere were half a dozen Quonset huts and a homemade arrangement of tent canvas and wooden supports that obviously served as some sort of hangar, or at least a means to work on engines out of the snow and rain.\n\nAs the jeep approached the area, the B-25 he had seen land taxied down a dirt taxiway, turned around with a roar of its engines, and stopped. Three sailors\u2014it took Darmstadter a moment to be sure that's what they really were\u2014 trotted up to the B-25 and started to tie it down and put chocks in place. The crew door dropped open and an Air Corps officer jumped to the ground. Darmstadter waited for the rest of the crew to come out, and then, when the pilot turned and pushed the door closed, he was forced to conclude that, in violation of regulations\u2014and, as far as he was concerned, common sense\u2014the B-25 had been flown without either a copilot or a flight engineer.\n\nThe jeep, all this time, had been moving.\n\n\"This must be it, Lieutenant,\" the jeep driver said, and pointed to a small sign reading simply ORDERLY ROOM nailed to the door of one of the Quonsets.\n\n\"I'll see,\" Darmstadter said, and got out of the jeep and walked to the Quonset.\n\nHe knocked and was told to come in. Inside were two Navy enlisted men, three Air Corps enlisted men, and three naval officers, all three of them wearing gold naval aviator's wings. Two of them were wearing USN fur-collared leather, zipper jackets. The third wore a navy blouse, with pilot's wings, the gold sleeve stripes of a lieutenant commander, and an impressive row of ribbons. Some of them Darmstadter had never seen before, but he recognized both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart.\n\nDarmstadter saluted.\n\n\"Sir, I'm looking for the 402nd Composite Wing.\"\n\n\"You've found it, Lieutenant,\" the Navy flyer with the DFC said. He offered his hand. \"I'm Commander Bitter.\"\n\n\"How do you do, Sir,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"You must be Darmstadter,\" the lieutenant commander said.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Darmstadter said. He handed over a Certified True Copy of the teletype message from Eighth Air Force.\n\nThe door opened and a tall Air Corps officer, a major, the one Darmstadter had seen climb out of the B-25, entered the Quonset hut. For the first time, Darmstadter got a good look at his leather A-2 jacket. There was a Chinese flag and what was apparently some kind of a message in Chinese characters painted on the back.\n\n\"What the hell are you doing flying in that shit?\" one of the other Navy flyers said. He was the oldest of the three, a ruddy-faced middle-aged man.\n\n\"Oh, ye of little faith!\" the Air Corps major said, then turned to Darmstadter. \"You must be Darmstadter.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"I could tell because you looked confused,\" the major said. \"And like the kind of guy who would dump a C-45.\" He paused a moment. \"You're in good company, Lieutenant. Commander Bitter also dumped one, didn't you, Commander?\"\n\nThe middle-aged Navy flyer laughed.\n\n\"Goddamn, I'd forgotten about that,\" he said. \"He did, didn't he?\"\n\n\"Presumably,\" Commander Bitter said, his voice revealing that he was a little annoyed at the reference to a dumped C-45, \"you're going to explain what this is all about?\"\n\n\"I'm going to borrow Dolan for a couple of days,\" the major said, and then, as if he had just remembered his manners, offered his hand to Darmstadter. \"I'm Dick Canidy, Darmstadter. Welcome aboard.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" Darmstadter said, \"I'm a little confused.\"\n\n\"So am I,\" Commander Bitter said. \"Where are you and Dolan going?\"\n\n\"An island called Vis in the Adriatic Sea,\" Canidy said, then turned to Darmstadter. \"You checked out in the B-25, Darmstadter?\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Darmstadter said. \"I've never even been in one.\"\n\n\"Fine,\" the major said. \"I was afraid you might have picked up some bootleg time.\"\n\nDarmstadter was now wholly confused.\n\n\"No, Sir,\" he said.\n\n\"Eric needs a ride home,\" Canidy said. \"We're going to take Lieutenant Darmstadter along with us.\"\n\n\"He just said he's never even been in a B-25,\" Commander Bitter said.\n\n\"That's the whole idea,\" Canidy replied. He turned to face Darmstadter. \"What I want to find out is whether a pilot with about your level of skill can be taught to land and take off from a dirt runway with a stream running through the middle of it.\"\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"It'll be two or three days before we go,\" Canidy said, \"time enough for Commander Dolan to check you out in the B-25. That is, presuming you're still an eager volunteer? \"\n\n\"Sir, I'm still confused,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"But maybe you've heard enough to rethink a little? Reconsider volunteering? If you want to walk, you can walk right now. No hard feelings, and no black marks on your record.\"\n\n\"You aren't pulling my leg, are you, Major?\" Darmstadter said. \"You're making a joke of it, but you really meant everything you said, didn't you?\"\n\nCanidy nodded.\n\n\"And that's all I'm going to be told, isn't it?\"\n\nThe major nodded again.\n\n\"In or out, Darmstadter?\" Canidy asked. \"It's up to you.\"\n\n\"In, Sir,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"Commander Dolan,\" the major said, \"may I suggest we follow that delightful naval custom of splicing the main brace to welcome a new officer to the wardroom?\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" Commander Dolan said, and took a bottle of bourbon from a file cabinet.\n\n\"For Christ's sake,\" Commander Bitter said, \"it's half past ten in the morning!\"\n\n\"I'm Joe Kennedy,\" the third naval aviator said to Darmstadter, offering his hand. The gold letters below the aviator's wings on the leather patch sewn to his flight jacket identified him as LT. J. P. KENNEDY, JR., USNR. \"It's a little crazy around here, but you get used to it.\"\n\nDolan passed around glasses that had once contained Kraft cheese spread. They now held a good two inches of the bourbon. Commander Bitter shook his head but took one.\n\nCanidy took a small swallow of the whiskey.\n\n\"Rule One around here, Darmstadter,\" he said, \"is that you don't write home to Mommy about what you're doing or what you've seen. And you don't tell your pals, either. The Second Great Commandment is like unto the first. You don't ask questions. But before we put that into effect, you can have one question.\"\n\nThere were at least a dozen questions spinning around in Darmstadter's mind. He was surprised at the one he blurted:\n\n\"Why are the tops cut off those B-17s?\"\n\n\"That's not the question I expected,\" Canidy said. \"I thought you'd ask what's going on around here. Then I would have told you that you have just joined the OSS on a probationary status. If you turn out, you'll join the OSS's private air corps. If you don't . . . you won't like what will happen if you don't. Not a threat, a statement of fact.\"\n\nDarmstadter had heard about the OSS. Very hush-hush, involved in all sorts of things involving espionage and sabotage and dropping agents behind enemy lines.\n\nCanidy saw the shock on Darmstadter's face and smiled.\n\n\"As far as the B-17s are concerned,\" Canidy went on, \"what we're trying to do with them is turn them into radio-controlled flying bombs. We fill them with an English explosive called Torpex. Then Joe gets in, fires it up, and takes off. We cut the roof off so he can bail out. The plane is then flown to the target by radio control. If we can get the sonofabitch to work twice in a row, we're going to fly one into the German submarine pens at Saint-Lazare. So far we haven't been able to get it to work twice in a row.\"\n\nDarmstadter looked into Canidy's face and saw that he had been told the truth. \"You've had your question,\" Canidy said. \"I answered it. That's all you get.\"\n\n\"I understand, Sir,\" Darmstadter said seriously.\n\nThe door of the Quonset creaked again as it opened. Darmstadter saw an enormous Packard limousine sitting outside. It had been adopted for military service by having a serial number stenciled onto the hood and the words U.S. ARMY on the doors. But it still looked, Darmstadter thought, as if it should be rolling up to Buckingham Palace and not a Quonset hut in a B-17 graveyard.\n\nA tall, attractive woman wearing the uniform of a sergeant of the Women's Royal Army Corps came in. The uniform was of rough woolen material and ill-fitting, but it did not hide the fact that beneath it was a very well set-up female, indeed.\n\nShe looked curiously, hesitantly, at Darmstadter.\n\nIn the prescribed British manner, the WRAC sergeant came to stiff attention and stamped her foot.\n\n\"Sir,\" she said to Canidy. \"Sorry to be late, Sir. There was a dreadful smash-up on the way.\"\n\n\"It's all right, Agnes, he's now one of us. Lieutenant Darmstadter, Sergeant Agnes Draper.\"\n\n\"Hello,\" Sgt. Draper said. Her smile was dazzling.\n\n\"To answer your unspoken question, Commander Bitter, \" Canidy said dryly. \"Yes, Sergeant Draper and I can find time in our busy schedule to take lunch with you. And how lucky for you both that I have just given Darmstadter the 'no questions allowed' speech.\"\n\nCommander Bitter's face tightened in anger. Commander Dolan and Lt. Kennedy laughed. Sgt. Draper blushed.\n\n\"Damn you, Dick,\" Sgt. Draper said.\n\n\"Military courtesy around here, you may have noticed, Lieutenant Darmstadter, is sometimes a bit lax. In the future, Sergeant Draper, you will make that 'damn you, _Sir._ ' \"\n\n\"Oh, go to hell,\" she said, but she smiled at him.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **PETTY OFFICERS' CLUB NAVY YARD, WASHINGTON, D.C. 2130 HOURS 7 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nRadioman Second Class Joe Garvey, USN, moved his beer glass in little circles on the bar, spreading the little puddle of condensation in ever-larger circles. Joe Garvey was more than a little drunk. He had been drinking in the petty officers' club since half past five, when he'd come to the club from the petty officers' mess. And he was not used to drinking. Sometimes, out at Mare Island, after he'd made radioman third, he had a beer. It was bad enough in boot camp being a skinny little guy with glasses who had never been afloat on anything bigger than a whaleboat, without getting the reputation for being a teetotaler too. Real sailors drank. It was as simple as that.\n\nJoe Garvey hadn't wanted to be a radioman when he joined the Navy. He had wanted to go to sea as maybe a gunner on a twin-Bofors 20mm, something like that, maybe on a destroyer. Maybe even in a submarine. If he had known more about the Navy, he would have kept his mouth shut about having a ham license. But he'd been a boot, and when they'd asked him, he'd told about being a ham. So they gave him a code test, at twenty words per minute, and he'd flown through that; he'd been copying forty words a minute since he was fifteen.\n\nSo he'd gone right from Great Lakes Naval Training Station to Mare Island as a radioman striker\u2014a USN enlisted man working to qualify for a rating\u2014instead of going to sea. And they'd made him seaman first and given him the exam for radioman third, and he'd passed that with a 98.5. And then he'd been on the next promotion list. And six months after that, he'd made 97.4 on the exam for radioman second.\n\nAnd when he'd asked his chief about maybe getting sea duty, his chief told him the Navy needed him right where he was; there weren't all that many guys around who could handle a key the way he could; and it made more sense to have the best operators in an important commo center, rather than afloat, where they might average maybe fifteen minutes a day on the air.\n\nThe first interesting thing that had happened to him since he'd been in the Navy was the Chief coming to him and telling him to pack his gear, that he'd been placed on TDY to Washington, and that they were holding the courier plane for him.\n\nA couple of times at Mare Island, when he couldn't think of a way to get out of it, he'd sometimes had two beers, or even three, but he was not used to just sitting at a bar and drinking one beer after another.\n\nThey had been treating him real well at the Navy Yard. Instead of what he expected\u2014a bunk and a wall locker in one of the big bays reserved for in-transit white hats\u2014he had a private room, with a desk and even a telephone.\n\n\"These are chief's quarters,\" the master-at-arms had told him. \"If anybody asks what you're doing in them, you tell them to see me.\"\n\n\"What am I doing in them?\" Garvey had asked.\n\n\"Let's just say that's where Chief Ellis said to put you,\" the master-at-arms said.\n\n\"What about formations?\"\n\n\"You don't have to stand no formations,\" the master-at-arms said. \"All you got to do is be available, in case they need you. You can go anywhere you want to go, so long as there's a telephone where you're going and I know where you are and what the number is\u2014and you can get back here in thirty minutes. You want to go get your ashes hauled, Garvey, just make sure she's got a telephone and that you'll be able to pull your pants on and get back here in thirty minutes.\"\n\nJoe Garvey had not been summoned, and neither had he gotten his ashes hauled. The truth of the matter was that they had shown him a Technicolor movie in boot camp that had scared the hell out of him. Guys with balls as big as basketballs, and guys with their dicks rotting off. And the chief who had given that lecture had said that if you didn't want to get promoted and wanted to spend the rest of your time in the Navy cleaning grease traps or chipping paint, catching a dose of clap was a good way to do that.\n\nThe smart thing to do, the chief had said, was to keep your pecker in your pocket and wait until you got home and could stick it in some nice, clean, respectable girl you knew wasn't going to give you nothing that would fuck up your life permanently.\n\nThere were a couple of nice girls Joe Garvey knew back in Louisville, but none who had given him any hint that they would go to the movies with him, much less let him do _that_ to them, but he had decided to keep his pecker in his pocket anyway. He didn't want his dick rotting off before he had a chance to use it.\n\nAnd he wanted to get promoted. He was already a petty officer second, and if you were a skinny little shit who wore glasses, he knew that was a good thing to be. What he had wanted most out of life, at least until they'd put him on a plane at Mare Island and flown him here, was to make chief radioman. That wasn't such an impossible dream. Not only was he one hell of a radio operator\u2014he could knock out fifty words a minute and read sixty\u2014but he _knew_ about radios.\n\nThere were a lot of radiomen who were good operators, and there were a lot of radiomen who were good technicians, but there weren't all that many who were both. Since the Navy wasn't going to send him to sea, the next best thing was to make chief radioman. Nobody would believe that a chief radioman had never been to sea. Or if that came out, people would understand that the Navy had its reasons for keeping him ashore. If he was a chief, it wouldn't matter that he was a skinny little shit who wore glasses. A chief was a chief, period.\n\nAnd making radioman first was going to be easier than he had thought it would be. He was going to go back to Mare Island when they were through with him with a letter of commendation from a goddamned Navy captain.\n\n\"Makes you sound like John Paul Jones, Garvey,\" Chief Ellis had told him. \"I know, 'cause I wrote it.\"\n\nThe next time the promotion board sat, he was probably going to be the only radioman second going for first with a letter of commendation like that. He had already taken the radioman first examination, and he'd made 91.5. If he just kept his mouth shut, he was going to make radioman first, and a little later, he would make chief radioman.\n\nBut that was no longer good enough. He didn't want to sit out the war in the commo section at Mare Island. He wanted to get into the war. When somebody asked him, later, what he'd done in the war, he didn't want to have to tell them he'd been at Mare Island, period.\n\nAnd he thought he had figured out what to do about it.\n\n\"Fuck it!\" Radioman Second Joe Garvey said aloud, which made the bartender look at him strangely.\n\nThen he got off the bar stool, shrugged his arms into his peacoat, put his hat at a jaunty angle on his head, and walked, somewhat unsteadily, out of the bar of the petty officers' club.\n\nHe didn't stop to pick up his Liberty Card. He was afraid the master-at-arms would smell the beer on him and not give it to him. He had been given an \"any hour in and out\" duty card, which would get him past the Marine MP at the gate.\n\nAs he went through the gate, a taxicab rolled up and an officer got out. Joe Garvey saluted and got in.\n\n''Q Street, Northwest,\" he ordered. \"I'll show you where.\"\n\nOn the way, he fell asleep, and the cabdriver had to stop the cab and reach in the back and shake him awake when they were on Q Street.\n\n\"Further down,\" Joe told him, and the cab drove slowly down the street until Joe recognized the brick wall.\n\n\"Right there,\" he said, and handed the cabdriver a five-dollar bill. \"Keep the change.\"\n\nHe had almost made it to the door in the gate when a large man in a heavy overcoat appeared out of nowhere.\n\n\"Hold it right there, sailor!\"\n\n\"It's all right,\" Garvey said. \"I'm to report to Chief Ellis.\"\n\n\"You missed him, then,\" the man said. \"He left an hour ago.\"\n\nAnother, equally burly man appeared.\n\n\"What have you got, Harry?\" he asked.\n\n\"I got me a drunken sailor,\" the first man said. \"The sonofabitch can barely stand up.\"\n\n\"Fuck you,\" Joe Garvey said.\n\n\"I got me a belligerent drunken sailor,\" the man said, laughing. He put his hand on Garvey's arm.\n\n\"What the hell do we do with him?\"\n\n\"I'll take him inside and ask the duty officer,\" the first man said. \"He says he's supposed to report to Ellis.\"\n\n\"Kid,\" the second man said. \"I think you just fucked up by the numbers.\"\n\nThe first man, firmly gripping Garvey's arm, propelled him a hundred yards farther down the street, then through the automobile gate to the property, then up the drive, and finally into the kitchen.\n\nJoe Garvey recognized the two men in shirtsleeves sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee. As well as he could, he came to attention and saluted. \"Sir,\" he said (it came out \"Shir\"), \"Radioman Second Class Garvey, J., requests permission to speak to the captain, Sir.\"\n\n\"What have we here?\" 1st Lt. Horace G. Hammersmith, Signal Corps, U.S. Army, asked, smiling.\n\n\"He just got out\u2014fell out\u2014of a cab,\" the burly man said.\n\n\"Garvey, my boy,\" Capt. James M. B. Whittaker said, \"if one didn't know better, one would suspect that you have been communing with John Barleycorn.\"\n\n\"You know him?\" the burly man asked.\n\nWhittaker nodded.\n\n\"Sir, I wish to volunteer,\" Garvey said, very thickly.\n\n\"Volunteer? For what?\"\n\n\"You're going into the Philippines,\" Garvey said. \"I want to go with you.\"\n\n\"So much for the big secret,\" Lt. Hammersmith said, chuckling.\n\n\"You're drunk, Garvey,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"No, I'm not,\" Garvey said righteously.\n\n\"I'll take care of Garvey,\" Whittaker said. \"Thank you.\"\n\n\"I don't know, Captain,\" the burly man said. \"I think I better see what the duty officer has to say.\"\n\n\"Hey,\" Whittaker said, smiling, but with a layer of steel just beneath the surface. \"I said, I'll take care of Garvey.\"\n\n\"Not only am I a much faster operator than the lieutenant, \" Garvey said, \"but you'll be working a Navy net\u2014\"\n\n\"Garvey!\" Whittaker said, sharply.\n\n\"Shir?\"\n\n\"Sssshhhh,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Yes, shir,\" Garvey said obediently. Hammersmith laughed. Garvey looked at him with hurt eyes.\n\n\"That will be all, thank you,\" Whittaker said to the burly man.\n\n\"You understand, Captain, that I'll have to make a report of this,\" the burly man said.\n\n\"You just report that you turned him over to me,\" Whittaker said evenly. \"Okay?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the burly man said after a moment's hesitation. Then he left the kitchen.\n\nGarvey was making a valiant and unsuccessful effort to stand at attention. He swayed.\n\n\"If I may make a suggestion?\" Lt. Hammersmith said.\n\n\"By all means,\" Capt. Whittaker said.\n\n\"Why don't we each take one arm and guide him to a place of rest? Before he falls down, I mean?\"\n\n\"Splendid suggestion, Lieutenant,\" Whittaker said, as he made for Garvey.\n\nThey had just about made it to the kitchen door when it swung inward and Cynthia Chenowith came in.\n\n\"What in the world?\" she demanded.\n\n\"You remember Garvey, of course, Cynthia?\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"He's drunk!\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"Didn't I tell you Cynthia was perceptive?\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"What's he doing here?\" Cynthia said. \"Where are you taking him?\"\n\n\"We're putting him to bed,\" Hammersmith said.\n\n\"Not here, you're not,\" Cynthia said. \"I'm going to get Chief Ellis back here and let him handle this.\"\n\n\"Don't be a bitch, Cynthia,\" Whittaker said. \"Make a real effort.\"\n\n\"Now, just a minute, Jimmy!\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"Cynthia?\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"Sssshhhh,\" Whittaker said, and by that time, Whittaker and Hammersmith were through the kitchen door, with Garvey more or less suspended between them.\n**VI**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **FERSFIELD ARMY AIR CORPS STATION BEDFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 0615 HOURS 12 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCanidy was late. He had been expected at 0600. And Lt. Hank Darmstadter had been waiting to go since he had awakened, after a restless night, at quarter to four. When he looked out the window, there was thick fog, so thick that flight in his Troop Carrier Squadron would not even have been considered. It was likely that the fog would keep them from flying, but there was no one at 0345 whom he could ask.\n\nDolan knocked on Darmstadter's door at 0500 and seemed surprised to find him wearing the high-altitude flight gear over his uniform.\n\n\"Why don't you leave that sheepskin gear here?\" Dolan suggested. \"I thought we'd ride over and get breakfast in the Air Corps mess.\"\n\nDolan ate a hearty, air-crew-about-to-go-on-a-combat-mission breakfast, complete with real eggs and a slice of ham. Darmstadter's Troop Carrier Squadron had not gone on combat missions and consequently had been issued no fresh eggs, so they should have been a real treat. But he was so nervous he had no appetite, and he ate them only because he told himself he needed the nutrition.\n\nA jeep took them to the revetment where the B-25G had been readied for flight. Dolan made a careful, if leisurely, preflight examination of the aircraft, then hoisted himself onto the hood of the jeep and waited for Canidy to show up.\n\n\"You think we're going to go, Commander?\" Darmstadter asked. When Dolan's eyes rose in question, Darmstadter added, \"The fog?\"\n\n\"What I'm wondering about is where's Canidy?\" Dolan said.\n\nFor lack of some better way to kill time, Darmstadter walked around the airplane again. Knowing that he was not only to be checked out in the B-25G but that they were about to make a long-distance flight in it, Darmstadter had studied at length and with great interest _TM 1-B-25-G, Flight Operations Manual, B-25G (Series) Aircraft._\n\nHe had realized the moment Commander Dolan had taken him out to the airplane for his first ride that most of his dedicated study had been a waste of time.\n\n\"You'll notice,\" Dolan had told him, \"that we've modified this one a little.\"\n\nIt was a massive understatement.\n\nThe B-25G had been delivered to the Eighth Air Force with a twin .50-caliber machine-gun position in the tail; with another pair of .50s in a rotating turret on top of the fuselage at the leading edge of the wing; with two single .50-caliber machine-gun positions\u2014\"waist guns\"\u2014in the sides of the fuselage; and with two fixed .50s and a 75mm M4 cannon in the nose.\n\nAll of the guns had been removed and their positions faired over. The bomb-dropping racks and mechanism were gone, and the bomb-bay doors were riveted permanently closed. Auxiliary fuel tanks had been installed in what had been the bomb bay, where the bombs were supposed to be.\n\nIn the fuselage aft of the trailing edge of the wing, where the radio operator's and waist gunner's positions had been, there were now five\u2014as many as would fit\u2014light brown leather civilian airliner passenger seats.\n\nThe seats had been \"salvaged,\" Dolan told Darmstadter, from a U.S. Navy Boeing \"Strato-Cruiser\" transport, that Canidy had \"dumped in Africa.\"\n\nDarmstadter was very curious to learn more about that, but he had come to understand that while Major Canidy and the others seemed to make jokes about everything else, Canidy had been dead serious about the \"Ask No Questions\" rule.\n\nDolan had given Darmstadter seven hours of in-flight instruction in the B-25G, which was really more than it sounded like, because with the exception of the first takeoff and landing, Dolan had never touched the controls again.\n\nSomewhat to Darmstadter's surprise, he had been an apt pupil. Dolan's only criticism had come right at the start, \"Don't try so hard. It's not that hard to fly, and you're a better pilot than you think you are.\"\n\nHe had made mistakes, of course, but after Dolan had shown him what he was doing wrong, he had not made that particular mistake again. He had had the most trouble, not surprisingly, in landing. The B-25G came in a lot hotter than the C-47, and if the power settings were not right on the mark, it dropped like a stone. The Gooney Bird was a very forgiving aircraft; the B-25 was not.\n\nBut he'd shot hour after hour of touch-and-go landings until his technique satisfied Dolan. Then he'd spent another two hours trying to touch down right at the end of the runway and to bring it to a complete stop as quickly as possible. He was aware that he had not been able to accomplish that to Dolan's satisfaction. And he was embarrassed about that, even after he told himself that he should not be. What Dolan was asking would have been difficult for a good, experienced pilot, and he knew he was neither.\n\nThey heard the crunch of automobile tires a minute before they could see the glow of headlights in the fog. But then the distinctive grille of the Packard limousine appeared.\n\n\"I stopped to get the latest forecast,\" Canidy said by way of greeting. \"I presume that the rubber bands are all wound up and we can go?\"\n\n\"It'll take five minutes to light the runway,\" Dolan said.\n\n\"It'll take that long to warm it up,\" Canidy said. \"Tell them to light it.\"\n\nDarmstadter was confused by that. There were no landing field lights at Fersfield. If there were, he thought, he would have seen them.\n\nCommander Bitter and Lt. Kennedy drove up in a jeep.\n\n\"I would suggest that you wait until you've got at least a thousand feet,\" Bitter said. \"But Weather says it's going to be this way until noon, maybe later.\"\n\n\"I think we can get off,\" Canidy said. He turned to Darmstadter. \"Get aboard, Darmstadter,\" he said. \"Strap yourself in the seat that faces backward.\"\n\nThen he gestured for Dolan to precede him aboard. It was more than a gesture of courtesy, Darmstadter saw. He was telling Dolan that Dolan would function as aircraft commander.\n\nAs Darmstadter was strapping himself in, Canidy appeared momentarily in the cabin to wedge a canvas Valv-Pak between one of the seats and the fuselage ribs. Then he disappeared. The plane shook as the left engine started to turn, then caught.\n\nFrom where he was sitting, Darmstadter could look out the small window where the waist gunner position had been faired over with Perspex. Though he couldn't see much, he did see Sgt. Draper standing beside Commander Bitter, both of them with their hands raised in farewell. And then there was nothing to see but the edge of the taxiway as the B-25G trundled to the threshold of the runway. Then he saw a fire at the end of the runway. He unstrapped himself for a better look, and saw that it was a GI can\u2014a No. 10 tin can\u2014and that the fire burning in it was gasoline. Pressing his head against the Perspex, he looked as far as he could down the runway. It was lined at fifty-foot intervals with flaming GI cans.\n\nHe realized that the burning sand-and-gasoline-filled cans were the runway lights Canidy and Dolan had been talking about. They would not \"light\" the runway, in the sense of illuminating it, but they would provide an indication where the runway was. He quickly counted cans. He got to fourteen. That meant seven hundred feet. Not nearly enough to take off.\n\nAnd at that moment, having completed the run-up of engines, the B-25 started to move.\n\nAs Darmstadter watched with something approaching terror, the dull glow of another burning can appeared through the fog, and then another. Despite the thick fog, he realized, it would be possible to take off by staying on the runway between two lines of burning GI cans.\n\nAnd then the rumbling of the undercarriage suddenly stopped. A moment later the nose of the B-25 lifted, so steeply that he fell against the seat that he was supposed to be strapped into, and he heard the whine of the hydraulics as the gear was retracted.\n\nThe reddish glow of the burning cans disappeared; there was nothing whatever to be seen through the Perspex window now but gray.\n\nDarmstadter found the heavy sheepskin flying gear, put it on, and plugged it in. Then he put earphones over his ears and adjusted the oxygen mask, with its built-in microphone, over his lower face.\n\n\"Do you read?\" he asked.\n\n\"We have been calling you, Lieutenant,\" Canidy's dry voice came through the earphones, \"with no response. We thought maybe you'd had a last-minute change of heart.\"\n\n\"Sorry, Sir,\" Darmstadter said. \"I was putting on the sheepskins.\"\n\n\"We're passing through eight thousand,\" Canidy said. \"I'll let you know when we pass through ten. Make sure the oxygen is working.\"\n\nDarmstadter opened the valve and felt the cold oxygen in his nostrils and throat.\n\n\"Oxygen okay,\" he said.\n\n\"Couple of things,\" Canidy said. \"Make sure you've got a walk-around bottle and a spare. We're going way up, so stay on oxygen.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"If you feel like it,\" Canidy went on, \"and it might be a good idea, move around a little. Wave your arms, bend your legs. But don't work up a sweat. If you do that, the sweat will freeze and weld your skin to the oxygen mask. Then it will smart when you try to take it off.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Darmstadter said, chuckling.\n\n\"And stop calling me 'Sir,' \" Canidy said.\n\nIt grew colder very quickly as the B-25 maintained its climb.\n\nAnd by the time the B-25 leveled off, and the sound of the engines changed as they throttled back and leaned off for cruising, it was bitter cold in the fuselage, and the bulky, sheepskin, electrically heated flying suits and boots did not provide comfort, only protection from frostbite and freezing.\n\nEvery fifteen minutes or so, Darmstadter got out of the leather-upholstered, civilian airline seat and, within the limits of movement the flexible oxygen hose gave him, stamped his feet and flailed his arms around. Carefully, for he believed what Canidy had said about working up a sweat and freezing the mask to his face.\n\nThey had been airborne an hour when Canidy came over the intercom and asked him to bring up some coffee. Darmstadter hooked up a portable oxygen bottle and found the wooden crate that held two narrow-mouthed stainless-steel thermos bottles of coffee and one much larger, wide-mouthed thermos holding sandwiches in waxed paper. He took one of the thermos bottles and two china mess-hall cups forward.\n\nHe poured coffee and handed a mug to Canidy, who indicated with a jerk of his thumb that it should go to Dolan. Dolan took it, moved his mask away for a moment, sipped the coffee, and then put the mask back on.\n\n\"Shit,\" his voice came over the earphones. \"Burned my fucking lip!\"\n\nDarmstadter glanced at the altimeter, then looked at it again, more closely, to be sure he had read it right. It indicated 27,500 feet, which was three thousand five hundred feet higher than the \"maximum service altitude\" for a fully loaded B-25G, according to _TM 1-B-25-G_.\n\nHad Canidy rigged the engines so they would function at that altitude? he wondered. Or was the greater altitude possible because the weight of the guns and the parasitic drag of their turrets and mounts was gone?\n\nThen he thought that the only thing he knew for sure to explain what he was doing at 27,500 feet over the Atlantic Ocean was that they were headed for an island called Vis. He had a hundred questions in his mind about that, including how come there was a landing field in an area shaded in red\u2014indicating \"enemy occupied\"\u2014on every map he had ever seen of the Adriatic area.\n\nAnd, of course, there was the big question: Why had they picked a C-47 pilot with a mediocre record like his to go along? It was almost impossible to accept the reason Canidy had offered, that they wanted to see if a pilot of his skill level could manage a takeoff and a landing on a strip that had a stream running through the middle of it.\n\nCanidy surprised him by getting out of the copilot's seat and motioning him into it, then pointing to the altimeter, then handing him the chart.\n\nThat was the first time he'd seen the chart. They had politely but carefully kept him from seeing it before they'd left. Dolan had even kept him from attending the final weather briefing at Fersfield by going there before he came to Darmstadter's room to wake him up.\n\nThe chart for the first leg of the flight showed a course leading out to sea in a general south-southwest direction so they would pass no closer than two hundred miles to the coast of France. Then it turned southeast, with Casablanca, Morocco, as their destination.\n\nThere were cone-shaped areas drawn on the chart, the small end in France, the wide end over the Atlantic. Canidy explained that they indicated the normal patrol areas for German Messerschmitt ME109F fighters, based in France. There were larger cones, which Canidy identified as the patrol areas for German Heinkel bombers used as long-range reconnaissance aircraft. The larger cones covered much of the B-25's projected route.\n\n\"The theory,\" Canidy said dryly, \"is that the Heinkels fly at about ten thousand feet, which gives them their best look for convoys and the best fuel consumption. And we hope that if one of their pilots happens to look up here and see us, he will decide that prudence dictates he keep looking for ships.\"\n\n\"But what if one of them sees us?\"\n\n\"We have two defenses,\" Canidy said. \"We're a little faster. If that doesn't work, Brother Dolan will lead us in prayer.\"\n\n\"We're faster because you removed the guns? That weight is gone?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"The weight, sure, but primarily because of the parasitic drag,\" Canidy said. \"By taking the two turrets out of the slipstream, we picked up twenty knots at twenty thousand feet. We got another five or six knots when we faired over the waist-gun position. We can go either faster or farther at the same fuel-consumption rate.\"\n\n\"Clever,\" Darmstadter said. \"The engineers obviously knew their stuff.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Canidy said, smiling.\n\n\"You did it? You're an engineer?\" Darmstadter blurted, remembering as he spoke that it was a question and questions were against the rule. But Canidy didn't jump on him.\n\n\"You will doubtless be awed to hear that you are dealing with R. Canidy, BS, Aeronautical Engineering, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, '39.\"\n\nDarmstadter bit off just in time the question that popped to his lips: \"How'd you get involved in something like this?\"\n\nHe was beginning to understand that there were questions he could ask, but that asking personal questions was taboo.\n\nThe answer, anyway, seemed self-evident. Whatever the OSS really did\u2014some of the stories he'd heard about the OSS simply couldn't be true\u2014it obviously had a high priority for personnel and equipment. The big brass had apparently decided that an MIT-trained aeronautical engineer could do more good working and flying for the OSS than he could, say, as a maintenance officer in a troop carrier or heavy bombardment wing.\n\nCanidy connected a portable oxygen bottle to his face mask, then went into the cabin. Ten minutes later, he returned.\n\n\"I'll sit there awhile, John,\" he said to Dolan, motioning him out of the pilot's seat. \"Take a nap.\"\n\nWhen Dolan had hooked up a portable oxygen mask and gone back into the fuselage, Canidy's voice came metallically over the intercom.\n\n\"Dolan's a hell of a fine pilot,\" he said. \"He was a gold-stripe chief aviation pilot before the war.\"\n\nDarmstadter had heard that both the Navy and the Marines had enlisted pilots in peacetime, and the legend was that they were better pilots than most of the officers because all they did was fly.\n\n\"And then he got a commission?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"No,\" Canidy said. \"First, they took him off flight status. Bad heart. Then he got out of the Navy and went to China with the American Volunteer Group as a maintenance officer. _Then_ he got a commission.\"\n\n\"But he's flying!\"\n\n\"How Commander Dolan passed a flight physical, Darmstadter, is one of those questions you're not supposed to ask,\" Canidy said. \"When you were in preflight, and they were giving you those fascinating lectures on military tactics, did they touch on 'conservation of assets'?\"\n\nDarmstadter thought about it, then shook his head.\n\n\"I don't remember,\" he said.\n\n\"What you're supposed to do, if you're a general or an admiral and about to enter battle, is decide what 'asset' you absolutely have to have if things get tough. Then you squirrel that asset away so it's ready when you need it. I just sent my asset back for a nap. If anybody can sit this thing down safely on a mountain strip with a stream running across the runway, Dolan can. You follow?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Darmstadter said. He was more than a little uncomfortable. Canidy was obviously a highly skilled B- 25 pilot and comfortable doing things with it that most people would not try (his solo flight of the B-25 through the soup the day Darmstadter had first met him was proof of that). And he had just admitted that he didn't think he could make the landing on the island of Vis.\n\n\"There is an additional problem,\" Canidy said. \"Commander Dolan thinks he is still twenty-two years old and that the doctors are dead wrong about the condition of his heart. He will take affront unless handled properly. Kid gloves are required.\"\n\n\"I understand, Sir,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"And I told you before, stop calling me 'Sir,' \" Canidy said.\n\nSix hours and fifteen minutes after taking off from Fersfield, the B-25G landed at Casablanca. Darmstadter made the landing. He had to tell himself there was no reason to be nervous. Landing on the wide, concrete runway of a commercial airport on a bright, sunny afternoon should be a snap, compared to landing on the rough, narrow gravel runways at Fersfield. But he was aware that it was sort of a test. Major Canidy was in effect giving him a check ride to see how well Dolan had done as an instructor pilot.\n\nDarmstadter was enormously pleased and relieved that the landing was a greaser.\n\nA Follow Me jeep, painted in checkerboard black and white and flying an enormous checkerboard flag, met them at the end of the runway and led them away from the terminal to a remote corner of the field. There was an old hangar there with the legend AIR FRANCE barely legible through a layer of rust.\n\nAs they approached, the doors opened and a ground crewman gave Darmstadter hand signals, directing him to taxi to the doorway and then shut it down. The moment the engines died, a dozen Air Corps ground crewmen manhandled the B-25 inside the hangar and closed the doors.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **THE MARK HOPKINS HOTEL SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 12 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nIt had been decided in Washington that Whittaker, Hammersmith, and Garvey would spend the night at Mare Island. Cynthia, to avoid the curiosity and comment that a civilian woman in the Mare Island Female Officers' Quarters would cause, would stay in a San Francisco hotel.\n\n\"I know someone who can get you into the Mark Hopkins, \" Jimmy Whittaker had said, innocently, when the issue of where she would stay in San Francisco came up in Captain Douglass's office. \"What the hell, you might as well go first class.\"\n\n\"Go ahead and do it, Jim,\" Captain Douglass had answered for her. \"Hotel rooms are in damned short supply in San Francisco.\"\n\nWhen they arrived in San Francisco, by commercial air, they went first to the hotel. Cynthia's reserved \"room\" turned out to be the Theodore Roosevelt Suite, four elegantly furnished rooms on an upper floor.\n\n\"It was all they had available,\" Jimmy said innocently.\n\nCynthia knew that simply wasn't true. What had happened was that Jimmy had told the hotel something like \"I'd like something very nice for a very good friend of mine,\" and the hotel had come up with the Theodore Roosevelt Suite. The hotel had been very obliging to Jim Whittaker because Jimmy was a very rich man, and the hotel knew it.\n\nJimmy's father and his two uncles had inherited the Whittaker Construction Company from their father. There was more to it than the construction company, though God knew that was enough. The Whittaker fortune was based in railroads. They had built them before the Civil War, and grown very rich during the war building and operating railroads for the Union Army.\n\nAfter the Civil War, there had been more railroads. And harbors, and heavy construction. Whenever they could, which was most often, they took part of their pay in stock of whatever they were building. The company had large real estate holdings in New York City and elsewhere. It was even possible, Cynthia thought, looking around the Theodore Roosevelt Suite, that Jimmy had an interest in the hotel.\n\nJimmy's father had been killed in World War I. And his third of Whittaker Construction had gone to his only son. Both Jimmy's uncle Jack and his uncle Chesty had died childless. Jack Whittaker's third would pass to Jimmy on the death of his widow. Jimmy had already inherited the house on Q Street, Northwest, from Chesty, as well as some other property.\n\nChesty Whittaker, Jimmy's uncle and Cynthia's lover, had told her all about the financial position of James M. B. Whittaker. Not subtly. Chesty had thought she should marry Jimmy.\n\n\"You've got to think of the future, my darling,\" Chesty had said. \"We can't go on.\"\n\n\"Why can't we?\"\n\n\"Well, for one thing, I'm a little long in the tooth. You'll still be a young woman when I am long gone.\"\n\n\"Goddamn you!\" she had screamed. \"This is obscene. You're not going to die, and I'm not going to marry Jimmy. Jimmy's a kid.\"\n\n\"There is only three years' difference\u2014\"\n\n\"Four,\" she had snapped.\n\n\"Four years,\" he'd said. They had looked at each other for a moment, before he went on, \"Presumably, you meant it when you said you didn't want my wife to ever find out about us.\"\n\n\"The way I put it was 'I'd rather die than have her find out,' \" Cynthia had said. \"Yes, of course I meant it.\"\n\n\"The reality of our situation is that you are as poor as a church mouse,\" Chesty had said. \"And what do you think she would think if I made provision for you in my will? In addition to her many other virtues, she is intelligent and perceptive.\"\n\n\"Then don't 'make provision' for me,\" Cynthia had said.\n\n\"I love you,\" he'd said. \"I could not not do that.\"\n\n\"And the convenient way to do it is to marry me off to Jimmy? Damn you, Chesty.\"\n\n\"Jimmy stopped off here on his way to Randolph Field,\" Chesty Whittaker had said. \"He said that it was his intention, when he graduated, to ask you to marry him, and what did I think of that?\"\n\n\"What did you say?\" she'd asked.\n\n\"I told him I thought it was a splendid idea,\" Chesty'd said. \"Actually, what I said, making my little joke, was 'name the first son after me.' \"\n\n\"Oh, damn you!\" she'd said, and she'd started to cry, and he'd held her.\n\nThree months after that happened, Chesty Haywood Whittaker had dropped dead. And he had not made provision for her in his will, and she was as poor as a church mouse.\n\nCynthia decided not to make an issue of the Theodore Roosevelt Suite. It would be pointless to protest, for one thing, and for another, it wasn't as if there was a suggestion he would share it with her. He had just made a generous gesture. In the family tradition, she thought. In many ways, Jimmy reminded her of Chesty.\n\nThe Navy sent a Plymouth staff car to carry them from the Mark Hopkins to Mare Island. Waiting for them in a hangar there, guarded by a platoon of Marines under a gunnery sergeant, was a five-foot-high stack of wooden crates that would at 0500 the next morning be loaded aboard the Naval Air Transport Service Douglas C-54 that would carry them to Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands.\n\nJimmy, very seriously, ordered Radioman Second Class Joe Garvey to take charge of the guard detail. Cynthia had to restrain a smile at the slight sailor's obvious feeling of importance at being given the responsibility.\n\nGarvey's status was still undecided. Since he had correctly deduced that Whittaker and Hammersmith were going into the Philippines, he could not be simply returned to duty. But on the other hand, it had not been decided that he would go with Whittaker and Hammersmith. For the meantime, taking him with them to San Francisco and Hawaii would serve two purposes. An extra hand was going to be helpful, and he already knew what was going on. And if he was with them, he was considered to be secure. He could, at any point, be put on ice if it was ultimately decided not to take him to Mindanao.\n\nThey then went to the Mare Island Officers' Club for dinner. Whittaker ordered a steak dinner with all the trimmings to go, and sent their Navy driver to the hangar to deliver it to Garvey.\n\nThere was an orchestra in the club. After dinner, after first, with great mock courtesy, asking Whittaker's permission, Greg asked Cynthia to dance. Whittaker graciously gave his permission, then rose and gave a little bow as Greg led her off to the dance floor.\n\nThen it was Jimmy's turn to dance with her. Thirty seconds after he had put his arms around her, she had felt his erection stabbing at her stomach. He didn't grab her and press her close or try to move his hands so they would come against her breasts, but he had an erection, and it was obvious that he was not only not embarrassed by it, but seemed pleased that she had no choice but to be aware of it.\n\nAnd since she had learned in a class euphemistically called \"Human Hygiene\" in college that the male erection was an \"involuntary vascular reaction,\" she had not been able to tell him to \"stop that.\"\n\nHe held her hand as they returned to the table.\n\nJimmy picked up his glass and, smiling, looked over the rim of it at Greg.\n\n\"I have been thinking, Ronald Reagan\u2014\" he began.\n\n\"I saw the furrowed brow,\" Hammersmith interrupted, \"and it's 'Greg Hammer.' Ronny Reagan is the one they call the 'Errol Flynn of the B movies.' \"\n\n\"Right,\" Whittaker said. \"Hammer, as in the baking soda.\"\n\n\"Now you've got it,\" Hammersmith said. \"What have you been thinking, O worthy leader?\"\n\n\"That despite my initial unflattering impression of you, you may be reasonably trustworthy after all.\"\n\n\"Oh, _thank_ you, Sir.\"\n\n\"To the point where I would feel comfortable in leaving you in sole charge of Radioman Garvey while I escort the lady to her hotel.\"\n\n\"I can get to the hotel by myself,\" Cynthia protested.\n\nThey ignored her.\n\n\"So that you can protect our girl from the unwanted attentions of sailors in the Mark Hopkins?\"\n\n\"Correct,\" Whittaker said. \"I have heard all sorts of tales about sex-starved naval officers making indecent proposals to unaccompanied young ladies such as Miss Chenowith, right in the lobby of the Mark Hopkins.\"\n\n\"We couldn't have that, could we?\" Greg replied. \"You sneaky sonofabitch.\"\n\n\" 'You sneaky sonofabitch, _Sir,_ ' \" Whittaker corrected him.\n\nThe two men, pleased with their own wit, smiled at each other, which infuriated Cynthia.\n\n\"I don't need an escort,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"The way she says that,\" Whittaker replied, \"you'd think she thinks I have designs on her body, wouldn't you?\"\n\n\"I don't think you're funny, Jimmy,\" she said.\n\n\"Let's go,\" he said. \"We have an early day tomorrow.\"\n\nHe took her arm when he put her into the Navy car, but as soon as Greg had gotten out at the hangar, he slid away from her on the seat, so that their hips were no longer pressing together. And he did not try to hold her hand, put his arm around her, or kiss her on the way to the hotel.\n\nHe did speak to the driver:\n\n\"How are we going to get Miss Chenowith back out to Mare Island in the morning?\"\n\n\"My orders are to stick with you, Sir, until you get on the plane.\"\n\n\"All night?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"Well, you go get yourself some sleep,\" Whittaker ordered. \"Be at the hotel at 0400. I'll catch a cab back out there tonight.\"\n\n\"Why don't you go back out with him?\" Cynthia asked.\n\nWhittaker ignored her for a moment, then somewhat lamely said, \"I want to check in with Ellis. I'd rather do that from your room than try to get a long-distance authorization at Mare Island or feed quarters to a pay phone.\"\n\nHe might, indeed, actually call Ellis from the Theodore Roosevelt Suite, once he gets there, Cynthia thought, but he obviously just thought up that excuse to get into the room.\n\nThere was also a good chance that the moment he got her behind the closed doors of the Theodore Roosevelt Suite, he would make a play for her, she thought. She really didn't want that. But she didn't want to make an issue of it now. If it happened, she could handle him.\n\nWhen they got to the suite, he went directly to the telephone on the table in front of the couch and put in a call to Chief Ellis in Washington.\n\nHe seemed genuinely disappointed that Ellis was not immediately available.\n\n\"I'm in Miss Chenowith's room in the Mark Hopkins,\" he said to the telephone. \"I'll wait here for his call.\"\n\nHe put the telephone in its cradle.\n\n\"Not there? That's surprising,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"He would have been there if I had called when I was supposed to,\" he said. \"I didn't even think of calling him until I needed an excuse to be alone with you.\"\n\nShe smiled at him.\n\n_That should have been my cue, she thought, to say something cutting\u2014\"Don't get any ideas, Jimmy,\" something like that. I wonder why I didn't?_\n\nIt was, she decided, because his honesty disarmed her. And then she realized there was more than that. She had tried to force the thought from her mind whenever it had appeared. But that had been hard, and it kept reappearing, as it was doing now.\n\nThe thought was that the clock was running down, like the clock at a basketball game. Very soon, Jimmy and Greg\u2014and maybe even Garvey, whom she thought of as \"the boy in the sailor suit\"\u2014would get on the submarine and try to establish contact with this man Fertig and his guerrillas in the Philippines. There was a very good chance that they would be caught, and if they were caught, they could count on being executed. Cynthia had seen photographs of Japanese executions of Americans. It was done ritually, according to the Japanese warriors' code of Bushido, which prescribed execution by beheading.\n\nAnd this was followed by another thought, alarming in its implications: There seemed to be little morally wrong with going to bed with a man who stood a very good chance of being executed by beheading in the very near future. It seemed little enough to do for him.\n\nBut that presumed he would be executed. Jimmy, God bless him, seemed to have an incredible ability to stay alive. And if he stayed alive, he would be back. And he would interpret her taking him into her bed as a reciprocation of love. And he would want to marry her.\n\nThere were a number of reasons she couldn't marry Jimmy. For openers, she was convinced that the love she felt for him was not the sort of love a woman should have for the man she would marry, whose children she would bear. He was younger than she was. And she had been his uncle's mistress. She sometimes thought that she owed the love she felt for Jimmy simply to his likeness, in so many subtle ways, to Chesty Whittaker. Sometimes, when he looked at her, it was as if Chesty was behind the eyes.\n\nAnd she didn't reciprocate Greg's affection, either. Greg said it jokingly, but she believed that he thought he loved her. And she didn't want to sleep with him, either.\n\nIt would be better all around if she were a slut, she thought every so often. Not an absolute, four-star slut, but just a little bit of a slut, like Charity Hoche. The situation Cynthia found herself in would pose no great problems for Charity. If Charity believed that two men like these, both of them handsome and rich, and head and shoulders above most other men, thought they were in love with her, and if she was as fond of both of them as Cynthia was, Charity would sleep with both of them. One at a time, of course, but with both of them.\n\n\"I think we should talk about Joe Garvey,\" Cynthia said. \"Ellis will want to know when he calls back.\"\n\nWhittaker nodded.\n\n\"On the one hand, you need a backup for Greg,\" Cynthia said, all business.\n\n\"And on the other, Joe Garvey looks and acts as if he should be working the lights for the senior play,\" Whittaker said.\n\nHe walked to the bar and made himself a drink, then returned to the couch and sat down, slumped against the rear cushion, his legs stretched out straight in front of him, holding his glass on his stomach.\n\n\"He's not trained for anything like this,\" Cynthia said.\n\n\"Neither am I, according to good old Eldon Baker,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"You're going out of your way to be difficult, aren't you?\"\n\n\"I'm about to start,\" he said.\n\n\"Excuse me?\"\n\n\"While I was off in Merry Old England,\" Whittaker said, \"I was fucking a duchess.\"\n\n\"For God's sake, Jimmy!\"\n\n\"Elizabeth Alexander Mary Alexandra, Her Grace the Duchess of Stanfield,\" he said. \"Her family owns Whitbey House. He's in the RAF. Missing in action. I'm sure there is a word for what I was doing. And it was my fault, not hers.\"\n\nHe met her eyes until she averted them.\n\n\"And then, when I was in Cairo, I was fucking another married woman. Her husband was off with Charles de Gaulle and the Free French.\"\n\n\"Why are you telling me this?\" Cynthia asked. \"You think it's funny?\"\n\n\"There's a punch line,\" he said.\n\n\"I don't think I want to hear it,\" she said.\n\n\"I used to ask myself, Cynthia,\" Whittaker said, looking at her, \"sometimes at _very_ inappropriate moments, 'Why are you doing this? If you love Cynthia, why the hell are you screwing somebody else?' \"\n\nHe looked at her as if he expected a response.\n\n\"No answer came, Cynthia,\" he said. \"The conclusion to be drawn, therefore, is that I am an unprincipled sonofabitch. \"\n\n\"Another possibility is that you don't really love me,\" she said. \"Not that way. For God's sake, Jimmy, we have known each other since we were kids. I used to take care of you when you were a little boy.\"\n\n\"I have loved you since you were about fourteen,\" he said, matter-of-factly. \"You were climbing out of Chesty's pool in Palm Beach, and I got a look down your bathing suit. My heart stopped, and then jumped. My heart still stops and then jumps sometimes when I look at you. What this equation means, I'm afraid, is that I do in fact love you. _That way._ \"\n\n\"What about Garvey?\" she said.\n\nWhittaker nodded his head as if he expected not only her change of subject but even that particular question.\n\n\"She said,\" he said, \"changing the subject.\"\n\nHe drained his drink, then stretched across the couch to put the empty glass on a table.\n\n\"I'm not going to let you off the hook there, Cynthia,\" he said, and started to cross the room to the bar.\n\n\"What the hell is that supposed to mean?\"\n\n\"There's more to playing Mata Hari, my dear Cynthia, than running around the woods in Virginia with a rifle, or flashing your OSS credentials to impress people.\"\n\n\"Now, that's a cheap shot!\"\n\n\"It involves things like making decisions,\" he said. \"For example, 'Do I send a nice little boy in a sailor suit off someplace where he is liable to drown, or have his head sliced off with a sword?' \"\n\n_My God, he's seen those pictures! He knows what he's getting himself into. He's frightened!_\n\nHe looked at her out of Chesty's eyes.\n\n\"Goddamn you!\" she said.\n\nHe didn't reply. He walked back to the couch and sat down.\n\nShe felt a sudden infuriating urge to cry. She fought it down, then went to the bar and poured an inch of brandy into a snifter.\n\nShe wondered why Whittaker was being such a sonofabitch about Garvey. Why he didn't just say, \"We'll take him,\" or \"We better not take him.\" He damned well was equipped to decide whether the contribution Garvey could make to the mission overrode his youth, and inexperience, and lack of training, and, for that matter, physical stamina.\n\nThat's what had to be judged. Whether Garvey was drowned or beheaded was important only insofar as it would affect the mission.\n\nClearly, Garvey should go. Why had Jimmy been unwilling to come out and say that?\n\nBecause, she suddenly understood, he was being a sonofabitch again\u2014a _male_ sonofabitch. He was simply unable to understand that she thought as he did. He still thought she was playing at being a spy; the bastard had even called her \"Mata Hari\" and accused her of flashing her OSS credentials to impress people.\n\n_Goddamn him!_\n\n\"Garvey will go,\" she announced.\n\nHe nodded.\n\nTheir eyes met.\n\n\"If I asked you a straight question, could I have a straight answer?\" Cynthia heard herself ask.\n\n\"That would depend on the question,\" he said.\n\nThe telephone rang. It was Ellis.\n\n\"Sorry I didn't call earlier, Ellis,\" he said. \"I just forgot.\"\n\nHe reported that the material was on hand, that the weather was good, and unless Ellis heard to the contrary, they would depart Mare Island for Hawaii on schedule.\n\n\"And we're taking Garvey,\" he concluded. \"Get him transferred officially as soon as you can. Get him overseas pay, and hazardous-duty pay . . . whatever you can.\"\n\nEllis said something else, to which Whittaker replied:\n\n\"Thanks, Chief, I'll damned well try.\"\n\nCynthia knew that Ellis had told him to take care of himself.\n\nWhittaker hung the phone up again.\n\n\"You were asking?\" he said, meeting her eyes.\n\n\"Are you afraid?\"\n\n\"I'll tell you what I'm afraid of,\" he said seriously, after a pause. \"I'm afraid I'll answer that dumb question the wrong way, and that'll give you your excuse to throw me out of here.\"\n\n\"Are you afraid, Jimmy?\" Cynthia asked.\n\n\"This is probably the wrong answer, but fuck it. Truth time. No, I'm not. I'm good at this sort of thing. There's a thrill, Cynthia. It's even better than flying.\"\n\nShe looked at him first in disbelief, then in astonishment when she realized he was telling the truth.\n\n\"The wrong answer, I gather?\" he asked dryly.\n\n\"It wasn't the answer I expected,\" she said.\n\n\"Do I get to stay?\"\n\nShe felt her face flush. She felt faint. There was a contraction at the base of her stomach.\n\nShe forced herself to look at him.\n\n\"If you like,\" she said very softly.\n\nAnd then, more quickly than she would have thought possible, he erupted from the couch and came to her.\n\nEmbarrassed, she averted her face.\n\nHis hand came up, and the balls of his fingers touched her cheek and gently turned her face to his. She met his eyes.\n\nHis fingers moved down her cheek, and down her neck, and onto her shoulders. He buried his face in her hair. She felt his arms around her, pressing her to him, and then felt his body shudder.\n\nAnd then he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.\n\n# **3**\n\n## **ST. GERTRUD'S MUNICIPAL PRISON P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 12 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThere was just barely room enough for the Tatra diesel dump truck to pass through the tunnel to the courtyard of St. Gertrud's. Scrape marks on the granite walls of the tunnel and on the fenders of the truck testified that the drivers didn't always make it through on the first try.\n\nThe Tatra pulled into the courtyard and, with a great clashing of gears and bursts of sooty diesel exhaust, backed up to within ten feet of an interior door.\n\nThe heavy wooden door opened inward and three guards came out. They were middle-aged men in gray uniforms and black boots. Carrying billy clubs and small .32-caliber automatic pistols in closed-top holsters, two of them took up positions facing each other between the truck and the door. The third, holding a clipboard in gray woolen gloved hands, stood to one side by the door. As the prisoners came out of the door and started to climb onto the truck, he checked their names off on a roster.\n\nThe prisoners, of various ages and sizes, wore loose-fitting black duck jackets and trousers over whatever clothing they had been wearing when they were arrested. On their heads were black cotton caps with brims, universally too large. These covered their ears as well as the tops of their heads. There were more than thirty of them, more than the Tatra's dump body could comfortably accommodate sitting down. It was necessary for them to line the three walls of the truck bed (the rear wall of the dump truck was slanted) standing up and hanging on to the wall and each other.\n\nIt was just after six in the morning, and they had just been fed. Breakfast had been a hunk of dark bread and a veal, potato, and cabbage soup. It was hearty fare and tasty. The intention of the prison authorities was obviously to provide adequate nutrition for the prisoners. There would be a second meal, bread and lard, and a third at night, always a guly\u00e1s (stew). This sometimes had paprika, making the traditional Hungarian stew, and sometimes just chunks of meat floating in a rich broth with potatoes and cabbage.\n\nWhen all the prisoners had climbed onto the Tatra truck, the guard with the clipboard went back inside the prison. The other two guards went to a small BMW motorcycle, kicked it into life, and waited for the truck to leave the courtyard. Then they followed it, ten or fifteen yards behind, making a series of slow turns on the cobblestones so they would not catch up with it and have to stop.\n\nSt. Gertrud's prison was on the edge of P\u00e9cs. Three minutes after leaving the prison, the truck was groaning in low gear as it climbed a narrow and winding cobblestone street. The motorcycle had to come to a stop three times to wait for the truck to get ahead.\n\nThe truck climbed to the top of a hill, then started down the other side, equally steep and winding. The truck moved very slowly, in low gear, for it had snowed the night before, and there was a layer of slush over the cobblestones. When the road was clear, the truck went down the hill at a terrifying rate.\n\nWhen it had almost reached the bottom of the hill, the truck turned off onto a road that appeared to be paved with coal. There was a dirt road under the coal, but coal falling from trucks had then been crushed under other trucks, so that there was in fact a three-inch-deep layer of coal paving the road.\n\nWhen the truck reached the mine head and stopped, the prisoners, without being told what to do, got off the truck and walked to the shaft head. There, suspended from an enormous wheel, like a monstrous water bucket over a well, was a steel-framed elevator. The prisoners filed onto it until they closely packed it.\n\nThen the basket descended into the mine.\n\nFifty feet from the surface, it began to get dark. At one hundred feet, they could see nothing at all; it was like being blind. By three hundred feet, however, their pupils had reacted to the absence of light and dilated to the point where some sight returned.\n\nAt five hundred feet, when the basket stopped with a groan and then bounced up and down until the elasticity of the cables had expended itself, there were faintly glowing electric lights.\n\nThe prisoners were issued carbide headlamps by a foreman. They gathered around a table to clean them. Then they filled the brass fuel tanks with fingernail-size pellets of carbide, added water, and quickly screwed the covers in place. The headlamps began to hiss as the water reacted chemically on the carbide and produced gas. The prisoners ignited the escaping gas from a lamp burning on the table, then adjusted the lamps to their heads.\n\nThe foreman looked over the prisoners and gestured at two of them. They went to him as the others walked into a tunnel.\n\n_I have been selected to shovel donkey shit,_ First Lieutenant Eric Fulmar, Infantry, Army of the United States, thought. _I wonder why. That job usually goes to the old men; shoveling donkey shit and spreading straw doesn't require as much strength as wielding picks or sledgehammers or coal shovels._\n\nThe basic motive power in the mines was donkeys. They were hitched to a coal car and dragged the full car to the elevator. They were then unhitched, the coal car manhandled onto the basket, and the basket hauled to the surface.\n\nThe donkeys were then hitched to an empty coal car, which they dragged back along the rails to be filled again with coal.\n\nEric at first had been horrified at what appeared to be cruel and inhumane treatment of the animals, even though he was aware that, in the circumstances, there was little room for him to pity anything, human or animal. He had then expected any minute that the Gestapo or the SS\u2014or the Hungarian version thereof, the Black Guard\u2014would show up and introduce themselves by knocking him down and kicking his teeth out to put him in the right frame of mind for the interrogation to follow.\n\nBut that had not happened. Except for one man, the last Black Guards he had seen were the ones who had carried him and Professor Dyer to St. Gertrud's prison. That man had been a corporal or a sergeant (Fulmar was not sure about their rank insignia) he had seen the next morning. That morning, the one Black Guard had been sitting backward on a chair watching, as prison guards went through the paperwork.\n\nA prison guard had dumped on the table the contents of a gray paper envelope containing all the personal property taken from him when they had arrested him on the barge. Except for his wristwatch and his money. The prison guard, in soft German, had told him to identify the property taken from him, and to sign a form he handed him. It had not seemed to be a propitious time to bring up the missing money or the wristwatch.\n\n\"Your property will be returned to you at the completion of your sentence,\" the guard had said.\n\nFulmar had said nothing, praying that his relief would not be evident on his face. He had quickly come up with a scenario that seemed to make sense, but was frightening because it seemed to be too good to be true: He and Dyer had been arrested not because the Gestapo and the SS-SD were looking for them all over German-occupied Europe, but because they seemed to be black marketeers who had come to Hungary with a good deal of money in search of foodstuffs.\n\nPainfully aware that it was wishful thinking, he began to realize that the Black Guards who had stopped and searched the barge and found them had been looking for black marketeers\u2014not to bring them before the bar of justice, but to find them with large amounts of cash that could \"disappear\" between the time they were arrested and the time they got to the police station.\n\nIf the Black Guards charged them with black marketing, which was a serious crime, requiring a formal trial, the state would take the money Fulmar had with him. If, on the other hand, they were charged with \"unauthorized travel,\" the euphemism for Austrians and Germans who came privately to Hungary to buy sausage and smoked ham and salami for their own use, there was no need for the subject of the money to come up at all.\n\n\"May I ask, Sir, what my sentence is?\" Eric had asked very carefully.\n\n\"You have been sentenced by the Municipal Magistrate to three months' confinement at hard labor for unauthorized travel to P\u00e9cs,\" the prison guard had said.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Fulmar said. \"Thank you, Sir.\"\n\n\"Three months in the mines,\" the Black Guard had said, in barely understandable German, \"will be good for you. And maybe it will even teach you that you can't slip things past the river patrol.\"\n\nThere was a suggestion there that if he had offered the Black Guard on the boat a little money, he would not have been arrested at all.\n\nThere was a terrible temptation to press his luck, to offer them more money to let them go. But he realized in time that he was so overexcited by fear that he couldn't trust his own judgment. He was deeply aware that a vein on his temple was pulsing in time with his heart. And his ears rang.\n\n\"I will remember that, Sir,\" Fulmar said, managing a weak smile.\n\nSmiling, the prison guard waved him out of the little office.\n\nAs quickly as the first scenario had come to him, others followed, and they were not nearly as pleasant. A hundred things could go wrong: Professor Dyer might panic. He might decide to try to save his own skin by turning on Fulmar. And Gisella had not been arrested. So he might decide that turning himself and\/or Fulmar in would somehow help her.\n\nBut above all, there was the alarm sounded for all of them by the Gestapo and the SS-SD. It was wishful thinking gone mad to hope that no connection would be made between the two men the entire German security services were looking for and the two \"persons traveling to P\u00e9cs without authorization.\"\n\nBut there had been nothing to do about that possibility but pray.\n\nOn his second day in the mines, Professor Dyer had crushed his fingers under the wheels of one of the coal cars. He had been taken from the mine, howling in pain. It had been easy then to imagine that the accident would attract the authorities to him, but that hadn't happened, either.\n\nDyer's hand had been treated and bandaged. And he now spent his days one-handedly sweeping out the cells in St. Gertrud's and replacing the straw in the mattresses.\n\nEvery night, when he got back, Fulmar had to display a confidence that he did not feel at all. He had to reassure Dyer they had nothing to worry about, that all they had to do was avoid attracting attention to themselves, and they would be turned free.\n\nAnd every morning, he gave the professor what he hoped was an encouraging wink as he filed out of the cell block to get on the truck.\n\nThe donkeys in their stalls stood waiting stoically to be led out and hitched to the coal cars. They didn't seem to mind, obviously, doing what was expected of them. Being in the mines, for them, was the way things were.\n\nThe mine corridor where the donkeys had their stalls was several hundred feet long; the donkey stalls occupied the center portion. It smelled, not unpleasantly, of donkey manure. There was a sharp odor on top of that, ammonia-like, from donkey urine.\n\nThree-quarters of the way down the line of stalls the donkey -shit car sat waiting for attention. As they approached it, Fulmar understood why he and another muscular young prisoner had been selected from the line of incoming miners. There was more than donkey shit to be loaded aboard the donkey-shit car today. There was a dead donkey.\n\n\" _Tot_ [dead],\" the foreman said, quite unnecessarily.\n\nThen he showed them how one of the sides of the donkey -shit car could be removed, and how, with the aid of a block and tackle, they were to load the carcass onto the car. The donkey's eyes were open, a curious white. And he was already starting to decompose, and to smell. When they got the block and tackle in place and hauled him out of the stall onto the tracks, the movement caused the contents of his lower bowel, not ordinary donkey shit, but a foul-smelling, bluish semiliquid, to pass from his anus.\n\nMore of it came out after they had rearranged the block and tackle and dragged him onto the car. Fulmar felt nauseated, tried to fight it down, and failed.\n\nThe foreman laughed at him and said he could tell that he was a city boy who had never lived on a farm.\n\nAfter they got the donkey carcass into the car and closed the side, they went down the line of donkeys and shoveled the donkey shit into the car. By the time they were finished, you couldn't see the donkey carcass.\n\nAnd then they hooked a donkey to the car to drag the car to the elevator.\n\nFulmar had another unpleasant thought. He didn't know how long he had been in jail and working in the mine, and therefore did not know how much longer he would be in the mines. He thought he was a damned fool for not having made a scratch on his cell wall once a day. Then he would have known.\n\nThen he thought it really didn't matter. Long before his ninety-day sentence was up, they would find out that he wasn't a black marketeer.\n\nAnd soon after that, some other prisoner would roll his dead body off somewhere in a cart, just as he was doing with the donkey. The donkey, Fulmar thought, was actually better off than he was. The donkey had not had the ability to stand around imagining what was going to happen to him.\n**VII**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC PEARL HARBOR NAVAL BASE OAHU ISLAND, TERRITORY OF HAWAII 0915 HOURS 13 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nLieutenant Commander Stuart J. Collins, United States Navy, Cryptographic Officer, Headquarters, CINCPAC, was aware that the lieutenant commander in the crisp white uniform in the outer office of CINCPAC was looking askance at his uniform. Commander Collins's khaki uniform was mussed and wilted, and there were sweat stains under the armpits.\n\nThe cryptographic section, in the basement of the neatly white-painted, red-tile-roofed headquarters office building, was of course air-conditioned. But it had been air-conditioned in 1937, when no one could have guessed how many people and how much equipment it would be necessary to stuff into the three small rooms. It was hot down there, and people sweated.\n\nIf the commander in the crisp white uniform in the admiral's cool and spacious office didn't like his sweaty, shapeless uniform, fuck her. Goddamn women in the Navy, anyway.\n\n\"The Admiral will see you, Commander,\" the WAVE Lieutenant Commander said, quite unnecessarily. Commander Collins was not deaf; he had heard the Admiral tell her, over the intercom, to send him in.\n\nCommander Collins walked into the CINCPAC's office.\n\n\"Good afternoon, Sir,\" he said, and extended a clipboard to the Admiral, who scrawled his name on the form, acknowledging receipt of Top Secret Incoming Message 43- 2-1009. Commander Collins then handed him the message, hidden beneath a TOP SECRET cover sheet.\n\nCINCPAC read it:\n\nURGENT \nTOP SECRET \nFROM CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS WASHINGTON DC \nTO [EYES ONLY] COMMANDER IN CHIEF PACIFIC, PEARL \nHARBOR TERR HAWAII\n\nDP YOU WILL MAKE AVAILABLE GATO CLASS SUBMARINE FOR SUCH TIME AND FOR SUCH MISSION AS SPECIFIED BY C. J. CHENOWITH OF THE OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES. CHENOWITH AND PARTY OF THREE [3] EN ROUTE BARBERS POINT NAS ABOARD NATS FLIGHT 232 ETA 1530 HOURS 14 FEBRUARY. CARGO ACCOMPANYING CHENOWITH PARTY OF APPROXIMATELY TWO [2] TONS GROSS WEIGHT IN THIRTY TWO [32] WOODEN CRATES WILL REQUIRE TREATMENT AS TOP SECRET MATERIAL. OCNO DOES NOT DESIRE TO DISCUSS THIS ORDER. OCNO WILL BE ADVISED IN DETAIL BY MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS OF REASONS FOR INABILITY TO COMPLY WITH THIS ORDER. BY DIRECTION: SOLOMON VICE ADMIRAL.\n\nCINCPAC looked up at Lt. Commander Collins.\n\n\"No reply, Commander,\" he said.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Collins said, and started to do an about-face.\n\n\"Collins?\" CINCPAC said.\n\nCollins faced CINCPAC again.\n\n\"Hot in the basement?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"You talk to the engineer about it?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"And what did he say?\"\n\n\"He said that the ambient temperature is within the operating range of the equipment, Admiral, and there's no way he can authorize more air-conditioning.\"\n\n\"Collins,\" CINCPAC said. \"There's a Chief Kellerman over in Civil Engineering. We were aboard the old _Des Moines_ together. You go see him, tell him I sent you, and ask him to cool your shop down.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Commander Collins said. \"Thank you, Admiral. \"\n\n\"And on your way out, ask Commander Oster to get COMSUBFORPAC in here just as soon as possible.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir.\"\n\nCOMSUBFORPAC, Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Geoffrey H. Keene, USN, a ruddy-faced, freckled man of forty-three, who looked much younger, was a professional officer, and thus accustomed to carrying out any order given with cheerful, willing obedience.\n\n\"Gerry, what boat, or boats, Gato class, have you got here ready for sea?\"\n\n\"None this minute, Sir,\" Admiral Keene said. \"But the _Drum_ 's just about through with her sea trials. She's off Kahoolawe Island right now, and she's scheduled to go on patrol in three or four days, as soon as they correct what needs fixing.\"\n\n\"There will be a mission for her,\" CINCPAC said. \"Apparently, a people-carrying mission.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir?\" Admiral Keene said. His tone made it clear he wanted more information.\n\n\"If the _Drum_ is all that's available, it'll have to be the _Drum,_ \" CINCPAC said.\n\n\"Admiral, may I suggest that the _Narwhal_ will shortly be available? She's about to leave Diego.\"\n\n\"It'll have to be the _Drum,_ Admiral,\" CINCPAC said. \"And if you had anything special planned for her, it will have to be put on the back burner.\"\n\nCOMSUBFORPAC could not help but question the wisdom of using a multimillion-dollar naval vessel and its highly trained crew as a kind of seagoing taxicab. Transporting people somewhere was something that submariners did from time to time\u2014but at the pleasure of the submariners, if and when that could be reasonably fitted into the normal duty of submariners: That, first, last, and always, was the destruction of enemy men-of-war and the interdiction and destruction of enemy shipping.\n\nBut CINCPAC had addressed Keene as \"Admiral,\" rather than by his Christian name, a subtle reminder that he was giving an order.\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" COMSUBFORPAC said.\n\nCINCPAC handed him the Top Secret folder.\n\n\"If you can find the time, Gerry,\" CINCPAC said, \"it might be a good idea if you met this Mr. Chenowith at the airfield. Present my compliments, and as tactfully as possible, let him know that I would be grateful to learn what the hell this is all about.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" Admiral Keene said.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **WAIKAHALULU BAY, KAHOOLAWE ISLAND TERRITORY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS 0945 HOURS 13 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe Alenuihaha Channel (depths of at least 1,000 fathoms) runs between the Hawaiian Islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kahoolawe.\n\nThere is a shelf approximately forty miles off the southern coast of Kahoolawe Island, where the depth changes abruptly from about 1,400 fathoms to 650. Then, five miles off the Kahoolawe shore, the depth changes again abruptly to approximately forty fathoms.\n\nThe final sea trial after refitting of the USS _Drum\u2014SS- 228,_ a 311-foot-long submarine of the Gato class\u2014required her to approach the Alenuihaha Channel from the open Pacific, on the surface, in the hours of darkness, navigating by celestial navigation.\n\nShe would remain on the surface, crossing the channel until she reached the shelf, whereupon she would submerge to maximum operating depth on a course that would bring her off Waikahalulu Bay. She would then rise to near periscope depth and maintain that depth and course in the forty-odd-fathom water until visual contact with their assigned target was established, by periscope, in daylight.\n\nShe missed Waikahalulu Bay by five miles. Her skipper, Lieutenant Commander Edwin R. Lennox, USN, a stocky, round-faced, sandy-haired officer who had three days before celebrated his thirtieth birthday, was disappointed, but not surprised. There was really no good way to read the currents of the Alenuihaha Channel or the offshore waters of the island.\n\nWhen his periscope picked up the targets, without taking his eyes from the rubber eyepieces of the periscope, Commander Lennox softly ordered, \"Battle stations, Mr. Rutherford. Gun crews to stand by.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" Lieutenant William G. Rutherford, USNR, the _Drum_ 's twenty-seven-year-old executive officer, a tall, black-haired, skinny man, said. He pushed the heel of his hand against a round brass knob. A bell clanged throughout the submarine, and there was frenzied activity everywhere but around the periscope itself.\n\n\"Steer zero eight five,\" Commander Lennox ordered.\n\n\"Coming to zero eight five, it is, Sir,\" the helmsman said. And a moment later, \"Sir, the course is zero eight five.\"\n\n\"Periscope down,\" Commander Lennox said. \"Take her to one hundred feet.\"\n\nCommander Lennox slapped the handles of the periscope in the up position.\n\n\"Down periscope,\" he ordered, and the periscope moved downward.\n\n\"One hundred feet, Sir,\" the chief of the boat reported.\n\n\"Hold her so,\" Commander Lennox ordered. He crossed the crowded area and pushed down on the lever that activated the public address system.\n\n\"This is the captain speaking,\" he said. \"If I have to say it again, and I think I do, the way to achieve speed is to be sure of what you're doing, and then to do it carefully. We will lose time if somebody falls down a ladder or over the side.\"\n\nThere was a murmur of chuckles throughout the boat.\n\n\"Gun crews standing by, Sir,\" the chief of the boat said.\n\n\"Very well,\" Commander Lennox said. \"Bring her around to two sixty-five.\"\n\n\"Coming to two six five it is, Sir,\" the helmsman replied. The _Drum_ banked like an airplane as she changed course. And then she straightened up.\n\n\"Up periscope,\" the captain ordered, and the periscope rose.\n\n\"Sir, the course is two six five,\" the helmsman reported.\n\n\"Keep her so,\" Commander Lennox said, and turned to the executive officer. \"Got your watch, Bill?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"Punch it,\" Commander Lennox said, then: \"Surface, surface!\"\n\nTwenty seconds later, in boiling water, the bow of the _Drum_ emerged from the sea.\n\nThere was a burst of black smoke as she went from battery to diesel power.\n\nCommander Lennox, Lt. Rutherford, and a talker came onto the conning tower.\n\n\"Make turns for ten knots,\" Commander Lennox ordered. \"Gun crews man your guns, report when ready.\"\n\nThe talker repeated his orders into his microphone.\n\nBluejackets in steel helmets and life vests poured from hatches in the conning tower. Some made their way to the five-inch cannon mounted forward of the conning tower, and began to prepare it for firing. Others went to a rapid-firing 40mm cannon mounted on a platform just below where the skipper, the exec, and the talker stood. A third group went to the 20mm rapid-firing cannon mounted on the rear of the conning tower.\n\nOther sailors formed a human chain, passing ammunition from the submarine to the guns.\n\nOne by one, the guns signaled (the gun chiefs raising a hand overhead) their readiness to open fire.\n\n\"The guns are ready to fire, Sir,\" the exec reported, and then added, \"one hundred eighteen seconds.\"\n\n\"Commence firing,\" Commander Lennox ordered.\n\n\"Commence firing,\" the talker repeated.\n\nCommander Lennox and the exec put binoculars to their eyes and trained them on the shore of Waikahalulu Bay. There were targets in place, wooden frameworks covered with canvas, fairly credible replicas of oil storage tanks.\n\nThe five-inch fired five rounds; one fell nowhere near the targets, but the other four went where they were supposed to go. Meanwhile, the 40mm and 20mm rapid-firing cannon fired continuously, the 20mm in a rapid staccato, the 40mm in a slower, more measured cadence. The targets were obscured by dust and smoke.\n\nCommander Lennox counted the five-inch rounds. The moment he saw the muzzle flash of the fifth round, without taking his eyes from his binoculars, he ordered, \"Cease fire, secure the guns, clear the decks.\"\n\nThe talker repeated the orders. The sailors at the guns now prepared them for submersion. The crews of the rapid-firing cannon began to pass unfired ammunition back into the hull, and then they all went below.\n\n\"Sir,\" the talker said, \"chief of the boat reports gun crews secure from firing.\"\n\n\"Dive!\" the captain ordered.\n\n\"Dive!\" the talker said. \"Dive!\"\n\nA Klaxon sounded. The exec, the talker, and finally the captain went through the hatch and secured it after them. By then, the decks were already awash.\n\n\"Take her to a hundred and fifty feet,\" Commander Lennox ordered.\n\n\"One fifty feet, aye,\" Lt. Rutherford repeated.\n\n\"What have we got, Helmsman?\" Commander Lennox asked a minute later.\n\n\"Sir, we are steering two six five degrees. . . .\" The helmsman paused and waited until the needle on the depth gauge was where it was supposed to be, and then went on, \"at one five zero feet, sir.\"\n\n\"Keep her so,\" Commander Lennox ordered, and then he stepped to the public address system again.\n\n\"This is the captain speaking,\" he said formally. \"For a bunch of Kansas hayseeds and Brooklyn thugs, that wasn't half bad. And the chief of the boat would have told me by now if somebody had gone over the side.\"\n\nChuckles and laughter ran through the boat.\n\nLeaving the microphone open, Commander Lennox said, \"Take her up, make turns for sixteen knots, and set us on a course for Pearl Harbor.\"\n\nHe let the spring-loaded microphone switch go and motioned for the chief of the boat to come to him.\n\n\"Chief,\" Commander Lennox said, \"I would not be too upset, when you check the guns, if you were to find something that would take, say, thirty-six hours to fix.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" the chief of the boat said.\n\n\"And, of course, if the men aren't needed to help with the repair, there's no reason I can see why they shouldn't be given liberty.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" the chief of the boat said.\n\n\"Surface, surface!\" Lt. Rutherford ordered.\n\n# **3**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, U.S. FORCES IN THE PHILIPPINES MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL PROVINCE, MINDANAO 14 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThey had worked out a cipher:\n\nOn the fifth of February KSF had sent a message, as opposed to responding to one of Fertig's messages. So far, all that establishing a radio link with the United States had done was to enable Fertig to get word to his wife that he was alive and not in a Japanese POW camp.\n\nKSF FOR MFS NAMES OF TOWN AND STATE WHERE PATRICIA LIVES WILL BE USED AS CODE PHRASES FOR DOUBLE TRANSPOSITION STOP SEND TEST MESSAGE IMMEDIATELY KSF BY\n\nPatricia, Fertig's daughter, was living with her mother in Golden, Colorado.\n\nUsing that as the basis for a rudimentary double transposition code, Fertig's homemade transmitter sent a meaningless phrase to KSF. Receipt of the message was acknowledged, but the reply, in the new code was only:\n\nKSF FOR MFS NO TRAFFIC FOR YOU AT THIS TIME KSF OUT\n\nTwo days later, on February 11, 1943, there had been another message for MFS:\n\nYOUR STATION DESIGNATED WYZB REPEAT WYZB STOP ALL REPEAT ALL FUTURE TRAFFIC WILL BE WITH KAZ REPEAT KAZ STOP KAZ HAS FILE OF ALL PAST TRAFFIC KSF OUT\n\nKAZ was the call sign of General Douglas MacArthur's General Headquarters, Southwest Pacific Command, in Australia. They heard KAZ on the air all the time, but had been unable to get KAZ to respond to their calls.\n\nNow things might be different. But several hours of calls to KAZ had produced no response whatever. There were several possible explanations for that, the most likely that radiations from Gerardo Almendres's homemade transmitter were for some reason unable to reach Australia. Fertig did not permit himself to dwell on the possibility that MacArthur did not want to talk to him.\n\nWhile Fertig did not personally know MacArthur, he had a number of friends who did. To a man, they reported that Douglas MacArthur, onetime Army Chief of Staff, later Marshal of the Philippine Army, and now once again in U.S. Army uniform, had an ego on a par with, say, Charlemagne's.\n\nWhile Fertig did not believe that the fall of the Philippines was MacArthur's fault\u2014indeed, he had acquired a deep respect for MacArthur's military ability; MacArthur's delaying actions with his limited resources had been undeniably brilliant\u2014he suspected that MacArthur was personally shamed by his defeat.\n\nIf that were the case, that shame might be deepened by proof that not all American officers and Philippine forces had hoisted the white flag and marched docilely into Japanese captivity.\n\nDuring his brief service as an officer, Fertig had quickly learned an old soldier's requisitioning trick. If you need something for one hundred men, and you want to be sure you get it, you requisition a quantity sufficient for two hundred. Or four hundred. Then, when the supply authorities cut your requisition by fifty percent, or seventy-five percent, you still wind up with what you really need.\n\nFertig had been \"generous\" in his communications with KSF with regard to his estimated strength report for the troop strength of the U.S. force in the Philippines. Not dishonest, just generous. He had elected to take the word of Philippine army officers who had not elected to surrender (putting his own serious doubts aside), when they told him how many men they had at their disposal, and how anxious\u2014providing he could supply and pay them\u2014they were to put themselves and their men under the command of Brigadier General Wendell W. Fertig and the U.S. forces in the Philippines.\n\nIf they told him, for example, that they had five hundred troops just waiting for the arms and food that would permit them to engage the Japanese, he took them at their word, even if it looked to him as if the five-hundred-man force consisted of a couple of officers and maybe sixty Philippine Scouts.\n\nHe had added up all the Philippine forces he was told were anxious to place themselves under his command and come up with a figure just in excess of six thousand officers and men.\n\nHis \"requisitions\" for arms and food and gold coins had been based on this strength figure.\n\nMacArthur, according to the radio message from San Francisco, had been made aware of this troop strength.\n\nFertig wondered how Douglas MacArthur was going to react to learning that, after he had reported his forces had fought to the last man and the last bullet, there were six thousand troops under a brigadier general still fighting on Mindanao.\n\nWhen Second Lieutenant (formerly Private) Robert Ball of USFIP came to report that MacArthur (or at least KAZ, his radio station) was finally being heard from, Brigadier General Fertig, a Thompson submachine gun beside him, was drinking a cup of tea on the shaded veranda of his combined headquarters and quarters. The tea was Lipton's. It had been grown in the Far East, sent to the United States, blended, put in tea bags, and then sent back to the Far East. How it had passed into the hands of the Moro tribal chief who had given it to Fertig, Fertig didn't know.\n\nAll he knew was that Lipton was putting out a better product than he had previously suspected. The tea bag that had produced the tea he was now drinking was on its fourth brewing cycle. (Brew, dry, brew again, dry, et cetera.) He knew this because he was a methodical man, and each time he drenched the tea bag in boiling water, he tore one of the corners of the tea-bag-tag off. The tea-bag-tag drying on the bamboo railing beside him was cornerless.\n\nHe felt that it behooved him to conceal from his subordinate staff the excitement he felt now that MacArthur was finally being heard from.\n\n\"Thank you, Ball,\" he said, with as much savoir-faire as he could muster. \"How long do you think it will take Captain Buchanan to decrypt the message?\"\n\n\"About thirty minutes, Sir,\" Ball said.\n\n\"Fine,\" Fertig said. \"I expect to be here in half an hour, when Captain Buchanan is finished.\"\n\nForty-five minutes later, Captain Horace Buchanan handed Brigadier General Fertig the two sheets of paper on which he had neatly lettered (Signal Section, HQ, USFIP, did not possess a typewriter) the decrypted message. From the look on Buchanan's face\u2014disappointment and embarrassment\u2014Fertig knew that there was little good news in the radio message.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Fertig said, and read the message:\n\nKAZ FOR MFS \nONE LT COL WENDELL W. FERTIG CORPS OF \nENGINEERS US ARMY RESERVE DETAILED INFANTRY \nTWO COLONEL MARCARIO PERALTA PHILIPPINE \nSCOUTS DESIGNATED MILITARY GUERRILLA CHIEF OF \nTEMPORARILY OCCUPIED ENEMY TERRITORY \nTHREE THE ISSUANCE OF MILITARY SCRIP IS \nEXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN REPEAT EXPRESSLY \nFORBIDDEN \nFOUR COMMAND OF GUERRILLA FORCES WILL BE \nEXECUTED ONLY BY OFFICERS PRESENTLY IN DIRECT \nCOMMAND OF SAME \nFIVE THIS HEADQUARTERS WILL ENTERTAIN \nREQUISITIONS FOR SMALL IN SIZE URGENTLY \nNEEDED EQUIPMENT ONLY \nBY COMMAND OF GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR \nCOMMANDER IN CHIEF SOUTHWEST PACIFIC \nCOMMAND \nWILLOUGHBY BRIGADIER GENERAL USA\n\nFertig looked up and met Buchanan's eyes.\n\n\"I took out the 'stops' and stuff, General,\" Buchanan said.\n\nThere had been a faint hesitation, Fertig noticed, before Buchanan had called him \"General.\"\n\n_It wasn't only a little bad news, it was all bad news._\n\nAs far as MacArthur was concerned, he was a reserve lieutenant colonel in the Corps of Engineers, not a brigadier general in command of U.S. forces in the Philippines.\n\nColonel Marcario Peralta was \"military guerrilla chief of temporarily occupied enemy territory.\" Fertig did know Peralta. Peralta had been a successful lawyer in Manila before the war. The last Fertig had heard, just before the surrender, Peralta had been a major. Now he was a colonel, which meant that Fertig was supposed to be subordinate to him.\n\nThat could explain why MacArthur had pointedly reminded him that he was a lowly lieutenant colonel.\n\nThere was another possibility: If he had not promoted himself, and thus offended MacArthur's sense of the military proprieties, it was possible (now that he thought of it, even likely) that he would have been promoted to colonel and named \"military guerrilla chief of temporarily occupied enemy territory.\"\n\nThe really worrisome paragraph was the one about forbidding him to issue scrip. He'd been issuing the scrip, signing each one-, five-, and ten-dollar bill himself; and the crude money had been accepted by the Filipinos; they had taken him at his word that, when the war was over and the Japanese had been driven from the Philippines, it would be redeemed at face value.\n\nAnd since MacArthur obviously was not about to send him gold, the scrip he was \"expressly forbidden repeat expressly forbidden\" to issue was the only way he had to pay the troops and to buy whatever the natives were willing to sell.\n\nThat was even more important than his rank, or Colonel Peralta's appointment as \"military guerrilla chief.\" Peralta was on the island of Panay. There was little or no chance that he would try to exercise command over Fertig. Peralta was no fool; he knew that Fertig would simply ignore him.\n\n\"Captain Buchanan,\" Fertig said, \"I presume that no one but you has seen the contents of this message?\"\n\n\"No, Sir.\"\n\n\"It is herewith classified Top Secret,\" Fertig said, and put a match to it. \"No one else is to be made privy to its contents.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"You may tell Lieutenant Ball and whomever else you wish,\" Fertig said, \"that the message dealt with our reinforcement in the future.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Buchanan said. \"Sir, what do I call you?\"\n\n\"That would seem, Captain Buchanan,\" Fertig said, looking at him, \"to be entirely up to you.\"\n\nThere was a just-perceptible hesitation before Buchanan spoke. Then he said, \"Will there be a reply, General Fertig?\"\n\n\"No, no reply,\" Fertig said. \"That will be all, Captain, thank you.\"\n\n\"Permission to withdraw, General?\"\n\n\"Granted,\" Fertig said. Then, suddenly, \"Yes, there will be a reply, Captain.\" Fifteen minutes later, MFS went on the air:\n\nMFS FOR KAZ \nPERSONAL FOR GENERAL MACARTHUR \nREFERENCE PARA FIVE YOUR VALENTINES DAY \nMESSAGE STOP URGENTLY REQUEST VIA FIRST \nAVAILABLE TRANSPORTATION NECESSARY DRUGS \nTREAT VENEREAL DISEASE CONTRACTED BY KEY \nPERSONNEL STOP FERTIG\n\n# **4**\n\n## **CROYDON AIRFIELD LONDON, ENGLAND 14 FEBRUARY 1943\u2014ST. VALENTINE'S DAY**\n\n\"I think the thing to do with Charity Hoche, Helene,\" Lt. Colonel Stevens had said to Helene Dancy earlier that morning, \"is for you to meet her at the airport, run her past the officer's sales store, get her into uniform, and take her out to Whitbey House. She is a young lady who attracts a great deal of attention, and to the extent we can, I think we ought to keep her out of sight.\"\n\nColonel Stevens had then decided that it would be best to put Charity Hoche into the uniform of a WAC first lieutenant.\n\n\"We'll think about actually getting her a commission,\" Stevens had said. \"In the long run, that might be the thing to do. But for the short run, anyway, I think it makes more sense than putting her into a civilian specialist's uniform. That attracts attention.\"\n\nThe first impression Capt. Helene B. Dancy had of Miss Charity Hoche was not particularly favorable.\n\nMiss Hoche descended the stairway from the door of the ATC C-54, \"the Washington Courier,\" wearing the uniform of a War Department civilian, with the uniform cap perched perkily atop a mass of long golden hair. Neither Capt. Dancy nor Colonel Stevens had expected that Miss Charity Hoche would arrive in England in a civilian specialist's uniform.\n\nShe also managed to display a good deal of shapely thigh and lace-hemmed black petticoat as she came daintily down the stairs. She wore the gabardine uniform topcoat over her shoulders.\n\nTwo officers (one of them, in Capt. Dancy's opinion, old enough to know better) hovered solicitously around her. They were rewarded for their efforts with a radiant display of perfect white teeth between lips that Capt. Dancy thought had entirely too much lipstick of a too dazzling shade.\n\nA double-decker London bus had been driven onto the field to transport the arriving passengers to SHAEF Billeting. There they would be given a two-hour orientation lecture, known as the \"Be Kind to Our English Cousins speech.\" The trouble with Americans, in the opinion of many Englishmen, was that they were \"overpaid, oversexed, and over here.\"\n\nThe purpose of the orientation lecture was to remind the newly arrived Americans that England had been at war for more than three years; that there was a \"ration scheme\" for practically everything the English needed to live; and that the British quite naturally resented the relative luxury in which the American taxpayer was supporting its citizens in the United Kingdom.\n\nThe lecture, Capt. Dancy decided, seemed to have been prepared with Miss Charity Hoche in mind. But she would not hear it.\n\nCapt. Dancy showed her identification card to the guard and walked out of the terminal building and intercepted Charity Hoche as she was being escorted to the bus.\n\n\"Miss Hoche?\" she said. \"I'm Capt. Dancy. Will you come with me, please?\"\n\nThe pudgy lieutenant colonel who was carrying Charity's makeup kit looked crushed.\n\nCapt. Dancy happened to meet Charity Hoche's eyes and found herself being examined very carefully by very intelligent eyes.\n\n\"My luggage?\" Charity asked.\n\n\"It'll be taken care of,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\nCharity said good-bye to the two officers and followed Capt. Dancy into the terminal, then to the Ford staff car.\n\n\"Where are we going?\" Charity asked when she was in the car, and then, without waiting for a reply, \"Is it hard to drive one of our cars on the wrong side of the road?\"\n\n\"The 'other' side of the road is the way I think of it,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"And the answer is 'no, you have to be careful, but you soon get used to it.' \"\n\n\"How did I get off on the wrong foot with you so soon, Captain?\" Charity challenged.\n\n_Because you're young and spectacularly beautiful and look and act as if a serious thought and a cold drink of water would kill you._\n\n\"If I gave that impression, Miss Hoche, I'm sorry,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"Where we're going is to my billet. There, we're going to put your hair up, take some of that makeup off, and do whatever else is necessary to make you credible as a WAC officer.\"\n\nCharity Hoche seemed oblivious to the reproof.\n\n\"Captain Douglass thought you might want to put me in a WAC uniform, but he wasn't sure. I've got the insignia and AGO card of a first lieutenant in my purse.\"\n\nDancy looked at her in surprise.\n\n\"So, all we'll have to do, then,\" Charity said sweetly, \"is pin on the insignia, put my hair up, and take some of the makeup off, right?\"\n\nShe gave Capt. Dancy a dazzling smile.\n\n\"But before we do that,\" Charity went on, just as sweetly, \"I think we should go by Berkeley Square. Not only do I have three 'Eyes Only' for Mr. Bruce, but I have crossed the Atlantic with a Colt 'Banker's Special' hanging from my bra strap. It hurts like hell, and I want to get rid of it.\"\n\n\"I'll be damned,\" Capt. Helene Dancy said.\n\n\"Won't we all be, sooner or later?\" Charity asked.\n\n\"Apparently, I was wrong about you,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\n\"I don't know about that,\" Charity said, \"but you were wrong about Colonel Stevens. You should have known he wouldn't have let me come over here if I was a complete fool.\"\n\n# **5**\n\n## **OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE LONDON, ENGLAND 1610 HOURS 14 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nDavid Bruce, Chief of London Station, was surprised to sense his office door being quietly opened, and when he looked up, to see the face of Capt. Helene Dancy waiting to catch his attention.\n\n\"Sorry to disturb you, Sir,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\nBruce's eyebrows rose in question.\n\n\"Miss Hoche is here,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\nBruce frowned. He didn't want to see Charity Hoche. He wanted, in fact, to nip in the bud any idea of hers that she would enjoy with him the same close personal relationship she was supposed to have with Bill Donovan.\n\nHe had directed that Helene Dancy pick the girl up at Croydon and take her directly to Whitbey House in one of the station's 1941 olive-drab Ford staff cars. En route, Helene was supposed to relay his orders to her to make herself useful wherever Lieutenant Robert Jamison felt she would fit in.\n\nJamison was Adjutant of Whitbey House Station. His job had been to relieve Canidy of as much of the administrative burden as he could. He had done a good job, but not only was he admittedly unhappy with what he called his chief clerk's role, but he was also qualified, in Bruce's opinion, to assume greater operational responsibility.\n\nJamison wanted to go operational, which was different from assuming greater operational responsibility.\n\nBruce had already decided that was out of the question, not because Jamison couldn't do it but because he knew too much for the OSS to risk having him captured. With Canidy the exception that proved the rule, OSS personnel privy to OSS plans and intentions in more than one\u2014their own\u2014case were not permitted to go operational.\n\nNo attempt had been made to brief Jamison on any particular operation, but he did the paperwork, and he was as bright as a new dime. There was no question in David Bruce's mind that Jamison knew far too much about too many things to send him off somewhere where he was likely to find himself being interrogated by the Sicherheitsdienst.\n\nBut Bruce had always thought there were areas where Jamison's intelligence and other talents could be put to better use than requisitioning sheets and towels and keeping abreast of the paperwork. Canidy had been giving him jobs of greater importance than these. And he had accomplished them admirably.\n\nJamison had handled, for example, and handled well, a project in connection with \"Operation Aphrodite\":\n\nThere was only one way to test the practicality of the drone bomber project, and that was by setting up a target and trying to blow it up with an explosives-laden, radio-controlled B-17. This, of course, had to be done with as much secrecy as possible, so when they finally flew the flying bombs against the German submarine pens, they would have the necessary element of surprise.\n\nJamison had scoured the maps of the United Kingdom until he found a lonely bay in Scotland that could be used as a target range. It had required coordination with the English, the local Scottish government, the U.S. Army (from whom he had borrowed a detachment of Engineers to build a target, a mock-up of the entrance to the Saint-Lazare submarine pens), and the U.S. Navy (who had provided ships to clear the area, and a yard boat to be available to pluck \"Operation Aphrodite\" aviators from the water, if that should prove necessary).\n\nAnd Jamison had carried this responsibility (which was, of course, in addition to his \"chief clerk\" duties) with a skill, imagination, and discretion that had pleased Bruce. Jamison had come up with a different cover story for each set of outsiders involved, with just enough truth in each to make it credible, and far enough from the real truth to keep the secret of what was really going on away from German agents.\n\nWhen the first Personal\u2014Eyes Only message from Colonel William J. Donovan regarding Miss Charity Hoche had come to Berkeley Square asking Ed Stevens if he could find useful work for her, Bruce had seen in it a solution to the problem of more efficient utilization of the talents of First Lieutenant Robert Jamison. She would be assigned first as Jamison's assistant. There she would do such things as learn how to requisition flour to bake bread\u2014or a similar-looking white powder that had extraordinary explosive power when detonated, say, against the supports of a bridge in France or Yugoslavia.\n\nThe sooner she could take the paperwork burden from Bob Jamison's shoulders, the sooner Jamison could be put to work doing other, more important things.\n\n\"Why is she here?\" Bruce asked. There was more than a hint of displeasure, even reproof in his voice.\n\n\"She has three Eyes Only for you,\" Captain Dancy said.\n\n\"Oh?\" Bruce was surprised that Charity Hoche had been put to work as a courier. Couriers were most often officers traveling to Europe for assignment, or sometimes warrant officers whose duty it was to travel around the world, providing armed, personal guard to documents that could not be trusted to the mail pouches.\n\n\"Send her in, please,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"She's in the ladies' room,\" Capt. Dancy said, then added, \"taking off her pistol.\"\n\nCharity Hoche appeared a minute later. She had three letter-size envelopes in her right hand and a Colt \"Banker's Special\" .38 Special revolver in her left.\n\nShe was stunning. She exuded, David Bruce thought personally, a subtle sexuality, even a sort of refined lewdness that would make an archbishop tend to forget his vows. Professionally, David Bruce had wondered if all of his happy plans to have this young woman relieve Jamison of his administrative chores might be shot out of the water by her blatant sex appeal.\n\nBruce had been amused to learn that the Army had _officially_ approved the policy of inserting slides of attractive and scantily attired or nude young women into slide trays containing other slides demonstrating the proper technique of waterproofing a truck or assembling a pontoon bridge. It caught the men's attention, woke them up, got the blood flowing.\n\nBruce was genuinely concerned about the degree to which Charity Hoche's simple presence among the men in training and awaiting assignment at Whitbey House would catch the men's attention. There were some women at Whitbey House, and some local women, but not nearly enough of the opposite sex to go around.\n\nMiss Charity Hoche, Bruce suspected, would wake them up and get their blood flowing to an undesirable degree.\n\n\"Mr. Bruce,\" Charity said in a low and sexy voice, \"I'm Charity Hoche. Daddy said when I saw you to give you his best regards.\"\n\nShe thrust the envelopes at him. They were of lightweight, airmail paper, double enveloped, the outer envelopes stamped TOP SECRET.\n\nThey were warm to the touch. After a moment, he figured that out. She had been carrying them on her person. In her girdle, specifically; there was no other place where they could have been carried unfolded. It made sense, of course, but there was still something unsettling about it.\n\nBruce forced his thoughts from Charity's girdle to the pistol. The way she was holding it\u2014upside down, her finger nowhere near the trigger, not waving it around, the muzzle pointed safely toward the floor\u2014showed that she was quite at home with firearms. But one did not expect to see a snub-nosed revolver in the soft white hands of a long-haired blonde with a face that brought to mind candlelight dinners.\n\nCharity Hoche saw the surprise in his eyes. She flashed Bruce a dazzling smile.\n\n\"I didn't mean to startle you, Mr. Bruce,\" she said. \"But I . . . I can't tell you where I've had the damned thing for the last thirty-six hours . . . just had to get it out of there. I'm scarred for life.\"\n\nDavid Bruce had been a little chagrined at how eagerly his mind considered in glorious Technicolor the various places Miss Hoche might have had the pistol concealed on her person for the past thirty-six hours.\n\n\"Not at all,\" David Bruce said, somewhat lamely.\n\nCharity handed him next three Receipt for Classified Top Secret Documents forms, and watched as he compared the numbers of the forms with the numbers on the outer envelopes, then signed them. When he gave them back to her, she folded them into a small wad and stuffed them inside her uniform blouse. He averted his eyes in a gentlemanly fashion as she did this.\n\n\"Let me take a quick look at these,\" David Bruce said, furious with himself for acting like a high-school boy before this stunning young woman. \"And then we'll have a little chat.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" said Charity Hoche.\n\n''Helene,\" Bruce heard himself say, \"why don't you get us some coffee?\"\n\nShe went to get the coffee, but he saw the look on her face and reminded himself again that although she was functioning as his secretary, she was a commissioned officer of the United States Army, and aware that captains are not sent to fetch coffee.\n\nThe first of the three Personal\u2014Eyes Only messages from the Director of the Office of Strategic Services dealt with logistic matters. He glanced at it, then opened the second. That dealt with the suspicions held by the FBI that a technical sergeant recruited for the OSS (and, he recalled from a remote portion of his memory, about to finish training at Whitbey House) had uncomfortably close connections with the Communist Party, USA. As he replaced that one in its envelope, he thought he would have to read that one very carefully indeed. Then he opened the third Eyes Only. It dealt with Miss Charity Hoche:\n\nDear David:\n\nWhile I would suggest that we leave intact the in-house gossip that Charity Hoche has been sent to you because she batted her eyes at Uncle Bill, and the old softie gave in, the truth of the matter is something else.\n\nBeneath the very attractive facade is an unusually bright (genius-level IQ) young woman with a master's degree in political science earned in four years, summa cum laude. As this came out, first as Charity proved far more useful working at the house on Q Street than frankly I thought she would be, and then officially, from a belatedly administered background investigation, Pete Douglass and I began to involve her in more and more higher-level operations.\n\nThe last time I was in England, I brought Ed Stevens into one such operation, together with a direct order that he was not to tell you I had done so. I should not have to tell you the decision to keep you out of this was not in any way a reflection on you. I will tell you that it is the only operation currently under way in Europe to which you are not fully privy, and that those, including Charity, who are privy to it are a very small number of people personally approved by the President.\n\nAnd neither Ed nor Charity is privy to all the details. I brought Ed into it, with the President's permission, because the operation is of such importance that nothing else being done can be permitted to interfere with it. He was told what he has been told solely so that he can make sure nothing that happens over there will get in the way. His orders are to reason with you, first, to see if he can talk you out of whatever it is you plan to do that might get in the way, and, failing that, to communicate directly with either myself or Pete Douglass. We would then, without explanation, cancel the planned operation. We have done that twice.\n\nCharity was brought into it, again with Franklin Roosevelt's specific permission, for the simple reason that this operation's in-house administration cannot be conducted through our normal channels, as secure as we believe them to be. Pete and I needed, in other words, a clerk-typist and file clerk with not only a Top Secret Presidential clearance, but one with the intellectual ability to comprehend the implications of the project, and to deal with the people involved.\n\nIt was only, frankly, after I pointed out to the President that none of the other people he proposed, in particular one Navy captain of our mutual acquaintance, to assume responsibility for in-house administration and liaison for this project could type or file, and that adding the Navy captain to the cleared list would leave us no better off than we then were, that he approved adding Charity to the list of those cleared for the project.\n\nThat situation has now changed, as a result of growth in the project. We now have the Navy captain, and he has an administrative staff of two. And as both the project, and your operations, have grown, so has the possibility that you will undertake something that could get in the way, and that it would somehow slip past Ed Stevens's attention.\n\nWe cannot take that risk. My recommended solution to the problem was what I thought to be the obvious one, to add your name to the list. Unfortunately, I made it hours after the President had become aware that, on his own, one individual on the list had made his deputy privy to some details of the project.\n\nRoosevelt was enraged . . . at the time I didn't know why . . . at my suggestion that we add \"every Tom, Dick, and Harry\" to the list, and, at my persuasive best, when I told him what I considered to be the risk of something slipping past Ed Stevens in London, all I could get from him was permission to send someone already on the list over there to keep that from happening.\n\nThat boiled down to one of the Navy captain's men, a commissioned warrant officer, absolutely trustworthy, but a sailor to the core, or Charity.\n\nMy decision is to send you Charity. On my authority, she has the presumed Need-to-Know anything concerned with any of your projects, to the same degree as Ed Stevens. I have instructed her, should something come to her attention that she feels has missed Ed's, to first bring it to his attention, and then to yours, and finally, if it comes to this, to communicate directly with Pete Douglass or me.\n\nHow you arrange for this is of course up to you, and I don't think I have to tell you this project review function of hers is to go no further than you or Ed.\n\nI am, of course, David, uncomfortable with keeping you in the dark, and can only hope that you will forgo judgment until the time when I can tell you what's been going on; when, I really believe, you will understand why all this has been necessary.\n\nYou may have noticed the strikeovers and other symptoms of amateur typing. This is because neither Miss Broyle, nor even the ever-faithful Chief Ellis, are in on this either, and this has been writ by hand by\n\nYour old friend,\n\n_Wild Bill_\n\nDavid Bruce recognized that, despite Wild Bill Donovan's liberally dispensed soft soap, his reaction to learning that the President of the United States, an old friend, had decided there were some secrets with which he could not be trusted was mixed hurt and anger.\n\nAnd he realized he was hurt and angered by learning that Ed Stevens, of whom he was very fond and whom he considered a true friend, had been involved in a months-long deception.\n\nAnd he realized that he was humiliated to learn that while he couldn't be trusted with this great goddamned secret, whatever it was, the long-haired blonde who had crossed the Atlantic with Top Secret\u2014Personal\u2014Eyes Only documents in her girdle enjoyed the confidence of the President. And Donovan.\n\nBruce was a man of great will. He forced the anger and humiliation down, succeeding after a long moment in convincing himself that the President must have his reasons, and that it was his duty not to question his judgment.\n\nCapt. Helene Dancy entered the office with three cups of coffee and coffee accoutrements on a tray.\n\n\"Miss Hoche,\" David Bruce said, \"I presume you are familiar with the Eyes Only that deals with you?\"\n\n\"In general terms, Sir,\" Charity Hoche said. \"I haven't read it. I've read the other two.\"\n\n\"I think you should read it,\" Bruce said, and handed it to her. He heard the sound of his voice, and told himself to be careful. He was still acting emotionally.\n\nHe looked at Helene Dancy and saw in her eyes that she sensed that something extraordinary was going on. He looked again at Charity Hoche as she read Donovan's letter. Twice, her eyebrows went up, apparently in surprise.\n\nThen she looked at him, and met his eyes.\n\n\"Captain Dancy,\" Bruce said, \"would you ask Colonel Stevens to come in, please?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Helene Dancy said. \"Would you like me to log those Eyes Onlys in?\"\n\n_Meaning, of course,_ Bruce thought, _that your curiosity is aroused and that you'll get a quick look at them between here and the safe._\n\n\"You can take these two, Helene,\" Bruce said, looking at Charity Hoche. \"I'm not sure about the third.\"\n\n\"I don't mean to be forward, Sir,\" Charity Hoche said, \"but I think it would be better if Captain Dancy saw that letter.\"\n\nBruce handed it over. He saw that Charity Hoche was watching Helene Dancy's face as carefully as he was for her reaction. And they were both disappointed. Her face showed no reaction. She did look at Charity, however, as she folded the letter and stuffed it back into the envelope.\n\n\"May I make a suggestion?\" Capt. Dancy asked.\n\n\"Certainly,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"If you were to tell Lieutenant Jamison that Miss . . . or Lieutenant, which would probably be better . . . that _Lieutenant Hoche_ will be devoting half of her time to dealing with female personnel at Whitbey House for me, there would be no reason not to go ahead and send her out there as originally planned.\"\n\n\"Good idea,\" Bruce said after a moment. \"We'll just have to get Jamison some other help.\"\n\n\"I would say that it would take her two or three days to read the files here,\" Dancy said. \"In the meantime, she can stay with me.\"\n\n\"That's very kind,\" Charity said.\n\n\"Not at all,\" Captain Dancy said. \"I'm going to run you by the bar in the Dorchester. Maybe I can latch on to one of your rejects.\"\n\nCharity laughed with delight. They smiled at each other.\n\n_Womanly smiles,_ Bruce thought. _Even girlish._\n\nBut there was more to both of them than that. He reminded himself that another of his weaknesses was underestimating the female animal.\n\n\"I'll go fetch Colonel Stevens, Sir,\" Capt. Dancy said.\n\n# **6**\n\n## **PEARL HARBOR U.S. NAVAL BASE OAHU ISLAND, TERRITORY OF HAWAII 1615 HOURS 15 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCommander Edwin R. Lennox, wearing the trousers and shirt of a tropical worsted uniform\u2014the blouse hung from a protruding bolt on the _Drum_ 's conning tower\u2014 watched as the last of the fresh food was carried aboard. An hour before, an officer courier had delivered his sailing orders. They were in two sealed envelopes, numbered \"1\" and \"2.\"\n\nThe first order, by authority of COMSUBFORPAC, directed Lennox to take the _Drum_ to sea at 0600 16 February 1943. He was to sail to coordinates that would put him two hundred miles south-southwest of Pearl. Upon arrival there, he was directed to open envelope \"2.\" The second envelope would define the area the _Drum_ was to patrol, engaging enemy naval forces and shipping \"until such time as the expenditure of torpedoes, fuel and victuals, in your sole judgment, dictates your return to Pearl Harbor.\"\n\nAs soon as the last of the fresh food was stowed aboard, it was Lennox's intention to go ashore, mail his last letter to his wife, and then go to the officers' club for a steak and as many drinks of Kentucky sour mash bourbon as he could handle and still make it back to the _Drum_ under his own power by midnight.\n\nA Navy gray Plymouth sedan came onto the wharf and stopped beside the ton-and-a-half rations truck. A white hat jumped out from behind the wheel, opening the rear door and then standing to attention as a full commander in a crisp white uniform got out and walked to the center of three gangplanks laid from the wharf to the deck of the _Drum._ The thick golden rope of an aide to a flag officer hung from the shoulder of the crisp white uniform.\n\nThe admiral's aide walked down the gangplank, stopped, and crisply saluted the officer of the deck, who was wearing shorts, a T-shirt, an incredibly dirty brimmed cap he thought was a lucky piece, and a .45 in a holster slung low on his hip like a gunfighter's.\n\n\"Request permission to come aboard, Sir,\" the admiral's aide said in the prescribed nautical manner.\n\n\"Permission granted,\" the officer of the deck said, returning the salute far more casually than it had been rendered. There was in it faint overtones of the scorn felt by submarine officers about to go back on patrol for officers who walked around Pearl Harbor in crisp white uniforms dog-robbing for an admiral.\n\nThe admiral's aide saluted the colors and stepped onto the deck.\n\n\"I wish to see the captain, Sir,\" the aide said.\n\n\"Ask the commander to come up,\" Lennox called down. He didn't want to go into the hull. It was hot down there, and he was freshly showered and in a fresh uniform.\n\nVery carefully, so as not to soil his uniform, the admiral's aide climbed the ladder welded to the side of the conning tower.\n\n\"What can I do for you, Commander?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"I have two documents for you, Captain,\" the admiral's aide said. \"Your operational order has been revised. May I suggest we go to your cabin?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Lennox said. \"You want the original back?\"\n\n\"Please,\" the admiral's aide said.\n\n\"Watch yourself,\" Commander Lennox said as he entered the conning tower. \"It's pretty greasy in here.\"\n\nThey made their way to the captain's cabin, which was the size of a small closet. Lennox worked the combination of the safe and exchanged envelope \"2\" in it for an identical envelope handed him by the admiral's aide.\n\n\"Can I lock it?\" Lennox asked. \"You said 'two documents'? \"\n\n\"You can lock it,\" the admiral's aide said, and, when Lennox had closed the safe and twirled the dial, handed him a second envelope.\n\nLennox opened it and looked at it incredulously.\n\nMR. AND MRS. H. FREDERICK DENNISON REQUEST THE HONOR OF THE PRESENCE OF\n\nLt. Commander Edwin R. Lennox, USN\n\nAT COCKTAILS AND DINNER 5:30 p.m. February 15, 1943 411 OCEAN DRIVE, WAIKIKI\n\n\"What the hell is this?\" Lennox blurted.\n\n\"Beautiful place,\" the admiral's aide said. \"Mr. Dennison owns most of the movie theaters in Hawaii. And some other things, like maybe half of downtown Honolulu.\"\n\n\"Well, would you please express my regrets to Mr. Dennison? \" Lennox said. \"I have other plans.\"\n\n\"The Admiral thought you might,\" the admiral's aide said. \"That's why he sent me to deliver the invitation. It is the Admiral's desire, Commander, that you accept Mr. Dennison's invitation.\"\n\n\"I'm sailing at 0600,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"The Admiral is aware of that, Commander,\" the aide said.\n\n\"He's going to be there?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" the admiral's aide said. \"The Dennisons really know how to throw a party. Ever been to a luau, Commander? I mean a real one?\"\n\n\"Oh, what the hell!\" Lennox said. \"But why me?\"\n\n\"The Dennisons like to do what they can for the fleet,\" the admiral's aide said. \"I don't suppose you've got whites, do you?\"\n\n\"No, I don't,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"Pity,\" the admiral's aide said. \"You about ready to go?\"\n**VIII**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **\"ROLLING WAVES\" WAIKIKI BEACH, OAHU, TERRITORY OF HAWAII 15 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nIt was a forty-five-minute drive from Pearl Harbor to the Dennison estate on the beach at Waikiki. The party was well under way by the time Lennox got there. The red-brick curved driveway before the long, low house was packed with cars, more than half of them military and naval staff cars. Lennox saw that many of the service cars had what looked like a second license plate covered with a canvas sleeve. He knew what they concealed: the starred plates identifying the passengers as admirals and generals.\n\nLennox realized that not only was he going to be out of place in his tropical worsted uniform but outranked by a platoon of brass hats and their entourages. This was no place for a simple submarine sailor to be.\n\nAnd when they were inside, and a houseboy had led them to a two-bartender bar set up by a large swimming pool, he saw two movie stars. Floating around in the pool with sort of inner tubes under their arms and drinks in their hands were Lana Turner and one of those too-handsome, too-perfect actors. It took him a minute to place the guy as Greg Hammer.\n\n_How does a large, splendid physical specimen like that avoid his draft board?_\n\nHe realized there must be two hundred people in the Dennison mansion. One in five was female. For woman-scarce Hawaii, that was an unusual percentage of females. Some of them were wives, but many were unattached.\n\n_Why am I surprised? Where did I expect the pretty girls to be, in downtown Honolulu trying to pick up sailors?_\n\nHe saw COMSUBFORPAC, which wasn't surprising, and CINCPAC, which was. He wondered why the hell COMSUBFORPAC had wanted him at the party. Probably, he thought somewhat bitterly, to give the condemned man a last hearty meal.\n\nCOMSUBFORPAC saw him, nodded, and gave him a quick smile, but made it clear by quickly looking away that Lennox was not expected to pay his respects to him in person at that time.\n\nAnd then the Admiral's aide disappeared, and Lennox was left alone. He finished his first drink, had the bartender make him another, and then wandered around until he came to the buffet.\n\nWhat he would do, he decided, was eat. They weren't serving the steak he had been looking forward to, but it was beyond reasonable argument a hearty, luxurious meal. There were roast pigs, \"steamboat\" restaurant rounds of roast beef, fish, and chicken. He tried to remember where he had seen a more luxuriant display of food, but nothing came to him.\n\nHe carried his tray outside the building and sat on a low brick wall beyond which was the white sand beach and the ocean. The food turned out to taste as good as it appeared, and he ate everything he had heaped on his plate.\n\nLennox had just lit a cigar when the Admiral's aide came for him.\n\n\"I wondered what had happened to you,\" the aide said.\n\n\"I was about to come looking for you, Commander,\" Lennox said. \"I've got to think about getting back to Pearl.\"\n\n\"We'll get you back to the _Drum,_ \" the aide said. \"But right now, will you come with me, please?\"\n\n\"Where are we going?\"\n\nThe aide did not reply. Lennox followed him around the pool, then through a long, high-ceilinged living room, and then down a corridor. The aide stopped before a door and knocked.\n\n\"Come!\" a male voice said.\n\nIt was a den, a private office.\n\nInside were CINCPAC, COMSUBFORPAC, CINC-PAC'S aide, a very good-looking young woman, an Air Corps captain, and movie star Greg Hammer in the uniform of a first lieutenant of the Army's Signal Corps.\n\nLennox was a little embarrassed about what he had imagined when he saw Hammer floating around in the pool. He was clearly not a draft dodger. But not too embarrassed. He'd heard about Hollywood movie stars going into the services. There was a Marine aviation squadron with Macdonald Carey and Tyrone Power in it, conveniently stationed in Diego, where they had rented a hotel so they wouldn't be forced to put up with the discomfits of a BOQ. Clark Gable had been commissioned a lieutenant in the Air Corps. Ronald Reagan was making training films in Hollywood as a first lieutenant. It was therefore not surprising to find Greg Hammer in an officer's uniform.\n\n\"Miss Chenowith,\" CINCPAC said, \"may I present Commander Lennox, captain of the _Drum?_ \"\n\nCynthia Chenowith gave him her hand and said she was glad to meet him. Her hand was the first female hand Lennox had touched in a year, and it was warm and soft, and he unkindly wondered who was privileged to jump Miss Chenowith.\n\n\"Miss Chenowith is connected with Continental Studios, \" CINCPAC said. \"And I'm sure you recognize Lieutenant Greg Hammer?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" Lennox said, shaking the movie star's hand.\n\n\"And this is Captain Whittaker, of the Air Corps,\" CINCPAC said.\n\n\"How are you, Commander?\" Whittaker said, and gave Lennox his hand.\n\nLennox couldn't remember having seen Whittaker in a movie, but then he had never paid all that much attention to Hollywood pretty boys. At least Whittaker had gone to flight school; there were aviator's wings, if no ribbons, on his blouse.\n\n\"You may have wondered, Commander,\" CINCPAC said, making his little joke, \"why I have called this meeting. \"\n\nLennox laughed, dutifully.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" he said, \"I have.\"\n\n\"Continental Studios,\" CINCPAC said, \"has decided to make a motion picture documentary of a submarine patrol. The Navy has promised its full cooperation, and, after consulting with Admiral Keene, I have selected the _Drum_ to participate.\"\n\n\"I don't quite understand, Sir,\" Lennox said. He didn't quite believe what he was hearing.\n\n\"Captain Whittaker and Lieutenant Hammer will be sailing with you, Lennox. Plus a Navy enlisted photographer's assistant.\"\n\n\"On patrol, Sir?\" Lennox asked, incredulously.\n\n\"As I understand the way it will work,\" CINCPAC said, \"Greg Hammer will serve as narrator, Captain Whittaker will function as director\/producer, and the white hat will operate the camera.\"\n\n_If you open your mouth and say one word, Lennox, it will run away with you and you will tell CINCPAC, COMSUBFORPAC, and the pretty lady with the gorgeous breasts precisely what you think of the dumbest fucking idea you have ever heard of._\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Commander Lennox said.\n\nAnd then, in desperation, he thought of something that just might keep them from putting this idiotic idea into practice.\n\n\"I presume that you gentlemen and the sailor have gone through the school at New London?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"No,\" Captain Whittaker said. \"We thought about it, but we couldn't find time in the schedule.\"\n\n\"Sir, may I respectfully suggest that poses a pretty severe problem?\" Lennox said. \"We have no way of knowing if these gentlemen can take the atmospheric pressures of the boat.\"\n\n\"We checked with the fleet surgeon about that, Lennox,\" COMSUBFORPAC said. \"He feels that, after examining their last physical examinations, there is no reason they will have trouble.\"\n\n\"Sir, may I suggest there are psychological considerations as well? There is the question of confinement, claustrophobia . . . \"\n\n\"Perhaps Admiral Keene didn't make himself clear,\" CINCPAC said, a little sharply. \"The potential medical problems have been considered, and judged to be manageable. \"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"Captain Whittaker and Lieutenant Hammer, and the white hat, will come aboard the _Drum_ at 0530,\" COMSUBFORPAC said. \"Their gear will be loaded aboard between now and then.\"\n\n\"Their gear, Sir?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"Their cameras and recording equipment and film,\" COMSUBFORPAC said.\n\n\"And the rubber boats,\" Captain Whittaker said. \"And their outboard motors.\"\n\n\"We plan to inflate them when we're at sea,\" Greg Hammer offered, \"for what we call long shots, location shots.\"\n\n\"I don't know where we're going to find the room to store any rubber boats,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"Perhaps,\" CINCPAC said, \"it might be a good idea for you, Lennox, to go aboard now and supervise the loading yourself.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" Lennox said. \"Your permission to withdraw, Sir?\"\n\n\"Granted,\" CINCPAC said. He offered Lennox his hand. \"Good hunting, Commander.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Sir,\" Lennox said. He nodded at the others and walked out of the room.\n\n_\"Good hunting\"? Jesus H. Christ! How the hell can I hunt for anything with a couple of second-rate movie stars and a photographer on board? What the fuck did I do to deserve this?_\n\nThe admiral's aide followed him back down the corridor and through the living room and to the bar by the swimming pool, where Lennox ordered a double bourbon and drank it neat.\n\nHe looked the admiral's aide in the eye.\n\n\"Have they lost their fucking minds, or what? If it's so important to make a fucking movie, why not send a couple of photographer's mates, submarine-qualified photographer's mates? Two fucking movie stars? It's absolutely insane! \"\n\n\"Yours not to reason why, Commander,\" the aide said. \"Yours but to do and die\u2014meanwhile being very courteous to your passengers. They have friends in high places.\"\n\nHe was never to know how close he came to being decked by the captain of the USS _Drum._\n\nWhen the Plymouth dropped him off at the wharf where the _Drum_ was tied up, there were half a dozen sailors staggering under the weight of small wooden boxes.\n\nLennox went aboard.\n\n\"What the hell is going on, Skipper?\" the officer of the deck asked.\n\n\"We are taking two movie stars, plus a movie cameraman, with us,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"What?\"\n\n\"There are supposed to be rubber boats and outboard motors,\" Lennox said, ignoring the question.\n\n\"I put two rubber boats with motors in the aft torpedo room,\" the officer of the deck said. \"I don't know how the hell anybody will be able to move in there. For sure, we won't be able to load the tubes with the boats in there.\"\n\n\"And the rest of their equipment?\"\n\n\"That wasn't so hard to store,\" the officer of the deck said. \"There were a couple of boxes maybe five feet long. Everything else is in those little boxes. They're heavy as hell. What's in them?\"\n\n\"What does it say on the boxes?\"\n\n\" 'Photographic Film. Do Not X-Ray.' \"\n\n\"Then, presumably, they contain motion picture film,\" Lennox said. \"See the chief of the boat, and tell him we'll have one more white hat with us. The movie stars will share bunks with the officers.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" the officer of the deck said. \"May I ask which movie stars?\"\n\n\"Greg Hammer is one of them,\" Lennox said. \"The other is a guy named Whittaker. Never heard of him. An anonymous celebrity, so to speak.\"\n\n\"I know Hammer,\" the officer of the deck said.\n\n\"By the time this patrol is over, you will know him intimately, \" Lennox said. \"Good night, Mr. Downey.\"\n\n\"Good night, Skipper.\"\n\n# **2**\n\n## **FORD ISLAND, PEARL HARBOR NAVY YARD OAHU, TERRITORY OF HAWAII 16 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nAt five minutes to six, twenty-five minutes late, CINC-PAC'S Cadillac limousine came onto the wharf. CINC-PAC'S aide, the two movie stars, and the woman from Continental Studios were in the back, CINCPAC's aide sitting on a jump seat. There was a very slight, bespectacled, very boyish-looking sailor in front with the driver.\n\nThe driver opened the door for them, and then, as they waved cheerfully at Lennox, the boyish-looking sailor took two small canvas bags from the trunk and carried them aboard.\n\nThe crew looked at the wharf in unabashed curiosity.\n\nCapt. Whittaker suddenly grabbed Miss Chenowith and kissed her on the mouth. The crew of the _Drum_ whistled and cheered.\n\nMiss Chenowith freed herself, turned to Lt. Hammer, and kissed him on the mouth.\n\nThe crew whistled and cheered again.\n\nWhittaker and Hammer walked down the gangplank and stepped onto the deck of the _Drum_. They did not salute the officer of the deck, nor ask permission to come aboard. They just walked on board and went into the conning tower as if they were boarding the Staten Island Ferry.\n\n\"Make all preparations to get under way,\" Commander Lennox ordered.\n\nThe Navy band on the wharf, following tradition, began to play \"Anchors Aweigh.\"\n\n\"Remove the gangplanks, loosen up all lines fore and aft,\" Lt. Rutherford ordered.\n\nCommander Lennox sensed movement behind him. He turned and saw Capt. Whittaker's head and shoulders coming through the hatch.\n\n\"Morning,\" Whittaker said cheerfully.\n\nA moment later, Lt. Hammer came through the hatch.\n\nWith a massive effort, Commander Lennox smiled.\n\n\"If you gentlemen will be good enough to stand back there,\" he said, pointing.\n\n\"Sure,\" Whittaker said. \"We don't want to be in the way.\"\n\nBoth of them waved at the girl on the wharf. Both of them, Lennox saw, wore evidence of her lipstick. She waved back.\n\n\"Cast off all lines,\" Lennox said. \"Secure all deck hatches. Half left rudder. Ahead dead slow.\"\n\nThe _Drum_ shuddered just perceptibly as the engines engaged. Very slowly, she moved away from the dock.\n\nWhen they were in the channel, moving past Battleship Row, Lennox turned to Rutherford.\n\n\"You have the conn, Mr. Rutherford,\" he said. \"Take us to sea.\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir.\"\n\n\"And if you gentlemen don't mind, I would like a word with you in my cabin.\"\n\nCommander Lennox delivered a brief, precise, and pungent lecture on the customs of the Naval Service as they applied to submarine service, starting with the information that one was supposed to ask permission before boarding a Naval vessel and touching on such items as the prohibition from entering the bridge without the specific permission of the captain.\n\nAnd then he warmed to his subject.\n\nSo far as he was concerned, he told them, this movie documentary was the dumbest goddamned thing he had heard of in his eight years in the Navy.\n\nIn addition to that, he didn't like the attitude of either of them. He was the captain of a vessel at sea, and when they spoke with him, they would call him either \"Captain\" or \"Sir.\" But for the time being, he said, he would be pleased if they didn't speak to him unless spoken to, and he would consider it a personal favor if they would take their meals in the wardroom when he was not there. Movie actors in officers' uniforms ruined his appetite.\n\nAs far as he was concerned, his business was sinking Japanese ships, not making some kind of bullshit movie. They should conduct themselves accordingly.\n\nCapt. Whittaker and Lt. Hammer took the speech without comment, which Lennox found disturbing. He had hoped they would argue with him, which would have given him the chance to really eat ass, and possibly even an excuse to throw their goddamned rubber boats and movie cameras over the side.\n\n\"Sir,\" Whittaker said respectfully, \"we will do our best to keep out of your way.\"\n\n\"See that you do,\" Lennox said. \"You are dismissed.\"\n\nOnce he had finished blowing his top, Lennox was a little ashamed of himself. He told himself they had their orders, too, even if those orders were to make a fucking movie. And now that he had calmed down a little, he understood that he had been something of a prick to them.\n\nThey were still several hundred miles from the position in the Pacific where he was authorized to open envelope \"2,\" but he went to the safe and got it anyway. Maybe, once he knew where they were going, he would be able to suggest to the movie stars something they could take pictures of. Maybe that would make up for his having acted like a horse's ass.\n\nHe tore the envelope open.\n\n**TOP SECRET COMMANDER SUBMARINE FORCE PACIFIC PEARL HARBOR, TERRITORY OF HAWAII**\n\nTo: Commanding Officer USS Drum SS228\n\n1. By Direction of the President, you will proceed to the Island of Mindanao, Territory of the Philippines, and there put ashore, at such place and at such time as he may designate, Captain James M. B. Whittaker, USAAC, and such personnel and equipment as he may desire.\n\n2. While the nature of Captain Whittaker's duties while ashore in the Philippines are classified and are not to be inquired into, you are hereby informed that his duties have the highest priority, and that the entire efforts of the Drum and its crew are to be devoted to its accomplishment, to the exclusion of all else.\n\n3. After putting Captain Whittaker and his party ashore, you will put out to sea to a position determined by Captain Whittaker where you will maintain a radio communications schedule with Captain Whittaker, or his designate, at such times as he may require.\n\n4. On receipt of the appropriate orders from Captain Whittaker, you will take him, and whomsoever else he designates, together with whatever material and\/or equipment he may designate, from the shore of Mindanao at such time and place as he may designate. You will then transport him and boarded personnel and\/or equipment and material to such destination as he designates.\n\n5. You are specifically forbidden to engage in any action against the enemy unless specifically authorized to engage by Captain Whittaker.\n\n6. You are directed to ensure by whatever means necessary that your officers and crew understand both the priorities of this mission, its classification, and the absolute necessity that it remain TOP SECRET.\n\nBy direction:\n\n_G. H. Keene_\n\nGeoffrey H. Keene, Rear Admiral, USN\n\nCommander Lennox said, \"Oh, _shit!_ \" so loudly and with such fervor that his voice penetrated the baize curtain that served as the door to his cabin and could be heard above the rumble of the diesel.\n\nThe chief of the boat put his head past the curtain.\n\n\"You called, Captain?\"\n\n\"Moaned was more like it,\" Lennox said. \"Would you tell the exec to come here right away, Chief? And then ask the Army officers to join me at their convenience?\"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" the chief of the boat said.\n\n\"And I'll want you in on this, too, Chief,\" Lennox said.\n\nEveryone was there in a matter of minutes.\n\n\"Chief, I don't want anybody using the passage while this is going on,\" Lennox said. \"Put some guards out, and then come back in here.\"\n\nWhen they were all crowded into the tiny cabin, waiting to hear what he had to say, Lennox said:\n\n\"Except to announce that I really showed my ass a while back, for which I apologize, I don't really know what to say. May I have your permission to show my orders to my exec and the chief of the boat, Captain Whittaker?\"\n\n\"I think that would be a good idea,\" Whittaker said.\n\nThe chief of the boat read the orders over the exec's shoulder. Both of them registered surprise on their faces but said nothing.\n\n\"No questions?\" Whittaker asked.\n\n\"What's in the boxes?\" the chief of the boat asked.\n\n\"The long ones are packed with carbines,\" Hammersmith answered.\n\n\"And half the others are filled with ammo,\" Whittaker added.\n\n\"And the other half?\"\n\n\"A million dollars' worth of gold coins,\" Whittaker said.\n\nThe chief of the boat accepted that stoically.\n\n\"Gonna be a bitch getting that stuff ashore in rubber boats,\" he said. \"I don't suppose the people who'll be meeting you would have boats, real boats, something big enough to handle that weight?\"\n\n\"That's one of our problems, Chief,\" Whittaker said. \"Nobody knows we're coming.\"\n\n\"Holy shit!\" the chief of the boat said, and then immediately got control of himself. \"Well, we'll figure something out, Captain.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **16 DEGREES 20 MINUTES NORTH LONGITUDE 43 DEGREES 5 MINUTES NORTH LATITUDE (OVER THE ADRIATIC SEA) 1520 HOURS 16 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe B-25G \"Mitchell\" had been alone for hours high in the bright blue sky, its passage around the heel of the Italian boot and up the center of the Adriatic marked by twin trails of condensation behind it. Far beneath it was an unbroken bed of clouds, stretching as far as the eye could see, looking like a vast layer of cotton wool.\n\nDolan was at the controls, Canidy in the copilot's seat, and Darmstadter was sitting on a fold-down jump seat immediately behind the pilots' seats. It was uncomfortable on the jump seat, but the foam-rubber and leather seats in the fuselage had little appeal for Darmstadter. When he was alone in the fuselage, he had too great an opportunity to think of what could go wrong. He was finding what reassurance he could from being close to Canidy and Dolan.\n\nDarmstadter had been in the left seat when they left Malta and had made the takeoff. But Canidy had taken over the controls after they had left the ground, and he was the one who had set the course and rate of climb and fine-tuned the engines and the mixture.\n\nAnd then, matter-of-factly, he had told Darmstadter where they were going\u2014but not why\u2014and pointed out their course on a chart.\n\nAnd then he had told him, patiently, even kindly, as a flight instructor teaches a student pilot, how it was planned for them to find Vis and what would happen if things went wrong.\n\nCanidy explained that the OSS agent with the British SOE force on Vis had a radio transmitter-receiver capable of operating on the frequencies used for aviation. Using the radio direction-finding equipment on the B-25G, they would home in on Vis very much as they would home in on Newark Airport after a flight from Washington.\n\nWith several significant exceptions:\n\n\"The trouble with RDF transmitters,\" Canidy said, \"is that they can be picked up by anybody tuned to that frequency. For example, German or Italian aircraft. A curious Luftwaffe pilot looking for the way home from a patrol over the Adriatic might come across the signal from Vis and wonder what the hell it was.\"\n\n\"The worst possible scenario is that two pilots, or for that matter, two ground stations, might hear the Vis transmission at the same time and mark their position and the relative position of the Vis transmitter on a chart. If they did that, all that would have to be done would be to put the chart marks together. Triangulation. You with me?\"\n\nDarmstadter nodded. He knew that without actually following a signal to its source, the location of the transmitter could be easily determined. \"Triangulation\" simply meant the drawing of straight lines on a chart from two different points of reception toward the source of the signal. The intersection of the straight lines indicated the location of the transmitter.\n\n\"So what they're going to do to reduce the odds of getting caught,\" Canidy said, \"is to go on the air as little as possible. The first signal we'll listen for when we get close enough will be on the air for only five minutes. Then it will go off and come back on fifteen minutes later for sixty seconds on a different frequency and using different call letters.\"\n\nHe handed Darmstadter a typewritten list.\n\nThere were three columns. The first gave times, starting at 1500 and ending at 1745. Sometimes there was nineteen minutes between transmissions, and sometimes as little as eleven minutes. But there were no two intermissions alike. The second column listed the frequency of the transmissions. No two of these were alike. The third column listed the three-letter identification code that the transmitter would send, endlessly repeating them for the period of time it would be on the air.\n\n\"Clever,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"It presumes our guy on Vis has the transceiver, and that it's working, and that we'll be able to pick it up when we have to,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"And if we don't?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"That could pose some problems,\" Canidy said. \"You'll notice that the Point of No Return on the chart is here, and the point where we hope we can pick up the Vis RDF transmitter is here.\"\n\nDarmstadter saw that the first place they could hope to pick up the direction-finding signal was at least two hundred miles from the Point of No Return.\n\n\"And if we don't get the RDF signal?\"\n\n\"Then we go down on the deck and try to find it by dead reckoning,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"That would be kind of hard, wouldn't it?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"Think positively, Darmstadter,\" Canidy said dryly. \"But since you posed the question, I think it would be impossible. \"\n\n\"And then what?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"Then you have a choice,\" Canidy said. \"You can take the airplane over the Yugoslav mainland, bail out, and take your chances that the partisans might get you before the Germans do. If the partisans get you, you're home free. If they don't, you'll have to take your chances with the Germans. \"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\"\n\n\"You tell them you were on a bombing raid, got lost, and bailed out when you ran out of gas. If they believe you, you sit out the war in a Stalagluft [a prisoner-of-war camp for aviation personnel]. If they don't, you're in trouble.\"\n\n\"And where are you and Dolan going to be while I'm taking my chances with the partisans?\"\n\n\"Dolan and I will have drawn the 'Go Directly to Jail, Do Not Pass \"Go\" and Do Not Collect $200' card,\" Canidy said matter-of-factly. \"We can't get captured.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" Darmstadter blurted.\n\n\"Because the Germans can find out anything they want to know from anybody, if they put their mind to it,\" Canidy said. \"And there are certain things that Dolan and I know that you don't, and that the Germans shouldn't.\"\n\n\"What are you going to do,\" Darmstadter asked, horrified, \"to keep from getting captured?\"\n\nCanidy ignored the question. Instead, he handed Darmstadter another typewritten sheet of paper.\n\n\"There will be a bombing raid by B-25 aircraft on the boot of Italy,\" he said. \"Here're the details, what you would be expected to know if you had gone on the mission. Memorize as much as you can, especially your unit, your aircraft number, your departure field. Use your imagination for the names of the crew. I think you can probably get away with it.\"\n\n\"And what, exactly, are you and Dolan going to do?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"To coin a phrase,\" Canidy said, \"we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.\"\n\n\"I'd really like to know,\" Darmstadter persisted.\n\nCanidy thought it over a moment before replying.\n\n\"They gave us a pill,\" he said. \"Actually, it's a small glass vial, filled with what looks like watery milk. When you bite it, it's supposed to work before you feel the little pieces of glass in your mouth. The idea is that we're supposed to bite it when it becomes clear we're not going to make it to Vis. But what I think we'll do is bail out over the mainland and take a chance the partisans will find us before the Germans do. If we land in the lap of the Wehrmacht, then we'll bite the pill.\"\n\n\"What the hell do you know that makes suicide necessary? \" Darmstadter blurted.\n\nCanidy had not responded.\n\nJust over an hour before, Canidy had turned on the radio direction finder. By then, the three of them had relieved for each other at the controls at roughly hourly intervals, and Dolan was then sitting in the pilot's seat. At first, the signal strength indicator needle on the instrument panel had made no response as Canidy turned the crank that rotated the loop antenna mounted atop the fuselage.\n\nThen the needle jumped, just perceptibly, and he reversed his cranking motion, aiming the antenna at the source of the radiation. The needle on the signal-strength indicator crept very slowly, barely perceptibly, upward as the signal strength increased.\n\nAnd then, very faintly, over the static in his earphones, Darmstadter began to be able to recognize one Morse code letter, Dah-Dah-Dah, D, and then another, and finally a third, until there was in his earphones, endlessly repeated Dah-Dah-Dah Dit-Dit-Dit-Dit Dah-Dah-Dah. He wondered if DHD meant something, or whether it had been selected because it was a long, readily recognizable string of letters.\n\n\"I don't think,\" Canidy's voice came dryly and metallically over the earphones, \"that's what they call 'right on the money.' \"\n\nDolan looked up at the roof of the cabin, at the needle on the antenna rotating mechanism. Then he put the B-25G into a very gentle turn, in a very slightly nose-down attitude, and made small adjustments to the throttle and richness controls.\n\nFinally, his voice came metallically over the earphones.\n\n\"Fuck you, Canidy.\"\n\nA moment later, he straightened the B-25 on a course corresponding with that indicated on the radio direction finder, made a minute adjustment of the trim wheel, and then touched his intercom mike button again.\n\n\"And if you can refrain from walking up and down, Darmstadter, like a passenger on a ferry boat, I would be obliged.\"\n\nThen he folded his arms on his chest.\n\nThe B-25 dropped very slowly toward the layer of cotton wool far below them.\n\nThe indicator needle on the signal-strength meter suddenly dropped back to the peg.\n\n\"You've lost the signal,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"That's probably because they've stopped transmitting,\" Dolan said dryly.\n\nThe B-25 flew on, in a very shallow descent.\n\nEleven minutes later, when they were still above the cloud cover, there was a one-minute transmission from Vis, and Dolan made a tiny course correction to line the plane up again on course before the signal-strength meter fell back to its peg again.\n\nThey were in the cloud bank when Vis came on the air again. Darmstadter could see about one inch past the windshield. There were a dozen or so drops of condensation on the window frame just past the Plexiglas, for some mysterious aerodynamic reason undisturbed by the air through which they were passing at an indicated 290 knots. But beyond the drops of condensation there was nothing but a gray mass.\n\n\"You don't want to go down to the deck and see if we can get out of this shit?\" Canidy asked. It was a question, Darmstadter understood, not a suggestion, certainly not an order.\n\nDolan shook his head, \"no,\" in reply, and then, a full minute later, spoke.\n\n\"If it looks like it's working, don't fuck with it,\" he said.\n\nIt sounded more as if Dolan was thinking aloud than replying to Canidy, or, Darmstadter thought a moment later, as if Dolan had called that old pilot's clich\u00e9 from the recesses of his memory to reassure himself.\n\nThe point of the needle on the vertical speed indicator was indicating a descent only on close examination; on casual glance, it seemed to indicate level flight. The needle on the altimeter moved counterclockwise very slowly. But it was moving, and they were going down.\n\nTwenty-odd minutes later, during another Vis transmission, Canidy said, \"I wish that transmitter wasn't working quite that well.\"\n\nIt took Darmstadter a moment to understand what he meant. Then he did. The needle on the signal-strength meter was now resting against the upper-limit peg; there was no way to judge if they were moving ever closer to the transmitter. The signal-strength meter was accepting all the signal strength it was capable of.\n\nWhen the altimeter indicated 12,000 feet, Canidy pulled his oxygen mask free from his face and rubbed his cheeks and under his chin with his fingers. When Darmstadter removed his own mask, the fresh air passing through his nostrils and mouth seemed warm and moist. Dolan did not take his mask off. Darmstadter wondered if this was a manifestation of the declaration he'd made earlier, \"if it looks like it's working, don't fuck with it,\" or if Dolan's concentration was on other things and he simply hadn't noticed they were at an altitude where it was safe to fly without bottled oxygen.\n\nAnd then, suddenly, startlingly, they dropped out of the cloud cover. There was an ocean down there, and land to the front and the sides.\n\nCanidy frantically searched through his aviator's briefcase and came up with a handful of eight-by-ten-inch glossy photographs. Dolan ripped his oxygen mask off.\n\n\"What was that you were saying, Dick, about 'right on the money'?\" he asked.\n\n\"Jesus,\" Canidy said. \"And I was right on the edge of agreeing with David Bruce that they shouldn't let old men like you fly.\"\n\nThe two looked at each other and beamed.\n\n\"Take her down to the deck, and make your approach around that hill on the left,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Hey,\" Dolan said, annoyed, \"I'm driving.\"\n\nBut he lowered the nose of the B-25, until they were no more than a thousand feet off the choppy seas of the Adriatic, and made a wide, sweeping turn around the hill Canidy had indicated.\n\nWhen they crossed the rocky beach, they immediately encountered the steep hills of Vis; so an indicated altitude of one thousand feet, which was based on sea level, put them no more than two or three hundred feet over the side of the hill, and then the level valley on shore.\n\n\"Go strap yourself in,\" Dolan ordered. \"Quickly.\"\n\nReluctantly, Darmstadter made his way back to the leather-upholstered passenger chairs in the fuselage. He had just sat down, and was fumbling for the seat belt, when the nose of the B-25 lifted abruptly. Ignoring the seat belt, he pressed his nose against the Plexiglas.\n\nThere were fifteen or twenty people on a crude runway, their arms waving in a greeting.\n\nThen Dolan stood the B-25 on its wing and began a one-hundred -eighty-degree turn. As the plane leveled off, there came the sound of hydraulics as the flaps and gear came down, and the engines changed pitch.\n\nDarmstadter got his seat belt in place just as the plane touched down. There was a far louder than he expected rumble from the landing carriage, followed immediately by the change of pitch as the engine throttles were retarded. And then the plane lurched as if something had grabbed it.\n\nInstantly, Darmstadter's view through the Plexiglas disappeared in a gross distortion, and then almost as quickly the distortion seemed to be wiped away. He realized that what had happened was that water, a great deal of water, had splashed against the window.\n\nThe plane was now braking hard. Darmstadter felt himself being pressed against the upholstery of the rear-facing chair.\n\nAnd then it stopped for a moment and then turned around. As Darmstadter unfastened his lap belt, the engines died. The silence, broken only by the faint pings and moans of cooling metal, was surprising.\n\n\"Vis International Aerodrome,\" Canidy called cheerfully from the cockpit. \"Connections to Budapest, Voodapest, Zoodapest, and all points east. _Thank you_ for flying Balkan Airlines.\"\n\nChuckling, Darmstadter got to the access hatch in the floor behind the cockpit just after Canidy had dropped through it to the ground. Darmstadter jumped after him.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, 344TH FIGHTER GROUP ATCHAM ARMY AIR CORPS STATION, ENGLAND 1650 HOURS 16 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nWhen Lt. Colonel Peter Douglass, Jr., returned to his quarters from the postmission debriefing, the Underwood typewriter and the service record were waiting for him on the old and battered desk in his room.\n\nIt was SOP, Standard Operating Procedure. There was a system. There had to be a system. The SOP Lt. Colonel Douglass had set up was that in the case of pilots within a section, their section leaders wrote the letters, subject to review by squadron commanders. In the case of section leaders, squadron commanders wrote the letters, subject to review by the group exec. In the case of squadron commanders, or squadron executive officers, the group commander wrote the letters himself.\n\nDouglass kicked off his sheepskin flying boots, sending them sailing across the small room in the curved-ceilinged Quonset hut. He took off his battered, leather-brimmed hat and skimmed it three feet toward a hook on the wall. It touched the hook, but bounced off and fell to the floor. He made no move to pick it up.\n\nHe reached into the pocket of the sheepskin flying jacket and came out with two miniature bottles of Old Overholt rye whiskey. Eighth Air Force SOP provided for the \"post-mission issue of no more than two bottles, 1.6 ounces, bourbon or rye whiskey 86 proof or 100 proof to flight crew personnel, when, in the opinion of the attending flight surgeon, such issue is medically indicated.\"\n\nThe Eighth Air Force SOP went on to stipulate that \"in no case is the issue of more than two bottles permitted\" and that \"wherever possible, the issue of medicinal whiskey will be made only after flight crews have undergone postmission debriefing.\"\n\nAnd finally, the Eighth Air Force SOP stated that \"medicinal whiskey so issued will be ingested in the presence of the prescribing flight surgeon.\"\n\nTranslated, that meant that unless you watched those crazy pilots, or, in the case of bombers, navigators, bombardiers, flight engineers, and aerial gunners, they were liable to hoard their \"bottles, 1.6 ounces\" of medicinal whiskey until they had enough to tie a load on, or worse, share it with people not entitled to medicinal whiskey.\n\nLt. Colonel Douglass walked to the battered desk, pulled the drawer open, and carefully laid his miniature bottles in it. There were already a dozen other bottles there. It was the 344th Fighter Group commander's unofficial SOP to pass out his ration of medicinal booze to his pilots when he thought such issue was indicated for morale purposes. Sometimes he passed it out to the enlisted men, too, in contravention of the spirit and letter of the Eighth Air Force SOP.\n\nIt bothered the hell out of the ground crews when their plane and pilot didn't come home. And some took it worse than others.\n\nSaving the miniatures to pass out as he saw fit did not represent any sacrifice, booze-wise, on the part of Lt. Colonel Douglass. He had his own out-of-supply-channels source of booze, and when he had a couple of medicinal postmission nips, he took them from a bottle of Scotch.\n\nHe shrugged out of the sheepskin, high-altitude flying jacket and threw it toward his bed. It, too, fell short of the target and slid to the floor. He left it there, then pushed the suspenders holding up the sheepskin trousers off his shoulders. He stood on one leg to pull the trousers off, then on the other leg to get them completely off. Then he threw them toward his bed. This time he made it.\n\nHe then picked up a telephone.\n\n\"Meteorology,\" he said when the operator came on the line. And then, a moment later, \"What have we got, Dick?\"\n\nHis weather officer predicted perfect\u2014that is absolutely unflyable\u2014weather in England and over the European landmass for not less than forty-eight hours, and probably for as much as seventy-two or ninety-six hours.\n\n\"There's a stationary front, Colonel, a massive chunk of arctic air, which, meeting with an equally massive chunk of warm air from the Mediterranean\u2014\"\n\n\"What your colonel had in mind, Captain,\" Lt. Colonel Douglass interrupted him, \"is whether or not it would be safe for him to get drunk for a day or two.\"\n\n\"In my professional meteorological opinion, Sir,\" the weather officer said, \"you have that option.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"Colonel, I'm sorry about Major Till,\" the weather officer said.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Lt. Colonel Douglass said after a moment. \"Thank you.\"\n\nThen he hung up.\n\nHe went to a large, sagging-to-one-side wardrobe and worked the combination of the long-shafted bicycle padlock that, looped through two eye-rings, locked it. He opened the left door and looked inside, and then, frowning, the right door.\n\n_One lousy, half-empty imperial quart of Scotch! What the hell had happened to the rest of it?_\n\nHe didn't like his own answer. _I have drunk the rest of it, that's what has happened to it. A couple of little nips here,_ _and a couple more there, and the four imperial quarts of straight malt Scotch have evaporated._\n\nWell, what the hell, there was more where that came from. There was a sturdily locked room at Whitbey House stacked to its high ceiling with booze. Canidy ran the OSS Station at Whitbey House on the philosophy that unless his people were now given by a grateful nation the best available in the way of booze and food, there was a good chance that his people would not be around to get it later.\n\nHe would just have to run over to Whitbey House and replenish the larder, that was all there was to it. Canidy had declared him to be an Honorary Spook, with all the rights and privileges thereunto pertaining, such as access to the booze larder.\n\nAnd then he remembered that Canidy was gone. He was off on one of his nobody-knows-anything-about-it missions in his souped-up B-25G. Canidy had given Douglass no details, of course, other than that he \"would be away for a couple of days.\" But then Douglass had learned that Dolan was off somewhere, too. And he'd flown over Whitbey House, and the B-25G normally parked there was gone.\n\nErgo. Canidy and Dolan were off somewhere doing something secret and important in the souped-up B-25G.\n\nThere was a steady, sometimes nearly overwhelming, temptation for Douglass to ask Canidy\u2014or, probably smarter, to ask OSS London Station Chief David Bruce\u2014 to have him transferred to the OSS. And there was little question in his mind that it could be easily arranged: For one thing, if the OSS wanted somebody, they got him. No matter what assignment an officer\u2014or, for that matter, an enlisted man\u2014had, it was not considered as essential to the war effort as an assignment to the OSS.\n\nAnd he was sure that David Bruce had at least considered that Lt. Colonel Peter Douglass, Jr., knew far more about the OSS and its personnel and operations than he was supposed to.\n\nDouglass had flown with Canidy and Bitter with the Flying Tigers in China and Burma, where their airplanes had been maintained by \"Mr.\" John Dolan. It made no sense to indulge the notion that any of them would regard Doug Douglass as someone who couldn't be trusted with classified information, even if all of them, in fact, tried to keep him in the dark.\n\nHe had learned, for example, that Eric Fulmar was in Germany. He hadn't asked. Canidy had told him. He hadn't asked what Fulmar was doing in Germany. And he had tried, unsuccessfully, not to put two and two together. So he had come up with the answer that if Canidy and Dolan had gone off somewhere in the B-25G, it was very likely that they had gone to bring Fulmar home.\n\nFinally, the Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Services was Captain Peter Douglass, Sr., USN, Doug's father. Considerations of nepotism aside, it made sense to have Peter Douglass, Jr., in the OSS, since he knew so much about it.\n\nThere were reasons Douglass had not asked to be taken in. He would have been embarrassed to speak them out loud, for they would, he thought, seem both egotistical and overly noble. But in his own mind, he was one hell of a fighter pilot and one hell of a commander. By staying where he was, he believed that he was probably saving lives.\n\nHe did not allow himself to dwell on the counterargument, that Canidy and Bitter and Jimmy Whittaker and the others were also saving lives. Not directly, by shooting down a Messerschmitt on the tail of one of his pilots, nor even less directly, by doing the things that a good commander does to keep his men alive, but in an almost abstract sense. If what the OSS was doing could shorten the war by a week, or a day, or even by six hours, that would mean that the guns would fall silent around the world, and more lives would be saved in six hours than he could hope to save by being a good fighter group commander for the rest of the war.\n\nThat argument seemed to be buttressed by the fact that Canidy and Bitter and Whittaker had proven themselves as fighter pilots.\n\nDouglass understood that he would not be asked to join the OSS. If they wanted him in the OSS, he would have been transferred into it long ago. He was going to have to submit an application, no matter how informal, and he didn't want to do that.\n\nLt. Colonel Doug Douglass carried what was left of the imperial quart of Scotch whiskey to the battered desk. He unscrewed the top, took a healthy swig from the neck, and then set the bottle on the desk.\n\nHe sat down and rolled a sheet of printed stationery into the typewriter. Then he typed the date.\n\nHe would, he thought wryly, have been one hell of a squadron clerk.\n\nHe opened the service record and found what he was looking for. His fingers began to fly over the keys.\n\nHeadquarters, 344th Fighter Group APO 86344, New York\n\n16 February 1943\n\nMr. and Mrs. J. Howard Till \n711 Country Club Road \nSpringfield, N.J.\n\nDear Mr. and Mrs. Till:\n\nBy now, you will have been notified by the Adjutant General that David has been killed in action.\n\nHe was my executive officer and my friend, and I share your grief.\n\nThe 344th Fighter Group was assigned the mission of protecting B-17 and B-24 bombers of the Eighth Air Force on a heavy bombardment mission to Frankfurt, Germany. The Group was divided into two echelons. David commanded one, and I the other.\n\nSome distance from the target, we were engaged by a large group of German Messerschmitt fighter aircraft. In the engagement that followed, David shot down two German fighters. He was going to the aid of another pilot when his aircraft came under fire from several Messerschmitts. David's aircraft was hit in the fuel tanks, which then exploded.\n\nDavid was instantly killed, probably without warning. He died, I think, as he would have wanted to, in aerial combat, leading his men as they protected other men.\n\n\"Greater Love Hath No Man Than He Lay Down His Life for Another.\"\n\nThe two German fighter aircraft he shot down brought his total kills to six. The posthumous award of the Air Medal (6th Award) has been approved. I have, in addition, just been informed by Eighth Air Force that David will also be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, and the citation will reflect his flying skill, devotion to duty and courage, not only on his last flight but during the entire period of his assignment to the 344th Fighter Group.\n\nI am aware that military decorations are small consolation to you at this time, and can only hope that you will accept them as a token of the respect and affection in which David was held, not only by the officers and men of the 344th Fighter Group, but by the highest echelons of the Eighth Air Force.\n\nDavid was a splendid officer and a fine human being. He will be missed.\n\nIf there is anything that I can do for you, please do not hesitate to let me know.\n\nSincerely, \n _Peter Douglass, Jr._ \nPeter Douglass, Jr. \nLt. Col., USAAC \nCommanding\n\nWhen he had finished typing, he rolled the sheet of paper out of the typewriter and read it.\n\nThen he ran an envelope into the machine and typed the envelope. He folded the letter, put it into the envelope, and then wrote \"Free\" on the envelope where a stamp would normally go.\n\nHe picked up the telephone and, when the operator came on the line, said, \"Find Captain Delaney and get him over here, will you?\"\n\nHe walked to a small door beside the washbasin. Beyond was a small cubicle holding a shower and an ancient English water closet with a warped and cracked wooden seat. The shower consisted of a rusting showerhead pointing straight down from the slanted ceiling to the brick floor of the shower. A three-tier layer of bricks kept the shower water in place, and a shower curtain, cut from a condemned parachute, hung from a wooden rod.\n\nAn oil-temperature gauge, somehow modified by Douglass's crew chief, who had also laid the bricks and found the crapper somewhere, was mounted on the wall. The needle, pointing to a green \"OK\" strip, indicated 280 degrees Fahrenheit, but it had been explained to Douglas that he should ignore the indicated temperature; when the needle pointed to the \"OK\" strip, the water was at the proper temperature for a shower.\n\nDouglass went to the wardrobe and took out fresh underwear and a clean uniform. Then he stripped. As he pulled his T-shirt over his head, he winced at the sharp, acrid odor. He knew what it was. It was the enduring odor of sweat-while-terrified. Literally, the smell of fear.\n\nHe relived for a moment the absolute terror he had felt for about twenty seconds when it had looked like the pilot of the Messerschmitt on his tail was going to succeed in turning inside Douglass's turn. It had been as if time had somehow slowed down, like a movie newsreel in slow motion; and while things had been in slow motion, he had been able to see the stream of German tracers moving ever closer to him.\n\nAnd then the stream of tracers had stopped when the German pilot, who was good and knew his trade, realized that he wasn't going to make it. He had turned and dived sharply to the left.\n\nAs Douglass had turned to try to get on the German's tail, he had become aware that he was sweat-soaked.\n\n\"Jesus H. Christ!\" Douglass said disgustedly, throwing the T-shirt to the floor.\n\nHe went to his shower and turned it on full. It was hot, hotter than he liked, even too hot for comfort, but he stood under it, furiously rubbing red Lifebuoy soap over his skin, and then rinsing himself until the entire fifty-five gallons of the water supply in a former oil drum on the roof was exhausted.\n\nHe shut the head off and quickly opened a valve that would replenish the water in the drum. He heard a momentary hiss as the cold water struck whatever it was his crew chief had installed in the drum to heat the water, and he remembered that the crew chief had sternly warned him never to use all the water in the drum, otherwise the heating element would burn out.\n\n\"I've probably fucked that up, too,\" Douglass said aloud.\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"Nothing.\"\n\nDouglass wondered how long he had kept Delaney waiting.\n\nHe wrapped a gray-white towel around his middle and went into his bedroom.\n\nDelaney was a serious-faced Irishman from someplace in Iowa, a devout Roman Catholic with a wife and several kids, although he was only twenty-two or twenty-three years old. He had been sitting in the chair by the desk and had gotten up when Douglass entered the room.\n\n\"Sit!\" Douglass said, and walked to his bed and pulled a clean T-shirt over his head.\n\n\"Who do you recommend to assume command of your squadron, Major Delaney?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"By the authority vested in me by Eighth Air Force, you have been appointed executive officer of the 344th Fighter Group,\" Douglass said. \"The job carries with it a gold leaf.\"\n\n\"I'm sorry about Major Till, Sir,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Douglass said. \"I asked you a question, Major.\"\n\n\"I'm not sure I can handle it, Colonel,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"I made that decision,\" Douglass said. He had his undershorts on by then and was in the process of working his feet into half Wellington boots. When he had them on, he walked to the desk and unscrewed the cap on the imperial quart of Scotch.\n\n\"Till, you unlucky bastard,\" he said, holding the bottle up. \"I hope you went quick.\"\n\nHe handed the bottle to Delaney.\n\nDelaney wiped the neck on his blouse jacket and took a swig.\n\n\"Maybe he was dead before he went in,\" Delaney said. \"Needham followed him down, and he said he never got the canopy open.\"\n\n\"I just wrote his family that his ship blew up,\" Douglass said. \"One of the things a field grade officer must know, Major Delaney, is when to lie.\"\n\nDelaney looked at him and nodded, but said nothing.\n\n\"I will be gone for the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours,\" Douglass said. \"You will tell whatever lie you think you can get away with if there are inquiries as to my whereabouts. I'm going to leave a number where I can be reached. You will use it only if necessary, and you are to give it to no one.\"\n\n\"May I ask, Sir, where you will be?\"\n\n\"Repeating the caveat that you are to tell no one, I will be at Whitbey House in Kent. It's where the OSS hangs out.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n_There was relief in the way he said that, and on his face. The moral sonofabitch was afraid that I was going to tell_ _him that I was going to be shacked up somewhere_.\n\n\"It takes me about an hour and a half to get back here from there,\" Douglass said. \"In case I am needed. I will not be needed to fly. I have checked the weather, and nobody will be flying.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"If you keep up that 'yes, Sir' crap,\" Douglass said, \"you will almost, but not quite, succeed in making me feel guilty for leaving my new executive officer in charge.\"\n\nDelaney gave him a hesitant smile.\n\n\"Am I allowed to ask what you'll be doing with the OSS?\"\n\n\"I am going to get drunk, Major Delaney,\" Douglass said. \"I do that sometimes when something like Dave Till happens. It ill behooves a commanding officer to get shit-faced somewhere where his subordinates can see him in that condition.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"You will personally see to Till's personal effects,\" Douglass said. \"Collect them, go through them to make sure there are no dirty pictures, love letters, or anything else that might suggest he was a healthy young male. Make an inventory of what's left, and leave it on my desk.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"How are you fixed for money?\"\n\n\"Sir?\"\n\n\"You have been promoted, Major,\" Douglass said. \"It is a hoary tradition of the service that you have a promotion party.\"\n\n\"I have money, Sir,\" Delaney said. \"But thank you.\"\n\n\"In this case,\" Douglass explained, \"your party will also serve to keep our young warriors on the base tonight. You will lie again. You will tell them that just before the colonel left for High Wycombe and the headquarters of the Eighth Air Force, he left word that twenty-four-hour passes for pilots are authorized as of\u2014and not before\u20140400 tomorrow. It has been my experience that if I turn them loose after a mission like the one we flew today, they tend to behave in a manner unbefitting officers and gentlemen. And as you are about to find out, there is a good deal of paperwork involved when one of our young heroes punches out an English cop, or steals a taxicab.\"\n\n\"I understand, Sir,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"You do, Jack, you really do. That's why I gave you the job.\"\n\n\"I hope I can measure up to your expectations, Sir,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"You may leave, Major,\" Douglass said. \"And you may take the Scotch with you.\" Delaney looked surprised.\n\n\"If I took it with me,\" Douglass said, \"I would never make it to Whitbey House.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Delaney said.\n\n\"By the time I get back, Jack,\" Douglass said, \"I expect you to have made up your mind about who'll take over your squadron.\"\n**IX**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **THE ISLAND OF VIS 1615 HOURS 16 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFour men were on hand to greet Canidy, Dolan, and Darmstadter in the B-25.\n\nOne was a British officer wearing the red beret of a parachutist. The pips of a captain were on the shoulders of a sweater. Around his neck he wore a white silk scarf. There were two other Englishmen in British uniform. They were hatless and without insignia of rank. All three of the English had Sten submachine guns. The fourth man was in civilian clothing, a tieless white shirt, a double-breasted, heavy suit jacket, and baggy, unmatching trousers.\n\nThe British officer came to attention and saluted, an almost parade-ground salute, his hand, palm outward, quivering as he touched his temple with his fingertips.\n\n\"Afternoon, gentlemen,\" he said casually. \"My name is Hughson. Welcome to Vis.\"\n\nCanidy returned the salute.\n\n\"You're the aircraft commander, Major?\" Captain Hughson asked.\n\nCanidy jerked his thumb upward to the cockpit of the B- 25G.\n\n\"Commander Dolan's the aircraft commander,\" he said.\n\n\"With his permission, of course,\" Captain Hughson said, \"I would suggest the thing to do is get the aircraft under cover.\"\n\n\"How do we do that?\" Canidy asked.\n\nHughson gestured toward the hillside. Darmstadter saw there was a short, steep-sided indentation in the rocky hillside, a natural revetment, and that above it were rolls of camouflage netting.\n\nAs if reading his mind, the British officer said, \"Except as netting, the camouflage isn't worth a damn. Unless, of course, we wish to give the impression that a North Africa wadi has been miraculously transplanted to the island.\"\n\n\"What do you do?\" Canidy asked, chuckling.\n\n\"We artistically arrange local evergreens atop the netting, \" Hughson said. \"And devoutly pray that it works.\"\n\n\"Let's get at it, then,\" Canidy said.\n\nCapt. Hughson raised his hand above his head and snapped his fingers.\n\nEight Englishmen, in various combinations of uniform, trotted up. One of them, with sergeant's chevrons sewn to his rough woolen jacket, stamped his foot and gave the captain a quivering-hand salute.\n\n\"Sir!\" he barked.\n\nDarmstadter saw Canidy's eyebrows go up at the non-com's parade-ground behavior.\n\n\"Would you have the chaps roll the aircraft into the revetment?\" the British officer asked conversationally.\n\n\"Sir!\" the sergeant barked, and stamped his boot again.\n\nThe English soldiers, without further orders, went to the B-25G and started to push it. When they had trouble getting it moving, Canidy went to the left wheel, put his back against it, and tried to help. Darmstadter went to the other wheel and did the same thing. As he heaved, he saw that neither the British officer nor the civilian was helping. They even seemed surprised that Canidy and Darmstadter were lending a hand.\n\nOnce the initial inertia was overcome, their help was no longer needed, and they walked back to where the captain and the civilian stood.\n\nDarmstadter saw Dolan finally drop through the access hatch, and then, taking a quick look around to see what was going on, begin to give directions to the pushers.\n\n\"Commander _Dolan,_ you say?\" the British captain asked.\n\n\"Right,\" Canidy said, \"and this is Lieutenant Darmstadter. \"\n\nThe two shook Darmstadter's hand.\n\n\"I didn't catch your name,\" Canidy said to the civilian.\n\n\"Ferniany,\" the civilian said.\n\n\"Yachtsman,\" Canidy said, confirming his suspicion that the civilian was the OSS agent.\n\n\"We try not to use that identification unless we have to,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"We're among friends, I think,\" Canidy said.\n\nThey all watched as the B-25G was turned and then rolled backward into the natural revetment. And they continued watching as the British soldiers, with a skill that could only have come from practice, unrolled the camouflage net and propped it up over the airplane with trunks of young pine trees, then covered the camouflage netting with branches.\n\nThen Dolan walked over to them, and there was an exchange of salutes between Dolan and the British officer. Darmstadter saw that Dolan was as surprised by the display of parade-ground military courtesy as Canidy had been.\n\n\"This is Yachtsman,\" Canidy said.\n\nDolan smiled and shook Ferniany's hand.\n\n\"Where's Fulmar?\" Dolan asked. He chuckled. \"Or what is it we're calling him, 'Ex-Lax'?\"\n\n\"I was about to ask,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"There is a minor problem with Fulmar,\" Ferniany said. \"Actually, it's almost funny.\"\n\n\"What's almost funny?\" Canidy snapped.\n\n\"He's doing ninety days in the coal mine at P\u00e9cs,\" Ferniany said. \"For black marketing. He and the professor. The girl is here.\"\n\n\"Go over that again,\" Canidy snapped. \"Spare me the humor.\"\n\n\"The barge we were to travel on was boarded, just before we were supposed to leave P\u00e9cs,\" Ferniany said. \"That happens sometimes. They found a lot of money on Fulmar. They naturally concluded that he was a black marketeer and hauled him and the professor off.\"\n\nDarmstadter saw that the B-25G was now well hidden from where they stood; from the air, it would be invisible. And the soldiers who had erected the netting over it were now walking down the \"runway\" where they had landed, sweeping the tire tracks with pine branches. Then he saw something that for a moment baffled him.\n\nTwo of the soldiers were rolling a boulder onto the center of the \"runway.\" The boulder was taller than they were. There was no way that a bulldozer, much less two men, could move a boulder that size with such ease. Unless, of course, it was phony, like the boulders that careen down a mountain in the movies. That's obviously what it had to be, Darmstadter realized, and then saw three more boulders farther down the field on the far side of the stream that cut the runway in half.\n\n\"May I suggest, gentlemen,\" Captain Hughson said, \"that we go to our digs? Every once in a while, Jerry flies a Storch over for a look. It would probably arouse his curiosity to see us all standing about in this deserted meadow.\"\n\nThey followed him toward the hillside, where, hidden behind a bush, was the start of a narrow, steep path that wound its way up through the boulders and stunted trees. After they had climbed for five minutes, they came to the first of what turned out to be a series of caves in the side of the hill.\n\nCaptain Hughson led them into one of them.\n\nA hissing Coleman lantern inside illuminated a small stone altar and crude paintings of people with halos on the cave walls.\n\n_They don't look like Jesus,_ Canidy thought. _They must be saints_.\n\nHe thought that his father would know whom the paintings depicted, what sort of Christian had painted them on the wall here, and when. The Reverend Dr. George Crater Canidy was an expert on early Christianity. It was the first time he had thought of his father recently. Whenever he did, he thought that his father would disapprove, if he knew what his son was doing.\n\nThe British SOE captain saw his interest.\n\n\"Orthodox,\" Hughson said. \"I don't know _what_ orthodox, but orthodox. They tell me that they came here after training in a monastery, and they carved out these caves, and then spent the rest of their lives in silence and prayer. Communal farm, that sort of thing, but all they did otherwise was think and pray. Rather unsettling, what, to think about it?\"\n\n\"Well, at least they left us their bomb shelters,\" Canidy said, and then looked for Ferniany. When he had his attention, he went on, \"Who carried Fulmar off where?\"\n\n\"The Black Guard and some local police,\" Ferniany said. \"To the municipal jail in P\u00e9cs. That happens all the time, with legitimate black marketeers, I mean . . . how about that? A 'legitimate' black marketeer . . . \"\n\n\"Hey!\" Canidy said sharply. \"I've had about all of your scintillating wit I can handle.\"\n\n\"Just who the hell do you think you are?\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"My name is Canidy. I'm both the action officer and your control, okay?\"\n\n\"I thought you said Commander Dolan was the aircraft commander,\" Ferniany said, half accusingly.\n\n\"I did,\" Canidy said. \"He _is_ the aircraft commander.\"\n\n\"Major,\" Ferniany said, \"I'm really sorry. It never entered my mind that you would show up here.\"\n\n\"A lot of things apparently 'never entered your mind,' \"Canidy said. \"Now, what the hell happened, one step at a time?\"\n\n\"The cops in Hungary are like the cops in Hamtramck, Michigan, Major,\" Ferniany said. \"They have their hands out. They want a slice of the pie, and then they look the other way. So far as they're concerned, if a Hungarian farmer sells a ham or a couple of salamis to a 'tourist,' instead of selling it to the state, that's his business, providing they get their cut. They make sure that everybody understands the rules by picking people up every once in a while and putting them in jail. Like the cops raid the whorehouses in Cicero on a scheduled basis. You understand? \"\n\n\"And Fulmar got picked up . . . on a schedule?\"\n\n\"The Black Guard had a good day with him,\" Ferniany said. \"I saw them counting the money they took away from him. How much did he have, anyway?\"\n\nCanidy ignored the question.\n\n\"How come they didn't pick you up?\" he asked. \"And you said the Dyer girl's here?\"\n\n\"I'm not making my point,\" Ferniany said. \"And it's important that I do.\"\n\n\"So make it,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"They didn't pick me up, or anybody else on the barge, because that would be killing the goose that lays the golden egg. They picked up Fulmar because he hadn't paid the toll.\"\n\n\"You mean beforehand?\" Canidy asked. Ferniany nodded. \"Well, if you knew about this system, why didn't you pay whatever had to be paid?\"\n\n\"I had a decision to make,\" Ferniany said. \"I decided it would be worth the risk . . . the word I got, presumably from you, Major . . . was to keep this operation as quiet as possible. I decided the best way to do that was to try to slip them through without paying off the cops.\"\n\n\"You should have paid the cops,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"When you pay the cops, it's for a round-trip,\" Ferniany said. \"They would have been curious when these people didn't head back to Vienna with suitcases full of salami and ham.\"\n\n\"Your orders, Captain,\" Canidy said icily, \"were to see that under no circumstances were Fulmar and Professor Dyer to fall into German hands.\"\n\n\"You mean, I was supposed to 'eliminate' them?\" Ferniany asked. \"The thing is, Major, I'm new at this. I'm not used to the euphemisms: 'eliminate' for 'kill,' specifically. So far, it hasn't been necessary for me to kill people on our side. I don't know, frankly, what I would have done if I had thought they were going to be turned over to the Sicherheitsdienst or the Gestapo.\"\n\nCanidy, his face rigid, looked at Ferniany a long time before he spoke.\n\n\"I don't know if I could have done it, either,\" he said finally, softly. \"It's easier to order people to do something like that than it is to do it yourself.\"\n\n\"Major, it's five-to-one that long before their ninety days is up, they'll be turned loose. They're not making any money for the cops in the coal mines. The coal mines are a lesson, you understand?\"\n\n\"I know what you're trying to tell me,\" Canidy said. \"But there's more to this than you understand.\"\n\n\"Like what?\"\n\n\"Like there was a very good reason for the elimination order,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Are we back to that?\"\n\nCanidy didn't reply. He walked away from the others for a few moments, thinking. Then he came back to the group and turned to Captain Hughson.\n\n\"There is avgas here? Nothing 'almost funny' has happened to that?\"\n\n\"There are twenty-five fifty-five-gallon drums of aviation gasoline, Major,\" the British officer said. \"Twelve, thirteen hundred American gallons.\"\n\n\"And some kind of a pump?\" Canidy pursued.\n\n\"Hand pumps,\" Ferniany said. \"Three of them.\"\n\n\"Are we sure it's clean gas?\" Dolan said.\n\n\"The tanks are sealed,\" Ferniany said. \"And there's both metallic filters and chamois.\"\n\n\"You better get on the refueling right away, John,\" Canidy said. \"At first light tomorrow, after you put Darmstadter through a couple of touch-and-gos, I want you to make for Cairo.\"\n\nDolan accepted the order without question, with a nod of his head. But he was curious:\n\n\"Why Cairo? And aren't you coming with us?\"\n\n\"Cairo because we have a pretty good radio link with our station chief there, and no, I can't go back with you.\"\n\n\"We have radio contact with London, Major,\" the SOE captain said.\n\nCanidy ignored him.\n\n\"While you're fueling the plane,\" he went on, \"I'll start encrypting a message for London. You give it, personally, to the station chief. His name is Wilkins, Ernest J. Wilkins, and he's a lot more competent than he looks. Tell him to get it right out, and then you wait there for further orders.\"\n\nDolan nodded.\n\n\"You'll take the Dyer girl with you,\" Canidy said. \"If the decision is for you to go on to London, take her with you. If it isn't, turn her over to Wilkins, and have her put on ice. _His_ ice. Make damned sure he understands that. She is not a prisoner, but I don't want her talking to anybody but you and the station chief.\"\n\nDolan nodded again. \"Daylight will be at 0513,\" he said. \"Say twenty minutes to shoot two or three touch-and-gos, another half an hour to land, top off the tanks, and put the girl aboard. That'll get us out of here at no more than quarter past six.\"\n\n\"Fifteen minutes to shoot two touch-and-gos, and you'll be on your way at half past five. It's fifteen hundred miles, give or take a hundred, from here to Cairo. Presuming no bad head wind, that'd put you into Cairo in six hours, say noon Cairo time.\"\n\n\"Two other presumptions,\" Dolan said dryly. \"That you have your reasons for taking a passenger while Darmstadter's shooting touch-and-gos, and that you have your reasons for us not to make a refueling stop at Malta.\"\n\n\"There are reasons, John,\" Canidy said, \"but none you can't figure out yourself.\"\n\n\"Right,\" Dolan said.\n\nCanidy turned to Captain Hughson.\n\n\"How do you cook your meat here, Captain?\" he asked.\n\nThe British officer's eyebrows went up.\n\n\"Actually, there are two methods,\" he said. \"We usually heat the tins in boiling water. But sometimes, if the meat is your Spam, we take it from the tins and fry it for a treat.\"\n\n\"Could you rig up some sort of a spit over a fire?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"I'm sure you have a reason for asking,\" Captain Hughson said.\n\n\"There's four hundred pounds of Four-in-One beef on the plane,\" Canidy said. \"I thought perhaps SOE might like to entertain its visitors with the roast beef of Merry Old England.\" Four-in-One was boned beef packed for the U.S. Army Quartermasters Corps, prepared so that it could be roasted whole, cut into steaks, chunked for stew, or ground.\n\nFor the first time, Captain Hughson smiled.\n\n\"Well, we'll give it a bloody good try, Major,\" he said.\n\n\"There's also some vegetables, but God only knows if they survived the cold,\" Canidy said. \"You stick around, Ferniany,\" he ordered, \"while I do the paperwork.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Ferniany said.\n\nIt took Canidy longer than he thought it would to get what details he needed from Ferniany, then to write his report, then to edit it down to as short a version as possible for encryption, and then for the encryption itself.\n\nHe carried with him simple transposition codes on water -soluble tissue paper, one for each day, each five-letter code block representing a word or a phrase he and the OSS cryptographic officer had thought might be useful. But they had not considered the possibility that Fulmar and Professor Dyer would be locked up in a Hungarian municipal prison as petty criminals, so coming up with paraphrases for that situation from the available words and phrases was difficult. He had to laboriously build a second code from the code he had available, and by the time he had finally transferred the message Dolan would carry to Cairo for transmission, and had burned his notes and that day's code, a lot of time had passed. It was dark when they walked out of the cave.\n\nThey stood in the dark for a minute, until their eyes adjusted to the darkness, and then they followed their noses farther up the hill to the cave from which came the smell of roasting beef.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **OSS STATION WHITBEY HOUSE KENT, ENGLAND 1905 HOURS 16 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCaptain the Duchess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Stanfield, WRAC, liaison officer of His Majesty's Imperial General Staff to OSS Station Whitbey House, liked First Lieutenant Charity Hoche, WAC, newly appointed assistant adjutant, from the moment she had first seen her getting out of the Ford staff car in front of Whitbey House.\n\nWhy she liked her, she could not explain. There were some women the Duchess liked at first sight, and some she didn't. But by and large, her snap-judgment first impressions were proven correct. Maybe in this case it was because Charity Hoche, although she looked up and somewhat shyly smiled at the Duchess and Lieutenant Bob Jamison as they started down the wide shallow stairs toward her, she did not ask for help, hauled her luggage from the backseat, and, staggering under the weight, started to carry it up the stairs herself. And then with a look of chagrin on her face\u2014and an \"Ooops!\"\u2014Charity Hoche put down the right suitcase and saluted.\n\nThe Duchess returned the salute.\n\n\"Welcome to Whitbey House,\" the Duchess said. \"And thank you for the salute, but we do rather little of that around here.\"\n\n\"I'm Bob Jamison,\" Jamison said. \"Let me give you a hand with your bags.\"\n\n\"What a marvelous house,\" Charity said, reaching to take the Duchess's extended hand.\n\n\"Small and unpretentious,\" Jamison said dryly, \"but comfy. Sometime, when you have a free week or ten days, I'll show you around.\"\n\nThe Duchess liked Charity's smile and peal of laughter.\n\n\"My name is Elizabeth Stanfield,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"Charity Hoche,\" Charity said. \"How do you do?\"\n\n\"Have you eaten?\" the Duchess asked.\n\n\"Colonel Stevens took me by the Savoy Grill,\" Charity said, \"for a final lecture on the conduct expected of me as an officer and a gentlewoman.\"\n\n\"Well, I think, under the circumstances, you're doing quite well,\" the Duchess said as they entered the foyer.\n\nJamison had been informed, and he had informed the Duchess, of the decision to put Charity into an officer's uniform.\n\nThe Duchess found Charity's eyes on hers and saw in them both gratitude and appraisal. This was a highly intelligent woman, the Duchess decided. She wondered what her real role at Whitbey House was to be. There was a reason for the decision to put her into an officer's uniform, and it had nothing to do with the one offered: \"that it would make things a little easier when she's dealing with the female personnel.\"\n\nCharity laughed again, a pleasant peal of laughter, when she saw the signpost erected at the foot of the main staircase. It was ten feet tall and festooned with lettered arrows, and it gave the direction and miles to Washington, Berlin, Tokyo, Moscow, as well as to the mess, the club, and the officers' and billeting areas within the huge mansion.\n\n\"Don't laugh,\" Jamison said. \"You'll need it. We have three bloodhounds who do nothing but search for people who get lost on the premises.\"\n\nJamison set Charity's suitcases down in the corridor outside his office and motioned Charity inside.\n\n\"Before we go through the paperwork,\" Jamison said, \"let me make it official. On behalf of our beloved commanding officer, Major Richard Canidy, who is regrettably not available at the moment, let me welcome you to Whitbey House.\"\n\n\"Thank you very much.\" Charity smiled.\n\nThe Duchess saw on Charity's face that Charity had known that Canidy would not be here. And then she had the sure feeling that Charity knew why Canidy wasn't here, and very probably where he was and what he was doing.\n\nThere were documents for Charity to sign, and Jamison handed her an identity card overprinted with diagonal red stripes and sealed in plastic.\n\n\"The red stripes are what we call 'anyplace, anytime' stripes,\" Jamison explained, \"meaning you go anywhere on the station whenever you wish. You'll probably be asked for the card a lot, until the security people get to know you, and you _will_ be asked for it whenever you leave the inner and outer perimeters.\"\n\nCharity nodded her understanding, glanced at the card, and tucked it in the breast pocket of her uniform tunic.\n\n\"That, except for the question of your billet, is it,\" Jamison said. \"You have two choices. You can have a private room in the female officers' wing on the second floor, or you can move in with Captain Stanfield in the servants' quarters on the third floor.\"\n\n\"I'm in what used to be the apartment provided for . . .\" she hesitated just perceptibly, and then went on, \"the Duchess's personal maid. There are two bedrooms and a sitter, and a private bath with a bathtub. There are only showers in the female officers' quarters.\"\n\n\"That's very kind of you,\" Charity said, \"and I think I'd prefer that. But it raises a question.\"\n\n\"What's that?\" the Duchess asked.\n\n\"You're my very first duchess,\" Charity said. \"I knew a baroness one time, at school. But I don't know what to call you.\"\n\n\"Elizabeth, or Liz, will do just fine,\" the Duchess said.\n\nStevens had told her, the Duchess decided. Or David Bruce. Or possibly she had known even before she had arrived in England that the Imperial General Staff Liaison officer to OSS Whitbey House Station had before the war occupied the house as the Duchess Stanfield.\n\n\"I'm perfectly prepared,\" Charity said with a smile, \"to curtsy . . . for that matter to prostrate myself . . . if it means access to a hot bath. What I had in London was a trickle of rusty tepid water. More like a bad leak than a shower.\"\n\nThe Duchess laughed.\n\n\"Well, come on, then, we'll get you a hot bath. And you won't have to prostrate yourself, either.\"\n\nThe Duchess was surprised, almost astounded, to see what Charity Hoche's heavy suitcases contained. There was one spare uniform and several spare shirts, but the rest of the space was filled with cosmetics, soap, perfume, underwear, and silk stockings.\n\nCharity saw the surprise on the Duchess's face.\n\n\"We have a marvelous old sailor in Washington,\" she said. \"Chief Ellis. He told me what to bring. He said that I could get anything GI over here without any trouble, but that if I wanted 'lady-type things,' I should take them with me.\"\n\n\"You were given good advice,\" the Duchess said. \"That's the first time I've seen more than three pairs of silk stockings at once in years.\"\n\n\"Help yourself,\" Charity said.\n\n\"Oh, I couldn't,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"Oh, I wish you would,\" Charity said. \"Sooner or later, there will be a chance for you to scratch my back. And there's three dozen pair, more than I can possibly use before Mommy sends me some more.\"\n\n\"Would you like me to prostrate myself now, or later?\" the Duchess asked.\n\nThey smiled at each other, and the Duchess understood that her snap judgment of Charity Hoche had been on the money. A good woman, and a nice one. Charity handed her a dozen pair of silk stockings.\n\n\"Wear them in good health,\" Charity said.\n\nCharity went to the tub, put in the stopper, and started to fill it. She then somewhat discomfited the Duchess by taking off all her clothes and walking around the bedroom starkers as she loaded her treasure of \"lady-type things\" into a chest of drawers.\n\nThen she got into the tub. The Duchess went to her room, threw away with great pleasure her remaining two pairs of silk stockings\u2014which had runs in them\u2014and put on a pair that Charity had given her. They made her feel good.\n\nThen she saw her own hoard of \"lady-type things.\" It primarily consisted of twenty-two jars of Elizabeth Arden bubble bath. Her eyes teared. Just before he'd gone off wherever the hell he was, Jimmy Whittaker had helped himself to her last half-tin of bubble bath, and she had been furious.\n\nNot too furious, she recalled, to accept his invitation to join in the bubbles. In fact, she'd probably really been more sad than angry. She had resigned herself to doing without bubble bath as she had resigned herself to doing without Jimmy Whittaker.\n\nAnd then Bob Jamison had called her into his office, handed her a U.S. Army package from the National Institutes of Health, Washington, D.C.\u2014which was how the OSS identified its packages\u2014stamped URGENT AIR PRIORITY SHIPMENT and a shipping label reading \"Crystals, Soluble, Non-Explosive,\" and addressed to the \"Officer-in-Charge, Agricultural Research Facility, Whitbey House, Kent.\"\n\n\"I think this is for you,\" Jamison had said.\n\nIt was a case of twenty-four bottles of Elizabeth Arden bubble-bath crystals.\n\n_God, how I miss Jimmy!_\n\n_And to hell with thinking about the illegal use of scarce air-freight facilities and interfering with the war effort._\n\nThe Duchess took one of the bottles and carried it into the bathroom. Charity was slumped down in the tub, so that only her chin and her nipples broke the surface of the water.\n\n\"How about a little bubble bath?\" the Duchess asked.\n\n\"Oh, I see it got here,\" Charity said. \"I was afraid to ask.\"\n\n\"You know where it came from?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Charity said, \"I know.\"\n\n\"I won't ask where Jimmy is,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"I'm glad, because I can't tell you,\" Charity said.\n\nThe Duchess filed that away, professionally. Charity Hoche was privy to upper-echelon secrets. And knew how to keep them. And then she was a little ashamed for being professional.\n\n\"Actually, I had something specific in mind before,\" Charity said, \"when I said there would come a time when you could scratch my back.\"\n\n\"Tell me,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"How would I get Lieutenant Colonel Peter Douglass, Jr., on the telephone?\"\n\n\"Doug's a friend of yours?\"\n\n\"Understatement,\" Charity said. \"At least on my part.\"\n\n\"The way we do that,\" the Duchess said, \"is I get on the telephone, and when I have Colonel Douglass on the line, I bring the phone in here to you.\"\n\n\"Oh, nice!\"\n\nTwo minutes later, the Duchess went back into the bathroom.\n\n\"Colonel Douglass is not available,\" she said. \"He will not be available for the next thirty-six hours. I'm sorry.\"\n\n\"Damn,\" Charity said. She sat up abruptly, splashing water. \"That means he's out spreading pollen.\"\n\n\"I don't think so,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"Oh, come on,\" Charity said. \"He doesn't know I'm here. And if you know him, you know he's just like the others. I'm not complaining. If I was in his shoes, I'd probably be doing the same thing. 'Live today . . .' \"\n\n\"I would guess that he's off somewhere getting drunk,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"Oddly enough, that would make me happy. Compared to what I really think he's up to. Why do you say that?\"\n\nThe Duchess hesitated.\n\n\"Oddly enough, it's classified,\" she said.\n\n\"Oddly enough,\" Charity said, \"I'm cleared for anything going on around here. Didn't Jamison tell you?\"\n\n\"No,\" the Duchess said. \"Are you really?\"\n\n\"Yes, I am,\" Charity said. \"Does that mean you're not?\"\n\n\"I am accused,\" the Duchess said, \"of being the resident spy for the Imperial General Staff. There is a grain of truth in the accusation. But I know about this.\"\n\n\"I really am cleared,\" Charity said. \"Am I going to have to get Jamison up here to confirm that?\"\n\n\"He'd love that, dressed as you are.\" The Duchess chuckled. \"We'd better not.\"\n\nCharity Hoche was obviously telling the truth.\n\n\"Probably because of his father,\" the Duchess said. \"Or maybe just because he's Dick's good buddy, and Dick just uses that for an excuse, whenever Doug goes off on a mission, Eighth Air Force tells us. And they tell us when he comes back. TWX to Berkeley Square with info copy here. He flew a mission today. He made it back, but his executive officer was killed. I saw the TWX just before you got here. Under the circumstances, I don't think he's out . . . how did you put it? . . . 'spreading pollen.' \"\n\n\"Thank you,\" Charity said, almost solemnly.\n\n\"You want the bubble bath?\" the Duchess asked.\n\n\"What I would really like is a drink,\" Charity said, suddenly standing up and reaching for the flexible-pipe showerhead to rinse herself off. \"I'll save the bubble bath for sometime when it'll be useful.\"\n\n\"That I can offer,\" the Duchess said. \"We have a nice bar here, and sometimes even a piano player.\"\n\n# **3**\n\nLieutenant Ferenc \"Freddy\" J\u00e1nos, the piano player, was a very large man. Which was, he thought, the reason he had broken his ankle. If one was six feet four inches tall and weighed two hundred and thirty pounds, one could not expect to be lowered to the ground by parachute as gently as could someone who weighed, say, one hundred sixty pounds.\n\nAnd it wasn't really that bad. The doctor had, perhaps predictably, told him that it \"could have been a lot worse.\" It had hurt like hell on the drop zone, and while the medics, heaving with the exertion, had carried him to the ambulance. But once they'd gotten a cast on it, there had been virtually no pain. A maddening itch under the cast, but no pain.\n\nAnd the X rays had shown a simple fracture of one of the major bones; he'd been told that \"knitting, for someone of your age and physical condition,\" would be rapid. It was an inconvenience, nothing more. It had, of course, kept him from going operational. The bad landing and the resulting broken ankle had taken him off the team. He had been replaced by a lieutenant flown hastily from the United States.\n\nGoing operational would have to wait until they took the cast off\u2014in three days; today was Tuesday, and the cast would come off on Friday\u2014and probably for a couple of weeks after that; a week to become intimate with a new team, and however long it took after that to schedule and arrange for a mission.\n\nThe major problem that faced Lt. Ferenc \"Freddy\" J\u00e1nos, as he saw it, was arranging to get laid between the time the cast came off and the time he went operational. That would require getting to London, and that was going to pose a problem, for the OSS did not like its people going into London once they had been made privy to a certain level of classified operational information.\n\nHe had been made privy to that level of classified information two days before the bad landing. It had then been intended that the men on his team parachute into Yugoslavia three days later. They had been taught\u2014and had committed to memory in case the drop had not gone as planned\u2014several alternate means to establish contact with the guerrilla forces of Colonel Dra\u017ea Mihajlovi\u0107.\n\nThis information was quite sensitive, and those in possession of it could not be trusted to go off and tie one on in London, or for that matter, anywhere off the Whitbey House estate. Freddy J\u00e1nos understood the reasoning, for lives were literally at stake, and he was perfectly willing to grant that liquor loosened tongues, especially his. But he thought it would be a truly unfortunate circumstance if he had to jump in Yugoslavia following a long period of enforced celibacy. God alone knew how he could get his ashes hauled in Yugoslavia.\n\nIt wasn't that there were not a number of females here at Whitbey House\u2014including two leaning on the piano at that moment as he played\u2014who could with relatively little effort be enticed into his room. But he had what he thought of as his standards. For one thing, he did not think officers should make the beast with two backs with enlisted women.\n\nThis belief had not come from The Officer's Guide, which had euphemistically dealt with the subject, but from Lt. J\u00e1nos's own experience as an enlisted man. He had been enraged when he had suspected that his officers were dazzling enlisted women into their beds with their exalted position, and he was unwilling to enrage the enlisted men here by doing the same thing himself. He had even gone further than that. He had had a word with several officers about the matter; he had let them know their behavior displeased him, and that when he was displeased, he sometimes had trouble keeping his displeasure nonviolent.\n\nThere were three American female officers and one British at Whitbey House, but the American WACs did not measure up to Freddy J\u00e1nos's standard for a bed partner, and the British officer, Captain the Duchess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Stanfield, WRAC, whom Freddy J\u00e1nos would have loved to know much better, had proven to be the exception to the rule that upper-class women, when he looked at them with his large, sad, dark eyes, usually wished to comfort him with all the means at their disposal.\n\nFreddy J\u00e1nos had learned about the effect of his large, sad, dark eyes on women when he was fifteen. At fifteen, he was already nearly six feet tall and pushing one hundred eighty pounds. He had been accepted as a \"prot\u00e9g\u00e9\" piano student at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He had still spoken with something of an accent then, his father having brought them from Budapest to accept an appointment as concertmaster of the Cleveland Symphony only four years before.\n\nArrangements had been made for him to stay with friends of the family in a large and comfortable apartment on Riverside Drive overlooking the Hudson River. The friends had also been Hungarians and musicians, and it was their custom to hold Sunday-afternoon musicales, in the European manner, sometimes trios, sometimes quartets, sometimes quintets; and he was naturally asked to play when a piano was required.\n\nAfter one musicale, Mrs. Lizbeth Vernon, the lady in 6-B, one floor up, a tall, lithe woman of thirty-four, whom he had noticed smiling softly at him when he played, came to him and told him how much she had enjoyed his playing. And she went on to say that sometime when he had a few minutes, she hoped he would drop by her apartment and see if her piano was in tune. She had just had it tuned, but it didn't sound right, and she wanted a second opinion before she called Steinway & Sons and complained.\n\nWhen he went to her apartment the next day after school, Lizbeth Vernon answered the door in a thin silk robe and told him that she had been under the sunlamp and hoped he wasn't embarrassed. Lizbeth also told him that she thought he was lonely, that she had seen it in his eyes, and that she understood his loneliness, because her husband, a regional manager for Merrill Lynch, the stockbrokers, was on the road from Monday to Thursday, so she was lonely herself.\n\nThere were a couple of awkward moments that afternoon, after Lizbeth learned that not only was he only fifteen but that he had never been with a woman before.\n\n\"Jesus Christ,\" Lizbeth said, horrified, as they lay sated in the biggest bed he had ever seen.\n\nBut she quickly recovered.\n\n\"Well, I'll say this,\" Lizbeth said, laughing deep in her throat as she grabbed him, \"you _are_ big for your age. And you are a prot\u00e9g\u00e9, aren't you?\"\n\nAnd Lizbeth told him that what had \"driven me crazy\" from the first moment she'd seen him was his eyes.\n\nThat had been, from beginning to end, a fine relationship. And it had lasted long after his \"prot\u00e9g\u00e9\" status had ended. Two years at Juilliard had convinced everybody, his father included, that despite his \"early promise,\" he just didn't have what it would take to become a concert pianist.\n\nHe had often come down to Manhattan to visit Lizbeth\u2014when her husband was out of town over a weekend, when Freddy had been at Yale, working toward a degree in European history with a minor in Slavic languages\u2014and there'd been harsh words between them only twice: once when she had come to New Haven to surprise him and had found him in bed with a red-haired, white-skinned, Irish Sarah Lawrence student who had amazingly freckled breasts; and the other, in January 1942, when he had told her that he was going to enlist rather than wait until he graduated the following June.\n\nLizbeth had told him\u2014actually screamed at him\u2014that he was going to regret it when he woke up and found out what the Army was all about. If he had any sense at all, he would at least stay in school until he graduated and could get an officer's commission.\n\nThe Army had sent him to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for basic training, and then to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for tank training. He had loved all of it, even basic training. There was something about it that had made him feel for the first time in his life\u2014out of bed\u2014like a man. Piano prot\u00e9g\u00e9s play pianos, not baseball or football, and as lousy as the Yale football team was, there had been no place on it for someone even of his size who had never handled a football.\n\nHe had made expert with the Garand rifle in basic training, the first firearm he had ever touched, and to his great delight and satisfaction had proven to be just as skilled firing the 75mm tube on the M4A3 tank on the ranges at Knox. His record, education, and physical condition quickly got him into Officer Candidate School, and he was the Honor Graduate of his class of \"ninety-day wonders.\"\n\nBut instead of being ordered to a tank company, Second Lieutenant Ferenc J\u00e1nos was ordered to the 576th Military, Government Detachment at Fort Benjamin Harrison, at Indianapolis, Indiana. There, a very military lieutenant colonel who four months before had never worn a uniform crisply informed him he was an officer now, and the Army made the decision about officer assignments. He spoke Hungarian and Croatian and German, and his services would be required to govern a defeated Germany and\/or a defeated Hungary.\n\nHe had been compiling a list\u2014because of his musical background\u2014of German, Austrian, Hungarian, Bohemian, Moravian, and Yugoslavian church organs of historical and\/or cultural importance when he had seen a notice on the bulletin board at Fort Benjamin Harrison that applications from officers speaking any of a list of foreign languages would be accepted for an unspecified assignment involving \"great personal risk.\"\n\nThe lieutenant colonel who had told him that the Army made the decisions about officer assignment now told him that his application \"bordered on the disloyal\" and that he felt he should tell him that he would do everything in his power to have the application disapproved.\n\nTwo weeks later, Freddy J\u00e1nos had found himself reporting to a requisitioned estate in Virginia, known as OSS Virginia Station. As far as Freddy J\u00e1nos was concerned, it was even better than Forts Dix and Knox. Here he was taught really fascinating things, such as how to blow up bridges, and parachute from airplanes, and kill people with your bare hands.\n\nAnd then, just before he was to go back to Hungary, he broke his goddamned ankle.\n\n\"Hey, Freddy!\" an officer called in disgust from across the room. \"Jesus Christ!\"\n\nIt took Freddy J\u00e1nos just a moment to understand the nature of the complaint. Lost in thought, wallowing in self-pity over his enforced celibacy, he had without thinking gone from Gershwin to Prokofiev. He listened to what his subconscious had selected for him to play. He smiled. It was the Sonatina in G Minor, Opus 54, Number Two, from \"Visions Fugitives.\" Very appropriate.\n\n\"You just ain't got no couth, Sanderson,\" Freddy called back, and then segued into \"I'm Gonna Buy a Paper Doll.\"\n\nHe smiled at the two women leaning on the piano.\n\nAnd then he looked beyond them to the bar. Captain the Duchess Stanfield was walking up to it, and she was not alone.\n\n_Absolutely gorgeous! God was obviously feeling good when he made that one!_\n\n_And an officer! No restrictions!_\n\nWhat he would do, Freddy decided, was wait until they got their drinks and sat down someplace. Then he would just wander over and say, \"Hi!\"\n\nIt was too much to hope that they would come by the piano, where he would have a chance to dazzle the absolutely ravishing blonde with some piano pyrotechnics and then smile sadly at her.\n\nBut they did just that.\n\n_God is on my side! Virtue is its own reward!_\n\n\"Hello, Freddy,\" the Duchess said as she hopped onto the piano itself.\n\n\"Hello,\" he said.\n\n\"Charity, this is Freddy J\u00e1nos,\" the Duchess said.\n\n\"Hello,\" Charity said, smiling at him, giving him her hand, meeting his eyes.\n\n\"I'm overcome,\" Freddy said, taking her hand, marveling at the softness of it, the warmth, the _utter femininity_ of it.\n\n\"Freddy has a broken ankle,\" the Duchess said. \"I'd get my hand back if I were you, but after that you're fairly safe; he can't run at all well.\"\n\n\"How did you break your ankle?\" Charity asked, compassion and sympathy in her eyes and voice.\n\n_And where there is compassion and sympathy, can passion be far behind?_\n\n\"Small accident, landing by parachute,\" Freddy said, with a smile and what he thought was just the right touch of becoming modesty.\n\n\"Oh, Jesus!\" Charity breathed.\n\nFreddy hadn't expected quite that reaction and looked at her in surprise. She wasn't looking at him, but over his shoulder at the door.\n\nA flyboy had come into the bar. Freddy had seen him before. He was a buddy of Canidy, the headman. It was rumored that he was the son of some big shot in the higher echelons of the OSS. He was also supposed to be an ex- Flying Tiger. He was also pretty goddamned young to be a lieutenant colonel.\n\nHe headed straight for the bar, without looking toward the piano.\n\n\"Doug!\" the absolutely stunning blonde called. Or tried to call. She seemed to be having trouble with her voice.\n\nHe didn't hear her.\n\n\"Colonel Douglass!\" the Duchess called in her clear, crisp voice.\n\nThe flyboy looked for her, found her, and waved casually, dismissing her.\n\nAnd then did a double take.\n\nThen he walked to the piano, right to the blonde. He didn't look at anyone else, and he didn't speak.\n\nHe put his hand up, very slowly, very carefully, as if afraid when he made contact that the apparition would disappear, as does a soap bubble when touched, and touched the blonde's cheek.\n\n\"Doug,\" the blonde said again, as if she was about to cry.\n\nThe flyboy took his fingers from the blonde's cheek and reached down and caught her hand, and led her wordlessly out of the room.\n\n\"Sorry about that,\" the Duchess said. \"I saw your eyes light up.\"\n\n\"One gathers they have met before,\" Freddy said.\n\nThe Duchess chuckled.\n\n\"Did my eyes really light up?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes, they did,\" she said.\n\n\"Why are you so sure they didn't light up for you?\"\n\nShe met his eyes.\n\n\"Sorry, Freddy,\" the Duchess said.\n\nShe had sad eyes, he saw. There was something in them that made him want to comfort her. Really comfort her, not screw her. Well, maybe both, but first comfort her. And then he saw in her eyes that she was neither going to let him comfort her nor screw her.\n\n\"Me, too,\" Freddy said.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **THE ISLAND OF VIS 0525 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCanidy was sitting on a ten-foot-tall boulder, half buried in the side of the valley, his legs dangling over the side, sipping coffee from a gray pottery mug. Ferniany was sitting beside him, and Capt. Hughson was standing behind them.\n\nCanidy winced when the B-25 on its landing roll came to the shallow stream in the middle of the runway and set up an enormous cascade of water.\n\nBut the B-25 did not deviate from its path.\n\nIt rolled another thirty yards, braking hard, so that inertia depressed the piston on the nose gear almost completely. Then it stopped and turned, and began taxiing back down the runway.\n\nWhen it passed the boulder, Dolan, in the copilot's seat, made a \"what now?\" gesture with his hands, holding them out palms up, and shrugged.\n\nCanidy made a \"take it up\" gesture, followed by a \"bye-bye\" wave. Dolan nodded and smiled, then put his hands over his face in an _Oh my God! we're going to crash!_ gesture.\n\nThe B-25 reached the inland end of the runway sixty seconds later, turned, ran up its engines, and then started to move. As it passed the boulder, Canidy could see the expressionless face of Gisella Dyer through the Plexiglas window in the fuselage. He waved at her. There was no response.\n\nThere was another eruption of water when the B-25 passed through the stream again, and it visibly slowed. But then it picked up speed again quickly, the nosewheel left the ground, and a moment later it was airborne.\n\nThe wheels went up, and the flaps, and then it climbed steeply.\n\nCanidy watched for a minute until the plane was barely visible, and then he stood up, draining the coffee mug.\n\n\"Okay, Ferniany,\" he said, \"let's get our show on the road.\"\n\nThey walked off the top of the boulder where it joined the wall of the valley, then slid rather than walked to the valley floor. A three-wheel German Hanomag truck, sort of an oversize three-wheel motorcycle, was parked there. The Hanomag had a canvas-covered truck bed; Canidy and Ferniany got in the back and closed the canvas tail-curtain over them, then Hughson kicked the engine into life and got behind the steering wheel.\n\nThey made their way about four miles down a path that turned first into a narrow cobblestone road and then into a rough macadam street. In a little while, they turned off onto a steep, narrow dirt path that led them to the water's edge.\n\nWhen Canidy climbed out of the Hanomag, he saw a thirty-eight-foot, high-prowed fishing boat two hundred yards offshore dragging a net to the regular explosive snorting of a two-cylinder diesel engine. Just as he thought he saw the glint of binoculars in the small wheelhouse, the sound of the diesel engine changed pitch, the fishing boat slowed and then went dead in the water, and men started to retrieve the net.\n\nWhen it was aboard, the boat headed for the beach in a wide curve.\n\n\"I don't know how he's going to like this,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"I hadn't planned to ask him,\" Canidy snapped. \"Maybe he'll be smart enough not to volunteer an opinion.\"\n\nThe moment he said it, he was a little sorry. There was something in the chemistry between him and Ferniany that produced dislike without real reason. But that wasn't why he had snapped at him. The reason for that was that Ferniany was close to the truth. \"Saint Peter,\" the OSS agent on the fishing boat, was probably not going to like what he was about to learn. Nor would Stevens and Bruce, and if it got that far, Capt. Douglass or Colonel Donovan.\n\nThe OSS agents on the scene would be annoyed both by having their thunder stolen by a visiting brass hat and by the extra risk his grandstanding would mean. And Stevens and Bruce would bitterly question his decision to go into Hungary himself. First and foremost was the question of his running the risk of falling into German hands. And right on the heels of that was the equally valid question of whether he could do what had to be done any better than Yachtsman and Saint Peter could do it.\n\nCaptain Hughson touched Canidy's arm.\n\n\"There's a rock over the water,\" he said. \"You can jump from it to the boat.\"\n\nHe nodded toward it.\n\n\"Would you like to take this with you?\" Hughson asked, unslinging his Sten submachine gun from his shoulder and offering it to Canidy.\n\n\"Have you got another one?\"\n\n\"Actually,\" Hughson said, \"there's a Schmeisser in my cell I've been looking for an excuse to carry.\"\n\n\"Then thank you, Hughson,\" Canidy said, and took the submachine gun from him.\n\n\"You will be a good chap, won't you, Major, and make an effort to return the Sten to me, in person?\" Hughson said.\n\n\"Despite what everybody apparently thinks,\" Canidy said, \"I am _not_ charging foolhardy into the valley of death.\"\n\n\"No, of course you aren't,\" Hughson said. He put out his hand, and Canidy took it.\n\nThe boat nosed in to the rock. First Ferniany and then Canidy jumped onto the deck. Immediately, the boat headed offshore.\n\nThere were two men in the wheelhouse, both dark-haired and dark-skinned, both needing a shave, and both dressed in dark blue fisherman's trousers and rough brown sweaters. It was only when one of them spoke in English to Ferniany that Canidy had any idea which was the genuine fisherman and which the SOE agent with the code name \"Saint Peter.\"\n\n\"And what, might one dare inquire, is one supposed to do with this downed, if intrepid, aviator?\" Saint Peter asked in an upper-class British accent.\n\nFerniany chuckled. \"Major Canidy, may I introduce Lieutenant J.V.M. Beane-Williams, late of the Household Cavalry?\"\n\n\"How'd'ja do?\" Lt. Beane-Williams said with a smile, offering his hand. \"I hate to put it to you so bluntly, Major, but you have, so to speak, just entered the 'Out' door. England . . . I presume you came from England . . . is in quite the opposite direction.\"\n\nCanidy chuckled. He liked this Englishman.\n\n\"Hughson tells me that you can put us ashore on the mainland,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I presume there is a reason?\" Saint Peter said.\n\n\"Someplace where we can make contact with Mihajlovi\u0107's guerrillas,\" Canidy said. \"Our ultimate destination is Budapest, and the sooner we can get there, the better.\"\n\n\"Budapest is rather nasty this time of year,\" Saint Peter said. \"Snow and slush, and ever-increasing numbers of the Boches. But I daresay you've already considered that, haven't you?\"\n\nWithout waiting for a reply, he entered into a conversation with the Yugoslavian captain.\n\nFinally, he turned to Canidy.\n\n\"T\u00f3dor suggests we put you ashore at Plo\u010de,\" he said. \"He has a first cousin twice removed there. Or did he say a 'second cousin, once removed'? He also asked that I express his practically boundless admiration for your wristwatch. \"\n\nCanidy looked at the Yugoslavian captain, who was smiling warmly at him, exposing two gold and two missing teeth.\n\nThen he unstrapped his chronometer and handed it to him.\n\nThe Yugoslavian said something, and Saint Peter translated.\n\n\"He says, 'Oh, I couldn't.' \"\n\n\"Tell him I insist,\" Canidy said.\n\nThe Yugoslav unstrapped his cheap watch and handed it to Canidy.\n\n\"He says,\" Saint Peter said, \"that if you insist . . . \"\n\nCanidy chuckled.\n\n\"It's sixty miles, or thereabouts, to Plo\u010de,\" Saint Peter said. \"If we're not stopped, it should take us four, perhaps four and a half hours.\"\n\n\"And if we're stopped?\"\n\n\"Then none of us will get to visit Plo\u010de's many historical and cultural attractions,\" Saint Peter said.\n**X**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **CAIRO, EGYPT 1220 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFirst Lieutenant Hank Darmstadter was riding in the copilot's seat working the radios when Commander John Dolan suddenly reached over and grasped his upper arm in a very tight grip.\n\nStartled, Darmstadter looked at him. Dolan's face was white and beaded with sweat. He seemed to be in pain.\n\n\"Indigestion,\" Dolan said with a terrible effort. \"There's a bottle of medicine in my briefcase. Get it, will you?\"\n\nThe first thing Darmstadter remembered, as he hastily unfastened his seat and shoulder harness, was that Dolan had been medically retired from the Navy before the war because of a heart condition.\n\n_Jesus, he's having a heart attack!_\n\nDolan's black leather Navy-issue briefcase was on a shelf in the passageway between the cockpit and the auxiliary fuel tanks that had been installed in the bomb bay. Its contents expanded the accordion folds, and Darmstadter grunted with the effort it took to open the catch and the straps that held it closed.\n\nAs he started rummaging through the briefcase, he glanced past the auxiliary fuel tanks into the fuselage. The German girl was looking at him. She had her hair done up in braids, which she had then coiled on the sides of her head. Darmstadter wondered who she was and why getting her and her father out of Germany had been worth all the effort it had cost.\n\nThey had been introduced, and she had politely shaken hands, but had remained silent. From the way her eyes had followed the conversation, however, Darmstadter had known that she at least understood English. And yet she had asked no questions, not even about where they were taking her. He wondered if she was in some kind of emotional shock, or simply acknowledging that for the moment she had no voice whatever in what happened to her.\n\nThen he had a strange thought. He wondered what she had done during the flight about taking a leak. There was a relief tube in the cockpit, but that wouldn't have done her any good, even if she had known about it and asked for it.\n\nHe returned his attention to Dolan's briefcase. There was everything in it, from a copy of _TM B-25-1 Flight Operation B-25 Series Aircraft_ to a change of socks and underwear and a toilet kit. And a pint bottle of a bright red liquid with a label reading \"Medical Corps, U.S. Army\" and the typewritten message: \"Lt. Commander J. B. Dolan, USNR, Take As Required for Indigestion.\"\n\nDarmstadter hurried back to the cockpit.\n\nDolan reached for the bottle. Darmstadter unscrewed the cap and handed it to him.\n\n\"Sit down and take the airplane,\" Dolan ordered. Then he waited until Darmstadter had gotten back into the copilot's seat, fastened his seat and shoulder belts again, and nodded to show his readiness to fly the airplane before he put the bottle of bright red liquid to his lips.\n\nHe took a large swallow, hesitated, and then took a second. In a moment, the look of pain on his face went away, and he managed a weak smile.\n\nDarmstadter looked at the instrument panel. They had been homing in on the Cairo RDF for the past thirty minutes. The needle on the signal-strength gauge was almost at the upper peg. They were flying ten degrees to the left of the direction indicated by the needle on the RDF antenna indicator.\n\nDarmstadter made the course correction and then looked at Dolan again. The startling paleness was gone from his face.\n\n\"You better start letting down,\" Dolan ordered. \"Thousand feet a minute.\"\n\nDarmstadter nodded, then reached over his head for the trim wheel and lowered the nose. After that, he retarded the throttle just a hair.\n\nThere was time to reconsider his first alarmed conclusion that Dolan was having a heart attack. That had been, he decided, a fear reaction. What was wrong with Dolan was what Dolan had told him: an attack of indigestion. He probably had them often, for he was carrying the bright red indigestion medicine with him.\n\nDolan said something, and Darmstadter missed it.\n\n\"Excuse me?\"\n\n\"I said it must have been Canidy's goddamned steaks,\" Dolan said, leaning over to make himself heard over the roar of the engines. \"Every time I eat charred meat, it does it to me.\"\n\nDarmstadter nodded.\n\nHe was right back to _Dolan was having, had had, a heart attack_. He'd smelled Dolan's breath when the older man had leaned over. Whatever was in that bottle, bright red or not, usually came in a narrow-necked bottle with a label reading \"Sour Mash Bourbon.\"\n\n\"You better sit it down,\" Dolan said, leaning over again and sending Darmstadter another cloud of bourbon fumes. Then he slumped back against the cushions of the pilot's seat and took another healthy swallow of \"indigestion medicine.\"\n\nDarmstadter reached for the microphone and put it before his lips.\n\n\"Cairo, Army Four Three Three.\"\n\nA voice with the unmistakable tones of Brooklyn came over the earphones.\n\n\"This is Cairo, go ahead, Army Four Three Three.\"\n\n\"Army Four Three Three, a B-25 aircraft, is passing through niner thousand about thirty miles north of your station. Request approach and landing.\"\n\n\"Four Three Three, Cairo. The winds are from the north at ten, gusting to twenty. Visibility is unlimited. The altimeter is Two Niner Niner Niner. Descend to three thousand feet and report when you have the airfield in sight.\"\n\n\"Cairo, Four Three Three. Understand three thousand,\" Darmstadter said, and hung his microphone up.\n\nThen Dolan's voice came over his earphones, and he turned and saw that he had his microphone in front of his lips.\n\n\"Cairo,\" Dolan said. \"Four Three Three. Four Three Three is Ninth Air Force flight Four Zero Five. Acknowledge. \"\n\nDarmstadter wondered what the hell that meant. It didn't surprise the Cairo tower.\n\n\"Four Three Three,\" the operator with the Brooklyn accent said, \"Cairo. Roger your Flight Four Zero Five.\"\n\nDarmstadter could see three large pyramidal structures to his left.\n\n_My God, those are the pyramids!! The real ones!_\n\nAnd then he looked to his left and picked up his microphone again.\n\n\"Cairo, Four Three Three, I am at four thousand five hundred. I have the field in sight.\"\n\n\"Four Three Three, Cairo. Maintain present course and rate of descent. You are cleared as number one to land on Runway Three Four. The altimeter is Two Niner Niner Niner. The winds are from the north at ten, gusting to fifteen. Report on final.\"\n\n\"Four Three Three, roger.\"\n\nDarmstadter looked at Dolan as he reached for the throttle quadrant. Now there was a sort of dazed look on his face. And he had not reached for the plastic sealed landing checkoff list hanging from the instrument panel.\n\nDarmstadter realized that he was going to have to land the airplane himself, without help. But he was more concerned about Dolan's condition than he was about getting the flaps and gear down without help.\n\nHe turned to the right, then the left.\n\n\"Cairo, Four Three Three on final.\"\n\n\"Roger, Four Three Three. You are number one to land. Look out for the C-47 on the threshold.\"\n\nDarmstadter put on twenty degrees of flaps, then lowered the gear. He came in low and slow and put it on the ground within a hundred yards of the threshold.\n\n\"Four Three Three on the ground.\"\n\n\"Four Three Three, take Taxiway Five, a Follow Me will meet you.\"\n\n\"Roger,\" Darmstadter said.\n\nTaxiway Five was the last turnoff. As he taxied down the runway to it, Darmstadter saw a jeep racing down a taxiway parallel to the runway. The jeep was painted in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern, with a huge checkerboard flag above it flapping in the wind.\n\nWhen he turned the B-25 off the runway, the jeep was there waiting for him. It led him to a remote corner of the field. There was a large hangar there whose doors were being opened as they arrived.\n\nThe Follow Me jeep stopped, and a ground handler hopped out and signaled for Darmstadter to move to the hangar doors. When the nose of the B-25 was ten feet from them, he gave the throat-cutting sign to stop engines.\n\nImmediately, a dozen GIs came out of the hangar and manhandled the B-25 inside the hangar. Darmstadter sensed, from the decreasing light inside the hangar, that the doors were being closed.\n\nHe looked at Dolan.\n\n\"You all right, Commander?\" he asked.\n\n\"The word you have to keep in mind, Darmstadter,\" Dolan said, \"is 'indigestion.' Am I going to have trouble with you about that?\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Darmstadter said after a moment.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Dolan said, simply and sincerely.\n\n\"What happens now?\" Darmstadter asked.\n\n\"I don't know,\" Dolan said. \"Canidy gave me that 'Flight Four Zero Five' message just before we took off. I expect somebody will show up shortly. In the meantime, you might have them start to refuel it.\"\n\nWhen Darmstadter dropped from the belly of the B-25, he saw that there were two military policemen, armed with Thompson submachine guns, guarding the airplane. And there was a captain, wearing an AOD (Aerodrome Officer of the Day) brassard.\n\nDarmstadter walked over to him and saluted.\n\n\"I'd like to get this fueled,\" he said.\n\n\"Someone will be along for you shortly, Lieutenant,\" the AOD said. \"In the meantime, nothing comes into, or goes out of, this hangar.\"\n\n\"We have a female passenger aboard,\" Darmstadter said. \"She has to use the can.\"\n\n\"I don't know if there's one available,\" the AOD said.\n\n\"There has to be something,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"Jesus Christ!\" the AOD said in annoyance.\n\n\"Sorry as hell to inconvenience you,\" Darmstadter flared.\n\nThe AOD glared at him.\n\n\"Who the hell do you think you are, Lieutenant?\"\n\n\"I'm only a lieutenant,\" Darmstadter said, \"but I can ask Commander Dolan to come down here if you have to have that as an order.\"\n\n\"Sergeant!\" the AOD said, and one of the submachine-gun -armed MPs came over.\n\n\"There is a female aboard this aircraft who needs the facilities, \" he said. \"Take her there and bring her back.\"\n\nDarmstadter climbed back into the aircraft.\n\n\"Would you like to . . . \"\n\n\"I must have the ladies' room,\" Gisella Dyer said in precise, if uneasy, English.\n\n\"Come with me,\" Darmstadter said.\n\nFive minutes later, before Gisella had come out of the men's room at the rear of the hangar, a side door opened and two men in U.S. Army civilian technician uniforms came in.\n\nThe AOD indicated Darmstadter with a nod of his head. One civilian walked up to him and held a leather folder in front of Darmstadter's eyes. They were OSS credentials, but Darmstadter had never seen any before, and it took him a moment to realize what they were.\n\nThe man's name was Ernest J. Wilkins.\n\n\"You're the flight Four Zero Five?\" Wilkins asked.\n\n\"That's right,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"You want to tell me what this is all about? Before that, you want to show me your identification?\"\n\n\"I think maybe you better go aboard and talk to Commander Dolan,\" Darmstadter said. \"I'm just an airplane driver.\"\n\n\"Why don't _you_ go aboard and ask Commander Dolan to join us?\" Wilkins said sarcastically.\n\n\"He's a little under the weather,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"What's wrong with him?\"\n\n\"Indigestion,\" Darmstadter said.\n\n\"Jesus H. Christ!\" Wilkins said, but he went to the access hatch and climbed aboard the B-25.\n\nThere was a marked change in Wilkins's attitude when he climbed back down from the airplane.\n\n\"Captain,\" he said to the AOD. \"Get on the horn and get an ambulance over here. There is no medical emergency, we will not need a physician. I will require one of the MPs to come with us. This airplane is to be refueled and kept under guard in this hangar. I presume you have cautioned your men to keep their mouths shut?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the AOD said.\n\nGisella Dyer, trailed by the MP sergeant, walked up.\n\n\"Good afternoon, Miss Dyer,\" Wilkins said to her in fluent German. \"Welcome to Egypt. We're going to go from here to a place where you'll be staying for a while. I'm afraid, for reasons of security, that you'll have to travel by ambulance. It'll be a little warm in the back, but we don't have far to go.\"\n\nThirty minutes later, Dolan, Darmstadter, and Wilkins were in what had once been the pool house by the swimming pool of a wealthy Egyptian banker. The blue-tile-walled room now held an impressive array of communications equipment under the supervision of a gray-haired, distinguished-looking man who wore a ring, an amethyst surrounded by the legend \"20 Years Service AT&T.\"\n\nDolan seemed to be completely recovered from his \"indigestion. \" The color was back in his face, and he was no longer tensed with pain.\n\nDarmstadter was uncomfortable. There was no doubt in his mind that there was a hell of a lot more wrong with the old sailor than indigestion. What was his duty, to tell Wilkins\u2014who had identified himself as Station Chief, Cairo\u2014so that Wilkins could, by force if necessary, get him medical attention? Or to obey Dolan's admonition to \"keep in mind that the word was indigestion\"?\n\nDolan himself answered the question.\n\nWhen London acknowledged receipt of the encrypted message from Canidy and ordered Cairo to stand by while the message was decrypted, Dolan handed the man with the AT&T ring a sheet of paper.\n\n\"Encrypt that, and send it, urgent, before they get off the air,\" he ordered.\n\nWhen the communications officer had run the message through the encryption device and begun to transmit the encoded message, Dolan reclaimed the sheet of paper and handed it to Darmstadter.\n\nTO OSS LONDON STATION. EYES ONLY BRUCE AND STEVENS. SUFFERING SEVERE INTESTINAL DISTRESS AND FEVER. PROBABLY RECURRENCE OF MALARIA. HAVE MADE DARMSTADTER AWARE OF ALL REPEAT ALL OPERATIONAL DETAILS IN CASE HIS ASSUMPTION COMMAND NECESSARY. DOLAN, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER, USNR.\n\nWhen Darmstadter looked at him, Dolan shrugged.\n\n\"What the hell, kid,\" the old sailor said. \"You didn't really want to go back to flying Gooney Birds, did you?\"\n\n# **2**\n\n## **OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE LONDON, ENGLAND 1105 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThere is a three-hour time difference between Cairo and London. The message transmitted from the pool house of the villa in Cairo at 1405 Cairo time was acknowledged by London at 1110 London time. The second acknowledgment (confirming satisfactory decryption in London) was sent to Cairo at 1124, London time, and the second acknowledgment of Dolan's message at 1141, London time.\n\nBoth encrypted messages had come out of the encryption \/decryption device in Berkeley Square in the form of punched tape. It was necessary to feed the punched tape into another machine (a converted teletype machine), which then typed out a copy on paper. The messages were next entered in the Classified Documents Log, and finally they were put, separately, inside two cover sheets. The outer was the standard Top Secret cover sheet, and the inner one was stamped with both TOP SECRET and EYES ONLY BRUCE AND STEVENS.\n\nIt was by then 1158.\n\nRank hath its privileges, and the privilege the senior cryptographic officer of OSS London Station, twenty-six-year -old Captain Paul J. Harrison, Signal Corps, had claimed for himself was the day shift, 0800 to 1600. And just as soon as he could get the personnel section at SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force) off their ass to pin second lieutenants' bars on two of his sergeants, he intended to take no shift at all. But now, with his perfectly qualified sergeants barred from acting as cryptographic duty officer by a bullshit directive from David Bruce, he had the duty.\n\nAs was his custom with Eyes Onlys\u2014the forty-page SOP for classified documents made no specific reference to who should physically carry messages\u2014Capt. Harrison personally took both messages up from the cryptographic room in the subbasement to the Station Chief's office.\n\nCapt. Helene Dancy told him that David Bruce had moments before left the building. He was to have lunch with Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith, General Dwight D. Eisenhower's deputy at SHAEF. \"Beetle\" Smith and David Bruce were friends as well as professional associates. Knowing this, Eisenhower had for all practical purposes given General Smith carte blanche in dealing with the OSS.\n\n\"Where's the Colonel?\" the cryptographic officer asked.\n\n\"Whitbey House,\" Helene Dancy replied. \"What have you got?\"\n\n\"An Eyes Only Operational Immediate . . . two of them . . . for Bruce and the Colonel. From Canidy and Dolan.\"\n\nThe SOP was very clear on the handling of Operational Immediate messages:\n\n16. [b]. Operational immediate messages will be immediately delivered to the addressee, or in his absence, to the senior officer present possessing the appropriate security clearance. In no circumstances will a delay of more than ten [10] minutes between decryption and delivery be tolerated.\n\n\"Can I see it?\" Helene Dancy asked.\n\n\"You're not next on the list,\" Captain Harrison said reluctantly, obviously uncomfortable.\n\n\"That's right,\" she said, just a little tartly. She picked up her telephone.\n\n\"Sergeant, do you know where Captain Fine is?\" she asked a moment later, and then, when there had been a reply: \"Send someone for him, please. Get him back here as soon as you can.\"\n\n\"Well, who's next on the list after Fine?\" Harrison asked.\n\n\"Oddly enough, I am,\" Capt. Dancy said, a little ice in her voice. She put out her hand for the documents.\n\n\"Hey, Dancy,\" Capt. Harrison said as he handed them to her. \"I don't make the rules. I just try to obey them.\"\n\n\"I know,\" Helene Dancy said. \"Damn, why does everybody have to be gone at once?\" And then she quickly glanced at the first message: Canidy's.\n\n\"Oh, Christ!\" she said.\n\n\"My thought exactly,\" Capt. Harrison said.\n\nShe flipped back the cover sheet on the second Eyes Only: Dolan's.\n\n\"I think you'd better get both of these off, Operational Immediate, to Washington, Eyes Only, Donovan and Douglass, \" Capt. Dancy said.\n\nShe saw the look on his face.\n\n\"Okay, I'll make it official. As the senior officer present, I order you to transmit these messages to Washington, Eyes Only, Donovan and Douglass.\"\n\n\"I'm not trying to be chickenshit about this,\" Harrison said. \"You heard Bruce eat my ass out the last time I 'acted without thought and authority . . .' \"\n\n\"Well, I just took you off the hook for this time,\" she said.\n\n\"Yeah,\" Harrison said. \"Helene, I'm not asking you to make it official, but should I try to run down Bruce at SHAEF?\"\n\n\"That would make a second copy necessary,\" she said. \"The sergeant major will get Fine in here in a couple of minutes.\"\n\nThe SOP was specific about that, too:\n\n16. [f]. In no case, except with the specific permission of the chief of station, or the deputy chief of station, will more than one [1] copy of an eyes only document be prepared. It is emphasized that addressees of eyes only documents, with the exception of the chief of station and deputy chief of station, are specifically forbidden to make copies of eyes only documents for their own files, or for any other purpose.\n\n\"What the hell,\" Capt. Harrison said. \"How mad can Bruce get?\"\n\n\"Pretty mad,\" she said. \"I don't know, Paul.\"\n\n\"Is Bruce eating at the SHAEF general's mess?\" Capt. Harrison asked, having made up his mind.\n\n\"He wasn't sure,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"When he can get Beetle Smith out of the building for an hour or so, he likes to butter him up at the Savoy Grill.\"\n\n\"And if I call either place to find out, no one will tell me,\" Harrison said. \"I think I'll take a chance on the Savoy.\"\n\nFive minutes later, after having made copies of the Eyes Only messages and ordered their transmission to Washington, Capt. Harrison went onto Berkeley Square to get into a Ford staff car. There he saw Capt. Stanley S. Fine getting out of a jeep driven by the sergeant major.\n\nHe waved at Fine, but said nothing to him about the Eyes Onlys, or about where he was going. If he told Fine, Fine might forbid him\u2014he had the authority\u2014to take copies of the Eyes Onlys to Bruce. More likely, once he'd explained the situation, Fine would also decide it was the thing to do, and to hell with Bruce's SOP. That would put him in the line of fire if Bruce didn't like the decision, and that wasn't necessary. Fine was a good guy.\n\nThe ma\u00eetre d'h\u00f4tel of the Savoy Grill blandly denied the presence of either Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith or Mr. David Bruce. He smilingly announced he hadn't seen either of them in days.\n\nCapt. Harrison looked around the large, elegantly appointed room and found what he was looking for. A major having a solitary lunch at the far end of the room. Behind the major was an ornately carved movable screen, so placed that it could conceal a table for two. And hanging from the epaulets of the major's green tunic was the golden rope of an aide-de-camp.\n\n\"Thank you very much,\" Harrison said to the ma\u00eetre d'h\u00f4tel. And then he ducked past the ma\u00eetre d' and headed for the screen. The ma\u00eetre d' scurried after him, but unless he broke into a run, Harrison knew he wouldn't catch up with him.\n\nBut Beetle Smith's aide-de-camp saw him and rose quickly to his feet, obviously intending to block his path. Harrison reached in his pocket and was enormously relieved to find his OSS credentials there. He was terrified of the consequences of losing them, and since he rarely had need of them, he usually kept them in the Top Secret safe.\n\nHe got them out of his pocket and held them up for General Smith's aide-de-camp to see.\n\n\"Just a moment,\" the aide-de-camp said. \"I'll tell Mr. Bruce you're here.\"\n\nHarrison smiled and kept going.\n\nDavid Bruce looked at him with surprise and annoyance.\n\nThe Chief of London Station and the Deputy Commander of SHAEF were lunching on small steaks, oven-browned potatoes, and asparagus. Harrison knew that the steaks and asparagus had come from OSS stocks. The usual fare at the Savoy Grill was broiled fish and Brussels sprouts. The Savoy was, however, happy to prepare whatever ingredients a guest might wish to send to its kitchen ahead of time. The price charged was the same as if they had furnished the ingredients.\n\nWhat that meant was that Bruce, as Helene Dancy had suggested, was buttering up Beetle Smith by providing an unusually nice luncheon at the Savoy. And that meant he was likely to be greatly annoyed to have the nice luncheon interrupted.\n\n\"I'm sorry to disturb you, sir,\" Paul Harrison said. \"But I could see no other choice.\"\n\nHe thrust a large manila envelope at him.\n\n\"Captain Fine is not available?\" Bruce asked, courteously enough.\n\n\"He was sent for, Sir,\" Harrison said. \"He was out of the office.\"\n\n\"Oh, excuse me,\" Bruce said. \"Beetle, this is Captain Harrison. And this is General Smith. Or do you know each other?\"\n\n_Hell, yes, we're old pals. How the hell are you, Beetle?_\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Capt. Harrison said. \"How do you do, Sir?\"\n\nGeneral Smith smiled and offered a firm handshake.\n\n\"Captain,\" Smith said. \" 'Harrison,' is it?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\nBruce tore the envelope open carefully, glanced inside, then took the Eyes Only documents from it.\n\n\"I'm happy to meet you, Captain,\" General Smith said.\n\nHarrison could not think of a reply.\n\n_Dear Harriet, You'll never guess who I met at lunch at the Savoy Hotel._\n\nSmith, naturally curious, turned his attention to David Bruce.\n\n\"Important, David?\" General Smith asked.\n\n\"Not particularly,\" Bruce said. And then he corrected himself. \"I don't mean to suggest that you should not have brought this to my attention here, Harrison. That was the correct thing to do.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Harrison said.\n\n\"You said that Captain Fine has been sent for?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"I don't think there's any point in involving Captain Fine in this, Captain,\" Bruce said. \"What I think you should do is see that Washington gets a copy of this as quickly as you can. And then get in touch with Colonel Stevens and ask him to be in my office at four. A little earlier, if he can make it. And I think it might be a good idea if you were to ask him to bring Lieutenant Hoche with him.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Harrison said.\n\nLt. Hoche, Capt. Harrison recalled, was the newly arrived, absolutely splendiferous blonde who was supposed to be Helene Dancy's man . . . woman . . . at Whitbey House.\n\n_What the hell has she got to do with this?_\n\nBruce returned the documents to the envelope and handed it back to Harrison.\n\n\"Thank you, Captain,\" he said.\n\nHarrison was wondering whether or not the Customs of the Service required him to salute a three-star general in a hotel dining room, when General Smith solved the problem.\n\nHe gave Harrison his hand.\n\n\"Pleasure to have met you, Captain,\" he said. \"I look forward to seeing you again.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Harrison said. \"Thank you, Sir.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 0655 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nChief Boatswain's Mate J. R. Ellis, USN, pushed open the plate-glass door, marched into the lobby of the building, and crossed to the elevator, his metal-tapped heels making a ringing noise on the marble floor.\n\nHe was almost at the elevator when a guard, whose nose had been in the sports section of the _Washington Star,_ spotted him. The guard, in a blue, police-type uniform, erupted from his chair.\n\n\"Hey!\"\n\nEllis looked over his shoulder and saw the guard headed for him.\n\n\"Where do you think you're going?\" the guard demanded as he caught up with Ellis and put his hand on Ellis's arm.\n\nEllis fished in his trousers pocket with his free hand and came up with an identity badge sealed in plastic and fitted with an alligator clip. He held it out for the guard to see. The card bore his photograph, diagonal red \"anytime, anyplace\" stripes, his name, and in the Duty Assignment box, the words \"Office of the Director.\"\n\nThe guard was satisfied with Ellis's bona fides, but not mollified.\n\n\"You're supposed to wear that badge, you know,\" he said.\n\n\"Sorry,\" Ellis said. \"I forgot.\"\n\nEllis got on the elevator and rode up.\n\nWhen the second lobby guard returned from the men's room, the guard who had stopped Ellis was curious enough to ask him, \"Who the hell is the sailor with the anytime, anyplace badge?\"\n\n\"Navy chief? Big guy? Ruddy face?\"\n\n\"That's him. He walked in here like he owned the place.\"\n\n\"He almost does,\" the second guard told him. \"That's Chief Ellis. Donovan's shadow. Nice guy. Just don't fuck with him. The best way to handle him is to remember the only people around here who tell him what to do are Colonel Donovan and Captain Douglass.\"\n\nUpstairs, Ellis got off the elevator and walked down the marble-floored corridor to the Director's office.\n\n\"Good morning, Sir,\" he said to the slight, balding man in his late thirties sitting at Colonel Donovan's secretary's desk.\n\nWilliam R. Vole was in civilian clothes, but he was a chief warrant officer of the Army Security Agency, a cryptographer, on what had turned out to be permanent loan to the OSS. The Army Security Agency monitored Army radio and wire communications nets to ensure that no classified information was being transmitted in such a manner that it would become available to the enemy. It had also developed a capability, however, to intercept enemy radio transmissions and to break enemy codes.\n\nThere were eight such cryptographic experts assigned to the OSS in Washington, and one of them was always available to the office of the Director. They had become de facto duty officers in the Director's office, in addition to their cryptographic duties. It had been made official by Colonel Donovan, at Ellis's suggestion. Ellis had pointed out that their cryptographic duties had already made them privy to the contents of incoming and outgoing encrypted messages, so they would learn little they already didn't know by keeping the Director's office manned around the clock. And there were other ways they could make themselves useful in the Director's office.\n\n\"Chief,\" CWO Vole responded with a smile.\n\nVole liked Ellis, and felt a certain kinship with him as well. They both had long enlisted service before the war. And unlike many of his peers, he did not resent Ellis's authority to speak for Colonel Donovan, or Donovan's deputy, Captain Peter Douglass. He had been around the OSS long enough to see how Ellis used that authority, and he had never seen him abuse it.\n\nAnd there was enough vestigial enlisted man in Chief Warrant Officer Vole to take some pleasure in the annoyance and discomfiture of a long line of brass hats who had tried and failed to pull rank on the salty old chief. Vole could not remember an incident where Ellis had not been backed up by Captain Douglass when some brass hat had complained to him about a decision of Ellis's, and he had several fond memories of incidents where some brass hat, having gotten no satisfaction from Captain Douglass, had gone over Douglass's head to Colonel Donovan.\n\nThe response then had been a furious, if brief, ass-chewing of the brass hat, done with the skill and finesse only a former infantry regimental commander\u2014as Donovan had been in the First War\u2014could hand out.\n\nEllis took off his brimmed cap and hung it atop a bentwood clothing rack. Then he removed a white silk scarf and folded it very neatly and hung it on a wooden coat hanger. Finally, he took off his blue overcoat and hung that carefully on the hanger. Then he turned and looked at the ASA warrant officer.\n\n\"The Colonel's home,\" Chief Warrant Officer Vole reported. \"Staley's with him. The Captain's home. I sent Marmon with a car for him. He's going to the Pentagon and will be in about ten, maybe a little later.\"\n\nMarmon was a former District policeman who served as combination chauffeur and bodyguard to Captain Peter Douglass.\n\n\"That's it?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"Mrs. Foster's going to be in late,\" Vole continued. \"She has a dental appointment, but says she can reschedule if you need her. Miss Haley, she says, can handle everything she knows about.\"\n\n\"Fine,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"And I just made a pot of coffee,\" the ASA warrant officer said.\n\n\"And can I use one!\" Ellis said. \"It's as cold as a witch's teat outside.\"\n\nHe went to the small closet where the coffeepot sat on an electric hot plate and poured a cup.\n\nWhen he came out, the ASA warrant officer had taken the overnight messages from the safe and laid them out, together with the forms for the receipt of classified documents, on an oak table. Ellis sat down at the table.\n\n\"Anything interesting in here?\" he asked as he began to sign the forms.\n\n\"Mostly routine,\" Vole said. \"The Philippines have been heard from again, but that's about all.\"\n\nEllis looked at him with a question on his face.\n\n\"Seventeen,\" the ASA warrant officer said.\n\nWhen Ellis had finished signing the receipts and pushed the receipt forms away from him, he picked up file number seventeen and opened it. The first thing he saw was that it was an intercept, rather than a message intended for the OSS.\n\nOn his own authority, as \"Special Assistant to the Director, \" he had sent a \"Request for Intercept\" to the ASA, asking that the OSS be furnished with whatever ASA intercept operators around the world heard on either American or enemy frequencies that had anything to do with American guerrilla activity in the Philippine Islands. Inasmuch as the ASA and every other military and naval organization knew that the alternative to not giving the OSS whatever it asked for was explaining to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff why this could not be done, the \"request\" had been in fact an order.\n\nEllis had decided that if Douglass or Donovan asked him why he had done so, and he didn't think they would, he would tell them it was because of the Whittaker mission. That was logical, of course. But the truth was that Ellis had put in the Request for Intercept long before it had been decided to send Whittaker into the Philippines. He had suspected that the reason there had been no reply to Fertig's original transmissions to MacArthur's headquarters in Australia was that some brass hats of MacArthur's palace guard, or perhaps even MacArthur himself, considered the very existence of guerrillas embarrassing. MacArthur's liaison officer to Washington had flatly announced that \"effective guerrilla operations were impossible. \"\n\nThe ASA intercept operators were good. They had furnished Ellis with the radio message from MacArthur appointing Philippine Scout Major Marcario Peralta \"military guerrilla chief of temporarily occupied enemy territory,\" and with Fertig's response to that, a request for drugs to cure venereal disease\u2014as much as telling MacArthur he considered himself fucked.\n\nToday's message showed that Fertig had his temper under control and was thinking:\n\nURGENT FROM WYZB FOR KSF \nPASS TO SECRETARY OF WAR WASHINGTON DC\n\nAS SENIOR AMERICAN OFFICER IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS I HAVE ASSUMED COMMAND OF MINDANAO AND VISAYAS WITH RANK OF BRIGADIER GENERAL.\n\nI HAVE REACTIVATED UNITED STATES FORCES IN THE PHILIPPINES.\n\nUSFIP HAS REESTABLISHED PHILIPPINE CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE HANDS OF ELECTED COMMONWEALTH OF PHILIPPINES OFFICIALS.\n\nLAWFUL GOVERNMENT OF PHILIPPINES IN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY OF USFIP IS PRINTING AND PLACING INTO CIRCULATION MONEY.\n\nUSFIP IS BORROWING NECESSARY OPERATIONAL FUNDS FROM COMMONWEALTH OF PHILIPPINES GOVERNMENT.\n\nUSFIP URGENTLY REQUIRES MINIMUM ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN GOLD.\n\nUSFIP URGENTLY REQUIRES FOR MORALE OF PHILIPPINE POPULATION ANY SORT OF AID. MEDICINE FIREARMS AND AMMUNITION PREFERABLE.\n\nFERTIG BRIG GENERAL USA COMMANDING USFIP\n\nEllis frowned.\n\n\"What the hell is that all about?\" Vole asked.\n\n\"Fertig is being fucked by the system,\" Ellis said. \"But he's too mean to lie down and take it.\"\n\nThe telephone rang. Vole answered it, and then held his hand over the microphone.\n\n\"There's an Eyes Only Operational Immediate for either Donovan or Douglass,\" he said. \"They want to know if anybody's here that can take it.\"\n\n\"Decrypted?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"Yeah. Dispatched at 1207 London time.\"\n\n\"Would you run down there and get it?\" Ellis asked.\n\nVole nodded, and took his hand away from the telephone microphone.\n\n\"Put it in a cover,\" he said. \"I'll be right down.\"\n\nVole was gone no more than five minutes. By the time he returned, Ellis had gone through the overnight messages and arranged those he felt Colonel Donovan should personally see in the order of their importance.\n\nHe took the two Eyes Onlys from Vole.\n\n\"I thought you said one Eyes Only,\" he said.\n\n\"They're related,\" Vole said.\n\nHe opened Dolan's message first, read it, and grunted. Then he opened the message Canidy had laboriously encrypted in the monks' cave on the Island of Vis.\n\nTOP SECRET \nOPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE\n\nOSS LONDON STATION OSS WASHINGTON \nEYES ONLY COLONEL DONOVAN; CAPTAIN DOUGLASS\n\nFOLLOWING FROM CANIDY RECEIVED 1110 LONDON TIME FORWARDED AUTHORITY DANCY CAPT WAC.\n\nBRUCE AND\/OR STEVENS WILL HAVE MESSAGE IN HANDS NO LATER THAN 1230 LONDON TIME.\n\nQUOTE TOP SECRET OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE EYES ONLY BRUCE AND STEVENS\n\n1. ON SAFE ARRIVAL STATION VII INFORMED BY YACHTSMAN EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE IN HANDS OF CIVIL AUTHORITIES STATION V. TINCAN TWO SAFE WELL STATION VII.\n\n2. SURPRISE BOARDING BY BLACK GUARD AND RIVER POLICE YACHT STATION V RESULTED DISCOVERY EXLAX OPERATIONAL FUNDS. HUNGARIANS PRESUMABLY BELIEVE FUNDS INTENDED FOR PURCHASE BLACK MARKET FOOD. EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE ARRESTED AS BLACK MARKETEERS. SENTENCED NINE ZERO DAYS HARD LABOR COAL MINES STATION V.\n\n3. YACHTSMAN REPORTS DOCUMENTS NOT REPEAT NOT QUESTIONED.\n\n4. YACHTSMAN STATES SITUATION FAIRLY COMMON. ABSENCE PREPAYMENT GRAFT BLACK GUARD AND RIVER POLICE REGULARLY ARREST BLACK MARKETEERS CONFISCATE GOODS OR MONEY CONFINE LOCAL JAIL AT MINE HARD LABOR AS LESSON. YACHTSMAN BELIEVES THEY WILL BE RELEASED WITHOUT FURTHER DIFFICULTY PRIOR COMPLETION SENTENCE.\n\n5. HAVE TAKEN FOLLOWING ACTION.\n\nA. WILL REMAIN HERE PENDING DECISIONS ACTIONS ENUMERATED LATER HEREIN.\n\nB. TINCAN TWO FLOWN CAIRO FOR ICING THERE. RECEIPT THIS MESSAGE WILL CONFIRM SAFE ARRIVAL.\n\nC. YACHTSMAN ORDERED TO STATION V TO PERSONALLY CONFIRM LOCATION OF EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE AND TO EXPLORE POSSIBILITY ESCAPE OR RELEASE BY FORCE. EXPECTED TRAVEL TIME FOUR REPEAT FOUR DAYS. STATION V TO STATION VII COMMUNICATIONS SLOW AND UNRELIABLE REPEAT UNRELIABLE.\n\n6. REQUEST PERMISSION EFFECT RELEASE EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE BEST MEANS AT MY DISCRETION. IF SO REQUIRE IMMEDIATE DISPATCH VIA STATION VIII NEXT AVAILABLE HUNGARIAN SPEAKING TEAM. STANDARD\n\nTEAM EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE AUGMENTED WITH THIRTY POUNDS COMPOSITION C2 AND EQUIVALENT TWENTY THOUSAND US DOLLARS IN HUNGARIAN, GERMAN AND YUGOSLAVIAN CURRENCY. TEAM SHOULD HAVE HUNGARIAN AND OR YUGOSLAVIAN IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS.\n\n7. IN VIEW NECESSARY ABSENCE EXLAX CONTROLLER SUGGEST FINE AS TEMPORARY REPLACEMENT.\n\nCANIDY \nEND QUOTE \nTOP SECRET\n\n\"Oh, _shit!_ \" Chief Ellis said.\n\nHe picked up the telephone and dialed a number from memory.\n\nStaley's familiar voice came on the line: \"Capitol 3-1991.\"\n\n\"Is he up yet?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"I heard the crapper flush,\" Staley reported.\n\n\"Well, don't say nothing unless he tells you to go anywhere but here,\" Ellis said. \"If he does, say I called and said I think he should come here straight from there.\"\n\n\"What's up, Ellis?\" Colonel Wild Bill Donovan's voice asked.\n\n\"There's something I think you ought to see as soon as you can, Sir.\"\n\n\"Will it wait until after breakfast, would you say?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir, it'll keep that long.\"\n\n\"We'll be there inside of forty-five minutes,\" Donovan said, and the line went dead.\n\nEllis tapped the cutoff button on the telephone with his finger and dialed another number from memory.\n\n\"Capitol 3-2772,\" a male voice answered.\n\n\"Captain Douglass?\" Ellis asked.\n\n\"Who's calling, please?\" the man asked.\n\n\"Marmon, goddamn you, is that you?\"\n\n\"You don't have to bite my ass off, Chief,\" Marmon said righteously. \"I thought I recognized your voice.\"\n\n\"Is the Captain there?\"\n\n\"You want me to get him?\"\n\n\"No. Shit! I'm taking a census.\"\n\nIn a moment, Captain Douglass came on the line.\n\n\"Good morning, Chief,\" he said. \"What's up?\"\n\n\"I don't know what's going on where you're going, but if you can put it off, I think it would be a good idea if you came in.\"\n\n\"He ask for me?\"\n\n\"No, Sir, but I think he probably will.\"\n\n\"I'll be there in half an hour,\" Captain Douglass said. \"Thank you, Chief.\"\n\nEllis hung the telephone up.\n\n\"That important, huh?\" Warrant Officer Vole asked.\n\nEllis looked at him.\n\n\"If you're fishing for an explanation,\" Ellis said, \"don't.\"\n\n\"I read the decrypt,\" Vole protested.\n\n\"That's only because we haven't figured out a way for you to decrypt stuff without reading it,\" Ellis said matter-of-factly.\n\nHe got up and walked to the safe and worked the combination. From a two-foot-high stack of folders piled precariously in the bottom, he pulled a thick one with a TOP SECRET cover sheet and EXLAX written on it with a thick pointed pen.\n\nHe carried it to the desk and started going through it. There was no more of a question in his mind that the Colonel would want the paperwork in front of him than there was that he would want to talk Canidy's Eyes Only Operational Immediate over with Captain Douglass. By the time either of them walked into the office, the paperwork would be ready for them.\n\nEllis's eye fell on the overnight traffic. He should get that out of the way before he laid this stuff out.\n\nThen he had another thought. He opened a drawer and took out a lined pad and a pencil and wrote quickly on it.\n\n\"You want to make yourself useful,\" he said to Vole. \"Get this encoded and out right away. And then stick around. I think there will be a reply to the Eyes Onlys.\"\n\nVole took the sheet of lined paper from Ellis and read it.\n\n_Urgent_ \n_via K S F for W Y Z B_ \n_For Hq US Forces in Philippines_ \n_Attention Brigadier General Fertig_\n\nKeep your shirt on stop \n_J. R. Ellis_ \nChief USN Stop End\n\n\"You really want me to send this?\" Vole asked.\n\n\"Just that way,\" Chief Ellis said.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **OFFICE OF THE STATION CHIEF OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE, LONDON 1600 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\n\"Is something wrong, David?\" Lt. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens asked.\n\nBruce looked at him with his eyebrows raised.\n\n\"I would say so, wouldn't you?\" he replied dryly.\n\n\"I mean, right now, here,\" Stevens said. \"You were frowning. \"\n\n\"Oh,\" Bruce said, and then managed a faint smile. He gestured vaguely around his office. \"Actually, I was thinking, paraphrasing Churchill, that 'never have so few been commanded by so many.' \"\n\nThe three visitors' chairs in the office were occupied by Colonel Stevens, Capt. Helene Dancy, and Lt. Charity Hoche. Capt. Stanley S. Fine was leaning against the wall.\n\n\"I don't see that it could be avoided,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"No,\" Bruce agreed, then: \"I presume this is one of those things in which Miss Hoche has a special interest?\"\n\nStevens nodded.\n\n\"Well, let's get on with it, then,\" Bruce said. \"You first, Charity, please.\"\n\nShe didn't seem surprised, but neither did she say anything.\n\n\"The way we do this, Charity,\" Bruce explained, \"is 'in the military manner.' That is to say, the junior member of this panel is asked for his . . . her . . . opinion first, so that it will not be influenced by that of more senior members. \"\n\nCharity nodded.\n\n\"I don't see that we have any choice but to give Dick Canidy what he's asked for,\" she said, and then quickly added, \"at least until we hear to the contrary from Washington. \"\n\n\"That doesn't address the question of authorizing him to try to get Fulmar and Professor Dyer out of the jail in P\u00e9cs,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"I think we'll be told what to do about that,\" Charity said. Bruce looked at Stevens, who just perceptibly nodded his head in agreement.\n\n\"What he's asked for, specifically, is the next available Hungarian-speaking team, thirty pounds of C-2, and twenty thousand dollars in mixed currency,\" Bruce said. \"That's what you mean?\"\n\nCharity nodded. \"That, and Captain Fine to step in as control.\"\n\n\"We'll start with that, then,\" Bruce said. \"Unless I hear an objection, I will ask Fine if there is some reason he cannot, or thinks he should not, take over as control.\"\n\nHe looked at Stevens, then at Helene Dancy, and finally at Fine.\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Fine said.\n\n\"So ordered,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"One thing, Stanley,\" Stevens said. \"Charity is cleared for this. All the way.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Fine said.\n\n\"I want to clarify that, Stan,\" Bruce said. \"Charity is to be brought into anything connected with this that Colonel Stevens and myself are.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Fine repeated.\n\n\"Well, why don't you sit here,\" Bruce said, \"and take over this meeting?\"\n\n\"I don't mind standing, Sir,\" Fine said.\n\n\"I'd rather walk around,\" Bruce said, and gestured for Fine to sit down.\n\nFine sat down at Bruce's desk, put a lined pad on the green blotter in front of him, and took a pencil from a dozen sitting, point up, in a gray pottery orange-marmalade jar.\n\n\"Helene,\" he said. \"You'll take care of the money? Is that going to pose any problem?\"\n\n\"We don't have that much,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"But I can have it by, say, nine in the morning.\"\n\n\"And the C-2?\"\n\n\"I'm sure there's at least that much at Whitbey House,\" Colonel Stevens said.\n\n\"There should be,\" Helene Dancy agreed. \"But I'll check.\"\n\n\"That, then, brings us to the team,\" Fine said.\n\n\"First,\" Charity Hoche said. \"To the question of their documents. Canidy said Hungarian and\/or Yugoslavian. If we can, I think we should give them both.\"\n\nFine's face was expressionless, but Colonel Stevens thought he saw in his eyes a hint of surprise, even annoyance.\n\n\"Helene?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"Documents Section can handle that,\" Capt. Dancy said. \"They'll need four hours.\"\n\n\"Why so long?\" Charity asked.\n\n\"They don't have very much of the proper paper for the photographs,\" Dancy explained. \"We have to use their paper; it produces a characteristic grain and image flatness. The Hungarian is different from the Yugoslavian. And the only place we can get it is on the local black markets. It is also lousy paper, and it takes that much time to be sure. In case they have to print the photographs twice, or even three times.\"\n\n\"But they will be able to come up with what we need?\" David Bruce asked.\n\n\"Probably in forty-five minutes,\" Helene Dancy said. \"I'm using the worst possible scenario.\"\n\n\"Have we got a team to photograph?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"They have all been photographed, Stanley,\" Helene Dancy said. \"Several times, in work clothes, suits, even in Black Guard uniforms. _Printing_ is the problem.\"\n\n\"That's not what I really meant,\" Fine said. \"I'll rephrase. Is a team available? If there is more than one available, which is the better of them?\"\n\n\"I was out there when this came up, Stanley,\" Colonel Stevens said. \"There are two teams finished with training, one in the last week.\"\n\n\"Did Jamison give you any indication which was better? \" Fine asked.\n\n\"There is a problem,\" Stevens said. \"The teams that have finished their training have been trained to go in to Tito, not Mihajlovi\u0107.\"\n\n\"God!\" Bruce said. There were two major guerrilla forces in Yugoslavia. Colonel Dra\u017ea Mihajlovi\u0107 led a force of Royalists, and Josip Broz, who called himself \"Tito,\" led a larger force of Communists.\n\n\"It was necessary, David,\" Stevens said. \"We had to appear even-handed, and that meant sending teams to Tito.\"\n\n\"What about the team in training?\" Bruce asked.\n\n\"Mihajlovi\u0107,\" Stevens said. \"But it's a communications team. No specific training for something like this.\"\n\n\"What about J\u00e1nos?\" Helene Dancy asked. \"When does he get out of his cast?\"\n\n\"Friday,\" Charity said.\n\n\"Who the hell is J\u00e1nos?\" Bruce asked.\n\n\"The first lieutenant who broke his ankle,\" Dancy furnished.\n\n\"Well, we can hardly take his cast off one day and jump him in the next,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"J\u00e1nos was trained to go in to Mihajlovi\u0107,\" Dancy said.\n\n\"And we're not going to jump them in anyway,\" Charity said. Bruce snapped his head around to look at her. Charity smiled, and added, \"Are we?\"\n\n\"We may have to,\" Stevens said. \"With Dolan under the weather, I think we have to leave him out of the equation. And that means there's no one but that young pilot . . . whatsisname?\"\n\n\"Darmstadter,\" Helene Dancy furnished.\n\n\"Darmstadter,\" Stevens said, \". . . to fly the B-25. Which means either parachuting them onto Vis or, for that matter, into Hungary, or sending them by submarine.\"\n\n\"I can fly the B-25,\" Fine said.\n\n\"No,\" Bruce said. \"You're the control.\"\n\n\"Doug Douglass can fly the B-25,\" Charity said.\n\nBruce looked at her.\n\n\"He's not . . . assigned to us,\" he said.\n\n\"Can't that be arranged?\" Charity asked. \"TDY or something?\"\n\n\"We're getting ahead of ourselves,\" Fine said. \"The first decision that has to be made is about the team. Do we send in a Tito team?\"\n\nCharity looked at Colonel Stevens.\n\n\"No,\" Stevens said flatly.\n\n\"What's the difference?\" Helene Dancy asked.\n\n\"For the men, none,\" Stevens said. \"But we will not send an officer on this who has been selected to go in to Tito.\"\n\n\"May I ask why, Sir?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"No, I'm afraid I can't tell you, Stan,\" Stevens said.\n\nFine looked curious, but shrugged.\n\n\"It looks as though we're back to J\u00e1nos,\" he said. \"And to flying him in rather than jumping him in, because of his ankle. And since I can't fly the B-25, we're also back to Douglass. May I ask that you reconsider, Sir, my flying the B-25?\"\n\n\"Out of the question,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"And we're not even sure of J\u00e1nos,\" Stevens said. \"Helene, get the medical officer at Whitbey House on the horn and get a report on J\u00e1nos's ankle. Specifically, what shape he will be in when they take the cast off, and for how long.\"\n\n\"While she's doing that,\" Fine said, \"what about transport of the team from here to Cairo? If they're going to Cairo?\"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" Stevens asked.\n\n\"I thought perhaps Malta,\" Fine said.\n\n\"Oh,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"We'll send them to Cairo,\" Bruce said. \"They'll attract less attention there. And we'll send them on the ATC courier. There's a daily flight. If we send one man a day, starting right now, they should attract no attention at all. Wilkins is good at distracting attention.\"\n\n\"Mr. Bruce,\" Fine said, almost hesitantly. \"I'm afraid that you will think I'm rephrasing a request that has already been denied\u2014\"\n\n\"What, Fine?\" Bruce asked impatiently.\n\n\"Project Aphrodite has two new B-17s,\" Fine said.\n\n\"One of which you would like to fly to Cairo?\" Bruce asked, icily sarcastic.\n\n\"May I explain my thinking, Sir?\"\n\n\"No,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"I would like to hear it,\" Charity said.\n\nBruce glared at her and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could, there was a knock at the door, and instead of saying what he'd intended, Bruce said, his voice angry and impatient:\n\n\"We are not to be disturbed!\"\n\n\"Operational Immediate Eyes Only for you, Sir,\" Capt. Harrison's voice came through the door.\n\n\"Oh, hell,\" Bruce said, \"now what?\" He raised his voice. \"Bring it in, Harrison!\"\n\nHarrison came into the room, extended a clipboard with a Receipt for Classified Document on it, and, when Bruce had signed it, handed him a document with a TOP SECRET cover sheet on it.\n\n\"Thank you,\" Bruce said. \"I didn't mean to snap at you, Paul.\"\n\n\"No problem, Sir,\" Harrison said. He made no move to leave.\n\n\"That'll be all, thank you,\" Bruce said.\n\n\"An action is required, Sir,\" Harrison said.\n\nBruce snorted, and lifted the cover sheet.\n\nTOP SECRET \nOPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE\n\nOFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OSS WASHINGTON \nFOR OSS LONDON EYES ONLY BRUCE STEVENS \nFOR OSS CAIRO EYES ONLY WILKINS\n\nRELAY FOLLOWING CANIDY MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS:\n\nQUOTE\n\n1. OSS LONDON AND CAIRO DIRECTED AS HIGHEST PRIORITY TO SUPPORT WITH ALL MEANS AVAILABLE ATTEMPT FREE EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE.\n\n2. RESCUE WILL BE ATTEMPTED AT EARLIEST POSSIBLE TIME AND IN ANY CASE NOT LATER THAN TEN REPEAT TEN DAYS FROM RECEIPT OF THIS MESSAGE.\n\n3. IN EVENT ATTEMPT IMPOSSIBLE OR ATTEMPT FAILS EXLAX AND TINCAN ONE WILL BE TERMINATED REPEAT WILL BE TERMINATED.\n\n4. NO DISCUSSION OF THIS ORDER WILL BE ENTERTAINED.\n\nUNQUOTE \nEND QUOTE\n\nSTATION CHIEFS LONDON AND CAIRO WILL ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT AND COMPREHENSION OF CANIDY MESSAGE.\n\nSTATION CHIEF CAIRO ADDITIONALLY WILL REPORT TIME AND PLACE OF DELIVERY OF MESSAGE TO CANIDY WITH INFO COPY TO LONDON.\n\nDONOVAN\n\nBruce handed the message to Colonel Stevens, and then looked at Capt. Harrison.\n\n\"Would you please message Colonel Donovan that Colonel Stevens and myself acknowledge receipt and comprehension of this message?\" he said, almost formally.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Harrison said.\n\n\"My God!\" Stevens said, when he had read the message. He extended it to Bruce. \"May I see that, please?\" Charity Hoche asked.\n\n\"Oh,\" Stevens said, as if he had just remembered she was present. \"Sure.\"\n\nWhen she had read it, she handed it to Fine. He frowned when he read it, but said nothing.\n\n\"You were saying, Stan,\" Charity said, \"something about new B-17s?\"\n**XI**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **OSS WHITBEY HOUSE STATION KENT, ENGLAND 1815 HOURS 17 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFirst Lieutenant Robert Jamison found First Lieutenant Ferenc J\u00e1nos where he thought he would be at this time of day, in the bar, at the piano, with a drink adding yet another scar to the varnished finish of the piano, and with two of the WRAC drivers listening to him play.\n\n\"Freddy, could I see you for a moment?\" Jamison asked.\n\n\"Ladies,\" Freddy J\u00e1nos said, \"duty calls.\"\n\n\"Not here, J\u00e1nos,\" Jamison said.\n\nJ\u00e1nos's eyebrows rose in curiosity, but he didn't say anything. He hoisted himself from the piano stool with a grunt, reached for his drink, finished it, and then squatted on his one good leg to pick up his crutches from the floor.\n\nHe followed Jamison down the center corridor of the first floor of the left wing of the mansion to the dispensary, which had been set up in what had been the ballroom. There were sixteen beds, eight on each side of the high-ceilinged room. Eleven of them were occupied.\n\nAt the far end of the ballroom was a small, flat-roofed \"building,\" roughly framed in with exposed two-by-fours and plywood. It held a simple, if surprisingly complete, operating room, an X-ray room, a pharmacy, two examining cubicles, a dentist's chair and equipment, and an office for the two physicians attached to Whitbey House station.\n\nBoth of them, and a nurse, were waiting for Jamison and J\u00e1nos.\n\n\"What's going on?\" J\u00e1nos asked when he saw where Jamison had led him.\n\n\"First things first,\" Jamison said. \"We want an X-ray of your ankle.\"\n\n\"I will repeat, Lieutenant Jamison,\" one of the doctors, a captain, said, \"that I don't like this.\"\n\n\"Whether or not you approved didn't come up, Doctor,\" Jamison said, \"when the Colonel said to do it.\"\n\nThe doctor gave him a cold look.\n\nThe nurse took J\u00e1nos into the X-ray room, motioned for him to hop on the table, and then took his crutches and leaned them on the wall. She wordlessly arranged his leg on the table under the X-ray apparatus, then stepped behind a crudely built, raw-lumber six-foot wall.\n\n\"Don't move,\" she ordered, and there was a whirring sound from the X-ray apparatus. She made six X-rays before she was finished, then issued another order: \"You'd better stay there until I get these out of the soup.\"\n\nThe two doctors and Jamison came into the room.\n\n\"What's going on?\" J\u00e1nos asked from the X-ray table.\n\n\"We want to see if we can take your cast off safely,\" Jamison said.\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"If we can, I'll tell you,\" Jamison said.\n\nJ\u00e1nos, who had been lying down, sat up on the table and let his legs hang over the side.\n\nThe nurse returned with still damp eleven-by-fourteen-inch X-ray photographs, put three (all it would handle) on a viewer, and turned it on.\n\nThe two doctors examined the X rays and then replaced them on the viewer with the other three.\n\nThe captain turned to Jamison.\n\n\"It appears to have healed and knitted satisfactorily,\" he said.\n\n\"The question, Doctor,\" Jamison said, \"is, in your professional medical opinion, can the cast be safely removed? \"\n\n\"There's a difference, Jamison, between taking it off and declaring this officer fit for duty.\"\n\n\"Can it be safely removed?\" Jamison replied. \"If so, please remove it.\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ,\" the other doctor, a lieutenant, said disgustedly.\n\n\"Would you get me the cutter, Nurse?\" the captain asked.\n\nJ\u00e1nos didn't like what he saw when the cast was removed. The skin beneath, where it was not marked with angry red marks, was unhealthily white, and although he couldn't be sure without actually comparing it side-by-side with his good ankle, it looked to him to be much thinner.\n\nBoth doctors manipulated the ankle and the foot. There was no pain, but it was uncomfortable.\n\n\"Well?\" Jamison asked.\n\n\"The fractures,\" the captain said, \"seem to have knitted satisfactorily. There is no pain or impediment of movement that I can detect.\"\n\n\"He can walk, in other words?\" Jamison asked.\n\n\"Before he can be determined to be physically fit for duty,\" the captain said, \"he will require therapy. Do you concur, Doctor?\"\n\n\"Jamison,\" the younger doctor said, \"there is muscle atrophy\u2014\"\n\n\"What kind of therapy?\" Jamison asked.\n\n\"Walking, actually,\" the captain said. \"Short walks, gradually extended. Manipulation of the foot and ankle to restore movement.\"\n\n\"That'll be all, J\u00e1nos,\" Jamison said. \"Thank you.\"\n\n\"You said you would tell me,\" J\u00e1nos protested.\n\n\"You're being considered for an operation,\" Jamison said.\n\n\"When and if it is decided you're going, you'll be told about it.\"\n\n\"When will that decision be made?\"\n\n\"Tomorrow morning, probably,\" Jamison said. \"Do you think you can manage without your crutches?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"Give it a try,\" Jamison said. \"If you can, leave the crutches here. If you go back to the bar, go easy on the booze. I don't want you falling down and breaking it again.\"\n\nThe lieutenant, shaking his head, chuckled.\n\nThe captain said, \"Jamison, I might as well tell you, the moment Major Canidy returns, I'm going to protest this.\"\n\n\"Captain,\" Jamison said, \"all I'm doing is obeying my orders. That's what you do when you put a uniform on, obey orders.\"\n\nHe turned and walked out of the room.\n\nThe captain called after him. \"Jamison, in my capacity as the senior medical officer present, I absolutely forbid this officer to participate in a parachute jump.\"\n\n\"Your position has been noted, Doctor,\" Jamison called, over his shoulder.\n\nJ\u00e1nos got off the X-ray table and gingerly lowered his bare, sick, white foot to the floor.\n\n\"Any pain?\" the captain asked.\n\n\"No,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"Fuck him,\" the captain said, \"You use the crutches, J\u00e1nos. You start using that leg carefully. I'll deal with Jamison. \"\n\nJ\u00e1nos hoisted himself back onto the X-ray table and removed his other shoe and sock.\n\n\"With the shoe off,\" J\u00e1nos said, \"I think I can manage.\"\n\nHe lowered himself to the floor again, and then, awkwardly and carefully, walked very slowly out of the X-ray room.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **OSS WHITBEY HOUSE STATION KENT, ENGLAND 0600 HOURS 18 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFirst Lieutenant Ferenc J\u00e1nos marched into the office of the commanding officer, came to attention, and saluted. He was wearing a wool OD (olive drab) Ike jacket and trousers. Parachutist's wings were on the jacket, and his trousers were bloused over glistening Corcoran jump boots. His woolen \"overseas\" cap was tucked in an epaulet of his jacket.\n\n\"Sir, Lieutenant J\u00e1nos reporting as directed, Sir.\"\n\nLt. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens returned the salute.\n\n\"Stand at ease, Lieutenant,\" he said.\n\nJ\u00e1nos was surprised to see the good-looking blond WAC lieutenant in the room. He wondered why. The story about her (which had quickly circulated through Whitbey House) was that she would work for Jamison, taking care of the women.\n\n\"How's your ankle, J\u00e1nos? Straight answer, please,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"With the boot on, sir,\" J\u00e1nos said, \"no problem.\"\n\n\"How far do you think you could walk on it?\" Stevens asked.\n\n\"As far as I have to,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"An overestimate of capability is dangerous, J\u00e1nos,\" Colonel Stevens said.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"A mission of the very highest priority has come up,\" Stevens said. \"You have already expressed your willingness to participate in a mission involving great personal risk in enemy-occupied territory. You were also made aware that if you were captured, you would be treated not as a prisoner of war but as a spy. I ask you here and now if you still wish to volunteer for such a mission?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"From this point, Lieutenant,\" Stevens said, \"this conversation is classified Top Secret. Divulging what I am about to tell you to anyone, or discussing it with anyone not now present in this room, will constitute a general court-martial offense. Do you fully understand that?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"The mission is to free certain people from confinement in the hands of civil authorities in Hungary. I am now going to pose a question to you that I want you to think over very carefully before replying,\" Stevens went on. \"If the mission goes sour, or if the mission cannot be accomplished within a set time frame, you will be required to eliminate, by which I mean kill, or cause to have killed, the people presently imprisoned. Now, are you willing to accept the mission, knowing that may be necessary?\"\n\nJ\u00e1nos hesitated, but not for long.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" he said. He became aware that the good-looking blond WAC was looking at him. More than looking at him, he realized\u2014evaluating him and doing that very coldly.\n\n\"You believe you would be able to . . . and this is the only phrase that fits the situation . . . kill in cold blood the people presently imprisoned. And possibly a substantial number of others who can only be accurately described as 'innocent bystanders'?\"\n\n\"You're not going to tell me what this is all about?\"\n\n\"Just please answer my question,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"With your assurance that it's a military necessity, Sir,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\nStevens nodded.\n\n\"Charity?\" he asked.\n\n\"Even, Freddy,\" Charity Hoche asked, \"if the people who had to be eliminated were known to you? Even if you had met them here?\"\n\n\"Holy Mother of God,\" J\u00e1nos blurted, and then found control again. \"With the same caveat as before, that Colonel Stevens assures me this is militarily necessary.\"\n\nThere was a knock at the door.\n\n\"Yes?\" Stevens called impatiently.\n\n\"Colonel Douglass is on the phone for Lieutenant Hoche, Sir,\" a male voice said.\n\n\"I guess I better take it,\" Charity said after a moment's thought. \"He probably just got his orders and wonders what they're all about.\"\n\nShe walked out of the office.\n\n\"That was _the_ important question,\" Colonel Stevens said. \"But there is another important question. For reasons I cannot go into, it is impossible for us to send Lieutenant Shawup on this mission. But the team that he commands will make it. There will be a certain resentment on their part toward you. Can you handle it?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" J\u00e1nos said without hesitation.\n\n\"They will resent\u2014after having received promises to the contrary\u2014not being under Shawup's leadership. And they will resent being told . . . they will not be asked, they will be told . . . that elimination of the people being held may be necessary. They will resent that, too.\"\n\n\"They'll do what I tell them to do,\" J\u00e1nos said confidently.\n\n\"You sound very sure of yourself,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"Look at me, Colonel,\" J\u00e1nos said. \"As big as I am, wouldn't you hate to make me mad?\"\n\nStevens's face went blank for a moment, and then he chuckled.\n\n\"Yes, I guess I would,\" he said.\n\nHe leaned over the desk and offered J\u00e1nos his hand.\n\n\"I have every confidence that you can handle this, Lieutenant J\u00e1nos,\" he said. \"Good luck!\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **FERSFIELD ARMY AIR CORPS STATION BEDFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 1200 HOURS 18 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nWhen the P-38 flashed over them, Lieutenant Commander Edwin W. Bitter, USN, Captain Stanley S. Fine, USAAC, and Lieutenant j.g. Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., USNR, were sitting on folding wooden chairs outside the Quonset hut that served officially as the orderly room of the 402nd Composite Squadron and secretly as the headquarters for Operation Aphrodite.\n\nThey were taking the sun. There was precious little sun in England in February, and when it did pop out, everyone who could take the time tried to get out in it.\n\n\"I have been told by everybody from Bill Donovan to that ferocious WAC captain in David Bruce's office that asking questions is like farting in the Sistine Chapel,\" Kennedy said, \"but I would still dearly like to know where the hell you are taking my brand-new airplane.\"\n\n\"Come on, Joe,\" Commander Bitter said, a mild reproof.\n\n\"Yours not to reason why, Lieutenant,\" Fine said, smiling at him, \"yours but to take yon fighter jockey aloft and see how much you can teach him in an hour or two about driving the B-17.\"\n\nHe gestured in the direction of the P-38, which the pilot had stood on its wing to line it up with the main Fersfield runway.\n\n\"I am also just a little curious why that is necessary,\" Kennedy said, \"since here sit Commander Bitter and myself, both fully qualified B-17 pilots, and in my case at least, an extraordinary 'Look Ma, No Copilot' 17 chauffeur. \"\n\nBitter and Fine laughed.\n\n\"Your country, Lieutenant,\" Fine said, \"is saving you for more important things.\"\n\n\"You aren't going to tell me, are you, you sonofabitch?\" Kennedy said.\n\n\"I can't, Joe,\" Fine said seriously.\n\nThey stood up to watch the P-38 land. It came in hot, in a crab, lining up with the runway at the last moment before touching down.\n\n\"If yon fighter jockey tries that in a 17,\" Kennedy said dryly, \"we will have one more to park over there.\"\n\nHe pointed to the \"graveyard\" where remnants of more than two dozen crashed and shot-up B-17s were scattered around.\n\n\"Without any whistling-in-the-dark self-confidence,\" Kennedy went on, \"what are our chances of getting that 17 back?\"\n\n\"That will depend on how much you can teach Doug,\" Fine said.\n\nA Follow Me jeep had driven out to the taxiway to meet the P-38. Fine started to walk toward the revetment in which it would be parked, and Bitter and Kennedy followed him.\n\n\"I think I'll go along in the 17,\" Bitter said. \"Maybe I could help Joe.\"\n\n\"No,\" Fine said, politely enough, but there was no mistaking it was an order. \"We want to keep you around to fly the other new one.\"\n\nThey reached the revetment as the P-38 taxied up to it.\n\nA ground crewman made a throat-cutting signal with his hand, and the engines died. A ground crewman laid a ladder against the cockpit, and Lt. Colonel Peter Douglass, Jr., climbed down it.\n\nHe was wearing a pink Ike jacket, matching trousers, a battered, oil-spotted, fur-felt brimmed cap with the crown stiffener removed on the back of his head, half Wellington boots, and a parachute-silk scarf in the open collar of a gabardine shirt.\n\n_He is absolutely, totally, out of uniform,_ Fine mused. And then he corrected himself. _No, that is the uniform prescribed by fighter pilots for themselves. And there is no question that Doug is one hell of a fighter pilot. There were Japanese meatballs and German swastikas painted in three neat rows on the cockpit nose, plus a submarine._\n\n_And something brand new. Douglass had named his airplane \"Charity.\"_\n\n\"Where the hell is my brass band?\" Douglass asked, wrapping his arm around Commander Bitter's shoulders and (because he knew it annoyed Bitter immensely) kissing him wetly on the temple.\n\nFine and Kennedy smiled.\n\n\"Who's Charity?\" Kennedy asked.\n\n\"As in 'Faith, Hope and,' \" Douglass said. \"if I don't get a band, how about lunch? I'm starved.\"\n\n\"You're going flying with Lieutenant Kennedy,\" Fine said. \"You can have lunch when you come back.\"\n\n\"Where am I going flying with you, Kennedy?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Up and down, up and down,\" Kennedy smiled. \"Fine wants me to teach you to line an airplane up with the runway while you're still in the air.\"\n\n\"Only bomber pilots have to do that,\" Douglass said. \"It's because their reflexes are so slow. You're serious about this, aren't you? _Before_ I have lunch?\"\n\n\"If you're a good boy, I'll have a surprise for you when you get back,\" Fine said.\n\n\"I already talked to her,\" Douglass said, \"which raises the question of Rank Hath Its Privileges.\"\n\n\"How?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"A senior officer such as myself,\" Douglass said, \"cannot be expected to share a room with low-grade underlings such as you guys. Do I make my point?\"\n\n\"Oh, I think Commander Bitter will be happy to accommodate you, Colonel, Sir,\" Kennedy said, chuckling. \"He already has had the troops spiffing up the transient female quarters. You'll notice the smile of anticipation on his face.\"\n\n\"Doug,\" Bitter said very seriously, changing the subject, \"if you really want something to eat, I'll have some sandwiches prepared and get them to the aircraft.\"\n\n\"Shame on you, Lieutenant Kennedy,\" Douglass said, \"you are embarrassing the commander.\"\n\nFor a moment, looking at Bitter, Fine was afraid the situation was going to get out of hand, but with a visible effort, Bitter finally managed a smile.\n\nDouglass looked at his watch.\n\n\"The girls are due here at two-fifteen,\" he said. \"That gives you just about two hours to teach me all you know, Kennedy. That shouldn't be a problem.\"\n\nDouglass and Kennedy flew for nearly two hours before landing a final time and taxiing the B-17F back to the 402nd Composite Squadron area. As they stood by the aircraft with the crew chief, giving him a list of things to check to prepare the plane for flight, a small convoy rolled past the B-17 graveyard and stopped before the Quonset hut.\n\nThe convoy consisted of an Austin Princess limousine, a Packard limousine, and a three-quarter-ton Dodge weapons-carrier. The Packard and the Austin Princess were driven by sergeants of the WRAC, and the canvas-bodied Dodge by a U.S. Army sergeant.\n\nLt. Colonel Ed Stevens and Lt. Charity Hoche got out of the Princess, and five men in olive-drab U.S. Army uniforms got out of the Packard.\n\n\"Let that be a lesson to you, Lieutenant Kennedy,\" Douglass said, \" 'Virtue is its own reward.' If you had allowed me to land this aerial barge when I wanted to, I wouldn't have had to stand around panting until just now.\"\n\n\"One gathers that the Colonel would be panting over the blond lieutenant?\" Kennedy asked. \"Who the hell is she, anyway?\"\n\n\"A senior officer such as myself,\" Douglass said, \"does not of course discuss either ladies or his personal affairs with a junior officer. But I will say this, Kennedy. If it were to come to my attention that anyone\u2014say, a lowly reserve swabby officer\u2014paid any but official attention to a certain WAC officer while I am off saving the world for democracy, I would feed him his balls.\"\n\n\"That's Charity,\" Kennedy said.\n\n\"That's Charity,\" Douglass confirmed possessively.\n\n\"I hate to tell you this, Colonel,\" Kennedy said. \"But the lady doesn't seem prone to throw herself in your arms.\"\n\n\"That's because she doesn't want to make you feel jealous, \" Douglass said.\n\nThey smiled at each other.\n\n\"Thanks for the lessons,\" Douglass said. \"How did a fair-to-middling airplane driver like you wind up flying aerial barges?\"\n\n\"Just lucky, I guess,\" Kennedy said. \"And just for the hell of it, Colonel, if that were a check ride, you would have passed it.\"\n\nThey smiled at each other again.\n\n\"Let's go see if we can make Bitter blush again,\" Douglass said.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 0350 HOURS 19 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCanidy didn't see the policeman with his hand held up until he was almost on him.\n\nHe had been too busy watching the road in front of him. It had been a long time since he had ridden a bicycle, and while it was true, he had found out, that once you learned how, you never forgot, it was also true that pedaling a bicycle required muscles he hadn't used in a long time. Even moving as slowly as they had been riding, his calves and upper thighs were heavy with exhaustion.\n\nAnd the road was covered with frozen slush, which caught the wheel of the bicycle when it rode in one of the ruts. He had taken four spills, and one of them was a bad one, throwing him heavily on his right shoulder and bruising his right knee.\n\nThere was no chance to stop before he got to the policeman, although he made a valiant effort. And, he saw, there was no place to run either, no corner to duck around. The policeman had appeared from nowhere because he had been inside a small, wooden guard shack almost hidden by the buttresses of the \u00c1rp\u00e1d Bridge. There was nothing ahead but the bridge itself, and if the policeman couldn't run him down on foot, which seemed likely, then he would have no trouble shooting at him.\n\nThe policeman got out of his way, as Canidy locked the hand brakes and skidded to a stop on the icy slush, the bike slipping out from under him.\n\nHe heard Ferniany laugh behind him as Canidy fell to his knees.\n\nAnd then the policeman said something. Canidy had no idea what he said, but he thought there was a tone of laughter in it.\n\nCanidy got to his feet, picked up the bicycle, and walked to where the policeman was now examining Ferniany's identity documents. Canidy rested the bicycle against his leg, reached inside his ragged shepherd's coat for his papers, and held them ready in his hand until the policeman was ready to take them.\n\nHe looked toward the far end of the bridge. He could not tell if there was another policeman in another hidden shack at the far end. Probably not. The \u00c1rp\u00e1d Bridge crossed a branch of the Danube between Pest and Margit Island. The Margit Bridge crossed the other branch of the Danube to Buda. If there was another guard shack, it would be on the Margit Bridge, not at the end of this one.\n\nIf it became necessary to kill this policeman\u2014by breaking his neck or cutting his throat\u2014it would still be possible to continue across the Danube here.\n\nThe policeman handed Ferniany's papers back and turned to Canidy. He was shaking his head. He said something. Canidy had no idea what it was, but he shrugged.\n\nThe policeman took his papers. Canidy saw Ferniany take his garrote from his pocket.\n\nThe policeman returned Canidy's papers with what could have been a courteous bow. Then he turned Canidy around and unfastened the straps of the rucksack Canidy had on his back. He came out with a small cheese and a small sausage.\n\nCanidy gestured that he was welcome to it. The policeman smiled and then politely fastened the straps on the rucksack. Then he went to Ferniany's bicycle and began to unfasten the straps holding a limp rucksack over the fender. Canidy put his hands up his sleeves, hoping it looked as if he were trying to warm his hands. He jerked the strap around the hilt of his Baby Fairbairn free and tested to see if he could quickly get it out of its sheath. It was a dagger that had been developed by Captain Bruce Fairbairn of the Shanghai Municipal Police. The \"Baby\" was the smaller of two versions and was used when concealment was desirable.\n\nFulmar and Whittaker had given him a quick course in assassination. Neither of them liked the garrote. ( _\"What if the wire gets hung on a button or something?\"_ Fulmar had calmly argued. _\"Or if he gets his fingers under the wire before you can bury it in his neck? Put your hand over his mouth and stick him behind the ear. As soon as you scramble his brains, you can let him go. It takes a hell of a long time to strangle somebody.\"_ )\n\nWhittaker's preferred technique of assassination was throat-cutting. ( _\"Once you cut into the throat, all they can do is gargle,\"_ Whittaker had said. _\"I don't trust the ittybitty point on the Fairbairn, especially the little one. You hit a bone or something, and it breaks, and there you are with your hand over the mouth of some highly pissed-off character you can't put down.\"_ )\n\nCanidy had decided the Fairbairn was best, because it was far more concealable than a throat-cutting knife, and because Jimmy Whittaker had somewhat reluctantly conceded that there was a lot of blood when you cut some-one's throat and very little when you scrambled his brains.\n\nCanidy felt bile in his throat at the prospect that he might now have to put theory into practice, but it did not become necessary. The policeman helped himself to a tub of butter from Ferniany's rucksack and waved them on.\n\nThey rode to the end of the bridge and then crossed Margit Island. He could see what looked to him like an amusement park closed for the winter: small wooden shacks in a line; an oblong building that could have concealed a dodgem ride; a larger round building that almost certainly contained a merry-go-round.\n\nThere was no policeman at the Buda end of the Margit Bridge.\n\nTwo blocks into Buda, the cobblestone street became too steep and too slippery to pedal the bicycles, and they got off and pushed. And for some reason, here the slush had begun to melt (Canidy wondered about this and decided they were over a tunnel of some kind, maybe a sewer, that gave off enough heat to melt the frozen slush). So his feet, in rough leather work shoes and thick cotton socks, quickly became wet and then even colder than they had been.\n\nBetween the Margit Bridge and Batthyany Palace, they passed two more policemen, but neither of them showed any interest in the bicyclists.\n\nWhen Ferniany finally pushed his bicycle off the street and onto the sidewalk before the facade of what looked like a museum, Canidy was sweat-soaked from exertion and annoyed that Ferniany seemed immune to both fatigue and cold.\n\nThe doorbell was just that, a handle which when pulled caused a bell somewhere inside the building to just audibly tinkle.\n\nBy the time a small door built into the larger door opened a crack, Canidy had his breath back, but his sweat-soaked clothing had chilled, and he was shivering and his feet hurt.\n\nA small old man with white hair and very bright eyes exchanged a few words with Ferniany, then opened the door to let them pass.\n\nThere were more cobblestones inside the door, and at the end of a passageway a courtyard. The little old man led them into a huge kitchen and said something to Ferniany, apparently an order to wait. The kitchen, Canidy saw, was not in use. There was a huge icebox, and each of its half-dozen doors was wedged open. More important, none of the three wood-burning stoves held a fire.\n\nA door opened, and a rather startling redhead came into the kitchen. Her hair, a magnificent mop of dark red, hung below her shoulders. She was wrapped in an ankle-length, somewhat bedraggled, Persian lamb coat. The hem of a woolen nightgown was exposed at the bottom, and her feet were in what Canidy at first thought were half Wellington boots, but which he saw after a moment were really sheepskin -lined jodhpurs.\n\nShe shook Ferniany's hand, and they had a brief exchange. Then she turned to Canidy. She spoke British-accented English.\n\n\"I am the Countess Batthyany,\" she said. \"How may I be of service, Major?\"\n\n\"I'm Pharmacist,\" Canidy said.\n\nHer eyebrows rose in genuine surprise.\n\n\"You would be far more welcome,\" she said, \"if I didn't suspect that you wouldn't be here unless there is trouble.\"\n\n\"Have you got any brandy?\" Canidy said. \"I'm chilled to the bone.\"\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" she said. \"Forgive me.\"\n\nShe turned and motioned for them to follow her. There was a narrow, rather steep flight of stairs, and then a door. They stepped into a dimly lit room. The room was well furnished, and when Canidy glanced around, he saw that the door they had come through was cut through the paneling of the room so that it would fit in with the decor. A servants' passageway, he decided.\n\nWhen he turned around again, there was a man in the room. Tall, aristocratic, wearing a silk dressing gown. He held a Walther Ppk .32 ACP pistol in his hand. It was pointed at the floor.\n\n\"Was ist los?\" he asked.\n\n\"Liebchen, this is Major Canidy,\" the Countess said, adding, \" _Pharmacist_. Major, may I introduce His Excellency Brigadef\u00fchrer-SS von Heurten-Mitnitz?\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz's expression did not change, but he spent a long moment examining Canidy before he spoke.\n\n\"The major and his friend look frozen,\" he said. \"Could you ring for some brandy? Something for them to eat?\"\n\n\"Yes, of course,\" the Countess said.\n\nThen von Heurten-Mitnitz looked at Canidy again.\n\n\"You don't happen to know Putzi's son's name, do you?\"\n\n\"I was wondering if you were going to ask,\" Canidy said, then gave his part of the prearranged countersign. \"Ergon.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz nodded coolly and managed a brief smile.\n\n\"My next question,\" he said, \"obviously, would be to ask what brings you here. But I'm a little afraid to ask.\"\n\n\"Eric Fulmar and Professor Dyer are in the municipal jail in P\u00e9cs,\" Canidy said. \"You didn't know?\"\n\n\"Jesus, Maria, und Josef!\" the Countess breathed.\n\n\"No,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said, \"I didn't.\"\n\n\"We're done for,\" the Countess said matter-of-factly.\n\n\"Can you at least get Helmut and me out? Is that what you've come for?\"\n\n\"I came in to arrange for a site into which we can paradrop a team,\" Canidy said.\n\n\" 'Paradrop' ?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked. \"You mean parachute?\"\n\nCanidy nodded.\n\n\"You've got to get us out!\" the Countess said furiously.\n\n\"That may not be necessary,\" Canidy said. \"Fulmar and the professor have been arrested as black marketeers.\"\n\n\"How do you know that?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked calmly.\n\n\"I was there when they were arrested,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"Then there is a _chance,_ \" von Heurten-Mitnitz said, searched for the words, and smiled wryly, \" 'that the jig is not up?' \"\n\n\"There's a chance,\" Canidy said. \"Ferniany is more confident about that than I am.\"\n\n\"The function of your team will be to get them out of prison?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"The team leader will have my orders, I'm sure,\" Canidy said. \"I don't know what they will be.\"\n\nCanidy saw in von Heurten-Mitnitz's eyes that he would not have to explain that his orders might be to make absolutely sure that neither Fulmar nor Professor Dyer would be available for interrogation by the SS or the Gestapo. And when he looked at the Countess Batthyany, he saw in her face that she understood, too.\n\n\"I want to try to get them out,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"A question of priorities, then?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"Yes,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"And where on that list would be the priority to get out the Countess, or, for that matter, me?\"\n\n\"If it comes to that,\" Canidy said, \"we'll get you out.\"\n\n\"We will go out,\" the Countess said, \"or stay, together.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz looked at her for a moment, then at his wristwatch.\n\n\"It's too early,\" he said. \"But later, I will call M\u00fcller and ask him to pick me up here.\" He saw the look on Canidy's face. \"It is necessary.\"\n\nAfter a moment, Canidy nodded.\n\n\"Just so long as he understands that I will make the decision about trying to get Fulmar and the professor out.\"\n\n\"I thought you implied that decision will be made by your superiors?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"I'll decide,\" Canidy said flatly.\n\n# **5**\n\n## **FERSFIELD ARMY AIR CORPS STATION BEDFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND 0410 HOURS 19 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\n\"There's no reason for you to get up,\" Douglass said as he sat up in the narrow bed and swung his feet out onto the floor.\n\nCharity sat up in bed.\n\n\"I've been pretending that we're in Bala-Cynwyd . . . ,\" she said.\n\n\"Where?\" he asked, chuckling.\n\n\"It's a suburb of Philadelphia,\" she said. \" . . . and that the alarm clock has just gone off, and that you're going to get up and put on a suit, and that when you have had breakfast you'll kiss the children. And then I'll drive you to the station, and you'll get on the commuter train and go in to your office in Philadelphia . . . \"\n\n\"What kind of an office?\"\n\n\"You're a lawyer, like my father,\" she said.\n\n\"Why a lawyer?\"\n\n\"Because when lawyers leave their loving wives and adoring children to go to their offices, they know they'll be coming home that same night, not going off to some impossible island nobody ever heard about. . . .\"\n\n\"Stanley's a lawyer,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"Damn you, come back to me,\" Charity said.\n\n\"I'll have to, to make you an honest woman,\" he said.\n\n\"And to give the baby a name,\" Charity said.\n\n\"What baby?\"\n\n\"The one I think we made last night,\" Charity said.\n\n\"Last night, or ten minutes ago?\" he replied.\n\n\"I hope we did. Whenever,\" Charity said. \"How do you like them apples, Colonel?\"\n\n\"Hey, is this the right time to discuss something like that?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"The best time,\" Charity said. \"If a man doesn't believe that a woman loves him after she says she wants his baby, he'll never believe it. I want you to _know_ it, Doug.\"\n\nHe stopped in the act of pulling his shorts on and went to the bed and sat on it.\n\n\"Me, too,\" he said.\n\n\"That's close,\" Charity said.\n\n\"I love you,\" he said.\n\n\"Correct,\" she said. \"That wins you your choice of a trip to the sunny and romantic Adriatic isle of Vis, a cement bicycle, or whatever else your little heart desires. Me, for example. \"\n\n\"Jesus, honey, they're waiting for me.\"\n\n\"I thought RHIP.\"\n\n\"It does,\" he said. \"Fuck 'em, let 'em wait.\"\n\n\" ''em? 'em?' \" Charity asked.\n\n# **6**\n\n## **HEADQUARTERS, U.S. FORCES IN THE PHILIPPINES MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL PROVINCE, MINDANAO 19 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThere was now some official stationery available to Headquarters, U.S. Forces in the Philippines. It was a good-quality, twenty-four-pound watermarked bond paper, with an engraved letterhead. The letterhead read,\n\nTHE DOLE CORPORATION Pineapple Plantation Three \"There Are None Finer\" Mindanao, Territory of the Philippine Islands\n\nHeadquarters, United States Forces in the Philippines used the blank side of the paper, but only for important official documents. After some thought, General Fertig decided that it was necessary to maintain certain files, and to use his available stock of stationery (one and one half boxes, totaling precisely 741 sheets of paper) to do so.\n\nUSFIP had acquired some other desperately needed supplies from the mountainside cottage of the manager of the Dole Corporation's Pineapple Plantation Number Three. The cottage, some miles from the plantation itself, had been the manager's private retreat. It had somehow escaped Japanese attention, and so it had held a dozen sets of bed linen\u2014which USFIP converted into bandages; a Winchester single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle and three and a half boxes of .22 shells; a motley collection of inexpensive tableware and pots and pans; a mixed assortment of condiments and canned delicacies (such as Planter's Peanuts, martini olives, and miniature onions); a Zenith portable radio; and a Smith-Corona \"Student's\" portable typewriter with a nearly new ribbon.\n\nGeneral Fertig had his staff prepare copies for the record of the several pronouncements he had made as Commanding General, USFIP; the commissions he had bestowed upon certain members of his staff; and memorandums of record of the money issued by the Provisional Government of Misamis Occidental Province and which he had borrowed for USFIP.\n\nAnd he instructed his cryptographic officer, Capt. Horace B. Buchanan, to assume personal responsibility for the Smith-Corona and the stock of stationery, and, aside from making copies of outgoing and incoming messages, to make sure that no one used either paper or typewriter in a manner that could by any stretch of the imagination be considered profligate.\n\nWhen Capt. Buchanan went to General Fertig's quarters with the two messages that had come in within five minutes of each other, the General was having his evening cocktail. Second Lieutenant (ex-chief petty officer, USN) Ellwood Orfett, whom Fertig had placed in charge of a deserted coconut oil mill, had revealed another talent. He could convert mashed pineapple meat into alcohol, producing a lethal-smelling transparent intoxicant with the kick of a mule, but which, when mixed with pineapple juice, didn't taste half bad.\n\n\"Would you like a little taste, Buchanan?\" Fertig asked as Buchanan came up the bamboo stairs of the General's quarters, shaking the whole building.\n\n\"Don't mind if I do, Sir,\" Buchanan said, and helped himself to a glass of the mixture. He poured it from a pottery mug in the shape of a cow's head. This was originally intended for milk, and was also salvaged from the pineapple plantation manager's cottage.\n\nFertig read the two messages, which were both on the same sheet of paper:\n\nPRIORITY FROM KAZ FOR WYZB \nATTENTION LT COL FERTIG\n\nYOUR RADIO MESSAGE OF 15 FEBRUARY 1943 FOR SECWAR WASHINGTON HAS COME TO THE ATTENTION OF THIS HEADQUARTERS.\n\nALL REPEAT ALL COMMUNICATIONS FROM YOUR DETACHMENT OF WHATEVER NATURE WILL BE DIRECTED TO THIS HEADQUARTERS. NO DEVIATION FROM THIS POLICY WILL BE TOLERATED.\n\nBY COMMAND OF GENERAL MACARTHUR. WILLOUGHBY BRIG GEN\n\nURGENT\n\nFROM JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF WASH DC \nVIA KSF FOR WYZB HQ US FORCES IN PHILIPPINES\n\nATTENTION BRIGADIER GENERAL FERTIG\n\nKEEP YOUR SHIRT ON\n\nJ. R. ELLIS CHIEF USN\n\n\"I rather expected the first one,\" Fertig said. Then he read the second message.\n\n\"I rather like the sound of the second,\" Fertig said, \"even if I haven't the faintest idea what it means.\"\n\n\"I'd say it's the reason General Willoughby sounds just a little pissed,\" Capt. Buchanan said. \"The one from Washington\u2014from the Joint Chiefs\u2014is addressed to 'General Fertig,' you'll notice.\"\n\n\"You think Willoughby knows about it?\" Fertig asked.\n\n\"He knew about our message to the Secretary of War,\" Buchanan said. \"Sure, I think he heard about it. He's probably got the whole message.\"\n\n\"What do you mean by that?\" Fertig asked curiously.\n\n\"The signature on the message is incomplete,\" Buchanan said. \"There had to be more to it than 'Chief USN.' Chief of something. What?\"\n\n\"I thought it meant 'chief petty officer,' \" Fertig said.\n\n\"Chief petty officers don't sign messages from the Joint Chiefs of Staff,\" Buchanan said. \"Admirals and generals do that.\"\n\nHe remembered\u2014and then was a little ashamed of the memory\u2014that General Fertig, who had been a civilian eighteen months ago, knew damned little about the military services.\n\n\"Then what the hell does it mean?\" Fertig asked. \" 'Keep your shirt on' doesn't sound at all military, does it?\"\n\nBuchanan filled his glass again before replying.\n\n\"I thought about that, General,\" he said. \"It may be . . . maybe even probably is . . . a reply to your message to the Secretary of War. And it just might mean exactly what it says.\"\n\n\"That we should be patient, that they are sending help?\"\n\n\"I wonder at what point you want something so desperately that you lose sight of reality and imagine you see what you're looking for behind every bush,\" Buchanan said.\n\n\"But?\"\n\n\"The message is from the Joint Chiefs,\" Buchanan said. \"And we have a 'we are pissed' message from MacArthur. Which just might mean MacArthur has been asked to explain why no help has been sent to us. Or even that he has been ordered to get off his ass and send some.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" Fertig said softly, thoughtfully. \"Could be.\"\n\n\"And if I wanted to get a message to somebody who doesn't have any cryptographic equipment worth a damn,\" Buchanan went on, \"it would run through my mind to send a message in slang, in the clear, and hope that the Japs wouldn't understand the slang, and would try to decode the slang.\"\n\n\"We have heard from MacArthur about the Secretary of War message,\" Fertig said, \"and there was no reply to our message about VD medicine.\"\n\n\"That might be because it would be beneath the Generalissimo's dignity to acknowledge. Nobody talks to MacArthur that way.\"\n\n\"You really think there was more to that message than what we got\u2014specifically, a rank and a job title?\" Fertig asked.\n\n\"I think there just had to be.\"\n\n\"If there was a message, it seems common decency would have required MacArthur, or Willoughby, to relay it to us. To make sure we got it.\"\n\nBuchanan shrugged.\n\n\" 'Common decency,' \" he parroted bitterly.\n\n\"The last time I saw the Generalissimo,\" Fertig said, \"was in the Manila Club. There was a buffet. MacArthur, of course, and his queen and the crown prince didn't stand in the line. But I went through it with my wife. And as we walked to our table, we had to squeeze around their table. He was in a planter's white suit. I had a large bowl of shrimp bisque. I will regret for the rest of my life not having had an accident with it.\"\n\nBuchanan laughed.\n\n\"It may be, Buchanan,\" Fertig said, \"that help is on the way. But I think it more likely that you and I are sitting here with five ounces of Orfett's pineapple white lightning in us, seeing things we want to see behind bushes that just aren't there. I don't want any of this to go any further than you or me.\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Buchanan said. And then he blurted, \"But sooner or later, Christ, they're going to have to do something, aren't they?\"\n\n\"Sooner or later,\" Fertig said.\n\n# **7**\n\n## **BATTHYANY PALACE BUDAPEST, HUNGARY 0820 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nStandartenf\u00fchrer SS-SD Johann M\u00fcller came into the sitting room of the Countess's apartment in Batthyany Palace and quickly glanced around the room, taking in Canidy and Ferniany, who were sitting on a couch before a gilt coffee table.\n\nThere was no expression on his face.\n\n\"'Tag,\" he said, then started to unbutton his black leather overcoat. He hung it carefully on the back of a Louis XIV chair and then moved the chair to a position near one of the two white porcelain stoves. Then he moved the chair a foot farther away.\n\n\"If you get it too close, it cracks and dries the leather,\" he explained.\n\nAnd then he looked at Helmut von Heurten-Mitnitz, his eyebrows raised in question.\n\n\"Johann,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said in German, \"this is Major Canidy of the United States Army. _'Pharmacist_. _'_ \"\n\nM\u00fcller examined Canidy carefully, then did the same thing to Ferniany. He was subjected to the same kind of an examination by the Americans.\n\n\"And him?\" M\u00fcller asked.\n\n\"Ferniany's my name,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"Canidy's man on the scene, I gather,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz explained.\n\n\"Everybody speak slowly,\" Canidy said. \"My German is pretty weak.\"\n\n\"He was telling him who we are,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"I got that,\" Canidy said. \"But go slow. I don't want to miss anything.\"\n\n\"Gott in Himmel!\" M\u00fcller said, exasperated. \"They send someone in who doesn't even speak the language!\"\n\n\"It was necessary,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"Eric Fulmar and Professor Dyer are in the P\u00e9cs city jail,\" Canidy said.\n\nThis produced the first hint of excitement in M\u00fcller.\n\n\"And Gisella?\" he demanded. \"Fr\u00e4ulein Dyer?\"\n\n\"She's safe,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Safe where?\"\n\n\"Cairo,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"So what happened?\" M\u00fcller demanded. He was back in control of his emotions, but there had been enough for Canidy to decide that there was more than a casual relationship between the SS-SD officer and Dyer's daughter.\n\n\"The barge was boarded by the River Police and the Black Guard,\" Ferniany said. \"They found a lot of money on Fulmar and decided he was a black marketeer. They helped themselves to the money and arranged for them to get ninety days in the coal mines.\"\n\n\"It's only a matter of time until somebody finds out who they are,\" M\u00fcller said. \"I had a teletype yesterday\u2014addressed to me personally, not to the senior SS-SD officer\u2014 from Von Hymme, Himmler's adjutant, telling me to personally make sure that 'the investigation was being pursued with all diligence.' \"\n\n\"They think they're here?\"\n\n\"From the time they found the Gestapo agent's body, they really closed down the borders of Germany to the occupied countries and to the neutrals. Himmler's mouth ran away with him again, and he said he could personally state that nobody got out that way. That leaves only here.\"\n\n\"Another question,\" Canidy said. \"Why all the interest?\"\n\n\"It would be enough,\" M\u00fcller replied dryly, \"that the Reichsf\u00fchrer-SS has showed his ass by not catching them long before this. And on top of that, our friend Eric used his knife on a Gestapo agent, which has the Gestapo in a rage. And then he used it on Peis, the SS-SD commander in Marburg an der Lahn, which has the SS-SD upset.\"\n\n\"Tell me about 'pursuing the investigation with all diligence, ' \" Canidy said.\n\n\"After you round up 'all the usual suspects,' which was done and which came up with nothing,\" M\u00fcller said, \"you start to recheck things like travel permits, hospital admittances, and jails. When I got the teletype, I ordered that done. I don't know how long it will take them to check the P\u00e9cs jail, but it won't be long. If I was doing it . . . instead, I mean, of having to ask the Black Guard for their cooperation . . . I would have them by now.\"\n\nM\u00fcller waited for that to sink in, and then went on, \"If you've got some idea of getting them out of that jail, you had better do it now.\"\n\n\"Major Canidy has asked for a team of specialists,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"The reason he's here is to arrange for a landing site.\"\n\n\"A landing site? You mean for parachutists?\" M\u00fcller asked.\n\nCanidy nodded.\n\n\"How long will that take? What's wrong with using the underground?\" M\u00fcller asked.\n\n\"The underground can't be involved in this,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"How long will it take to get your 'specialists' in here?\"\n\n\"Forty-eight hours, maybe twenty-four, after we find a place to drop them,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"The story I get,\" M\u00fcller said, \"is that there are parachutists dropping all over Yugoslavia and Hungary.\"\n\n\"This has to be kept separate from that,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"We may not have forty-eight hours,\" M\u00fcller said. \"We may not even have twenty-four.\" He looked at Canidy. \"If they catch Fulmar, he knows von Heurten-Mitnitz and me. And, sooner or later, he would tell them everything he knows.\"\n\n\"And me,\" the Countess said. \"He knows me.\"\n\n\"We'll arrange to get you out,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Von Heurten-Mitnitz's family would probably be all right if he disappeared,\" M\u00fcller went on, \"and the Countess doesn't have anything to lose. But they would go after my mother and my brothers and sisters.\"\n\n\"Then the thing to do is get Eric and the professor out of the jail, isn't it?\" Canidy replied.\n\n\"Under the circumstances,\" M\u00fcller said, \"I would say the thing to do is arrange for them to be shot while being arrested,\" M\u00fcller said.\n\n\"If they are to be shot, I'll make that decision,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I really don't need your permission, Herr Major,\" M\u00fcller said.\n\n\"How large an area do you need for your parachutists, Major?\" the Countess asked.\n\nM\u00fcller glared at her.\n\n\"For the time being, Johann,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said, \"we will go along with Major Canidy.\"\n\n\"A minimum of eight hundred meters by three,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"So large?\" she asked, disappointed, and then went on: \"There is a field, a meadow, in the mountains above P\u00e9cs. We have a hunting lodge there. But it's not that big.\"\n\n\"What's around it?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"A forest,\" she said.\n\n\"Would a low-flying aircraft attract attention?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" she said.\n\nCanidy exhaled.\n\n\"If that's all there is, we'll have to use it,\" Canidy said. \"Could you find it on a map?\"\n\n\"I don't know,\" she said. \"And I don't have a map.\"\n\nCanidy gestured impatiently at Ferniany, who went to his sheepskin coat, dug into a pocket, and came out with a map.\n\nWith some difficulty, the Countess found the meadow she was looking for on the map.\n\n\"It's damned small, and it's thirteen miles from P\u00e9cs,\" she said.\n\n\"But it hasn't been used, has it?\" Canidy said.\n\n\"No,\" Ferniany said. \"There's that.\"\n\n\"Take the coordinates,\" Canidy ordered, \"and then burn the map. And then you better get going.\"\n\n\"Where's he going?\" M\u00fcller asked.\n\n\"To radio the location of the drop zone,\" Canidy said. \"And to make arrangements to move the professor and Eric once we get them out.\"\n\n\"And what do you plan to do?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"The next problem is to get me from here to the Countess's hunting lodge,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"How do you plan to do that?\" M\u00fcller asked.\n\n\"Gisella told me you have an Opel Admiral,\" Canidy said. \"How about that?\"\n\n\"I can't afford to be seen anywhere near P\u00e9cs,\" M\u00fcller said.\n\n\"No,\" Canidy said. \"You are going to be at the Austro-Hungarian border, noisily 'pursuing the investigation with all diligence.' \"\n\nM\u00fcller snorted.\n\n\"And the Countess and I will go to the hunting lodge?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said thoughtfully, \"in M\u00fcller's car? With you in the luggage boot?\"\n\n\"Unless you've got a better idea,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"The plane will attract attention,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"And it will come out that we were there.\"\n\n\"The day before, maybe two days before,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"But it will come out,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz repeated.\n\n\"Unless you've got a better idea,\" Canidy repeated.\n\nM\u00fcller snorted again.\n\nCanidy looked at him coldly.\n\n\"And in case you think you have a better idea, Standartenf\u00fchrer M\u00fcller,\" he said, \"I think I had better tell you that if this operation goes sour, Reichsf\u00fchrer-SS Himmler will receive, mailed from Sweden, an hour-by-hour report of how you spent your last forty-eight hours in Morocco. With photographs, showing you with Eric in his U.S. Army uniform.\"\n\nM\u00fcller's eyes, very cold, met Canidy's, but he didn't say anything.\n\n\"At the risk of repeating myself,\" Canidy said, \"it may be necessary to do whatever is necessary to keep Fulmar and the professor from falling into the hands of the SS. But I will make that decision.\"\n\nM\u00fcller snorted again, and pursed his lips.\n\n\"When I first saw you, Major,\" M\u00fcller said finally, \"what I thought was they had sent an amateur. Obviously, I was wrong.\"\n\n# **8**\n\n## **CAIRO, EGYPT 1225 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCaptain Stanley S. Fine resisted the temptation to let Lt. Colonel Peter Douglass, Jr., who was riding as copilot, land the B-17F. Doug Douglass, despite the expected fighter pilot's denigration of the \"flying barge,\" was obviously fascinated with the bomber. He would have liked to make the landing, and he probably would have handled it onto the wide and long runway without any trouble at all. He was an experienced pilot, and he had been an apt pupil.\n\nBut the moment they had taken off from Fersfield, Fine had been very much aware that they had crossed a line. From now on, everything was dead serious. There was no excuse whatever for taking any kind of a chance, no matter how slight.\n\nNothing had been said between them, but Douglass had seemed to understand and had conducted himself as a copilot should, making no control movements at all without first getting Fine's permission.\n\nFine set the B-17F down smoothly within two hundred feet of the threshold, then lowered it gently down onto the tail wheel.\n\n\"Call the tower?\" Douglass's voice came over the intercom.\n\n\"Please,\" Fine said.\n\n\"Cairo, Army Triple Zero Four on the ground at twenty-five past the hour,\" Douglass said. \"Request taxi instructions. \"\n\n\"Triple Zero Four, take Taxiway Two Right and find yourself a place to park with the other B-17s on the line.\"\n\nDouglass looked over at Fine. He was surprised. Ten minutes before, Cairo had acknowledged the \"This is Eighth Air Force Flight Five Six Six\" message that was supposed to alert OSS Cairo that they had arrived. Douglass did not expect the B-17 to be ordered to find itself a place to park with the other 17s on the line.\n\nFine looked surprised, too.\n\nDouglass pressed the mike button.\n\n\"Cairo, Triple Zero Four, say again your last transmission. You were garbled.\"\n\nCairo repeated the order.\n\nThere were a dozen B-17s and B-24s, and twice that many other transient aircraft on the parking line, but there was no sign of Canidy's B-25.\n\nFine taxied the B-17 to the end of the line, parked it in a line with another B-17, shut it down, and prepared the flight documents.\n\nA gas truck, a brand-new General Motors semitrailer, stopped just off the taxiway in front of them, and a crew got off and began to unroll fueling hoses.\n\n\"I'll go see what's going on,\" Fine said, unstrapping his harness. \"I think we had better keep our passengers aboard.\"\n\nFine opened the access hatch and lowered himself through it. Douglass went through the bomb bay into the rear of the fuselage. The team was peering out the gun ports.\n\n\"Colonel?\" J\u00e1nos asked. \"Can we get off?\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" Douglass said. \"Somebody fucked up. There's nobody here to meet us.\"\n\n\"That figures,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\nIt was already getting hot in the fuselage; Douglass felt sweat under his arms and on his forehead as he saw it pop out on J\u00e1nos's face.\n\n\"Fuck it,\" he said. \"I don't see any point in melting. Get out, get in the shade of the wing, but don't stray off. And don't take anything with you.\"\n\nHe went to the side door in the fuselage and opened it, then waited until the last of the team had gotten out before getting out himself.\n\nThe team was gone when he got outside, and he saw that a Dodge ambulance had been backed up to the nose of the B-17. Normally, Dodge ambulance bodies had huge red crosses painted on their sides and roof; this one did not.\n\n\"You get to ride in front, Colonel,\" a voice called, and he saw a hand gesture toward the front of the vehicle.\n\nDouglass walked to the ambulance and got in.\n\nThe driver was a sergeant, and Douglass had his mouth open to ask him where they were being taken when a familiar voice spoke.\n\n\"The shit's hitting the fan.\"\n\nDouglass looked into the back of the ambulance. The narrow benches on each side were jammed with people, and one of them was Lt. Commander John Dolan.\n\n\"Canidy went into Hungary,\" Dolan went on.\n\n\"Jesus!\" Douglass said, then: \"How are you? There was word you had a terminal case of the GIs.\"\n\n\"I'm better,\" Dolan said.\n\n\"Where are we going?\"\n\n\"They got a villa,\" Dolan said. \"Very nice, swimming pool and everything.\"\n\n\"Does anybody know why Dick went into Hungary?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Does anybody know why he does anything?\" Dolan replied. \"They're trying to get a message to him to get his ass out of there. Everything's on hold until we see if that works.\"\n\n\"Who's 'they're'?\" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Donovan himself,\" Dolan said. \"They're apparently really pissed.\"\n\nWilkins, the Cairo Station Chief, was waiting for them at the villa. A lunch had been laid out for everyone at the side of the pool. There was no sense of urgency, and both Fine and Douglass were annoyed. But as they were eating, a distinguished-looking man in a stiffly starched but tieless shirt came to the table and handed Wilkins a sheet of paper.\n\nWilkins glanced at it, then handed it to Douglass.\n\n\"Sorry, Colonel,\" he said. \"But I didn't know where exactly you fitted into this.\"\n\nDouglass read it.\n\nTOP SECRET\n\nFROM OSS WASHINGTON TO OSS CAIRO\n\nLT COL PETER DOUGLASS JR USAAC IS AUTHORIZED ACCESS TO SUCH CLASSIFIED MATERIAL IN CONNECTION WITH CURRENT MISSION AS IS DEEMED ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY REPEAT ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY BY STATION CHIEF CAIRO AND PHARMACIST TWO DONOVAN\n\n\"Well,\" Douglass said, \"it's nice to know I'm to be trusted, if absolutely necessary.\"\n\nWilkins did not seem amused.\n\n\"I understand Donovan is pissed at Canidy,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"I don't think 'pissed' is the word,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"If Canidy went into Hungary, he had his reasons,\" Douglass said loyally.\n\n\"I hope he finds his reasons worth it,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"I don't think I follow you,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"Come with me,\" Wilkins said, \"and you, too, Fine.\"\n\nHe led them to the pool house, where two radio operators sat with earphones on their heads. He motioned Fine and Douglass into chairs, then dropped to his knees, worked the combination of a safe, and handed Fine a cover sheet stamped TOP SECRET.\n\nTOP SECRET\n\nOPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE\n\nFROM OSS WASHINGTON FOR OSS CAIRO EYES ONLY WILKINS\n\nPASS FOLLOWING TO PHARMACIST TWO ON ARRIVAL CAIRO STOP\n\nQUOTE YOU ARE HEREBY APPOINTED EXLAX CONTROL CANIDY RELIEVED STOP APPOINTMENT IS PERMANENT STOP CANIDY WILL NOT REPEAT NOT RESUME AUTHORITY OVER EXLAX UNDER ANY CONDITIONS STOP EVERYTHING POSSIBLE INCLUDING TERMINATION REPEAT INCLUDING TERMINATION WILL BE DONE TO PREVENT CANIDY FALLING INTO ENEMY HANDS STOP YOU WILL ACKNOWLEDGE TIME AND DATE OF RECEIPT DONOVAN END QUOTE\n\nFine read it and handed it to Douglass.\n\n\"Jesus, he is mad,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"You have a code word for a situation like this?\" Wilkins asked Fine. \"To acknowledge receipt?\"\n\n\"Yes, I do,\" Fine said.\n\n\"You want to give it to me?\" Wilkins asked, on the edge of sarcasm.\n\n\"I don't think I will,\" Fine said. \"I don't want to acknowledge that message.\"\n\n\"What?\" Wilkins asked incredulously.\n\n\"I'm not sure that was sent by Donovan,\" Fine said. \"Before I acknowledge it, I want confirmation.\"\n\n\"That will take hours,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"It doesn't sound like Donovan to me, either,\" Douglass said loyally.\n\n\"What the hell are you trying to pull, Captain?\" Wilkins demanded.\n\n\"Canidy was there,\" Fine said. \"And he's not a fool. I certainly won't double-guess him, and I don't think Colonel Donovan would, either.\"\n\nWilkins opened his mouth to argue, but didn't get a chance to speak. One of the operators called out.\n\n\"Hey, I got something from Vis. . . . \"\n\n\"What does it say?\"\n\n\"It's not in the clear, for Christ's sake,\" the operator said, furiously pounding his typewriter.\n\nEight minutes later, the decryption process was completed:\n\nFROM POSTMAN FOR CAIRO VIA STATION VIII PHARMACIST REQUESTS EARLIEST POSSIBLE DROP RESCUE TEAM AT COORDINATES SEVEN FOUR NINE NINE THREE EIGHT ONE EIGHT STOP DROP MUST REPEAT MUST TAKE PLACE AT FIRST LIGHT STOP ADVISE\n\nIt took another five minutes to find the map of Hungary and then mark the location indicated by the coordinates.\n\n\"We're how far from Vis?\" Fine wondered aloud.\n\n\"Four hours thirty,\" Douglass said immediately. \"In the B-25.\"\n\nUsing his thumb and little finger as a compass, Fine measured the distance between Vis and P\u00e9cs.\n\n\"That's about an hour and a quarter,\" he said. \"Maybe a little less.\"\n\n\"What about that 'must take place at first light' business? \" Douglass asked.\n\n\"Jesus,\" Fine said. \"You're asking, how do we take off from P\u00e9cs in the dark?\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Douglass said. \"But we don't have to take off from P\u00e9cs. We can take off from here.\"\n\n\"We don't have the range,\" Fine said.\n\n\"More than enough, if we sit down at P\u00e9cs on the way back,\" Douglass said.\n\nFine was silent for a moment.\n\nThen he said, \"Message Pharmacist as follows. Team will be available for drop first light tomorrow.\"\n**XII**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 1330 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nWhat Canidy had imagined was going to be adequate accommodation in the large trunk of Standartenf\u00fchrer-SS M\u00fcller's Opel Admiral quickly proved to be mildly, and then excruciatingly, uncomfortable.\n\nDespite the generous proportions of the Admiral's trunk, he could not stretch his legs without arcing his torso painfully, nor raise himself on his elbows without simultaneously lowering his head so that his chin rested on his upper chest.\n\nAnd the thick goose-down comforters and pillows that the Countess Batthyany had put into the trunk to keep him warm and serve as cushions had not been as helpful as everyone had cheerfully, almost gaily, believed. The comforter had quickly crushed down under him, so that he could feel every ridge and indentation in the trunk floor. And the comforter he had wrapped around himself for warmth, and the pillows on which he had planned to cushion his head, made things worse than nothing at all, for they retained enough bulk to get in the way when he shifted his body again and again to relieve the strain on his muscles.\n\nHe became uneasy, nervous, worried, and he began to wonder if he had some previously unsuspected problem with claustrophobia. He reasoned that through and decided his nervousness was perfectly reasonable: He was in the dark, and nobody liked that.\n\nMore important, it was fifty-fifty that von Heurten-Mitnitz was wrong when he said he \"rather doubted they would be stopped at all, or subjected to more than the most perfunctory examination if they were.\" There was a fifty-fifty chance that the trunk lid would suddenly open and he would find himself looking up at a Black Guard, a Hungarian cop, or even a Gestapo agent. If that happened, he was not going to be in a position to do much about it. The Sten submachine gun Captain Hughson had given him in Vis was now in the hands of an admiring Yugoslav partisan. Canidy was armed now only with the Fairbairn and a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38, neither of which would be of any real use if the car was stopped and checked. If that happened, in addition to being nearly paralyzed by the goddamned trunk, he would be blinded by the sudden light and helpless.\n\nThere had been time to remember where he had gotten the snub-nosed .38, and that hadn't helped his morale either. Jimmy Whittaker had given it to him just before they'd taken off on the mission to the Belgian Congo. Moments before that, Jimmy had taken it away from the flight engineer. The flight engineer had been given the pistol by the Chief, OSS London Station, together with an order that he use it on Canidy the moment it looked as if Canidy was going to fall into enemy hands.\n\nIt was not difficult to proceed from that to the logical conclusion that if an elimination order\u2014to keep him from failing into enemy hands\u2014had been issued then, a similar order had doubtless also been issued to cover this circumstance. He knew now more information that the Germans shouldn't know than he had known when he and Jimmy had flown off to the Belgian Congo.\n\nHe wondered where Whittaker was at that moment. In Australia, more than likely, dazzling the Australian women with his good looks and all-pink uniform. Whittaker, he thought, should have been a sailor; he already had a girl in every airport.\n\nAnn came to mind then, and he wallowed for a moment in the memory of the smell of her, and the feel, and the touch of her hand on him, and then he forced Ann from his mind.\n\nAnd then he got a headache. He was suddenly aware of it, a real bitch of a headache behind his eyes and across the base of his skull. He realized that he had been aware of _getting_ a headache for some time.\n\n\"Oh, shit!\" he said aloud.\n\nHe tried to look at his wristwatch to see how long he had been in the trunk. The Hamilton chronometer with the glowing hands was now adorning the wrist of the fishing boat captain. He couldn't even see the watch he had been given in return, much less tell what time it was.\n\nIn that ten seconds, the headache seemed to have grown even worse.\n\nAnd then he knew why he had a headache.\n\n\"Pull over!\" Canidy shouted. \"Let me out of here!\"\n\nThere was no reply. They apparently hadn't heard him. He could hear them talking. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but he could hear them.\n\nHe tried shouting again, and again there was no response. His voice was being muffled, he realized, by the thickly padded leather upholstery in the backseat of the Admiral; and what got through was not audible over the whistling of the wind on the convertible roof and the sound of the engine.\n\nThen there was a momentary wave of terror. He was going to die in this fucking trunk, be quietly asphyxiated by carbon monoxide from the exhaust. When they got to the Countess's hunting lodge and opened the trunk, they would find him dead.\n\nHe thought first of his pistol. If he fired that, they would hear it.\n\nBut where was he to fire it? Out the top of the trunk, so there would be a bullet hole for the cops to become fascinated with? Into the trunk floor, where it would pierce the fuel tank?\n\nAnd what would firing a pistol in the confined area of the trunk do to his ears?\n\nHe put both hands to his head and pressed inward as hard as he could against the pain of the carbon-monoxide-induced headache.\n\nAnd then he twisted around, shoving to the side the goose-down comforter under him. He felt the floor of the trunk. It was covered with some kind of padding. He found the edge, and with a great deal of effort managed to pry the edge loose. Finally, there was enough loose so that he could grip it. He gave a mighty heave and it came loose. Now there was nothing there but sheet metal.\n\nHe balled his fist and struck the floor of the trunk with all of his strength. And then did so again, and again, and again.\n\nAnd finally, he sensed that the Admiral was slowing, and then there was the sound of gravel under the tires. The car stopped, and Canidy heard a door open. And then the trunk opened, just a crack. But the light coming through the two-inch opening was so painful that Canidy closed his eyes against it.\n\n\"Are you all right in there?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"I'm being asphyxiated,\" Canidy said. \"Is it clear? Can I get out?\"\n\n\"Asphyxiated?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked doubtfully.\n\n\"The goddamned muffler leaks,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"Just a moment,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. From his tone of voice, Canidy knew that he now believed him.\n\nAnd the trunk opened wide. Canidy heard the sound of the hinges and was aware of more light through his closed eyelids.\n\n\"Your lips are blue,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. \"Here, take my hand.\"\n\nCanidy opened his eyes just enough to see the hand, grabbed it, and closed his eyes again. Von Heurten-Mitnitz pulled him out of the trunk and led him to the curbside door.\n\n\"Lie on the seat,\" he ordered. \"Beatrice, there's a flask in the map box. Give it to him.\"\n\n\"He's sick?\" she asked.\n\n\"Exhaust poisoning,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said. He closed the trunk, then got behind the wheel and started off.\n\nCanidy felt something cold and metallic at his lips. He took the flask from the Countess and took a deep pull.\n\nHe felt the warmth spread through his body, and then something else.\n\n\"I think I'm going to be sick,\" he said.\n\n\"Oh, please don't,\" the Countess Batthyany said practically. \"You never can get that smell out of a car!\"\n\nCanidy fought down the urge to vomit and took slow, deep breaths. The desire to vomit passed, and he was able after a while to keep his eyes open. He found himself looking into the Countess's face.\n\n\"You're getting color back,\" she said. \"You'll be all right now.\"\n\nThere was genuine relief on her face, Canidy saw, and then decided it almost certainly wasn't for him.\n\nThere was another queasy feeling in his stomach. He fought it by sitting up, and it passed, but there was a wave of sharp pain behind his eyes.\n\nHe took another pull at the silver brandy flask and looked out the windshield. They were all alone on a narrow, curving road cut through a dense forest of mature pines.\n\n\"Where are we?\" he asked. \"How long was I in the trunk?\"\n\n\"It's another couple of hours to P\u00e9cs,\" the Countess said. \"We left Budapest at half past nine. You were back there about two hours.\"\n\n\"What's next on the road?\" Canidy asked. \"Am I going to have to get back in the trunk?\"\n\n\"We just went through Dunaf\u00f6ldv\u00e1r,\" the Countess said. \"There's a couple of small towns between here and P\u00e9cs, Sioag\u00e1rd and P\u00e9csv\u00e1rad, hardly more than villages. You'll be all right in the back, I think.\"\n\n\"Do we go through P\u00e9cs itself?\"\n\n\"There's a way around,\" she said. \"But it's dirt roads, and there's no telling how muddy they would be this time of year. And we would attract attention.\"\n\n\"I was wondering whether we could run by the jail,\" Canidy said, \"and then trace the route the truck takes moving the prisoners to the mine.\"\n\n\"We'll take that road anyway,\" she said. \"But it would be a detour to go past Saint Gertrud's.\"\n\n\"A conspicuous detour?\" Canidy asked.\n\nShe thought that over before replying, \"No. It's on the edge of town. But we wouldn't be more conspicuous there than we're going to be anyway.\"\n\n\"Then please tell Herr von Heurten-Mitnitz how to get there,\" Canidy said. \"I want a look.\"\n\nAt quarter to two, the tires leaving a path across previously unbroken snow, the Opel Admiral pulled up before the hunting lodge. It was a long, low wooden building with elaborate scrollwork, now covered with dripping icicles, along the roofline. There was a chimney at each end and a much larger one in the middle. Smoke rose from one of the end chimneys, and as Canidy got out of the car, he could smell wood smoke.\n\n\"I think it would be better if you spoke German,\" the Countess said.\n\n\"Who's in the house?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"The caretaker and his wife,\" she said. \"And there are foresters in small houses behind the lodge.\"\n\n\"And they can't be trusted?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"Of course they can be trusted,\" she said. \"They have been with my family for hundreds of years. But if the Black Guard comes here, I don't want to ask them to lie any more than necessary. They don't speak German, but they recognize it. I want them to be able to report they saw me with two German-speaking men.\"\n\n\"They're going to know what's going on,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"They will do what I ask them to do,\" the Countess said, \"and then, because I ask them to, they will forget having done it.\"\n\nCanidy's disbelief showed on his face.\n\n\"My father was active in the Independent Hungary movement,\" the Countess said. \"Crown Prince Rudolf used to come here secretly. If my people could forget that he was here, they can forget you.\"\n\nThe look on his face confused her.\n\n\"Crown Prince Rudolf was the . . . ,\" she started to explain.\n\n\"Heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne,\" Canidy filled in. \"The one who shot his girlfriend, and then himself. At Mayerling.\"\n\n\"Like Standartenf\u00fchrer M\u00fcller,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said, \"the Countess seems to have underestimated you, Canidy.\"\n\n\"And not you?\"\n\n\"A good diplomat never underestimates anyone,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\nAs they approached the hunting lodge, the door was opened by a hefty, large-bosomed woman with jet-black hair. The hair was parted in the middle and done up in elaborate braids.\n\nShe curtsied to the Countess, then to the men.\n\n\"She says,\" the Countess said, \"that if she had known we were coming, her husband would have of course been here, and there would be a meal prepared. As it is, all there is is simple boar guly\u00e1s. Paprika guly\u00e1s.\"\n\nAfter they had eaten, Canidy was outfitted, from a wide selection, with a green loden cloth coat and lace-up boots, which were, he suspected, older than he was. Laughing, the Countess added a black cap of heavy wool.\n\n\"A real Magyar!\" she said.\n\nThe caretaker showed up as the Countess was lacing up her boots. With him was a man Canidy's age, with a double -barreled shotgun hanging upside down on a woven leather strap from his shoulder.\n\n\"This is Alois, the chief hunter,\" the Countess explained. \"His great-grandfather was my great-grandfather's chief hunter. We will take him with us to the meadow. If there is anything that has to be done, he will see that it is done, and then he will forget that he ever saw you.\"\n\n\"How big a place do you have, Countess?\" Canidy asked. \"In other words, how about the neighbors?\"\n\n\"This estate is roughly an oblong,\" she replied matter-of -factly. \"It is twenty-three kilometers long and about fourteen wide. There are no neighbors, and the local authorities are my tenants. If I do not wish them to see me, or anything else, they will not see me, or anything else.\"\n\n\"You sound very confident of that,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I am,\" she said.\n\nA ten-minute walk over light snow brought them to the meadow. It did not meet any of the criteria for a drop zone. It was far too small, and it was surrounded on three sides by a mature pine forest, into which anybody who missed the drop zone would land.\n\nBut trees had been harvested at one end of the meadow, where the land dropped precipitously off toward a stream.\n\nWhen Ferniany arrived with the radios and the panels, tomorrow or the next day, Canidy would arrange the panels either at the edge of the meadow by the forest or at the stream, depending on the wind. With a little bit of luck, they would be able to put three or four of the five parachutists down in the meadow. The others would have to take their chances on landing on his just-cut-over steep land at the end of the meadow.\n\nThere would be time to talk to the plane. Darmstadter had dropped parachutists before. He would know how to drop them here, once he had been told of the conditions by radio.\n\nCanidy thought of the emergency backup procedures. There was always that in the planning. Here, in the case of radio failure or if there were no opportunity to put the signal panels in place, it was a smoky fire at the point in the drop zone that would indicate where the first parachutist in the string was supposed to land.\n\nHowever, it didn't seem to make a hell of a lot of sense to bother about that particular backup. For one thing, there would be a chance to put the panels out and talk with the plane by radio. For another, unless the drop could be discussed with the plane, there would be no point in making the jump; it would be too risky.\n\nBut in the end, Canidy asked the Countess to have her chief hunter arrange for a five-foot-high stack of pine boughs at both ends of the drop zone. He showed, with his hands, how large the piles should be.\n\n\"And two cans of kerosene, preferably, or else gasoline, by each stack,\" he said.\n\nShe translated that for him.\n\nAnd then, as if they were two old friends out for a walk in the woods, she took his arm and they walked back to the hunting lodge.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **CAIRO, EGYPT 1715 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe first thing Freddy J\u00e1nos realized when he saw that the bomb-bay doors of the B-25 in the hangar were not functional was that he was going to have a hell of a hard time dropping out of the crew-access door when the time came.\n\nThen he measured the access door with his hands and realized that there was no way _any_ of the team could exit the aircraft wearing all their equipment.\n\n\"Something wrong, J\u00e1nos?\" Lt. Colonel Douglass asked him.\n\n\"That hatch isn't big enough,\" J\u00e1nos said. \"There's no way we can drop through that little hole.\"\n\n\"We've dropped people through that hole before,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"Only Fulmar,\" Capt. Stanley S. Fine said, entering the conversation. \"The others went out the bomb bay. Before Canidy removed the racks and the door-opening mechanism. And Fulmar jumped in with a British chute. No spare. And it took him a long time to get through the door. _If_ we could get them through the door, it would take so long they would land all over Hungary.\"\n\n\"Jesus Christ!\" Douglass said furiously. \"What the hell do we do now? How come this is the first time anybody thought about this?\"\n\n\"The B-17 can't land on Vis,\" Fine said, answering that question before it was asked.\n\n\"What's Vis?\" Freddy J\u00e1nos asked.\n\nFine and Douglass looked at each other before Fine answered, \"An island in the Adriatic. Where we will pick you up when this operation is over.\"\n\n\"Pick us up? We're not going to stay?\"\n\n\"No,\" Fine said. \"It has been decided to bring you out right away.\"\n\n\"Can I ask why?\"\n\n\"You can ask, but I can't tell you,\" Fine said.\n\n\"I must be out of my mind,\" J\u00e1nos said. \"But that sort of pisses me off.\"\n\n\"Jesus, that's all we need, a hero,\" Douglass said.\n\nJ\u00e1nos felt his face turn warm with anger. With an effort, he fought it down by telling himself that Douglass, by any criterion, was a hero, and thus had the right to mock the word.\n\n\"I guess that sounded pretty dumb,\" he said.\n\n\"Yes, it did,\" Douglass said, not backing off. \"I just hope you can restrain your heroic impulses when you do get in there, and that you do just what you're told, and nothing more.\"\n\nThey locked eyes for a moment. J\u00e1nos, for the first time, saw that Douglass could have very cold and calculating eyes. And he sensed suddenly that Douglass was judging him, and that if Douglass found him wanting\u2014if Douglass concluded that there was a risk he would foolishly take once he was in Hungary\u2014there was a good chance he would be left behind.\n\n\"Can a Gooney Bird land on this island?\" J\u00e1nos asked.\n\nThere was no response from Douglass. He continued to look at J\u00e1nos with cold, calculating eyes.\n\n\"What the hell,\" Douglass said finally. There was even the flicker of a smile. \"When all the clever ideas fail, be desperate. Go by the book. Use a parachutist-dropping airplane to drop parachutists.\"\n\n\"Can we get our hands on a C-47?\" J\u00e1nos asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" Fine said, almost impatiently. He had seen a dozen of the twin-engine transports sitting on the field. There would probably be one they could have simply by asking for it. And if there was a problem, one would have to be \"diverted from other missions.\" The OSS had the ultimate priority. \"But does a C-47 have the range?\"\n\n\"I don't think it does,\" Douglass said. \"I'm not even sure it will make it to Hungary. There's no way one of them could make it to P\u00e9cs and then to Vis.\"\n\n\"Where's Darmstadter?\" Fine asked. \"He ought to know.\"\n\n\"He and Dolan are checking the weather,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"What's the priority?\" Fine asked rhetorically.\n\n\"To get J\u00e1nos's team on the ground in one piece,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"We could . . . ,\" Fine began. \"I don't know what I'm talking about, and I won't until I know just what the Gooney Bird can do.\"\n\n\"Well,\" Douglass said, nodding toward a small door in one of the wide hangar doors where an MP, armed with a Thompson submachine gun, was checking the identification of Lt. Commander John Dolan, USNR, Lt. Henry Darmstadter, and Ernest J. Wilkins, \"here comes the expert. \"\n\n\"Well,\" Wilkins said, cheerfully confident, as he walked up to them. \"God loves us, apparently. The immediate and twenty-four-hour weather over the drop zone is going to be perfect.\"\n\nDouglass laughed nastily.\n\n\"Darmstadter,\" Fine asked. \"What's the range of a Gooney Bird? Would a Gooney Bird make it one way to P\u00e9cs?\"\n\n\"No,\" Darmstadter said immediately.\n\n\"What's wrong with the B-25?\" Dolan asked.\n\n\"Canidy has cleverly modified the B-25 so that you can't drop parachutists from it,\" Douglass said, \"or at least not a team of them, without scattering them all over Hungary. \"\n\n\"Good God!\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"And we can't put the 17 into Vis,\" Dolan said.\n\n\"Right,\" Fine said.\n\n\"Jesus, now what?\" Douglass asked. \"Canidy expects us at daybreak.\"\n\n\"So we use the B-17 for the drop,\" Dolan said. \"And it comes back here. And we send the B-25 to Vis. No problem. \"\n\n\"No,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"What do you mean, 'no'?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"Maintenance found landing-gear problems,\" he said. \"They called me and told me it would take twenty-four hours, maybe a little more, to replace what was broken.\"\n\n\"Then you'll have to get us another 17,\" Fine said.\n\n\"There will be a lot of questions asked why someone wants to borrow a bomber,\" Wilkins said.\n\nDarmstadter's mind had been racing. He thought he saw a solution. But he was reluctant to offer it. _These people,_ he told himself, _know what they're doing. I'm just a mediocre Gooney Bird pilot._\n\nAnd then he thought, _Fuck it!_\n\n\"If there would be only the team, five men, on the Gooney Bird,\" he said, \"it would be very light. It would take another ton and a half, maybe two, before it got close to Max Over Gross.\"\n\n\"If you're talking about fuel,\" Dolan said, not unkindly, \"we just don't have time to rig auxiliary fuel tanks.\"\n\n\"I'm talking about fifty-five-gallon drums,\" Darmstadter plunged on, \"and hand pumps to replenish the fuel in the main tanks as it's burned off.\"\n\n\"Hey!\" Dolan said after a moment's thought.\n\n\"Would that work, John?\" Fine asked.\n\n\"Eight fifty-five-gallon drums would weigh thirty-two hundred pounds,\" Dolan said. \"A little over a ton and a half. And that would be another four hundred gallons. More than enough to get a Gooney Bird from here to P\u00e9cs, and then to Vis.\"\n\n\"And you can get a Gooney Bird into Vis?\" Douglass said.\n\nDolan thought that over a moment before replying.\n\n\"Yeah,\" he said after a moment, \"I think Brother Darmstadter and I could sit a Gooney Bird down on Vis in one piece.\" He caught Darmstadter's eye and went on. \"We'll have to get the tail wheel down before we hit the stream, going in. If we were still up on the main gear, we'd go over on our nose. Getting out will be easier; we'll just keep the tail wheel on the ground till we're through the water.\"\n\nDarmstadter nodded his understanding.\n\n\"Could Brother Darmstadter and me sit one down in one piece?\" Douglass asked.\n\nDolan looked at him.\n\n\"You don't have hardly any Gooney Bird time, Colonel,\" Dolan said, after a moment.\n\n\"But I don't have dysentery, either,\" Douglass said. \"Canidy told me about your 'dysentery,' John.\"\n\n\"Canidy has a big mouth,\" Dolan said. \"And I'm all right.\"\n\n\"I don't think we can take a chance on that, John,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"I'm missing something here,\" Wilkins said.\n\n\"I'm afraid Commander Dolan will not be able to go,\" Douglass said. \"Whatever plans we make will have to exclude him.\"\n\n\"First of all, that'd be Fine's decision,\" Dolan said. \"And you haven't heard me out.\"\n\n\"Go ahead, Commander,\" Fine said, and immediately wondered why he had called Dolan by his rank.\n\n\"Darmstadter knows more about dropping . . . what is it they say? 'sticks' . . . sticks of paratroopers than anybody else. And he's also the only one of us with any experience to speak of flying a Gooney Bird on the deck. And the only way we're going to be able to find P\u00e9cs and not get ourselves shot down is to go in on the deck.\"\n\n\"Okay, that takes care of Darmstadter,\" Douglass said. \"He flies the Gooney Bird. We're talking about who goes with him. We're talking about your 'dysentery,' Dolan.\"\n\n\"I was flying cross-country using a road map before anybody else here was out of diapers,\" Dolan said. \"I'm the only one here who can, for sure, find this meadow Canidy has picked out for us.\"\n\n\"That presumes you don't have another . . . attack of dysentery,\" Douglass said.\n\n\"If, for example, you were to go in the Gooney Bird,\" Dolan went on, ignoring him, \"that would leave me and Fine to fly the 25 to Vis. Captain Fine is not what you could call an experienced B-25 pilot. I hate to think what would happen if he had to try to land the B-25 on Vis.\"\n\n\"Dolan, do you think Colonel Douglass could land the 25 on Vis?\"\n\n\"He stands a much better chance than you do,\" Dolan said. \"And the kid doesn't need him in the C-47.\"\n\n\"And what if you're not 'available' in the C-47?\" Fine challenged.\n\n\"That's the chance we have to take, that by me just sitting there in the right seat and letting the kid fly, my dysentery won't come back.\"\n\nDouglass looked at Fine.\n\n\"I think we have to go with Dolan,\" Fine said. \"His main advantage, I think, is that he's the one with the best chance . . . maybe even the only one with a chance . . . of finding the drop zone.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 0515 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nLt. Hank Darmstadter thought that the most difficult part of the flight so far had been taxiing to the end of the runway in Cairo. They had taken off at 2100, which would put them over the meadow outside P\u00e9cs at just after daylight. The airfield at Cairo was blacked out, and while Wilkins had been able to arrange for the runway lights to be turned on long enough for them to take off, they had had to be led to the runway from the hangar by a man holding a flash-light in the back of a jeep.\n\nThe flashlight-in-the-jeep had been very hard to follow. It was almost impossible to see directly ahead out over the nose of a C-47 with its tail wheel on the ground. C-47 pilots learned to taxi by looking out the side and by swinging the nose from side to side to provide a look ahead through the side windows.\n\nIt was difficult following the jeep, but they'd made it to the end of the runway all right, sometimes flicking the landing lights on to make sure of their position. Darmstadter had been a little surprised and flattered that Dolan had not taken over the controls and done the taxiing, but Dolan had left that to Darmstadter.\n\nAnd from the moment they had lined up with the centerline of the runway, things had gone without a hitch.\n\nDolan had waited until he'd run the final mag check for the engines, and then he'd called the tower for the lights, and they had come on immediately.\n\nDespite what had turned out because of the air temperature to be four hundred pounds over Max Over Gross, the takeoff had been no problem at all. The only way Darmstadter could tell how heavy they were was a reluctance to pick up altitude. But they had never come close to a stall, and the climb was steady, if slow.\n\nThe first leg, the longest, was on a west-northwest course across the desert to the Mediterranean, and then across the Mediterranean far enough south of Crete to avoid a chance encounter with German aircraft based on the island. And then they turned north across the Ionian Sea.\n\nThere was almost a half moon, providing what Dolan described as the most they could ask for, enough light for them to make out landmasses and shorelines, but not enough to make it easy for anyone to spot them.\n\nThe Strait of Otranto, which separates the heel of the Italian boot from Albania and the Adriatic from the Ionian Sea, came into view just when they expected it to, and they could see both shorelines for a while.\n\nDolan had planned that that leg of the flight would take six hours and twenty-five minutes. It actually took six hours and two, meaning that they were making better time than anticipated, even with the engines thinned back as much as possible for fuel economy.\n\nOnce they had crossed the Strait, Darmstadter had raised the nose slightly, starting a slow climb to 9,000 feet, and Dolan had begun to peer intently out the window looking for the narrow strip of land that ran between the Adriatic and Lake Scutari on the Yugoslav-Albanian border.\n\nDolan had told him, jokingly, but meaning it, that the secret of \"road map\" navigation was to look for something on the ground that was large enough to be easily seen and that couldn't be confused with anything else.\n\nLake Scutari fit the bill. It was twenty-five miles long and was separated from the Adriatic by a strip of land as narrow as seven miles. It could be easily found, and it could not be mistaken for anything else.\n\n\"Steer straight north from the end of the lake,\" Dolan said when they had found Lake Scutari, and then he got out of his seat. \"I think it's time to get rid of another drum.\"\n\nLt. J\u00e1nos had been shown how to pump fuel from the fifty-five-gallon drums into the main tanks. One of the drums had been \"semipermanently\" installed, with a line running from its bottom to the main aircraft tank. Fuel from it had been pumped into the main tank, and then that fuel was replenished from other fifty-five-gallon barrels.\n\nThe empty tanks didn't weigh much, but they could not be completely drained, and Dolan was worried that the avgas sloshing around in them would create fumes that would be dangerous. He had gone back into the cabin several times to make sure that as soon as each drum had been emptied, J\u00e1nos had thrown it out.\n\nThe ground seemed to glow white about that time, and after a moment Darmstadter figured out what it was\u2014the moonlight reflecting back from snow on the ground. That meant they were approaching the mountains in Montenegro, the highest of which was about 7,500 feet. There would be at least 1,500 feet between them and the highest peak, but it was important that they know when they passed over it, so they could safely descend.\n\nDarmstadter had been worried that Dolan would want the controls after they started down and were flying on the deck. There was no question that Dolan was a better and more experienced pilot. But there was also no doubt that he had had a heart attack and might have another.\n\nBut Dolan lived up to what he had promised Douglass: that he would \"work the road map in the right seat and let the kid fly.\"\n\nThe only specific instructions Dolan gave him were course changes, and several times the \"suggestion\" that it would be \"okay to go down another couple hundred feet.\"\n\nAccording to the Corps of Engineers' map (which the Corps had apparently borrowed from _Le Guide Michelin_ ), this part of Hungary was sparsely populated. There were here and there a few lights to be seen, but there was no way of telling whether they were a few lights in violation of a village blackout, or lights in single farmhouses.\n\nAt 0500, as the sky to the east was starting to glow dull red, Dolan unstrapped himself again and got off the copilot's seat.\n\n\"In eight minutes, maybe ten,\" he said, \"we should see a few lights. That'll be P\u00e9cs. Or maybe Athens. If you see something round, that'll be Rome.\"\n\nDarmstadter knew he was expected to laugh, and did.\n\n\"This has gone so well, I'm afraid to believe it,\" Dolan said. \"I'll go back and tell our passengers. J\u00e1nos said he wanted fifteen minutes to suit up.\"\n\nDolan was back in his seat before they came onto P\u00e9cs, and he was the first to see it.\n\n\"Go down on the deck,\" Dolan now ordered. \"Put that line of hills between us and P\u00e9cs. It's damned near impossible to tell the direction of an airplane if you can't see it. And the more confused we can leave these people, the better. \"\n\nDarmstadter concentrated on flying as close to the ground as he dared between lines of hills. It was light enough now to make out individual trees, and here and there a road and fields.\n\nAnd then, surprising him, he flashed over a stream, then a cut-over section of hillside, then above that a meadow on a plateau.\n\n\"Christ, is that it?\"\n\n\"It should be,\" Dolan said, \"but I don't see any panels.\"\n\nDarmstadter glanced quickly at him. Dolan had a headset on and was working the controls of the radio.\n\n\"Not a goddamned thing,\" he said.\n\n\"What do I do?\"\n\n\"Stay on the deck under the hill lines,\" Dolan ordered. \"And make another pass over it. I'll go see what I can see from the door.\"\n\nFive minutes later, from the other direction, the C-47 approached the meadow.\n\nThere was no doubt now that they had found their destination. A pile of tree limbs was burning furiously at the near end of the meadow by the cut-over area, the wind blowing the smoke across the meadow and into the forest.\n\nDolan came into the cockpit.\n\n\"It's up to you now, kid,\" he said. \"The next pass is all we're going to get, or everybody will think we're having an air show up here.\"\n\nDarmstadter smiled uneasily.\n\nDolan went back into the fuselage. There he would strap himself into a harness and take up a position by the open door. When Darmstadter turned the red light on\u2014there were supposed to be red and green lights, but the green wasn't working\u2014and then off, he would push the first of the parachutists through the door. When they were all gone, he would throw the three equipment bags after them.\n\nDarmstadter made his approach very carefully, slowing the C-47 down as much as he dared, coming in very low and shallow over the tips of the trees in the forest, one hand on the Gooney Bird's wheel, the other on the toggle switch for the light for the door.\n\nAnd then he flicked the toggle switch.\n\nHe thought he could sense a slight change in the controls, which would mean that he had lost 1,000 pounds of weight\u2014five parachutists\u2014from his gross weight, and that the loss had changed the center of balance.\n\nHe had a strange, wild, arrogant thought.\n\n_I could have landed this sonofabitch in that meadow! The way the wind is blowing up from the stream, I was making maybe forty knots over the ground. I was going so slow I could see Canidy's face! And I could have stopped it in plenty of time._\n\nHe looked over his shoulder into the aisle for Dolan.\n\nHe couldn't see him at first, and then he did.\n\nDolan was on the cabin floor on his side, curled up. Darmstadter looked out the windshield, then back. Dolan straightened, grew almost stiff, and then went limp.\n\n# **4**\n\n## **150 DEGREES 20 MINUTES WEST LONGITUDE 08 DEGREES 35 MINUTES NORTH LATITUDE 1725 HOURS 20 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThere were four people on the bridge of the conning tower of the USS _Drum_ as she made fifteen knots on a course of 275 degrees through oil-smooth, gently rolling seas. They were almost exactly halfway around the world from the Adriatic Sea and Budapest, Hungary, where at that moment it was 5:25 A.M., February 21, \"the next day.\"\n\nThe _Drum_ 's captain, Lt. Commander Edwin R. Lennox, USN, and Capt. James M. B. Whittaker, USAAC, were in clean and pressed but unstarched khakis. Commander Lennox wore a battered brimmed cap whose cover was once white, but was now nearly brown with oil stains. Captain Whittaker was hatless.\n\nThe talker, with a headset and microphone device over his head, was also hatless. He wore a light blue denim shirt and a darker-shade pair of denim trousers, as did the lookout, who also wore a blue sailor's cap, the brim of which he had turned down all around.\n\nThe lookout, Commander Lennox, and Capt. Whittaker all had identical Navy-issue Bausch & Lomb ten-power binoculars on leather straps around their necks.\n\nCommander Lennox looked at his wristwatch, and then, with a sailor's eye, at the darkening sky.\n\n\"Anytime you're ready, Jim,\" Commander Lennox said, \"you can go below.\"\n\nWhittaker smiled.\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" he said. \"Permission to leave the bridge?\"\n\n\"Granted,\" the _Drum_ 's captain replied, smiling back.\n\nThey had grown to like each other on the voyage from Pearl Harbor. Lennox had thought about the growing friendship a good deal during that time\u2014remembering what he had been told by a full lieutenant when he'd been an ensign aboard the _Kingfisher:_ He'd been told that her skipper wasn't really such a hard-nosed sonofabitch as he seemed, but that a skipper couldn't afford to have friends, that command was indeed a lonely thing.\n\nHe had accepted that then because he was an ensign, and ensigns believe what they are told by full lieutenants. But it was only after they had given him the _Drum,_ his first command, that he'd really understood it. The master of a man-of -war could _not_ have friends. He could be civil and courteous, but there had to be a wall between the skipper and everybody else aboard. It had a little to do with \"familiarity breeds contempt,\" but there was more to it than that. The captain had to appear omniscient to his crew, and one of the best ways to do that, especially if you were convinced that at least two of your officers were far smarter than you were and better leaders of men, was to be aloof, to be somewhat mysterious, to share no opinion or confidences with anybody.\n\nLennox had seen in Whittaker somebody much like himself in character, and with similar command responsibilities, and with an _understanding_ of command. Very early on, Lennox had decided that having Whittaker aboard was very much what it must be like to be captain of a cruiser flying an admiral's flag. Where the cruiser and the accompanying task force went, and what it would do, was the admiral's responsibility. But the operation of the cruiser was the cruiser captain's responsibility.\n\nAnd Whittaker had acted as Lennox believed a good admiral would behave. Despite the authority the orders from COMSUBFORPAC had given Whittaker\u2014which had in effect made the _Drum_ his personal taxicab\u2014he had leaned over backward to avoid even the suggestion of giving Lennox orders.\n\nHe had asked questions, and \"wondered if it would be possible to\" do what he had the clear authority to order done. He had always scrupulously referred to Lennox as \"Captain\" or \"Skipper,\" even long after Lennox had started calling him \"Jim.\"\n\nAnd the night before, when they were alone with the talker on the bridge, Whittaker had asked \"if it would be possible to\" have a dry run of what would take place when they were off Mindanao.\n\n\"They assure me, Skipper,\" Whittaker said, \"that the outboards have been tuned by an expert. But cynical sonofabitch that I am, and with no reflection intended, Sir, on the U.S. Navy, I'd like to check that out.\"\n\n\"What you would really like, Jim, right, is a dry run?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Whittaker asked. \"Is that going to be possible? \"\n\n\"Does the Army use the phrase 'SOP'?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"I violate mine,\" Lennox said. \"The SUBFORPAC SOP clearly states that when we are within the operating range of Japanese aircraft and proceeding on the surface, we will always be in a 'prepared to dive' condition. That means all hatches except the one here will be secured, and that we will be making sufficient headway so that the sub's diving planes will have effect in case we have to make an emergency dive.\"\n\nThey had, during the voyage, exchanged technical lore. Whittaker had been surprised to learn that the diving planes on the _Drum_ functioned like the ailerons of an airplane, controlling up and down movement of the submerged submarine. He knew that because of the dynamic forces acting upon the diving planes, the faster a submarine was moving across the surface of the ocean, the quicker it could be submerged.\n\n\"In other words, Skipper,\" Whittaker said, \"a dry run is a lousy idea?\"\n\n\"In these waters, if I follow the SOP,\" Lennox said, \"what I get is a boat ready to make a dive, and a crew of sweat-soaked, temperature-exhausted sailors not only getting on each other's nerves, but not able to function fast when they have to. So what I do is leave the hatches open when I can in waters like these, stationing men by the hatches to close them if they have to, and I make damned sure my lookout has the eyes of a hawk.\"\n\n\"And to conduct a dry run would mean stopping the boat,\" Whittaker said, \"increasing the time it would take you to submerge if a Jap plane spotted you.\"\n\nLennox nodded. \"Spotted _us_.\"\n\nWhittaker shrugged.\n\n\"Okay, if that's\u2014\"\n\nLennox interrupted him.\n\n\"Another unpleasant situation that comes to mind,\" he said, \"is us sitting on the surface a half mile or so offshore of Mindanao, and unable to submerge because there's a trio of Army guys in rubber boats with outboard motors they can't start.\"\n\nWhittaker looked at him but didn't say anything.\n\n\"And while I am being the high priest of doom and gloom,\" Lennox said, \"I have another scenario. There we are off Mindanao, and we get the boats out of the torpedo room, blow them up, and they leak. Since I can think of no other way to get those heavy little boxes ashore, that would mean we would have come all this way only to have to go all the way back for more rubber boats.\"\n\n\"I'd like to add to that gloom-and-doom scenario, if I might, Sir,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"Go ahead, Jim,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"We are on the surface off Mindanao, the boats have inflated properly, and the outboards have even started. Then the Army guys\u2014whose total experience with rubber boats is limited to Lieutenant Hammersmith's time with an inner tube in a swimming pool\u2014start loading those heavy boxes into the rubber boats and drop the boxes over the side, fall overboard themselves, and I'll let you figure out the rest yourself.\"\n\n\"You've had no training?\" Lennox asked, surprised and concerned.\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Whittaker said. \"There wasn't time.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" Lennox said, \"the question is not _if_ we do a dry run, but when.\"\n\n\"I think, if it's possible,\" Whittaker said, \"we should.\"\n\nLennox looked at Whittaker.\n\n_If I hadn't been so obliging,_ he wondered, _would you have pulled the rank the COMSUBFORPAC orders give you?_\n\n\"You told me, Jim,\" he said, \"that to a pilot, darkness rises from the ground.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir, it does.\"\n\n\"Then I think we should do the dry run tomorrow, at dusk,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"Thank you, Skipper.\"\n\nThe day had been spent preparing for the dry run. This was mostly a good thing for the boat, Lennox realized, though it was risky. The morale of the crew was helped by the chance not only to do something constructive, but to get out on deck. The risk of being spotted by a Japanese patrol plane was no greater with them there, but submerging would take longer because of the people and the equipment on deck.\n\nLennox posted extra lookouts and ordered the manning of the machine gun and Bofors cannon. He didn't plan to use them, but it gave their crews a chance to get on deck and to feel useful, and he decided the price, the extra forty-five or sixty seconds it would take the gun crews to drop through the hatches and close them, was worth it.\n\nThe rubber boats themselves, as Lennox had supposed they would, posed the greatest problems. If the chief of the boat, who by default became the rubber boat expert, had any thoughts about the idiocy of sending people with no training or experience with rubber boats to make a landing through the surf on an enemy-held shore, he kept them to himself.\n\nThe first problem was to get the boats from the forward torpedo room through the hatch and onto the deck. The chief of the boat considered his options and decided that because of the weight and ungainly bulk it would make more sense to uncrate them below and pass them through the hatch, despite the risk that they would be impaled and torn on something sharp on the way.\n\nThe boats, which carried their own air bottles, were designed to be inflated with the bottles. Even if the boats were thrown over the side uninflated and sank, if the pull cord for the air bottles was pulled, the boats would inflate and pop to the surface.\n\nAlthough spare air bottles had been provided, the chief of the boat decided that the smart thing to do was not to use the bottles until it was necessary. He called for the air hose normally used to charge the air bottles in torpedoes, and when he had the first boat unrolled and lying limp on the deck, filled it with compressed air.\n\nWhen that boat was expanded, he ran soapy water over it to check for leaks. When he found none, he opened the exhaust valves, and as they hissed and the boat collapsed, he looked at it thoughtfully.\n\nThen he went aft and stood with his hands on his hips and spoke with Lennox and Whittaker, who were on the bridge.\n\n\"Two things, Skipper,\" he said.\n\n\"Go ahead, Chief,\" Lennox said.\n\n\"I think we could stow the boats aft of the conning tower,\" the chief of the boat said. \"Properly stowed, we could even submerge with them.\"\n\n\"Good idea,\" Lennox immediately agreed.\n\n\"Second, there's no way the boats will carry all that weight.\"\n\n\"Then we'll have to use the spares, too,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"I meant using the spares,\" the chief of the boat said. \"The first time you flexed the boat in the surf, that weight'd rip the deck . . . or the bilge, whatever they call that sheet of rubberized canvas . . . free of the inflation chambers. If it didn't rip through before you got to the surf.\"\n\n\"What do you suggest, Chief?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"We got a hundred and sixty percent of life jackets aboard,\" the chief said.\n\n\"I don't know what that means,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"It means we got sixty percent more life jackets aboard than there is people,\" the chief said.\n\n\"And?\" Lennox asked.\n\n\"They're rated at two hundred pounds,\" the chief said. \"Which is just about what them 'film' boxes weigh.\"\n\n\"You mean put a life jacket around a film box,\" Whittaker asked, \"in case the bottom lets go?\"\n\n\"I mean wrap jackets around the boxes, tie lines to them, and tow them ashore,\" the chief said. \"And around them boxes with the weapons and the ammo, too.\"\n\n\"Could they be towed?\"\n\n\"There's only one way to find out, Skipper,\" the chief of the boat said.\n\n\"Put people on it, Chief,\" Lennox ordered.\n\n\"Carefully, Chief,\" Whittaker said. Both the chief and Lennox looked at him in surprise and annoyance, but then smiled when Whittaker went on. \"If we were to lose just one of those 'film' boxes out here, your beloved captain and myself would spend the rest of our days in Alcatraz.\"\n\n\"I take your meaning, Sir,\" the chief said with a smile.\n\nBy midafternoon, each of the boats had been brought on deck, inflated, checked for leaks, deflated, and then stowed, firmly tied to the mount of the twin Bofors aft of the conning tower.\n\nThe top was cut from an empty fifty-five-gallon oil drum, and then the drum three-quarters filled with seawater. Each outboard motor was test-run for five minutes, the noise incredible inside the hull.\n\nThe chief torpedoman was placed in charge of floating the \"film\" boxes. He cut the flotation packets from life preservers and tied them around the wooden boxes. The available light line was soon exhausted, and two sailors made what was needed by first sawing through a length of four-inch manila hawser and then untwisting the strands.\n\nAfter that, there was nothing to do but wait until dusk fell.\n\nCommander Lennox waited until he was sure that Whittaker was in the control room, and then he started the dry run.\n\n\"Close all hatches and watertight doors,\" he said, and the talker repeated the order.\n\nLennox could see the hatches on the deck closing, and he could hear a dull metallic clanging from all over the boat. With the exception of the hatch from the bridge, which would be his responsibility to close, the boat should now be watertight.\n\n\"All hatches and watertight doors secured, Sir,\" the talker confirmed.\n\n\"Prepare to dive,\" Lennox ordered. \"Clear the bridge!\"\n\n\"Prepare to dive,\" the talker repeated. \"Bridge being cleared.\"\n\n\"Dive!\" Lennox ordered\n\n\"Dive! Dive! Dive!\" the talker said, and dropped through the hatch. Lennox followed him, then closed the hatch after him.\n\nThe sound of the Klaxon hurt his ears.\n\n\"Take her to one hundred feet,\" the captain ordered, and put his hand out to steady himself as the bow of the _Drum_ nosed downward.\n\nTen minutes later, the bow of the _Drum_ broke the surface again.\n\nThe moment it did, Lennox started his stopwatch.\n\nAs soon as he was on the bridge, with water still spilling over the deck, he started issuing orders.\n\n\"Battle stations,\" he ordered.\n\nThe talker repeated the command, and the Klaxon went off.\n\n\"Man all cannon,\" Lennox ordered.\n\nSubmariners erupted from the hatches and went to the guns.\n\n\"All astern one-third,\" he ordered. \"Make her dead in the water.\"\n\nThe pitch of the just-started diesels changed.\n\nIt was time for another command, but there was nothing standard that Lennox could recall that fit the situation.\n\n\"Make all preparations to launch the rubber boats,\" he finally ordered.\n\nNow there was activity from every hatch on the deck.\n\nAs crewmen freed the rubber boats from the Bofors mount and handed them to crewmen on the deck, other crewmen emerged from other hatches. The weapons and ammunition boxes were first placed on the deck in a line, then tied together with ten-foot lengths of line.\n\nBy the time the crewmen carrying the limp boats had reached the forward deck, others had air hoses waiting. It took what seemed like a long time for the boats to be inflated, and by the time they were, Whittaker, Hammersmith, and Radioman Second Joe Garvey had come onto the deck, wearing their gear, and were waiting.\n\nThe chief of the boat and the chief torpedoman put the rubber boat over the side themselves, lowering it with ropes until it touched the nearly horizontal section of the hull, then they jumped down onto it with ropes around their waists.\n\nThen they pushed the boat off the hull into the water and raised their hands to help Whittaker from the deck to the sloping part of the hull and into the boat itself.\n\nWhittaker jerked the starting rope of the outboard motor. When he had it running, he checked to see that the line tied to a grommet in the heavy black rubber was in place. Then he put the motor in gear, and the boat started off. When the line tied to the grommet drew taut, crewmen slid the first of the two larger ammunition and weapons boxes (now wrapped with life preserver flotation packs) into the water, then skidded the line of small \"film\" boxes after it.\n\nThen the process was repeated for the second boat, except that both Hammersmith and Joe Garvey got into that one.\n\nThe atmosphere had been tense: to see if the boats could be launched and whether or not the flotation packets would keep the weapons and film boxes afloat.\n\nThen Lennox heard a guffaw, then a belly laugh, and then a high-pitched giggle. The first thing he thought, angrily, was that someone had fallen over the side. That, despite the genuine threat to life, was always good for a laugh from his men.\n\nAnd then he saw the object of the amusement.\n\nJim Whittaker was fifty yards off the bow, making a wide turn to return to the _Drum._ The strain on the line towing the boxes behind the rubber boat, plus the weight of the outboard motor and of Whittaker himself, had caused the bow to rise almost straight up out of the water. The outboard was open full bore, but it was just barely moving, and Whittaker himself looked as if he was about to sink into the water.\n\nSound carries well over water, and Whittaker heard the laughter of the crew.\n\nHe rose to the occasion. Balancing himself precariously, he saluted crisply.\n\n\"Man overboard!\" a shout went up, followed by a bellow of laughter.\n\nLennox looked quickly to see what had happened. The chief torpedoman had lost his footing and gone into the water. The chief of the boat was trying, with absolutely no success, to haul him back aboard by the rope around his waist.\n\nThe captain of the USS _Drum_ picked up his electric hailer and started to put it to his lips. Then he took it down and slammed it painfully against his leg until the pain was such that he was no longer overcome with hysterics.\n\n\"Attention on the deck,\" he finally announced. \"Prepare to recover rubber boats!\" And then the temptation was too much. \"And while you're at it, see if you can recover the chief torpedoman.\"\n**XIII**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 0500 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nCanidy woke in the dark in a large bedroom in the Countess Batthyany's hunting lodge. He was buried deep in goose down, his nostrils full of perfume.\n\nBut then he realized it wasn't perfume, it was something he had found in a bottle in his surprisingly ornate bathroom. The bottle bore a \"Lanvin Paris-London-New York\" label underneath the words \"Pour les Hommes.\" His French was good enough to understand what that meant, and the stuff hadn't smelled half bad when he sniffed at the bottle neck, and so he had liberally splashed it over himself after he'd wiped himself dry with a thick towel about the size of a pup tent.\n\nThe cologne would be a nice change from the way he had smelled after the fishing boat from Vis to the mainland, and after the farm truck\u2014redolent of horse manure\u2014 which had carried him across Yugoslavia to the neighborhood of the Hungarian border.\n\nIt was only when he had put on a pair of silk pajamas and the odor of the \"Pour les Hommes\" had not diminished\u2014had, in fact, seemed to intensify\u2014that he began to suspect the legend on the bottle was directed to the gentle sex. If they doused themselves in \"Pour les Hommes,\" men would be drawn to the smell like moths to a candle.\n\nIt had confirmed the somewhat cynical impression he had formed not long after they'd first shown him his room that the Batthyany family had apparently not only done their hunting in considerable comfort, but also that when they returned from the vigors of the field, the comfort they'd received then had been furnished by females. In his bathroom, he had found a bidet, and in a heavy bookcase by the bedside was a collection of leather-bound photo albums, the photographs portraying handsome men and women in their birthday suits performing what could only be described as sexual gymnastics.\n\nHe had at first wondered whether the albums had been purchased\u2014they looked professionally done\u2014or whether the Counts Batthyany had been unusually skilled amateur photographers. But when he got into the second volume, he recognized the huge fireplace in the main room of the lodge behind three dark-haired beauties and a hairy, skinny, mustachioed gentleman.\n\nThe thought passed through his mind that it might be fun to peel several of the neatly matted photographs free of the albums and take them home for Ann. It might brighten her day, he thought. But then he decided against that. Ann took sex very seriously. But then he was sure that as far as Ann was concerned, dirty pictures would be as high on her taboo list for him as carrying on with Her Gracefulness, the Duchess of Stanfield.\n\nThe next thought he had was that he would bring some of the dirty pictures back with him, to include them with his official report.\n\n_\"The photographs attached as Enclosures 16 through 26 are included in the belief that they might suggest exploitable character flaws in the Hungarian aristocracy possibly useful in future operations.\"_\n\nThat would shake up the system. Dave Bruce's near-glacial dignity would crack; he might even blush. He would certainly hem, haw, and stammer.\n\nAnd then he realized that he was already in enough trouble for having come to Hungary, without adding fuel to the fire. Did he need another demonstration that he didn't have the right attitude? Hardly.\n\nObviously, he thought, suddenly chagrined, he _did not_ have the right attitude. Instead of sitting here drooling over dirty pictures like some high-school junior, he should be wondering how to get Eric Fulmar and Professor Dyer out of St. Gertrud's prison without having to \"terminate\" them.\n\nHe put the leather-bound albums back in their case and went to sleep thinking over what he had just about decided to do\u2014the final decision to be made after talking it over with Ferniany and whoever London sent in to command the team.\n\nFerniany would be here tomorrow, probably around noon. He would have with him two of his people, Hungarians he had recruited, and the signal panels, and the radio, and the Sten gun Captain Hughson had loaned him just before he left Vis. Canidy would be glad to have that back. There was plenty of room in the Lodge to put Ferniany and his men up for however long it took London to get off its ass and send him the team, and the worst possible scenario for that was five days.\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz and the Countess would return to Budapest tomorrow. Canidy saw no problem with that. He didn't need the Countess now: She had told her servants they were to do what he asked. And he didn't think there would be any suspicion directed toward the Countess and von Heurten-Mitnitz for having been in P\u00e9cs several days before the prisoners had escaped from St. Gertrud's. Or several days before an unexplained explosion had destroyed a mine shaft in the Batthyany coal mine.\n\nIt would be a coincidence, nothing more, that His Excellency had been enjoying the overnight hospitality of the Countess at the Countess's rustic love nest ten or so miles away.\n\nThe most serious potential problem, Canidy had gone to sleep thinking, was not how to get Eric and the professor out of the hands of Hungarians, but how to do it without calling a hell of a lot of attention to the operation. He had been disturbed by Standartenf\u00fchrer M\u00fcller's report that the SS not only had not grown bored with looking for Fulmar and the professor, but quite the reverse, had intensified the examination.\n\nSt. Gertrud's prison would be swarming with SS and Gestapo just as soon as word got out that two prisoners had not only escaped but had been rescued by what it would take them about five minutes to figure out was a highly skilled team under the hands of either the SOE or the OSS.\n\nWhen he woke up smelling like a Hungarian courtesan, Canidy rested on his back in the dark for several minutes in the hope that, as sometimes happened, his subconscious had been working on the problem while he slept and that there would be new solutions, or new questions, or both.\n\nBut none came.\n\nHe fumbled for the bedside lamp, turned it on, then got out of bed and got dressed in the hunting clothes he had worn the day before. If nothing else, he decided, he would walk back through the woods to the drop zone and see for himself what it looked like at dawn.\n\nThen he would come back to the house and see about something to eat.\n\nHe sensed, when he entered the main room of the lodge, that there was someone there, someone watching him.\n\nThe room was lit now only by embers in the huge fire-place before which in happier times the aristocracy had staged their little _tableaux vivants_. He looked around, but he saw nothing.\n\nThen Alois, the chief hunter, rose out of a huge upholstered chair near the fireplace. Its bulk and high sides had hidden him. He was fully dressed and had apparently slept overnight in the chair as a sort of guard. He was wearing a heavy poncholike garment of gray wool, and he had his shotgun.\n\n\"Good morning,\" Canidy said, smiling.\n\nAlois grunted.\n\n\"I need a flashlight,\" Canidy said.\n\nThere was confusion on Alois's face.\n\nCanidy mimed a flashlight, and lighting a path with one.\n\nAlois grunted again and left the room. He returned with two flashlights, a square light with a handle, and a tiny two-cell that looked like a child's toy. He extended both to Canidy, offering him his choice.\n\nCanidy took the larger light and walked to the door. Alois didn't move, but by the time Canidy had unlatched the chains and dead bolts, he became aware that Alois had moved soundlessly across the room and was standing behind him.\n\nSomewhere, far off, there was the sound of aircraft engines.\n\nThe beam of his light picked out their footsteps in the snow from the day before, and Canidy, with Alois following him, walked away from the lodge toward the forest and the meadow beyond it.\n\nConcentrating on not losing the path or his footing in the dark, Canidy didn't pay much attention to the sound of the aircraft engines far away\u2014until they suddenly seemed much closer.\n\nHe looked up into the sky.\n\n_Jesus! Those sound like Twin Wasps!_\n\nHe broke into a trot, slipping and sliding on the frozen snow.\n\nWhen he reached the meadow, it was light enough to see the meadow and the area beyond. But there was no aircraft in sight, and it was only when he strained his ears that he could convince himself that he could just barely hear the sound of faraway engines.\n\n_Whatever it was, it was not for me. I should have known better. There's no way that could have been a Gooney Bird; no way they could have gotten a team here this quick. Now I look like a horse's ass in front of Alois_.\n\nHe met the large Hungarian's eyes and shrugged.\n\nAnd then he was sure the sound of the engines receding had changed, that it was growing louder. And it kept going in and out, growing louder then fainter, then louder again.\n\nAnd all of a sudden, it was very loud. A Gooney Bird appeared at the end of the meadow where the trees had been cut, its engine roar now deafening, and flashed overhead no more than two hundred feet off the ground. And there was no mistaking the star-in-a-bar U.S. identification painted on the wing.\n\n\"Jesus, Maria, und Josef!\" Alois said.\n\nThe Gooney Bird banked, then disappeared from sight.\n\nCanidy stuck two fingers in his mouth, then raised them over his head to confirm his suspicion that the wind was coming from the direction of the stream and the cut-over area.\n\nHe ran to the pile of pine boughs. He could just make out a shining glint underneath that had to be the kerosene.\n\nHe dug it out. It was a five-gallon tin can, bearing a Shell logotype. A sealed tin can, he saw when he unscrewed the cap. There was a seal over the hole he would have to pry out before he could pour the kerosene.\n\nHe changed his mind and threw the can atop the pile of boughs. And then he gestured to Alois.\n\n\"Shoot the sonofabitch, Alois!\" he said.\n\nAlois looked confused.\n\nCanidy gestured.\n\n\"Bang! Bang!\" Canidy shouted as he mimed the action.\n\nAlois looked confused, but he raised his shotgun and looked to Canidy for approval.\n\n\"Right! Yes! Ja! Schiessen!\"\n\nThe shotgun barked, and the can erupted. Canidy felt droplets of kerosene in the air.\n\nAlois looked at Canidy, as if he was afraid he had misunderstood him and done the wrong thing.\n\nCanidy smiled at him, then ran to him and reached for the shotgun. Alois debated for a moment parting with the shotgun, but finally handed it over. Canidy found a puddle of kerosene, put the barrel to it, and fired the other barrel.\n\nThere was a dull flicker of fire for a moment, and then the kerosene that had vaporized when the can had erupted ignited in a whoosh. A thick cloud of black smoke quickly formed.\n\n_Christ, I hope they just haven't given up! That somebody sees that!_\n\nThe pine boughs were burning now, and noisily.\n\nCanidy had just about decided that he could not hear the Twin Wasps at all anymore, when the Gooney Bird appeared, flaps and wheels down, right on the edge of a stall.\n\nAnd then very quickly, surprising him, something fell\u2014 five somethings fell\u2014from the door. And then the first canopy opened, and the second, and then one at a time all the rest, and five parachutes floated toward the ground.\n\nThe Gooney Bird pulled up its flaps and its gear and was gone.\n\n_A Gooney Bird! How the hell did they get a Gooney Bird this far?_\n\nCanidy ran toward the first parachutist, who was just about to touch down. He heard Alois plodding behind him.\n\nThe parachutist, a big guy, landed badly. He screamed.\n\nCanidy ran to him.\n\n\"I broke my fucking ankle again!\" J\u00e1nos said furiously. \"Jesus Christ!\"\n\n\"Was hat ihr gesacht?\" Alois asked in rough German.\n\n\"I said I broke my fucking ankle,\" J\u00e1nos said in Hungarian.\n\nAlois smiled sympathetically, then stooped over and scooped J\u00e1nos up in his arms like a baby. He looked at Canidy and nodded at the forest and then looked stone-faced at Canidy.\n\nWhen there was no immediate response, he spoke to J\u00e1nos, who translated:\n\n\"He wants to carry me into the woods, okay?\"\n\nCanidy nodded his head. \"Ja!\"\n\nThe other parachutists were on the ground now, and they ran over to Canidy. They were all armed, he saw, with .30-caliber carbines with folding stocks.\n\n\"Who are you?\" one of them demanded.\n\n\"That's Major Canidy,\" another said, recognizing him.\n\n\"Pick up your chutes and put them on the fire,\" Canidy said. \"And then\u2014\"\n\nHe interrupted himself. The sound of the Twin Wasps was back.\n\n_The equipment drop. Why the hell hadn't the jumpmaster kicked that crap out the door after he dropped the jumpers?_\n\nThe Gooney Bird appeared again over the cut-down area, its flaps and gear down again. He was now even lower than he had been before, when he'd buzzed the meadow.\n\n_If you stall it, friend, you're going to land here in this meadow!_\n\nThe Gooney Bird didn't stall. But the pilot chopped the engines, and the Gooney Bird touched down. He bounced once, then stayed down, and Canidy saw smoke from the gear as the pilot braked it.\n\n_Dolan, you sonofabitch! If I had wanted you to land here, I would have said so. You're too fucking old to be a hotshot pilot!_\n\nCanidy ran down the meadow and to the rear door of the Gooney Bird, and looked in.\n\nAnd Lt. Commander John Dolan, USNR, lying on the cabin floor, looked back at him out of sightless eyes.\n\n# **2**\n\n## **CROYDON AIRFIELD LONDON, ENGLAND 1130 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nIt was raining, and there had been fog, and there had been serious doubt that the Washington courier would be able to get in that day at all. Late the previous day, the ATC C-54 had managed to make it into Prestwick, Scotland, ahead of the front, but too late to try for London.\n\nThere had been a break in the weather, and an arctic blast of dry air moving down over Scotland had cleared the skies enough at 0930 for the C-54 to take off. But by then London had been socked in. The question had then been whether the break would close in again at Prestwick before the fog cleared at London.\n\nIt was decided in the end to take off and head for London in the hope that it would clear.\n\nAt Croydon, it had been necessary to \"light the burners.\" The theory was\u2014and damn the cost\u2014that if enough gasoline were burned in devices set up alongside a runway, the heat generated would cause the air mass and the fog it contained to rise, clearing the runway. In practice, as now, what the burners did for pilots was serve as sort of a super-beacon. If you could see the glow of the burners, you knew that the runway was somewhere down there, and with a little bit of luck, when you went down low enough, you could find the runway.\n\nThe C-54, flown by a commissioned TWA pilot who had lots of experience finding San Francisco in the fog, came in low and slow toward the glow on his horizon over London and found the Croydon runway on his second pass.\n\nAs he taxied toward the terminal, it was raining so hard that he had trouble seeing out the windshield. The ground crew who came out to meet them were wearing yellow rubber coats, hats, and trousers, and looked, the pilot thought, like so many misplaced sailboat sailors.\n\nThe first passenger to come down the ladder was a chief petty officer of the U.S. Navy. He had a Valv-Pak in each hand and smaller pieces of luggage under his arms.\n\nAs he came down the stairs, an Austin Princess limousine drove up close to him. The chief opened the front door and tossed the luggage inside, then backed out and held the rear door open.\n\n\"Get in, Ellis!\" Colonel William Donovan said as he came down the stairs from the C-54.\n\n\"In here, Ellis,\" Lt. Colonel Edmund T. Stevens said, motioning with his hand. \"You're getting soaked.\"\n\nEllis got in the backseat, and a moment later Donovan got in beside him and closed the door.\n\nDonovan gave Stevens his hand.\n\n\"Well, Ed,\" he said, \"how are you?\"\n\n\"Just fine, thank you, Bill,\" Stevens said. \"David said he hopes you will understand that he would have met you if he could.\"\n\nDonovan's reply surprised Stevens. Donovan was usually not only polite but manifested the lawyer's ability to say the unpleasant in the nicest possible way.\n\nDonovan said, \"I didn't want to see him anyway. Not just now.\"\n\nAnd then Donovan leaned forward and cranked down the divider separating the backseat from the chauffeur's compartment.\n\n\"Young lady, would you drive up to the terminal and get out, please? I'm sorry, but you're about to be put out in the rain.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" the driver, a WRAC sergeant, said.\n\n\"You call the office and have them send a car for you,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"There's a bus, Sir,\" the WRAC sergeant replied. \"I can take that.\"\n\n\"Do what Colonel Stevens said,\" Donovan said. \"The bus doesn't go near Berkeley Square.\"\n\nThe WRAC pulled the nose of the Princess close to a door of the terminal, pulled on the parking brake, jumped out, and ran into the building. Ellis climbed over Donovan and got in the front seat behind the wheel.\n\n\"She forgot her purse,\" Ellis announced.\n\n\"No problem,\" Donovan said. \"We'll probably be at Berkeley Square before she gets there. Get us off the field and drive in wide circles.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Ellis said, and backed the Princess away from the terminal building. \"Colonel, you put the window down.\"\n\n\"It's all right, I want you to hear this anyway,\" Donovan said.\n\nBut then he didn't say anything else until they had left the field and were driving through Thorton Heath toward the Thames on Highway A235.\n\n\"Get off the highway, Ellis,\" he ordered.\n\nEllis made the next right turn.\n\n\"The ostensible purpose of my visit,\" Donovan said, \"is to smooth things over between you and SOE. 'Representations have been made at the highest levels' to the effect that you are not only being uncooperative but are interfering with their smooth operation. All of which proves that you are doing what I told you to do.\"\n\n\"Anything specific, Colonel?\" Stevens asked.\n\n\"No, just general allegations about your being uncooperative, which I interpret to mean you have both locked them out of our cupboard and have turned a deaf ear to the pronouncements of the professionals,\" Donovan said. \"But you'll have to arrange for me to see them, as soon as you can.\"\n\n\"This afternoon?\"\n\n\"Fine,\" Donovan said. \"And let's do it on our turf. Either at Berkeley Square or at Whitbey House. I don't want to give them the impression that I have been summoned for a dressing-down on their carpet.\"\n\n\"What about the apartment in the Dorchester?\"\n\n\"Fine,\" Donovan said. \"And let's do it over drinks and hors d'oeuvres. As fancy as we can manage.\"\n\n\"I'll get Helene Dancy to set it up,\" Stevens said. \"Better yet, Charity. She's at Berkeley Square.\"\n\nDonovan grunted approval.\n\n\"Ellis,\" Stevens said, \"there's a radio up there.\"\n\n\"I can hear it, Sir.\"\n\n\"We're Birddog,\" Stevens said. \"Call Foxhunt, Captain Dancy's monitoring it, and tell her to have Charity set up a fancy do for half past five at the Dorchester, details to follow. \"\n\n\"Aye, aye, Sir,\" Ellis said, and reached for the microphone.\n\n\"Napoleon said,\" Donovan said, \"that an army marches on its stomach. This one marches on hors d'oeuvres.\"\n\nStevens chuckled.\n\n\"My real purpose, of course,\" Donovan said, still conversationally, but very seriously, \"is to be near what's happening in Hungary. So you better start by telling me what _is_ happening, Ed.\"\n\n\"You got the message where Canidy asked for a team?\"\n\nDonovan nodded.\n\n\"It went in at 0500 this morning, or thereabouts,\" Stevens said. \"We've had no word how that went.\"\n\n\"This morning? God, that was fast! How did you arrange that?\"\n\n\"We flew the team\u2014specifically Stan Fine and young Douglass flew\u2014the team to Cairo in one of the new B-17s we got for Operation Aphrodite.\"\n\n\"And then used Canidy's B-25 to drop the team? That's why you involved young Douglass, to fly the B-25?\"\n\n\"That was the idea, but something went wrong. The last radio from Wilkins said that the team was being dropped by a C-47, flown by Dolan and a C-47 pilot we borrowed from the Air Corps, and that the B-25 with Douglass and Fine in it was going to Vis.\"\n\n\"Where'd you get the C-47?\" Donovan asked. And then went on without waiting for a reply, \"I didn't know a C-47 had that kind of range.\"\n\n\"It doesn't,\" Stevens said. \"I called Joe Kennedy and asked him about that, and he said that it's possible to refill the main tanks of a C-47 from barrels of fuel carried in the cabin. He also said that it's dangerous as hell, but apparently that's what they have done. Wilkins borrowed the C- 47 at Cairo.\"\n\nDonovan grunted.\n\n\"It's time we thought of the worst possible scenario,\" he said. \"That should be plural. The first thing that can go badly wrong\u2014and I am frankly surprised this hasn't already happened\u2014is that they will find out who Fulmar and the Professor really are. . . . \"\n\n\"Colonel,\" Stevens began.\n\n\"Let me finish, please, Ed,\" Donovan said. \"The best we could hope for in that situation would be that the Germans would decide we wanted Dyer for what he knows about jet- and rocket-engine metallurgy. That they would not suspect that what we're really after is getting nuclear-useful people out of Germany.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Stevens said.\n\n\"The second thing that could go wrong would be for Canidy to be captured. Quite aside from what else he knows, I think we have to consider that the Germans know full well who he is\u2014that he's the number three here\u2014and would decide that we are either very interested in Professor Dyer, or, I'm afraid, that there is more to all this activity than is immediately apparent.\"\n\nStevens didn't reply.\n\n\"I think I have to say this, Ed,\" Donovan said. \"On reflection, I think I made an error in judgment. I think what I should have ordered\u2014to cut our losses to the minimum\u2014 was to give the Germans Fulmar and the professor.\"\n\nStevens didn't reply.\n\n\"Or alternatively, to arrange for them to be eliminated. On reflection, that's what should have been done. There are two ways to do that. The first would be to message Canidy to do it. I don't know if that would work. If he went in there without orders, in direct defiance of orders, I don't think we can expect him to obey any other order he doesn't like.\"\n\n\"Canidy is not a fool,\" Stevens said loyally.\n\n\"Sometimes I wonder about that,\" Donovan said. \"The second way to ensure that the Germans don't get to question Fulmar and the professor is to bomb St. Gertrud's prison.\"\n\n\"Canidy's thought of that. He asked for Composition C- 2.\"\n\n\"I meant by aircraft,\" Donovan said. \"A raid on Budapest. Failing to reach the target, a squadron of B-17s would bomb an alternative target. A target of opportunity. P\u00e9cs. That happens all the time.\"\n\n\"That's a little far-fetched, isn't it?\" Stevens said.\n\n\"It's laid on for tomorrow,\" Donovan said. \"Presuming the weather permits. If not tomorrow, the day after. I have been assured\u2014there is only minimal antiaircraft around P\u00e9cs, they can go in low\u2014that there is a seventy-five-percent chance that the prison can be taken out completely. Totally destroyed.\"\n\n\"My God!\"\n\n\"You know what's involved with this,\" Donovan said. \"I don't see I have any alternative. Do you?\"\n\n\"No, Sir,\" Stevens said after a moment.\n\n\"With that scenario,\" Donovan said, \"there is the possibility that the team, and Canidy, can get out.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"If he does,\" Donovan said, \"by the time I've finished with him, he may wish he was still in Hungary.\"\n\n\"Sir,\" Stevens said. \"From his perspective, I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing.\"\n\nAfter a moment, Donovan said, \"I'm surprised to hear you say that, Ed. I thought by now you would have figured out that 'the right thing' has absolutely no meaning for the OSS. We do what has to be done, and 'right' has absolutely nothing to do with that.\"\n\nHe raised his voice.\n\n\"You can take us to Berkeley Square now, please, Ellis.\"\n\nWhen they got there, Captain Helene Dancy was waiting for them with a just-decrypted message:\n\nTOP SECRET \nOPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE \nFROM STATION VIII FOR OSS LONDON \nC47 THREE HOURS OVERDUE HERE STOP TOTAL FUEL \nEXPENDITURE OCCURRED NOT LATER THAN 0800 \nLONDON TIME STOP MUST PRESUME AIRCRAFT LOST \nSTOP INASMUCH AS SUCCESSFUL DROP SIGNAL \nUNRECEIVED MUST PRESUME FAILURE STOP UNABLE \nESTABLISH CONTACT YACHTSMAN OR PHARMACIST STOP \nADVISE STOP PHARMACIST II\n\nDonovan read it, then handed it to Stevens.\n\nThe C-47 with Dolan and Darmstadter was lost. And the worst possible scenario: before they had been able to drop the OSS team.\n\n\"I think you'd better radio him to come home,\" Donovan said. \"And message Wilkins to arrange for a ferry crew for the B-17. I don't want to lose that, too.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **127 DEGREES 20 MINUTES WEST LONGITUDE 07 DEGREES 35 MINUTES NORTH LATITUDE 0600 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe _Drum_ was on the surface. In these waters, off the eastern shore of Mindanao, the risk of a submarine on the surface being spotted by Japanese aircraft and patrol boats was almost unacceptable. But surfacing had been necessary. There was no way to attempt to contact the American guerrilla radio station from a submerged boat.\n\nIn these circumstances, when the life of his boat was literally at stake, Lt. Commander Edwin R. Lennox ordinarily would have exercised command from the bridge on the conning tower, where he could make the decisions (including the ultimate decision: to dive and run or stay and fight). But Lt. Bill Rutherford, the _Drum_ 's exec, was on the bridge and had the conn, and Lennox was below, leaning against the bulkhead. He, Captain Whittaker, and Lt. Hammersmith were watching as Radioman Second Joe Garvey tried to establish contact with U.S. forces in the Philippines.\n\nOnce he had learned that Joe Garvey was not really a motion-picture photographer, Lennox had wondered how good a radioman Garvey could be\u2014he looked to be about seventeen years old\u2014and how the boyish sailor was going to fare when they put him ashore on Mindanao.\n\nThe first question had been answered when they had been under way only a few days. The _Drum_ 's chief radioman, into whose care Garvey had been entrusted, a salty old submariner not given to complimenting his peers, had volunteered the information that \"Garvey really knows his stuff.\" From the chief radioman, that was tantamount to comparing Garvey to Marconi.\n\nLennox had noticed the two of them together frequently after that, with the innards of a radio spread out in front of them, and he had overheard several of their conversations, of which he had understood very little.\n\nBut he understood the problem Garvey and his chief radioman were trying to solve. The first part of it was that the American guerrillas were operating a homemade radio, and establishing contact with it using the radios available on the _Drum_ might prove difficult.\n\nAnd then once\u2014if\u2014they made it safely ashore, the next problem was the radio Garvey was carrying. They intended to replace the guerrillas' homemade radio with equipment capable of reliable communications to Australia, Hawaii, and the States. What they had was a new, apparently not fully tested \"transceiver,\" a device weighing only sixty pounds, including an electrical generation system that was pedaled like a stationary bicycle.\n\nBut that was several steps away. What had to be done now was to let the guerrillas know, and to keep the Japanese from learning, that Whittaker and his team were coming ashore\u2014and where, and when.\n\nSolving that problem had nothing to do with the esoterics of radio-wave propagation in the twenty-meter band.\n\nJoe Garvey had been sending a short message twice, and then listening for a response, and then sending twice again, and then listening again:\n\nKFH FOR WYZB \nFOR GENERAL FERTIG\n\nRELAY WRISTWATCH \nQUOTE POLO COMING FOR NORTH PUERTO RICAN \nCOCKTAILS TODAY END QUOTE \nACKNOWLEDGE KFH BY\n\nThe message, Captain Jim Whittaker had explained, would be delivered to Master Sergeant George Withers, whom he had left on Bataan, and who was now with Fertig on Mindanao. \"Wristwatch\" made reference to the watch Whittaker had taken from his wrist and given to Withers just before he had left him.\n\n\"Polo\" was simple. Jim Whittaker had been a polo player, and was known by that nickname.\n\nWhittaker was sure that Withers and Fertig would understand that \"cocktails\" meant \"at the cocktail hour.\" Whether they interpreted that to mean five P.M., or any hour up to eight or nine, didn't matter. If they were on the beach where Polo was coming at the cocktail hour, they would wait until the last hope he was coming was gone.\n\nThe tricky part of the message was \"Puerto Rican cocktails.\" Whittaker said he was banking on Whithers being initially baffled by that, saying aloud to find a meaning.\n\n_Puerto Rico? Puerto Rico? Puerto Rico?_\n\n\"Word association, Skipper,\" Whittaker had said. \"What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you think 'Puerto Rico'?\"\n\n\"Rum,\" Commander Lennox said immediately.\n\n\"Think geographically,\" Whittaker said.\n\n\"San Juan, I guess,\" Lennox had said. \"But I knew about San Juan.\"\n\nIt was Whittaker's intention to go ashore north of the small city of San Juan on the eastern shore of Mindanao at six, just before darkness fell.\n\n\"They will be thinking geographically,\" Whittaker said firmly. \"They'll get it, all right. The message isn't what's bothering me.\"\n\n\"Something is bothering you?\" Lennox asked sarcastically. \"I can't imagine what that would be.\"\n\n\"Well, for one thing, we don't seem to be getting any reply, \" Whittaker said dryly, \"which could mean that either Garvey's radio isn't working; or that Fertig's radio isn't working; or that Fertig's people just aren't listening; or if you insist on taking counsel of your fears, that they have been killed or captured by the Japanese.\"\n\n\"And what if they have been, Jim?\" Lennox asked, very seriously. \"What are you going to do if you can't raise them on the radio? Try again tomorrow?\"\n\n\"I've thought about that,\" Whittaker said, now as serious as Lennox. \"Garvey tells me that the signal he is sending is strong enough to be picked up all over the island. That means that other Americans, or at least Filipinos friendly to him, have heard the message and will get it to him. And so, of course, have the Japanese. I don't want to give the Japanese any more time to play word association than I already have. I want to go ashore at six tonight.\"\n\nLennox nodded.\n\nIt was, he realized, the first order Whittaker had given him that was not open to suggestion or argument.\n\n\"I think I'm going to go up to the bridge,\" he said, then added without thinking about it, \"if you don't need me?\"\n\n\"No, go ahead,\" Whittaker said absently.\n\nCommander Lennox had just reached the ladder to the conning tower when the Klaxon sounded and the speaker's voice came over the loudspeakers:\n\n\"Japanese aircraft ninety degrees three miles! Dive! Dive!\"\n\n# **4**\n\n## **DROP ZONE ASPIRIN NEAR P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 0535 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nLt. Hank Darmstadter walked down the slanting floor of the C-47 to where Canidy knelt, with his ear to the chest of Lt. Commander John Dolan, USNR.\n\n\"Is he dead?\" he asked softly.\n\nCanidy straightened, still on his knees, and nodded.\n\n\"What the hell were you thinking of, sitting down?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"He had an attack just before we landed at Cairo from Vis,\" Darmstadter said, and then answered Canidy's question: \"I couldn't kick the equipment bags out myself.\"\n\nTwo of the parachutists appeared at the door of the aircraft. They had stripped out of their black coveralls and except for the carbines they held in their hands looked like civilians.\n\n\"Jesus!\" one of them said when he saw Dolan.\n\nCanidy got off his knees and looked around the cabin for something to put over Dolan's body. He saw nothing.\n\n\"Give them the equipment bags,\" Canidy said to Darmstadter, then turned to the team. \"Take them into the woods. I don't suppose there's an ax in there?\"\n\n\"Whole fucking kit of engineer tools. Even a power saw,\" one of them replied as Darmstadter lowered one of the long, padded bags onto his shoulders.\n\n\"And C-2?\" Canidy asked.\n\n\"Hundred pounds of C-2, in two-pound blocks,\" the parachutist said as he headed for the cover of the pine forest, staggering under the weight.\n\nThe second parachutist took a bag as the other two members of the team trotted up.\n\n\"The lieutenant's in pain,\" he said. \"Pretty bad. Should we give him morphine?\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" Canidy said.\n\nThe parachutist gave Canidy a dirty look.\n\n\"Christ, he hurts! They never should have made him make this fucking jump!\"\n\n\"He's not dead,\" Canidy said. \"We'll be, if we don't get this airplane out of here before it's spotted.\"\n\nThen he looked at Darmstadter.\n\n\"You _can_ get it out of here?\"\n\n\"No problem,\" Darmstadter said immediately, confidently.\n\nA wild thought popped into Canidy's mind, and he asked the question:\n\n\"Loaded?\"\n\n\"With what?\"\n\n\"People. The team. Three others.\"\n\n\"Yeah,\" Darmstadter said, and then anticipated the next question: \"I've got about two hours' fuel aboard. If I can find Vis, that gives me a thirty-minute reserve.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, if you can find it?\"\n\nDarmstadter pointed out the door. Canidy looked. It had begun to snow: large, soft-looking flakes.\n\n\"Dolan was navigating by reference to the ground,\" Darmstadter said. \"Roads and railroads. I won't be able to see the ground. And I'm not sure I can find Vis just using a compass.\"\n\n\"That kind of snow won't last long,\" Canidy said reassuringly.\n\n_But,_ he thought angrily, _that fucking snow is just what we don't need!_\n\nAnd then he realized that exactly the opposite was true. The snow was just what he _did_ need. It would obscure the tracks the landing gear had made on the meadow. And, if he was right, and it left just a dusting of fresh snow atop the inch or two on the ground, it wouldn't interfere with a takeoff.\n\n\"Start it up,\" he ordered. \"I'm going to find a place to hide this big sonofabitch.\"\n\nAs he ran into the center of the meadow, looking for a break in the trees, someplace where the C-47 could be taxied to, he wondered whether his decision to use the Gooney Bird to get out of here was based on sound military reason (Darmstadter couldn't find Vis\u2014he could; it was an available asset and should be used) or whether he subconsciously saw it as a lifeboat with himself as a drowning sailor, and was irrationally refusing to let it go, as drowning sailors will fight to get into an already loaded lifeboat, not caring that their weight will swamp it.\n\nHe snapped out of that by telling himself the decision had been made and there was no going back on it now.\n\nHe found no place to hide the airplane, now sitting where it had stopped with engines idling and Darmstadter looking out the window, waiting for instructions.\n\nCanidy ran back to it and signaled Darmstadter to turn it around, then guided him to the edge of the forest, stopping him only when the nose was in the trees and the propeller on the right engine was spinning two feet from a thick pine trunk.\n\nThree of the team members were watching him. He wondered if they were simply curious or had already decided he was crazy.\n\n\"You said there was a power saw,\" he said. \"Get it. Cover as much of this thing as you can with the largest boughs you can.\"\n\n\"Why don't you just blow it?\" one of them, the one who was so concerned about J\u00e1nos being in pain, said. \"You already got one fire.\"\n\n\"Everybody gets one question,\" Canidy said. \"That was yours. I don't want to hear another. The answer to your question is we're going to get out of here on that Gooney Bird.\"\n\n\"You'll never get that off the ground in that short a distance, \" the parachutist said.\n\n\"That was an opinion,\" Canidy said icily. \"You get one, only, of those, too. The next time I want to see your mouth open is when I ask you a question.\"\n\nThe parachutist glared at him but said nothing.\n\n\"Get going!\" Canidy said. \"I want the snow to cover the boughs.\"\n\n\"There's an auxiliary fuel system,\" Darmstadter said. \"A fifty-five-gallon barrel connected to the main tanks. You want me to try to get it out?\"\n\n\"That and anything else heavy we don't absolutely need.\"\n\n\"You're not talking about Commander Dolan?\" Darmstadter flared.\n\n\"No,\" Canidy said. \"We'll take Dolan with us.\"\n\nThe Countess's housekeeper appeared in the main room of the lodge when Canidy, Alois, and Freddy J\u00e1nos, white-faced, his arms around their shoulders, walked into it.\n\nShe put a balled fist to her mouth. Canidy could not tell whether she was manifesting sympathy or fear.\n\n\"Major,\" J\u00e1nos said, embarrassed, \"I think I'm going to pass out.\"\n\n\"I'm going to give you something for pain just as soon as I get you in bed,\" Canidy said. \"Tell him to tell her to keep her mouth shut.\"\n\nThey half carried J\u00e1nos to the bed in which Canidy had slept and laid him flat on it. Canidy, as gently as he could, cut the boot from his leg, then pulled a coarsely woven cotton sock\u2014Hungarian, rather than GI wool-cushion-soled\u2014from it. Somewhere in J\u00e1nos's gear was a pair of Hungarian shoes that the plan called for him to put on once he was on the ground. The notion that jump boots might protect his ankle hadn't worked.\n\nThe ankle was blue and swollen, but there didn't seem to be any bones threatening to break through the skin.\n\nCanidy opened a flat metal can, sealed with tape, and took a morphine syringe from it. He pushed J\u00e1nos's trouser leg up as far as he could and shoved the needle into his calf. It would take a little longer for the morphine to take effect that way, but it would be less painful for J\u00e1nos than moving his body around to get at his upper arm or buttock.\n\n\"That'll take a minute or two,\" Canidy said. \"I'll be back.\"\n\n\"I'm getting sick to my stomach,\" J\u00e1nos said.\n\n\"Tell him,\" Canidy said, nodding at Alois. \"He'll get you something to throw up in.\"\n\nThen he went looking for the Countess and von Heurten-Mitnitz.\n\nIt was not necessary under the circumstances, he decided, to bother knocking on doors and politely waiting for permission to enter.\n\nHe found them behind the third door he opened, nearly hidden under a goose-down comforter.\n\n\"Good morning,\" he said.\n\nHelmut von Heurten-Mitnitz suddenly erupted from under the comforter, reaching for his Walther pistol as his eyes swept around the room.\n\nThe movement took the comforter off both of them. They were both naked.\n\nThe Countess, as Canidy had thought she might be, was a baroque work of art. His Excellency was a white-skinned, skinny man, from whose chest sprouted no more than a dozen long black hairs.\n\n\"What's all this?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz demanded in outrage as he put the pistol down and pulled the comforter over himself and the Countess.\n\n\"The team is here,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I presume you mean Ferniany,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"No, I mean the team,\" Canidy said. \"They were dropped about thirty minutes ago. I think you ought to get dressed and get out of here right away.\"\n\n_I have just decided,_ Canidy realized, _that I am not going to tell them about the Gooney Bird_.\n\n\"Did everything go all right?\" the Countess Batthyany asked.\n\n\"One of them has a broken ankle,\" Canidy said. \"I brought him here.\"\n\n\"Where did you put him?\" she asked.\n\n\"In my bed,\" Canidy said.\n\nThe Countess slid out from under the comforter, modestly turned her back to Canidy, and wrapped herself in a dressing gown. She found shoes, worked her feet into them, and, brushing her magnificent mop of red hair off her face, walked out of the room.\n\nHelmut von Heurten-Mitnitz got out the other side of the bed and started to dress. Naked, Canidy thought, and in his underwear\u2014a sleeveless undershirt and baggy drawers, plus stockings held up by rubber suspenders on his skinny calves\u2014von Heurten-Mitnitz was not at all impressive.\n\n\"We have one dead man, too,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"What happened?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\n\"Natural causes,\" Canidy said. \"A heart attack.\"\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz didn't seem at all surprised by that announcement, which surprised Canidy.\n\n\"What are you going to do with the body?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked. \"Or the man with the injured . . . leg, you said?\"\n\n\"Ankle,\" Canidy said. \"I haven't made up my mind yet. The first priority, I think, is for you and the Countess to get back to Budapest.\"\n\n\"I think you're right,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\nCanidy returned to his room.\n\n\"You landed the airplane,\" the Countess greeted him, looking up from the bed, where she was prodding and pulling on the ankle of the now unconscious J\u00e1nos.\n\nAlois had apparently told her, and she would now certainly tell von Heurten-Mitnitz.\n\n\"Yes,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I will remain here while Herr von Heurten-Mitnitz returns to Budapest,\" she said. \"It would be better, if I were here when . . . if . . . the authorities come.\"\n\n\"I think it would be better if you went to Budapest,\" Canidy said. \"Just as soon as you can.\"\n\nShe ignored him.\n\n\"I have sent for rubber bandage,\" she said. \"I'm sure there's some here. I think about all we can do for this man is to wrap the ankle tightly, then stiffen the ankle. You take my meaning?\"\n\n\"Splint it,\" Canidy said, nodding. \"Thank you.\"\n\nAlois came into the room with von Heurten-Mitnitz on his heels.\n\n\"Their airplane landed,\" the Countess said.\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz looked at Canidy, surprised.\n\n\"Intact?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"And you plan to use it to leave?\" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.\n\nCanidy nodded. \"If we can.\"\n\n\"I think it would be best if you took Beatrice with you,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"No,\" the Countess said. \"I am staying here to do what I can while you go to Budapest. But I am not leaving with them.\"\n\n\"I don't see any way that what has happened here can be hidden,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"Then you leave, too,\" the Countess said.\n\n\"There is a good chance that no one knows about either the drop or the plane landing,\" Canidy said.\n\n\"I think that is highly unlikely,\" von Heurten-Mitnitz said.\n\n\"You and the Countess slept through two passes and the landing itself,\" Canidy said.\n\nVon Heurten-Mitnitz grunted, reluctantly granting the point.\n\n\"I don't want to have to worry about you, Countess,\" Canidy said, \"while we're getting Eric and the professor out of St. Gertrud's. I want you to go to Budapest, and now.\"\n\nShe met his eyes for a moment.\n\n\"All right,\" she said finally. \"Just let me do what I can for him.\"\n\nTwenty minutes later, the Opel Admiral drove away from the lodge. By then, it had stopped snowing. Canidy wondered if enough snow had fallen to conceal the tracks the C-47 had made on the meadow, or to obscure the outline of the aircraft under the pine boughs.\n\nSince Ferniany hadn't shown up, there was nothing else to do, so he went to see.\n\n# **5**\n\n## **1715 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nFerniany drove up to the hunting lodge at the wheel of a small, canvas-bodied Tatra truck about the size of an American pickup. Canidy, summoned from the kitchen by Alois, went out to meet him. Ferniany had three men from the Hungarian underground with him, but that was about all.\n\nThere had been \"a little trouble,\" he told Canidy. The Germans, or maybe even the Hungarians, he didn't know which, had had radio direction-finding trucks in operation, and they had located the radio transmitter from which he had radioed the drop-zone coordinates.\n\nThere had been enough warning that the trucks were moving around, together with cars full of police, for him to get away before the police got to the hidden transmitter, but he had had to leave everything behind.\n\nThe police by now had found the signal panels, the radio, and the weapons, including the Sten submachine gun Captain Hughson had loaned Canidy on Vis.\n\n\"Where did the truck come from?\"\n\n\"We stole it,\" Ferniany replied, just a little smugly.\n\n\"How do you plan to get rid of it?\" Canidy asked.\n\nFerniany looked at him, making it clear he didn't think much of the question.\n\n\"Abandon it, when we're through with it.\"\n\n\"How many trucks do you think are stolen in Budapest and then abandoned in P\u00e9cs?\" Canidy asked. \"Did it occur to you that the police might find that curious? Or that the SS, now that they're aware there are people in here with transmitters and signal panels and English weapons, might be absolutely fascinated to learn that a truck had been stolen in Budapest and abandoned here?\"\n\n\"We'll hide it in the forest,\" Ferniany said lamely. \"Bury it, even.\"\n\n\"The damage is done,\" Canidy said. \"As soon as the team has gotten our people out of St. Gertrud's, you do whatever you can about the truck. Either, preferably, get it back to Budapest and abandon it there or take it someplace else. But get it away from here.\"\n\nFerniany did not seem to understand that stealing the truck had been a stupid thing to do. If they had been caught in the act of stealing it, or once they had it in their possession, even the dumbest Hungarian cop would have made the connection between someone barely escaping from the radio-detection operation and someone heading out of town in a stolen truck.\n\nAnd if he sensed that Canidy was furious, he showed no sign of it.\n\n\"You said, 'as soon as the team' gets our people out . . . ,\" Ferniany challenged.\n\n\"Yes, I did.\"\n\n\"Major,\" Ferniany explained patiently, almost tolerantly, \"without the signal panels and the radio, there's no way we can expect the team to get in here,\" Ferniany said. \"We're going to have to do this ourselves.\"\n\n\"You've got some kind of a plan?\" Canidy asked. It was all he trusted himself to say.\n\n\"Prisons are designed keep people _in,_ \" Ferniany said, solemnly announcing a great philosophical truth.\n\n\"And?\"\n\n\"From seven o'clock at night until five o'clock in the morning, there are on duty only six people: five guards and a sort of clerk. _And_ there is only one guard on the motor pool where they keep the trucks and motorcycles.\"\n\n\"You mean the mine trucks, the ones they carry the prisoners back and forth to the mine in?\"\n\n\"Right,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"So what you're going to do is knock over the guard at the motor pool, steal a mine truck, and drive it to the prison. You'll be a little early, but they'll recognize the truck and pass you inside, whereupon you and your three men will take on the five guards and the clerk, grab Fulmar and Professor Dyer, and make your escape?\"\n\n\"I detect a little sarcasm,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"Not a little,\" Canidy said.\n\nHe let that sink in, and waited for an angry response. He was surprised when none came.\n\n\"Right up there in importance with getting Fulmar and Dyer out,\" Canidy said, \"is getting them out without calling anybody's attention to the fact that they are anything but what they were\u2014thanks to your stupidity, we should keep that in mind\u2014arrested for: black marketeers. Don't you think the Germans would be goddamned curious to learn why two people\u2014who just happen to fit the descriptions of two men the whole goddamned SS is looking for\u2014were busted out of an obscure Hungarian prison with more shooting and dead bodies strewn all over than in a Jimmy Cagney gangster movie?\"\n\nFerniany's face colored with anger.\n\n\"I'm right on the edge of telling you to go fuck yourself, Canidy,\" Ferniany said.\n\n\"You really wouldn't want to do that, would you?\" Canidy asked primly.\n\n\"Why wouldn't I?\" Ferniany said. \"According to you, I don't do anything right.\" He paused, but then was carried along by his momentum: \"Fuck you, Canidy. Stick this whole operation up your ass. I'd like to hear how you plan to get them out, you wiseass sonofabitch.\"\n\n\"Now you've gone and done it,\" Canidy said, even more primly.\n\n\"Done what?\" Ferniany said, curiously, a smile forming on his face.\n\n\"Used naughty words in front of the enlisted men,\" Canidy said, gesturing to Alois and the men from the underground, who had been fascinated by the angry exchange, not a word of which they understood. \"Whatever will they think?\"\n\nFerniany looked at the four Hungarians. Then, although he tried not to, the innocent curiosity on their faces made him laugh.\n\nThat seemed to reassure the Hungarians. The looks of puzzlement were replaced by broad smiles.\n\n\"I would be fascinated, Major Canidy, Sir,\" Ferniany said, \"to learn precisely how the Major plans to carry out this mission.\"\n**XIV**\n\n# **1**\n\n## **NEAR SAN JUAN, ISLAND OF MINDANAO COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES 1815 HOURS 21 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe commanding general of United States forces in the Philippines had climbed a tree. It wasn't a very tall tree, and he hadn't been able to climb very far up it, but it was on the highest point he could find on a bluff thirty feet above a narrow sandy beach, and he was sure that it was giving him the best possible view of the sea.\n\nIt was growing dark. In fifteen minutes, it would be completely dark. Moving through the jungle at any time was difficult, and when it was dark, damned near impossible.\n\nHe knew he had made a bad decision coming here at all. What he should have done was send Withers and one or two of his men down here to see what happened, not come himself.\n\nBut he had wanted so desperately to believe that something would happen. So he had come himself, and brought an unnecessarily large force with him. He knew it was because he wanted witnesses that his hopes had come true. But what else was there for him to do?\n\nHe put the one and only pair of binoculars in the hands of U.S. forces in the Philippines to his eyes.\n\nHe would search the open sea one more time, until his eyes started to tear from fatigue, he decided, and then he would order the withdrawal of this force by night to the mountains, and on the way maybe he'd think of one more credible excuse why \"the aid\" hadn't come this night either, one more reason to hope that maybe tomorrow\u2014\n\nThere wasn't one miserable fucking thing on the surface of the water.\n\nSomebody tugged on his shoe. He looked down in annoyance.\n\nIt was Master Sergeant Withers. He was pointing down at the beach, his hand shaking, and with tears running down his cheeks.\n\nThere was a submarine down there, in far closer to the beach than Fertig would have believed it possible for a submarine to maneuver. Torrents of water still gushed from ports in its side, but there were people on the conning tower, and then the colors went up on a mast over the conning tower.\n\nFertig's eyes filled with tears.\n\n\"I'll be a sonofabitch, there they are!\" Withers said.\n\nThere was all sorts of activity on the submarine now. Sailors ran purposefully about the narrow decks, objects were handed up through hatches.\n\nThe commanding general of USFIP slid down the tree trunk and slid down the bluff to the beach.\n\nThey had to wait for what seemed like an hour, but what was really not more than five minutes, before a rubber boat appeared close to the surf.\n\nHalf a dozen of his men ran out in water to their shoulders to reach it, to help it ashore.\n\nFertig thought, idly, that they seemed to be having a hell of a hard time pulling it.\n\nAnd then somebody jumped out of the rubber boat, and Fertig walked into the receding surf to meet him, although he had told himself he would not, the salt water would be hell on already deteriorating boots.\n\nHe was a tall and good-looking young man in khakis.\n\nHe splashed through the surf to Fertig.\n\nAnd then he stopped, still in water to his knees, and came to attention and saluted.\n\n\"Captain Whittaker, General,\" he said. \"United States Army Air Corps.\"\n\n\"Welcome to Mindanao, Captain,\" Fertig said, returning the salute crisply, controlling his voice with a massive effort, glad now that it was dark enough that Whittaker wouldn't be able to see the tears on his cheeks.\n\n\"Sir . . . Sergeant Withers?\"\n\nFertig pointed to the second rubber boat coming through the surf. With the same apparent difficulty that those helping the first boat had had, Withers was trying to hurry it ashore.\n\n\"Excuse me, sir,\" Whittaker said, and ran into the surf. He returned with a very small sailor riding on his shoulders.\n\n\"Send 'B,' \" Whittaker ordered as he set the small sailor onto the beach.\n\nJoe Garvey flashed the Morse code signal for \"B,\" a dash and three dots, from a flashlight with an angled head.\n\nThere was an immediate response from a signaling light on the conning tower of the submarine. Garvey hurriedly took a pad from his pocket and wrote it down.\n\n\"What was that?\" Fertig asked.\n\n\"Garvey sent them 'B,' \" Whittaker explained. \" 'B' is 'safely ashore, with equipment, in contact with U.S. forces in the Philippines.' \"\n\n\"Sir,\" Radioman Second Joe Garvey reported, \" _Drum_ messages, 'Aloha. God Bless.' \"\n\nFertig looked out at the submarine. It was under way. The colors had already been hauled down. Its deck was already awash. It was going back under.\n\nIt didn't matter. If one came, others could. Others _would_.\n\n\"My men seem to be having a time getting your boats ashore, Captain,\" General Fertig said, trying valiantly to sound nonchalant.\n\n\"We've got medicine for you, General,\" Whittaker said. \"And some small arms and ammunition. And a million dollars in gold coins. You wouldn't believe how much a million dollars weighs until you try to tow it around in a rubber boat with a five-horse outboard motor.\"\n\n# **2**\n\n## **ST. GERTRUD'S PRISON P\u00c9CS, HUNGARY 0630 HOURS 22 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nThe Tatra dump truck scraped the stones in the tunnel between the courtyard and the street with the left edge of its bumper.\n\nA little harder than usual, Eric Fulmar, riding against the cab in the bed of the truck, thought idly. And then there was immediately another proof that it was going a little harder than usual. Instead of squeaking on through, the truck jerked to a stop and, with a clash of gears, backed up.\n\n_Oh, Christ, now what?_\n\nThen the gears clashed again, and the truck moved forward, and they were through the tunnel and onto the street.\n\nIt had snowed again overnight, not much, just a white dusting over the slush. Fulmar had hoped for freezing rain. That made the ride to the mine more interesting. He had concluded that all the truck drivers he had met since they had been locked up shared one quality: They had all learned how to drive last week and tried to hide this by driving as fast as the trucks would go.\n\nOn the slippery cobblestone streets on the way to the mines, they often skidded the truck into a ditch or into something hard enough to bend the fenders into the tires. This was routinely followed by marvelous displays of Hungarian temper and absolutely marvelous attempts to get the trucks out of the ditches by doing precisely the wrong thing.\n\nSometimes, as much as two hours would be lost. It was more pleasant than handling a donkey in the mines, and Fulmar looked forward to icy road conditions. He was disappointed this morning when the driver managed to negotiate a turn that had several times seen the truck skid into a ditch so steep that the rear wheels of the truck left the ground.\n\nThey were maybe a kilometer away from the mine when he felt the brakes lock, and the truck skid, and then jolt to a halt.\n\nHe could not see over the cab, so he had no idea what they'd hit.\n\nA moment later, there was a call in Hungarian for everybody to get out.\n\nGetting everybody out to push was routine, too. And while it wasn't as interesting as watching the Hungarians try to get the wheels of a dump truck back on the ground by swearing and throwing stones at it, it would still delay the journey into the mines.\n\nIt wasn't until he had slid from the truck bed and turned around that Eric saw that whatever was happening was not routine.\n\nThere were men behind the truck, Hungarian civilians with pistols; and the two Keystone Kops on the motorcycle who trailed the truck were on the ground, spread-eagled. As Fulmar watched, the driver and his assistant were brought to the rear of the truck and forced onto the ground beside the cops.\n\nOne of the men with pistols motioned the prisoners into a line, and then into two lines, then three, prodding the slow ones with the barrel of his pistol. And then another man came down the line and rudely jerked people out of line by grabbing their shoulders.\n\n_If I wasn't so afraid, this would be funny._\n\nThe man reached him, jerked Fulmar out of line, and marched him toward the front of the truck. Fulmar saw what had stopped the truck. A tree lay across the road. At first he thought it had been sawed, but then he saw that it had been taken down by somebody who knew how to use Primacord.\n\nStanding near the cab of the truck were more Hungarians. One of them, in a large soft black woolen hat, looked somehow familiar.\n\n\"You do not recognize me,\" Canidy ordered quietly when Fulmar was dragged before him.\n\nFulmar shook his head in wonderment and smiled, but said nothing.\n\n\"We don't have much time,\" Canidy said. \"Just tell me which of the others would escape if they had half a chance?\"\n\nFulmar looked confused.\n\n\"You heard me,\" Canidy said. \"I need to know who are the serious criminals.\"\n\nFulmar was as much confused by the question as he was surprised to see Canidy. But he finally understood that the question was important for reasons he could not imagine.\n\n\"These guys are petty criminals,\" Fulmar said. \"If they weren't in jail, they'd probably starve. No real criminals, if that's what you're asking.\"\n\n\"Damn,\" Canidy said. \"Now, is Professor Dyer one of the people we pulled out of there?\"\n\nFulmar looked.\n\n\"Second from the end,\" he said, \"with the glasses.\"\n\nCanidy waved another of the Hungarians over and spoke softly to him in English.\n\n\"No gangsters,\" he said. \"We'll just have to take half a dozen of them with us, that's all there is to it. You saw Dyer?\"\n\n\"Yeah, but I don't think he recognized me.\"\n\n\"Let's try to keep it that way for the time being,\" Canidy said. \"You go ahead and get them to uncover the plane.\"\n\n\"The plane?\" Fulmar blurted. \"You've got an _airplane?_ \"\n\n\"Take Loudmouth here with you,\" Canidy said. \"He insists on talking English.\"\n\nThere was a sharp cracking noise, followed a moment later by a creaking, tearing noise, and finally a great crashing sound.\n\nFulmar realized that another tree, its trunk severed by Primacord, had been dropped across the road.\n\n\"Let's go, Lieutenant,\" the man Canidy had spoken to said softly, and Fulmar followed him off the road and into the forest.\n\nIt was a long way across steep, heavily forested hills from where the prison truck had been stopped to the meadow; and when they got there, Fulmar was sweat-soaked and panting from the exertion.\n\nHe didn't see an airplane. All he saw was a Hungarian standing at the far end of the meadow beside two of the largest horses he had ever seen. The horses wore whatever horses used so they could pull a wagon or a plow, but there was nothing around for them to pull.\n\nAnd then, as they crossed the meadow, he saw a round red light sticking out of a snow-covered mound. And he understood that he was looking at the top of an aircraft vertical stabilizer.\n\nAn American pilot wearing a leather A-2 jacket and with a Thompson submachine gun in his hands came out of the woods.\n\n\"This is Fulmar,\" Ferniany told Darmstadter. \"Canidy's bringing the other one.\"\n\nDarmstadter looked with unabashed curiosity at Fulmar.\n\n_This young guy in blue work clothes was the purpose of this whole operation?_\n\n\"Hello,\" Fulmar said.\n\nThat shocked Darmstadter into action.\n\nHe looked around for someplace to put the Thompson down and finally hung it from a brass horn on the harness of one of the horses. Ferniany watched him, then shrugged and put his pistol in his pocket and went to the mound of snow-covered brush.\n\nWhen the branches were off the tail section, Alois hitched a stout rope to the tail wheel and the huge horses pulled the C-47 far enough out of the forest to turn the airplane around.\n\nIt took half an hour to remove all the branches from the C-47. Some of them had frozen to the wings and fuselage, and small branches had wedged into the openings of the movable control surfaces.\n\nDarmstadter started the engines, to make sure they would start. The engines started without difficulty, but when he tried to run the controls through their operating range, he found that snow had melted and then frozen the controls cables.\n\nHe let the engines run until they had reached operating temperature, then shut them down. Then he went after the ice in the ailerons and other movable control surfaces while Fulmar and Ferniany hammered at the ice on the wings. They quickly learned the best way to get it off was to stamp on it with their feet or slam it with their fists. The aluminum would then flex enough to free the ice, which could then be pushed or kicked out of the way.\n\nThey were still working on the airplane when the team, the Hungarian underground, Canidy, Dyer, and six wholly confused and terrified petty criminals from St. Gertrud's prison arrived.\n\n\"Wind it up,\" Canidy ordered. \"We're going. Get those people aboard.\"\n\n\"We're taking them?\" Fulmar asked incredulously.\n\n\"Instant immigration,\" Canidy said. \"Get them aboard.\"\n\nCanidy stood by the door of the airplane as the Hungarians and the team and Professor Dyer got aboard. He collected the weapons and passed them to the Hungarians. Darmstadter started one engine and then the other.\n\n\"Get on, Eric,\" Canidy ordered.\n\nFerniany and Canidy looked at each other a moment, wordlessly.\n\n\"You aren't really such a horse's ass after all,\" Canidy finally said. \"Take care.\"\n\n\"You are,\" Ferniany said with a smile. \"A horse's ass, I mean.\"\n\nThen he slapped Canidy on the back and ran to get out of the prop blast.\n\nCanidy climbed into the Gooney Bird. As he closed the door, Darmstadter started to taxi to the absolute end of the meadow.\n\nCanidy slid into the copilot's seat as Darmstadter turned the Gooney Bird around.\n\nDarmstadter locked the brakes, checked the mags, and then ran both engines up to takeoff power. The Gooney Bird trembled and bounced. He took the brakes off, and the airplane began to roll, first with maddening slowness, and then picking up speed. But not quite enough to get it off the ground.\n\nAs they reached the end of the meadow, Darmstadter pulled it into the air. There was not enough velocity to maintain flight, and it started to stall. Darmstadter pushed the nose down, getting it out of the incipient stall; and the Gooney Bird now followed the contour of the cut-over hillside down toward the stream. It was flying, but only barely.\n\nAnd then he pulled back on the wheel again, and this time, having picked up just enough speed, the Gooney Bird was willing to fly for real.\n\n\"Very impressive,\" Canidy's voice came over the earphones. Thinking it was sarcasm, Darmstadter snapped his head toward him.\n\nCanidy was beaming and making an \"OK\" sign of approval with his left hand.\n\nAnd then Canidy's face registered genuine surprise, and the \"OK\" sign changed into a finger pointing out the windshield. Darmstadter followed it.\n\nThere were sixteen B-17 aircraft flying in five staggered Vs at what was probably eight thousand feet. Their bomb bays were open, and as Darmstadter and Canidy watched, streams of 500-pound bombs began to drop.\n\n\"They're bombing P\u00e9cs,\" Darmstadter said. \"What the hell is there in P\u00e9cs worth bombing with a squadron of B- 17s?\"\n\nCanidy didn't respond to that.\n\n\"I think you had better get back on the deck,\" he said. \"Steer one nine zero.\"\n\n# **3**\n\n## **OSS LONDON STATION BERKELEY SQUARE LONDON, ENGLAND 1630 HOURS 22 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nLieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., came into David Bruce's office. Kennedy looked, Colonel Wild Bill Donovan thought, not unlike his father as a young man.\n\n\"Hello, Joe,\" Donovan said. \"How are you?\"\n\n\"Not very cheerful, Colonel,\" Kennedy said, raising a package in his hand. \"Dolan's personal items. I didn't know what to do with them.\"\n\n\"I'll take them, Mr. Kennedy,\" Chief Ellis said. \"I'll see that they get to his next of kin.\"\n\n\"Does he have any?\" Kennedy asked. \"I never heard him talk about a family.\"\n\n\"I'm sure there's a brother or a sister or somebody,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"And what do I do about Darmstadter?\" Kennedy said. \"Write the letter myself, or let his old outfit do it? He was on TDY to the composite squadron, officially.\"\n\nHe was, Donovan thought, approvingly, already assuming the responsibilities of command.\n\n\"You write it, Joe,\" Donovan ordered. \"Be vague. But let them know he went in as a volunteer doing something important. \" He thought about saying something else, realized that he shouldn't, but said it anyway: \"I wish we could report them KIA. Until we have positive word, of course, they'll have to be carried as MIA. But I don't think there's any real hope.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir,\" Kennedy said.\n\nDonovan had been avoiding making the decision what to do about taking the necessary action about Dick Canidy and Ferniany. At the very least, they were missing in action. It might even be better to hope that they were dead. Just before it went off the air, interrupting a code block, the OSS radio station had sent the code for \"Station discovered, in immediate danger of being captured.\"\n\nIt was reasonable to presume that Ferniany had been captured in Budapest. If that was true, and he was lucky, he would be dead. If that was true, and he was unlucky, he was alive and in the hands of the SS; and it might be some time before they were through with him and shot him. Or hanged him with a length of piano wire.\n\nIf they had caught him alive, it had to be presumed that he had given them Canidy's location and told them what he knew. No matter how little that was, it was certain to be damaging to von Heurten-Mitnitz, the Countess Batthyany, and the whole Hungarian pipeline.\n\nThere seemed to be little doubt that Fulmar and Professor Dyer were dead. The last B-17 had carried photographers, and there was proof beyond question that St. Gertrud's prison and three square blocks around it had been bombed into rubble.\n\nCanidy, to be sure, might still be alive, on the run somewhere in the forests near P\u00e9cs. He had as many lives as a cat.\n\nIt was the particularly obscene nature of this business, Donovan thought, that I am forced to hope that he is dead. If he is dead, what he knows will not become known to the Germans.\n\nHe had decided that when he made up his mind to do it, he would personally write to the Reverend Doctor George Crater Canidy. He knew that it would be important, that Canidy would really want his father to believe he had died saving lives, not taking them. In a sense that was true, and maybe, Donovan decided, he would be able to make that point.\n\nA more immediate problem was telling Ann Chambers. She had no legal right to know, of course. But legality had nothing to do with it. Donovan wanted her to hear it from him, and that meant he would have to tell her in the next couple of hours, before he got on the Washington plane.\n\n\"Joe,\" he said, \"you understand, of course, that Operation Aphrodite is now your responsibility?\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"When Stan Fine gets back, he will fill the role Canidy had. You will report to him.\"\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"There's more to it than the sub pens at Saint-Lazare,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"I assumed there was,\" Kennedy said matter-of-factly.\n\nDonovan's eyebrows rose.\n\n\"I'll have Colonel Stevens fill you in,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"Yes, Sir.\"\n\n\"We have to expect setbacks, Joe,\" Donovan said, wondering if he was talking as much to himself as he was to Kennedy. \"And not everything has gone wrong. Just before you came, there was word that Jimmy Whittaker is safely ashore in the Philippines.\"\n\n\"Sir?\" Kennedy asked, confused.\n\n_I am more emotionally upset by all this than I like to think I am; there was no reason for me to tell Kennedy that, and I should have known that he didn't know what was planned for Whittaker._\n\n\"That's out of school, Joe,\" Donovan said. \"You don't have the Need-to-Know.\"\n\n\"You sent Jimmy _back_ to the Philippines?\" Kennedy asked incredulously.\n\n\"He volunteered to go,\" Donovan said.\n\n_That's pretty lame, Donovan, and you know it. You did indeed send Jimmy back, knowing full well the risks._\n\nThe door opened. Capt. Helene Dancy walked in.\n\n\"I asked not to be disturbed,\" Donovan said, coldly angry. \"Do I have to lock the door to keep from being interrupted? \"\n\n_Just because you don't like yourself right now is no reason to jump all over her_.\n\nCapt. Dancy did not reply. White-faced, obviously hurt and angry, she marched to his desk, laid a TOP SECRET cover sheet on it, and marched back out of the office.\n\nTOP SECRET \nOPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE \nFROM STATION VII \nTO OSS LONDON EYES ONLY BRUCE AND STEVENS\n\nEXLAX AND TINCAN ONE ALIVE AND WELL STATION VII STOP GOONEYBIRDING STATION VIII STOP WILL REQUIRE IMMEDIATE AIR TRANSPORTATION STATION VIII DASH LONDON SIX HUNGARIAN CRIMINALS AND REMAINS LT CMDR JOHN DOLAN STOP\n\nCANIDY\n\nIt took Donovan a moment before he trusted his voice.\n\n\"I think, Joe,\" he said finally, handing him the message, \"that you had better hold off on writing Lieutenant Darmstadter's family until we can get this sorted out.\"\n\nAs Kennedy read the message, Donovan added, \"Let Chief Ellis see it when you're finished.\"\n\n\" 'Hungarian criminals'?\" Kennedy asked. \"Is that some kind of a code?\"\n\n\"Not as far as I know,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"I wonder what happened to Dolan,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"You were friends, Ellis?\" Donovan asked.\n\n\"Not really _friends,_ \" Ellis said. \"Yeah, well, maybe. A couple of old sailors. I liked him.\"\n\nThe door opened again.\n\n\"Yes, Sir?\" Capt. Helene Dancy asked.\n\n\"First, Helene, I'm sorry I jumped on you,\" Donovan said.\n\n\"That's perfectly all right, Sir,\" she said.\n\nShe's still mad.\n\n\"I think you had better message Wilkins, over my signature, and tell him to give Canidy whatever he wants when he gets there. You don't know what 'Hungarian criminals' means, do you?\"\n\n\"No, Sir. I presumably do not have the Need-to-Know.\"\n\n\"Neither do I, apparently, Helene,\" Donovan said. He smiled at her, and finally she cracked and smiled back.\n\n\"In that case, Sir,\" she said. \"I think we have to presume that Major Canidy, for reasons he will certainly explain to us, is going to have six Hungarian criminals with him.\"\n\nDonovan chuckled.\n\n\"Will that be all, Colonel?\"\n\n\"Lieutenant Kennedy has Commander Dolan's personal effects,\" Donovan said. \"Will you see if you can come up with a next of kin name and address?\"\n\n\"I've already inquired. Nothing yet. I'll keep trying. Anything else?\"\n\n\"You might tell Ann Chambers that Canidy is on his way home. If you think she'd be interested.\"\n\n# **4**\n\n## **THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 1830 HOURS 24 FEBRUARY 1943**\n\nChief Ellis was tired, unshaven, and mussed. It had been almost forty hours before the ATC C-54 from London had touched down at Anacostia. But he had ignored Colonel Donovan's orders to \"go home and get some sleep, there's nothing that won't wait until tomorrow.\"\n\nThere was always something that wouldn't wait.\n\n\"You look like shit, Ellis,\" Staley greeted him.\n\n\"I feel like shit,\" Ellis said. \"How come you aren't all dressed up in new chief's blues?\"\n\n\"Captain Douglass said he thought it would be nice if the Colonel made it official,\" Staley said.\n\n\"Yeah, hell, why not?\" Ellis said.\n\n\"But you done it, Ellis,\" Staley said. \"Thank you.\"\n\n\"We old China Sailors got to stick together,\" Ellis said. \"And you're at the age where you look silly in bell-bottoms.\"\n\nHe tossed his overcoat on a chair, pushed his cap back on his head, sat down at the desk, and slid the stack of classified documents in front of him.\n\n\"Anything interesting in here?\"\n\n\"Yachtsman is alive and well,\" Staley said. \"That came operational immediately from London yesterday. What's it mean?\"\n\n\"It's damned good news,\" Ellis said. \"You don't have to know why. The Colonel will be happy as hell.\"\n\n\"Whittaker's ashore in the Philippines,\" Staley said.\n\n\"We heard that,\" Ellis said.\n\n\"And the radio works,\" Staley said. \"There's a whole bunch of messages from Fertig.\"\n\n\"And anything else?\"\n\n\"Two things for you,\" Staley said uncomfortably. \"I opened the telegram. I figured it might be important. It's on the bottom.\"\n\nEllis lifted the stack of cover sheets and found the Western Union telegram envelope.\n\nWESTERN UNION TELEGRAM\n\nUS GOVT WASHINGTON DC 4 PM FEB 23 \nCHIEF PETTY OFFICER JOHN R. ELLIS \nC\/O THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH \nWASHINGTON DC\n\nTHE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY REGRETS TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR FRIEND LIEUT COMMANDER JOHN DOLAN USNR DIED FEBRUARY 21 WHILE ON OVERSEAS SERVICE. FULL DETAILS WILL BE FURNISHED TO YOU WHEN AVAILABLE. YOU WILL BE SHORTLY CONTACTED BY NAVY OFFICIALS WITH REGARD TO YOUR SURVIVORS BENEFITS.\n\nFRANK KNOX, JR\n\nSECRETARY OF THE NAVY\n\n\"Jesus H. Christ!\" Ellis said. \"I guess he didn't have a family.\"\n\n\"It means you get the ten thousand insurance,\" Staley said.\n\nEllis gave him a look of disgust.\n\n\"There's a letter for you, too. Where the Western Union was.\"\n\nThe white envelope bore the neatly typewritten message, \"To Be Delivered to Chief Ellis in the Event of My Demise. Lt. Commander J. B. Dolan, USNR.\"\n\nEllis tore it open. It was undated and short.\n\nDear Chief Ellis:\n\nIt's my professional judgment that one of these Torpex-filled airplanes is going to sooner or later blow up with me in it.\n\nIf you get this, I was right.\n\nNo complaints. It's a lot better way to go than sitting around the Old Sailors' Home waiting for it.\n\nI have a cousin. I never could stand the sonofabitch.\n\nUnless I named you as my beneficiary, he would have gotten the insurance.\n\nHoist one for me, if you think about it some time.\n\nRegards,\n\n_John B. Dolan_\n\nJohn B. Dolan \nChief Aviation Pilot, USN, Retired \n(Temporary Lt. Commander, USNR)\n\nEllis folded the letter and put it back in the envelope.\n\n\"What's it say?\" Staley asked.\n\n\"I'm going to catch a shave and put on a fresh uniform,\" Ellis said. \"Then I'm going to go to the Chiefs' Club at the Navy Yard and tie one on. You want to come along?\"\n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\n\n[For a complete list of this author's books click here or visit \nwww.penguin.com\/griffinchecklist](http:\/\/www.penguin.com\/griffinchecklist?CMP=OTC-GRIFFINCHKLST)\n**Afterword**\n\nReaders who have read others of my books may find this of interest.\n\nI was privileged to know Wendell Fertig, and another reserve officer, commissioned in the Philippines as Fertig was, who also became a guerrilla, Major Ralph Fralick. Fralick and I were good friends. It was my sad honor to deliver his eulogy when he was buried in the National Cemetery in Pensacola.\n\nI have always thought that the Army's refusal to promote Wendell Fertig above the rank of colonel was outrageous. He had more than thirty thousand men under arms, under his command, when the Army returned to Mindanao. Thirty thousand men is just about the strength of two divisions. Major generals command divisions. Three-star lieutenant generals command Army Corps, which are defined as tactical units consisting of two or more divisions.\n\nIf\u2014as far as I'm concerned\u2014Brigadier General Fertig felt any resentment that he had to take the stars from his epaulets and exchange them for the silver eagles of a colonel, once the war was won, he never let it show.\n\nHe was frequently seen at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in the company of Colonel Arthur \"Bull\" Simon, lending his expertise to the training and doctrine of the Green Berets, and elsewhere around the Army, including Fort Rucker, Alabama, where his friend Colonel Jay D. Vanderpool was in charge of Combat Developments for Army Aviation.\n\nI don't think the story of a bona fide and unquestioned hero like Wendell Fertig can be told too often, and I make no apologies for telling his story in both this book and in _Behind the Lines._ In this book, a fictitious Army officer went ashore on Mindanao from a submarine to establish contact with General Fertig. In _Behind the Lines,_ a fictitious Marine officer did the same thing.\n\nWhen that book was published, I got a somewhat angry telephone call from the editor of the coincidentally titled _Behind the Lines,_ which is sort of a professional magazine for Special Operations people. He asked what I had against Jay Vanderpool. I assured him I had nothing whatever against him; that I flattered myself to think we had been friends, and why the question?\n\n\"You should have said something about him in your book.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\n\"You mean you don't know?\"\n\n\"Know what?\"\n\n\"Jay Vanderpool was the guy they sent in by submarine to establish contract with Wendell Fertig.\"\n\nNo. I didn't know.\n\nSorry, Jay. If I had known, I damned well would have said something.\n\nW.E.B. Griffin \nBuenos Aires, 18 July 1999\n\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}} +{"text":"\n\n# Buenos Aires\n\n# Contents\n\n## Plan Your Trip\n\n### Welcome to Buenos Aires\n\n### Buenos Aires' Top\n\n### What's New\n\n### Need to Know\n\n### Top Itineraries\n\n### If You Like...\n\n### Month by Month\n\n### With Kids\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Tango\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Sports & Activities\n\n## Explore Buenos Aires\n\n### Neighborhoods at a Glance\n\n### The Center\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### Puerto Madero\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n### Congreso & Tribunales\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### San Telmo\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### La Boca\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### Retiro\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n### Palermo\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Shopping\n\n#### Sports & Activities\n\n### South of Palermo\n\n#### Sights\n\n#### Eating\n\n#### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n#### Entertainment\n\n#### Sports & Activities\n\n### Day Trips from Buenos Aires\n\n### Sleeping\n\n## Understand Buenos Aires\n\n### Buenos Aires Today\n\n### History\n\n### Music\n\n### Literature & Cinema\n\n### Art & Architecture\n\n## Survival Guide\n\n### Transportation\n\n### Directory A\u2013Z\n\n## Special Features\n\n### Neighborhood Walk Through the Heart of BA\n\n### Neighborhood Walk Historical Saunter\n\n### Neighborhood Walk Death, Art & Shopping\n\n### Neighborhood Walk Walking the Green\n\n### Cafes of Buenos Aires\n\n### Fileteado Porte\u00f1o\n\n### The Immortal Evita\n\n### Street Art\nBuenos Aires Maps\n\n###\n\nMap Index\n\n The Center\n\n Puerto Madero\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\n San Telmo\n\n La Boca\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n Retiro\n\n Palermo\n\n South of Palermo\nWelcome to \nBuenos Aires\n\nSexy, alive and supremely confident, this beautiful city gets under your skin. Like Europe with a melancholic twist, Buenos Aires is unforgettable.\n\n### Tango\n\nArgentina's famous dance is possibly the country's greatest contribution to the outside world, a steamy strut that's been described as 'making love in the vertical position'. Folklore says it began in the bordellos of long-ago Buenos Aires, when men waiting for their 'ladies' passed time by dancing amongst themselves. Today, glamorized tango shows are supremely entertaining with their grand feats of athleticism. You'll also find endless venues for perfecting your moves, from salons to _milongas_ (dance events) to cafes. Just realize that some people become addicted \u2013 and can spend a lifetime perfecting this sensual dance.\n\n### Food\n\nFancy some Indian, French, Vietnamese, Lebanese, Thai, Scandinavian, Mexican, Brazilian, Peruvian, Armenian or American cuisine during your stay in BA? No problem. But for many travelers, it's the city's carnivorous pleasures that shine. Satisfying a craving for juicy steak isn't hard to do in the land that has perfected grilling those wonderfully flavorful sides of beef. _Parrillas_ (steak\u00adhouses) sit on practically every corner and will offer up myriad cuts, from _bife de chorizo_ (sirloin) to _vacio_ (flank steak) to _ojo de bife_ (rib eye). Vegetarians, you've been warned!\n\n### Nightlife\n\nTake a cat nap, down your coffee and be prepared to stay up all night \u2013 this is a city that never sleeps! Restaurants open at 9pm, bars at midnight and clubs at 2am \u2013 at the very earliest. If you're cool, of course, you'll show up after 4am and dance till dawn. International DJs are the rage, spinning electronica and house to legions of hip, trendy and well-dressed crowds. But you can also enjoy live music such as rock, blues, jazz and even folk \u2013 just remember that you'll be doing it all very late!\n\n### Shopping\n\nIt's no joke: Buenos Aires is a shopper's paradise. The city is laced with shopping streets lined with heaps of clothing and shoe stores, leather shops and nearly every\u00adthing else you can think of. Large shopping malls are modern and family-friendly, offering designer goods, food courts and even children's play areas. But perhaps the city's best shopping is in Palermo Viejo, home to countless upscale boutiques; these offer avant-garde clothing, unique housewares and fun souvenirs. And let's not forget San Telmo, where antiques aficionados flock; the Sunday fair here is famous and entertaining, and will easily fill up a long afternoon.\n\nGaler\u00edas Pac\u00edfico (Click here), Microcentro \nDAN HERRICK \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n### Why I Love Buenos Aires\n\nBy Sandra Bao, Author\n\nBA is an amazing city, and I'm proud to call it my birthplace. It's an astonishing metropolis that looks a bit like Europe, but with an edgy Latin American twist. _Porte\u00f1os_ (the city's residents) are passionate, opinionated and \u2013 once you get past their hard-city facade \u2013 very friendly. I love walking among them along the busy avenues, taking in the street life and often the craziness that goes along with it. This is a very special place, beautiful in its own unique way, resilient and creative. It's the kind of city travelers fall in love with, dream about and then move to!\n\nSee authors for much more.\nBuenos Aires' Top 10\n\nCementerio de la Recoleta\n\nTRAVEL IMAGES\/UIG \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n1 Meander through the maze of narrow lanes lined with elaborate mausoleums in what must be the world's most ostentatious necro polis. This 'city of the dead' was BA's first pub lic cemetery, though it quickly became exclusive; Argentina's most illustrious historical figures are buried here, including Ev a Per\u00f3n ('Evita'). Myriad styles decorate the crumbling tombs, from art nouveau and art deco to neoclassical and neo-Gothic. There are also wonderfully flamboyant statues to discover, so pay your respects to Evita before getting lost among the marble angels.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nTango Show\n\nJUPITERIMAGES \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n2 Nothing captures the essence of Buenos Aires like the sensual and melancholy tango, and no visit to the city is complete without experiencing tango in some form. Watch it in a San Telmo or La Boca street fair, see a slick show at a theater or join a _milonga_ (dance event) at dozens of venues. Tango classes are often held before _milongas,_ so take part \u2013 or just watch, but don't look too long at that handsome stranger across the room; a stare is an invitation to dance, and you could be breaking some hearts.\n\n Tango\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nFootball Game\n\nCrowd at a match between Boca Juniors and River Plate at La Bombonera Stadium \nLONELY PLANET \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n3 In Buenos Aires, _f\u00fatbol_ isn't just a game. The national pastime inspires near-religious passion in _porte\u00f1os_ , clearing the streets and sending spectators into fits of ecstasy and anguish as they huddle around TV screens or brave the explosive stadium crowds. The atmosphere is particularly boisterous (read: out of control) when River Plate and arch-rivals Boca Juniors face off during the much-anticipated _supercl\u00e1sico_ games. The tension is palpable, and for two hours on a Sunday afternoon here, nothing else really matters.\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nSteak Dinner\n\nJILL SCHNEIDER \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n4 Believe the hype: Argentine beef is some of the best in the world. Eat, drink and be merry at one of BA's hundreds of _parrillas_ (steakhouses), where a leisurely meal begins with waiters pouring Malbec and carving generous slabs of prime beef. _Parrillas_ run the gamut from neighborhood joints to classic establishments to upscale restaurants, so there's a price for every pocket. One thing is certain: expect some of the best meat you've ever eaten.\n\n Eating\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nPlaza de Mayo\n\nCHAD EHLERS \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n5 Founded in 1580, Plaza de Mayo is the stage on which many of the dramatic events in Argentina's history were played out, from military bombings in 1955 to Evita's emotional speeches to massive union demonstrations (still going today). Most of the time, however, it's a peaceful place where families feed pigeons and the odd pickpocket makes off with a tourist's camera (stay sharp and you'll be OK!). If you're here on a Thursday afternoon, you might witness Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo: mothers peacefully marching for social-justice causes.\n\n The Center\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nSan Telmo Stroll\n\nBRENT WINEBRENNER \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n6 The neighborhood of San Telmo is a beguiling mix of faded grandeur and bohemian spirit. The elegant belle-epoque architecture and crumbling villas are throwbacks to the district's 19th-century heyday, before yellow fever and cholera sent the aristocratic masses to higher ground. Today, you can wander along Defensa or Balcarce streets toward leafy Parque Lezama, taking in picturesque vistas of romantic facades and drooping balconies as you window-shop for antiques. There's definitely been gentrification (Starbucks has discovered San Telmo!), but much of the old-world atmosphere remains.\n\n San Telmo\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nCycling in Palermo's Parks\n\nParque 3 de Febrero (Bosques de Palermo) \nTRAVELSTOCK44 \/ ALAMY \u00a9\n\n7 Buenos Aires could hardly be called bike-friendly, but things are slowly changing. Bike lanes now exist on some avenues, there's a bike-sharing program and Critical Mass (where cyclists take over certain streets in a semi-organized ride) happens every month. For the traveler, a bike ride around Buenos Aires \u2013 especially in Palermo's green parks \u2013 is a great way to experience cycling in this big, vehicle-\u00addominated city. Here, miles of safe bike lanes exist, and you can enjoy the green grass instead of the gray concrete.\n\n Palermo\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nEl Caminito\n\nHIROSHI HIGUCHI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n8 Rough-and-tumble La Boca, with its brightly painted metal houses, was the city's principal port until Puerto Madero was created at the close of the 19th century. El Caminito ('the little walkway') is a curved pedestrian street lined with artists selling paintings and other creations. It has the air of a tourist trap, especially with the numerous souvenir shops nearby, but it's fun nevertheless. For something more upscale, head to Fundaci\u00f3n Proa (Click here), one of BA's fanciest art galleries, across from the (rather strongly scented) Riachuelo River.\n\n La Boca\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nMuseo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba)\n\nDAVID CHEREPUSCHAK \/ ALAMY \u00a9\n\n9 The vibrant Malba is a must, both for its brilliant modern Latin American and Argentine art, and for the stunning contemporary building that houses it. This significant collection of Argentine real- estate tycoon Eduardo Costantini spans the modernist, avant-garde, surrealist and abstract movements and includes work by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. There are also temporary international art exhibits and a very fine restaurant-cafe with a lovely patio.\n\n Palermo\n\n## Buenos Aires' Top 10\n\nFeria de Mataderos\n\nLONELY PLANET \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n10 Folk music emanates from the outdoor stage, local couples take to the streets to perform traditional _chacarera_ and _chamam\u00e9_ (folk dances and music), food stalls dish out hearty country dishes such as _locro_ (a meaty stew), deep-friend _empanadas_ and _humitas_ (a kind of tamale) \u2013 this is Feria de Mataderos, an authentic celebration of Argentine country traditions. You might also see gauchos demonstrating their horse-riding skills by playing _sortija,_ a game where they stand in their saddles and ride at full speed to spear a tiny dangling ring. Catch it on weekends during the summer.\n\n South of Palermo\nWhat's New\n\n###### Pop-Up Restaurants\n\nThese one-time eating events are ideal for experimental chefs. Among others, look for GAJO (www.facebook.com\/gajococina).\n\n###### Metrobus & Bike Lanes\n\nA new bus rapid transit system has improved traffic flow and provided faster service. Meanwhile, expanded bike lanes and a free bike-share program have encouraged two-wheeled recreation and commuting.\n\n###### Faena Arts Center\n\nPuerto Madero's newest darling is this art space \u2013 housed in an old flour mill \u2013 that's meant to highlight gigantic, larger-than-life installations.\n\n###### Food Festivals\n\nPopular new food fairs include Feria Masticar (www.feriamasticar.com.ar), put on by some of BA's most famous chefs, and Feria Ra\u00edz (www.facebook.com\/Raiz FestivalGastronomico), an Argentine-food celebration.\n\n###### New Concert Space\n\nThe Centro Cultural del Bicentenario, located in the beaux arts post office building, wasn't open at research time, but when it is it'll seat 2000 spectators.\n\n###### Mercado Azul\n\nBuenos Aires' _mercado azul_ (literally 'blue market') for US dollars offers nearly twice the number of pesos over the official rate. The downsides are scams, fake bills and fly-by-night _cambios_ (unofficial exchange houses). Some hotels, restaurants and shops will give discounts for US-dollar transactions and sometimes change the dollars themselves.\n\n###### Molecular Gastronomy\n\nIn this interesting style of cuisine, multiple courses of just a few bites each are served to diners who want a unique food experience that encompasses taste combinations, textures and unforgettable visual appeal.\n\n###### Usina del Arte\n\nLa Boca isn't known for upscale buildings, but this gorgeous new music venue, located in a remodeled electricity factory, is meant to start a gentrifying process in one of BA's shadiest hoods.\n\n###### Villa Crespo\n\nThis neighborhood just south of Palermo has gained popularity as an affordable home for creative new restaurants, hotels and shops.\n\nFor more recommendations and reviews, see lonelyplanet.com\/buenos-aires\nNeed to Know\n\n###### For more information, see Survival Guide\n\n###### Currency\n\nPeso (AR$), though some upscale hotels quote in US dollars (US$).\n\n###### Language\n\nSpanish\n\n###### Visas\n\nGenerally not required for US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and most Western European citizens. However, Americans, Canadians and Australians must pay a significant 'reciprocity fee' to enter Argentina.\n\n###### Money\n\nATMs and exchange houses are common downtown. Major credit cards are generally accepted, though travelers checks are not.\n\n###### Mobile Phones\n\nNearly everyone in Buenos Aires uses a mobile phone. Local SIM chips can be bought for unlocked international phones, and credit added as needed.\n\n###### Time\n\nArgentina is three hours behind GMT and generally does not observe daylight-saving time, but this situation may change.\n\n###### Tourist Information\n\nTourist information offices and kiosks are dotted across the city, especially in neighborhoods popular with tourists.\n\n### WHEN TO GO\n\nSpring (September to November) and fall (March to May) are the best temperature-wise; winter (June to August) is cold but not freezing.\n\n### Daily Costs\n\n###### Budget: Less than US$60\n\n\u00bb Dorm bed: US$15\n\n\u00bb Double room in budget hotel: US$80\n\n\u00bb Cheap main dish: US$8\n\n###### Midrange: US$60-$120\n\n\u00bb Three-star hotel room: US$100-175\n\n\u00bb Average main dish: US$10-15\n\n\u00bb Museum admission: US$1-5\n\n###### Top End:\n\n###### US$120 and up\n\n\u00bb Five-star hotel room: US$200\n\n\u00bb Fine main dish: US$15-20\n\n\u00bb Taxi trip across town: US$15\n\n### Advance Planning\n\nTwo months before Book accommodations if traveling during busy times and if your hotel is popular.\n\nOne month before Check reviews for tours or activities and decide on a schedule; make reservations if necessary.\n\nOne week before Pack smart, comfortable clothing. _Porte\u00f1os_ are a well-dressed lot, and you'll stick out as a tourist in loud shirt, shorts and flip-flops.\n\n### Useful Websites\n\nArgentina Independent (www.argentinaindependent.com) Current affairs and culture, plus events listing and musings about expat life.\n\nArgentine Post (www.argentinepost.com) Useful wide-ranging articles on BA and Argentina.\n\nPick up the Fork (www.pickupthefork.com) Restaurant and bar reviews, plus where to shop for ingredients.\n\nLonely Planet (www.lonelyplanet.com) Forums, travel news, updates and more.\n\n### Arriving in Buenos Aires\n\nEzeiza airport (EZE; officially Aeropuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini) Shuttle services are a good way to get downtown (AR$80); the transport booth area is beyond customs and has a couple of companies with frequent shuttles. Penny pinchers can take a local bus (AR$6), which takes two hours to get downtown.\n\nFor taxis, go outside the transport booth area (taxis are overpriced here) to the reception area. Avoid taxi touts like the plague; a few steps beyond, find the city's official taxi stand (a blue sign says 'Taxi Ezeiza'). In late 2013 it charged AR$270 to the center, including tolls.\n\nAeroparque airport (officially Aeroparque Jorge Newbery) Close to downtown and easily accessible by local bus or taxi.\n\nSee arrival for much more.\n\n### Getting Around\n\nDespite Buenos Aires' heavy traffic, the city's public-transportation system is efficient and usually a better way to get around than driving.\n\n\u00bb Bus The city has hundreds of bus lines that can take you within a few blocks of any destination. Sorting it all out is another matter; buy a pocket bus guide or use the 'city buses' link at www.omnilineas.com.\n\n\u00bb Subte BA's underground, or subway, is not difficult to figure out and a quick way to get around \u2013 though it gets hot and very crowded during rush hour.\n\n\u00bb Taxi Black and yellow street taxis are ubiquitous and generally fine, though some people prefer _remises_ (radio taxis) for more safety.\n\nSee getting around for much more.\n\n### Sleeping\n\nBuenos Aires has a very wide range of accommodations, including hostels, guesthouses, B&Bs, homestays, apartments and hotels of all stripes and budgets. Services range widely; some hostels' private rooms are nicer than many budget hotels', and can cost more. Boutique hotels are a dime a dozen in Palermo, while five-star luxury is easily found in the Retiro and Recoleta neighborhoods.\n\nNovember through February are busy times, so book ahead if your hotel is a popular one.\n\n###### Useful Websites\n\n\u00bb Oasis Collections (www.oasisba.com) The cream of the crop for luxury stays.\n\n\u00bb Spare Rooms Buenos Aires (www.spareroomsba.com) When you need just a room.\n\n\u00bb San Telmo Loft (www.santelmoloft.com) A handful of artsy vacation rentals in San Telmo.\n\n\u00bb Craigslist () Endless listings for rooms, sublets, apartments, houses.\n\nSee sleeping for much more.\nTop Itineraries\n\n## Day One\n\n###### The Center\n\n From leafy Plaza San Mart\u00edn, walk south on pedestrian Florida and experience masses of people shopping, busking, selling or just power-walking to their next destination. You'll eventually come within a block of Plaza de Mayo, the heart of Buenos Aires. This historic plaza is surrounded by Casa Rosada, Catedral Metropolitana and Museo del Cabildo.\n\n Lunch Outside seating and fresh offerings at the Central Market (Click here).\n\n###### Puerto Madero\n\n Lined with renovated old brick warehouses, Puerto Madero is replete with fancy lofts and apartment towers, plus some of the city's most expensive (and some say overpriced) restaurants. It's a very scenic and pleasantly vehicle-free place to stroll the cobbled paths along the dikes. Art lovers shouldn't miss Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, highlighting the collection of Argentina's wealthiest woman. For a shot of nature, visit Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur, a land-filled wetlands.\n\n Dinner Casual and excellent Peruvian can be had at Chan Chan (Click here).\n\n###### Congreso & Tribunales\n\n Take in an opera, ballet or classical-music show at Teatro Col\u00f3n, Buenos Aires' premier theater. The traditional entertainment district of Av Corrientes still hops these days, showcasing many films, art events and plays.\n\n## Itineraries\n\n## Day Two\n\n###### San Telmo\n\n Stroll through this colonial neighborhood's cobbled streets and window-shop for antiques. Come on a Sunday, when the famous Feria de San Telmo street market takes over the neighborhood. Book a tour to the stunning El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados for a peek into the city's origins.\n\n Lunch A sidewalk table at Bar Plaza Dorrego (Click here) for great people-watching.\n\n###### La Boca\n\n The colorful corrugated houses along El Caminito are indeed photo\u00adgenic, though this area is a bit of a tourist trap. It's still fun, however; check out the souvenir shops and artists' paintings and perhaps catch a street-tango show. Art lovers shouldn't miss Fundaci\u00f3n Proa, a cutting-edge gallery, while soccer fans can head to La Bombonera stadium and visit the Boca team's Museo de la Pasi\u00f3n Boquense. But whatever you do, don't stray too far from the tourist hordes; La Boca is at times a rough neighborhood.\n\n Dinner Try exceptional international cuisine at Caf\u00e9 San Juan (Click here).\n\n###### San Telmo\n\n Catch a tango show at El Viejo Almac\u00e9n, a long-running venue. Or go drinking at one of the many great watering holes in the area, from Gibraltar (an English pub) to Doppelg\u00e4nger (an upscale cocktail bar).\n\n## Itineraries\n\n## Day Three\n\n###### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n Explore Recoleta's famous cemetery; you can wander for hours among the crumbling sacrophagi and marble angels. It's a veritable city of the dead, fascinating and mysterious; to seek out Evita's tomb, just follow everyone else.\n\n Lunch _Empanadas_ at El Sanjuanino (Click here), one of the few cheap eateries.\n\n###### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n Check out the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Argentina's top classic arts museum. Just north is the cool sculpture _Floralis Gen\u00e9rica_ , a giant metal flower whose petals open during the day and close at night (when the gears are working!). And if you've got the bucks, the city's most expensive boutiques are along Av Alvear, worth a stroll to also eyeball some huge old mansions. Visit Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fern\u00e1ndez Blanco and Palacio Paz, in nearby Retiro, if you like gorgeous palaces filled with antiques.\n\n Dinner Looking for the locals? Then head to classic Rodi Bar (Click here).\n\n###### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n Time to drink up: Mili\u00f3n is a bar-restaurant in a beautiful old mansion, Casa Bar is a sports pub popular with expats, and La Biela is a traditional cafe-restaurant where the upper classes loiter over lattes.\n\n## Itineraries\n\n## Day Four\n\n###### Palermo\n\n Walk (or take a bike ride) along Palermo's Parque 3 de Febrero, where you can also visit a zoo, botanical garden and Japanese garden. Bike paths are laced throughout, and on Sunday the ring road around the Rose Garden is closed to vehicles.\n\n Lunch Malba's (Click here) cafe-restaurant has a great patio for sunny days.\n\n###### Palermo\n\n Visit Malba, a beautiful and contemporary art museum showcasing the collection of art patron Eduardo F Costantini. The Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo is another must-see; it's a beaux arts mansion that once belonged to a Chilean aristocrat, and is full of his posh belongings. Finally, Evita fans can't miss Museo Evita, which chronicles the life of Argentina's most internationally famous woman.\n\n Dinner For an excellent steakhouse, get a table at Don Julio (Click here).\n\n###### Palermo\n\n Palermo is nightlife central. There are dozens of bars to check out, and people come from all over to dance at the famous clubs here. For outdoor action, head to Plaza Serrano, which is surrounded by restaurants and bars, along with dozens of their outdoor tables; it's _the_ place to see and be seen.\nIf You Like...\n\n#### Museums\n\nMuseo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires Gorgeous, glassy art museum showcasing the private collection of art patron Eduardo F Costantini.\n\nMuseo Nacional de Bellas Artes From European impressionists to Latin American maestros, this national art museum covers them all.\n\n Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo Beautiful beaux arts mansion strewn with the posh belongings of a Chilean aristocrat.\n\n Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat See what the collection of Argentina's wealthiest woman has to offer.\n\n Fundaci\u00f3n Proa Cutting-edge gallery-museum with contemporary art exhibits, plus a rooftop cafe with a view of La Boca.\n\n Palacio Paz Gorgeous European palace with ornate rooms, salons and guilded details.\n\nHistoric Places\n\n Plaza de Mayo Buenos Aires' original main square, dating to the 1580s and surrounded by significant buildings.\n\n El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados Beautifully renovated, underground architectural site of the city's first settlements.\n\n Plaza San Mart\u00edn Pleasant leafy park that was once home to Spanish governors, slave quarters, a bullring and a battlefield.\n\n Parque Lezama Considered to be the very spot where Buenos Aires was founded, back in 1536.\n\n Manzana de las Luces Taking up a whole city block, this was BA's most important center of culture and learning during colonial times.\n\nGreen Spaces\n\n Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur Low-lying, 350-hectare landfill site that's become a haven for wildlife and nature-seekers.\n\n Parque 3 de Febrero Laced with miles of bike trails, this large green park also has a rose garden, planetarium and small lakes.\n\n Jard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s Tidy green oasis of tranquility in Palermo, complete with sushi restaurant and cultural offerings.\n\n Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico A decent big-city zoo with lawns, lakes, trees and many natural enclosures for the critters.\n\n Jard\u00edn Bot\u00e1nico Carlos Thays Surrounded by busy avenues, this modest botanical garden offers a peaceful break from the city.\n\nFree Stuff\n\n Cementerio de la Recoleta Buenos Aires' most popular tourist attraction and a must-visit for its amazing tombs and statues.\n\n Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes Spend an afternoon at this large and excellent national art museum.\n\nStreet Fairs BA has several; be sure to hit San Telmo's Sunday fair Click here, and the one in Mataderos if you can get out there. Click here\n\nStreet Tango See these (donation) tango shows at the San Telmo Sunday fair Click here and on El Caminito in La Boca. Click here\n\n Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur Marshy lands located in Puerto Madero near the city center, but miles away in atmosphere.\n\n Cementerio de la Chacarita A larger, less flashy, less accessible and less touristed version of Recoleta's cemetery.\n\nFree City Tour Locals who love their city offer free walking tours in English (tips appreciated but not mandatory; www.bafreetour.com).\n\nUnusual Tours\n\nBiking Buenos Aires Pedal around Palermo's parks and on bike lanes; a fun and easy way to tour the city (www.bikingbuenos\u00adaires.com).\n\nGraffitimundo See Buenos Aires through its colorful and dynamic street-art scene (www.graffitimundo.com).\n\nFoto Ruta Unique and self-guided tour via photographing clues around BA's neighborhoods (www.foto-ruta.com).\n\nThe Man Tour Smoke a cigar, get a straight razor shave and shop for a handmade hat (www.landingpadba.com\/the-man-tour-buenos-aires).\n\nParilla Tour Explore the city's off-the-beaten-track _parrillas_ (steakhouses) and learn about Argentina's food and culture (www.parrillatour.com).\n\nNarrative Tango Tour Get the scoop on tango via classes, _milongas_ and shows (www.narrativetangotours.com).\n\nUrban Running Tour Run around BA (literally) with a guide; they'll adapt to your pace (www.urbanrunningtours.com.ar).\n\nThe Offbeat\n\n Tierra Santa Visit this kitschy 'world's first religious theme park' and witness the resurrection every half-hour.\n\n Museo del Patrimonio Aguas Argentinas Pretty tiles, ceramic pipes and old bidets and toilets are highlighted at this small, quirky museum.\n\n Learn Polo Not many travelers can say they've hopped on a horse and learned to play polo while on vacation.\n\n Closed-Door Restaurants The menu is fixed, as is the dinner time, and you won't get the address until you book \u2013 so why are they so popular?\n\n Museo de la Polic\u00eda Federal Exhibits on cockfighting, drug paraphernalia and hacked-up murder victims \u2013 only at the Police Museum.\n\nPato Match Like weird sports? Then try watching this one (in December's Palermo championship), originally played on horseback by gauchos.\n\nFor more top Buenos Aires spots, see the following:\n\n\u00bb Eating\n\n\u00bb Drinking & Nightlife\n\n\u00bb Entertainment\n\n\u00bb Shopping\n\n\u00bb Sports & Activities\n\nElephants at the Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico, Palermo (Click here) \nKRZYSZTOF DYDYNSKI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\nMonth by Month\n\n### TOP EVENTS\n\nFestival y Mundial de Tango August\n\nLa Rural July\n\nCreamfields November\n\nVinos y Bodegas September\n\nCampeonato Abierto Argentino de Polo December\n\n## February\n\nIt's still summer, but vacationing _porte\u00f1os_ __start their return home. There are plenty of tourists in the city, some passing through on their way to or from Patagonia.\n\n###### Carnaval\n\nUsually occurring in late February, BA's Carnaval is a small affair compared to Rio's or Bahia's, but it's still lots of fun. Catch some Brazilian-flavored _murga_ groups (traditional Carnaval ensembles), with dancing and drumming in different neighborhoods around the city.\n\n###### Chinese New Year\n\nYes, Buenos Aires has a Chinatown, but it's only about four blocks long \u2013 on Arribe\u00f1os street in Belgrano. During Chinese New Year, expect plenty of food, firecrackers and festivities. Dates vary depending on the lunar calendar.\n\n###### Buenos Aires Fashion Week\n\nFour days of clothing stalls and catwalk action show off the city's latest threads and their makers. It takes place at Palermo's La Rural in February (fall\/winter collections) and August (spring\/summer collections). Expect plenty of beautiful people \u2013 includin g models, of course. (www.bafweek.com.ar)\n\n## April\n\nIt's fall in BA, and one of the best times to visit \u2013 but always be prepared for a downpour. There are still plenty of activities as the city heads into low season.\n\n###### Feria Internacional del Libro\n\nBA's annual book fair attracts tens of thousands of book lovers for three weeks in April and May. Famous authors do readings and sign books, while publishers hawk their wares. Look for it at the La Rural building in Palermo. (www.el-libro.org.ar)\n\n###### Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente\n\nThis independent film festival highlights national and international films, with awards given out in separate categories. Over 100 films are screened, with a main venue being the Abasto shopping mall. (www.bafici.gov.ar)\n\n## May\n\nLate autumn has hit and it's pleasantly cool as the rains die back a bit. Look for travel deals as low season starts in earnest.\n\n###### Arte Ba\n\nArte Ba features exhibitions from hundreds of art galleries, dealers and organizations, with both national and international contemporary art on display. Conferences, presentations and discussions make the rounds, while young new artists get exposure. It's at Palermo's La Rural building. (www.arteba.com)\n\n## July\n\nIt's high winter, so be prepared with warm layers. Locals who can afford it head to the ski slopes down south.\n\n###### Exposici\u00f3n de Ganader\u00eda, Agricultura e Industria Internacional (La Rural)\n\nThe mother of all livestock fairs, where prize cows, sheep, goats, horses and \u2013 especially \u2013 bulls, all strut their stuff. Gaucho shows provide entertainment. It takes place for two weeks in late July at Palermo's La Rural building. (www.exposicionrural.com.ar)\n\n## August\n\nIt's still cold, so keep those layers on, but it's also a great time to explore the city's theaters, museums and art galleries.\n\n###### Festival y Mundial de Tango\n\nTaking place in mid-August, this two-week-long tango festival offers a great way to see some of the country's best tango dancers and musicians do their thing. Plenty of competitions, classes and workshops take place. (www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar)\n\n## September\n\nSpring has sprung and it's a lovely time to be in BA. Polo season begins and the tourists start returning.\n\n###### Vinos y Bodegas\n\nA can't-miss event for wine aficionados, with vintages from dozens of Argentine _bodegas_ (wineries). Mix with thousands of sommeliers, restaurateurs, journalists and general wine-lovers at Palermo's La Rural building. Expect cooking demonstrations and live music too. (www.expovinosybodegas.com.ar)\n\n## November\n\nIt's pretty darn near perfect weather in BA, and the jacaranda trees are showing off their gorgeous purple blooms. High season has arrived, so reserve your accommodation ahead.\n\n###### Marcha del Orgullo Gay\n\nIt's nothing like San Francisco's or Sydney's, but BA has its own gay pride march. Each year on the first Saturday in November, thousands of BA's gays, lesbians, transgenders and more strut their way through the city's center. (www.marchadelorgullo.org.ar)\n\n###### Creamfields\n\nBuenos Aires' premier electronic-music festival happens in early November. Tens of thousands of ravers party non-stop for hours on end, with famous local and international DJs spinning their best. (www.creamfieldsba.com)\n\n###### D\u00eda de la Tradici\u00f3n\n\nThe closest thing to authentic gaucho culture you'll probably ever witness, with traditional foods, feats of horsemanship, and folk music and dancing. It happens in San Antonio de Areco, a day trip from BA; call the Areco tourist office (www.arecoturismo.com.ar) for exact dates, which vary yearly. If you miss it, head to Feria de Mataderos, a weekly street fair outside BA's center.\n\n## December\n\nSummer in BA means hot and humid temperatures, and many _porte\u00f1os_ head to the coast. There's still plenty going on in the city, however.\n\n###### Campeonato Abierto Argentino de Polo\n\nArgentina boasts the world's best polo, and the Abierto is the world's premier polo event. It takes place at Palermo's Campo Argentino de Polo. For exact dates and details, contact the Asociaci\u00f3n Argentina de Polo (www.aapolo.com).\n\n###### Buenos Aires Jazz Festival Internacional\n\nThis jazz festival takes place over five days in venues all over the city. Jazz musicians of all kinds are featured \u2013 emerging and established, avant-garde and traditional, national and international. Concerts and films also take place. (www.buenosairesjazz.gob.ar)\nWith Kids\n\nAlthough it's a megalopolis, BA is remarkably child-friendly. On sunny weekends Palermo's parks bustle with families taking walks and picnicking, while shopping malls fill with strollers. Zoos, museums and theme parks are also popular destinations \u2013 and don't forget those fun street fairs!\n\n#### Eating & Sleeping\n\nMany restaurants welcome kids, but if a place looks a bit too fancy, ask if they take children. And most offer a wide selection of food suitable for kids (like pizza, pasta, meats and vegetables); a few even have children's menus. Waiters are accustomed to providing extra plates and cutlery for little tykes, though you may not always find booster seats or high chairs.\n\nNote that Buenos Aires is a very late-night city; most restaurants don't open until 9pm, so you'll likely have to adjust your timetable during your travels here.\n\nDon't forget to take the kids out for ice cream \u2013 it's a real Argentine treat (Click here). Other local sweets to try include _alfajores_ (sandwich cookies usually covered in chocolate, available at corner stores) and _dulce de leche_ (a milk caramel often used in desserts).\n\nSmall boutique hotels, hostels or guesthouses are sometimes not the best places for rambunctious kids, but most hotels accept them. Some hotel rooms come with kitchenettes; apartment rentals are another good option (Click here).\n\n#### In Public\n\nOnce children are old enough to cross the street safely and find their way back home, _porte\u00f1o_ parents will often send unaccompanied pre-adolescents on errands or on visits to friends or neighbors. This is also a country where people frequently touch each other, so your children may be patted on the head by friendly strangers. In general, you can count on your children's safety in public places, though it's always a good idea to keep an eye on them.\n\n_Porte\u00f1os_ can be helpful on public transportation. Often someone will give up a seat for a parent and young child. Baby strollers on the crowded and uneven sidewalks of BA's downtown center are a liability, however; consider a baby carrier instead.\n\nPoorly maintained public bathrooms lacking baby-changing facilities or counter-\u00adtop space are common. Always carry toilet paper and wet wipes.\n\n#### Green Spaces\n\nBuenos Aires has numerous plazas and public parks, many with playgrounds, and these are always popular gathering spots for families. If you're downtown and need a nature break, try the Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur (Click here), a large nature preserve with good birdwatching, pleasant dirt paths and no vehicles; bike rentals are sometimes available on summer weekends.\n\nUp north, the most attractive green spots are the wide open spaces of Palermo, especially Parque 3 de Febrero (Click here). This huge park has a planetarium, a Japanese Garden and a nearby zoo. And on Sunday vehicular traffic isn't allowed on the ring road around the rose garden; you can rent bikes, boats and inline skates and range freely without worrying about cars!\n\n#### Fun Museums\n\nMake sure to visit the Museo Participativo de Ciencias (Click here) in the Centro Cultural Recoleta. This science museum has interactive displays that focus on fun learning \u2013 signs say _'prohibido no tocar'_ (not touching is forbidden). And in San Telmo, the Museo Argentino del T\u00edtere ( 4307-6917; www.museoargdeltitere.com.ar; Estados Unidos 802; admission free; 9:30am-12:30pm & 3-6pm Tue, Wed & Fri, 3-6pm Thu, Sat & Sun) is a small puppet museum with a fascinating collection of international and Argentine puppets, but it's the inexpensive shows that will amuse the little ones. Call beforehand to get hours and show times, as they vary widely.\n\nOutside the center in Caballito is the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (Click here), with myriad rooms containing giant dinosaur bones, dainty seashells, scary insects and amusing stuffed animals and birds.\n\n#### Animals\n\nAbout a 45-minute drive outside the city, in Escobar, is the exceptional zoo Parque Temaik\u00e9n ( 034-8843-6900; www.temaiken.com.ar; RP 25, Km 1, Escobar; adult\/child 3-10 AR$82\/64; 10am-7pm Tue-Sun Dec-Feb, to 6pm Mar-Nov). Only the most charming animal species (like meerkats and tigers) are on display here, roaming freely around spacious natural enclosures. The beautiful grounds are tidy and park-like, and exceptional exhibits include a butterfly house, a fine aquarium and a large aviary (with parrots and toucans galore). Inter\u00adactive areas provide mental stimulation, and services include stroller rentals, gift stores and restaurants. Just outside Temaik\u00e9n is a large playground run by Helader\u00eda Munchi. Tuesday admission is half-off (unless it's a holiday).\n\nFor something much closer in, head to Palermo's Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico (Click here). It's a fairly pleasant zoo for Latin America, and on sunny weekends it fills with families.\n\n#### Playgrounds\n\nSome of BA's outdoor parks have playgrounds, always popular with families. However, many large modern shopping malls have indoor playgrounds (often on the top floor), along with video arcades, multiplexes and toy shops. Paseo Alcorta (Click here) has plenty of mechanical rides next to the large food court, while Mercado de Abasto (Click here) boasts a full-blown 'Museo de los Ni\u00f1os' (more like a playground than a museum) where kids enter a miniature city complete with post office, hospital and even TV station. Abasto also has a mini-amusement park. On rainy days, these are great places to be with little ones.\n\n#### Amusement Parks\n\nHeading to Tigre (Click here), just north of the center, makes a great day excursion. Hop on the fun Tren de la Costa to get there; it ends at Parque de la Costa (Click here), a typical amusement park with rides and activities.\n\nChristian parents might want to take the kids to Tierra Santa ( 4784-9551; www.tierrasanta-bsas.com.ar; Av Costanera R Obligado 5790; admission AR$40; call for hours), a religious theme park unlike anywhere you've ever been. Not far away is Parque Norte ( 4787-1382; www.parquenorte.com; Avs Cantilo & Guiraldes; admission AR$70 Mon-Fri, AR$90 Sat, AR$100 Sun; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-10pm Sat & Sun), a large water park that's perfect on a hot day.\n\nEl Caminito, La Boca (Click here) \nDEMETRIO CARRASCO \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n Eating\n\nArgentines take barbecuing to heights you cannot imagine. Their best pizzas and pastas vie with those of New York and Naples. They make fabulously tasty wines and impossibly delectable ice cream. And ethnic cuisine is rampant in Buenos Aires. In fact, you'll eat so well here that you'll need to power-walk between lunch and dinner to work off the excess calories.\n\nStreet asado (Argentine barbecue) seller \nMICHAEL TAYLOR \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Staples & Specialties\n\n###### BEEF\n\nArgentines have perfected the art of grilling beef on the _asado_ (barbecue). This involves cooking with coals and using only salt to prepare the meat. On the grill itself, slanted runners funnel the excess fat to the sides, and an adjustable height system directs the perfect amount of heat to the meat. The _asado_ is a family institution, often taking place on Sunday in the backyards of houses all over the country.\n\nA traditional _parrillada_ (mixed grill) is a common preparation at _parrillas_ (steakhouses) and offers a little bit of everything. Expect _chorip\u00e1n_ (a sausage appetizer), _pollo_ (chicken), _costillas_ (ribs) and _carne_ (beef). It can also come with more exotic items such as _chinchulines_ (small intestines), _mojellas_ (sweetbreads) and _morcilla_ (blood sausage).\n\nCommon steak cuts:\n\n\u00bb Bife de chorizo Sirloin; a popular thick and juicy cut.\n\n\u00bb Bife de costilla T-bone or Porterhouse steak.\n\n\u00bb Bife de lomo Tenderloin; a tender though less flavorful piece.\n\n\u00bb Cuadril Rump steak; often a thin cut.\n\n\u00bb Ojo de bife Ribeye; a choice smaller morsel.\n\n\u00bb Tira de asado Short ribs; thin, crispy strips of ribs.\n\n\u00bb Vac\u00edo Flank steak; textured, chewy and flavorful.\n\nIf you don't specify how you want your steak cooked, it will come _a punto_ (medium to well done). Getting a steak medium rare or rare is harder than you'd imagine. If you want some pink in the center, order it _jugoso;_ if you like it truly rare, try _vuelta y vuelta_.\n\nDon't miss _chimichurri,_ a tasty sauce made with olive oil, garlic and parsley \u2013 it adds a tantalizing spiciness. Occasionally you can also get _salsa criolla,_ a condiment made of diced tomatoes, onion and parsley.\n\n### STEAK \u2013 OUTSIDE THE BOX\n\nGoing to a _parrilla_ is probably on every BA visitor's to-do list, but if you want to eat meat in a different way, try these options:\n\nAdentro (www.adentrodinnerclub.com) At this _puerta cerrada_ (closed-door restaurant) it's like being at a good friend's _asado._ You'll get stuffed on juicy _empanadas_ , delicious grilled shrimp and veggies, and then some amazing meat.\n\nArgentine Experience (www.theargentineexperience.com) Learn the meaning of local hand gestures, the story of Argentina's beef and how to make _empanadas_ and _alfajores_. Plus you'll eat a supremely tender steak.\n\nSteaks by Luis (www.steakbuenosaires.net) An upscale _asado_ experience where you'll nibble on cheese and sip boutique wine while watching large hunks of meat being grilled.\n\nParrilla Tour (www.parrillatour.com) Meet your knowledgeable guide at a restaurant for a _choripan_ (traditional sausage sandwich), then an _empanada_. You'll finish at a local _parrilla_.\n\n###### ITALIAN\n\nThanks to Argentina's Italian heritage, the national cuisine has been highly influenced by Italian immigrants who entered the country during the late 19th century. Along with an animated set of speaking gestures, they brought their love of pasta, pizza, g elato and more.\n\nMany restaurants make their own pasta \u2013 look for _pasta casera_ (handmade pasta). Some of the varieties of pasta you'll encounter are ravioles, _sorrentinos_ (large, round pasta parcels similar to ravioli), _\u00f1oquis_ (gnocchi) and _tallerines_ (fettuccine). Standard sauces include _tuco_ (tomato sauce, sometimes with meat), _estofado_ (beef stew, popular with ravioli) and _salsa blanca_ (b\u00e9chamel). Occasionally the sauce is not included in the price of the pasta \u2013 you choose and pay for it separately.\n\nPizza is sold at _pizzer\u00edas_ throughout the country, though many regular restaurants offer it as well. It's generally very cheesy and excellent, so go ahead and order a slice or three! Other common Italian-based treats include _fugazzeta_ (similar to focaccia) and _fain\u00e1_ (garbanzo flatbread).\n\nChimichurri sauce \nMARYELLEN BAKER \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### OTHER ETHNIC\n\nSpanish cooking is less popular than Italian but is another cornerstone of Argentine food. In BA's Spanish restaurants, many of them found in the Congreso neighborhood, you'll find _paella,_ as well as other typically Spanish seafood dishes.\n\nThe Palermo Viejo neighborhood offers a wide range of Armenian, Brazilian, Mexican, French, Indian, Japanese, Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern cuisines (among many others). If you're craving spicy food (anathema to most Argentines), this is the place to come.\n\n\u00d1oquis with tomato sauce \nSHYMAN \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Vegetarians & Vegans\n\nMost restaurants, including _parrillas,_ serve a few items acceptable to most vegetarians, such as green salads, omelets, mashed potatoes, pizza and pasta. Words to look out for include _carne_ (beef), _pollo_ (chicken), _cerdo_ (pork) and _cordero_ (lamb), though all meat cuts are described in different words. S _in carne_ means 'without meat', and the phrase _soy vegetariano\/a_ ('I'm a vegetarian') comes in handy. _Pescado_ (fish) and _mariscos_ (seafood) are sometimes available for pescatarians.\n\nVegetarian restaurants have become trendy in recent years, along with health-food shops with bulk grains, wholewheat pasta, dried fruit, nuts and bakery goods.\n\nVegans will have a much harder time; there isn't a Spanish word for 'vegan'. Make sure homemade pasta doesn't include egg, and that fried vegetables aren't cooked in lard ( _grasa;_ _manteca_ means butter). You'll need to be creative to survive here. One tip: look for accommodations with a kitchen, so you can shop for and cook your own food.\n\nPizza Margherita \nMONCHERIE \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### The Sweet Stuff\n\nOne of Argentina's most definitive treats is _dulce de leche,_ a milk-caramel sauce that is dripped on everything from flan to cake to ice cream. _Alfajores_ (round, cookie-type sandwiches) are also delicious \u2013 Argentina's version of the candy bar. The most upscale and popular brand is Havanna (also a coffee-shop chain), but kiosks carry many other kinds.\n\nBecause of Argentina's Italian heritage, Argentine _helado_ is comparable to the best ice cream anywhere in the world. Amble into a _helader\u00eda_ (ice-cream shop), order up a cone (usually you pay first) and the creamy concoction will be artistically swept up into a mountainous peak and handed over with a small plastic spoon tucked in the side. Important: _granizado_ means with chocolate flakes.\n\nSome of the best _helader\u00eda_ chains \u2013 with branches all over the city \u2013 are Persicco, Freddo and Una Altra Volta, but many smaller independent shops are excellent too.\n\nYoung man drinking mate \nSANTIAGO SOTO MONLLOR \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Drinks\n\n###### WINE\n\nBy now you've probably heard: Argentine wines are world-class. Most famous is malbec, that dark, robust plum-flavored wine that has solidly stomped the region of Mendoza on every oenophile's map (the Mendoza region produces 60% of the country's wine). But Argentina has other fine varietals that are very worthy of a sip or three \u2013 fresh _torront\u00e9s_ , fruity bonarda and earthy pinot noir.\n\nSo how to know which to try? They say there's a perfect Argentine wine for every occasion and a good _vinoteca_ (wine boutique) will help you find it. In Palermo, try Lo de Joaquin Alberdi (Click here), in San Telmo there's Vinotango ( 4361-1101; Estados Unidos 488; 10:30am-9pm). Aldo's Vinoteca (Click here) is a restaurant that sells wines at retail prices \u2013 even when you eat there.\n\nSupermarket selections are usually adequate, though you miss out on the tailored advice. Among the mainstay brands are Norton, Trapiche, Zuccardi and Santa Julia, with different lines that cater to every price range. Spend a bit more to try the elegant Rutini (from Bodega La Rural) or Luigi Bosca.\n\nFor private wine tastings, your best bet is with Anuva Wines ( 15-5768-8589; www.anuvawines.com). Try five boutique vintages with food pairings; they'll also ship your wine purchases to the USA. For informal tastings, inquire at Pain et Vin ( 4832-5654; Gorriti 5132), a casual wine and bread shop. Bar du Marche ( 4778-1050; www.bardumarchepalermo.com; Nicaragua 5946; 9:30am-midnight Mon-Sat) is a low-key bistro offering 50 wines by the glass, while Gran Bar Danz\u00f3n (Click here) is an upscale lounge-restaurant that also has a good selection of wines by the glass.\n\nMany _puertas cerradas_ (closed-door) restaurants offer fine wines with their meals; Casa Coupage ( 4833-6354; www.casacoupage.com.ar), run by an Argentine sommelier couple, is especially wine-oriented. Finally, if you're really into wines consider staying at Miravida Soho (Click here) in Palermo; it has a wine bar, cellar and tastings for their guests.\n\n_Helader\u00eda_ (ice-cream shop), Microcentro \nLONELY PLANET \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### MATE\n\n_Mate_ (mah-teh) is Argentina's unofficial national beverage. More than a simple drink like tea or coffee, _mate_ is more like an elaborate ritual shared among family and friends.\n\nThere's an informal etiquette to preparing and drinking _mate_. The _cebador_ (server) fills the gourd with _yerba,_ then pours in very hot water. Each participant drinks the gourd dry, then the _cebador_ refills it and hands it to the next person. Germaphobes beware: the _bombilla_ (a silvery straw with built-in filter), used to sip the _mate,_ is shared by everyone.\n\nAn invitation to drink _mate_ is a cultural treat you shouldn't turn down, though it's definitely an acquired taste. The tea is grassy, bitter and very hot; adding sugar can help. Saying ' _gracias_ ' is a sign you want to stop drinking. And remember not to hold the _mate_ too long before passing it on!\n\nBecause it is such a personal ritual, not many restaurants offer _mate_ on the menu \u2013 but a few do, so try it if you can.\n\nMalbec wine \nBRIAN DOBEN \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### BEER, COFFEE & WATER\n\nIf Argentina has a national beer, it's Quilmes. Order a _porr\u00f3n_ and you'll get a half-liter bottle, or a _chopp_ and you'll get a frosty mug of draft.\n\nArgentines love their _caf\u00e9 con leche_ (coffee with milk). An espresso with a drop of milk is a _caf\u00e9 cortado_. Black and herbal teas are also commonly available.\n\nIn Buenos Aires, the _agua de canilla_ (tap water) is drinkable. In restaurants, however, most people order bottled mineral water \u2013 ask for _agua con gas_ (with bubbles) or _agua sin gas_ (without). In older, more traditional restaurants, carbonated water in a spritzer bottle ( _un sif\u00f3n de soda_ ) is great for drinking, though Argentines often mix it with cheap wine.\n\nMedialunas (croissants) \nEDUARDO MORCILLO \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Eat Like a Local\n\nArgentines eat little for breakfast \u2013 usually just coffee with _medialunas_ , either _de manteca_ (sweet) or _de grasa_ (plain). _Tostadas_ (toast) with _manteca_ (butter) or _mermelada_ (jam) is an alternative, as are _facturas_ (pastries). Most hotels offer this basic breakfast, but some higher-end hotels have breakfast buffets.\n\nArgentines make up for breakfast at lunch and dinner, and they love to dine out. Every neighborhood has basic restaurants serving the staples of pasta, pizza and steak (though for the best meats, head to a _parrilla_ ).\n\nCafes (which serve snacks, light meals and sometimes more) and _confiter\u00edas_ (restaurant-cafes) are open all day and into the night. Bars or pubs usually have a more limited range of snacks and meals, though some offer full meals. A _tenedor libre_ (literally, 'free fork') is an all-you-can-eat restaurant; quality is usually decent, but drinks are often mandatory and cost extra.\n\nLarge, modern, chain supermarkets are common, and they'll have whatever you need for self-catering, including (usually) a takeout counter with a decent range of offerings. Smaller, local grocery stores \u2013 usually family-run \u2013 are also ubiquitous, though they won't have takeout.\n\nThe most thorough online guide to BA restaurants is www.guiaoleo.com (in Spanish); for listings in English, try www.pickupthefork.com\n\n### COOKING COURSES\n\nTaking a small-group cooking class or private class is probably the best option for short-term visitors who don't speak Spanish.\n\n\u00bb Norma Soued (www.argentinecookingclasses.com) Cook Argentine cuisine like _empanadas_ , traditional stews and _alfajores_.\n\n\u00bb Cooking with Teresita (www.try2cook.com) Partake of _asados_ (barbecues) and _empanadas_ ; she'll also take you to local markets.\n\nIf you have time, speak Spanish and are considering making cooking a profession, try the highly regarded Instituto Argentino de Gastronom\u00eda (IAG; www.iag.com.ar) or Mausi Sebess (www.mausi\u00adsebess.com), located in BA's suburb of Vicente L\u00f3pez.\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n#### Price Ranges\n\n$ mains under AR$80\n\n$$ mains AR$80-130\n\n$$$ mains over AR$130\n\nLook for the _menu ejecutivo_ (set lunch menu); this usually includes dessert and a drink and is a good deal.\n\n#### Opening Hours\n\n\u00bb Restaurants are generally open daily from noon to 3:30pm for lunch and 8pm to midnight or 1am for dinner.\n\n\u00bb A sure bet for that morning _medialuna_ (croissant) and _cortado_ (coffee with milk) are the city's many cafes, which often stay open from morning to late at night without a break.\n\n#### Tipping\n\nTip 10% for standard service; make it 15% for exceptional service. Tips usually cannot be added to credit-card purchases. The word for tip in Spanish is _propina._\n\n#### Reservations\n\nReserve at popular restaurants, especially on weekends. If you don't speak Spanish, ask a staff member at your hotel to make the call for you. Or check out www.restorando.com.ar.\n\n#### Etiquette\n\n\u00bb Most _porte\u00f1os_ eat no earlier than 9pm (later on weekends).\n\n\u00bb Ask for your bill by saying, ' _la cuenta, por favo_ r' ('the bill, please') or making the 'writing in air' gesture. Be aware that not all restaurants accept credit cards \u2013 always ask first.\n\n\u00bb At upscale restaurants, a per-person _cubierto_ (cover charge), usually AR$10 to AR$30, is tacked on to the bill. This covers the use of utensils and bread \u2013 it does not relate in any way to the tip.\n\n##### Eating by Neighborhood\n\n\u00bb The Center Many restaurants here cater to the business crowd, with quick takeout and power lunches.\n\n\u00bb Puerto Madero Upscale \u2013 and some say overpriced \u2013 restaurants here offer great dockside atmosphere and traditional cuisine.\n\n\u00bb Congreso & Tribunales BA's political center, come here for Spanish cuisine, along with the odd Chinese, Korean or Peruvian gem.\n\n\u00bb San Telmo Traditionally has supported many _parrillas,_ though gentrification over the years translates to wider horizons.\n\n\u00bb Recoleta & Barrio Norte BA's most exclusive neighborhood means expensive restaurants; those near the cemetery cater to tourists.\n\n\u00bb Palermo Ground zero for the city's most creative and ethnically diverse dining scene.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Hern\u00e1n Gipponi Restaurant Beautifully prepared cuisine and memorable brunch.\n\n Caf\u00e9 San Juan Tattooed celebrity chef serves up fabulously tasty dishes.\n\n Sarkis Everything is excellent at this famous Armenian restaurant.\n\n Le Sud Exquisite French cuisine in one of BA's best hotels.\n\n Aramburu Molecular gastronomy \u2013 not for everyone, but for some it's a peak experience.\n\n##### Best by Budget\n\n###### $\n\n Chan Chan Colorful, casual Peruvian eatery with great _seviche_ (seafood cured in citrus).\n\n Rodi Bar Recoleta institution serving something for everyone.\n\n Cuman\u00e1 Upscale rustic joint specializing in northern Argentine cuisine.\n\n###### $$\n\n Las Pizarras Delicious, very creative dishes that can change daily.\n\n Astor Multicultural celebrity chef starts his own excellent restaurant.\n\n Malv\u00f3n Excellent breakfast and brunches, but you'll have to wait.\n\n###### $$$\n\n Elena Probably one of the best meals you'll have in BA.\n\n Unik Contemporary, highly sophisticated dishes in an upscale atmosphere.\n\n Tomo 1 Five-star restaurant, five-star food, five-star prices.\n\n##### Best by Cuisine\n\n###### Steak\n\n Don Julio Great traditional steakhouse with classy service.\n\n La Cabrera Overly popular and touristy \u2013 but worth the wait.\n\n Miranda Modern atmosphere and pleasant sidewalk seating.\n\n Parrilla Pe\u00f1a No-nonsense, well priced and excellent meats.\n\n El Desnivel Long-running, touristy and still reasonably priced.\n\n###### Seafood\n\n Oviedo Upscale dining room, fine service and amazing cuisine.\n\n Crizia One of BA's best for fresh oysters and fish.\n\n Casal de Catalunya Spanish restaurant with old-time atmosphere.\n\n La Rosa N\u00e1utica Peruvian specialties like marinated octupus and _seviche_.\n\n###### Italian\n\n Siamo nel Forno Awesome Naples-style, thin-crust pizza.\n\n La Parolaccia Trattoria Tasty homemade pastas with a water view.\n\n Il Matterello Famous for its exceptional pastas and sauces.\n\n Filo Trendy restaurant with a variety of Italian specialities.\n\n###### Asian\n\n Sudestada Consistently good, Asian-fusion cuisine that can be spicy.\n\n Green Bamboo Vietnamese-style foods in BA-trendy dining room.\n\n Furai-Bo Japanese ramen and other delicacies, in authentic surroundings.\n\n Bi Won Good, long-running and no-nonsense Korean restaurant.\n\n Comedor Nikkai A good place for sushi, tempura and teriyaki.\n\n###### Vegetarian\n\n Bio Sophisticated and very tasty vegetarian dishes.\n\n Arevalito Tiny hippy-ish joint with great salads, sandwiches and tarts.\n\n Granix Modern cafeteria catering to meat-weary office workers.\n\n Vita Colorful, healthy and organic cafe, and they're friendly too.\n\n Abuela Pan Small, very casual eatery serving daily vegetarian specials.\n\nAlfajores de Maicena pastries filled with dulce de leche at Las Violetas Cafe (Click here) \nVIVIANE PONTI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\nBuenos Aires' nightlife is legendary around the world. What else could you expect from a country where dinner rarely starts before 10pm? In some neighborhoods, finding a good sports bar, trendy cocktail lounge, atmospheric old cafe or upscale wine bar is as easy as walking down the street. And dancers will be in heaven, as BA boasts spectacular nightclubs showcasing top-drawer DJs.\n\n###### The Local Scene\n\n_Porte\u00f1os_ hardly ever imbibe to the point of drunkenness \u2013 it's just not cool \u2013 but they do like to go out drinking, especially in groups, and always stay up late. Walk into any corner bar or cafe in the city and you'll see groups of friends or family sitting around a table, sipping tiny white cups of espresso or splitting a bottle of Quilmes (a popular local beer). More fashionable bars, pubs and breweries draw more of a mixed crowd of party-going tourists, with style-conscious men trying to impress their dates or girlfriends celebrating a special occasion.\n\nHow to handle the late-night scene like a _porte\u00f1o_ ? If you're going out clubbing (some clubs open at 2am), take a nap after dinner and go easy on the booze \u2013 it will help you avoid conking out too early.\n\n###### Gay & Lesbian Buenos Aires\n\nIn July 2010 Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. Since then, Buenos Aires has become a huge gay destination, lending momentum to local events such as the Marcha del Orgullo Gay (Gay Pride Parade; www.marchadelorgullo.org.ar; Nov) and the Queer Tango Festival (www.festivaltangoqueer.com.ar).\n\nAn especially gay-friendly accommodation is Lugar Gay ( 4300-4747; www.lugargay.com.ar; Defensa 1120; dm US$25, s US$50-70, d US$80-95), a casual guesthouse that also acts as an information center. Good general websites are www.thegayguide.com.ar and www.nighttours.com\/buenosaires.\n\nCurrent hot gay parties include Fiesta Plop (www.plop-web.com.ar; Fri), the monthly Fiesta Dorothy (www.fiestadorothy.com) and Rheo (www.rheo.com.ar).\n\nCasa Brandon (www.brandongayday.com.ar; Luis Mar\u00eda Drago 236) is an art gallery-cultural center. And for a fun night of guided drinking and partying, there's Out & About Pub Crawl (www.outandaboutpubcrawl.com).\n\nFinally, gay classes and _milongas_ are given at La Marshall ( 4300-3487; www.lamarshall.com.ar; Av Independencia 572) and Tango Queer (www.tangoqueer.com).\n\n###### Bars\n\nBars abound in every neighborhood of Buenos Aires, and they come in all shapes, sizes and styles. You can choose from sports bars, cocktail lounges, Irish pubs, microbreweries, local holes-in-the-wall and more. Many of the city's upscale restaurants and hotels also have lively bars worth a visit.\n\nMost bars serve beer, hard alcohol and wine, plus coffee and juice. Some make cocktails, and many offer a fair range of finger foods or even main dishes. Microbreweries and beer bars are catching on, offering decent selections of the hoppy stuff \u2013 but Argentina has a ways to go before competing globally, so don't expect anything mind-blowing.\n\nYounger travelers and backpackers looking to bar-hop in a group should check out Buenos Aires Pub Crawl ( 15-5464-1886; www.pubcrawlba.com).\n\n###### Cafes\n\nCafes are an integral part of porte\u00f1o life, and you shouldn't miss popping into one of these beloved hangouts for an afternoon break. Many cafes are old classics that have been around for more than a hundred years, and undoubtedly will take you back in time. Others are contemporary or bohemian joints with sidewalk tables \u2013 perfect spots to take a load off while sightseeing or to delve into Borges' short stories at a corner table.\n\nMost cafes serve all meals and everything in between (including a late-night snack). For more on the classic places see Click here.\n\n###### Clubbing\n\nBuenos Aires is famous for its _boliches_ (nightclubs). Every weekend \u2013 and even on some weeknights \u2013 the city's clubs come alive with beautiful people moving to electronic and house music. Some of the most impressive nightlife hot spots are located in grandiose restored theaters, warehouses or factories \u2013 or perched on the banks of the Rio de la Plata where party-goers can watch the sun rise over the water as the festivities wind down. Clubs are spread out over the city, with main clusters in Palermo and on the Costanera Norte.\n\n###### Electronica in Buenos Aires\n\nBuenos Aires might be known for its tango, but there is something else to keep you dancing until dawn in this late-night city that generally looks to Europe for its trends. Since 1990 the electronic-music scene of BA has grown to become a major force in the music world. Touting some of the world's best venues and biggest crowds, Buenos Aires is listed by many DJs as a favorite place to play.\n\nOne of the most internationally acclaimed homegrown DJs is Hern\u00e1n Cattaneo, who began his professional career in the early '90s playing commercial clubs of the time, such as El Cielo and Cinema. Several years later he secured a residency for the Clubland night at Pach\u00e1, where legend has it he was discovered and whisked off to international stardom by UK legend Paul Oakenfold. The success of Cattaneo and Pach\u00e1 marked the beginning of a new era, when electronica emerged into mainstream pop culture.\n\nNowadays, when the weather warms up in spring, enormous events with up to 50,000 people take place, such as Creamfields (www.creamfieldsba.com) and the South American Music Conference, while newer, smaller-scale festivals like Festival Ciudad Emergente (www.ciudademergente.gob.ar) pack venues with thousands of young people and feature electronica performances. In addition to these annual events, the club and underground scene is alive and well, although somewhat less kicking (and with good reason) due to stricter rules since the 2004 Cromagnon club tragedy in which almost 200 people lost their lives in a fire.\n\nHouse music (referred to as ' _punchi, punchi'_ because of the relentless kick drum) is no longer the only option. You'll find a variety of sounds thanks to early diversification within Argentina's veteran underground DJ collective, DJ UNION, composed of Carla Tintore (www.carlatintore.com), Dr Trincado (www.drtrincado.com) and Diego Ro-k. Notoriously wild parties such as the Age of Communication and Ave Porco helped pave the way to a diverse underground tradition, which you can experience at clubs like Cocoliche (Click here).\n\nThe original DJ collectives and electronica parties have paved the way for another generation of musical stylings: whether it's progressive house, breakbeat, techno, IDM, deep house, drum and bass or even experimental _cumbia_ (Colombian music), Buenos Aires has it. Some of the DJs who experiment with styles are DJ Joven () and Djs Pareja (www.djspareja.com.ar), the famous electronica twosome who spin a fusion of retro acid house techno and pop at clubs and parties around town; DJ Daleduro and his partner DJ Gone, who form the duo Groovedealers and do two-step garage and dubstep; Franco Cinelli, who plays minimal sounds and clicks; and Chancha Via Circuito, an experimental cumbia artist who got his start at Zizek (www.zzkrecords.com).\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n#### Opening Hours\n\n\u00bb Bars Vary widely depending on location and clientele, but most are usually open in the evening into the early-morning hours.\n\n\u00bb Cafes Usually from around 6am or 7am to 2am or 3am.\n\n\u00bb Clubs From 2am to dawn.\n\n#### Costs\n\n'After office' is often a term for happy hour _._\n\n\u00bb _Chopp_ (draft beer): AR$25\n\n\u00bb Pint of craft beer: AR$40\n\n\u00bb Cocktail: AR$60\n\n\u00bb Cup of coffee: AR$15\n\n\u00bb Club cover charge: varies widely depending on the club, your gender, the day of the week, the time of night and the DJ's fame. Bring cash, as credit cards aren't often accepted.\n\n#### Club Door Policies\n\nAll clubs have bouncers. Dress well \u2013 smart casual is good enough at most clubs. To get in more easily, try playing up your foreign accent \u2013 _porte\u00f1os_ love the exotic (though foreigners are now common in BA). You can also sign up in advance via online-reservation forms that some clubs keep; this sometimes gets you in more easily and\/or offers discounts.\n\n#### Resources\n\nMany newspapers have entertainment supplements published on Friday; the _Buenos Aires Herald_ (an English-language publication) is particularly handy. Also check www.vuenosairez.com (in Spanish) and www.argentinaindependent.com (in English) for current happenings.\n\n##### Drinking & Nightlife by Neighborhood\n\n\u00bb The Center Irish pub knock-offs cater to the business crowd, though there are several good cafes and clubs.\n\n\u00bb Congreso & Tribunales This neighborhood, the political center of BA, has a few interesting bars and cafes.\n\n\u00bb San Telmo Gentrified San Telmo is host to many fancy modern spots mixing it up with a few old classics.\n\n\u00bb Retiro A wide choice of drinking holes attract business people during the day and into the evening, and the traveler-expat crowd at night.\n\n\u00bb Recoleta Across from the cemetery is a two-block strip of restaurants, cafes and bars with great patios.\n\n\u00bb Palermo BA's hippest nightlife lives here, especially near Plaza Serrano. Las Ca\u00f1itas, a sub-neighborhood, is also very lively.\n\n\u00bb South of Palermo As Palermo becomes more expensive, these blue-collar neighborhoods are gentrifying and attracting their own attention.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Florer\u00eda Atl\u00e1ntico Currently BA's hottest bar, and possibly its most oddly located.\n\n Las Violetas Gorgeous, traditional cafe full of _porte\u00f1os_ sipping tea and nibbling house-made pastries.\n\n Niceto Club Famous for Club 69, its Thursday-night show highlighting drag queens, strippers and breakdancers.\n\n Antares Atmospheric chain restaurant-bar with good food and craft beer.\n\n Museo Evita Restaurante Upscale restaurant-cafe with a patio that's perfect on a warm day.\n\n##### Best Bars\n\n Florer\u00eda Atl\u00e1ntico 'Secret' basement bar located inside a flower shop!\n\n Verne Fancy drinking hole with awesome cocktails and smoking patio.\n\n Frank's Bar Elegant speakeasy with classic cocktails; enter via the telephone booth.\n\n Magdalena's Party Casual corner bar serving American comfort food.\n\n Mili\u00f3n Glamorous setting in a lovely mansion with an elegant garden.\n\n##### Best Traditional Cafes\n\n Las Violetas BA's most beautiful cafe, with stained-glass awnings and afternoon tea.\n\n Caf\u00e9 de los Angelitos Ironically named for the mobsters that used to hang out here.\n\n Esquina Homero Manzi Traditional cafe off the tourist track, with a lovely atmosphere.\n\n La Biela Best for its excellent people-watching front patio on a warm sunny day.\n\n Caf\u00e9 Tortoni Very historic, very scenic and very touristy \u2013 but a classic that can't be ignored.\n\n##### Best Clubs\n\n Niceto Club Best for its raucous, Thursday-night, over-the-top burlesque show.\n\n Pach\u00e1 The temple of electronica, with pretty people and international DJs.\n\n Boutique Famous 'after-office' party on Wednesday eves, in a building designed by Eiffel.\n\n Crobar Electronica, Latin beats and more at this perennially popular Palermo club.\n\n Kika Draws Tuesday-night crowds with its well-known 'Hype' party.\n\n##### Best Beer Bars\n\n Antares Popular restaurant-bar serving tasty beers from Mar del Plata.\n\n Buller Brewing Company Recoleta microbrewery with six kinds of beer.\n\n Cervecer\u00eda Cossab Dedicated beer bar that boasts over 50 beers.\n\n Cruzat Beer House Has a nice patio to enjoy craft beer from all around Argentina.\n\nBroeders Not actually a beer bar, Broeders is an excellent craft beer only available at Fukuro Noodle Bar (www.fukuronoodlebar.com) or NOLA (www.nolabuenosaires.com).\n\n##### Best Museum Cafes\n\n Museo Evita Restaurante Excellent patio cafe-restaurant with sophisticated cuisine.\n\n Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo Upscale French bistro with pleasant outdoor tables.\n\n Fundaci\u00f3n Proa Fancy cafe with awesome rooftop terrace offering La Boca views.\n\n Malba Not cheap, but a nice atmosphere and good people-watching.\n\n Museo del Bicentenario Great for an indoor cafe break near Plaza de Mayo.\n\n##### Best Gay Hot Spots\n\n Alsina Monthly Fiesta Dorothy packs in the cute guys.\n\n Glam Casual yet very sexy club in an old mansion.\n\n Crobar Saturday night's Rheo is the place to be.\n\n Amerika Rough and tumble, with all-you-can-drink nights.\n\n Pride Cafe Casual San Telmo coffee shop.\n Entertainment\n\nThe entertainment scene in Buenos Aires has always been lively, but there was an outburst of creative energy in the decade following the economic crisis of 2001. Filmmakers began producing quality works on shoestring budgets, troupes performed in new avant-garde theaters and live-music groups played in more mainstream venues. Today nearly every neighborhood offers great entertainment options.\n\n###### Live Music\n\nThere are some fine venues that only feature live music, but many theaters, cultural centers, bars and cafes also put on shows. Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso ( 4307-6506; www.torquatotasso.com.ar; Defensa 1575) is an especially good choice for tango-music performances. For more on tango shows Click here.\n\n###### CLASSICAL\n\nSeveral venues offer classical-music concerts. Teatro Col\u00f3n (Click here) is the grandest and most famous; everyone who's anyone has played, acted, sung or danced here. It often features guest conductors from throughout Latin America. The classical-music scene takes a break from December to February, and is best from June to August.\n\n###### ROCK, BLUES & JAZZ\n\nBuenos Aires boasts a thriving rock-music scene. Smaller venues, like La Trastienda (Click here), showcase mostly local groups; when huge international stars come to town they tend to play soccer stadiums or Luna Park (Click here).\n\nBlues and jazz aren't as popular as rock but still have their own loyal following. Thelonious Bar (Click here) and Notorious (Click here) are top-notch venues for jazz concerts.\n\n###### FOLK\n\n_M\u00fasica folkl\u00f3rica_ definitely has its place in Buenos Aires. There are several _pe\u00f1as_ (traditional music clubs) in the city, including Los Cardones (Click here) and Pe\u00f1a del Colorado (Click here), but other venues \u2013 such as Cl\u00e1sica y Moderna (Click here) \u2013 occasionally host folk performances.\n\n###### Cinema\n\nBA's traditional cinema districts are along ped\u00adestrian Lavalle (west of Florida) and on Av Corrientes. Newer cinemas are in shopping malls throughout the city. Most cinemas offer big discounts for matinees, midweek shows or first screenings of the day. There is usually a _trasnoche_ (midnight or later showing) scheduled for Friday and Saturday night.\n\nCheck the English-language _Buenos Aires Herald_ for the original titles of English-language films. The entertainment sections of all the major newspapers will have movie listings as well, but be aware that Spanish translations of English-language film titles often don't translate directly. Except for children's films and cartoon features, which are dubbed, foreign films usually appear in their original language with Spanish subtitles.\n\nCosmos-UBA ( 4953-5405; www.cosmosuba.wordpress.com; Av Corrientes 2046) and Sala Leopoldo Lugones ( 0800-333-5254; www.teatrosanmartin.com.ar\/cine; Av Corrientes 1530) \u2013 in Teatro General San Mart\u00edn \u2013 often show retrospectives, documentaries, foreign film cycles and art-house movies. Espacio INCAA ( 4371-3050; www.incaa.gov.ar; Av Rivadavia 1635) screens Ibero-American films only (essentially from Spanish- or Portuguese-speaking countries).\n\nSome cultural centers have their own small cinemas, while places such as Alianza Francesa and the British Arts Centre showcase movies in their respective languages.\n\n###### Theater\n\nTheater is big in Buenos Aires. There are more than 100 venues and annual attendance is in the hundreds of thousands. Productions range from classic plays to multimedia performances to lavish cabarets, and the acting is of a professional level across the board. Note that, unsurprisingly, performances tend to be in Spanish.\n\nTraditionally, the center for theater has been Av Corrientes between Av 9 de Julio and Callao, but there are now dozens of venues all over the city. The _Buenos Aires Herald_ and other local newspapers have good listings of major productions.\n\nMany alternative (or 'off-Corrientes') theater companies and independent troupes receive relatively little attention from the mainstream media, but they're worth seeking out if you're looking for something different. If you read Spanish, www.alternativateatral.com is a good source for current non-mainstream performances.\n\nTickets are generally affordable, but check _carteleras_ for bargain seats. The season is liveliest in winter (June through August), when upwards of 100 events may take place, but you can find a good variety of shows any time. Many of the most popular shows move to the provincial beach resort of Mar del Plata for the summer.\n\n###### Circo Moderno\n\nA popular movement in Argentina that found international fame through the Broadway performance of the De la Guarda troupe is _circo moderno_ (contemporary circus). This combination of traditional circus and contemporary dance and theater features a lot of aerial action, acrobatics and no words \u2013 great for those who don't speak Spanish. Cirque du Soleil is a well-known example of this modern gymnastic theater.\n\nIn 2005, Diqui James, one of the creators of De la Guarda, launched his solo act Fuerzabruta (www.fuerzabruta.net). It's a jaw-dropping, mind-blowing show of lights, electronic music, aerial dancing and water \u2013 and often the performance is above you. If you go to a show, you could get wet. The troupe is often on tour around the world, so check its website for listings.\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n#### Opening Hours\n\nShow times can vary widely, but this is a city that stays up all night, so expect to be out late. Restaurants usually open around 9pm \u2013 and 10pm is a more common dinner time \u2013 so many shows start around midnight.\n\n#### Resources\n\nMany newspapers publish entertainment supplements on Friday; the _Buenos Aires Herald_ has a particularly handy one. Also check www.vuenosairez.com (in Spanish) and www.argentinaindependent.com (in English).\n\n#### Discount Tickets & Booking\n\nMajor entertainment venues often require booking through Ticketek ( 5237-7200; www.ticketek.com.ar). The service charge is about 10% of the ticket price.\n\n_Carteleras_ (discount-ticket offices) sell a limited number of discounted tickets for many events, such as movies, theater and tango shows, with savings of 20% to 50%. Try Cartelera Baires (www.cartelerabaires.com; Av Corrientes 1382, Inside Galer\u00eda Apolo), Cartelera Vea M\u00e1s ( 6320-5319; www.veamasdigital.com.ar; Av Corrientes 1660, Local 2) or Cartelera Espect\u00e1culos ( 4322-1559; www.123info.com.ar; Lavalle 742). Buy tickets as far in advance as possible, but if you want to see a show or movie at short notice \u2013 especially midweek \u2013 you can also drop by to check what's available.\n\n##### Entertainment by Neighborhood\n\n\u00bb The Center Has a little of everything \u2013 theater, live music, cinemas and tango shows.\n\n\u00bb Congreso & Tribunales Home to Av Corrientes, BA's traditional theater district; also has several cinemas and flamenco venues.\n\n\u00bb San Telmo Some live music and tango spots.\n\n\u00bb Palermo A few tango _milongas_ and live-music venues.\n\n\u00bb South of Palermo Ground zero for BA's avant-garde theater.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Teatro Col\u00f3n Landmark, seven-story theater seating 2500 and boasting renowned acoustics.\n\n Usina del Arte Old electricity factory remodeled into a premier symphony hall.\n\n Centro Cultural Borges One of BA's top cultural centers, with countless offerings.\n\n##### Best Theaters\n\n Teatro Col\u00f3n Buenos Aires' grandest entertainment concert hall and a gorgeous building.\n\n Teatro San Mart\u00edn Large venue that's great for classic theater and much more.\n\n Teatro Nacional Cervantes Traditional old venue showing contemporary productions.\n\n##### Best Live Music\n\n Usina del Arte Amazing and beautiful new performance venue in La Boca seating 1200.\n\n Ciudad Cultural Konex Famous for its one-of-a-kind, Monday-night percussion parties.\n\n Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso Excellent venue for concerts, including tango music.\n\n##### Best Cultural Centers\n\n Centro Cultural Borges Quality art galleries, cinema, workshops, music and shows.\n\n Centro Cultural Recoleta Many free or inexpensive events, plus a science museum for kids.\n\n Centro Cultural San Mart\u00edn Large cultural center with galleries, concerts, exhibitions and shows.\n\n##### Best Flamenco\n\n \u00c1vila Bar Small stage inside a traditional Spanish restaurant.\n\n Cantares Basement venue that once hosted the poet Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca.\n\n Tiempo de Gitanos Palermo restaurant offering classic Spanish food and an intimate stage.\n Tango\n\nOnce a furtive dance relegated to the red-light brothels of early-1900s Buenos Aires, tango has experienced great highs and lows throughout its volatile lifespan. These days, however, the sensual dance is back with a vengeance. Everyone from Seattle to Shanghai is slinking their way down the parquet floor, trying to master those elusive dance steps and rhythm that make it so damn hard to perfect.\n\nTango dancers \nALTRENDO IMAGES \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Origins\n\nIn the words of its poet laureate Disc\u00e9polo, the 'tango is a sad thought you can dance to'. Though the exact origins can't be pinpointed, the dance is thought to have started in Buenos Aires in the 1880s. Legions of European immigrants, mostly lower-class men, arrived here to seek their fortune. They settled on the capital's fringes, such as La Boca and Barracas, but missing their motherlands and the women they left behind, sought out cafes and bordellos to ease the loneliness. Here (so the myth goes), these immigrant men danced with each other while they waited for their paramours to become available \u2013 women were scarce back then!\n\nThe perceived vulgarity of the dance that mainly belonged to the poor southern barrios was deeply frowned upon by the reigning porte\u00f1o elites of the plush northern suburbs, but it did manage to influence some brash young members of the upper classes. These rebel jet setters, known as _ni\u00f1os bien_ , took the novelty to Paris and created a craze \u2013 a dance that became an acceptable outlet for human desires, expressed on the dance floors of elegant cabarets. The trend spread around Europe and even to the USA, and 1913 was considered by some as 'the year of the tango'. When the evolved dance, now refined and famous, returned to Buenos Aires, it finally earned the respectability it deserved. And so the golden years of tango began.\n\nIn 1955, however, Argentina became a military state intolerant of artistic or ' nationalistic' activities \u2013 including the tango, which had been highly popular with the people. Some tango songs were banned, and the dance was forced underground due to curfews and a limit on group meetings. The dance didn't resurface until 1983, when the junta fell \u2013 and once it was back in the open again, it underwent a renaissance. After being constrained by the rigors of military rule, Argentines suddenly wanted to experience new life, be creative and move. The tango became popular once again \u2013 and remains so to this day.\n\nTango lesson \nJAVIER PIERINI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n###### Tango for Export \u2013 the Shows\n\nIf there's one thing Buenos Aires isn't short of it's tango shows. The best known are the expensive, tourist-oriented spectacles that are very entertaining and awe-inspiring, and showcase amazing feats of grace and athleticism. However, they are highly glamorized and not what purists consider 'authentic' tango.\n\nThe theatrical shows usually include various tango couples, an orchestra, a couple of singers and possibly some folkloric musicians. They last about 1\u00bd hours and come with a dinner option \u2013 the food is usually good. VIP options mean a much higher price tag for better views, meal choices and refreshments. Nearly all of them require reservations; some offer modest online discounts and pick-up from your hotel. (Many hotels will book shows for you \u2013 which is fine, since sometimes the price is similar to what you'd pay at the venue anyway.)\n\nMore modest shows cost far less; some are even free but require you to order a meal or drink at the restaurant. For free (or rather, donation) tango, head to San Telmo on a Sunday afternoon \u2013 or sometimes other days. Dancers do their thing in the middle of Plaza Dorrego, though you have to stake out a spot early to snag a good view. Another sure bet is weekends on El Caminito in La Boca; some restaurants have couple dancing for customers. Many _milongas_ also have good, affordable shows.\n\nOne thing to note: nearly all tango shows are touristy by nature. They've been sensationalized to make them more exciting for observers. 'Authentic' tango (which happens at _milongas_ ) is a very subtle art, primarily done for the pleasure of the dancers. It's not something to be observed so much as experienced, and not particularly interesting for casual spectators. Going to a _milonga_ just to watch isn't all that cool, either: folks are there to dance. So feel free to see a more flashy tango show and enjoy those spectacular high kicks \u2013 be wowed like the rest of the crowd.\n\nIf you like listening to live tango music, head to Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso (Click here). It's one of BA's best live-music venues, so don't expect any dancing.\n\nDancing the tango, San Telmo \nROBERT FRERCK \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n### CLASSES\n\nTango classes are available just about everywhere, from youth hostels to general dance academies to cultural centers to nearly all _milongas_. Even a few cafes and tango shows offer them.\n\nThere are also several tango schools in town, such as Escuela Argentina de Tango. It has two main locations: Talcahuano 1052 and San Mart\u00edn 768 ( 4312-4990; www.eatango.org); the latter is in Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico.\n\nPrivate teachers are also ubiquitous; there are so many good ones that it's best to ask someone you trust for a recommendation. And with so many foreigners flooding into Buenos Aires, many teach in English or other languages.\n\n###### The Real Tango \u2013 Milongas\n\nTango's popularity is booming at both amateur and professional levels, and among all ages and classes. And _milongas_ are the dance events where people strut their stuff. The atmosphere at these venues can be modern or historical, casual or traditional. Most have tango DJs that determine musical selections, but a few utilize live orchestras. The dance floor is surrounded by many tables and chairs, and there's often a bar to the side.\n\nAt a proper, established _milonga,_ choosing an adequate partner involves many levels of hidden codes, rules and signals that dancers must follow. After all, no serious _bailarina_ (female dancer; the male equivalent is a _bailar\u00edn_ ) wants to be caught out dancing with someone stepping on her toes (and expensive tango heels). In fact, some men considering asking an unknown woman to dance will do so only after the second song, to avoid being stuck for the three to five songs that make a session. These sessions (known as _tandas_ ) alternate between tango, _vals_ (the Argentine version of the waltz) and _milonga_ ; they're followed by a _cortina_ (a short break when non-tango music is played). It's considered polite to dance an entire _tanda_ with any partner, so if you are given a curt _gracias_ after just one song, consider that partner unavailable for the rest of the night.\n\nNot easy to describe, tango needs to be seen and experienced for its full effect. The upper bodies are traditionally held upright and close, with faces almost touching. The man's hand is pressed against the woman's back, guiding her, with his other hand and one of hers held together and out. The lower body does most of the work. The woman swivels her hips, her legs alternating in short or wide sweeps and quick kicks, sometimes between the man's legs. The man guides, a complicated job since he must flow with the music, direct the woman, meld with her steps and avoid other dancers, all at once. He'll add his own fancy pivoting moves, and together the couple flows in communion with the music. Pauses and abrupt directional changes punctuate the dance. It's a serious business that takes a good amount of concentration, so while dancing the pair often wear hard expressions. Smiling and chatting are reserved for the breaks between songs.\n\nYour position in the area surrounding the dance floor can be critical. At some of the older _milongas_ , the more established dancers have reserved tables. Ideally, you want to sit where you have easy access to the floor and to other dancers' line of sight. You may notice couples sitting further back (they often dance just with each other), while singles sit right at the front. If a man comes into the room with a woman at his side, she is considered 'his' for the night. For couples to dance with others, they either enter the room separately, or the man signals his intent by asking another woman to the floor. Then 'his' woman becomes open for asking.\n\nThe signal to dance, known as _cabeceo,_ involves a quick tilt of the head, eye contact and uplifted eyebrows. This can happen from way across the room. The woman to whom the _cabeceo_ is directed either nods yes and smiles or pretends not to have noticed (a rejection). If she says yes the man gets up and escorts her to the floor. A hint: if you're at a _milonga_ and don't want to dance with anyone, don't look around too much \u2013 you could be breaking some hearts.\n\nSo why is it that tango becomes so addictive for some? Experienced dancers will tell you this: the adrenaline rush you get from an excellent performance is like a successful conquest. Some days it lifts you up to exhilarating heights and other days it can bring you crashing down. You fall for the passion and beauty of the tango's movements, trying to attain a physical perfection that can never be fully realized. The best you can do is to make the journey as graceful and passionate as possible.\n\nPlaying the bandone\u00f3n \nMAGAL\u00cd IZAGUIRRE \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n### EVOLVING TANGO MUSIC\n\nNuevo tango, born in the late 1990s, was seeded by \u00c1stor Piazzolla in the 1950s when he incorporated jazz and classical beats into traditional tango music. Dancers improvised new moves into their traditional base steps, utilizing a more open embrace and switching leads (among other things). Neo tango, the latest musical step in tango's changing landscape, fuses the dance with electronica for some decidedly nonstodgy beats that have done a superlative job of attracting the younger generation to this astounding dance. For much more on tango music, Click here.\n\n###### More Tango Info\n\nSome of the most complete tango listings are in free tango booklets around town, including El Tanguata (www.eltanguata.com) and La Milonga Argentina (www.lamilongaargentina.com.ar). All have basic information on the city's _milongas,_ classes, teachers and shows. They're often available at tango venues or tourist offices. You can also check the Caseron Porte\u00f1o (www.caseronporteno.com) tango map for _milongas_ locations.\n\nFor a very practical book on tango in BA, check out Sally Blake's _Happy Tango: Sallycat's Guide to Dancing in Buenos Aires_ (2nd edition). It has great information on _milongas_ \u2013 how to dress for them and act in them and who you can expect to see \u2013 plus much more.\n\nIf you don't mind hiring a dance partner for classes or _milongas,_ check out www.tango\u00adtaxidancers.com. There are, of course, many tango clothing and shoe stores in BA. Several accommodations cater to tango enthusiasts, including Caser\u00f3n Porte\u00f1o (Click here). All offer on-site classes. Finally, if you're in town in mid- to late August, don't miss the tango festival (www.tangobuenosaires.gov.ar).\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n\u00bb For discount tickets, show and venue descriptions and some reviews, check out www.tangotix.com.\n\n\u00bb _Milongas_ either start in the afternoon and run until 11pm or start at around midnight and run until the early-morning light (arrive late for the best action). They're affordable, and classes are often offered beforehand.\n\n\u00bb For a unique outdoor experience, head to the bandstand at the Barrancas de Belgrano, where the casual _milonga_ La Glorieta (www.glorietadebelgrano.com.ar) takes place on Saturday and Sunday evenings around 7pm (and possibly other evenings). Tango classes are also given.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Caf\u00e9 de los Angelitos Well-put-together, imaginative show with great visual appeal.\n\n Feria de San Telmo Best for its casual ambience and price \u2013 a few coins!\n\n Salon Canning Traditional, very popular and well-located _milonga_.\n\n##### Best Fancy Shows\n\n Caf\u00e9 de los Angelitos Well choreographed, with impressive costumes and props.\n\n Rojo Tango Very intimate, cabaret-style show that's supremely sexy.\n\n El Viejo Almac\u00e9n Great athleticism, small venue and great folkloric segment.\n\n La Ventana Good overall show with comedic gaucho swinging _boleadoras_ (hunting weights).\n\n##### Best Less-Fancy Shows\n\n Feria de San Telmo It's street-donation tango at San Telmo's Sunday market \u2013 hustle for a good view!\n\n Caf\u00e9 Tortoni Decent basement show in BA's oldest, most traditional cafe.\n\nLos 36 Billares Another very historic cafe with tango show, but much less touristy than Tortoni.\n\n##### Best Milongas\n\n Salon Canning Famous, popular and stylish _milonga_ in Palermo, with good music.\n\n Confiter\u00eda Ideal BA's most historic tango venue and the set for Sally Potter's _The Tango Lesson_.\n\n La Catedral Casual, bohemian warehouse space that attracts hip young dancers.\n\n La Marshall Gay-friendly _milonga_ where everyone is welcome \u2013 and where role reversals are OK.\n\nPainting of Carlos Gardel (Click here) near Museo Casa Carlos Gardel \nDANITA DELIMONT \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n Shopping\n\nDespite a global recession and a drop in the purchasing power of the Argentine peso, porte\u00f1os continue to shop as if there's no tomorrow. A peek into the nearest mall on a weekend will make you wonder how people who seem to be making so little can spend so much. As the saying goes, 'An Argentine will make one peso and spend two'.\n\n###### Specialties & Souvenirs\n\nWine is one of the more obvious gifts, though it's hard to carry. Some stores will ship outside Argentina; expect to pay a premium for this service. Food items that make nice gifts are _dulce de leche_ (a delicious milk caramel that Argentines have perfected) and _alfajores,_ cookie sandwiches usually bathed in chocolate (Havanna is a popular brand and available at Ezeiza Airport). _Mate_ gourds are also good, and they're small and light.\n\nArgentina is known for its leather goods. There are leather stores all over the city, but for the best prices head to Calle Murillo. Silverwork is also high quality, and many items are gaucho-inspired. Looking for a gift for that aristocratic friend? There are a few polo stores with items that might fit the bill \u2013 whether or not he or she plays polo.\n\nFinally, soccer memorabilia always make popular souvenirs \u2013 especially from Boca, the most well-known team.\n\n###### Street Markets\n\nWandering through a weekend _feria_ (street market) is a quintessential BA experience. Artisans display their wares while buskers, mimes and tango dancers entertain. Often there are nearby restaurants with sidewalk tables for people-watching. At some of the more touristed markets, especially Feria de San Telmo, watch for pickpockets.\n\n\u00bbFeria Plaza Francia Click here\n\n\u00bbFeria de Mataderos Click here\n\n\u00bbFeria de San Telmo Click here\n\n\u00bbFeria Plaza Serrano Click here\n\n###### Antique Markets & Shopping Malls\n\nA couple of antique markets might be worth your time. Try Mercado de las Pulgas (Click here) or Mercado de San Telmo (Click here). Don't expect dirt-cheap bargains, though you might find a cool glass soda bottle or vintage lamp. Feria de San Telmo is a fun place to look for old coins and jewelry, though there's a lot of kitsch as well. The San Telmo neighborhood has some pricey antique stores too.\n\nMany of the bigger shopping malls in BA are slick and modern; some cater to families with children by offering special play areas and video arcades. Paseo Alcorta (Click here) has an especially large kids' playground on the 3rd floor, while Mercado de Abasto (Click here) sports an excellent children's museum and small amusement park complete with rides. Almost all of these malls also have multiplex cinemas and large food courts complete with fast-food outlets and ice-cream parlors. Expect all the popular chain stores; some even offer health clubs, beauty shops and internet cafes.\n\n###### High Fashion\n\nInterested in clothing design? Then make a beeline for Palermo Soho (Click here), where avant-garde fashion designers' boutiques grace the pretty tree-shaded streets. After the 2001 economic crash, dozens of young designers emerged from the woodwork to set up shop in this then-affordable neighborhood (rents have gone way up since then, driving some out). Some made it big, maturing into fully fledged designers with luxury sportswear lines and outposts in the US, Europe and Asia. Names you may come across include Maria Cher (known for deconstructed garments with an urban twist), Jazm\u00edn Chebar (with playful, feminine designs) and Mart\u00edn Churba (known for recycling fabrics). Cora Groppo and Jessica Trosman are other big names with chain stores in Buenos Aires malls and elsewhere.\n\nIf you're looking for leather bargains, avoid Calle Florida and head to the shops on Calle Murillo's 600 block, in the neighborhood of Villa Crespo. This is the best place in town to snag a relatively cheap but high-quality leather jacket and accessories. Bargain like mad, especially if you're paying in cash. One of the nicer (and pricier) shops is Murillo 666.\n\nFor outlet shopping there's the 800 block of Calle Aguirre, with deals on shoes and clothes. Ladies, check out the Pr\u00fcne outlet for stylish leather bags. There are also lots of other outlets on nearby Av C\u00f3rdoba.\n\nThe largest concentration of jewelry shops is on Libertad south of Av Corrientes.\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n#### Opening Hours\n\nStore hours generally run from 9am or 10am to 8pm or 9pm weekdays, with many open for a few hours on Saturday. Most stores close on Sunday.\n\n#### Taxes & Refunds\n\nTaxes are included in prices; what you see is what you pay.\n\nIf you buy more than AR$70 in merchandise from a store that displays a 'Tax Free Shopping' sticker, you're entitled to a tax refund. Just ask the merchant to make out an invoice for you (you'll need ID); upon leaving the country show the paperwork to a customs official, who'll stamp it and tell you where to obtain your refund. Give yourself some extra time at the airport for this transaction.\n\n#### Bargaining\n\nBargaining is not acceptable in stores, except possibly for high-price items like jewelry and leather jackets (in some places). Some shops will give a _descuento_ (discount) for cash payments. At street markets you can try negotiating, but keep in mind you may be talking to the artists themselves.\n\nBe clear about whether the vendor is quoting in pesos or dollars. Always check your change before walking away with your purchase, and keep a lookout for fake bills (Click here).\n\n##### Shopping by Neighborhood\n\n\u00bb The Center The area on and around Calle Florida offers modern shops selling pretty much everything.\n\n\u00bb Congreso & Tribunales Not known for its shopping, though there are discount bookstores along Av Corrientes.\n\n\u00bb San Telmo _The_ place for antique stores, with clothing and other boutiques here and there.\n\n\u00bb Retiro Bustling Av Santa Fe starts here and heads through Palermo, lined the whole way with shops of every kind.\n\n\u00bb Recoleta & Barrio Norte Upscale stores selling the city's most expensive threads and leather products live on Av Alvear.\n\n\u00bb Palermo Best known for its locally designed clothing stores, with plenty of housewares shops and boutiques.\n\n\u00bb South of Palermo Av Pueyrred\u00f3n near Once train station has cheap goods made in countries like China.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Walrus Books A terrific range of new and used books, plus Argentine classics translated into English.\n\n Zival's Music store with a great selection of tango, jazz and classical.\n\n Wildlife Meets all your outdoor-gear needs.\n\n Lo de Joaquin Alberdi A wine-lover's paradise; offers tastings too.\n\n Gil Antiguedades Gorgeous vintage clothes are the star here, though there are _objets_ too.\n\n Autor\u00eda Ingenious, edgy, high-quality art and accessories, with an emphasis on Argentine designers' work.\n\n##### Best for Clothing\n\n Rapsodia At times exotic clothing utilizing various genres and different textiles.\n\n Juana de Arco Frilly, silky, cute, sexy and very feminine items for the girl inside every woman.\n\n Hermanos Estebecorena Cutting-edge, creative and stylish clothes for men.\n\n Bolivia Metrosexual designs for men who aren't afraid of patterns and pastels.\n\n Punto Sur Dozens of designers stock the racks here with awesome, creative clothing.\n\n##### Best for Wacky Gifts\n\n Materia Urbana Funky things like leather animal desk accessories and wood jewelry.\n\n Autor\u00eda Creative, high-quality and well-priced contemporary items made by local designers.\n\n Cualquier Verdura Expect the unexpected at this fun shop with eclectic and novelty gifts.\n\n L'Ago Kitschy home decor like colorful metal _mate_ sets, paper lamps and vintage-look pillows.\n\n Calma Chicha Cow- and sheepskin rugs, fun tablecloths, leather bags and more.\n\n##### Best for Argentine Souvenirs\n\n Feria de San Telmo Everything-goes, multi-block street fair selling anything you can think of.\n\n Arte y Esperanza Fair-trade Argentine souvenirs handmade by Argentina's indigenous peoples.\n\n Feria Plaza Serrano Fun hippie products created by local craftspeople.\n\n Harapos Patagonia Woollen goods, alpaca jewelry, wood and ceramics from Patagonia.\n\n Nobrand T-shirts, mugs and notebooks stamped with iconic Argentine symbols.\n Sports & Activities\n\nWhen it comes to spectator sports, only one thing really matters to most porte\u00f1os \u2013 _f\u00fatbol_ (soccer). If you go to a game \u2013 or even watch one on TV \u2013 you'll witness human passion to the core. But other spectator sports also exist in Buenos Aires. And for those who'd rather play than watch, you'll have opportunities to run, bike, swim and even rock climb \u2013 though some activities will be harder to seek out than others.\n\n###### Spectator Sports\n\n###### F\u00daTBOL\n\n_F\u00fatbol_ is a national obsession, and witnessing a live game is an integral part of the BA experience. This is no amateur league \u2013 Argentina's national team won the World Cup in both 1978 and 1986 (one of only eight nations to have ever won the cup). The men's team also walked away with gold at the 2004 and 2008 summer Olympics. And Lionel Messi (Click here), currently Argentina's most famous player, has won FIFA's World Player of the Year (or Ballon d'Or) award _four_ times \u2013 from 2009 to 2012.\n\nArgentines are avid fans of the sport, and on game day (and there are many) you'll see TVs everywhere tuned to the soccer channels. Cheers erupt when goals are scored, and after a big win, cars sporting team flags go honking by \u2013 especially around the Obelisco.\n\nFor more information on Argentine _f\u00fatbol,_ see www.futbolargentino.com and www.afa.org.ar. Or check Daniel Schweimler's musings (via the team Argentina Juniors) at www.handofdan.com.\n\n### DON'T JUST WATCH \u2013 PLAY F\u00daTBOL!\n\nInspired by watching professional _f\u00fatbol_ teams play the game? Well, you can partake yourself \u2013 just contact FC Buenos Aires F\u00fatbol Amigos (www.fcbafa.com) to join fellow travelers, expats and locals for fun on the pitch. There's a modest charge for the experience, but _asados_ (barbecues) often lie at the end of the _f\u00fatbol_ rainbow \u2013 and the sporty memories can be priceless.\n\n###### GOING TO A GAME\n\nIn a land where Maradona (Click here) is God, going to see a _f\u00fatbol_ game can be a religious experience. The _supercl\u00e1sico_ match between the Boca Juniors and River Plate has been called the number-one sporting event to see before you die, but even the less-celebrated games will give you insight into Argentina's national passion.\n\nAttending a regular match isn't too difficult. Keep an eye on the clubs' websites, which inform when and where tickets will be sold; often they're sold at the stadium before the game. You'll get a choice between _populares_ (bleachers) and _plateas_ (seats). Avoid the _populares_ , as these can get far too rowdy and sometimes dangerous.\n\nIf you want to see a _cl\u00e1sico_ \u2013 a match between two major teams \u2013 getting a ticket will be much harder. Plus Boca doesn't even put tickets for its key matches on sale; all tickets go to _socios_ (members). Instead, you're better off going with an agency such as Tangol (Click here) or via organizations like www.fcbafa.com or www.landingpad.com. It won't be cheap, but it's much easier (and safer) getting a ticket this way; fake tickets do exist.\n\nIf you want to chance getting your own _cl\u00e1sico_ or _supercl\u00e1sico_ ticket, however, you can always look online at www.buenosaires.craigslist.org or www.mercadolibre.com.ar. And if you're confident in your bargaining skills, scalpers will always exist.\n\nDress down, and try to look inconspicuous when you go. Take only minimum cash and keep your camera close. You probably won't get in with water bottles, and food and drink in the stadium is meager and expensive. Arrive early to get a good seat and enjoy the insane build-up to the game. And most importantly: don't wear the opposing team's colors.\n\nThe following are some of the clubs based in Buenos Aires:\n\n\u00bb Estadio Argentinos Juniors ( 4551-6887; www.argentinosjuniors.com.ar; Gavil\u00e1n 2151)\n\n\u00bb Boca Juniors Map Click here; 4309-4700; www.bocajuniors.com.ar; Brandsen 805 A popular club in Buenos Aires.\n\n\u00bb Club Atl\u00e9tico V\u00e9lez S\u00e1rsfield ( 4641-5663; www.velezsarsfield.com.ar; Juan B Justo 9200)\n\n\u00bb Club Deportivo Espa\u00f1o ( 4619-1516; www.cde.com.ar; Santiago de Compostela 3801)\n\n\u00bb Club Ferro Carril Oeste ( 4431-8282; www.ferrocarriloeste.org.ar; Federico G Lorca 350)\n\n\u00bb Club Hurac\u00e1n ( 4911-0757; www.clubahuracan.com.ar; Av Caseros 3159)\n\n\u00bb River Plate ( 4789-1200; www.cariverplate.com; Alcorta 7597)\n\n\u00bb San Lorenzo de Almagro ( 4918-4237; www.sanlorenzo.com.ar; Varela 2680)\n\n###### BASKETBALL\n\nThe basketball scene in Buenos Aires has been picking up significantly since 2002, when Argentina's men's team played in the World Basketball Championship in Indianapolis. They only won silver but made history by beating the US 'Dream Team' in international competition. Then, with a similar roster, they defeated the US squad again (along with Italy in the finals) to win gold in the 2004 summer Olympics \u2013 their first Olympic medal in basketball ever. No team had beaten the Americans in the Olympics since 1992, when pro basketball players were allowed to play. They also won the FIBA Americas Championship in 2011.\n\nArgentina's best players include Emanuel 'Manu' Ginobili, Fabricio Oberto, Andr\u00e9s Nocioni, Luis Scola, Pablo Prigioni, Walter Herrmann and Carlos Delfino, all of whom have played for or currently play in the NBA.\n\nToday BA has several major squads, the most popular being Boca Juniors. You can watch them play in La Boca at Estadio Luis Conde (La Bombonerita; www.boca-basket.com.ar; Arzobispo Espinosa 600). Other popular basketball teams include Obras Sanitarias and Ferro Carril Oeste.\n\n###### RUGBY\n\nRugby is getting more popular by the year in Argentina, in part because the country's national team \u2013 Los Pumas \u2013 has done well in past years. After placing third at the Rugby World Cup in 2007 (no mean feat), Los Pumas was rated the best rugby team in the Americas. And at the 2011 Rugby World Cup it put in a pretty decent showing.\n\nIn Buenos Aires, the long-running Club Atl\u00e9tico de San Isidro (www.casi.org.ar) is the capital's best rugby team; in 1935 it gave birth to its own biggest rival, the San Isidro Club (www.sanisidroclub.com.ar).\n\nRugby season runs from April to October; contact the Uni\u00f3n de Rugby de Buenos Aires (www.urba.org.ar) for current happenings. Fanatics can visit the Museo de Rugby ( 4732-2547; www.museodelrugby.com; Juan Bautista de Lasalle 653) in San Isidro.\n\n###### HORSE RACING\n\nRaces in BA are held at the Hip\u00f3dromo Argentino, a grand building designed by French architect Louis Faur\u00e9-Dujarric that dates from 1908 and holds up to 100,000 spectators. Race times vary, so check the schedule for details. The most important races take place in November, both here and at San Isidro's famous grass racetrack.\n\n###### POLO\n\nAdd Argentina's history of gauchos and horses to its past British influence, and you'll understand why the best polo in the world is played right here. The country has dominated the sport for over 70 years, boasting most of polo's top players. Forget those British princes: the world's best player is considered to be the handsome Adolfo Cambiaso.\n\nMatches take place in Buenos Aires from September to mid-November. They culminate in the annual Campeonato Argentino Abierto de Polo (Argentine Open Polo Championship) \u2013 the world's most prestigious polo tournament \u2013 in Palermo's Campo Argentina de Polo. For current information, contact the Asociaci\u00f3n Argentina de Polo ( 4777-6444; www.aapolo.com), which keeps a schedule of polo-related activities throughout the country.\n\nFor polo camps (all outside BA) where you can learn to play yourself, check out www.argentinapoloday.com.ar, www.poloelite.com and www.lasofiapolo.info.\n\n###### PATO\n\nOf gaucho origins, the polo-like game of _pato_ (literally 'duck') takes its name from the original game ball \u2013 a live duck encased in a leather bag. The unfortunate fowl has since been replaced by a ball with leather handles, and players no longer face serious injury in what was once a very violent sport.\n\nFor information on _pato_ matches and tournaments (which usually take place 30km outside the city in the Campo Argentino de Pato), contact the Federaci\u00f3n Argentina de Pato ( 4342-5271; www.pato.org.ar). The national championships occur in December, and are more centrally located in Palermo's polo grounds.\n\n### PER\u00da BEACH\n\nAn interesting sports complex for those seeking outdoor activities is Per\u00fa Beach ( 4793-5986; www.peru-beach.com.ar; Elcano 794; 8am-midnight). Short soccer fields, a covered roller rink, a freestanding climbing wall and water sports such as kayaking all bring in the crowds. In addition there's also a grassy lawn and outdoor tables for refreshments \u2013 great on a sunny day. It's more of a social scene than anything else, and families are welcome. Per\u00fa Beach is located in Acassuso, a suburb way north of Buenos Aires' center, just across from the Tren de la Costa's Barrancas station.\n\n###### Activities\n\nBuenos Aires is a big concrete city, so you'll have to seek out the outdoor spots in which to work out. Extensive greenery in Palermo provides good areas for recreation, especially on weekends when the ring road around the rose garden is closed to motor vehicles. Recoleta also has grassy parks, but not as extensive. Best of all is the Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur (Click here), an ecological paradise just east of Puerto Madero that might just make you forget you're in a big city; it's excellent for walks, runs, leisurely bike rides and even a bit of wildlife viewing.\n\n###### CYCLING\n\nThe city's new bike lanes are making cycling in the center a safer proposition, but there are better places in which to spin your wheels. Bike paths run along many roads in Parque 3 de Febrero (Click here) \u2013 here, bicycle rentals are available in good weather on weekends, when the ring road is closed to motor vehicles. Look for rental companies along Av de la Infanta Isabel; four-wheeled pedal carts and inline skates can also be rented.\n\nFor safe family cycling, head to Nuevo Circuito KDT in Palermo's Parque General Belgrano. Here, Sprint Haupt ( 4804-2870; www.sprinthaupt.com.ar; Salguero 3450; 9am-8:30pm Tue & Thu, to 7pm Wed, Fri, Sat & Sun) rents bicycles for use around a plain, 1250m-long concrete bike path (bring your passport). Helmets available. Look for the overpass parking lot, then go past the pedestrian bridge.\n\nThe Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur on the eastern side of Puerto Madero along the coast, is green and tranquil and has some flat dirt roads that are great to bike on. Cheap bicycle rentals are available in good weather on weekends, just outside either entrance.\n\n###### GOLF\n\nBA's most convenient course is the 18-hole Campo Municipal de Golf ( 4772-7261; Tornquist 6397; 7:30am-5pm Tue-Sun); be sure to reserve your spot in advance. Practice your long shots at the Costa Salguero Driving Range ( 4805-4732; www.costasalguerogolf.com.ar; Avs Costanera R Obligado & Salguero), which also has a golf store, a cafe and a nine-hole, family-friendly course.\n\n### PARQUE NORTE\n\nWhen the temperatures and humidity skyrocket, head north to this large water park. Parque Norte (Click here) is great for families, with huge shallow pools (perhaps 4ft at their deepest), plus a large water slide and lots of umbrellas and lounge chairs (both cost extra). There are plenty of grassy areas in which to enjoy a picnic or _mate_. Bring your own towels.\n\n###### SWIMMING\n\nSome upscale hotels have decent-size pools, but they charge hefty prices for nonguests (so hefty you might as well stay there). The fee generally includes gym use, at least. Try the Panamericano Hotel (www.panamericano.us), whose pool has the best view in BA.\n\nA more economical option is to find a health club with an indoor pool; Megatlon (www.megatlon.com) is a popular gym with many branches. You can also try the pool at Parque General Belgrano ( 4807-7918; Salguero 3450; park AR$8, pool AR$20; 10am-7pm Sat & Sun Jan, daily Feb), in Palermo. For a more casual environment, especially with kids, head to Parque Norte.\n\n###### TENNIS\n\nA few places in BA offer courts, such as Parque General Belgrano ( 4807-7879; Salguero 3450; park entry AR$8, court hire per hr AR$50-60; 8:30am-midnight Mon-Fri, to 8pm Sat & Sun), in Palermo. Bring your own racquet from home if you're serious about getting in touch with the Nalbandian or del Potro inside you.\n\n###### HORSEBACK RIDING\n\nIf you want to get out of town for a few hours and hop on a horse, forget those touristy estancias (ranches) and check out Caballos a la Par ( 15-5248-3592, 4384-7013; www.caballos-alapar.com). Guided, private rides are given in a provincial park about an hour's drive from central Buenos Aires, and it's not just one of those 'follow-the-horse-in-front' deals. They'll take you around woodsy lanes and fields, and you'll have fun learning how to ride and even gallop on the fine horses.\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n\u00bb Bike rentals are available at Palermo's Parque 3 de Febrero (where you can also rent inline skates, quadricycles and pedal boats), Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur and via some bike-tour companies (Click here).\n\n\u00bb Speaking of bikes, Masa Critica (Critical Mass; a semi-organized bike ride for thousands) is alive and well here \u2013 and a heap of fun to partake in (Click here).\n\n\u00bb In November, Buenos Aires' Marathon (www.maratondebuenosaires.org) is the southern hemisphere's biggest, attracting nearly 27,000 runners annually.\n\n\u00bb Feel the need for yoga ? There are many places that offer it, including some with instructors that speak English. Try Buena Onda Yoga (www.buenaondayoga.com), started by expats; it offers classes in Palermo and San Telmo.\n\n\u00bb Rock climbers should head to Punto Cumbre (www.puntocumbre.com), a small climbing wall located inside a Megatlon gym. You'll be provided with belays if you need them. There's a small bouldering cave, too, along with classes and excursions.\n\n##### Sports & Activities by Neighborhood\n\n\u00bb Puerto Madero Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur is great for running, bicycling or walking. These activities are also possible along the dikes' cobbled lanes.\n\n\u00bb Palermo Provides most of central BA's green spaces, along with tennis and golf courses, running paths and bicycling lanes.\n\n# Explore Buenos Aires\n\n### The Center\n\n#### Top Sight: Plaza de Mayo\n\n### Puerto Madero\n\n#### Top Sight: Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur\n\n### Congreso & Tribunales\n\n#### Top Sight: Teatro Col\u00f3n\n\n### San Telmo\n\n#### Top Sight: Plaza Dorrego\n\n### La Boca\n\n#### Top Sight: El Caminito\n\n### Retiro\n\n#### Top Sight: Palacio Paz\n\n### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n#### Top Sight: Cementerio de la Recoleta\n\n### Palermo\n\n#### Top Sight: Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba)\n\n#### Top Sight: Parque de Febrero\n\n### South of Palermo\n\n### Day Trips\n\n### Sleeping\nNeighborhoods at a Glance\n\n The Center\n\nBuenos Aires' Center is where bustle meets hustle and endless lines of business suits move hastily along the narrow streets in the shadow of skyscrapers and old European buildings. Stretching from Retiro to San Telmo, this downtown area is the heart and brains of the city, and made up of the sub-neighborhoods of the Microcentro and Montserrat.\n\n Puerto Madero\n\nBA's youngest and least conventional barrio, Puerto Madero is home to old brick warehouses that have been converted into some of the city's trendiest lofts, offices, hotels and restaurants. Cobbled promenades make walking a pleasure for pedestrians, and there are plenty of upscale restaurants and cafes to check out.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nCongreso is an interesting neighborhood full of old-time cinemas, theaters and bustling commerce tinged with a hard-core political flavor. The buildings still hold a European aura, but there's more local feel, faded-glory atmosphere and grittiness than in the Center. It's a great place to wander around and explore.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSan Telmo is a lovely neighborhood full of cobbled streets, colonial mansions and rich history. Only a quick walk south of Plaza de Mayo, it's like stepping 100 years into the past. As a popular tourist destination it's been gentrifying fast, and some wonder if it might become the next Palermo.\n\n La Boca\n\nBlue-collar and raffish to the core, La Boca is very much a locals' neighborhood. Its colorful shanties are often portrayed as a symbol of Buenos Aires, while El Caminito is the barrio's most famous street, full of art vendors, buskers and tango dancers twirling for your spare change.\n\n Retiro\n\nWell located right between the Center and Recoleta, exclusive Retiro is one of the ritz\u00adiest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Giant mansions, art deco apartments and other landmark buildings characterize this area, along with Plaza San Mart\u00edn \u2013 a pleasant grassy park on a hill overlooking the Retiro train and bus stations.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nRecoleta is where the rich live in luxury apartments and mansions while spending their free time sipping coffee at elegant cafes and shopping in expensive boutiques. Full of lush parks, grand monuments, French architecture and wide avenues, Recoleta is also famous for its cemetery.\n\n Palermo\n\nPalermo's large, grassy parks \u2013 regally punctuated with grand monuments \u2013 are popular destinations on weekends, when families fill the shady lanes, cycle the bike paths and paddle on the peaceful lakes. The sub-neighborhood of Palermo Viejo is home to dozens of ethnic restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shops, along with the city's largest selection of boutique hotels.\n\n South of Palermo\n\nThe neighborhoods south of Palermo are part of the 'real' Buenos Aires largely unaffected by the tourist trade. Villa Crespo is up and coming, benefiting from its proximity to Palermo; Abasto and Once are cultural melting pots and busy commercial districts; and Boedo has bohemian flavor and some very traditional cafes.\n\n# The Center\n\nMICROCENTRO | MONTSERRAT\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nThe Center\n\nMICROCENTRO | MONTSERRAT\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Hanging out at Plaza de Mayo, steeped in history and surrounded by some of Buenos Aires' most important buildings, including the main cathedral, the Cabildo, the Museo del Bicentenario and \u2013 last but not least \u2013 Casa Rosada, where Argentina's president's office is located.\n\n Strolling down Calle Florida to see BA's hustle and bustle at its most intense.\n\n Shopping at Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico, a beautiful shopping mall with an amazing painted ceiling.\n\n Visiting historic Manzana de las Luces, a symbol of the city's culture and higher learning.\n\n Taking a break at Caf\u00e9 Tortoni, one of BA's most traditional \u2013 and touristy \u2013 cafes.\n\n### Explore: the Center\n\nDuring the day, the Center is a heaving mass of humanity moving hastily along narrow streets in the shadow of skyscrapers and old European buildings \u2013 but in the evening, it's practically deserted. Stretching from Retiro to San Telmo (and flanked by Congreso and Puerto Madero), this area is the heart and brain of the city. It's made up of the Microcentro and Montserrat neighborhoods.\n\nPlaza de Mayo is a good place to start. Here you'll see the Casa Rosada presidential palace, with the Museo del Bicentenario right behind it; plan ahead if you want to visit, as it's closed Monday and Tuesday. The Cathedral Metropolitana is nearby \u2013 stop by for a Pope Francis souvenir \u2013 and the Cabildo has a nice back patio that's good for a break. If you want to see the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, time your visit for Thursday afternoon (Click here).\n\nFrom here you can head south just one block, crossing over into Montserrat, and visit the Manzana de las Luces, a city block full of historic buildings. There are also a couple of small but interesting museums to visit around here. Further south a few more blocks is San Telmo (Click here).\n\nIf you're going north, walk on Calle Florida. This very busy pedestrian street is packed during the day with business men and women, street vendors, tourists, beggars, buskers and hustlers. Every few feet you'll hear _arbolitos_ (street money changers, called 'little trees' because they stand in place) chanting ' _cambio, cambio, cambio_ '. Use their services at your own risk! If you prefer more peace, Reconquista and Suipacha are also p edestrian.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Shopping Pedestrian streets Florida and Lavalle are lined with shops and services, and there's great people-watching too.\n\n\u00bb Hanging out Stop for a cup of coffee or \u2013 if it's later \u2013 a stiff drink at one of the many downtown cafes and bars, alongside locals who're taking a break.\n\n\u00bb Tango True aficionados head to historic Confiter\u00eda Ideal (Click here) for classes, shows and _milongas_ (dance events).\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take bus 29 from San Telmo; 29, 64 and 152 from La Boca; 59 from Recoleta; 29, 59, 64 and 152 from Palermo's Plaza Italia.\n\n\u00bb Subte Nearly all Subte lines radiate from the Center, going either north\u2013south from Retiro to San Telmo, or towards Palermo and other points west.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nBecause there are so many business people in the Center, many restaurants offer _menu ejecutivos_ \u2013 or lunch specials \u2013 to attract this valuable clientele. These set lunches are offered weekdays and usually consist of a main course with dessert and drink, all for a reasonable fixed price. Sometimes an appetizer is included as well. It's a good way to try out otherwise pricey restaurants.\n\nParts of downtown can be a bit sketchy at night, so tread carefully.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbTomo 1\n\n\u00bbAldo's Vinoteca\n\n\u00bbGranix\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbCaf\u00e9 Tortoni\n\n\u00bbLa Cigale\n\n\u00bbLondon City\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Museums\n\n\u00bbMuseo del Bicentenario\n\n\u00bbMuseo de la Ciudad\n\n\u00bbMuseo Etnogr\u00e1fico Juan B Ambrosetti\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nWALTER BIBIKOW \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nPLAZA DE MAYO\n\nPlaza de Mayo is the political, social and symbolic center of Buenos Aires. Surrounded by the Casa Rosada, the Cabildo and the city's main cathedral, this plaza is ground zero for the city's political rallies and protests \u2013 both peaceful and vehement. When the plaza isn't full of activists, however, it attracts camera-toting tourists enjoying the sights \u2013 along with the occasional camera thief.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb The bullet holes left on the side of the Ministerio de Econom\u00eda as a symbolic reminder of past intolerance.\n\n\u00bb The balconies where Juan and Evita Per\u00f3n preached to their loving masses.\n\n\u00bb The interior of the Banco de la Naci\u00f3n building \u2013 but only if you're an architecture fan!\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb cnr Av de Mayo & San Mart\u00edn\n\nWhen Juan de Garay refounded Buenos Aires in 1580, he laid out the large Plaza del Fuerte (Fortress Plaza) in accordance with Spanish law. Later called the Plaza del Mercado (Market Plaza), then the Plaza de la Victoria (after victories over British invaders in 1806 and 1807), the plaza acquired its present name of Plaza de Mayo after the date Buenos Aires declared independence from Spain: May 25, 1810.\n\nAt the center of the plaza is the Pir\u00e1mide de Mayo, a white obelisk built to mark the first anniversary of BA's independence from Spain. Looming on the plaza's northern side is the headquarters of Banco de la Naci\u00f3n (1939), the work of famed architect Alejandro Bustillo. Most other public buildings in this area belong to the late 19th century, when the Av de Mayo first connected the Casa Rosada with the Plaza del Congreso, obliterating most of the historic and dignified Cabildo in the process.\n\nPlaza de Mayo is famously known as being the preferred site of many civil protests; note the unsightly barricades separating the plaza in two, meant to discourage large numbers of _piqueteros_ (picketers) from congregating. But these barricades haven't prevented the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo \u2013 the mothers of the 'disappeared children' during the the Dirty War military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983 \u2013 from marching around the plaza every Thursday afternoon at 3:30pm since 1977. Originally they demanded a full account of the atrocities that occurred during this war, but in 2006 they declared a truce with N\u00e9stor Kirchner's presidency, as he was sympathetic to their requests. To this day they march on, but as a reminder of the past \u2013 and for other social-justice causes.\n\nCasa Rosada\n\nTaking up the whole eastern side of the Plaza de Mayo is the unmistakeable pink facade of the Casa Rosada MAP GOOGLE MAP (Pink House;), the presidential palace that was begun during the presidency of Domingo F Sarmiento. It occupies a site where colonial riverbank fortifications once stood; today, however, after repeated landfills, the palace stands more than 1km inland. The offices of 'La Presidenta' Cristina Kirchner are here (a small raised pennant, under Argentina's national flag, notes her presence in the building), but the presidential residence is in the calm suburb of Olivos, north of the center.\n\nThe side of the palace that faces Plaza de Mayo is actually the back of the building. It's from these balconies that Juan and Eva Per\u00f3n, General Leopoldo Galtieri, Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn and other politicians have preached to throngs of impassioned Argentines when they felt it necessary to demonstrate public support. Madonna also crooned from here for her movie _Evita_.\n\nThe salmon-pink color of the palace, which positively glows at sunset, could have come from President Sarmiento's attempt at making peace during his 1868\u201374 term (by blending the red of the Federalists with the white of the Unitarists). Another theory, however, is that the color comes from painting the palace with bovine blood, which was a common practice back in the late 19th century.\n\nOff-limits during the military dictatorship of 1976\u201383, the Casa Rosada is now reasonably accessible to the public. Free half-hour tours ( 4344-3600; 10am-6pm Sat & Sun) are given.\n\nUnderneath the Casa Rosada, excavations have unearthed remains of the Fuerte Viejo, a ruin dating from the 18th century. These are accessible via entry to the Museo del Bicentenario.\n\nIn 1955 naval aircraft strafed the Casa Rosada and other nearby buildings during the Revoluci\u00f3n Libertadora, which toppled Juan Per\u00f3n's regime. On the northern side of the appropriately bureaucratic Ministerio de Econom\u00eda, an inconspicuous plaque commemorates the attacks (look for the bullet holes to the left of the doors). The inscription translates as, 'The scars on this marble were the harvest of confrontation and intolerance. Their imprint on our memory will help the nation achieve a future of greatness'.\n\nTowering above the Casa Rosada, just south of Parque Col\u00f3n on Av Col\u00f3n, is the army headquarters at the Edificio Libertador, the real locus of Argentine political power for many decades. It was built by military engineers inspired by the beaux arts Correo Central. A twin building planned for the navy never got off the ground.\n\nMuseo del Bicentenario\n\nBehind the Casa Rosada you'll notice a glassy wedge marking this airy and sparkling \u2013 and free! \u2013 underground museum ( 4344-3802; www.museobicentenario.gob.ar; cnr Avs Paseo Col\u00f3n & Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen; 10am-6pm Wed-Sun Apr-Nov, 11am-7pm Wed-Sun Dec-Mar) housed within the brick vaults of the old _aduana_ (customs house). Head down into the open space, which has over a dozen side rooms \u2013 each dedicated to a different era of Argentina's tumultuous political history. There are mostly videos (in Spanish) and a few artifacts to see, along with temporary art exhibitions and an impressive restored mural by Mexican artist David Alfaro Siqueiros. A pleasant cafe-restaurant provides nourishment and rest.\n\nCatedral Metropolitana\n\nThis solemn cathedral ( 7:30am-6:30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7pm Sat & Sun) was built on the site of the original colonial church and not finished until 1827. It's a significant religious and architectural landmark, and carved above its triangular facade and neoclassical columns are bas-reliefs of Jacob and Joseph. The spacious interior is equally impressive, with baroque details and an elegant rococo altar.\n\nMore importantly, however, the cathedral is a national historical site that contains the tomb of General Jos\u00e9 de San Mart\u00edn, Argentina's most revered hero. In the chaos following independence, San Mart\u00edn chose exile in France, never returning alive to Argentina (although in 1829 a boat on which he traveled sighted Buenos Aires on its way to Montevideo). Outside the cathedral you'll see a flame keeping his spirit alive.\n\nTours of the church and crypt (in Spanish) were suspended at research time, but check during your tenure to see if they're being offered again. If you want a Pope Francis souvenir (he's Argentine, after all), explore the tiny gift shop inside. Occasional free choir concerts are also on the docket.\n\nCabildo\n\nThis mid-18th-century town hall building is now a museum ( 4342-6729; www.cabildonacional.com.ar; Bol\u00edvar 65; admission AR$10; 10:30am-5pm Wed-Fri, to 6pm Sat & Sun). It used to have colonnades that spanned Plaza de Mayo, but, unfortunately, the building of surrounding avenues destroyed them. Inside you'll find a few mementos of early-19th-century British invasions, some paintings in colonial and early independence style, and the occasional temporary exhibit. On Thursday and Friday a lively crafts market sets up in the patio \u2013 and the cafe here is a great place to relax. Tours in Spanish offered.\n\nThe Old Mustard Trick\n\nIt's one of the oldest tricks in the book. You're in a tourist hot spot like Plaza de Mayo, minding your own business, and suddenly someone tells you that there are 'bird droppings' (or another substance) on your clothing. While this kind stranger takes out their surprisingly handy tissues to clean you up, their friend is cleaning out your pockets or stealing your bag.\n\nMadonna sang 'Don't Cry for Me Argentina' from the Casa Rosada's balconies for her movie _Evita_. It was a controversial film as many Argentines were not happy that the actress \u2013 associated with skimpy outfits and sex \u2013 was chosen to represent their beloved heroine. Also from the Casa Rosada's balconies, a triumphant Diego Maradona hoisted the 1986 World Cup, to the delight of thousands of soccer fans below. And on December 20, 2001, President Fernando de La Rua fled the Casa Rosada's roof by helicopter as the economic crash climaxed.\n\n The Center\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\n### Microcentro\n\nPLAZA DE MAYO PLAZA\n\nSee Click here.\n\nGALER\u00cdAS PAC\u00cdFICO LANDMARK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5555-5110; cnr Avs Florida & C\u00f3rdoba; 10am-9pm) Covering an entire city block, this beautiful French-style building has fulfilled the commercial purpose that its designers envisioned when they constructed it in 1889. Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico is now a shopping center \u2013 dotted with lovely fairy lights at night \u2013 and boasts upscale stores along with a large food court (which has longer hours than the stores). The excellent Centro Cultural Borges takes up the top floor. Tours are offered at 11:30am from Monday to Friday, in English and Spanish.\n\nWhen you step inside, check out the ceiling. In 1945 the completion of a central cupola made space for a dozen paintings by muralists Antonio Berni, Juan Carlos Castagnino, Manuel Colmeiro, Lino Spilimbergo and Demetrio Urruch\u00faa. All were adherents of the _nuevo realismo_ (new realism) school, heirs of an earlier social-activist tendency in Argentine art. For many years the building went semi-abandoned, but a joint Argentine-Mexican team repaired and restored the murals in 1992.\n\nCENTRO CULTURAL BORGES CULTURAL CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5555-5359; www.ccborges.org.ar; cnr Viamonte & San Mart\u00edn) One of the best cultural centers in BA, with inexpensive but high-quality art exhibitions and galleries, cinema, music, lectures, classes and workshops. Tango lessons are also available.\n\nIGLESIA SANTA CATALINA CHURCH\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5238-6040; www.santacatalina.org.ar; Plaza San Mart\u00edn 705; L\u00ednea B Florida, L\u00ednea C Lavalle) Santa Catalina was founded in 1745, when it became Buenos Aires' first convent. In 1806 British troops invaded the city, and in July 1807 they took shelter in the convent. The soldiers holed up here for two days, and despite damaging the property did not hurt the nuns. Today Santa Catalina is a church, and a peek inside reveals beautiful gilded works and a baroque altarpiece created by Isidro Lorea, a Spanish carver.\n\nCENTRO CULTURAL DEL BICENTENARIO NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Ex-Correo Central; www.ccb.gov.ar; Sarmiento 151) It took 20 years to complete the massive Correo Central (main post office; 1928), which fills an entire city block. This beaux arts structure was originally modeled on New York City's main post office; the mansard roof was a later addition. The building is now being turned into a cultural center with concert space for the national philharmonic orchestra (and holding nearly 2000 spectators), but no one knows when it will open; check it out during your tenure and cross your fingers.\n\nMUSEO MUNDIAL DEL TANGO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4345-6967; Av de Mayo 833, 1st fl; admission AR$20; 2:30-7:30pm Mon-Fri) Located below the Academia Nacional del Tango is this tango museum \u2013 for fans of the dance only. Just a couple of large rooms are filled with tango memorabilia, from old records and photos to historic literature and posters. Tango shoes are also featured, but the highlight has to be one of Carlos Gardel's famous fedora hats.\n\nMUSEO MITRE MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4394-8240; San Mart\u00edn 336; admission AR$15; 1-5pm Mon-Fri) This museum is located in the colonial house where Bartolom\u00e9 Mitre \u2013 Argentina's first legitimate president elected under the constitution of 1853 \u2013 resided with his family. Mitre's term ran from 1862 to 1868, and he spent much of it leading the country's armies against Paraguay. Two courtyards, salons, an office, a billiards room and Mitre's old bedroom are part of this complex. Since part of the museum is open air, you may find it closed during heavy rain.\n\nMUSEO DE LA POLIC\u00cdA FEDERAL MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4394-6857; San Mart\u00edn 353, 7th fl; 2-7pm Tue-Fri) F This quirky police museum displays a whole slew of uniforms and medals, along with 'illegal activities' exhibits (cockfighting and gambling), drug paraphernalia (including a fake arm stuck with a needle!) and even a stuffed police dog. The forensic room way in the back was being remodeled at research time \u2013 it may or may not keep its grisly photos and dummies of hacked-up murder victims; something to keep in mind if you bring the kids.\n\n### POPE FRANCIS\n\nAfter Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, was named successor to Pope Benedict XVI in March 2013, he took the name Francis I. Not only was he the first pontiff to bear that moniker (adopted to honor St Francis of Assisi), he was also the first to hail from the Americas and the first to belong to the Jesuit order, which incidentally was expelled from most of South America for 47 years (1767\u20131814). It's a fair bet that he's also the first pope to have grown up drinking _mate_ , tangoing at _milongas_ and ardently supporting the San Lorenzo _f\u00fatbol_ club.\n\nFrancis has taken charge at a particularly low point in the church's modern history. It has been rocked by a seemingly endless series of sexual-abuse scandals, and subjected to investigations into charges of high-level corruption and financial malfeasance. These events and widening parishioner dissatisfaction with the Vatican's stance on homosexuality, divorce, abortion and the role of women in the church have caused congregations to shrink, a problem compounded in the Americas by the increasing popularity of various Pentecostal, evangelical and other denominations.\n\nWhile it remains to be seen what direction Francis will take on various aspects of Catholic doctrine, he has roundly criticized the structure and workings of the church at its highest levels, and vowed to make them more transparent and outward-looking, and less closed and hierarchical.\n\nFrancis appointed a special commission to delve into the workings of the Vatican bank, which has been under pressure from the Council of Europe's anti-money laundering committee to submit to independent supervision. In October 2013, the bank published an annual report for the first time in its history.\n\nIn a more headline-worthy move, Francis summoned Limburg's 'Bishop of Bling', free-spending prelate Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, to Rome to explain how he managed to spend tens of millions of euros renovating his official residence. After eight days of cooling his heels, the bishop was granted a 20-minute audience with Francis, who ended up suspending him from his duties for an 'indefinite period'.\n\nThis pope doesn't just talk the talk, he walks the walk. After arriving in Rome for his 2001 anointment as cardinal by John Paul II, Archbishop Bergoglio left the modest priests' quarters on foot the morning of his ceremony, arriving at the Vatican accompanied only by his assistant and a couple of relatives. No surprise, as he had already eschewed the archbishop's palace in Olivos, remaining in his modest apartment and getting around Buenos Aires by bus and the Subte rather than with a car and driver.\n\nHe has continued these habits as Francis I, emulating his namesake and personal hero, the saint from Assisi who once renounced all worldly possessions including his clothing. These humble aspects, coupled with the very personable humanity Francis displays, have made him an extremely popular pontiff. Many Catholics speak of feeling 'understood' by him, and his popularity extends beyond the faithful. The church has a new face, just when it needed it the most.\n\n### Montserrat\n\nMANZANA DE LAS LUCES NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Block of Enlightenment; 4342-3964; www.manazadelasluces.org; Per\u00fa 272; tours AR$15; tours 3pm Mon-Fri, 3pm, 4:30pm & 6pm Sat & Sun) In colonial times, the Manzana de las Luces was Buenos Aires' most important center of culture and learning. Even today, this collection of buildings still symbolizes high culture in the capital. On the northern side of the block are two of the five original buildings; Jesuit defensive tunnels were discovered in 1912. Tours (in Spanish) are available, and a cultural center on the premises offers classes, workshops and theater.\n\nThe first people to occupy the Manzana de las Luces were the Jesuits, who built several structures including the Procuradur\u00eda (1730; administrative headquarters), part of which still survives today. (Unfortunately for the Jesuits, they were eventually expelled from the premises \u2013 and Argentina \u2013 in 1767 by the Spanish, who felt politically threatened by them.) Along with housing offices, these buildings hosted converted indigenous people from the provinces. Later, during the 19th century, they were home to various museums, legislative offices, schools and universities.\n\nThe city's oldest church, the Iglesia San Ignacio (1734), is also located here, originally built in adobe in 1661 and rebuilt or remodelled several times since. Today there remains only a single original cloister; it shares a wall with the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (1863), a prep school where generations of the Argentine elite still send their children to receive secondary schooling. The city's oldest bookstore, La Librer\u00eda de Avila, is also nearby at Alsina and Bol\u00edvar.\n\nMUSEO DE LA CIUDAD MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-2123; Defensa 219; admission AR$1; 11am-7pm Mon-Fri, 10am-8pm Sat & Sun) This upstairs museum was closed at research time due to major restoration, but in the future you should expect both permanent and temporary exhibitions on porte\u00f1o life and history here. Downstairs is a large hall showcasing salvaged doors and ancient hardware. Nearby, at the corner of Alsina and Defensa, is the Farmacia de la Estrella (1835), a functioning homeopathic pharmacy with gorgeous woodwork and elaborate late-19th-century ceiling murals depicting health-oriented themes. Occasionally the museum opens via its Alsina 412 door.\n\nMUSEO ETNOGR\u00c1FICO JUAN B AMBROSETTI MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-7788; www.museoetnografico.filo.uba.ar; Moreno 350; admission AR$4; 1-7pm Tue-Fri, 3-7pm Sat & Sun) This small but attractive anthropological museum was created by Juan B Ambrosetti not only as an institute for research and university training but also as an educational center for the public. On display are archaeological and anthropological collections from the Andean Northwest and Patagonia. Beautiful indigenous artifacts are also featured, while an African and Asian room showcases some priceless pieces.\n\n### LUNA PARK\n\nIf unique large-scale spectacles such as the Beijing Circus, the New York Ballet, the Philadelphia Philharmonic, Julio Iglesias or Tom Jones come to town, the dressing rooms of Luna Park MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 5279-5279; www.lunapark.com.ar; cnr Bouchard & Av Corrientes) are probably their destination. Bordered by the thoroughfares of Lavalle, Bouchard, Av Corrientes and Madero, Luna Park was originally a boxing stadium built on the old grounds of the Pacific Railway. Finished in 1931, the venue gradually became a mecca for public events needing large spaces. When Carlos Gardel died in a plane crash in 1935, his wake was held here for the thousands of grieving fans. In 1944, a relatively unknown actress named Eva Duarte first met general Juan Per\u00f3n here during a benefit for victims of an earthquake in San Juan province. And on Nov\u00adember 7, 1989, Diego Maradona was married here before 11,000 fans.\n\nBut Luna Park never forgot its roots; throughout its history 25 boxing titles have been decided within its walls. Many other sports, including volleyball, basketball and tennis, are also occasionally highlighted at this stadium, and productions such as fashion shows, ice-skating spectacles and mass religious baptisms have found their way here as well. With a capacity of 15,000 (it's Argentina's largest enclosed stadium), Luna Park can easily handle these crowds, which also come to see recent big-time performers such as Liza Minnelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Norah Jones, Ricky Martin, David Byrne and Chrissie Hynde.\n\n The Center\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nYou won't find Buenos Aires' best cuisine in the Center, as most restaurants here cater to business power-lunches or quick takeout. Some eateries don't even open for dinner since the working masses beeline home after the day is done. Even bars tend to open and close relatively early here. All this doesn't mean you won't find a decent bite to eat, however, and vegetarians especially might find some good choices. Also, five-star hotels often house top-notch restaurants that are worth a visit \u2013 and are definitely open for dinner. Nearby options include Le Sud (Click here) in the Sofitel, Elena (Click here) at the Four Seasons, La Bourgogne in the Alvear Palace (Click here) and El Mercado and El Bistr\u00f3 in the Faena (Click here).\n\nGRANIX VEGETARIAN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-4020; Florida 165, 1st fl; all-you-can-eat AR$85; 11am-3:30pm Mon-Fri; ) Stepping into this large, modern lacto-ovo-vegetarian eatery will make you wonder if _porte\u00f1os_ have had enough steak already. Pick from the many hot appetizers and mains; there's also a great salad bar and plenty of desserts. It's only open for weekday lunches, and located in a shopping mall (look for the stairs on the right). Takeout is available.\n\nVITA HEALTH FOOD $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-0788; www.vitamarket.com.ar; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 583; mains AR$34-36; 8am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-8pm Sat, noon-7pm Sun; ) Here's a hippie-ish, casual and health-oriented eatery offering tasty vegetarian dishes like organic soy _milanesas_ , zucchini and eggplant lasagne and tofu in mustard sauce with mashed potatoes. Various freshly mixed juices and _licuados_ are available (with the option of adding a wheatgrass shot) and there are plenty of gourmet salads. Organic coffee is also served.\n\nA few shelves are lined with health-\u00adoriented products for sale.\n\nCALIFORNIA BURRITO COMPANY (CBC) MEXICAN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4328-3057; www.cbcburrito.com; Lavalle 441; mains AR$60-100; 11am-3pm Mon-Fri) This convenient burrito joint is popular with the business crowd at lunchtime and is passable if you don't expect authentic Mexican. Flour tortillas are loaded up with your choice of meat, rice, beans and salsa, and rolled into large burritos that will sustain you well into the evening. Tacos, fajitas and margaritas available.\n\nBranches in Palermo and Recoleta (see the website for addresses).\n\nALDO'S VINOTECA ARGENTINE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4334-2380; Moreno 372; mains AR$70-100; 11am-midnight Sun-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat) Located under the Moreno Hotel, this restaurant\u2013wine shop is an upscale eatery serving a small but tasty menu of meat, seafood and pasta dishes, all amidst walls lined with wine. What makes this place unique, however, is that the wine is sold at _retail_ prices \u2013 thus making it easier to sample (and buy) the nearly 500 labels available.\n\nFURAI-BO JAPANESE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4334-3440; Adolfo Alsina 429; mains AR$80-120; noon-11pm Sun-Thu, to midnight Fri & Sat) Walk up the staircase of this old building into a calm space meant to resemble a Buddhist temple; on weekend evenings, live instrumentalists set the mood with ambient ceremonial music. The house specialty is homemade ramen noodles with pork. The menu also includes excellent sushi and _katsu_ (a type of cutlet), plus unusual sweet treats like ginger ice cream.\n\nD'ORO ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-6959; Per\u00fa 159; mains AR$90-150; noon-7pm Mon-Thu, to midnight Fri) Despite its downtown location, D'Oro is a serious Italian wine bar and restaurant to rival others in more gastronomically famous neighborhoods. Come for thin, crispy oven-baked pizzas, mushroom risotto, fettucine with shellfish, garlic-topped focaccia and capellini tossed with fresh basil and tomatoes. To go with it all, there's also a short but well-chosen selection of wines by the glass.\n\nBROCCOLINO ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-7754; www.broccolino.com; Esmeralda 776; mains AR$50-120; noon-11:30pm) Pick from over 20 sauces (including squid ink!) for your pasta, with a choice of rigatoni, fusilli, pappardelle and all sorts of stuffed varieties. If you can't decide on your topper, try the delicious Sicilian sauce (spicy red peppers, tomato and garlic) or the pesto with mushrooms and garlic. Portions are large and the bread homemade.\n\n TOMO 1 MODERN ARGENTINE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4326-6695; Carlos Pellegrini 521; mains AR$190-320; noon-3pm & 5:30pm-midnight Mon-Fri, 5:30pm-midnight Sat) At renowned Tomo 1, European-influenced Chef Federico Fialayre promotes a blend of Italian and Spanish cooking methods in dishes featuring seasonal produce, homemade pasta and fresh fish. For a splash-out, sample his famed cuisine with a three-course _prix fixe_ menu (AR$370 lunch, AR$430 dinner); it comes with amuse-bouches, two glasses of wine, mineral water, coffee and petits fours.\n\n### 8 KEEPING YOUR PE\u00d1AS & MAYOS STRAIGHT\n\nSome first-time (or maybe second-time) visitors may get confused with certain similar-sounding street and attraction names. Keep them straight:\n\n25 de Mayo Street that goes north\u2013south from Retiro to Plaza de Mayo (Mayo is Spanish for the month of May).\n\nAv de Mayo Large avenue that goes east\u2013west from Plaza del Congreso to Plaza de Mayo.\n\nPlaza de Mayo BA's most important plaza.\n\nDiagonal Roque S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a Diagonal street that stretches from Plaza de Mayo to the Obelisco.\n\nLuis S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a Street that goes from Plaza del Congreso through Constituci\u00f3n.\n\nRodriguez Pe\u00f1a Street that goes from Recoleta to Plaza del Congreso.\n\n The Center\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nMany watering holes in the Center are Irish-pub knock-offs that cater to the business crowd on weekdays. Because of this, some might close a bit earlier than in other neighborhoods, but the most popular ones stay packed all night long. The Center also has some of the oldest cafes in town, delightfully atmospheric venues that offer a welcome break while you're wandering around.\n\nCAF\u00c9 TORTONI CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-4328; www.cafetortoni.com.ar; Av de Mayo 829; 8am-2am Mon-Fri, 9am-2am Sat & Sun) BA's oldest and most famous cafe, the classic Tortoni has become so popular with foreigners that it's turned into a tourist trap. Still, it's practically an obligatory stop for any visitor to town: order a couple of _churros_ (fried pastry dough) with your hot chocolate and forget about the inflated prices. There are also tango shows nightly (AR$150) \u2013 reserve ahead.\n\nLA CIGALE BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4893-2332; 25 de Mayo 597; noon-4pm & 6pm-close) This upstairs bar-restaurant is very popular with both office workers (during the day) and music-industry folks (later in the evening). There's either live music or DJs most nights, but it's best known for its 'French Tuesday', when electronica and exotic cocktails draw heavy crowds. Fusion foods are served for both lunch and dinner.\n\nLONDON CITY CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-0328; Av de Mayo 599) This classy and historic cafe (being remodelled at research time) has been serving java enthusiasts for over 50 years, and claims to have been the spot where Julio Cort\u00e1zar wrote his first novel. Your hardest work here, however, will most likely be choosing which pastry to try with your fresh cup of coffee.\n\nNEW BRIGHTON BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-1515; Sarmiento 645; 8am-close Mon-Sat) This beautifully restored landmark and historic gem feels like the well-kept secret of refined local gentlemen who gather here after work. A doorman welcomes guests in while bartenders stir and shake drinks behind a polished-wood bar; during mealtimes, a pianist entertains on the baby grand. Order a classic cocktail and enjoy the tray of elegant finger food that comes with it.\n\nLA PUERTO RICO CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-2215; www.lapuertoricocafe.com.ar; Adolfo Alsina 416; 7am-8pm Mon-Fri, 8am-7pm Sat, noon-7pm Sun) One of the city's most historic cafes, La Puerto Rico has been going strong since 1887 but remains miraculously un-touristy. Located a block south of Plaza de Mayo, the place serves great coffee and pastries, the latter baked on the premises. Old photos on the walls hint at a rich past and the Spanish movies that have been filmed here.\n\nALSINA CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-3231; www.palacioalsina.net; Adolfo Alsina 940; Sun, plus 1 Fri per month) One of BA's biggest gay parties is Alsina's Fiesta Dorothy, on just one Friday a month. Expect the city's majority population of cute gay guys in attendance as DJs crank up the house \u2013 a beautiful building with three floors of open balconies, chandeliers and thick drapes \u2013 with dance, hip-hop and techno riffs. Sunday's Club One is more hetero-friendly.\n\nBAHREIN CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 6225-2731; www.bahreinba.com; Lavalle 345; Wed, Fri & Sat) Attracting a good share of BA's tattooed youth, Bahrein is a hugely popular downtown club housed in an old bank (check out the 'vault' in the basement). On the ground floor is the lounge-like Funky Room where resident DJs spin house music and electronica. Downstairs is the happening Xss discotheque, an impressive sound system and a dance floor for hundreds.\n\nCOCOLICHE CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-9485; Av Rivadavia 878; Fri & Sat) An effortlessly cool DJ club in BA is this electronic-music paradise, based in a slightly run-down old mansion. It's the downstairs basement, gritty and nearly always packed, that holds the main stage, a fantastic sound system and a state-of-the-art light show. Breakbeat, drum and bass, reggaeton and electronic _cumbia_ (Colombian music) entertain; when you need a break, head to the 2nd-floor chill-out room.\n\n#### Neighborhood Walk \n **Through the Heart of BA**\n\n**Start** Plaza San Mart\u00edn\n\n**End** Plaza de Mayo\n\n**Length** 3km; three hours\n\nStart at the leafy Plaza San Mart\u00edn, the green heart of Retiro and a haven for loungers on a sunny day. At the bottom of the hill there's a monument to the fallen from the Falklands War.\n\nNow cross Av Santa Fe to the striking Palacio Paz (Click here). Time it right so you can catch a tour and take in the grandeur of a long-ago era. On the same block is the Museo de Armas (Click here), an astounding collection of guns, swords and cannon.\n\nFind your way to pedestrian Calle Florida and walk south to the elegant Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico (Click here) shopping mall, one of the capital's most beautiful. Even if you don't like to shop, you should take a peek inside at the gorgeously painted ceiling murals.\n\nNow head west a few blocks on pedestrian Lavalle and cross Av 9 de Julio, considered by many the world's widest street. Your destination is the impressive Teatro Col\u00f3n (Click here), BA's opera house and a major source of pride for _porte\u00f1os_.\n\nThe Obelisco is the city's premier landmark. Not only is it used as ground zero for measuring distances from the city center, it's the place to honk your car's horn when your soccer team wins a major victory.\n\nBack in the day Av Corrientes was BA's main theater district, and some of the city's largest theaters are still found here. It's also known for its many bookstores.\n\nHit Florida again and make your way south to Diagonal Roque S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a. You'll end up at historic Plaza de Mayo (Click here), where you'll want to linger and take in the historic atmosphere. Behind the Cabildo is a cafe where you can sit and relax after your long walk.\n\n The Center\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nCAF\u00c9 TORTONI TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-4328; www.cafetortoni.com.ar; Av de Mayo 829; show AR$150-200) Nightly tango shows (reserve ahead) take place at this historic yet very touristy place, and they're fine if you don't expect too much. The overpriced food isn't included. If you come earlier for the cafe, you may have to line up outside beforehand. Despite these downfalls, the Tortoni is BA's most famous cafe and still offers a beautiful atmosphere.\n\nGet your ticket the day of or one day beforehand at the cafe between 11am and 5pm (cash only).\n\nCONFITER\u00cdA IDEAL TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4328-7750; www.confiteriaideal.com; Suipacha 384, 1st fl) This institution (since 1912) is the mother of all historic tango halls, with classes and _milongas_ offered daily. Live orchestras occasionally accompany dancers, and there are dinner-tango shows on Friday and Saturday. The actual cafe section could use a facelift, as it's a bit dim, stodgy and impersonal, but it remains a classic. Featured in the film _The Tango Lesson_.\n\nEL QUERAND\u00cd TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5199-1770; www.querandi.com.ar; Per\u00fa 322; show from US$60, dinner & show from US$130) This large corner venue is also an elegant restaurant boasting an upscale atmosphere. This show follows tango's evolution from its bordello origins to cabaret influences to _milongas_ and modernism. There's more low-key dancing than at other shows \u2013 and also more singing and musical interludes \u2013 so don't expect overly athletic moves. One minus: columns can block some views.\n\nTEATRO OPERA THEATER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4326-1335; www.operaciti-teatro.com.ar; Av Corrientes 860) This classic theater, which boasts an art-deco exterior, offers nearly 2000 seats and has performances that range from piano recitals to rock concerts to tango and ballet. It served many years as a cinema, later becoming a live-theater venue.\n\nTEATRO GRAN REX THEATER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-8000; www.teatro-granrex.com.ar; Av Corrientes 857) A huge theater seating 3300, this place hosts myriad national and international musical productions, from Cyndi Lauper to Kenny G to Bj\u00f6rk.\n\n### TAKING IT TO THE STREETS\n\nJust like the tango and _dulce de leche,_ street protests are a well-known pastime for _porte\u00f1os_. Whether the city is booming or in the midst of a depression, unless there's martial law, someone is out on the street demonstrating against something. Plaza de Mayo has long been the focal point of protests.\n\nThe best-known voices of dissent are the famed Madres de la Plaza de Mayo (the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo). On April 30, 1977, 14 mothers whose children had disappeared in the Dirty War marched on the Plaza de Mayo. They demanded to know what had happened to their missing children. The military government dismissed them, claiming that their children had simply moved abroad, but the women continued to march in their iconic white handkerchiefs every Thursday. They played an essential historical role as the first group to openly oppose the military junta and they opened the doors for later protests. In 1986 the Madres split into two groups. Asociaci\u00f3n Madres de Plaza de Mayo announced that the group would stop participating in _la marcha de la resistencia_ around Plaza de Mayo. The other group, Madres de Plaza de Mayo L\u00ednea Fundadora, still marches every Thursday.\n\nEven in 1996, when the economy was good and the country was under civilian control, a number of protests broke out against corruption and the reform of pensions. Senior citizens hurled eggs at government buildings and were chased by trucks mounted with water cannon. The protests after the economic collapse in 2001 were particularly large and vociferous. Thousands of people \u2013 in the poorer areas as well as middle-class neighborhoods \u2013 spontaneously gathered in public parks in Buenos Aires. To the shouts of ' _\u00a1Que se vayan todos\u00a1_ ' (get rid of them all), they banged pots and pans \u2013 an act known as a _cacerolazo_. Both the economic minister and the president eventually stepped down, and some of the politicians who hadn't fled the country were beaten in the streets.\n\nThere are still occasional grievances on Plaza de Mayo, whether it's a protest against the price of beef and tomatoes, or against the closure of a hospital. You can always count on protests being loud, but these days they're usually peaceful.\n\n The Center\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nThe main shopping street in the Center is Florida. Most travelers to Buenos Aires take the obligatory stroll down this heaving pedestrian street, lined with shops and vendors selling clothes, shoes, jewelry, housewares and cheesy souvenirs. Touts zero in on tourists, offering currency exchange and leather jackets. We'll tell you now: you won't find the cheapest prices on leather jackets here (try Calle Murillo or Calle Aguirre instead) and you should definitely avoid changing money on the streets \u2013 fake bills and other scams are an occasional problem here.\n\nEL ATENEO BOOKS, MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4325-6801; Florida 340 & 629; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sat) Buenos Aires' landmark bookseller stocks a few books in English (including some Lonely Planet guidebooks) and also has a decent selection of CDs. There are several branches within the city, including the gorgeous Grand Splendid (Av Santa Fe 1860; 9am-10pm Mon-Thu, to midnight Fri & Sat, noon-10pm Sun), a renovated cinema where Carlos Gardel got his career started; soak up the glamour at the cafe, located on the old stage.\n\nARTE Y ESPERANZA CRAFTS & TEXTILES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-1455; www.arteyesperanza.com.ar; Balcarce 234; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri) This store sells fair-trade, handmade products that include many from Argentina's indigenous craftspeople. Shop for silver jewelry, pottery, textiles, _mate_ gourds, baskets, woven bags and animal masks. Also in Retiro (Suipacha 892).\n\nEL COLECCIONISTA MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-0359; www.elcoleccionistacd.com.ar; Esmeralda 562; noon-7:30pm Mon-Fri) This music store has an eclectic selection of jazz, blues, salsa, Celtic and symphonic rock CDs. It will buy used musical instruments, so trade in that guitar or drum you're tired of lugging around for a cool _bandone_ \u00f3 _n_ (the accordion-esque instrument you'll hear in every tango band). Staff members are knowledgeable.\n\nThe Center\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Plaza de Mayo D5\n\n Sights\n\n2Cabildo C5\n\n3Casa Rosada E5\n\n4Catedral Metropolitana D5\n\n5Centro Cultural Borges C1\n\n6Centro Cultural del Bicentenario E3\n\n7Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico C1\n\n8Iglesia Santa Catalina C1\n\n9Manzana de las Luces C6\n\n10Museo de la Ciudad D6\n\n11Museo de la Polic\u00eda Federal C3\n\n12Museo del Bicentenario E5\n\n13Museo Etnogr\u00e1fico Juan B Ambrosetti D6\n\n14Museo Mitre C3\n\n15Museo Mundial del Tango B5\n\n Eating\n\n16Aldo's Vinoteca D6\n\n17Broccolino B1\n\n18California Burrito Company (CBC) D2\n\n19D'Oro C5\n\n20Furai-Bo D6\n\n21Granix C4\n\n22La Panader\u00eda de Pablo D6\n\n23Tomo 1 A2\n\nVita (see 43)\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n24Alsina A6\n\n25Bahrein D2\n\nCaf\u00e9 Tortoni (see 32)\n\n26Cocoliche B5\n\n27La Cigale D2\n\n28La Puerto Rico D6\n\n29London City C5\n\n30New Brighton C3\n\n Entertainment\n\n31Asociaci\u00f3n Argentina de Polo C5\n\n32Caf\u00e9 Tortoni B5\n\n33Confiter\u00eda Ideal B3\n\n34El Querand\u00ed C6\n\n35Instituto Goethe D3\n\n36La Marshall B3\n\n37Luna Park E2\n\n38Teatro Gran Rex B3\n\n39Teatro Opera B3\n\n Shopping\n\n40Arte y Esperanza E6\n\n41El Ateneo C3\n\n42El Coleccionista B2\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n43Academia Buenos Aires C5\n\n44Alianza Francesa A1\n\nEscuela Argentina de Tango (see 5)\n\n45Expanish C4\n\n46Instituto Cultural Argentino-Norteamericano B2\n\n Sleeping\n\n47Claridge Hotel C2\n\n48Gran Hotel Hispano B5\n\n49Hotel Avenida C5\n\n50Hotel Fac\u00f3n Grande D2\n\n51Hotel Lafayette D2\n\n52Hotel Maip\u00fa B1\n\n53Portal del Sur B5\n\n54V & S Hostel Club B2\n\n# Puerto Madero\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Map\nPuerto Madero\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\nNeighborhood Top Five\n\n Escaping the city's hustle and bustle with a walk or bike ride through the unique Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur, wild wetlands where you can spot birds or perhaps a nutria or iguana.\n\n Strolling down the scenic and vehicle-free cobbled lanes next to Puerto Madero's dikes.\n\n Visiting the Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, the contemporary museum showing the collection of Argentina's richest woman.\n\n Eating lunch or dinner at an upscale restaurant with a water view \u2013 it'll be pricey but good.\n\n Seeing what's being exhibited at the slick new Faena Arts Center.\n\n### Explore: Puerto Madero\n\nPut on your most comfortable walking shoes, because you'll be on your feet all day here. You can start walking pretty much anywhere and make a big loop around the dikes, though if you start at the tourist office (under an old cargo crane at Dique 4), you can pick up some practical information and a map.\n\nThere are a few interesting museums around the dikes, including the Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat (also called Museo Fortabat). This shiny, glassy museum is in a cutting-edge building and art lovers shouldn't miss it. Another quirky place is the Museo Fragata Sarmiento. Walk the plank, pay your ticket and explore all the fascinating holds of this naval vessel. The Corbeta Uruguay, a couple blocks away, is another similar 'ship' museum. In between these two is the Puente de la Mujer \u2013 a pedestrian bridge that you'll be tempted to cross.\n\nWhen you get towards the south, cut east on R Vera Pe\u00f1aloza and look for the elegant fountain called La Fuente de las Nereidas. Just beyond is the southern entrance to the marshy Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur, which offers the only real nature walk (or bike ride) in central BA. It's a peaceful place full of reedy lagoons, wildlife and dirt paths, and you can get a close-up look at the muddy waters of the R\u00edo de la Plata. The reserve is a sharp contrast to the upscale lofts, restaurants and hotels nearby, and thankfully it's available to everyone for no cost at all \u2013 just be sure you're not there on a Monday, when it's closed.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Food stands The road lining the Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur is dotted with several barbecue stands selling cheap _chorip\u00e1n_ (spicy sausage sandwiches) or _bondiolas_ (pork sandwiches). You'll be mingling with the locals at sidewalk tables, and the view of the reserve is pleasant enough.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Buses 64, 126 and 152 run along LN Alem\/Paseo Col\u00f3n, which gets you within three blocks of Puerto Madero.\n\n\u00bb Subte The closest Subte stops are LN Alem (L\u00ednea B) and the end lines of L\u00edneas A, D and E, which terminate at Plaza de Mayo.\n\n\u00bb Tram BA's short light-rail system parallels Puerto Madero's docks, and may someday extend to La Boca.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nIf you want to explore every corner of the Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur, it's much easier on a bike. On weekends in good weather there are rentals outside the north and south entrances, but if you want to make sure you get a bike you might want to rent one beforehand at one of several bike tour companies in BA (or via the city's free bike share program, Click here).\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbi Central Market\n\n\u00bbLa Rosa N\u00e1utica\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Museums\n\n\u00bbColecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat\n\n\u00bbFragata Sarmiento\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nJON ARNOLD IMAGES LTD \/ ALAMY \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nRESERVA ECOL\u00d3GICA COSTANERA SUR\n\nThe beautiful marshy land of this nature preserve makes it a popular site for sunny weekend outings, when hundreds of picnickers, cyclists and families come for fresh air and natural views. If you're lucky, you may spot a river turtle, iguana or nutria (semi-aquatic rodent); bird-watchers will adore the 250-plus bird species that pause to rest here.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb Walking the trails.\n\n\u00bb Birdwatching and bike riding.\n\n\u00bb Views of the R\u00edo de la Plata.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb 4893-1588\n\n\u00bb Av Rodr\u00edguez 1550\n\n\u00bb 8am-7pm Tue-Sun Nov-Mar, to 6pm Apr-Oct\n\nDuring the military Proceso of 1976\u201383, access to the Buenos Aires waterfront was limited, as the area was diked and filled with sediments dredged from the R\u00edo de la Plata. While plans for a new satellite city across from the port stalled, trees, grasses, birds and rodents took advantage and colonized this low-lying, 350-hectare area that mimics the ecology of the Delta del Paran\u00e1.\n\nIn 1986 the area was declared an ecological reserve. Mysterious arson fires, thought to have been started by those with financial interests in the prime real estate, have occasionally been set. But permanent scars haven't remained \u2013 this beautifully lush marshy land survives hardily, and the reserve has become a popular site for outings and walks. Bring binoculars if you're a birder \u2013 ducks, swans, woodpeckers, parakeets, hawks, flycatchers and cardinals are just a few kinds of the feathered critters that can be spotted. Further in at the eastern shoreline of the reserve you can get a close-up view of the R\u00edo de la Plata's muddy waters \u2013 a rare sight in Buenos Aires.\n\nTours are available on weekends; monthly Friday night full-moon tours are also available (call for schedules). On warm weekends and holidays you can rent bikes just outside either the northern or southern entrances.\n\n Puerto Madero\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment\n\n Sights\n\nRESERVA ECOL\u00d3GICA COSTANERA SUR NATURE RESERVE\n\nSee Click here.\n\nCOLECCI\u00d3N DE ARTE AMALIA LACROZE DE FORTABAT MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Museo Fortabat; 4310-6600; www.coleccionfortabat.org.ar; Olga Cossettini 141; admission AR$35; noon-8pm Tue-Sun) Rivaling Palermo's Malba for cutting-edge looks is this stunning art museum, prominently located at the northern end of Puerto Madero. It shows off the collection of billionairess, philanthropist and socialite Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat, Argentina's wealth\u00adiest woman. There are galleries devoted to Antonio Berni and Ra\u00fal Soldi (both famous Argentine painters) and works by international stars like Dal\u00ed, Klimt, Rodin and Chagall; look for Warhol's colorful take on Fortabat herself in the family portrait gallery.\n\nThe building was designed by renowned Uruguayan architect Rafael Vi\u00f1oly, and is a creation of steel, glass and concrete \u2013 the last a most appropriate material considering its patroness (Fortabat is the major stockholder of Argentina's largest cement company). Finished in 2008, it encompasses over 6000 sq meters, with several airy floors showcasing works by famous Argentine and international artists. The most interesting thing about the museum itself, however, might be the movable aluminum panels above the glassy ceiling. They tilt open and shut, keeping sun off the delicate artworks. Lacroze requested this feature so that she could see her collection and the stars at the same time.\n\nSpanish tours are given Tuesday to Sunday at 3pm and 5pm; call ahead for group tours in English.\n\nFAENA ARTS CENTER ARTS CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4010-9233; www.faenaartscenter.org; Aime Paine 1169; admission AR$40, Mon free; varies depending on exhibition) This very large, airy art space \u2013 in a beautifully renovated flour mill \u2013 highlights the contemporary dreams of local and international artists and designers. You should expect the most cutting-edge exhibits that utilize these spaces to the maximum \u2013 think rope nets hanging from the ceiling or light pyramids reaching for the sky. Check the website for upcoming shows.\n\nPUENTE DE LA MUJER BRIDGE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Dique 3) The striking Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman) is the barrio's signature monument. Unveiled in 2001, this gleaming, white structure spans Dique 3 and resembles a sharp fishhook or even a harp \u2013 but is supposed to represent a couple dancing the tango. Designed by acclaimed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and mostly built in Spain, this 160m-long pedestrian bridge cost AR$6 million and rotates 90 degrees to allow water traffic to pass.\n\nFRAGATA SARMIENTO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4334-9386; Dique 3; admission AR$2; 10am-7pm) Over 23,000 Argentine naval cadets and officers have trained aboard this 85m sailing vessel, which traveled around the world 37 times between 1899 and 1938. On board are detailed records of its lengthy voyages, plenty of nautical items including old uniforms, and even the stuffed remains of Lampazo (the ship's pet dog). Peek into the ship's holds, galley and engine room and note the hooks where sleeping hammocks were strung up.\n\nBuilt in Birkenhead, England, in 1897 at a cost of \u00a3125,000, this impeccably maintained ship never participated in combat. US president Theodore Roosevelt (look for his photo) was a distinguished guest on board, but perhaps the greatest test of the ship's seaworthiness was the visit of Roosevelt's successor, William Howard Taft, who weighed more than 140kg.\n\nCORBETA URUGUAY MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4314-1090; Dique 4; admission AR$2; 10am-7pm) This 46-meter-long military ship did surveys along Argentina's coast and supplied bases in Antarctica until it was decommissioned in 1926, after 52 years of service. Displayed below the main deck are interesting relics from Antarctica expeditions, such as crampons and snowshoes, along with historical photos and nautical items. Check out the tiny kitchen, complete with _mate_ supplies (of course).\n\n### A FAILED PORT\n\nBuenos Aires' waterfront was an object of controversy in the mid-19th century, when competing commercial interests began to fight over the location of a modernized port for Argentina's burgeoning international commerce. Two ideas came to light. One was to widen and deepen the channel of the Riachuelo to port facilities at La Boca, which indeed happened as planned. The other was proposed by Eduardo Madero, a wealthy exporter with strong political ties and solid financial backing. Madero proposed transforming the city's mudflats into a series of modern basins and harbors consistent with the aspirations and ambitions of a cosmopolitan elite. This also occurred, but not quite as he had planned.\n\nBy the time of its completion in 1898 (four years after Madero's death), Puerto Madero had exceeded its budget and Madero himself had come under scrutiny. Suspicions arose from Madero's attempts to buy up all the landfill in the area and from his links to politicians who had acquired nearby lands likely to increase in value. And the practical side of the scheme didn't go so well either. By 1910 the amount of cargo was already too great for the new port, and poor access to the rail terminus at Plaza Once made things even worse. New facilities in a rejuvenated La Boca partly assuaged these problems, but congressional actions failed to solve the major issues \u2013 until the 1926 completion of Retiro's Puerto Nuevo.\n\n Puerto Madero\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment\n\n Eating\n\nNearly all of Puerto Madero's restaurants are upscale and expensive, and many sport covered outdoor terraces with views of the nearby _diques_ (dikes). You won't get the best bang for your buck in this elegant strip and the cuisine is more traditional than inspired, but it's the location that counts. Caba\u00f1a Las Lilas is the most famous _parrilla_ restaurant here, but many consider it a tourist trap \u2013 a bit overrated and way overpriced. We don't review it here, but if you have money to burn, by all means try it.\n\nI CENTRAL MARKET MODERN ARGENTINE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5775-0330; Macacha G\u00fcemes 302; mains AR$80-135; 8am-midnight) In the morning, this pleasant airy restaurant has a coffee counter for espresso and scones; in the afternoon there are paninis, a gourmet deli and a kitchenwares shop to poke around; and by night, the fancy dining room serves contemporary Argentinian dishes. Great waterfront seating for people-watching. Also in Dique 3 at Villaflor 300 ( 5775-0330; www.icentralmarket.com.ar; Villaflor 300; 8am-midnight).\n\nLA PAROLACCIA TRATTORIA ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-1679; www.laparolaccia.com; Av Alicia Moreau de Justo 1052; mains AR$80-140; noon-midnight Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) This popular Italian eatery specializes in delicious homemade pastas. Reserve one of the few tables with a water view, then enjoy sweet potato gnocchi, gorgonzola ravioli or _cappelletti_ (a small stuffed pasta) in four cheeses. If you're here at midday, the lunch menu is a great deal (available Monday to Saturday). A nearby branch, La Parolaccia del Mare MAP GOOGLE MAP (Av Alicia Moreau de Justo 1170), specializes in seafood.\n\nLA ROSA N\u00c1UTICA PERUVIAN $$$\n\nMAP\n\n( 4311-5560; Av Alicia Moreau de Justo 246; mains AR$80-160; noon-1am) This branch of the Lima (Peru) restaurant is worth a shot if you like seafood and fusion foods. Start with the house specialty \u2013 the marinated octopus _carpaccio_ (in looks only \u2013 it's not raw) with Parmesan and olive oil. Then move on to the _seviche_ , grilled fish or perhaps a Japanese sushi roll. It's not cheap, but it'll be tasty.\n\n Puerto Madero\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment\n\n Entertainment\n\nROJO TANGO TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4952-4111; www.rojotango.com; Faena Hotel & Universe, Martha Salotti 445; show AR$210, dinner & show AR$290) This sexy performance is the tango show to top all others \u2013 especially with its hefty price tag. Offering only 100 seats, the Faena's cabaret room is swathed in blood-red curtains and gilded furniture. The show itself loosely follows the history of tango, starting from its cabaret roots to the modern fusions of \u00c1stor Piazzolla. The orchestra is first-rate, there are plenty of sexy period costumes and even a brief (shock!) nude scene. This is tango foreplay at its best.\n\nPuerto Madero\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur D4\n\n Sights\n\n2Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat A1\n\n3Corbeta Uruguay A2\n\n4Faena Arts Center B3\n\n5Fragata Sarmiento A3\n\n6Puente de la Mujer A3\n\n Eating\n\n7i Central Market A2\n\n8i Fresh Market B3\n\n9La Parolaccia del Mare A4\n\n10La Parolaccia Trattoria A3\n\n11La Rosa N\u00e1utica A1\n\n Entertainment\n\nRojo Tango (see 12)\n\n Sleeping\n\n12Faena Hotel + Universe B4\n\n# Congreso & Tribunales\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nCongreso & Tribunales\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Touring the backstage corners of the gorgeous Teatro Col\u00f3n, or perhaps taking in a play or concert there later in the evening.\n\n Strolling down Av de Mayo to the stately buildings around Plaza del Congreso.\n\n Getting the history of the unique and stunning, Dante-inspired building that is Palacio Barolo.\n\n Standing at the base of Buenos Aires' iconic symbol, the Obelisco.\n\n Visiting the toilets and bidets at the bizarre little museum in Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes.\n\n### Explore: Congreso & Tribunales\n\nPlaza del Congreso is at the heart of this neighborhood and an easy walk from Plaza de Mayo (in the Center) along the important thoroughfare Av de Mayo. This avenue connects the city's two most significant political centers and is itself lined with beautiful buildings, so be sure to take a stroll along it.\n\nTo do this, however, you'll have to experience crossing Av 9 de Julio (Click here), which is 'the widest street in the world!' as proud _porte\u00f1os_ love to boast. This may be true, as it's 16 lanes at its widest; nearby side streets Cerrito and Pellegrini make it look even broader. Fortunately, traffic islands provide raised breaks for the thousands of pedestrians who cross this monstrosity every day, but it's still an intimidating barrier (and can't be done in one green light without breaking into a run \u2013 trust us).\n\nOnce you've explored the Plaza de Congreso area, head up to Av Corrientes and have a look around \u2013 it's the city's traditional old theater district, but there's still plenty of action going around. Further north is Plaza Lavalle, home to its own important cluster of buildings, including one of the principal gems of the city, Teatro Col\u00f3n. Just a couple blocks from here is the Obelisco, Buenos Aires' key landmark, with a small plaza near the base.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Hangouts Break for afternoon teatime at the classic institutions of Caf\u00e9 de los Angelitos (Click here) or El Gato Negro (Click here).\n\n\u00bb Culture Av Corrientes is lined with theaters and cultural centers where locals catch inexpensive art exhibitions and plays.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take bus 29 from Palermo or San Telmo, bus 64 from the Microcentro.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00edneas A and B from the Microcentro.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nCheck the big theaters like Teatro San Mart\u00edn or Teatro Col\u00f3n for inexpensive or even free events that are occasionally put on. Cultural centers like Centro Cultural San Mart\u00edn are also good sources of free or affordable entertainment.\n\nCongreso is busy during the day, but certain smaller streets feel desolate at night when all the stores close and businesspeople go home. Take a taxi if you feel uncomfortable.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbAramburu\n\n\u00bbChan Chan\n\n\u00bbParrilla Pe\u00f1a\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbCaf\u00e9 de los Angelitos\n\n\u00bbEl Gato Negro\n\n\u00bbCruzat Beer House\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Entertainment\n\n\u00bbTeatro Col\u00f3n\n\n\u00bbTango Porte\u00f1o\n\n\u00bb\u00c1vila Bar\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nJOAO CANZIANI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nTEATRO COL\u00d3N\n\nSinking into a red velvet seat for a performance at Teatro Col\u00f3n is a magical experience. This is one of the world's greatest opera houses: Mikhail Baryshnikov once called it 'the most beautiful of the theaters I know'. And you can experience it yourself, by attending a concert here or taking a behind-the-scenes tour.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb For theater aficionados, the backstage tour is a must.\n\n\u00bb The occasional free concerts \u2013 check the website and click on 'Int\u00e9rpretes Argentinos'.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb 4378-7127\n\n\u00bb www.teatrocolon.org.ar\n\n\u00bb Tucum\u00e1n 1171\n\n\u00bb tours residents\/non-residents AR$30\/110\n\n\u00bb tours 9am-5pm\n\nThe gorgeous and impressive seven-story building is one of Buenos Aires' biggest landmarks (and sources of pride). It's the city's main performing-arts venue and the only facility of its kind in the country, a world-class forum for opera, ballet and classical music. The theater's opening night was a presentation of Verdi's _A\u00efda_ , and visitors have been wowed ever since. After all, the acoustics are considered among the top five of the world's concert venues.\n\nOccupying an entire city block, the Teatro Col\u00f3n can seat 2500 spectators and provide standing room for another 500. Started in 1880 and finished in 1908, it was the southern hemisphere's largest theater until the Sydney Opera House was built in 1973. Even at times of economic hardship, the elaborate Col\u00f3n remains a high national priority. Italian Francesco Tamburini was the main architect, but after his death in 1891 his partner Vittorio Meano \u2013 who designed the Palacio del Congreso \u2013 was put in charge. After Meano was murdered (possibly due to a love triangle!), Belgian Jules Dormal took over and added some French elements to the theater. Over the years, the Col\u00f3n has hosted some very prominent figures, such as Enrico Caruso, Pl\u00e1cido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas and Arturo Toscanini.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\nTEATRO COL\u00d3N NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nSee Click here.\n\nPLAZA DEL CONGRESO SQUARE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4010-3000, ext 2410; tours 12:30pm & 5pm Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri; L\u00ednea A Congreso, S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a) At the western end of Av de Mayo lies Plaza del Congreso, often dotted with cooing pigeons and families feeding them. The Monumento a los Dos Congresos honors the congresses of 1810 in Buenos Aires and 1816 in Tucum\u00e1n, both of which led to Argentine independence. The enormous granite steps symbolize the high Andes, and the fountain at its base represents the Atlantic Ocean. West of the plaza is the colossal green-domed Palacio del Congreso (Congress building).\n\nCosting more than twice its projected budget, the Palacio del Congreso set a precedent for contemporary Argentine public-works projects. Modeled on the Capitol in Washington, DC, and topped by an 85m dome, the palace was completed in 1906. Inside the Congreso, there are free guided tours in English and Spanish. Go to the entrance at Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 1849; bring photo ID.\n\nPALACIO BAROLO NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-1885; www.palaciobarolo.com; Av de Mayo 1370; standard tours AR$80, longer tours incl glass of wine AR$150; standard tours 4-7pm Mon-Thu, longer tours 8pm Wed & Fri & 8:30pm Thu) One of the Congreso area's most striking buildings is this 22-story concrete edifice. The building's unique design was inspired by Dante's _Divine Comedy_ ; its height (100m) is a reference to each canto (or song), the number of its floors (22) to verses per song and its divided structure represents hell, purgatory and heaven.\n\nPalacio Barolo was commissioned by cotton tycoon Luis Barolo and designed by Italian architect Mario Palanti. Finished in 1923, it was Buenos Aires' highest skyscraper (until construction of Edificio Kavanagh, in Retiro). At the top is a lighthouse with an amazing 360-degree view of the city.\n\nPALACIO DE LAS AGUAS CORRIENTES NOTABLE BUILDING, MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr C\u00f3rdoba & Riobamba) F Swedish engineer Karl Nystr\u00f6mer and Norwegian architect Olaf Boye helped create this gorgeous and eclectic waterworks building. On the 2nd floor is the small and quirky Museo del Patrimonio MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 6319-1104; 9am-1pm Mon-Fri; tours in Spanish 11am Mon, Wed & Fri) F. The collection of pretty tiles, faucets, handles, ceramic pipe joints and plenty of old toilets and bidets is well lit and displayed. Guided visits offer a backstage glimpse of the building's inner workings and huge water tanks. Bring photo ID and enter via Riobamba.\n\nAlso known as Obras Sanitarias, Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes dates from 1894 and occupies an entire city block. Topped by French-style mansard roofs, the building's facade consists of 170,000 glazed tiles and 130,000 enameled bricks, all shipped from England and assembled here.\n\nOBELISCO LANDMARK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Av 9 de Julio & Corrientes) The city's unmistakable landmark is the famous Obelisco, which soars 67m above the oval Plaza de la Rep\u00fablica. Dedicated in 1936, on the 400th anniversary of the first Spanish settlement on the R\u00edo de la Plata, this stately spire symbolizes Buenos Aires much as the Eiffel Tower represents Paris or the Washington Monument does Washington, DC. Following major soccer victories, boisterous fans circle the Obelisco in jubilant, honking celebration; it's also often used as the zero point for measuring distances from the city center. Unfortunately, you can't enter the structure \u2013 you'll have to admire it from outside.\n\nPLAZA LAVALLE PLAZA\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Libertad btwn C\u00f3rdoba & Lavalle) A couple of blocks northwest of the Obelisco is Plaza Lavalle, three blocks of parks surrounded by some important buildings. Two big landmarks here are the Teatro Col\u00f3n and the Teatro Nacional Cervantes (Click here). But there's also the austere neoclassical Escuela Presidente Roca (1902), an educational facility that's often mistaken for Teatro Col\u00f3n. Across from it lies the French-style Palacio de Justicia (1904) and its Tribunales (federal courts).\n\nMUSEO JUDIO DR SALVADOR KIBRICK MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4123-0832; www.museojudio.org.ar; Libertad 769; admission AR$50; 11am-5pm Tue-Thu, to 4pm Fri) At the northeastern end of Plaza Lavalle, Jewish symbols adorn the facade of the Templo de la Congregaci\u00f3n Israelita, Argentina's oldest and largest synagogue. Concrete sidewalk planters, constructed after recent attacks against Jewish targets, discourage potential car bombs; police stand guard nearby. The Museo Judio Dr Salvador Kibrick is in the synagogue and contains many items and exhibits related to Jewish history. Bring photo ID for admission.\n\nMUSEO BEATLE MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 6320-5362; www.thecavern.com.ar; Av Corrientes 1660; locals\/foreigners AR$30\/60; 10am-midnight Mon-Sat, 2pm-midnight Sun) Located in the Paseo La Plaza complex, this museum claims to be the only Beatles museum in South America. It showcases the Beatles memorabilia collection of owner Rodolfo R Veasquez \u2013 expect plenty of records, collector plates, toys, figurines, eight-track tapes, games and a couple of guitars from musicians related to the group. There's even a brick from the Cavern Club, a music club (now demolished) where the Beatles got their start. To find the museum, follow 'The Cavern' signs.\n\nCENTRO CULTURAL RICARDO ROJAS CULTURAL CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4954-5523; www.rojas.uba.ar; Av Corrientes 2038) This exceptional cultural center has a wide range of affordable classes, including dance, music, photography, theater, film and language studies.\n\nCENTRO CULTURAL SAN MART\u00cdN CULTURAL CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4374-1251; www.elculturalsanmartin.org; Sarmiento 1551) One of Buenos Aires' best resources, this large cultural center has free or inexpensive galleries, music, films, lectures, art exhibitions, classes and workshops.\n\n### BUENOS AIRES' CARTONEROS\n\nYou'll see them mostly at night, hunched over at the curb, picking through the garbage and pushing loaded-down carts. These are not the homeless, or the crazy, or the drug-addicted, or even the city's petty thieves. These are regular people, but some of Buenos Aires' poorest citizens \u2013 they're _cartoneros_ (cardboard collectors). Many used to have regular jobs as skilled laborers or even businesspeople but have been laid off with the 2001 crisis. With unemployment still substantial and no social security to cover them, collecting recyclables is one way they can make a living.\n\nIt's estimated that around 20,000 _cartoneros_ rummage through Buenos Aires' trash heaps; some are even accredited by the city and wear uniforms. They sort through the city's 5000 daily tons of waste, collecting cardboard, paper, metal, plastic, glass \u2013 anything they can sell by the kilo to the _depositos_ (recycling companies). They stake out their territory, perhaps about 15 city blocks, and are occasionally forced to pay police bribes. Many have been pricked by syringes or cut by broken glass. This isn't an easy job, but it's decent work \u2013 once established, the daily take-home pay for a _cartonero_ can be AR$100 or more.\n\nWhile most _cartoneros_ work independently, some work for neighborhood cooperatives that pay them a regular wage and organize vaccinations. Some cooperatives even provide child care for parents who go off on their nightly rounds. In the poorest families, however, even the young children have to work all night long. And some _cartoneros_ are in their 50s and 60s.\n\nIt's not surprising that Argentina's economic crash has inflamed this side-business in recyclables, and that those less fortunate had to use their ingenuity to organize for themselves what their government could not. The _cartoneros_ are a reminder to us that there is another side to the glittering richness of Buenos Aires' center, and that there is another part of this city where the poor people live.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nHardly inspiring in terms of contemporary cuisine, the Congreso area caters mostly for business with cheap _parrillas_ (steakhouses) and quick takeout. Walk around the side streets, though, and you're bound to stumble across some Chinese, Korean and Peruvian gems. The biggest cultural footprint in this area, however, is Buenos Aires' Little Spain neighborhood (in the blocks around Avs de Mayo and Salta); here you'll find a few good traditional Spanish and Basque eateries.\n\n CHAN CHAN PERUVIAN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4382-8492; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 1390; mains AR$35-65; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight Tue-Sun) Thanks to fair prices and relatively quick service, this colorful Peruvian eatery is jam-packed at lunchtime with office workers devouring plates of _seviche_ (seafood cured in citrus) and _ajiaco de conejo_ (rabbit and potato stew). There are also plenty of _arroz chaufa_ (Peruvian-style fried rice) dishes, easily downed with a tangy pisco sour or a pitcher of _chicha morada_ (a sweet fruity drink).\n\nPARRILLA PE\u00d1A PARRILLA $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4371-5643; Rodr\u00edguez Pe\u00f1a 682; mains AR$50-90; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight Mon-Sat, noon-4pm Sun) This simple, traditional and long-running _parrilla_ is well known for its excellent-quality meats and generous portions. The service is fast and efficient and it's great value. Don't expect many tourists \u2013 this is a locals' sort of place. Also on offer are homemade pastas, salads and _milanesas_ (breaded steaks), along with several tasty desserts and a good wine list.\n\nPIZZER\u00cdA G\u00dcERR\u00cdN PIZZERIA $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4371-8141; Av Corrientes 1368; slices AR$8; 11am-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) A quick pit-stop on Av Corrientes is this cheap but classic old pizza joint. Just point at a pre-baked slice behind the glass counter and eat standing up with the rest of the crowd. Or sit down and order one freshly baked \u2013 this way you can also choose from a greater variety of toppings for your pizza.\n\n_Empanadas_ (meat or vegetable pies) and plenty of desserts are also available.\n\nCHIQUIL\u00cdN PARRILLA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4373-5163; Sarmiento 1599; mains AR$60-100; noon-2am Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) A local mainstay for 80 years, Chiquil\u00edn is an excellent place to safely take, say, your parents. It's a large, comfortable restaurant with a cozy and classic atmosphere (including hanging hams). Dressed-up staff are efficient, which is great because this place can bustle \u2013 even at 1am on a Saturday night. The best choices here are steak and pasta.\n\nPLAZA ASTURIAS SPANISH $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4382-7334; Av de Mayo 1199; mains AR$80-140; 11:30am-5pm & 7pm-1am Sun-Thu, to 2:30am Fri & Sat) This old-fashioned Spanish restaurant draws in a regular midday crowd with its set lunch (AR$90), which includes a main dish plus coffee, dessert and a glass of wine. Otherwise, the regular menu features staples like chorizo, ham and potato casserole, and pasta, as well as more adventurous dishes like _cazuela de mariscos,_ a powerful seafood stew rich with mussels, garlic and herbs.\n\n ARAMBURU GOURMET $$$\n\n( 4305-0439; www.arambururesto.com.ar; Salta 1050; prix-fixe AR$390; 8:30-11pm Tue-Sat) 'Molecular' dining has taken Buenos Aires by storm, and Chef Gonzalo Aramburu is leading the pack. The set 12-course meal might take you up to three hours to enjoy, each artistically created plate just a few bites of gastronomic delight. Expect enlightening tastes, textures, smells, plus unique presentations and a highly memorable meal. Located in the edgy but upcoming neighborhood of Montserrat.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nThis neighborhood is not known for its drinking holes, but there are at least a few atmospheric spots where you can toast the town while the politicos scurry past on the sidewalks.\n\nCAF\u00c9 DE LOS ANGELITOS CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4314-1121; Av Rivadavia 2100; 8am-midnight) Originally called Bar Rivadavia, this cafe was once the haunt of poets, musicians, even criminals, which is why a police commissioner jokingly called it ' _los angelitos'_ (the angels) in the early 1900s. Recently restored to its former glory, this historic cafe is now an elegant hangout for coffee or tea; it also puts on tango shows in the evening.\n\nEL GATO NEGRO TEAHOUSE, CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4374-1730; Av Corrientes 1669; 9am-10pm Mon, to 11pm Tue, to midnight Wed & Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat, 3-11pm Sun) Tea-lined wooden cabinets and a spicy aroma welcome you to this pleasant little sipping paradise. Enjoy imported cups of coffee or tea, along with breakfast and dainty _sandwiches de miga_ (thin, crustless sandwiches, traditionally eaten at tea time). Imported teas and coffees are sold in bulk, and a range of exotic herbs and spices are also on offer.\n\nCRUZAT BEER HOUSE BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 6320-5344; www.cruzatba.com; Sarmiento 1617; 10am-2am Mon-Fri, 7pm-3am Sat) In wine-soaked Buenos Aires, Cruzat is as close as you can get to a German beer garden. Kick back on the shaded terrace and choose craft beers from all over Argentina \u2013 look for El Bols\u00f3n (from R\u00edo Negro), Antares (from Mar del Plata) and Gulmen (from Viedma). There are also imports from Belgium, Chile, Spain and Italy.\n\nLOS 36 BILLARES CAFE, BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-5696; www.los36billares.com.ar; Av de Mayo 1265; shows from AR$50; 8am-2am Mon-Sat) Dating from 1894, this is one of the city's most historic cafe-bars. As its name implies, it's big on pool and billiard tables (check out the basement); the back room is full of men shuffling cards for a poker game. Tango shows, highlighting different singers and dancers every night, happen at 9pm from Monday to Wednesday; tango classes also available.\n\nMALUCO BELEZA CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4372-1737; www.malucobeleza.com.ar; Sarmiento 1728; Wed & Fri-Sun) Located in an old mansion is this popular Brazilian _boliche (nightclub)_. It gets packed with upbeat revellers moving to samba fusion and others watching half-naked dancers writhing on the stage. For a more sedate atmosphere, climb the stairs, where it's more laid-back. If you're craving Brazilian cuisine, get here at 8:30pm on Wednesday, when dinner and a show are on tap.\n\nEL BESO MILONGA\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4953-2794; Riobamba 416, 1st fl) Another traditional and popular place, El Beso attracts some very good dancers \u2013 you should be very confident of your dancing skills if you come here. Located upstairs, it has good music and a cozy feel.\n\nOn Friday night, El Beso hosts the far less traditional but still well-known La Marshall Milonga (), a gay _milonga_ , for all who want to try a change of roles in their tango. There's a class at 10:30pm before the _milonga_ (tango session) at 11:30pm.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nTEATRO COL\u00d3N CLASSICAL MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4378-7100; www.teatrocolon.org.ar; Cerrito 628) BA's premier venue for the arts, with ballet and opera as well as classical music. For more on Teatro Col\u00f3n, Click here.\n\nTEATRO SAN MART\u00cdN CLASSICAL MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 0800-333-5254; www.complejoteatral.gob.ar; Av Corrientes 1530) This major venue has several auditoriums (the largest seats over 1000 people) and showcases international cinema, theater, dance and classical music, covering conventional and more unusual events. It also has art galleries and often hosts impressive photography exhibitions.\n\nTEATRO PASEO LA PLAZA THEATER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 6320-5300; www.paseolaplaza.com.ar; Av Corrientes 1660) Located in a small and pleasant outdoor shopping mall, this complex features several theater halls that run both classic and contemporary productions, including tango, theater and comedy.\n\nTEATRO PRESIDENTE ALVEAR THEATER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4373-4245; www.complejoteatral.gob.ar; Av Corrientes 1659) Inaugurated in 1942 and named after an Argentine president whose wife sang opera, this theater holds over 700 and shows many musical productions, including ballet. Occasional free shows are on offer.\n\nTEATRO AVENIDA CLASSICAL MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4812-6369; www.balirica.org.ar; Av de Mayo 1222) In 1979 a fire closed down this beautiful 1906 theater for 15 years, but it was later restored to its former glory. Today the Avenida highlights Argentine productions, mostly classical music, ballet and flamenco. But its biggest strength is opera.\n\nCAF\u00c9 DE LOS ANGELITOS TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4952-2320; www.cafedelosangelitos.com; Av Rivadavia 2100; show from US$90, show & dinner from US$130) Angelitos puts on one of the best shows in Buenos Aires. It's tango \u2013 but also a bit more. The performers dress in top-notch costumes and use interesting props, like drapes and moving walls. They also dance to modern tunes such as those by local band Bajofondo, and despite a nightclub feel at times \u2013 especially due to the lighting \u2013 it's all very tastefully and creatively done.\n\nThe stage is well set up (the musicians are on a different level, out of the way but well in sight) and everyone gets a good view. If you can't afford Rojo Tango (Click here), come here; it's choreographed by the same folks and offers some sexy elements.\n\nTANGO PORTE\u00d1O TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4124-9400; www.tangoporteno.com.ar; Cerrito 570; show US$80, show & dinner from US$127) One of the city's best shows takes place in this renovated art deco t heater. Snippets of old footage are interspersed with plenty of athletic (and at times sensual) dancing. There's an interesting blindfold number, the orchestra is excellent and Juan Carlos Copes \u2013 a famous Argentine dancer in his time \u2013 makes a rug-\u00adcutting cameo if he's in good health.\n\nIt's right in the center near Teatro Col\u00f3n. Complimentary tango class offered beforehand.\n\n\u00c1VILA BAR FLAMENCO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4383-6974; Av de Mayo 1384; Thu-Sat) Offering flamenco for many years now is this cozy little Spanish restaurant with good traditional food. Main dishes can include rabbit, paella and seafood stews. Shows have older, experienced dancers and cost AR$220 (drinks not included). They start around 10:30pm and reservations are a must on weekends.\n\nCANTARES FLAMENCO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-6965; www.cantarestablao.com.ar; Av Rivadavia 1180; show $AR90; shows 9pm Fri & Sat) This flamenco venue, in the old Taberna Espa\u00f1ol, once hosted the Spanish poet Federico Garc\u00eda Lorca. It's a small basement space with only 85 seats, providing a wonderfully intimate place for the highly authentic dances. An \u00e0 la carte dinner is on offer; reserve in advance. Flamenco classes also available.\n\n Congreso & Tribunales\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nCongreso is where the city's politicos hang out and it's not really known as a shopping destination. That said, Av Corrientes has many of the city's discount bookstores, and despite most books being in Spanish, it's fun to wander through them. And if you're looking for jewelry or electronics like used cameras, check out Calle Libertad between Lavalle and Rivadavia.\n\nZIVAL'S MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.zivals.com; Av Callao 395; 9:30am-9:30pm Mon-Sat) This is one of the better music stores in town, especially when it comes to tango, jazz and classical music. Listening stations are a big plus, and many books are also for sale. There's also a branch in Palermo Viejo (Serrano 1445).\n\nWILDLIFE CAMPING & OUTDOOR EQUIPMENT\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-1040; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 1133; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, to 1pm Sat) If you're looking to buy (or sell) all manner of outdoor and camping equipment before traveling on from Buenos Aires, this is the place to do it. Crampons, knives, tents, backpacks, climbing ropes, foul-weather clothing, military gear and even the occasional mule saddle can be found at this somewhat offbeat and musty shop.\n\nCongresso Tribunales\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Teatro Col\u00f3n F2\n\n Sights\n\n2Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas B3\n\n3Centro Cultural San Mart\u00edn D4\n\n4Museo Beatle D4\n\n5Museo del Patrimonio C2\n\n6Museo Judio Dr Salvador Kibrick F2\n\n7Obelisco F3\n\n8Palacio Barolo E5\n\n9Palacio de las Aguas Corrientes C2\n\n10Plaza del Congreso D5\n\n11Plaza Lavalle E2\n\n Eating\n\n12Chan Chan E5\n\n13Chiquil\u00edn D4\n\n14El Cuartito E1\n\n15Parrilla Pe\u00f1a D2\n\n16Pizzer\u00eda G\u00fcerr\u00edn E3\n\n17Plaza Asturias F5\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n18Caf\u00e9 de los Angelitos B5\n\n19Cruzat Beer House D4\n\n20El Gato Negro D3\n\n21Maluco Beleza D4\n\n Entertainment\n\n22\u00c1vila Bar E5\n\nCaf\u00e9 de los Angelitos (see 18)\n\n23Cantares F5\n\n24Cartelera Baires E3\n\n25Cosmos-UBA B3\n\n26El Beso C3\n\n27Espacio INCAA D5\n\n28Los 36 Billares F5\n\n29Sala Leopoldo Lugones D3\n\n30Tango Porte\u00f1o F2\n\n31Teatro Avenida F5\n\nTeatro Col\u00f3n (see 1)\n\n32Teatro Paseo la Plaza D4\n\n33Teatro Presidente Alvear D3\n\nTeatro San Mart\u00edn (see 29)\n\n Shopping\n\n34Wildlife F5\n\n35Zival's C3\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n36Punto Cumbre C4\n\n Sleeping\n\n37Gran Hotel Oriental C5\n\n38Hotel Bonito E7\n\n39Hotel Lyon C4\n\n40Hotel Marbella F5\n\n41La Cayetana E7\n\n42Livin' Residence C2\n\n43Milhouse Youth Hostel G5\n\n44Novotel Hotel E3\n\n45Sabatico Hostel E7\n\n# San Telmo\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nSan Telmo\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Jostling with fellow shoppers at the Sunday Feria de San Telmo, where vendors sell all manner of goods, and buskers and tango dancers compete for your spare change.\n\n Taking a break in peaceful Plaza Dorrego \u2013 when it's _not_ a Sunday.\n\n Exploring the reconstructed tunnels at El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados.\n\n Visiting the Museo Hist\u00f3rico Nacional at historic Parque Lezama.\n\n Strolling cobbled streets and taking in old-time atmosphere at places like Pasaje de la Defensa.\n\n### Explore: San Telmo\n\nTwo central thoroughfares in this barrio are Balcarce and Defensa; they're where you'll find most things of interest to travelers.\n\nEveryone is drawn to Plaza Dorrego, the heart and soul of San Telmo. It's a nice leafy place to snag an outdoor table under an umbrella and have a coffee or full meal (though on Sundays the _feria_ takes over and tables disappear). Sometimes tango dancers provide entertainment for a few pesos, though you can also be hassled for spare change by beggars or asked to buy items by roving vendors. Keep a good hold of your bag, just in case.\n\nGenerally everything of interest is reachable by walking in this neighborhood. From Plaza Dorrego you can stroll up or down the main drag of Defensa, window-shopping for pricey antiques or trendy new trinkets along the way. Several museums are also on or just off this street. If you head south, you'll hit Parque Lezama, a local park where families hang out at the playground and lovers smooch on benches. Heading north, you can be in the Plaza de Mayo area in 15 minutes.\n\nThe adventurous can walk further south down busy Av Almirante Brown to La Boca (note: this will take you along the gritty edges of this blue-collar neighborhood).\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Markets Explore the Mercado de San Telmo (Click here) to get a dose of history and a feel for how the locals buy their meats and vegetables.\n\n\u00bb Hangouts Classic cafes like Bar Plaza Dorrego (Click here), Bar El Federal (Click here) and La Poesia (Click here) drip with traditional atmosphere and old-time locals taking in their morning _medialunas_ (croissants) or afternoon coffee breaks.\n\n\u00bb Games Like chess? Then head to Parque Lezama (Click here) and find the cluster of chess tables there \u2013 and, if you dare, make a challenge.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take bus 59 from Recoleta and Palermo, bus 29 from La Boca, Plaza de Mayo and Palermo.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00ednea C connects the western edge of San Telmo with the Center, Congreso and Retiro.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nOn Sundays the _feria_ (street market) is full-on, which means tons of people are visiting and you'll need to watch for pickpockets and over-charging more carefully. On the other hand, it's a fun time to be in the neighborhood and the museums and most stores are all open. For more peace, visit San Telmo from Monday to Saturday, especially to sit at one of Plaza Dorrego's outdoor tables.\n\nEast of Balcarce the streets become industrial and, along with the more southern edges toward La Boca, should probably be avoided at night. During the day they're fine, however, and provide access to Puerto Madero.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbCaf\u00e9 San Juan\n\n\u00bbCasal de Catalunya\n\n\u00bbOrigen Caf\u00e9\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbBar Plaza Dorrego\n\n\u00bbDoppelg\u00e4nger\n\n\u00bbGibraltar\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Shopping\n\n\u00bbFeria de San Telmo\n\n\u00bbMateria Urbana\n\n\u00bbPuntos en el Espacio\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nPANORAMIC IMAGES \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nPLAZA DORREGO\n\nAt the heart of San Telmo is Plaza Dorrego, normally a peaceful little plaza strewn with locals and tourists sitting at tables under their umbrellas. A few hippie street vendors hawk their wares on the sidewalks while tango dancers occasionally perform for a few pesos. Come Sundays, however, the plaza and Calle Defensa become packed with craft stalls selling everything from antiques to knick-knacks to creative homemade souvenirs. It's a bit of a crazy scene, but worth experiencing nonetheless.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb Relaxing at a table on the plaza while tango dancers perform nearby.\n\n\u00bb Sunday's bustling street _feria_.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\nAfter Plaza de Mayo, Plaza Dorrego is the city's oldest plaza. It dates to the 18th century and was originally a pit stop for caravans bringing supplies into Buenos Aires from around Argentina. At the turn of the 19th century it became a public square surrounded by colonial buildings that survive to this day. There's still a wonderful old-time atmosphere here and cafe-restaurants like Bar Plaza Dorrego (Click here) will definitely take you back in time. However, things are changing; across from this traditional cafe, a branch of Starbucks recently opened and prominently announced the arrival of the 21st century.\n\nPlaza Dorrego's biggest claim to fame is likely now its extremely popular Sunday _feria_. Tourists and locals alike flock to this fun event, which brings together hundreds of street vendors, buskers and shoppers. Originally started in 1970 as an antiques fair, the _feria_ has now become a craft market offering all manner of items \u2013 jewelry, souvenirs, knick-knacks, quality artwork, vintage clothing, old collectibles, hand-made crafts, leather jackets and much, much more. Defensa is closed to traffic from Plaza de Mayo to Parque Lezama (which has its own little craft market) and lined with hundreds of stalls. Street performers from metallic human statues to _candombe_ drumming groups to professional tango dancers entertain the crowds, while sidewalk tables provide welcome breaks. It's a tight and crowded scene, so be prepared to bump into people \u2013 and watch your bag carefully.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\nPLAZA DORREGO PLAZA\n\nSee Click here.\n\nEL ZANJ\u00d3N DE GRANADOS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-3002; www.elzanjon.com.ar; Defensa 755; 1 hr tour Mon-Fri AR$90, 30 min tour Sun AR$60; tours 11am, noon, 2pm & 3pm Mon-Fri, every 30min 1-6pm Sun) One of the more unique places in BA is this amazing urban architectural site. A series of old tunnels, sewers and cisterns (built from 1730 onwards) were constructed above a river tributary and provided the base for one of BA's oldest settlements, which later became a family mansion and then tenement housing and some shops. It's best to reserve ahead for tours.\n\nThe Zanj\u00f3n is the realized dream of Jorge Eckstein, who found these ruins in 1986 after purchasing land for a business project and then spent years renovating them into what you see today. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the city's history; meticulously reconstructed brick by brick and very attractively lit, this site also contains several courtyards and even a watchtower. There are a few relics on display in the various halls and rooms, but the highlights are the spaces themselves.\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE MODERNO DE BUENOS AIRES (MAMBA) MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-3001; www.museodeartemoderno.buenosaires.gob.ar; Av San Juan 350; admission AR$5, Tue free; 11am-7pm Tue-Fri, to 8pm Sat & Sun) Housed in a recycled tobacco warehouse, this spacious and newly remodeled museum shows off the works of both national and international contemporary artists. Expect temporary exhibitions showcasing everything from photography to industrial design, and from figurative to conceptual art. There's also an auditorium, and there are plans to integrate the old cinema museum next door, too \u2013 and add a cafe and gift shop.\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPOR\u00c1NEO BUENOS AIRES MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(MACBA; 5299-2010; www.macba.com.ar; Av San Juan 328; admission AR$25; noon-7pm Mon & Wed-Fri, 11am-7:30pm Sat & Sun) Art lovers shouldn't miss this fine museum, which specializes in geometric abstraction drawn from the technology-driven world that surrounds us today (think architecture, maps and computers). So rather than traditional paintings, you'll see large, colorful and minimalist pieces meant to inspire reflection. It mostly shows off the works of young Argentine artists, though occasional international guests' work appears. There are four floors; the first two hold rotating, permanent exhibits. Guided visits in Spanish are available at 5pm daily.\n\nPASAJE DE LA DEFENSA NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Defensa 1179; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri, to 8pm Sun) Originally built for the Ezeiza family in 1880, this building later became a _conventillo_ (tenement house) and was home to 32 families. These days, it's a charmingly worn building with antique shops clustered around atmospheric leafy patios.\n\nPARQUE LEZAMA PARK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Defensa & Av Brasil) Scruffy Parque Lezama was once thought to be the site of Buenos Aires' founding in 1536, but archaeological teams have refuted the hypothesis. Today's green park hosts old chess-playing gentlemen, bookworms toting _mate_ (traditional Argentine tea) gourds and teenagers kissing on park benches. Don't miss the striking late-19th-century Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa (Russian Orthodox Church) on the north side of the park; it's the work of architect Alejandro Christopherson and was built from materials shipped over from St Petersburg.\n\nMUSEO HIST\u00d3RICO NACIONAL MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4307-1182; Defensa 1600; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun) F Located in Parque Lezama is the city's national historical museum. It's dedicated to exhibiting items related to Argentina's revolution on May 25, 1810. Argentine hero Manuel Belgrano's watch was stolen from this museum in 2007, and things have never been the same since. Bags and backpacks have to be checked in, and guards are everywhere.\n\nInside, exhibits are a bit sparse, but at least they're neatly displayed. There are several portraits of presidents and other major figures of the time, and you can peek into a recreated version of Jos\u00e9 de San Mart\u00edn's bedroom \u2013 he was a military hero and liberator of Argentina (along with other South American countries). Old documents are also on display, and there's a video room as well.\n\nPerhaps the most interesting exhibit, however, is of a few paintings depicting Africans in Argentina celebrating Carnaval and playing _candombe_ (a drum-based musical genre invented in the early 18th century by slaves brought to the Rio de la Plata region). Argentina's black history is limited and mysterious \u2013 the country did have a slave trade, but today there are very few people of African descent here.\n\nMUSEO PENITENCIARIO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-0917; museopenitenciarioargentino.blogspot.com.ar; Humberto Primo 378; 2-6pm Thu, Fri & Sun) F Dating from 1760, this building was a convent and later a women's prison before it became a penal museum in 1980; reconstructed old jail cells give an idea of the prisoners' conditions. Don't miss the homemade playing cards and shivs, plus the tennis balls used to hide drugs. A prison infirmary is also exhibited. Next door, the neocolonial and baroque Iglesia Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Bel\u00e9n MAP GOOGLE MAP (Humberto Primo 340) was a Jesuit school until 1767, when the Bethlemite order took it over.\n\nCONVENTO DE SANTO DOMINGO CHURCH\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-1668 ext 201; cnr Defensa & Belgrano; bas\u00edlica tours by appointment only; L\u00ednea E Bol\u00edvar, L\u00ednea A Plaza de Mayo) Marking the approach into San Telmo, this 18th-century Dominican building has a long and colorful history. On its left tower you'll see the replicated scars of shrapnel launched against British troops who holed up here during the invasion of 1806. The bas\u00edlica displays the flags that were captured from the British. Secularized during the presidency of Bernardino Rivadavia (1826\u201327), the building became a natural history museum, its original single tower serving as an astronomical observatory, until Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas restored it to the Dominican order. For (free) basilica tours, call between 3:30pm and 6:30pm; most tours run on Sundays.\n\nMUSEO DEL TRAJE MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-8427; www.funmuseodeltraje.com.ar; Chile 832; 3-7pm Tue-Sun; L\u00ednea C Independencia) F Near the Montserrat border, this small clothing museum is always changing its wardrobe. You can hit upon wedding outfits from the late 1800s, popular fashions from the early 1900s or even clothing worn by travelers on the Silk Rd. If you're lucky, accessories such as hair combs, top hats, antique eyeglasses and elegant canes might be on display.\n\nFACULTAD DE INGENIERIA NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Av Paseo Col\u00f3n 850) This neo\u00adclassical and monstrous building is the engineering school for the Universidad de Buenos Aires. It was originally built for the Fundaci\u00f3n Eva Per\u00f3n and is an oddball landmark once described by Gerald Durrell as 'a cross between the Parthenon and the Reichstag.'\n\nIn front of the building and in the middle of Av Paseo Col\u00f3n is Plazoleta Olaz\u00e1bal, a tiny park that features Rogelio Yrurtia's masterful sculpture Canto al Trabajo. It was moved here from its original site on Plaza Dorrego.\n\n### SAN TELMO: A BRIEF HISTORY\n\nSan Telmo is known for the violent street fighting that took place when British troops, at war with Spain, invaded the city in 1806. They occupied it until the following year, when covert porte\u00f1o resistance became open counterattack. British forces advanced up narrow Defensa, but the impromptu militia drove the British back to their ships. Victory gave _porte\u00f1os_ confidence in their ability to stand apart from Spain, even though the city's independence had to wait another three years.\n\nAfter this San Telmo became a fashionable, classy neighborhood, but in the late 19th century a yellow-fever epidemic hit and drove the rich onto higher ground, west and north of the present-day Microcentro. As European immigrants began to pour into the city, many older mansions in San Telmo became _conventillos_ (tenements) to house poor families. Today you can see one such _conventillo_ at Pasaje de la Defensa (Click here), originally built for the Ezeiza family; later it housed 32 families.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nThe heart of San Telmo, Plaza Dorrego is surrounded by several cafe-restaurants that pop open their umbrellas from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday, however, the plaza (and a few surrounding streets) is taken over by vendors and tourists jamming the ever-popular antiques market. San Telmo has traditionally supported a large cluster of _parrillas,_ but as the neighborhood inexorably gentrifies, more innovative, upscale and pricier restaurants and bars are moving in.\n\nORIGEN CAF\u00c9 INTERNATIONAL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-7979; Primo 599; mains AR$50-70; 8am-10pm Tue-Fri & Sun, to 9:30pm Mon & Sat) Modern but unpretentious, this stylish corner bistro spills out onto the wide sidewalks; snag an outdoor table on a sunny afternoon. The creative menu features health-conscious dishes from stir-fries and whole-wheat pizzas to homemade soups and green salads. There's an emphasis on vegetarian food, and the cappuccinos are served in delightfully oversized mugs.\n\nEL DESNIVEL PARRILLA $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-9081; Defensa 855; mains AR$45-80; noon-4:30pm & 7pm-1am Mon-Fri, noon-1am Sat & Sun) This famous and long-running _parrilla_ joint packs in both locals and tourists, serving them treats like chorizo sandwiches and _bife de lomo_ (tenderloin steak). The sizzling grill out front is torturous while you wait for a table (which could be in the large back room) \u2013 get here early, especially on weekends.\n\nBAR EL FEDERAL ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-4313; cnr Per\u00fa & Carlos Calvo; mains AR$35-110; 8am-2am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat) Dating from 1864, this historic bar has a classic, somewhat rustic atmosphere accented with original wood, tile, and an eye-catching antique bar. The specialties here are sandwiches (especially turkey) and _picadas_ (shared appetizer plates), but there are also lots of pastas, salads, desserts and tall mugs of icy beer.\n\nLA POESIA ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-7340; www.cafelapoesia.com.ar; Chile 502; mains AR$40-110; 8am-2am) Step back in time at this historic, traditional cafe. Originally a gathering place for artists and poets, this small corner spot still retains its bohemian atmosphere with live music recitals on Thursdays and Fridays. Snack on a turkey sandwich, _milanesa_ (beef cutlet) or some pasta, and try to relive the past.\n\nABUELA PAN VEGETARIAN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-4936; Chile 518; daily menu AR$43; 8am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-4pm Sun; ) Tiny but atmospheric spot with just a handful of tables. The vegetarian special changes daily \u2013 expect things like spinach omelets, stuffed cannelloni and burghul hamburgers.\n\nCASAL DE CATALUNYA SPANISH $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-0191; Chacabuco 863; mains AR$60-100; 8pm-midnight Mon, noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight Tue-Sat, noon-4pm Sun) Located in BA's Catalan cultural center is this excellent Catalan restaurant. Big on seafood, its specialties run from garlic shrimp to fresh mussels and clams in tomato sauce to fish of the day with _aioli_. Other typical dishes include _jam_ \u00f3 _n serrano_ (prosciutto-like ham), seafood paella and suckling pig. Don't miss the luscious _crema Catalana_ for dessert.\n\nLA PANADER\u00cdA DE PABLO MODERN ARGENTINE $$\n\n( 4331-4683; Defensa 269; mains AR$70-110; 9:30am-6pm Mon-Wed, 9:30am-midnight Thu & Fri, 8pm-midnight Sat, 10am-7pm Sun) Enter this modern restaurant and be comforted by the awesome design, airy spaces and cozy booths. Try the smoked salmon salad with avocado, rib-eye marinated in rosemary and thyme or Yamani rice stir fries. There are a few elegant pizzas and pastas too, along with over a dozen cocktails to accompany. You'll also find a great patio in back for warm days, plus breakfast offerings.\n\nGRAN PARRILLA DEL PLATA PARRILLA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-8858; www.parrilladelplata.com; Chile 594; mains AR$65-100; noon-4pm & 8pm-1am) There's nothing too fancy at this traditional corner _parrilla_ \u2013 just old-time atmosphere and generous portions of good grilled meats at decent prices. There are also pastas for that vegetarian who gets dragged along. Divided into two sections but they're right next to each other.\n\n CAF\u00c9 SAN JUAN INTERNATIONAL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-1112; Av San Juan 452; mains AR$125-150; 12:30-4pm & 8pm-1am) Having studied in Milan, Paris and Barcelona, celebrity TV-chef Leandro Crist\u00f3bal now runs the kitchen at this renowned San Telmo bistro. Start with fabulous tapas, then delve into the grilled Spanish octopus, _molleja_ (sweetbreads) cannelloni and the amazing pork _bondiola_ (deliciously tender after nine hours' roasting). Most of the seafood is flown in daily from Patagonia. Reserve for lunch and dinner.\n\nIf you can't get a table here, try the Caf\u00e9 San Juan La Cantina MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4300-9344; Chile 474; noon-3:30pm & 8:30pm-midnight Tue-Sun). It's located a few blocks away and has a different menu.\n\nCOMEDOR NIKKAI JAPANESE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-5848; Av Independencia 732; mains AR$80-250; noon-3pm & 7:30-11pm Mon-Thu, noon-3pm & 8pm-midnight Fri, 8pm-midnight Sat) Housed in the Asociaci\u00f3n Japonesa building, this restaurant has some of BA's most authentic Japanese food, and the locals know it \u2013 come early if you don't want to wait. All your favorites are here, including tempura, teriyaki, ramen or udon noodles and \u2013 of course \u2013 lots of sushi and sashimi choices. Imported sake is available too.\n\n### AN EXPAT'S SAN TELMO\n\nNew Jersey native Jessica Pollack, a cultural historian and expert city tour guide with Buenos Tours (Click here), tells us what she loves about San Telmo, one of Buenos Aires' most historic 'hoods and the barrio that she's chosen to call home.\n\n#### San Telmo's Got Character\n\nI am always impressed by the palpable history on the cobbled streets: on Pasaje San Lorenzo you see layers of time. The once-grand Spanish mansions, later occupied by immigrant families, are now covered in street art and graffiti and house anything from music venues to pilates studios. If you peek into the courtyard at San Lorenzo 317, there's an artisan workshop called El Moro, a family operation that makes traditional _mates_ and _bombillas_ \u2013 it's full of the history, personality and artistry typical of an old neighborhood.\n\n#### The Old & the New\n\nDespite gentrification, the traditional is not sacrificed for the trendy; they coexist wonderfully. I love that on any night I can get a craft beer at historic Bar El Federal (Click here) or contemporary cocktails at dimly lit Doppelg\u00e4nger (Click here). Even inside the century-old indoor Mercado de San Telmo (Click here) you'll find delicious preserves homemade by a woman named Margarita just a few stalls down from Coffee Town, serving specialty blends and imported coffees at its fashionable new stand.\n\n#### Sunday Suggestions\n\nWe all know Sunday is San Telmo's big day: the area comes to life with the hugely popular and highly enjoyable street fair (Click here). But for most of the city, Sunday means relaxation and quiet time. To me, Sunday means waking up late for a slice of ricotta cake from Confiter\u00eda Europa (Carlos Calvo 678), where Argentine men watch _f\u00fatbol_ and sip _cafe con leche_. The service is terribly slow, but it's Sunday after all, and the leisurely pace is a welcome escape from the street-fair bustle.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nSan Telmo keeps gentrifying. Fancy restaurants and bars continue to pop up with regularity, mixing it up with a few old classics like historic cafes that have hardly changed over the years. Here older gentlemen still show up for their morning coffee and _medialunas_ , but there's space for everyone \u2013 and this neighborhood has become very popular with locals, travelers and expats.\n\n BAR PLAZA DORREGO CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-0141; Defensa 1098; 8am-2am Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) You can't beat the atmosphere at this traditional joint; sip your _submarino_ (hot milk with chocolate) by a picturesque window and watch the world pass by, or grab a table on the busy plaza. Meanwhile, traditionally suited waiters, piped-in tango music, antique bottles and scribbled graffiti on walls and counters might take you back in time.\n\nDOPPELG\u00c4NGER COCKTAIL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-0201; Av Juan de Garay 500) This cool, emerald-hued corner bar is one of the only places in BA where you can count on a perfectly mixed martini. That's because Doppelg\u00e4nger specializes in vermouth cocktails. The atmosphere is calm and the lengthy menu is fascinating: start with the journalist, a martini with a bitter orange twist, or channel Don Draper and go for the bar's bestseller \u2013 an old-fashioned.\n\nGIBRALTAR PUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-5310; Per\u00fa 895; noon-4am) One of BA's classic pubs, the Gibraltar has a cozy atmosphere and good bar counter for those traveling alone. It's also a great place for fairly authentic foreign cuisine \u2013 try the Thai, Indian or English dishes (full English breakfast offered from noon to 5pm). For a little friendly competition, head to the pool table in the back.\n\nCOFFEE TOWN COFFEE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-0019; www.coffeetownargentina.com; Bolivar 976, inside Mercado de San Telmo; 10am-8pm) For some of BA's best coffee, drop into this very casual kiosk inside the Mercado de San Telmo (enter via Carlos Calvo). Experienced baristas serve up organic, fair-trade coffee derived from beans from all over the world \u2013 think Colombia, Kenya, Sumatra and Yemen. A few pastries help the java go down easy.\n\nBAR BRIT\u00c1NICO CAF\u00c9\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-2107; Av Brasil 399; 24hr Tue-Sun, 8am-midnight Mon) A classic corner cafe on the edge of Parque Lezama, Bar Brit\u00e1nico has an evocative old wooden interior and big glass windows that open to the street. Drop in for a _caf\u00e9 cortado_ (small espresso with milk) in the morning or a beer on a sunny afternoon.\n\nLA PUERTA ROJA BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-5649; Chacabuco 733; 5pm-late) There's no sign at this upstairs bar \u2013 just look for the red door. It has a cool, relaxed atmosphere with low lounge furniture in the main room and a pool table tucked behind. This is a traditional place, so you won't find fruity cocktails on the menu \u2013 but there's good international food like curries, tacos and chicken wings.\n\nBAR SEDD\u00d3N BAR RESTAURANT\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-3700; Defensa 695; 10am-4am Mon-Thu, to 6am Fri-Sun) This long-running corner bar-restaurant, outfitted with black and white tiles and rustic wood tables, is housed in an old restored pharmacy. Drop in for an icy _chopp_ (mug of draught beer) or a late-night glass of red \u2013 there are also sandwiches, pizzas and daily specials if you're hungry.\n\nPRIDE CAFE CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-6435; Balcarce 869; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-8pm Sat & Sun; ) This small, gay-friendly and contemporary cafe is especially swamped by cute men on Sunday during San Telmo's antiques fair, attracted by the homemade pastries, healthy snacks and flavored coffees. Peruse the foreign mags or utilize the free wi-fi, and maybe pick up a hot date.\n\nBOUTIQUE CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4543-3894; www.museumclub.com.ar; Per\u00fa 535; Wed, Fri & Sat) This cavernous disco is best known for its Wednesday-night 'after-office' party (read: meat market), which starts at the normally ungodly-early hour of 7pm and runs to the ungodly-early finishing hour of 2am. It's a huge space with multiple balconies and a great sound system highlighting '80s and '90s pop music. Note the amazing building, an old factory designed by Eiffel \u2013 who also did that particular Parisian landmark.\n\n#### Neighborhood Walk \n **Historical Saunter**\n\n**Start** El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados\n\n**End** Bar Brit\u00e1nico\n\n**Length** 1.5km; 2\u00bd hours\n\nTime your walk to tour the amazing series of tunnels and brick archways of El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados (Click here), which formed the foundations of BA's oldest homes.\n\nThe decaying white-stucco-and-brick Casa M\u00ednima at San Lorenzo 380 is a good example of the narrow-lot style known as _casa chorizo_ (sausage house). Barely 2m wide, the lot was reportedly an emancipation gift from slave owners to their former bondsmen.\n\nStop at the lively El Desnivel (Click here) for a good steak experience. And don't miss strolling through the covered Mercado de San Telmo (Click here), which has been running since 1897.\n\nBack on Defensa you'll soon reach the heart of the barrio, Plaza Dorrego (Click here). From Monday to Saturday it's a relatively peaceful place, but come Sunday the lively Feria de San Telmo (Click here) sets up in the plaza and surrounding streets.\n\nFor funky prison paraphernalia, check out the Museo Penitenciario (Click here); note the Iglesia Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Bel\u00e9n (Click here), an old Jesuit school, next door.\n\nA block south, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Click here) offers cutting-edge exhibitions, along with works by classic Argentine artists. Next door is the Museo de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Buenos Aires (Click here), great for abstract art.\n\nThe freeway location of the Club Atl\u00e9tico Memorial is simply awful \u2013 but so is its history. This is one of the secret detention centers where thousands of people were tortured and killed during Argentina's Dirty War (1976\u201383). There isn't much left beyond an excavated basement where a three-story building used to be.\n\nStroll through the large Parque Lezama (Click here) to the Museo Hist\u00f3rico Nacional (Click here) for a bit of insight into Argentina's history. And finally, rest your tired feet at the atmospheric corner Bar Brit\u00e1nico (Click here), snag a prized window seat and order a drink \u2013 you deserve it.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nEL VIEJO ALMAC\u00c9N TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4307-7388; www.viejoalmacen.com; cnr Balcarce & Av Independencia; show from US$90, show & dinner from US$140) One of Buenos Aires' longest-running shows (since 1969), this venue is a charming old building from the 1800s. A good dinner is served at a multi-story restaurant in the main building, then everyone heads across the street to the small theater with intimate stage. The show starts with a quick movie about the tango show's history, then moves on to the highly athletic dancers with plenty of glitz. One highlight is the exceptionally good folklore segment.\n\nLA VENTANA TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4334-1314; www.laventanaweb.com; Balcarce 431; show from US$90, dinner & show from US$140) This long-running basement venue is located in an old converted building with rustic brick walls. The tango show is excellent and includes a folkloric segment with Andean musicians and a display of _boleadores_ (balls on cords that gauchos used to tangle up prey). There's also a patriotic tribute to Evita as a singer belts out 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.' The dinner offers a wide variety of tasty main dishes \u2013 unusual for tango shows. Gala Tango is a more upscale experience and happens upstairs.\n\nLA TRASTIENDA ROCK, REGGAE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5533-5533; www.latrastienda.com; Balcarce 460) This large, atmospheric theater welcomes over 700, features a well-stocked bar, and showcases national and international live-music acts almost nightly. Look for headers such as Charlie Garcia, Divididos, Jos\u00e9 Gonzalez, Damien Rice and Conor Oberst. Get tickets at the office here or check www.tuentrada.com.ar.\n\nTODO MUNDO TANGO, FLAMENCO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-2354; Pasaje Anselmo Aieta 1095) This restaurant puts on free tango, flamenco and other types of shows, but you do have to order at least AR$100 worth of food \u2013 basic Argentine fare like _empanadas_ , pasta and _parrilla_. Tango shows happen on Monday and Thursday nights, while flamenco flutters on Friday and Saturday nights. Expect rock, salsa, folk and jazz on other nights; all shows start around 10:30pm.\n\nLA SCALA DE SAN TELMO CLASSICAL MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-1187; www.lascala.org.ar; Pasaje Guiffra 371) This small San Telmo venue, located in a refurbished colonial building, puts on classical and contemporary concerts that highlight piano, tango, musical comedies and other musical-related shows and workshops. Affordable or free admission.\n\n San Telmo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nSan Telmo has traditionally been Buenos Aires' antiques neighborhood. In recent years, however, San Telmo's popularity with tourists has attracted other kinds of stores. Fashion boutiques and housewares shops are moving in, changing the general feel on the streets. Locals fear that their beloved neighborhood might become another Palermo, but even with rising real-estate prices, San Telmo is not likely to lose its gritty authenticity or charm.\n\nFERIA DE SAN TELMO MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Defensa; 10am-6pm Sun; 10, 22, 29, 45, 86) On Sundays, San Telmo's main drag is closed to traffic and the street is a sea of both locals and tourists browsing craft stalls, waiting at vendors' carts for freshly squeezed orange juice, poking through the antique glass ornaments on display on Plaza Dorrego, and listening to street performances by myriad music groups. Runs from Av San Juan to Plaza de Mayo.\n\nMATERIA URBANA HOUSEWARES, ART\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-5265; www.materiaurbana.com; Defensa 702; 11am-7pm Wed-Fri, 2-7pm Sat, 10:30am-7pm Sun) This innovative design shop shows the work of over 100 local artists; one-of-a-kind finds include offbeat line drawings, abstract photography, carved wood statuettes, leather animal organizers, clothes, and jewelry made from silver, wood and coral. There's nearly constant foot traffic at Materia Urbana, especially during the street fair on Sunday.\n\nPUNTOS EN EL ESPACIO FASHION\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4307-7906; www.puntosenelespacio.com.ar; Carlos Calvo 450; 11am-8pm) With over 40 designers represented, this store is a good place to check out edgy women's collections by rising stars in the local fashion world. There are also kids' and mens' clothes, handbags, jewelry and a few shoes. A second location, focused on accessories and home decor, is on the corner of Defensa and Independencia, a few blocks away.\n\nIMHOTEP ANTIQUES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4862-9298; Defensa 916; 11am-6pm Sun-Fri) Come find the funkiest old knickknacks at this eccentric shop. Small oddities such as Indian statuettes, Chinese snuff boxes, precious stone figurines and gargoyles make up some of the bizarre trinkets here. Also look for fantastical and mythological creatures; there are also plenty of skulls.\n\nGIL ANTIGUEDADES ANTIQUES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Humberto Primo 412; 11am-1pm & 3-7pm Tue-Sun) A window display of Great Gatsby\u2013style flapper dresses and vintage nightgowns pulls the passerby into San Telmo's finest antiques emporium. Decorative objects like china teapots and leather hatboxes are overshadowed by the stunning array of silk slips and lacy Victorian gowns \u2013 John Galliano, Catherine Deneuve and Salvatore Ferragamo are among the famous people who've stopped by for inspiration on visits to Buenos Aires.\n\nMERCADO DE SAN TELMO MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Defensa, Bol\u00edvar, Carlos Calvo & Estados Unidos block; 9am-8pm) This market was built in 1897 by Juan Antonio Buschiazzo, the same Italian-born Argentine architect who designed Recoleta Cemetery. It occupies the inside of an entire city block, though you wouldn't be able to tell just by looking at the modest sidewalk entrances. The wrought-iron interior (note the amazing original ceiling) makes it one of BA's most atmospheric markets; locals shop here for fresh produce and meat. Peripheral antique stalls offer luggage, wine decanters and other treasures. More stalls are open on weekends.\n\nWALRUS BOOKS BOOKS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-7135; Estados Unidos 617; noon-8pm Tue-Sun) Run by an American photographer, this tiny shop is probably the best English-language bookstore in BA. Thousands of new and used literature and nonfiction books line the shelves here, and there's a selection of Latin American classics translated into English. Bring your quality books (including Lonely Planet guides!) to trade; literary workshops offered too.\n\nCUALQUIER VERDURA CLOTHING HOUSEWARES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-2474; Humberto Primo 517; noon-8pm Thu-Sun) Located in a lovely, refurbished old house, this fun store sells eclectic items from vintage clothing to funny soaps (look for these in the 'bathroom') to recycled floppy-disc lamps to contemporary knickknacks and novelty toys. Wander through the outdoor patio and note the stained-glass windows on the wall and _mate_ -drinking Buddha above the fountain.\n\nMOEBIUS CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4361-2893; Defensa 1356; 3-8pm Mon, noon-8pm Tue-Sat) This funky little shop's racks are crowded with owner-designer Lilliana Zauberman's kaleidoscopic products: 1970s-style jersey dresses, whimsical ruffled bikinis, skirts printed with koi fish and frog patterns, cherry-red trench coats and handbags made from recycled materials. Around 60 designers sell their work here, so there's always something different, fun and new to keep an eye out for.\n\nPUNTO SUR CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-9320; www.feriapuntosur.com.ar; Defensa 1135; 11am-7:30pm) This is a great clothing store highlighting the works of over 60 Argentine designers. Creativity is rampant and it's a fun walk-through for one-of-a-kind funky threads, including interesting knitwear, colorful skirts, printed T-shirts, jewelry and accessories, cool handbags and even a few shoes. These are definitely clothes that make a statement.\n\nSIGNOS JEWELRY\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 15-5949-9193; www.signosac.blogspot.com.ar; Carlos Calvo 428; 11am-7pm Mon-Fri, to 5pm Sun) This is the tiny silversmithing shop of Alberto Codiani and Laura Romero, both artists who create beautiful jewelry. Amber, ammonites and precious stones are incorporated into unique pieces that are sure to attract attention. Custom work available; silversmithing classes also on offer.\n\nL'AGO HOUSEWARES, ACCESSORIES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-4702; Defensa 970; 11am-8pm) Kitschy-cool home decor \u2013 from fluorescent _mate_ sets and funky pillows to Frida Kahlo kitchen magnets, eclectic lighting, recycled Elvis wallets and Marilyn Monroe handbags \u2013 attracts hipsters and travelers to cute-as-a-button L'Ago. Also at Thames 1247 in Palermo.\n\nEN BUEN ORDEN ANTIQUES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 15-5936-2820; Carlos Calvo 431; 2-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-7pm Sun) If you fancy an old-fashioned little shop where you can sort through shelves full of knickknacks, old jewelry, Jackie O\u2013style sunglasses, old lace, musty shoes, opera gloves, pillbox hats and antique figurines, then this place is for you. Despite the name, there's no real order to the place.\n\nSan Telmo\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Plaza Dorrego C4\n\n Sights\n\n2Centro Cultural Torquato Tasso D6\n\n3Convento de Santo Domingo C1\n\n4El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados C2\n\n5Facultad de Ingenieria D3\n\n6Iglesia Nuestra Se\u00f1ora de Bel\u00e9n D4\n\n7Museo Argentino del T\u00edtere B3\n\n8Museo de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Buenos Aires D4\n\n9Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Mamba) D4\n\n10Museo del Traje B2\n\n11Museo Hist\u00f3rico Nacional D6\n\n12Museo Penitenciario D4\n\n13Parque Lezama D6\n\n14Pasaje de la Defensa C4\n\n Eating\n\n15Abuela Pan C2\n\n16Bar El Federal C3\n\n17Caf\u00e9 San Juan C4\n\n18Caf\u00e9 San Juan La Cantina C2\n\n19Casal de Catalunya B3\n\n20Comedor Nikkai B3\n\n21El Desnivel C3\n\n22Gran Parrilla del Plata C2\n\n23La Poesia C2\n\n24Origen Caf\u00e9 C4\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n25Bar Brit\u00e1nico D5\n\n26Bar Plaza Dorrego D4\n\n27Bar Sedd\u00f3n C2\n\n28Boutique B2\n\n29Coffee Town C3\n\n30Doppelg\u00e4nger C5\n\n31Gibraltar C3\n\n32La Puerta Roja B2\n\n33Pride Cafe D3\n\n Entertainment\n\n34Boutique C1\n\nCentro Cultural Torquato Tasso (see 2)\n\n35El Viejo Almac\u00e9n D2\n\n36Federaci\u00f3n Argentina de Pato C1\n\n37La Scala de San Telmo D3\n\n38La Trastienda D1\n\n39La Ventana D1\n\n40Tango Queer C2\n\n41Todo Mundo C4\n\n Shopping\n\n42Cualquier Verdura C4\n\n43En Buen Orden C3\n\n44Feria de San Telmo C4\n\n45Gil Antiguedades C4\n\n46Imhotep D3\n\n47L'Ago D3\n\n48Materia Urbana D2\n\n49Mercado de San Telmo C3\n\n50Moebius D5\n\n51Punto Sur C4\n\n52Puntos en el Espacio C3\n\n53Signos C3\n\n54Vinotango C3\n\n55Walrus Books C3\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n56Rayuela B3\n\n Sleeping\n\n57America del Sur B3\n\n58Bohemia Buenos Aires C3\n\n59Bonito San Telmo C5\n\n60Brisas del Mar B4\n\n61Casa y Mundo Bolivar C6\n\n62Circus Hostel & Hotel B4\n\n63Hostel Viejo Telmo A2\n\n64Lugar Gay D4\n\n65Mansi\u00f3n Vitraux D3\n\n66San Telmo Colonial B3\n\n67Scala Hotel A3\n\n68Terranova Hostel C4\n\n# La Boca\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nLa Boca\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighbourhood Top Five\n\n Strolling the cobblestones of El Caminito, lined with colorful shanties, art vendors and buskers performing for your spare change.\n\n Seeing the modern exhibits at Fundaci\u00f3n Proa, the neighborhood's cutting-edge art museum.\n\n Watching tango dancers strut their stuff while shopping nearby at the Feria de Artesanos Caminito.\n\n Analyzing the powerful artwork at Museo de Bellas Artes de La Boca Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn.\n\n Going to a _f\u00fatbol_ game at La Bombonera Stadium, home to the scrappy Boca Juniors team.\n\n### Explore: La Boca\n\nOn your way into La Boca, note the Casa Amarilla, in the 400s block along the main drag Av Almirante Brown. This is a replica of the country house belonging to Almirante Brown, the Irish founder of the Argentine navy. Three blocks further on (look to your left at the kink in the road), you'll notice the curious Gothic structure called Torre Fantasma (Ghost Tower). As you reach the Riachuelo, you can alight from your bus or taxi and walk the last few hundred meters. Get a good look at the Puente Nicol\u00e1s Avellaneda, which spans the Riachuelo, linking La Boca to the industrial suburb of Avellaneda; before the bridge's completion in 1940, floods had washed away several others. From here follow the riverside walkway all the way to El Caminito.\n\nBoca's main attractions \u2013 museums, shops, eateries, Bombonera stadium \u2013 are all within a few blocks of El Caminito. There's no reason to venture beyond the touristy streets in this neighborhood, whose bullies have a reputation for occasionally mugging careless tourists for their cameras. Be discreet, stick close to the busier streets and you should be fine. Buenos Aires' mayor, Mauricio Macri, is from La Boca and has been trying to improve the neighborhood by developing destinations such as the Usina del Arte; eventually he wants to gentrify the thoroughfare of Pedro de Mendoza, linking Puerto Madero with La Boca.\n\nThe symbol of the community's solidarity is the Boca Juniors soccer team, the former club of disgraced superstar Diego Maradona. The team plays at La Bombonera Stadium, which is just four blocks inland from the Riachuelo and contains a museum detailing the team's players and successes; you can take a peek at the stadium from this museum.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Stick to El Caminito La Boca's local life is pretty local, and should stay that way. Visitors should stay around the El Caminito area: muggings of obvious tourists (ie those carrying large cameras) have occurred.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take buses 29, 64 and 152 from Palermo and the center; they all end up at El Caminito.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nLa Boca is not the kind of neighborhood for casual strolls \u2013 it can be downright rough in spots. Don't stray far from the riverside walk, El Caminito (and its nearby tourist streets) or the Bombonera Stadium, especially while toting expensive cameras. And certainly don't cross the bridge over the Riachuelo; there's nothing to see there anyway. Anda Responsible Travel (Click here) and Graffitimundo (Click here) have good walking-tour options for this area.\n\n Best Places to Eat & Drink\n\n\u00bbIl Matterello\n\n\u00bbEl Obrero\n\n\u00bbProa Cafe\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Museums\n\n\u00bbFundaci\u00f3n Proa\n\n\u00bbMuseo de Bellas Artes de La Boca Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nHIROSHI HIGUCHI \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nEL CAMINITO\n\nLa Boca's most famous street \u2013 Argentina's only 'open air' museum \u2013 is a magnet for visitors, who come to witness its brightly painted houses. Meanwhile, artists sell their colorful paintings while tango dancers ask you to pose with them or behind cardboard cut-outs and nearby weekend craft stalls offer handmade goods. Everywhere there are groups of tourists taking photos \u2013 can you say 'tourist trap'?\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb The tiled reproductions of Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn's artwork on El Caminito's walls.\n\n\u00bb Exploring the inside of some _conventillos_ (tenements) \u2013 such as the one at Magallanes 861.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb Av Don Pedro de Mendoza, near Del Valle Iberlucea\n\nThis block-long cobbled walk does have its unique charms, though, like the various bas-reliefs and sculptures dotted about. And there are the super-colorful tenement shacks, covered in corrugated zinc and originally brushed with leftover paint that Genoese immigrants begged off ships. Surrounding streets also offer souvenirs, and restaurants with pleasant sidewalk tables.\n\nCaminito (or 'little path') was named after a 1926 tango song by composer Juan de Dios Filiberto and lyricist Gabino Coria Pe\u00f1aloza (hunt for the lyrics on a wall plaque), which tells of a love lost. This song inspired Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn, La Boca's most famous artist, to help create Caminito as the neighborhood's main landmark in 1955.\n\nQuinquela Mart\u00edn mostly painted dark scenes of the barrio's port on the Riachuelo and its workers. His house and workshop have been turned into a museum and are worth a visit, but you can get an idea of his style on Caminito. Look for a small tiled reproduction of his _Dia de Trabajo_ (Day of Work) on a green wall and a much bigger one of his _Regreso de la Pesca_ (Return from Fishing) at the end of the street, both by Ricardo S\u00e1nchez.\n\nAt the end of Caminito is a small plaza with a mural depicting past struggles of the neighborhood, such as the dangerous task of volunteer firemen and the faces of La Boca's 'disappeared' during the military regime. There are also other themes, such as Aztec figures and local _f\u00fatbol_ heroes.\n\n La Boca\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\nEL CAMINITO STREET\n\nSee Click here.\n\nFUNDACI\u00d3N PROA MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4104-1001; www.proa.org; Av Don Pedro de Mendoza 1929; admission AR$15; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun) Only the most cutting-edge national and international artists are invited to show at this elegant art museum, which features high ceilings, white walls and large display halls. Stunning contemporary installations utilize a wide variety of media and themes, while the rooftop terrace is _the_ stylish place in La Boca for relaxing with a drink or snack \u2013 it boasts a view of the Riachuelo. Plenty of cultural offerings include talks, lectures, workshops, music concerts and cinema screenings.\n\nProa also boasts video rooms, an auditorium and an impressive library.\n\nMUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE LA BOCA BENITO QUINQUELA MART\u00cdN MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4301-1080; Av Don Pedro de Mendoza 1835; suggested donation AR$10; 10am-6pm Tue-Fri, 11am-6pm Sat & Sun) Once the home and studio of Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn (1890\u20131977), this fine-arts museum exhibits his works and those of more contemporary Argentine artists. The top floor displays Mart\u00edn's surrealist paintings, whose broad, rough brush-strokes and dark colors use the port, silhouettes of laboring men, smokestacks and water reflections as recurring themes. There are outdoor sculptures on the rooftop terraces, and the top tier has awesome views of the port.\n\nIn keeping with the museum's maritime theme there is also a small but excellent permanent collection of painted wooden bowsprits, which are the carved statues projecting forward at the front of ships.\n\nMUSEO DE LA PASI\u00d3N BOQUENSE MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-1100; www.museoboquense.com; Brandsen 805; admission from AR$60; 10am-6pm) High-tech and spiffy, this _f\u00fatbol_ (soccer) museum chronicles the rough-and-tumble neighborhood of La Boca, La Bombonera Stadium (Click here), soccer idols' histories, the champion\u00adships, the trophies and, of course, the gooooals. There's a 360\u00b0 theater in a giant soccer-ball auditorium, an old jersey collection and a gift shop. The museum is right under the stadium, a couple of blocks from the tourist part of El Caminito; get a tour of the pitch for a few extra pesos.\n\nMUSEO HIST\u00d3RICO DE CERA MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4301-1497; www.museodecera.com.ar; Del Valle Iberlucea 1261; admission AR$20; 11:30am-7pm Mon-Fri, 11am-8pm Sat & Sun; 29, 64, 152) Wax reconstructions of historical figureheads (literally) and dioramas of scenes in Argentine history are the specialty of this small and tacky private institution. Among the historical Argentine personages depicted are no less than Juan de Sol\u00eds, Guillermo Brown, Mendoza, Garay and Rosas. In addition, there are also stuffed snakes and creepy wax limbs depicting bite wounds \u2013 all barely worth the price of admission.\n\n### MARADONA & MESSI\n\nBorn in 1960 in abject poverty in a Buenos Aires shantytown, Diego Armando Maradona played his first professional game before his 16th birthday. Transferring to his beloved Boca Juniors, he continued to prosper. After a good showing at the 1982 World Cup, he moved to Europe. Here, his genius inspired unfashionable Napoli to two league titles, and in 1986 he single-handedly won the World Cup for a very average Argentina side. In the quarter-final against England, he scored a goal first with his hand \u2013 later saying the goal was scored partly by the hand of God \u2013 and then a second one with his feet, after a mesmerizing run through the flummoxed defense that led to its being named the Goal of the Century by FIFA.\n\nBut the big time also ruined Diego. Earning huge sums of money, Maradona became addicted to cocaine and the high life. A succession of drug-related bans, lawsuits and weight issues meant that by his retirement in 1997 he had been a shadow of his former self for some years.\n\nSince his retirement, overdoses, heart attacks, detoxes, his own TV program and offbeat friendships have all been par for the course in the Maradona circus. Most unbelievably of all, he was chosen to manage the national team: the highlight in a colorful spell \u2013 after qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa \u2013 was his triumphant suggestion that his critics could pleasure him orally. Nevertheless, those numerous touches of magic in the number 10 shirt have sealed his immortality. To many Argentines, the hand of God and the hand of Maradona are one and the same.\n\nEvery talented Argentine since has been dogged with the label 'the new Maradona', but these days there's one who's the real deal. Rosario-bred Lionel Messi, a little genius who runs at defenses with the ball seemingly glued to his feet, has been captivating the world with his prodigious talents and record-breaking goal-scoring feats for Barcelona and, increasingly, for the national team. Many shrewd judges consider him better even than the great Diego, and his humble off-field demeanor is certainly an improvement. If he manages to inspire the _albiceleste_ (Argentina's national football team) to win the World Cup again, it will truly be the Second Coming.\n\n_Andy Symington_\n\n La Boca\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nThough limited to just a handful of streets, the tourist area of La Boca does contain a number of traditional Argentine eateries \u2013 mostly offering classic steaks and pastas. As long as you don't expect fine cuisine, you shouldn't be disappointed.\n\n PROA CAFE CAFE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4104-1003; www.proa.org\/eng\/cafe.php; Av Don Pedro de Mendoza 1929; mains AR$45-80; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun) Chef Lucas Angelillo presides over this airy eatery on the top floor of Fundaci\u00f3n Proa. Stop in briefly for a fresh juice and gourmet sandwich, or stay longer and order a meat, seafood or pasta dish. Don't miss the rooftop terrace on a warm, sunny day \u2013 you'll get good views of the Riachuelo, hopefully without its corresponding scents.\n\nIL MATTERELLO ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4307-0529; Mart\u00edn Rodr\u00edguez 517; mains AR$80-120; noon-midnight Tue-Sat) This Genovese trattoria serves up awesome lasagne bolognese and _tagliatelle alla rucola_ (tagliatelle with arugula). For a special treat, however, try the _tortelli bianchi con burro foso al aglio_ (pasta pillows stuffed with chard and Parmesan in a burned garlic sauce). For dessert there's a great tiramisu and seasonal _crostate_ (cream-filled pastry). Also in Palermo ( 4831-8493; cnr Thames & Gorriti).\n\nEL OBRERO PARRILLA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-9912; Agust\u00edn R Caffarena 64; mains AR$60-100; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight Mon-Sat) The same family has been running El Obrero since 1954, and a number of famous people have passed through over the years, including Bono and Robert Duvall (check out the photos on the walls). You'll also see old Boca Juniors jerseys, antique furniture, old tile floors and chalkboards showing the day's specials and standard _parrilla_ fare. Take a taxi.\n\n### LA BOCA'S COLORS & THE RIACHUELO\n\nIn the mid-19th century, La Boca became home to poor Spanish and Italian immigrants who settled along the Riachuelo \u2013 the sinuous river that divides the city from the surrounding province of Buenos Aires. Many of them came during the booming 1880s and ended up working in the numerous meat-packing plants and warehouses here, processing and shipping out much of Argentina's vital beef. After sprucing up the barges, the port dwellers splashed leftover paint on the corrugated-metal siding of their houses, unwittingly giving the neighborhood what would become one of its main claims to fame.\n\nHowever, La Boca's other leftover industrial materials have also eventually found their way into the river. Decades of untreated sewage, garbage dumping and industrial wastes have taken their toll, and today the abandoned port's waters are trapped under a thick layer of incredibly smelly rainbow sludge. For years politicians have vowed to clean up the river, but funds have been misappropriated by the corrupt and very little money has actually gone into improving the river's situation. Rusting boat hulks have been removed and other efforts have taken place, but the Riachuelo's health does not look to be improving in the near future. If you can stand the smell, take a walk along the riverfront path to get a close-up look at the poor Riachuelo \u2013 and hope that some day, someone in power will actually do something to clean it up.\n\n La Boca\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nUSINA DEL ARTE THEATER\n\n(; Agust\u00edn Caffarena 1) This restored old electricity factory is a valiant attempt to breathe new life into an edgy section of La Boca. It's a gorgeous red-brick building complete with scenic clock tower, and its concert hall is now the home to Buenos Aires' philharmonic and national symphony orchestras.\n\nThe Usina can hold up to 1200 spectators and also hosts dance, theater and art exhibitions \u2013 the acoustics are top-notch. It's open only during concerts and guided tours; check the city's website for current happenings.\n\nLA BOMBONERA STADIUM STADIUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Brandsen) The La Bombonera Stadium is home of the Boca Juniors football team \u2013 the former club of disgraced superstar Diego Armando Maradona. You can take a peek at it via the Museo de la Pasi\u00f3n Boquense (Click here). Game tickets are hard to come by \u2013 it's best to go via travel or tour agencies like Tangol (Click here).\n\nTEATRO DE LA RIBERA THEATER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4302-1536; Av Don Pedro de Mendoza 1821) This small, colorful theater, funded by famous Argentine painter Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn, was built in 1971 and holds nearly 650 seats. Check out the upright piano in the lobby; it was painted by Quinquela Mart\u00edn.\n\n La Boca\n\nSights | Eating | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nFERIA DE ARTESANOS CAMINITO STREET MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Caminito & Mendoza; noon-6pm Thu-Sun & holidays) Homemade crafts and tango-themed goods are for sale at this small and lively crafts fair, giving La Boca even more color than usual. Tango dancers and buskers compete for your attention, and along Caminito itself are many drawings, paintings and pictures to buy.\n\nLa Boca\n\n Top Sights\n\n1El Caminito B5\n\n Sights\n\n2Fundaci\u00f3n Proa B5\n\n3Museo de Bellas Artes de La Boca Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn C5\n\n4Museo de la Pasi\u00f3n Boquense B4\n\n5Museo Hist\u00f3rico de Cera B5\n\n Eating\n\n6El Obrero C3\n\n7Il Matterello B3\n\nProa Cafe (see 2)\n\n Entertainment\n\n8Estadio Luis Conde B3\n\n9La Bombonera Stadium B4\n\nTeatro de la Ribera (see 3)\n\n Shopping\n\n10Feria de Artesanos Caminito C5\n\n# Retiro\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nRetiro\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Wandering around Plaza San Mart\u00edn and getting an eyeful of the impressive surrounding buildings.\n\n Touring the opulent mansion Palacio Paz, once Argentina's largest private residence at 12,000 sq meters.\n\n Splurging on dinner at one of Retiro's five-star hotel restaurants like Elena and Le Sud.\n\n Checking out the amazing silverwork at Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fern\u00e1ndez Blanco.\n\n Being astounded by the quantity of lethal weapons at Museo de Armas.\n\n### Explore: Retiro\n\nRetiro is a small, compact neighborhood most easily seen on foot. Wander around the Plaza San Mart\u00edn area, perhaps touring a mansion or two \u2013 just double-check the visiting times as they're very limited. The museums around here also tend to be open just in the afternoon and closed on Mondays, so plan ahead if you want to visit them. Join the crowds on pedestrian Calle Florida and follow it down into the Center; Reconquista is another pedestrian street that isn't quite as crowded and better for taking a lunch or coffee break, as there are many restaurants with sidewalk tables there.\n\nFor any tips on Buenos Aires or Argentina, stop by the Secretar\u00eda de Turismo de la Naci\u00f3n, at Av Santa Fe 883 \u2013 it's located at the end of a hallway entrance and has good information and plenty of pamphlets. If you're heading north, walk on Esmeralda or Suipacha to Arroyo. The Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fern\u00e1ndez Blanco is not far from here and has a leafy garden if you need a green break. Continue west, crossing Av 9 de Julio into Recoleta; you're now on upscale Av Alvear. As you follow this route you'll see plenty of gorgeous art deco buildings built by European immigrants decades ago.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Hanging Out Sip a coffee or down a drink at one of the neighborhood's many cafes or bars catering to thirsty businesspeople.\n\n\u00bb Picnic On a sunny day, grab a to-go lunch and head to Plaza San Mart\u00edn's grassy lawns to join the locals out for some fresh air.\n\n\u00bb Shopping Feel the bustle (and hustle!) of porte\u00f1o crowds on Calle Florida, which starts near Plaza San Mart\u00edn and heads south.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take bus 59 from Recoleta and Palermo, buses 22, 45 and 126 from San Telmo, bus 150 from Congreso.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00ednea C connects Retiro with the Congreso and western edge of San Telmo.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nCalle Florida heaves with people of all kinds doing all sorts of things \u2013 businesspeople power- walking, tourists shopping, vendors selling, buskers busking. It's also dotted every few meters with _arbolitos_ \u2013 'little trees,' or street money changers. With the US dollar being in such high demand, these shady figures are trying to bring in as much revenue as possible. While some have used them successfully, be aware that fake bills and scams do exist.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbElena\n\n\u00bbLe Sud\n\n\u00bbDill & Drinks\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbFlorer\u00eda Atl\u00e1ntico\n\n\u00bbMili\u00f3n\n\n\u00bbFlorida Garden\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Buildings\n\n\u00bbPalacio Paz\n\n\u00bbEdificio Kavanagh\n\n\u00bbPalacio San Mart\u00edn\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nSTEFANO PATERNA PHOTOGRAPHY \/ ALAMY \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nPALACIO PAZ\n\nOnce a private residence, this opulent, French-style palace (1909; also called Palacio Retiro) is the grandest in BA. Inside its 12,000 sq meters are three wings, four floors and 140 rooms decorated with marble columns and gilded accents, while halls boast beautiful wood-carved details and velvet-covered walls. It's worth visiting to get an idea of the richness that Argentina once represented.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb The circular Hall of Honor, decorated with mosaic floors, marble details and a stained-glass cupola.\n\n\u00bb The Presidential Room, where hermaphroditic figures look uneasy as they are stabbed in their genitals.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb C\u00edrculo Militar\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb 4311-1071 ext 147\n\n\u00bb www.palaciopaz.com.ar\n\n\u00bb Av Santa Fe 750\n\n\u00bb tours in English\/Spanish AR$55\/45\n\n\u00bb English tours 3:30pm Wed & Thu, Spanish tours 11am & 3pm Wed-Fri, 11am Sat\n\nJos\u00e9 Camilo Paz, founder of the still-running news\u00adpaper _La Prensa,_ originally commissioned French architect Louis-Marie Henri Sortais to design and build his personal mansion in 1902. Construction took 12 years and finished in 1914; unfortunately, Paz couldn't see his completed masterpiece as he had passed away two years earlier (check out his family's elaborate tomb in Recoleta cemetery). He also couldn't realize his aspiration to become Argentina's president and make Palacio Paz his presidential residence.\n\nNearly all of the palace's materials \u2013 including the marble \u2013 were shipped from France. There's a definite resemblance to the Palace of Versailles, especially in the ballroom, but other rooms show more of a Louis XVI, Renaissance or Tudor style. With seven elevators and 40 bathrooms, it remains Argentina's largest single-family home ever built.\n\nOne section of the palace has been a military officer's club since 1938, and the Museo de Armas (Click here) takes up another wing. The palace can only be visited via guided tours on certain days, so plan ahead.\n\n Retiro\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\nPALACIO PAZ NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nSee Click here.\n\nPLAZA SAN MART\u00cdN PLAZA\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\nFrench landscape architect Carlos Thays designed the leafy Plaza San Mart\u00edn, which is surrounded by some of Buenos Aires' most impressive public buildings. The park's most prominent monument is the obligatory equestrian statue of Jos\u00e9 de San Mart\u00edn; important visiting dignitaries often come to honor the country's liberator by leaving wreaths at its base. On the downhill side of the park you'll see the Monumento a los Ca\u00eddos de Malvinas , a memorial to the young men who died in the Falklands War.\n\nRetiro was the site of a monastery during the 17th century, and later became the country _retiro_ (retreat) of Agust\u00edn de Robles, a Spanish governor. Since then, Plaza San Mart\u00edn \u2013 which sits on a bluff \u2013 has played host to a slave market, a military fort and even a bullring. Things are much quieter and more exclusive these days.\n\nAt the south end of the plaza is Estaci\u00f3n Retiro (Retiro train station), which was built in 1915 when the British controlled the country's railroads.\n\nMUSEO DE ARMAS MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Weapons Museum; 4311-1071 ext 179; www.museodearmas.com.ar; Santa Fe 702; admission AR$10; 1-7pm Tue-Fri, 2-7pm Sat) Even if you've spent time in the armed forces, you probably have never seen so many weapons of destruction. This maze-like museum exhibits a frighteningly large but excellent collection of over 3000 bazookas, grenade launchers, cannons, machine guns, muskets, pistols, armor, lances and swords; even the gas mask for a combat horse is on display. The evolution of rifles and handguns is especially thoroughly documented, and there's a small but impressive Japanese weapons room.\n\nThe whole collection is very extensive, impressive, clean and well labeled.\n\nPALACIO HAEDO NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Av Santa Fe 690) On an odd triangular block at the corner of Florida and Santa Fe, the neo-Gothic Palacio Haedo was the mansion of the Haedo family at the turn of the 19th century; it now houses the country's national park service.\n\nPALACIO SAN MART\u00cdN NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4819-7000 ext 8092; Arenales 761; L\u00ednea C San Mart\u00edn) This impressive art nouveau mansion (1912) is actually three independent buildings around a stone courtyard. It was designed by architect Alejandro Christophersen and boasts marble staircases, grandiose dining rooms and a garden containing a chunk of the Berlin Wall. A small but good museum displays pre-Columbian artifacts from the northwest, along with some paintings by Latin American artists. Free tours happen at 3pm on Thursdays (bring ID), but can be suspended at any time. Enter via Esmeralda 1231.\n\nOriginally built for the powerful Anchorena family, Palacio San Mart\u00edn later became the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry; today it's used mostly for official purposes.\n\nEDIFICIO KAVANAGH NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Florida 1035) A feisty Irishwoman funded the construction of this handsome 120m art-deco apartment building, which was the tallest skyscraper in Latin America at the time of its construction in 1935. A local rumor claims that the heiress, vengeful towards another aristocratic family for scorning her daughter, built the structure that high to block light from entering the basilica where her rivals attended Mass every Sunday.\n\nBAS\u00cdLICA DE SANT\u00cdSIMO SACRAMENTO CHURCH\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza San Mart\u00edn 1039) In the shadow of the Kavanagh building is this French-style church built by the Anchorena family in 1916. Inside, check out the original tiled floor, stained-glass windows, stone columns and wedding-cake-like altar.\n\nTORRE DE LOS INGLESES LANDMARK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Torre Monumental; 4311-0186; Plaza Fuerza A\u00e9rea Argentina; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6:30pm Sat & Sun; L\u00ednea C Retiro) F Standing prominently across from Plaza San Mart\u00edn, this 76m-high miniature version of London's Big Ben was a donation from the city's British community in 1916. During the Falklands War of 1982 the tower was the target of bombs, and the government officially renamed it Torre Monumental \u2013 but the name never really stuck. You can enter inside the base of the tower, where there are a few historical photos, but folks aren't allowed up the elevator.\n\nThe plaza in which it stands used to be called Plaza Brit\u00e1nica, but is now the Plaza Fuerza A\u00e9rea Argentina (Argentine Air Force Plaza).\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE HISPANOAMERICANO ISAAC FERN\u00c1NDEZ BLANCO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Palacio Noel; 4327-0228; www.museofernandezblanco.buenosaires.gob.ar; Suipacha 1422; admission AR$5; 2-7pm Tue-Fri, 11am-7pm Sat & Sun) Dating from 1921, this museum is in an old mansion of the neocolonial Peruvian style that developed as a reaction against French influences in turn-of-the-19th-century Argentine architecture. Its exceptional collection of colonial art includes silverwork from Alto Per\u00fa (present-day Bolivia), religious paintings and baroque instruments. There's little effort to place items in any historical context, but everything is in great condition and well lit, and the curved ceiling in the main salon is beautifully painted. There's also a peaceful garden.\n\nAlso known as the Palacio Noel, after the designing architect, the museum building and its collections suffered damage (since repaired) from the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy, which at the time was located at Arroyo and Suipacha. The space where the embassy was located has since become a small memorial park; you can still see the outline of the building on a neighboring wall.\n\nThe museum has an annex in the Congreso neighborhood at Hip\u00f3lito Yirogoyen 1420 (open noon to 6pm Tuesday to Friday and 11am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday) whose main strength is an antique doll collection.\n\nTEATRO NACIONAL CERVANTES NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4815-8883; www.teatrocervantes.gov.ar; Libertad 815) Six blocks southwest of Plaza San Mart\u00edn, you can't help but notice the lavishly ornamented Cervantes theater. From the grand tiled lobby to the main theater, with its plush red-velvet chairs, you can smell the long history of this place (somewhat musty). The Cervantes is definitely showing its age, with worn carpeting and rough edges, but improvement projects are planned. Until then, enjoy the elegance \u2013 however faded \u2013 with a tour (call for current schedules). It presents theater, comedy, musicals and dance at affordable prices.\n\nThe landmark building dates from 1921 and was built with private funds, but was acquired by the state in 1926. Its facade was designed as a replica of Spain's Universidad de Alcal\u00e1 de Henares. The building underwent remodeling after a fire in 1961.\n\nMUSEO NACIONAL DEL TEATRO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4815-8883 ext 156; cnr Av C\u00f3rdoba & Libertad; 10am-6pm Mon-Fri) F This small museum traces Argentine theater from its colonial beginnings, stressing the 19th-century contributions of the Podest\u00e1 family \u2013 Italian immigrants who popularized the _gauchesca_ (gaucho literature) drama _Juan Moreira_. Items include a gaucho suit worn by Gardel in his Hollywood film _El d\u00eda que me quieras_ and the _bandone\u00f3n_ belonging to Paquita Bernardo, the first Argentine woman to play the accordionlike instrument (she died of tuberculosis in 1925 at the age of 25).\n\nThere's also a photo gallery of famous Argentine stage actors.\n\n### AVENIDA 9 DE JULIO\n\nIt's one Buenos Aires landmark that all visitors to the city will have to cross, in one way or another \u2013 Avenida 9 de Julio, hailed as the world's widest avenue and named after Argentina's independence day. It's only one kilometer long but 16 lanes wide (140 m) \u2013 and takes a walking pedestrian at least two traffic-light cycles to cross, via raised islands. _If_ they don't dillydally.\n\nWhen the widening construction started in 1935, the avenue was considered a patriotic symbol of the city's modern aspirations. Designers modelled it on Paris' Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es, but made it twice as wide as a way to one-up its predecessor. For the construction, dozens of blocks of traditionally-styled European buildings had to be demolished through the city's center, and thousands of residents displaced. It was an epic destruction of glorious architecture \u2013 all in the name of progress. But one significant building refused to be touched; the original French Embassy. It still stands today, as the lanes of 9 de Julio forcefully curve around it.\n\nIt took until 1980 to fully complete the widening of Avenida 9 de Julio. Today, several landmark buildings and monuments dot the thoroughfare. At its southern end lies Plaza de la Constituci\u00f3n, home to a Beaux-arts train station (but not a safe place to hang out, day or night). At Av de Mayo is a statue of Don Quixote astride his horse. A bit further north, the 67m-high white Obelisco punctuates the sky, while nearby is the beautiful neoclassical facade of the Teatro Col\u00f3n opera house. And finally, at the northern end of the avenue, you'll find the French Embassy \u2013 which stuck to its guns and won the right to remain.\n\n Retiro\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nRestaurants in Retiro tend to cater to the business crowds, offering good-value midday specials and food to go \u2013 so all you have to do is find yourself a nice, grassy spot or shady bench in nearby Plaza San Mart\u00edn where you can enjoy your impromptu picnic. Don't ignore the area's bars and cafes, which also serve meals and are sometimes more casual and interesting than traditional restaurants, and of course also offer a wider range of drinking options.\n\nEL CUARTITO PIZZA $\n\n( 4816-1758; Talcahuano 937; slices AR$10-14, pizzas AR$75-150; 12:30pm-1am Sun & Tue-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) In a hurry? Think fast, order and pay for your piece of pie, then eat at the counters standing up. Not only is it cheaper and faster this way, but you can enjoy the old sports posters without turning around. You can't get more local or traditional, and while it's mostly full of businessmen and male waiters, the gals are equally welcome. Sit down for more menu choices.\n\nDILL & DRINKS INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4515-0675; www.dillanddrinks.com; San Marti\u00edn 986; mains AR$70-140; noon-6pm Mon, to 2am Tue-Fri, 2pm-2am Sat) Here's an intimate bar-restaurant with contemporary and trendy design. Order the daily lunch special, which includes a principal plate and two cocktails (!), the latter made with fresh juices and fruits. Bring your own Negroni recipe; it'll be filed away in their collection. Dishes are made with quality ingredients and can be things such as shrimp risotto or pork medallions in honey mustard.\n\nGRAN BAR DANZ\u00d3N INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4811-1108; Libertad 1161; mains AR$90-150; 7pm-2am Mon, to 2:30am Tue, to 3am Wed, to 3:30am Thu, to 4am Fri, 8pm-4am Sat, 8am-2am Sun) It's hard to be hipper than this popular lounge-bar-restaurant. A cool-looking wine-conservation system makes it possible to order several wines by the glass, easily paired with the duck confit, grilled salmon or mushroom risotto. The food is fine, if not fabulous, but make no mistake \u2013 you're here for the scene, the beautiful people and, of course, the Bonarda and Torront\u00e9s.\n\nFILO ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4311-0312; www.filo-ristorante.com; San Mart\u00edn 975; mains AR$75-110; noon-1am) Popular with the business lunch crowd, this large, pop-art-style Italian pizzeria tosses great thin-crust pies with fresh toppings \u2013 try a pie piled high with prosciutto and arugula. Other tasty choices include _panini,_ gourmet salads, various pastas and a whirlwind of desserts. The menu is extensive \u2013 there's something to please just about everyone here.\n\nDAD\u00c1 INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4814-4787; San Mart\u00edn 941; mains AR$75-130; noon-2am Mon-Thu, to 5am Fri & Sat) The tiny bohemian Dad\u00e1, with walls painted red and a bar cluttered with wine bottles, feels like an unassuming neighborhood bar in Paris. Order something savory off the bistro menu \u2013 the fresh guacamole and homemade potato chips are perfect for sharing. At night you can dine on grilled salmon and down an expertly mixed cocktail.\n\n ELENA MODERN ARGENTINE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4321-1728; www.elenaponyline.com; Four Seasons Hotel, Posadas 1086; mains AR$200-250; 6:30-11am, 12:30-3:30pm & 7:30pm-1am) If you're looking for a splurge night out, Elena should be your destination. Located in the Four Seasons Hotel, this highly-rated restaurant uses the best ingredients and cooking methods to create superb dishes. Order the dry-aged rib-eye steak or seared prawns with charred baby fennel for something really special. Expect the cocktails, desserts and service to be five-star as well.\n\n LE SUD FRENCH $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4131-0131; Hotel Sofitel, Arroyo 841; mains AR$150-235; 6:30-11am, 12:30-3pm & 7:30pm-midnight) For a taste of Europe, dress up and head on over to Le Sud, one of the city's finest French restaurants, elegantly ensconced in a posh hotel. Chef Olivier Falchi whips out simple yet authentic French fusion dishes like brie and squash ravioli, seafood paella with smoked paprika and grilled lamb chops with goat cheese. The five-course tasting menu is AR$780.\n\nSIPAN PERUVIAN $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4315-0763; www.sipanrestaurants.com; Paraguay 624; mains AR$100-200; noon-4pm & 8pm-1am Mon-Fri, 8pm-1am Sat) Japanese-\u00adPeruvian food is all the rage in BA, and Sipan is at the head of it. Tucked away in a shopping gallery, this sleek, low-lit restaurant turns out imaginative sushi and seviche, along with fancier dishes like seafood appetizers heaped high on ceramic spoons, and stir-fried tamarind pork. Try the passion-fruit pisco sour \u2013 it's delicious. Also in Palermo at the Hotel Palermitano.\n\nEL FEDERAL ARGENTINE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4313-1324; www.elfederalrestaurante.com; San Martin 1015; mains AR$110-170; 10am-midnight Mon-Sat) This traditional corner eatery is something of a neighborhood institution. You'll find Argentinian comfort food \u2013 simple pastas, steaks and _empanadas_ \u2013 as well as higher-end specialties like Patagonian lamb, _\u00f1andu milanesas_ (cutlets of the emu-like, flightless _\u00f1andu_ ) and northern river fish. Elaborate desserts top things off, and a rustic wooden bar adds charm. The lunchtime _menu ejecutivo_ is only AR$70 to AR$90.\n\n Retiro\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nRetiro has a good range of bars and cafes that cater to businesspeople during the day and into the evening, and at night attract the traveler-expat crowd.\n\n FLORER\u00cdA ATL\u00c1NTICO COCKTAIL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4313-6093; Arroyo 872) One of BA's hottest bars, this basement speakeasy is located within a flower shop, adding an air of mystery and likely a main reason for its success. Hipsters, artists, chefs, businesspeople and expats all flock here for the excellent cocktails, whether they're classic or unique \u2013 and the lack of gas lines means all of the delicious tapas and main dishes are cooked on the _parrilla_ grill.\n\nIf you're a gin lover, note that the owner, Renato Giovannonni, produces and sells his own brand \u2013 called 'Pr\u00edncipe de los Ap\u00f3stoles' \u2013 aromatically infused with mint, grapefruit, eucalyptus and _yerba mate_. Reserve ahead for dinner.\n\nMILI\u00d3N COCKTAIL BAR\n\n( 4815-9925; www.milion.com.ar; Paran\u00e1 1048; 6pm-2am Sun-Wed, to 3am Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat) This elegant and sexy bar takes up three floors of a renovated old mansion. The garden out back is a leafy paradise, overlooked by a solid balcony that holds the best seats in the house. Nearby marble steps are also an appealing place to lounge with a frozen mojito or basil daiquiri, the tastiest cocktails on the menu. Downstairs, the restaurant serves passable inter\u00adnational dishes.\n\nFLORIDA GARDEN CAF\u00c9\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-7902; Florida 899; 6am-midnight Mon-Fri, to 11pm Sat, 8am-11pm Sun) Usually full of businesspeople drinking up a storm of coffee, this two-story cafe \u2013 now sporting modern touches such as glass walls and copper-covered columns \u2013 was historically popular with politicians, artists and writers. In fact, Jorge Luis Borges and P\u00e9rez C\u00e9lis (a famous Argentine painter) used to hang out here before the era of skinny lattes. The people-watching here is excellent.\n\nCAF\u00c9 RETIRO CAF\u00c9\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4516-0902; Retiro Station Lobby, Ramos Meija 1358; 6:30am-9pm Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm Sat) Catching a train out of town? Allow an extra half hour for coffee at this grand cafe, which boasts soaring ceilings, polished wood and a bronze interior. One of the original fixtures of the station, built in 1915, the cafe has undergone a thorough restoration \u2013 the chandeliers twinkle beautifully at night. Look for it nearly across from the Torre de los Ingleses.\n\nDRUID IN IRISH PUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-3688; Reconquista 1040; noon-midnight Mon-Fri, to 3am Sat) This cozy Irish pub sports an intimate and uncrowded atmosphere. A wide range of aged whiskeys, imported liquor, blended cocktails and a handful of beers temper the pizza, sandwiches and British food that is served. Live rock, jazz, Celtic or Irish music groups may occasionally play.\n\nKILKENNY IRISH PUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-7291; Marcelo T de Alvear 399; noon-4am Mon-Thu, to 5am Fri & Sat, 7pm-1am; ) Buenos Aires' most popular Irish bar has become, well, just too damn popular. Weekends are a crush and thumping music makes it hard to chat up your date, but the dark-woodsy atmosphere is congenial enough. Come early on weekdays if you want to score one of the cozy deep booths for easy conversation. There's a good whiskey and beer selection, too.\n\nFLUX BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5252-0258; Marcelo T de Alvear 980; 7pm-3am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat) Run by a friendly Englishman and his Russian partner, this gay bar is hetero-friendly \u2013 so everyone's welcome to come on down. The large basement space has a slightly artsy feel. Feeling adventurous? Try the Buenos Aires iced tea (made with Fernet, that popular Argentine mixer that's something of an acquired taste). Happy hour runs every day from 7pm till 10pm.\n\n Retiro\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nTEATRO COLISEO CLASSICAL MUSIC\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4816-3789; www.fundacioncoliseo.com.ar; Marcelo T de Alvear 1125) Classical music, jazz, ballet, opera and symphony orchestras entertain at this theater most of the year, but a few surprises \u2013 such as Argentine-American rock star Kevin Johansen \u2013 occasionally show up.\n\n Retiro\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nThe Retiro neighborhood, is classy, expensive and home to a fair share of the city's upscale leather shops and art galleries. But it also serves the downtown business and tourism sector, with a mix of bookstores, outdoor clothing stores, and souvenir and wine shops.\n\nAUTOR\u00cdA ART, ACCESSORIES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5252-2474; www.autoriabsas.com.ar; Suipacha 1025; 9:30am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm Sat) This cool designer's showcase \u2013 stocked with edgy art books, sculptural fashions, whimsical leather desk sculptures and unique jewelry of all materials (silk cocoons!) \u2013 strives to promote Argentine designers. Especially interesting are the recycled materials \u2013 check out the bags made of tyvek, inner tubes, firehoses or even old sails. Products are of high quality and prices are accessible.\n\nMEMORABILIA CRAFTS & TEXTILES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4811-7698; www.memorabiliabazar.com; Arenales 1170; 11am-7:30pm Mon-Fri, to 1:30pm Sat) For unique, fun and handmade Argentine items, explore the corners of this tiny boutique. The stock is ever-changing, but can include such things as ceramic bowls and mugs painted in animal faces, silver jewelry in super-creative shapes and a few knit tops for women. Expect cute small items easily packed into a suitcase for the flight back home.\n\nPATIO BULLRICH SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4814-7500; www.shoppingbullrich.com.ar; Av del Libertador 750; 10am-9pm) Buenos Aires' most exclusive shopping center once hosted livestock auctions, but these days it tends toward sales of Persian rugs, double-breasted tweed suits and Dior's latest designs. Three floors hold fine boutiques such as Lacoste, Salvatore Ferragamo and Tiffany & Co, along with fancy coffee shops, a cinema complex and a food court.\n\nCASA L\u00d3PEZ LEATHER GOODS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4311-3044; www.casalopez.com.ar; Marcelo T de Alvear 640\/658; 9am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat & Sun) Start up the limousine and make sure there's enough room for some of BA's finest selection of quality leather jackets, luggage, bags and accessories. The look is conservative, not hip; service is almost too attentive, so be prepared to chat. Other branches are located in Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico and Patio Bullrich.\n\nLA MARTINA SPORTING EQUIPMENT\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4576-7999; www.lamartina.com; Paraguay 661; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat) Polo is a high-class sport in Buenos Aires, an unmistakable symbol of wealth and refinement \u2013 but even if you've never mounted a horse, it's interesting to look around at the gorgeous leather riding boots, helmets and saddles at Argentina's premier polo shop. Street wear clothes are also available if you don't ride.\n\nGABRIELLA CAPUCCI FASHION\n\n( 4815-3636; Av Alvear 1477; 10:30am-8pm Mon-Sat) While certainly not for everyone, this girly boutique is undeniably unlike other stuffy ones on this upscale avenue. Come check out the unique sequined T-shirts, creative handbags, wispy scarves, vintage tops and eclectic rhinestone accessories. Expect also a load of crocheted flowers, huge beads, satin and animal prints, wild costume jewelry and a general over-saturation of bright colors. Real men \u2013 wait for your gals outside.\n\nGALER\u00cdA 5TA AVENIDA SHOPPING MALL\n\n(Av Santa Fe 1270; noon-8pm Mon-Sat) Looking for vintage or secondhand clothing? This old shopping gallery is an obligatory stop. Used funky wearables are sold here at several shops, and prices are relatively fair for even the grungiest backpacker. Find the bargain racks for the best deals, though some selections are for the desperate only. Individual store hours vary widely, with many opening after 4pm.\n\nRetiro\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Palacio Paz C5\n\n Sights\n\n2Bas\u00edlica de Sant\u00edsimo Sacramento D5\n\n3Edificio Kavanagh D5\n\n4Monumento a los Caidos de Malvinas D4\n\n5Museo de Armas C5\n\n6Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fern\u00e1ndez Blanco B2\n\n7Museo Nacional del Teatro A6\n\n8Palacio Haedo C5\n\n9Palacio San Mart\u00edn C4\n\n10Plaza San Mart\u00edn D4\n\n11Teatro Nacional Cervantes A6\n\n12Torre de los Ingleses D3\n\n Eating\n\n13Dad\u00e1 D5\n\n14Dill & Drinks D5\n\n15El Federal D5\n\nElena (see 37)\n\n16Filo D5\n\n17Gran Bar Danz\u00f3n A4\n\n18Le Sud C3\n\n19Sipan D5\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n20Buller Brewing Company E5\n\n21Caf\u00e9 Retiro D3\n\n22Druid In E4\n\n23Florer\u00eda Atl\u00e1ntico B3\n\n24Florida Garden D5\n\n25Flux B5\n\n26Kilkenny E5\n\n Entertainment\n\n27British Arts Centre B3\n\n28Teatro Coliseo A5\n\nTeatro Nacional Cervantes (see 11)\n\n Shopping\n\n29Autor\u00eda B5\n\n30Arte y Esperanza B6\n\n31Casa L\u00f3pez D5\n\n32La Martina D5\n\n33Memorabilia A4\n\n34Patio Bullrich A1\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n35Tangol D5\n\n Sleeping\n\n36Casa Calma B5\n\n37Four Seasons A2\n\n38Hotel Pulitzer C5\n\n39Hotel Tres Sargentos E5\n\n# Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Map\nRecoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Wandering the elegant sarcophagi in Cementerio de la Recoleta, an astonishing necropolis where, in death as in life, generations of the Argentine elite rest in ornate splendor.\n\n Relaxing on the sunny patio of one of the many restaurants or cafes on RM Ortiz.\n\n Finding that perfect hand-made souvenir in one of the dozens of stalls at Feria Plaza Francia.\n\n Seeking out the beautiful European impressionistic artwork at Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes.\n\n Getting a close-up look at Floralis Gen\u00e9rica, an interesting giant metal flower sculpture.\n\n### Explore: Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nRecoleta's main attractions are concentrated around the cemetery. This fashionable barrio was, interestingly enough, first constructed as a result of sickness. Many upper-class _porte\u00f1os_ in the 1870s originally lived in southerly San Telmo, but during the yellow-fever epidemic they relocated as far away as they could, which meant clear across town to Recoleta and Barrio Norte. Today you can best see much of the wealth of this sumptuous quarter on Av Alvear, where many of the old mansions (and newer boutiques) are located.\n\nBehind the cemetery is the impressive Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes \u2013 this national art museum is free, but note that it's closed in the mornings and on Mondays. And just beyond the museum is the landmark flower sculpture _Floralis Gen\u00e9rica_. From here you can walk to Palermo's fancy Malba museum and green parks in about 15 to 20 minutes.\n\nBarrio Norte is not an official neighborhood as such but rather a largely residential southern extension of Recoleta. Some people consider it a sub-neighborhood of Recoleta (and parts of it are sometimes lumped in with Retiro or Palermo, too) \u2013 it all really depends on who you talk to. However, Barrio Norte does have a more accessible feel than its ritzier sibling, especially around busy Av Santa Fe. Here you'll find hundreds of shops, all vying for shoppers' attention, and all conveniently located on bus and Subte lines \u2013 not things you'll see much of in Recoleta itself.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Hanging Out La Biela (Click here) is in a touristy location, but locals still flock here to sit at the front patio on warm sunny days.\n\n\u00bb Shopping Grab your wallet and head to Av Santa Fe, where hundreds of stores cater to _porte\u00f1os'_ every whim (Click here).\n\n\u00bb Ice Cream Recoleta has more than its fair share of excellent ice cream shops, so find one and order up.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Buses 59 heads from Palermo to San Telmo, stopping along Av Las Heras along the way.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00ednea D covers the southern section of Recoleta.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nRecoleta is an expensive neighborhood. For a cheap lunch, get takeout somewhere \u2013such as El Sanjuanino (Click here) \u2013 and find a nice park bench, such as in Plaza Intendente Alveear, where you can hang out, eat and watch the world go by.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbL'Orangerie\n\n\u00bbComo en Casa\n\n\u00bbRodi Bar\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbLa Biela\n\n\u00bbBuller Brewing Company\n\n\u00bbCasa Bar\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Shop\n\n\u00bbFeria Plaza Francia\n\n\u00bbAv Santa Fe\n\n\u00bbGaler\u00eda Bond Street\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\nRELIGIOUS IMAGES\/UIG \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nCEMENTERIO DE LA RECOLETA\n\nRecoleta cemetery is arguably Buenos Aires' number-one attraction, and a must on every tourist's list. You can wander for hours in this amazing city of the dead, where countless 'streets' are lined with impressive statues and marble sarcophagi. Peek into the crypts and check out the dusty coffins, and try to decipher the history of its inhabitants.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb Evita's grave Go to the first major intersection, turn left at the statue; continue until a mausoleum blocks your way. Go around it and turn right at the wide 'street'. After three blocks it's to your left.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb 0800-444-2363\n\n\u00bb cnr Jun\u00edn & Guido\n\n\u00bb 7am-5:30pm\n\nOriginally the garden of the church next door, Recoleta cemetery was created in 1822. It covers four city blocks and contains about 4800 mausoleums decorated in many architectural styles, including art nouveau, art deco, classical, Greek, baroque and neo-Gothic. Popular motifs include crosses of all kinds, marble angels, stone wreaths, skulls and crossbones, draped urns, winged hourglasses and the occasional gargoyle. All decorate the final resting places of past presidents, military heroes, influential politicians, famous writers and other very noteworthy personages, including those of the Paz family (Jos\u00e9 C Paz founded _La Prensa_ ), Liliana Crociati de Szaszak (famous for dying in an avalanche in Austria), Rufina Cambaceres (the urban myth goes that she was buried alive) and boxer Luis Angel Firpo.\n\nThe most impressive tomb is not Evita's, which is rather plain. Instead, get a good map and look for other sarcophagi; interesting stories, odd facts and myths abound. Also note the cemetery's rough edges \u2013 the cobwebs and detritus inside many of the tombs, the vegetation growing out of cracks, the feral cats prowling the premises. All add to the charm.\n\nFree tours are offered in English at 11am Tuesday and Thursday and in Spanish at 9:30am, 11am, 2pm and 4pm from Tuesday to Sunday (weather permitting). For a great map and information, order Robert Wright's PDF guide (www.recoletacemetery.com); touts also sell maps at the entrance.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SIGHTS\n\nCEMENTERIO DE LA RECOLETA CEMETERY\n\nSee Click here.\n\nBAS\u00cdLICA DE NUESTRA SE\u00d1ORA DEL PILAR CHURCH\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4806-2209; Jun\u00edn 1904; museum AR$6; 10, 17, 60, 92, 110) Yes, that's a pair of skulls on your right as you enter the basilica. But the centerpiece of this gleaming white colonial church, built by Jesuits in 1716, is a Peruvian altar adorned with silver from Argentina's northwest. Inside, head to the left to visit the small but historic cloisters museum ( 10:30am-6:15pm Mon-Sat, 2:30-6:15pm Sun); it's home to religious vestments, paintings, writings and interesting artifacts. You can also snap a photo of the Recoleta cemetery through the window grilles.\n\nCENTRO CULTURAL RECOLETA CULTURAL CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4803-1040; www.centroculturalrecoleta.org; Jun\u00edn 1930; 59) Part of the original Franciscan convent and alongside its namesake church and cemetery, this renovated cultural center houses a variety of facilities, including art galleries, exhibition halls and a cinema. Events, courses and workshops are also offered, and its Museo Participativo de Ciencias MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4806-3456; www.mpc.org.ar; Jun\u00edn 1930; admission AR$40; vary widely, see website) is a children's hands-on science museum.\n\nMUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5288-9945; www.mnba.org.ar; Av del Libertador 1473; 12:30-8:30pm Tue-Fri, 9:30am-8:30pm Sat & Sun) F This is Argentina's most important national arts museum and contains many key works by Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn, Xul Solar, Edwardo S\u00edvori and other Argentine artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. There are also impressive international works by European masters such as C\u00e9zanne, Degas, Picasso, Rembrandt, Toulouse-Lautrec and Van Gogh. Everything is well displayed, and there's also a cinema, concerts and classes. The museum's peaceful interior is a welcome respite from the busy avenue outside. Call in advance for tours in English.\n\nThe museum's building is a former pump house for the city waterworks, and was designed by architect Julio Dormala. It was later modified by Alejandro Bustillo, famous for his alpine-style civic center in the northern Patagonian city of Bariloche.\n\nFLORALIS GEN\u00c9RICA MONUMENT\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Av Figueroa Alcorta & Bibiloni) This gargantuan solar-powered flower sculpture, located smack in the center of Plaza Naciones Unidas is the inspired creation of architect Eduardo Catalano, who designed and funded the project in 2002. The giant aluminum and steel petals are 20m high and used to close like a real flower, from dusk until dawn \u2013 until the gears broke, that is.\n\nPALAIS DE GLACE NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4804-1163; www.palaisdeglace.gov.ar; Posadas 1725; noon-8pm Tue-Fri, 10am-8pm Sat & Sun; 17, 62, 67) F Housed in an unusual circular building that was once an ice-skating rink and a tango hall (happily not at once, however!), the spacious Palais de Glace now offers a variety of rotating cultural, artistic and historical exhibitions. Be sure to check out the 2nd floor, worth a peep for its interesting ceiling and other architectural details. Musical concerts are also occasionally hosted here.\n\nFACULTAD DE INGENIER\u00cdA NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Engineering School; cnr General Las Heras & Azcu\u00e9naga) This beautiful but decrepit neo-Gothic building (1912) was designed by Uruguayan architect Arturo Prins and never quite completed. It's currently being given a face-lift.\n\n### GLORIOUS DEATH IN BUENOS AIRES\n\nOnly in Buenos Aires can the wealthy and powerful elite keep their status after death. When decades of dining on rich food and drink have taken their toll, Buenos Aires' finest move ceremoniously across the street to the Cementerio de la Recoleta (Click here), joining their ancestors in a place they have religiously visited all their lives.\n\nArgentines are a strange bunch who tend to celebrate their most honored national figures not on the date of their birth, but on the date of their death (after all, they're nobody when they're born). Nowhere is this obsession with mortality more evident than at Recoleta, where generations of the elite repose in the grandeur of ostentatious mausoleums. Real estate here is among Buenos Aires' priciest: there's a saying that goes, 'It is cheaper to live extravagantly all your life than to be buried in Recoleta.'\n\nIt's not just being rich that gets you a prime resting spot here: your name matters. Those lucky few with surnames like Alvear, Anchorena, Mitre or Sarmiento are pretty much guaranteed to be laid down. Evita's remains are here (in the Familia Duarte sarcophagus), but her lack of aristocracy and the fact that she dedicated her life not to BA's rich but rather to its poor infuriated the bigwigs.\n\nA larger and much less touristy graveyard is Cementerio de la Chacarita, located in the neighborhood of Chacarita. The cemetery opened in the 1870s to accommodate the yellow-fever victims of San Telmo and La Boca. Although much more democratic and modest, Chacarita's most elaborate tombs match Recoleta's finest. One of the most visited belongs to Carlos Gardel, the famous tango singer. Plaques from around the world cover the base of his life-size statue, many thanking him for favors granted. Like Evita, Juan Per\u00f3n and others, Gardel is a quasi saint toward whom countless Argentines feel an almost religious devotion. The anniversaries of Gardel's birth and death days see thousands of pilgrims jamming the cemetery's streets.\n\nAnother spiritual personality in Chacarita is Madre Mar\u00eda Salom\u00e9, a disciple of the famous healer Pancho Sierra. Every day, but especially on the second day of each month (she died on October 2, 1928), adherents of her cult cover her tomb with white carnations. To visit Chacarita, take L\u00ednea B of the Subte to the end of the line at Federico Lacroze and cross the street.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n EATING\n\nRecoleta is the playground for the wealthy elite, full of beautiful apartment buildings, upscale boutiques and the occasional baroque mansion. As you can imagine, the restaurants here aren't cheap, but if you want to rub shoulders with the upper classes, this is the place to be.\n\nPractically everyone visits Recoleta's cemetery, so the two-block strip of touristy restaurants, bars and cafes lining nearby RM Ortiz is very convenient. Food here tends toward the overpriced, but many restaurants have outdoor terraces that are choice hangout spots on warm days. And the people-watching here is excellent, especially on weekends when the nearby craft market is in full swing.\n\nThere are three ice-cream shops on Av Quintana near the cemetery: Persicco (cnr Av Quintana & RM Ortiz), Una Altra Volta MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4805-1818; www.unaltravolta.com.ar; cnr Av Quintana & Ayachuco) \u2013 both within one or two blocks of the cemetery \u2013 and Arkakao (Av Quintana 188), which is five blocks from the cemetery.\n\nCOMO EN CASA ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4816-5507; www.tortascomoencasa.com; Riobamba 1239; lunch mains AR$45-70; 8am-midnight Tue-Sat, 8am-8:30pm Sun & Mon) This gorgeous, upscale cafe-restaurant has a very elegant atmosphere and attracts Recoleta's wealthiest. Its best feature is the shady patio, complete with large fountain and surrounded by grand buildings, a must on a warm day. For lunch there are fancy sandwiches, salads, wraps and stir-fries, while dinner options include goulash, shrimp ragout and spinach gnocchi. Plenty of luscious desserts, plus breakfast too.\n\nRODI BAR ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4801-5230; Vicente L\u00f3pez 1900; mains AR$50-90; 7am-1am) A great option for well-priced, unpretentious food in upscale Recoleta. This traditional corner restaurant with fine old-world atmosphere and extensive menu offers something for everyone, from inexpensive combo plates to relatively unusual dishes such as marinated beef tongue.\n\nNATURAL DELI CAFE, DELI $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4822-1228; www.natural-deli.com; Laprida 1672; mains AR$50-72; 8am-midnight Mon-Sat, 9am-midnight Sun; ) Modern, organic cafe offering fresh dishes with a natural bent. Choose from creative gourmet sandwiches and wraps, fresh salads or stir fries. There are also fresh juices and _licuados_ (blended fruit smoothies), plus many organic gourmet products are sold. Great for breakfast; muffins, scones, brownies and even key lime pie available. Also in Las Ca\u00f1itas, Palermo ( 4514-1776; Gorostiaga 1776; 8am-midnight Mon-Sat, 9am-midnight Sun).\n\nTEA CONNECTION CAFE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4805-0616; www.teaconnection.com.ar; Uriburu 1595; mains AR$60-75; 8am-midnight Mon-Sat, 9am-midnight Sun) At this sleek corner cafe, choose from over 20 types of black, red and green teas and health-\u00adconscious sandwiches, salads, vegetable tarts and pastries. Drinks include fruit juices and _licuados_. Other nearby locations include at Arenales 2102 and Montevideo 1655.\n\nCUMAN\u00c1 ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4813-9207; Rodriguez Pe\u00f1a 1149; mains AR$40-50; noon-4pm & 8pm-1am) To sample Argentina's regional cuisine, check out this colorful, budget-friendly eatery with huge picture windows and an old-fashioned adobe oven. Cuman\u00e1 specializes in delicious _cazuela,_ stick-to-your-ribs stews filled with squash, corn, eggplant, potatoes and meat. Also popular are the _empanadas,_ _locro_ and _humita_ (corn, cheese and onion tamales). Come early to avoid a wait.\n\nEL SANJUANINO ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4805-2683; Posadas 1515; empanadas AR$13, mains AR$40-70; noon-4pm & 7pm-1am) This long-running, cozy little joint probably has the cheapest food in Recoleta, attracting both penny-pinching locals and thrifty tourists. Sit either upstairs or downstairs (in the basement) and order spicy _empanadas,_ tamales or _locro_ (corn and meat stew). The curved brick ceiling adds to the atmosphere, but many take their food to go \u2013 Recoleta's lovely parks are just a couple of blocks away.\n\nMUNICH RECOLETA ARGENTINE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4804-3981; www.munich-recoleta.com.ar; RM Ortiz 1871; mains AR$70-125; noon-3pm & 8pm-midnight Wed-Mon) This traditional restaurant hasn't changed much since Jorge Luis Borges was a regular; try the _brochettes_ (shish-kebabs), grilled salmon or homemade ravioli. Service is exceptional and the white window curtains make this a semiprivate affair \u2013 perhaps a reason why more locals than tourists eat here. Warning to animal lovers: there are trophy animal heads on the walls.\n\nL'ORANGERIE FRENCH $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4808-2100; Alvear Palace Hotel, Av Alvear 1891; full tea AR$190; breakfast 7-11am daily, lunch buffet noon-3.30pm Mon-Sat, afternoon tea 4:30-7pm Mon-Sat & 5-7pm Sun, brunch 12:30-4pm Sun) The grand tearoom at the Alvear Palace Hotel is fit for a special occasion. The formal afternoon tea, served from 4:30pm (from 5pm on Sunday), offers an endless array of exquisite cakes, sandwiches and pastries (two people can share one tea service). At breakfast and lunch, chefs in tall white hats attend lavish buffet spreads; Sunday brunch is particularly elaborate.\n\nEL BURLADERO SPANISH $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4806-9247; www.elburladero.com.ar; Uriburu 1488; mains AR$120-175; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight) Treat yourself to an upscale meal in Recoleta at this exceptional Spanish restaurant. The menu changes seasonally, but will usually include a paella dish and perhaps the marinated rabbit, black hake fish or lamb with mushrooms. For a good deal, come at midday and get the three-course lunch menu (AR$109). Tapas are also available, and there's a long, high communal table for large groups.\n\n### NIP & TUCK\n\nWander around Recoleta, the ritzy neighborhood that is home to many of Buenos Aires' plastic surgery clinics, and nobody bats an eyelid at someone walking down the street with plasters on their faces \u2013 they've obviously just had a nip and tuck.\n\nThe president herself \u2013 Cristina Kirchner \u2013 is sometimes dubbed 'the queen of botox' in the local media. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that Argentina has the highest per capita ratio of plastic surgery operations in the world. Reports suggest that one in 30 Argentines have had some sort of procedure during their lifetime.\n\nDemand for plastic surgery has risen exponentially in the last decade, especilally with the boom in 'medical tourism.' Rather than paying up to US$15,000 for a facelift in the United States, some have elected to head to the 'Paris of the South' and combine the surgery with a bit of tango, beef and sightseeing \u2013 for a third of the price.\n\nBe aware, however, of the dangers of any medical procedure \u2013 _let alone_ one on foreign turf where you may not speak the language. If you're considering such a procedure, do your homework very, very carefully and thoroughly.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nRM Ortiz, across from Recoleta's famous cemetery, is a two-block strip of restaurants, cafes and bars. On warm sunny days most of them open up their fine outdoor front patios, perfect for a drink or meal and some people-watching.\n\nLA BIELA CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4804-0449; www.labiela.com; Av Quintana 600; 7am-2am Sun-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) A Recoleta institution, this classic landmark has been serving the porte\u00f1o elite since the 1950s \u2013 when race-car champions used to frequent the place. The outdoor front terrace is unbeatable on a sunny afternoon, especially when the nearby weekend _feria_ (street market) is in full swing. Just know that this privilege will cost 20% more.\n\nBULLER BREWING COMPANY BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4808-9061; www.bullerpub.com; RM Ortiz 1827; noon-1am Mon-Wed, to 2am Thu & Sun, to 4am Fri & Sat) Yes, it's a microbrewery in Buenos Aires, and in Recoleta, no less. Six kinds of beer are brewed on the premises, including a stout, hefeweisen, pilsen and a honey beer. Alcohol content ranges from 4.5% to 8.5%. There's a great outdoor patio in front and an extensive menu of snacks and sandwiches. Also in Retiro (Paraguay 428).\n\nCASA BAR SPORTS BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4816-2712; www.casabarbuenosaires.com; Rodr\u00edguez Pe\u00f1a 1150; 7pm-3am Wed-Fri, to 5am Sat) This recycled antique house turned sports bar offers a large selection of spirits and microbrews, along with a wine list stocked with higher-end bottles. You'll also find nachos, pizza and spicy hot wings on the menu, plus happy-hour specials from 7pm to 10pm. Casa Bar is stylish but casual \u2013 and a great spot to watch sports on TV, especially American football and baseball.\n\nCL\u00c1SICA Y MODERNA CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4812-8707; www.clasicaymoderna.com; Av Callao 892; 8am-2am Mon-Sat, 5pm-2am Sun) Catering to the literary masses since 1938, this cozy and intimate bookstore- restaurant-cafe continues to ooze history from its atmospheric brick walls. It's nicely lit, serves fine, simple meals and offers nightly live performances of folk music, jazz, bossa nova and tango. Mercedes Sosa (may she rest in peace), Susana Rinaldi and Liza Minnelli have all chirped here.\n\nSHAMROCK BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4812-3584; Rodr\u00edguez Pe\u00f1a 1220; 6pm-4am Mon-Wed, to 6am Thu & Fri, 8pm-6am Sat) Popular with both locals and tourists for its cheap happy hour, this long-running and not very traditional Irish pub in Barrio Norte is decked out in dark wood and has a dim, moody atmosphere. Women beware: this is a serious pick up joint. DJs rule from Thursday to Saturday, when the Basement Club opens up downstairs, usually around midnight.\n\nBASEMENT CLUB CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4812-3584; Rodriguez Pe\u00f1a 1220; Thu-Sat) This cool but unpretentious subterranean club is known for first-rate DJ lineups, pounding house music and a diverse young crowd. Thanks to the Shamrock, the ever-popular Irish pub upstairs, the place sees plenty of traffic throughout the night. Come at 3am to see the club in full swing, or just descend the stairs after enjoying a few pints at ground level.\n\n#### Neighborhood Walk \n **Death, Art & Shopping**\n\n**Start** Cementerio de la Recoleta\n\n**End** La Biela cafe\n\n**Length** 2-3km; three hours\n\nStart with a bang and visit BA's top tourist destination: Cementerio de la Recoleta (Click here). You can easily spend hours in here examining the hundreds of elaborate sarcophagi. Turn right out of the cemetery and swing past the upscale Recoleta Mall.\n\nHead to the neo-Gothic Facultad de Ingenier\u00eda (Click here), designed by Uruguayan architect Arturo Prins and never quite completed. It was being given a face-lift at research time so hopefully will look spiffy when you get there.\n\nNeed to shop for your home? Then stop in at the large Buenos Aires Design mall, worth a look for the most cutting-edge furniture and lifestyle products. Now cut across Plaza Francia and head to the excellent Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Click here), containing classical art from all over the world. Everything is well displayed and lit and, best of all, it's free.\n\nCross Av Figueroa Alcorta to reach the giant metal flower sculpture, _Floralis Gen\u00e9rica_ (Click here); it's cool to see your reflection in the petals. Head back down Alcorta \u2013 passing the mammoth Facultad de Derecho (School of Law) building along the way. Cross the footbridge and make your way up Plaza Intendente Alvear. If it's a weekend, browse through the craft stalls at Feria Plaza Francia (Click here).\n\nStop by the Centro Cultural Recoleta (Click here) to explore the galleries. If you have small kids, the Museo Participativo de Ciencias will grab their attention. Right next to the cultural center is the pretty Bas\u00edlica de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora del Pilar (Click here); check out the small museum upstairs.\n\nAmble down to restaurant-filled RM Ortiz and end your walk at the fine cafe La Biela (Click here). If it's sunny grab a table on the front patio \u2013 it's worth the extra pesos.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nNOTORIOUS JAZZ\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4813-6888; www.notorious.com.ar; Av Callao 966) This stylish, intimate joint is one of Buenos Aires' premier jazz venues. Up front you can buy CDs of various music genres, while in the back the restaurant- cafe (overlooking a verdant garden) hosts live shows nearly every night at 9:30pm. Log on to the website for schedules; most performances are jazz, but there's also Brazilian music.\n\n Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping\n\n SHOPPING\n\nExclusivity is the key word here. If you have the bucks and are willing to pay top dollar for the best quality goods, then you'll want to shop in these neighborhoods. The city's best leather shops are based here, along with a few top fashion boutiques. Av Santa Fe is a catch-all for fashion, housewares and everything in-between.\n\nFERIA PLAZA FRANCIA MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.feriaplazafrancia.com; 11am-8pm Sat, Sun & holidays) Located right in front of Recoleta's cemetery, in Plaza Intendente Alvear, this large and popular street fair features hundreds of booths selling leather accessories, bronze jewelry, fused glass, ceramic mugs, woven hats and kitschy souvenirs \u2013 essentially dozens of handmade crafts of all kinds. Hippies gather, bakers circulate their pastries and mimes perform (or just stand very still). The website gives a great overview of what's available.\n\nBUENOS AIRES DESIGN SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5777-6000; Av Pueyrred\u00f3n 2501; 10am-9pm Mon-Sat, noon-9pm Sun) The trendiest and finest home furnishings are all under one roof here. This is the ideal place to look for that snazzy light fixture, streamlined toilet or reproduction Asian chair. Also good for everyday appliances and housewares, along with cute decor and art objects.\n\nWUSSMANN SHOP STATIONERY\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4811-2444; Rodriguez Pe\u00f1a 1399; 10:30am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm Sat) Writers and artists delight in the gorgeous handmade paper at this chic stationery shop. Leatherbound journals, monogrammed stationery, and oversized sketchbooks are made with recycled paper; come here for one-of-a-kind invitations and notecards or hand-painted wrapping paper to spruce up a special gift.\n\nPORTOBELLO VINTAGE BOUTIQUE CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4811-2619; Paraguay 1554; noon-8pm Mon-Fri) Excellent vintage clothing boutique. Find that special jacket, dress, shirt and bottom from the 1940s on up. All clothes are in great condition and sold at affordable prices. Some jewelry and other accessories are also for sale.\n\nGALER\u00cdA BOND STREET SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Av Santa Fe 1670; 10am-9pm Mon-Sat) For the edgiest tattoos and piercings in town, you can't beat this grungy shopping center. Buenos Aires' skateboarder-wannabes, along with their punk-rock counterparts, also come here to shop for the latest styles, sounds and bongs. Expect everything from Hello Kitty to heavy metal.\n\nRecoleta & Barrio Norte\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Cementerio de la Recoleta D4\n\n Sights\n\n2Bas\u00edlica de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora del Pilar D4\n\n3Centro Cultural Recoleta D4\n\n4Facultad de Ingenier\u00eda C4\n\n5Floralis Gen\u00e9rica C2\n\n6Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes D3\n\n7Museo Participativo de Ciencias D4\n\n8Palais de Glace E3\n\n Eating\n\n9Como en Casa C6\n\n10Cuman\u00e1 D6\n\n11El Burladero C5\n\n12El Sanjuanino E4\n\n13Gran Bar Danz\u00f3n F6\n\nL'Orangerie (see 39)\n\n14Munich Recoleta D4\n\n15Natural Deli A5\n\n16Rodi Bar D5\n\n17Tea Connection E5\n\n18Tea Connection C6\n\n19Tea Connection C5\n\n20Una Altra Volta D4\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n21Buller Brewing Company D4\n\n22Casa Bar D6\n\n23Cl\u00e1sica y Moderna D8\n\n24La Biela D4\n\n25Mili\u00f3n E7\n\n26Shamrock D6\n\n Entertainment\n\n27Basement Club D6\n\n28Notorious D7\n\n Shopping\n\n29Buenos Aires Design D3\n\n30El Ateneo C7\n\n31Feria Plaza Francia D4\n\n32Gabriella Capucci F5\n\n33Galer\u00eda 5ta Avenida F7\n\n34Galer\u00eda Bond Street D7\n\n35Portobello Vintage Boutique E7\n\n36Wussmann Shop D6\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n37Escuela Argentina de Tango F7\n\n38VOS E7\n\n Sleeping\n\n39Alvear Palace Hotel E4\n\n40Art Suites B5\n\n41Ayres de Recoleta C4\n\n42Hotel Lion D'or C5\n\n43Palacio Duhau \u2013 Park Hyatt E4\n\n44Petit Recoleta Hostel B6\n\n45Poetry Building C6\n\n46Yira Yira Guesthouse E7\n\n# Palermo\n\n### Explore\n\n### Top Sights\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Shopping\n\n### Sports & Activities\n\n### Map\nPalermo\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighborhood Top Five\n\n Checking out the contemporary artwork at Museo de Arte Latino\u00adamericano de Buenos Aires, a modern glassy museum where you can commune with Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.\n\n Bicycling, jogging, roller\u00adblading or just walking along the paths at Parque 3 de Febrero.\n\n Eating your way through the dozens of ethnic restaurants in Palermo Viejo and Las Ca\u00f1itas.\n\n Visiting Museo Evita to get the scoop on Argentina's most famous international woman.\n\n Shopping the designer clothing boutiques and other fun shops in Palermo Viejo.\n\n### Explore: Palermo\n\nMost of Palermo's museums are located near its green parks. They're spread out over this large neighborhood, so give yourself plenty of time to see them. Museo Evita, Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo and Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba) all have pleasant cafe-restaurants with outdoor areas, great for taking a relaxing lunch or snack break.\n\nPalermo Viejo, the city's most trendsetting neighborhood, is roughly bounded by Santa Fe, Scalabrini Ortiz, C\u00f3rdoba and Dorrego. It's further divided into Palermo Hollywood (north of the train tracks) and Palermo Soho (south of the tracks), both full of old buildings, leafy sidewalks and cobbled streets. These areas have BA's best cutting-edge restaurants, along with trendy bars and nightclubs; Plaza Serrano has dozens of sidewalk tables and heaves with crowds on weekends.\n\nBuenos Aires' most famous fashion designers have opened up dozens of boutiques here, and there are many fancy housewares stores and other themed shops. It's not the cheapest place to shop, but likely the most fun \u2013 wear comfortable shoes as you'll be walking a lot.\n\nAnother popular but much smaller neighborhood in Palermo is further north in Las Ca\u00f1itas; it occupies a wedge of blocks close to the polo grounds. It's mostly a residential area on the border with Belgrano and named after the fields of sugar cane that used to grow here. The only sweet things here now, however, are the luscious desserts at the dozens of restaurants on Av B\u00e1ez, the main business street. Just a few blocks long, it's densely packed with eateries, bars, cafes and even a club or two, and it positively buzzes at night.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Shopping Trendy locals dress up to be seen fashionably shopping Palermo's fancy boutiques.\n\n\u00bb Nightlife Young, hip _porte\u00f1os_ wait until after midnight to congregate at bars, and after 2am head out to the clubs.\n\n\u00bb Sunny Weekends Local families grab their strollers and head to the Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico (Click here) for a day of animal-watching.\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take buses 29, 59, 64 and 152 from the Microcentro to Plaza Italia; bus 39 from Congreso to Palermo Viejo; bus 111 from the Microcentro to Palermo Viejo.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00ednea D is the fastest way to Palermo's Plaza Italia area.\n\nLONELY PLANET \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE LATINOAMERICANO DE BUENOS AIRES (MALBA)\n\nSparkling inside its glass and cement walls is this airy modern-art museum, one of BA's finest. It contains some of the best works by classic and contemporary Argentine artists, such as Xul Solar and Antonio Berni, plus some pieces by other Latin American painters like Mexican duo Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb Andy Warhol's photography, especially if it includes abstract artist Marta Minuj\u00edn (an Argentine conceptual artist).\n\n\u00bb One of Diego Rivera's early cubist works, _Retrato de Ram\u00f3n G\u00f3mez de la Serna_ (Portrait of Ram\u00f3n G\u00f3mez de la Serna, 1915).\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb Malba\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb 4808-6500\n\n\u00bb www.malba.org.ar\n\n\u00bb Av Figueroa Alcorta 3415\n\n\u00bb admission AR$40, Wed AR$20\n\n\u00bb noon-8pm Thu-Mon, to 9pm Wed\n\nChristened in 2001, the building is home to Eduardo F Costantini's private art collection. The millionaire and philanthropist gathered over 200 of Latin America's best artworks from the 20th century. Well-known Argentine painters represented here include Linoenea Spilimbergo, Jorge de la Vega, Emilio Pettoruti and Guillermo Kuitca. If they're on display, check out figurative artist Antonio Berni's _Nuevo Realismo_ (social realism) oeuvres. Many of these artists confront social issues in their works.\n\nAmong the collection is the work of Tarsila do Amaral, one of Brazil's most famous painters; look for her _Abaporu_ (1928), one of Brazil's most important paintings and for which Costantini paid US$1.4 million in 1995. Colombian Fernando Botero depicts human figures in cartoonish, overly plump sizes, as in his _Los Viudos_ (1968). And Frida Kahlo's charming _Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot_ (1942) cost Costantini nearly US$3.2 million.\n\nExcellent temporary exhibits are shown in several halls, and there are occasional kids' programs and a cinema that screens art-house films. A terrace, bookstore, gift shop and cafe-restaurant (expensive but great for people-watching) complete the picture. Call for tours in English.\n\nIMAGE SOURCE \/ GETTY IMAGES \u00a9\n\n##### TOP SIGHT\n\nPARQUE 3 DE FEBRERO\n\nAlso known as Bosques de Palermo, this sweeping green space abounds with small lakes and paddleboats, pretty gazebos, a monument to literary greats called El Jard\u00edn de los Poetas (the Garden of Poets) and the pleasant Rosedal MAP GOOGLE MAP(Rose Garden). On weekends it's filled with families picnicking, friends playing _f\u00fatbol,_ lovers smooching and strolling, and outdoor enthusiasts jogging and bicycling.\n\n### DON'T MISS...\n\n\u00bb Walking, bicycling or roller-blading around the rose garden and nearby lakes on a warm sunny weekend, when the ring road is closed to vehicular traffic and outdoor rentals abound.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb MAP\n\n\u00bb cnr Avs del Libertador & de la Infanta Isabel\n\n\u00bb 10, 34, 130\n\nThe area around Parque 3 de Febrero was originally the private retreat of 19th-century dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas and became public parkland only after his fall from power \u2013 on February 3, 1852. Ironically for Rosas, the man who overthrew him \u2013 former ally Justo Jos\u00e9 de Urquiza \u2013 sits on his mount in a mammoth equestrian monument at the corner of Avs Sarmiento and Presidente Figueroa Alcorta.\n\nIn 1875, Parque 3 de Febrero was inaugurated by Argentina's president, Nicolas Avellaneda. It was designed by Charles Thays, a French botanist and landscape architect who also worked on Plaza de Mayo, Barracas de Belgrano and Parque Lezama. Thays used London's Hyde Park and Paris' Bois de Boulogne as inspiration for his work here.\n\nThe park's most interesting destinations include the Jard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s (Click here), the Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico (Click here), the Jard\u00edn Bot\u00e1nico Carlos Thays MAP GOOGLE MAP (Botanical Gardens; dawn-dusk) F and the Planetario Galileo Galilei MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4771-9393; www.planetario.gov.ar; cnr Avs Sarmiento & Belisario Rold\u00e1n). More exclusive are the Campo Argentino de Polo (Click here) and the Hip\u00f3dromo Argentino (the racetrack). Just south of the zoo, and a major landmark in Palermo, is Plaza Italia, a half-moon-shaped traffic island and important transport hub.\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n SIGHTS\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE LATINOAMERICANO DE BUENOS AIRES (MALBA) MUSEUM\n\nSee Click here.\n\nPARQUE 3 DE FEBRERO PARK\n\nSee Click here.\n\nMUSEO NACIONAL DE ARTE DECORATIVO MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4802-6606; www.mnad.org; Av del Libertador 1902; admission AR$15, Tue free; 2-7pm Tue-Sat Jan, 2-7pm Tue-Sun rest of year) This museum is housed in the stunning beaux arts mansion called Residencia Err\u00e1zuriz Alvear (1917), once the residence of Chilean aristocrat Mat\u00edas Err\u00e1zuriz and his wife, Josefina de Alvear. It now displays many of their very posh belongings, along with beautiful features such as Corinthian columns and a gorgeous marble staircase inspired by the Palace of Versailles. There's also an amazing hall which has a carved wooden ceiling, stained-glass panels and a huge stone fireplace.\n\nEverything from renaissance religious paintings and porcelain dishes to Italian sculptures and period furniture was owned by Err\u00e1zuriz, and some artwork by El Greco, Manet and Rodin can also be seen. There are guided tours in English Tuesday to Saturday at 2:30pm (AR$15 plus admission). There's also a lovely cafe outside, Croque Madame, which provides a relaxing break on a sunny day.\n\nJARD\u00cdN ZOOL\u00d3GICO ZOO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4011-9900; www.zoobuenosaires.com.ar; cnr Avs Las Heras & Sarmiento; admission AR$75, under 12yr free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Oct-Mar, to 5pm Apr-Sep) Set on 18 hectares, Buenos Aires' Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico is a decent zoo, offering over 350 species \u2013 many in 'natural' and good-sized animal enclosures. On sunny weekends it's packed with families enjoying the large green spaces and artificial lakes. Some of the buildings housing the animals are impressive; check out the elephant house. An aquarium, a monkey island, reptile house and large aviary are other highlights; a few special exhibits (like the sea lion show or carousel) cost extra.\n\nThe zoo is noted for having successfully bred condors and white tigers, and for having an educational farm with petting zoo for the kids. Waterfowl, Patagonian hares, nutria (semi-aquatic rodents) and feral cats roam wild.\n\nJARD\u00cdN JAPON\u00c9S GARDENS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4804-4922; www.jardinjapones.org.ar; cnr Avs Casares & Berro; admission AR$24, under 12yr free; 10am-6pm) First opened in 1967 and then donated to the city of Buenos Aires in 1979 (on the centenary of the arrival of Argentina's first Japanese immigrants), Jard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s is one of the capital's best-kept gardens \u2013 and makes a wonderfully peaceful rest stop. Inside there's a Japanese restaurant along with lovely ponds filled with koi and spanned by pretty bridges. Japanese culture can be experienced through occasional exhibitions and workshops on ikebana, haiku, origami, _taiko_ (Japanese drumming) and other events.\n\nMUSEO DE ARTES PL\u00c1STICAS EDUARDO S\u00cdVORI MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-9452; www.museosivori.org.ar; Av de la Infanta Isabel 555; admission AR$5, Wed & Sat free; noon-8pm Tue-Fri, 10am-8pm Sat & Sun; 10, 34) Named for an Italo-Argentine painter who studied in Europe, this modern museum of Argentine art has open spaces allowing frequent and diverse exhibitions. S\u00edvori's Parisian works reflect European themes, but later works returned to Argentine motifs, mainly associated with rural life on the Pampas. However most works on display are by other well-known Argentine artists, such as Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn, Antonio Berni and Fernando Fader. There's a sculpture garden and slick cafe on the premises, and occasional theater, concerts, courses and workshops are offered.\n\nMUSEO EVITA MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4807-0306; www.museoevita.org; Lafinur 2988; local\/foreigner AR$10\/20; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun) Everybody who's anybody in Argentina has their own museum, and Eva Per\u00f3n (1919\u201352) is no exception. Museo Evita immortalizes the Argentine heroine with plenty of videos, historical photos, books, old posters and newspaper headlines. However, the prize memorabilia has to be her wardrobe: dresses, shoes, handbags, hats and blouses lie proudly behind glass, forever pressed and pristine. Even Evita's old wallets and perfumes are on display. Our favorite is a picture of her kicking a soccer ball \u2013 in heels.\n\nHead around to the corner if you need refreshment \u2013 attached to the museum is the pleasant Museo Evita Restaurant (Click here) with wonderfully leafy patio, perfect for relaxing on a warm day.\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE POPULAR JOS\u00c9 HERN\u00c1NDEZ MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4803-2384; www.museohernandez.buenosaires.gob.ar; Av del Libertador 2373; admission AR$5, Sun free; 1-6:30pm Wed-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat & Sun) This museum was being remodelled at research time, but the emphasis here is on both traditional and contemporary arts and crafts, mostly from Argentina. Expect to see intricate gaucho-related silverwork like knives and mate sets, Mapuche textiles like ponchos and folk crafts from the country's northern regions. The back halls hold changing exhibits.\n\nMUSEO XUL SOLAR MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4824-3302; www.xulsolar.org.ar; Laprida 1212; admission AR$20; noon-8pm Tue-Fri, to 7pm Sat, closed Feb) Xul Solar was a painter, inventor, poet and friend of Jorge Luis Borges. This museum (located in his old mansion) showcases over 80 of his unique and colorful yet subdued paintings. Solar's Klee-esque style includes fantastically themed, almost cartoonish figures placed in surreal cubist landscapes. It's great stuff, and bizarre enough to put him in a class of his own. Tours in Spanish are available Tuesday and Thursday at 4pm and Saturday at 3:30pm.\n\nMUSEO CASA DE RICARDO ROJAS MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4824-4039; Charcas 2837; L\u00ednea D Aguero, Pueyrred\u00f3n) Walk under the facade, modeled after the Casa de Independencia in Tucum\u00e1n, and behold a quaint courtyard surrounded by European and Incan architectural motifs. Famous Argentine educator and writer Ricardo Rojas lived here from 1929 to 1957, and in his office wrote his renowned work _El Santo de la Espada_ (1933). An old dining room with period furniture also gives an idea of the past. Phone for opening hours, as the museum was closed for remodeling at research time.\n\nBIBLIOTECA NACIONAL LIBRARY\n\n( 4808-6000; www.bn.gov.ar; Ag\u00fcero 2502; 9am-9pm Mon-Fri, noon-7pm Sat & Sun; 59, 60) F Prominent Argentine and Latin American literary figures, such as Ernesto S\u00e1bato, have lectured here, and other events include workshops, concerts and cultural activities. Tours in English are offered on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 3pm. Bring photo ID and be ready to fill out a form to enter.\n\nCENTRO ISL\u00c1MICO REY FAHD MOSQUE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4899-0201; www.ccislamicoreyfahd.org.ar; Av Int Bullrich 55) This landmark mosque, built by Saudis on land donated by former president Carlos Menem, is southeast of Las Ca\u00f1itas. Free tours in Spanish are offered on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at noon (bring your passport, dress conservatively and enter via Av Int Bullrich).\n\n### WALKING THE DOG\n\nBuenos Aires supports a legion of _paseaperros_ (professional dog walkers), who can be seen with up to a dozen canines on leashes. They'll stroll through areas like Palermo's parks, Recoleta and even downtown with a variety of dogs ranging from scruffy mongrels to expensive purebreds, each of their tails happily a-waggin'.\n\n_Paseaperros_ are employed by busy apartment dwellers who either can't or won't take the time to exercise their animals properly \u2013 and are willing to pay up to AR$200 per month for this unique walking service. Since most _paseaperros_ don't pay taxes, they can really 'clean up' in the city \u2013 figuratively speaking.\n\nEvery day thousands of canines deposit tons (almost literally) of excrement in the streets and parks of the capital. You'll be aware of this fact soon after stepping onto the streets of Buenos Aires. Cleaning up after one's pooch is already a city requirement, but enforcement is nil, so be very careful where you tread \u2013 you'll see dog piles of all textures and sizes lining almost every sidewalk. One to especially step clear of is the author-named _dulce de leche_ variety.\n\nStill, the capital's leashed packs are a remarkably orderly and always entertaining sight, and make great snapshots to bring back home.\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n EATING\n\nPalermo Viejo is at the heart of innovative cuisine in Buenos Aires. Dozens of upmarket restaurants serve creative cuisine in a contemporary setting, but it's important to be discerning \u2013 a new eatery opens every week, and while quality is generally high, only a few places are truly special.\n\nApart from the high-end _parrillas_ where fine steaks and expensive wines rule, Palermo chefs often take inspiration from different ethnic cuisines. You'll find elements of Japanese, Indian, Vietnamese, Brazilian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Greek and even Norwegian food throughout the neighborhood's dining scene. Just remember that most restaurants offer an Argentine approach to these international styles of cooking: don't expect spicy flavors, for example, because the locals can't stomach it.\n\nAnother sub-neighborhood of Palermo with exceptional eating is Las Ca\u00f1itas, not far from Palermo Viejo. Traffic jams up here on the weekends, when hordes of diners descend on the few blocks of Av B\u00e1ez where most of the area's restaurants and bars are concentrated.\n\nOUI OUI INTERNATIONAL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4778-9614; www.ouioui.com.ar; Nicaragua 6068; mains AR$40-70; 8am-8pm Tue-Sun) _Pain au chocolat_ and shabby chic? _Oui_. This charming and popular French-style cafe produces the goods \u2013 dark coffee, buttery croissants and jars of tangy lemonade \u2013 and boasts a small and cozy interior. Choose also from creative salads, gourmet sandwiches and luscious pastries. Its annex, Almac\u00e9n Oui Oui MAP GOOGLE MAP (cnr Dorrego & Nicaragua; 8am-9pm Tue-Sun), is on the same block and stays open an hour later.\n\nSOCIAL LA LECHUZA ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-2781; Uriarte 1980; mains AR$40-75; 8:30pm-midnight Tue, 12:30-3:30pm & 8:30pm-midnight Wed-Sat, 1-3:30pm Sun) A world away from its trendy neighbors, this classic joint holds on to tradition and offers a breath of fresh air from all those overpriced, overhip restaurants in Palermo. Funky art adorns the walls including amateur owl paintings ( _lechuza_ means 'owl'). Meats and pastas are served in abundant portions, but don't miss the desserts like chocolate mousse and tiramisu.\n\nAREVALITO VEGETARIAN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-4252; Ar\u00e9valo 1478; mains AR$40; 9am-midnight Mon-Sat; ) The menu is hardly extensive at this tiny bohemian eatery, but everything is good and very healthy, and the portions are generous. There's homemade yogurt, daily sandwich specials, hearty salads, vegetable tarts and more. Exceptional coffee and lemonade too.\n\nLAS CHOLAS ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4899-0094; Arce 306; mains AR$40-75; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight) Good food and bargain prices keep this popular corner eatery packed. Choose from typical _parrilla_ cuts or traditional Argentine foods like _locro_ and _cazuela_ (meat and veggie stews). Negatives include uncomfortable chairs, spotty service and the owner's large dog roaming the dining room.\n\n OVIEDO MEDITERRANEAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4822-5415; Beruti 2602; mains AR$90-140; noon-midnight Mon-Sat) Famed chef Martin Rebaudino brings a contemporary Spanish flair to seafood (the fish is shipped daily from Mar del Plata) and serves up melt-in-your-mouth _cochinillo_ (suckling pig) dishes that are worth writing home about. Desserts are homemade, as are the breads. A fantastic wine list and cordial service make Oviedo a fine-dining experience you won't mind shelling out for.\n\n DON JULIO PARRILLA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-6058; Guatemala 4699; mains AR$80-120; noon-4pm & 7:30pm-1am) Classy service and a great wine list add an upscale bent to this traditional corner steakhouse. The _bife de chorizo (sirloin steak)_ is the main attraction here, but the exposed-brick interior, original floor tiles and cowhide tablecloths enhance the sensory experience, and the gourmet salads \u2013 served with a flourish by the uber-professional wait staff \u2013 are a treat.\n\n LAS PIZARRAS INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4775-0625; Thames 2296; mains AR$80-90; 8pm-midnight Tue-Sun) At this simple and unpretentious yet excellent restaurant, Chef Rodrigo Castilla cooks up a changing rainbow of eclectic dishes such as grilled venison or rabbit stuffed with cherries and pistachios. Those with meeker stomachs can choose the asparagus and mushroom risotto or any of the homemade pastas. The chalkboard menu on the wall adds to the casual atmosphere.\n\n SIAMO NEL FORNO PIZZA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4775-0337; Costa Rica 5886; pizza AR$65-95; 8pm-midnight Tue-Thu & Sun, to 1am Fri & Sat) Possibly the city's best Naples-style pizzas, made with quality ingredients and finished in a hot wood-fired oven so the thin crusts char beautifully. Try the Margherita, with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil and olive oil; the Champignon & Prosciutto comes with mushrooms, ham and goat cheese. Also bakes up excellent calzoni.\n\nASTOR MODERN ARGENTINE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4554-0802; www.astorbistro.com; Ciudad de la Paz 353; mains AR$80-90; 12:30-3:30pm Mon-Wed, 12:30-3:30pm & 8:30pm-midnight Thu & Fri, 8:30pm-midnight Sat) French-trained Chef Antonio Soriano presides over the kitchen at this contemporary restaurant in a residential neighborhood. The few main dishes change weekly but are always delicious and beautifully presented, accented with edible flowers. If you order the tasting menu (AR$149), bring your appetite \u2013 it's nine courses. To watch your meals being created, sit at the bar, which offers a view of the open kitchen.\n\nSUDESTADA ASIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-3777; Guatemala 5602; mains AR$105-135; noon-3:15pm & 8pm-midnight Mon-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat) Sudestada's well-earned reputation comes from its beautifully prepared curries, stir-fries and noodle dishes, all inspired by the cuisines of Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore. Don't forgo an exotic cocktail or delicious lychee _licuado_ (milkshake). Note that if you order something spicy, it's actually spicy. The popular set-lunch special is great value.\n\nCRIZIA INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-4979; www.crizia.com.ar; Gorriti 5143; mains AR$90-135; 7pm-1am) One of BA's best seafood restaurants. Start with a half-dozen oysters, then follow with the grilled Camembert over porcini mushrooms and seared red tuna in lime vinaigrette. End with the semifreddo of ginger and fresh mango. Chef Gabriel Oggero will make yours a night to remember.\n\nOLSEN SCANDINAVIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-7677; Gorriti 5870; mains AR$105-125; noon-midnight Tue-Sat, 10:30am-midnight Sun) With its hip, relaxed vibe, too-cool crowd and dramatic central fireplace, Olsen could easily be located in the frosty climes of Scandinavia. Chef German Martitegui's dishes are limited but inspired, and the vodka selection \u2013 over 60 \u2013 is superlative. Luxuriate with an exotic cocktail in the lovely front garden, or try the popular Sunday brunch. Limited menu between lunch and dinner.\n\nMIRANDA PARRILLA $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4771-4255; www.parrillamiranda.com; Costa Rica 5602; mains AR$70-125; 8am-1am Sun-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat) Fashionable Miranda is the _parrilla_ of choice for those looking for both style and substance. It's a pleasant modern steakhouse with concrete walls, high ceilings and rustic wooden furniture, but high-quality grilled beef is the main attraction here \u2013 try the popular _ojo de bife_. If you score a sidewalk table on a warm day, life doesn't get much better.\n\nIL BALLO DEL MATTONE ITALIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-4247; www.ilballo.tv; Gorriti 5737; mains AR$50-100; noon-4pm & 8pm-midnight Mon-Sat) This artsy, eclectic trattoria attracts artists, musicians and tourists, among others, with its delicious homemade pastas. Try the popular _caramel diburata_ appetizer (a soft cheese), then go for the _fusilles escarparo_ with garlic, green onion and parmesan in a tomato sauce. Cute little patio for warm days; reserve at night. Its annex is two blocks away at Gorriti 5950.\n\nMUSEO EVITA RESTAURANTE MODERN ARGENTINE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4800-1599; www.museoevitaresto.com.ar; JM Gutierrez 3926; mains AR$70-100; 9am-midnight Mon-Sat, to 7pm Sun) This restaurant's charming tiled courtyard may be the city's prettiest spot for an alfresco lunch, and the cuisine is thoroughly sophisticated, too. Locals and visitors alike come for the gourmet sandwiches, steaks and salads; the lunch specials are good too.\n\nBIO VEGETARIAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-3880; www.biorestaurant.com.ar; Humboldt 2192; mains AR$68-100; 11am-midnight Sun-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat; ) The supremely health-conscious should make a beeline for this casual corner joint, which specializes in healthy, organic and vegetarian fare. Try the quinoa risotto, seitan stirfry, Mediterranean couscous or mushrooms a la Bahiana (Brazilian-style). Don't miss the refreshing ginger lemonade. Also caters to celiacs, vegans and raw foodists.\n\nAZEMA INTERNATIONAL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-4191; AJ Carranza 1875; mains AR$75-120; 8:30-midnight Mon-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat) With exotic spices and foreign ingredients, Paul Jean Azema goes where few local chefs have gone before. His eclectic menu takes inspiration from his diverse travels \u2013 expect dishes like lamb cooked Mauritius-style, rabbit in chardonnay wine sauce and mango and curry duck \u2013 and Azema himself occasionally makes an appearance in the dining room.\n\n HERN\u00c1N GIPPONI RESTAURANT MODERN ARGENTINE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 3220-6820; www.hgrestaurant.com.ar; Soler 5862; mains AR$120-135, set menu AR$260, wine pairings AR$160 extra; 7:30am-midnight Mon-Fri, 8am-midnight Sat & Sun) Located in the Fierro Hotel, this exceptional restaurant offers highly sophisticated, Spanish-influenced dishes created by chef Hern\u00e1n Gipponi. Order the seven-course tasting menu for the full experience \u2013 it's pricey but worth it. Set menu on weekday lunches runs AR$150; the six-course weekend brunch costs AR$175 and is a must. On Monday nights, everyone sits at one communal table. Reserve ahead.\n\nLA CABRERA PARRILLA $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-7002; Cabrera 5099; mains AR$115-150; 12:30-4:30pm & 8:30pm-1am Mon-Thu, to 2am Fri & Sat, 12:30pm-1am Sun) Hugely popular for grilling up BA's most sublime meats. Steaks come in 200g or 400g sizes and arrives with heaps of little complimentary side dishes. Come at 7pm for 'happy hour,' when everything is 40% off \u2013 just make sure you get here early enough to score a table. There's an annex at Cabrera 5127; expect a long wait at both locations.\n\nUNIK MODERN ARGENTINE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-2230; www.unik.pro; Soler 5132; mains AR$135-190; 8:30pm-midnight Mon, 12:30-3pm & 8:30pm-midnight Tue-Sat) For a splurge night out, you can't do much better than Unik. Start with an appetizer of roasted beets with goat cheese and walnut-\u00adtruffle vinaigrette (AR$90), then move on to the main courses: rabbit with eggplant pur\u00e9e, suckling pig with grilled apples in Dijon mustard sauce or Patagonian lamb with pickled figs and a tagine sauce. Unik indeed.\n\nGREEN BAMBOO VIETNAMESE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4775-7050; www.green-bamboo.com.ar; Costa Rica 5802; mains AR$115-160; 8:30pm-1am Sun-Thu, to 2:30am Fri & Sat) This sultry Vietnamese eatery offers just a small selection of dishes, but all are well prepared and flavorful. Sample things like seafood curry, marinated sirloin in lemongrass and 'traditional' _pho_ (well, Argentine-style \u2013 so don't expect much tradition). The atmosphere is dim and romantic, with a few low tables, and the tropical cocktails are excellent. Reserve on weekends.\n\n### BEHIND CLOSED DOORS\n\nA very popular Buenos Aires culinary offshoot in the last few years are 'closed-door restaurants', or _puertas cerradas_. These places are open only a few days per week, have timed seatings and are generally prix fixe (and mostly cash only). They're not marked with signs and you have to ring a bell to enter. They won't even tell you the address until you make reservations (mandatory, of course). But for that tingly feeling brought on by discovering something off the beaten path \u2013 with some of the city's best food to boot \u2013 these places are for you.\n\nThere are two kinds of _puertas cerradas:_ the first is where you dine in the chef's actual home, and usually sit at a large communal table. This is a great way to meet other people, often interesting travelers or expats; it's ideal for folks traveling alone. The second kind has more of a restaurant feel and tables are for separate groups \u2013 just like a regular restaurant, but not open to walk-ins. Many _puertas cerradas_ are located in Palermo.\n\nSome of BA's best _puertas cerradas_ include iLatina (www.ilatinabuenosaires.com\/en), serving exquisite Colombian food; Casa Saltshaker (www.casasaltshaker.com), where you'll sample ex\u2013New Yorker Dan Perlman's culinary creations; NOLA (www.nolabuenosaires.com), home to New Orleans\u2013fusion dishes; Casa Felix (www.colectivofelix.com\/casa-felix), a pescatarian's delight; and Cocina Sunae (www.cocinasunae.com), for near-authentic Asian-fusion meals.\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\nYou'll find Buenos Aires' hippest drinking scenes in and around Palermo, especially near Plaza Serrano in Palermo Soho. Many restaurants in this neighborhood also have good bars. Las Ca\u00f1itas has a lively three blocks of nonstop restaurants and bars, and is also worth a drop-in, especially later in the evening.\n\n VERNE COCKTAIL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4822-0980; Medrano 1475; 9pm-2am Sun-Wed, to 4am Thu-Sat) Upscale yet casual bar with slight Jules Verne theme. Cocktails are the specialties here, whipped up by one of BA's best bartenders, Fede Cuco. A few tables, some cushy sofas and an airy outdoor patio offer a variety of seating options, but plant yourself at the bar to see drinks being made; check out the French absinthe server.\n\nFRANK'S BAR COCKTAIL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4777-6541; www.franks-bar.com; Ar\u00e9valo 1445; 9pm-4am Wed-Sat) Very popular plush, elegant speakeasy bar that 'requires' a password (via telephone booth) to get in \u2013 or just sweet talk the bouncer. Inside it's a beautiful space with crystal chandeliers, billowy ceiling drapes and exclusive feel. Classic cocktails from before the 1930s are stirred \u2013 never blended \u2013 and served to a crowd of locals and foreigners. Check out the balcony bar too.\n\nMAGDALENA'S PARTY BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-9127; www.magdalenasparty.com; Thames 1795) Popular bar-restaurant with laid-back atmosphere and _buena onda_ (good vibes). DJs spin from Thursday to Saturday nights, and with cheap drinks this is a good preclub spot; try the vodka lemonade by the pitcher. Happy hour runs from noon to midnight daily, and tasty expat-friendly food is served, such as freshly ground hamburgers, California-style burritos and organic coffee. It does weekend brunch too.\n\nHOME HOTEL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4778-1008; www.homebuenosaires.com; Honduras 5860; 8am-midnight) Some of Palermo's best cocktails can be found at Home Hotel's very intimate bar-restaurant. During the day, relax in the grassy garden next to the slick infinity pool. At night, settle down at the polished cement bar with a house cocktail, created by some of Buenos Aires' best-known bartenders. Friday evenings in summer are livened up by DJ parties. A wide variety of vodkas, along with tapas are available.\n\nANTARES BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-9611; www.cervezaantares.com; Armenia 1447; 7pm-4am) Thirsty for a decent _cerveza_ ? Look no further than this modern but relaxed restaurant-bar with Argentine-brewed ales, pilsners, lagers and barley wine. Order a beer flight, sample the brewmaster's special-edition selection or just enjoy the two-for-one pints during happy hour (from 7pm to 8pm). Also in Las Ca\u00f1itas at Ar\u00e9valo 2876.\n\nCONGO BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-5857; www.barcongo.com.ar; Honduras 5329; 8pm-4am Mon-Thu, 9pm-5am Fri & Sat) The highlight at this trendy bar is the beautiful back patio \u2013 _the_ place to be seen on hot summer nights, with its slick bar, leafy atmosphere and comfy wood booths. The music is great, too, with DJs spinning from Wednesday to Saturday, and inside there are elegant low lounges in romantic spaces. A full food menu is available, along with strong cocktails.\n\nEL CARNAL BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-7582; www.carnalbar.com.ar; Niceto Vega 5511; 7pm-5am Tue-Fri, 9pm-5am Sat) See and be seen \u2013 preferably in the open air with an icy vodka tonic in hand \u2013 on the rooftop terrace at this ever-popular watering hole. With its bamboo lounges and billowy curtains, the place can't be beat for a cool chill-out on a warm summer night. Early in the week reggae rocks, while Thursdays to Saturdays means pop and '80s tunes.\n\nSHANGHAI DRAGON PUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4778-1053; Ar\u00e1oz 1199; 5pm-3am Mon-Wed, to 4am Thu-Sun) Good corner pub with mellow vibe, sports on TV and slight Asian theme, attracting the 25 and over crowd. Come for dinner if you want cheap Chinese food like vegetable stir fries and Kung Pao chicken, while happy hour means cheap drinks from 5pm to 10pm. DJs spin funk and rock on Saturdays. Same owners as popular Gibraltar (Click here) and Bangalore (Indian) pubs.\n\nMUNDO BIZARRO BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-1967; www.mundobizarrobar.com; Serrano 1222; 8pm-late) This red-lit, futuristically retro and stylish lounge bar is open pretty much all through the night on weekends, when everything from old-time American music to hip DJs to jazz stirs up the air waves. If you're feeling peckish, check out the American-inspired bar food, which ranges from Tex-mex to burgers to hot apple pie with ice cream. Dance on the stripper pole after you've had a few drinks.\n\nVAN KONING PUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-9909; Av B\u00e1ez 325; 7pm-3:30am Sun-Thu, to 5am Fri & Sat) Wonderfully rustic spaces make this Dutch-themed pub feel like the inside of a boat; after all, it's a 17th-century-style seafaring theme complete with dark wood beams, flickering candles and blocky furniture. Bars on two floors serve over 30 kinds of both local and imported brews, with at least three on draft. A magnet for expats; the first Wednesday of the month is Dutch night.\n\nSUGAR BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-3276; www.sugarbuenosaires.com; Costa Rica 4619; 7pm-5:30am Mon-Fri, 11am-5:30am Sat, 11am-3am Sun) This lively expat watering hole brings in a youthful nightly crowd with well-priced drink specials and comfort food like chicken fingers and buffalo wings. Watch sports on the two huge TV screens or come on Thursdays \u2013 also known as ladies' night \u2013 when things can get a little rowdy. On weekends, you can roll out of bed and arrive in time for eggs and mimosas.\n\nACABAR BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-0845; www.acabarnet.com.ar; Honduras 5733; 8pm-2am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat) One of the quirkiest restaurant-bars in town. A maze of a half-dozen rooms and spaces are decked out in mismatched chandeliers, funky furniture, clashing pastel colors and frilly wallpaper; it's a texture and pattern overload. It's also famous for board games, which Argentines love to play. Serves food earlier on.\n\nKIKA CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.kikaclub.com.ar; Honduras 5339; Tue-Sun) Being supremely well located near the heart of Palermo Viejo's bar scene makes Kika's Tuesday-night popular 'Hype' party (www.hype-ba.com) easily accessible for the trendy crowds. It's a mix of electro, rock, hip-hop, drum and bass and dubstep, all spun by both local and international DJs. Other nights see electronica, raggaeton, Latin beats and live bands ruling the roost.\n\nPACH\u00c1 CLUB\n\n( 4788-4288; www.pachabuenosaires.com; Av Rafael Obligado 6151; Sat) Popular, long-running electronica club well-known for attracting famous international DJs who spin tunes for the sometimes spaced-out crowds. Laser light shows and a great sound system makes the chic crowds happy through the early morning light \u2013 be sure to bring your shades and watch the sun come up from the terrace.\n\nCLUB AR\u00c1OZ CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-9751; www.clubaraoz.com.ar; Ar\u00e1oz 2424; Thu-Sat) Also known as 'Lost', this intimate club's finest hour is on Thursday, when hip-hop rules the roost and the regulars start break dancing around 2am (reggaeton comes on later in the evening). National and international DJs liven up the weekends. There's no dress code \u2013 a good thing, since it tends to get hot and sweaty in here.\n\nCROBAR CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4778-1500; www.crobar.com.ar; cnr Av de la Infanta Isabell & Freyre; Fri & Sat) Year after year, stylish Crobar remains one of BA's most popular nightlife spots. Friday usually features international DJs mashing up the latest electronic selections, while Saturday tends to feature more commercial or Latin beats. There's also a back room for those who prefer classic rock, '80s remixes and occasional live bands, while the main levels are strewn with mezzanines and catwalks that allow views from above.\n\nGLAM CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4963-2521; Jos\u00e9 Antonio Cabrera 3046; Thu-Sat) Housed on three floors of an old mansion with tall brick hallways, this mazelike gay club still brings in a crowd of young, good-looking guys. They're here to dance and get to know each other better \u2013 there are no shows to distract, just casual lounges, pretty bars and a dark room where anything goes. Saturday is the biggest night here.\n\nNICETO CLUB CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4779-9396; www.nicetoclub.com; Niceto Vega 5510; Thu-Sat) One of the city's biggest crowd-pullers, the can't-miss event at Niceto Club is Thursday night's Club 69, a subversive DJ extravaganza featuring gorgeously attired showgirls, dancing drag queens, futuristic video installations and off-the-wall performance art. On weekend nights, national and international spin masters take the booth to entertain lively crowds with blends of hip-hop, electronic beats, cumbia and reggae.\n\nLA VIRUTA MILONGA\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-6357; www.lavirutatango.com; Armenia 1366, basement) Popular basement venue. Good beginner tango classes are available before _milongas_ \u2013 translating into many inexperienced dancers on the floor earlier on \u2013 so if you're an expert get here late (after 3:30am). Music can run the gamut from tango to rock to cumbia to salsa earlier in the evening, with more traditional tunes later. Tango shows also on offer.\n\nSALON CANNING MILONGA\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-6753; www.parakultural.com.ar; Av Scalabrini Ortiz 1331) Some of BA's finest dancers (no wallflowers here) grace this traditional venue with its great dance floor. Well-known tango company Parakultural often stages good events here involving live music, tango DJs, singers and dancers. Expect big crowds and plenty of tourists.\n\nWORTH A DETOUR\n\n### BELGRANO\n\nBustling Av Cabildo, the racing heartbeat of Belgrano, is an overwhelming jumble of noise and neon. It's a two-way street of clothing, shoe and housewares shops that does its part in supporting _porte\u00f1os_ ' mass consumerism. For a bit more peace and quiet, head to the blocks on either side of the avenue, where Belgrano becomes a leafy barrio of museums, plazas, parks and good local eateries.\n\nA block east of Av Cabildo, the barrio's plaza is the site of the modest but fun Feria Plaza Belgrano (cnr Juramento & Cuba; 10am-8pm Sat & Sun). On a sunny weekend it's full of shoppers and families with strollers. Near the plaza stands the Italianate Iglesia de la Inmaculada Concepci\u00f3n, a church popularly known as La Redonda (The Round One) because of its impressive dome.\n\nJust a few steps from the plaza is the Museo Hist\u00f3rico Sarmiento ( 4782-2354; www.museosarmiento.gov.ar; Juramento 2180; admission AR$15; 1-6pm Mon-Fri, 3-7pm Sat & Sun), which honors one of the most forward-thinking Argentines in history. Also close by is the Museo de Arte Espa\u00f1ol Enrique Larreta ( 4784-4040; www.museolarreta.buenosaires.gov.ar; Juramento 2291; admission AR$5; 1-7pm Mon -Fri, 10am-8pm Sat & Sun), a mansion with gorgeous art pieces and gardens. About five blocks north is yet another museum, the Museo Casa de Yrurtia ( 4781-0385; O'Higgins 2390; admission AR$10, Wed free; 11:30am-6pm Wed-Fri, 3-7pm Sat & Sun), honoring the well-known Argentine sculptor.\n\nFour blocks northeast of Plaza Belgrano, French landscape architect Carlos Thays took advantage of the contours of Barrancas de Belgrano to create an attractive, green public space on one of the few natural hillocks in the city. Retirees spend the afternoon at the chess tables beneath its omb\u00fa tree, and on Saturday and Sunday evenings the band shell hosts a popular outdoor _milonga_ (tango event).\n\nAcross Juramento from Barrancas, Belgrano's growing Chinatown fills three blocks on Arribe\u00f1os, with more Chinese businesses spilling over into the side streets. Don't come on Mondays, however, as many places are shut; do come on Chinese New Year, when festivities abound.\n\nYou'll probably head into Belgrano via Av Cabildo, either by bus or Subte (the Subte runs right under Cabildo). Plaza Belgrano is one block east of Cabildo at Juramento; most sights are around the plaza. Barrancas de Belgrano is the location of Belgrano's bus and train stations and is located about four blocks from the plaza.\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nTHELONIOUS BAR JAZZ\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4829-1562; www.theloniousclub.com.ar; Salguero 1884, 1st fl; 9pm-1am Wed-Thu, to 3am Fri & Sat) Up the stairs in an old mansion lies this dimly lit jazz bar, with high brick ceilings and a good sound system. Come early to snag a seat (or reserve one ahead of time) and partake in the typically Argentine menu and good range of cocktails. Thelonious is known for its classic and contemporary Argentine jazz lineups, though international musicians sometimes entertain.\n\nLA PE\u00d1A DEL COLORADO FOLK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4822-1038; www.lapeniadelcolorado.com; G\u00fcemes 3657; 8pm-4am) Nightly music shows (mostly folkloric) start at 10pm and are memorable at this rustic restaurant, and after midnight audience members pick up nearby guitars to make their own entertainment. There's also tasty northern Argentine food on offer, including _locro_ , _chip\u00e1_ (chewy cheese balls) and _humitas de Chala_ (like tamales) \u2013 the spicy _empanadas_ are excellent.\n\nLOS CARDONES FOLK\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4777-1112; www.cardones.com.ar; Borges 2180; from 9pm Wed-Sat) Come to this friendly, low-key _pe\u00f1a_ (folk club) for audience-participatory jam sessions (and possible dancing), mellow guitar shows, hearty regional cuisine from northern Argentina and free-flowing red wine. Shows start at 10pm on weekdays and 11pm weekends. Check out the website for details on the current lineup and reserve ahead for a good table.\n\nTIEMPO DE GITANOS FLAMENCO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-6143; www.tiempodegitanos.com.ar; El Salvador 5575; Wed-Sun) This venue in Palermo Hollywood offers good flamenco shows in an intimate restaurant setting. Shows start at 11:30pm and cost AR$60 to AR$90, depending on the night. Classic Spanish foods like paella and tapas are on tap (food purchase is obligatory). Reserve in advance.\n\n#### Neighborhood Walk \n **Walking the Green**\n\n**Start** Parque 3 de Febrero\n\n**End** Museo Evita\n\n**Length** 4.5km, 3-4 hours\n\nStart in Parque 3 de Febrero (Click here) these expansive green spaces were once the aristocracy's stomping ground. It's best on weekends, when the road around the rose garden is cut off to vehicular traffic (this is when you can rent bicycles and rollerblades).\n\nThose interested in modern art can peek into the contemporary Museo de Artes Pl\u00e1sticas Eduardo S\u00edvori (Click here), which showcases Argentine work. There's a relaxing cafe here as well. If you like flowers, head across the road and cross the bridge to the Rosedal (Click here), where you can stop to sniff the roses. Continue across the garden until you come to Av Iraola, turn left onto it for about a block, then veer to the right to reach Av Sarmiento.\n\nCross Av Sarmiento (carefully!), and head along Av Berro for about 500m to BA's Jard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s (Click here). This little paradise is meticulously maintained with koi ponds, pretty bridges and a tea shop, making it a welcome break from roads and traffic.\n\nNow skim around Plaza Alemania and jog around a few residential streets to reach Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Click here), an airy museum that's home to some excellent paintings. For more culture, go two blocks south to the much more modest Museo de Arte Popular Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e0ndez (Click here), which exhibits handicrafts and folkloric items.\n\nOn Av del Libertador, stop in at luscious ice-cream shop Un Altra Volta for a peaked cone of _dulce de leche granizado_ (milk caramel with chocolate flakes). Now head down the street (alongside the odiferous zoo) to Museo Evita (Click here), where you can check out the collected memorabilia of Argentina's most famous woman. There's a fine cafe-restaurant here where you can end your long walk.\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n SHOPPING\n\nPalermo Viejo, a large sub-neighborhood of Palermo, is a fashionista's shopping paradise. A few years ago, most of the storefronts were showcases for cutting-edge clothes; these days, the barrio hosts a wider range of designers selling high-end wares from home accessories and books to fancy stationery, soaps, candles, souvenirs, kids' toys and gourmet chocolate. It's easy to spend hours or even days shopping in Palermo; many design-minded travelers consider an afternoon here part of the sightseeing circuit.\n\nFERIA PLAZA SERRANO MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza Serrano; 10am-8pm Fri-Sun) Costume jewelry, hand-knit tops, funky clothes, hippie bags, glass jewelry, leather accessories and much more fill the craft booths at this popular street fair on fashionable Plaza Serrano (also known as Plaza Cortazar). It's not huge, but the plaza is in the middle of Palermo's bustling nightlife and surrounded by trendy bars, restaurants and upscale stores.\n\nRAPSODIA FASHION\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-6333; www.rapsodia.com; Honduras 4872; 10am-9pm) With fabrics from linen to leather and details like fringe and sequins, this large and popular boutique is a must for fashion mavens. Old and new are blended into creative, colorful styles with exotic and bohemian accents. Locals covet its dresses and jeans; over a dozen branches in the city.\n\nBOLIVIA CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-6284; Gurruchaga 1581; 11am-8pm Mon-Sat, 3-8pm Sun) There's almost nothing here that your young, hip and possibly gay brother wouldn't love, from the stylish plaid shirts to the skin-tight jeans to the military-styled jackets. Metrosexual to the hilt, and paradise for the man who isn't afraid of patterns, plaid or pastels. Also at Nicaragua 4906.\n\nLO DE JOAQUIN ALBERDI FOOD & WINE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-5329; www.lodejoaquinalberdi.com; JL Borges 1772; 11am-9:30pm Mon-Sat, noon-9:30pm Sun) Nationally produced wines for every taste and budget line the racks and cellar of this attractive wine shop. Tastings happen Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm (double-check ahead of time) and include four wines and some cheeses; the cost is AR$100.\n\nHERMANOS ESTEBECORENA CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-2145; www.hermanosestebecorena.com; El Salvador 5960; 11am-8pm Mon-Sat) The Estebecorena brothers apply their highly creative skills toward smartly designed tops, jackets that fold into bags, polo-collar work shirts and even supremely comfortable, nearly seamless underwear. The focus is on original, highly stylish, very functional men's clothing that makes the artsy types swoon. Selection is limited, but what's there really counts.\n\nLA MERCER\u00cdA FASHION & ACCESSORIES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-8558; Armenia 1609; 11am-8pm) Attracting crowds of gossipy ladies on a busy weekend, this boutique is stuffed with bright and colorful accessories like costume jewelry, pillows, scarves, belts, perfumes, hats and lots of handbags. Frilly, glitzy and designed for self-assured women.\n\nCALMA CHICHA HOUSEWARES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-1818; www.calmachicha.com; Honduras 4909; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-8pm Sat, 1-7pm Sun) Calma Chicha specializes in creative housewares and accessories that are locally produced from leather, faux leather, sheepskin, cowhide, and brightly hued fabric. Look for butterfly chairs, throw rugs, leather placemats, bright pillows and cowskin bags.\n\nJUANA DE ARCO FASHION & ACCESSORIES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-1621; www.juanadearco.net; El Salvador 4762; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-8pm Sat, 1-8pm Sun) Mariana Cortes has designed adorable bits of fabrics sewn into girly sets that would be best showcased during a pillow fight \u2013 think brightly colored T-shirts, flowery boxer shorts and tight leggings. Descend the staircase to discover more treasures.\n\nNOBRAND SOUVENIRS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-7288; www.nobrand.com.ar; Gorriti 5876; noon-8pm Tue-Sun) For that modern, locally inspired gift, check out this slick shop. Two designers created Argentine logos such as the cow, _mate_ , _asado_ , _empanadas_ and tango (along with people like Evita and Che Guevara), and transferred those iconic logos onto T-shirts, aprons, mugs, notebooks, caps and even shoes. Fun gifts for folks back home.\n\nCAPITAL HOUSEWARES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4834-6555; www.capitalpalermo.com; Honduras 4958; 10am-8pm) There's nothing you really _need_ at this whimsical knickknacks store, but it's a fun place to visit anyhow. The stock is always changing, but expect things like mugs with iconic images, funky computer accessories and cartoonish shower curtains.\n\nHUMAWACA LEATHER GOODS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-2662; www.humawaca.com; El Salvador 4692; 11am-8pm Mon-Sat, 2-7pm Sun) Award-winning designs bring both form and functionality to Argentine leather, producing handbags, tote bags and wallets with clean modernist lines and colorful hues. Visit this tiny boutique and you'll always find something different and eye-catching.\n\n28 SPORT SHOES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-4287; www.28sport.com; Gurruchaga 1481; 11am-1:30pm, 2:30-7pm Mon-Sat) For the retro-sports fanatic, there's nothing better than this unique shop with a sense of humor and a vintage twist. Focusing on only one product and one style \u2013 men's '50s sport-style shoes \u2013 the cobblers here can concentrate on quality and craftsmanship. Inspiration comes from football, boxing and bowling shoes, and only 12 pairs of each design are produced.\n\nMISHKA SHOES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-5655; www.mishkashoes.com.ar; El Salvador 4673; 10:30am-8:30pm Mon-Sat, 3-8pm Sun) Well-regarded designer Chelo Cant\u00f3n was once an architect but now creates wonderfully unique footwear with a retro-hip, feminine and slightly conservative vibe. Try on a pair of patent-leather sandals for size, or go for more traditional ballet flats in velvet and brocade (though styles are always changing). Check the website for other locations around the city.\n\nHARAPOS PATAGONIA SOUVENIRS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 2058-7810; Malabia 1635; 11am-7:30pm Mon-Sat, 2-7:30pm Sun) Can't make it all the way down to Patagonia? Well, then just visit to this small store to grab a southern souvenir. There are woolen goods (sheep are big down there), hand-made ceramics, wooden utensils and silver and alpaca jewelry. All products are made by Patagonian craftspeople.\n\nSUGAR & SPICE FOOD & WINE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4777-5423; www.sugarandspice.com.ar; Guatemala 5419; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat) Nibble the exotic (for Argentina, at least) creations of Frank Almeida, a long-time American expat. Herb cookies, almond biscotti, hazelnut panettone and peanut-butter brownies soothe homesick taste buds, and daily-baked bagels, muffins and scones are also available.\n\nCENTRICO SHOES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4865-0143; www.centricocentrica.com.ar; Figueroa 1800; 10:30am-8:30pm Mon-Sat) Leonardo Mancuso designs these handmade leather shoes with a classic, traditional styling that emphasizes simplicity over showiness. Both men's and women's shoes available, and some have unisex looks; there are also a few ankle and knee-high boots. Prices run from AR$1000, but check out the sale items in the back room.\n\nPANORAMA CLOTHING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.pnrm.com.ar; Rep\u00fablica de la India 2905; 11am-8pm Mon-Sat) About 20 emerging young designers are showcased at this small, upscale store in Palermo Chico. Peruse the clothing racks for one-of-a-kind, eclectic tops, pants, dresses and coats that can be definite show-stoppers. Small sizes dominate, though custom orders are possible. There are also a few accessories and shoes.\n\nALTO PALERMO SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5777-8000; www.altopalermo.com.ar; Av Santa Fe 3253; 10am-10pm) Smack on bustling Av Santa Fe, this popular, shiny mall offers dozens of clothing shops, bookstores, jewelry boutiques, and electronics and houseware stores. Look for Timberland, Lacoste, Hilfiger and Levi's (plus many Argentine brands, too). Services include a food court, a cinema complex and a good kids' area on the 3rd floor.\n\nPASEO ALCORTA SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5777-6500; www.paseoalcorta.com.ar; Salguero 3172; 10am-10pm) One of the largest and most upscale malls in the city. All the popular Argentine women's clothing shops are represented, as are international boutiques such as Adidas, Nike and Swatch. Other stores sell leather goods, kids' clothes, men's designs, sportswear and accessories. There's also a large food court and a children's play area.\n\nPATIO DEL LICEO SHOPPING MALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4822-9433; Santa Fe 2729; 2-8pm Mon-Sat) Wonderful little shopping mall with funky, casual and very artsy vibe. In the past few years, young struggling artists have taken over and created an artistic hub here, filling it with various small stores, exhibition spaces and workshops. You'll find a couple of book shops, a record store and some design stores. For refreshment there's a small cafe called Baby Snakes.\n\nLIBROS DEL PASAJE BOOKS\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4483-6637; www.librosdelpasaje.com.ar; Thames 1762; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 2-9pm Sun) This cool literary sanctuary offers history, culture and art books. They're mostly in Spanish, but look for the small English section near the front door (with some Lonely Planet books). There's a cute cafe in back, with small inside patio, for a snack or cup of coffee.\n\nPAPELERA PALERMO STATIONERY\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4833-3081; www.papelerapalermo.com; Cabrera 5227; 10am-8pm Mon-Fri, 11am-8pm Sat) Everyone emails these days, but step into this stationery store and you'll be tempted to start penning letters again. A large selection of gorgeous wrapping papers, handmade stationery and funky spiral notebooks (look for the Evita motif) all inspire.\n\nEL CID FASHION\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-3339; www.elcid.us; Gurruchaga 1732; 11am-8pm Tue-Sat, 3-7pm Sun) Some of the finest men's threads can be found at this Palermo Viejo boutique, which highlights Nestor Goldberg's designer shirts, pants, jackets, accessories and jeans. Materials are of the highest quality, and tailoring is classy, hip and casual.\n\nARTE \u00c9TNICO ARGENTINO CRAFTS & TEXTILES\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-0516; www.monteargentino.com; El Salvador 4656; 11am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-4pm Sat) Bright and beautiful woven _mantas_ (blankets) from Santiago del Estero are the main attraction at this upscale shop, located in an old house. All are made from wool and natural dyes, and can also be used as light rugs. Expect to pay from AR$2500 up.\n\nMERCADO DE LAS PULGAS MARKET\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr \u00c1lvarez Thomas & Dorrego; 11am-7pm Tue-Sun) This large, covered warehouse is full of caged booths selling antiques, vintage objects and some modern items \u2013 precious things such as wood furniture, glass soda bottles, chandeliers, old clocks, silver trays, bird cages, elegant mirrors and ironwork.\n\n### BUENOS AIRES' EMERGING DESIGNERS\n\nOne of the most notable transitions in Buenos Aires fashion in the last few years is the growing prominence of emerging designers. Based mostly out of private homes and apartments, known locally as 'showrooms,' a young community of recent fashion school grads and 20-somethings with an entrepreneurial spirit are taking over BA's inventive design world. Recent initiatives by the Buenos Aires City government such as competitions like IncuBA and La Ciudad de Moda (which allowed several of the most promising emerging designers to stage runway shows at Buenos Aires Fashion Week), have given the industry the boost it desperately needs to make BA one of the most intriguing fashion hotspots in Latin America. Whether you're on the hunt for casual streetwear, luxurious leather or innovative jewelry design, BA's best emerging designers take pride in their originality and skilled craftsmanship.\n\nWhen it comes to clothing design, rising names like Bel\u00e9n Amigo (www.belenamigo.com.ar) and Joan Martorello (www.facebook.com\/JMARTORELLO), both present at La Ciudad de Moda's runway show, are capturing stylish locals with their alternative, street-chic designs that range from Martorello's signature knits to Amigo's tailored pants and drapey silk organza tops. For more comfy casual wear, stop in at Deleon's (www.deleonba.com) Palermo Hollywood showroom, a destination for young fashionable locals looking to expand their collection of urban cool garments that scream sophistication.\n\nYet another exciting fresh face in BA's emerging fashion scene is Julia Schang-Viton (www.schangviton.com.ar), a young design prodigy whose structured, architectural cuts and neutral color palette draw upon her Asian heritage.\n\nIf you're in the market for leather, you've come to the right city. The independent design team behind artsy leather jacket label Oveja Oveja (www.ovejaoveja.com) have created a stir with their high-quality, hand-painted jackets that fit perfectly with BA's cosmopolitan vibe.\n\nFor leather bags, don't miss the geometric gems by Bellebas (www.bellebas.com), whose sleek clutches and embossed satchels make for the quintessential Buenos Aires accessory.\n\nIn the world of jewelry, both In\u00e9s Bonadeo (www.inesbonadeo.com.ar), a metal-working craftswoman who has already shown her work in New York at the inter\u00adnational design fair NY Now, and Vendaval (www.vendavalbuenosaires.com.ar), whose amulets are available at indie boutique Monoambiente (www.mono-ambiente.com.ar) can't be missed.\n\nWhile popular among locals, shopping in showrooms can prove intimidating for visitors. To gain access to these hidden treasures, it takes some local knowledge and the right connections. Thankfully, a few ambitious expats are giving tourists the chance to discover the exciting world of BA's emerging design through personalized shopping tours that'll take you to some of the most notable showrooms in town as well as the hippest open-door boutiques. Sophie Lloyd at ShopHopBA (www.shop-buenosaires.com) is the perfect option for those looking to get inside the city's exclusive showrooms. Warm, welcoming and knowledgeable, Sophie's tours include champagne toasts and privately catered lunches, and she also offers personal color consultations to those in need of a wardrobe makeover. Vanessa Bell at Creme de la Creme (www.cremedelacreme.com.ar) is known for her extensive contacts and excellent taste.\n\n_Natalie Schreyer is a fashion writer who has been living in Buenos Aires for five years. She is the creator ofwww.bashopgirl.com, a fashion blog covering BA's best emerging designers. In addition to her blog, she has written for LandingPadBA.com._\n\n Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Shopping | Sports & Activities\n\n SPORTS & ACTIVITIES\n\nCAMPO ARGENTINO DE POLO POLO\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Av del Libertador & Av Dorrego) Just across from the Hip\u00f3dromo Argentino in Palermo, this stadium holds up to 30,000 spectators and hosts polo's most important events (including the Argentine Open Polo Championship in November and December). However, the northern suburb of Pilar has the highest density of polo clubs.\n\n### TIERRA SANTA\n\nTired of the same old Sunday sermons? Praying for kitsch? Then Tierra Santa ( 0800-444-3467; www.tierrasanta-bsas.com.ar; Av Costanera R Obligado 5790; adult\/child 3-11yr AR$60\/30; 9am-9pm Fri, noon-10pm Sat, Sun & holidays Apr-Nov, 4pm- midnight Fri-Sun & holidays Dec-Mar) might be exactly what you need.\n\nEnter this religious and wonderfully tacky theme park, roughly based on Jerusalem, and head straight to the manger scene. Here, colorful lights and minimally animatronic figures swoon over baby Jesus. Better yet is the creation of the world, which features real rushing waters and life-size fake animals. From here it's a 30-second walk to witness the 12m-tall animatronic Jesus rise from the Calvary mound, open his eyes and finally turn his palms toward the emotional devoted below. Miss the show? Don't fret: another resurrection is just around the corner.\n\nThe park isn't just for Christians \u2013 there are reproductions of the Wailing Wall, along with a synagogue and a mosque. So regardless of religious affiliation, enjoy nibbling on a shawarma or take in an Arabic dancing show. It's a spectacle you won't find anyplace else on earth \u2013 especially not in Jerusalem.\n\nPalermo\n\n Top Sights\n\n1Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires H3\n\n2Parque 3 de Febrero F2\n\n Sights\n\n3Centro Isl\u00e1mico Rey Fahd E2\n\n4Jard\u00edn Bot\u00e1nico Carlos Thays F4\n\n5Jard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s G3\n\n6Jard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico E4\n\n7Museo Casa de Ricardo Rojas H6\n\n8Museo de Arte Popular Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez H4\n\n9Museo de Artes Pl\u00e1sticas Eduardo S\u00edvori F2\n\n10Museo Evita F4\n\n11Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo H4\n\n12Museo Xul Solar G7\n\n13Planetario Galileo Galilei G2\n\n14Rosedal F2\n\n Eating\n\n15Almac\u00e9n Oui Oui C3\n\n16Arevalito B4\n\n17Astor B3\n\n18Azema C4\n\n19Bio D4\n\n20Crizia D5\n\n21Don Julio E5\n\n22Green Bamboo C4\n\n23Hern\u00e1n Gipponi Restaurant C4\n\n24Il Ballo de Mattone B4\n\n25Il Ballo del Mattone C4\n\nIl Matterello (see 95)\n\n26La Cabrera C5\n\n27La Cabrera C6\n\n28Las Cholas D2\n\n29Las Pizarras E4\n\n30Malv\u00f3n G3\n\n31Miranda C4\n\nMuseo Evita Restaurante (see 10)\n\n32Natural Deli C1\n\n33Olsen B4\n\n34Oui Oui C3\n\n35Oviedo H6\n\n36Siamo nel Forno C4\n\n37Social la Lechuza D5\n\n38Sudestada C4\n\n39Unik D5\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n40AcaBar C4\n\n41Antares A7\n\n42Casa Coupage D4\n\n43Club Ar\u00e1oz F5\n\n44Congo C5\n\n45Crobar E2\n\n46El Carnal C5\n\n47Frank's Bar B4\n\n48Glam G7\n\n49Home Hotel B4\n\n50Kika C5\n\n51La Viruta D6\n\n52Magdalena's Party D5\n\n53Mundo Bizarro C6\n\n54Niceto Club B5\n\n55Post Street Bar D5\n\n56Salon Canning D6\n\n57Shanghai Dragon D7\n\n58Sugar B6\n\n59Van Koning D2\n\n60Verne F6\n\n Entertainment\n\n61Campo Argentino de Polo D2\n\n62La Pe\u00f1a del Colorado F5\n\n63Los Cardones E5\n\n64Thelonious Bar F5\n\n65Tiempo de Gitanos C4\n\n Shopping\n\n6628 Sport A7\n\n67Alto Palermo G5\n\n68Arte \u00c9tnico Argentino B7\n\n69Bolivia A7\n\n70Calma Chicha A6\n\n71Capital A7\n\n72Centrico E6\n\n73El Cid B6\n\n74Feria Plaza Serrano A6\n\n75Harapos Patagonia B7\n\n76Hermanos Estebecorena B4\n\n77Humawaca B7\n\n78Juana de Arco B6\n\n79La Mercer\u00eda B7\n\n80Libros del Pasaje D5\n\n81Lo de Joaquin Alberdi A6\n\n82Mercado de las Pulgas B4\n\n83Mishka B7\n\n84Nobrand B4\n\n85Panorama F4\n\n86Papelera Palermo C5\n\n87Paseo Alcorta H3\n\n88Patio del Liceo H6\n\n89Rapsodia A7\n\n90Sugar & Spice D4\n\n91Zival's D6\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n92Anda Responsible Travel G7\n\n93Anuva Wines C2\n\n94Bar du March\u00e9 C4\n\n95Pain et Vin C5\n\n96Parque General Belgrano H2\n\n97Say Hueque D5\n\n98Vamos G6\n\n Sleeping\n\n99248 Finisterra D2\n\n1005th Floor G4\n\n101Abode D5\n\n102BA Sohotel E5\n\n103Cabrera Garden B4\n\n104Caser\u00f3n Porte\u00f1o B3\n\n105Duque Hotel E5\n\n106Eco Pampa Hostel E5\n\n107Infinito Hotel F5\n\n108Livian Guesthouse E7\n\n109Magnolia Hotel E6\n\n110Mine Hotel D6\n\n111Miravida Soho D5\n\n112Palermitano D5\n\n113Palermo Viejo B&B D6\n\n114Reina Madre Hostel G7\n\n115Rendezvous Hotel B5\n\n116Rugantino Hotel D5\n\n117Vain Boutique Hotel E4\n\n# South Of Palermo\n\n### Explore\n\n### Sights\n\n### Eating\n\n### Drinking & Nightlife\n\n### Entertainment\n\n### Sports & Activities\n\n### Map\nSouth of Palermo\n\nFor more detail of this area see Neigbourhood Map \u00bb\n\n### Neighbourhood Top Five\n\n Communing with tango's most famous singer via his old recordings, news clippings and personal items at Museo Casa Carlos Gardel, located in the very house he used to live.\n\n Visiting the impressive Mercado de Abasto, a gorgeously remodelled shopping center.\n\n Wandering among old skeletons, taxidermy rooms and natural science exhibits at Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.\n\n Finding that hidden Peruvian, Korean or Jewish jewel of a restaurant.\n\n Dancing it up at Monday night's drumming parties at Ciudad Cultural Konex.\n\n### Explore: South of Palermo\n\nBuenos Aires' easterly regions \u2013 south of Palermo and east of Congreso \u2013 are refreshingly local, blue-collar neighborhoods with occasional surprises for the tourist, such as some artsy galleries, a few renovated cafes and a bunch of shopping outlet stores.\n\nVilla Crespo is a good place to start. It's a good place for outlet shopping and has become home to several casual, tasty restaurants as well. A short walk to the south is Caballito, a calm and pleasant neighborhood with the large, circular Parque del Centenario. The main attraction here is the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales, a good natural-science museum that's worth a peek for its musty taxidermy and cool skeleton room.\n\nEast of Villa Crespo are the Abasto and Once (pronounced 'ohn-seh') neighborhoods, both melting-pot destinations that have attracted sizable populations of Jews, Peruvians and Koreans \u2013 and their respective ethnic cuisines as well. The main attraction in Abasto is the Mercado de Abasto, one of the city's most attractive shopping malls. On a side street just east of the mall, look for a small statue of Carlos Gardel, the famous tango singer; four blocks northeast is the Museo Casa Carlos Gardel, a museum honoring him. Many alternative theaters can also be found in this area.\n\nSouth of Abasto is Once and its bustling train station, surrounded by hundreds of street vendors selling garments and cheap electronic devices. There's a colorful, almost third-world feel to this neighborhood \u2013 a welcome change in BA, though you should avoid this area late at night. South of Once is the bohemian neighborhood of Boedo, which has a few atmospheric cafes such as Las Violetas and Esquina Homero Manzi.\n\n### Local Life\n\n\u00bb Hanging Out Local ladies take a break at Las Violetas (Click here), quite possibly the most beautiful traditional cafe in Buenos Aires.\n\n\u00bb Eating A lack of tourists at classic eateries like Caf\u00e9 Margot (Click here) will take you back in time.\n\n\u00bb Theater Artsy _porte\u00f1os_ head to one of the many alternative theater productions going on in Abasto (Click here).\n\n### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Take bus 140 from the Microcentro to Villa Crespo, bus 26 to Once, bus 105 to Caballito, bus 126 to Boedo.\n\n\u00bb Subte L\u00edneas A, B and E are the fastest way to these neighborhoods.\n\n#### Lonely Planet's Top Tip\n\nConsider finding a place to stay in Villa Crespo, which is just south of Palermo and becoming more hip every day. New restaurants, outlet shops and guest houses continue to pop up here as rents become too expensive for many businesses in Palermo. Some accomm\u00adodations might even be located just as close or even closer to Plaza Serrano \u2013 the commercial and social heart of Palermo Viejo \u2013 than many places in Palermo Soho or Hollywood.\n\nParts of Once can be a bit sketchy at night, so tread carefully.\n\n Best Places to Eat\n\n\u00bbSarkis\n\n\u00bbMalv\u00f3n\n\n\u00bbCaf\u00e9 Crespin\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Places to Drink\n\n\u00bbLas Violetas\n\n\u00bb\n\n\u00bbCervecer\u00eda Cossab\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n Best Entertainment\n\n\u00bbCiudad Cultural Konex\n\n\u00bbEsquina Carlos Gardel\n\n\u00bbComplejo Tango\n\nFor reviews, Click here \u00bb\n\n South of Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Sports & Activities\n\n SIGHTS\n\nMUSEO CASA CARLOS GARDEL MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4964-2071; Jean Jaur\u00e9s 735; admission AR$5, Wed free; 11am-6pm Mon & Wed-Fri, 10am-7pm Sat & Sun) Small but noteworthy is this tribute to tango's most famous voice. Located in Gardel's old house, this museum traces his partnership with Jos\u00e9 Razzano and displays old memorabilia like photos, records and news clippings. There isn't a whole lot to see, so it's best for real fans or just the curious; look for the cluster of colorfully painted buildings. Free tango classes offered Wednesday and Friday at 6pm, and Saturday at 3pm.\n\nMERCADO DE ABASTO NOTABLE BUILDING\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4959-3400; www.abasto-shopping.com.ar; Av Corrientes 3247; 10am-10pm; L\u00ednea B Carlos Gardel) The historic Mercado de Abasto (1895) has been recycled by US-Hungarian financier George Soros into one of the most beautiful shopping centers in the city. The building, once a large vegetable market, received an architectural prize in 1937 for its Av Corrientes facade; at night the spotlighted and lofty arches are visible all the way from Av Pueyrred\u00f3n. It holds more than 200 stores, a large cinema, a large food court and a kosher McDonald's (the one upstairs).\n\nIt's great for families, with a good children's museum, video\/arcade games and even a small amusement park. The small Abasto neighborhood was once home to tango legend Carlos Gardel, and on the gentrified pedestrian street off Av Anchorena is a statue of the singer.\n\nMUSEO ARGENTINO DE CIENCIAS NATURALES MUSEUM\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Natural Science Museum; 4982-6595; www.macn.secyt.gov.ar; Av \u00c1ngel Gallardo 490; admission AR$10; 2-7pm) Way over to the west, the oval Parque del Centenario is a large open space containing this excellent natural-science museum. On display are large collections of meteorites, rocks and minerals, seashells, insects and dinosaur skeleton replicas. Life-size models of a basking shark and ocean sunfish are impressive, and the taxidermy and skeleton rooms are especially good. Bring the kids; they can mingle with the hundreds of children who visit on school excursions.\n\nNearby is the Observatorio Astron\u00f3mico MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4863-3366; www.asaramas.com.ar; Patricias Argentinas 550). Call or check the website, as observation hours change depending on the season.\n\nWORTH A DETOUR\n\n### FERIA DE MATADEROS\n\nIn the working-class barrio of Mataderos is this excellent folk market ( Mon-Fri 4342-9629, Sat 4687-5602; www.feriademataderos.com.ar; cnr Avs Lisandro de la Torre & de los Corrales; 11am-8pm Sun Apr\u2013mid-Dec, 6pm-midnight Sat late Jan\u2013mid-Mar). Merchants offer handmade crafts and regional cuisine like _locro_ (a corn and meat stew) and _humita_ (a savory corn and cheese mixture wrapped in husks). Folk singers, dancers and gauchos on horseback entertain, and there's a nearby gaucho museum ( 4687-1949; Av de los Corrales 6436; admission AR$5; noon-6:30pm Sun Mar-Dec). From downtown, take bus 155 (also marked 180) or 126; the market is up to an hour's ride away, but worth it \u2013 you can also take a taxi to and from Mataderos if you're pinched for time. Call ahead in between seasons to make sure it's open.\n\n South of Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Sports & Activities\n\n EATING\n\nThese neighborhoods have yet to be discovered by the tourist masses, but things are changing. Rents in Palermo Viejo have skyrocketed over the years, driving some new businesses to nearby Villa Crespo. Meanwhile, Boedo has a few traditional places that are just starting to be visited by foreigners looking for something different. And Once is a good place to hunt for ethnic foods with Jewish, Peruvian or Korean flavors.\n\n SARKIS MIDDLE EASTERN $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4772-4911; Thames 1101; mains AR$55-90; noon-3pm & 8pm-1am) The food is fabulous and well-priced at this long-\u00adstanding Middle Eastern restaurant \u2013 come with a group to sample many exotic dishes. Start with the hummus platter, _baquerones_ (marinated sardines), _keppe crudo_ (raw meat) or _parras rellenas_ (stuffed grape leaves), then follow with kebabs, couscous with lentils or lamb in yogurt sauce. Less busy at lunchtime; a long wait for dinner.\n\nCAF\u00c9 CRESPIN CAFE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4855-3771; Vera 699, cnr of Acevedo; mains AR$30-60, set brunches AR$140-225; 8am-8pm Tue-Fri, 9am-8pm Sat, noon-7pm Sun) Cute corner cafe in Villa Crespo. Stock up on pancakes, French toast and bagel sandwiches for breakfast, or go for the quesadillas, salmon salad or ham and cheese tostadas at lunchtime. Tasty brunches, and there are also good pastries and a bakery on the premises.\n\nPAN Y ARTE ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4957-6922; www.panyarte.com.ar; Av Boedo 878; mains AR$50-80; 8am-midnight Sun-Thu, to 1am Fri & Sat) There's a wonderful old-time atmosphere at this bohemian eatery, which features a hippie waitstaff and organic bakery. Food ranges from the same old boring stuff ( _milanesas,_ pastas and pizza) to more interesting choices like vegetarian _picadas_ (a plate of appetizers), stuffed squash and goat stew. There are also organic products like cheese and _mate_ to purchase, plus it's in a busy, interesting and nontouristy neighborhood.\n\nCAF\u00c9 MARGOT ARGENTINE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4957-0001; Av Boedo 857; mains AR$40-80; 8am-late) This classic cafe, one of the city's official _bares notables_ (notable bars), is an off-the-beaten-path spot where you can relax with a platter of _picadas_ (meat, cheese and olives) and a bottle of wine, or a frosty mug of artisan-crafted beer and a huge sandwich piled high with sliced turkey. The atmospheric main room is a bit snug; sidewalk tables are best for the claustrophobic.\n\n MALV\u00d3N CAFE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-2563; www.malvonba.com.ar; Serrano 789; mains AR$50-130; 8am-8:30pm) Famous for its US-style weekend brunch \u2013 which features pancakes, French toast and eggs Benedict \u2013 Malv\u00f3n is an eatery with a wonderfully rustic yet upscale atmosphere. The gourmet sandwiches are tasty, but there are also great bagels, burgers, tapas and baked treats like scones, muffins and pecan pie. Expect a wait on the weekend. Also in Palermo (Lafinur 3275).\n\nBI WON KOREAN $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4372-1146; Jun\u00edn 548; mains AR$90-120; noon-3pm & 7:30-11:30pm Mon-Fri, 7:30-11:30pm Sat) Korean food can't be beat at this simple restaurant. Go for the _bulgogi_ (grill the meat yourself at the table), _bibimbap_ (rice bowl with meat, veggies, egg and hot sauce) or _kim chee chigue_ (kimchi soup with pork \u2013 for adventurous, spice-loving tongues only!). And don't forget to say _kamsamnida_ (thank you) to your server at the end.\n\n South of Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Sports & Activities\n\n DRINKING & NIGHTLIFE\n\n LAS VIOLETAS CAFE\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4958-7387; www.lasvioloetas.com; Av Rivadavia 3899; 8am-2am) Dating back to 1884, this historic coffeehouse was renovated in 2001 into the gorgeous place it is today. Lovely stained-glass awnings, high ceilings and gilded details make this cafe possibly the most beautiful in the capital. Come for the luxurious afternoon tea and be sure to pick something up in the chocolate- pastry shop on the way out.\n\n878 BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-1098; www.878bar.com.ar; Thames 878; 8pm-2am Sun-Thu, to 4am Fri & Sat) Hidden behind an unsigned door is this 'secret' bar \u2013 you have to ring the bell to get in, but it's hardly exclusive. Enter a wonderland of elegant low lounge furniture and red brick walls; for whiskey lovers there are over 80 kinds to try, but the cocktails are tasty too. If you're hungry, tapas are available (reserve for dinners).\n\nCERVECER\u00cdA COSSAB BAR\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 2060-5023; Carlos Calvo 4199; 7pm-1am Wed-Thu, to 4am Fri, 9pm-4am Sat) Beer lovers unite and head down to bohemian Boedo and this dedicated beer bar \u2013 a unique find for BA. Over 50 tasty suds are served, including seven on tap. Delicious pizzas, cheese plates and sandwiches help you make a night of it \u2013 but for something out of the ordinary, try the _picada Patagonica_ with smoked wild boar and venison.\n\nLA CATEDRAL DANCE HALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 15-5325-1630; www.lacatedralclub.com; Sarmiento 4006) If tango can be youthful, trendy and hip, this is where you'll find it. The grungy warehouse space is very casual, with funky art on the walls, thrift-store furniture and dim atmospheric lighting. It's more like a young bohemian nightclub than anything else, and there's no implied dress code \u2013 you'll see plenty of jeans on the dancers. Great for cheap alcohol; the best-known _milongas_ (tango dances) occur regularly on a Tuesday night.\n\nCLUB GRICEL DANCE HALL\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4957-7157; www.clubgriceltango.com.ar; La Rioja 1180) This old classic (far from the center; take a taxi) often has big crowds, especially on Monday. It attracts an older, well-dressed clientele \u2013 along with plenty of tourists. There's a wonderful springy dance floor and occasionally live orchestras.\n\nAMERIKA CLUB\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4865-4416; www.ameri-k.com.ar; Gasc\u00f3n 1040; Fri-Sun) BA's largest and feistiest gay nightclub, long-running Amerika attracts all kinds of folks \u2013 but Saturdays are especially popular with gay guys. There are two music floors, one electronica and one Latina, plus _canilla libre_ (all-you-can-drink) on Fridays and Saturdays. Large video screens, stripper shows, four bars and a wild dark room keep things interesting.\n\n### AVANT-GARDE THEATER\n\nGet off the beaten play path and go for something out of the ordinary \u2013 there's plenty of choice in this creative city for unique and worthwhile theater.\n\n\u00bb Actors Studio Teatro MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4983-9883; www.actors-studio.org; Av D\u00edaz V\u00e9lez 3842) Offers new interpretations of old classics, along with cutting-edge productions in its 120-seat theater. Also has occasional acting classes.\n\n\u00bb El Camar\u00edn de las Musas MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4862-0655; www.elcamarindelasmusas.com.ar; Mario Bravo 960) Offers contemporary dance, plays and theater. There are also workshops and classes available, and a trendy restaurant-cafe provides affordable snacks.\n\n\u00bb El Cubo MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4963-2568; www.cuboabasto.com.ar; Pasaje Zelaya 3053) A hip small Abasto space, it hosts gutsy theater pieces and offbeat performances such as queer musicals.\n\n\u00bb Espacio Callej\u00f3n MAP GOOGLE MAP ( 4862-1167; www.espaciocallejon.blogspot.com; Humahuaca 3759) A small independent venue that showcases edgy new theater, music and dance, and offers a few classes (including 'clown' acting).\n\n South of Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Sports & Activities\n\n ENTERTAINMENT\n\nCIUDAD CULTURAL KONEX CULTURAL CENTER\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4864-3200; www.ciudadculturalkonex.org; Av Sarmiento 3131; erratic hours, call ahead) Cutting-edge cultural center offering multidisciplinary performances that often fuse art, culture and technology. Famous for its amazing Monday night percussion shows that attract young party-goers.\n\nESQUINA CARLOS GARDEL TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4867-6363; www.esquinacarlosgardel.com.ar; Carlos Gardel 3200; show from US$96, dinner & show from US$140) One of the fanciest tango shows in town plays at this impressive 430-seat theater, an old cantina right next to the Mercado de Abasto (Click here). The Abasto neighborhood was once Carlos Gardel's old stomping ground, and he even hung out at this locale. The memorable show starts with a good film about the area, then goes on to highlight top-notch musicians and performers.\n\nCOMPLEJO TANGO TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4941-1119; www.complejotango.com.ar; Av Belgrano 2608; show from US$85, dinner & show from US$120) For those who wish to not only watch tango but also experience it, there's this classy venue in Balvanera. Should you choose to accept it, your first hour here is a free beginning tango lesson. Follow it up with a tasty dinner, then an excellent tango show \u2013 beware, however, as the performers go around towards the end, picking out audience members to dance with them (usually badly).\n\nESQUINA HOMERO MANZI TANGO SHOW\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4957-8488; www.esquinahomeromanzi.com.ar; Av San Juan 3601; show AR$330, show & dinner from AR$550) This tango venue, in a remodeled old-time cafe, is located right on the historic intersection of San Juan and Boedo and was named after one of Argentina's most famous tango lyricists. It has the capacity for 300 spectators and offers a decent show that's a mix of glitzy high-kicks and more traditional _milonga_ -type dancing. Be warned: at some tables the waiters keep passing in front of you, interrupting views.\n\n South of Palermo\n\nSights | Eating | Drinking & Nightlife | Entertainment | Sports & Activities\n\n SPORTS & ACTIVITIES\n\nACATRAZ BOWLING\n\n( 4982-4818; www.acatrazclub.com.ar; Av Rivadavia 3636; 4pm-4am Sun-Mon, to 6am Fri & Sat) Unusual restaurant-bar-bowling alley-billiards hall sorta destination. You can do it all here; a great place to come with a group of friends. There are two bowling alleys, various pool tables, sports on TVs, plenty of tables to eat at and bars to drink at. Spread out over several floors, this place is huge and takes entertainment to a new level.\n\nSouth of Palermo\n\n Sights\n\n1Carlos Gardel Statue G2\n\n2Casa Brandon D2\n\n3Mercado de Abasto F2\n\n4Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales C3\n\n5Museo Casa Carlos Gardel G2\n\nObservatorio Astron\u00f3mico (see 4)\n\n Eating\n\n6Bi Won H2\n\n7Caf\u00e9 Crespin C2\n\n8Caf\u00e9 Margot F5\n\n9Malv\u00f3n C1\n\n10Pan Y Arte F5\n\n11Sarkis D1\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n12 C1\n\n13Amerika E2\n\n14Cervecer\u00eda Cossab E5\n\n15La Catedral E3\n\n16Las Violetas E3\n\n Entertainment\n\n17Actors Studio Teatro E3\n\n18Ciudad Cultural Konex F3\n\n19Club Gricel G5\n\n20Complejo Tango G4\n\n21El Camar\u00edn de las Musas F2\n\n22El Cubo G2\n\n23Espacio Callej\u00f3n F2\n\n24Esquina Carlos Gardel G2\n\n25Esquina Homero Manzi F5\n\n Sports & Activities\n\n26DWS E1\n\n Sleeping\n\n27Chill House Hostel F2\n\n28Pop Hotel C1\n\n29Querido B&B C1\n\n30Rac\u00f3 de Buenos Aires E4\n\nDay Trips from Buenos Aires\n\n###### Tigre & the Delta\n\nTake laid-back boat rides along the peaceful backwaters of the R\u00edo de la Plata. A nearby outdoor market and interesting museums are pluses.\n\n###### San Antonio de Areco\n\nExplore this serene village and its historic buildings, and perhaps visit a nearby _estancia_ (cattle ranch). If you're lucky, you might spot a gaucho or two.\n\n###### Colonia\n\nLocated across the R\u00edo de la Plata in Uruguay, this pleasant little colonial gem is lined with cobbled streets and charming old buildings.\n\nTigre & the Delta\n\n###### Explore\n\nOnly an hour's drive from BA, tranquil Tigre and its huge river delta make a popular weekend getaway for cement-weary _porte\u00f1os._ And while Tigre itself is a pleasant enough riverside town, it's really the swampy waterways that everyone is after. Latte-colored waters \u2013 rich with iron from the jungle streams flowing from inland Argentina \u2013 alongside reedy shores are far from any stereotypical paradise, but there are a few surprises here. Boat rides into the delta offer peeks at local houses and colonial mansions, or you can just get off and explore some nature trails. All along the shores are signs of water-related activity, from sailing, kayaking and canoeing to sculling and even wakeboarding.\n\n###### The Best...\n\n\u00bb Sight Puerto de Frutos (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Eat Boulevard Saenz Pe\u00f1a (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Drink Maria Luj\u00e1n (Click here)\n\n###### Top Tip\n\nKayak or canoe tours (try www.eldoradokayak.com and www.selknamcanoas.com.ar) are a good way to explore the peaceful back waterways of the delta.\n\n###### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Train From Estaci\u00f3n Retiro you can take a train straight to Tigre (one hour). The best way to reach Tigre, however, is via the Tren de la Costa (tickets AR$40) \u2013 a pleasant light-rail train with attractive stations and views. This train line starts in the suburb of Olivos; to get there, take a train from Retiro station and get off at the Mitre station, then cross the bridge to the Tren de la Costa. Buses 59, 60 and 152 also go to the Tren de la Costa.\n\n\u00bb Bus 60 (most 60 buses go to Tigre, but double check with the driver). The trip takes 1\u00bd hours.\n\n\u00bb Car Take the Panamericana Hwy north to _ramal_ (branch) Tigre.\n\n\u00bb Boat Sturla Viajes ( in BA 4314-8555, in Tigre 4731-1300; www.sturlaviajes.com.ar; Estaci\u00f3n Fluvial, local 10 in Tigre, Grierson 400 in BA) has a commuter boat (AR$35) to Tigre that leaves from Grierson 400 in Puerto Madero, but it's only at 6.10pm from Monday to Friday. However, you can take its Tigre tour directly from Puerto Madero, which includes boat transport and a trip around the Delta (AR$260 round-trip).\n\n###### Need to Know\n\n\u00bb Area Code 011\n\n\u00bb Location 35km northwest of Buenos Aires\n\n\u00bb Tourist Office ( 4512-4497; www.vivitigre.gov.ar; Mitre 305; 8am-6pm) Located behind McDonald's; will help you sort out the complex delta region\n\n## Sights\n\nThe waterways of the delta offer a glimpse into how the locals live here, along peaceful canals with boats as their only means of transportation. Frequent commuter launches (AR$45 to AR$68) depart from Estaci\u00f3n Fluvial (situated behind the tourist office) for various destinations in the delta. A popular destination is the neighborhood of Tres Bocas, a half-hour boat ride from Tigre, where you can take residential walks on slender paths connected by bridges over narrow channels. There are several restaurants and accommodation options here. The Rama Negra area has a quieter and more natural setting with fewer services but is located an hour's boat ride away.\n\nSeveral companies offer inexpensive boat tours (AR$60 to AR$120, one to two hours), but commuter launches give you flexibility if you want to go for a stroll or stop for lunch at one of the delta's restaurants.\n\nPUERTO DE FRUTOS MARKET\n\n(Sarmiento 160; 10am-6pm) At this popular waterside market you'll find furniture, housewares, wicker baskets, dried flowers, plants and a whole lot of kitsch. Friday to Sunday is best, when a large crafts fair sets up; there are several restaurants too. There's a tourist office at the entrance to the port.\n\nMUSEO DE ARTE TIGRE MUSEUM\n\n( 4512-4093; Paseo Victorica 972; admission AR$15; 9am-7pm Wed-Fri, noon-7pm Sat & Sun) Located in an old social club that dates from 1912, this beautiful art museum showcases famous Argentine artists from the 19th and 20th centuries, plus rotating exhibits. The building itself is beautiful enough to warrant a visit.\n\nMUSEO NAVAL MUSEUM\n\n(Naval Museum; 4749-0608; Paseo Victorica 602; admission AR$10; 8:30am-5:30pm Mon-Fri, 10:30am-6:30pm Sat & Sun) This worthwhile museum traces the history of the Argentine navy with an eclectic mix of historical photos, model boats and airplanes, artillery displays and pickled sea critters.\n\nMUSEO DEL MATE MUSEUM\n\n( 4506-9594; www.elmuseodelmate.com; Lavalle 289; admission AR$15; 11am-6pm Wed-Sun) Celebrating everything connected to Argentina's national drink, this museum boasts over 2000 pieces; check out the _mates_ for blind people. You can also watch a short video and \u2013 in the pleasant garden out back \u2013 sample the concoction itself.\n\nPARQUE DE LA COSTA AMUSEMENT PARK\n\n( 4002-6000; www.parquedelacosta.com.ar; General B Mitre 2; admission Tue & Wed from AR$52, Thu-Sun from AR$97) Tigre's amusement park offers roller coasters, games and everything else that makes a theme park enjoyable. Opening hours vary widely throughout the year, so check the website.\n\n### VISITING IGUAZ\u00da FALLS\n\nMany visitors to Buenos Aires tour the city and then take a side trip to one of the most spectacular sites in South America: Iguaz\u00fa Falls. If you have an extra couple of days it's definitely worth the time and money. Just remember that it's much warmer and more tropical there than in BA, and that in January and February the heat and humidity can be overwhelming.\n\nIguaz\u00fa Falls straddles the Argentina\u2013Brazil border and some of the most stunning views are from the Brazilian side. As for Brazilian visas, if you are from the US, Canada or Australia, you officially need a visa to enter Brazil. Western Europeans do not. Brazilian visas aren't cheap, and getting one may take some time, so plan ahead. Some travelers without a visa have day-tripped across the border by taking the public bus to the Brazilian city of Foz do Igua\u00e7u, but this may not always be possible.\n\nFlying is the best way to go if you're short on time, but many travelers go by bus (one-way ticket AR$765, 18 hours). Bus and air packages \u2013 often including round-trip fare, transfers, guided tours and accommodations (but not visa or park admission) \u2013 are popular and easily available in BA at agencies like Tangol (Click here) or Say Hueque (Click here).\n\nDuring July, on holiday weekends and during Semana Santa (Easter week) you should plan way ahead or be prepared to pay premium prices.\n\nFor general information on Iguaz\u00fa, see the Casa de Misiones tourist office ( 4317-3722; www.misiones.gov.ar; Av Santa Fe 989).\n\n## Eating\n\nTigre's cuisine is not cutting edge, but it can be atmospheric \u2013 stroll Paseo Victorica, the city's pleasant riverside avenue, for the nicest options. Ask the tourist office about the various restaurants in the delta.\n\nBOULEVARD SAENZ PE\u00d1A INTERNATIONAL $\n\n( 5197-4776; Blvd Saenz Pe\u00f1a 1400; breakfast mains AR$35-75, dinner mains AR$60-70; 10:30am-6pm Wed-Sat, 8:30pm to close Thu-Sat) This creative eatery offers delicious dishes (granola and yogurt for breakfast, gourmet sandwiches and salads for lunch, luscious pastries for teatime) and there's a cute patio for warm days. Dinner is by reservation only.\n\nUN LUGAR PARRILLA $\n\n( 4749-0698; Lavalle 369; mains AR$50-85; noon-3pm & 8:30-11pm Tue-Sun) This _parrilla_ (steak house) has comfortable indoor seating, but on warm days head to the sidewalk patio out front. Homemade pastas also available.\n\nMARIA LUJ\u00c1N ARGENTINE $$\n\n( 4731-9613; Paseo Victorica 611; mains AR$80-150; 8:30am-midnight) A good choice for an upscale meal of typical Argentine fare, this beautiful, large restaurant also has a great patio boasting full river views.\n\n## Sleeping\n\nTigre's huge delta region is dotted with dozens of accommodation possibilities, including camping, B&Bs, cabanas and beach resorts. Since places are relatively hard to reach (guests generally arrive by boat), the majority provide meal services, which are not always included in the price \u2013 ask beforehand. The Tigre tourist office (Click here) has photos and information on all these places, and many are listed on its website.\n\nThe following places are in the city of Tigre itself. Book ahead on weekends and holidays, when prices can rise significantly.\n\nPOSADA DE 1860 HOSTEL $\n\n(Tigre Hostel; 4749-4034; www.tigrehostel.com.ar; Av Libertador 190; dm US$12, r from US$70; ) This odd hostel is in two buildings. One is the original mansion with en-suite private rooms and large garden, while the second is a mazelike building with little atmosphere, and with dorms and private rooms that all share bathrooms.\n\nHOTEL VILLA VICTORIA GUESTHOUSE $$\n\n( 4731-2281; www.hotelvillavictoria.com; Liniers 566; r Sun-Fri from AR$557, Sat from AR$702; ) Run by an Argentine-Swedish family, this boutique hotel is more like a fancy guesthouse. Only six (simple yet elegant) rooms are available, and there's a clay tennis court and a pool in the large grassy garden. Swedish, French and English are spoken.\n\nCASONA LA RUCHI GUESTHOUSE $$\n\n( 4749-2499; www.casonalaruchi.com.ar; Lavalle 557; r AR$550; ) This family-run guesthouse is in an old 1893 mansion. Most of the four romantic bedrooms have balconies; all have shared bathrooms with original tiled floors. There's a pool and large garden out back.\n\nSan Antonio de Areco\n\n###### Explore\n\nNestled in lush farmlands, Areco is a pretty town that attracts day-tripping _porte\u00f1os_ who come for peaceful atmosphere and picturesque colonial streets. The town dates from the early 18th century and preserves a great deal of _criollo_ (creole) and gaucho traditions, especially among its artisans, who produce very fine silverwork and saddlery. Areco's compact center and quiet streets are very walkable; around the Plaza Ruiz de Arellano are several historic buildings.\n\n###### The Best...\n\n\u00bb Sight Museo Gauchesco Ricardo G\u00fciraldes (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Eat Almac\u00e9n Ramos Generales (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Drink Boliche de Bessonart (Click here)\n\n###### Top Tip\n\nIf you're here in early to mid-November, don't miss D\u00eda de la Tradici\u00f3n, when the town puts on the country's biggest gaucho celebration. Call the tourist office for exact dates.\n\n###### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Bus Frequent buses from Retiro bus station drop you five blocks from the center of town; travel time is two hours.\n\n\u00bb Car Take RN8 west to _ramal_ (branch) Pilar.\n\n###### Need to Know\n\n\u00bb Area Code 02326\n\n\u00bb Location 115km northwest of Buenos Aires\n\n\u00bb Tourist Office ( 453165; www.sanantoniodeareco.tur.ar; cnr E Zerboni & Ruiz de Arellano; 10am-7pm Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm Sat & Sun) Located in a white, stand-alone building in the park.\n\nSan Antonio de Areco\n\n Sights\n\n1 Museo Gauchesco Ricardo G\u00fciraldes A1\n\n2 Museo Las Lilas B3\n\n3 Museo y Taller Draghi B2\n\n Eating\n\n4 Almac\u00e9n Ramos Generales C2\n\n5 Boliche de Bessonart C2\n\n6 Puesto La Lechuza B1\n\n Sleeping\n\n7 Areco Hostel B2\n\n8 Paradores Draghi B2\n\n## Sights\n\nNote that early in the week some museums are closed.\n\nMUSEO GAUCHESCO RICARDO G\u00dcIRALDES MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr R G\u00fciraldes & Sosa; 11am-6pm Wed-Mon) F This sprawling museum in Parque Criollo dates to 1938 and includes an old flour mill, a re-created _pulper\u00eda_ (tavern), a colonial-style chapel and a 20th-century reproduction of an 18th-century _casco_ (ranch house). Displays include horse gear, gauchesco artwork and rooms dedicated to Ricardo G\u00fciraldes, author of the novel _Don Segundo Sombra_.\n\nMUSEO Y TALLER DRAGHI MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.draghiplaterosorfebres.com; Lavalle 387; admission AR$25; 9am-1pm & 4-7pm Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm Sun) This small museum, attached to the silversmith workshop of the locally renowned Draghi family, highlights an exceptional collection of silver _facones_ (gaucho knives), beautiful horse gear and intricate _mate_ paraphernalia.\n\nMUSEO LAS LILAS MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.museolaslilas.org; Moreno 279; admission AR$50; 10am-8pm Thu-Sun mid-Sep\u2013 mid-Mar, to 6pm rest of year) Florencio Molina Campos is to Argentines what Norman Rockwell is to Americans \u2013 a folk artist whose themes are based on comical caricatures. This pretty courtyard museum displays his famous works.\n\n## Eating\n\nPUESTO LA LECHUZA PARRILLA $\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 470136; Victorino Althaparro 423; mains AR$45-75; noon-3pm & 8pm-midnight Sat, noon-3pm Sun) Best on a warm day, when you can enjoy a lunch of _empanadas_ or barbecued beef under the trees near the river. Live guitar music on Saturday night; open weekends only.\n\nBOLICHE DE BESSONART PICADAS $\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Zapiola & Segundo Sombra; picadas AR$10-65; 11am-late Tue-Sun) Its shelves filled with dusty bottles and and old gaucho photos, this weatherbeaten corner bar draws in locals for _picadas_ (snack plates of meat, cheese and olives).\n\nALMAC\u00c9N RAMOS GENERALES ARGENTINE $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.ramosgeneralesareco.com.ar; Zapiola 143; mains AR$65-140; noon-3pm & 8pm- midnight) Come to this traditional, local mainstay if you want an old-time atmosphere in which to enjoy good fish, meat or pasta dishes.\n\n## Sleeping\n\nARECO HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 453120; www.arecohostel.com.ar; Arellano 121; dm AR$120, d AR$280, tr AR$420) In an atmospheric old building facing the central square, this hostel offers one spacious four-bed dorm with working fireplace, a pair of larger dorms and a lone private room up front. The clean, tiled guest kitchen, narrow but grassy backyard and friendly management add to the hostel's appeal.\n\n PARADORES DRAGHI GUESTHOUSE $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 455583; www.paradoresdraghi.com.ar; Matheu 380; s Sun-Thu only AR$450, d AR$580; ) Large, comfortable rooms (two with kitchenette) are available at this tranquil place. There's a grassy garden with a beautiful pool, a greenhouse breakfast room and two patios in which to take a relaxing break.\n\n### LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE\n\nWant to get away from it all but still have some affordable fun? Check into El Galope Hostel ( 99-105985; www.elgalope.com.uy; Km 114.5, Ruta 1; dm US$25, d with shared\/private bathroom US$70\/90), a farm about 50 minutes by bus outside Colonia. You can take nature walks, go horseback riding and sweat in the sauna \u2013 all in the peaceful Uruguayan countryside. Its owners, M\u00f3nica and Miguel, are friendly and helpful, and are experienced international travelers who speak English, Spanish, French and German.\n\nColonia\n\n###### Explore\n\nColonia (officially Colonia del Sacramento) is a picturesque Uruguayan town whose Barrio Hist\u00f3rico neighborhood is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Pretty rows of sycamores offer protection from the summer heat, and the R\u00edo de la Plata provides a venue for spectacular sunsets.\n\nPicturesque spots for wandering in Barrio Hist\u00f3rico include the narrow, roughly cobbled Calle de los Suspiros (Street of Sighs), lined with tile-and-stucco colonial houses, the Paseo de San Gabriel, which follows the western riverfront, the Puerto Viejo (Old Port) and the historic center's two main squares: vast Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo and shady Plaza de Armas (the latter also known as Plaza Manuel Lobo).\n\n###### The Best...\n\n\u00bb Sight Faro (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Eat Buen Suspiro (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Place to Drink Barbot (Click here)\n\n###### Top Tips\n\nTo avoid the crowds and more expensive accommodations prices, consider visiting Colonia midweek. If you want US dollars, use ATMs in Uruguay \u2013 those in Argentina do not give them out.\n\n###### Getting There & Away\n\n\u00bb Ferry Buquebus (www.buquebus.com), Colonia Express (www.coloniaexpress.com) and Seacat (www.seacatcolonia.com) have many daily ferries between Buenos Aires and Colonia. Fast ferries take an hour; slow ferries take three hours. Immigration for both countries is handled at the port before boarding.\n\n###### Need to Know\n\n\u00bb Area Code 4522\n\n\u00bb Location 50km east of Buenos Aires by ferry\n\n\u00bb Tourist Offices The BIT Welcome Center ( 4522-1072; www.bitcolonia.com; Odriozola 434; 10am-7pm Dec-Apr, 9am-6pm May-Nov) is across from the port. There's a tourist office in Barrio Hist\u00f3rico ( 4522-8506; www.coloniaturismo.com; Manuel de Lobos 224; 9am-6pm) and at the bus terminal ( 4522-8506; www.coloniaturismo.com; Av Roosevelt; 9am-8pm).\n\nColonia\n\n Sights\n\n1 Archivo Regional B3\n\n2 Casa Nacarello B4\n\n3 Faro B4\n\n4 Iglesia Matriz B3\n\n5 Museo del Azulejo A3\n\n6 Museo Espa\u00f1ol B2\n\n7 Museo Ind\u00edgena B2\n\n8 Museo Municipal B3\n\n9 Museo Portugu\u00e9s B4\n\n10 Port\u00f3n de Campo C4\n\n11Teatro Basti\u00f3n del Carmen C2\n\n Eating\n\n12 Buen Suspiro B4\n\n13 La Bodeguita B3\n\n14 Lentas Maravillas A2\n\n Drinking & Nightlife\n\n15 Barbot D3\n\n Sleeping\n\n16 El Capullo C3\n\n17 El Viajero Hostel D3\n\n18 Posada del \u00c1ngel D4\n\n## Sights\n\nA single UR$50 ticket covers admission to Colonia's eight historical museums. All keep the same hours, but opening days vary.\n\nPORT\u00d3N DE CAMPO GATE\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Manuel de Lobos) The most dramatic way to enter Barrio Hist\u00f3rico is via the reconstructed 1745 city gate. From here, a thick fortified wall runs south along the Paseo de San Miguel to the river, its grassy slopes popular with sunbathers.\n\nIGLESIA MATRIZ CHURCH\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza de Armas) Uruguay's oldest church \u2013 begun by the Portuguese in 1680, then completely rebuilt twice under Spanish rule \u2013 is the centerpiece of pretty Plaza de Armas. The plaza also holds the foundations of a house dating from Portuguese times.\n\nFARO LIGHTHOUSE\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(admission UR$20; 11am-sunset) One of the town's most prominent landmarks, Colonia's 19th-century lighthouse provides an excellent view of the old town and the R\u00edo de la Plata. It stands within the ruins of the 17th-century Convento de San Francisco, just off the southwestern corner of Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo.\n\nTEATRO BASTI\u00d3N DEL CARMEN THEATER, GALLERY\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Rivadavia 223; 10am-10pm) F Incorporating part of the city's ancient fortifications, this theater and gallery complex hosts rotating art exhibits and periodic concerts.\n\nMUSEO PORTUGU\u00c9S MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo 180; closed Wed & Fri) In this beautiful old house you'll find Portuguese relics including porcelain, furniture, maps, Manuel Lobo's family tree and the old stone shield that once adorned the Port\u00f3n de Campo.\n\nMUSEO MUNICIPAL MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo 77; closed Tue & Thu) Houses an eclectic collection of treasures including a whale skeleton, an enormous rudder from a shipwreck, historical timelines and a scale model of Colonia (c 1762).\n\nARCHIVO REGIONAL MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Misiones de los Tapes 115; closed Sat & Sun) On the northwest edge of the plaza, Archivo Regional contains historical documents along with pottery and glass excavated from the 18th-century Casa de los Gobernadores nearby.\n\nCASA NACARELLO MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Plaza Mayor 25 de Mayo 67; closed Tue & Fri) One of the prettiest colonial homes in town, with period furniture, thick whitewashed walls, wavy glass and original lintels (duck if you're tall!).\n\nMUSEO DEL AZULEJO MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(cnr Misiones de los Tapes & Paseo de San Gabriel; closed Thu & Fri) This dinky 17th-century stone house has a sampling of French, Catalan and Neapolitan tilework.\n\nMUSEO IND\u00cdGENA MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Comercio s\/n; closed Mon & Thu) Houses Roberto Banchero's personal collection of Charr\u00faa stone tools, exhibits on indigenous history, and an amusing map upstairs showing how many European countries could fit inside Uruguay's borders (it's at least six!).\n\nMUSEO ESPA\u00d1OL MUSEUM\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(San Jos\u00e9 164; closed Tue & Wed) This recently reopened museum has a varied collection of Spanish artifacts, including colonial pottery, engravings, clothing and maps.\n\n### HISTORIC ESTANCIAS\n\nOne of the best ways to enjoy the wide-open spaces of Argentina is to visit an _estancia_ (cattle ranch). The late-19th-century belle \u00e9poque saw wealthy landowning families build up their country ranches with lavish, often fanciful homes, which they used as country retreats.\n\nToday these establishments cater to tourists with _d\u00edas de campo \u2013_ day tours that include large _asado_ (barbecue) lunches, horseback rides, folk shows and, often, swimming facilities. Most also have overnight stays, which offer a longer glimpse into Argentina's history on the pampas.\n\nEl Omb\u00fa ( in BA 4737-0436; www.estanciaelombu.com) Just outside San Antonio de Areco, this working _estancia_ offers nine rooms and the opportunity to watch gauchos do their stuff.\n\nJuan Ger\u00f3nimo ( 02221-481414; www.juangeronimo.com.ar) There's excellent horseback riding and bird-watching at this working cattle farm, located within a Unesco world biosphere reserve about two hours from Buenos Aires.\n\nLa Candelaria ( 02227-494132; www.estanciacandelaria.com) Located about 1\u00bd hours from BA. Special for its castle and manicured grounds designed by Charles Thays, who did many of BA's public parks. Polo matches often held here.\n\nLos dos Hermanos ( in BA 4723-2880; www.estancialosdoshermanos.com) Just about an hour outside BA, this is a good place to learn how to horseback ride. Friendly, with good food.\n\nLa Margarita ( in BA 4951-0638; www.estancialamargarita.com) S Located at an old _estancia_ about 100 miles southwest of BA. Offers a self-catering option, which makes your stay more self-sufficient and affordable.\n\nLa Oriental ( 02364-15-640866; www.estancia-laoriental.com) More authentic than luxurious is this lovely _estancia_ three hours from Buenos Aires. Activities include fishing or windsurfing in a nearby lagoon.\n\nPuesto Viejo ( in BA 5279-6893; www.puestoviejoestancia.com.ar) Not far from Ezeiza airport is this boutique _estancia_ where you can learn to play polo, ride a bicycle in the coutryside or just hang by the luxurious pool.\n\nSan Antonio's tourist office has more information on _estancias,_ as does Buenos Aires' Secretar\u00eda de Turismo de la Naci\u00f3n ( 4312-2232; www.turismo.gov.ar; Av Santa Fe 883; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri).\n\n## Eating & Drinking\n\nBUEN SUSPIRO PICADAS $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4522-6160; www.buensuspiro.com; Calle de los Suspiros 90; picadas from UR$205; 11am-midnight) Duck under the wooden beams into this cozy spot specializing in _picadas_. Sample local wines by the bottle or glass, accompanied by spinach and leek tarts, ricotta-and-sesame balls, local cheese and sausage, and more. Reserve ahead for a fireside table in winter, or while away a summer afternoon on the intimate back patio.\n\nLENTAS MARAVILLAS INTERNATIONAL $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(Santa Rita 61; sandwiches & salads UR$280-300; 2-8:30pm Thu-Tue) Cozy as a friend's home, this is a dreamy spot to kick back with tea and cookies or a glass of wine and a sandwich between meals. Flip through an art book from owner Maggie Molnar's personal library and enjoy the river views, either from the upstairs fireplace room or the chairs on the grassy lawn below.\n\nLA BODEGUITA PIZZA $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n(www.labodeguita.net; Comercio 167; mini pizzas UR$115, dishes UR$220-390; 8:30pm-midnight year-round, plus 12:30-3:30pm Sat & Sun Apr-Nov) Nab a table out back on the sunny two-level deck and soak up the sweeping river views while drinking sangria (UR$200 per liter) or munching on La Bodeguita's trademark mini pizzas, served on a cutting board.\n\nBARBOT BREWPUB\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4522-7268; www.facebook.com\/barbot cerveceria; Washington Barbot 160; 7pm-late Wed-Sun) A welcome addition to Colonia's drinking scene, this upscale brewpub (Colonia's first) opened in 2013, serving a wide selection of homebrews, accompanied by pizza, _picadas_ and Mexican fare.\n\n## Sleeping\n\n EL VIAJERO HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4522-2683; www.elviajerocolonia.com; Washington Barbot 164; dm US$18-20, d US$64-74; ) With bike rental, horseback excursions, a bar for guests and air-con in all rooms, this hostel is brighter, fancier and somewhat cozier than the competition, and the location two blocks east of Plaza de Armas couldn't be better.\n\nPOSADA DEL \u00c1NGEL HOTEL $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4522-4602; www.posadadelangel.net; Washington Barbot 59; d US$80-120; ) Cheerfully painted in yellow and periwinkle blue, this little hotel has amenities such as down comforters and a sauna for chilly nights, and a swimming pool for the summer heat. Standard interior-facing rooms are dark; it's worth splurging on one with a view.\n\nEL CAPULLO B&B $$\n\n MAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4523-0135; www.elcapullo.com; 18 de Julio 219; d US$120-165; ) Friendly and well-traveled English-speaking owners, a prime Barrio Hist\u00f3rico location, a grassy yard and a swimming pool are the big attractions at this remodeled colonial _posada (inn)_. It's worth paying extra for one of the rooms upstairs or adjoining the back patio.\n4 Sleeping\n\nBuenos Aires may be the city that never sleeps \u2013 but really, who doesn't need a bit of rest once in a while? You'll find a wide range of places to rest your head here, from hostels to boutique hotels, guesthouses, rental apartments and international five-star hotels. Just remember to book ahead \u2013 or pay in cash \u2013 for the best deals.\n\n###### Rates, Discounts & Payments\n\nBuenos Aires is decent value compared with the USA or Europe. However, inflation has been running at 25% to 30% annually. To avoid sticker shock, double check the prices we list before reserving.\n\nThe prices we list \u2013 particularly for the four- or five-star hotels \u2013 are generally the rack or high-season rates from November through January. Rates for top-end hotels can vary widely on any particular day, as many are dependent on how empty or full the hotel is that day. Rates can also skyrocket during holidays such as Easter, Christmas or New Year. Some places lower their rates during slow periods, while others don't. But whatever the season, you don't always have to pay the official posted price.\n\nYour best bet for getting a cheaper rate is to book in advance. You can do this via most hotels' websites. Calling ahead and talking to a salesperson with the power to negotiate prices can also be fruitful, especially if you plan on staying more than a few days. Offering to pay in cash can also bring about a discount.\n\nThe most expensive hotels will take credit cards, but budget or midrange places may not \u2013 or they may levy a surcharge (about 10%).\n\n###### Hostels\n\nBuenos Aires' hostels range from basic no-frills deals to beautiful, buildings more luxurious than your standard cheap hotel. Most fall in between, but all have common kitchens, living areas, shared bathrooms and dorm rooms (bring earplugs). Most have a few private rooms (with or without bathroom) and provide some traveler services. BA has a few Hostelling International (HI; www.hihostels.com) hostels, where members can get a small discount. Other hostel networks include Minihostels (www.minihostels.com) and HoLa (www.holahostels.com).\n\n###### Hotels\n\nAs in many countries, Buenos Aires' hotels vary from utilitarian holes-in-the-wall to luxurious five-star hotels with all the usual top-tier services. In general, hotels provide a room with private bathroom, cable TV and sometimes a phone. Cheap hotels might also have cheaper rooms with shared bathroom. Higher-end hotels may have safe boxes, a refrigerator and a desk. Some hotels have a cafe or restaurant. Staff members at tourist-\u00adoriented hotels will usually speak some English.\n\n###### Boutique Hotels & B&Bs\n\nIn recent years these types of accommodations have popped up like mushrooms in BA. The neighborhood of Palermo especially has become home to dozens of boutique hotels; most are pricey but beautiful, with just a handful of hip, elegant rooms and usually decent service. In BA, B&Bs are sometimes (but not always) run by the owners, and usually have fewer rooms than boutique hotels \u2013 but often offer a better breakfast.\n\n### NEED TO KNOW\n\n#### Price Ranges\n\nPrices are for a room with private bathroom for two people in high season.\n\n$ under AR$500\/US$80\n\n$$ AR$500-1100\/US$80-175\n\n$$$ over AR$1100\/US$175\n\nMany high-end hotels add a 21% tax to their quoted rates. Most budget and midrange hotels already have this tax included in their quoted rates. To avoid a surprise at checkout time, ask if this tax is included in any price you're quoted. We've included this tax in the prices shown here.\n\n#### Reservations\n\nIt's a good idea to make a reservation during any holidays or the busy summer months of November through February.\n\n#### Breakfast\n\nSome kind of breakfast, whether it be continental or buffet, is usually included at most accommodations. Unless you're staying somewhere fancy, however, don't expect too much \u2013 a typical breakfast will often consist of toast or _medialunas_ (croissants), with some jam or butter if you're lucky, plus coffee or tea.\n\n##### Lonely Planet's Top Choices\n\n Poetry Building Lovely apartments decorated with vintage-reproduction furniture.\n\n Cabrera Garden Peaceful B&B boasting just three gorgeous rooms and a grassy garden.\n\n Miravida Soho Upscale guesthouse with friendly owners and wine-tasting opportunities.\n\n 5th Floor Modern and elegant B&B offering one of Buenos Aires' best breakfasts.\n\n Magnolia Hotel Fine boutique hotel with a very relaxing rooftop terrace.\n\n Casa Calma Ecologically minded luxury hotel providing a paradise in BA's busy downtown.\n\n##### Best by Budget\n\n###### $\n\n America del Sur Five-star boutique hostel, with awesome rooms and services.\n\n Reina Madre Hostel Very comfortable, well-run and intimate hostel.\n\n Yira Yira Guesthouse Friendly and intimate guesthouse with only four rooms.\n\n###### $$\n\n Abode Homey guesthouse with nice terrace and exceptional breakfast.\n\n Rac\u00f3 de Buenos Aires Beautiful boutique hotel in a nontouristy neighborhood.\n\n Casa y Mundo Bolivar Lovely apartments in a remodeled mansion, with patios.\n\n###### $$$\n\n Palacio Duhau \u2013 Park Hyatt Gorgeous remodeled mansion with a stunning courtyard.\n\n Alvear Palace Hotel Buenos Aires' most traditional and luxurious five-star hotel.\n\n Faena Hotel + Universe Supremely elegant and over the top \u2013 this is where celebrities stay.\n\n##### Best Boutique Hotels\n\n Magnolia Hotel Splendid boutique hotel with a very relaxing rooftop terrace.\n\n Mine Hotel Best for its grassy backyard with contemporary pool.\n\n Mansi\u00f3n Vitraux San Telmo's slickest spot to lay your head.\n\n Duque Hotel Elegant and beautiful, and there's a luxurious spa too.\n\n##### Best for Families\n\n Poetry Building Upscale apartments, all with kitchen, plus a soaking pool.\n\n Novotel Hotel Especially family-friendly services \u2013 including two kiddie pools.\n\n Hotel Lyon Simple budget lodgings with tons of space for large families.\n\nWhere to Stay\n\nNeighborhood | For | Against\n\n---|---|---\n\nThe Center | Great transportation options; fairly close to all neighborhoods except Palermo; offers many services | Limited eating, shopping and nightlife options; noisy and crowded during the day and impersonal after dark\n\nPuerto Madero | Very safe, calm, quiet and upscale; great strolling opportunities, both in a natural reserve and along the pleasant restaurant-lined dikes | Expensive: many restaurants are overpriced; very limited public transport\u00adation, accommodation, shopping and service options and not much i nteresting nightlife\n\nCongreso & Tribunales | Reasonably central, with plenty of traditional theater and other cultural options; interesting local flavor, tending towards classic architecture and governmental vibe | Certain sections are desolate and less safe at night; limited shopping and eating possibilities\n\nSan Telmo | Endearing traditional atmosphere, reasonable shopping and nightlife, a good range of restaurants and many decent hostels | Far from Palermo; some areas can be edgy at night; public transportation is somewhat limited\n\nLa Boca\n\n| |\n\nNot recommended and practically no accommodation options\n\nRetiro | Beautiful upscale neighborhood within walking distance of Recoleta and the Center; convenient for public transportation | Very expensive; limited accommodations options; not many affordable restaurants or shops\n\nRecoleta & Barrio Norte | Buenos Aires' most upscale neighborhood; gorgeous architecture, good transportation options and fairly safe | Most accommodations, restaurants and shopping are very expensive\n\nPalermo | Many boutique hotels to choose from; the city's widest range of interesting restaurants, by both cuisine and budget; great shopping and nightlife | A bit of a trek to the Center and San Telmo; might be too touristy for some\n\nSouth of Palermo | Up-and-coming neighborhoods with local atmosphere and some decent accommodations, restaurants and shops; quick access via Subte to the Center | Fewer traveler services; some neighborhoods are not central\n\n### The Center\n\nBuenos Aires' Center, being right in the middle of things, has the most business-type accommodations in the city. Several pedestrian streets make it more walkable, and it's close to the upscale neighborhoods of Puerto Madero, Retiro and Recoleta. The Plaza de Mayo area contains the bustling banking district and many historic buildings, and is within walking distance of San Telmo.\n\nDuring the day the whole area is very busy, but at night the streets become deserted and even a bit sketchy. Your eating and nightlife options are also very limited \u2013 for this you'll have to head to Palermo.\n\nGRAN HOTEL HISPANO HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4345-2020; www.hhispano.com.ar; Av de Mayo 861; s\/d AR$360\/490; ; L\u00ednea A Piedras) The tiny stairway lobby here isn't an impressive start, but upstairs there's a sweet atrium area with covered patio. Most rooms are modern and carpeted; those in front are biggest, and those on the top floor are brightest. There's also a pleasant outside sun terrace. It's a popular, central and well-tended place, so reserve ahead. Pay in cash for a 10% discount.\n\nHOTEL AVENIDA HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-4341; www.hotelav.com.ar; Av de Mayo 623; s\/d US$60\/75; ; L\u00ednea A Peru) Just 34 plain but efficient rooms greet you at this friendly place. There's a pleasant breakfast area and the location is great, right near Plaza de Mayo. Get a back room for more peace and quiet; the front ones have nice balconies (except for the 4th floor) but are noisy. Pay in cash for a 10% discount.\n\nV & S HOSTEL CLUB HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-0994; www.hostelclub.com; Viamonte 887; dm US$15, r from US$60; ; L\u00ednea C Lavalle) S One of the best in town, this attractive, central and eco-friendly hostel is located in a pleasant older building. The common space, which is also the dining and lobby area, is good for socializing. The spacious dorms are carpeted and the private rooms are excellent; all have their own bathroom. A nice touch is the tiny outdoor patio in back.\n\nPORTAL DEL SUR HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4342-8788; www.portaldelsurba.com.ar; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 855; dm US$14-17, s\/d US$50\/70; ; L\u00ednea A Piedras) Located in a charming old building, this is one of the city's best hostels. Beautiful dorms and sumptuous, hotel-quality private rooms surround a central common area, which is rather dark but open. The highlight is the lovely rooftop deck with views and attached bar and lounge. Offers free tango and Spanish lessons and a walking tour; plenty of other activities available.\n\nHOTEL MAIP\u00da HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4322-5142; www.nuevohotelmaipu.com.ar; Maip\u00fa 735; s\/d AR$200\/280, without bathroom AR$160\/240; ; L\u00ednea C Lavalle) Head on up the marble staircase into a dim, tiled hallway. This classic old building was once owned by the Anchorenas, a wealthy and aristocratic Argentine family. Original tiles and high ceilings add charm to these simple lodgings. The 10 rooms are unmemorable but at least have cable TV. There's no breakfast, but it's a good budget deal.\n\nCLARIDGE HOTEL HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4314-2020; www.claridge.com.ar; Tucum\u00e1n 535; d US$160; ; L\u00ednea B Florida) One of downtown BA's finest hotels, the Claridge features a relatively grand entrance for the area, where space is scarce. Standard rooms, with their tiny baths, aren't as fancy as you'd think, so go for a suite (some with balcony and Jacuzzi) if you want something special. The spa and pool are highlights. Prices vary widely, so check beforehand.\n\nHOTEL FAC\u00d3N GRANDE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-6360; www.hotelfacongrande.com; Reconquista 645; r AR$1270; ; L\u00ednea B Florida) For those seeking a touch of the country in Buenos Aires, there's this (slightly) gaucho-themed hotel. The lobby is decorated in rustic furniture and cowhide-covered pillows, and rooms are modern and comfortable. The location on pedestrian Reconquista is good and there's an intimate vibe that's rare in hotels of this size. Get a top-floor room for views. Overall, a good deal for the price.\n\nHOTEL LAFAYETTE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4393-9081; www.lafayettehotel.com.ar; Reconquista 546; d AR$1330; ; L\u00ednea B Florida) Spacious, elegant rooms are on offer at this fine downtown hotel on a pedestrian street. The bathrooms are small but efficient, while double-glazed windows guarantee peace and quiet. Hotel amenities include a sauna and gym, a nice restaurant, and a fancy lobby with plant atrium, fireplace and sofas. Buffet breakfast; book ahead for the best rates.\n\n### WEBSITES\n\nMany travelers visiting Buenos Aires love the city so much that they want to stay longer and find an apartment. But snagging a pad isn't as easy as it could be; renters often need to commit to two years and nearly always need a local's bond to guarantee monthly payments \u2013 almost impossible for most foreigners.\n\nTo cater to this demand, dozens of apartment websites have popped up in recent years. These sites charge significantly more than locals would pay, but they don't have those pesky requirements, either. You can view pictures of rental properties, along with prices and amenities. Usually the photos match what you will get, but not always; if you'd like someone to check out an apartment before you rent it, Madi Lang (Click here) can make sure the place isn't on a busy street, in an outlying neighborhood or near a construction site.\n\n\u00bb www.bytargentina.com\n\n\u00bb www.apartmentsba.com\n\n\u00bb www.buenosaireshabitat.com\n\n\u00bb www.oasisba.com\n\n\u00bb www.santelmoloft.com\n\n\u00bb www.stayinbuenosaires.com\n\n\u00bb www.jaimejensen.com\n\nIf you're just looking for a room, check www.spareroomsba.com. Or look for longer-term guesthouses (where rooms usually share bathrooms) at www.casalosangelitos.com and www.lacasademarina.com.ar. And there's always the Buenos Aires branch of Craigslist.\n\nAnother good option for short- or long-term stays is dealing directly with owners via sites like www.airbnb.com, www.homeaway.com or www.flipkey.com.\n\nAlso check hotels.lonelyplanet.com.\n\n### Puerto Madero\n\nThere are hardly any hotels in Puerto Madero, a relatively new, upscale neighborhood that lies just east of the Center. Most buildings here are old warehouses that have been converted into fancy restaurants, offices and lofts, or they're brand-new apartment high-rises. The Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur provides a welcome chunk of wild nature \u2013 almost nonexistent in Buenos Aires.\n\nPublic transport doesn't reach Puerto Madero, but the nearest Subte line is only three blocks away, and many buses run along Av Leandro N Alem\/Paseo Col\u00f3n.\n\nFAENA HOTEL + UNIVERSE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4010-9000; www.faenahotelanduniverse.com; Martha Salotti 445; r US$760-1090; ) Located in a renovated storage mill, this Philippe Starcke\u2013designed fantasy hotel is more than just a place to stay. Traipse through the plush main hallway, lined with two top-notch restaurants, a sultry bar-lounge, a basement cabaret and \u2013 outside \u2013 a slick swimming pool. On arrival guests are given a personal valet and cell phone, then taken to luxurious rooms that feature claw-foot beds, etched-mirror entertainment centers and glass-walled bathrooms. Also on the premises are a Turkish bath and spa.\n\n### Congreso & Tribunales\n\nThe Congreso and Tribunales area contains many of the city's older theaters, cinemas and cultural centers. Lively Av Corrientes has many modest shops, services and bookstores, and was BA's original theater district. The Plaza de Congreso area is always moving, sometimes with mostly peaceful public demonstrations. Generally, this area is not quite as packed as in the Center and has a less business-and-touristy flavor, but still bustles day and night.\n\nMILHOUSE YOUTH HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4345-9604; www.milhousehostel.com; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 959; dm AR$90-95, d AR$330-350; ; L\u00ednea A Avenida de Mayo) BA's premiere party hostel, this popular HI spot offers a plethora of activities and services. Dorms are good and private rooms can be very pleasant; most surround an appealing open patio. Common spaces include a bar-cafe (with pool table) on the ground floor, a TV lounge on the mezzanine and a rooftop terrace above. A gorgeous annex building nearby offers similar services.\n\nHOTEL MARBELLA HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4383-8566; www.hotelmarbella.com.ar; Av de Mayo 1261; s\/d AR$300\/400; ; L\u00ednea A Lima) The rooms at this hotel are basic but clean \u2013 if you can stand a bit of traffic noise, try to secure one with a balcony. More spacious (and more expensive) rooms are available, and there's a good, modern bar-restaurant where breakfast is served. From here it's an easy tramp to either Plaza del Congreso or Plaza de Mayo. Pay in cash and save 10%.\n\nGRAN HOTEL ORIENTAL HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4951-6427; ghoriental@hotmail.com; Bartolom\u00e9 Mitre 1840; s\/d AR$210\/300; ; L\u00ednea A Congreso) Despite its name this hotel is not grand, but it is good \u2013 and a good deal. Downstairs rooms are a bit dark (get one upstairs) and showers in general are small, but the simple, high-ceilinged rooms are comfortable enough for non-fussy travelers \u2013 just don't expect many services. The tiled lobby and hallways are long and narrow, and there are a few old touches that add some personality.\n\nSABATICO HOSTEL HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-1138; www.sabaticohostel.com.ar; M\u00e9xico 1410; dm AR$100, r AR$400-500; ; L\u00ednea E Independencia) This well-maintained hostel is located off the tourist path in an atmospheric neighborhood. Rooms are small but pleasant and the good common areas include a nice kitchen, dining and living room, airy patio hallways and a pleasant rooftop terrace with _asado_ (barbecue) grill and hammocks in summer. There's occasional live music on weekends, plus a ping-pong table, foosball and bike rentals.\n\nLA CAYETANA HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4383-2230; www.lacayetanahotel.com.ar; M\u00e9xico 1330; r US$130-180; ; L\u00ednea E Independencia) Located south of Congreso in Montserrat, this is a beautiful 1850s guesthouse offering 11 simple, colorful rooms, all decorated differently with rustic yet upscale furniture. They all surround three lovely outdoor patios, which are accented with original tiles and leafy plants \u2013 the last one has a grassy garden. Breakfast includes fresh fruit, yogurt, and eggs to order. It's a quiet little paradise in a nontouristy neighborhood. Reserve ahead.\n\nLIVIN' RESIDENCE APARTMENTS $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5258-0300; www.livinresidence.com; Viamonte 1815; studios US$100, 1-bedroom apt US$110, 2-bedroom apt US$160; ; L\u00ednea D Callao) One of the better deals in town, especially if you're traveling in a group, are these studio and one- or two-bedroom apartments. All have a simple, contemporary feel, with tasteful furniture, flat TVs, small kitchens and balconies. There's a tiny rooftop terrace with Jacuzzi, _asado_ and nearby gym room. Security is good; reserve ahead.\n\nHOTEL BONITO BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4381-2162; www.bonitobuenosaires.com; Chile 1507, 3rd fl; r US$90-105; ; L\u00ednea E Independencia) Lovely boutique hotel with just five artsy, gorgeous rooms mixing the traditional and contemporary. Some have a loft, cupola sitting area or Jacuzzi; floors can be wooden or acid-finished concrete. There's a warm atmosphere, with a small bar area and a good, sizeable breakfast. It's in a nontouristy, very local neighborhood within walking distance of Congreso and San Telmo.\n\nHOTEL LYON APARTMENTS $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4372-0100; www.hotel-lyon.com.ar; Riobamba 251; d\/tr\/q AR$530\/650\/770; ; L\u00ednea B Callao) If you're a traveling family or group and on a budget, this place is for you. The two- and three-bedroom apartments available here are basic and no-frills but very spacious, and all include entry halls, large bathrooms and separate dining areas with fridges (but no kitchens). Up to five people can be accommodated in each apartment. Reserve ahead.\n\nNOVOTEL HOTEL HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4370-9500; www.novotel.com; Av Corrientes 1334; r from US$205; ; L\u00ednea B Uruguay) This large, contemporary French chain hotel is tastefully designed. The comfortable rooms have unique showers with glass on two opposite sides, plus a fun colored-light system (leave it to the French). But the highlight is out back, where a beautiful deck surrounds pools \u2013 one for adults and two for the kids \u2013 along with a living wall of vegetation and a bar.\n\nThis Novotel is family friendly, offering kid discounts, a playroom and Xbox rental; it's located smack in the middle of Corrientes' entertainment district.\n\n### San Telmo\n\nSouth of the center, San Telmo has some of the most traditional atmosphere in the city. Buildings are more charming and historical, and less modern, than in the Center, and they tend to be only a few stories high. Many restaurants and fancy boutiques have opened here in recent years, and there are some good bars, tango venues and other nightspots for entertainment. Many accommodation options here are hostels, guesthouses or boutique hotels.\n\nIf you're looking to house up to eight people for a week or more, check out www.playinbuenosaires.com \u2013 and reserve well in advance.\n\nAMERICA DEL SUR HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-5525; www.americahostel.com.ar; Chacabuco 718; dm AR$120-130, d AR$450-480; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) This gorgeous boutiquelike hostel is the fanciest of its kind in Buenos Aires, and built especially to be a hostel. Beyond reception is a fine bar-bistro area with large, elegant wooden patio. Clean dorms with four beds all have amazingly well- designed bathrooms, while private rooms are tastefully decorated and better than those at many midrange hotels. A multitude of services are also on offer.\n\nBOHEMIA BUENOS AIRES HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4115-2561; www.bohemiabuenosaires.com.ar; Per\u00fa 845; r from AR$420; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) With its slight upscale-\u00admotel feel, this good-value San Telmo hotel offers 22 simple and neat rooms, most good-sized, if a bit antiseptic with their white-tiled floors. None of the rooms has bathtub, so instead of taking a soak enjoy the peaceful grassy backyard and small interior patios. The breakfast buffet is a plus, and there's a restaurant.\n\nSAN TELMO COLONIAL GUESTHOUSE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-0097; www.bairescolonial.com.ar; Carlos Calvo 767; r US$65-90; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) Best for the independent traveler who requires minimal service is this very informal guesthouse. Ten very spacious rooms (four with lofts) line flower-pot-strewn patio-hallways on two floors. All but one comes with small kitchenette for very simple cooking, and the furniture is hardly fancy. Minimum stay is three nights; breakfast is offered at a nearby historic cafe. No sign outside.\n\nCIRCUS HOSTEL & HOTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-4983; www.hostelcircus.com; Chacabuco 1020; dm US$24, r from US$80; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) From the trendy lounge in front to the wooden- deck-surrounded wading pool in back, this hostel-hostel exudes hipness. Both dorms and private rooms, all small and simple, have basic furniture and their own bathrooms. There's a pool table and slick TV area too, but no kitchen.\n\nBRISAS DEL MAR HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-0040; www.hotelbrisasdelmar.com.ar; Humberto Primo 826; r with\/without bathroom AR$120\/100; ; L\u00ednea C San Juan) Long-running old cheapie hotel with no luxuries \u2013 except for cable TV. Has basic but decent budget rooms, the cheapest ones with shared bathrooms \u2013 try for an upstairs one, as they're brighter. All face tiled hallways lined with plants, and there's a very rustic, unstocked kitchen. No breakfast.\n\nTERRANOVA HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-1957; www.terranovasantelmo.com.ar; Humberto Primo 670; dm AR$70, r AR$200-220; ; L\u00ednea C San Juan) This laid-back hostel boasts a casual bar area in front and puts on weekend 'cultural' events like live music \u2013 thankfully, away from the sleeping areas. A long covered patio-hallway provides nice outdoor spaces, and rooms have high ceilings (it's an old colonial building). There are also colorful murals and free tango classes.\n\nHOSTEL VIEJO TELMO HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4331-5469; www.viejotelmo.com; M\u00e9xico 974; d\/tr\/q US$45\/70\/100; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) The highlight of this hostel is the rooftop terrace, with _parrilla_ grill and nearby kitchen\u2013dining room. It's in a 1912 building with a variety of decent rooms, nearly all with bathroom; each has cable TV and there's also a living room near reception. Conveniently located near the Center and many transportation lines; no sign outside.\n\n MANSI\u00d3N VITRAUX BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4878-4292; www.mansionvitraux.com; Carlos Calvo 369; r US$135-160; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) Almost too slick for San Telmo, this glass-fronted boutique hotel offers 12 beautiful rooms, all in different colors. All have either flat-screen or projection TV, and bathrooms boast very contemporary design. The breakfast buffet happens in the basement wine bar, and a tasting is included in your stay. There are also a large Jacuzzi, a dry sauna and a fancy rooftop terrace with small lap pool.\n\nBONITO SAN TELMO GUESTHOUSE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4362-8451; www.bonitobuenosaires.com; Juan de Garay 458; r US$90-105; ; 29) The busy avenue outside seems unlikely to offer such a paradise, but after you climb the stairs you'll be surrounded by contemporary touches, from the grand piano in the living room to the elegant dining nook in back. Six lovely rooms are available (including one with kitchenette), but the best features are the lush rooftop terraces, complete with San Telmo views. Reserve ahead.\n\nCASA Y MUNDO BOLIVAR BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4300-3619; www.casabolivar.com; Bol\u00edvar 1701; US$70-90; ) Fourteen spacious studios and loft apartments with kitchenettes have been renovated into attractive modern spaces \u2013 some with original details such as carved doorways or painted ceilings \u2013 at this amazing mansion. Separate entrances join with hallways connecting through the complex, and there are lovely garden patios in which to relax. No breakfast, but there's a cafe-restaurant.\n\nL\u00ednea C, Constituci\u00f3n, is the closest Subte stop, but consider taking a taxi here instead. Three-day minimum stay; long-term guests preferred.\n\nSCALA HOTEL HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4343-0606; www.scalahotelbuenosaires.com; Bernardo de Irigoyen 740; r AR$1270-2060; ; L\u00ednea C Independencia) A grand lobby awaits you at this business-\u00adoriented, four-star hotel. All rooms are lovely and spacious; standard ones have wooden floors, while higher categories come with carpeting and sitting rooms. Some boast 9 de Julio views. There's a pleasant, large patio in back, along with spa, gym, restaurant and two business salons; plans are for a swimming pool by 2015.\n\n### Retiro\n\nRetiro is a great, central place to be, _if_ you can afford it \u2013 many of BA's most expensive hotels, along with some of its richest inhabitants, are settled in here. Close by are leafy Plaza San Mart\u00edn, the Retiro train and bus stations, and many upscale stores and business services. Ritzy Recoleta is to the northwest and the busy Microcentro is to the south \u2013 both just a short and pleasant stroll away.\n\nHOTEL TRES SARGENTOS HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-6082; www.hotel3sargentos.com.ar; Tres Sargentos 345; s\/d AR$300\/380; ; L\u00ednea C San Mart\u00edn) A great deal for the location, this simple budget hotel has a nice enough lobby and is located on a pedestrian street. The carpets in the halls need changing, but the ones in the simple, comfortable rooms are clean enough. Some rooms even offer a bit of a view \u2013 ask for a floor up high.\n\n CASA CALMA BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4312-5000; www.casacalma.com.ar; Suipacha 1015; r US$220-240; ; L\u00ednea C San Mart\u00edn) S Those with stuffed wallets and of an eco-conscious mind now have their perfect hideaway in BA: this central, environmentally friendly and luxurious hotel. Rooms are beautifully pristine and relaxing (some even have sauna or Jacuzzi), with Zen-like baths and serene atmosphere. It's a world away from outside the front door, where BA noisily buzzes by.\n\nCasa Calma does its part by using eco-certified wood in its building and outside greenery to adjust the hotel's temperatures. It recycles what it can and offers guests organic towels, bulk toiletries and even two bamboo bicycles to rent. It's so gorgeous, however, you won't even notice.\n\nFOUR SEASONS HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4321-1200; www.fourseasons.com\/buenosaires; Posadas 1086; d from US$665; ; L\u00ednea C San Mart\u00edn) No surprise here \u2013 the Four Seasons offers all the perks that define a five-star hotel, such as great service and white terry-cloth robes. Rooms are large and beautiful, with contemporary furnishings and decorations, and the finest suites are located in an old, luxurious mansion next door (go for the presidential \u2013 it's US$10,000 per night).\n\nThere are also a gorgeous spa, an outdoor heated swimming pool and a top-notch restaurant.\n\nHOTEL PULITZER BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4316-0800; www.hotelpulitzer.com.ar; Maip\u00fa 907; r from US$175; ; L\u00ednea C San Mart\u00edn) Very well located, this large, new boutique hotel has a black-and-white lobby and minimalist decor. Rooms are spacious and stylish, boasting flat-screen TVs and elegant bathrooms; some have a balcony. The highlight, however, is the beautiful rooftop terrace with attached bar, offering great views over the city. There are also a restaurant, a cocktail bar and even a swimming pool.\n\n### Recoleta & Barrio Norte\n\nMost of the accommodations in Recoleta and Barrio Norte (whose borders can be blurred) are expensive, and what cheap hotels there are tend to be full much of the time. Buildings here are grand and beautiful, befitting the city's richest barrio, and you'll be close to Recoleta's famous cemetery, along with its lovely parks, museums and boutiques.\n\nYIRA YIRA GUESTHOUSE GUESTHOUSE $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4812-4077; www.yirayiraba.com; Uruguay 911 1B; s\/d US$45\/65; ; L\u00ednea D Callao) This casual, intimate apartment-home is run by the helpful Paz, who lives on-site. The floors are wooden and the ceilings high, and there are just four large rooms (all with shared bathrooms) facing the central living area with tiny patio. It's a good place to meet other travelers and centrally located near downtown. Reserve ahead.\n\nREINA MADRE HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4962-5553; www.rmhostelbuenosaires.com; Anchorena 1118; dm AR$95-105, s\/d AR$215\/235; ; L\u00ednea D Pueyrred\u00f3n) This wonderful hostel is clean, safe and well run. It's in an old building that has plenty of personality, with high ceilings and original tiles, and all rooms are comfortable and modern (and share bathrooms). There's a cozy living room with balcony and small kitchen plus lots of dining tables, but the highlight is the wooden-deck rooftop with _asado_. Pet cat on premises.\n\nHOTEL LION D'OR HOTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4803-8992; www.hotel-liondor.com.ar; Pacheco de Melo 2019; s AR$300-320, d AR$360-420, tr AR$400-560; ; L\u00ednea D Pueyrred\u00f3n) These digs have their charm (it's an old embassy), but rooms vary widely \u2013 some are small, basic and dark, while others are grand. Despite some rough edges, all are good value and most have been modernized for comfort. The old marble staircase and elevator are fabulous, and there's a nice rooftop area. Cheap breakfast option; some rooms share bathrooms.\n\nPETIT RECOLETA HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4823-3848; www.petitrecoleta.com; Uriburu 1183; dm US$14-16, s US$35-50, d US$45-65; ; L\u00ednea D Facultad de Medicina) It's hardly a stunner as far as hostels go, but you can't beat this cheapie's location. There's an interior patio, small TV room, larger dining-bar room and pool-table area. Most rooms are private; there are two dorms, one for men and one for women. Only two rooms have air-con. Long-term tenants have their own section (one-month minimum).\n\nART SUITES APARTMENTS $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4821-6800; www.artsuites.com.ar; Azcu\u00e9naga 1465; d AR$850-1450; ; L\u00ednea D Pueyrred\u00f3n) The 15 luxurious, modern and spacious apartments here are all bright and boast minimalist decor, full kitchens or kitchenettes, sunny balconies and slick, hip furniture. Windows are double-paned for quiet, staff speak English and security is excellent. Continental breakfast included. Long-term discounts are available; reserve ahead. An annex offers more apartments.\n\n POETRY BUILDING APARTMENTS $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4827-2772; www.poetrybuilding.com; Jun\u00edn 1280; apt US$175-235; ; L\u00ednea D Pueyrred\u00f3n) These gorgeous studios and one- or two-bedroom apartments are perfect for families or small groups. Each one is different, eclectically decorated with reproduction antique furniture, and all come with fully stocked kitchens. Some boast an outdoor balcony or patio, but there's also a beautiful common terrace with soaking pool. Amenities include flat-screen TVs, plus iPod and cell-phone rentals.\n\n PALACIO DUHAU \u2013 PARK HYATT HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 5171-1234; www.buenosaires.park.hyatt.com; Av Alvear 1661; d from US$655; ; 130) If it's good enough for presidents, diplomats and Tom Cruise, it's good enough for you. The luxurious Park Hyatt takes up a city block and consists of two wings, including the Palacio Duhau, a renovated mansion. There's a gorgeously terraced garden with fountains and patios, plus a fine spa, indoor pool, wine and cheese bar and art gallery. Excellent service.\n\nALVEAR PALACE HOTEL HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4808-2100; www.alvearpalace.com; Av Alvear 1891; r from US$640; ; 130) The classiest, most traditional hotel in BA. Old-world sophistication and superior service will help erase the trials of your long flight into town, while the bathtub Jacuzzi, Herm\u00e8s toiletries and Egyptian-cotton bed sheets aid your trip into dreamland. There's also an excellent restaurant, elegant tea room, cigar bar, fine spa, indoor swimming pool and butler service.\n\nAYRES DE RECOLETA APARTMENTS $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4801-0505; www.ayresderecoleta.com; Uriburu 1756; studios US$175; ; 59) The 37 studio apartments here (plus two penthouses) all come with king-size beds or two twins, brown-and-white color scheme and classy decoration. There are also simple kitchenettes great for heating up leftover takeout, plus a small indoor pool with Jacuzzi. And the location can't be beat \u2013 you're a block from Recoleta cemetery. Reserve ahead.\n\n### Palermo\n\nDespite being a slight trek from the center, Palermo is the top choice for many travelers. Not only is it full of extensive parklands \u2013 which are great for weekend jaunts and sporting activities \u2013 but you'll have heaps of cutting-edge restaurants, designer boutiques and hip dance clubs at your door. Many of these places are located in the extensive sub-neighborhoods of Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. Las Ca\u00f1itas is another sub-neighborhood, just to the northwest, with a three-block strip of door-to-door restaurants and bars. All are connected to the center by bus or Subte.\n\nECO PAMPA HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-2435; www.hostelpampa.com.ar; Guatemala 4778; dm US$20, s\/d US$70\/85; ; L\u00ednea D Plaza Italia) S Buenos Aires' first 'green' hostel is this casual spot sporting vintage furniture, low-energy light bulbs and a recycling system. The rooftop is home to a small veggie garden, compost pile and solar panels. Dorms are a good size and each of the eight private rooms comes with bathroom and flat-screen TV (most have air-con).\n\nThere's another branch further north in Belgrano (www.hostelpampa.com; Iber\u00e1 2858).\n\n 5TH FLOOR B&B $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4827-0366; www.the5thfloorba.com; r US$90-170; ; L\u00ednea D Scalabrini Ort\u00edz) This upscale B&B offers seven elegant rooms, three with private balcony. All are tastefully decorated with art deco furniture and modern amenities. The common living room is great for chatting with the English owner, a polo enthusiast, and there's also a pleasant back patio with lovely tile details. Occasional closed-door dining events happen here. Excellent breakfast; address given upon reservation.\n\n CABRERA GARDEN B&B $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4777-7668; www.cabreragarden.com; Jos\u00e9 Antonio Cabrera 5855; US$145-250; ) One of BA's loveliest stays is this three-room B&B run by a Polish-German gay couple. The remodelled 1920s building boasts a beautiful grassy garden with small patio and pool, and there's a wonderful living room in which to hang out. Rooms are very comfortable and all different, with modern conveniences like flat-screen TVs and iPod docks.\n\nEnglish, German and Polish spoken; reserve ahead. The nearest Subte stop \u2013 L\u00ednea D, Ministro Carranza \u2013 is 10 blocks away.\n\nABODE GUESTHOUSE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-3331; www.abodebuenosaires.com; r US$90-150; ; L\u00ednea D Palermo) Run by an expat couple, who live on the premises, is this very intimate and homey guesthouse. Each of the four simple yet comfortable rooms comes with its own bathroom, and the largest has a balcony. The highlight: a wonderful rooftop terrace, where you can enjoy your full English breakfast. By reservation only; no walk-ins. Friendly dog on premises.\n\nPALERMO VIEJO B&B GUESTHOUSE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-6012; www.palermoviejobb.com; Niceto Vega 4629; s\/d US$75\/85; ) This small and intimate B&B is located in a remodeled _casa chorizo_ \u2013 a long, narrow house. The six rooms all front a leafy outdoor patio hallway and are simple but quite comfortable; two have lofts. All come with fridge and a good breakfast. Call them ahead of time \u2013 they often leave on errands in the afternoon.\n\nThe nearest Subte stop \u2013 L\u00ednea B, Malabia \u2013 is nine blocks away.\n\nLIVIAN GUESTHOUSE GUESTHOUSE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4862-8841; www.livianguesthouse.com; Palestina 1184; r US$90-150; ; 106, 160) Located in a lovely old building in an untouristy section of Palermo is this chill guesthouse. There are 10 colorful yet tasteful rooms on offer, one with its own terrace and most with private bathroom (a few share bathrooms or have a private bathroom down the hall). There are pleasant living-room spaces and a pretty back garden too.\n\nINFINITO HOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 2070-2626; www.infinitohotel.com; Arenales 3689; r US$160; ; L\u00ednea D Scalabrini Ort\u00edz) Starting at its small lobby cafe-reception, this hotel exudes a certain trendiness. Rooms are small but good, boasting flat-screen TVs, fridges, wooden floors and a purple color scheme. They try to be ecologically conscious (mostly by recycling); however, there's also a sauna and Jacuzzi. Located near some parks but still within walking distance of Palermo's nightlife. Buffet breakfast included.\n\nCASER\u00d3N PORTE\u00d1O GUESTHOUSE $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4554-6336; www.caseronporteno.com; Ciudad de la Paz 344; s AR$550-680, d AR$680-850; ; L\u00ednea D Olleros) Catering especially to tango dancers is this fine guesthouse with 10 simple but tastefully furnished rooms. All have private bathrooms, but four have them located outside the actual rooms. Behind the lush garden there's a small dance studio where classes take place, while other common spaces include a relaxing rooftop terrace and a kitchen for guest use.\n\nThe location is in a nontouristy residential neighborhood; four-night minimum stay in high season. Unsurprisingly, plenty of tango information is available.\n\nRUGANTINO HOTEL HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-2891; www.rugantinohotel.com; Uriarte 1844; r US$115; ; L\u00ednea D Palermo) This small and intimate hotel is located in a 1920s building and run by an Italian family. Various tiny terraces and catwalks connect the seven simple but beautiful rooms, all decked out in hardwood floors and modern styling \u2013 combined with a few antiques. The climbing vine-greenery in the small central courtyard well is soothing, and you can expect espresso for breakfast.\n\n MIRAVIDA SOHO GUESTHOUSE $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4774-6433; www.miravidasoho.com; Darregueyra 2050; r US$205-280; ; L\u00ednea D Plaza Italia) Run by a friendly and helpful German couple, this gorgeous guesthouse comes with six beautiful and elegant rooms. All are very comfortable and one has a private terrace. There's a wine cellar, bar-lounge area for evening wine tastings, a small and relaxing patio, and even an elevator. It serves good, full breakfasts; reserve ahead (10% discount if you pay cash).\n\n MAGNOLIA HOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4867-4900; www.magnoliahotel.com.ar; J \u00c0lvarez 1746; r US$255-350; ; L\u00ednea D Scalabrini Ort\u00edz) This classy boutique hotel is in a gorgeously restored old house. Its eight impeccably groomed rooms are bathed in muted colors and fitted with elegant furniture; some have a patio or balcony. Common spaces are beautiful, and the gorgeous rooftop terrace is strewn with cushy lounges. Other pluses include a welcome drink and a little patio for the breakfast.\n\nMINE HOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-1100; www.minehotel.com; Gorriti 4770; d US$205-270; ; 55) S This hip boutique hotel offers 20 good-size rooms; some come with Jacuzzi and balcony and all have a desk and natural decor touches. Get one overlooking the highlight of the hotel: the peaceful backyard, which comes complete with small wading pool. There's a small bistro for the buffet breakfast, and Mine even attempts to be eco-friendly (reusing towels, low-energy bulbs, recycling).\n\nDUQUE HOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4832-0312; www.duquehotel.com; Guatemala 4364; d US$160-205; ; L\u00ednea D Scalabrini Ort\u00edz) More upscale than most boutique hotels is this elegant charmer. All 14 rooms are lovely and well designed, though some can be a bit small \u2013 go for a superior or deluxe if you need more space. Pluses include a large Jacuzzi, sauna, basement spa, buffet breakfast, afternoon tea with pastries and great little backyard garden with a tiny pool.\n\nVAIN BOUTIQUE HOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-8246; www.vainuniverse.com; Thames 2226; r US$190-300; ; L\u00ednea D Plaza Italia) Fifteen elegant rooms, all with high ceilings and wooden floors, live at this nicely renovated building. All are modern in that white, minimalist way, and boast sofas and small desks. The highlight, however, is the wonderfully airy, multilevel living room with attached wooden-decked terrace \u2013 a great place to enjoy breakfast. Small bar-restaurant in the lobby; reserve ahead for discounts.\n\nPALERMITANO BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4897-2100; www.palermitano.biz; Uriarte 1648; d US$160-265; ; 39, 55) Located in the middle of Palermo's nightlife, this boutique hotel has 16 tastefully decorated and contemporary rooms. The breakfast buffet is served all day, and they'll even bring it to your door. And pretty un\u00adusual for Buenos Aires is the small rooftop terrace with wading pool. A branch of the excellent Peruvian restaurant Sipan is on the ground floor.\n\nBA SOHOTEL BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4831-1844; www.basohotel.com; Paraguay 4485; r US$170-210; ; L\u00ednea D Plaza Italia) This 33-room boutique hotel is a good bet, with good service and an attached corner restaurant. The gorgeous rooms are spacious and come with wooden floors, desk, balcony, double-paned windows, Jacuzzi tubs and bathroom mirrors that don't fog (it's important!). There's also a tiny pool and Jacuzzi on the communal terrace. Breakfast buffet included; reserve ahead for discounts.\n\n248 FINISTERRA BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4773-0901; www.248finisterra.com; Av B\u00e1ez 248; r US$170-240; ; L\u00ednea D Ministro Carranza) Smack in the middle of Las Ca\u00f1itas' nightlife strip lies this elegant, Zen-like boutique hotel. There are 11 minimalist rooms, all beautifully contemporary, though the smallest are a bit tight. There's a dining area for breakfast and a small grassy garden in back, but the highlight has to be the rooftop terrace, with wooden lounges and a Jacuzzi. Reserve ahead.\n\nRENDEZVOUS HOTEL HOTEL $$$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 3964-5222; www.rendezvoushotel.com.ar; Bonpland 1484; d US$165-215; ) This boutique hotel is located in a beautiful four-story French-style building. Each of the 11 rooms is unique, styled with either antique or modern furnishings and bright colors; one has its own private balcony and outdoor Jacuzzi. There's a small bar-lounge at reception, tiny rooftop deck and cute patio at the entrance.\n\nThe nearest Subte stop \u2013 L\u00ednea B, Dorrego \u2013 is nine blocks away.\n\n### South of Palermo\n\nWith the popularity of Palermo raising property values and rents, some places to stay have popped up in the more blue-collar, historical, artsy or even 'bohemian' neighborhoods to the south. This large area is a good choice if you want to 'go local' and don't mind being a bit further from the main sights (but not _too_ far away). Public transport is good \u2013 and there probably won't be another tourist in sight.\n\nCHILL HOUSE HOSTEL HOSTEL $\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4861-6175; www.chillhouse.com.ar; Ag\u00fcero 781; dm AR$85, d AR$250-360; ; L\u00ednea B Carlos Gardel) One of the coolest-vibe hostels in BA is at this remodeled old house, boasting high ceilings and a rustic artsy style. There are two dorms, eight private rooms with bath (No 6 is especially nice) and an awesome rooftop terrace where weekly _asados_ take place. Run by a French and Argentine team; free bike rentals too.\n\nRAC\u00d3 DE BUENOS AIRES BOUTIQUE HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 3530-6075; www.racodebuenosaires.com.ar; Yapey\u00fa 271; r from US$90; ; L\u00ednea A Castro Barros) This Italian-designed building in a nontouristy neighborhood offers 12 lovely rooms with different styling, from virgin white classic to subdued masculine to animal print. All are spacious and have wooden floors, high ceilings and modern amenities. There's a small plant-strewn patio for breakfast and a basement wine bar for evening tastings. It's a good-value deal and just three blocks from the Subte.\n\nQUERIDO B&B B&B $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4854-6297; www.queridobuenosaires.com; Juan Ram\u00edrez de Velasco 934; r US$80-130; ; L\u00ednea B Malabia) Run by a friendly and helpful Brazilian-English couple is this homey yet modern B&B. It's located in a nontouristy neighborhood, but within easy walking distance of Palermo. The eight clean rooms are small but comfortable, and all have private bathrooms; ask for an inside 'courtyard' room for more quiet. There's a living room in which to meet fellow travelers, plus a little gravel patio in back. Reserve ahead.\n\nPOP HOTEL HOTEL $$\n\nMAP GOOGLE MAP\n\n( 4776-6900; www.pophotelsbuenosaires.com; Juan Ram\u00edrez de Velasco 793; r from US$95; ; L\u00ednea B Malabia) Located near Villa Crespo's outlet stores is this colorful and bright hotel. Halls are carpeted (this helps with noise) and rooms are modern and comfy, all with fridge, sink and flat-screen TV; the ones on the 4th floor are larger and boast balconies. Breakfast not included. Rates vary widely; prepay for a significant discount as rack rates can be double the prepaid rate.\nUnderstand Buenos Aires\n\nBUENOS AIRES TODAY\n\nEconomic ups and downs, 'Queen Cristina' and culinary novelties \u2013 Buenos Aires never bores.\n\nHISTORY\n\nSpanish colonialism, fierce independence, the golden years and the Dirty War \u2013 and all that before the roller-coaster economic years.\n\nMUSIC\n\nTango is only one facet of Buenos Aires' music; there are also rock, folk, jazz and electronica.\n\nLITERATURE & CINEMA\n\nOver the last century, Argentina has produced many famous writers (think Jorge Luis Borges), along with two Oscar-winning movies.\n\nART & ARCHITECTURE\n\nArts runs rampant in Buenos Aires, from sophisticated street graffiti to abstract installations. And BA's gorgeous European architecture often surprises newcomers.\nBuenos Aires Today\n\nBuenos Aires has two faces: it's a city that harbors both decline and prosperity. You'll see dirty, neglected buildings everywhere \u2013 yet the rebirth following the economic crash of 2001 keeps on going. Puerto Madero continues to grow, Palermo's best restaurants still attract queues, and malls are full of shoppers. Public transportation is improving and the city's restaurants keep evolving \u2013 and though president Cristina Kirchner's popularity goes up and down, you should never count her out.\n\n### Best in Print\n\nKiss of the Spider Woman (Manuel Puig; 1976) Two prisoners and their developing relationship in a Buenos Aires prison; made into the Oscar-winning 1985 film.\n\nAnd the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) (Paul Blustein; 2005) How the IMF helped bankrupt Argentina.\n\nOn Heroes and Tombs (Ernesto S\u00e1bato; 1961) A complex plunge into Buenos Aires' society, aristocracy and family dynamics in the 1950s.\n\nThe Tango Singer (Tom\u00e1s Eloy Mart\u00ednez; 2006) An American graduate student travels to Buenos Aires and tracks down a legendary tango singer.\n\n### Best on Film\n\nLa historia oficial (The Official Story; 1985) Oscar-winning film on the Dirty War.\n\nNueve reinas (Nine Queens; 2000) Two con men chasing the big score.\n\nEl secreto de sus ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes; 2009) Thriller that won the 2010 Oscar for best foreign-language film.\n\nPizza, birra, faso (Pizza, Beer, Cigarettes; 1998) Four BA gangster youths try to survive on the city streets.\n\n### Economic Roller Coaster\n\nArgentina's currency devaluation in 2002 caused surging demand for its suddenly-cheap agricultural products. Helped along by skyrocketing government spending and strong growth in Brazil and China, this economic boom lasted through 2007 and revved up again in 2010. But high inflation (unofficially hovering at around 25%), a stronger peso and lower commodity prices have reined in the economy.\n\nIn October 2011, in an effort to curb capital from heading overseas, the government started requiring Argentines to substantiate their purchases of US dollars. This created a _mercado azul_ (literally, 'blue market') for US dollars, which are highly sought after as a stable currency. The real-estate market stalled, since purchases were pretty much always transacted in US dollars. Calle Florida is now even more full of _arbolitos_ (or 'little trees', since they stand around), who target tourists with dollars to change \u2013 at nearly double the official rate.\n\nMany economists believe that the government needs to reduce spending and stop borrowing from its central bank and public pension system; control inflation; and maintain foreign-exchange reserves. Moreover, government policies need to become more transparent to encourage both domestic and foreign investment. These are tall orders and go against the traditional Argentine economic flow, but recession and even devaluation are increasing risks. Who knows \u2013 maybe another crash is just what Argentina needs to get on top again.\n\n### Cristina's Reign\n\nIn 2011 Cristina Kirchner was re-elected president by a landslide majority of 54%. She ran on a platform that appealed to the populist vote, promising to raise incomes, restore industry and maintain Argentina's economic boom. Her approach worked like a charm.\n\nSince then, however, things haven't been so rosy. Her popularity plunged as the economy hit the brakes, inflation skyrocketed and crime kept rising. _The Economist_ and international agencies such as the IMF have accused her government of cooking the books (especially inflation figures). Her health has been on the rocks: she had to have surgery to remove her thyroid in 2012, and she underwent a procedure to remove a blood clot on her brain in 2013. She lost even more political support in the October 2013 midterm elections, making a Chavez-like third term \u2013 currently not allowed in the constitution, but something that many thought Cristina was after \u2013 very unlikely.\n\nBut nobody can write _la presidenta_ off yet \u2013 she still maintains majorities in both chambers, her term won't be up until 2015 and she's been known to make comebacks. And despite her many detractors, Cristina has made admirable social strides. She's addressed the abuses of the military dictatorship, championed same-sex marriage laws and, above all, supported the blue-collar classes. And her people love her for it, just as they did Evita.\n\n### Cultural Evolutions\n\nDespite a discouraging economy and a downturn in tourism in the last few years, Buenos Aires' culinary culture continues to evolve. Intrepid young chefs are providing creative twists to the restaurant scene with relatively new-to-BA concepts like molecular gastronomy and pop-up meal nights. Meanwhile, the closed door\u2013restaurant sphere keeps thriving, with a few places now making Argentina's _asado_ \u2013 traditionally a barbecue party at a friend or family's home on a Sunday \u2013 available to tourists in town for only a few days. Add to that a few new exciting food fairs and BA is well on its way to becoming a foodie destination.\n\nAnother evolving sector of Buenos Aires is its public transportation. The final implementation of the SUBE card meant that obtaining enough coins for the bus was no longer a source of friction and stress in _porte\u00f1os'_ daily lives (really \u2013 it was _that_ bad). And new bus-only Metrobus lanes down big avenues like 9 de Julio and Juan B Justo have eased traffic somewhat, though people continue to purchase private cars as an investment against inflation (nobody trusts banks with their savings any more). Bicycle use has also increased, as the bike-lane system keeps expanding, and the city's free bike-share program has been deemed a success.\n\nHistory\n\nLike all Latin American countries, Argentina has a tumultuous history, one tainted by periods of despotic rule, corruption and hard times. But its history is also illustrious, the story of a country that fought off Spanish colonial rule and was once among the world's economic powerhouses. It's a country that gave birth to international icons such as the gaucho, Evita Per\u00f3n and Che Guevara. Understanding Argentina's past is paramount to understanding its present and, most importantly, to understanding Argentines themselves.\n\nArgentina's national beer, Quilmes, is named after the now decimated indigenous group of northwest Argentina. It's also the name of a city in the province of Buenos Aires.\n\n## The Spanish Arrive\n\nAlthough the banks of the R\u00edo de la Plata had been populated for tens of thousands of years by nomadic hunter-gatherers, the first attempt at establishing a permanent settlement was made by Spanish aristocrat Pedro de Mendoza in 1536. His verbose name for the outpost, Puerto Nuestra Se\u00f1ora Santa Mar\u00eda del Buen Aire (Port Our Lady Saint Mary of the Good Wind) was matched only by his extravagant expedition of 16 ships and nearly 1600 men \u2013 almost three times the size of Hern\u00e1n Cort\u00e9s' forces that conquered the Aztecs. In spite of his resources and planning, Mendoza unfortunately arrived too late in the season to plant adequate crops. The Spanish soon found themselves short on food and in typical colonialist fashion tried to bully the local Querand\u00ed indigenous groups into feeding them. A bitter fight and four years of struggle ensued, which led to such an acute shortage of supplies that some of the Spanish resorted to cannibalism. Mendoza himself fled back to Spain, while a detachment of troops who were left behind retreated upriver to Asunci\u00f3n (now the capital of Paraguay).\n\nWith Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca empire in present-day Peru as the focus of the Spanish crown, Buenos Aires was largely ignored for the next four decades. In 1580 Juan de Garay returned with an expedition from Asunci\u00f3n and attempted to rebuild Buenos Aires. The Spanish had not only improved their colonizing skills since Mendoza's ill-fated endeavor but also had some backup from the cities of Asunci\u00f3n and Santa Fe.\n\nStill, Buenos Aires remained a backwater in comparison to Andean settlements such as Tucum\u00e1n, C\u00f3rdoba, Salta, La Rioja and Jujuy. With the development of mines in the Andes and the incessant warfare in the Spanish empire swelling the demand for both cattle and horses, ranching became the core of the city's early economy. Spain maintained harsh restrictions on trade out of Buenos Aires and the increasingly frustrated locals turned to smuggling contraband.\n\nThe city continued to flourish and the crown was eventually forced to relax its restrictions and co-opt the growing international trade in the region. In 1776 Madrid made Buenos Aires the capital of the new Viceroyalty of the R\u00edo de la Plata, which included the world's largest silver mine in Potos\u00ed (in present-day Bolivia). For many of its residents, the new status was recognition that the adolescent city was outgrowing Spain's parental authority.\n\nAlthough the new viceroyalty had internal squabbles over trade and control issues, when the British raided the city twice \u2013 in 1806 and 1807 \u2013 the response was unified. Locals rallied against the invaders without Spanish help and chased them out of town. These two battles gave the city's inhabitants confidence and an understanding of their self-reliance. It was just a matter of time until they broke with Spain.\n\n### SMUGGLING IN BUENOS AIRES\n\nIt's not a coincidence that one of the most popular whiskeys served in Buenos Aires is called Old Smuggler. The city's history of trading in contraband goes all the way back to its founding. Some argue that the culture of corruption, so pervasive in Argentina, is tolerated because the historical role of smuggling in Buenos Aires led to a 'tradition' of rule-bending.\n\nThe Spanish empire kept tight regulations on its ports and only certain cities were allowed to trade goods with other countries. Buenos Aires, originally on the periphery of the empire, was hard to monitor and therefore not allowed to buy from or sell to other Europeans. Located at the mouth of the R\u00edo de la Plata, the settlement was an ideal point of entry to the continent for traders. Buenos Aires merchants turned to smuggling everything from textiles and precious metals to weapons and slaves. Portuguese- manufactured goods flooded the city and made their way inland to present-day Bolivia, Paraguay and even Peru.\n\nLater, the British and high-seas pirates found a ready and willing trading partner in Buenos Aires (and also introduced a taste for fine whiskeys). An increasing amount of wealth passed through the city and much of the initial growth of Buenos Aires was fueled by the trade in contraband. As smuggling was an open game, without favored imperial merchants, it offered a chance for upward social mobility and gave birth to a commercially oriented middle class.\n\n## Independence\n\nWhen Napoleon conquered Spain and put his brother on the throne in 1808, Buenos Aires became further estranged from Madrid and finally declared its independence on May 25, 1810.\n\nSix years later, on July 9, 1816, outlying areas of the viceroyalty also broke with Spain and founded the United Provinces of the River Plate. Almost immediately a power struggle arose between Buenos Aires and the provincial strongmen: the Federalist landowners of the interior provinces were concerned with preserving their autonomy, while the Unitarist businessmen of Buenos Aires tried to consolidate power in the city with an outward orientation toward overseas commerce and European ideas. Some of the interior provinces decided to go their own way, forming Paraguay in 1814, Bolivia in 1825 and Uruguay in 1828.\n\nAfter more than a decade of violence and uncertainty, Juan Manuel de Rosas become governor of Buenos Aires in 1829. Although he swore that he was a Federalist, Rosas was more of an opportunist \u2013 a Federalist when it suited him and a Unitarist once he controlled the city. He required that all international trade be funneled through Buenos Aires rather than proceeding directly to the provinces, and he set ominous political precedents, creating the _mazorca_ (his ruthless political police) and institutionalizing torture.\n\nOne of the best-known contemporary accounts of postindependence Argentina is Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's _Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants_ (1868). Also superb is his seminal classic, _Facundo, Or Civilization and Barbarism_ (1845).\n\n## The Fleeting Golden Years\n\nRosas' overthrow came in 1852 at the hands of Justo Jos\u00e9 de Urquiza, a rival governor who tried to transfer power to his home province of Entre Rios. In protest, Buenos Aires briefly seceded from the union, but it was reestablished as the capital when Bartolom\u00e9 Mitre crushed Urquiza's forces in 1861. From there, Buenos Aires never looked back and became the undisputed power center of the country.\n\nThe economy boomed and Buenos Aires became a port town of 90,000 people in the late 1860s. Immigrants poured in from Spain, Italy and Germany, followed by waves of newcomers from Croatia, Ireland, Poland and Ukraine. Its population grew nearly seven-fold from 1869 to 1895, to over 670,000 people. The new residents worked in the port, lived tightly in crammed tenement buildings, developed tango, and jump-started the leftist labor movement. The onslaught of Europeans not only expanded Buenos Aires into a major international capital but gave the city its rich multicultural heritage, famous idiosyncrasies and sharp political differences.\n\nBy Argentina's centennial in 1910, Buenos Aires was a veritable metropolis. The following years witnessed the construction of the subway, while British companies built modern gas, electrical and sewer systems. Buenos Aires was at the height of a golden age, its bustling streets full of New World businesses, art, architecture and fashion. Argentina grew rich during this time based on its meat production. Advances in refrigeration and the country's ability to ship beef to distant lands was key to its economic success. In fact, by the beginning of WWI, Argentina was one of the world's 10 richest countries, and ahead of France and Germany.\n\nConservative forces dominated the political sphere until 1916, when Radical Party leader Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen took control of the government in a move that stressed fair and democratic elections. After a prolonged period of elite rule, this was the first time Argentina's burgeoning middle class obtained a political voice.\n\nIt was also at this time that Argentina's fortunes started to change, but unfortunately not for the better. Export prices dropped off, wages stagnated and workers became increasingly frustrated and militant. La Semana Tr\u00e1gica (Tragic Week), when over 100 protesters were killed during a metalworkers' strike, was the culmination of these tensions; some say this radical reaction was due to the government being pressured by moneyed interests. The Wall Street crash of 1929 dealt the final blow to the export markets and a few months later, in 1930, the military took over the country in a coup led by General Jos\u00e9 F\u00e9lix Uriburu. The golden age rapidly became a distant memory.\n\nThis was the first of many military coups that blemished the rest of the century and served to shackle the progress of the nation. Scholars have argued that the events that culminated in the 2001 economic collapse can be traced back to the 1930 military takeover.\n\nA fascinating, fictionalized version of the life of ex-president Juan Per\u00f3n, culminating in his return to Buenos Aires in 1973, is Tom\u00e1s Eloy Mart\u00ednez' _The Per\u00f3n Novel_ (1998).\n\n## The Age of the Per\u00f3ns\n\nDuring WWII the rural poor migrated into Buenos Aires in search of work. The number of people living in the city nearly tripled and it soon held a third of the national population (which is in fact similar to the percentage today). The growing strength of these urban working classes swept populist Lieutenant-General Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n into the presidency in 1946. Per\u00f3n had been stationed for a time in Italy and developed his own brand of watered-down Mussolini-style fascism. He quickly nationalized large industry, including the railways, and created Argentina's first welfare state. Borrowing from Fascist Italy and Germany, Per\u00f3n carefully cultivated his iconic image and held massive popular rallies in Plaza de Mayo.\n\nThe glamorous Eva Duarte, a onetime radio soap-opera star, became the consummate celebrity first lady upon marrying Per\u00f3n, and an icon who would eclipse Per\u00f3n himself. Known as Evita, her powerful social-assistance foundation reached out to lower-class women through give\u00adaways of such things as baby bottles and strollers, and the construction of schools and hospitals. The masses felt a certain empathy with Evita, who was also born into the working class. Her premature death in 1952 came just before things went sour and her husband's political power plummeted.\n\nAfter Evita's death Per\u00f3n financed payouts to workers by simply printing new money, bungled the economy, censored the press and cracked down on opposition. He was strikingly less popular without Evita, and was deposed by the military in 1955 after two terms in office. Per\u00f3n lived in exile in Spain while a series of military coups ailed the nation. When he returned in 1973, there were escalating tensions from left and right parties; even if he'd lived to serve his term of re-election, Per\u00f3n would have had too much on his plate. His successor, his hapless third wife Isabel, had even less staying power and her overthrow by a military junta in 1976 came as no surprise.\n\nAlthough the effects of Per\u00f3n's personal political achievements are debatable, the Peronist party, based largely on his ideals, has endured.\n\nHect\u00f3r Olivera's 1983 film _Funny Dirty Little War_ is an unsettling but excellent black comedy set in a fictitious town just before the 1976 military coup.\n\n## The Dirty War\n\nThe new military rulers instituted the Process of National Reorganisation, known as El Proceso, and this was headed by the notorious Jorge Rafael Videla. Ostensibly an effort to remake Argentina's political culture and modernize the flagging economy, El Proceso was little more than a Cold War\u2013era attempt to kill off or intimidate all leftist political opposition in the country.\n\nBased in Buenos Aires, a left-wing guerrilla group known as the Montoneros bombed foreign buildings, kidnapped executives for ransom and robbed banks to finance its armed struggle against the government. The Montoneros were composed mainly of educated, middle-\u00adclass youths; they were hunted down by the military government in a campaign known as La Guerra Sucia (the Dirty War). Somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 civilians died \u2013 many of them simply 'disappeared' while walking down the street or sleeping in their beds. Many were tortured to death, or sedated and dropped from planes into the R\u00edo de la Plata. Anyone who seemed even sympathetic to the Montoneros could be whisked off the streets and detained, tortured or killed. A great number of the 'disappeared' are still unaccounted for today.\n\nThe military leaders let numerous aspects of the country's well-being slip into decay, along with the entire national economy. When Ronald Reagan took power in the USA in 1981, he reversed Jimmy Carter's condemnation of the junta's human-rights abuses and even invited the generals to visit Washington, DC. Backed by this relationship with the USA, the military was able to solicit development loans from international lenders, but endemic corruption quickly drained the funds into their Swiss bank accounts.\n\n### ESMA: ARGENTINA'S AUSCHWITZ\n\nAlong a busy road in the BA neighborhood of Nu\u00f1ez is an imposing building officially called the Naval Mechanics School but better known as ESMA. During Argentina's 1976\u201383 military rule it served as an infamous detention center where some 5000 people were brutally tortured and killed. Truckloads of blindfolded prisoners were unloaded outside the building, taken to the basement, sedated and killed. Some were murdered by firing squads and others were drugged and dropped from planes into the R\u00edo de la Plata on twice-weekly 'death flights'. The building also served as a clandestine maternity center that housed babies taken from their mothers (many of whom were subsequently killed) to be given to police and military couples without children.\n\nIn 2004, as part of president N\u00e9stor Kirchner's effort to revisit the Dirty War crimes, the building was designated a memorial museum, handed over to a human-rights group and named the Space for Memory and Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. But reviving the memory was like opening Pandora's box. A public debate ensued on how to tackle the museum: whether to make it educational, poignant, moralizing or realistic. This debate \u2013 together with the human-rights group's insistence that all campus buildings, some of which were still occupied by the Navy, be vacated \u2013 delayed the museum's launch. (In the end, the Navy did move to another locale.)\n\nEventually, it was agreed that it was best to leave the space bare, with few explanatory signs, and so commemorate the victims. On the public tours (see www.espaciomemoria.ar) through the bleak rooms, guides tell the stories of detainees' tragic lives. According to photographer Marcelo Brodsky, whose brother disappeared in ESMA, 'The site is charged with torture sessions, muffled screams, odors and sounds'. This reminder of Argentina's state terror allows visitors to ponder the frailty of democracy and contemplate the evil of military dictatorships not only in Argentina but around the world.\n\n## The Return to Democracy\n\nThe military dictatorship that ruled the country with an iron fist lasted from 1976 to 1983. General Leopoldo Galtieri took the reins of the draconian military junta in 1981, but its power was unraveling: the economy was in recession, interest rates skyrocketed and protesters took to the streets of Buenos Aires. A year later, Galtieri tried to divert national attention by goading the UK into a war over control of the Falkland Islands (known in Argentina as Las Islas Malvinas). The British had more resolve than the junta had imagined and Argentina was easily defeated. The greatest blow came when the British nuclear submarine _Conqueror_ torpedoed the Argentine heavy cruiser _General Belgrano,_ killing 323 men. Argentina still holds that the ship was returning to harbor.\n\nEmbarrassed and proven ineffectual, the military regime fell apart and a new civilian government under Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn took control in 1983. Alfons\u00edn enjoyed a small amount of success and was able to negotiate a few international loans, but he could not limit inflation or constrain public spending. By 1989 inflation was out of control and Alfons\u00edn left office five months early, when Carlos Menem took power.\n\n_Nunca M\u00e1s_ (Never Again; 1984), the official report of the National Commission on the Disappeared, systematically details military abuses from 1976 to 1983 \u2013 during Argentina's Dirty War.\n\n## Menem & the Boom Years\n\nUnder the guidance of his shrewd economic minister, Domingo Cavallo, the skillfully slick Carlos Menem introduced free-market reforms to stall Argentina's economic slide. Many of the state-run industries were privatized and, most importantly, the peso was fixed by law at an equal rate to the American dollar. Foreign investment poured into the country. Buenos Aires began to thrive again: buildings were restored and new businesses boomed. The capital's Puerto Madero docks were redeveloped into an upscale leisure district, tourism increased and optimism was in the air. People in Buenos Aires bought new cars, talked on cell phones and took international vacations.\n\nAlthough the Argentine economy seemed robust to the casual observer, by Menem's second term (1995\u201399) some things were already amiss. The inflexibility imposed by the economic reforms made it difficult for the country to respond to foreign competition, and Mexico's 1995 currency collapse jolted a number of banks in Buenos Aires. Not only did Menem fail to reform public spending but corruption was so widespread that it dominated daily newspaper headlines.\n\nThe Falklands War is still a somewhat touchy subject in Argentina. If the subject comes up, try to call the islands the Malvinas instead of the Falklands, as many Argentines have been taught from a young age that they have always belonged to Argentina.\n\n## The Economic Crisis\n\nAs an economic slowdown deepened into a recession, voters turned to the mayor of Buenos Aires, Fernando de la R\u00faa, and elected him president in 1999. He was faced with the need to cut public spending and hike taxes during the recession.\n\nThe economy stagnated further, investors panicked, the bond market teetered on the brink of oblivion and the country seemed unable to service its increasingly heavy international debt. Cavallo was brought back in as the economic minister and in January 2001, rather than declaring a debt default, he sought over US$20 million more in loans from the IMF.\n\nArgentina had been living on credit and it could no longer sustain its lifestyle. The facade of a successful economy had been ripped away, and the indebted, weak inner workings were exposed. As the storm clouds gathered, there was a run on the banks. Between July and November, Argentines withdrew around US$20 billion, hiding it under their mattresses or sending it abroad. In a last-ditch effort to keep money in the country, the government imposed a limit of US$1000 a month on bank withdrawals. Called the _corralito_ (little corral), the strategy crushed many informal sectors of the economy that function on cash (taxis, food markets), and rioters and looters inevitably took to the streets. As the government tried to hoard the remaining hard currency, all bank savings were converted to pesos and any remaining trust in the government was broken. Middle-class protesters joined the fray in a series of pot-and-pan-banging protests, and both Cavallo and de la R\u00faa bowed to the inevitable and resigned.\n\nTwo new presidents came and went in the same week and the world's greatest default on public debt was declared. The third presidential successor, former Buenos Aires province governor Eduardo Duhalde, was able to hold onto power. In order to have more flexibility, he dismantled the currency-board system that had pegged the peso to the American dollar for a decade. The peso devalued rapidly and people's savings were reduced to a fraction of their earlier value. In January 2002 the banks were only open for a total of six days and confidence in the government was virtually nonexistent. The economy ceased to function: cash became scarce, imports stopped and demand for nonessential items flat-lined. More than half of the fiercely proud Argentine people found themselves below the national poverty line: the once comfortable middle class woke up in the lower classes and the former lower classes were plunged into destitution. Businesspeople ate at soup kitchens and homelessness became rampant.\n\nCarlos Menem's Syrian ancestry earned him the nickname 'El Turco' (The Turk). In 2001 he married Cecilia Bolocco, a former Miss Universe 35 years his junior; they're now separated.\n\n## Enter N\u00e9stor Kirchner\n\nDuhalde, to his credit, was able to use his deep political-party roots to keep the country together through to elections in April 2003. Numerous candidates entered the contest; the top two finishers were Menem (making a foray out of retirement for the campaign) and N\u00e9stor Kirchner, little-known governor of the thinly populated Patagonian province of Santa Cruz. Menem bowed out of the runoff election and Kirchner became president.\n\nKirchner was the antidote to the slick and dishonest Buenos Aires establishment politicians. He was an outsider, with his entire career in the provinces and a personal air of sincerity and austerity. The people were looking for a fresh start and someone to believe in \u2013 and they found that in Kirchner.\n\nDuring his term Kirchner defined himself as a hard-nosed fighter. In 2003 he managed to negotiate a debt-refinancing deal with the IMF under which Argentina would only pay interest on its loans. In 2006 Argentina repaid its $9.5 billion debt, not a small feat, which drove his approval rating up to 80%. Annual economic growth was averaging an impressive 8%, the poverty rate dropped to about 25% and unemployment nose-dived. A side effect of the 2001 collapse was a boom in international tourism, as foreigners enjoyed cosmopolitan Buenos Aires at bargain prices, injecting tourist money into the economy.\n\nBut not everything was bread and roses. The fact that Argentina had repaid its debt was fantastic news indeed, but economic stability didn't necessarily follow. In fact, a series of problems ensued during Kirchner's presidency: high inflation rates caused by a growing energy shortage, unequal distribution of wealth, and a rising breach between rich and poor that was slowly obliterating the middle class.\n\nOn the foreign-policy front, Kirchner's belligerence became aimed at outside forces. In November 2005, when George Bush flew in for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas, his presence sparked massive demonstrations around the country. Although anti-US sentiment unites most Argentines, some feared that Kirchner's schmoozing with Venezuelan president Hugo Ch\u00e1vez alienated potential investors in the United States and Europe.\n\nKirchner made admirable strides toward addressing the human-rights abuses of the military dictatorship. In 2005 the Supreme Court lifted an amnesty law that protected former military officers suspected of Dirty War crimes, and this led to a succession of trials that put several of them away for life.\n\nAt least two terms came about due to Argentina's economic crisis: _el corralito_ (a little corral) refers to the cap placed on cash withdrawals from bank accounts during 'La Crisis', while _cacerolazo_ (from the word _cacerola_ , meaning pan) is the street protest where angry people bang pots and saucepans.\n\n## The Trials & Tribulations of Cristina\n\nWhen N\u00e9stor Kirchner stepped aside in July 2007 in favor of his wife's candidacy for the presidential race, many started wondering: would 'Queen Cristina' (as she's often called due to her regal comportment) be just a puppet for her husband, who intended to rule behind the scenes?\n\nIn the October 2007 presidential election, Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner succeeded in her ambition to move from first lady to president. Weak opposition and her husband's enduring clout were some of the reasons for Cristina's clear-cut victory, despite the lack of straightforward policies during her campaign. While this was not the first time Argentina had had a female head of state (Isabel Per\u00f3n held a brief presidency by inheriting her husband's term), Cristina was the first woman to be elected president by popular vote in Argentina. As a lawyer and senator she has often been compared to Hillary Clinton; as a fashion-conscious political figure with a penchant for chic dresses and designer bags, she also evokes memories of Evita.\n\nCristina's tumultuous presidency has been laced with scandals, unpopular decisions and roller-coaster approval ratings. In March 2008 she significantly raised the export tax on soybeans, infuriating farmers, who soon went on strike and blockaded highways. In June 2009 Kirchner's power base was shattered during the mid-term elections, when her ruling party lost its majority in both houses of Congress. Soon after, she enacted an unpopular law set to break apart Clar\u00edn, a media conglomerate that often reflected unfavorably on her presidency. All the while, Argentina has been hounded by inflation that has been un\u00adofficially estimated at up to 25%.\n\nHer presidency has seen some positive sides, however. The economy grew strongly during the first part of her tenure, bolstered by high consumer spending and strong demand for the country's agricultural exports and manufactured goods. In a true Peronist vein, Cristina implemented a wide range of social programs to beef up the pension system, benefit impoverished children and help fight cases related to crimes against humanity. And in July 2010 she signed a bill that legalized same-sex marriage in Argentina, making it Latin America's first country to do so.\n\nOn October 27, 2010, Cristina's presidency was dealt a serious blow when N\u00e9stor Kirchner died suddenly of a heart attack. As N\u00e9stor was expected to run for the presidency in 2011, this was widely seen as a disaster for the Kirchner dynasty. But the country rallied around Cristina's sorrow, and her popularity in early 2011 remained high enough that she ran for office again and was easily re-elected. She had run on a platform that appealed to the populist vote, promising to raise incomes, restore industry and maintain Argentina's economic boom. Her approach worked like a charm, but her popularity wasn't to last. For more, Click here.\n\nUnlike your typical politician, Amado Boudou \u2013 Cristina Kirchner's vice president \u2013 drives a Harley-Davidson and jams with his band on a Fender guitar. But like your typical politician, he's been accused of embezzlement and money laundering.\n\nTimeline\n\n1536\n\nSpanish aristocrat Pedro de Mendoza reaches the R\u00edo de la Plata and attempts to set up a permanent settlement, only to return to Spain within four years.\n\n1580\n\nBuenos Aires is reestablished by Spanish forces, but the city remains a backwater for years, in comparison to growing strongholds in central and northwestern Argentina.\n\n1660\n\nBuenos Aires' population is around 4000; it will take another century for it to double.\n\n1776\n\nBuenos Aires becomes capital of the new Spanish Viceroyalty of the R\u00edo de la Plata, which included what are today Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.\n\n1806 & 1807\n\nBritish troops raid the city but are beaten back by the people of Buenos Aires in two battles, now celebrated as La Reconquista (the Reconquest) and La Defensa (the Defense).\n\nMay 25, 1810\n\nBuenos Aires declares its independence from Spain, although actual independence is still several years off. The city renames its main square Plaza de Mayo to commemorate the occasion.\n\n1829\n\nFederalist _caudillo_ Juan Manuel de Rosas takes control of Buenos Aires and becomes its governor; BA's influence increases dramatically during his 23-year reign.\n\n1852\n\nFederalist and former Rosas ally Justo Jos\u00e9 de Urquiza defeats Rosas at the Battle of Caseros and, in 1853, draws up Argentina's first constitution.\n\n1862\n\nBartolom\u00e9 Mitre, governor of Buenos Aires province, poet and founder of _La Naci\u00f3n n_ ewspaper, becomes president after defeating Urquiza's federal forces.\n\n1868\n\nIntellectual Domingo Faustino Sarmiento is elected president. He encourages immigration, ramps up public education and pushes to Europeanize the country.\n\n1869\u201395\n\nThe Argentine economy booms, immigration skyrockets and Buenos Aires' population grows from 95,000 to 670,000.\n\n1869\u201395\n\nTango emerges in Buenos Aires.\n\n1871\n\nSerious shortages of water and an inadequate sewerage systems leads to a severe outbreak of yellow fever that kills more than 10% of the city's population.\n\n1887\n\nConstruction of Puerto Madero begins.\n\n1888\n\nThe first Teatro Col\u00f3n, located on Plaza de Mayo, is demolished.\n\n1897\n\nPuerto Madero is completed, but Eduardo Madero \u2013 the businessman contracted for the project \u2013 has died four years earlier.\n\n1908\n\nAfter 20 years of construction, the second Teatro Col\u00f3n opens with a presentation of Giuseppe Verdi's opera _Aida_.\n\n1916\n\nHip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen, leader of the Radical Party popular with the middle classes, is elected president and introduces minimum wage to counter inflation; he's re-elected in 1928.\n\n1930\n\nHip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen is overthrown in a military coup led by General Jos\u00e9 F\u00e9lix Uriburu, who stays in power for two years, after which civilian rule is restored.\n\n1946\n\nPopulist Lieutenant-General Juan Domingo Per\u00f3n is elected president; Per\u00f3n and his young wife Eva Per\u00f3n ('Evita') make sweeping changes to the political structure.\n\n1952\n\nEvita dies of cancer on July 26 at age 33, one year into Juan Per\u00f3n's second term as president. Her death severely weakes the political might of her husband.\n\n1955\n\nAfter the economy slides into recession, Per\u00f3n loses further political clout; he is thrown from the presidency and exiled to Spain after a military coup.\n\n1976\u201383\n\nUnder the military leadership of General Jorge Videla, Argentina is launched into the Dirty War. In eight years, up to 30,000 people 'disappear'.\n\n1982\n\nGeneral Leopoldo Galtieri provokes the UK into a war over control of the Falkland Islands (Las Islas Malvinas), but Argentina is easily defeated by the British.\n\n1983\n\nThe military regime collapses, ending the Dirty War; civilian government is restored under Radical leader Ra\u00fal Alfons\u00edn, but he leaves office early due to growing inflation problems.\n\n1989\n\nPeronist Carlos Menem succeeds Alfons\u00edn as president and overcomes the hyperinflation that reached nearly 200% per month by instituting free-market reforms.\n\n1992\n\nA bomb attack at the Israeli embassy kills 29 and injures over 200.\n\n1994\n\nEighty-five people are killed and over 100 are wounded when a Jewish community center is bombed.\n\n1999\n\nThe mayor of Buenos Aires, Fernando de la R\u00faa, is voted president of Argentina as a result of dissatisfaction with the corrupt Menem administration; he inherits $114 billion in public debt.\n\n2001\u201302\n\nArgentina commits the largest debt default in world history; Argentina's economy is ruined, which sparks massive riots and looting around the country.\n\n2003\n\nN\u00e9stor Kirchner \u2013 a governor from Patagonia's province of Santa Cruz \u2013 is sworn in as Argentina's president, with 22% of the vote.\n\n2005\n\nAn amnesty law that protected Dirty War military officers suspected of human-rights abuses is abolished\n\n2007\n\nLawyer, senator and former first lady Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez de Kirchner becomes Argentina's first woman president elected by popular vote.\n\nMay 2010\n\nArgentina celebrates its bicentennial with a bang; BA's Av 9 de Julio shuts down for many colorful festivities, and the Teatro Col\u00f3n reopens after four years of restoration.\n\nOct 27, 2010\n\nN\u00e9stor Kirchner dies of heart failure.\n\n2011\n\nHer husband's untimely death late the previous year leaves Cristina Kirchner in the lurch, but she easily wins re-election in October.\n\n2012\n\nInflation is running at about 25% (though government figures say it's less than 10%). Kirchner passes a law restricting the sale of US dollars, creating huge black-market demand.\n\n2013\n\nKirchner loses major support during October's mid-term elections. Her dreams of changing the constitution to allow her to run for a third presidential term quickly evaporate.\n\n2014\n\nArgentina experiences its largest currency devaluation since 2002.\nMusic\n\nA variety of music genres are well represented in Buenos Aires, especially when it comes to the city's most famous export, the tango. But BA's music scene is also about hybrids of overlapping sounds and styles. Traditional kinds of folklore, tango and _cumbia_ (Colombian music) are melded with digital technology to create global tunes that are gaining recognition in living rooms and music festivals all around the world.\n\nNo other musician has influenced tango like Carlos Gardel, the legendary singer who epitomized the soul of the genre\n\n## Tango Music\n\nSmall musical ensembles that accompanied early tango dances were influenced by polka, habanera, Spanish and Italian melodies, plus African _candombe_ drums. The _bandone\u00f3n,_ a type of small accordion, was brought into these sessions and has since become tango's signature instrument. The tango song was permeated with nostalgia for a disappearing way of life; it summarized the new urban experience for the immigrants. Themes ranged from profound feelings about changing neighborhoods to the figure of the mother, male friendship and betrayal by women. The lyrics, sometimes raunchy and sometimes sad, were sung in the street argot known as _lunfardo_.\n\nNo other musician has influenced tango like Carlos Gardel, the legendary singer who epitomized the soul of the genre. He achieved stardom during tango's golden age, then became a cultural icon when his life was cut short by a plane crash at the height of his popularity. Over the years, other figures like Osvaldo Pugliese, Susana Rinaldi and Eladia Bl\u00e1squez have also given life to the tango song. It was \u00c0stor Piazzolla, however, who completely revolutionized the music with his _nuevo tango,_ which introduced jazz and classical-music currents into traditional songs \u2013 and ruffled some feathers along the way.\n\nToday, a clutch of new arrivals is keeping tango music alive and well, and in the spotlight. The most popular is the 12-musician cooperative Orquesta T\u00edpica Fern\u00e1ndez Fierro (www.fernandezfierro.com), with its charismatic singer Walter Chino Laborde and several fantastic albums boasting new arrangements of traditional tangos. An award-winning documentary was made about them by Argentine-born, Brooklyn-based director Nicolas Entel.\n\nTwo other young orchestras to watch out for are Orquesta T\u00edpica Imperial (www.orquestaimperial.com.ar), which sometimes plays at _milongas_ around town, and El Afronte (www.elafronte.com.ar), which plays on Monday and Wednesday at Bendito and Maldita Milongas in San Telmo (both at Per\u00fa 571).\n\n### THE STARS OF TANGO\n\n#### Gardel\n\nIn June 1935 a Cuban woman committed suicide in Havana, and a woman in New York and another in Puerto Rico tried to poison themselves, all over the same man \u2013 whom none of them had ever met. The man was tango singer Carlos Gardel, known as El Zorzal Criollo (the King of Tango) or the songbird of Buenos Aires, who had just died in a plane crash in Colombia.\n\nBorn in France, Gardel was the epitome of the immigrant porte\u00f1o whose destitute single mother brought him to Buenos Aires at the age of three. In his youth he worked at a variety of menial jobs and entertained his neighbors with his rapturous singing. A performing career began after he befriended Uruguayan-born Jos\u00e9 Razzano, and the two of them sang together in a popular duo until Razzano lost his voice. From 1917 onward Gardel performed solo.\n\nCarlos Gardel played an enormous role in creating the tango _canci\u00f3n_ (song). Almost single-handedly, he took the style out of Buenos Aires' tenements and brought it to Paris and New York. His crooning voice, suaveness and overall charisma made him an immediate success in Latin American countries. The timing couldn't have been better, as he rose to fame in tango's golden years of the 1920s and 1930s. Gardel became a recording and film star, but his later career was tragically cut short by that fatal plane crash. Every day a steady procession of pilgrims visits Carlos Gardel's sarcophagus in the Cementerio de la Chacarita in Buenos Aires, where a lit cigarette often smolders between the metal fingers of his life-size statue. The large, devoted community of his followers, known as _gardelianos,_ cannot pass a day without listening to his songs or watching his films. Another measure of his ongoing influence is the common saying 'Gardel sings better every day'. Elvis should be so lucky.\n\n#### Piazzolla\n\nGardel may have brought tango to the world, but it was El Gran \u00c1stor (the Great \u00c1stor), as Argentines like to call \u00c1stor Piazzolla (1921\u201392), who pushed its limits. The great Argentine composer and _bandone\u00f3n_ (small accordian) virtuoso, who played in the leading An\u00edbal Troilo orchestra in the late 1930s and early 1940s, was the greatest innovator of tango. He revolutionized traditional tango by infusing it with elements of jazz and classical music such as counterpoints, fugues and various harmonies.\n\nThis new style, known as _nuevo tango_ , became an international hit in Europe (Piazzolla lived on and off in Italy and France) and North America (he spent his early years and a couple of later stints in New York). In his native land, however, it encountered considerable resistance; a saying even stated 'in Argentina everything may change \u2013 except the tango'. It took years for Piazzolla's controversial new style to be accepted, and he even received death threats for his break with tradition.\n\nPiazzolla was an incredibly prolific composer; it's estimated that his output includes some 1000 pieces. These include soundtracks for about 40 films; an opera that he wrote with poet Horacio Ferrer, _Mar\u00eda de Buenos Aires_ ; and compositions based on texts and poems by Jorge Luis Borges.\n\nPiazzolla's legacy lives on. Some of the greatest contemporary musicians, such as Yo-Yo Ma, have recorded albums dedicated to El Gran \u00c1stor (such as the 1999 _Soul of the Tango \u2013 The Music of \u00c1stor Piazzolla_ ). The new wave of electronic tango often samples his music and the 2003 album _Astor Piazzolla Remixed_ features his songs remixed with dance beats and added vocals, all done by an international cast of DJs and producers.\n\n## Neo Tango\n\nLike the rest of the music scene in Buenos Aires, a newer tango has evolved that's a hybrid of sounds and styles \u2013 making tango cool again with a younger audience. Musicians have been sampling and remixing classic tango songs, adding dance beats, breaks, scratches and synth lines, and committing other delightful heresies. This edgy genre has been called by many names: fusion tango, electrotango, tango electronica or neo-tango. Paris-based Gotan Project (a Franco-Suizo-Argentine trio) was the first to popularize this style, with its debut album _La Revancha del Tango,_ which throws into the mix samples from speeches by Che Guevara and Eva Per\u00f3n and remixes by the likes of Austrian beatmeister Peter Kruder. Its follow-up albums don't break the mold like the first but are still great if you like the Gotan sound.\n\nThe best of the genre's albums so far is likely _Bajofondo Tango Club,_ by the Grammy-winning collective Bajofondo. It's spearheaded by Argentine producer Gustavo Santaolalla, who won two best-original-score Oscars for _Brokeback Mountain_ and _Babel;_ he also scored the films _Amores Perros_ and _21 Grams,_ and produced albums by such prominent artists as Caf\u00e9 Tacuba and Kronos Quartet. Praised as more Argentine than Gotan Project (whose trio is composed of only one Argentine), its first album has subtle performances by a variety of _bandoneonistas_ within a hypnotic framework of lounge, house and trip-hop. Its third album, _Mar Dulce_ , is a catchy creation that throws more folk and rock into the mix and has a strong international cast of singers, such as Spanish hip-hop star Mala Rod\u0155iguez and the Canadian-Portuguese Nelly Furtado.\n\nAnother neo-tango collective to make an international name for itself is Tanghetto, with two Latin Grammy nominations. This six-member group mixes elements of rock, jazz, flamenco and _candombe_ (a drum-based musical style of Uruguay).\n\n### TANGO MUSIC HALL OF FAME\n\n\u00bb Carlos Di Sarli (1903\u201360) \u2013 Pianist, composer and orchestra leader.\n\n\u00bb Juan D'Arienzo (1900\u201376) \u2013 Violinist and orchestra leader.\n\n\u00bb Carlos Gardel (1890\u20131935) \u2013 Singer and actor.\n\n\u00bb \u00c1stor Piazzolla (1921\u201392) \u2013 _Bandone\u00f3n_ (accordionlike instrument) player and composer.\n\n\u00bb Roberto Goyeneche (1926\u201394) \u2013 Singer.\n\n\u00bb An\u00edbal Troilo (1914\u201375) \u2013 _Bandone\u00f3n_ player, composer and orchestra leader.\n\n\u00bb Osvaldo Pugliese (1905\u201395) \u2013 Pianist, composer and orchestra leader.\n\n\u00bb Enrique Santos Disc\u00e9polo (1901\u201351) \u2013 Composer and poet.\n\n\u00bb Homero Manzi (1907\u201351) \u2013 Lyricist and poet.\n\n\u00bb Horacio Salg\u00e1n (b 1916) \u2013 Pianist, composer and orchestra leader.\n\n\u00bb Julio Sosa (1926\u201364) \u2013 Singer.\n\n\u00bb Eladia Bl\u00e1zquez (1931\u20132005) \u2013 Singer, pianist and composer.\n\n\u00bb Susana Rinaldi (b 1935) \u2013 Singer.\n\n\u00bb Adriana Varela (b 1952) \u2013 Singer.\n\n## Rock & Pop\n\nArgentine rock started in the late 1960s with a trio of groups \u2013 Almendra (great melodies and poetic lyrics), Manal (urban blues) and Los Gatos (pop) \u2013 leading the pack. Evolution was slow, however; the 1966 and 1976 military regimes didn't take a shine to the liberalism and freedom that rock represented. It didn't help that anarchy-loving, beat-music rocker Billy Bond induced destructive mayhem at a 1972 Luna Park concert, re-enforcing the theme of rock music as a social threat.\n\nUnderground groups and occasional concerts managed to keep the genre alive, and after the Falklands War in 1982 (when English lyrics were not actually allowed on the air) radio stations founded _rock nacional_ and helped the movement's momentum gain ground. Argentine rock produced national icons like Charly Garci\u00e1 (formerly a member of the pioneering group Sui Generis) and Fito P\u00e1ez (a socially conscious pop-hippie). Sensitive poet-songwriter Alberto Luis Spinetta of Almendra fame also had an early influence on the Argentine rock movement, later incorporating jazz into his LPs. Another mythical figure is Andr\u00e9s Calamaro, frontman of the popular 1970s band Los Abuelos de la Nada. He later emigrated to Spain, where he formed the acclaimed Los Rodr\u00edguez; he's been performing solo since the late 1990s.\n\nMore recent Argentine groups that have played _rock nacional_ include Soda Stereo (ex-member Gustavo Cerati's _Fuerza Natural_ won the 2010 Latin Grammy for best rock album); cultlike Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota (its legendary leader Indio Solari now has a solo career); versatile Los Piojos (mixing rock, blues, ska and the Uruguayan music styles _murga_ and _candombe_ ); and Los Ratones Paran\u00f3icos, who in 1995 opened for the Rolling Stones' spectacularly successful five-night stand in Buenos Aires.\n\nLos Fabulosos Cadillacs (who were the winners of a Grammy award in 1998 for best alternative Latin rock group) have popularized ska and reggae, along with groups such as Los Aut\u00e9nticos Decadentes, Los Pericos and Los Cafres. Almafuerte, descended from the earlier Herm\u00e9tica, is Buenos Aires' leading heavy-metal band. The bands Dos Minutos and Expulsados seek to emulate punk-rock legends the Ramones, who are popular in Argentina. Other classic bands include hippyish Los Divididos (descendants of the famous group Sumo), Mendozan trio Los Enanitos Verdes and the wildly unconventional Babas\u00f3nicos.\n\nThe band Les Luthiers satirizes the middle class or the military using irreverent songs played with unusual instruments, many of which have been built by the band members themselves. Another quirky character is the late Sandro \u2013 known as the Argentine Elvis \u2013 whose death in January 2010 saw tens of thousands of _porte\u00f1os_ gather in the streets of Buenos Aires to mourn his demise.\n\nArgentine women also rock. Singer Patricia Sosa has a captivating voice and performs a mix of rock, soul and blues; her closest counterpart in the English-speaking world is Janis Joplin. The most recent singer-songwriter who has gained fame abroad is Juana Molina, whose ambient music with electronic flair has been compared to Bjork's. Juana Chang and the Wookies combined indie-rock, garage and punk (she now sings with the Kumbia Queers). Keep an eye out for Denise Murz, a Lady Gaga\u2013style electro-pop diva, and the multitalented, folksy Sol Pereyra.\n\nToday some of Argentina's most cutting-edge bands include catchy Miranda! (electro-pop), wacky Bersuit Vergarabat (utilizing multigenre tunes with political, offensive and wave-making lyrics), free-willed La Renga (blue collar, no nonsense and political), La Portuaria, who collaborated with David Byrne (rock fusion influenced by jazz and R&B), and Valentin y Los Volcanos (indie-pop with great guitar music). And don't miss the multicultural, alternative and eclectic Kevin Johansen.\n\nCharly Garc\u00eda's version of the Argentine national anthem does what Jimi Hendrix did for 'The Star-Spangled Banner', but it earned Garc\u00eda a court appearance for 'lacking respect for national symbols'.\n\n## Blues & Jazz\n\nThe high degree of crossover between Buenos Aires' blues and rock scenes is illustrated by the path of the late guitar wizard Pappo (1950\u20132005). An elder statesman, Pappo was in the groundbreaking rock group Los Abuelos de la Nada and became involved with the seminal blues-rock band Pappo's Blues, as well as Los Gatos and others. He played hard-driving, full-tilt rockin' blues and was especially great when covering such American masters as Howlin' Wolf, BB King and Muddy Waters.\n\nGuitarist-singer Miguel 'Botafogo' Vilanova is an alumnus of Pappo's blues and an imposing figure in his own right. Also worth checking out is La Mississippi, a seven-member group that has been performing rock-blues since the late 1980s. Memphis La Blusera was around BA's blues scene for a long time until it broke up in 2008; it once worked with North American legend Taj Mahal.\n\nLalo Schifrin is an Argentine pianist, composer and conductor with a jazz background; he's most famous for writing the _Mission: Impossible_ theme. He's also won four Grammy awards and has been nominated for six Oscars. In the late 1950s, Schifrin performed with Gato Barbieri, another notable composer and jazz saxophonist. Carlos Alberto Franzetti is a big-band composer who wrote _The Mambo Kings_ (1992) and won a Latin Grammy in 2001 for his _Tango Fatal_ album.\n\nGuitarist Luis Salinas is known for his mellow and melodic tunes that run along George Benson lines but are a bit less poppy; be sure to check out his jazz takes on such traditional Argentine forms as the _chacarera, chamam\u00e9_ and tango. Dino Saluzzi, a _bandone\u00f3n_ player originally from Salta who began recording in the '70s, was one of the first Argentine musicians to mix folklore, tango and jazz. Dino's son Jos\u00e9 is a renowned guitarist in his own right.\n\nAnother musician and son of an Argentine jazz legend is Javier Malosetti, son of pianist Walter Malosetti. Javier's group Electrohope blends jazz, blues, rock and swing with Latin rhythms and funk. Meanwhile, jazz guitarist Tom\u00e1s Bec\u00fa's debut album, _Bushwick_ (2007), is stellar. For wildly experimental jazz check out the Gord\u00f6loco Tr\u00edo, which fuses ambient, funk and jazz in its 20-minute-long songs.\n\nDrummer Sebasti\u00e1n Peycer\u00e9, who favors a funk-tinged fusion, has played with the likes of Paquito D'Rivera, BB King and Stanley Jordan. Finally, BA's own version of the Sultans of Swing is the Caoba Jazz Band, who for years has been playing 1920s and '30s New Orleans\u2013style jazz for the love of it.\n\nBorn in C\u00f3rdoba in the early 1940s, _cuarteto_ is Argentina's original pop music. Despised by the middle and upper classes for its arresting rhythm and offbeat musical pattern (called the ' _tunga-tunga_ '), as well as for its working-class lyrics, it's definitely music from the margins. Although definitively _cordob\u00e9s_ (from C\u00f3rdoba), it's played in working-class bars, dance halls and stadiums throughout the country.\n\n## Latin & Electronica\n\nBuenos Aires' young clubbers have embraced the _m\u00fasica tropical_ trend that's swept Latin America in recent years. Many a BA booty is shaken to the lively, Afro-Latin sounds of salsa, merengue and especially _cumbia_. Originating in Colombia, _cumbia_ combines an infectious dance rhythm with lively melodies, often carried by brass. An offshoot is _cumbia experimental_ or _cumbia villera,_ a fusion of _cumbia_ and gangsta posturing with a punk edge and reggae overtones. Born of Buenos Aires' shantytowns, its aggressive lyrics deal with marginalization, poverty, drugs, sex and the Argentine economic crisis.\n\nA forerunner of the movement is Axel Krygier, the king of psychedelic Latin, whose latest album _Pesebre_ (2010) is a brilliant fusion of jazz, rock, _cumbia_ , electronica, Argentine folklore and experimental sounds. Kumbia Queers is a female band from Argentina and Mexico whose version of _cumbia_ is known as tropipunk.\n\nDance music is big in BA, with DJs working the clubs well into the morning. A few major electronic names to look out for are Bad Boy Orange (big on drums and bass); Aldo Haydar (a true veteran of progressive house); local boy made international star Hern\u00e1n Cattaneo (you loved him at Burning Man, remember?); Gustavo Lamas (a blend of ambient pop and electro house) and Diego Ro-K (also known as the Maradona of Argentine DJs).\n\nOne of BA's most `interesting music spectacles is La Bomba del Tiempo, a collective of drummers that features some of Argentina's leading percussionists. Its explosive performances are conducted by Santiago V\u00e1zquez, who communicates with the musicians through a language of mysterious signs \u2013 the result is an incredible improvisational union that simulates electronic dance music and sounds different every time. During the summer it plays open-air at Ciudad Cultural Konex (Click here) every Monday evening; it's also featured at various happenings and parties in BA's clubs.\n\nIn 2007 electronic musicians from Zizek Records, a homegrown BA label, created 'digital _cumbia_ ' by fusing various forms of _cumbia_ and Argentine traditional music with reggaeton, dance-hall, hip-hop and electronic beats.\n\n## Folk Music\n\nThe folk music of Argentina is inspired by generations of immigrants and spans a variety of styles, including _chacarera, chamam\u00e9_ and _zamba._ The late Atahualpa Yupanqui was a giant of Argentine folk music, which takes much of its inspiration from the northwestern Andean region and countries to the north, especially Bolivia and Peru. Los Chalchaleros, a northern Argentine folk institution, was around from 1948 to 2003. Probably the best-known Argentine folk artist outside of South America, however, is the late Mercedes Sosa of Tucum\u00e1n, whose progressive, politicized lyrics earned her the title 'the voice of the voiceless ones'.\n\nCurrent contemporary performers include El Chaque\u00f1o Palavecino of Salta; Suna Rocha (also an actress) of C\u00f3rdoba; Antonio Tarrag\u00f3 Ross; V\u00edctor Heredia; Le\u00f3n Gieco (aka 'The Argentine Bob Dylan') and the Conjunto Pro M\u00fasica de Rosario. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Horacio Guarany's 2004 album _Cantor De Cantores_ was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best Folk Album category.\n\nOf the younger generation, the artists to watch out for are Chango Spasiuk (an accordion player who popularized _chamam\u00e9_ music abroad), Mariana Baraj (a singer and percussionist who experiments with Latin America's traditional folk music as well as elements of jazz, classical music and improvisation) and Soledad Pastorutti (whose first two albums have been Sony's top sellers in Argentina \u2013 ever!).\n\nEvery genre of Argentine music is experiencing the same hybrid phenomenon of blending electronic music with more traditional sounds. Digital folklore, much like digital _cumbia_ and neo-tango, is exploding. Tonolec, a duo (singer and synth player), combine traditional folk songs of the Toba indigenous community from Argentina's north (some of which have been passed down orally) with an electronic sound. The singer also uses traditional instruments in live gigs, creating a warm, world-music-style fusion. Two other digital-folklore groups to look out for are Onda Vaga, an acoustic band with smooth harmonies that add a jazzy feel to traditional folklore sounds, and Tremor, who mixes Andean flutes, the Argentine _bombo leg\u00fcero_ (drum), electric guitars and a synthesizer into a blend of ancient and digital sounds. Finally, there's Chancha via Circuito, whose 2010 album _R\u00edo Arriba_ mixes melodic flutes and slow tempos, making it more meditative than dance oriented.\n\n_Murga_ is a form of athletic musical theater composed of actors and percussionists. Primarily performed in Uruguay, _murga_ in Argentina is more heavily focused on dancing than singing. You're most likely to see this exciting musical art form at Carnaval celebrations.\nLiterature & Cinema\n\nPerhaps because of its history of authoritarian rule, Argentina has developed a strong literary heritage, with many contemporary writers using the country's darkest moments as inspiration for their complex and sometimes disturbing novels. Leading the classic writers' pack are Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cort\u00e1zar and Ernesto S\u00e1bato.\n\nBuenos Aires is also home to Argentina's vibrant, evolving film industry. The country has won two Oscars for best foreign-language film (in 1985 and 2009) \u2013 the only Latin American country ever to have won the award \u2013 and continues to produce excellent directors and movies.\n\nArgentines are pretty well read \u2013 their literacy rate is over 97%. And in 2011 Buenos Aires was voted Unesco World Book Capital.\n\n## Literature\n\nOne of Argentina's most influential pieces of classic literature is the epic poem by Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez, _Mart\u00edn Fierro_ (1872). Not only did this story about a gaucho outlaw lay the foundations of the Argentine _gauchesco_ literary tradition but also it inspired the name of the short-lived but important literary magazine of the 1920s that published avant-garde works based on the 'art for art's sake' principle.\n\nJulio Cort\u00e1zar (1914\u201384) is an author well known to readers outside Argentina. He was born in Belgium to Argentine parents, moved to Buenos Aires at age four and died in self-imposed exile in Paris at the age of 70. His stories frequently plunge their characters out of everyday life into surrealistic situations. One such story was adapted into the film _Blow-Up_ by Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni. Cort\u00e1zar's novel _Hopscotch_ takes place simultaneously in Buenos Aires and Paris and requires the reader to first read the book straight through, then read it a second time, 'hopscotching' through the chapters in a prescribed but nonlinear pattern for a completely different take on the story.\n\nAnother member of Borges' literary generation is Ernesto S\u00e1bato (1911\u20132011), whose complex and uncompromising novels have been extremely influential on later Argentine literature. _The Tunnel_ (1948) is S\u00e1bato's engrossing existentialist novella of a porte\u00f1o painter so obsessed with his art that it distorts his relationship with everything and everyone else.\n\nAdolfo Bioy Casares (1914\u201399) and Borges were close friends and occasional collaborators. Bioy's sci-fi novella _The Invention of Morel_ (1940) gave Alain Resnais the plot for his classic film _Last Year at Marienbad_ and also introduced the idea of the holodeck decades before _Star Trek_ existed.\n\nThe contemporary, postboom generation of Argentine writers is more reality-based, often reflecting the influence of popular culture and directly confronting the political angles of 1970s authoritarian Argentina. One of the most famous postboom Argentine writers is Manuel Puig (1932\u201390), whose first love was cinema. Much of his writing consists solely of dialogue, used to marvelous effect. Puig's novel _The Buenos Aires Affair_ (1973) is a page-turner delving into the relationship between murderer and victim (and artist and critic), presented as a deconstructed crime thriller. His most famous work is _Kiss of the Spider Woman_ (1976), a captivating story of a relationship that develops between two men inside an Argentine prison; it was made into the 1985 Oscar-winning film starring William Hurt. Being openly gay and critical of Per\u00f3n did not help his job prospects in Argentina, so Puig spent many years in exile.\n\nAnother prolific writer is Tom\u00e1s Eloy Mart\u00ednez (1934\u20132010). His _The Per\u00f3n Novel_ (1988), a fictionalized biography of the controversial populist leader, and its sequel, _Santa Evita_ (1996), which traces the worldwide travels of Evita's embalmed corpse, were both huge hits.\n\nAward-winning Ricardo Piglia (b 1941) is one of Argentina's most well-known contemporary writers. He pens hard-boiled fiction and is best known for his socially minded crime novels with a noir touch, such as _The Absent City_ (1992), _Money to Burn_ (1997) and _Nocturnal T arget_ (2010).\n\n_Metegol_ (Foosball; 2013) is a 3D film directed by Juan Jos\u00e9 Campanella; it cost US$22 million, making it the most expensive Argentine movie ever produced.\n\nOsvaldo Soriano (1943\u201397), perhaps Argentina's most popular contemporary novelist, wrote _Funny Dirty Little War_ (1986) and _Winter Quarters_ (1989). Juan Jos\u00e9 Saer (1937\u20132005) penned short stories and complex crime novels, while Rodrigo Fres\u00e1n (b 1963), the youngster of the postboom generation, wrote the international bestseller _Argentine History_ (1991).\n\nThe first novel of Federico Andahazi (b 1963), _The Anatomist,_ caused a stir when it was published in 1997. Its ticklish theme revolves around the 'discovery' of the clitoris by a 16th-century Venetian who is subsequently accused of heresy. Andahazi based his well-written book on historical fact, and manages to have some fun while still broaching serious subjects. His prize-wining _El Conquistador_ (2006) is a historical novel about an Aztec youth who 'discovers' Europe before Columbus reaches America, while his latest book _Pecar como Dios manda_ (To Sin Like You Mean It; 2008), hypothesizes that to understand the essence of a society you have to understand the web of sexual relations on which it's built.\n\nTwo of the younger generation of Argentine writers are Washington Cucurto and Gabriela Bejerman. Cucurto runs Elo\u00edsa Cartonera, a small publishing house that releases books by young authors made of recycled cardboard collected by the city's _cartoneros_. Bejerman, a multimedia artist who launched a music career as Gaby Bex, released an album in 2007 that incorporates some of her poetry with electro music. Other names to watch out for are Andr\u00e9s Newman, Oliverio Coelho and Pedro Mairal.\n\n### JORGE LUIS BORGES\n\nMany of the greatest lights of Argentine literature called Buenos Aires home and all but one had been extinguished by the end of the 20th century. The light that burned brightest was without doubt Jorge Luis Borges (1899\u20131986), one of the foremost writers of the 20th century. A prolific author and an insatiable reader, Borges possessed an intellect that seized on difficult questions and squeezed answers out of them. Though super-erudite in his writing, he was also such a jokester that it's a challenge to tell when he's being serious and when he's pulling your leg (though often it's a case of both at once). From early on one of his favorite forms was the scholarly analysis of nonexistent texts, and more than once he found himself in trouble for perpetrating literary hoaxes and forgeries. A few of these are contained in his _Universal History of Iniquity_ (1935), a book that some point to as the origin of magic realism in Latin American literature.\n\nBorges' dry, ironic wit is paired (in his later work) with a succinct, precise style that is a delight to read. His paradoxical _Ficciones_ (1944) \u2013 part parable, part fantasy \u2013 blurs the line between myth and truth, underscoring the concept that reality is only a matter of perception and the number of possible realities is infinite. Other themes that fascinated Borges were the nature of memory and dreams, labyrinths, and the relationship between the reader, the writer and the written piece. _Collected Fictions_ (1999) is a complete set of his stories.\n\nThough he received numerous honors in his lifetime \u2013 including the Cervantes Prize, the Legion of Honor and an OBE \u2013 Borges was never conferred the Nobel. He joked of this in typical fashion: 'Not granting me the Nobel Prize has become a Scandinavian tradition. Since I was born they have not been granting it to me.'\n\nPilgrims can head to his last residence in BA: a private apartment building near the corner of Florida and Santa Fe in Retiro. Look for a plaque on the wall.\n\n## Cinema\n\nBuenos Aires is at the center of the Argentine film industry, which generated a wave of directors and films of the New Argentine Cinema. While this movement can't be pinned down as a school of cinema, as it includes a hodgepodge of themes and techniques, it is certainly a new movement of film-making that has been attracting international attention, earning awards and screenings at festivals in New York, Berlin, Rotterdam and Cannes.\n\nSadly, much of the homegrown production is more acclaimed abroad than in Argentina, where people are generally more drawn to multiplexes that show Hollywood flicks and romantic comedies. Perhaps it's because these art-house films deal with themes that are too close to home \u2013 such as survival, alienation, the search for identity and suppressed sexuality.\n\nThe film that's considered to have spearheaded the New Argentine Cinema is _Rapado_ by Mart\u00edn Rejtman, a minimalist 1992 feature that for the first time pushed the boundaries in a country where films were generally heavy with bad dialogue. In the late 1990s the government withdrew subsidies pledged to film schools and the movie industry. Despite this, two films ignited 'the new wave' \u2013 the low-budget _Pizza, birra, faso_ (Pizza, Beer, Cigarettes; 1998) by Adri\u00e1n Caetano and Bruno Stagnaro, and Pablo Trapero's award-winning _Mundo gr\u00faa_ (Crane World; 1999), a black-and-white portrait of Argentina's working-class struggles.\n\nTrapero went on to become one of Argentina's foremost f ilmmakers, whose credits include _El bonaerense_ (2000); the ensemble road movie _Familia rodante_ (Rolling Family; 2004); _Nacido y criado_ (Born and Bred; 2006) a stark story about a Patagonian man's fall from grace; and the 2010 noir film _Carancho,_ a love story whose protagonist is a sleazy opportunist who frequents emergency rooms and accident scenes to find new clients for his legal firm. Trapero's most recent film is _Elefante blanco_ (White Elephant; 2012), which screened at Cannes.\n\nOne of the brightest stars of the New Argentine Cinema is Daniel Burman, Argentina's answer to Woody Allen, who deals with the theme of identity in the character of a young Jew in modern-day Buenos Aires. His films include _Esperando al mes\u00edah_ (Waiting for the Messiah; 2000), _El abrazo partido_ (Lost Embrace; 2004) and _Derecho de familia_ (Family Law; 2006). Burman's other claim to fame is his co-production of Walter Salles' Che Guevara\u2013inspired _The Motorcycle Diaries_. His most recent film, _Dos hermanos_ (Brother and Sister; 2010), the story of aging siblings who've recently lost their mother, is based on the Argentine novel _Villa Laura_.\n\nAnother director to have made a mark on Argentina cinema is the late Fabi\u00e1n Bielinsky. He left behind a small but powerful body of work that includes his award-winning feature _Nueve reinas_ (Nine Queens; 2000), which inspired a 2004 Hollywood remake, _Criminal_. His last film, the 2005 neo-noir flick _El Aura,_ screened at Sundance and was the official Argentine entry for the 2006 Oscars.\n\nLucrecia Martel has left an indelible trace on Argentina's contemporary cinema. Her 2001 debut, _La ci\u00e9naga_ (The Swamp), and the 2004 follow-up, _La ni\u00f1a santa_ (The Holy Girl), both set in Martel's native Salta province, deal with the themes of social decay, Argentine bourgeois and sexuality in the face of Catholic guilt. Another acclaimed director, Carlos Sorin, takes us to the deep south of Argentina in two of his neorealist flicks, the 2002 _Historias m\u00ednimas_ (Minimal Stories) and the 2004 _Bomb\u00f3n el perro_ (Bomb\u00f3n the Dog).\n\nArgentina's biggest film event is the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Film, held in April. Check out www.bafici.gov.ar for more information.\n\nJuan Jos\u00e9 Campanella's _El hijo de la novia_ (Son of the Bride) received an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 2001. His 2004 award-winning film _Luna de avellaneda_ (Moon of Avellaneda) is a masterful story about a social club and those who try to save it. And in 2010 Campanella won the Oscar for best foreign-language film with his _El secreto de sus ojos_ (The Secret in Their Eyes).\n\nOther noteworthy films include Luis Puenzo's Oscar-winning _La historia oficial_ (The Official Story; 1985), Sandra Gugliotta's bust-out directorial debut _Un d\u00eda de suerte_ (A Lucky Day; 2002), _Un oso rojo_ (A Red Bear; 2002) by Israel Adri\u00e1n Caetano, _Roma_ (2004) by Adolfo Aristarain, _Iluminados por el fuego_ (Enlightened by Fire; 2006) by Tristan Bauer and _El hombre de al lado_ (The Man Next Door; 2009) by Mariano Cohn and Gast\u00f3n Duprat.\n\nAnd up-and-coming director is Luc\u00eda Puenzo (daughter of Luis Puenzo). Her _XXY_ (2007) won multiple awards at Cannes that year; it follows the travails of a 15-year-old hermaphrodite. In 2013 Puenzo directed _Wakolda_ (The German Doctor), a true story about the family who unknowingly lived with Josef Mengele during his exile in South America.\n\n### VICTORIA & SILVINA OCAMPO\n\nIn 1931 Victoria Ocampo (1890\u20131979) \u2013 a writer, publisher and intellectual \u2013 founded _Sur,_ a renowned cultural magazine that introduced Virginia Woolf, Albert Camus and TS Eliot to Argentine readers. _Sur_ also featured writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Ernesto S\u00e1bato and Julio Cort\u00e1zar.\n\nOcampo was an inexhaustible traveler and a pioneering feminist, and was loathed by some for her lack of convention. A ferocious opponent of Peronism, chiefly because of Per\u00f3n's interference with intellectual freedom, Ocampo was arrested at her summer chalet, Villa Victoria, at the age of 63. She entertained her fellow inmates by reading aloud and acting out scenes from novels and cinema.\n\nOcampo never went to university, but her voracious appetite for knowledge and her love of literature led her to become Argentina's leading lady of letters. She hosted intellectuals from around the globe at Villa Victoria, in Mar del Plata, creating a formidable literary and artistic salon. (The villa is now a cultural center.)\n\nToday you can also visit Victoria Ocampo's restored mansion in San Isidro, Villa Ocampo (www.villaocampo.org), for a reminder of a bygone era.\n\nIf Victoria is remembered as a lively essayist and a great patroness of writers, her younger sister, Silvina, was the literary talent, writing both short stories and poetry. Silvina won several literary prizes for her work, and in 1940 she married Adolfo Bioy Casares, a famous Argentine writer and friend of Jorge Luis Borges.\nArt & Architecture\n\nOver the years, Argentina has been able to boast various notable artists such as Antonio Berni, Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn and Marta Minuj\u00edn, each with their own style and trigger for helping to break the mold of what was and is acceptable in their country's art world. As for architecture, Buenos Aires still has examples of the many styles in vogue at one time or another throughout the city's life. You'll find old and new juxtaposed in sometimes jarring and often enchanting ways, though the new has been asserting itself more and more in recent years.\n\nSome of the best times to be in Buenos Aires if you want to discover the art world is during the Arte BA festival (www.arteba.com) and the annual La Noche de los Museos (Night of the Museums; www.lanochedelosmuseos.gob.ar).\n\n## Art\n\nEduardo S\u00edvori (1847\u20131918) was one of Argentina's first notable artists and well-known realist painters. He created landscapes and portraits and helped found one of Argentina's first artist guilds. Other early artists included C\u00e1ndido L\u00f3pez (1840\u20131902) \u2013 a soldier who learned to paint with his left hand after losing his right arm in war \u2013 and Ernesto de la C\u00e1rcova, who depicted social issues such as poverty.\n\nLino Enea Spilimbergo (1896\u20131964) was a diverse painter and engraver whose subjects ranged from classical to postimpressionism to stark and surreal human figures. His contemporary, Antonio Berni (1905\u201381), would sometimes visit shantytowns and collect materials to use in his works. Various versions of his theme _Juanito Laguna ba\u00f1\u00e1ndose_ (Juanito Laguna Bathing) \u2013 a protest against social and economic inequality \u2013 have commanded wallet-busting prices at auctions. You can see both artists' work in the restored ceiling murals of the Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico shopping center (Click here).\n\nOther famous Argentine artists of this era are Juan Carlos Castagnino, a realist and figurative painter; Jorge de la Vega, who dabbled not only in various styles of visual art but also became a popular singer and songwriter; and Emilio Pettoruti, who affronted Buenos Aires with his 1924 cubist exhibition. Roberto Aizenberg was well known as one of Argentina's top surrealists.\n\nOne of the more interesting contemporary artists is Roberto Jacoby (b 1944), who has been active in diverse fields since the 1960s, from organizing socially flavored multimedia shows to setting up audiovisual installations. His most famous work, _Darkroom_ , is a video performance piece with infrared technology meant for a single spectator.\n\nGuillermo Kuitca (b 1961) is known for his imaginative techniques that include the use of digital technology to alter photographs, maps and other images and integrate them into larger-themed works. His work is on display at major international collections and he's had solo and group shows at key art expos around the world.\n\nOther internationally recognized artists who experiment with various media are Buenos Aires\u2013born, New York\u2013based Liliana Porter, who imaginatively plays with video, paintings, 3D prints, photos and an eclectic collection of knickknacks; Graciela Sacco, whose politically and socially engaging installations often use public space as their setting; and the photographer Arturo Aguiar, known for playing with light and shadow in his mysterious works. Also watch out for highly eclectic Argentine pop artist Marta Minuj\u00edn, who has added fire to the Marshall McLuhan quote 'Art is anything you can get away with'.\n\nBuenos Aires has also seen a rise in urban art interventions, a movement of diverse activist artists whose work calls attention to social and urban issues in the city's public spaces. The most prominent figure is Marino Santa Mar\u00eda (www.marinosantamaria.com), whose award-\u00adwinning _Proyecto Calle Lan\u00edn_ is a series of colorful murals along the narrow Calle Lan\u00edn in the up-and-coming artist neighborhood of Barracas.\n\nThe late Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn, who put the working-class barrio of La Boca on the artistic map, painted brightly colored oils of life in the factories and on the waterfront. Xul Solar, a multitalented phenomenon who was a good friend of Jorge Luis Borges, painted busy, Klee-inspired dreamscapes. The former homes of both Quinquela (Click here) and Solar (Click here) are now museums showcasing their work.\n\n### BEST ART MUSEUMS\n\n\u00bb Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Colecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat (Click here)\n\n\u00bb Fundaci\u00f3n Proa (Click here)\n\n## Architecture\n\nLittle trace remains of the modest one-story adobe houses that sprang up along the mouth of the Riachuelo following the second founding of Buenos Aires in 1580. Many of them were occupied by traffickers of contraband, as the Spanish crown forbade any direct export or import of goods from the settlement. The restrictions made the price of imported building materials prohibitively high, which kept things simple, architecturally speaking. For an idea of how BA's first settlements used to be, visit El Zanj\u00f3n de Granados (Click here) in San Telmo.\n\nBuenos Aires' Cabildo (Click here) is a fair example of colonial architecture, although its once plaza-spanning colonnades were severely clipped by the construction of Av de Mayo and the diagonals feeding into it. The last of the Cabildo's multiple remodels was a 1940s restoration to its original look, minus the colonnades. Most of the other survivors from the colonial era are churches. Sharing Plaza de Mayo with the Cabildo, the Catedral Metropolitana (Click here) was begun in 1752 but not finished until 1852, by which time it had acquired its rather secular-looking neoclassicist facade.\n\nMany examples of postindependence architecture (built after 1810) can be found in the barrios of San Telmo, one of the city's best walking areas, and Montserrat. San Telmo also holds a wide variety of vernacular architecture such as _casas chorizos_ (sausage houses) \u2013 so called for their long, narrow shape (some have a 2m frontage on the street). The perfect example is Casa M\u00ednima (at San Lorenzo 380).\n\nIn the latter half of the 19th century, as Argentina's agricultural exports soared, a lot of money accumulated in Buenos Aires, in both private and government hands. All parties were interested in showing off their wealth by constructing elaborate mansions, public buildings and wide Parisian-style boulevards. Buildings in the city in the first few decades of the boom were constructed mostly in Italianate style, but toward the end of the 19th century a French influence began to exert itself. Mansard roofs and other elements gave a Parisian look to parts of the city, and by the beginning of the 20th century art nouveau was all the rage.\n\nAmong the highlights of the building boom's first five decades is the presidential palace, known as the Casa Rosada (Click here), created in 1882 by joining a new wing to the existing post office. Others include the showpiece Teatro Col\u00f3n (Click here) and the imposing Palacio del Congreso.\n\nThe 1920s saw the arrival of the skyscraper, in the form of the 100m-high, 18-story Palacio Barolo (Click here). This rocket-styled building was the tallest in Argentina (and one of the tallest in South America) from its opening in 1923 until the completion of the 30-story art deco Edificio Kavanagh (Click here) in 1936. The Kavanagh in turn, when finished, was the largest concrete building in the world and remains an impressive piece of architecture.\n\nIn the 1930s, in Palermo and Recoleta, fancy apartment buildings started popping up. This trend would continue intermittently into the 1940s, by which time the city would also have a subway system with multiple lines.\n\nRogelio Yrurtia (1879\u20131950) was one of Argentina's best-known sculptors. Many of Yrurtia's pieces are displayed at his own museum (Click here) in the BA neighborhood of Belgrano, or you can see his masterpiece _Canto al Trabajo_ on the Plazoleta Olaz\u00e1bal in San Telmo.\n\nBuenos Aires continued to grow upward and outward during Juan Per\u00f3n's spell in power (1946 to 1955). Though the economy flagged, anonymous apartment and office blocks rose in ever greater numbers. Bucking the trend were such oddball buildings as the Banco de Londres on Reconquista, designed in 1959 by Clorindo Testa, whose long architectural career in BA began in the late 1940s. The bank was finished by 1966, but Testa's Biblioteca Nacional (Click here) \u2013 which must've looked pretty groovy to him on the drawing board in 1962 \u2013 was hideously dated by the time it opened (following many delays) in 1992. Its style is somewhere between late Offshore Oil Platform and early Death Star.\n\nA heartening trend of 'architectural recycling' took off in Buenos Aires in the latter 20th century and continues today, helping to preserve the city's glorious old structures. Grand old buildings have been remodeled (and sometimes augmented) to become luxury hotels, museums and cultural centers; notable examples include the Centro Cultural del Bicentenario (Click here), which used to be the city's main post office, and the Usina del Arte (Click here), a concert hall that used to be an old electricity factory. Old markets have also been restored to their original glory to live again as popular shopping malls, such as the Mercado de Abasto (Click here) and Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico (Click here).\n\nAt the same time, the first decade of the 21st century has seen an increasingly modern skyline develop in Buenos Aires. Soaring structures of glass and steel tower above earlier efforts, many innovative and quite striking, such as the Edificio Rep\u00fablica in Buenos Aires' downtown. It was designed by C\u00e9sar Pelli, who also did Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers.\n\nThe renovation of Puerto Madero turned dilapidated brick warehouses into offices, upscale restaurants and exclusive lofts. Contrasting with these charming low, long buildings is one of the city's tallest structures, the 558ft-high Torres El Faro, standing at the eastern section of Puerto Madero. It's a pair of joined towers that now house fancy apartments. Other architectural gems here include Calatrava's Puente de la Mujer (Click here) and the glass-domed Museo Fortabat (Click here) by Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Vi\u00f1oli.\n\nStreet art \u2013 which is not illegal in Buenos Aires \u2013 has become more and more prominent in neighborhoods like Barracas, San Telmo, La Boca and Palermo. Colorful murals, political stencils and graffiti-inspired creations cover public and private walls, sometimes commissioned by the city and property owners.\nSurvival Guide\n\nTransportation\n\nARRIVING IN BUENOS AIRES\n\nEzeiza Airport\n\nAeroparque Airport\n\nBoat\n\nGETTING AROUND BUENOS AIRES\n\nBicycle\n\nBus\n\nCar & Motorcycle\n\nTaxi & Remise\n\nTrain\n\nTram\n\nSubte (Underground)\n\nDirectory A\u2013Z\n\nCustoms Regulations\n\nDiscount Cards\n\nElectricity\n\nEmbassies & Consulates\n\nEmergency\n\nGay & Lesbian Travelers\n\nHealth\n\nInsurance\n\nInternet Access\n\nLanguage Courses\n\nLegal Matters\n\nMedical Services\n\nMoney\n\nPost\n\nPublic Holidays\n\nSafe Travel\n\nTaxes & Refunds\n\nTelephone\n\nTime\n\nToilets\n\nTourist Information\n\nTravelers with Disabilities\n\nVisas\n\nWomen Travelers\nTransportation\n\n## Arriving in Buenos Aires\n\nBA is Argentina's international gateway and easily accessible from North America, Europe and Australasia, as well as most other capital cities in South America. Aerol\u00edneas Argentinas is the country's main airline, but smaller Argentine airlines are in constant flux and come and go very frequently. Even airline offices will often move. Always check current travel information during your tenure here.\n\nFlights, cars and tours can be booked online at lonelyplanet.com.\n\n### EZEIZA ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE TIPS\n\n\u00bb Citizens from some countries have to pay a reciprocity fee ( _tasa de reciprocidad_ ) before arriving in Argentina; ideally you'll be reminded of this when you buy your airplane ticket. This fee is equal to what Argentines are charged for visas to visit those countries. You'll need to pay this fee online via credit card; see www.migraciones.gov.ar\/accesibleingles and click on 'Pay your Reciprocity Rate' on the left column. These fees are US$100 for Australians (good for one year), US$160 for Americans (good for 10 years) and US$75 for Canadians (per entry \u2013 sucks, eh? Or go for the US$150, good-for-five-years option). You'll need to prepay this fee before entering Argentina via other airports, borders or ports (that means you, cruise ship passengers) too, or you might be turned around.\n\n\u00bb To change money at Ezeiza, don't use a _cambio_ (exchange house) there \u2013 their rates are generally bad. Better rates are found at the local bank branch; after exiting customs, pass the rows of transport booths, go outside the doors into the reception hall and make a U-turn to the right to find Banco de la Naci\u00f3n's small office. Its rates are identical to downtown offices, there's an ATM and it's open 24 hours, though long lines are common. There are other ATMs at Ezeiza.\n\n\u00bb There's a tourist information booth ( 24hr) just beyond the city's Taxi Ezeiza stand.\n\n\u00bb When leaving Buenos Aires, get to Ezeiza at least two to three hours before your international flight out; security and immigration lines can be long (and be aware that traffic is often bad _getting_ to Ezeiza; it can take an hour or more). Also, even when you get past main security there may be bag checks at the gate, and neither food nor liquids may be allowed onto airplanes. Eat and drink up before boarding.\n\n### Ezeiza Airport\n\nAlmost all international flights arrive at Buenos Aires' Ezeiza airport (EZE; officially Aero\u00adpuerto Internacional Ministro Pistarini), about 35km south of the center. Ezeiza is a modern airport with decent services like ATMs, restaurants, bookstore, pharmacy, duty-free shops and a small post office (Ezeiza Airport; 9am-5pm Mon-Fri, to noon Sat, mailbox 24hr). There's also a Telecentro _locutorio_ (long distance telephone office; open 24 hours) with telephone cabins and internet access, near Farmacity and McDonald's. Wi-fi is available at La Pausa Restaurant, past gate 9 upstairs and in Terminal C.\n\nFlight information ( 5480-6111; www.aa2000.com.ar.) is available in English and Spanish.\n\n### WATCH THAT POCKET!\n\nWhen traveling on BA's crowded bus or Subte lines, watch for pickpockets. They can be well dressed, men or women, often with a coat slung over their arm to hide nefarious activities going on near your bag or pocket. Occasionally there are several of them, working as a team, and they'll try to shove or distract you. The best thing to do is not look like a tourist, keep your wallet well ensconced in your front pocket, wedge your purse under your arm and wear your backpack in front \u2013 like the locals do. Don't make yourself an easy target and they'll move on \u2013 and you might not even notice they exist.\n\n#### Bus\n\nIf you're alone, the best way to and from Ezeiza is taking a shuttle with transfer companies such as Manuel Tienda Le\u00f3n (MTL; 4315-5115; www.tiendaleon.com; Av Madero 1299, Ezeiza airport). You'll see its stand immediately as you exit customs, in the transport 'lobby' area. Frequent shuttles cost AR$80 to AR$95 per person to the city center, run all day and night and take 40 to 60 minutes, depending on traffic. They'll deposit you either at the MTL office (from where you can take a taxi) or at some limited central addresses.\n\nAnother shuttle service, directed at independent travelers, is Hostel Shuttle ( 4511-8723; www.hostelshuttle.com.ar). Check the website for prices, schedules and drop-off destinations (only at certain hostels), and try to book ahead. You can also try www.minibusezeiza.com.ar.\n\nIf you're really on a penny-pinching budget, take public bus 8, which costs AR$6 and can take up to two hours to reach the Plaza de Mayo area. Catch it outside the Aerol\u00edneas Argentinas terminal (Terminal B), a 200m walk from the international terminal. You'll need coins; there's a Banco de la Naci\u00f3n just outside customs.\n\n#### Taxi\n\nIf taking a taxi, avoid MTL's overpriced taxi service. Instead, go past the transport 'lobby' area outside customs, walk past the taxi touts, and you'll see the freestanding city taxi stand (with a blue sign saying Taxi Ezeiza ( 5480-0066; www.taxiezeiza.com.ar)). In late 2013 it charged AR$270 to the center. Note that if you pre-arrange your taxi back to Ezeiza after your stay in BA, the rate can be 20% cheaper (this is due to airport and taxi regulations); your taxi driver might remind you about this fact.\n\n#### Chauffeur-Driven Car\n\nFor a special treat, reserve a luxury car from Silver Star Car ( in Argentina 15-6826-8876, in the USA 214-502-1605; www.silverstarcar.com); you'll be driven by native English speakers to the destination of your choice (US$150). There are car-rental booths at Ezeiza, but we do not recommend renting a car for your stay in Buenos Aires.\n\n### CRITICAL MASS\n\nStarted in San Francisco in 1992, Critical Mass is an international bicycling event dedicated to improving bicycle awareness and reaffirming cyclists' rights. It's held in over 300 cities throughout the world, and though its goal is different in each city, it's not meant to be a race, a protest, a demonstration or a means to cause trouble by maliciously blocking vehicular traffic.\n\nIn Buenos Aires, Masa Cr\u00edtica has no set leaders or destinations. People just show up at the Obelisco with their bikes at 4pm on the first Sunday of each month \u2013 and start riding somewhere. Expect several hundred people to participate \u2013 up to a thousand on nice, warm days. And you'll see all sorts of folks: activists, families, hipsters, foreigners, on tall bikes, low bikes and everything in between. There's even the odd skateboarder, rollerblader or cyclist in costume. You'll be riding in the streets, but you're more protected than you think \u2013 there's safety in numbers. Lots of yelling, cheering and horn-blowing is required; expect to have a blast.\n\nThere's also a Masa Nocturna every full moon, starting at the Obelisco at 9pm. It's the same concept, but the end point is at the planetarium in Palermo's Parque 3 de Febrero \u2013 and that's where the full-moon party starts.\n\n### Aeroparque Airport\n\nMost domestic flights use Aeroparque airport (Aeroparque Jorge Newbery; 5480-6111; www.aa2000.com.ar), a short distance from downtown Buenos Aires.\n\n#### Bus\n\nManuel Tienda Le\u00f3n (MTL; 4315-5115; www.tiendaleon.com; Av Madero 1299, Ezeiza airport) does hourly transfers from Ezeiza to Aeroparque for AR$95. To get from Aeroparque to the center, take public bus 33 or 45 (don't cross the street; take them going south). MTL also has shuttles to the center for AR$30.\n\n#### Taxi\n\nA taxi to the center costs around AR$80.\n\nHandy Bus Routes\n\nRoute | Bus\n\n---|---\n\nMicrocentro to Palermo Viejo | 111\n\nMicrocentro to Plaza Italia (in Palermo) | 29, 59, 64\n\nOnce to Plaza de Mayo to La Boca | 64\n\nPlaza de Mayo to Ezeiza airport (placard says 'Ezeiza') | 8\n\nPlaza Italia to Microcentro to San Telmo | 29\n\nPlaza Italia to La Boca via Retiro & Plaza de Mayo | 152, 29\n\nPlaza Italia to Recoleta to Microcentro to Constituci\u00f3n | 59\n\nPlaza San Mart\u00edn to Aeroparque airport | 33, 45\n\nRecoleta to Congreso to San Telmo to La Boca | 39\n\nRetiro to Plaza de Mayo to San Telmo | 22\n\n### Boat\n\nThere's a regular ferry service to and from Colonia and Montevideo, both in Uruguay. Most ferries leave from the Buquebus terminal at the corner of Avs Ant\u00e1rtida Argentina and C\u00f3rdoba in Puerto Madero; there are other Buquebus offices at Av C\u00f3rdoba 879 and at Pueyrred\u00f3n 1786. Colonia Express ( 4317-4100; www.coloniaexpress.com; C\u00f3rdoba 753) is cheaper than Buquebus but has fewer departures; its central office is at Av C\u00f3rdoba 753, but its terminal is in an ugly, industrial neighborhood near La Boca.\n\nBoth companies have many more launches in the busy summer season; book online in advance for discounts.\n\n### RETIRO BUS TERMINAL\n\nBuenos Aires' modern Retiro bus terminal is 400m long, three floors high and has slots for 75 buses. The bottom floor is for cargo shipments and luggage storage, the top for purchasing tickets, and the middle for everything else.\n\nThere's an information booth ( 4310-0700; 6am-midnight) that provides general bus information and schedules, plus a tourist office (Retiro bus station, across from bus slot 35; 7:30am-2:30pm Mon-Fri, to 4:30pm Sat & Sun) near Puente 3 on the main floor, on the same level as bus slot 35. Other services include ATMs, lockers, telephone offices (some with internet access), restaurants, cafes and dozens of small stores. Various _remise_ (call-taxi) booths are also available, some open 24 hours. You can also purchase a SUBE card (www.sube.gob.ar) and get it charged at a booth near the southern entrance.\n\nYou can buy a ticket to practically anywhere in Argentina and departures are fairly frequent to the most popular destinations. Reservations are not necessary except during peak summer and winter holiday seasons.\n\n## Getting Around Buenos Aires\n\n### Bicycle\n\nBuenos Aires is generally not the best city to cycle around: traffic is dangerous, with scant respect for cyclists, and the biggest vehicle wins the right of way, so bikes are low on the transport totem pole.\n\nHowever, things are getting better. New bike lanes were installed in 2010 and are expanding; a bike-share program (www.mejorenbici.gob.ar) also exists, but it's more geared towards residents (one-hour rental limits). Every day there seem to be more cyclists on the streets \u2013 but even so, BA has a long way to go to be seen as a bike-friendly city.\n\nThe city's best places for two-wheeled exploration are Palermo's parks and the Reserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur; on sunny weekends you can rent bikes at these places. You can also join city bike tours, which include bicycle and guide (Click here).\n\n### Bus\n\nBuenos Aires has a huge and complex bus system. If you want to get to know it better you'll have to buy a _Guia T_ \u2013 it's sold at any newsstand, but get the pocket version (about AR$10). It details hundreds of the city's bus routes. Just look at the grids to find out where you are and where you're going, and find a matching bus number. You can also check www.xcolectivo.com.ar for an online version. For information (in English) on how to get to your destination on city buses, check out www.omnilineas.com\/argentina\/buenos-aires\/city-bus\/.\n\nBus ticket machines on board will give you small change from your coins. Rides around town are cheap; just mention your destination to the driver and he'll cue the machine. If you're staying in BA awhile, consider getting a SUBE card (www.sube.gob.ar) for cheaper fares and to make paying easier.\n\nMost bus routes (but not all) run 24 hours; there are fewer buses at night. Seats up front are offered to the elderly, pregnant women and those with young children.\n\nIf you're arriving in Buenos Aires at Retiro bus terminal for the first time, it'll be difficult to sort out the local bus system \u2013 there are a lot of bus lines outside. It's worth spending a few pesos to take a _remise_ (radio taxi) directly to your destination. There are two small _remise_ booths near bus slots 8 and 9 that are open 24 hours. And remember to keep an eye on your bags at this station!\n\n### EASY BUS TICKETS\n\nYou can buy nearly any long-distance bus ticket without taking a special trip to Retiro bus station. Use the practical booking services of Omnil\u00edneas ( 4326-3924; www.omnilineas.com; Maip\u00fa 459, 9B). Just reserve and buy your ticket over the website, and either print it out at home or pick it up at the office. Prices are the same as at Retiro bus station, and English is spoken.\n\n### Car & Motorcycle\n\nAnyone considering driving in Buenos Aires should know that most local drivers are reckless, aggressive and even willfully dangerous. They'll ignore speed limits, road signs, road lines and often traffic signals. They'll tailgate you mercilessly and honk even before signals turn green. Buses are a nightmare to reckon with, potholes are everywhere, traffic is worse every day and parking can be nonexistent in places (and cost a bundle). To top it off, pedestrians haphazardly cross the road, seeming to beg to be run over at times.\n\nReconsider your need to have a car in this city: public transportation will often get you anywhere faster, cheaper and with much less stress. And you won't have to worry about the police, who have been known to stop cars to check for violations, while subtly asking for _coimas_ (bribes). If this happens to you when you weren't doing anything illegal, insist on contacting your embassy \u2013 too much trouble for some officers.\n\n#### Driving\n\nDriving outside BA is another story. Drivers are still crazy, but there are fewer of them, and you'll have more flexibility in your travels. If you drive in Argentina \u2013 especially in your own car \u2013 it may be worth joining the Autom\u00f3vil Club Argentino (ACA), which has many nationwide offices. ACA recognizes members of overseas affiliates, such as the American Automobile Association (AAA), and often grants them similar privileges, including discounts on maps, accommodations, camping, tours and other services. For more information contact the ACA head office ( 4802-6061; www.aca.org.ar; Av del Libertador 1850).\n\n#### Rental\n\nIf you want to rent a car, expect to pay US$30 to US$50 or more per day. International chains can be more expensive than local rental agencies; call around. You'll need to be at least 21 years of age and have a valid driver's license; having an international driver's license wouldn't be a bad idea, though you don't necessarily need one. A credit card and passport are also necessary.\n\nAvis ( 4326-5542; www.avis.com.ar; Cerrito 1535)\n\nHertz ( 4816-8001; www.hertz.com.ar; Paraguay 1138)\n\nNew Way ( 4515-0331; www.new-wayrentacar.com; Marcelo T de Alvear 773)\n\nIf you have experience driving scooters and are up to the challenge of getting around BA on an electric version, check out Green Scooter ( 6091-9060; www.thegreenscooter.net; Soler 4717; 10:30am-6:30pm). You'll need to pay an AR$2500 deposit (cash or credit card) and bring your passport. The cost is AR$190 per day, helmet and lock included.\n\nFor motorcycle rentals, be at least 25 years of age and head to Motocare ( 4761-2696; www.motocare.com.ar\/rental; Echeverria 738, Vicente Lopez). Bring your own helmet and riding gear. Crossing into Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil is possible.\n\n### Taxi & Remise\n\nBuenos Aires' very numerous (about 40,000) and relatively inexpensive taxis are conspicuous by their black-and-yellow paint jobs. They click every 200m (or every minute of waiting time) and cost 20% more after 6pm. Make sure that the meter's set to the current price when you start your ride. Drivers do not expect a big tip, but it's customary to let them keep small change. Taxis looking for passengers will have a red light lit on the upper right corner of their windshield.\n\nMost cab drivers are honest workers making a living, but there are a few bad apples in the bunch. Try not to give them a 100 peso note for a small fare; sometimes they're short on change, but there have been cases where the driver quickly and deftly replaces a larger bill with a smaller (or fake) one. One solution is to state how much you are giving them and ask if they have change for it (' _\u00bfTiene usted cambio de un cien?'_ \u2013 'Do you have any change for a hundred?').\n\nBe wary of receiving counterfeit bills; drivers have been known to switch your valid bill for a fake one. If you're suspicious this might happen, note aloud the last three numbers\/letters on a bill as you're paying him (it's pretty much always a 'him').\n\nAt night the driver will turn on the light (or _luz_ ) so you can carefully check your change (look for a watermark on bills). They'll do the same with your bills. And make sure you get the right change.\n\nTry to have an idea of where you're going or you might be taking the 'scenic' route (though also be aware there are many one-way streets in BA, and your route to one place may be quite different on the way back). A good way to give the impression that you know where you're going is to give the taxi driver an intersection rather than a specific address. Also, if you are obviously a tourist going to or from a touristy spot, it's not a good idea to ask how much the fare is; this makes quoting an upped price tempting, rather than using the meter. And try not to take a taxi right outside a tourist spot or after you've withdrawn money from an ATM \u2013 walk a block or two and flag one down instead.\n\nFinally, make an attempt to snag an 'official' taxi. These are usually marked by a roof light and license number printed on the doors; the words _radio taxi_ are usually a good sign. Official drivers must display their license on the back of their seat or dashboard; you can write down the taxi's number and agency telephone in case you have problems with the ride or forgot something.\n\nMost _porte\u00f1os_ will recommend you call a _remise_ instead of hailing cabs off the street. A _remise_ looks like a regular car and doesn't have a meter. It costs a bit more than a street taxi but is considered more secure, since an established company sends them out. Most hotels and restaurants will call a _remise_ for you; expect a short wait for them to show up.\n\nHelpful Train Information\n\nDestination(s) | Station | Contact\n\n---|---|---\n\nBelgrano, San Isidro, Tigre, Rosario | Retiro | L\u00ednea Mitre ( 0800-222-8736; www.mitresarmiento.com.ar)\n\nSouthern suburbs & La Plata | Constituci\u00f3n | L\u00ednea Roca ( 0800-362-7622; www.ugofe.com.ar\/general_roca)\n\nBah\u00eda Blanca, Tandil & Mar del Plata | Constituci\u00f3n | Ferrobaires ( 0810-666-8736; www.ferrobaires.gba.gov.ar)\n\nSouthwestern suburbs & Luj\u00e1n | Once | L\u00ednea Sarmiento ( 0800-222-8736; www.mitresarmiento.com.ar)\n\n### Train\n\nTrains connect Buenos Aires' center to its suburbs and nearby provinces. They're best for commuters and only occasionally useful for tourists. Several private companies run different train lines; train stations are all served by Subte.\n\n### Tram\n\nA light-rail system in Puerto Madero is called the Tranv\u00eda del Este. It's currently 2km long and has only four stops, with plans to extend the line from Retiro to Constituci\u00f3n. It's cheap to ride, but consider skipping it \u2013 stroll Puerto Madero's lovely cobbled lanes instead.\n\n### Subte (Underground)\n\nBA's Subte (www.subte.com.ar) opened in 1913 and is the quickest way to get around the city, though it can get mighty hot and crowded during rush hour. It consists of _l\u00edneas_ (lines) A, B, C, D, E and H. Four parallel lines run from downtown to the capital's western outskirts, while _L\u00ednea_ C runs north\u2013south and connects the two major train stations of Retiro and Constituci\u00f3n. _L\u00ednea_ H runs from Once south to Av Caseros, with plans to expand it.\n\nOne-ride magnetic cards for the Subte cost AR$3.50. To save time and hassle, buy several rides, since queues can get backed up (especially during rush hour). If you're planning on staying in BA for a while, SUBE (www.sube.gob.ar) is a convenient, rechargeable card that negates the need for coins.\n\nTrains operate from 5am to around 10:30pm Monday to Saturday and 8am to around 10pm Sunday and holidays, so don't rely on the Subte to get you home after dinner. Service is frequent on weekdays; on weekends you'll wait longer. At some stations platforms are on opposite sides, so be sure of your direction _before_ passing through the turnstiles.\n\n### SUBE CARD\n\nIf you're planning on staying in BA for a while, the SUBE card (www.sube.gob.ar) is a very handy and inexpensive rechargeable card that you can use for the Subte, local buses and some trains. It saves you money and you don't have keep a stash of coins on hand. Get it at some kioskos and Correo Argentino or OCA post offices around the city (check the website for locations or look for the SUBE logo at businesses). Ezeiza airport and Retiro bus station also have Sube booths where you can get and recharge this card. You'll need your passport or a copy. Charging the card itself is easy, and can be done at many kiosks or Subte stations.\n\n## Tours\n\nBuenos Aires has tours for every style and stripe, from the large tourist-bus variety to guided bike rides to straight-up walks. The city of Buenos Aires organizes free monthly tours from April to December, with themes ranging from art to historic bars to particular neighborhoods. Stop by any government tourist information office (Click here) for more information.\n\nMost companies listed here offer tours in English and possibly other languages; some companies also do private tours.\n\nSay Hueque ( 5258-8740; www.sayhueque.com; Thames 2062) This independent travel agency specializes in customized adventure trips all around Argentina, and will also make air, bus and hotel reservations. It offers various BA tours as well. Also downtown at Viamonte 749, 6th fl, and in San Telmo at Chile 557.\n\nTangol ( 4363-6000; www.tangol.com; Av Florida 971, Suite 31) Do-all agency that offers city tours, tango shows, guides to _f\u00fatbol_ games, hotel reservations, Spanish classes, air tickets and country-wide packages. Also offers unusual activities including helicopter tours and skydiving. Another branch in San Telmo at Defensa 831.\n\nAnda Responsible Travel ( 3221-0833; www.andatravel.com.ar; Ag\u00fcero 1050, 4A) Most notable for its La Boca tour, which introduces travelers to local organizations working towards improving the lives of its citizens. Also does many tours around Argentina that benefit local citizens, which are sometimes indigenous groups.\n\nBA Cultural Concierge ( 15-3876-5937; www.baculturalconcierge.com) Customized single-day tours of Buenos Aires, Tigre and the Mataderos fair. Also tango and _milonga_ tours.\n\nBA Walking Tours ( 15-5773-1001; www.ba-walking-tours.com) Day tours, night tours, historic tours and tango tours.\n\nBiking Buenos Aires ( 4040-8989; www.bikingbuenosaires.com) Friendly American and Argentine guides take you on various tours of Buenos Aires; theme tours include a graffiti and architecture tour.\n\nBuenos Aires Bus ( 5239-5160; www.buenosairesbus.com; locals\/foreigners AR$90\/120) Hop-on, hop-off topless bus that runs frequently over two dozen stops (see website).\n\nBuenos Tours ( 5984-2444; www.buenostours.com) Well-run private tours guided by friendly, knowledgeable and responsible local expats. Great website too.\n\nCultour ( 15-6365-6892; www.cultour.com.ar) Good tours run by teachers and students from UBA (University of Buenos Aires). Prepare to learn the historical and cultural facets of Buenos Aires.\n\nGraffitimundo ( 15-3683-3219; www.graffitimundo.com) Excellent tours of some of BA's best graffiti, by those in the know. Learn artists' history and the local graffiti culture. Several tours available, including a La Boca 'Hidden Walls' tour. Stencil workshops too.\n\nSeriema Nature Tours ( 5410-3235; www.seriematours.com) It does nature tours to all South America, but around BA the most popular outings are to Costanera Sur.\n\nUrban Biking ( 4314-2325; www.urbanbiking.com) One-day cycling tours \u2013 including an alternative 'nightlife' bike trip \u2013 and bike and kayak excursions to Tigre.\nDirectory A\u2013Z\n\n### BOOK YOUR STAY ONLINE\n\nFor more accommodation reviews by Lonely Planet authors, check out . You'll find independent reviews, as well as recommendations on the best places to stay. Best of all, you can book online.\n\n### Customs Regulations\n\nArgentine officials are generally courteous and reasonable toward tourists. Electronic items, including laptops, cameras and cell phones, can be brought into the country duty free, provided they are not intended for resale. If you have a lot of electronic equipment, however, it may be useful to have a typed list of the items you are carrying (including serial numbers) or a pile of purchase receipts.\n\nDepending on where you have been, officials focus on different things. Travelers south-bound from the central Andean countries may be searched for drugs, and those from bordering countries will have fruit and vegetables confiscated.\n\n### PRACTICALITIES\n\n\u00bb Popular newspapers include leftist _P\u00e1gina 12_ (www.pagina12.com.ar), centrist _Clar\u00edn_ (www.clarin.com.ar) and moderate _La Naci\u00f3n_ (www.lanacion.com.ar). The _Buenos Aires Herald_ (www.buenosairesherald.com) is the city's English-language daily.\n\n\u00bb There are dozens of radio stations in BA. For tango there's FM 92.7, for Argentine rock try FM 98.3 and for Argentine folk music it's FM 98.7.\n\n\u00bb National channels include Canal 2, 9, 11 and 13. Canal 7 has many educational and cultural programs.\n\n\u00bb Argentina uses the metric system.\n\n\u00bb Smoking is banned in most public spaces such as restaurants, cafes, bars and buses.\n\n### Discount Cards\n\nTravelers of any age can obtain a Hostelling International card at any HI hostel (www.hostels.org.ar) or at the tiny HI office in Retiro ( 4511-8723; www.hostels.org.ar; Av Florida 835). With this card you can obtain discounts at any HI hostel in Argentina, usually 10% to 15% off regular prices. International Student Identity Cards are also sold here; you'll need current student ID.\n\nFor non-HI hostels, check out minihostels (www.minihostels.com), a network of quality, 'good-vibe' hostels throughout Argentina and expanding to other places in Central and South America. The HoLa (www.holahostels.com) card works in a similar way for a different network of hostels.\n\nTravelers over the age of 60 can sometimes obtain discounts on museum admissions and the like. Usually a passport with date of birth is sufficient evidence of age.\n\n### Electricity\n\nArgentina's electric current operates on 220V, 50 Hertz. There are two types of electric plugs: either two rounded prongs (as in Europe) or three angled flat prongs (as in Australia). See www.kropla.com\/electric2.htm for details. Adapters are readily available from almost any _ferreter\u00eda_ (hardware store), or visit a travel store.\n\nMost electronic equipment (such as cameras, PDAs, telephones, computers and laptops) are dual\/multi-voltage, but if you're bringing in something that's not, use a voltage converter or you might short out your device.\n\n### Embassies & Consulates\n\nSome countries have both an embassy and a consulate in Buenos Aires, but only the most central location is listed here.\n\nAustralian Embassy ( 4779-3500; www.argentina.embassy.gov.au; Villanueva 1400)\n\nCanadian Embassy ( 4808-1000; www.canadainternational.gc.ca; Tagle 2828)\n\nFrench Embassy ( 4515-7030; www.embafrancia-argentina.org; Cerrito 1399, Retiro)\n\nGerman Embassy ( 4778-2500; www.buenosaires.diplo.de; Villanueva 1055)\n\nItalian Consulate ( 4114-4800; www.consbuenosaires.esteri.it; Reconquista 572)\n\nSpanish Consulate ( 4814-9100; www.spanish-embassy.com\/buenos-aires.html; Guido 1770)\n\nUK Embassy ( 4808-2200; www.ukinargentina.fco.gov.uk; Dr Luis Agote 2412)\n\nUS Embassy ( 5777-4533; ; Colombia 4300)\n\n### CONCIERGE SERVICE\n\nBA Cultural Concierge ( 15-3876-5937; www.baculturalconcierge.com) Madi Lang's concierge service helps you plan itineraries, arrange airport transportation, run errands, get a cell phone, reserve theater tickets, scout out a potential apartment and do a thousand other things that'll help your trip to run smoothly.\n\n### Emergency\n\nAmbulance ( 107)\n\nFire ( 100)\n\nPolice ( 911, 101)\n\nTourist Police (Comisar\u00eda del Turista; 0800-999-5000, 4346-5748; Av Corrientes 436; 24hr) Provides interpreters for travel insurance reports.\n\n### Gay & Lesbian Travelers\n\nArgentina is a strongly Catholic country with heavy elements of machismo. In Buenos Aires, however, there is a palpable acceptance of homosexuality. In 2002 BA became the first Latin American city to legalize same-sex civil unions, and in July 2010 Argentina became the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage. In fact, gay tourism has become so popular that BA is now South America's top gay destination.\n\nArgentine men are more physically demonstrative than their North American and European counterparts, so behaviors such as kissing on the cheek in greeting or a vigorous embrace are considered innocuous even to those who express unease with homosexuals. Lesbians walking hand-in-hand should generally attract little attention, since heterosexual Argentine women sometimes do so, but this would be very conspicuous behavior for males. If you are in any doubt, it's better to be discreet.\n\n### Health\n\nBuenos Aires is a modern city with good health and dental services. Sanitation and hygiene at restaurants is relatively high, and tap water is generally safe to drink. If you want a glass of tap water, ask ' _\u00bfMe pod\u00e9s traer un vaso de agua de la canilla?_ ' (Can you bring me a glass of tap water?).\n\nPublic health care in Buenos Aires is reasonably good and free, even if you're a foreigner. Waits can be long, however, and quality spotty. Those who can afford it usually opt for the superior private care system, and here most doctors and hospitals will expect payment in cash. Many medical personnel speak English.\n\nIf you develop a life-threatening medical problem you may want to be evacuated to your home country. Since this may cost thousands of dollars, be sure to have the appropriate insurance before you depart. Your embassy can also recommend medical services.\n\nA signed and dated note from your doctor, describing your medical conditions and medications (with their generic or scientific names) is a good idea. It's also a good idea to bring medications in their clearly labeled, original containers. Most pharmacies in Argentina are well supplied.\n\nFor more specific information on vaccinations to get before traveling to Argentina, see wwwnc.cdc.gov\/travel\/destinations\/argentina.htm.\n\n### Insurance\n\nA travel-insurance policy to cover theft, loss and medical problems is a good idea. Some policies offer a range of lower and higher medical-expense options; the higher ones are chiefly for countries, such as the USA, that have extremely high medical costs. There is a wide variety of policies available, so read the small print.\n\nSome policies specifically exclude 'dangerous activities', which can include scuba diving, motorcycling and even trekking. Check that the policy you're considering covers ambulances and an emergency flight home.\n\n### NEED AN OFFICE FOR AN HOUR OR A DAY?\n\nThe brainchild of one of BA's many expat entrepreneurs, Areatres ( 5353-0333; www.areatresworkplace.com; Malabia 1720; 8:30am-8pm Mon-Fri) is a secure working office where you can rent a desk, cubicle, office or meeting room. There are fax and copy services, complete internet and wi-fi connections, networking social events, a business lounge, a large presentation room and even a Zen-like patio at the back for the stress-prone. Facilities are cutting-edge \u2013 it's like you never left Silicon Valley. It's even eco-conscious. It's also at Humboldt 2036 ( 5258-7600; www.areatresworkplace.com; Humboldt 2036).\n\n### Internet Access\n\nBuenos Aires is definitely online. Internet caf\u00e9s and _locutorios_ (telephone offices) with internet access are common everywhere in the center; you can often find one by just walking a few blocks in any direction. Rates are cheap and connections are quick. To find the @ ( _arroba_ ) symbol, try holding down the Alt key and typing 64. Or ask the attendant ' _\u00bfC\u00f3mo se hace la arroba?'_ ('How do you make the @ sign?').\n\nNearly all hotels have wi-fi or in-room internet connections for guests traveling with their own laptops, and the fancier ones also feature 'business centers' with one or more computers. Many hostels provide free internet to guests. Also, many cafes and restaurants (even McDonald's) offer free wi-fi.\n\n### Language Courses\n\nBA has become a major destination for students of Spanish. Good institutes are opening up all the time and private teachers are a dime a dozen. Cultural centers also offer language classes; the Centro Cultural Ricardo Rojas ( 4954-5523; www.rojas.uba.ar; Av Corrientes 2038) has an especially good range of offerings, from Korean to Russian to Yiddish.\n\nMost private language institutes organize social activities, private classes and (usually) volunteer opportunities. Homestay programs are also available but often cost more than finding a place yourself. Check websites for fees and schedules.\n\nUniversity of Buenos Aires (www.idiomas.filo.uba.ar) Offers intensive, long-term classes (one to four months) in Spanish, Italian, German, French, Portuguese and Japanese. It's cheap, and great for serious students, but classrooms can be run-down.\n\nSpanglish (www.spanglishexchange.com) Set up like speed dating; you'll speak five minutes in English and five in Spanish, then switch partners (and it's a bit of a pick-up scene too).\n\nAcademia Buenos Aires ( 4345-5954; www.academiabuenosaires.com; Hip\u00f3lito Yrigoyen 571, 4th fl)\n\nDWS ( 4777-6515; www.dwsba.com.ar; Av C\u00f3rdoba 4382)\n\nExpanish ( 5252-3040; www.expanish.com; Juan Per\u00f3n 698)\n\nRayuela ( 4300-2010; www.spanish-argentina.com.ar; Chacabuco 852, 1st fl, No 11)\n\nVOS ( 4812-1140; www.vosbuenosaires.com; Marcelo T de Alvear 1459)\n\nVamos ( 5352-0001; www.vamospanish.com; Coronel D\u00edaz 1736)\n\n### Legal Matters\n\nYou're hardly likely to get involved with the local police if you follow the law. If you drive a car, however, officers are not above petty harassment. So-called safety campaigns often result in motorists receiving citations for minor equipment violations (such as a malfunctioning turn signal) that carry fines. In most cases, corrupt officers will settle for less expensive _coimas_ (bribes), but this requires considerable caution and tact. A discreet hint that you intend to contact your consulate may minimize or eliminate such problems \u2013 often the police count on foreigners' ignorance of Argentine law. Another tactic, whether you know Spanish or not, is to pretend you don't understand what an officer is saying.\n\n### CULTURAL CENTERS\n\nBuenos Aires has good cultural centers offering all sorts of art exhibitions, classes and events. They're listed in the neighborhood chapters.\n\nThere are also several foreign cultural centers in the Microcentro, such as the Instituto Cultural Argentino-Norteamericano ( 5382-1500; www.icana.org.ar; Maip\u00fa 672), which has Spanish classes and workshops; the Alianza Francesa ( 4322-0068; www.alianzafrancesa.org.ar; Av C\u00f3rdoba 946), which concentrates on French-themed instruction and arts; and the Instituto Goethe ( 4318-5600; www.goethe.de\/hs\/bue; Av Corrientes 319), which offers German-language instruction, lectures, films and even concerts. All have good libraries in their respective languages.\n\nThe British Arts Centre ( 4393-6941; www.britishartscentre.org.ar; Suipacha 1333) has well-priced theater, films, music and workshops (among other things) in English and Spanish.\n\n### Medical Services\n\nHighly regarded hospitals include Hospital Italiano ( 4959-0200; www.hospitalitaliano.org.ar; Juan D Per\u00f3n 4190), Hospital Alem\u00e1n ( 4827-7000; www.hospitalaleman.org.ar; Pueyrred\u00f3n 1640) and Hospital Brit\u00e1nico ( 4309-6400; www.hospitalbritanico.org.ar; Perdriel 74). Another popular medical facility is Swiss Medical ( 0810-333-8876; www.swissmedical.com.ar; cnr Santa Fe & Scalabrini Ortiz), with various branches around town.\n\nDental Argentina ( 4828-0821; www.dental-argentina.com.ar; Laprida 1621, 2B) provides modern facilities and good dental services with English-speaking professionals.\n\n#### Pharmacies\n\nPharmacies are common in Buenos Aires. The biggest chain is Farmacity (www.farmacity.com), with dozens of branches throughout the city; they're modern, bright and well stocked with sundries. They have a prescription counter and some are open 24 hours. It's hard to miss their blue-and-orange color theme.\n\n### Money\n\nArgentina's unit of currency is the peso (AR$).\n\nBanks and _cambios_ (foreign-\u00adexchange offices) are common in the city center; banks have longer lines and more limited opening hours but may offer better rates.\n\nFor international transfers, Western Union (www.westernunion.com) has several agents in BA.\n\nCarrying cash and using ATM and credit cards is the way to go in Argentina.\n\n#### ATMs\n\nATMs _(cajeros autom\u00e1ticos)_ are everywhere in BA and the handiest way to get money. ATMs dispense _only_ Argentine pesos (not US dollars, despite what the screen says) and can be used for cash advances on major credit cards. There's often an English-translation option if you don't read Spanish.\n\nThere may be limits per withdrawal, but you may be able to withdraw several times per day \u2013 just beware of per-transaction fees. To avoid having a fistful of large-denomination bills, withdraw odd amounts like 990 pesos.\n\nAlso, a small fee is charged on ATM transactions by the _local_ bank (not including charges by your home bank, which are extra). Note that this is a _per transaction_ fee, so consider taking out your maximum allowed limit \u2013 if you feel safe doing so.\n\n#### Cash\n\nNotes come in denominations of two, five, 10, 20, 50 and 100 pesos. One peso equals 100 centavos; coins come in denominations of five, 10, 25 and 50 centavos, as well as one and two pesos. The $ sign in front of a price is usually used to signify pesos.\n\nDon't be dismayed if you receive dirty and hopelessly tattered banknotes; they will still be accepted everywhere. Some banks refuse worn or defaced US dollars, however, so make sure you arrive in Buenos Aires with pristine bills.\n\nCounterfeiting of both local and US bills has become something of a problem in recent years, and merchants are very careful when accepting large denominations. You should be, too; look for a clear watermark or running thread on the largest bills, and be especially careful when receiving change in dark nightclubs or taxis. For photos, check www.landingpadba.com\/ba-basics-counterfeit-money.\n\nGetting change from large denominations can be a problem for small purchases. Large supermarkets and restaurants are your best bet. Always keep a stash of change with you, in both small bills and coins.\n\nUS dollars are accepted by many tourist-oriented businesses.\n\n#### Credit Cards\n\nMany tourist services, larger stores, hotels and restaurants take credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard, especially for big purchases. Be aware, however, that some businesses add a _recargo_ (surcharge) of up to 10% to credit-card purchases; ask ahead of time. Some lower-end hotels and private businesses will not accept credit cards, and tips can't usually be added to credit-card bills at restaurants. Many places will give you a small discount if you pay in cash, rather than use a credit card.\n\nThe following local representatives can help you replace lost or stolen cards:\n\nAmerican Express ( 4310-3000)\n\nMasterCard ( 0800-444-5220)\n\nVisa ( 4379-3400)\n\n### BUENOS AIRES' BLUE (IE BLACK) MARKET\n\nBecause many Argentines are desperate for hard currency to combat their country's high inflation, mistrust the peso's stability _and_ are not allowed to easily buy them \u2013 Argentina has a robust black market for US dollars, especially in Buenos Aires. This market is also called the _mercado azul_ (blue market, or 'cambio blue'). The blue market rate can be nearly twice the official exchange rate, though rates fluctuate daily. Many people think this parallel market can't last forever, and the government is constantly tinkering with laws to combat it.\n\nIn BA, some people use this market on Calle Florida, where _arbolitos_ (touts; literally, 'little trees') constantly call out _'cambio, cambio, cambio'_. The _arbolito_ leads the interested party to a _cueva_ (unofficial exchange office) for the transaction. Unobtrusive storefront _cuevas_ also exist in some tourist neighborhoods in BA; many locals use them and know where they are located. Be aware that this shady activity \u2013 although commonplace (newspapers even publish the going blue rate) \u2013 is technically illegal. Scams and fake bills do exist, and unwary travelers make very good targets.\n\nInstead of using _arbolitos_ , some people change money (or pay for services) at certain stores, travel agents, restaurants and accommodations for rates close to the blue market's. Outside BA, some _cambios_ might give you the unofficial rate. Hundred-dollar bills get the highest rates.\n\nNote that ATMs in Argentina don't give out US currency, no matter what their screen says. Some ATMs in Uruguay will, however \u2013 though there are daily limits for withdrawals.\n\nAnother way travelers bypass the official exchange rate is by using international money-transfer services such as www.xoom.com (for those with US bank accounts) or Azimo (for those with UK bank accounts).\n\nDo your research very carefully before coming to Argentina. And no matter how you end up getting your pesos, use them all up before your flight home. It's unlikely you'll be able to change them back to a hard currency at a decent rate \u2013 if at all.\n\n#### Tipping\n\nIn restaurants and cafes it's customary to tip about 10% of the bill for decent service. An interesting note: when your server is taking your bill with payment away, saying ' _gracias_ ' usually implies that the server should keep the change as a tip. If you want change back, don't say ' _gracias_ ' \u2013 say ' _cambio, por favor_ ' instead.\n\nNote that tips can't be added to credit-card bills, so carry cash for this purpose. Also note that the _cubierto_ that some restaurants charge is not a tip; it's a sort of 'cover charge' for the use of utensils and bread. Yes, it's silly, but that's the custom.\n\nBartenders Usually no tip, but it's OK to give a small bill for a drink or good cocktail.\n\nDelivery persons A small bill.\n\nHotel cleaning staff A few pesos per day (only at fine, upscale hotels).\n\nHotel porters A small bill.\n\nRestaurant servers Tip 10%; 15% for fine restaurants with great service.\n\nSpas Tip 15%.\n\nTaxi drivers No tip unless they help with luggage; many people round up to nearest peso.\n\nTour guides Tip 10% to 15%.\n\n#### Traveler's Checks\n\nTraveler's checks are very impractical in Argentina, and even in BA it's very hard to change them. Only the fancier hotels and a few banks and _cambios_ will take them, and they'll charge a very hefty commission. Stores will _not_ change them.\n\nOutside BA it's almost impossible to change trav\u00adeler's checks. If you do decide to bring some, get them in US dollars.\n\n### OPENING HOURS\n\nThere are always exceptions, but the following are general opening hours:\n\nBanks 8am to 3pm or 4pm Monday to Friday; some open till 1am Saturday.\n\nBars 8pm or 9pm to between 4am and 6am nightly (downtown, some open and close earlier).\n\nCafes 6am to midnight or much later; open daily.\n\nClubs 1am to 2am to between 6am and 8am Friday and Saturday.\n\nOffice business hours 8am to 5pm.\n\nPost offices 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm Saturday.\n\nRestaurants Noon to 3:30pm, 8pm-midnight or 1am (later on weekends).\n\nShops 9am or 10am to 8pm or 9pm Monday to Saturday.\n\n### Post\n\nThe more-or-less reliable Correo Argentino (www.correoargentino.com.ar) is the government postal service, with numerous branches scattered throughout BA. Essential overseas mail should be sent _certificado_ (registered). For international parcels weighing over 2kg, take a copy of your passport and go to the Correo Internacional near the Retiro bus station. Check the website for all prices.\n\nIf a package is being sent to you, expect to wait awhile for it to turn up within the system (or to receive notice of its arrival). Unless you have a permanent address, your parcel will likely end up at the Correo Internacional. To collect the package you'll have to wait \u2013 first to get it and then to have it checked by customs. There might also be a small holding fee, charged per day. Don't expect any valuables to make it through.\n\nPrivately run international and national services are available. Federal Express has its central branch at Maip\u00fa 753. Other choices are DHL International ( 0810-122-3345; www.dhl.com.ar; Av C\u00f3rdoba 783). OCA (www.oca.com.ar) and Andreani (www.andreani.com.ar) are good for domestic packages; both have many locations around town.\n\n### Public Holidays\n\nGovernment offices and businesses are closed on the numerous national holidays. If a holiday falls midweek or on a weekend day, it's often bumped to the nearest Monday; if it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then the in-between Monday or Friday are taken as holidays.\n\nPublic-transportation options are more limited on holidays, when you should reserve tickets far in advance. Hotel booking should also be done ahead of time.\n\nJanuary 1 A\u00f1o Nuevo; New Year's Day\n\nFebruary or March Carnaval \u2013 dates vary; a Monday and Tuesday become holidays\n\nMarch 24 D\u00eda de la Memoria; anniversary of the day that started the 1976 dictatorship and subsequent Dirty War\n\nMarch\/April Semana Santa (Easter week) \u2013 dates vary; most businesses close on Good 'Thursday' and Good Friday; major travel week\n\nApril 2 D\u00eda de las Malvinas; honors the fallen Argentine soldiers from the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) war in 1829\n\nMay 1 D\u00eda del Trabajor; Labor Day\n\nMay 25 D\u00eda de la Revoluci\u00f3n de Mayo; commemorates the 1810 revolution against Spain\n\nJune 20 D\u00eda de la Bandera (Flag Day); anniversary of death of Manuel Belgrano, creator of Argentina's flag and military leader\n\nJuly 9 D\u00eda de la Independencia; Independence Day\n\nAugust (third Monday) D\u00eda del Libertador San Mart\u00edn; marks the anniversary of Jos\u00e9 de San Mart\u00edn's death (1778\u20131850)\n\nOctober (second Monday) D\u00eda del Respeto a la Diversidad Cultural; a day to respect cultural diversity\n\nNovember (fourth Monday) D\u00eda de la Soberan\u00eda Nacional; day of national sovereignty\n\nDecember 8 D\u00eda de la Concepci\u00f3n Inmaculada; celebrates the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary\n\nDecember 25 Navidad; Christmas Day\n\nNote that Christmas Eve and New Year's Day are treated as semi-holidays, and you will find some businesses closed for the latter half of those days.\n\n### Safe Travel\n\nBuenos Aires is generally pretty safe. You can comfortably walk around at all hours of the night in many places, even as a lone woman. People stay out very late, and there's almost always somebody else walking on any one street at any hour of the night. (Some areas where you should be careful at night, however, are around Constituci\u00f3n's train station, the eastern border of San Telmo, and some parts of Once and La Boca \u2013 where, outside tourist streets, you should be careful even during the day).\n\nLike all big cities, BA has its share of problems. The economic crisis of 1999\u20132001 plunged a lot of people into poverty, and street crime has subsequently risen. As a tourist you're much more likely to be a target of petty crimes like pickpocketing and bag-snatching than armed robbery or kidnapping. Be careful on crowded buses, on the Subte and at busy _ferias_ (street markets). Don't put your bag down without your foot through the strap (especially at sidewalk cafes), and even then keep a close eye on it. Be especially careful at Retiro bus station.\n\nMinor nuisances include lack of respect shown by cars toward pedestrians, lax pollution controls and high noise levels. Many Argentines are heavy smokers, and you can't help but be exposed to it on the street (smoking is banned in most restaurants, bars and public transport). The tourist police (Comisar\u00eda del Turista; 0800-999-5000, 4346-5748; Av Corrientes 436; 24hr) may be of some help.\n\nUsing your head is good advice anywhere: don't flash any wealth (including expensive jewelry), don't stagger around drunk, always be aware of your surroundings and look like you know exactly where you're going (even if you don't). Be careful showing off expensive electronics like laptops, smart phones, iPods or iPads. But realize that if you're reasonably careful, the closest thing to annoyance you'll experience is being shortchanged, tripping on loose sidewalk tiles, stepping on the ubiquitous dog pile or getting flattened by a crazy bus driver. Watch your step.\n\n### ELECTRONICS WARNING\n\nNote that buying a smart phone, especially an iPhone, is extremely expensive in Argentina due to import restrictions \u2013 and they are not widely available. If you do bring your smart phone, don't flash it around unnecessarily or leave it unprotected somewhere. This goes for iPads, iPods and laptop computers too.\n\n### Taxes & Refunds\n\nOne of Argentina's primary state revenue-earners is the 21% value-added tax known as the Impuesto de Valor Agregado (IVA). Under limited circumstances, foreign visitors may obtain IVA refunds on purchases of Argentine products upon departing the country. A 'Tax Free' window decal (in English) identifies participants in this program, but always check that the shop is part of the tax-free program before making your purchase.\n\nYou can obtain tax refunds on purchases of AR$70 or more made at one of these participating stores. To do so, present your passport to the merchant, who will make out an invoice for you. On leaving the country keep the purchased items in your carry-on baggage. A customs official will check them and stamp your paperwork, then tell you where to obtain your refund. Be sure to leave yourself a bit of extra time at the airport to get this done.\n\n### Telephone\n\nTwo companies, Telecom and Telef\u00f3nica, split the city's telephone services.\n\nStreet phones require coins or _tarjetas telef\u00f3nicas_ (magnetic phone cards available at many _kioskos,_ or small markets). You'll only be able to speak for a limited time before you get cut off, so carry enough credit.\n\nToll-free numbers in BA have '0800' before a seven-digit number.\n\n#### Cell Phones\n\nIt's best to bring your own factory unlocked tri- or quad-band GSM cell phone to Argentina, then buy an inexpensive SIM chip (you'll get a local number) and credits as needed. Both SIM chips and credits can be bought at many _kioskos_ or _locutorios_ (small telephone offices); look for the ' _recarga facil_ ' signs. Many Argentines use this system with their cell phones. Phone-unlocking services are available; ask around.\n\nYou can also buy cell phones that use SIM chips; these usually include some credits for your first batch of calls. Be careful renting phones as they're not usually a better deal than outright buying a cell phone.\n\nIf you plan to travel with an iPhone or other 3G smart phone, prepare yourself \u2013 you may need to purchase an international plan to avoid being hit by a huge bill for roaming costs. On the other hand, it's possible to call internationally for free or very cheaply using a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) system such as Skype. This is a constantly changing field, so do some research before you travel.\n\nCell-phone numbers in Argentina are always preceded by '15'. If you're calling a cellular phone number from a landline, you'll have to dial 15 first. But if you're calling a cell phone from another cell phone, you don't need to dial 15 (at least within the same area code).\n\nWhen calling cell phones from outside Argentina, dial your country's international access code, then 54 9 11 and then the eight-digit number, leaving out the 15.\n\n#### Locutorios & Internet Cafes\n\nOne way to make a local or international phone call is to find a _locutorio,_ a small telephone office (sometimes marked _telecentro_ ) with private booths from which you make your calls and then pay at the register. There's a _locutorio_ on practically every other block in the center. They cost a bit more than street phones, but you can sit down, you won't run out of coins and it's much quieter.\n\nWhen making international calls from _locutorios_ ask about off-peak discount hours, which generally apply after 10pm and on weekends. Making international calls over the internet using Skype is a cheap option; many internet cafes have this system in place.\n\nFaxes are cheap and widely available at most _locutorios_ and internet cafes.\n\n#### Phone Codes\n\nThe Buenos Aires area code is 011. You will need to dial this when calling BA from outside the city, but you don't need to dial it when calling from within BA.\n\n#### Phonecards\n\nTelephone calling cards are sold at nearly all _kioskos_ and make domestic and international calls far cheaper than calling direct. However, they must be used from a fixed line such as a home or hotel telephone (provided you can dial outside the hotel). They cannot be used at most pay phones. Some _locutorios_ allow you to use them, and although they levy a surcharge, the call is still cheaper than dialing direct. When purchasing one, tell the clerk the country you will call so that they give you the right card.\n\n### Time\n\nArgentina is three hours behind GMT and generally does not observe daylight-saving time (though this situation can easily change). Many _porte\u00f1os_ use the 24-hour clock to differentiate between am and pm.\n\n### Toilets\n\nPublic toilets in BA are generally decent and usually stocked with toilet paper (carry some anyway), but soap and towels are rarer. If you're looking for a bathroom while walking around, note that the largest shopping malls (such as Galer\u00edas Pac\u00edfico) always have public bathrooms available, but in a pinch you can always walk into a McDonald's or large cafe. Changing facilities for babies are not always available.\n\nSome may find bidets a novelty; they are those strange shallow, ceramic bowls with knobs and a drain, often accompanying toilets in hotel bathrooms. They are meant for between-shower cleanings of nether regions. Turn knobs slowly, or you may end up spraying yourself or the ceiling.\n\n### Tourist Information\n\nThe Secretar\u00eda de Turismo de la Naci\u00f3n ( 4312-2232; www.turismo.gov.ar; Av Santa Fe 883; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri) dispenses information on Buenos Aires but focuses on Argentina as a whole.\n\nThe tourist police (Comisar\u00eda del Turista; 0800-999-5000, 4346-5748; Av Corrientes 436; 24hr) can provide interpreters and helps victims of robberies and rip-offs.\n\nThere's a tourist kiosk at Ezeiza airport (Ezeiza airport; 24hr) and another one at Retiro bus station (Retiro bus station; 7:30am-2pm Mon-Fri) near Puente 3 on the main floor, across from bus slot 36.\n\nThere are several tourist offices and kiosks in Buenos Aires. Note that hours vary depending on the season and number of volunteers. The official tourism site of Buenos Aires is www.bue.gov.ar and the government site is www.buenosaires.gov.ar.\n\nPlaza San Mart\u00edn (cnr Av Florida & MT de Alvear)\n\nFlorida (cnr Av Florida & Diagonal Roque S\u00e1enz Pe\u00f1a)\n\nPuerto Madero (Dique 4)\n\nRecoleta (Av Quintana 596)\n\nEsmeralda (cnr Av Rivadavia & Esmeralda)\n\n### Travelers with Disabilities\n\nNegotiating Buenos Aires as a disabled traveler is not the easiest of tasks. City sidewalks are narrow, busy and dotted with many broken tiles. Not every corner has a ramp, and traffic is ruthless when it comes to pedestrians (and wheelchair-users). A few buses do have _piso bajo_ (they 'kneel' and have extra-large spaces), but the Subte (subway) does not cater to the mobility-impaired.\n\nInternational hotel chains often have wheelchair-\u00adaccessible rooms, as do other less fancy hotels \u2013 accessibility laws have changed for the better over the last few years. Some restaurants and many important tourist sights have ramps, but BA is sorely lacking in wheelchair-accessible bathrooms \u2013 although the city's shopping malls usually have at least one, restaurants don't often have the appropriate installations.\n\nIn Buenos Aires, QRV Transportes Especiales ( 15-6863-9555, 011-4306-6635; www.qrvtransportes.com.ar) offers private transport and city tours in vans fully equipped for wheelchair users. BA Cultural Concierge ( 15-3876-5937; www.baculturalconcierge.com) offers service for low-mobility travelers, by helping with errands. Or you could head to BA with a company like Accessible Journeys (www.disabilitytravel.com), which has tours and cruises in South America \u2013 including one that includes Buenos Aires.\n\nOther than the use of brail on ATMs little effort has been dedicated to bettering accessibility for the vision impaired. Stoplights are rarely equipped with sound alerts. The Biblioteca Argentina Para Ciegos (BAC, Argentine Library for the Blind; 4981-0137; www.bac.org.ar; Lezica 3909) maintains a brail collection of over 3000 books, as well as other resources.\n\n### Visas\n\nNationals of the USA, Canada, most Western European countries, Australia and New Zealand do not need visas to visit Argentina, but check current regulations. Most foreigners receive a 90-day visa upon arrival.\n\nTo get yourself a 90-day extension (AR$300), visit the Direcci\u00f3n Nacional de Migraciones ( 4317-0234; www.migraciones.gov.ar\/accesibleingles\/?categorias; Ant\u00e1rtida Argentina 1355; 8am-2pm Mon-Fri). Set aside some time, as there are lines and this process can take an hour or two. Get your extension the same week your visa expires. Overstaying your visa (AR$300) costs as much as an extension, but it's also much more stressful \u2013 and the rules can change quickly.\n\nAnother option if you're staying more than three months is to cross into Colonia or Montevideo (both in Uruguay; Colonia can be an easy day trip) and return with a new three-month visa. This strategy is most sensible if you are from a country that does not require a visa to enter Uruguay.\n\nAmericans, Australians and Canadians need to pay a reciprocity fee ( _tasa de reciprocidad_ ) when arriving in Argentina, Click here.\n\n### Women Travelers\n\nBuenos Aires is a modern, sophisticated city, and women travelers \u2013 even those traveling alone \u2013 should not encounter many difficulties. Men do pay more overt attention to women in Argentina, however, and a little open-mindedness might be in order. Argentina's machismo culture is, after all, alive and well.\n\nA few men feel the need to comment on a woman's attractiveness. This often happens when you're walking alone and pass by a man; it will never occur when you're with another man. Comments usually include whistles or _piropos,_ which many Argentine males consider the art of complimenting a woman. _Piropos_ are often vulgar, although a few can be poetic. Much as you may want to kick them where it counts, the best thing to do is completely ignore the comments. After all, many _porte\u00f1as_ are used to getting these 'compliments', and most men don't necessarily mean to be insulting; they're just doing what is socially acceptable in Argentina.\n\nOn the plus side of machismo, men will hold a door open for you and let you enter first, including getting on buses.\n\n | | |\n\n---|---|---|---\n\nBehind the Scenes\n\n### SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK\n\nWe love to hear from travellers \u2013 your comments keep us on our toes and help make our books better. Our well- travell ed team reads every word on what you loved or loathed about this book. Although we cannot reply individually to postal submissions, we always guarantee that your feedback goes straight to the appropriate authors, in time for the next edition. Each person who sends us information is thanked in the next edition \u2013 and the most useful submissions are rewarded with a free book.\n\nVisit **lonelyplanet.com\/contact** to submit your updates and suggestions or to ask for help. Our award-winning website also features inspirational travel stories, news and discussions.\n\nNote: We may edit, reproduce and incorporate your comments in Lonely Planet products such as guidebooks, websites and digital products, so let us know if you don't want your comments reproduced or your name acknowledged. For a copy of our privacy policy visit lonelyplanet.com\/privacy.\n\n## OUR READERS\n\nMany thanks to the travelers who used the last edition and wrote to us with helpful hints, useful advice and interesting anecdotes:\n\nBettina Becker, Arturo Costa, Loli Delger, Alexandra Goller, Cathy McCloy, Eben Pullman.\n\n## AUTHOR THANKS\n\n#### Sandra Bao\n\nI'm grateful for the support of my excellent (and now ex) commissioning editor Kathleen Munnelly \u2013 best of luck in your future adventures, Kathleen; I'll miss you. Also many thanks to Graciela and Silvia Guzm\u00e1n, who kept me entertained with their raucous company. This book wouldn't be the fine thing that it is without the help of Lucas M, Sylvia Z, Alan S, Madi L, Jed R and Dan P \u2013 you all know who you are. A big gracias to Gustavo and Miriam for their companionship and opinions, and also to Sally Blake, Jimena Moses, Andy Symington and Marina Charles for their contributions.\n\n_Un beso grande_ to my godmother, Elsa, and her son Jorge for their hospitality. Love to Fung and David Bao, and to Daniel for their support over the years. Finally, lots of love to my husband, Ben Greensfelder, for keeping our home in good order while I was away.\n\n## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\nClimate map data adapted from Peel MC, Finlayson BL & McMahon TA (2007) 'Updated World Map of the K\u00f6ppen-Geiger Climate Classification', _Hydrology and Earth System Sciences_ , 11, 1633\u00ac44.\n\nCover photograph: Tango dancers' feet, Herv\u00e9 Hughes\/Alamy\u00a9\n\n### THIS BOOK\n\nThis 7th edition of Lonely Planet's Buenos Aires guidebook was researched and written by Sandra Bao. The 6th edition was written by Sandra Bao and Bridget Gleeson, and the 5th edition by Sandra Bao. This guidebook was commissioned in Lonely Planet's Oakland office, and produced by the following:\n\nCommissioning Editor Kathleen Munnelly\n\nCoordinating Editors Sarah Bailey, Tracy Whitmey\n\nSenior Cartographer Mark Griffiths\n\nBook Designer Clara Monitto, Virginia Moreno, Wendy Wright\n\nAssociate Product Directors Sasha Baskett, Angela Tinson\n\nSenior Editor Catherine Naghten, Karyn Noble\n\nAssisting Editors Michelle Bennett, Kate Evans, Carly Hall\n\nAssisting Cartographer Julie Dodkins\n\nCover Research Naomi Parker\n\nLanguage Content Branislava Vladisavljevic\n\nThanks to Anita Banh, Elin Berglund, Ljubomir Ceranic, Ryan Evans, Larissa Frost, Anna Harris, Genesys India, Jouve India, Anne Mason, Martine Power, Amanda Williamson\n\n### Our Story\n\nA beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. In 1972 that's all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime \u2013 across Europe and Asia overland to Australia. It took several months, and at the end \u2013 broke but inspired \u2013 they sat at their kitchen table writing and stapling together their first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they'd sold 1500 copies. Lonely Planet was born.\n\nToday, Lonely Planet has offices in Melbourne, London and Oakland, with more than 600 staff and writers. We share Tony's belief that 'a great guidebook should do three things: inform, educate and amuse'.\n\nOUR WRITERS\n\n#### Sandra Bao\n\nCoordinating Author Sandra's mom and her family escaped China's communist regime in the years following WWII, eventually boarding a freighter bound for Argentina in 1952. After months at sea they arrived in Buenos Aires \u2013 just two days after the death of Evita Per\u00f3n. Sandra's parents married in Montevideo, Uruguay, then raised Sandra and her brother, Daniel, in BA. They lived the carefree _porte\u00f1o_ life (with _asados_ every Sunday) until 1974, when things got politically dicey. Once again the Baos emigrated to greener pastures, this time the USA. Sandra is proud to be a _porte\u00f1a_ and has regularly returned to her homeland as an adult, watching the peso fluctuate wildly through the decades. Over the last 14 years Sandra has contributed to dozens of Lonely Planet guidebooks.\n\nRead more about Sandra at: lonelyplanet.com\/members\/sandrabao\n\n#### Contributing Author\n\nMarina Charles wrote the Street Art essay. She is a British expat and Buenos Aires resident who cofounded Graffitimundo in 2009.\n\n**Published by Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd**\n\nABN 36 005 607 983\n\n7th edition \u2013 July 2014\n\nISBN 978 1 74360 023 8\n\n\u00a9 Lonely Planet 2014 Photographs \u00a9 as indicated 2014\n\nAll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, and no part of this publication may be sold or hired, without the written permission of the publisher. Lonely Planet and the Lonely Planet logo are trademarks of Lonely Planet and are registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Lonely Planet does not allow its name or logo to be appropriated by commercial establishments, such as retailers, restaurants or hotels. Please let us know of any misuses: lonelyplanet.com\/ip.\n\nAlthough the authors and Lonely Planet have taken all reasonable care in preparing this book, we make no warranty about the accuracy or completeness of its content and, to the maximum extent permitted, disclaim all liability arising from its use.\n\n | | |\n\n---|---|---|---\n\n# Quick Links\n\n### A\n\nAbode\n\nAbuela Pan\n\nAcaBar\n\nAcatraz\n\nAldo's Vinoteca\n\nAlmac\u00e9n Ramos Generales\n\nAlsina\n\nAlto Palermo\n\nAlvear Palace Hotel\n\nAmerica del Sur\n\nAmerika\n\nAntares\n\nAramburu\n\nArchivo Regional\n\nAreco Hostel\n\nArevalito\n\nArt Suites\n\nArte y Esperanza\n\nArte \u00c9tnico Argentino\n\nAstor\n\nAutor\u00eda\n\nAyres de Recoleta\n\nAzema\n\n### B\n\nBA Sohotel\n\nBahrein\n\nBar Brit\u00e1nico\n\nBar El Federal\n\nBar Plaza Dorrego\n\nBar Sedd\u00f3n\n\nBarbot\n\nBasement Club\n\nBas\u00edlica de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora del Pilar\n\nBas\u00edlica de Sant\u00edsimo Sacramento\n\nBi Won\n\nBiblioteca Nacional\n\nBio\n\nBohemia Buenos Aires\n\nBoliche de Bessonart\n\nBolivia\n\nBonito San Telmo\n\nBoulevard Saenz Pe\u00f1a\n\nBoutique\n\nBrisas del Mar\n\nBroccolino\n\nBuen Suspiro\n\nBuenos Aires Design\n\nBuller Brewing Company\n\n### C\n\nCabrera Garden\n\nCaf\u00e9 Crespin\n\nCaf\u00e9 Margot\n\nCaf\u00e9 Retiro\n\nCaf\u00e9 San Juan\n\nCaf\u00e9 Tortoni\n\nCaf\u00e9 de los Angelitos\n\nCalifornia Burrito Company (CBC)\n\nCalma Chicha\n\nCampo Argentino de Polo\n\nCantares\n\nCapital\n\nCasa Bar\n\nCasa Calma\n\nCasa L\u00f3pez\n\nCasa Nacarello\n\nCasa y Mundo Bolivar\n\nCasal de Catalunya\n\nCaser\u00f3n Porte\u00f1o\n\nCasona La Ruchi\n\nCementerio de la Recoleta\n\nCentrico\n\nCentro Cultural Borges\n\nCentro Cultural Recoleta\n\nCentro Cultural Ricardo Rojas\n\nCentro Cultural San Mart\u00edn\n\nCentro Cultural del Bicentenario\n\nCentro Isl\u00e1mico Rey Fahd\n\nCervecer\u00eda Cossab\n\nChan Chan\n\nChill House Hostel\n\nChiquil\u00edn\n\nCircus Hostel & Hotel\n\nCiudad Cultural Konex\n\nClaridge Hotel\n\nClub Ar\u00e1oz\n\nClub Gricel\n\nCl\u00e1sica y Moderna\n\nCocoliche\n\nCoffee Town\n\nColecci\u00f3n de Arte Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat\n\nComedor Nikkai\n\nComo en Casa\n\nComplejo Tango\n\nConfiter\u00eda Ideal\n\nCongo\n\nConvento de Santo Domingo\n\nCorbeta Uruguay\n\nCrizia\n\nCrobar\n\nCruzat Beer House\n\nCualquier Verdura\n\nCuman\u00e1\n\n### D\n\nDad\u00e1\n\nDill & Drinks\n\nDon Julio\n\nDoppelg\u00e4nger\n\nDruid In\n\nDuque Hotel\n\nD'Oro\n\n### E\n\nEco Pampa Hostel\n\nEdificio Kavanagh\n\nEl Ateneo\n\nEl Beso\n\nEl Burladero\n\nEl Caminito\n\nEl Capullo\n\nEl Carnal\n\nEl Cid\n\nEl Coleccionista\n\nEl Cuartito\n\nEl Desnivel\n\nEl Federal\n\nEl Gato Negro\n\nEl Obrero\n\nEl Querand\u00ed\n\nEl Sanjuanino\n\nEl Viajero Hostel\n\nEl Viejo Almac\u00e9n\n\nEl Zanj\u00f3n de Granados\n\nElena\n\nEn Buen Orden\n\nEsquina Carlos Gardel\n\nEsquina Homero Manzi\n\n### F\n\nFacultad de Ingenieria\n\nFacultad de Ingenier\u00eda\n\nFaena Arts Center\n\nFaena Hotel + Universe\n\nFaro\n\nFeria Plaza Francia\n\nFeria Plaza Serrano\n\nFeria de Artesanos Caminito\n\nFeria de San Telmo\n\nFilo\n\nFloralis Gen\u00e9rica\n\nFlorer\u00eda Atl\u00e1ntico\n\nFlorida Garden\n\nFlux\n\nFour Seasons\n\nFragata Sarmiento\n\nFrank's Bar\n\nFundaci\u00f3n Proa\n\nFurai-Bo\n\n### G\n\nGabriella Capucci\n\nGaler\u00eda 5ta Avenida\n\nGaler\u00eda Bond Street\n\nGaler\u00edas Pac\u00edfico\n\nGibraltar\n\nGil Antiguedades\n\nGlam\n\nGran Bar Danz\u00f3n\n\nGran Hotel Hispano\n\nGran Hotel Oriental\n\nGran Parrilla del Plata\n\nGranix\n\nGreen Bamboo\n\n### H\n\nHarapos Patagonia\n\nHermanos Estebecorena\n\nHern\u00e1n Gipponi Restaurant\n\nHome Hotel\n\nHostel Viejo Telmo\n\nHotel Avenida\n\nHotel Bonito\n\nHotel Fac\u00f3n Grande\n\nHotel Lafayette\n\nHotel Lion D'or\n\nHotel Lyon\n\nHotel Maip\u00fa\n\nHotel Marbella\n\nHotel Pulitzer\n\nHotel Tres Sargentos\n\nHotel Villa Victoria\n\nHumawaca\n\n### I\n\nIglesia Matriz\n\nIglesia Santa Catalina\n\nIl Ballo del Mattone\n\nIl Matterello\n\nImhotep\n\nInfinito Hotel\n\n### J\n\nJard\u00edn Japon\u00e9s\n\nJard\u00edn Zool\u00f3gico\n\nJuana de Arco\n\n### K\n\nKika\n\nKilkenny\n\n### L\n\nLa Biela\n\nLa Bodeguita\n\nLa Bombonera Stadium\n\nLa Cabrera\n\nLa Catedral\n\nLa Cayetana\n\nLa Cigale\n\nLa Martina\n\nLa Mercer\u00eda\n\nLa Panader\u00eda de Pablo\n\nLa Parolaccia Trattoria\n\nLa Pe\u00f1a del Colorado\n\nLa Poesia\n\nLa Puerta Roja\n\nLa Puerto Rico\n\nLa Rosa N\u00e1utica\n\nLa Scala de San Telmo\n\nLa Trastienda\n\nLa Ventana\n\nLa Viruta\n\nLas Cholas\n\nLas Pizarras\n\nLas Violetas\n\nLe Sud\n\nLentas Maravillas\n\nLibros del Pasaje\n\nLivian Guesthouse\n\nLivin' Residence\n\nLo de Joaquin Alberdi\n\nLondon City\n\nLos 36 Billares\n\nLos Cardones\n\nL'Ago\n\nL'Orangerie\n\n### M\n\nMagdalena's Party\n\nMagnolia Hotel\n\nMaluco Beleza\n\nMalv\u00f3n\n\nMansi\u00f3n Vitraux\n\nManzana de las Luces\n\nMaria Luj\u00e1n\n\nMateria Urbana\n\nMemorabilia\n\nMercado de Abasto\n\nMercado de San Telmo\n\nMercado de las Pulgas\n\nMilhouse Youth Hostel\n\nMili\u00f3n\n\nMine Hotel\n\nMiranda\n\nMiravida Soho\n\nMishka\n\nMoebius\n\nMundo Bizarro\n\nMunich Recoleta\n\nMuseo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales\n\nMuseo Beatle\n\nMuseo Casa Carlos Gardel\n\nMuseo Casa de Ricardo Rojas\n\nMuseo Espa\u00f1ol\n\nMuseo Etnogr\u00e1fico Juan B Ambrosetti\n\nMuseo Evita\n\nMuseo Evita Restaurante\n\nMuseo Gauchesco Ricardo G\u00fciraldes\n\nMuseo Hist\u00f3rico Nacional\n\nMuseo Hist\u00f3rico de Cera\n\nMuseo Ind\u00edgena\n\nMuseo Judio Dr Salvador Kibrick\n\nMuseo Las Lilas\n\nMuseo Mitre\n\nMuseo Mundial del Tango\n\nMuseo Municipal\n\nMuseo Nacional de Arte Decorativo\n\nMuseo Nacional de Bellas Artes\n\nMuseo Nacional del Teatro\n\nMuseo Naval\n\nMuseo Penitenciario\n\nMuseo Portugu\u00e9s\n\nMuseo Xul Solar\n\nMuseo de Armas\n\nMuseo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fern\u00e1ndez Blanco\n\nMuseo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)\n\nMuseo de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo Buenos Aires\n\nMuseo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires (Mamba)\n\nMuseo de Arte Popular Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez\n\nMuseo de Arte Tigre\n\nMuseo de Artes Pl\u00e1sticas Eduardo S\u00edvori\n\nMuseo de Bellas Artes de La Boca Benito Quinquela Mart\u00edn\n\nMuseo de la Ciudad\n\nMuseo de la Pasi\u00f3n Boquense\n\nMuseo de la Polic\u00eda Federal\n\nMuseo del Azulejo\n\nMuseo del Mate\n\nMuseo del Traje\n\nMuseo y Taller Draghi\n\n### N\n\nNatural Deli\n\nNew Brighton\n\nNiceto Club\n\nNobrand\n\nNotorious\n\nNovotel Hotel\n\n### O\n\nObelisco\n\nOlsen\n\nOrigen Caf\u00e9\n\nOui Oui\n\nOviedo\n\n### P\n\nPach\u00e1\n\nPalacio Barolo\n\nPalacio Duhau \u2013 Park Hyatt\n\nPalacio Haedo\n\nPalacio Paz\n\nPalacio San Mart\u00edn\n\nPalacio de las Aguas Corrientes\n\nPalais de Glace\n\nPalermitano\n\nPalermo Viejo B&B\n\nPan Y Arte\n\nPanorama\n\nPapelera Palermo\n\nParadores Draghi\n\nParque 3 de Febrero\n\nParque Lezama\n\nParque de la Costa\n\nParrilla Pe\u00f1a\n\nPasaje de la Defensa\n\nPaseo Alcorta\n\nPatio Bullrich\n\nPatio del Liceo\n\nPetit Recoleta Hostel\n\nPizzer\u00eda G\u00fcerr\u00edn\n\nPlaza Asturias\n\nPlaza Dorrego\n\nPlaza Lavalle\n\nPlaza San Mart\u00edn\n\nPlaza de Mayo\n\nPlaza del Congreso\n\nPoetry Building\n\nPop Hotel\n\nPortal del Sur\n\nPortobello Vintage Boutique\n\nPort\u00f3n de Campo\n\nPosada de 1860\n\nPosada del \u00c1ngel\n\nPride Cafe\n\nProa Cafe\n\nPuente de la Mujer\n\nPuerto de Frutos\n\nPuesto La Lechuza\n\nPunto Sur\n\nPuntos en el Espacio\n\n### Q\n\nQuerido B&B\n\n### R\n\nRac\u00f3 de Buenos Aires\n\nRapsodia\n\nReina Madre Hostel\n\nRendezvous Hotel\n\nReserva Ecol\u00f3gica Costanera Sur\n\nRodi Bar\n\nRojo Tango\n\nRugantino Hotel\n\n### S\n\nSabatico Hostel\n\nSalon Canning\n\nSan Telmo Colonial\n\nSarkis\n\nScala Hotel\n\nShamrock\n\nShanghai Dragon\n\nSiamo nel Forno\n\nSignos\n\nSipan\n\nSocial la Lechuza\n\nSudestada\n\nSugar\n\nSugar & Spice\n\n### T\n\nTango Porte\u00f1o\n\nTea Connection\n\nTeatro Avenida\n\nTeatro Basti\u00f3n del Carmen\n\nTeatro Coliseo\n\nTeatro Col\u00f3n\n\nTeatro Gran Rex\n\nTeatro Nacional Cervantes\n\nTeatro Opera\n\nTeatro Paseo la Plaza\n\nTeatro Presidente Alvear\n\nTeatro San Mart\u00edn\n\nTeatro de la Ribera\n\nTerranova Hostel\n\nThelonious Bar\n\nTiempo de Gitanos\n\nTodo Mundo\n\nTomo 1\n\nTorre de los Ingleses\n\n### U\n\nUn Lugar\n\nUnik\n\nUsina del Arte\n\n### V\n\nV & S Hostel Club\n\nVain Boutique Hotel\n\nVan Koning\n\nVerne\n\nVita\n\n### W\n\nWalrus Books\n\nWildlife\n\nWussmann Shop\n\n### Y\n\nYira Yira Guesthouse\n\n### Z\n\nZival's\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}} +{"text":"\n\n~ Latest titles in the _**Build It Yourself**_ Series ~\n\nCheck out more titles at www.nomadpress.net\n\nNomad Press \nA division of Nomad Communications \n10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 \nCopyright \u00a9 2014 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved. \nNo part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review or **for limited educational use**. \nThe trademark \"Nomad Press\" and the Nomad Press logo are trademarks of Nomad Communications, Inc.\n\nISBN Softcover: 978-1-61930-254-9 \nISBN Hardcover: 978-1-61930-250-1\n\nIllustrations by Sam Carbaugh\n\nEducational Consultant, Marla Conn\n\nQuestions regarding the ordering of this book should be addressed to Nomad Press \n2456 Christian St. \nWhite River Junction, VT 05001 \nwww.nomadpress.net\n\nPrinted in Canada.\nCONTENTS\n\nTIMELINE\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nSo, You Want to Make Comics?\n\nCHAPTER 1\n\nAncient Comics\n\nCHAPTER 2\n\nComics in the Newspapers\n\nCHAPTER 3\n\nThe Birth of Superheroes\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\nInto the Silver Age of Comics\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\nLife After the Comics Code\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\nComics and the Internet\n\nGLOSSARY\n\nRESOURCES\n\nINDEX\n\n **Interested in Primary Sources? Look for this icon.**\n\nYou can use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more about comics and cartooning! Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you're scanning the right one. If you don't have a QR code scanning device, you can find a list of each url in the Resources on page 118.\nTIMELINE\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nSO, YOU WANT TO MAKE COMICS?\n\nFrom newspapers to movie theaters, comics are everywhere. Your parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents grew up reading them! They are one of the oldest ways to tell a story and they are one of the newest forms of modern art. Does that sound a little confusing?\n\nDon't worry, in this book you'll learn all about the history of this fun art form and unravel some of the mysteries of comics.\n\n**What are comics?** There are many definitions for comics floating around. The most universal one is that comics are images in sequence that tell a story, with or without words. A cartoon is a comic published in a newspaper or magazine.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncomic: images in sequence that tell a story, with or without words.\n\nimage: a picture of something, either real or imagined.\n\nsequence: the order in which something happens.\n\ncartoon: a comic published in a newspaper or magazine.\n\nLike stories, comics have rules and systems to help readers understand what is happening. Instead of sentences, you can use panels to help contain an idea or scene. Pages of comics work like paragraphs, while word balloons, thought clouds, and narration blocks give your characters a place to speak, think, or observe.\n\nCOMICS DON'T READ LIKE STORIES OR NOVELS AND CAN BE CONFUSING IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THE RULES AND SYSTEMS.\n\nModern comics use panels to frame each section. These panels are arranged in a sequence, or order, from beginning to end. The first panel starts the story, giving basics such as who is in the strip and where the story is taking place. The middle panel or panels follows and moves the story along. The final panel ends the story and usually has something funny or exciting happen in it!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\npanel: a square or other shape that frames a single scene in a comic strip.\n\nword balloon: a rounded outline with a point toward a character that encloses the character's speech.\n\nthought cloud: a shape similar to a word balloon that encloses a character's thought.\n\nnarration block: a block of text that contains the voice of the writer or of a character talking about what is happening.\n\ncharacter: someone in a story.\n\nComics are only as good as their characters. When you think of comics, do you imagine superheroes? The history of comics is full of different types of characters, from masked crusaders to funny animals. You can even turn yourself into a compelling comic character!\n\n**What makes a character interesting?** Keep reading to learn how to make your own characters using some of the best techniques in comics!\n\nComics didn't just appear overnight with today's rules and systems. They developed into the comics we know now through years of experimentation. Advances in printing, duplication technology, and computers have also been important to the evolution of comics.\n\nComics are fun and anyone can make them. As you read this book, you'll learn the basics of drawing, how to tell a story using comics, and how to make your very own comic book. You will even learn how to make a web comic that anyone in the world can read.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ntechnology: scientific or mechanical tools, methods, and systems used to solve a problem or do work.\n\nTRY THIS! Using stick figures, fill in the comic strip below. Make your characters speak, think, and observe in the right spaces.\n\nCHAPTER 1\n\nANCIENT COMICS\n\nWhere do comics come from? Ancient cave paintings in Font-de-Gaume, France, are some of the oldest paintings that we can still see. They are more than 14,000 years old. Sometime in the far past, the first human artists decided to tell stories of dreams and hunting by painting representations of things on the walls of the cave.\n\nThe artists used simple lines to represent what they saw in the world and in their dreams. Humans on cave walls look a lot like the stick figures of today. Other animals are easy to recognize, such as reindeer and saber-toothed tigers.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nrepresentation: showing things in pictures or other forms of art.\n\nTHESE PAINTINGS DON'T JUST SHOW PEOPLE AND ANIMALS STANDING STILL\u2014THEY TELL A STORY.\n\nThe humans are often shown hunting, throwing spears, and running. It's easy to imagine the artists sharing their stories with members of their tribe, pointing at these moments in the action to illustrate their story.\n\nUntil humans invented writing, most stories were passed along orally. The stories of the cave paintings of Font-de-Gaume were told to generation after generation, long after the original artists and storytellers had died. These paintings are some of the first examples of humans using images to tell a story!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ntribe: a large group of people with common ancestors and customs.\n\nancestor: someone from your family who lived before you.\n\ncustom: a way of living and doing things, such as food and dress.\n\norally: spoken out loud.\n\ngeneration: all the people born around the same time.\n\nindigenous: native.\n\ndepict: to create a representation of something experienced or seen.\n\nsymbol: a physical representation of a thing or idea.\n\nspiritual: religious, relating to the soul or spirit.\n\nMODERN DAY CAVE PAINTINGS\n\nIn Australia, many tribes of indigenous people use representational paintings to tell their stories. These stories often depict the dream countries claimed by each tribe. Using symbols for animals, rivers, trees, and rocks, the artists pass along the stories of their tribe to each generation. They also use their paintings when meeting with members of other tribes who have stories of their own. Most tribes use symbols from these dream paintings to distinguish themselves. By studying these dream country paintings, we can better understand how early humans used pictures to represent the spiritual dreams of their tribes as well as actual events in their lives.\n\nANCIENT EGYPT\n\nThe Egyptian empire (3050\u2013332 BCE) was one of the most powerful and advanced civilizations in the ancient world. It was famous for its monuments, such as the Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza. We know more about the Egyptians than many other civilizations because they loved to tell stories about themselves. These stories included words and pictures!\n\nThe ancient Egyptians began to develop a pictographic language around 4000 BCE. A pictographic language is one that uses common images and sounds to help form words. Their letters look like the things they describe.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nBCE: put after a date, BCE stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. These non-religious terms correspond to BC and AD. This book was published in 2014 CE.\n\ncivilization: a community of people that is advanced in art, science, and government.\n\ncommunity: a group of people who live in the same area.\n\nmonument: a building, structure, or statue that is special because it honors an event or person, or because it is beautiful.\n\npictographic: a picture of a word or idea.\n\nThe term for this Egyptian form of written language is hieroglyphics. If you were to look at hieroglyphics you would see birds, eyes, snakes, and many other familiar images.\n\nWHEN ANCIENT EGYPTIANS COMBINED THESE SYMBOLS THEY FORMED WORDS AND SENTENCES.\n\nEgyptians loved to use hieroglyphics on the walls and pillars of their buildings. They told stories using images too. One reason we know so much about how Egyptians mummified their pharaohs is because of these ancient \"comics.\"\n\nEgyptians often told the stories of their pharaohs inside their tombs. These stories were read in sequence and had images to help the viewer understand what was happening. The process of mummification was usually depicted, showing how the body was prepared for the afterlife. Mummification began with cleaning the body and removing the organs and ended with wrapping the body and placing it in a sarcophagus.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nhieroglyphics: a writing system that uses pictures and symbols called hieroglyphs (or just glyphs) to represent words and ideas.\n\nmummify: to preserve a dead body so it doesn't decay.\n\npreserve: to keep something from rotting.\n\ndecay: to rot.\n\npharaoh: the title for ancient Egyptian kings or rulers.\n\ntomb: a room or place where a dead person is buried.\n\nprocess: an activity that takes several steps to complete.\n\nafterlife: the ancient Egyptian belief in life after death.\n\nsarcophagus: a large, stone box containing an Egyptian king's coffin and mummy.\n\nMAYA: CREATORS OF THE FIRST COMIC BOOK\n\nIt may be a stretch to compare a Maya codex to a comic book, but the similarities are there. The Maya codices were created between 200 and 900 CE by the Maya people. Hundreds of years later, many experts are working to decode the Mayan written language. Thanks to the Maya codices and other artifacts, we are able to understand many things about their civilization.\n\nThe codices are brightly colored and use the inner bark of wild fig trees as paper. Some are the size of modern books with the pages folded together to be read. Other codices unfold into huge stories that could easily cover a wall. Each codex used words and pictures to tell stories about the Maya people.\n\nOne of the most common themes in the Maya codices is the stars. The Maya were famous for their ancient astrologers, who recorded the movements of the stars to help the Maya figure out the best time to do things. For example, the movement of the planet Venus was used by Maya astrologers to help their rulers decide when to go to war.\n\nTHE WORD \"MAYAN\" REFERS TO THE LANGUAGE OF THE MAYA PEOPLE. THE WORD \"MAYA\" IS USED TO DESCRIBE EVERYTHING ELSE.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncodex: another name for a book. Plural is codices.\n\nartifact: an object made by people in the past, including tools, pottery, and jewelry.\n\nastrologer: a person who studies how the movements of the sun, moon, and planets affect humans.\n\nModern astronomers study the observations recorded in the Maya codices. It helps them understand events that happened in the ancient night sky!\n\nThe largest Maya codex is known as the Madrid Codex. It is one of the most complete codices we have from the Maya people. The book was probably written by more than eight scribes.\n\nWhile the Mayan written language is still a mystery, the way the images are presented in sequence have helped modern archaeologists understand what they were trying to say. The Madrid Codex contains many astronomical observations, just like the other codices, but it also shows religious rituals, how to keep bees, and the art of Maya weaving.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nastronomer: a person who studies objects in the sky, such as stars and planets.\n\nobservation: something you notice.\n\nscribe: a person who copies writings by hand.\n\narchaeologist: a scientist who studies ancient people through the objects they left behind.\n\nritual: something done as part of a religion.\n\nTAPESTRIES: COVER YOUR WALLS IN STORIES\n\nIn Europe during the Middle Ages (350\u2013 1450 CE), lords and kings lived in huge drafty castles made of stone. To help keep the castles warm and to tell tales of brave royal family members, the walls were covered in brightly colored tapestries.\n\nThe second-earliest known European tapestry is 1,000 years old and is called the Cloth of St. Gereon. It shows bulls and griffins fighting, but no clear story. One of the earliest known tapestries to depict a story is from the cathedral of Halberstadt in Germany. It was made in 1175 and tells a story from the Bible.\n\nTAPESTRIES BECAME MORE AND MORE DETAILED AS WEAVERS LEARNED NEW TECHNIQUES.\n\nMany tapestries made for castles tell stories of the kings, lords, and knights who lived there. They tell stories without words and show scenes of war and daring. In many ways they look like modern superhero comics.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ntapestry: a colorful, woven fabric that hangs on a wall. It often shows a scene.\n\ncathedral: a large important church.\n\nYou can follow the story of St. George fighting a dragon or see King Charlemagne battle invading armies in Spain. Few tapestries have words on them, and even fewer show the lives of common people. Unlike the Maya codices, medieval tapestries focus only on the lives of the wealthiest people.\n\nOne of the largest and most detailed tapestries is the Bayeux Tapestry. It is 230 feet long and 20 inches tall (70 meters by 51 centimeters). The tapestry tells the story of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 CE by William the Conqueror. Told from left to right, the story gives details about the battles and struggles that resulted in the fall of King Harold of England. Some scholars think he was the basis for King Arthur.\n\nThe visual storytelling in tapestries helped inspire the artists behind the next evolution of comics. Enter the broadsheet!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmedieval: describes the Middle Ages, the period of European history after the fall of the Roman Empire, from about 350 to 1450 CE.\n\nWHERE DID \"CARTOON\" COME FROM?\n\nDuring the Renaissance (1300s\u20131600s CE), many master painters created large paintings on ceilings and walls called frescoes. These paintings were so enormous that a single artist couldn't do all the work. The process of creating these masterpieces led to the invention of the terms cartoon and cartoonist.\n\nMichelangelo began the process by sketching out a pencil or charcoal version of the complete painting. The sketched images had to be much smaller than they would be on the finished wall or ceiling. He would then hire other artists to help him paint the work on the wall. These hired artists drew larger versions of Michelangelo's sketch on big pieces of cardboard. These cardboard drawings, or carta, were used as models for the fullsized image on the wall.\n\nAfterward, the cardboard drawings were thrown away or reused. The artists who did this work called their drawings \"cartone,\" which would come to be known as cartoons today.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nRenaissance: a period of time in Europe after the Middle Ages, from the 1300s to the 1600s.\n\nGET YOUR BROADSHEET\n\nHumans have always loved stories with pictures. Until the invention of the European movable type printing press in 1430 by Johannes Gutenberg, books were all written and copied by hand. The only places that had books were castles and cathedrals. Most people couldn't even read!\n\nBut people loved to sketch funny scenes on scraps of paper or on walls. Someone with a funny drawing to share had to pass around the original or have someone copy the drawing by hand. This made telling stories through writing or drawing really time consuming.\n\nThen came the printing press. The first book to be printed on Gutenberg's new press was the Bible. Gutenberg began to print picture stories too, known as broadsides. Broadsides got their name from being printed on one side of a large sheet of paper. They were then either folded and passed around or plastered like a poster on a door or in a town square for everyone to see. Broadsides were fairly cheap to make and very popular.\n\nSINCE MOST PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO READ, MOST BROADSIDES WERE PRINTED LIKE COMICS.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nprinting press: a machine that presses inked type onto paper.\n\nBroadsides often told stories from the Bible or showed the martyrdom of a saint. They used the visual storytelling found in the tapestries of the rich, but told stories anyone could enjoy.\n\nBroadsides eventually became broadsheets, the early form of what we know as newspapers. As more and more people became literate, the pages of broadsheets were filled with words. Eventually, the picture stories were pushed into smaller and smaller spaces on the page.\n\nTHROUGH BROADSHEETS, THE MODERN political cartoon WAS BORN.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmartyrdom: the death of a person for his or her beliefs.\n\nsaint: a Catholic Christian who has performed miracles as confirmed by the pope.\n\nliterate: having the ability to read.\n\npolitical cartoon: a comical or critical depiction of a political figure or event.\n\npamphlet: an informative book or brochure.\n\nAmerican Revolution: the war during which the 13 American colonies fought England for independence. It lasted from 1775 to 1783.\n\nBoston Massacre: a riot in Boston that took place on March 5, 1770. Five colonists were shot and killed by British soldiers.\n\nTHE COMICS ARE COMING!\n\nBroadsheets were popular throughout Europe and the American colonies. Printers had power because they could make pamphlets and broadsheets containing new and different ideas. One of the most famous illustrations printed in a broadsheet before the American Revolution was one of the Boston Massacre, drawn by Paul Revere. The drawing shows British troops opening fire on unarmed Boston colonists. **If you were a colonist, how would this picture make you feel?**\n\nThe cartoon doesn't tell the whole story of what happened, but Revere's image was burned into the minds of American colonists. The American Revolution may not have happened if it wasn't for these brave printers and the work of their presses.\n\nPaul Revere continued to make political cartoons and sketches during the American Revolution. He wasn't the only American cartoonist to create political drawings during this time, but his were among the most popular.\n\nPolitical comics are usually shown in a single panel and use exaggeration and symbols to tell their stories. Often they are meant to influence their readers' thoughts about a political party or country. Paul Revere found that if he showed the British as the bad guys in his comics, he could get more Americans on the side of the revolutionaries.\n\nAmerican newspapers continued to print political cartoons after the revolution. Instead of the British, the bad guys in the comics were whomever the artist disagreed with. This could even include the president.\n\nPAMPHLETS AND BROADSHEETS OFTEN EMPLOYED ARTISTS TO CREATE DRAWINGS THAT INFLUENCED THEIR READERS TO ACTION.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nrevolutionary: someone committed to fighting a ruler or political system.\n\nPAUL REVERE: PATRIOT CARTOONIST\n\nPaul Revere was made famous by the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, \"Paul Revere's Ride.\" We all know the famous ride Paul Revere took through the Massachusetts countryside to warn everyone by calling, \"The British are coming! The British are coming!\" What many of us don't know is that Paul Revere was also one of America's first cartoonists.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncontent: the written material and illustrations in a story, article, book, or website.\n\nA famous silversmith in Boston, Paul Revere often doodled funny drawings on scraps of paper in his spare time. He was known as a supporter of independence who met with other revolutionaries to plot how they could get the British out of the colonies. His skills as a doodler were needed when revolutionary broadsheet printers wanted to include more visual content for their readers.\n\nBesides the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere drew comics during the American Revolution that depicted the British soldiers, the colonists loyal to the king, and the king himself as bad guys. The single panel form was Paul Revere's favorite way of making his drawings. He was one of the first American cartoonists to use a form of the word balloon. Characters were shown to \"talk\" with ribbons of words coming out of their mouths.\n\nJAPANESE MANGA\n\nIn 1812, a Japanese artist named Hokusai began creating sketchbooks he called manga. These quick drawings often told stories of traditional Japanese life, from local fishermen to powerful military leaders called shoguns. Hokusai drew very quickly and captured the movement and expression of people going about their everyday lives. He saw his sketchbooks as a good way to develop skills for his full-time job creating stories on tapestries, scrolls, and silk divider screens.\n\nArtists employed by his studio were required to make their own manga using Hokusai's techniques. Hokusai's drawings were kept and passed on to other Japanese artists, influencing the development of Japanese comics.\n\nToday, Japan has one of the most lively comics cultures. Comics are made about everything, from funny stories to serious lessons about doing business.\n\nHOKUSAI'S NAME FOR HIS DRAWINGS ARE WHAT THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN CALL COMICS TODAY\u2014MANGA.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmanga: a term for Japanese-style comics.\n\nculture: the beliefs and way of life of a group of people.\n\nSIDEWALK CAVE PAINTING\n\n**SUPPLIES:** long dry sidewalk, colored chalk\n\n**Ancient humans used simple drawings on cave walls to tell stories about hunting, dreams, and daily activities. You can draw stories just like the ancient cave people!**\n\n1Think of a story from your life you would like to tell a friend. Did your family go on a special vacation or a fun adventure?\n\n2Break your story down into sections. It should have at least three sections: a beginning, middle, and end. Your story might have more. A story about learning to ride a bike might have five sections. Can you think what they would be?\n\n3Find a length of sidewalk with as many spaces as you have sections. If your story has five sections, you will need five sidewalk spaces.\n\n4Starting with the first sidewalk space on the left, use the chalk and begin to draw your story. You can use stick figures and simple drawings to show what is happening. Continue drawing your story on the other spaces of sidewalk.\n\n**TRY THIS!** How could you tell stories like this using different materials? What if you were on a beach or in the snow? What's the longest story you could tell? Try getting some friends to tell a story together. Have each person add a different detail to each section and take turns telling the story to each other.\n\n**MANGA-STYLE SKETCHBOOK**\n\n**SUPPLIES:** several sheets of 6-by-12-inch (15-by-30-centimeter) white paper, stapler, glue, 2 squares cut from cereal boxes each 6 by 6 inches (15 by 15 centimeters), 1 sheet of 8-by-14-inch (20-by-36-centimeter) colored paper, markers\n\n**Hokusai made sketchbooks and filled them with drawings of what he saw each day. You can make your own manga-style sketchbook.**\n\n1Stack the white paper. Fold the stack in half to make a square, unfold, and put three staples along the fold.\n\n2Glue the cardboard squares to each side of the colored paper. Leave \u00bc inch (\u00bd centimeter) of space between them. Fold the excess paper around the cardboard and glue it down.\n\n3Glue the first and last pages of your stapled pages to the left- and right-hand cardboard squares so that the glued edges are covered.\n\n4Decorate the cover. Add a title and the date you start. You can make more sketchbooks as you fill them up, numbering each as you go. Include a start and finish date on each cover.\n\nTRY THIS! Can you make sketchbooks in different shapes? Try using different colors of paper for the cover and different types of cardboard to make your cover more durable! How would you make a pocket-sized sketchbook?\n\nDRAW LIKE AN EGYPTIAN!\n\n**SUPPLIES:** paper, pencils, blue painter tape, large pieces of cardboard, scissors, paint, paintbrushes\n\nThe ancient Egyptians loved to tell stories about everything their civilization did! They used the walls of their pyramids, palaces, and temples to tell their tales. Popular themes were palace life, beliefs, and even farming! Follow in their footsteps and use words and drawings to tell future generations about something you do everyday!\n\n1Think about something you do every day that takes several steps to complete, such as getting ready for school. On a piece of paper, draw out the steps, starting on the left side. If you need more space, tape on another piece of paper until you have finished with your steps.\n\n2Cut up the cardboard boxes into large pieces of cardboard. Find an empty wall where you can tape up your pieces of cardboard. Make sure there is room to fit everything you drew on the paper. If you needed to use more than one piece of paper in step one, make sure you use at least that many pieces of cardboard on the wall.\n\n3Just like the early cartoonists of the Renaissance, draw big versions of your steps on the cardboard. Use words above your images to tell your audience what is happening in that step. For example, if you drew yourself putting on your shoes you might write, \"put on shoes, tighten Velcro straps.\"\n\n4After you have drawn large versions of all of your steps, go through and add color with your paint. You now have a step-by-step record of something you do every day!\n\nTHE ROSETTA STONE\n\nThe Rosetta Stone was a carved tablet that translated hieroglyphics into other known ancient languages. Long before the Rosetta Stone was discovered, archaeologists were able to understand a lot about the Egyptian people because of their use of images in sequence. While they were still closer to ancient cave paintings than they were to the modern comic strip, these Egyptian stories were another step to what we now know as comics! But, as you've seen, the ancient Egyptians weren't the only ancient civilization to use images in sequence to tell important stories.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nRosetta Stone: a stone tablet written in 196 BCE telling the same decree using hieroglyphics, Egyptian Demotic script, and ancient Greek. The stone was fully translated in 1822, leading specialists to understand hieroglyphics better in the nineteenth century.\n\nCHAPTER 2\n\nCOMICS IN THE NEWSPAPERS\n\nHave you read a newspaper today? Look in any newspaper and you might find dozens of comics printed in their very own section. Comics such as _Peanuts_ , _Calvin and Hobbes_ , _Garfield_ , _Get Fuzzy_ , and _Pearls Before Swine_ have all become household names thanks to their presence in newspapers.\n\nComics like these didn't exist in early American newspapers. Early comics were usually political cartoons such as those drawn by Paul Revere. It took the popularity and innovation of one political cartoon character to break open the gates for modern newspaper comics. This character was a bald boy in a yellow smock.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ninnovation: a new creation or a unique solution to a problem.\n\nsmock: a cloth worn over clothing to protect it from stains.\n\nTHE YELLOW KID\n\nIn 1895, Joseph Pulitzer was one of the most powerful newspaper publishers in America. He hired Richard F. Outcault to create the first serial comic strip character. Outcault's comic was called _The Yellow Kid_. The character wore a yellow smock with writing on it that stated what he was thinking or saying.\n\nFirst conceptualized as a political cartoon, _The Yellow Kid_ soon became very popular. Pulitzer published the comic on one entire sheet of newspaper using new printing techniques that allowed for cheap color reproduction.\n\nThe bright yellow of the kid's smock and the humor in the comic caught the attention of Pulitzer's readers. _The Yellow Kid_ resembled old political comics and broadsheets since it rarely used panels, relying on one giant illustration to convey many jokes. For a while, _The Yellow_ _Kid_ was as popular as Mickey Mouse is today.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nserial: occurring in a series.\n\nconceptualized: imagined and thought out.\n\ncolor reproduction: to make color prints of an original piecec of art.\n\nhumor: the quality of being funny.\n\nTHE POPULARITY OF THE YELLOW KID LED PULITZER TO FIND OTHER CARTOONISTS WHO WERE EAGER TO SEE THEIR CHARACTERS REACH A WIDER AUDIENCE.\n\nPulitzer's main rival in the newspaper industry, William Randolph Hearst, wanted to include comics in his newspapers, too. He even tried to convince Richard Outcault to leave Pulitzer's newspapers and draw _The Yellow Kid_ for Hearst's publications.\n\n**THE AMAZING COLOR PRINTER**\n\nBefore digital printing was invented, most color printing was done using a process of layering the tints of four colors. This tricked the eyes of readers into seeing more than just the four colors. The process, called CMYK, is still used today. The colors are cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K).\n\n Richard Outcault's comics often took up an entire page of the newspaper and could be very busy and chaotic. **Take a look at this comic from** **1896.** How is it different from the comics you find in the newspaper today? Is it easier to read? More fun to look at? Is it more confusing? Why do you think comics have evolved into their current, simpler form?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ndigital: characterized by electronic and computerized technology.\n\nlayering: stacking images on top of each other.\n\ntint: a shade or variety of color.\n\nEACH LAYER USES SHADES OF THOSE FOUR COLORS, WHICH, WHEN STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER, CREATE WHAT LOOKS LIKE MANY DIFFERENT COLORS.\n\nEarly newspapers in America relied on movable type and woodcut images to print a single page. It was very time consuming! Large towns could afford to print daily newspapers, but small towns didn't usually have this luxury. Then, in 1843, an inventor named Richard March Hoe created the steam-powered drum printer, which took castings from a master page. It could print page after page from a large roll of paper. The drum printer made the printing process faster and easier.\n\nIn the 1880s, mass color printing was developed. This new color separation technique was called chromolithography and allowed newspapers to print comics and etchings of photographs in color for the first time. Newspapers flew off the stands!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmovable type: a process of printing that uses individual type pieces to spell out words.\n\nwoodcut: a way of printing by carving an image on a piece of wood before adding ink and printing the image onto paper.\n\ncasting: a metal print form created to make multiple copies of a printed page.\n\nmaster page: the version of a printed page that is used to make other copies.\n\nchromolithography: a color printing process using metal plates to layer tints of color.\n\netching: a print made by scratching original art onto a metal plate.\n\nFACT OR FICTION?\n\nCould the popularity of America's two major newspapers help to spark a war? A large part of the reason the United States went to war with Spain in the 1890s was because the public was influenced by articles written in Hearst's and Pulitzer's papers. The anti-Spanish articles were later found to be mostly false. The reporters had been actively encouraged to exaggerate their stories to help sell more newspapers! Do you think this could happen today? Why or why not?\n\nTHE FIRST SUNDAY COMICS\n\nJoseph Pulitzer invented one of the most enduring forms of comics\u2014 the Sunday comics. First published in 1895, the Sunday comics were a collection of _The Yellow Kid_ comics plus several others. The newspapers of the late nineteenth century were much larger than our papers today. The cartoonists often had an entire page to create their comics, and that meant a lot of creativity could go into each one.\n\nOnce Pulitzer proved that the Sunday comics increased sales, other publishers weren't far behind in publishing Sunday comics of their own. Newspapers started calling these new drawings the funnies.\n\nThrough the years, the Sunday comics have decreased in size, but they still remain one of the major selling points of newspapers.\n\nWHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FUNNY TO READ IN THE NEWSPAPER?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nfunnies: the original name of comic strips in Sunday newspapers.\n\nEARLY COMIC MASTERS\n\nWhen comics first started appearing every week, newspapers were eager for new talent. Here are a few of the early masters of the modern comic medium.\n\n**Henry Conway Fisher and** _**Mutt and**_ _**Jeff**_ **:** In 1907, Henry Conway Fisher, also known as Bud, introduced one of the greatest innovations in cartooning: the comic strip. Until then, most comics were huge splashes of color and action with few panel borders, such as in _The Yellow Kid_. Fisher decided to tell stories with **standardized** panels that were always the same size. Panels helped readers understand what was happening. The comic strip was also much smaller, which meant newspapers didn't have to use most of a page for just one comic.\n\nBud Fisher's comic strip, _A. Mutt_ , featured a man called Mutt who got into lots of trouble. Hearst loved the work Fisher was doing and hired him to produce the strip for his national newspapers.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmedium: the material artists use to create their art, such as stone, paint, and ink.\n\nstandardized: a set way of doing something.\n\n Look at the Mutt and Jeff comic strip that was reprinted in 1948. Is this the kind of humor people today would find funny? Why or why not?\n\nAlong with inventing the panel, Fisher also introduced another innovation to comics: the sidekick. Bud decided to draw another character into his strip, a man called Jeff. The friendship between Mutt and Jeff was so popular that Fisher began to include him as a regular part of the story. He even renamed the strip _Mutt and Jeff_.\n\n**George Herriman and** _**Krazy Kat**_ **:** The first widely published African American cartoonist was George Herriman from Louisiana. Herriman's comic strip, called _The Dingbat Family_ , began to appear in newspapers in 1910. The strip followed a cast of characters in an apartment building.\n\nKrazy the cat and Ignatz the mouse were the most popular characters in the strip. One day, the mouse flung a brick at the cat's head. The cat took the brick as a sign of love from the mouse. This ridiculous premise appealed to readers, and Krazy and Ignatz eventually took over the daily strip. Herriman renamed the strip _Krazy Kat_ and introduced a third character, a dog called Offissa Pupp.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nsidekick: a character who supports the main character.\n\ncast: a group of characters.\n\npremise: the main idea of a story.\n\nrace: a group of people with the same skin color and other physical features.\n\n **More** _**Krazy Kat**_ **!**\n\nHerriman played with the logic of the panels. Characters might find themselves in different seasons over the span of a few panels or they might chase each other around the moon. Eventually, inspired by the natural rock formations at Arizona's Monument State Park, Herriman modeled his imaginary world after the real Coconino County.\n\nHERRIMAN WROTE dialogue WITH AN INVENTED SPELLING OF ENGLISH WORDS THAT REFLECTED THE SOUNDS OF SPANISH, YIDDISH, AND CREOLE ACCENTS.\n\n_Krazy Kat_ was never a huge favorite with the general public. Many newspaper editors wanted to cancel the eccentric comic, but they couldn't since their boss, Mr. Hearst, loved it. It was also loved by many great artists and writers of the early 1900s, including the painter Picasso and the poet e.e. cummings.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nlogic: the principle, based on math, that things should work together in an orderly way.\n\ndialogue: a conversation between two people.\n\neccentric: odd, usually in a unique way.\n\n**Winsor McCay and** _**Dream of the Rarebit Fiend**_ **and** _**Little Nemo in Slumberland**_ **:** Winsor McCay began his career as a cartoonist drawing political cartoons, but he started making comic strips for his local paper after he saw how popular they were. His comic, _Dream of the Rarebit Fiend_ , was an immediate success.\n\nThe exciting stories grew stranger and stranger until the final panel where the main character woke up. He blamed the strange dream on a cheese dish called rarebit, which he'd eaten before bed.\n\nIn 1905, McCay created _Little Nemo in Slumberland_. The strip followed the dream adventures of a boy named Nemo who was joined by a repeat cast of characters. With gigantic, colorful panels filled with inventive worlds, it almost always ended with Nemo waking in his bed and his father telling him to settle down. In one famous Sunday strip, Little Nemo dreams that his bed comes to life, the legs grow incredibly long, and it walks above New York City.\n\n Winsor McKay's comics were known as much for the artwork as the dialogue. Look at one of his comics from 1905. Where would a comic like this most likely be published today? In newspapers, magazines, or on websites?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nrarebit: a type of soft cheese which is famous for giving indigestion.\n\n_Little Nemo_ was wildly popular, and the inventive spirit McCay brought to his comic continues to inspire cartoonists today. While he was influenced by some of the art of his time, he was mostly inspired by the writings of psychologists.\n\n**Harold Gray and** _**Little Orphan**_ _**Annie**_ **:** Harold Gray created the very popular _Little Orphan Annie_ in 1924. The comic featured the adventures of an orphan girl with curly hair, a red dress, and large, blank eyes. Annie's eyes allowed readers to add their own expressions to the character.\n\n_Little Orphan Annie_ became an iconic image of the times. Annie was the foster child of a rich man, Daddy Warbucks, and they were always getting separated and having to find each other again.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\npsychologist: a person who studies the mind and behavior.\n\niconic: a widely recognized symbol of a certain time.\n\nDoes _Little Orphan Annie_ sound familiar? The popular comic strip inspired a famous musical called _Annie_ , which has been turned into a movie and has been performed by thousands of schools and local theater groups throughout the country. Next time you find yourself singing along to \"It's a Hard Knock Life,\" think about how it all started with a comic strip from the 1920s!\n\n**E.C. Segar and** _**Popeye**_ **:** Comics of the early twentieth century were packed with physical action. E.C. Segar's _Popeye_ certainly had its share of fighting. Segar introduced Popeye as a side character in his popular strip, _Thimble Theater_.\n\n Little Orphan Annie was so popular that, during a newspaper strike in the 1940s, New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia read the comic out loud on the radio so readers could keep up with her adventures. **Listen to** **the mayor's radio address.** Do you think the comic was as much fun to listen to as it was to read? How does the mayor include a lesson after reading the comic out loud to the audience?\n\nTHE 50-YEAR-OLD, ONE-EYED SAILOR WHO LOVED TO FIGHT EVENTUALLY STOLE THE STRIP!\n\nSegar was surprised to discover the popularity of a character he hadn't planned on using for more than a few strips. Popeye's fame grew, and just as in _Krazy Kat_ , the strip was renamed _Popeye_ after the new main character.\n\nPart of the popularity of _Popeye_ had to do with the action sequences. The strip portrayed Popeye fighting a variety of villains, including his arch-nemesis, Bluto. Segar drew exaggerated scenes, showing the energy of each punch, kick, and wallop with the intensity of modern-day special effects.\n\nMANY HISTORIANS THINK POPEYE WAS THE FIRST SUPERHERO. HE COULD PUNCH HARDER THAN ANY LIVING MAN, ESCAPE ANY TRAP, AND EVEN STOP BULLETS.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nvillain: a character who opposes the hero and does bad things.\n\narch-nemesis: a character who is the opposite of the main character, and usually the enemy.\n\n\"I YAM WHAT I YAM\"\n\nPopeye ate spinach to get strong. His theme song even touted the strengthening powers of the green veggie, \"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, I'm strong to the finish because I eats me spinach, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man!\"\n\nThe publishers of Popeye thought this was a great way to get kids to eat healthy. A decimal mistake made in 1870 made people think spinach contained much more iron than it really does. Spinach is healthy, but not as healthy as people thought before 1937, when the mistake was fixed!\n\nTHING, JOB, DESCRIPTION\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, several friends, scissors, three cups, colored pencils or crayons\n\n**Comics are about communicating ideas with pictures and words. A cartoon needs to convey important information to the reader without having to say it. For example, if your main character is a crime-fighting duck, your readers need to immediately recognize it as both a duck and a crime fighter.**\n\nAs you do this exercise with a group of friends, keep in mind some key questions:\n\n*What makes my animal look unique?\n\n*What sorts of things give clues about my animal's job?\n\n*How can someone tell what my character is feeling without words?\n\n1Make three columns on a piece of paper and label them \"Animal,\" \"Job,\" and \"Description.\" In each column, write a list of examples. Write enough so each of your friends will get one from each column. For example, if you have eight friends, you would write out eight animals, eight jobs, and eight descriptions. These descriptions could be words such as clumsy, sleepy, or creative.\n\n2Cut out each animal, job, and description. Put the animals in one cup, the jobs in another, and the descriptions in the last one. You can fold up each piece of paper so that anyone picking out of the cup can't see what it is.\n\n3Pass each cup around the room. Everyone takes one piece of paper out of each cup. Once everyone has all three pieces of paper, get drawing with colored pencils and crayons! Make sure nobody can see what your combination is and remember, **don't use any words**.\n\n4Have each person show his or her drawing to the group and see how quickly people can guess what each of the drawings depicts.\n\nTRY THIS! What helped people guess correctly? Did color play a role? Try adding a fourth category to the exercise. Also try replacing the categories with other things, such as vegetables instead of animals, or super powers instead of jobs.\n\nDRAW CARTOON FACES\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, good eraser, pen or thin marker\n\n**One of the best ways to show emotion on a character is through facial expressions. The face may seem complicated to draw at first, but when you follow a few simple steps you can draw all kinds of faces! The best way to draw anything is by breaking it down into simple shapes.**\n\n1 **FACE SHAPE** : Most faces are oval, but some look angular. Draw a few different face shapes. Here are some examples.\n\n2 **GUIDELINES** : Once you have a face shape you're happy with, lightly draw a vertical and horizontal guideline through the middle. These lines are very important. They guide us when placing the parts of the face.\n\n3 **NOSE** : The nose is often used as a reference point on the face because it doesn't change shape as often as eyes, eyebrows, and the mouth. The bottom line of the nose is usually halfway between the horizontal guideline and the chin. Here are some sample nose shapes.\n\n4 **EYES** : Every cartoonist has his or her own style of drawing eyes. But the darkest part of the eye, the pupil, almost always goes on the horizontal guideline. Here are some examples.\n\n5 **MOUTH:** Lightly draw two lines straight down from the pupils of the eyes. At about halfway between the bottom of your nose and the bottom of the chin, draw your mouth. Start one end at an eye line and connect to the other.\n\n6 **EYEBROWS:** Eyebrows show the most emotion on a face. Look at the following examples and see how a blank face goes from normal, to mad, to sad, to tired, to surprised\u2014all because of eyebrows.\n\n7 **EARS:** To add ears, start at the horizontal line on the sides of your face. Curve up slightly before swooping around to the bottom of your ear. The base of the ear should be along the same line as the bottom of the nose. Take a look at the people around you. Do you notice how their eyes, noses, and ears all line up pretty much the same way?\n\n8 **HAIR** : Start the hair alittle below the top of the head. The biggest mistake people make when drawing hair is not connecting it to the head! Look at your own hair or your friends' hair. Which hairstyle will you choose?\n\n9 Finish drawing the chin and trace over all the lines you want to keep with pen. This is called **inking**. Erase the pencil guidelines.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ninking: to use ink to add definition to pencil drawings.\n\nDRAW CARTOON BODIES\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, tracing paper, eraser, photographs of people that show the full body such as images from magazines\n\n**Cartoon faces need to be attached to cartoon bodies to do stuff such as run, dance, sit, and fly. Get ready to draw cartoon bodies\u2014bones first! Stick figures give us a general idea of where to put everything on our final drawing. Like the bones in your body, these lines give us a frame to build the meat of our characters.**\n\n1 Start with an action line. What's an action line? Think of it as the moving direction of your character. The middle section of the line will be your character's spine. Our character will be standing still, so our action line will be straight up and down.\n\n2 Start at the top of your action line and draw your face shape, with the top of the line close to the top of the head. Don't make it too large since you need to add the rest of the body.\n\n3 Just like faces, bodies can be drawn first as simple shapes. Let's draw a rectangle for the body. Then draw four circles, one at each corner of the rectangle.\n\n4 Draw one line from each circle. These will be the arms and legs. Draw a circle at the end of each arm and a triangle at the bottom of the legs.\n\n5 To make arms, draw two lines on either side of your arm line connecting the shoulder circle to the hand circle. If you want to get fancy, add an elbow circle and then connect shoulder to elbow and elbow to hand.\n\n6 Repeat this process for the legs and neck. Erase the bone lines when you are done.\n\n7 Clothes take a lot of practice to get right. Once you have the basic shapes of your body drawn out, however, you can hang clothing off of your character fairly easily. Add a simple T-shirt and pants.\n\nTRY THIS! What body shapes do you see all around you? What is your body shape? Can you draw a full cartoon of yourself, face and body? Once you've mastered body shapes, try to draw different types of clothing on your characters. You can draw a bunch of dummy bodies and practice adding your fashions to them. Fashion designers do the same thing everyday!\n\nTRY THIS, TOO! Now that you've mastered a cartoon body standing still, try to draw one in action. Look at people in different positions in magazines. Use tracing paper and try to find their action line, and then draw their sketchy skeleton. Try it on a bunch of different people and poses to see how your sketches change. Find some photos of kids and babies. Do their sketchy skeletons look the same as the adults? What's different?\n\n**DRAW HANDS AND FEET**\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, eraser, hands and feet\n\n**Some parts of a character are really tricky to draw. The two that cartoonists struggle with the most are hands and feet. Here are some suggestions for tackling these tricky parts.**\n\n**HANDS:** Start with shapes. Most complex body parts can be broken down into a combination of basic shapes. For hands, think of circles and ovals.\n\n1 To draw a hand with the palm up, first draw a circle. This will be the palm of the hand you are drawing.\n\n2 Now, draw an oval on top of the circle where the base of the thumb goes.\n\n3 Draw five finger lines. Make a shorter one from the thumb oval and four coming out the top of the circle\u2014 notice how they are different lengths.\n\n4 Using simple guidelines, mark off the knuckle, just as you marked off the elbows and knees in the cartoon body project on the previous page. Then add some meat to the skeleton fingers. Erase your guidelines and marvel at your accomplishment!\n\n**FEET:** Have you ever really looked hard at your foot? What shape is it? Artists tend to think of the foot as a triangle and a circle. You can also think of your foot as a wedge.\n\n1 Looking at your own foot for reference, draw what you think the basic shape is, either a wedge shape or a triangle\/circle.\n\n2 Toes aren't as long or bendy as fingers, but they have distinct shapes. The big toe is a little farther away from the other four and is the base to your foot's arch. Start your toes by drawing little ovals for each toe.\n\n3 Just as you did for the arms, legs, and fingers, add the outline to each of your foot's sketchy skeleton parts.\n\n4 Erase your guidelines and enjoy! Next time, try drawing some shoes. How does this change how you think of a foot's shape?\n\nTRY THIS! Whenever you find yourself with a little free time, you can practice drawing hands. You always have one with you! Like learning to play an instrument, drawing takes practice.\n\n**DESIGN A CAST OF CHARACTERS**\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, markers, small objects from around the house (such as vegetables, fruit, bottles, glasses, boots, and electronics)\n\n**If you saw just a dark outline of your favorite cartoon character, you could probably tell who it was from its shape. Russell from the movie** _**Up**_ **looks like an egg, Popeye is skinny with a knobby head and huge forearms, and Sponge Bob is, well, a sponge! Interesting shapes make interesting characters. Practice making different characters out of everyday shapes.**\n\n1 Arrange your objects in front of you and draw each shape on a piece of paper. Review all your shapes\u2014look at them upside down and sideways. Do the shapes suggest any body types to you? For example, an upside down ketchup bottle may look like a football player with a big chest.\n\n2 Once you have some body types in mind, start to figure out how to turn each shape into a character. Sketch out the face, where the pants go, and add arms and legs. Use what you've learned from the projects so far to bring your characters to life. Don't forget to give your characters names!\n\nTRY THIS! When you watch a cartoon or animated movie, have your homemade manga sketchbook handy. Pause the movie when a new major character is introduced. Try to sketch the shape of that character. Do different shapes tell you something about the character? What are heroes shaped like? What about villains?\n\n**SUNDAY COMIC STRIP**\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, ruler, pens, colored pencils, sketchbook with your character designs\n\n**Now that you have an awesome cast of characters, it's time to show them off in a Sunday comic strip! Every good comic strip begins with a thumbnail. Not a real thumbnail! In cartooning, a thumbnail is a small sketch, or plan, of what your whole page will look like.**\n\n1 Start your thumbnail by making your comic strip panels. Draw a rectangle about 3 by 2 inches (8 by 5 centimeters) and then divide it up into panels. Use simple stick figures and rough word balloons to sketch out the action or joke of the strip. The beauty of thumbnails is you can erase them to change your ideas. You can even draw several thumbnails of each comic to try to find the best design.\n\n2 On a fresh piece of paper, lay out your comic panels carefully with a ruler. Follow your thumbnail so that you have enough panels and they are in the right place.\n\n3 Sketch out your characters and words with pencil first, then use your pen to trace the lines you want to keep. When you are done inking, erase the pencil.\n\n4 Now you are ready for color! Be creative and don't be afraid to use lots of color. Give your masterpiece a title and sign your name!\n\nTRY THIS! Design other Sunday comics using different shapes for the panels. Do circles or triangles make the comic funnier or more serious? Try making a comic with no words at all. Can you still tell a joke or story without words?\n\nCHAPTER 3\n\nTHE BIRTH OF SUPERHEROES\n\nEveryone loves heroes! Ever since ancient times, people have been telling stories about men and women with super strength who risk their own safety to save the lives of others.\n\nThe oldest hero to appear in an epic was Gilgamesh, a hero from a region of the world called the Fertile Crescent. This area is where the countries of Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, and Iran are today. Gilgamesh was very strong and helped save his city\u2013state from monsters and villains.\n\nOne of Gilgamesh's first challengers was Enkidu, a powerful warrior whom Gilgamesh fought for weeks. Eventually, Enkidu was defeated and became Gilgamesh's friend. Enkidu was one of the first sidekicks!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nepic: a long poem, usually about the life of a hero or heroine.\n\ncity\u2013state: a city and its surrounding area, which rules itself like a country.\n\nAncient Greeks also told tales about superheroes, such as Achilles, who had only one weak spot\u2014his heel. Another hero, Odysseus, battled monsters on his journey home from war. Stories and poems from the past often featured very strong people who protected weaker people.\n\nWHY WERE STORIES ABOUT SUPERHEROES POPULAR BACK THEN? WHY ARE THEY POPULAR NOW?\n\nEARLY SUPERHEROES\n\nComic book superheroes have several predecessors other than the ancient Greek heroes. One of those is the Scarlet Pimpernel. Created by a Hungarian writer named Baroness Emma Orczy, the Scarlet Pimpernel was a vigilante who saved wealthy aristocrats from the horrors of the French Revolution. It is one of the first instances of a hero using a disguise and an alter ego, two common characteristics of modern-day superheroes, such as Batman. _The Scarlet Pimpernel_ was made famous in America through a new form of entertainment, pulp magazines.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\npredecessor: someone or something that came before others.\n\nvigilante: a person who takes the law into his or her own hands.\n\naristocrat: a person of royal blood or privilege.\n\nFrench Revolution: a period of violent change in France between 1789 and 1799.\n\nalter ego: a second personality in the same person.\n\ninvincible: someone who cannot be defeated.\n\npulp magazine: a cheap fiction magazine published between 1896 and the 1950s.\n\nPulp magazines were cheaply made publications that people bought for the exciting stories of romance, science fiction, adventure, westerns, and suspense. Many Americans were first introduced to characters such as Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes through pulp magazines. Other twentiethcentury heroes had their start in the pulps, too, such as Buck Rogers and Zorro. The covers of pulp magazines were bright and flashy and would sometimes have nothing to do with the actual stories inside.\n\nTAKE A LOOK AT THE COVERS OF TODAY'S COMIC BOOKS\u2014THEY HAVE A VERY SIMILAR LOOK TO THE PULP MAGAZINES OF THE EARLY 1900.\n\nOne of the most important science fiction pulp magazines was called _Amazing Stories_ , which was about a future in which everyone had a jet pack or battled alien cultures on Mars. The cover of one _Amazing_ _Stories_ pulp shows a man flying through his neighborhood, aided only by a small device. It inspired a few important teenagers in Cleveland, Ohio, who created a superhero who would one day fly.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nscience fiction: stories that deal with the influence of real or imagined science.\n\nsuspense: a feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen.\n\nRADIO!\n\nThe early twentieth century saw the rise of a very popular new technology\u2014radio! Radio programs, many of them inspired by pulp magazines, were broadcast across the country. From coast to coast, people could listen to the same shows. Some of the first radio networks are still around today, although they mostly do television. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) are two of these. These radio broadcasts helped make three modern heroes household names: Tarzan, Zorro, and the Shadow.\n\n**THE FIRST COMIC BOOKS**\n\nThe first comic books looked like the Sunday newspaper supplements. These collections of material that had already been published were simply stapled together with a flashy cover. Soon, actual comic book publishers began to create new content, such as comic adaptations of Bible stories or historical events.\n\nFew people thought that comic books could ever be popular. Newspapers, movies, radio, and pulps\u2014that's where people assumed they'd find excitement, action, humor, and drama. But they were wrong! A few key characters helped to make comic books very popular.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nbroadcast: a program transmitted over a long distance.\n\nnetwork: a company that provides programs to be broadcast over radio or television stations.\n\nadaptation: telling a story in a different way and in a new format. For example, making a musical out of a series of comic strips would be adapting the comics into the musical.\n\ndrama: an exciting event or series of events.\n\nOne of those characters was Superman. In 1932, two buddies named Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were working as a freelance team. Jerry was the writer and Joe was the artist. Together, they brainstormed the idea of an alien who looked just like us, but had abilities above and beyond humans. They wanted their hero to be larger than life with an energy you could feel coming off the page.\n\nSiegel and Shuster's idea was rejected by many publishers during a period of several years. Finally, they pitched their idea to a small publisher in New York City called Action Comics, which agreed to give them a try.\n\nSuperman first appeared as a man in a blue costume and a red cape with the letter \"S\" on his chest, lifting a car over his head. Superman wasn't the only story to appear in this iconic issue. However, he is the only character people remember!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nfreelance: to work on a project without being employed by the company assigning the work.\n\nbrainstorm: to come up with a bunch of ideas quickly and without judgment.\n\npitch: to present an idea.\n\n **Check out the very first** **Superman cover.** The publisher worried that people would find the idea of a man lifting a car ridiculous.\n\nThe publishers of _Superman_ found their second big seller the following year. A young cartoonist named Bob Kane was inspired by movies and pulp heroes such as the Scarlet Pimpernel. He pitched the idea of a wealthy man who, at night, dresses in a bat suit to rid his town of crime. In a 1933 issue of Detective Comics, Batman first swings into the world. He proved to be another popular figure and helped to introduce what would become known as the Golden Age of comics.\n\nTHE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS\n\nThe superhero comic books of the early 1930s are the beginning of what many comics historians call the Golden Age of comics. It was golden because it was so new and popular. Everyone wanted to read comic books, both kids and adults.\n\nComics during this era expanded beyond their stapled pages and were adapted into movies, radio programs, and daily comic strips in national newspapers. Sales of comics made publishers rich and comics artists famous.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nhometown: the place where a person, thing, or idea is born.\n\nGolden Age: the period of comics history before the 1950s, considered to be the best and most popular by many fans and historians.\n\nera: a set segment of time.\n\nTHE BIG SCREEN\n\nLike radio, movies took inspiration from pulp magazines. One of the first popular science fiction movie series was about Buck Rogers, a famous pulp fiction and comic strip hero. Most movies had live actors and actresses performing superhuman feats, but animation has always been popular, too. One of the most famous early animated films is an adaptation of E.C. Segar's Popeye by the Fleischer Brothers Studio. Never before had audiences seen the likes of Popeye, except in the funnies of course!\n\n **Watch one of the first animated movies of Popeye!** How is it different from the cartoons kids watch today?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nanimation: multiple drawings in sequence to show movement.\n\npenciling: to create an original comic first in pencil.\n\ndynamic: full of movement.\n\nThere were no restrictions on comics in the Golden Age. They could be about anything and people still loved them. This level of comics popularity would not be seen again in America for nearly 50 years. A few comics artists stand out for being especially innovative.\n\n**Will Eisner:** Will Eisner started his comics career penciling and inking for other cartoonists. Eisner decided to make his panels more dynamic by matching the shape and design of the panels to the action within them.\n\nIn 1940, Eisner was given the chance to create his own superhero. Unlike the other cartoonists of his day, he had complete control over how the story was told and how it was published. He retained all the creative rights to his creation. Called _The Spirit_ , Eisner's comic followed the adventures of a former detective who was thought to be dead.\n\n**Joe Simon and Jack Kirby:** During the 1930s and 1940s, a new, small pulp publisher called Timely Comics needed a hit superhero to rival the popular Superman. Writer Joe Simon, who was also the head editor of Timely Comics, teamed up with an old friend of his, Jack Kirby. Together, they invented the next great American superhero\u2014Captain America.\n\nThe first _Captain America_ comic was modeled on the most talkedabout news of 1940. Captain America was sent to do battle with the rising Nazi threat and Adolf Hitler himself. Would _Captain America_ have been as popular if it had been published in a time of peace instead of a time of war? Why?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncreative rights: the right to use something that is created, often for profit.\n\nNazi: the main political party of Germany before and during World War II.\n\nCAPTAIN AMERICA WAS AN IMMEDIATE SUCCESS.\n\nThe art and storytelling of Jack Kirby was unlike other comics of its day. Huge splash pages were used for the battle scenes. The characters were drawn as a cross between the flashy cover art of pulp magazines and the frenzy of newspaper comics such as _Popeye_. The comic world hadn't seen anything like it.\n\nMORE ABOUT JACK\n\nJack Kirby was born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish immigrant parents. He grew up in a poor section of the lower east side of Manhattan and learned how to draw from copying the art he saw on the covers of pulp magazines. Eventually, he found work as an inbetweener for the Fleischer Brothers Animation Studio, filling in extra drawings needed between key frames.\n\nAfter the animation studio closed and moved to Florida, Kirby became a freelance cartoonist taking on odd jobs to pay the bills. His two hit comics for Timely, _Captain America_ and _Boy Commandos_ , inspired many future comics artists to start their own careers.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nsplash page: large pages of comic action with no panels.\n\nimmigrant: a person who leaves his or her own country to live in another country.\n\ninbetweener: an animator who assists the head animator by drawing movements in between key frames.\n\nkey frame: a drawing in animation that captures the major points of movement. For example, if a character is waving her arm from left to right, the key frames would show the arm on the left, middle, and right.\n\nCARTOONING WOMEN\n\nFrom the first decade of comics, women have been making comics for newspapers and comic books. In the 1920s, several women saw their comics published widely, and a few even got rich.\n\nEdwina Dumm created a comic strip called Cap Stubbs and Tippie about the adventures of a young boy, his grandma, and Tippie the dog. Cap Stubbs and Tippie was one of the first comics made by a woman to be popular throughout America. It inspired a famous Halloween song and was eventually made into a weekly feature in Time Magazine, where the better printers allowed Dumm to create beautifully illustrated comics.\n\nYou may have heard of Kewpie dolls from your grandparents. The Kewpie doll came from a comic created in 1905 by Rose O'Neill. She told funny stories of little **cherubs** she called Kewpies. The comics were often colorful and were popular among adults and children.\n\nOther women worked in comics and comic books throughout the Golden Age of comics, although many aren't widely remembered today. Their work, however, did inspire future generations of women who would make memorable comics of their own.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncherub: a type of angel, usually shown as a small child.\n\n**HEROES GO TO WAR**\n\nWorld War II officially began for the United States after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan on December 7, 1941. Thousands of Americans signed up to join the armed forces, including many of America's artists and cartoonists.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nPearl Harbor: a U.S. naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by Japan in 1941.\n\nJack Kirby was sent to Europe, where his quick drawing skills were noticed by his commanders. They sent Kirby out as a scout to draw enemy encampments and artillery positions.\n\nTHE DANGEROUS JOB LATER INSPIRED SOME OF KIRBY'S MOST MEMORABLE COMICS.\n\n**WALT DISNEY AT WAR**\n\nHave you ever been to Disney World? Walt Disney also contributed to the war effort. His studios were commissioned by the U.S. Armed Forces to create short animated films for two purposes\u2014to encourage Americans to buy war bonds and to educate soldiers about a variety of subjects. Walt Disney also led a team of artists that designed decals for the noses of American bombers and cargo planes.\n\n **Watch one of Disney's war** propaganda **films.** How do you think people in 1943 responded to these movies?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\npropaganda: ideas or statements that are sometimes exaggerated or even false. They are spread to help a cause, political leader, or government.\n\nComic book characters also went to battle with America's enemies during this time. Batman and Superman helped to foil Nazi spies. Lesser-known superheroes such as Plastic Man, who could bend and fold into any shape, thwarted Japanese spy rings. Of course, Captain America continued his battles with the Nazi forces. The superheroes were widely read by American troops.\n\nWhile comic book heroes and artists were going to war, they had an even bigger fight waiting for them when they returned.\n\nTHE GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS WAS COMING TO AN END.\n\nDRAW A SUPERHERO\n\n**Supplies:** pencil, paper, colored pencils, digital camera, a friend (optional)\n\n**Some of this may be familiar since we use basic shapes and action lines to make our superhero. But heroes are larger than life, and the same thing is true with drawing them!**\n\n1 Start with an action line. If you want your hero to be flying, draw a big swoosh instead of the straight action line you used for standing still. If your superhero is going to be bigger than your regular characters, make your action line longer. Draw the head shape at the top of the action line.\n\n2 Skip a little down the action line to allow room for the neck, and then draw a large triangle for the upper body. If you are drawing a male hero, make it big. If it's a female hero, draw a slightly smaller triangle. Draw an oval where the hips will be, then add the socket circles for the shoulders and legs. Complete the skeleton arms and legs as you did in the last chapter.\n\n3 Superheroes are also bulkier than regular characters. Add muscles to arms, shoulders, and legs. Go ahead and make them look exaggerated. Muscles make your character super!\n\n4 To draw the face, follow the same steps as before, but keep in mind that most superhero faces look more realistic than other comic characters. Look at your favorite superheroes' faces for ideas and try to make your superhero strong and expressive. Giving your superhero a mask or hood will make drawing his or her face easier.\n\n5 Wait, what about clothes? Don't worry, you will outfit your superhero in the next project. But you can start brainstorming now!\n\nTRY THIS! Most comic book artists use friends as models for their superheroes. Find a friend and use a digital camera to take some pictures of different poses. How could you take a picture of a flying pose without making your friend jump?\n\nTHE NAZI BAN ON COMICS\n\nThe Nazis thought that American comics were one of the most powerful propaganda tools the Allied forces had. Because of this, the Nazis banned almost all forms of comics and would not allow anyone to have anything that depicted American characters such as Superman or Mickey Mouse. The Nazi ban on American comics changed the direction of European comics in the twentieth century. Almost no European superhero comics exist today.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nAllied forces: the armies of the countries that fought together against Germany in World War I and World War II.\n\nDESIGN A COSTUME AND BACKSTORY\n\n**Supplies:** pencil, paper, notebook, superhero drawings\n\n**Think of Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, The Hulk, Wolverine, and Wonder Woman. What do all these characters have in common? That's right, strong secret** identities **linked to their names and great costumes. Every great superhero needs a costume and** backstory.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nidentity: the characteristics that make a person an individual.\n\nbackstory: a story about the events leading up to the main story.\n\n1Brainstorm ideas for a name for your superhero. Make a chart with two columns like the one below. In the first column, list 10 nouns. These are people, places, or things. In the second column, list words such as man, boy, girl, or woman. Now try matching some of your nouns in column one with the words in column two. Do any sound cool or interesting? If you don't like any of the names you come up with at first, try another list of 10 until you find something you like.\n\n2Who is your superhero when he or she isn't busy saving the world? How did he or she get his or her powers? Conduct an interview to find out! Write a list of 10 different interview questions. **Here are some examples:**\n\n*\"What do you do for work?\"\n\n*\"What do you like to eat for dinner?\"\n\n*\"Do you have children?\"\n\n*\"How old were you when you got your powers?\"\n\n3Pretend to ask your superhero questions and write down what you think the answers would be. This will give you a more complete picture of who your superhero really is!\n\n4Superheroes need costumes! Make a chart with two columns. In the first column, list different situations your superhero might encounter, such as rescuing people at sea or stopping nuclear bombs. In the second column, name the costume piece or gadget your superhero will need, such as a cape, motorized swimming shoes, or an automatic heat shield. Choose which ones you want to give your character.\n\nTRY THIS! Design a sidekick. How will the sidekick look compared to the main hero? Will the costume look different or the same? Why do you think some sidekick characters, such as Batman's Robin, look very different and more colorful?\n\nDESIGN A VILLAIN\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, markers with dark colors\n\n**Every hero needs a villain! Originally, a villain was someone who lived outside of a village. Now, a villain is anyone who wants to upset the normal way things are done. Some villains want revenge. Others want to rule the world. As you design your own villain, think about your hero. Who would be the opposite of your hero? Why would your hero need to protect the world from the villain?**\n\n1Come up with the shape of the villain. Villains are often the opposite of your hero. If you have a shorter hero, you may want the villain to be very tall. If your hero is really strong, the villain may need to look weak. Once you have a basic shape, draw the body as you would for a normal comic character.\n\n2Design the villain's face. Think of villains you have seen in animated movies. What sort of facial features do they have in common? One of the most expressive parts of a villain's face is the eyes. Look at some of the following examples to see how you can make a face villainous.\n\n3Just like your hero, villains need a good backstory. What made them villains? Do they have diabolic plans? Were they childhood friends with your hero? Were they once heroes themselves?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ndiabolic: extremely evil.\n\n4Most villains have dark costumes. If you have seen any Disney films, you may have noticed that the villains usually have black and purple in their costumes. Play around with a few designs for your villain's costume.\n\nTRY THIS! Villains usually don't work alone. They rely on minions or thugs to do their dirty work. Try to design a few minions or thugs for your villain. Design their costumes based on what you drew for the villain.\n\nWILL EISNER\n\nWill Eisner put comics to work for the armed forces. He was drafted into the service and began to draw for many army publications, most famously PS Magazine. He developed a popular character called Joe Dope who showed military men the wrong way to do something. It offered a humorous note to what was often boring content. The work he did during World War II inspired the Army to hire Eisner to create a comic book called Preventative Maintenance to be a part of PS Magazine. The comic showed soldiers how to do routine work on their machines. The complicated procedures were made easier to understand through the use of comics. Eisner worked on Preventative Maintenance for 24 years before returning to the world of popular comics.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ndrafted: required to join the military.\n\nMAKE YOUR COMICS MAKE SENSE\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, ruler, pens\n\n**By combining words and pictures, you can make a superhero comic that packs a punch!**\n\n1On scratch paper, draw thumbnails for your superhero comic. Make sure there are plenty of chances for action. Remember, your comic should have a beginning, middle, and end. Use as many panels as you need to tell your story.\n\n2While you sketch your thumbnail, include some words along with pictures. **Here are a few rules about including words in your comics.**\n\n*Always have most of your words appear at the top of your panel\n\n*Always write out your words BEFORE you draw your word balloons, thought clouds, and narrative boxes to make sure you have enough space.\n\n*Avoid covering your characters with word balloons and thought clouds.\n\n3Try to include a different type of sound or way of communicating in your comic, such as telepathy, radio, a different language, or yelling.\n\n4Explore unique panel designs in your thumbnail. How can you use different panel shapes to show movement or emphasize the action?\n\n5Try adding some sound effects to your thumbnails. How will you make them look like different noises on the page?\n\n6Copy your thumbnails into your notebook. In the United States, we read left to right, top to bottom. Because of how we read, we need to lay out comic pages in same pattern. Check your comic to make sure your panel designs and sound effects make sense.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ngraphic novel: a comic as long as a book, that tells one story.\n\nTRY THIS! Check out some comic books and graphic novels at your local library. As you read through them, pay attention to panel designs and how the cartoonist uses word balloons. Can you find any other rules? Do any of the cartoonists break the rules? Did it make sense to change or break the rules?\n\nMAKE A DYNAMIC COVER\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, hero design, villain design, colored pencils or markers, rulers, digital camera, a few friends\n\n**During the Golden Age, covers often made the difference between good sales and bad sales. Covers showed lots of action and the title was splashed across the top of the page. Words to help sell the comic were also placed in specific places.**\n\n1 Use a piece of scratch paper to do a few thumbnail drawings of your cover design. Think about where you want the title and how you want to show some action. Use stick figures to show the action between your hero and villain. Have your friends pose like the best design you come up with for the cover. Have one friend be the hero and the other be the villain. Take photos from a variety of angles until you find one you really like.\n\n2 On a fresh sheet of paper, use a ruler to mark where the title and any other words will go. Use your photos as references to sketch out the action.\n\n3 Once you are happy with the design, ink over everything with the pen. Then erase all the pencil marks. Now it's time to add color. You can photocopy your cover design if you want to be able to experiment with color before creating a final color version.\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\nINTO THE SILVER AGE OF COMICS\n\nAfter World War II ended, America enjoyed the last of the Golden Age of comics before moving into what is known as the Silver Age of comics. Romance comics became popular, daily newspaper comic strips provided readers with the entertainment they wanted, and the photocopier was born during this era.\n\nROMANCE IN THE AIR\n\nAmericans grew tired of reading about heroes and villains after the war. Comic book publishers saw their sales falling and knew they needed to publish different work. Most created westerns or adventures, but a few publishers took a risk with romance.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nSilver Age: the era of comics between the introduction of the **Comics Code** in 1956 and the late 1970s.\n\nComics Code: a set of guidelines created by comics publishers to help regulate the content of comics.\n\nThe first successful romance comic was _Archie_. Published by MLJ Magazines, the series was roughly based on the popular teenage movies of Mickey Rooney, and told the tale of the love life of Archie Andrews. Bob Montana was the cartoonist who brought _Archie_ to life. The comic is still popular today and can be found in the magazine rack of almost any supermarket in the country!\n\nARCHIE EVENTUALLY BECAME SO POPULAR THAT MLJ MAGAZINES RENAMED ITS COMIC COMPANY\n\nInspired by the success of _Archie_ , other publishers quickly adopted the idea of romance comics. A very popular one called _Young Romance_ came from an unlikely team\u2014Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the creators of _Captain America_.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nromance comic: a comic about characters who are trying to find love.\n\nRomance comics turned around the classic ideas of romance. Many of the stories put the female main character in charge of finding a boyfriend. She'd discover that the ugly duckling was the best boyfriend of all. The comic books challenged some of the long-held ideas Americans had about finding love and romance, that looks weren't everything and money didn't equal happiness.\n\nDAILY COMICS\n\nMeanwhile, the daily comic strips in newspapers were the envy of the comics world. The founders of the modern newspaper comic industry, Hearst and Pulitzer, developed a system called syndication that allowed comic strips to be sold to a variety of newspapers. King Features Syndicate, founded by Hearst, is still one of the leading comic strip syndicates in America. The syndicates were the business people between the cartoonists and the newspapers that published them.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nsyndication: when the rights to print or broadcast a creative work are sold.\n\nCARTOONISTS COULD FOCUS ON THEIR ART AND LET THE SYNDICATE HANDLE ALL THE BUSINESS.\n\nDaily cartoonists had to work within the specific structure and size of each comic, unlike early cartoon masters who had whole pages. But in art, restrictions can lead to great creativity.\n\nAl Capp created _Li'l Abner_ , one of the most popular daily comic characters of the 1940s and '50s. The character of _Li'l Abner_ was a strong, slow-witted, backwoods man who was accompanied by lots of different characters in the small Southern town of Dogpatch. One of those characters was the Shmoo.\n\nThe Shmoo were small, white, bowling pin\u2013shaped creatures that quickly reproduced and were said to be the \"tastiest critter\" in the world. They were cute, lovable, laid eggs, and were easy to catch and cook. America loved the idea of the perfect animal and bought lots of Shmoo merchandise.\n\nIN 1947, SHMOO PRODUCTS SOLD $25 MILLION WORTH OF STUFF\u2014THAT'S EQUAL TO $257 MILLION TODAY!\n\nChester Gould created _Dick Tracy_. The main character was a detective who wore a bright yellow trench coat, used ultramodern gadgets, and had plenty of helpers in his fight against organized crime.\n\n_Dick Tracy_ was drawn in a weird, stylized form with a range of bad guys whose names were associated with the way they looked. PruneFace was drawn as a face with so many wrinkles you couldn't make out his expression. Mumbles had an extremely small mouth. The strips always ended with a cliffhanger.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nstylize: to draw comics in a specific way.\n\ncliffhanger: an exciting moment that makes you wonder what happens next.\n\nOhio cartoonist Milton \"Milt\" Caniff created two of the most popular adventure strips of the day: _Terry and the Pirates_ and _Steve Canyon_. Caniff is famous for his realistic drawing style, and he loved to show as much action as he could get away with.\n\n_Terry and the Pirates_ used cliffhangers to tease its audience into reading the next day's strip. Sometimes the stories in _Terry and the Pirates_ and _Steve Canyon_ were serialized over entire months! Can you think of a modern television series that uses cliffhangers to keep people watching week after week?\n\n_Blondie_ , created in 1933 by Murat \"Chic\" Young, was a daily comic about home, work, and relationships. The comic usually ended on a punch line. Blondie and her husband, Dagwood Bumstead, are still fixtures in the comics, though they're written and drawn by different cartoonists. _Blondie_ was the most widely syndicated comic of its time, and it inspired many other daily comics, such as _Hi and Lois_ , _For Better or For Worse_ , and _The Family Circle_.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nserialize: to create a series of stories.\n\npunch line: the sentence, statement, or phrase that makes the point, as in a joke.\n\n **Compare a** _**Blondie**_ **comic from** **1933 with** _**Blondie**_ **comics from** **today.** Do they look different? Is the dialogue different? What are some of the reasons comics change over the decades? Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you're scanning the right one.\n\nWHERE'S THE MONEY?\n\nOften, the creators of newspaper comic strips were financially better off than their comic book counterparts. Harold Gray, creator of Little Orphan Annie, retired as a millionaire. The creators of Superman, on the other hand, accidently gave most of their rights to their publisher, DC Comics. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were eventually replaced as the creative team for Superman and both lived the rest of their lives in near poverty.\n\nMilitary humor was popular after the war. Mort Walker introduced the world to _Beetle Bailey_ in 1950. The comic strip followed the Army life of a private at a military base and his run-ins with the overweight and often quick-tempered Sarge. Through the lens of humor, _Beetle Bailey_ commented on social issues of the time, such as the war in Vietnam and the draft. _Beetle Bailey_ is still enjoyed by daily newspaper readers today.\n\nCHARLES SCHULZ AND PEANUTS\n\nHave you ever read the _Peanuts_ comic strip or seen one of the _Peanuts_ television shows? You have Charles Schulz to thank. Schulz specialized in drawing children and came up with an idea for a daily comic strip called _Li'l Folks_. The syndicates he sent his _Li'l Folks_ comics to didn't know what to think of them.\n\n **More** _**Peanuts**_ **!**\n\nCHARLES SCHULZ'S COMIC STRIP WAS THE FIRST TO FEATURE ALL CHILDREN!\n\n_Li'l Folks_ was populated entirely by children who often expressed very grown-up emotions. The star of the comic, Charlie Brown, constantly battled disappointment and depression. Finally, a syndicate agreed to give _Li'l Folks_ a chance in 1950. They renamed it _Peanuts_ , and it became one of the most famous comics in the world.\n\nTHE SIDEKICK CHARACTER IN PEANUTS, SNOOPY THE DOG, IS AS RECOGNIZABLE AS MICKEY MOUSE.\n\nSCARY COMICS\n\nAs comic books in the late 1940s and early 1950s turned away from superheroes and toward romance, some comic publishers decided to tell darker stories. This may have seemed like a good idea, but those dark tales helped cause the end of the Golden Age. The covers often showed violent scenes to entice newsstand readers. Two comics were figureheads of this new trend in American comics\u2014 _Crime Does Not Pay_ and EC Comics' _Tales from the Crypt_.\n\n As an instructor in an art school, Charles Schulz was famous for holding contests to see who could draw the longest straight line without a ruler. **Watch** **him draw Charlie Brown!**\n\nTHE AMAZING XEROX MACHINE\n\nBefore the 1950s, making a copy of something took a lot of time and effort. If a business wanted to copy a document, it had to use carbon paper to make a carbon copy. Enter Chester Carlson, New York attorney and the inventor of the photocopier.\n\nTired of the long copying process, Carlson began to experiment in his kitchen with light-sensitive particles to print copies on paper. In 1938, he applied for a patent, but it wasn't until 1947 that a small company in New York decided to take a chance on his invention. The company called the process xerography and became the Xerox Corporation.\n\nThe photocopier was very important to the future of comics because it made the creation of independent comics cheaper and easier. It also played a big role in the birth of the modern graphic novel, but more on that in a later chapter.\n\nThe comic book _Crime Does Not Pay_ was inspired by old police gazettes of the nineteenth century, which were often highly illustrated. The comic took the most shocking true news stories and illustrated them in comic form. It was one of the first to feature a master of ceremonies, or emcee. This character, called Mr. Crime, helped narrate the stories. The emcee character was used in most crime and horror comics of the era.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncarbon copy: an exact copy of a document made using carbon paper between two or more pieces of paper.\n\npatent: a document from the government that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell his or her invention.\n\nxerography: a way of making a copy using light-sensitive chemicals and paper.\n\nindependent comic: a comic book published without the help of a large company.\n\nemcee: a master of ceremonies who helps to lead a story or event.\n\nCompeting with _Crime Does Not Pay_ , EC Comics became one of the most well-known publishers of crime, war, and horror comics in America. EC published _Tales from the Crypt_ , which featured a rotating cast of emcees. The comic told graphic horror stories with twist endings and morals. The covers were gruesome and brightly colored, like the pulp magazines of the early part of the twentieth century.\n\nAmerican adults loved their crime and horror comics. Unfortunately, newsstands mixed all of the comic books together. A kid who wanted to read the latest _Scrooge McDuck_ comic might pick up an issue of _Crime Does Not Pay_ out of curiosity.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmoral: a valuable lesson to help people know how to behave.\n\nPARENTS WERE CONCERNED THAT THESE COMICS WERE BAD FOR KIDS, AND BEGAN TO PRESSURE PUBLISHERS AND THE GOVERNMENT FOR SOME RULES AND REGULATIONS.\n\nTHE END OF THE GOLDEN AGE\n\nHave you ever heard people say that videogames containing violence can make kids violent? People used to say the same thing about comics!\n\nConcern over comics kept growing in the early 1950s. People even burned comic books in protest. In 1954, a psychologist named Dr. Fredric Wertham published a book called _Seduction of the Innocent_ , which argued that children who can't tell fiction from reality get confused by comic books. He claimed that comic books lead to violent behavior.\n\nDue to Wertham's book and public pressure, the U.S. Senate decided to hold hearings on the negative effects of comics. The Senate called Bill Gaines, the publisher for EC Comics, to the stand.\n\nBefore he entered the Senate building, Gaines took some medication that his doctor had prescribed to help his nerves. That was a mistake! The drugs made him confused. By the end of his testimony, he had agreed that the comics he created were completely inappropriate.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nhearing: a special session of Congress or the Senate held to \"hear\" from witnesses and experts on a given issue.\n\nTHE AMERICAN PUBLIC WAS FURIOUS.\n\nComic publishers feared the government would censor their work. Gaines gathered the major comic publishers together to figure out a plan to get Americans to trust comic books again. They formed the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) and elected the publisher of Archie Comics as president. They created a set of rules called the Comics Code. All comics that followed these rules were given a special CMAA badge to print on the covers of their comics.\n\nThe Comics Code was the end of publishers such as EC Comics and _Crime_ _Does Not Pay_. Superheroes couldn't be shown fighting bad guys with guns, so action scenes and weapons became silly. Comics historians call this era the Silver Age.\n\nAs comics became more and more goofy in the 1960s and '70s, adults moved away from reading comics. Comic creators needed superheroes for a younger audience. A young man named Steve Ditko joined the Marvel Comics team with the idea for a teenager with the powers of a spider. The result was _The Amazing Spider-Man_.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncensor: to examine books, movies, letters, etc., in order to remove things that are considered to be offensive or harmful to society.\n\nTEAM SUPER\n\nDuring the Senate hearings of 1954, many publishers had to sell their characters to keep from going out of business. DC Comics, publisher of Batman and Superman, bought several new heroes, and then faced the problem of mixing them in with its old heroes. In the early 1960s, DC Comics launched the solution\u2014the superhero team.\n\nThe Justice League of America (JLA) joined up the heroes of DC Comics to overcome galactic bad guys. The JLA had memorable members such as Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but also included newly bought heroes, such as The Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter.\n\nUntil the 1960s, Marvel Comics was known for copying the popular comics of the day, from romance to westerns to giant monster comics. When Jack Kirby returned from the war and from making romance comics, he and the editor-in-chief, Stan \"Lee\" Lieber, came up with the idea of a team of scientists who were changed into superheroes by cosmic rays. The team was called the Fantastic Four.\n\nFans immediately flocked to Marvel Comics. The good news was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were just getting started. In the following years, the duo created almost all of what would become known as the Marvel Superheroes. Together they introduced the Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, Thor, and another super team that brought back a hero from the Golden Age\u2014Captain America.\n\nJack Kirby had the idea of bringing Captain America, who had been lost in the North Sea after World War II, back from the 1940s. Stan Lee loved the idea, and together they came up with the Avengers. The comic was a hit.\n\nTHROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF MARVEL COMICS, ALMOST ALL OF MARVEL'S HEROES HAD TURNS AT BEING AN AVENGER.\n\n**JAM COMICS**\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, pens, friends\n\n**Comics don't need to be a lonely art. Drawing a comic with friends can be a fun and funny time! Jam comics are a perfect way to have fun with a group.**\n\n1Sit in a circle. Give each person a sheet of paper and a pencil or pen. Have everyone write a title and draw a panel at the top of the page. The first panel should show a character or two and set up an action.\n\n2Pass the page to the right. Don't say anything about your drawing. All the information the person to your right needs will be in your title and first panel.\n\n3Read the comic you got from the person on your left. Draw a new panel and add your spin on the story.\n\n4Repeat steps two and three until everyone has drawn a panel on each comic. Pass the comics back to their original creators and read the stories everyone created. Are they different from what the first person intended? Are they funny?\n\nTRY THIS! Some cartoonists like to create pages and pages of jam comics around a theme or story. How could you make a jam comic book with your friends? What themes or ideas would you use?\n\nMAKE A DAILY COMIC STRIP\n\n**Supplies:** notebook with un-ruled paper (a new manga sketchbook would work well), scratch paper, pencil, pen, small ruler\n\n**A daily comic is a fun, quick way to practice making comics. They don't need to be funny and they could even be about your own life! A lot of cartoonists do a daily comic strip, even if they never publish them.**\n\n1Choose a theme. What will your daily strip be about? Do you want it to be funny or dramatic? About your daily life? Will it have a changing cast of characters? What about the title?\n\n2Choose a daily design. If you choose to make a one-panel gag comic, what shape is your single panel going to be? If you do a strip, how many panels will you use each day?\n\n3Creating a daily comic can be a lot of work. It might be helpful to brainstorm a bunch of comic ideas ahead and map them on a calendar.\n\n4Now it's time to put all your new cartooning skills to work. First, make thumbnail sketches, then pencil, ink, and color your comic strip. Create a new one every day!\n\n**USE THE \"MARVEL METHOD\"**\n\n**Supplies:** friends who each take one job (writer, penciler, inker, colorist), art supplies for each job\n\n**Inspired by Henry Ford's assembly line system of manufacturing, Marvel Comics decided to try a new way of making comics that would streamline the process. This became known as the** Marvel Method **. Get together with your friends and follow the Marvel Method to create a comic!**\n\n1 **WRITER** : First, the writer comes up with a plot for the story. For example, Super Mole saves his family from the clutches of Grumpy Gardener with his powers of super digging. The writer also gives information about other characters, how the story should be told, and anything else he or she thinks the penciler should know.\n\n2 **PENCILER** : The penciler uses the plot and character notes from the writer and makes thumbnails to visually tell the story. He or she then carefully pencils the action for each panel. The penciler doesn't write out any words, but leaves room for the writer to add them in the next step.\n\n3 **WRITER** : The writer adds narration blocks, word balloons, and thought clouds to match the action and panels.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nMarvel Method: a way of creating comics that relies on an assembly-line format.\n\n4 **INKER** : The inker traces over the important lines from the penciler and the writer. The inker might also make slight changes to the art, such as adding sound effects, defining shadows, and drawing dark lines to add complexity to each panel. Once finished, the inker erases any pencil lines and the comic goes to the colorist.\n\n5 **COLORIST** : The colorist chooses colors for the comic and makes the comic come alive.\n\nTRY THIS! How could you use the Marvel Method with only two people? Can you work on several comics at once while different people are doing different parts? For example, the writer might start plotting the next comic while the penciler is still working on the first.\n\nTHE MARVEL METHOD\n\nStan Lee and Jack Kirby came up with the Marvel Method for their first Fantastic Four comic. Here's how it worked. Stan came up with a plot for the comic and gave the idea to an artist, who drew the whole comic out, telling the story visually. Then Stan added narration and dialogue to the pages. The Marvel Method allowed for a freer visual style, and the artists were able to tell the stories how they envisioned them. Before the Marvel Method, writers completely scripted out the whole comic, including what the panels would look like.\n\nMAKE A SUPERHERO TEAM\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, colored pencils\n\n**Marvel and DC realized the popularity of superhero teams in the 1950s. What makes these teams so much fun?**\n\n1Brainstorm some ideas on a piece of paper. What would a superhero team's job be? Why are they a team? What sort of name would fit the team? How are they related to each other? What brought them together?\n\n2Draw your team, give each member of the team a name, and show his or her power. What makes a good team? If they all had the same type of powers, they wouldn't be very interesting. What kind of abilities do you want on your team? What powers should they have?\n\n3Try designing costumes that are unique to each character, but still make them look like they belong to a team.\n\n4Lastly, design a secret home base for your team. For example, the Justice League of America meets in an orbiting space station. What and where will your superhero team call home base?\n\n The 1960s saw the start of a popular television show based on the comic book hero Batman. It came out shortly after the invention of color television and featured extremely bright colors, crazy costumes, and silly language. The star of the show, Adam West, played Batman and his alter ego, Bruce Wayne, in a deliberately silly way. **Watch the** **introduction credits to the 1960s** _**Batman**_ **television show.** Does the theme song sound familiar? How are the graphics different from television shows today?\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\nLIFE AFTER THE COMICS CODE\n\nNot every comics artist wanted to follow the rules of the Comics Code from the 1950s. Many wanted to explore serious subjects, and they wanted to take plenty of space to do it. Some comics artists began to produce and distribute their own comic books. With help from the Xerox machine, they could cheaply print lots of copies of their independent comics. The longer independent comics were called graphic novels.\n\nINDEPENDENCE!\n\nImagine having someone tell you what your comics have to be about every time you sit down to draw. Does that like fun? Many comic book artists in the 1960s through the 1980s wanted to be able to express their creativity without worrying about the Comics Code. A few brave artists decided to do just that.\n\nLarry Marder began publishing his comic, _Tales of the Beanworld_ , in 1980. He was first inspired by the story his mother tells of how his head looked like a bean when he was born. In college he started drawing little bean-shaped characters that eventually became the cast of his comic.\n\nAs his comic evolved, Marder explored themes found within mythology and Native American cultures. His characters live in a place called Beanworld. What do you think Marder means when he says, \"Beanworld isn't a place, it's a process?\"\n\nIn 1984, two friends from Massachusetts published the first edition of a comic that would become an international, multi-million-dollar phenomenon. _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ ( _TMNT_ ) was created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman. Originally meant to be a joke about an absurd jumble of words, the comic was instantly popular among comic book fans. The two started their own publishing company, Mirage Studios, to publish the book.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nmythology: a set of stories or beliefs about a particular religion or culture.\n\n_TMNT_ made hundreds of millions of dollars for their creators through action figures, four feature-length movies, several video games, and two follow-up cartoon shows. Laird and Eastman remained true to their independent comics roots and founded the Xeric Grant to help support other independent cartoonists.\n\nOne reason independent comics were so successful was the direct mail system. Up until the late 1970s, comics could only be purchased at newsstands, drug stores, and supermarkets. New companies began to form to distribute comics to readers through the mail. Readers just needed to get a catalog from a distributor to order the comics they wanted.\n\nTHANKS TO THE XEROX COPIER AND DIRECT MAIL, SELF-PUBLISHED MAGAZINES CALLED ZINES (PRONOUNCED \"ZEENS\") COULD BE CREATED QUICKLY AND CHEAPLY, THEN SENT TO READERS.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ndirect mail: a system used to sell things directly to subscribers through the U.S. mail.\n\nzine: a self-published magazine, usually produced using photocopiers.\n\nEarly writers of zines, who called themselves zinesters, created zines about everything from politics to rock bands. Zines were often quickly made and easily sold or traded with other zine creators. It was a way to bypass the often difficultto-enter publishing world.\n\nBEFORE THE INTERNET, ZINES WERE THE CHEAPEST AND MOST EFFECTIVE WAY OF GETTING YOUR STORY READ BY AN AUDIENCE.\n\nMini comics developed out of the independent zines of the 1980s. These self-published comics are very small, which make them easy to produce and distribute. A comics artist will often begin his or her career creating and selling mini comics until a publisher discovers him or her.\n\nLOOOOONG COMICS\n\nMany independent comic book creators collected their comics into thick paperback books to be sold in bookstores. Today, we know them as graphic novels and they are still very popular.\n\nOne of the first graphic novels was written in the 1970s. Canadian cartoonist Dave Sim drew a parody of other comics about magic and barbarians. He called it _Cerebus_ after the title character, a barbarian warrior aardvark. Originally meant to be humorous, the comic grew into something bigger. Sim started to tell long stories in his comic about everything from religion to politics.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nzinester: a person who makes zines.\n\nmini comic: a small, self-published comic.\n\nparody: an imitation of something for comical effect.\n\nSim wrote the comic and drew the characters, but hired another artist to draw all of the background art. When a storyline was completed, Sim bundled the issues together in a thick, phonebookshaped package to sell. These collections are some of the first examples of the modern graphic novel. Together, they created one of the largest collected independent comics of all time\u2014more than 6,000 pages long!\n\nAnother successful, long independent comic book from the late 1970s came from the husband-and-wife team of Richard and Wendy Pini. Their comic book was called _Elfquest_. The first issue appeared in a fantasy comic magazine called _Fantasy Quarterly_ in 1977.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nfantasy: a **genre** of comics and literature based on myth and legend.\n\ngenre: a type of creative work, such as mystery, romance, or fantasy.\n\nWHATCHA' CALL IT?\n\nThe term graphic novel became widely used when Will Eisner finished his work for the U.S. Army and returned to making comic books. He thought of a new way to present his comics to the world\u2014not through a printed monthly comic book, but through a published, hardcover book sold in bookstores. The books were popular, and people started to take comics seriously again as an art form.\n\nSome graphic novel artists found inspiration in very serious stories. Would you want to read a comic book about the Holocaust?\n\nArt Spiegelman's father was a survivor of Auschwitz, one of the most horrible Nazi concentration camps. Spiegelman decided to tell his story using animals as the characters. In his graphic novel, _Maus_ , Jews were mice and Nazis were cats. He hoped that this technique would make the hard topic easier for readers to look at. He could show disturbing scenes without having to draw the suffering faces of real people.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nHolocaust: a time before and during World War II when the German Nazis tried to kill the entire Jewish race, as well as several other groups.\n\nconcentration camp: a prison where people were sent during the Holocaust to be killed or made to do hard work.\n\nfolk tale: a story told by a specific group of people, often involving magic and a moral.\n\nPulitzer Prize: a group of prizes awarded annually for work done in journalism, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as for photojournalism.\n\nMAUS WAS COLLECTED INTO A TWO-VOLUME GRAPHIC NOVEL IN 1991 AND BECAME THE FIRST COMIC TO WIN THE PULITZER PRIZE FOR LITERATURE.\n\nINDIE GRAPHIC NOVEL PUBLISHERS\n\nMany of the new graphic novels were being published by small independent companies. The three major publishers were Top Shelf, Fantagraphics, and the Canadian publisher, Drawn and Quarterly.\n\nTHEY WERE INDEPENDENT BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT OWNED OR OPERATED BY ANY OF THE MAIN PUBLISHING COMPANIES OF THE DAY.\n\nThe work of these publishers helped change the perception of comics in America. Their graphic novels were more serious. As book critics and readers began to take note of the more mature work, major book publishers were inspired to start their own graphic novel imprints.\n\nThe first major publisher to enter the field was Pantheon Press, the publisher for Art Spiegelman. Pantheon could get graphic novels into major bookstores. In the mid-1990s, the comic book sections of bookstores were made up of mostly superhero comics with a few graphic novels sprinkled in. By the early 2000s, the comics section was renamed the graphic novel section and began to take up whole rows of shelves.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nimprint: a part of a publishing company that publishes a certain type of book.\n\nIMAGE COMICS\n\nThe late 1980s and early 1990s saw some of Marvel Comics's biggest sales, thanks to the artistic talent of its comic creators. These artists worked hard to produce the best superhero comics possible. However, most of the comics created by DC and Marvel were owned by the companies, not by the writers and artists. This meant the money from sales of comics, T-shirts, or movies went to the company. Some of the artists wanted more creative say and control over their characters.\n\nIn 1992, several artists and writers, mostly from Marvel, decided to quit working for the big publishers and start their own company. The result was Image Comics. It began with a simple idea: that the creators of comics should retain complete control over their characters and comic book stories.\n\nThe first comics to be published by Image were very successful. As the popularity of Image Comics grew, more comics artists joined Image to publish their own comics. Today, it remains one of the most successful independent comic book publishers and often is considered a mainstream comics publisher.\n\nIMAGE REFUSED TO JOIN THE COMICS CODE AUTHORITY, WHICH MEANS THAT ITS COMICS CAN'T BE CENSORED BY ANYONE OUTSIDE OF ITS OWN OFFICES.\n\nTHE COMIC BOOKSTORE\n\nAs comic books and graphic novels started to become popular again, they needed a place where fans could find them. Comic bookstores popped up all across America during the 1980s and mid-1990s. People who loved comics could browse shelves stocked with books, T-shirts, action figures, and posters. They could even write a list of their favorite comic titles, and when the bookstore got a shipment, the employees would pull those titles aside and save them. This was called a pull list. Most big towns still have one or two comic stores and you can still make a \"pull\" of your favorite comics. Check them out sometime\u2014you might even make some new friends who love the same comics as you!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\npull list: a list of comics that your local comic bookstore will order and set aside for you.\n\nNEWSPAPER COMICS IN THE MODERN AGE\n\nIndependent comics creators and publishers weren't the only ones enjoying the modern age of comics. Newspaper comics also thrived between the late 1970s and 1990s.\n\nThese newspaper comics had changed through the decades. When Charles Schulz introduced _Peanuts_ in 1950, his use of a simple background was new and innovative. In the '70s, '80s, and '90s, most comic strips relied more on memorable characters than complicated settings to stay popular.\n\nIf someone was to ask you the name of the fat orange cat who loves lasagna, you'd probably shout, \"Garfield!\" In the 1970s, Jim Davis created a strip that mostly took place on the floor or countertop, with very few extra details. The humans in the strip interacted with Garfield, but they couldn't hear what Garfield was thinking. However, the audience knew Garfield's thoughts, through the use of a thought cloud.\n\nGARFIELD WAS A commercial SUCCESS! HE IS STILL FOUND ON EVERYTHING FROM COFFEE MUGS TO T-SHIRTS AND IS AN ANIMATED TV SERIES.\n\nNot every cartoonist was interested in commercial success. In 1985, Bill Watterson introduced the world to a boy and a stuffed tiger in what many consider to be one of the top 10 comic strips of all time. People ages 6 to 96 love _Calvin and Hobbes._ No other comic strip has been so popular with such a wide range of ages.\n\nWatterson says he was inspired partly by his own childhood and partly by the comic strip greats who came before him. These include Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Walt Kelly, and Charles Schulz.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncommercial: operating as a business to earn money.\n\n **More** _**Garfield**_ **!**\n\nBill Watterson gave a speech at Kenyon College in 1990 that was made into a cartoon by comics artist Gavin Aung Than. Can you find similarities between Than's comic and Watterson's style of drawing?\n\nPlans were made for _Calvin and Hobbes_ to appear on everything from socks to hats and there was even talk of a television series, but Bill Watterson said no. He wanted his strip to be enjoyed as a comic strip and nothing more. He successfully fought against marketing his strip on other products, something comics had been doing since _The Yellow Kid_ almost 100 years before. Even after he retired _Calvin and Hobbes_ in 1995, he still refused to allow his characters to be used in other places.\n\nMANGA\n\nLet's take a moment and travel to Japan! Remember Hokusai, who invented manga? Cartooning was popular in Japan through the early twentieth century. After World War II, the Japanese comics from before the war were associated with the empire, which had fallen. No one wanted to read these comics anymore. The manga that took its place after the war became the most popular form of comics in the world.\n\nManga publishers sprang up all across the country. They printed their comics in quarterly, monthly, and even weekly editions. Manga books were the size of telephone books.\n\nMANGA STORIES WERE ABOUT EVERYTHING, FROM LIFE AS AN OFFICE WORKER TO BEING A SPACE EXPLORER.\n\n **More** _**Calvin and Hobbes**_ **!**\n\nThe biggest name in manga grew to fame in the late '40s and early '50s. Osamu Tezuka was inspired by the comics and cartoons he saw from America, such as Walt Disney's work. Tezuka chose to focus his early comics on a general audience and grew a large following of fans. His first anime, which is a form of manga-style animation, was called _Astro Boy_. It was one of the first Japanese comics to be seen by Americans. During the course of his career, Tezuka wrote and drew more than 150,000 pages of comics, as well as directed several animated features and series of his work.\n\nOSAMU TEZUKA IS OFTEN CALLED THE WALT DISNEY OF JAPAN.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nanime: Japanese animation.\n\nMANGA AND ANIME\n\nMany Americans first experienced Japan's comic style in the form of anime. Often people confuse anime and manga. Many of the manga that Tezuka created for print were then made into anime. Other times, the anime would inspire a printed run of manga. A good rule of thumb when you see Japanese cartooning is if it moves, it's anime. If it doesn't, it's manga!\n\nWhen manga became popular in America, the language translation was the easy part. The structure of the comic was harder. The Japanese read from right to left, which means their front covers are our back covers. In order for Americans to read them from left to right, the pages and panels had to be rearranged!\n\nAmerican readers at first didn't understand certain expressions and gestures of manga characters, but it didn't take long before people loved reading them. Today, American publishers no longer switch the layout of manga books. American readers are used to reading them from right to left, just like the Japanese!\n\nCOMIC-CON!\n\nComic book lovers often gather at conventions called Comic-Con. The Golden State Comic-Con was the first, in 1970 with 300 attendees. By 1980, it had been renamed the San Diego Comic-Con and more than 5,000 people went. Today, more than 100,000 people visit every year! Comic-Cons are held all over the world. Anyone can buy table space to sell his or her comics. Some of the best-known conventions are Stumptown, SPX, APE, and MoCCA. People even go dressed as their favorite characters!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nconvention: a gathering of people who are all interested in a certain idea, topic, or event.\n\n**COSTUME FOR A COMIC-CON**\n\n**Supplies:** images of the character you want to dress as, paper and pencil, supplies for gadgets (such as recycled boxes, plastic cans, and wrapping paper tubes), fabric, scissors, glue, paint, used clothing\n\n**Many convention goers dress as their favorite characters. It's called cosplay, and it's a way to make conventions more fun.**\n\n1Sketch out your costume. Use pictures of your character as a reference to sketch out what you need to make yourself look like the character.\n\n2Figure out what supplies you need to make each part of the costume. Can you get clothes at a used clothing store for your costume? These clothes can be cut up or painted and glued. Check the recycle bin for things such as cardboard and plastic.\n\n3Using your sketch as a guide, begin making the different parts of your costume. Ask an adult for help if you need it. Make sure to try on all the parts as you make them.\n\n4Be awesome. Wear your cool costume to a local comic convention. How many people knew who you were? How many other cosplayers did you meet? What kinds of tips did they share with you about making costumes?\n\nTRY THIS! Gather a group of friends together to design costumes for a super team. Often, conventions have contests for the best group cosplay. See if you can win!\n\nDRAW MANGA-STYLE CHARACTERS\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, pens, paper\n\n**Comics look different in each part of the world. European comics often have a more sketchy style, while American comics have cleaner lines. Let's look at how to draw Japanese manga characters before we do the harder work of learning how to draw their faces!**\n\n1Manga characters tend to have thin bodies, with long arms and legs. Start by drawing an action line for your character. Draw a larger-thannormal circle at the top for the head and then draw a thin rectangle for the body. Draw the sketchy skeleton for the arms and legs the same way you would for any other comic.\n\n2Add meat to the skeleton, but not too much! Often, manga characters have more slender arms and legs than American characters. This allows for the great expressive poses that manga is known for.\n\n3Add clothes and ink your manga character. Erase the pencil lines and add color!\n\nTRY THIS! Can you turn your hero and villain characters into manga?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncomic relief: the inclusion of a funny character or scene in an otherwise serious work.\n\nTRY THIS, TOO! In manga, a certain type of character drawing is known as the chibi. A chibi is a shortened version of the main character and it often looks like a child. Chibi are used to show extreme emotions and for comic relief. Look at the step-by-step illustrations shown here. Can you turn your manga character into a chibi?\n\nDRAW MANGA-STYLE FACES\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, pens\n\n**The design of the faces is what makes manga so recognizable. Let's crack the code of what makes a face manga.**\n\n1Unlike the oval face shapes of American comics, the general shape of a manga face is a large circle. Draw a circular face shape.\n\n2Just as in American comics, draw a vertical guideline down the middle of the face where the nose will go.\n\n3Unlike American comics, the horizontal line doesn't go through the middle of the face shape. Instead, it should go about two-thirds down from the top of the head. This is to give enough room for the large, iconic manga eyes.\n\n4Extend your vertical guideline through the bottom of the circle. Add the jawline and chin by connecting the bottom of the vertical guideline with the right and left ends of the horizontal guideline as shown in the example.\n\n5Manga noses are either very small or hugely expressive. Using the examples shown here, draw a nose between the horizontal guideline and the bottom of the circle.\n\n6Now draw the eyes following the step-by-step example shown below.\n\n7Draw the mouth, eyebrows, and ears. The mouth will be smaller than the eye guides. Look at the examples of manga mouths. The eyebrows, aren't much different from American eyebrows, and manga ears are either big or small, depending on your style.\n\n8Manga hair is super fun to draw since it can be really wild. Most manga women have long, flowing hair, which can be bunched up, braided, or swirling all around them. Manga men, and women, also often have angular, spiky hair. Open up any manga from your local library to see these different styles. Remember to make sure the hair is connected to the head.\n\nTRY THIS! Try to draw yourself and people you know as manga characters. Is it easier or more difficult than trying to draw them as American cartoons?\n\nMAP A LONG COMIC\n\n**Supplies:** ruled notebook, sketchbook, trusty pen or pencil\n\n**Writing your own graphic novel will take time. It took Art Spiegelman more than 10 years to finish** _**Maus**_ **! You can get started on your own graphic novel by laying the foundation with thumbnails and a script.**\n\n1In your notebook, write a short paragraph describing what your graphic novel will be about. Will it be about space exploration? The Wild West? A historical event or past experience?\n\n2Break down your story. Start with three parts: beginning, middle, and end. Write a little about what happens in each part. Now break each part into sections, or scenes. Write a few words for each scene to tell what is happening.\n\n3Write a script. The script simply tells you what is going to happen on each page. Use your outline and write out what happens, section by section. Make sure you include some talking and notes for the actions. Break your script up into different comics pages as you go.\n\n4Using your script, thumbnail out what each page will look like in your sketchbook. Make changes. Every cartoonist always makes changes to his or her script and thumbnails as the graphic novel develops. Don't be afraid to change something if you have a cooler idea. That's all part of the process.\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\nCOMICS AND THE INTERNET\n\nComics artists often use the latest technology to create and publish their work. The most amazing technological advancement for comics has been the Internet. It was originally created by the U.S. military in the 1960s as a way to share information in case of a nuclear attack. But the Internet was only used by a few government agencies and universities through the 1970s.\n\nThe Internet's early design and coding was almost all done through experimentation and collaboration across several scientific and computer science communities. By the late 1980s, the Internet had evolved dramatically. While the first computers were the size of your garage, personal computers in the late 1980s were so small they could fit easily on your desk in the living room. The Internet is still changing today!\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\ncollaboration: working with others.\n\nComics have come a long way from the big splashy pages of Hearst's and Pulitzer's newspapers. And comics are not just for kids anymore. Thanks to cheaper, high-quality printing technology, tablet devices, and the Internet, comics are finding new audiences all over the world.\n\nWEBCOMICS\n\nWith the spread of the Internet, many cartoonists found that they could reach a wide audience without needing a publisher, comic syndicate, or even a printer. These early pioneers set their sites (pun intended) on cyberspace and boldly went where no cartoonist had gone before\u2014online. Many of the first webcomics were quickly drawn stories about video game culture or humor revolving around a simple theme.\n\nAs the Internet became more a part of daily life, cartoonists used it to find an audience by establishing their own websites. There are also many comics apps that showcase the work of regular cartoonists and webcomics artists.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nwebcomic: a comic made to be read on web browsers.\n\n Here are some fun webcomics to find online, with your parents' permission, The Last of the Polar Bears by Lindsay Cibos and Little Dee by Chris Baldwin. How do the characters change through time? Do the stories make surprise twists? Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you're scanning the right one.\n\nThe advent of color printing and mass newspaper production technology before the turn of the twentieth century changed the world of comics. Today, new technologies of the twenty-first century drive innovations in comics and cartooning in much the same way.\n\nThe same technology that made the boom in webcomics possible has also reshaped the mini comics and indie comics world. Comics artists use laptops, digital scanners, and electronic drawing devices such as the Wacom tablet to edit and lay out their comics for print from their desks. Powerful desktop publishing software has given independent cartoonists new ways of making their art. The cost of printing or photocopying comics has also fallen, creating a perfect environment for self-publishing.\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nWacom tablet: a device that allows an artist to draw life-like lines right onto a computer.\n\ndesktop publishing: computer software that edits and formats comics, books, and magazines.\n\nCOMIC BOOK CONNECTION\n\nAll new comic strip cartoonists rely on social media to connect with their audiences. They love to hear from their readers! Ask an adult for permission to follow the Twitter or Tumblr feeds of some of your favorite cartoonists.\n\nAs more cartoonists learned to design their own comics using the latest computer technology, a flood of new talent poured into conventions such as SPX in Bethesda, Maryland, and APE in San Francisco. Independent mini comics and publishing conventions sprouted up across the nation in the mid-to-late 1990s.\n\nIndependent cartoonists found an audience eager to read something handmade in a world that has become very digital. Cartoonists created handmade screen print art on the covers of their mini comics, which gave each issue the look of having been crafted with care.\n\nIF YOU MAKE YOUR OWN MINI COMICS, TAKE THEM TO A MINI COMIC CONVENTION AND TRADE WITH OTHER CARTOONISTS.\n\nTHE FADING NEWSPAPER STRIPS\n\nAfter staying popular for almost 100 years, national newspapers began to see a fall in the number of readers in the 1990s. With the rise of the Internet and the popularity of cable news channels, fewer people read newspapers to find out what is happening in the world. Do you still read newspapers?\n\nWORDS TO KNOW\n\nscreen print: to make a color print of an image with special ink pressed through screens.\n\nLocal newspaper companies began buying each other up to gain more readers, until only one or two local newspapers were left in most regions. The lack of competition meant that the comic syndicates couldn't find as many homes for their comic strips.\n\nComic syndicates also couldn't pay new cartoonists the kinds of salaries they offered in the 1960s and '70s. Now, each syndicate only accepts one or two new cartoonists a year, even though it usually receives about 5,000 submissions.\n\nTHESE NEW CARTOONISTS GET PAID VERY LITTLE. IT'S A VERY DIFFERENT JOB THAN IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO.\n\nPUBLISHERS IN THE INTERNET AGE\n\nHow have comic book publishers adapted to the new world of the Internet? DC and Marvel began experimenting with new media in the late 1990s to try to get comics to fans in new ways. Today, their comics can be bought digitally, read digitally, and stored on a fan's device.\n\nBoth companies continue to try to find new ways to stay ahead of the technological curve. Meanwhile, print sales continue to decline. Maybe in a few years, major comic books such as Superman and X-Men will only be available as digital downloads.\n\nAt one of the first San Diego Comic-Cons, legendary cartoonist Jack Kirby said that in a few decades, Hollywood studios would be coming to the comic convention to look for the next big idea for a blockbuster film. He was right! From 2000 to 2013, a comic book movie has been one of the top-grossing films each year.\n\nA few newspaper comic strips have thrived in spite of the Internet and television. _Pearls Before Swine_ follows the example of _Garfield_. The characters often interact in a very spare environment, usually just a table and chairs, and rely on a punch line. _Rhymes with Orange_ by Hilary Price is mostly a single-panel gag comic that combines social observation with bizarre humor. The comics page also now includes its first Latin American comic strip, called _Baldo_.\n\nPerhaps the most popular new comic strip of this era is _Get Fuzzy_ , a strip about a cat, a dog, and their human. Comic strips about talking animals have always been popular, but _Get Fuzzy_ , drawn by Darby Conley, is one of the first to portray the cat and dog characters in an almost realistic style. _Get_ _Fuzzy_ embraces the more artful style of Bill Watterson.\n\nWhat's next for comics? It's impossible to know! But we can guess that comics are here to stay, even if the way we produce and read them changes through time.\n\n **Find more of these comics.** Cover up neighboring QR codes to make sure you're scanning the right one.\n\nDESIGN YOUR TABLE FOR COMICS CONVENTIONS\n\n**Supplies:** banner paper, glue, glitter, paint, scissors, streamers, shoeboxes, cardboard, anything else you can think of to make things for your table\n\n**Whether you decide to be a mini comics creator, a zinester, a graphic novelist, or a webcomics genius, one day you may want a table at a comic convention. Either by yourself or with friends, start to think about how you will design your table.**\n\n1Decide on your table size. Most conventions will let you buy space at a whole table or a half table that you share with another cartoonist or artist. Once you know how much room you have, you can design what you need to stand out.\n\n2Use big sheets of paper to design a banner with the name of your comic or publishing group on it. You can paint original art on the banner or have your name in big glittery letters. Some comics artists like to hang a string in front of their banners for some sample comics.\n\n3Make a display stand for your comics. You can use shoe or cereal boxes for this step. People love to see comics standing upright so they can get a good look at the covers.\n\nTRY THIS! Conventions are a good place to sell merchandise of your comic. Try designing and ordering T-shirts of your work! Stickers and hand-crafted buttons are easy things you can make to get people excited about your comics. What else can you think of to give away at conventions?\n\nMAKE A MINI COMIC\n\n**Supplies:** paper, scissors, pencil, ruler, pens, eraser\n\n**Part of the fun of a mini comic is that you can make it quickly and get many copies to your friends and fans cheaply. Mini comics are really versatile. You can choose any size paper\u201411 by 17 inches (28 by 43 centimeters), 8\u00bd by 11 inches (21\u00bd by 28 centimeters), or 8\u00bd by 14 inches (21\u00bd by 35\u00bd centimeters). You can make them by yourself or with your friends. They can be funny or they can be serious. Besides being portable, mini comics are easy to make your own.**\n\n1Fold your paper in half three times and then unfold it completely. You have just divided your paper into eight equal sections. Each section will be a page in your mini comic.\n\n2Fold the paper in half once along the long side and cut along the crease line from the folded edge to the center. Unfold and then refold along the short edge.\n\n3Pinch the sides toward the center so that the cut opens. When your hands come together, flatten all the pages to one side. You now have a mini book! Number the pages with pencil and unfold it completely.\n\n4Use a piece of scratch paper to sketch out thumbnails of your comic. What is it going to be about? What will the cover look like? Use some of the skills you have practiced in other activities to make an awesome story and cool cover.\n\n5Pencil your comic's art. Draw all of the art on all of the pages. If you need to, fold the pages to keep track of the order of the story.\n\n6Ink your comic. Erase the pencil lines when you are done. If you are going to use a color copier, you can add some color to your comic!\n\n7The comic art is your master copy. A master copy is the version all other copies are made from. Ask an adult to help you make your copies at a local copy store or library. When you have made your copies, follow steps one through three again to put your comics together.\n\n8Mini comics are like the trading cards of the comics world. If you are ever at a comic convention with independent creators, you can trade one of your comics for one of theirs. You can also share them with your friends or get a table at a convention and sell them to new fans!\n\nTRY THIS! How can you design your comic differently? Can you use different colored paper? Try to find some friends to start a small publishing company with them. You can go to local comics conventions and sell your comics together.\n\nMAKE A WEBCOMIC\n\n**Supplies:** pencils, paper, ink, digital camera or scanner, computer, Internet, photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Gimp\n\n**Most comics artists use the Internet to show off their work to the global community. Others don't just show off their work, they DO their work online. These are the webcomics creators and you can be one of them. Get permission from an adult to go online and make sure you are setting up your website properly.**\n\n1Ask an adult to help you get a website set up. Tumblr is a great place to start. Cartoonist Patrick Yurick wrote a very informative feature on setting up your Tumblr site to make a webcomic at makingcomics.com. Go to the distribution section of the website and click on \"digital.\" Click on the \"tutorial\" link to access his advice.\n\n2Draw your comics and upload them to your website. You can either upload your comics by taking a photo of your comic or by scanning your comics into your computer. Make sure you save your image at a web resolution, which is 72 dpi (dots per inch).\n\n3Figure out a publishing schedule. Which days do you want new comics to show up on your website?\n\n4Time to promote! Tell your friends about your new webcomic and ask them to tell their friends. The online comics community likes to help each other out. Always get permission from a parent before you join any online group.\n\nGLOSSARY\n\n**adaptation:** telling a story in a different way and in a new format. For example, making a musical out of a series of comic strips would be adapting the comics into the musical.\n\n**afterlife:** the ancient Egyptian belief in life after death.\n\n**Allied forces:** the armies of the countries that fought together against Germany in World War I and World War II.\n\n**alter ego:** a second personality in the same person.\n\n**American Revolution:** the war during which the 13 American colonies fought England for independence. It lasted from 1775 to 1783.\n\n**ancestor:** someone from your family who lived before you.\n\n**animation:** multiple drawings in sequence to show movement.\n\n**anime:** Japanese animation.\n\n**archaeologist:** a scientist who studies ancient people through the objects they left behind.\n\n**arch-nemesis:** a character who is the opposite of the main character, and usually the enemy.\n\n**aristocrat:** a person of royal blood or privilege.\n\n**artifact:** an object made by people in the past, including tools, pottery, and jewelry.\n\n**astrologer:** a person who studies how the movements of the sun, moon, and planets affect humans.\n\n**astronomer:** a person who studies objects in the sky, such as stars and planets.\n\n**backstory:** a story about the events leading up to the main story.\n\n**BCE:** put after a date, BCE stands for Before Common Era and counts down to zero. CE stands for Common Era and counts up from zero. These non-religious terms correspond to BC and AD. This book was published in 2014 CE.\n\n**Boston Massacre:** a riot in Boston that took place on March 5, 1770. Five colonists were shot and killed by British soldiers.\n\n**brainstorm:** to come up with a bunch of ideas quickly and without judgment.\n\n**broadcast:** a program transmitted over a long distance.\n\n**carbon copy:** an exact copy of a document made using carbon paper between two or more pieces of paper.\n\n**cartoon:** a comic published in a newspaper or magazine.\n\n**cast:** a group of characters.\n\n**casting:** a metal print form created to make multiple copies of a printed page.\n\n**cathedral:** a large important church.\n\n**censor:** to examine books, movies, letters, etc., in order to remove things that are considered to be offensive or harmful to society.\n\n**character:** someone in a story.\n\n**cherub:** a type of angel, usually shown as a small child.\n\n**chromolithography:** a color printing process using metal plates to layer tints of color.\n\n**city\u2013state:** a city and its surrounding area, which rules itself like a country.\n\n**civilization:** a community of people that is advanced in art, science, and government.\n\n**cliffhanger:** an exciting moment that makes you wonder what happens next.\n\n**codex:** another name for a book. Plural is codices.\n\n**collaboration:** working with others.\n\n**color reproduction:** to make color prints of an original piece of art.\n\n**comic:** images in sequence that tell a story, with or without words.\n\n**comic relief:** the inclusion of a funny character or scene in an otherwise serious work.\n\n**Comics Code:** a set of guidelines created by comics publishers to help regulate the content of comics.\n\n**commercial:** operating as a business to earn money.\n\n**community:** a group of people who live in the same area.\n\n**concentration camp:** a prison where people were sent during the Holocaust to be killed or made to do hard work.\n\n**conceptualized:** imagined and thought out.\n\n**content:** the written material and illustrations in a story, article, book, or website.\n\n**convention:** a gathering of people who are all interested in a certain idea, topic, or event.\n\n**creative rights:** the right to use something that is created, often for profit.\n\n**culture:** the beliefs and way of life of a group of people.\n\n**custom:** a way of living and doing things, such as food and dress.\n\n**decay:** to rot.\n\n**depict:** to create a representation of something experienced or seen.\n\n**desktop publishing:** computer software that edits and formats comics, books, and magazines.\n\n**diabolic:** extremely evil.\n\n**dialogue:** a conversation between two people.\n\n**digital:** characterized by electronic and computerized technology.\n\n**direct mail:** a system used to sell things directly to subscribers through the U.S. mail.\n\n**drafted:** required to join the military.\n\n**drama:** an exciting event or series of events.\n\n**dynamic:** full of movement.\n\n**eccentric:** odd, usually in a unique way.\n\n**emcee:** a master of ceremonies who helps to lead a story or event.\n\n**epic:** a long poem, usually about the life of a hero or heroine.\n\n**era:** a set segment of time.\n\n**etching:** a print made by scratching original art onto a metal plate.\n\n**fantasy:** a genre of comics and literature based on myth and legend.\n\n**folk tale:** a story told by a specific group of people, often involving magic and a moral.\n\n**freelance:** to work on a project without being employed by the company assigning the work.\n\n**French Revolution:** a period of violent change in France between 1789 and 1799.\n\n**funnies:** the original name of comic strips in Sunday newspapers.\n\n**generation:** all the people born around the same time.\n\n**genre:** a type of creative work, such as mystery, romance, or fantasy.\n\n**Golden Age:** the period of comics history before the 1950s, considered to be the best and most popular by many fans and historians.\n\n**graphic novel:** a comic as long as a book, that tells one story.\n\n**hearing:** a special session of Congress or the Senate held to \"hear\" from witnesses and experts on a given issue.\n\n**hieroglyphics:** a writing system that uses pictures and symbols called hieroglyphs (or just glyphs) to represent words and ideas.\n\n**Holocaust:** a time before and during World War II when the German Nazis tried to kill the entire Jewish race, as well as several other groups.\n\n**hometown:** the place where a person, thing, or idea is born.\n\n**humor:** the quality of being funny.\n\n**iconic:** a widely recognized symbol of a certain time.\n\n**identity:** the characteristics that make a person an individual.\n\n**image:** a picture of something, either real or imagined.\n\n**immigrant:** a person who leaves his or her own country to live in another country.\n\n**imprint:** a part of a publishing company that publishes a certain type of book.\n\n**inbetweener:** an animator who assists the head animator by drawing movements in between key frames.\n\n**independent comic:** a comic book published without the help of a large company.\n\n**indigenous:** native.\n\n**inking:** to use ink to add definition to pencil drawings.\n\n**innovation:** a new creation or a unique solution to a problem.\n\n**invincible:** someone who cannot be defeated.\n\n**key frame:** a drawing in animation that captures the major points of movement. For example, if a character is waving her arm from left to right, the key frames would show the arm on the left, middle, and right.\n\n**layering:** stacking images on top of each other.\n\n**literate:** having the ability to read.\n\n**logic:** the principle, based on math, that things should work together in an orderly way.\n\n**manga:** a term for Japanese-style comics.\n\n**martyrdom:** the death of a person for his or her beliefs.\n\n**Marvel Method:** a way of creating comics that relies on an assembly-line format.\n\n**master page:** the version of a printed page that is used to make other copies.\n\n**medieval:** describes the Middle Ages, the period of European history after the fall of the Roman Empire, from about 350 to 1450 CE.\n\n**medium:** the material artists use to create their art, such as stone, paint, and ink.\n\n**mini comic:** a small, self-published comic.\n\n**monument:** a building, structure, or statue that is special because it honors an event or person, or because it is beautiful.\n\n**moral:** a valuable lesson to help people know how to behave.\n\n**movable type:** a process of printing that uses individual type pieces to spell out words.\n\n**mummify:** to preserve a dead body so it doesn't decay.\n\n**mythology:** a set of stories or beliefs about a particular religion or culture.\n\n**narration block:** a block of text that contains the voice of the writer or of a character talking about what is happening.\n\n**Nazi:** the main political party of Germany before and during World War II.\n\n**network:** a company that provides programs to be broadcast over radio or television stations.\n\n**observation:** something you notice.\n\n**orally:** spoken out loud.\n\n**pamphlet:** an informative book or brochure.\n\n**panel:** a square or other shape that frames a single scene in a comic strip.\n\n**parody:** an imitation of something for comical effect.\n\n**patent:** a document from the government that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, or sell his or her invention.\n\n**Pearl Harbor:** a U.S. naval base in Hawaii that was attacked by Japan in 1941.\n\n**penciling:** to create an original comic first in pencil.\n\n**pharaoh:** the title for ancient Egyptian kings or rulers.\n\n**pictographic:** a picture of a word or idea.\n\n**pitch:** to present an idea.\n\n**political cartoon:** a comical or critical depiction of a political figure or event.\n\n**predecessor:** someone or something that came before others.\n\n**premise:** the main idea of a story.\n\n**preserve:** to keep something from rotting.\n\n**printing press:** a machine that presses inked type onto paper.\n\n**process:** an activity that takes several steps to complete.\n\n**propaganda:** ideas or statements that are sometimes exaggerated or even false. They are spread to help a cause, political leader, or government.\n\n**psychologist:** a person who studies the mind and behavior.\n\n**Pulitzer Prize:** a group of prizes awarded annually for work done in journalism, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as for photojournalism.\n\n**pull list:** a list of comics that your local comic bookstore will order and set aside for you.\n\n**pulp magazine:** a cheap fiction magazine published between 1896 and the 1950s.\n\n**punch line:** the sentence, statement, or phrase that makes the point, as in a joke.\n\n**race:** a group of people with the same skin color and other physical features.\n\n**rarebit:** a type of soft cheese which is famous for giving indigestion.\n\n**Renaissance:** a period of time in Europe after the Middle Ages, from the 1300s to the 1600s.\n\n**representation:** showing things in pictures or other forms of art.\n\n**revolutionary:** someone committed to fighting a ruler or political system.\n\n**ritual:** something done as part of a religion.\n\n**romance comic:** a comic about characters who are trying to find love.\n\n**Rosetta Stone:** a stone tablet written in 196 BCE telling the same decree using hieroglyphics, Egyptian Demotic script, and ancient Greek. The stone was fully translated in 1822, leading specialists to understand hieroglyphics better in the nineteenth century.\n\n**saint:** a Catholic Christian who has performed miracles as confirmed by the pope.\n\n**sarcophagus:** a large, stone box containing an Egyptian king's coffin and mummy.\n\n**science fiction:** stories that deal with the influence of real or imagined science.\n\n**screen print:** to make a color print of an image with special ink pressed through screens.\n\n**scribe:** a person who copies writings by hand.\n\n**sequence:** the order in which something happens.\n\n**serial:** occurring in a series.\n\n**serialize:** to create a series of stories.\n\n**sidekick:** a character who supports the main character.\n\n**Silver Age:** the era of comics between the introduction of the Comics Code in 1956 and the late 1970s.\n\n**smock:** a cloth worn over clothing to protect it from stains.\n\n**spiritual:** religious, relating to the soul or spirit.\n\n**splash page:** large pages of comic action with no panels.\n\n**standardized:** a set way of doing something.\n\n**stylize:** to draw comics in a specific way.\n\n**suspense:** a feeling or state of nervousness or excitement caused by wondering what will happen.\n\n**symbol:** a physical representation of a thing or idea.\n\n**syndication:** when the rights to print or broadcast a creative work are sold.\n\n**tapestry:** a colorful, woven fabric that hangs on a wall. It often shows a scene.\n\n**technology:** scientific or mechanical tools, methods, and systems used to solve a problem or do work.\n\n**thought cloud:** a shape similar to a word balloon that encloses a character's thought.\n\n**tint:** a shade or variety of color.\n\n**tomb:** a room or place where a dead person is buried.\n\n**tribe:** a large group of people with common ancestors and customs.\n\n**vigilante:** a person who takes the law into his or her own hands.\n\n**villain:** a character who opposes the hero and does bad things.\n\n**Wacom tablet:** a device that allows an artist to draw life-like lines right onto a computer.\n\n**webcomic:** a comic made to be read on web browsers.\n\n**woodcut:** a way of printing by carving an image on a piece of wood before adding ink and printing the image onto paper.\n\n**word balloon:** a rounded outline with a point toward a character that encloses the character's speech.\n\n**xerography:** a way of making a copy using light-sensitive chemicals and paper.\n\n**zine:** a self-published magazine, usually produced using photocopiers.\n\n**zinester:** a person who makes zines.\nRESOURCES\n\n**Books**\n\n_Cartooning the Head and Figure_. Jack Hamm. Grosset and Dunlap, 1967\n\n_Comics and Sequential Art_. Will Eisner. Norton Press, 2008\n\n_Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels_. Robert Petersen. Praeger Books, 2011\n\n_Dick Tracy: American's Most Famous Detective._ Bill Crouch Jr. ed. Citadel Press, 1987\n\n_Expressive Anatomy for Comics and Narrative_. Will Eisner. Norton Press, 2008\n\n_Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative_. Will Eisner. Norton Press, 2008\n\n_How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way_. Stan Lee and John Buscema. Simon and Schuster, 1984\n\n_How to Make Webcomics_. Brad Guigar, et al. Image Books, 2011\n\n_Men of Tomorrow_. Gerard Jones. Basic Books, 2004\n\n_Reading Comics_. Douglas Wolk. Da Capo Press, 2007\n\n_The Comic Book History of Comics_. Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey. IDW, 2012\n\n_The Comics: An Illustrated History of Comic Strip Art 1895\u20132010_. Jerry Robinson. Dark Horse Comics, 2001\n\n_The Ten-Cent Plague_. David Hajdu. Picador Press, 2008\n\n_Understanding Comics_. Scott McCloud. Kitchen Sink Press, 1993\n\n**Primary Source QR Codes**\n\n**Page 24:** upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/4\/40\/1896-11-08_Yellow_Kid.jpg\n\n**Page 27:** en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mutt_and_Jeff#mediaviewer\/File:Muttandjeffalla51.jpg\n\n**Page 28:** ignatzmouse.net\/us\/archives\/kk\n\n**Page 30:** comicstriplibrary.org\/display\/111\n\n**Page 32:** youtube.com\/watch?v=xH9tCcrrcak\n\n**Page 48:** images.tcj.com\/2014\/01\/SuperDiscov2.jpg\n\n**Page 50:** youtube.com\/watch?v=GJCTTba4S0E\n\n**Page 55:** youtube.com\/watch?v=vr9qpeOjmuQ\n\n**Page 70:** loc.gov\/exhibits\/blondie\/wedding.html; blondie.com\n\n**Page 71:** peanuts.com\n\n**Page 72:** youtube.com\/watch?v=dS0vUbWdNxg\n\n**Page 83:** youtube.com\/watch?v=1jgE-lrfZ3k\n\n**Page 93:** garfield.com; zenpencils.com\/comic\/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice\n\n**Page 94:** calvinhobbesdaily.tumblr.com\n\n**Page 104:** lastpolarbears.com; littledee.net\n\n**Page 108:** rhymeswithorange.com; baldocomics.com\/blog; getfuzzyarchive.blogspot.com\nINDEX\n\n**A**\n\nactivities\/projects\n\nCostume for Comic-Con,\n\nDesign a Cast of Characters,\n\nDesign a Costume and Backstory, \u2013\n\nDesign a Villain, \u2013\n\nDesign Your Table for Comics Conventions,\n\nDraw a Superhero, \u2013\n\nDraw Cartoon Bodies, \u2013\n\nDraw Cartoon Faces, \u2013\n\nDraw Hands and Feet, \u2013\n\nDraw Like an Egyptian!, \u2013\n\nDraw Manga-Style Characters, \u2013\n\nDraw Manga-Style Faces, \u2013\n\nJam Comics,\n\nMake a Daily Comic Strip,\n\nMake a Dynamic Cover,\n\nMake a Mini Comic, \u2013\n\nMake a Superhero Team, \u2013\n\nMake a Webcomic,\n\nMake Your Comics Make Sense, \u2013\n\nManga-Style Sketchbook,\n\nMap a Long Comic,\n\nSidewalk Cave Painting,\n\nSunday Comic Strip,\n\nThing, Job, Description, \u2013\n\nUse the \"Marvel Method,\" \u2013\n\nAdams, John,\n\n_Amazing Spiderman_ ,\n\nAmerican Revolutionary comics, iv, \u2013\n\nancient comics, iv, \u2013\n\nanime, vi,\n\n_Archie_ ,\n\n_Astro Boy_ , vi,\n\nAustralian indigenous representational paintings,\n\n_Avengers_ , vii,\n\n**B**\n\n_Baldo_ ,\n\n_Batman_ , v, , , ,\n\n_Beetle Bailey_ ,\n\n_Blondie_ ,\n\nbroadsides\/broadsheets, \u2013\n\n**C**\n\n_Calvin and Hobbes_ , \u2013\n\nCaniff, Milton \"Milt,\"\n\n_Cap Stubbs and Tippie_ ,\n\nCapp, Al,\n\n_Captain America_ , vi, \u2013, ,\n\nCarlson, Chester,\n\ncartoons. _See also_ specific cartoons by name\n\nbroadsheets including, \u2013\n\ncolor printing of, iv\u2013v, \u2013,\n\ncomic books of, vii, \u2013, , \u2013, ( _see also_ graphic novels)\n\ndefinition of,\n\nearly comic masters creating, \u2013\n\nmanga as, iv, vi, vii, , , \u2013, \u2013\n\nnewspapers including, v\u2013vi, , , \u2013, , \u2013, , \u2013, \u2013\n\norigins of, iv,\n\npolitical, \u2013, , \u2013\n\nromance, \u2013\n\nscary, \u2013\n\nserialized, v,\n\nsidekicks in, v, , , ,\n\nSilver Age of, vi, ,\n\nSunday comics as, v, ,\n\nsuperheroes in, v\u2013vi, , \u2013, \u2013, \u2013\n\nsyndication of, , ,\n\ntimeline of, iv\u2013vii\n\nwartime, \u2013, \u2013, , , ,\n\nwebcomics, vii, \u2013,\n\nwomen creating,\n\ncave paintings, iv, \u2013,\n\n_Cerebus_ , \u2013\n\ncharacters, vi, , , , \u2013, . _See also_ specific characters\n\ncolor printing, iv\u2013v, \u2013,\n\nComic-Con, vii, , ,\n\ncomics\n\nancient, iv, \u2013\n\ncartoons including ( _see_ cartoons)\n\ncharacters in, vi, , , , \u2013, ( _see also_ specific characters)\n\ncomic books of, vii, \u2013, , \u2013, ( _see also_ graphic novels)\n\ncomic book stores selling,\n\nComics Code for, vi, vii, , , ,\n\ncomic strips of, , \u2013, , \u2013 ( _see also_ newspaper comics)\n\nconventions on, vii, , , , ,\n\ndefinition of,\n\nGolden Age of, v, \u2013, ,\n\ngraphic novels of, vii, , , , \u2013,\n\nthe Internet and, vii, \u2013\n\nmini, vii, , , , \u2013\n\npanels of, ,\n\npost-Comics Code era of, \u2013\n\nregulation of, vi, vii, \u2013, , ,\n\nrules and systems of, , , \u2013\n\nComics Code, vi, vii, , , ,\n\nComics Magazine Association of America,\n\nConley, Darby,\n\nconventions, comic, vii, , , , ,\n\n_Crime Does Not Pay_ , \u2013,\n\n**D**\n\nDavis, Jim,\n\nDC Comics, vi, vii, , , \u2013, ,\n\n_Dick Tracy_ ,\n\nDisney, Walt, ,\n\nDitko, Steve,\n\n_Dream of the Rarebit Fiend_ ,\n\nDumm, Edwina,\n\n**E**\n\nEastman, Kevin, \u2013\n\nEC Comics, , , ,\n\nEgyptian pictographic language, iv, \u2013, \u2013\n\nEisner, Will, \u2013, ,\n\n_Elfquest_ ,\n\n**F**\n\n_Fantastic Four_ , , ,\n\nFisher, Henry Conway \"Bud,\" v, \u2013\n\nfunnies, v,\n\n**G**\n\nGaines, Bill, \u2013\n\n_Garfield_ , ,\n\n_Get Fuzzy_ ,\n\nGolden Age of comics, v, \u2013, ,\n\nGould, Chester,\n\ngraphic novels, vii, , , , \u2013,\n\nGray, Harold, v, \u2013,\n\n**H**\n\nHearst, William Randolph, , , , , ,\n\nHerriman, George, v, \u2013,\n\nHoe, Richard March,\n\nHokusai, iv, , ,\n\n**I**\n\nImage Comics, vii,\n\nthe Internet, vii, \u2013\n\n**J**\n\nJapanese Manga. _See_ manga\n\n_Justice League of America_ ,\n\n**K**\n\nKane, Bob, v,\n\nKelly, Walt,\n\nKirby, Jack, \u2013, , , , ,\n\n_Krazy Kat_ , \u2013\n\n**L**\n\nLaird, Peter, \u2013\n\nLee (Lieber), Stan, ,\n\n_Li'l Abner_ ,\n\n_Little Lit_ ,\n\n_Little Nemo in Slumberland_ , \u2013\n\n_Little Orphan Annie_ , v, \u2013,\n\n**M**\n\nmanga, iv, vi, vii, , , \u2013, \u2013\n\nMarder, Larry,\n\nMarvel Comics, vi, vii, , , \u2013, , ,\n\n_Maus_ , vii, ,\n\nMaya codices, iv, \u2013\n\nMcCay, Winsor, v, \u2013,\n\nMichelangelo, iv,\n\nmini comics, vii, , , , \u2013\n\nMontana, Bob,\n\nmovies, vii, , , , , ,\n\n_Mutt and Jeff_ , v, \u2013\n\n**N**\n\nnewspaper comics. _See also_ specific cartoons by name\n\ncartoons as, v\u2013vi, , , \u2013, , \u2013, , \u2013, \u2013\n\ncolor printing of, iv\u2013v, \u2013\n\ncomic strips of, , \u2013, , \u2013\n\ndaily, \u2013,\n\nearly comic masters creating, \u2013\n\nfading of, \u2013\n\nhistory of, \u2013\n\nmodern, \u2013\n\npolitical, , , \u2013\n\nSunday comics, v, ,\n\nsyndication of, , ,\n\n**O**\n\nO'Neill, Rose,\n\nOrczy, Baroness Emma,\n\nOutcault, Richard F., v, \u2013\n\n**P**\n\n_Peanuts_ , vi, \u2013,\n\n_Pearls Before Swine_ ,\n\nphotocopying, vi, , , ,\n\nPini, Wendy and Richard,\n\npolitical cartoons, \u2013, , \u2013\n\n_Popeye_ , \u2013,\n\nPrice, Hilary,\n\nprinting presses\/techniques, iv\u2013v, vi, , , , \u2013, , , ,\n\nPulitzer, Joseph, v, \u2013, , ,\n\npulp magazines, \u2013, , , ,\n\n**R**\n\nradio programs, ,\n\nRevere, Paul, iv, \u2013\n\n_Rhymes with Orange_ ,\n\nRogers, Buck, ,\n\nromance comics, \u2013\n\n**S**\n\nScarlet Pimpernel, ,\n\nscary comics, \u2013\n\nSchulz, Charles, vi, vii, \u2013, ,\n\nSegar, E. C., \u2013,\n\nserialized comics, v,\n\nShuster, Joe, v, ,\n\nsidekicks, v, , , ,\n\nSiegel, Jerry, v, , ,\n\nSilver Age of comics, vi, ,\n\nSim, Dave, \u2013\n\nSimon, Joe, ,\n\nSpiegelman, Art, vii, , ,\n\n_The Spirit_ ,\n\n_Steve Canyon_ , \u2013\n\nSunday comics, v, ,\n\nsuperheroes, v\u2013vi, , \u2013, \u2013, \u2013\n\n_Superman_ , v, \u2013, , , , ,\n\nsyndication, , ,\n\n**T**\n\n_Tales from the Crypt_ , ,\n\n_Tales of the Beanworld_ ,\n\ntapestries, \u2013\n\n_Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_ , \u2013\n\ntelevision shows, , ,\n\n_Terry and the Pirates_ , \u2013\n\nTezuka, Osamu,\n\ntimeline, iv\u2013vii\n\n**W**\n\nWalker, Mort,\n\nwartime cartoons, \u2013, \u2013, , , ,\n\nWatterson, Bill, \u2013,\n\nwebcomics, vii, \u2013,\n\nwomen as cartoonists,\n\n**X**\n\n_X-Men_ , , ,\n\n**Y**\n\n_The Yellow Kid_ , v, \u2013, ,\n\nYoung, Murat \"Chic,\"\n\n_Young Romance_ ,\n\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}} +{"text":"\n\n_For Maureen, Ronan, and Orla, with love and appreciation_\n\n# CONTENTS\n\nFOREWORD\n\n_The Imperative of Equal Opportunity and the Importance of Citizen Schools \u2014_ Lawrence H. Summers\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n_The Opportunity Equation_\n\nSECTION ONE: Starting Citizen Schools\n\nCHAPTER ONE\n\n_Building Blocks_\n\nCHAPTER TWO\n\n_Maureen_\n\nCHAPTER THREE\n\n_\"It's My Turn!\"_\n\nCHAPTER FOUR\n\n_Turning Point_\n\nCHAPTER FIVE\n\n_Organization Man_\n\nCHAPTER SIX\n\n_The Eddy Is Ready_\n\nCHAPTER SEVEN\n\n_Scale, Spread, and the Pursuit of Systemic Change_\n\nSECTION TWO: How Citizen Power and an Expanded Learning Day Can Narrow Achievement Gaps, Broaden Opportunity, and Strengthen America\n\nVOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n_Joyce King Thomas, volunteer_\n\nCHAPTER EIGHT\n\n_Citizen Power and the Importance of Mentoring_\n\nCHAPTER NINE\n\n_It's About Time_\n\nCHAPTER TEN\n\n_From a Nation of Consumers to a Nation of Makers: Inspiring Creativity and Innovative Thinking in Our Schools_\n\nCHAPTER ELEVEN\n\n_Social Networks and Social Skills_\n\nCHAPTER TWELVE\n\n_Supporting Teachers, and Parents Too_\n\nVOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n_Lindy Smalt, AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow_\n\nSECTION THREE: Next Steps for America and for You\n\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\n_A Civic Marshall Plan for Equal Opportunity_\n\nVOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n_Agostinha DePina, student_\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n_Expanded Learning Time Schedule with Citizen Schools_\n\nACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\nNOTES\n\nINDEX\n\n# FOREWORD\n\n# THE IMPERATIVE OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n_Lawrence H. Summers is the president emeritus of and Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University and the former secretary of the treasury of the United States. In February 2014, Summers was elected chair of the Citizen Schools board of directors. His daughter Ruth, referenced below, served as an AmeriCorps Teaching Fellow at Citizen Schools from July 2012 to June 2014._\n\nIn an elitist age, the Duke of Wellington famously said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, attributing the leadership skills of the British military officers he commanded to lessons learned as students at England's top private school. I believe that the battle for America's future will be won or lost in our public schools\u2014and today we are losing.\n\nThis was brought home to me when I was treasury secretary. I made it a practice every time I visited a city to go visit a public school. Once I was in Oakland meeting with a group of high school students and gave what I thought was a pretty good speech about the importance of education to national prosperity and individual opportunity.\n\nAfter I finished, a young teacher\u2014she was probably five years older than my daughter Ruth is now\u2014came up to me and said,\n\n\"Secretary Summers, that was a terrific speech. But here's the problem:\n\n\"Why should the children believe that there's nothing more important to the future of this country than education when nobody has come in and painted this school in the last eleven years and the paint is chipping off the walls?\n\n\"Why should they believe you when you say science education is hugely important, but they get nauseous every time they do a chemistry lab because the ventilation system hasn't been fixed for a year?\n\n\"Why should they look around and believe you?\"\n\nI had no good answers, and I have been haunted by this question ever since.\n\nAmerica, if it has stood for anything, has stood for two hundred years for the idea of equality of opportunity. Everyone's income is not going to be equal in the United States. The way everyone lives is not going to be equal in the United States. We are going to try to make it fairer and better, but it is never going to be completely equal or fair. It cannot be in a free society.\n\nWhat we can, and I believe must, aspire to as a nation is that everyone's children\u2014all children\u2014have the same chance to succeed. No child should be denied the opportunity to be educated, to follow their dreams, to create, to prosper, and to contribute because of the circumstances of their birth. Those with less money may live in smaller houses, take simpler vacations, and wear less expensive clothes. That is inevitable. But it should not be acceptable to anyone, liberal or conservative, that they be forced to have lesser dreams for their children.\n\nThis ideal of equal opportunity\u2014that any child can grow up to be president, to be a billionaire, to win a Nobel Prize\u2014is the American Dream. Yet, as Eric Schwarz's book powerfully illustrates, on the standard of equality of opportunity, our generation of Americans is failing. Of course, there are difficulties in statistics and measurement. But, as best as one can tell, for the first time in two hundred years, the gap in the life prospects of the children of the rich and the children of the poor is greater today than it was one or two generations ago. That should not be acceptable.\n\nNor should it be acceptable that the United States now trails most other major industrial nations in terms of equality of opportunity and social mobility. In Europe, it is easier for those from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed than it is for their American counterparts. As a corollary, the successful are more entrenched in the United States than in the nations that are our biggest trading partners and competitors.\n\n_The Opportunity Equation_ offers stories and data that help us see inequality as not just a function of inequality in our schools but a function of the inequality of experiences offered by the broader society. The result is growing inequality in educational attainment, in income, and in family wealth. As just one example, the college completion rate for children of parents in the top quartile by family income has jumped from 40 percent to 73 percent since 1970, but for children of parents in the lowest quartile, it has only grown from 6 percent to 8 percent. As an additional example, despite all that has been done to improve financial aid, the percentage of the students attending our elite universities who come from the upper half of the income distribution is greater than it was a generation ago. As a country, we are moving in the wrong direction with respect to equality of opportunity for lower-income children, and that is not acceptable.\n\nIt does not have to be this way. Determined national efforts can make a difference, as they have over the last half century with respect to racial equality. When I was a child, African Americans were massively underrepresented in higher education and the race-based achievement gap in our schools was sickeningly large. We still have a long way to go in fully addressing racism in our society. But whereas in the 1940s and '50s the reading and math skills of the typical white student were four to five grade levels ahead of the typical African American student, today more than half of that skills gap has been eliminated. In the nation as a whole, African Americans are still less likely than whites to attend elite colleges and universities and less likely to graduate, but an African American twenty-year-old is about as likely to be enrolled in college as a white twenty-year-old. More needs to be done, but this is a huge national achievement. It is a national achievement of public policy. It is a national achievement of changed private attitudes. It is a national achievement of reform in almost every institution in our society. It is real progress.\n\nAs we have made great progress in combating racial inequality, so too can we overcome inequality of opportunity between the children of affluent and less-affluent parents. That is why I recently committed to chair the national board of directors of Citizen Schools, an organization committed to making such progress with respect to the class divide. I did this in part because I have seen the power of the program firsthand through my daughter Ruth, an AmeriCorps teaching fellow with Citizen Schools, and in part for three other reasons.\n\nThe first thing that attracted me to Citizen Schools was the program's commonsense approach of equalizing access to extra learning time in the afternoon and evenings, on weekends, and during the summer. For Boston students in grades six through twelve, the school day ends at 1:30, and across the country all children spend the great majority of their waking hours out of school. Children are three times as likely to be raised by a single parent as they were in 1960, and that parent, usually the mother, is more likely to be working. Because low-income families lack money to purchase access to tutoring, camps, and after-school programs, the average lower-income child reaches age twelve having spent six thousand fewer hours engaged in formal and informal learning than the average upper-income child. If that division stands we will never equalize opportunity.\n\nA second compelling aspect of Citizen Schools is that it works with, but remains outside of, the public school system. I'm a Democrat. I'm a guy who believes in the government. I'm a guy who doesn't understand how you can love your country and hate its government. At the same time, I'm a guy with eyes, and I know that government cannot do it all. It is a long-standing truth that if we are going to succeed in solving problems, it cannot all just be the government saying what needs to be done, hiring people, and doing it. It needs to be a collective effort of the broader society and its citizens. Just as the children of England's elite learned to lead on the playing fields of Eton and Oxford and Cambridge, in America\u2014in the twenty-first century\u2014we need to provide children of all backgrounds with the experiences that will prepare them to lead and to compete.\n\nThe last reason why I was so drawn to Citizen Schools is that, despite my sometimes tearing up when I talk about my daughter Ruth and her powerful experience as a teacher in the program, I am really not touchy-feely when it comes to public policy. I believe in data. What impressed and inspired me about Citizen Schools is that they recognized that, as noble as all their intentions are, as good as their work made all of them feel, it really was not very important if, at the end of it all, children did not have better experiences and learn more. Before agreeing to become involved with Citizen Schools I spent time making sure that rigorous evaluation and external evaluations were a central part of the model. I learned that rigorous evaluation has not only been an important component of the model but that the evaluations completed so far have been highly encouraging about the efficacy of the program.\n\nIn the context of the vexed debate over strengthening education, it seems to me that Citizen Schools and the work described in this book represent a set of enormously promising and enormously powerful educational innovations. I salute Eric Schwarz, the founding CEO of Citizen Schools and the author of this fine book, for his vision and his dedication. He stands in a long tradition of American citizen-leaders who have moved this country forward.\n\nW. E. B. Du Bois famously said that the problem of the twentieth century would be the problem of the color line. Though much progress has been made, the race-based achievement gap of my childhood has unfortunately morphed into an even starker class divide. Today, students from the top income quartile are four to five grade levels ahead of students from the bottom quartile\u2014a gap that is twice as large as existed in the 1940s and 1950s. The question for the twenty-first century is how can we reduce this growing class divide and provide more opportunity for all children from all backgrounds.\n\nThis will be the task of America's parents: striving for the best for their children. It will be the task of all those on the frontlines in the schools: teachers and principals. It will be the task of those, like my daughter, who are not employed by the schools but work within them. But it is also the responsibility of citizens who care very deeply about the future of our cities and the future of our country. This book shows how ordinary people have made and can make a profound difference in lifting up opportunity for all children. And it demonstrates the importance of our doing all we can to help.\n\n\u2014LAWRENCE H. SUMMERS\n\n# INTRODUCTION\n\n# THE OPPORTUNITY EQUATION\n\nAs Adam Barriga entered the Massachusetts State House, with its towering golden dome and rooms full of history, his sneakers squeaked lightly on the Italian-marble floors. Adam, age twelve, had been grumpy most of the day. But now, as he made his way to the capitol building's main lobby, walking past flags and portraits and a mural of the Revolutionary War Battle of Concord, he forgot entirely what had been bothering him. Once in the lobby, Adam joined hundreds of his classmates involved in all sorts of hands-on learning projects. The students were sixth and seventh graders attending public schools in Boston, and almost all of them qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch, meaning their family incomes were below or a little above the poverty line. About half of them had school-identified learning disabilities or spoke a language other than English at home or both. But soon all of them would be talking to an appreciative adult audience about robots they'd programmed, video games they'd designed, Android apps they'd invented, or, as in Adam's case, rocket ships they'd built.\n\nThe event was what we at Citizen Schools call a WOW!\u2014a chance for students to showcase their learning and, hopefully, \"wow\" those in attendance. This particular evening the crowd included elected officials and executives from leading technology companies such as Google and Microsoft and Biogen Idec, one of the fastest-growing biotechnology firms in Massachusetts. I noticed how the politicians and executives moved through the State House effortlessly, smiling for pictures with families, asking questions of the students, and genuinely enjoying an event listed as a \"stop-by\" on their schedules. Cultivating support from guests at a WOW! was important, and I was pleased with the level of engagement. But what really stuck with me from that May evening in 2010 were the experiences of three others in the room.\n\nFirst was Adam himself, then a sixth grader at the Clarence Edwards Middle School in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood. The Edwards, or Eddy, as it's known locally, had recently partnered with Citizen Schools to expand the learning day for all students from six to nine hours as part of a statewide Expanded Learning Time pilot program for struggling urban schools. Adam was demonstrating what he'd learned from one of his Citizen Schools apprenticeships, It _Is_ Rocket Science!, and tentatively conversing with parents and politicians and anyone else who would listen. His confidence grew over the course of the evening as he talked about escape velocity, lunar windstorms, and solar flares, and as he described the final project he and his classmates had participated in: a simulated lunar landing performed by videoconference with real astronauts from NASA.\n\nSecond was David Mantus, the teacher of the It _Is_ Rocket Science! apprenticeship and a repeat volunteer at Citizen Schools. David had grown up in the suburbs of Long Island, and he shared with me that his fondest childhood memories were of launching rockets in his backyard with his dad, a NASA engineer, and visiting science museums on the weekend with his grandfather. Later, Mantus earned a PhD in chemistry and eventually climbed the corporate ladder to become head of regulatory affairs for Cubist Pharmaceuticals. As Mantus moved further away from hands-on science in his own career (from mixing chemicals in the lab, to schmoozing regulators on the conference circuit), he had lost a little of himself. This increased his desire to inspire future scientists. At the State House, Mantus prompted his middle school apprentices to explain what they had learned, but then he invariably built upon their answers, adding scientific detail as he revealed more than a trace of boyhood excitement.\n\nAdam and David each burst with pride, and in their unlikely relationship and shared enthusiasm for launching rockets, I saw great hope. But my greatest joy that night came from the smile of wonderment worn by Adam's grandfather, Eduardo Barriga. Barriga had emigrated from Peru thirty years previously. For almost his entire life in the United States, he had worked as a custodian at the State House. The marble floors where Adam held forth, and where CEOs and politicians gathered, were polished with his own hands. Now his grandson was standing on them with something important to say.\n\nI started Citizen Schools because for students like Adam Barriga, opportunities like that night at the State House are far too rare. On the other hand, for upper-income Americans like David Mantus, and like me, the ascension from enriching childhood experiences to advanced education and successful careers has become too automatic, a ticket to success that upper-middle-class parents so reliably and consistently procure for our children that it stacks the deck against others who are less fortunate. I felt it was simply unfair that upper-income kids were the almost exclusive beneficiaries of an _opportunity equation_ in which their abilities were multiplied by a dazzling array of extra learning opportunities.\n\nMy thinking on these topics was informed by my own childhood, every corner of which was piled high with the building blocks of opportunity. Like David, I too was surrounded by professionally successful adults\u2014not rocket scientists in my case, but prominent lawyers and businesspeople and nonprofit leaders. I had extra time to learn and was given many chances to build the muscle memory of success. Further, as a descendant and namesake of the FAO Schwarz toy store family, I was connected to a powerful social network.\n\nThe opportunity divide is not new. Children like David and me have always had a leg up. But in recent decades, the story of opportunity in America has evolved in at least three important ways.\n\nFirst, new research indicates the wealth-based opportunity gap is now a chasm. Access to the extra learning that families like mine take for granted is now so unequal that class-based achievement gaps in everything from elementary school reading to middle school math to college graduation have ballooned and are now substantially _larger_ than when I grew up in the 1960s and '70s. At that time, wealthier kids were a little more than two grade levels ahead of poor kids in reading and math. Now they are more than four grade levels ahead. Gaps in harder-to-measure social skills\u2014like the ability to ask for help and to network for a job\u2014have also grown, and in turn contribute to ever-growing wealth and income gaps. For both the affluent and the impoverished, parental wealth now predicts adult success more than at any point in at least one hundred years.\n\nSecond, children from lower- and moderate-income families are now at such an intense relative disadvantage in getting ready for productive adulthood that US economic competitiveness is being undermined. We simply can't afford to have so many workers not ready to perform in the modern economy. The blue-chip consulting firm, McKinsey, estimates our current income-based achievement gap imposes the equivalent of a 3\u20135 percent permanent national recession. By failing to spread opportunity more broadly, we are slicing our economic pie unevenly, and we are also keeping the pie from growing.\n\nThird, the _cause_ of the growing opportunity and achievement divide is becoming clearer. In certain circles it has become fashionable to deride public schools as hopelessly inept, dragged down by incompetent teachers and stifling bureaucracies. For sure, many schools need to improve. But a close look at the data indicates that ever-widening achievement gaps are growing fastest _outside_ of school. They are growing on suburban playing fields and at robotics competitions, at after-school math programs and specialized sleep-away camps, and elbow to elbow with parents around dining room tables all across America. The class-based education gap is accelerating _not_ because teachers are lazy or \u00adbecause America's schools suddenly forgot how to churn out Horatio Alger success stories. And poor and working-class kids are not learning _less_ than before, they are actually learning _more._ Instead, the class-based education gap is accelerating because upper-middle-class children are accelerating faster, pulling away from their less privileged peers thanks to increasingly engaged parents and a cottage industry of coaches, counselors, tutors, and trainers.\n\nSo what to do about this opportunity chasm by which upper-middle-class families pass on success to their children, and children from lower-income families get left even further behind? Is it just about money, fixable only in a utopian, Lake Wobegon world where every family's income is \"above average\"? Or are there experiences and relationships routinely offered to upper-income children that our society, with modest investment, could make available to all children?\n\nI recently asked Paul Reville, a professor of practice at Harvard's Graduate School of Education and formerly the highly regarded Massachusetts secretary of education, if he knew any system of education that routinely and at scale gets its students to high levels of educational achievement while preparing them for careers. \"I know of one,\" Reville said: \"The upper-middle-class family.\"\n\nReville's insight is startling. But what exactly _is_ the opportunity equation that generally works for upper-income children? And can we make it work for all children?\n\nIn the summer of 1994 I was newly married and hoping to start a family. I had recently left a job with a leading national nonprofit organization and was reflecting on these questions of educational and economic opportunity. My questions led me to develop Citizen Schools, a startup program that began with just me and ten fifth graders.\n\nWhat if we could harness the power of you and me\u2014of millions of architects, engineers, lawyers, carpenters, journalists, and grandmothers who sew\u2014to equalize opportunity and reduce the growing wealth-based achievement gap? What if we could create a new network of \"citizen schools\" to extend the traditional school day and provide time and space for all kinds of talented people to share their time and attention with lower-income students? I believed then, and believe even more deeply today, that if we offer all children more time with caring and accomplished adults, and more chances to build the muscle memory of success\u2014by getting good at playing piano or building robots or writing poems\u2014then, and only then, can we make American education what Horace Mann dreamed it could be: \"the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance wheel of [our] social machinery.\"\n\nThe very idea that I could create a new organization\u2014particularly one dedicated to such fundamental change\u2014was rooted in my own childhood experiences. My parents' weekend dinner parties provided an ongoing and indispensable apprenticeship in the profession of success. I remember being invited to join these dinners from the time I was ten years old and discoursing with editors from the _New York Times_ , the New York police commissioner, nonprofit founders, Ivy League academics, leading civil rights lawyers, corporate executives, politicians, and more.\n\nDeeper mentoring and hands-on learning and leadership opportunities came to me through specialized camps, workplace internships in my teenage years, and summer and vacation jobs arranged by my parents. For my senior project in high school I worked for a prominent New York planning firm and studied the walking patterns of visitors to the nine principal museums located between the Museum of the City of New York on 105th Street and Fifth Avenue and the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 82nd Street. I wrote a report that helped make the case for designating that sparkling stretch of Fifth Avenue as Museum Mile.\n\nThese connection points with talented professionals were critical to my upbringing. But it's one thing for successful adults to indulge in conversation with the son of a friend at a party\u2014or even to take him in as an intern. My idea for Citizen Schools was different. I wanted adults to turn their life skills into deliberate hands-on apprenticeships and to share these lessons with their own children and neighbors but also with children they don't know, and to show up consistently for kids from a different side of town, carrying a different outlook on the world, and maybe speaking a different language at home. Would busy professionals do that? And would kids give up their afternoons or weekends to spend time with professionals who knew little about teaching, and, in many cases, even less about the neighborhoods where the kids were growing up? Finally, even if the kids and adults came together and liked it, would it make a difference in their lives? Would it change the equation? Or would it provide only a fleeting feel-good experience; or worse, a mirage\u2014enticing children and adults alike to chase after a more beloved future, but ultimately leaving them parched and unsatisfied?\n\nIn September 1994 I volunteered in Margie Tkacik's fifth-grade classroom at the Dever Elementary School, located a quick walk from Boston Harbor and across the street from the massive Harbor Point mixed-income residential community. With the help of almost $200 million in federal financing and subsidies, Harbor Point had risen to replace the notorious Columbia Point housing development, where in the 1970s and early '80s drug dealers reigned, two-thirds of apartments were vacant, and ambulances on several occasions refused to offer services because of assaults on their staff. By any measure, Dever was still a struggling urban school. Test scores were low, and many students suffered from the grinding poverty reminiscent of Columbia Point. But Dever also included a growing number of working-class families, and Principal Nydia Mendez, then in her third year at the helm, imbued the school with moxie and a measure of optimism. Nydia offered me the chance to test the Citizen Schools concept and to serve as my own guinea pig\u2014our first volunteer \"citizen teacher.\"\n\nMargie Tkacik presided over Room 202 with boundless energy: part loving aunt filled with empathy and compassion for the children, and part mad scientist full of wonder and provocative questions. She was a veteran teacher and a former Golden Apple award winner (an award given to the district's top teachers). She lived in nearby South Boston, and her husband ran the bar across the street from the teachers' union office where she and colleagues would gather for a few drinks on Fridays after a long week of work. On my first day in Margie's class, I marveled as she circled the classroom like an observant shepherd, sharing a word of encouragement here, a new assignment there, and, as needed, a nip of discipline. After college I had worked as a journalist, and Margie and I agreed that for two hours a week I would work with ten of her students to publish a newspaper. This would give me a chance to pilot Citizen Schools, and Margie a few hours a week to work more intensively with the remainder of her class.\n\nI remember nervously making last-minute adjustments to my lesson plans as I walked to my first class from the train station, the imposing _Boston Globe_ newsroom behind me and the Dever fifth graders ahead. When I entered the classroom I handed each student a narrow, spiral-bound reporter's notebook and held a \"press conference\" in which the students asked me questions to learn the design of the class. That part of the session worked well. Then I tried a brief lecture on the Five Ws of journalism (What, When, Who, Where, and Why), and found the students slumping in their chairs, disengaged despite my best efforts to interest them. A flop! By week three, I recruited a young co-teacher from City Year, the national service program I had previously worked for, and the class settled into a productive routine that maximized learning by doing and minimized teacher talking. We started each class with students conducting phone or in-person interviews\u2014of the principal, local civic leaders, teachers, and even fellow students. Then each student had some writing time, during which my co-teacher and I would circulate and make suggestions. I would then offer a five-minute group lesson on a writing-related topic and, to close, we would pair up for twenty minutes of peer editing. I wasn't a great teacher, but the kids loved the class. I was a real editor, and they became real journalists.\n\nThe kids weren't my students; they were my apprentices, learning the tricks of a real trade by doing it. Every child in the apprenticeship wrote at least two articles for our paper, which we called the _Dever Community News._ They edited one another's work and were edited by me too. Our paper included comics, a crossword puzzle, a horoscope, and dozens of news and feature articles\u2014including a front-page feature by eleven-year-old Nick Earner about life growing up in South Boston's Old Colony public housing development.\n\n\"One day I witnessed a man on the roof of my house with a gun,\" wrote Nick. \"He almost took his life because he had his children taken away by DSS [the Massachusetts Department of Social Services].\" Nick continued with a startling and eminently publishable piece of citizen journalism, ending with a description of his motivation for sharing the story. \"What made me write this article,\" Nick shared, \"was about three weeks ago two African American men were almost beaten to death for no good reason by five teenagers. This upset me because I never thought that was supposed to happen in this world.\"\n\nNick's article described a world unfamiliar to most eleven-year-olds, and familiar to most adults only through books or TV shows, or not at all. I worried for him. But I also appreciated Nick's moral compass and desire to tell his story, and as he and I worked through successive drafts of his writing, we developed a close bond.\n\nTo pay for printing the paper, the students sold $400 worth of advertisements to local businesses. Then one day in our last week together we all piled into a rented van and drove to a printer in Chelsea, a small city across the Mystic River from Boston. We watched in awe as our creation flew off a huge old printing press that folded the papers, stacked them in bunches of five hundred, and wrapped them tightly in plastic twine. When we got back to Dever, the kids walked a little taller as they distributed their newspapers to classmates and teachers. I like to think that their writing improved too\u2014not just for this project but for all their classes.\n\nAs for me, I was hooked. And Citizen Schools was born.\n\nIn the almost two decades since we published the _Dever Community News,_ Citizen Schools has blossomed into a national movement serving more than six thousand students annually from coast to coast and providing exuberant, college-bound proof that low-income kids can learn at high levels. We've shown that some of the nation's lowest-performing schools\u2014schools in places like East Harlem and East Oakland\u2014can, with help and partnership, provide their students with the same experiences as suburban kids and thereby deliver suburb-worthy results. We've been honored by the White House for our work eliminating achievement gaps in academic performance, high school graduation rates, and college enrollment; we've been profiled on the evening news; and we've begun to lead a movement to expand the learning day and to eventually bring millions of caring, talented adults together with children to improve education in America. Of course, we've made our share of mistakes too, and learned some humbling lessons along the way. Tragically, even as Citizen Schools and dozens of other strong educational interventions have grown, so has the achievement gap between rich and poor. Today we are helping thousands of children beat the odds. But we aren't changing the odds\u2014at least not yet.\n\nCitizen Schools illuminates a story of opportunity, of accomplishment, and of citizen power in America. At a time when many educational leaders are looking for new, silver-bullet shortcuts to educational excellence\u2014things like software-driven learning, vouchers, merit pay for effective teachers, and more\u2014I believe the best solution is human-centered, rooted in American tradition, and, as I hope to show in this book, achievable. To be fair, to build our economy, and to recommit to the American ideal of equal opportunity, we need to provide lower- and moderate-income children with the following five building blocks of opportunity:\n\n1. More mentorship by caring and professionally successful adults\n\n2. A longer learning day, allowing more time to master the academic basics and chances to participate in sports, art, and music as part of a well-rounded education\n\n3. More chances to practice creativity and innovation\u2014critical skills in the modern economy\n\n4. More chances to build the social networks and social skills that help drive professional and life success\n\n5. Better support of full-time teachers and parents, the primary caregivers for lower- and moderate-income children\n\nWe need people like Deb Daccord, a lawyer who for eight years in the prime of her career helped prepare middle school students, dressed in their Sunday best, to argue mock trials in front of federal judges; people like David Mantus, the son of a rocket scientist, who seven times has taught Boston sixth graders like Adam Barriga how to launch rockets and do simulated lunar landings, working with real astronauts from NASA; and people like Alan Su, a Google engineer who for the last four autumns has taught sixth graders how to create new Android apps with a community purpose.\n\nDaccord, Mantus, and Su have advanced degrees and prominent careers, and we need people like them if we want to equalize opportunity. We also need talented artists and tradesmen, like Joel Bennett, a carpenter, who taught Citizen Schools apprentices important lessons about math, and about life; and we need grandmothers like Earline Shearer, who was sad she hadn't passed on her love of sewing to her own children and grandchildren but through Citizen Schools found a way to teach her craft to other people's children. The stories of Earline Shearer and Joel Bennett and Alan Su are inspiring stories of noble intentions. But these volunteers are not just do-gooders. They are do-gooders with grit who are achieving measurable results in the lives of real children and showing a pathway to strengthen America.\n\nThe narrative thread for this book is Citizen Schools, and my own journey as its cofounder and leader, trying to reimagine the who, when, what, where, and how of education. In the coming pages I will first tell my childhood story and that of my wife (who grew up with a very different background and much less privilege). My goal in these opening chapters is to unpack and better understand the building blocks of professional success that have elevated generations of Americans. When we say a child is privileged, what mix of experiences, connections, and extra supports are we talking about? And how have millions of poor and working-class kids gained access to similar building blocks in the past? The heart of the book is the story of Citizen Schools, and the stories of children we serve, who were born with little money and few connections but by virtue of repeated positive experiences with professionally successful adults are now catapulting their way into good colleges and good careers.\n\nThese questions are explored against the backdrop of an increasingly contentious and urgent national debate about how to deliver the education our children need.\n\nIn just one generation, the United States has dropped from first in the world in college graduates to sixteenth. In science and math proficiency\u2014subjects required for the fastest-growing occupations\u2014we rank twenty-first and twenty-sixth, respectively, among the world's industrialized nations. For every future engineer graduating from a US college, ten graduate in China. These gaps threaten our economy, because we live in a \"flat world\" in which many of the best knowledge-based jobs are mobile and will increasingly go to places with the most educated workers.\n\nThis is bad news. But the really bad news is the growing class-based achievement gap within America. While the achievement gap between whites and blacks has narrowed over the last two generations, an important step on an incomplete journey, achievement gaps based on parental income levels have doubled since World War II and continue to widen, as is powerfully documented in _Whither Opportunity?_ , a compendium of recent scholarship pulled together by educational economists Greg Duncan and Richard Murnane. Forty years ago, 40 percent of upper-income Americans earned a four-year college degree by their mid-twenties, while 6 percent of lower-income Americans did. Now it's 8 percent for low-income students and a fast-growing 73 percent for their upper-income peers. Upper-income students who are academically low-performing (on the SAT and in their course grades) are as likely to earn a college degree as lower-income but academically high-performing students.\n\nAmerican capitalism and our democracy rest on the idea that differential results for individuals are one part luck and two parts effort and ingenuity. If that equation flips and career success becomes only a little about differential effort and talent and mostly about what zip code you were lucky enough to be born into, then we've lost the American identity.\n\nSo what's causing these growing gaps? As mentioned, it's not that the academic skills of poor children are slipping. Actually, they are growing modestly. The class-based education gap is accelerating because children from upper-middle-class families are accelerating rapidly, benefiting from an awesome web of support and growth opportunities, including many I received. This is the opportunity equation. In the 1970s, low-income families spent $835 per year on out-of-school enrichment for their children\u2014things like music lessons, tutoring, summer camp, and participation on travel sports teams\u2014while upper-middle-class families spent $3,536. By 2006, these investments, adjusted for inflation, had grown to $1,315 for lower-income families and $8,872 for upper-income families, nearly a tripling of the investment gap\n\nUpper-income children are also bathed in the most precious resource of all: their parents' time. A generation ago, lower-income children spent more time with their parents than upper-income kids did. Now it has flipped, and wealthier parents are spending four hours more per week with their children: reading to them, talking at the dinner table, driving them to sporting events and music lessons, and thereby packing their suitcases for a lifetime of success.\n\nClass-based achievement gaps are growing at a time when education drives access to career success more than ever before, meaning the gaps are more consequential. Forty years ago, college graduates earned only about 20 percent more than high school graduates over the course of their lifetimes. Good jobs requiring little education were plentiful, and those with a modest education could work their way up. But most of those low-skilled and high-wage jobs have gone away, because they consisted of tasks that were easy to computerize, since they involved following simple rules, or to outsource. Now high-wage jobs require workers to use higher-level thinking skills, to communicate well, to work well on diverse teams, and to solve problems where no clear rules apply. These are the skills college grads generally have, and this explains why they now earn almost twice as much as their less-educated peers, a quadrupling of the college\u2013high school wage gap.\n\nIt's a vicious cycle: Children of parents with money race further ahead, buoyed by tutoring, paid enrichment, lessons, and formal and informal mentoring. And the resulting educational gains reap bigger economic gains. On the surface it looks like we live in a more meritocratic world\u2014one in which what you learn is what you earn. Upper-income families have figured this out and invest accordingly. Lower-income families are working longer hours but lack the money and time and social networks to provide the enrichment and extra learning that is taken for granted by the children of their wealthier peers. The result is a world that is actually less meritocratic and in which our society loses out on the rich cultural and economic benefits that would flow to all of us if more children had a chance to fully develop and nurture their talents.\n\nThere is a raging debate among education reformers in which, to simplify, one side says the achievement gap is caused by poverty and can't be fixed by schools without fixing poverty, and the other side says poverty is no excuse and that bad schools and bad teachers cause most of the growing gaps between rich and poor students. This is an unproductive debate in part because it confuses causes and solutions. Based on my own experience and the available research, the cause of America's class-based achievement gap is about one part school\u2014and three parts out-of-school factors. The part that is school is a difference between teacher quality and expectations in upper- and lower-income public schools. Schools serving upper-income children have higher expectations and more \"highly qualified\" teachers, in large part because teachers in those schools have more support. We need to change this, as various current reform efforts are endeavoring to do. But exhaustive studies by educational researchers Joseph Altonji and Richard Mansfield and others indicate that only 20 to 30 percent of the achievement gap is driven by these school-related factors. As an example, they find that moving low-income students from a school and associated community at the tenth percentile of quality (as measured by test scores and graduation rates) to a school at the ninetieth percentile increases the likelihood students will graduate high school on time by only eight to ten percentage points, leaving in place a thirty-percentage-point gap.\n\nThe really big difference for kids is that upper-income families spend seven times more money supporting student learning _out of school._ And because upper-income families live in communities populated by professionally successful people, upper-income children are naturally exposed to more successful adults, starting with their parents. Success is modeled for them from birth through high school, college, and beyond. That's what drives the achievement gap.\n\nMy own community of Brookline, Massachusetts, illustrates the point. Like hundreds of families before us, we moved to our neighborhood because of the William H. Lincoln elementary school. In the 1960s and '70s the Lincoln had been dubbed \"Stinkin' Lincoln\" due to its older, dilapidated classrooms and because its catchment area, while dominated by gracious homes and tree-lined streets, includes Whiskey Point, Brookline's lowest-income section and home to modest triple-deckers and hundreds of units of public housing. But in the 1980s, in an effort to upgrade the Lincoln for all its students and also to retain more wealthy families (many had left for private schools), Brookline built a new Lincoln school, supported by increased taxes and a special private fund-raising campaign, and designed by acclaimed architect Graham Gund. An energetic principal, Barbara Shea, helped make it one of the highest-performing schools in the state despite the challenges faced by some of its students.\n\nToday the Lincoln serves 570 students, hailing from thirty-one countries, in kindergarten through eighth grade. Half of Lincoln's students are nonwhite, and a full 25 percent of the Lincoln students are low-income and eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, but the school community also includes hedge fund managers, architects, and academics. My wife, Maureen, and I have gotten deeply engaged in the school community, coaching teams, supporting field trips, raising money for after-school programs, serving on the school advisory council, and more. We love the school. But, like our upper-income neighbors, we've also signed up our kids for private tutoring and music and sports lessons, and we provide hundreds of hours of extra academic coaching at home. The investments pay a large return, and as our kids enter Brookline High School they are moving ahead of most of their lower-income classmates\u2014even though they attend the same excellent public schools and live in the same neighborhood.\n\nIf upper-middle-class families want to know who is causing the achievement gap, we should look in the mirror. It is us. We go to the ends of the earth to help our kids succeed. Our kids deserve it. But so do all kids.\n\n# SECTION ONE\n\n# STARTING CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n# CHAPTER ONE\n\n# BUILDING BLOCKS\n\nFamily lore has it that my first words were _nani, nani_ (\"more, more\"), spoken in a northern Nigerian dialect used by just sixty thousand people in the region of Kaduna. My parents had brought me to Africa in 1961 at the age of nine months. My father, scion of the FAO Schwarz toy store family, was fresh out of Harvard Law School. He was serving through the MIT Fellows in Africa program as Assistant Commissioner for Law Revision for the Northern Region of the newly independent Nigerian republic. My mother, a recent graduate of Radcliffe College and a member of a large Boston Brahmin family, had signed up to teach a high school course in African history. I was along for the adventure.\n\nI have no clear memories of my year in Africa. But from the photographs I grew up with and the stories I have heard, the trip foreshadowed my childhood with its sense of adventure and its extraordinary exposure to stimulating people and places.\n\nAfter living and working in Africa for fourteen months, my family settled on the rapidly gentrifying Upper West Side of Manhattan. My father joined a large law firm, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and stayed active in civic causes. My mother had a second and then a third child (my sisters, Adair and Eliza) and began postgraduate studies at Columbia University, eventually earning a PhD in linguistics.\n\nOur turf on the Upper West Side stretched from Broadway to Riverside Park and from 100th to 106th Streets. It featured turn-of-the-century brownstones, rent-controlled apartment buildings, and subsidized housing\u2014a chock-a-block mix that supported a diverse population of professionals, artisans, blue-collar workers, small-business owners, and families on welfare. This was before the crack epidemic and resultant crime spree of the early 1980s, and my parents, and therefore I, had virtually no fear of crime. Starting at age six, I had permission to play handball in front of our building, to walk unescorted to Riverside Park for games of baseball and kick the can, or to head over to Broadway, where for a single quarter my friends and I could pick up a slice of pizza. A nearby bodega often had chickens running around the back part of the shop and was run by a friendly family from Puerto Rico.\n\nAs I approached nursery-school age, my parents and our Upper West Side clan of cousins and friends decided the educational options available to us weren't good enough. So they started their own school\u2014the West Side Montessori School, patterned after the hands-on, self-directed learning approach developed by famed Italian educator \u00adMaria Montessori. It was the first school in the city to include both low-income students with public subsidies and full-paying families like ours. In 1966, at age five, I was one of nine children in the school's first graduating class. I still remember one assignment\u2014a number line in which I counted from 1 to 4,387, running the numbers down successive strips of yellow paper that I would tape together. I am not sure this deeply improved my math skills. But when I was done with the assignment I had a number line that stretched all the way around our living room two times. I was proud and felt I had earned a badge of success.\n\nThe following fall I headed as a first grader to the Collegiate School, which was founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1628 and has offered a rigorous\u2014and increasingly prestigious\u2014all-boys education ever since. Two years later, on the first day of third grade, our teachers pulled us together to let us know that we would be joined by a new classmate, John Kennedy, son of the late president. John added unmistakable star power and a Secret Service detail to our already well-heeled class. His mother, Jackie O, was a fixture on the sidelines of our soccer games and, years later, sponsored a memorable eighth-grade class trip to Boston.\n\nUp to the end of third grade my childhood progressed smoothly. I made friends easily enough; showed athletic promise in several sports, including basketball, which was my favorite; and demonstrated aptitude in school even if it was sometimes wrapped in a daydreamy fog.\n\nIn fourth grade, however, things took a turn for the worse. The best I can recall is that the trigger was a bad match with my homeroom teacher, Ms. Goldberg, though clearly more was going on. My teachers to that point had been warm, maternal figures who softened the authoritarian feel of Collegiate, with its giant stained-glass windows and its centuries of tradition and coat-and-tie uniforms. But Ms. Goldberg was stern and British, and didn't take kindly to my daydreamy ways. We got off to a bad start when she said I was spelling my name wrong (actually _she_ was, as our \"Schwarz\" contains no _t_ ), and things spiraled downhill from there. School started feeling like a hostile environment, and I started feeling unsuccessful. I stopped doing my homework, earned mediocre to poor grades, and began an academic slide that continued for many years. When the final bell rang on the last day of fourth grade and we were dismissed, I jumped up and literally danced a jig as I raced out of the school.\n\nI have faint memories of school in the ensuing middle-grade years. But I remember my out-of-school time in full, living color. I typically left Collegiate at four or four thirty in the afternoon (after an eight-plus-hour day) and walked a few blocks down Broadway to H&H Bagels, with its large bins of freshly cooked sesame, salt, poppy, onion, and \"everything\" bagels. I would buy two of whatever was warmest and then eat the bagels plain as I headed home on the Broadway 24 bus. When I got home, I would be greeted by a live-in au pair and, usually, my two younger sisters. I'd inhale two bowls of cereal or a couple of grapefruits, and then play basketball in my room or at a park that was three blocks away. Mom would get home in time to make dinner, and Dad would usually arrive a little later in the evening.\n\nOddly missing from these evenings was structured homework time\u2014a staple, I am sure, for most of my classmates then and for my children and their peers today. I think my parents just assumed homework was something that kids did on their own.\n\nIn middle school my challenges worsened and occasioned lots of special meetings with my teachers and parents. I hated these \"Eric is struggling\" conferences, but they continued to be held at least two or three times a year. My mother would make a special trip into school and we would meet with one or a few teachers. Sometimes a guidance counselor or the principal would join us as well. I would hear about all of the assignments I hadn't completed and the potential I wasn't fulfilling. Then I would make a halfhearted promise to improve, and the meeting would be over. Sometimes I would study harder for a few weeks. My parents might do a homework assignment with me elbow to elbow. But I had negative momentum. I was unengaged in school, disorganized, and ashamed. And the meetings continued. I remember that after one particularly difficult conference in sixth grade, my French teacher looked sadly at me and said, simply, \"Your poor mother.\"\n\nCompounding my academic disengagement in these middle-grade years, I also pulled back socially, maintaining a few close friendships but living far from the center of my school's social scene. Once in high school, with a deepening feeling of alienation, I started smoking marijuana daily, drinking heavily on weekends, and experimenting with other drugs. I attended three private high schools in three states, never getting officially expelled but earning multiple suspensions and mostly poor grades. It wasn't a pretty picture.\n\nAmazingly, throughout these difficult years I continued to have positive learning experiences. I was an obsessive fan of my hometown sports teams, in particular the Yankees in baseball and Knicks in basketball, and I digested the statistics of my favorite players so thoroughly that I developed an advanced number sense and statistical acumen far out of proportion to my academic standing or hours of formal study. I attended top-flight private schools. And while I certainly didn't maximize my opportunities, the schools offered rigorous academics and a rich sampling of creative arts, sports, and various extracurricular clubs. Some of that learning did stick.\n\nI attended several sleep-away summer camps as well, which provided important learning experiences. At Tamarack Tennis Camp in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the mosquitoes were so large they gave me cauliflower ear\u2014no doubt from a combination of numerous bites and the cuffs I administered to my ears in a futile effort to squash the maddening bugs; but the camp's counselors were fun-loving and full of praise. And camp proprietor Jack Kenney\u2014the grandfather of skiing legend Bode Miller, who was homeschooled on the Tamarack grounds\u2014was an innovator in tennis instruction. Kenney used state-of-the-art photography to give campers an eight-photo depiction of their serving motion. And he used low-tech teaching tools too, like an adjustable upside-down bucket that hung high above the courts and allowed campers to practice the perfect toss for a first or second serve. Kenney and his team built up my skills in tennis, helping me at age thirteen develop the muscle memory for solid ground strokes and a powerful serve, which on a good day I can still call up four decades later. Even more important, at Tamarack I developed the confidence that comes with getting good at something\u2014anything. That summer I won awards for proficiency and improvement, as well as the coveted camp-wide award for sportsmanship. As I collected the last of these at the camp's closing ceremony, camp owner Kenney cracked that with all of the trophies I'd won I could open a hardware store. My heart was jumping out of my chest with joy.\n\nTwo summers later I transitioned from attending camp to helping run a camp. I was fifteen, and I got support from my parents to run a small day camp for younger cousins and neighbors at our country home, one hour from New York City. My sister Adair and I were two of the three counselors, and for two weeks we offered a rotation of tennis, swimming, and horseback riding to nine young neighbors and relatives. The camp was a success, perhaps even an opening to my later career at Citizen Schools. But there is no way I would have had the experience of \"running\" that camp without tremendous support from my parents. It wasn't just that they provided the tennis court, the pool, and two horses\u2014critical ingredients, to be sure. They also recruited the campers! It was left to us to design and lead four hours of daily activities, to prepare a daily snack, and to communicate with the campers and their parents once the camp opened.\n\nEducation scholars such as University of Pittsburgh professor Lauren Resnick would call the experience I had that summer an apprenticeship, or\u2014to update the image from that of a young boy in a blacksmith's or printer's shop\u2014a \"cognitive apprenticeship.\" What my parents provided is called scaffolding, and it is a part of a sequential four-stage learning process as old as humankind\u2014though sadly missing from many schools and childhoods today. Apprenticeships start with the expert (this can be a parent, a more experienced colleague, or a master craftsman) _modeling_ success; then comes _scaffolding_ (support to the apprentice\u2014like the ladder that helps a painter reach the second floor, or the initial recruiting that helped get our camp off the ground); then _coaching_ as the apprentice begins to perform the tasks; and, finally, _fading_ as the apprentice begins to lead.\n\nWhether it is Ben Franklin apprenticing to a Boston printer, a young lawyer beginning her career by clerking with a senior judge, or a medical resident on rotation with an experienced surgeon, not-yet-successful people learn through apprenticeships with already successful people. For me, I had lots of these chances. Before I turned twenty, I completed the summer-camp apprenticeship and then additional unpaid internships\u2014or apprenticeships\u2014with prominent lawyers, city planners, and a US senator.\n\nDespite these burgeoning opportunities, my teenage years continued to be difficult. I made lots of mistakes. But when I made them, I got help. For instance, when I drank too much on an early-spring night in 1978 (I was seventeen) and was chased by police officers in a paddy wagon through the Boston Common, arrested, and taken to jail, I was bailed out a few hours later by family friend Gil Burke. Like my father, Gil was a Harvard-trained lawyer. In retrospect, that one drunken night could have changed the trajectory of my life. Lesser mistakes have ruined the lives of other children. It could easily have been three days in jail, not three hours. It could have been a permanent arrest record, not a quick release. It could have been a source of deep family hardship, not a bachelor-party story, as it became for me.\n\nThe great psychologist Erik Erikson wrote that all adolescents should have the chance for a period of _Wandenchaft_ , or wanderlust, in their later teen years, when they are free to experience the world and to make mistakes as they find their footing and discover new truths about their souls. I had this time, and for me it was one of life's greatest gifts. I wasn't a bad kid as an adolescent. I was just lost and trying to figure things out.\n\nInstead of my three-hour visit with the Boston Police Department, it was my 1980 internship with US senator Gary Hart of Colorado that became the turning point in my life. The opportunity arose for two reasons: my dad knew Gary Hart, and I was dating a girl in Colorado.\n\nIn early June I arrived in Denver in my beat-up Chevy Chevette and made my way to campaign headquarters, which was stuffed into a three-story Victorian on High Street in one of Denver's nicer residential neighborhoods. I tucked in my shirt, rang the doorbell, and was greeted by Mary Cromer, the plainspoken office manager whom I had been speaking with by phone as I drove across the country and who had lined up a basement room for me to sleep in. After getting acquainted for a few minutes, Mary gave me my first campaign assignment: \"There's a lawn mower in the garage out back and the lawn needs to be mowed,\" she said. \"Okay,\" I said, and I headed out back, suddenly a little unsure what I was getting myself into. When the lawn was done I spent four long days counting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters collected at a recent state convention in coffee cans covered in HART FOR \u00adSENATE bumper stickers. I settled into an almost Zen meditative state as I counted out piles of coins and stuffed them fifty or twenty-five at a time into rust-colored paper rolls and then crimped the ends and stacked the rolls in small cardboard boxes. I didn't complain about the menial work, but I had been taught to ask for more responsibility, so I did. In my second week, the campaign manager said I could work as a ghostwriter, crafting letters to the editor for in-state campaign volunteers to sign and submit. Then, with an endorsement from Cromer, I graduated to position papers and was assigned to draft a campaign brochure on small business.\n\nLater that summer, I helped organize benefit rock concerts performed by Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett, and Stephen Stills\u2014all of them recruited to the cause by Hart's good friend Warren Beatty. I was just nineteen, and the concerts were an incredible thrill for me, and lucrative for the campaign. In retrospect, they were an uncannily perfect bridge between a teenage desire to attend as many pot-infused rock concerts as possible and a young-adult opportunity to manage a six-figure enterprise for the reelection campaign of a United States senator. The entire campaign experience, as well as the mentors I got to work with, was incredible. I had grown up _around_ power, but now, as through transference, I was working _with_ power. I called my parents and my college, the University of Vermont, and asked to withdraw from the fall semester of my sophomore year so I could continue working through Election Day in November.\n\nThat fall I organized college students across Colorado and discovered I had a talent for mobilizing people behind a cause. On Election Day I led a statewide network of hundreds of student volunteers from a borrowed Boulder dorm room. We stationed volunteers at college polling places across the state with lists in triplicate of all the registered Democrats in those precincts. At midmorning, midafternoon, and dinnertime, we checked to see who had voted and then dispatched students to dorms, libraries, and cafeterias to search for other students who still needed to exercise their franchise. Of the fifteen-hundred-some students living on campus at the University of Colorado at Boulder and registered to vote as Democrats, all but three turned out to vote that day. Students also came out strong in Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, and in small college towns across the western slope of the Rockies. Senator Hart won by fewer than twenty thousand votes, withstanding Ronald Reagan's landslide victory over President Jimmy Carter and positioning himself for a presidential run of his own in 1984.\n\nI came back to the East Coast with a new sense of purpose and pride. I had done real work with real responsibility and had a chance to work with numerous caring and experienced professionals who invested their time in my development. By January of 1983, as I began my last semester of college, I was working full-time for Senator Hart's presidential campaign. I served as his national student director and worked closely with the youthful codirectors of his campaign, Bill Shore and Kathy Bushkin, and with the savvy Jeanne Shaheen (now a US senator), who ran our campaign in New Hampshire. I helped to lead our efforts in Vermont and mobilized thousands of students to volunteer in the crucial early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.\n\nIn the winter of 1983, with our campaign in last place in most polls and almost out of money, I organized 104 simultaneous press conferences announcing \"Students for Hart\" chapters on major college campuses across the country. My method was straightforward. Working from a short list of students who had contacted the campaign, and from a longer list of College Democrats chapter heads, I called people and asked if they would gather a few friends and hold a simple press conference for their college and local papers, announcing the formation of a Students for Hart chapter. If those I spoke with showed any interest, I would immediately send them an information packet and ask who they knew on other campuses that might be a prospect to join the effort. I would follow up with a call every few days. I began my phone calls after dinner at six or seven o'clock and often ended for the night when I started waking people on the West Coast\u2014at two or three in the morning, my time. The hard work paid off, and the Students for Hart event was a success, earning a positive article in _Newsweek_ magazine, building momentum that helped establish Hart as the youth candidate and earning me a reputation as a skilled campaign organizer. A year later, young people helped drive Hart's surprise second-place finish in Iowa and his upset victory over front-runner Walter Mondale in the 1984 New Hampshire primary.\n\nMy experience as Hart's national student director in 1983 and 1984 was my first job out of college. It taught me I could be successful on an adult stage, and it remains an early source of my conviction that citizen power, properly mobilized, can change the world.\n\nMy parents provided the initial connection to Gary Hart. And I was ready, finally, to take advantage of the opportunity because of the caring, the connections, and the powerful example they had provided much earlier. They were weak on supervising homework and in a few other areas, but overall both my parents were an inspiration. I love them deeply.\n\nAt six feet, one inch tall, my mother, Marian Lapsley Cross (she is now remarried), is an imposing presence. Often my friends and those of my two younger sisters found her intimidating. Mom was descended from Quaker activists and New England businessmen and, like my father, was big on long walks, conversations about social policy, and Yankee asceticism. We made do with beat-up old cars, leaky toilets and faucets, moth-rampaged blankets, and rumpled clothing. My dad, Fritz Schwarz, was a successful corporate trial lawyer whose career included defending IBM from monopoly charges, representing Polaroid founder Edwin Land, and winning access to Major League Baseball locker rooms for Melissa Ludtke, a female reporter for _Sports Illustrated._ We had plenty of money, attended private schools, owned a country house, and enjoyed long vacations in Europe, Africa, and the American West. But we also cut our own lawn, often wore clothes until they were threadbare, and usually skipped dessert. If Dad really wanted to mark a milestone, like a new tooth or an athletic or academic award (I didn't have many of those), there was no fancy dinner out or trip to the movies. Instead, he would offer, in his words, \"a really big prize\u2014a home-cooked spaghetti dinner.\"\n\nIn retrospect, our selective frugality was a little eccentric, given that Dad's salary put us in the upper echelon of the top 1 percent of earners in the nation. But my parents' work ethic and grit and populist outlook made a mark on me for which I will always be grateful. Dad had a hard time showing affection or emotion, but he saw the best in me and other people and looked to draw that out. In addition to his positive outlook, Dad's ferocious competitive spirit left a deep imprint on me. One night Dad took me to an office softball game played under the lights in lower Manhattan. He was in right field, one of only two lawyers on a team of younger, burlier moving men, messengers, and clerks from the firm. Late in the game a towering fly ball was hit near him. Initially he misjudged it, racing in and toward the foul line when the ball was actually hit deep in the right-center-field gap. Then he reversed course at a sprint and launched himself with a full dive, catching the ball backhanded as he skidded along the patchy grass and then jogged in toward the dugout with a broad grin that was both sheepish and proud. On another night\u2014a Sunday night in the dead of winter\u2014Dad excused himself after dinner and went outside in his winter coat. I went to look for him thirty minutes later and found him a hundred feet from the house in the bitter cold, practicing a speech that he needed to give the next day to a few hundred lawyers working with him on a big case.\n\nYears later, Dad's Harvard college friend, Dan Morgan, summed up to me why he loved Harvard by saying that it exposed him to people like my father. \"Your father had little athletic talent,\" Dan told me, \"yet he managed to become stroke of the Harvard crew just through sheer effort and determination, and he has applied that determination and drive to his entire life. As a kid who grew up on a farm in upstate New York, being around people like that was an incredible education.\"\n\nWhile I have come to deeply appreciate the drive my father passed on to me, I suspect his competitive intensity and his towering professional success intimidated me as a child. I was the oldest and only son and the oldest grandchild on both sides of the family. Expectations were high. It felt as if, as a ten-year-old, I had been placed on a powerful stallion of ambition that I lacked the skill and interest to ride.\n\nMom was my partner on all kinds of cool projects, from baking bread, to building a dollhouse for my sister, to raising and killing chickens, to learning macram\u00e9. But I also knew her as a ninth-grade English teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School, on 116th Street overlooking the East River in East Harlem. My private school had a different vacation schedule than Mom's public school, so I often had a chance to visit her classroom. Her students were only a few years older than me, and I was inspired by her ability to engage them. Once on the first day of school she assigned them to paint their dingy classroom bright yellow, handing out painter's tape and rollers to her shocked students. The students called Mom \"Slim\" and seemed to have a deep affection for her as a teacher who was curious about their lives and concerned about their futures. One day I walked across East Harlem with the whole class as they started to put together an end-of-year musical slide show that documented the school's environs. We must have made an unusual sight\u2014a tall white lady walking at the front and a few dozen African American and Puerto Rican fourteen-and fifteen-year-olds, many holding cameras, along with one long-haired blond boy trailing behind. To me it didn't feel odd at all. Instead it felt like a big, happy family adventure.\n\nA larger-than-life figure in my childhood was my paternal grandfather, Fritz Schwarz, who we called Grampy. Grampy was the managing partner of the white-shoe Wall Street law firm Davis, Polk & Wardwell and for many years the chairman of FAO Schwarz, the iconic toy store founded by his grandfather\u2014my great-great-grandfather\u2014in 1862.\n\nThe original Frederick August Otto Schwarz came to America in 1856 with his three brothers, Gustav, Richard, and Henry, after fleeing the Westphalia region of Germany because of political instability. The brothers settled in Baltimore and Frederick got a job as a clerk at a local stationery shop. In time he won the confidence of the storeowner and asked if during the Christmas season he could display and sell toys made by friends and family members from Germany and Austria. The storeowner agreed, the toys were a hit, and soon thereafter Frederick and his brothers struck out on their own and opened the Schwarz Toy Bazaar. The store grew modestly in Baltimore and then, after a devastating fire in 1868, relocated to New York City as FAO Schwarz: Purveyor of Fine Toys.\n\nBy the time of my grandfather's birth in 1902, FAO Schwarz had become, according to catalogs of the day, the largest and best-known toy store in the world, with branches in several other prominent cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. It was known then (and still) for its larger-than-life stuffed animals and one-of-a-kind dolls and toys. Many of the toys, like the legendary Steiff teddy bears, were imported exclusively from small toy makers in Europe.\n\nIn the early 1900s Henry Schwarz, the son of the founder (and my great-grandfather), took over management of the store. He had just a high school education, but Henry grew the store's catalog business and relocated the flagship store uptown to Fifth Avenue near its current location on Fifty-Eighth Street. The family lived in Greenwich, Connecticut, on a large estate that is now home to the Greenwich Country Day School. According to family lore, at the outset of World War I the family purchased an iron canon to ward off any neighbors who might resent their German heritage.\n\nMy grandfather, who like my father went by the nickname Fritz, was educated at the Hill School in Pennsylvania and at Harvard College, where he was president of the student newspaper, the _Crimson._ After his graduation in 1924 he enrolled directly in Harvard Law School and earned a spot on the law review. During my grandfather's third and final year of law school, his father fell ill and died suddenly. Not yet twenty-five, Grampy assumed oversight of the family business and commuted to New York regularly to support his mother and manage the toy business. He declined a prestigious clerkship with Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes and ran the store through the early years of the Great Depression before assuming the role of chairman and beginning a career as a corporate lawyer.\n\nIn 1962, just as my parents and I were returning from Africa, and one hundred years after the store's founding, Grampy decided to sell the business. None of his children were interested in taking it over, and he wisely wanted to avoid the family disputes that afflict many next-generation family businesses. In the ensuing years, FAO Schwarz has been sold at least a half dozen times, most recently to Toys \"R\" Us, and has declared bankruptcy twice. The toy store remains a source of family pride, however, and I now chair a small family foundation that uses proceeds from the business to support fellowships at high-quality child-serving organizations.\n\nSociologist Bruce Feiler, in the 2013 book _The Secrets of Happy Families_ , writes that children who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges. Children with the highest self-confidence, he said, have an \"intergenerational self,\" meaning that they know they belong to something bigger than themselves.\n\nI grew up with an extra dose of intergenerational self, as well as turbocharged mentoring from my extended family and their personal and professional networks. I also grew up with a deep subconscious fear that I would fail to live up to my forebears. Metaphorically, I had been drafted by the Yankees and was about to take my turn at the plate, just after Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, and Mickey Mantle had belted home runs. That fear caused anxiety that likely contributed to my adolescent struggles. But on the other hand, I was a Yankee! I was surrounded by success and could learn from the best. Much as I floundered at times, I, like my privileged peers, had a glide path to the future.\n\nAs I reflect on my childhood and early adult life, I am immensely grateful. My life was far from perfect; my parents, like me, have plenty of flaws, and I stumbled many times as I made my way forward. But every time I stumbled, I had a helping hand and a new chance. I learned the language of professional success through trial and error and through dozens of in-depth experiences with accomplished adults who took an interest in my development and helped me open doors.\n\nWhat's different for the young people I have come to know through Citizen Schools? Most also have hardworking parents who love them deeply. Many have received important support from mentors in or out of their family. But I have come to believe that the mentoring, the coaching, the networking, the experiences with success, the academic support, and the modeling of workforce opportunity available to them are rarely as deep or persistent as they need to be.\n\nPoverty creates a gravitational pull that holds people down. By contrast, wealth underwrites opportunity in obvious ways (better schools, camps, lessons, etc.) and in less obvious ways, like giving young people stories of accomplishment to internalize and the confidence and safety net to take productive risks, such as leaving jobs and creating new ones.\n\nLeaving poverty is harder today than it used to be. When my Schwarz ancestors came to America in 1856, a recent immigrant from Germany with no formal higher education could start a small business and put his son on a path to own a country estate and his grandson to graduate from Harvard Law School with an offer to clerk for a Supreme Court justice. Today in America, a smaller share of lower-income people become upper-income earners\u2014compared to previous generations in America and compared to other industrialized nations today. A 2010 report from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) found that with respect to social mobility across generations, the United States now ranks well below many other developed nations, including France, Germany, Spain, and Canada. In my home of Boston, a child who starts life in the bottom fifth of all Americans in family income has just a 10 percent chance of reaching the top fifth. And Boston has more social mobility than most US cities. A poor child raised in Atlanta or Indianapolis, for instance, has less than a 5 percent chance of reaching the upper middle class.\n\nLeaving poverty in the United States today requires escape velocity. Just as a rocket ship needs extraordinary fuel and thrust to escape the gravitational pull of the earth, escape velocity for a kid leaving poverty requires high expectations, persistent coaching and mentoring, and lots and lots of learning experiences with successful professionals throughout childhood.\n\nThe reason that few poor children achieve escape velocity\u2014and therefore remain poor\u2014is not rocket science. It's due to basic things. Things like no adult being able to help with homework, either because the parents are working two to three jobs and aren't available, or because they are available but\u2014owing to their own bad experiences in school or their limited English proficiency\u2014don't know how to teach long division or the Pythagorean theorem. And when Citizen Schools' parents can't help because they lack the time or skill, they generally don't have the means to hire live-in babysitters or specialized tutors to fill in. Students from low-income families generally don't attend sleep-away camp, play in sports leagues, take private music lessons, or have many chances to develop the muscle memory of success. They don't get many chances to win trophies. If it weren't for Citizen Schools, the students I have come to know wouldn't have internships with politicians or lawyers, or apprenticeships with scientists and engineers, even though these fields are growing fast and need more talent. How likely is it that a child will grow up to become an engineer if she has never met one? Their mistakes, when they make them\u2014and growing up by definition includes making mistakes\u2014will likely have far more serious consequences than mine did. Further, they face an added burden of unknown weight: many of them have known hunger, homelessness, a relative who has been jailed or killed, violence against their bodies, or several of these things.\n\nBackgrounds like mine don't guarantee success. Despite initial advantages, a small number of my close friends from childhood and members of my family have encountered great hardship, including homelessness, joblessness, wrenching addiction, deep sadness, and even poverty. But the odds are overwhelmingly stacked in our favor. Similarly, it is still true in America that many exceptional young people grow up in the most difficult of circumstances and yet lay claim to the American Dream of a good education followed by good jobs, a stable family life, home ownership, and more. These children beat the odds through some combination of hard work, force of personality, happenstance, and, usually, great mentoring by determined parents, skilled teachers, and loving community members. But sadly, the rags-to-riches American Dream stories occur less often today. America's current opportunity equation dictates a tough life for most poor and working-class children\u2014the children I have come to know through Citizen Schools. It does not need to be this way. In the chapters that follow, I hope to show how we can become a better nation and properly honor America's founding legacy of opportunity by changing this equation.\n\n# CHAPTER TWO\n\n# MAUREEN\n\nMy friend Amie's Cape Cod home, built by her Ohio industrialist great-grandparents, was large and rambling and featured a sweeping view toward the Elizabeth Islands. The dining room table comfortably sat twenty-four, and the unmodernized kitchen was designed for operation by a household staff of six. One weekend I arrived late for a party Amie was hosting, and while carloads of visitors were being dispatched to secure provisions, I was put to work preparing food. Soon another guest entered the kitchen, just back from an end-of-day bike ride. Her name was Maureen and she had a smile that was at once warm, powerful, and mischievous. I was instantly drawn to her. We spoke for just a minute and then were separated as we searched endless cupboards to find twenty-four beautiful but mismatched bowls for our first course, a bountiful fish stew. When dinner was served, Maureen and I found ourselves seated at opposite ends of the endless table, though I was pleased we occasionally shared smiles across the distance.\n\nAfter the dinner plates were cleared, people took different places around the table and Maureen and I sat together for dessert. I learned she was an artist and was pursuing a college degree at Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Her parents were Irish immigrants with limited formal education, and as the fifth of eight children, her upbringing, at least materially, was as different from mine as night from day. Maureen, who was then twenty-five, described leaving home when she was seventeen and making a living on her own ever since. She had attended the local vocational and technical arts high school because her junior high guidance counselor told her that based on her family background she was not college material and should learn a trade. Haircutting became her trade, and in her late teens and early twenties she made a good living working at various salons west of Boston and eventually on fashionable Newbury Street in Boston's Back Bay. Now she was attending Tufts full-time but still cutting hair to pay her rent and cover tuition and bare-bones expenses.\n\nMaureen's whole persona was as foreign to me as it was attractive, and by the end of dessert, and after several glasses of wine, we discovered that we were the only ones left in the room. Above the table we were engaged in a deep conversation about childhood, while below it our feet were engaged in a wonderful game of footsie. We took a moonlit swim together and stayed up the entire night talking until I had to leave early the next morning.\n\nMaureen and I drifted away from each other for almost a year, but throughout that time she persistently reentered my consciousness, and she always made me smile. When I would get into deep conversations with friends, or with a therapist I was seeing at the time, the conversation would turn to soul mates and I would invariably think of Maureen, the Irish woman with substance and sparkle. Almost a year after our first meeting, we had a warm reconnection at a mutual friend's birthday celebration. Then weeks later, Amie held an anniversary sequel to her Cape Cod weekend party. By the end of the weekend Maureen and I were again together. This time it stuck, and just weeks later Maureen and I went on a vacation together in Maine. I was head-over-heels in love. We moved in together that fall and were engaged to be married the following spring.\n\nAs I got to know Maureen I came to better understand her road from a subsidized-school-lunch kid and first-generation immigrant in small-town Hudson, Massachusetts, to an honors-level graduate from one of the nation's most prestigious colleges. It's in many ways a prototypical American Dream journey, but also, as discussed in the previous chapter, a road less traveled today. I wondered how it worked for Maureen.\n\nMaureen's mother, Mary, was the oldest of nine girls raised on a small dairy farm outside Galway, Ireland\u2014the daughter of a tall and tough man, John Gilmore, who worked hard and was spare in his sharing of affection. Mary's mother, Margaret, lived to ninety-nine years of age and held the family together with the help of rituals and habits common to the place and time, including daily prayers together in the kitchen and weekly mass at the local Catholic church. I met Grandma Gilmore shortly after Maureen and I got engaged and was amazed to learn that her sons-in-law visited her every afternoon for a glass of buttermilk or cup of tea and a slice of her fresh-baked brown bread or raisin scones. Their social network was strong.\n\nMaureen's father, Joe, grew up just a few miles away in the Salt\u00adhill area of Galway. When Joe was six months old, on the night before Christmas, his dad was killed by a speeding motorist while fixing his car on the side of the road. Joe's mother took to her bed with grief and didn't get out much until she herself died almost four years later. After Joe's mother died, he was raised by relatives in a household he described as devoid of affection for him and with few material comforts. For those familiar with Frank McCourt's prize-winning memoir _Angela's Ashes_ , Joe's story would strike a similar chord.\n\nIn his later teens Joe became a carpenter. He met and married Mary Gilmore, and in 1957 the young couple moved to America, settling with Joe's aunt in an apartment in Waltham, just west of Boston. Joe's first job was as a baker's assistant working for ninety-nine cents an hour. Joe and Mary didn't have a car, so he walked six miles to and from work every day. A year later Joe joined the carpenters' union, and in good times he would have steady pay, though at other times, particularly in the winter, he could go for months and months without work. In 1962 Joe and Mary bought the home they have lived in ever since\u2014a split-level ranch in Hudson, a small mill town forty miles west of Boston.\n\nAs Maureen looks back at her childhood, she recognizes a variety of forces that helped push her forward. There was a strong sense of identity that came from belonging to an immigrant clan\u2014a family of ten and a big team of cousins and friends that got together often for Irish ceilis, social gatherings filled with singing and dancing and storytelling. Maureen would banter and dance with the older men and women and feel part of an important tribe within the larger American family.\n\nThere were also teachers who saw promise in Maureen and made her feel recognized. A fifth-grade art teacher told Maureen she had talent and asked her to stay after school for a special art club. A seventh-grade science teacher beloved by students for her countercultural views invited Maureen to her house, where there was a door made of beads and a living room rug made from colorful squares of recycled carpet swatches. It was different and mind opening. A high school English teacher at the vocational technical school told Maureen it was okay to pursue a liberal arts education and talked with her for hours outside of class about literature.\n\n\"When a teacher is in front of the class, they may be a great teacher but you know they are paid to do what they are doing,\" Maureen observed. \"They _have_ to be there, so it's harder to feel there is anything special about the relationship. But when they reach out on their own time and they see something positive in you and talk with you, it's a whole different level of recognition and a feeling of really being noticed and having something specific about who you are reflected back on you.\"\n\nImportant to Maureen's childhood were a series of work experiences that broadened her horizons and lifted her confidence. Maureen started working at age ten because, she recalled, \"If I wanted to buy a slice of pizza on Saturday with my girlfriends, or buy a pair of Levi jeans because that's what everyone was wearing, I needed to have my own money.\" Her first jobs were as a babysitter, and while some of the families she worked for were familiar and similar to her parents, the husband and wife in one family Maureen worked for had both completed college and were working as professionals. The experience was eye opening.\n\n\"The family environment was just different,\" Maureen recalled. \"Everything from their wardrobes to the things they talked about and asked about was different from what I experienced in my own family. What really made an impression on me was that this family that had been away to college recognized my work ethic and my value and hired me weekly for a long time. They made me think differently of myself. It's not that I had low self-esteem but still they helped me to see myself in a new way. I had a positive response reflected back on me because of my work ethic, skills, and gumption.\"\n\nWhen Maureen was twelve she took over her brother's daily newspaper route and was pleased by the generous tips and friendly comments she received from many of her nearly one hundred customers. Later, Maureen lied about her age to get a job at the local pharmacy. She forged a bond with the pharmacist, whom she remembers as a Renaissance man who could play the guitar and carved decoys with a penknife during slow points in the day.\n\nThe world of work was a proving ground and an opening to new people and new views, and this became especially true as Maureen started cutting and styling hair full-time right after graduating from Assabet Valley Technical High School. She started at a salon on Main Street in Hudson doing hair for her friends and for older women getting roller sets. In a year her gregarious personality and strong work ethic led Maureen's boss to promote her to manager. Later she moved to a different salon in upscale Wayland, where her customers included staff and faculty from Wellesley College, a bank executive, and a nice older woman who became Maureen's \"Jewish mother.\"\n\n\"It's a very intimate relationship when you are cutting people's hair,\" Maureen recalled. \"People ask for advice and may be vulnerable with you in a way that is unusual for them, and they would also give advice. About the time that I was working at the salon in Wayland I was starting to think of finally going to college and I was looking at studying textile design, because it was a career I could envision. My Jewish mother at the salon said, 'Maureen, you seem like a Wellesley girl to me. You need to go to Wellesley and then you can do whatever you want.'\"\n\nWhen I met Maureen she was a year away from earning her degree from Tufts University through its partnership with the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and was cutting hair privately for about ten clients a week while also painting and finishing her studies. She and I had traveled on very different journeys, but for both of us our early work experiences had been critical to an adolescent and early-adult transformation. A lifeline for me was attending and then working at summer camps, helping organize campaigns in Colorado and across the country, serving as editor in chief of my college newspaper, and getting to know the world as a young journalist. These work experiences lifted me through a dark adolescent fog and helped me make the most of the bountiful opportunities I had been given. Maureen used after-school clubs and intensive and financially necessary work experiences to open new doors and to build confidence, skills, and a network. For sure Maureen had a few great teacher-mentors in school, but it was her out-of-school experiences, particularly her real-world work experiences, that allowed her to close opportunity and achievement gaps with her wealthier peers.\n\nSadly, for low-income children today, work experiences are drying up and blowing away. Newspapers, to the extent they are even read in traditional paper form these days, are now delivered by adults, usually underemployed men, not by teenagers breaking into the world of work. The proportion of older teens (sixteen to nineteen) who work in the summer has declined from two-thirds a generation ago to just one-third today. And in just the last decade, the percentage of sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds working part- or full-time during the school year has declined from 46 percent to 27 percent. We are raising a generation that will have a much harder time navigating the work world and that, in the case of lower-income children, will lack the steppingstones teenage work provides to a brighter future. Wealthier teens will suffer too, but in many cases they will get unpaid internships and apprenticeships, funded by their parents, to provide some of the same workforce skills that teen jobs provide. Lower-income teens will suffer more, with the lines that isolate them from the world of success and of enterprise drawn more boldly than ever before.\n\n# CHAPTER THREE\n\n# \"IT'S MY TURN!\"\n\nIt was 98 degrees and just past noon when Maureen and I finally began to pedal. \"Off at the crack of noon,\" I joked, and we turned in our hard leather bicycle seats to share knowing smiles. After an exhausting year I had wrapped up my work with the national nonprofit City Year, and Maureen was on vacation from her position as director of student life at the Museum School. Maureen and I were both excited for a restorative late-June bike trip on the back roads of New England\u2014a trip that ended up serving as the bridge to the launch of Citizen Schools. We decided to plan our routes and destinations just a day in advance and to meander, clockwise, from Boston to Vermont, then back through New Hampshire to coastal Maine, and then home.\n\nWe packed just the essentials: necessary clothes and two books, a guide to New England bed and breakfasts and\u2014in what became a joke between us for years to come\u2014a five-pound cinderblock of a book, _Women Who Run with the Wolves_ , that Maureen insisted on bringing along (and in my panniers, no less!) but never read. We headed west, rolling over the potholed side streets of South Boston and through the skyscraper canyons of downtown Boston. We bisected the MIT and Harvard campuses on Massachusetts Avenue, and soon we were cycling through historic Concord and bucolic country towns, feeling free and soaked in perspiration. In Groton we pulled over and guzzled a half gallon of Gatorade, and then took turns pouring a gallon of cold water over each other's heads. Our longest training ride had been about thirty-five miles, and yet for day one of our trip we'd planned twice that distance and hadn't counted on the heat wave. As we finally wheeled our rusty twelve-speeds into the Cathedral of the Pines Bed and Breakfast in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, it was dusk and we were bone-tired.\n\nWe rode across New England for a week, and by the time we left for Boston on our final day of cycling, my creative spirit felt rested and all kinds of ideas for a new venture were percolating in my mind. I had known since my April 1994 decision to leave City Year that I wanted to create a new organization that rallied citizens to improve education. But the precise vision had not yet crystallized. The more I daydreamed and planned that summer, the more I zeroed in on the middle grades, which had been so difficult for me.\n\nThe image that settled in my mind was of a thirteen-year-old me, alone in my room on a hot summer day, dreading the start of school a few days later. A letter had come in that day's mail from Henry Singer, my lead counselor that summer at Tamarack Tennis Camp. \"Your serve is wicked good,\" it read, \"one of the best in camp.\" The handwritten letter went on for three pages, detailing things I did well and could build from, while also raising critiques and making suggestions. I had spent just a few hundred hours with Henry Singer, but he had pushed me, and supported me, and come to know me. I read through the letter many times that day and in the weeks and even years to come, and it made me feel good every time.\n\nThe idea for Citizen Schools initially emerged more from my heart than my head. I was searching for ways to help kids feel more successful during that adolescent period of vulnerability that had been so painful for me. I wanted to offer other children more relationships with mentors like Henry Singer, and more chances to feel successful, as I had begun to do at Tamarack.\n\nI began to think through the political and programmatic implications of the experiences I had at Tamarack and of the informal apprenticeships I had with our family summer camp when I was fifteen, with city planners and lawyers in high school, and with Gary Hart in college. In July, I came across an _Atlantic_ magazine article by Massachusetts state senator Michael Barrett that described how many European and Asian countries were implementing a significantly longer learning year and were starting to achieve better educational results than the United States.\n\nI had never thought much about the length of the school day, or year. But I did the math. Since the early twentieth century, the typical American school has operated for about 180 days per year and a little more than six hours per day. As someone who hadn't liked school very much, these thousand or so hours in school seemed like plenty. But when I calculated how many hours the typical student is _awake_ over the course of an entire year, I realized it was more than five thousand hours. The math was elementary, but for me it was a light bulb moment. I realized American kids were out of school for almost 80 percent of their waking hours! As a country, we were banging our heads against a wall trying, with little success, to change the 20 percent of time when kids were in school. But we were doing little to expand that time or to transform the educational opportunities offered when children aren't in school. I developed a nifty pie chart showing how little of a kid's waking hours were spent in school, and I started talking to anyone who would listen about the opportunity of out-of-school learning. _Carpe the afternoon!_ became my informal rallying cry.\n\nAs the summer went on, ideas kept percolating. A friend sent me a delightful article, \"Chekhov for Children,\" which detailed the efforts of a Manhattan drama teacher to utilize after-school time to introduce the play _Uncle Vanya_ to a group of fifth and sixth graders. I heard about a science camp in which kids built robots and about a Saturday program at one of my alma maters, Milton Academy, where kids chose courses in everything from carpentry to ceramics to filmmaking. Out of this stew of ideas came my own personal commitment to publish a newspaper with students\u2014whom I called apprentices\u2014and the first draft of my concept paper calling for a new network of \"Citizen Schools.\"\n\n\"There is a sleeping giant of education reform,\" the argument began, \"and it is us: average citizens from all walks of life. More than any new curriculum, new funding source, or new management plan, what students need is more attention, love, teaching, and guidance from more adults. In our search for better outcomes for kids, we need to stop bashing schools. The rest of us need to pitch in.\"\n\nThe concept paper went on to detail a summer and after-school curriculum built around apprenticeships taught by successful professionals and artisans. Kids in Citizen Schools would also learn through field trips to colleges and museums, through reading circles, and through targeted homework help, all provided by teaching fellows, who in the early years would work part-time while attending college or graduate school. But the special sauce of the program was apprenticeships taught by volunteer \"citizen teachers.\" My vision was to give kids from some of Boston's poorest neighborhoods and lowest-performing schools the chance to work with leading professionals, to learn from the model of their success, and to create products and performances that made their peers, their parents, and other adults say: \"Wow! I can't believe kids did that.\"\n\nFortunately, the apprenticeship idea resonated with Dever school principal Nydia Mendez, who invited me for a long walk along Boston Harbor when I asked about trying out the Citizen Schools idea with her students. As we walked along the South Boston beachfront on a beautiful late-summer day, I shared my vision for Citizen Schools, focusing on how it could turn schools into places where students not just consumed but created knowledge, and where they discovered connections between school and future careers. Nydia shared her experience growing up as the daughter of an educator in Puerto Rico. \"My father always said that education was about the head, the heart, and the hand,\" she told me. \"But now in our schools, too often it's just about the head.\" I told her about my idea of creating a newspaper as an initial pilot, and she welcomed me into the Dever family, connecting me in September 1994 with the fifth-grade students in Margie Tkacik's classroom.\n\nAs described in the introduction, that first journalism class was full of learning (for me, at least), with ten eager students pitching in to write and edit an eight-page newspaper that we had professionally printed and then distributed all over the school and surrounding neighborhood. There was Freddy, who had a bright smile and moody, deep-set eyes. He had spent all of the previous summer cooped up alone in a hot Dorchester apartment because his mother was working as a nurse's aide and thought it was too dangerous for him to go outside and play. And there was Candace, a diligent fifth-grade journalist who would later defy the odds and graduate from St. John's University in New York, where she ran the college's cable-television news station. Kaitlyn was another of my students. Soft-spoken and in the middle of the pack academically, Kaitlyn drew no particular notice. But one day as I circulated among the students to edit their stories, Kaitlyn seized my attention. \"It's my turn!\" she exclaimed firmly, slamming her hand down on the table and punching out the words with fierce urgency and only a trace of her customary smile. I had not been sure Kaitlyn was getting much out of the class. But now I had a flash of recognition that Kaitlyn, like most people, learned primarily from relationships and experiences. Foreign as I may have seemed, I was providing Kaitlyn with a successful experience and a caring relationship. And she wanted more of both.\n\nIt _was_ Kaitlyn's turn. And it was my turn too\u2014my turn to try my hand as a social entrepreneur, to test and develop the Citizen Schools idea and try to bring it to classrooms across the country.\n\nIt's often attributed to the philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson that \"if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.\" That's probably true in the mousetrap business. But it's not always true in education or social services. Too often resources are spread around like peanut butter rather than being targeted to organizations with the best results. Or they flow to established nonprofits with good lobbyists and marketers to the detriment of able but newer or more humble practitioners. Although there has been some recent movement in philanthropy and government toward investing in organizations that have measurable evidence of success, change has been slow. As a result, while it's relatively easy to start a nonprofit, it's hard to grow one. According to the IRS, of the 1.6 million nonprofits that have qualified for tax-exempt status, only 17 percent of them have grown to annual budgets of $1 million or greater. Bridgespan, the nonprofit consultancy, estimates that outside of hospitals and universities, only 0.1 percent of all nonprofits formed since 1975 have grown to a size of $50 million or greater.\n\nThe odds of growing Citizen Schools were daunting. I could become a modern-day Don Quixote tilting at the windmills of my time\u2014or a monomaniacal Captain Ahab chasing Moby Dick. But with a fifteen-page concept paper and pilot journalism apprenticeship under my belt, I set out to build Citizen Schools as an impact player in the education arena. I was determined to try.\n\nWhen I had left City Year, my going-away presents were a laptop computer and help securing two important fellowships. One was a one-year public service fellowship at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, which consisted of free access to a photocopier and meeting rooms, the chance to sit in on classes and seminars, and a sixty-four-square-foot cubicle. The neighboring cubicles belonged to twenty retired military leaders from the former Soviet Union. I imagined them feeling obsolete in this post\u2013cold war era of glasnost, and they spoke in hushed tones during their short days at the office.\n\nEd Cohen, a member of the City Year board, provided the second fellowship\u2014and a valuable head start. Ed at that point was running the Echoing Green foundation but had previously been a Wall Street lawyer, a McKinsey business consultant, and the managing partner of General Atlantic, a leading private equity firm. Echoing Green had given the first $100,000 grant to City Year and had been an early funder of other leading social entrepreneurs, including Wendy Kopp at Teach For America, Vanessa Kirsch at Public Allies, and Aaron Lieberman at Jumpstart for Young Children. Ed made me an Echoing Green education fellow, an honor that came with a two-year $50,000 grant and a support system to help Citizen Schools get off the ground.\n\nBuoyed by the initial grant and the landing pad at the Kennedy School, I labored away amid the Soviet generals. Day after day I banged away on my laptop, typing the way I had learned as a newspaper reporter, with two fingers and at speeds up to fifty words per minute, trying to conceptualize and launch Citizen Schools. I built working committees to help us develop our curriculum, our training program, and even our organizational values.\n\nMost of my time was devoted to meeting with people to get advice on Citizen Schools, doing consulting gigs with other nonprofits to earn money (the public service fellowship was unpaid and I wasn't yet drawing a salary from Citizen Schools), and revising the concept paper. I met with police officers, lawyers, architects, zoologists, and more in search of future volunteers. One afternoon I took the subway, called the T in Boston, all around the city so I could meet with street musicians and ask them what they thought of the Citizen Schools idea and whether they would like to teach. I remember the response of one talented young guitarist in particular. \"I've always wanted to teach music,\" she told me. \"But no one ever asked me to.\" I hoped Citizen Schools could change that.\n\nI doggedly pursued the building blocks of a nonprofit organization\u2014a strategic plan and budget, tax-exempt status from the IRS, a team of volunteers and paid staff, schools to partner with, an office, and money to pay for everything. I asked my college friend and roommate, Ned Rimer, already an experienced nonprofit leader, to join me as a cofounder; and in the winter and spring of 1995, Ned, who in college had run the University of Vermont Rescue Squad, taught a first-aid apprenticeship at the Dever School in which a team of students became \"first responders\" for students who suffered skinned knees and other mishaps on the playground. By May of 1995 Ned was aboard almost full-time. I signed up interns from City Year and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. I met two extraordinary young educators, John Werner and Anita Price, and asked them to lead a planning process for our first summer program and then to run it together. I secured pro bono legal help from one of the top firms in the city, Hale and Dorr (now WilmerHale), and on January 18, 1995, we incorporated as a nonprofit with me as chair, Ned as vice chair, and my wife, Maureen, as secretary.\n\nFor year one, our budget was $130,000. That was enough to pay Ned and me a modest salary for part of the year, to hire eight staff to lead a six-week summer pilot for sixty students at the Dever, and then to operate a small after-school program just two days per week in the fall. We imagined ramping up to three summer and after-school programs in 1996.\n\nTo receive mail that first spring, we opened a post office box in Cambridge, two blocks from my Kennedy School cubicle. Every day, I walked to the little metal box, clutching the key that connected Citizen Schools to the outside world. Some days the box would be empty and I would return to my cubicle feeling lonely. I'd resolve to send more proposals, distribute more applications, and once again phone the people in my doublewide Rolodex. On other days there would be applications from potential staff, or volunteers, or students. Navigating Harvard Square traffic as I walked back to my office, I would rip open the envelopes to read the letters and applications, feeling elated at the growing interest.\n\nBy late June we had accepted\u2014miracle of miracles\u2014sixty-three pioneering students, recruited and trained sixty volunteer citizen teachers, and hired six team leaders and two interns to run the five-days-a-week summer program under John Werner and Anita Price's energetic direction.\n\nThe staff was an interesting lot. Sarah Light, one of the first hired, was the brilliant daughter of a professor and had just graduated from Harvard. She took over my journalism class and, while she struggled, as I had, with classroom management, she willed her way to build writing skills and justifiable pride among her students. Keith Mascoll was an actor and, at twenty-seven, a relatively experienced educator from Cambridge. Keith served as a role model for our kids and, along with Brendan Hughes\u2014another skilled theater person\u2014as the hilarious leader of our opening and closing circles. Keith and Brendan introduced all sorts of ideas through skits. If we wanted to encourage student curiosity, for instance, they would recruit student actors and act out behaviors to avoid\u2014the too-cool-for-school preteen rolling his or her eyes\u2014and behaviors to emulate\u2014the eager-beaver learner firing their own and their peers' imaginations with wide-eyed questions. Students and staff enjoyed the skits and they seemed to be effective in communicating key messages. The last hired was Biz Pinsky, just eighteen and headed to Columbia University and then a career in medicine. Her father was United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, and Biz brought a love of Dr. Seuss and a strong creative spirit to the children on her team. The best teacher in the group was Tim Proskauer, a recent graduate of Wesleyan University who was already married and committed to a career in education. Years later Tim would move with his family to Puerto Rico and be named Teacher of the Year for the Department of Defense school system, which serves students on military bases across the United States and in Puerto Rico and Guam.\n\nTo sign up for a totally new program\u2014one with no track record and uncertain financing\u2014staff members and volunteers needed to be idealists and open to adventure. In many ways, they were all inventors. I learned a lot from each of them. One of our volunteer citizen teachers was named Kikuko. She was a seventy-two-year-old shiatsu massage master from Japan who taught the basics of shiatsu, and I learned from her that even the most hyperactive eleven-year-old boy can be serene when given clear, calm instructions and shown the power in his hands. Another volunteer was Jake Tucker, a legally blind chef at a swank Beacon Hill restaurant. As he and his charges prepared for a banquet on their final session, I learned how eager parents are to see their kids be successful and how everyone feels special when they are treated to a white-linen dinner party\u2014particularly when the chefs are preteens. Denis Rorie was a Boston cop\u2014a so-called \"community police officer,\" and another of our citizen teachers. Dennis and his colleagues taught a community policing class in which students developed a brochure with crime-fighting tips. \"Leave it to the rest of the police force to catch the bad guys,\" Denis would tell us. \"My job\u2014and your job at Citizen Schools\u2014is to catch kids doing things right.\" Denis was an inspiration for us, and his advice about \"catching kids doing things right\" became a hallmark of our educational philosophy. I treasure a picture of him in his standard police blues, with a big, wide smile, jumping high on a pogo stick in front of Dever School.\n\nThat first summer was brutally hot. The school had no air conditioning, and each classroom was outfitted with just one plastic fan that Ned had bought at the nearby OfficeMax for $14.99. Despite the heat, as the summer wore on we had some reason to believe that things were going well. For one, the kids kept showing up, waking up early and getting dropped off by their parents at eight, or riding public transportation to the nearby subway stop where we would post a staff member to escort students to the school. Every week students had two two-hour sessions for each of three apprenticeships they had chosen, plus they had daily reading circles, twice-weekly field trips to museums or scavenger hunts in different neighborhoods, and additional time for physical recreation, games, team discussions, and our daily opening and closing circles with all sixty-three students. Every day we witnessed learning breakthroughs\u2014such as when Sydney jumped for joy after she finished creating her children's book. (Later, as part of the Boston Public Library's 150th birthday celebration, Sydney's book was added to the collection and placed in the stacks of the main branch, Dewey decimal number and all.) We also took pride in simple gestures of kindness, like a kid writing a nice note to another kid through a system of appreciation mailboxes we had created, or a new student volunteering to speak at closing circle. We were particularly excited when we received an upbeat report from Kikuko, Denis, Jake, or any of the sixty volunteers who teamed up to teach twenty-two apprenticeship courses that summer.\n\nBut there were other days when we felt lucky to escape with no one getting hurt, or when we wondered if we were ready for the responsibility we had taken on. There were a couple of fistfights. There was the day that Dorzell, just ten years old, learned his father's jail sentence would be extended. He ran through the halls screaming, finally punching a wall and almost breaking his hand. And there were days where kids just didn't seem to want to learn and staff wilted in the heat, doubting their effectiveness.\n\nI am eternally hopeful. A friend once told me, \"You're not just a pie-in-the-sky optimist, but a whole-bakery-in-the-sky optimist.\" Generally I took the challenges in stride. But it was painful to see our staff struggle and heart-rending to see the daily challenges that confronted Dorzell and so many of his peers.\n\nWeek four of the five-and-a-half-week summer session was the toughest. The initial honeymoon period was over. It was steaming hot. And the adults were anxious about the upcoming WOW! event, at which students from each apprenticeship would showcase their learning. Some of the kids, perhaps sensing our fatigue, were stepping up their misbehavior.\n\nAt the end of the week I left the school for a meeting I had scheduled with ten parents. We all felt relieved to meet in an air-conditioned conference room at the Harbor Point housing development across the street from the Dever School. The purpose of the meeting was for me to ask them about Citizen Schools and to get their advice on a fall after-school session we were planning. But I was nervous. After four weeks of Citizen Schools, what did they think? What were their children saying? Were they learning? Growing? Would the parents want to enroll their children in our planned after-school program, or in future summer sessions?\n\nAround the table were ten moms\u2014one white, three Latina, and six African American. All of them had paying jobs: there was a nurse, a nurse's aide, and several entry-level hospital workers; a cleaning lady; a filing clerk; and a few who stocked shelves or staffed registers in pharmacies or convenience stores. Most of the women earned just above minimum wage\u2014or about $13,000 per year, putting them below or just above the federally defined poverty level. A majority served as the only breadwinners in their families, typically supporting three children or more.\n\nAs we introduced ourselves and started sharing impressions of the summer, the first thing I noticed is that the mothers were very solicitous of each other. Several of the moms exchanged numbers and made plans to talk more or to get together. They would nod familiarly as they heard stories about challenges another child was having. Fear about neighborhood crime and gang initiations ran high, particularly among the mothers of young boys. I also heard about typical adolescent challenges such as growing disinterest in school, a new willingness to talk back to parents and challenge their authority, and social exclusion at school and in their neighborhoods for being too heavy or too quiet or too something else by the standards of the cool clique.\n\nThe second thing I noticed was a powerful sentiment of gratitude. These moms were being pushed away by their children, because that's what happens when your kid turns twelve or thirteen. They were trying to raise kids under trying circumstances and in difficult neighborhoods. After a decade of being the earth to their son's or daughter's moon, they sensed their gravitational pull was waning. But Citizen Schools seemed to mitigate the growing sense of distance or loss. The moms talked about how relieved and delighted they were to see new role models step into their kids' lives. They kept saying how their children loved the volunteers at Citizen Schools, and loved the hands-on projects, and loved the special trips to museums and to the Boston Harbor Islands. Keith, the one African American man on our staff, got many shout-outs as a great role model to the African American boys in the program. I also heard from the parents about Brendan's funny stories, and Biz's positive reinforcement, and Tim's patience, and John's incredible creativity and energy, and Anita's warm but authoritative presence. Apparently, _this_ is what the kids had been talking about at home.\n\nImmediately after the meeting, I drove to Lambert's, a local vegetable and flower market, and bought twelve of the biggest sunflowers I could find\u2014enough for every staff person and intern we had. As we gathered for our closing circle that day, after the last child had gone home, I shared a flower with each person and a story of appreciation from the parents. Soon thereafter, in one of the hokiest decisions in organizational history, we named the sunflower the official flower of Citizen Schools.\n\nA week later we held our culminating WOW! festival\u2014a three-tent extravaganza that allowed our students to showcase their skills. We encouraged parents and community leaders from across the city to join in celebrating our young people. Kikuko and her team of novice shiatsu aficionados offered free massages. A group of students who worked with engineers from Bolt, Beranek, and Newman\u2014the Cambridge firm that helped develop the Internet\u2014gave surfing lessons on the still-novel World Wide Web to a rapt circle of adult pupils, including then Boston mayor Tom Menino. Theater and dance groups performed on a main stage. Sarah's journalists handed out their newspapers. And Jake's young chefs\u2014augmented by moms and some dads who brought their favorite dishes\u2014provided most of the food. We even had a group of young bike-repair apprentices offering free bike tune-ups to neighborhood kids. It was amazing. And it all took place under sunny skies, on the well-tended lawns at Harbor Point, the mixed-income community rising from the shores of Boston Harbor across the street from the \u00adDever School.\n\nThe WOW! festival was extraordinary, but it almost broke me. All summer long I had carried in my head the vision for this final WOW! Our children and their families deserved the best. And an amazing festival on the waterfront\u2014a festival with the mayor, with TV cameras, with creative displays of student work, with watermelon and cotton candy as well as healthy food made by our students\u2014was a way to give them the best, to make them feel worthy, and to put them at the center of the city's vision. The problem was that putting on a party of this scale took a lot of work\u2014and we had a thin team. Everyone was stretched to the limit just running the program day to day and getting the students ready for their final performances. So I told the team not to worry about the WOW!\u2014I would handle it.\n\nIn reality, what \"handling\" it meant was that I conceptualized the event and built momentum for it, but I didn't recruit enough other volunteers to actually make it happen. I leaned heavily on Maureen. Could she make some large posterboard signs? Could she pick up the clam chowder from Legal Sea Foods? Maureen saw how hard I was working and she pitched in heartily. But I could see she was irritated at Citizen Schools' intrusion on our family time. The day before the big WOW! I drove to a tent-rental place in the Boston suburbs to pick up three heavy tents and, with minimal help, managed to erect them. I shopped for thirty watermelons and loaded them in and out of our old station wagon. I picked up the huge helium tank and the Citizen Schools balloons. And I lugged forty folding tables and hundreds of chairs all over Harbor Point. By the time the party started, my back was in serious pain.\n\nAdrenaline got me through the WOW! But when I woke up the next morning I could barely walk. I shuffled slowly into the shower, put as much heat on my back as I could handle, and then managed, barely, to pull on my tuxedo for that morning's graduation. John and Anita orchestrated a beautiful ceremony filled with laughter and tears. We had a closing lunch. And then, in an extreme case of unfortunate timing, I boarded a plane to San Francisco to join a conference of education entrepreneurs.\n\nThe flight was miserable. I had a three-hour layover in Newark, and by this point I was in agony. I tried to play a mind game by reflecting on the fact that sometimes I like discomfort, such as getting stuck outside and far from home in a rainstorm or walking to work on a really cold day without a hat or gloves. Maybe because I've suffered few serious discomforts in life, I feel I'm leveling the cosmic scales if I experience a little bit of pain. But nothing about this back pain was noble or uplifting. I wondered what the hell I was doing to myself and whether Citizen Schools was taking too big a toll on my health and my relationship with Maureen. The following morning on the West Coast, I saw a doctor who gave me a prescription for Flexeril, the most powerful muscle relaxant out there, a brace to support my back, and strict instructions to get back home and lie down in bed and do nothing for two weeks. That's pretty much what I did, and two weeks is about what it took before I was able to walk normally and begin to do some much-needed stretching.\n\nBy Labor Day at the end of the summer of 1995, my back was feeling better and the happy memories of the summer and the culminating festival had reestablished their primacy in my consciousness. Doctors say that mothers are genetically programmed to forget the pain of childbirth so they will be willing to endure it again. Maybe the same is true of entrepreneurs working one-hundred-hour weeks to get their enterprises off the ground. Ned and I went into full-fledged planning mode, preparing for a fall after-school pilot and starting to think about running three summer programs the following year. Ned took the lead on the program that fall, serving as campus director and directly overseeing four part-time staff members and thirty-two students drawn from the Dever and the neighboring McCormack Middle School. The program met just two days a week for twelve weeks. The McCormack kids started at 1:30 p.m., then the ridiculously early dismissal time for all middle school students in Boston; the Dever kids, who had a 9:00 a.m. start to their school day, started Citizen Schools at about 3:00 and ended at 5:30. The middle school kids began the program with ninety minutes of chess instruction and homework help, and then everyone had apprenticeships from 3:00 to 5:00, followed by a closing circle orchestrated by Ned. I was on site one of the two days to coteach a weekly apprenticeship in business in which ten students worked with me and two friends.\n\nThe \"product\" of our business apprenticeship was the Citizen Schools end-of-semester WOW! The idea was that the students would plan and publicize the event and charge a small admission fee, which would cover our costs, perhaps deliver a small profit, and teach the kids some business principles in the process. I am absolutely certain that the students learned at least one important lesson\u2014which is that startup ventures need to expect the unexpected. Ultimately our WOW! was a success, with more than $2,000 of revenue from ticket sales, sales of ads in a simple program, and a raffle. But we had to reschedule the event twice because of snow!\n\nThe Citizen Schools business plan called for us to hire a full-time program director and a junior assistant in January, and I spent much of that fall recruiting for these jobs while also raising money and building relationships with new schools and neighborhood leaders where we planned to expand. We narrowed down a great list of candidates to two finalists, Stephanie Davolos and Tulaine Montgomery. Stephanie had been a French teacher on the Bayou in rural Louisiana through the Teach For America program and then became the program's regional executive director. She had a wonderful lightness to her spirit, joking, for instance, about her teaching of classical French grammar to French Cajun children who had been speaking a version of the language since they were toddlers. She was also fiercely determined and a deep believer in our \"learning by doing\" approach. Tulaine was a dynamo. At just twenty-four, she was program director for the House of Blues Foundation, an accomplished cellist, a brilliant speaker, and the foster mother of three teenage children. As we proceeded through the interview process I became convinced we should hire them both. \"Hire ahead of your needs\" was advice we had received at City Year from leveraged-buyout king Ray Chambers, and I was confident we'd have more than enough need for both Tulaine and Stephanie.\n\nAs a final interview of sorts, we took the two of them out to dinner in Boston with Anita, who was back for her final year at Harvard, and John, who was then working as a special-education teacher in Boston but was still very involved in our efforts. We were joined by Marsha Feinberg, our highly engaged board chair. This was the last stage of the vetting process and simultaneously a good chance to build the culture of our extended team. But while Ned and I knew we were likely to hire _both_ Stephanie and Tulaine, we had neglected to tell either of them. Throughout the dinner, they eyed each other watchfully, looking for an edge in what they must have imagined was a _Survivor_ -like reality show. Despite the circumstances, Tulaine and Stephanie were gracious and wonderful, and at the end of dinner I asked them both to join the team.\n\nStephanie and Tulaine started on February 1, 1996, which was also day one in our first headquarters. For the previous year Ned had been working out of his spare bedroom in Cambridge, while I worked from a basement office in Maureen's and my brick townhouse in South Boston. For meetings, we had been using the YMCA, Dever School, various law firms, and assorted coffee shops and borrowed conference rooms. But now we would have our own digs, a new \"garden-level\" office on South Street, a few blocks from the core of downtown Boston. The space was beneath a French restaurant, Les Zygomates, and featured a small conference room, a large back area where we could hold trainings and house part-time and future staff, and in the front, a four-hundred-square-foot room with natural light. You had to look up to see the light. But if you did, you had a good panorama of the sidewalk, including the hubcaps of parked cars and the ankles of passersby.\n\nI spent a lot of time that winter going to meetings with Stephanie and Tulaine and working with them and Ned to build our culture. Ned was a bit of a thespian, with a love of music. One summer as a child he had lived and worked on a dairy farm in Greece, and he often shared stories of the lessons he learned there.\n\n\"When you are learning how to milk a cow in a foreign land,\" he would say, \"you realize quickly the power of learning by doing. I spoke almost no Greek, so a lecture on milking a cow would not have been very effective. A textbook on how to milk a cow would have been, as they say, 'Greek to me.'\n\n\"But when the farmer got down on an overturned bucket and demonstrated how to milk a cow and let me practice, then I could really learn it. The language barrier went away.\" It was one of Ned's standards, and a great story, particularly to demonstrate the power of the Citizen Schools approach.\n\nApparently Ned had actually mastered some Greek, though, because he taught us all a Greek love song, \"Eis ton afro,\" and Ned and I and Stephanie and Tulaine belted out the song on numerous occasions when we were marking important milestones, greeting new staff, or just punch-drunk after a long day at the office.\n\nAt some point that winter we wrangled an important meeting with a potential funder from New York City. \"Money is the mother's milk of politics,\" California treasurer Jesse \"Big Daddy\" Unruh famously said. And money was mother's milk for us too, as for any startup, whether a Silicon Valley technology firm or a Boston-based education nonprofit. This particular meeting was with Robert Sherman, the senior program officer at the Surdna Foundation, and it was our first meeting with a significant national foundation. The Web wasn't yet a common research tool, and Google did not even exist, so I called everyone in my Rolodex whom I thought might know Robert or Surdna. People said Robert was friendly and that he and Surdna CEO Ed Skloot (later a Citizen Schools board member) had a deep interest in civic engagement. That\u2014and the donation of my former dining room table to serve in our office conference room\u2014was as far as our advance work went.\n\nOn the appointed day Robert arrived and found his way down the stairs into our new little office. I introduced him to Stephanie and Tulaine (Ned was away) and we headed into the conference room, where I had placed a tray of sesame bagels and a few glasses of water. We proceeded to have a meeting that struck me as fantastic. Robert shared his goals for the foundation, and we shared our vision for a new kind of school that activated community assets and turned kids into producers of things and ideas\u2014not just passive consumers. Robert and I were both New Yorkers, and we both started talking quickly and getting more and more excited. At some point, though, I began to notice that Tulaine and Stephanie were looking at me in a funny way, as if I was somehow sabotaging our promising meeting. But I kept talking, and Robert kept talking, and the energy in the room was just exactly what I wanted. After a while Robert got up to leave and said he was impressed and wanted to think things over and would call in a few days. He left, and Stephanie, Tulaine, and I huddled to review the meeting.\n\n\"Home run,\" I said. \"He loves this idea.\" Then I asked what they thought and what was behind the funny looks they had given me. Very politely, Stephanie and Tulaine explained that during the meeting I had started to lick my fingers and then use them to pick up\u2014and then nibble on\u2014the stray sesame seeds that had fallen off the bagels and landed on my end of the table. I cracked up. \"Oh, that'll be okay. I hate to see those delicious seeds go to waste. And Robert is a New Yorker; he'll understand.\" We all had a good laugh, and when Robert called the next day to offer us even more money than we had asked for, I joked that sesame bagels should become the official food of all Citizen Schools fund-raising meetings.\n\n# CHAPTER FOUR\n\n# TURNING POINT\n\nJoel Bennett had a gentle smile and a truck full of saws, vice grips, files, and other tools he used in a burgeoning carpentry and cabinetmaking business. Joel's business was stable, and he liked the feeling of tangible accomplishment he got from working with wood. But when he met Stephanie Davolos at a community event near his home in Boston's Jamaica Plain section, Joel volunteered that he had always been curious about teaching. Sometimes after completing yet another kitchen renovation or set of built-in bookcases for a home office, he wondered if teaching children might be a more satisfying way to spend his days. Citizen Schools became a way to dip his toe into the education world, and he signed up to teach a carpentry apprenticeship in the spring of 1996.\n\nThat spring we offered a Saturday program at Dorchester's Woodrow Wilson School, four blocks from the Victorian fixer-upper Maureen and I were soon to buy in nearby Ashmont Hill. We enrolled sixty-four students and offered eight apprenticeships (including Joel's) in the morning, followed by various field trips and learning activities in the afternoon. Joel's team of young carpenters set out to produce high-quality carpenter's toolboxes. They measured them, cut them, sanded them, shellacked them\u2014the whole thing.\n\nThe kids learned plenty. Those of us observing learned a couple of things too. For starters, we learned that a few of the kids didn't know how to measure\u2014at all. In the second week, Joel asked a seventh grader named Kiel to cut a piece of wood in half. Kiel said, \"Half? What's half?\"\n\nKiel was getting Bs at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School, and he didn't know what \"half\" meant. I couldn't believe it! Joel broke down the concept of half. (I remember him folding a piece of paper, then measuring his two feet compared to one, before pulling out a tape measure and actually addressing the piece of wood at hand.) Kiel and Joel cut the piece of wood together and moved forward.\n\nFrancisco was another young boy in the apprenticeship. He was eleven and a recent immigrant from Central America. His toolbox was a beautiful piece of work. Around week nine, the kids were planning their presentations and deciding what their toolboxes would be used for\u2014gifts to their moms, or just additions to their own personal workspaces. Joel had noticed that on the side of his toolbox, Francisco had written MIGUEL in block letters.\n\nJoel hadn't heard him talk about a Miguel, so he asked him: \"Francisco, who's Miguel? I thought you were keeping this or giving it to your mom.\"\n\n\"Miguel is this old man who lives in my neighborhood,\" said Francisco. \"He's always doing nice things for me. He gets me ice cream. Last summer he took me out to a baseball game. I've never had anything to give to him. So I'm going to give this toolbox to Miguel.\"\n\nFrancisco's story has stuck with me ever since. Even after telling his story dozens of times, I still get goose bumps imagining Francisco presenting his toolbox to Miguel. Our society embraces the giving of gifts to our children. But kids want the chance to give gifts too. Kids who grow up with the privilege of private classes\u2014in ceramics, jewelry, woodworking, or even music\u2014have plenty of chances to be givers of presents they created themselves. Providing kids the chance to be makers of things\u2014not just consumers\u2014is an important part of the opportunity equation.\n\nKiel's story stuck with me too. By summer 1996 we had grown to offer three full-fledged programs\u2014one at the Dever in Dorchester, one run by Tulaine at the Timilty School in Roxbury, and one run by John Werner at the Garfield School in Brighton. The whole idea of learning by doing, and tapping the incredible resources of the city, was captivating to people. And we continued to find energetic staff members and diverse volunteers to design cool learning experiences. But our program was built on a shaky foundation, and I worried if we were doing enough for students like Kiel. We had no behavior-management system to speak of and we were naive about lesson plans and the basic building blocks of teaching and learning. We got the big stuff right: making learning interesting and connecting kids to successful and caring adults. But we got almost all of the small stuff wrong. On good days we got away with it because many of the underlying learning opportunities were powerful. But on bad days we had chaos.\n\nThe first week at Timilty that summer was particularly challenging. A handsome new staff member from Newark, New Jersey, had inadvertently created tension among the staff, several of whom, I was told in the parlance of the day, were \"sweating him.\" And our enrollment included a larger than usual share of rambunctious seventh and eighth graders\u2014a tougher group to engage than the preadolescent fifth and sixth graders who had been our core constituency thus far. The students, sensing weakness, ran all over us.\n\nWe released early on Fridays to allow for staff training and planning time, and on the first Friday of that summer Tulaine led her team through what became known as Frank Friday\u2014an honest and open assessment of everything that was going wrong and a discussion of what we needed to do to make it better. The team started by brainstorming the \"brutal facts\": safety issues caused by kids running in the hallways, disrespect to adults by particular students followed by snickers from impressionable peers, rolling of eyes and sucking of teeth as new ideas were suggested at opening circle. They filled many pages of flip-chart paper. Then Tulaine skillfully steered the team toward a vision for the kind of community they wanted to build. \"Fun-loving but respectful,\" volunteered one staffer. \"A place that is safe where learning is fun,\" said another. \"Energetic but tight,\" offered a third. As the afternoon wore on, the team turned their attention to developing protocols for all sorts of nitty-gritty program components. How would they transition from activity to activity? What would they do for bathroom passes? Who could staff a \"Step-Up\" room for kids who needed a quick separation from their group and a reminder of the learning opportunities they were missing? Staff agreed to call every parent that weekend and enlist them in a reset of expectations, and they made plans for an engaging series of morning ceremonies incorporating stepping and sophisticated call-and-response cheers. Their goal was nothing less than a complete restart of the campus culture.\n\nGiven the early challenges at the Timilty, my favorite memory of that entire summer came at the WOW!, again held at Harbor Point. I had delegated more effectively this time, which was a good thing because we were hosting almost four hundred parents and other guests, as well as nearly two hundred students, including the crews from the Garfield School in Brighton, the Dever, and the Timilty. The Garfield is far from public transportation, so they came to the WOW! by private bus. But the Timilty came by T. They were running late, and I remember imagining all the things that could be going wrong. Did the stars of their performance apprenticeships fail to show up? Had the students gotten involved in some sort of altercation on the T? Just as I started to get truly concerned, my pager buzzed. The Timilty team was almost there, walking up from the nearby JFK T stop at that very moment. A few minutes later I heard a faint rhythmic clapping in the distance. Then sixty-two enthusiastic young people and eight very proud staff members turned the corner, stomping their way down Harbor Point Way and yelling out a powerful call-and-response that invoked Citizen Schools and our core values of pride, joy, and respect. The Timilty was ready to roll. Frank Friday had worked!\n\nAs we launched our four school partnerships for the 1996\u201397 school year, we noticed a different mood among our public school partners. Teachers and principals were on edge. They described a cresting wave of pressure to improve student learning\u2014part of a modern school-reform movement ushered in by the landmark 1983 report, _A Nation at Risk._ The report had generated front-page headlines with its rhetoric of \"a rising tide of mediocrity\" in US public education and its urgent call for higher standards. By the mid-1990s, teachers and principals who failed to deliver better student test scores feared for their jobs.\n\nIn Massachusetts, school reform could be traced back further to an initially obscure court case, _Webby v. Dukakis_ , which was filed in 1978 and alleged that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was not fulfilling its constitutional duty to provide an adequate education for all children. A decision in the case by the state's Supreme Judicial Court forced the hand of the state legislature and ultimately\u2014with leadership from Senate president Tom Birmingham, later our Massachusetts executive director\u2014led to passage of the comprehensive Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. The act called for dramatic increases in state funding of education and instituted a \"Robin Hood\" financing scheme to ensure that lower-income districts reached at least a minimum \"foundation\" level of investment. It also authorized up to twenty-five charter schools to push innovation, instituted minimum licensure standards for teachers, and created a process to decertify graduate schools of education if too few of their graduates met those new standards. Most significantly, the new law set in motion intensive efforts to identify rigorous standards for what should be learned in each grade and created a Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System\u2014the MCAS\u2014to measure how students and schools were faring.\n\nAll of this made a lot of sense to me. The process in Massachusetts was inclusive and relatively bipartisan. Thousands of teachers were involved in setting the standards and advising on the MCAS, which, unlike tests in many other states, includes essays and short-answer responses in addition to fill-in-the-bubble multiple-choice questions. Who could be against setting higher standards and measuring progress in moving toward them? And poorer school districts got more money to make progress possible. But despite the apparent logic of reform, the new standards and tests were controversial. In Cambridge there were sit-ins and other protests organized by activists who feared reform would dumb down education by focusing only on those skills easiest to measure on standardized tests. And in 1996, when the standards started to take effect and the tests started to really count (kids could not graduate without passing the MCAS), the climate of schools undeniably did change. Some of the change was welcome\u2014a stiffening of the spine as educators readied themselves for the hard work ahead. And in some schools educators realized they could meet high standards on the MCAS by offering engaging content and hands-on lessons. My current community of Brookline, for instance, aced the MCAS while generally keeping a rich, inquiry-based course of study. But other schools\u2014facing the first public test of student learning\u2014narrowed their mission, or appeared to give up. In many cases schools stripped \"enrichment\" classes from the curriculum because topics like art and music weren't tested. A study showed that many urban districts dramatically reduced time for science and social studies, because those tests were \"low stakes,\" meaning there was no consequence for failing them. Scores on English and math assessments did march steadily forward, but achievement gaps remained wide and dropout rates remained unacceptably high.\n\nFor Citizen Schools, the arrival of the MCAS presented a pivotal choice. On the one hand, schools were looking for more help and we were an emerging ally. But on the other, schools were deeply engaged in an examination of their own teaching practices, and these examinations were typically leading them to focus more on direct instruction by their own teachers and to eliminate anything that could be seen as a distraction from the urgent task of boosting proficiency. They had less tolerance for our rookie mistakes and seemed in some cases to lose their appetite for the enrichment-based learning we were offering.\n\nIt was in this environment, in the spring of 1997, that Nydia Mendez, our founding principal from the Dever, told us that she wanted to take a semester off from Citizen Schools. If we wanted to return, she said, we would need to retool our program to address more directly the emerging learning standards. We were a little stunned.\n\nNydia's decision to suspend Citizen Schools at the Dever presented us with a core organizational challenge we have wrestled with ever since. How do we keep our unique apprenticeship model intact while also doing more to build academic skills\u2014and to help students succeed on the standardized tests that would now determine whether they could graduate from high school and whether a four-year college would be an option? At times the pendulum at Citizen Schools would seem to swing away from academic coaching and toward deep enrichment and relevant, real-world learning, but then we would hear from a parent who would say that her son couldn't do Citizen Schools anymore because, much as he seemed to love the learning activities, he had failed math in the last semester, and Citizen Schools was an \"extra\" the family could no longer afford the time for.\n\nThese conversations would break my heart, as I could often see the gains students were making even if they weren't yet manifesting those gains on their report cards. There was Linda, for instance, a heavyset girl who would not say a word for week after week and would not take off a thick wool overcoat even though the classrooms we worked in were overheated. During her first few months in Citizen Schools, Linda built trust with two elderly women who taught her how to knit and make dolls. One of the women, Earline, had always been upset that none of her children or grandchildren had picked up her love of sewing. She told me that Citizen Schools offered her a perfect opportunity to pass on a craft she loved, and she asked if she could teach a sewing apprenticeship with Margaret, her neighbor and friend who was born on the same day in 1921.\n\nMost of our volunteers were young, and many were professionals who lived far from the school and arrived each Saturday by car, sometimes seeming to parachute in from a foreign land. Earline and Margaret lived just a few blocks from the school, and it warmed my heart to see them walk into the Wilson School every Saturday with their tote bags of knitting and sewing gear. It must have been wonderful for Linda, too. By week six of her doll-making class with Earline and Margaret, she'd removed her coat, which teachers from the school said she hadn't done that entire year at school. By week ten, Linda was talking. She was talking proudly about the two dolls she had sewn, one of which she was going to keep and the other of which she would give to children at a local homeless shelter.\n\nI don't know if Linda's grades went up that year, or ever. But I think it's very likely that her doll-making opportunity, set in the middle of a difficult adolescence, was a pivotal and positive experience. It may not have been enough to propel her through high school, or on to college or career success. But I am sure it gave her the confidence of knowing she could make something beautiful with her hands, and in the process opened new doors to learning and growth.\n\nWhile I was confident Linda benefited from Citizen Schools, I wondered if she benefited enough. My fears grew two years later when Linda's older brother, Matthew, a recent dropout from high school, was shot dead in front of their Dorchester home. The downward pull on Linda's life was so powerful. Taking off her coat and talking were necessary first steps. But when would Linda get her next experience with success? Would she get the academic help she needed to transition to high-school-level work? For Linda and thousands like her, would sewing, or carpentry, or law apprenticeships be a temporary oasis in a still-stifling desert, or could they become a gateway to greener pastures?\n\n# CHAPTER FIVE\n\n# ORGANIZATION MAN\n\nWe kept students like Linda in mind as, over time, we developed a series of educational innovations that maintained our focus on real-world apprenticeships taught by volunteer citizen teachers, while also taking direct responsibility for building the academic skills of our students. We launched a deeper mentoring and writing program for eighth graders (8th Grade Academy), put an increased focus on study skills and academic goal-setting throughout the program, targeted academic coaching in math and English language arts aligned with the host school curriculum, and developed a college and career connections (C3) curricula that included one or two college field trips for sixth and seventh graders and five to ten college trips for our eighth graders.\n\nPart of the change was just a matter of time\u2014the amount of time we engaged with our students. By our tenth anniversary, in 2005, our after-school program had evolved from two days per week to four or five days per week, from two hours to three full hours per day, and from just twenty weeks per year when we started to thirty or more weeks per year. If you thought of Citizen Schools as \"get smarter\" medicine, we had tripled the dosage.\n\nAnother key change was our approach to talent. Our staffing model evolved from mostly part-timers in college or graduate school to mostly full-time AmeriCorps teaching fellows, who came to us right after college and made a two-year commitment in exchange for a stipend and a $5,730-per-year scholarship to pay back loans or help fund graduate school. Since they were \"only\" lead teaching for three hours a day in the afternoons, the teaching fellows rounded out their day by taking on morning roles supporting teachers in the schools, or at Citizen Schools headquarters. They also worked to prepare their lessons and reach out to parents and the volunteers they helped support. We also restructured our campus director job to make it attractive to aspiring educational leaders who had taught for a few years and were looking to build management skills, potentially as a pathway to becoming school leaders. Campus directors, many of them graduates of Teach For America or of our Teaching Fellow program, served as assistant principals for the extended day, working closely with the host school's leadership and aligning our teaching to that happening in the regular day.\n\nIn addition to adding more time and creating a stronger talent profile for our front-line staff, we invested heavily in training and curriculum development. In 2004 we launched a partnership with Lesley University to offer our teaching fellows a master's degree in education through a unique blend of courses taught by our staff and Lesley professors. Teaching fellows began spending most of their summers working with us developing their teaching and outreach skills rather than running our summer program, which we began to phase out. A key role for the campus directors was observing and coaching teaching fellows, providing structured feedback based on five formal observations per year. Campus directors relied on a twenty-three-page instructional rubric that was developed by a cadre of award-winning teachers who joined us as staff or consultants. Often we would film teaching fellows and then meet to discuss teaching techniques that had worked well or fallen flat. Even our volunteer citizen teachers went through a training regimen covering the basics of student engagement and helping them adapt apprenticeship curricula that we had vetted and approved. Some volunteers still developed their own courses, but they did so according to an extensive \"Getting To WOW!\" guide that ensured they included best practices of apprenticeship teaching.\n\nStudents still enrolled in two apprenticeships per semester, each meeting one afternoon a week for ninety minutes, but now they also typically had one hour per day of structured homework time, which we called AIM (for Aspire, Invest, Make the grade); two to four hours per week of academic lessons led by the teaching fellows; and additional time for the C3 curricula and occasional explorations to museums and other learning venues (for a sample schedule, see the appendix). The extra time, the investment in talent, and the focus on training made us a stronger organization, better equipped to lift student learning and improve life trajectories.\n\nAn external evaluation of Citizen Schools covering Boston students participating between 2001 and 2005 helped answer the question of what happened, in the aggregate, to students like Kiel and Linda. While short-term gains in middle school test scores and grades were modest, the sophisticated matched comparison study, conducted by Policy Studies Associates of Washington, DC, concluded that participation in Citizen Schools led to greater engagement in school, better transitions into high school, and significant gains in high school achievement and completion. Starting in middle school, participants were suspended less and attended school more, gains that continued in high school, with our former participants missing five to fourteen fewer days per year than similar peers. Prior to entering Citizen Schools, our participants were among the most at-risk students in a high-poverty district, meaning they were more likely than their Boston classmates to have failed the fourth-grade MCAS test, more likely to be English-language learners, and more likely to have an identified learning disability. Yet by tenth grade, students who had participated in Citizen Schools in middle school had closed the achievement gap with _state_ averages on the high-stakes tenth-grade math and English tests (the gap between passing rates for our high-poverty students and state averages), and they graduated high school on time at a rate that was 20 percent higher than their Boston Public School peers. A 2011 study of a Citizen Schools expansion site in Charlotte, North Carolina, revealed similar results and showed that our low-income participants were enrolling in college at the same rate as their middle-income peers.\n\nThese results were encouraging. But we wanted to do better, and we wanted to grow. Growth would allow us to serve more students but would also create a platform for influencing policy and the ongoing education-reform debate, which was escalating in its intensity and its centrality to public discourse.\n\nThese twin goals of growth and continuous improvement set us on a never-ending quest for more money, more talent, and better systems to strengthen our organization and extend our impact. If the startup years allowed me and Ned to feel like chefs experimenting with new recipes or inventors imagining novel products, the next stage of Citizen Schools made us feel more like industrialists, debating management plans and expansion scenarios and overseeing an increasingly complex organization. In financial terms, we grew from a $1 million budget in 1997\u201398 to $11 million in 2005\u201306 and $33 million in 2013\u201314. The currency of the startup years was innovation and particular moments of discovery for children working with our staff and volunteers. The currency of the scale-up years was data, as we measured almost everything we did\u2014from the grades and oral-presentation skills of our students to the quality of volunteer training and the speed with which a broken computer was fixed. As CEO and cofounder I was still supposed to be Vision Man, but I tried to also be Organization Man.\n\nA key partner in building up the Citizen Schools organizational infrastructure was Emily McCann, whom we hired in late 2002 as chief financial officer (CFO) and who was then promoted in 2005 to chief operating officer and in 2008, after Ned left (he remained on the board), to president. The CFO search took place during a recession, and we received more than a thousand resumes. Many applicants were qualified on paper but none stood out. Then late in the game Priscilla Cohen, a founding board member who had transitioned to the staff and was running the search, introduced me to Emily. \"She's too young for the CFO role,\" Priscilla advised, \"but down the line she could be really good for something else.\"\n\nWhen I met Emily a few days later, it was professional love at first sight. First, she was an athlete, literally. She had been an eleven-letter varsity athlete at Harvard College, demonstrating competitive grit that I find to be a great predictor of workforce success. Second, she was wicked smart, with top grades from Harvard and Harvard Business School. Third, everywhere she had worked in her nascent career she had blazed a trail forward through hard work, applied intelligence, and outstanding people skills. Currently she was working at Disney, and her reference there said she was the fastest-rising young female executive since Meg Whitman, who went on to become CEO of eBay and HP and to almost become governor of California. Wow! Fourth, in the 1983\u201384 school year, when I was organizing college students for Gary Hart across the country, Emily was Hart's chief spokesman in her fourth-grade mock election. Double wow! Most important, Emily was friendly and warm and passionate about making the transition from designing Disney cruise vacations to lifting opportunity for children. She had the right blend of humility and ambition and seemed a perfect fit for our culture.\n\nThe problem was that Emily was just twenty-nine and didn't look a day older than twenty-two. Besides, she had never been an accountant, a financial anything, or a chief of anything, much less a chief financial officer for a fast-growing nonprofit trying to change education in America. Nonetheless, thirty minutes into my conversation with Emily, I knew she was the one for the job. Others thought I was crazy, but within a month Emily had made a believer of everyone in the organization. Over the next ten years she would help make Citizen Schools one of the best-run nonprofits in the country. Bridgespan, the nation's leading nonprofit consultancy, has cited Citizen Schools as a best-practice organization in the domains that Emily leads, including hiring, talent development, financial oversight, and information technology.\n\nA key ingredient of the social-change machine we were trying to build was money, and one of my jobs, in partnership with our director of organizational development, Anuradha Desai, was to raise it. We didn't take any government money for our first five years because we felt that private money would give us greater flexibility. I worked hard to attract funding from big and small companies, from foundations, and from individual donors. Eventually we would attract significant government and corporate grants, but for our first ten years of operation, most of our money came from foundations and from wealthy people, and this meant hundreds of fund-raising meetings every year.\n\nMany nonprofits complain that funders give too little, give with too many strings attached, and usually won't continue giving for more than two to three years. That has not been my experience. I have found a significant majority of the funders we deal with to be strategic, open to general support (meaning not many strings attached), and willing to reinvest for ten years or even longer so long as we are continuing to make progress. Some of our supporters, most notably the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, have been national leaders in engaged and strategic philanthropy and are helping to steer foundations and even government to an investment approach that is long-term, focused on results, and strategic about building capacity. Generous board members, like Andrew Balson, our chair from 2007 to 2014 and a managing partner at Bain Capital, made long-term investments in Citizen Schools similar in some respects to private equity investments in that they were tied to our business plan and our results and pooled in formal \"growth capital\" funds supported by other philanthropists.\n\nBut even as the giving world has slowly become more rational and focused on investing in programs with proven or promising practices\u2014not just those where the program officer has a relationship or where the need is great\u2014philanthropy is still a relationship game. Rule one of fund-raising, I was told in my political-campaign days, is that \"people give to people.\" This meant that if we were to grow, I would need to meet and engage with as many philanthropists as possible. I threw myself into this work with gusto and met some amazing people who are deeply committed to building a more just world by giving away their money (or someone else's money) strategically. However, I also needed to bite my tongue during some particularly strange encounters.\n\nThere was the meeting with the young and fancily dressed foundation program officer in San Francisco who suggested that we meet at one of the city's finest restaurants, and then, after we ran up a $100+ bill on skimpy salads and seltzer water, suggested with every fiber of his body language that Citizen Schools\u2014or me\u2014should pick up the bill, not his billion-dollar foundation. Another time, as I prepared to meet with a prominent Boston-based executive, along with three other education-focused nonprofits, we were warned by the CEO's assistant that the CEO suffered from narcolepsy and might fall asleep briefly during our meeting. Despite the warning, it was quite unnerving when, midconversation, the CEO did indeed nod off for what seemed like several minutes. We decided to keep talking, hoping that our most persuasive arguments would find a place in his subconscious if not in his notepad.\n\nEver since our incorporation in Boston in January 1995, Citizen Schools had grown just in our home city. The lesson I had drawn from my City Year experience was to go deep, and I didn't see any reason to expand to other communities when there were still thousands of students and dozens of schools in Boston that needed us. As a result, in the early years we turned down offers to expand to Atlanta, New York, and several other communities. Over time, though, we heard the call of replication and reconsidered how to spread our good work. Growth in Boston had become harder because we had harvested the \"low-hanging fruit\" in terms of funding and motivated school partners. As a result, I felt we had reached a point where it would be easier to reach the next one thousand kids outside Boston than in Boston. I also believed that growth beyond Boston would teach us new lessons and open access to bigger pools of funding and talent and a bigger opportunity to influence the ongoing debate about how to improve public education.\n\nA key question was _how_ to grow. Should we expand in the common way for our sector\u2014the way of the Girl Scouts and Boys and Girls Clubs and most other national organizations\u2014which is through \"affiliates\" or \"franchises\" that are legally independent local organizations but that run similar core programs and share a brand name? Or should we just codify a set of Citizen Schools' best practices and then encourage all sorts of existing nonprofits and schools to pick up the ideas and run with them? Finally, another option available to us was to replicate as one organization, opening up what private sector analysts call \"company-owned stores,\" or branches, in new communities.\n\nMy friends at City Year argued for the company-owned-store approach, and they had good reasons that had been articulated by, among others, former Harvard Business School professor Jeff Bradach, who founded the nonprofit consulting firm Bridgespan. Bradach had studied replication in the private sector, where many large organizations like McDonald's grow through a mix of company-owned and franchise stores, and he felt that in the early stages of replication, the company-owned approach allowed for maximum control of culture and quality. This helped young entrepreneurs hone their business model. Direct replication also allowed for a tighter learning cycle in which breakthroughs as well as lessons learned from mistakes could be shared quickly across a large network. On the other hand, brilliant thinkers like Greg Dees, who helped launch the social enterprise programs at Harvard, Stanford, and Duke universities' business schools, staked out a different point of view. Dees argued that some of the most successful examples of scale and impact in American social policy\u2014such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the hospice movement, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving\u2014had spread their central tenets more like Johnny Appleseed, sharing their seeds far and wide, rather than like agribusiness giants such as E&J Gallo that control the land, the seeds, the labor, and the system of production.\n\nAs we debated these options among our board members and senior staff, my bias was to avoid the company-owned-store model. I saw its advantages. But I also remembered how hard and painstaking the growth had been at City Year. I argued that there was a difference between power and control, and that by ceding some control we might actually have more power to change education. I had lots of good arguments, but I was also just stubborn. I had experienced it one way at City Year and now, in my own organization, I wanted to try a new approach.\n\nJust as this debate was starting to percolate, Citizen Schools was approached by leaders of two groups who admired our model and our ability to engage middle school students. They wanted us to help them do something similar. The first to reach out was the After-School Corporation (TASC) in New York City, a fast-growing nonprofit that had recently made a splash when it received a $125 million gift from billionaire financier George Soros. TASC and Soros had the bold goal of bringing after-school programs to scale in New York City and then convincing the federal government to make a longer school day with extra enrichment and academics a right for all, not a luxury for the few. TASC had already helped launch or expand hundreds of after-school programs across New York's five boroughs, with the programs being delivered by a patchwork of large and small nonprofits and with a wide variety of approaches and outcomes.\n\nAs a general proposition, TASC felt that many of their programs serving younger children in the early elementary grades were working well. If nothing else, kids would stay at these programs until their parents picked them up, because the programs served as childcare in addition to providing academics and enrichment. But middle school kids could vote with their feet, and many programs serving these older children had daily attendance rates running as low as 25 to 50 percent of their official enrollment.\n\nTASC offered to pay us $100,000 to consult on their middle school program. At first this seemed like a dream come true. We had only been in existence for a little more than five years, and I could remember when our entire budget was barely more than $100,000 and we had to hustle to raise it. TASC was getting a lot of attention because of the Soros gift, and I deeply respected its founder, the visionary social entrepreneur Herb Sturz, and his partner, Lucy Friedman. The idea that Herb and Lucy would pay us to improve services for tens of thousands of kids\u2014more than ten times the number we were serving at that stage\u2014was compelling. But as we visited after-school sites and talked to the organizations running TASC-funded programs, I got cold feet. In reality, the programs we would be working with already had well-established cultures and budgets and funding streams. As we spoke with leaders of the programs about adopting Citizen Schools best practices, they would initially be enthusiastic, but then when we described the staffing patterns we believed were needed, or our program design, or the budget, we would run into resistance. \"That sounds good, but one of our funders requires us to run forty weeks of programming, so we couldn't have a January downtime for staff training,\" they would say. Or, \"That sounds good, but our staffing model relies on regular day teachers, so the most extra time we can ask them to work is one or two hours, not three hours or more.\"\n\nI concluded that our chances of getting these programs to shift to the Citizen Schools model\u2014or even to successfully adopt our best practices\u2014were slim. We thanked TASC and agreed to continue working together on advocacy for the after-school field but to defer a formal partnership for the time being.\n\nIn the middle of the TASC conversations, we were approached by another group\u2014a for-profit consulting firm, Work\/Family Directions. WFD was the brainchild of Fran and Charles Rodgers, who had taken a consulting partnership with IBM and parlayed it into a successful business that supported the family-related needs of millions of employees at Fortune 500 companies. WFD would help employees find nursing homes for their parents and summer camps and preschool programs for their kids. The business had grown like gangbusters in the late 1980s and '90s, but now it was starting to falter, and Charles and Fran and their team were looking for new lines of revenue. Their clients told them there was a dearth of programs for middle-school students, and they sensed there might be a market for a Citizen Schools\u2013like program geared to both the children of their clients and to lower-income children who lived in the communities where the companies were based.\n\nWe started a series of conversations about a potential pilot of middle school programs in New Brunswick, New Jersey; Baytown, Texas; Tucson, Arizona; and San Jose, California, all headquarters cities for major WFD clients. Each program would be run with seed money from WFD. And this time there was an extra zero on the financial offer. We would get $1 million over two years to launch these four sites, enough we felt to fully support a small high-quality program for a two-year pilot. To address the challenges we had identified with TASC, the programs would all be new. Staffing and program design would be developed from scratch so as to more fully incorporate all of the key Citizen Schools elements. Lastly, we agreed that if we moved forward with the WFD partnership, the programs would not be called Citizen Schools. Using our brand all across the country seemed like too big a risk at this stage, so we decided on the not-very-creative name of MAP\u2014for Middle School Apprenticeship Program. Citizen Schools and WFD would find local nonprofits to host and run the programs, and Citizen Schools would take the lead role in hiring and training staff and developing the curriculum, the model, the school partnerships, and a learning network to share best practices across the sites.\n\nThe whole enterprise put our reputation and our capacity on the line, but we decided to take the plunge. The funding from WFD's clients mitigated the financial jeopardy, and we felt that by not using our name but still closely monitoring program quality we would minimize any brand risk while maximizing our chances of delivering a quality program, increasing learning across our network, and expanding our influence in the fast-growing world of extended-day programs. Our first step was to organize a competition in which potential local partners vied to be selected as MAP implementation partners, making commitments we saw as essential to a smooth start. In Tucson and San Jose we ended up selecting local YMCAs. In Baytown, Texas, we partnered with the local affiliate of Communities in Schools, and in New Brunswick, New Jersey, we partnered directly with the local school district.\n\nSix months after signing the initial contract with WFD, all our nonprofit partners had been selected and we were exceeding the benchmarks we had set for staff outreach, school partnership development, volunteer recruitment, and more. We felt ready for a strong launch, and I remember inviting all the nonprofit partners to Boston and there being an air of excitement as nonprofit and education veterans from New Brunswick to Baytown shared their enthusiasm for Citizen Schools. The topic of branding came up, and someone asked an interesting question: \"I understand why you might not want to call these programs Citizen Schools, but we really love the name, and we are doing everything you've suggested a Citizen Schools program should do, and we are happy to sign a contract specifying that you can withdraw the name if we don't reach quality standards. So how about letting us use the name?\" It was a reasonable request and it affirmed our work. These people saw value in our ideas _and_ in our brand. After a few days of consultation with our board chair, Sherif Nada, and others, we decided to brand the new programs as Citizen Schools\u2014not MAP. We designed a special logo for the sites, giving our name in the big block letters of our logo and then, in smaller print below it, giving the name of the partnering nonprofit: for example, \"Presented by the Santa Clara YMCA.\"\n\nThe national partnership with WFD was followed quickly by an opportunity to replicate Citizen Schools in six Massachusetts communities with funding from Chris Gabrieli, a successful Boston venture capitalist turned civic leader. I first met Chris when he ran for Congress in 1998, vying with ten other candidates for the legendary Eighth Congressional District seat. Parts of the district had been represented by John F. Kennedy; then it was held for thirty-four years by Tip O'Neill and then by Joe Kennedy, the late president's nephew. The campaign was a rollicking affair that featured twenty-five formal debates in the spring and summer prior to the Democratic primary, which would surely decide the election in the overwhelmingly liberal district. Among the best attended of the debates was the so-called Great Debate\u2014a debate in Codman Square's Great Hall organized by two Harvard Kennedy School students and ten middle school apprentices from Citizen Schools. The Great Debate was one of my favorite apprenticeships of our early years, as it featured a recent Haitian immigrant leading the Pledge of Allegiance, middle school students helping three hundred people in the crowd register to vote, and questions during the debate asked by our middle school students and their parents.\n\nChris finished far back in the pack in 1998, but soon thereafter he created an organization, Massachusetts 2020, which had the initial goal of expanding after-school programs and eventually became a leading state and national voice for longer school days. Chris told me his experiences with Citizen Schools, including through the Great Debate, and his admiration for charter schools, like KIPP, that were pursuing a longer day, convinced him that a longer learning day was a key enabler of school improvement and that broader political advocacy for more learning time was needed. One of his first acts after starting Massachusetts 2020 was to fund a statewide middle school initiative, which in three years' time brought Citizen Schools to the Massachusetts cities of Framingham, Worcester, New Bedford, Springfield, Lowell, and Malden.\n\nIn the spring of 2002 we had run programs in Boston alone. Now it was fall 2004 and we were running programs in eleven cities, working with eleven school systems and ten different nonprofits. In Massachusetts we had a statewide footprint that helped us win a line item in the state budget, and we had a growing national footprint that helped us secure a $1 million AmeriCorps investment to support our Teaching Fellow program and deeper consideration from potential corporate partners. We had also launched a series of Reimagining After-School symposiums and were at the table with all the leaders of the field, pushing to transform after-school programs from an afterthought to a leading strategy for improved learning. In 2006 I coedited a book, _The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning_ , with articles by leading economists, business executives, and a national teachers' union head all making the case that extended learning time was a great way to build the critical thinking skills needed to thrive in the twenty-first-century workforce.\n\nWorking with affiliates helped make us national, but it also made us less agile. For example, if Citizen Schools in Tucson, where the former Teacher of the Year was running our program, discovered some new and better way to introduce math lessons, it would have taken a UN negotiator months and months of cajoling to get all of the other programs to try the same approach. Another challenge was financial. In San Jose we got a technology company involved in our work and it wanted to make a major contribution to scale Citizen Schools; but then our host organization, in this case the local YMCA, said it had targeted the same company to support its early-childhood program and asked us to back off.\n\nThe challenges of the affiliate approach mounted, and in January of 2005, right as I returned from a three-month sabbatical, I convened a Business Planning Council, a strategic planning group made up of our six most senior leaders and six more junior leaders from various parts of the organization, including from our affiliate sites. We met for a hundred hours over a five-month period and ended up making a number of key decisions, including a decision to recommit to apprenticeships as the core of our program model and to phase out our affiliate approach to replication. Going forward, all new programs would be \"company-owned\" branches. With existing programs, where possible we converted them to branches. In communities facing the greatest program or financial difficulties, we closed up shop. And in a few cases we continued the affiliate partnerships, until in 2010, the last of the Massachusetts affiliates, Malden and New Bedford, converted to become branches, with all of their Citizen Schools employees joining the mother ship.\n\nAs we wound down the affiliate program just a few years after launching it, there were moments when I kicked myself for my stubbornness in rejecting the company-owned approach at the outset. Replicating through branches might have ultimately pushed us further forward. But who really knows? Perhaps the approach we took worked out for the best. In just two years we went from being a one-city program to an eleven-city program operating across five geographically and politically diverse states\u2014a nationwide initiative that caught the attention of the White House and of corporate and academic leaders from coast to coast. We had some work to do to unwind or convert the affiliates, but we also had huge new assets and opportunities that came from the fast national expansion and from the strong programs and deep local partnerships forged in so many communities.\n\nFor me, the early years of national replication were difficult. In the startup years, most of the staff had also been my friends. We cooked and ate and drank together, and though we worked our tails off to improve the program, we were also true believers through and through. We were too new to have anyone else believe in us, so we had better believe in ourselves. As we neared our ten-year anniversary, however, and as we started to win more accolades from the press and from observers outside the organization, pockets of doubt and even skepticism started to emerge on the inside. Some staff seemed to have unrealistic expectations for what the program would accomplish\u2014finding fault if a student failed, instead of celebrating the occasions when students succeeded. Many staff also expected more guidance and handholding than we were used to providing. Sometimes I needed to channel Anita Price, our founding summer-program codirector, who would admonish potential staff to stay away if they wanted a \"paint-by-the-numbers experience.\" In addition, there was a professionalization that on bad days could seem a little bloodless. Did we really need another database, another evaluation system, another decision-making matrix, I wondered?\n\nA further challenge for me was that as we grew I became more isolated from the program. I didn't live in Dorchester anymore, down the street from one of our partner schools, as I had in the startup years; now I rarely had random encounters with Citizen Schools parents and kids on the T or at the grocery store.\n\nAs organizations grow, a natural tension emerges between the CEO and other top leaders, who are mostly \"externally facing,\" and more junior staff, who are in the trenches doing the hard and sometimes messy day-to-day work. The currency for outwardly facing people is vision\u2014the ideal the organization is aspiring to\u2014and the stories of success and nuggets of data that illustrate the vision. Talking all day about vision and success stories reinforces the natural optimism of the externally facing people and makes them feel great about the organization. Generally this optimism is essential to their success.\n\nThe currency for inwardly facing people is challenge: the schoolteacher who is upset we left their classroom in disarray, the student who is failing math class despite our extra math lessons, or the volunteer who is struggling. Talking all day about these challenges reinforces the natural practicality and skepticism of the front-line staff and keeps them hungry and focused on improvement. Generally, this practical focus on fixing what's wrong makes inwardly focused staff better at their jobs.\n\nThe problem comes when the externally focused optimists and the internally focused skeptics take their natural proclivities too far. The skeptics forget to breathe, and to notice progress, and to celebrate positive data and stories. Meanwhile the optimists often ignore challenges and give short shrift to the long distance between idea and implementation. If this chasm is not addressed, organizational culture suffers and trust declines.\n\nThese tensions may sound highly theoretical, but at Citizen Schools\u2014and at City Year too\u2014we had recurring rounds in what sometimes seemed like a fifteen-round heavyweight fight between me and a few others as the externally focused optimists and a rotating cast of characters serving as internally focused skeptics.\n\nI found a helpful refrain when trying to balance optimism and real challenges in the Stockdale Paradox, recounted by business guru Jim Collins in his book _Good To Great,_ a bible to many leaders in the social sector. The paradox comes from Admiral James Stockdale, the longest-serving prisoner of war in Vietnam, whom Collins interviewed for his book.\n\n\"Who didn't make it out?\" asked Collins.\n\n\"Oh, that's easy,\" Stockdale said. \"The optimists.\"\n\nCollins was incredulous. \"The optimists? I don't understand.\"\n\n\"The optimists. Oh, they were the ones that said, 'We're going to be out by Christmas.' And Christmas would come and Christmas would go. Then they'd say, 'We're going to be out by Easter.' And Easter would come and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart. . . . This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end\u2014which you can never afford to lose\u2014with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. . . . I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life.\"\n\nAs a leader I had lots of people sharing brutal facts with me\u2014or at least what they thought were brutal facts. I needed to face them and address them, but also maintain\u2014and share\u2014ultimate faith that we would prevail.\n\n# CHAPTER SIX\n\n# THE EDDY IS READY\n\nIn 2006, Boston's Clarence Edwards Middle School (known locally as the Eddy) was a year away from closure. The school had a strong leader and an improving cadre of teachers, but it was caught in a vicious cycle familiar to urban schools. Weak test scores and a well-deserved reputation for violence led families who could make a choice to go elsewhere. The resulting lower enrollment had two consequences. First, because the school had open seats, difficult students who had been kicked out of other schools, or who were newly arriving in the district midyear, were assigned to the Edwards. Second, lower enrollment meant layoffs of the newest and often most energetic teachers. The consequence was akin to a death spiral, and the Edwards, in spring 2006, latched on to what its leaders saw as the last best hope to save the school: a state-funded Expanded Learning Time (ELT) initiative to reimagine the length and design of the school day.\n\nThe decline at Edwards had been gradual through the 1980s and '90s and then accelerated at the turn of the century. Cindy McKeen, who started teaching arts and theater at Edwards in 1999\u2014and was previously a private school teacher\u2014recalled the mood in the school when she arrived. \"I came here in 1999 and we had a pretty strong principal, Chuck McAfee. He was a disciplinarian, and the collegiality among adults was strong,\" said McKeen. \"But our kids just came from so much sad and so much bad that it was tough. I remember one of my students was a drug dealer. He said he was sure that before he turned twenty-one he was going to die or be in prison. He didn't know how to reach out for anything more. The frustration and rage was just so high.\" McKeen saw arts and after-school programming as \"a sanctuary\" for many Edwards students, but one that was overwhelmed by the chaos of the school and their lives at home.\n\nIf the Edwards was challenging when McKeen arrived, it soon got worse. In 2000, Principal McAfee was reassigned by the district to lead a high school turnaround effort in another part of the city. The new principal selected for the Edwards, while academically qualified, lacked street smarts and leadership skills, according to those I interviewed. Underperforming teachers were not coached or held accountable and student frustration bubbled over. Enrollment continued to decline as parents\u2014perhaps newly sensitized by the MCAS to the importance of school selection\u2014increasingly steered clear of the Edwards. These years also saw a notable spike in violence, with forty-seven officially recorded assaults on teachers by students over a three-year period, according to McKeen. \"I myself was punched in the neck in the cafeteria and was sent to the nurse's office three times, and the kids liked me,\" said McKeen.\n\nAn Edwards student at the time, Yoelinson Castillo, who now works for Citizen Schools at the Edwards, confirmed the chaos. \"My first day at the school there were three fights in my class. Kids were smoking weed in the bathrooms, and I had a teacher whose main activity every day for English class was a game of hangman,\" Castillo recalled. Castillo's eighth-grade year was better, as he landed with a skilled teacher who told him he was smart and helped him move from a special-needs class to mainstream classes. But looking back a dozen years after leaving the Edwards, Castillo mostly remembers the chaos, and he can quickly list friends and classmates from the Edwards who are now in jail, on the streets looking for work, or barely getting by with minimum-wage jobs.\n\nStephanie Edmeade, a current Edwards teacher, arrived at the school in 2000. She hoped to be part of a small group of teachers who could help turn the school around, but she faced resistance.\n\n\"I remember standing up in front of a staff meeting in the teachers' lounge and suggesting we institute a community-service program and people laughed at me,\" said Edmeade. \"Another time I talked about exemplars of advanced writing that I hoped all the teachers could use\u2014to give the students something to stretch for\u2014and one teacher said she didn't want her students to be discussing something they can't do.\"\n\nEdmeade and others said the most tragic moments in those years at Edwards were revealed through discussions with students who, despite the environment, were hungry to learn. \"I remember talking to one student who was on the student council,\" said Edmeade. \"She turned to me and said, 'I want to pass the MCAS, and I am not being taught.'\" Edmeade visited one of the student's classes and sure enough, she said, the teacher had his feet up on the desk and was reading the newspaper even as students played cards or stared out the window.\n\nAll of Edmeade's uncles and aunts were teachers, and they wondered why she was staying at the Edwards. \"'Why don't you go to a charter school?' they would say.\"\n\nSix years after Edmeade arrived at the Edwards\u2014enough time for two cohorts of sixth graders to make their way through middle school\u2014and after yet another change in the school's leadership, the Edwards embraced many of the reforms adopted by the nation's leading charter and private schools and made them work within a traditional district school. The school's dismissal time moved from 1:30 to 4:30 for every child. America's oldest public school system, which had offered about a six-hour learning day since Boston Latin School opened its doors in 1635, would now offer a nine-hour day to students in perhaps its neediest school and in two others across the city. And if that common-sense move wasn't a bold enough break with the past, the Edwards also resolved to reengineer the curriculum and the delivery system for the entire school day. Specifically, it engaged a \"second shift\" of paid and volunteer educators mobilized by Citizen Schools and other partners to complement the first shift of \"regular\" teachers.\n\nTogether Citizen Schools and the Edwards created math leagues, in which every student in the school added a daily hourlong math lesson and competed in math tournaments to practice their skills. The school also added an array of extracurricular offerings that rivaled the most elite private and suburban schools. The Edwards had a challenging past. But now through Expanded Learning Time, or ELT as it was known, the younger siblings and neighbors of those earlier Edwards students would have access to extra academic coaching, to the city's first middle school football team, to dance and theater troupes, to mock trials and filmmaking, to astronomy and Web design, and, eventually, to rocket science.\n\nMike Sabin was the key protagonist of the Edwards turnaround, serving as the school's principal from summer 2002 through the completion of the first year of ELT in 2007. Sabin's successor, Jeff Riley, helped make ELT at Edwards famous and took the school's achievement to the next level, but it was Sabin who wrote the playbook and coached the team through the planning year and the first critical turnaround year.\n\nSabin grew up in suburban Wellesley, Massachusetts, and was educated at Milton Academy and then Harvard. While still in college he committed to a career in urban education, and after graduation began work as a bilingual education teacher in Cambridge. Later he taught in and then became assistant principal of a Spanish immersion school in Lawrence while also earning his principal certification at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. By spring 2002 Sabin was looking for a school he could lead. He heard about the principal opening at the Edwards but initially didn't think he would apply as his heart was set on leadership of a bilingual school where he could use his Spanish fluency. A mentor persuaded him to show up for the Edwards interview anyway, and he ended up being offered the job. He was thirty-four.\n\nSabin launched his tenure as Edwards principal by meeting with every teacher one-on-one and trying in his simultaneously bookish and relentlessly upbeat manner to understand deeply the curriculum and to mold the teaching of his team. A friend at Harvard introduced him to Tony Helies, a tough-talking retired technology executive and a Harvard Business School graduate. Helies helped Sabin form an advisory board to provide management guidance and attract resources to the school.\n\n\"It was obvious from the beginning that if the school wanted to go from being the worst in the city to one of the best, that it just wouldn't cut it to have kids going home at one thirty in the afternoon,\" said Helies. \"Mike and the rest of us started trying to raise money to build a bigger after-school program, and in some ways that helped set the stage for the ELT program that came a few years later.\" At the same time, said Helies, Sabin would never have succeeded if he didn't know how to move out the very worst teachers, a management task often thought futile in unionized urban schools. \"We wouldn't have worked with Mike if he didn't know how to fire bad teachers and hire good ones. Principals before him were hall monitors with walkie-talkies moving from incident to incident. They didn't pick the curriculum and they didn't do anything to change the teachers.\"\n\nIn his first three years, Sabin stabilized the school. On a staff of about forty, he was able to make almost twenty new hires. He tightened the curriculum, lengthened core classes from sixty to eighty minutes, increased common planning time for teachers, and added a deeper focus on both math and the arts. Closer management of student misbehavior and, perhaps, the greater offerings of art and after-school electives started to reduce violence in the school. But while the climate at the Edwards was improving gradually, test scores remained abysmal. And parents and students were still voting with their feet. Every spring, parents in Boston put in for their top choices of schools, and for Sabin's first years at the helm only a handful put Edwards on their list.\n\nAs Sabin entered his fourth year, the 2005\u20132006 academic year, the national drumbeat for school accountability was getting louder. He sensed that if dramatic improvement didn't come soon, the Edwards would close.\n\nIt was at this time\u2014in late fall 2005, that the Massachusetts Department of Education and a nonprofit\u2014Massachusetts 2020\u2014announced a grant competition to provide funding to schools that wanted to add at least three hundred hours of learning time to their schedule. Winning schools would receive an extra $1,300 per student of state taxpayer money to transform learning and results across the school day by adding more academics, more enrichment, and more planning time for teachers.\n\n\"ELT came along just as proponents of standards are saying standards-based education systems are necessary but insufficient to get all students to proficiency,\" said Paul Reville, then the Massachusetts secretary of education and chair of the state Board of Education. \"Even an optimized educational setting is not enough to equalize opportunity for children of poverty in comparison to their affluent peers. Clearly, economically disadvantaged children need more.\"\n\nAs soon as Sabin heard about the ELT grant, he was excited to apply. And since he believed that change in urban schools generally came through collaborative leadership, he began engaging his teachers and outside partners, including Citizen Schools, in an intensive planning process. Whereas most schools applying for the ELT grants planned to staff the extra learning time by assigning their teachers to work an extra ninety minutes per day (for extra pay), extending the length of core academic classes, and bringing in a few community partners to team up with teachers in offering new electives, Sabin engineered a solution that was bolder. He extended the schedule by a full three hours Monday through Thursday and opted for a shorter day on Fridays, allowing for teacher professional development starting at noon. Whereas most other schools added ten to fifteen minutes to existing academic classes and also added a forty-five- to sixty-minute enrichment block, Sabin added a full hour of math academic league and a full two-hour elective block every day!\n\nThe changes at the Eddy were transformative, allowing students to enroll in two apprenticeships or electives per semester, including offerings such as rocket science and video game design, mock-trial classes that involved field trips to downtown law firms, and sports and a chance for full-length practices. Boldest of all, Sabin turned delivery of the extra time 100 percent over to Citizen Schools for all of his sixth graders and also deeply engaged Citizen Schools and other community partners in co-delivering the extra time to seventh and eighth graders.\n\nAn exciting development for Citizen Schools was the deep buy-in of teachers to the partnership. As stated in the school's ELT application to the Massachusetts Department of Education: \"Our 6th grade teachers voted unanimously to collaborate with Citizen Schools in the Extended Day, agreeing that the entire 6th grade class of 120 students will participate in its research-based, structured model of community building, project-based learning, and community service. Leveraging this partnership provides us with appropriate programming for the students and also sets the school up for a more unified culture in subsequent years.\"\n\nSabin told a reporter at the time that \"Citizen Schools brought a willingness to collaborate with the school and to modify certain elements of their program as long as the big picture remained true to their vision. They brought a determination to make things work at the Edwards and a feeling that 'these are our students.' They didn't try to hand off problems to the school when they arose, but took responsibility for trying to solve them.\"\n\nWithin Citizen Schools, the move to ELT provoked a new round of soul-searching of the type we had done back in 1997 when Dever principal Nydia Mendez suspended her work with us until we could align better with school-day academic goals. Now we needed to not only align with the school, we needed to become part of the school. In addition to helping with homework and study skills and leading field trips to college campuses and co-leading apprenticeships, our AmeriCorps teaching fellows would now deliver an hour of math lessons every day\u2014following the same script as veteran math teachers down the hall. We would give grades too, and in an effort to create a unified culture across the full school day, we started having students address our staff more formally by their last names, rather than by their first names. Quite explicitly, Mike Sabin and his team were inviting us, and challenging us, to lift our game to a higher level and be held accountable as professional educators.\n\nSome teaching fellows struggled with the higher expectations and the need to present a more teacherly demeanor. Many had come to Citizen Schools to get away from traditional schools. They loved our hands-on learning projects and the enrichment and community connections that infused our model. But not all felt prepared to teach math lessons for even one hour a day\u2014and some did it poorly. On the other hand, many of our staff worked hard to become solid and, in a few cases, excellent instructional leaders. They followed the path of first- and second-year teachers everywhere, experiencing tear-inducing failures in their first months, but also moments of exhilaration when a well-honed lesson enabled a child to finally grasp how to multiply fractions, or to see the relevance of a persuasive essay to winning a law case, or of basic algebra to programming a video game.\n\nOver time Citizen Schools would become better at \u00adsupporting academics while still drawing heavily on our core competency of helping students experience success through hands-on projects that connect academics to future careers. We changed our recruiting message to prospective AmeriCorps members to be clear they would do \"real\" teaching along with lifting up opportunity in other ways. We discovered new ways to support teachers and to learn from them by team-teaching in overlapping blocks, sharing assessments of student learning, and more (see chapter 12 for more on this topic). As I write, Citizen Schools now graduates a majority of its AmeriCorps teaching fellows directly into full-time teaching roles. We have developed two exciting programs for certifying teachers\u2014creating a \"teaching hospital\" model in which teaching fellows can earn their teaching certificate while leading extended-day classes and then transition seamlessly into full-time teaching roles.\n\nDespite all of Sabin's good planning, it was unclear in those first months of ELT whether the school had made a good choice. There were minor conflicts between Citizen Schools and traditional teachers over damaged blackboards and divergent approaches to discipline. In mid-fall there was a racially tinged showdown between Citizen Schools students and neighborhood toughs from Charlestown, which was then fast gentrifying but still famous for its concentrated pockets of white poverty and spectacular bank robberies (such as those featured in the 2010 Ben Affleck movie _The Town_ ). Finally, and tragically, in December and January there were successive murders of two Edwards students, Emmanuel \"Benji\" Saintil, fourteen, and Luis Genera, thirteen. The two students were killed in their home neighborhoods in incidents that were unrelated to the school and occurred miles away, but that nonetheless delivered to the school what could have been a knockout blow.\n\nMoriska \"Mo\" Selby was just twenty-four in that first year of ELT at the Edwards. She was in a pivotal role, acting as campus director for Citizen Schools, overseeing the final three hours of learning for all sixth graders and supporting many of the seventh and eighth graders as well. Selby, a native of the tiny Caribbean island of St. Vincent and then of Brooklyn, New York, was just two years out of Tufts University, but had already worked three years for Citizen Schools. I had pitched her on taking the Edwards job and remember seeing in her facial expression excitement for the opportunity but also concern that the experiment wouldn't work.\n\n\"Those first few months of ELT at the Edwards were so hard,\" Selby recalled. \"Kids would just walk out on you. 'You're not a real teacher,' they would say.\" It reached a low point mid-fall, when an average sixth grader, a boy Selby pegged at six feet two inches tall and almost two hundred pounds, pushed Citizen Schools staffer Caroline Beasley up against a wall of lockers. \"This boy was just so angry, and we tried explaining all of the opportunities we were trying to bring to the school with the longer day, but he just didn't want to hear it,\" said Selby. \"So after we huddled with the school leadership we decided that for the safety of the students and of the staff we just needed him to go home a little earlier and we needed to focus on everyone else.\"\n\nThat decision, said Selby, became a turning point for Citizen Schools and the school as they realized they could work through difficult decisions together.\n\nAnother turning point came that spring, when the Citizen Schools staff formed a Student Leadership Council of thirty students and took them to a camp in rural New Hampshire, skipping three days of school in early June in hopes of cultivating role models among the school's older students. The trip was part of an effort to ease tensions between the major subgroups of the school\u2014the general education population, students in the Chinese Sheltered Immersion program for new immigrants learning to speak English, and students with serious social\/emotional and learning disabilities. The three groups attended separate classes in the regular school day and came together just at lunch and recess and in the extended-day hours with Citizen Schools.\n\nThe camp in New Hampshire was run by a Russian man named Misha, and it was a challenging and foreign experience for the Edwards kids. For starters, no electronics were allowed, no technology, not even wristwatches. There was no fast food either, and all meals came entirely from the farm on the premises, including eggs the students would collect from a henhouse. Capitalizing on the foreign environment, Misha and the Citizen Schools team introduced a series of team-building and leadership activities, including canoeing on a large lake. One Puerto Rican student, Chris, who was a good athlete and a future member of Junior ROTC, was matched in a canoe with a tiny Chinese student with serious social\/emotional and academic learning disabilities. Chris suffered from his own learning challenges but told counselors he felt proud after managing to paddle six miles despite his partner paddling mostly in the opposite direction.\n\n\"It was an incredible leadership experience and it helped to draw together a group of students who normally never interacted in the school,\" recalled Emily Bryan, a Citizen Schools teaching fellow who helped organize the trip. (Emily later became an award-winning sixth-grade English teacher at the Edwards.)\n\nDuring their three days at the Marlow, New Hampshire, camp, the Edwards kids also had a chance to work with knives, learning how to carve wood. During one of these sessions the counselors noticed that a knife had been stolen.\n\n\"Misha, the camp director, sat everyone in a circle,\" recalled Bryan. \"He didn't yell. He said, 'It's not your fault that you live in a world where people steal, where you have to worry about your things being stolen, where you have to worry about violence. But if you are also lying and stealing then you are adding to this problem. If you want to live in a world without lying and stealing then you must be the one to change the world. You have to change yourself.'\"\n\nMisha then pointed down the field where they were sitting to his car and said to the students that if they needed anything, the car was open and his wallet was on the front seat. \"The knife got returned that night,\" Bryan recalled, adding that she learned a lesson that day about creating an environment of trust and support and high expectations that she has carried into her classroom ever since.\n\nThroughout the year, Sabin persisted in knitting together his traditional staff with the Citizen Schools AmeriCorps members and volunteer citizen teachers. By graduation in June, there were signs that the investment was paying off. Attendance was up across the school. Sixth-grade attendance had risen from 90 to 93 percent, an increase that may sound small but means the average student attended an additional week of school, compounding the extra learning time offered by the ELT model. Still, the Edwards had seen signs of momentum before only to be disappointed when the MCAS scores were published. This time it would be different. Math proficiency in sixth grade more than doubled, from 15 percent, the lowest in the city the previous year, to 32 percent, slightly above the city average. Test scores in almost every subject and grade were up by sizable margins.\n\nAfter two more years of ELT, the Eddy was transformed. Whereas in 2005 only 17 families had chosen the Edwards in Boston's open-assignment process, in 2008 more than 450 families chose the school, creating a large wait list. By 2008 the school had a football team (the first middle school team in Boston), numerous arts programs, diverse apprenticeships offered through Citizen Schools, and an extra hour of math games and instruction every day. The Edwards had erased more than 80 percent of the achievement gap in English and science (the gap between its students and state averages), and in math it had created a reverse achievement gap, outscoring such middle-class communities as Framingham, Waltham, and Watertown. Meanwhile, the school continued to serve many of the highest-need students and families in Boston, as the percentage of Edwards students living in or near poverty had actually grown to more than 90 percent, and the share of English-language learners and special-education students continued to be high.\n\nI recently returned to the Edwards to spend a day observing classrooms and meeting with teachers and students and with the new principal, Leo Flanagan. Principal Sabin, the ELT architect, had left after the first year of implementation to bring his family to Central America, where he helped to run a school for two years, before returning to Boston to take on another ELT partnership with Citizen Schools. Jeff Riley, Sabin's talented successor, had run ELT at the Edwards for two years and then been promoted to become Boston's assistant superintendent for middle schools, a role that allowed him to help spread ELT to other schools across the city. In 2012 Riley was tapped by the state as superintendent for the troubled Lawrence Public Schools.\n\nI had visited the Edwards a dozen times over the previous decade, including in January 2008, when Senator Edward M. Kennedy announced the TIME Act, a legislative proposal to replicate the Edwards ELT model across the country. But I had never spent a full day at the school\u2014a day starting at 7:00 a.m. as the first buses began to arrive and running until 4:30 p.m. as the last students left for home.\n\nMy previous visits allowed me to see snapshots that illustrated the story of a transforming urban school in a big-city district\u2014a transformation that, while still fragile and incomplete, has nonetheless provided hope to education reformers in Boston and beyond. The Edwards success story has been touted by business leaders and charter advocates, but also by teachers' union president Randi Weingarten, who stated in a 2011 _New York Times_ column that the Edwards was \"one of the most impressive schools I have ever seen.\" Now I wanted to understand the texture of the school and its makeover more intimately.\n\nIf the Edwards could turn around its fortunes, could others do the same? In a country where an estimated 50 percent of the dropout crisis and a majority of the achievement gap runs through just a few thousand middle schools, replicating the Edwards story even a few hundred times could start to move the needle on national educational results. Replicating the story a few thousand times would rocket the United States from below average in international rankings of student learning to the top tier.\n\nI got to the Edwards at seven in the morning\u2014just as the first students arrived for a breakfast of TruMoo chocolate milk and premade sausage, egg, and cheese sandwiches. I met with veteran teachers like Cindy McKeen and Stephanie Edmeade and with newcomers like Emily Bryan. I spoke with students too, including eighth grader Adam Barriga (the student who spoke at the State House, described in the introduction). Barriga sported a mop of long and bushy brown hair but held a clear vision of his future as an engineer\u2014a vision he said was inspired in large part by his sixth-grade rocket-science apprenticeship with David Mantus. Over the course of the day I developed a deeper sense of what made the school tick.\n\nLeo Flanagan, the principal at Edwards from 2010 to 2013, said he was most proud that his students now feel like individuals. He described a conversation with a student who had transferred to the Edwards after experiencing bullying at another middle school. \"'Mr. Flanagan' she said, 'You have black dorks here.' She is right,\" said Flanagan. \"We have big black kids wearing pink shoes because they have been here for a while and they have found some things they are really passionate about and they are willing to be themselves. That is just huge for kids.\" Flanagan described a particular student he believed was gay who joined the cheerleading squad and flourished. \"He would have turtled at most other schools,\" said Flanagan.\n\nThe Edwards's test scores have stopped rising, but the school has retained most of the gains made in the first three years of ELT. Annual student growth scores remain high in most subjects, often higher than for some well-regarded charter schools in the area. Despite calls to increase the focus on straight academics, Flanagan has insisted on continuing the school's emphasis on enrichment. \"I think what we are doing is really courageous, because I believe the future of kids is really about the experiences of kids. I want kids to have the experience of being in rock bands, of conducting real experiments with scientists, of arguing a mock trial down at the federal courthouse in front of a federal judge,\" said Flanagan. \"What would they do in the suburbs? Do you think they would ever just get rid of arts and music and other electives so they could focus all their attention on math? Part of how we drive things at Edwards is to ask, 'Would this fly in Brookline?' When we do things for poor black kids that we would never do in the suburbs, then I wonder.\"\n\nDespite his faith in the Edwards approach\u2014and in the possibility of creating good urban public schools\u2014Flanagan says he sometimes wonders whether he made a mistake in choosing to labor in a big-city school system like Boston that has been the subject of so much criticism. \"I see those charters out there offering a longer day and with full control of their teaching staff\u2014and with kids all signing up for a lottery to get in\u2014and I sometimes wonder,\" Flanagan said, \"if we are on the wrong side of history here in the district schools and if we are just doomed to failure. But then I wonder if, ironically, it's more cutting-edge to have stayed in the district. And I see the work we are doing here with ELT at Edwards and see how it's now spreading to more district schools across Boston, and it feels like we are building a pathway for lifting up opportunity and achievement for the hardest-to-reach children across this city and across the country.\"\n\nAmong the teachers of whom Flanagan is proudest is Emily Bryan, the former Citizen Schools teaching fellow. Bryan is one of six former Citizen Schools staff members who have been hired by the Edwards for teaching or administrative roles, creating a built-in talent pipeline that has served the school well and strengthened our partnership. On a recent visit to the Edwards, I sat in as Bryan taught her second sixth-grade English class of the day in Room 102, overlooking the school's drab concrete playground and parking lot.\n\n\"Okey-dokey,\" said Bryan, who sports short-cropped black hair and was sucking on a bright red lollipop as she welcomed the class. \"All you need on your desks right now is a pencil. The 'Do Now' is coming around.\" Bryan's first assignment was a short vignette from _The House on Mango Street_ by Sandra Cisneros. She asked the students to read the passage and then pick out examples of metaphor, personification, and figurative speech. As the students read, Bryan played music in the background. Then after a minute or two of quiet reading she began to banter with the students as they answered questions listed on the \"Do Now.\" \"Why do you like this passage?\" she asked. \"What makes it good? Do you see the sensory detail we were talking about the other day?\"\n\nBryan asked for an example of sarcasm from the text and immediately two girls raised their hands. She called on one and when the student gave a good example, Bryan affirmed her with praise and then tossed her a lollipop from across the room. \"In my last class I shared a really good writing passage from one of my former students\u2014from Emily Restrepo,\" Bryan announced. \"Emily's younger sister was in the class\"\u2014here Bryan paused for emphasis\u2014\"and you can imagine she was _thrilled_ that I was talking about her sister. That's sarcasm,\" Bryan continued without missing a beat. She took a few more comments on the Cisneros passage and then told the class it was time to get to work on their own writing.\n\nAs a first step, Bryan modeled the writing of a short passage herself. \"Okay, I want to write about a hot day and a sprinkler,\" she told the class. \"I want to use metaphor or simile and personification and figurative speech.\" Her laptop was connected to a projector, and as she began to write, every student paid attention as the first draft of her vignette began to unfold on one of the classroom walls.\n\n\"It was a hot day so we played in the sprinkler. We got really wet,\" Bryan wrote.\n\n\"That's not very good is it?\" she asked. Twenty-two heads shook side to side, eyes still riveted on Bryan. \"No, it's blah. How can we improve that with dialogue, with figurative language, and with sensory detail?\"\n\nBryan started over, twenty-two sets of eyes darting back and forth between her and the words projecting on the wall. \"It was a hot July afternoon. Eric and I danced in the sprinkler like ballerinas onstage. We screamed 'It's cold! It's cold!' as the wet grass stuck to our ankles and between our toes.\" In a little more than a minute Bryan had hooked the class and modeled a powerful vignette. Now the young writers themselves took pen to paper and began to work, eagerly. As they did, Bryan turned to me, saying in a stage whisper, \"These guys are freakishly good.\"\n\nBy the time the class was over, almost every student had earned at least one lollipop, and a good measure of praise, and I had heard some quite impressive writing from a class full of eleven- and twelve-year-olds\u2014half of whom didn't even speak English at home.\n\n\"Sometimes I go to the fountain and it calms me down,\" wrote Francesca. \"I smell the salty waters of the ocean. Trees dancing around me. The birds watching my every move. . . . I can hear the wind whistling into my ears, the park calling my name, 'Francesca, Francesca, come to play.'\"\n\nI was inspired. I had heard that Bryan's students had improved more in their MCAS writing and reading comprehension scores in the previous year than all but four other sixth-grade classes in the entire state, and now I knew why. She built relationships with her students; she challenged them to do great work, first modeling excellence and then coaching as students practiced their skills; and she made learning fun\u2014all principles at the core of the Citizen Schools approach.\n\nFull-time teachers like Bryan and leaders like Sabin and his successors as principal were critical to the Edwards turnaround, and a key part of the value that Citizen Schools added was the full-time AmeriCorps teaching fellows\u2014a job held right after college by future educators like Emily Bryan and Moriska Selby and dozens of others. Yet equally important factors in the school's turnaround were the hundreds of volunteer citizen teachers who led apprenticeship courses\u2014people like David Mantus. Mantus taught rocket science seven times at the Edwards, forging hundreds of relationships with students like Adam Barriga. Tony Helies, the retired businessman who advised Principal Sabin in the early years of the Edwards turnaround, taught astronomy at Citizen Schools fifteen times, including multiple times at Edwards; and Alan Su, a whiz kid engineer at Google's Cambridge office, taught computer programming classes five times at the Eddy.\n\nSu is such a talent that even as a relatively young engineer Google tapped him to help lead the team that made YouTube (a Google subsidiary) faster, helping the company \"live-stream\" every event at the 2012 London Olympics. But teaching was tougher than Su expected. He taught his first apprenticeship at the Edwards the first year of ELT, and Su remembers \"feeling a little naive\" when he realized the Web design curriculum he had put together was over the heads of most of the students in his class and that many of the students didn't seem motivated to learn.\n\nDespite the challenge, Su committed to teach again. His next course involved creation of a public service app for the Android phone\u2014an app that would enhance the experience for participants in First Night, a popular Boston arts festival. \"The idea was to make First Night more interactive and drive up attendance. You could imagine a clue on the ice sculptures and then people would have to take a picture to show they were there,\" related Su. \"The students learned the basics of putting together a user interface and basic computer programming, and by the time they were done they had the bones of a really cool app.\"\n\nSu has since come back to teach three more times and said he has seen a transformation at the Edwards and in its students. \"It's palpable, the difference in the attitude of the kids. It's night and day. There is no more 'too cool for school,' and now the students see that learning can be really fun.\" Su said that his personal motivation to volunteer has grown too. \"The thing I love is the combination of the boots-on-the-ground experience\u2014the experience of introducing kids to something out of the ordinary and helping them realize that the Web is not just something to consume from, they can be creators too. I love the combination of getting to know the kids and also seeing the results at the Edwards, which are incontrovertible. I also love that I have a role in addressing one of the greater inequities in our society.\"\n\nHelies and Mantus also stood witness to the transformation at the Edwards. Mantus's first course was in 2007 at a Citizen Schools campus in Boston's Brighton neighborhood, and it was an ill-fated effort to get the students to develop a pathway for bringing a new drug to market. The course was authentic, as that's what Mantus did for a living, but the lessons lacked pizzazz and didn't appeal to students. Mantus remembers several co-teachers from his firm vowing they would never return.\n\n\"The only part of the class that really resonated was the day we had a paper airplane contest and the kids all learned about the physics of flight,\" said Mantus. \"I realized that what I was really going for was to get kids jazzed about science and technology, and the key to that was just getting them excited about the fundamentals of chemistry and physics. I had a friend who worked at the Challenger Learning Center in Wheeling, West Virginia, and I called her up and she said she would love to collaborate with me on a course.\" Mantus went to work and designed a class in which his students learned the fundamentals of space travel and ended the semester with a live video hookup with astronauts from the Challenger Center. It was an instant hit. Mantus and his colleagues have now taught the class to more than one hundred students from the Edwards over the last five years.\n\nI knew that Mantus's motivation for teaching came from his desire to spread the wonder that he first experienced launching rockets in the backyard with his dad and going on trips with his grandfather to the New York Hall of Science in Queens, near their Long Island home. When I met with Helies, a retiree who had taught fifteen apprenticeships and volunteered in other ways to help the Edwards, I wondered what had motivated him to get so involved.\n\n\"Part of why I do this,\" Helies said, \"is that I was raised by a single mom who had four kids in a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn, and she just worked incredibly hard to get all her kids scholarships to private schools. I didn't get a lot of hugs growing up, but I got an education that changed my life. I am here today because of that, and God bless my mother for the aggressiveness she had in helping her kids get a good education.\"\n\nHelies graduated from the Trinity School on Manhattan's Upper West Side and then went to Northeastern University, where he earned a degree in electrical engineering. He worked on the Apollo project from 1967 to 1971 and then was laid off as the space program began to downsize. He earned a degree from Harvard Business School, married, and started raising a family, while also founding a company that did network management for large corporate computer systems. Helies never got involved in nonprofits during his professional life, but after selling his company, his interests turned to K\u201312 education. He hoped to provide to others the education that his mother provided for him. Soon he met Sabin and helped him with management advice, but he also began tutoring kids in math, which he loved and was good at. When Helies asked to do more with students, Sabin suggested he get involved with Citizen Schools.\n\nHelies decided that at Citizen Schools he would teach astronomy, a topic that had always fascinated him. He organized a course in which the students used the same simple instruments as the ancient Greeks to measure the size of the planets, their distance from each other, and the orbits of their moons. Helies was a good teacher, so he usually was assigned more than his share of discipline challenges. Maybe as a result, he found the classes difficult but also rewarding enough to keep coming back. \"Tutoring one or two kids is easy,\" said Helies. \"Teaching fifteen or twenty kids is much tougher. You need to develop a relationship with the kids, because people treat people who they have a relationship with much better.\" Helies also found ways to weave in exercise to his classes, which he found kids hungry for more of. \"I would have the girls race the boys to map out the solar system and they would just go nuts. They were so excited and they needed that chance to blow off steam.\"\n\nLooking back, Helies recalled a number of students for whom astronomy provided a breakthrough during their difficult middle school years. One student who was failing several of his classes initially told Helies that astronomy was stupid. Then at the end of the semester he handed Helies a note saying: \"Dear Mr. Helies, I used to hate astronomy. Now I like it.\"\n\nA few days after we spoke, Helies wrote me with another example of a rewarding experience from his class.\n\n\"One of our more challenging assignments is to determine the orbital period of Charon, Pluto's large moon. This is pretty sophisticated stuff for sixth graders,\" Helies wrote. \"We used photos taken by NASA of Pluto three days apart, showing that Charon had moved halfway round during that time. From that data we figured out the period, six days. For our WOW! we were having an 'Astronomy Conference' in the Boston College physics department, with the students serving as the conference presenters. BC does a wonderful job setting up the conference, with badges, conference programs, even cookies and juice. Professor Michael Graf and his grad students are the attendees. One of our quieter students volunteered to present about Charon's moon and its orbit. He had been quite shy during the apprenticeship, so I was pleased to see him take the initiative. Charon's orbit is six days, but the data we had could also be interpreted as a two-day orbit. (Can you see why?) Professor Graf challenged the six-day number and soon he and the student were both up at the white board, with the student drawing orbits! The student was able to explain why the data was inconclusive, show that both six days and two days were possible, and proposed that we could find out for sure with more photos. I felt like I was at a real astronomy conference. Well, I guess I was.\"\n\nThe Expanded Learning Time model we piloted at the Edwards sparked a transformation at Citizen Schools. We stopped opening new after-school programs, formerly the bread and butter of our organization, and instead looked to replicate ELT programs where we could work with every student in a middle school, or at least every student in one or two grades. While in 2006 I had been nervous to make the jump from optional to required programming at Edwards, by 2009 I was convinced that ELT\u2014done right\u2014could become an essential new paradigm for schools in the twenty-first century.\n\nIn the four years since the Edwards success was established, we have scaled ELT to a national cohort of twenty-four formerly struggling schools\u2014from East Harlem to East Palo Alto and from the west side of Houston to Chicago's South Side. Results in individual schools have varied, but on average ELT schools partnering with Citizen Schools have significantly increased student engagement (attendance, staying out of trouble, and seeing the link between school and careers) and increased proficiency rates on state tests by more than ten percentage points within two years. Teachers and parents give the program high ratings for academics and for offering a well-rounded education. The progress at ELT schools means that for students who attended these schools, who started middle school about two years behind their middle-income peers, half or more of that gap has been cut while they are still in middle school. Our hope is that students have also learned better school navigation skills like how to ask for help, how to advocate for themselves, and how to work toward a goal on diverse teams. We believe the academic momentum as well as the social skills and social networks Citizen Schools students build will help close most or even the entire remaining achievement gap before adulthood. In fact, in the two locations where we have longitudinal data through high school\u2014Boston and Charlotte\u2014low-income Citizen Schools graduates fully eliminated gaps with their middle-income peers in on-time high school graduation and in college enrollment, though not yet in college completion.\n\nIn Oakland, where I started my career as a journalist, the fastest-improving middle school in 2011\u20132012 was a Citizen Schools ELT school. And in our home base of Boston, Orchard Gardens, formerly one of the lowest-rated schools in the entire state, had such a dramatic turnaround through ELT and other reforms that it recently boasted the highest scores for student-learning growth of any middle school in all of Massachusetts. The latest report on our ELT work from external evaluator Abt Associates indicates that, on average, Citizen Schools ELT schools are delivering an extra three months of learning in math per year and an extra five months of learning per year in reading and writing compared to similar schools, while also boosting engagement in learning and interest in careers.\n\nThe second section of this book starts to unpack the key success factors of Citizen Schools\u2014the key components of the opportunity equation\u2014and suggest how we and others might bring them to millions more children.\n\n# CHAPTER SEVEN\n\n# SCALE, SPREAD, AND THE PURSUIT OF SYSTEMIC CHANGE\n\nIn the early days at City Year, founders Alan Khazei and Michael Brown and I would sit around our partially renovated warehouse space and discuss ways that City Year and national service could change the world. We talked a lot about Steve Jobs and Apple Computer. This was in the early 1990s, before the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. Apple had nowhere near the commercial success it has today; in fact, Jobs had been booted out of Apple by his board of directors, and the company was in trouble. Nonetheless, we loved the Macintosh computer and had used it, literally, to create City Year\u2014from our logo, to every proposal for support, to our database of applicants looking to join the City Year corps. To young social entrepreneurs, the Apple brand and the vision of Steve Jobs to \"make a dent in the universe\" was immensely appealing.\n\nApple, as its advertisements trumpeted, thought differently. While our parents worked in offices powered by huge IBM mainframe computers, we were the first generation to create and share ideas on personal computers. Apple stood for creativity and innovation and the little guy. Its design was intuitive, with dropdown menus and point-and-click visual icons instead of the slashes and dashes of computer code. It married the power of computers with the beauty of design and put control in the hands of average citizens, not experts and specialists. But while we thought of Apple as inventing personal computing, the truth is that for most of the 1980s and '90s\u2014as personal computers became ubiquitous\u2014Apple's market share was generally stuck in the mid to low single digits. IBM evolved, and it sold more personal computers than did Apple; so did Hewlett-Packard. And there were Compaq and Dell and Atari and a whole host of companies\u2014old and new\u2014that for most of those years held about 95 percent of the personal computer market, while Apple captured about 5 percent. What Apple and Steve Jobs did do\u2014and this is what fascinated us at City Year and fascinated me and my team as we developed Citizen Schools a few years later\u2014is change the vector of an entire industry. IBM, as iconic a mainstream company as there has ever been, adapted to the new standard that Apple had set. Hewlett-Packard adapted too. Microsoft changed its operating system to become more intuitive and personal, taking a page from Apple's playbook. An entire industry improved, and Apple led the way.\n\nAs we looked in 2008 to recalibrate our strategy at Citizen Schools and to build from the ELT breakthrough at the Edwards, we too wanted to change the vector of an industry. We wanted to change the vector of K\u201312 education, everything from its agrarian-era schedule to its industrial-era delivery system. When I wrote the Citizen Schools concept paper in my basement office in the summer of 1994, I sketched a business plan to create just six programs in Boston, but my hope was to catalyze a paradigm shift and to mobilize citizen teachers by the millions\u2014the \"sleeping giant of education reform\"\u2014and to get school districts and communities to think differently about the length of the learning day.\n\nNow in the Edwards ELT model we had a proof point that wasn't just a cool after-school program for select students but a full-school turnaround that offered a new vision for how schools could operate in the twenty-first century. We had an opening to argue for a whole new day for learning: a day with more time, more caring adults, more support for teachers, and more chances for students to be successful and to be creators of things, not just consumers. The question facing us was _how_ to grow and _how_ to change the vector of education. Should _scale_ be our focus, with success measured by how quickly we could grow the Citizen Schools footprint? Or should we focus instead on _spread,_ helping to create the conditions for our ideas to disseminate by influencing public policy and by sharing best practices at conferences and trainings and through the Internet?\n\nThis same conversation about scale and spread was happening at every other entrepreneurial social service organization I knew, and we were all talking with each other. Leaders at City Year and JumpStart, and Year-Up, and Teach For America, and others were wrestling with the same issue of how to grow our ideas, our brands, and, ultimately, our impact. We had all seen technology firms like Google and Amazon go from startup to market dominance within a decade, but our world of direct-service nonprofits with human-powered delivery systems wasn't scaling that fast. Not even close. Barry Harrington, an advisor with the consulting company Bain, had told me that human service businesses like Bain, or like law firms or accounting firms, generally can't maintain growth rates faster than 20 percent per year once they have gone through their initial startup period. While you might exceed 20 percent some years, Harrington said, the human challenges around hiring, training, and integrating talent\u2014all while maintaining or hopefully improving quality\u2014are too great to exceed it consistently.\n\nIf Harrington was right\u2014and even 20 percent growth is wildly higher than typical in the nonprofit sector\u2014we had a long way to go before our scale would be significant relative to the challenge we were addressing. In the 2008\u20139 school year, Citizen Schools was serving twenty-five hundred students. There are about twelve million middle school students in America, about four million of them in schools that are majority low-income, which are our target. At a growth rate of 20 percent per year it would take us a quarter-century to get to a point where we were reaching just 5 percent of the students in our target group. If we wanted to really change the vector of education, wouldn't we need to spread our ideas through policy work and through other organizations, and not just scale them directly as Citizen Schools?\n\nIn February of 2005 one hundred leading social entrepreneurs gathered at the Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York. New Profit Inc., the venture philanthropy group, convened the meeting. Our goal was to think about how our community of social entrepreneurs and a few of our leading champions could collectively do more to address the urgent challenges of the day. I was commissioned to write a paper for the group, which I titled \"Realizing the American Dream: Historical Scorecard, Current Challenges, Future Opportunities _._ \" In the paper I made the case that after two centuries of steady progress in reducing poverty and increasing opportunity, America\u2014including those of us gathering at Mohonk\u2014had just witnessed the first generation in American history in which opportunity had declined. Poverty had gone up and high school graduation rates went down. Paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King, I described our recent pursuit of opportunity in America: \"Rather than rolling down like a mighty stream, justice trickled forward.\"\n\nThe solution I urged us all to consider was a three-part strategy for social change: organizational reform, meaning efforts to grow promising organizations like Citizen Schools; political reform, such as efforts to change laws and policies to encourage broader adoption of best practices; and cultural reform, by which I meant initiatives to change beliefs and behavior among citizens, such as the designated-driver campaign in the 1980s that helped to reduce drunk-driving deaths by one-third.\n\nDavid Gergen, the CNN commentator and senior advisor to four presidents, also spoke to the group at Mohonk. In a memorable after-dinner talk that didn't start until almost midnight, Gergen told us that social entrepreneurs were doing the most exciting work for the country since the civil rights movement. But he warned us that sometimes we looked like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dike, trying to prop up a crumbling infrastructure rather than leading efforts to replace it with a different and better structure, a systemic change. Gergen urged us to think beyond creating independent charter schools and after-school programs and college-access programs and to work more with government. \"You need to transform islands of excellence into systemic reform,\" he told us.\n\nThere were two stories that we discussed that spoke to Gergen's challenge and examined the possibilities of big change through the scale and spread of effective interventions.\n\nThe first story is about Head Start. It begins in the small Michigan community of Ypsilanti, where in 1962 a local school administrator named David Weikart created the Perry Preschool Project. Perry enrolled the poorest children in the community and gave them access to caring adults who read to them and provided all kinds of enriching learning experiences to get them ready for first grade. The program was intended to lift student IQ, something thought impossible at the time, and was connected to an ambitious research effort. Directors of the project received 123 applications, and they randomly selected fifty-eight children to be in the treatment group. These children would enroll in the program. The other sixty-five applicants were assigned to the control group, meaning they would not be able to access the program but would agree to share data on their lives with researchers.\n\nThe evaluation of Perry Preschool caught the attention of policymakers far and wide. An initial study conducted two years after the program began showed student IQ for participants growing by an average of fifteen points, and other school-readiness measures rising sharply as well. Later studies showed that the IQ gains washed out over time but that other gains were deep and long lasting. Perry Preschool students earned significantly higher grades in school, and 71 percent of them graduated on time from high school, compared to just 54 percent in the control group. As the Perry kids grew up, the benefits of the positive preschool experiences kept compounding. By the time the graduates were twenty-seven years old, they were almost three times as likely to own their own homes as students in the control group and half as likely to receive public assistance.\n\nAmong the people captivated by the project and the early research was Edward Zigler, a professor of child psychology at Yale University. President Lyndon Johnson had asked Zigler to develop a strategy for early-childhood education as part of Johnson's War on Poverty. With Perry as an important inspiration, Zigler and his colleagues created Head Start, one of the most ambitious social programs of the last fifty years.\n\nIn many ways the Perry Preschool Project and its influence on Head Start is a social entrepreneur's dream. It's what David Gergen was calling for as a better alternative to the little Dutch boy sticking his finger in the dike. A new program in Ypsilanti, Michigan, offered a vision of what was possible and evidence it could work: a proof point. Key opinion leaders learned of it and proposed policy based on its success. The president of the United States and his team supported it enthusiastically. A new law was passed to provide funding and spread the idea. The program then attracted bipartisan support and funding grew, through Democratic and Republican administrations, from a few million dollars in 1965 to $8 billion today. Head Start now serves one million three- and four-year-old children, which is roughly half of all the children living in poverty in that age group in the entire country!\n\nThe problem with this seemingly dreamy story is that while many studies of Head Start point to modest benefits of the program, such as slightly better health outcomes for participants and modest academic gains in elementary school, most studies also show that the gains eliminate only a small fraction of the achievement gap and washed out over time. Everyone agrees that great early-childhood programs\u2014programs like Perry and like the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina\u2014make a big and lasting difference for children. But the difference made by average Head Start programs is much more modest, and in the view of skeptics is negligible over time.\n\nThe moral of the story is that spreading high-quality programs by government adoption is difficult. One reason is that small proof-point programs tend to be relatively expensive. There are no economies of scale, and the founders are biased toward investing whatever is needed to produce results. But when Congress or school districts look to scale up a demonstration, they face pressure to reduce costs. Scaling to more schools, or more congressional districts, sometimes becomes the most important metric, with program impact taking a back seat. This happened with Head Start, and when the program grew from Ypsilanti to the rest of the country, it got watered down. The original program had a 1:5 teacher-to-student ratio, which is similar to the ratio of preschool programs in upper-income communities. But to get the program to more communities at what was deemed a reasonable cost, Congress funded Head Start at a 1:10 ratio.\n\nMore fundamentally, the Head Start case illustrates the challenge of spreading ideas that will be implemented locally by very different organizations. It's important to understand that the federal government doesn't actually run Head Start, just as it doesn't run most social programs. Instead the government holds a competition and makes grants to thousands of local nonprofits that run the programs. Some of those nonprofits\u2014just like some local schools and some local hospitals and some local after-school programs\u2014are really good. They excel at hiring people and occasionally firing people and training and managing people. But other nonprofits that operate Head Start programs are not so effective at hiring and firing and training people, and children who attend those programs lose out. When we try to spread ideas, like those proven so effective in Ypsilanti, Michigan, we need to think not only about the programmatic models we want to replicate, but also about how we can replicate and grow effective _organizations_ that will bring the model to life and fulfill its promise. Even a great idea will founder without a strong organization to implement it.\n\nThe Head Start story as I've told it feeds distrust in government. When I tell this story to conservative friends, they nod their heads and talk about the challenges of getting entangled with government. But there are promising new efforts to improve Head Start's delivery system and an exciting push across the federal government to establish new criteria in funding competitions to steer more money to organizations with proven and promising track records. And there is another story that needs to be considered: the story of Habitat for Humanity.\n\nHabitat is an amazing organization that serves as the poster child for scale in the nonprofit arena. While particular companies often scale quickly in business, and nine of the thirty largest companies in America, including Apple and Amazon and Google, were started in the last forty years, change in the nonprofit sector is much slower. When I wrote the American Dream paper in 2005, of the thirty largest nonprofit organizations in the United States, only one had been started in the last forty years, and that was Habitat.\n\nHabitat was founded in 1976 by Millard Fuller, a lanky Southern businessman and a member of the Disciples of Christ, a large evangelical church. Habitat has a mission of increasing home ownership among the poor and eliminating substandard housing. Its model is to recruit volunteers to team up with low-income families to build new homes or renovate existing ones that the low-income family can then move into as owners. Habitat's model is a twentieth-century barn raising, and with the help of Fuller's church, it took off. In 1982 former president Jimmy Carter volunteered with Habitat and gave its work credibility and stature, accelerating its growth.\n\nHabitat grew through a franchise model, empowering local leaders to build their own Habitat organizations, but following best practices shared by the national office and benefiting from national marketing efforts and partnerships with major companies, which donated materials and encouraged their employees to get involved. In 2013 the organization built its six hundred thousandth house, and there are now more than three million people around the world living in Habitat homes. All this was accomplished with minimal help from the government (though Habitat is a recipient of AmeriCorps funds and deploys AmeriCorps members to advance its work) and with a maximum of old-fashioned community compassion.\n\nHabitat is a great nonprofit success story and its mission and methods offer valuable lessons for social entrepreneurs. But the problem with the story is that while Habitat was scaling like gangbusters, the percentage of low-income Americans who own their own homes actually went down. Habitat scaled rapidly and cost-effectively, but the policy climate and the business climate changed, and Habitat ended up further from achieving its mission than when it got started.\n\nMy point is not to criticize Habitat or Head Start but to acknowledge that really big change\u2014truly systemic change\u2014needs to come both from the scaling of particularly effective organizations _and_ from spreading the best ideas through policy and cultural change work.\n\nThe election of President Barack Obama in 2008 had all the markings of a sea-change event not just for American politics writ large, but specifically for the nonprofit sector and for the growing community of people within it who identify themselves as social entrepreneurs.\n\nBy 2008 social entrepreneurship was a hot topic around the world. Every spring since 2004, thousands of social entrepreneurs and members of their supporting ecosystem have journeyed to Oxford University for the field's top gathering, the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship\u2014sponsored by eBay cofounder Jeff Skoll. The forum, which I've attended every year since 2005 when I was awarded a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, features keynotes by the likes of Bishop Desmond Tutu, Vice President Al Gore, and President Jimmy Carter, as well as by celebrated social entrepreneurs who have used innovative strategies to bring clean water, health care, electrical power, and books to the most remote regions of the world. Social entrepreneurship is hot in the United States too, with social enterprise clubs becoming the most popular and fastest-growing student groups at Harvard and Stanford Business Schools in the early 2000s.\n\nObama's election held great promise for social entrepreneurs for at least three reasons. First, as the nation's first black president, elected just two generations after the milestone events of the civil rights movement, Obama's election sent a message that big change is possible. If an African American could be elected president, maybe other dreams deferred could come true too. Second, in many ways Obama and his wife, Michelle, were social entrepreneurs themselves. Obama had been, famously, a community organizer on Chicago's South Side trying to establish innovative job training and after-school education programs. Later Obama served on the Chicago advisory board for Public Allies, a pioneering AmeriCorps program, and an innovator in deploying skilled mobilizers into the nonprofit community. Michelle Obama served as Chicago executive director for Public Allies in the early 1990s\u2014the same years I served as Boston executive director for City Year. Finally, the policies Obama spoke about in the campaign were policies that resonated within our community of social entrepreneurs and in some cases policies we had actively promoted during the campaign.\n\nIn his first inauguration, speaking at a time of rising economic crisis, Obama called on the country to move beyond a debate over the size of government to a discussion of how government can help us accomplish our public purposes most effectively. \"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works\u2014whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes,\" Obama stated, \"we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end.\"\n\nWithin one hundred days of taking office, Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which passed the House and Senate with substantial bipartisan majorities. The Serve America bill aimed to triple the size of AmeriCorps to 250,000 members and put a special focus on education, an emphasis inspired in part by the teaching fellows bill Kennedy had sponsored and announced at the Edwards School almost two years earlier. The Serve America Act also created a new Social Innovation Fund in which the federal government would partner with private philanthropy to scale up proven and promising solutions and programs. When the White House put out its press release explaining the initiative, Citizen Schools was one of four examples given of the types of organizations the program was designed to expand.\n\nThe Obama administration also teamed up with private funders to initiate a series of competitions to crowdsource creative solutions to persistent public problems. The Department of Energy, for instance, offered prize money to anyone who could make solar energy cheaper than coal, and the EPA offered funds to groups that could develop technologies to clean up oil spills faster and more completely. Both efforts stimulated new technologies that dramatically improved on the status quo and generated additional billions in private research and development spending. Robert Gordon, a friend to many in the social enterprise world, was named associate director of the Office of Management and Budget and pushed efforts to \"fund what works,\" trying to put more federal money behind programs and organizations with the strongest record of impact.\n\nOf all Obama's new approaches to activist and results-focused government, the boldest and most controversial was his Race to the Top initiative and a companion measure, the Investing in Innovation (i3) program, run by the Department of Education.\n\nRace to the Top was a $4.35 billion initiative funded by the 2009 emergency stimulus bill that allowed Obama and his secretary of education, Arne Duncan, to drive systemic change in education. Federal funds account for only about 10 percent of all that's spent on public schools (with the rest coming from state and local sources), and most of the federal funds are allocated to states and districts by formula to support low-income students, teacher training, education for disabled students, and a few other specific programs. Historically, federal money added to the school-funding pot but didn't do much to stir it. With Race to the Top, that was about to change. Using the $4.35 billion in stimulus money as leverage, Duncan told states and districts they could win a share of the money if they developed a bold vision to improve student learning, including adopting policies the administration favored, such as allowing more charter schools and evaluating teachers based at least in part on student test scores.\n\nI don't agree with all of the policy priorities Race to the Top emphasized (for example, \"merit pay\" for individual teachers based primarily on test scores seems like a bad idea, and certainly an unproven one), but as a strategy for driving change at the local level, Race to the Top was unbelievably successful. To date, through three rounds of Race to the Top competitions, nineteen states and sixteen school districts have won more than $4.5 billion in awards. Even many states and districts that did not win the contest for federal funds made major changes in their policies, such as allowing more charter schools and adopting more rigorous teacher-evaluation systems.\n\nCitizen Schools benefited from Race to the Top in a few states. For instance, North Carolina made a particular push in its successful application to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and some of these funds ended up supporting our work in Durham. And Massachusetts created a \"preferred partner program\" as a centerpiece of its winning application and then used the money to support a small set of organizations, including Citizen Schools, with strong track records of lifting student achievement.\n\nBut for Citizen Schools, as with most nonprofits, Race to the Top was small money. The big opportunity for us was the i3 competition, which was designed to help school districts and outside partners scale promising and proven programs. Throughout 2009 and early 2010 we waited impatiently as finishing touches were put on the competition design.\n\nThe basic idea for i3 was to create a tiered funding opportunity where the more evidence of impact you had, the more funding you could qualify to win. There were several categories within the competition, with one focused on teacher training and preparation, for instance, and another focused on turnaround of the lowest-performing schools. Applicants with the strongest evidence of success, usually multiple rigorous external evaluations, could apply for up to $50 million. Initiatives with shorter track records but still a strong evidence base could apply for up to $30 million, and more experimental efforts but with promising strategies and a commitment to track outcomes could qualify for up to $5 million. The whole initiative was funded with $650 million in stimulus money and an expectation that only fifty or fewer grants would be made across the entire country. In addition to scaling aggressively during the initial five-year grant period, applicants were required to sketch plans to eventually spread their innovations to hundreds of thousands or even millions of students.\n\nCitizen Schools decided to apply for $25 million to scale the ELT school-turnaround work we had begun at the Edwards to twenty-five schools across ten school districts. For three months this became a principal focus for me and several other senior staff. We forged partnerships with ten school districts, from New York to Oakland, and from rural Henderson, North Carolina, to the Apache community of Mescalero, New Mexico. We convinced Bain to commit $3.5 million of in-kind consulting support to help craft our strategy. WGBH, which in partnership with PBS runs an educational website that reaches 77 percent of all the schools in America, agreed to build a curriculum and training repository that could help us share best practices across schools and to spread the ELT idea broadly after the initial direct replication. The competition provided us with a unique opportunity to push the scale and spread of our idea, and provided me with a powerful lever to drive change within Citizen Schools. With the Edwards we had piloted ELT. Now we would bet the farm on it. While we would still run some optional after-school programs, our entire focus and all new programs would now be ELT. Adopting this strategy would mean that again we'd need to raise our game in order to be an effective partner to school districts in helping turn around some of their lowest-performing schools.\n\nI knew we were competing with the nation's top school districts, school-reform nonprofits, and research universities, and I also knew that only a few of many excellent applicants would win. Despite all those caveats, my competitive juices were flowing and I had high hopes we would be selected.\n\nIt turned out that the i3 winners were revealed prematurely in an e-mail unintentionally released by the Department of Education on August 4, 2010. I was at a Red Sox game that night, enjoying an evening out in the Bank of America skybox with Kerry Sullivan, the head of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, and Lynn Wiatrowski, a bank executive we were recruiting to the Citizen Schools board. There were a few other nonprofit leaders there as well, including Michael Brown, now the CEO of City Year. Near the end of the game, people started to buzz about the i3 news. Michael stepped outside to call his team. I checked my e-mail and saw that the list of i3 winners had been sent. There were sixteen winners at our level of funding, but Citizen Schools was nowhere on the list. Teach For America and KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) had won the big $50 million awards. And City Year, which had teamed up with Johns Hopkins and Communities in Schools on a $30 million school-turnaround proposal, had been selected for funding. We had scored in the top 4 percent of all proposals submitted but not quite high enough to win.\n\nI was devastated and deflated. The baseball game was not close and the group was starting to break up, so I excused myself and headed outside into the August night. I began to walk home, about a half-hour journey and one I completed with as deep a feeling of melancholy as I had experienced in a long time.\n\nWhen I got home I e-mailed our staff and partners, putting the most positive spin I could on the announcement. \"Although the news is disappointing,\" I wrote, \"I am extremely proud of the Citizen Schools staff and partners today and know that we have a lot to be excited about moving forward. The i3 fund was intended to spark innovation and partnership not only among those who receive funding, but among all working in education. For Citizen Schools, it did just that. Together, in partnership with fifteen partners, we've developed a tremendous plan for helping schools innovate and expand the learning day for students.\" I went on to share that missing out on the grant would not change our budget for the upcoming year (we had hoped for the money but not counted on it) and recounted the ways in which the application process had sharpened our thinking and our strategy and built our partnerships with districts and others.\n\nThe next day I went into the office early and looked up our scores, which were posted online. Ratings on the strength of our evidence of impact had been perfect\u201415 out of 15 from both the evaluation experts brought in to assess that part of the application. Of the three judges who had rated our application for clarity of vision, power of design, and strength of implementation and sustainability, two judges had given us almost perfect scores and the third had given us solid scores but ones just low enough to pull us below the top tier. I joked about \"the Russian judge\" and tried to rally the troops around a vision of still implementing our i3 plan, but without the money from the Department of Education.\n\nAs I write this, it is now almost three years from that frustrating night at Fenway Park. In fact we did move forward with the i3 plan, even without the $25 million. We have grown from just two ELT schools when we wrote our i3 application in the spring of 2010 to twenty-four schools for the 2013\u201314 school year, with plans to reach twenty-six to twenty-eight in 2014\u201315. We are on target with the growth schedule we proposed in i3. In our proposal we asked school districts to provide $600 per student, with the rest of our costs coming from the i3 grant and private support. Now districts are providing an average of $1,200 per student, drawing from a variety of funding sources, including school-turnaround dollars, Title I funds, and, in Boston's case, a smaller i3 award that the district won in 2011 to replicate the Edwards ELT model. In 2012 Citizen Schools won a smaller i3 grant to scale our apprenticeships in STEM education, and private funders have done more too. Even though we didn't initially win, the i3 competition, while bruising, did catapult us forward.\n\nLegendary business consultant Peter Drucker described entrepreneurship as the rearranging of existing resources to higher and better uses. Since that first journalism class in 1994, I had hoped that Citizen Schools could make even a small contribution to rearranging how American schools and communities use the resource of time by putting afternoons and summers to better use, and I hoped we could help rearrange the use of our public school buildings, activating these public spaces\u2014an estimated $2 trillion resource\u2014to engage children beyond the regular school day. But the really big resource we have always hoped to rearrange is the talent and time of average citizens. If we can get architects and engineers and lawyers to carve out a few hours a week in which they get out from behind their desks and into American schools\u2014and also offer more Americans the chance to devote a year or two as full-time AmeriCorps members at the start or end of their careers\u2014we will move America forward and restore public schools to their historic role as engines of opportunity.\n\nThe next section of the book further explores five drivers of the growing opportunity divide that separates wealthier and poorer children. As mentioned in the introduction, too much of our national dialogue about education is focused on two convenient bogeymen: poverty (even though there are plentiful examples of poor students learning and achieving at high levels when given high expectations and support) and teachers and teacher unions (even though only 20 percent to 30 percent of the rich-poor achievement gap is explained by differences in school quality).\n\nIn my view, we can give low-income children a fair chance of competing with upper-income children (from around the world as well as across town), but to do so we need to focus on the following five building blocks of childhood success:\n\n1. More mentorship by caring and professionally successful adults\n\n2. A longer learning day, allowing more time to master the academic basics and chances to participate in sports, art, and music as part of a well-rounded education\n\n3. More chances to practice creativity and innovation\u2014critical skills in the modern economy\n\n4. More chances to build the social networks and social skills that help drive professional and life success\n\n5. Better support of full-time teachers and parents, the primary caregivers for lower- and moderate-income children.\n\nThe five chapters of section 2 each explore one of these success drivers in depth, sharing surprising research as well as illustrative stories from Citizen Schools and other programs.\n\n# SECTION TWO\n\n# HOW CITIZEN POWER AND AN EXPANDED LEARNING DAY CAN NARROW ACHIEVEMENT GAPS, BROADEN OPPORTUNITY, AND STRENGTHEN AMERICA\n\n# VOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n# JOYCE KING THOMAS, VOLUNTEER\n\nThe secret sauce of Citizen Schools is the volunteer\u2014the caring and talented adults, from all walks of life, who teach apprenticeships that our middle school students choose. Volunteer citizen teachers are part of a proud American tradition of citizen power that has strengthened the country since its founding, and that will be discussed in this section of the book. Here is the story of one of our volunteers, Joyce King Thomas, in her words.\n\n_I never learned how to say no to my oldest son. He always won our biggest debates._\n\n_At eleven, he came out on top in our knock-down, drag-out fight over listening to R-rated rap lyrics. (He needed to experience the Beastie Boys uncensored; it was part of a Brooklyn boyhood, he effectively argued.) He used his relentless charm to persuade us to make room for a parakeet, a second parakeet, a turtle, three lizards, a two-foot-long live-cricket-eating Komodo dragon, and, finally, a dog._\n\n_Lest I sound like a wimp and Aidan sound like a monster, you should know that I was the chief creative officer of a huge New York ad agency, and my son is a Colgate University graduate aiming for a master's in education at the Bank Street school._\n\n_Years of honing his skills at getting me to do things I had no intention of doing culminated when Aidan asked me if my company and I would volunteer for Citizen Schools, the organization he worked for. No, I didn't stand a chance._\n\n_The mission of Citizen Schools is to provide middle school kids in disadvantaged areas with an educational after-school experience. What makes the program unique is its twelve-week \"apprenticeships.\" Citizen Schools recruits companies like Google, the Food Network, and AOL to teach apprenticeships that give the kids hands-on experience in fields they might not otherwise be exposed to. Each apprenticeship culminates in something called a WOW!, where the kids literally wow their parents, teachers, and friends with what they've accomplished in those twelve weeks. While all the school reformers are debating what should happen in the six or seven hours kids are in school, Citizen Schools is busy filling up those three lonely after-school hours; the hours kids fill with either random TV watching or potentially dangerous hanging out._\n\n_As I mentioned, when Aidan made his pitch, I was the creative director of a gargantuan New York ad agency. We were in the middle of one of the most challenging economies in history. Clients' businesses were hurting, which meant we were hurting. Teaching a two-hour class in Harlem every Wednesday for twelve weeks, and investing hours in prepping for those classes, wasn't really a smart career move. But it turned out to be one of the smartest life moves I ever made._\n\n_For our apprenticeship, my team of volunteers divided the class into three \"mini agencies,\" gave them an assignment, and let them develop a strategy, brainstorm ideas, present their ideas, and, finally, film and edit a real commercial._\n\n_We even recruited the Ad Council, which creates advertising for important national issues\u2014like Smokey Bear's \"Only YOU can prevent forest fires\"\u2014to join us. The kids would present their ideas to the Ad Council, who would pick the ones to film._\n\n_So what could the kids make ads about? In the past, the Ad Council and our agency had created communications to help fight childhood obesity. Who better to create ads to convince young people to eat healthier and exercise more than a bunch of middle schoolers?_\n\n_Our homework was done. And we were off._\n\n_Day one we showed up at Isaac Newton Middle School on 116th Street in Manhattan, a big, classic old school with wide hallways._\n\n_I'd passed it a million times driving down the FDR, but never imagined I'd be teaching there with the most impressive team I could draft from our agency: Vann, an African American creative director who won a Purple Heart in Iraq; Craig, a dad\/creative director with a real knack for working with kids; Sallie, our indefatigable head of creative human resources; an energetic admin named Kim, who kept us focused and made sure we had it together each week; and me. Over the course of the program, we also wrangled a young editor, two junior producers, and an assortment of other agency personnel to join our naively overambitious mission of producing three commercials. It took a village. And then some._\n\n_The first class wasn't easy. Okay, none of the classes were easy. But armed with techniques we learned in the Citizen Schools training program (like, \"If you hear my voice, clap your hands twice\") we muddled through. The kids loved looking at commercials and explaining what the strategy of each piece of communication was. Aidan worked with us to create the right bite-size curriculum and helped us control the class, since we were middle school neophytes._\n\n_The kids were so quick and bright that the team leaders fell in love. My team included Hakeem, a brilliant kid with a truancy problem that had him skipping school thirty-five days one semester. The amazing thing was he didn't skip one single day of the apprenticeship. I was also lucky enough to work with Aaron, a mosquito of a kid who buzzed around keeping everyone laughing; Miguel, a charming boy whose quiet demeanor belied his quick mind; Dontea, a bright girl who seemed to have some serious personal issues; Aaron, a born actor and close friend of Hakeem's; and Michael, a talented artist who needed a lot of reassurance about how good he was._\n\n_The kids brainstormed ideas to convince their peers to eat healthier and exercise more. Then, they came up with a winner: a talking apple that would literally hit someone over the head with the point that they needed to eat more fruit. We scouted for locations within walking distance and picked a spot just east of the FDR Drive. The kids made most of the decisions, from shooting to editing._\n\n_A hundred or so people attended the WOW!, where we screened the behind-the-scenes film and the three commercials (available on YouTube: see ADLab Citizen Schools), including the school's principal and assistant principal, parents, Citizen Schools staff, and an assorted group from the agency. I stood in front and watched the crowd watch the kids present their work. It was a beautiful sight._\n\n_Around that time, I decided it was time for me to leave my company and explore some other possibilities, including helping in the education arena. I'm working with Citizen Schools to encourage other agencies to step up and teach. Sixth and seventh graders can learn so much from the process of creating communications. They learn it's possible to have a good career being creative. They learn that creating requires order and discipline. They learn that they can do it._\n\n_And I learned how important it is to listen to your children._\n\n# CHAPTER EIGHT\n\n# CITIZEN POWER AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING\n\nWhile countless education reformers have suggested we improve schools by recruiting and training more effective teachers, developing better tests, and adopting stronger curricula\u2014all within the confines of a traditional six- to seven-hour school day\u2014what if the holy grail of educational advancement lies outside this box? What if closing opportunity and achievement gaps requires an entirely new approach to our schools, including their hours of operation, the ways they define success, and the talent pool they draw upon in pursuing their goals? I think it does.\n\nBetter full-time teachers and better tests and better curriculum are all important things, and we should pursue them actively. But providing equal educational opportunity to all children will require us to address the root causes of our growing educational inequality: \u00adunequal access to extra learning time to master the academic basics, unequal access to enrichment and opportunities to practice innovation and problem solving, unequal access to social networks, and unequal access to well-supported parents and teachers. The only realistic way to equalize access to these essential assets is to mobilize America's greatest resource: citizen power.\n\nCitizen power lies at the heart of the American experience. From the citizen soldiers who fought for independence to the citizen activists who fought for civil rights, America has met its biggest challenges when its citizens have gotten directly involved. Citizen power built the settlement houses of the early twentieth century that welcomed and trained new immigrants and helped make America the world's first majority-middle-class nation. And citizen power drove the civil rights movement, which, while incomplete, has in the last two generations increased African American college completion from just over 1 percent to 20 percent and reduced poverty among African Americans from 55 percent to 27 percent.\n\nThe distinctively American impulse to join together with neighbors and make things better is what French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville chronicled in his 1835 classic, _Democracy in America._ Tocqueville noted that unlike citizens in his native France or other European democracies, when Americans faced challenges they banded together in associations of mutual self-help. He wrote of Americans on the frontier and in larger cities coming together to create libraries to share knowledge, firehouses to promote safety, granges to promote farming, Sunday schools to teach religion and reading, and social clubs to promote quality of life. Tocque\u00adville called Americans a \"nation of joiners\" and, without using the term, described social capital as a unique facet of American life. Tocqueville has been in the news recently as evidence mounts that social capital in America is now in decline (see chapter 11).\n\nYou may think of citizen power as political, concerning sit-ins, marches in major cities, and calls to Congress. Citizen power does include these things. But citizen power can also be exerted through direct action. It's the families along the Underground Railroad who sheltered fugitive slaves seeking freedom in the North. It's progressives like Jane Addams starting Hull House in Chicago and hundreds of her peers devoting a few hours each week to tutor new immigrants there. And citizen power is college volunteers on their summer vacations heading to Mississippi to teach former sharecroppers to read and register them to vote. On the American frontier in the early nineteenth century, before public schools were established, citizen power was the volunteer Sunday school teacher who taught children to read so they could study the Bible and also conduct basic commerce and follow the events of the day. Citizen power has always been able to get big things done in America. Amazing as it may seem today, it is likely true that for three generations after the formation of a government by the newly independent United States, more Americans were taught to read by volunteers, usually in Sunday school, than by paid public school teachers.\n\nCitizen power is not naive optimism. It works, and it _is_ working in communities across America. Citizen power today looks like the National Academies Foundation (NAF) high school initiative, which uses corporate volunteers from more than twenty-five hundred companies as the backbone of a model that serves more than sixty thousand students across thirty-nine states. Business experts from the industries of finance, hospitality and tourism, information technology, and health sciences volunteer in NAF classrooms and engage NAF students through paid internships at their companies. Most NAF students are low-income, but they graduate high school on time at higher rates than middle-class kids. And according to a rigorous external evaluation, 52 percent of NAF graduates earn a bachelor's degree in four years, compared to 32 percent of all students nationally and just 8 percent of low-income students.\n\nCitizen power helps fuel the Met School of Providence, Rhode Island, and High Tech High of San Diego, networks of schools whose students are asked to identify their passions and then meld them into internships and substantive projects that serve real-world purposes. The schools rely heavily on community participation by volunteers for the rich, real-world learning opportunities their students enjoy. One of the core design principles of High Tech High is \"Adult World Connections,\" and all students complete substantial internships where they have the opportunity to learn from and work with real-world experts. Students create projects for an authentic audience and have the opportunity to present their work in a professional setting. The assumptions behind High Tech High and the Met's school-to-work strategies mirror those behind Citizen Schools' WOW! events. Long-term student interest can be driven by providing students the opportunity to be successful with successful adults. Both schools deliver strong results with high graduation rates and more than 90 percent of the primarily low-income students going on to college.\n\nCitizen power can also look like FIRST, prolific inventor Dean Kamen's effort to mobilize engineers to work with high school students to build robots and then enter them in regional contests that have the feel of March Madness basketball games, complete with well-coached teams and screaming fans. Or like iMentor, which connects college-educated mentors with thousands of high school students through virtual and in-person mentoring, increasing graduation rates by 18 percentage points. Or like City Year, which places near-peer mentors into Elementary and High School classrooms in twenty-four cities across the country and has set as its goal reducing by half the number of students who are off-track to graduate high school on time in each of the cities where they operate. Citizen power can also shine further from the schoolhouse doors, such as in Girl Scouts, which increasingly offers badges in robotics and science in addition to babysitting and quilting, and in 4H, which reaches six million students and deploys 540,000 volunteers annually, with a majority serving in urban areas like Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and Atlanta.\n\nLike Citizen Schools, many of these citizen-power solutions are delivering compelling results, often in partnership with local schools. Our collective success does not absolve government of the responsibility to adequately fund and support a high-quality education for all children\u2014an investment that will pay dividends to our society for generations to come. But Citizen Schools and others are showing that any successful effort to improve education in America at scale will have to include a broad effort to get citizens off the sidelines and into the action as coaches, tutors, mentors, and teachers.\n\nI have seen again and again how real-world experiences and exposure to role models with real careers can be transformative for young students. I remember a Boston seventh grader named Lin-Ann, who loved the idea of being a doctor based on what she had seen on her favorite TV shows. In Citizen Schools she enrolled in a Cure Cancer apprenticeship, working with a researcher from a local cancer hospital and studying the behavior of cells when observed under a microscope. As part of the apprenticeship, Lin-Ann and her peers received white lab coats, and on school days when she had her apprenticeship, Lin-Ann would wear her lab coat all day long, from six thirty in the morning, as she prepared to board the bus to school, to five thirty at night as she headed home from her apprenticeship. She was proud, and her very identity changed, from drifting middle school student to future medical professional.\n\nAnother young student in Citizen Schools, Stephanie, took a different medically oriented course, Drugs on the Brain, which was led by Harvard University postdoctoral fellow Marcus DeLatte. Stephanie said that she was excited to be in the Drugs on the Brain class, because she was definitely planning to become a doctor. One day when Stephanie reiterated her interest in the medical profession, Marcus asked her to bring in her report card so they could discuss it and help plan her pathway to medical school. The next week Stephanie brought in her most recent report card\u2014a mix of Bs and Cs, with one D, in math. Marcus shared some feedback. \"Stephanie, I know you want to be a doctor, and I can see in our class that you have a good mind, and when you work hard you do excellent work. I know you _can_ become a doctor. But you need to know that you won't be able to become a doctor if you don't bring your grades up, particularly in math and science, to at least a solid B and eventually to an A.\" It was an essential message, but no one had ever delivered it to Stephanie before she heard it from Marcus, who had navigated his own way from inner-city New Orleans to Harvard Medical School.\n\nA third student\u2014also enrolled in Marcus's Drugs on the Brain class\u2014was Jonathan, a special-education student who was struggling in middle school. As an African American boy who was assigned to separate special-ed classes (often offered in the school's dingiest basement classrooms), Jonathan's chance of finishing high school was about 40 percent, and his chances of completing any kind of a college degree was in the low single digits. But while Jonathan's low test scores and grades and his special-education status would jump off the page to any future teacher who read his transcript, what would not be seen was his love of animals. If you spoke with Jonathan, however, you quickly learned of his passion for animals of all types. He sometimes fed stray cats and often asked after the dogs and hamsters and other pets of his friends and relatives. Once when a bat flew into the brick wall of his mother's apartment and collapsed on the ground below, Jonathan nursed it back to health in a little shoebox he hid under his bed without his mother ever knowing. Jonathan loved animals. But he knew nothing about careers in veterinary medicine. He had never made the connection between animals and biology or math. Jonathan started to make those connections through his apprenticeships at Citizen Schools and the opportunity to spend time with successful professionals like Marcus DeLatte. He had the chance to hold a human brain in his hands, to handle a boa constrictor, and to examine slices of sheep brain tissue under a microscope, recording what happens when a few droplets of alcohol are added. The experiences were transformative. When I last checked, Jonathan was a senior at a top high school in Boston, a mainstream education student getting Bs in math and science. He was hoping to go to college to study marine biology or veterinary medicine.\n\nLin-Ann, Stephanie, and Jonathan all benefited deeply from citizen power\u2014from active mentoring by volunteers who offered new perspectives and opened doors to new professions. Their mentors helped these young students see the connection between school and exciting future possibilities\u2014a link that is fundamental to successful education but often overlooked by traditional educators. For some children it is easy to imagine the pot of gold at the end of the educational rainbow\u2014the job as a doctor or lawyer or engineer\u2014and the path they need to travel to reach it. They see the pot of gold around them every day in the form of parents with good jobs and good incomes, nice houses and nice cars. Lower-income children, however, are less likely to believe that hard work today will yield tangible rewards in the future. Real-world mentors help make the pot of gold real\u2014and they help their apprentices understand the path to get there.\n\nCitizen power comprises more than just current professionals. Lester Strong and his team at Experience Corps have capitalized on a growing and undertapped citizen-power resource: older Americans. Experience Corps and similar programs like ReServe and the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program engage older adults who have retired from their \"main jobs\" but who are eager to find part-time or even full-time \"encore\" careers. Strong himself is serving in an encore career, having worked previously as a television reporter and news anchor in Boston. Joining forces with AARP, Experience Corps puts thousands of senior citizens to work as volunteers in public schools across the country. The volunteer mentors meet with children in small groups, providing individualized instruction during regular class time. Currently in nineteen cities and reaching twenty thousand students, Experience Corps is now in the process of scaling up and expanding its reach by adding more than ten thousand volunteers to their corps in hopes of serving one hundred thousand students per year by 2017.\n\nFor Strong, mentoring is personal. He grew up in South Carolina in the crucible of the civil rights years, and he tells a story now of how mentoring saved his life.\n\nI got interested in mentoring because three amazing people mentored me. When I was in third grade, my teacher told my parents that basically I was unteachable, her term was \"mentally retarded,\" and told my parents that they really shouldn't have high expectations for me academically. But fortunately for me there were three people in my community that didn't believe in that and in fact really mentored me. They were a barber, a minister, and a mother of a friend of mine. And they mentored me literally from third grade through high school. And as a result of their amazing care and attention, I graduated with honors, hundreds of scholarships, got an undergraduate degree from Davidson, went to Columbia Business School, had a wonderful career, and now I work for one of the most recognized and respected nonprofits in the country. All because those three individuals really saw something in me and believed in me. The interesting question for me is what is it that they saw? What is it that they saw that my teacher and in fact even my parents couldn't see? I think it's because they were looking through the lens of love. And for me love has three central qualities. Number one, that you want the best for a person, place, thing, or idea. Second, is that you're willing to make a sacrifice in order to achieve that best. And third, you're not asking for anything in return. There's no condition attached to it. And that certainly was the reflection back to me of these three individuals. They just totally cared about my success, and my future and my opportunity to grow.\n\nExperience Corps has advanced achievement at the schools with which it partners. Focused on improving the five components of reading, a rigorous external research study found that students with Experience Corps mentors made 60 percent more progress in critical reading skills than control group students who did not have mentors. In addition, teachers report improvements in the learning environment and overall school culture, as well as reduction in behavior problems, in schools with Experience Corps members.\n\nCEO Strong describes his volunteers as coming from a \"place of passion and wanting to leave something that is of value and is sustainable. By changing the life of one child they are influencing something that ripples out through multiple generations.\"\n\nWhile Experience Corps members are seeing real and measurable results in their schools, they are also serving themselves in the process. Senior citizens who volunteer with Experience Corps report feeling better about themselves, expanding their circle of friends, becoming more physically active, and seeing improvements in their health, strength, and cognitive abilities. Members tell Strong that the reason they get out of bed in the morning is because they \"know they are going to make a difference in the life of a child that day.\"\n\nAt Citizen Schools we've also seen this deep impact on the volunteer citizen teachers with whom we work. It's no longer surprising to hear volunteers say: \"I got much more out of this than the kids did.\" But when I ask the volunteers what they gained, I realize that their statement is heartfelt and what they \"got\" is important. Sometimes volunteers gain hope that inner-city kids are not a lost cause, or they gain pride that they are engaged in helping their community address the civil rights issue of our time, or they gain networks when they team up with colleagues and other citizens from the community. Often they gain a deeper understanding of themselves, a renewed appreciation of their profession, or a rediscovery of a forgotten passion.\n\nBritton Picciolini, an advertising sales leader for Google in Chicago for eleven years and now a volunteer citizen teacher, taught photography, which had been her college major. She realized she was happier when she introduced what she called \"a philanthropic angle\" into her life. Rachel Schachter, who taught music in an inner-city Newark school, said it felt great to remind herself how much she loved music as a kid. \"Teaching [at Citizen Schools] has also let me remember how much I wanted to grow up to be a musician when I was younger, and let me realize how proud the person I was in middle school would be of the person I am now,\" said Schachter. \"Whether I continue to teach or take my career path in a whole different direction, I will always have singing and songwriting in my life, and I am incredibly glad that this apprenticeship has reminded me how important it is to me.\"\n\nAn early Citizen Schools board member, Karen Webb Campbell, told me that she became a better mother after volunteering to teach a business class in which a team of middle school students designed and sold T-shirts. Campbell said that as she got better at setting clear expectations for a team of teenagers she had never previously met, she also got better at setting expectations for her own children. Other volunteers who have team-taught with their college-age children described it as a \"do-over\" opportunity in their own parenting and a welcome chance for bonding.\n\nBob Mersereau, a retired scientist, has taught twenty courses, more than any other Citizen Schools volunteer. Some semesters he traveled between campuses in three different cities each week to offer classes in astronomy. He even continued teaching through a recent bout with cancer. In the past couple of years he has teamed up with his son Bobby, a chef, to teach pizza science. The students make pizza from scratch and learn the scientific principles involved in making pizza taste great.\n\n\"Years ago I would have classified myself as not very emotional\u2014taking a psychology test, I scored low in the 'needs affection' category,\" Mersereau wrote recently to a Citizen Schools volunteer coordinator. \"My wife calls me insensitive. But Citizen Schools has become a very emotional experience for me. Being a part of such a philosophically solid enterprise has been fulfilling to say the least. Hauling my teaching materials into the Garfield [a school in Revere, Massachusetts] and New Bedford while undergoing radiation and afflicted with double pneumonia was simply a test of how important this new 'occupation' has become for me. Not only is this 'keeping me alive' it is a real source of personal value. I am not sure if there is any other reason to get up each morning other than the sense of being of value and Citizen Schools affords that opportunity to every one of us.\n\n\"This idea you had of pairing me up with my son Bobby is more of the same,\" continued Mersereau. \"I am so proud of him for 'following in my footsteps'\u2014he has expressed himself in those terms\u2014not easy for a father and son to talk like that.\"\n\nCitizen Schools and other citizen-power programs also deliver value to early-stage professionals. Supervisors at some of America's leading companies\u2014places like Google, Fidelity, Cisco, and Cognizant\u2014report that employees who volunteer at Citizen Schools improve their skills at leading teams, at communicating expectations, and at planning multidimensional projects. A whiz-kid engineer like Alan Su (introduced in chapter 6) learns how to be a more effective manager when he leads fifteen kids of diverse academic abilities to create educational video games over ten ninety-minute sessions. Cognizant, a technology firm with a large foreign-born workforce, noted an additional benefit. Teaching an apprenticeship, says Mark Greenlaw, the firm's former vice president for Sustainability and Educational Affairs, helps Cognizant employees gain confidence in their English skills even as they help transmit confidence in technology to the middle school students they teach.\n\nRecently, Citizen Schools commissioned University of Vermont Business School professor David Jones to examine in a methodologically rigorous way the potential impact that volunteering has on citizen teachers and their companies. Jones studied more than one hundred volunteers across four companies and a control group of similar employees who did not volunteer. He concluded that volunteering at Citizen Schools delivered significant gains in employee satisfaction and loyalty to the volunteers' companies and gains in specific job skills, including communication, leading and motivating others, and providing performance feedback.\n\nThe fact that well-designed mentoring and teaching experiences can benefit adult volunteers is exciting. But the reason I am so excited about citizen power is that it represents the key to lifting up opportunity and achievement for more children.\n\nHuman beings learn best through relationships and experiences. Some children get a wealth of rich, catalyzing experiences courtesy of their parents and in their schools and neighborhoods. Other children get little access to these experiences and are poorer for it, and they stay poorer because of this disparity. The good news is that successful professionals and successful retirees and successful graduate students\u2014all potential mentors\u2014are not a scarce or limited resource. We spend trillions searching for scarce natural resources like oil. We'll need to spend far less to mobilize citizen power\u2014a plentiful and renewable resource that has the power to advance opportunity for all, strengthen our workforce, and restore the American Dream.\n\n# CHAPTER NINE\n\n# IT'S ABOUT TIME\n\nWhen Citizen Schools opened in North Carolina, I had a chance to meet former governor Jim Hunt. I knew that Hunt was a skilled political leader who had led the Democratic National Committee in the 1990s. And I knew that he was a leader among a cohort of southern governors trying to lift expectations and funding for schools to build a more educated workforce and thereby help compete for good jobs. Hunt recognized that plentiful mill jobs were gone for good and that the economic future of his state lay in the big-city banks of Charlotte and the emerging biotech and computer technology companies of the Research Triangle. I did not know that for both his terms as governor, Hunt insisted on devoting a portion of every Thursday to tutoring a student after school at a struggling Raleigh public school.\n\n\"I remember one boy I worked with,\" Hunt told me. \"And he said, 'Governor, I'm not stupid. I can do the work. But I just need a little more time to understand it.'\" Governor Hunt is a big believer in extended-day learning, because he knows that kids learn at different paces and in different ways and that for many kids, all they need is a little more time.\n\nHunt recognized that the great inequity in our education system has less to do with differences in teacher quality between the suburbs and inner-city neighborhoods of Charlotte and Raleigh and more to do with the different amount of time devoted to extra learning opportunities. Sure there are some differences in teacher quality. Better teachers often stay longer in wealthier districts, which offer better working conditions, though not better pay. We urgently need to address these differences. But differences in teacher quality are more pronounced within schools than between schools, and, as described in the introduction, school quality only explains 20 to 30 percent of the rich\u2013poor achievement gap. Hunt wondered why we maintain an education system where time for learning in school is fixed and achievement is wildly variable, instead of a system of consistently high achievement where time for learning is variable.\n\nWhen my own children were entering fourth and first grades, my wife and I decided to move from Boston to neighboring Brookline and enroll our kids in the William H. Lincoln School, a great K\u20138 public school. The house we bought was more expensive than the one we sold, just a ten-minute walk away, in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood. But more than a house, what we bought was access to a school and neighborhood that is economically diverse but weighted toward professionals, including architects, academics, doctors, lawyers, and business leaders. I see every day how upper-middle-class communities like mine powerfully organize afternoons, weekends, and summers full of formal and informal learning that propel our children past those living on the proverbial \"other side of the tracks.\" Brookline doesn't have a longer school day than Boston. But when you add up formal and informal learning, most kids in Brookline have a learning day that's almost twice as long.\n\nChildren have fundamentally unequal access to learning time, just as they have unequal access to successful mentors, two things we must change if we are to narrow our nation's huge and growing achievement gap.\n\nAs I write this, I am missing my daughter, Orla. She is eleven now, prime Citizen Schools age, and in the middle of an eighteen-day singing tour in Argentina, where she is performing seventeen concerts, riding horses, sightseeing in thirteen cities, and having the experience of a lifetime courtesy of Boston City Singers, a youth choir she joined last year. My son, Ronan, sixteen, had his own adventures this summer. In the past eight weeks he traveled with his AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) basketball team to Philadelphia, Portland, Hartford, and Orlando, where he played at the ESPN Center at Disney World, notching twenty-six points in one game. He also attended specialized basketball camps at Harvard and Yale, receiving high-level instruction and getting exposure to campus life in the Ivy League.\n\nWhen Orla and Ronan were younger, we invested in academic tutors on a few occasions, not because our kids were behind, but to prevent them from getting behind. In Ronan's case the tutor was Catholic and wore a necklace with a large cross. She told us one day that Ronan said he appreciated her wearing the large _T_ around her neck. \"If you could just start wearing the other letters, then reading would be a lot easier,\" Ronan told her. We all had a good laugh, and as parents we felt good that we had a concerned and sympathetic ally helping us raise and educate our son. When Ronan was in third grade we conducted some testing and found that he was struggling with sensory integration. We signed him up for sessions at a state-of-the-art center that effectively addressed the issue. Like most upper-income parents, we organize our lives\u2014and never-ending car pools\u2014to put opportunity in front of our children. We write checks left and right to underwrite these opportunities.\n\nThe voracious appetite for supplemental learning in wealthier suburbs has spawned a fast-growing cottage industry of tutors, enrichment programs, and specialized camps. Just in our immediate circle in Brookline, children enroll in fee-based programs that offer piano, pottery, theater, choir, dance, voice lessons, guitar, robotics, architecture, video game design, filmmaking, ballet, gymnastics, Hebrew school, Suzuki violin, Russian math, Chinese language, cooking, capoeira, sailing, rowing, rock climbing, martial arts, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Junior Achievement, all manner of team sports, and hip-hop dance. Collectively, our friends employ dozens of tutors, coaches, and counselors.\n\nDemand for extra learning is so strong in communities like Brookline that some education companies have gone beyond cottage-industry status to become big business. For instance, Kumon, a popular tutoring service in math and reading, is now the twenty-second-fastest-growing franchise business in the world, right up there with the fast-food burger chains. Kumon started in Osaka, Japan, in 1954. Toru Kumon, a high school calculus teacher, was tutoring Takeshi, his second-grade son, when he noticed the benefits of giving short, bite-size assignments in math and getting total mastery and lots of repetitions before moving to the next challenge. By sixth grade Takeshi was solving calculus sets. Toru and his wife, Teiko, opened the first Kumon Center in Moriguchi City in 1958, and today the company operates in forty-eight countries around the world, with two thousand Kumon franchisees in North America (startup costs are about $100,000) serving 340,000 students. Kaplan, Sylvan, and Princeton Review are additional giants in the supplemental education market, which is overwhelmingly aimed at middle-class and upper-middle-class communities.\n\nI love the vibrancy of Brookline's after-school learning ecosystem and would love to see it replicated in Boston, Oakland, and other big cities across the country. But until parents in Boston and Oakland have the money to pay for all that is offered in Brookline, their after-school options are going to remain significantly less dazzling. As a result, I have come to believe that while Brookline should keep its formal six-hour day, which for most kids works effectively in combination with the town's array of school-based and parent-guided extra learning opportunities, Boston and other lower-income communities need a whole new day for learning. They need an equally dazzling nine- or ten-hour public school day with more time for academics, more time for enrichment, and more time for social and emotional development\u2014all built into the publicly funded core school day. By building extra learning time right into public schools, we can transform the current patchwork of programs that help a relative handful of kids beat the odds into a system of programs that helps whole neighborhoods of children change the odds. The students mentored by Governor Hunt needed more time for learning, but so frankly do most students in high-poverty schools. They need more time with successful adults to help them build their social skills, social networks, and social capital. They need more time to create and innovate. And they need more time to master the academic basics. In middle school\u2014which Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called \"the Bermuda Triangle of American education\"\u2014the need is particularly acute, as children require more help navigating a set of challenging years when the brain is changing and developing faster than at any point except right after birth.\n\nPut yourself in the shoes of a middle school principal in any lower-income neighborhood in America and consider the challenge presented by today's typical school schedule\u2014a schedule invented for an agrarian age and too often implemented with an industrial-age sensibility. Imagine your district has assigned you six hundred sixth through eighth graders, typical for middle schools, and most of them arrive by bus, many from other neighborhoods in the city.\n\nOn the first day of sixth grade, your students arrive on average two years behind grade level. Several are so far behind that you wonder if they have been attending school at all. Ninety percent of your students live below or just above the poverty line and about half are learning English as a second language or have been identified as having a significant learning disability, or both. Roughly 10 percent of your students will turn over every semester, meaning that when you prepare for state testing in the spring and for graduation in June, about 120 students will be newcomers to your school. Now assume that your district has a traditional school day, in line with national averages, meaning that your students arrive by bus at about 8:00 a.m. and start lining up to go home at about 2:15. Once you account for lunch, a lightning-quick recess, and take time for recording attendance in the morning and transition time between classes, you have about five hours left for academics and enrichment. How will you use the time? And how might citizen power help you expand it?\n\nLet's assume you are a believer in arts and sports and music as ways for students to build teamwork skills, and to practice creativity, and as an alternative way for students to shine and build their confidence. But let's also assume that your school doesn't have much in the way of art and music and sports facilities\u2014and that you don't have time to travel off campus. You decide to provide one hour per week each of art, and music, and sports\u2014for every student. On the fourth and fifth days, you provide students with an hourlong study hall block instead of enrichment because it's easier to staff and can be scheduled in the regular classrooms, which helps with logistics. You just scheduled your first hour. You have four left.\n\nThe district has prioritized math instruction in large part because last year half of the eighth graders failed the new Common Corps\u2013aligned statewide math assessment, and only 18 percent were proficient (actual numbers from New York City in 2013). Plus, middle school math is a gateway skill for higher education and for life (more so than high school math for all but the highest-level STEM jobs). If your school is in California, you need to get your middle school students through Algebra 1 by the end of eighth grade or else they may be unable to enroll in a four-year college even if they have good grades in high school due to the state's A through G course requirements, which require starting Algebra II by ninth grade. Eighth grade seems awfully early to give up on a four-year college, so you decide to schedule a double block of math for two hours each day in hopes you can get your students ready for college-track courses in high school. The double block gives students lots of opportunities to work on math problems, but classes are still operating on a 1:28 teacher-to-student ratio, so there is little time for individualized instruction or for tutoring of particular students. Still, focusing on math seems like a smart move. But now you only have two hours left.\n\nYou would like to offer a foreign-language block, as you have heard that learning a foreign language builds brain capacity and is increasingly important in the modern global economy, but there are only two hours left in your schedule and you haven't yet gotten to English or science or social studies. You'll have to skip offering any foreign-language instruction, at least for this year. You would also love to provide a double block for English language arts (ELA), because this could allow a deep dive in both reading comprehension and writing and oral expression\u2014key skills in the modern economy. But if you schedule a double block in ELA, you will have zero time left over for any science or social studies classes, nor any time for theater or library or computer science. You decide to go with a single English class per day. Since 80 percent of the state test is focused on vocabulary and reading comprehension, with just a few short sections testing student writing skills, your teachers too will focus mostly on vocabulary and reading and just do a few writing units, mostly focused on how to write a five-paragraph essay.\n\nNow you have one hour left. You decide to split that time between social studies and science, offering each student a chance to study one of those core topics for an hour a day in the fall and then switch to the other in the spring. A new study says that reducing time for science in school actually undermines student performance in math and reading. And you worry less time on social studies will yield less engaged and informed citizens. But you have hard decisions to make and you stick with the schedule you've crafted. You certainly wouldn't want the schedule for your own child. But you feel stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place, and without more time you don't see how it's possible to provide the time needed for academics and for the well-rounded education that you know your students deserve.\n\nThese are the types of bad choices that our agrarian-era school schedule forces even the most progressive and creative school leaders to make. Without sufficient time, principals routinely choose academics _or_ enrichment; extra time for English _or_ math; social studies _or_ science. The short days work in the suburbs because the students arrive at or above grade level and their education is massively supplemented in the afternoons, on weekends, and in the summer. But for schools serving primarily lower-income students, the traditional school schedule is obsolete.\n\nNow imagine you are that same principal but that your students stay in school from 8:00 a.m. until 5:15 p.m. instead of 2:15. You are a practical person, so at first you would probably throw your hands up in despair because you don't know how in the world you can staff the extra time. Your teachers are already working full-time to run the six-hour day, so you can't just put the extra three hours on them. What will you do?\n\nHere is where Citizen Schools\u2014and citizen power more broadly\u2014as well as artful efforts to schedule teacher time more flexibly can make a longer learning day feasible, affordable, and productive. Keep in mind that while teachers typically teach students for five or fewer hours per day, most studies indicate that they work nine or ten hours per day or more. The additional time is devoted to lesson planning, reviewing and grading homework and tests, meeting individually with students and\/or parents, serving on committees, overseeing lunch or recess or student arrivals and departures, collaborating with other teachers, and reviewing interim assessments.\n\nDespite the long days, your teachers know their students need more learning time, and with the help of Citizen Schools, they want to make this work. Some teachers elect to work a different shift\u2014starting and ending their day a few hours later than normal, which can work well for teachers who need to get their own kids off to school in the morning. A few other teachers agree to add an extra hour of teaching time in exchange for a little additional pay. But the bulk of the coverage for the extra time comes from Citizen Schools. Specifically, by partnering with Citizen Schools, our principal gets an entire second shift of educators. The Citizen Schools team is led by a campus director\u2014someone who has already taught for three or four years, and who essentially serves as the school's assistant principal for ELT. The campus director will be an additional right hand for you as principal and will sit on the school's leadership team. His or her name may go on the school stationery, below your name and next to those of the assistant principal and director of instruction. Reporting up to the campus director are one or two deputies and as many as two dozen full-time AmeriCorps members\u2014all recent college graduates, most aspiring to be full-time teachers. Also included in the package are a few part-time staff and about one hundred trained citizen teachers\u2014volunteers from local industry\u2014enough so that every student in the school can take four apprenticeships over the course of the year, each offered one afternoon a week for a three-month span.\n\nCitizen Schools is not the only way to staff a longer learning day. There are promising models being developed by TASC in New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans, in which teachers cover one hour of extra learning and community partners provide an additional one to two hours of enrichment. Other organizations such as BELL, Breakthrough, City Year, College Track, Communities in Schools, and Higher Achievement are starting to move beyond offering optional after-school programs to more robust partnerships that change the structure of the school day and year. Many charter schools build into their model AmeriCorps-type fellowship positions, allowing them to staff a much longer learning day while keeping teacher workloads to manageable levels. The MATCH charter school in Boston, for instance, has Match Corps, a team of aspiring teachers who tutor six teams of two to three students every day; this is a smart strategy for expanding the day without burning out teachers. Some other charter schools have scheduled much longer days and staffed them without benefit of a second shift. When I speak with funders and leaders of these charter groups they generally concede that relying on teachers to routinely work twelve or more hours is a recipe for burnout and is not sustainable or scalable.\n\nWith a longer learning day and a second shift of talent, our principal can now take a fresh look at the schedule. Now Citizen Schools can take the lead for that second hour of math, allowing teachers more time to collaborate, or plan, or pull out individual students for extra tutoring. And now students can take both science and social studies all year long, and they can add a full two hours of enrichment every day, allowing for special classes like rocket science and slam poetry, allowing for field trips to local colleges and museums, and allowing for the relational time that adolescents need to navigate middle school.\n\nExtra time is particularly important for English-language learners, who need more chances to use English in real-world contexts, and for special-education students, who often need expert intervention from trained professionals as well as more personal attention and guidance and extra time to master academic content. But the extra time can be stressful too, adding more opportunity for conflict and challenge. Tyriq, a special-needs student enrolled in one of our Boston ELT schools, is a case in point.\n\nIn many ways Tyriq fits my favorite description of a middle schooler as having \"the full emotional range of an Italian aria, packed into the attention span of a gnat.\" Tyriq has the _capacity_ to show that full emotional range, but when our staff first encountered him in the fall of 2012, most of what we saw was anger. He spent most of his first semester in middle school getting kicked out of the classroom at all times of day for swearing, breaking things, and fighting with other students in his separate education group, the Therapeutic Learning Community (TLC). He could often be seen storming down the hallway to the time-out room, paraprofessionals hurrying behind to help calm him down and redirect his behavior so that he could reenter the classroom. Tyriq lacked the patience and emotional skills to cope with his frustration in a healthy way and he lacked the desire to do well in his classes. He ripped up tests and broke pencils to avoid performing academic tasks. His grades and scores were rock bottom.\n\nI have met a lot of kids like Tyriq over the years and, typically, school does not work out well for them. They have emotional issues, or attention issues, or organizational issues, or reading issues, or all of the above. For medical reasons\u2014and sometimes because of severe daily trauma in their lives\u2014tasks like listening to instructions, and following directions, and working in groups, and doing multistep problems are really hard. Some days they just can't do it. They are so angry they feel like their head is going to explode. It gets even harder because classmates in their special-needs clusters have similar problems, so they reinforce and add to each other's challenges. Further, they all notice that they are in the \"Therapeutic Learning Community\" or the \"Learning Adaptive Behavior\" cluster or just the \"special needs\" class, and they feel ashamed. In the cafeteria, other students call them the dumb kids or the weird kids or use \"SPED\" as an epithet and avert their gaze as they walk through. When they sign up for a sports team, which is rare, they often get kicked off the team for yelling at the coach or not following a play or for some other transgression.\n\nTyriq's school had some uncommonly good special-education teachers. But his lack of emotional control and intense struggles with executive function were on full display when he entered his Citizen Schools classroom at the end of each day last fall, the first year of mandatory ELT at the McCormack Middle School. When he was assigned to the soccer apprenticeship on Thursday afternoons, he refused to enter the classroom the first week, and the second week he entered reluctantly, unleashing a torrent of curse words. It was the same story when guests would come in to help teach the apprenticeship, such as Pat Kirby, then the executive director of Citizen Schools Massachusetts. Kirby, a college-level soccer player, remembers casually ignoring Tyriq's initial stream of foul language and encouraging him to participate, to share his knowledge of sports statistics, and to play in the scrimmage at the end of the lesson, something he had never done in any previous week.\n\nKirby arrived in the fourth week of the apprenticeship, and his presence marked the first in a series of turning points for Tyriq. According to his Citizen Schools team leader, Tyriq talked about his positive experience in soccer all week long. In a world devoid of positive male role models, Tyriq came to depend on Kirby, his new mentor. He started to open up in his soccer apprenticeship, looking forward to it each week and earning the title of \"Team MVP\" in the final WOW! Bowl Tournament. He went from literally standing on the sidelines of the game, reluctant to enter the fray, to running into the chaos and helping to score the winning goal. In the spring Tyriq rejoined the soccer apprenticeship and served as the team captain. He took his new role very seriously, rarely swearing and impressing teachers with his growing emotional maturity and his kindness to other students on the field. For someone who initially seemed unable to display any empathy, actions he now took, such as using the word \"we\" to refer to his teammates and helping people up when they fell, were big developments. Tyriq's improved behavior started to spread to his regular Citizen Schools team too and eventually to his performance in the classroom. He started to improve his grades. One day when Pat Kirby came in to visit him, Tyriq bragged about earning a perfect score on a recent math test.\n\nTyriq's only hesitation in playing on the soccer team in the spring was missing the opportunity to be in the camping apprenticeship, which was held at the same time. To build on Tyriq's momentum, however, Citizen Schools staff agreed that after the soccer apprenticeship ended he could join in the last few weeks of camping and, if his behavior kept improving, could participate in the camping WOW!\u2014an authentic overnight camping experience in the Blue Hills Reservation about ten miles outside Boston. Tyriq was initially wary of the many deprivations involved in camping, but when the camping day came he was eventually laughing and running around with new friends. He recruited others to watch the sunset over Ponkapoag Pond, which he described as \"peaceful and beautiful,\" slept through the night in his tent, and completed an eight-mile hike the next day. Tyriq told his team leader during a quiet moment on the trip that during the past year, having more time to work with people like her and Mr. Kirby \"helped me work on my behavior, and now Mr. White [the coordinator of the TLC program] wants me to do regular education classes next year.\" She asked him, \"Are you scared for next year?\" and he replied, \"No, I already have friends that are older than me,\" and he named several of the other students on the camping trip and from his sports apprenticeship teams.\n\nFor Tyriq and other students, ELT gives them time to slow down, to literally and figuratively watch the sunset and soak in some extra time with a mentor, a teacher, or an interesting assignment.\n\nELT is such a powerful idea\u2014and so full of common sense\u2014that it's worth pondering why it has not been adopted more broadly. The National Center on Time & Learning lists more than one thousand ELT schools, but that's less than 1 percent of the schools in the country, and many of these schools have added just an hour a day of extra time, which is a good start but far from sufficient.\n\nI think there are two main reasons we haven't yet adopted ELT on a more ambitious scale.\n\nThe first reason is inertia and the difficulty of shifting paradigms that govern our thinking. When I was in my twenties and working as a journalist, I took night courses in the history of science at the Harvard Extension School. One of the people I read was Thomas Kuhn, who wrote _The Structure of Scientific Revolutions._ Kuhn noted that old paradigms\u2014like the idea of the earth being flat or at the center of the universe\u2014die a slow death. For an old paradigm to fade away, Kuhn believes, it not only needs to be proven wrong but an alternative theory needs to be persistently proven right. The flat earth idea didn't become pass\u00e9 just because people realized that boats weren't falling off the edge of the earth. It took a new theory of a spherical globe that rotated on its own axis and around the sun for the old theory to truly enter the trash bin of history. In education it's a similar process, except maybe even slower. That's why we need a vision for what ELT can look like. We need to create more ELT success stories that people can learn from and be inspired by. For the old agricultural-era schedule and industrial-era delivery system to truly wither away, we need to create an alternative theory of how to organize schools, and we need to prove the theory over multiple years in multiple locations.\n\nThe second reason society isn't moving faster to ELT\u2014and I am going to say this in stark and honest terms\u2014is a deeply ingrained and thoroughly incorrect belief held by too many people that poor kids, and particularly poor black and brown kids, can't learn at high levels. This belief makes it easier to accept poor kids not getting access to opportunity. If kids like Tyriq can't learn, and their parents didn't learn\u2014this usually unstated line of reasoning goes\u2014then it is okay for society to give up on them.\n\nA great deal of expert research, however, has challenged this genetically driven talent frame and pointed to other explanations for success, whether in academia, the workforce, or in other pursuits like sports and music. The new research doesn't entirely discount the power of inherited genes to influence future outcomes, but in the age-old debate between whether nature or nurture plays a bigger role in setting our destiny, the new research gives the nod to nurture.\n\nMalcom Gladwell has become the great popularizer of this research. Gladwell, a British-born Canadian journalist who writes for the _New Yorker_ and recently had three books on the _New York Times_ best-seller list at the same time, writes in his book _Outliers_ that the two greatest factors in driving achievement are luck and the time to practice, not inherited talent. Whether you look at the Beatles in music, or Bill Gates in software design, or all-stars in hockey and other sports, notes Gladwell, great achievers generally log ten thousand or more hours of practice before they get great at what they do.\n\nAs a seventh grader, Bill Gates was lucky enough to be enrolled by his parents at Lakeside, an excellent private school in a wealthy Seattle neighborhood. The Mother's Club at the school held a fund-raiser every year to provide extra resources to the school, and in Gates's eighth-grade year, the mothers decided that in addition to supporting a summer scholarship program and a training fund for teachers, they would invest $3,000 in a state-of-the art ASR-33 Teletype computer with a direct link to a large mainframe computer in downtown Seattle. This one investment provided Lakeside students a computer-programming opportunity that went far beyond what most college students had access to at the time. Gates himself reported logging thousands of hours on the Lakeside computer. Then, in high school, he gained access to two computer centers at the University of Washington. Just as the world of coding was opening up, Gates was one of the few anywhere who actually had access to practice it.\n\n\"It was my obsession,\" Gates told Gladwell. \"I skipped athletics. I went up there at night. We were programming on weekends. It would be a rare week that we wouldn't get twenty or thirty hours in.\" With his ambition, his intelligence, and his parents' support, Gates made the most of his differential access to computer time, and by the time he was nineteen he was ready to drop out of Harvard and start Microsoft.\n\nSome of the most convincing evidence for the importance of extra learning time involves hockey players. In Canada and many other countries, January is the cutoff date for youth hockey teams. To understand what this means, imagine that it's October and you and a friend show up to play youth hockey in Manitoba. Your friend is going to turn six in December and you are just a few weeks younger and will turn six in January. Based on the age cutoff, your friend gets assigned to the six-and-under team, where he will be the youngest player and probably just a little slower and smaller than most of his teammates; you become the oldest player on the five-and-under team. Age differences of six or twelve months don't matter much once you get to high school or college. But at age five, a six-month difference is 10 percent of your life! And that 10 percent turns out to provide a real advantage.\n\nAt age five or six, the slightly older kids\u2014the kids born in January, February, and March\u2014are, on average, slightly better players. They get placed on the first line. They play twenty minutes a game rather than ten. And they are more likely to be selected for the all-star game. As the kids get a little older, the extra time and the competition against better players pays off, and the kids born in the early part of the year are now more likely to get selected for the better travel teams. That means more games, and more practices, and a bigger competitive edge. Canadian psychologist Roger Barnsley was the first to study this effect of relative age, and he found, according to Gladwell, that in any study of elite Canadian hockey players, right up to the National Hockey League, about 40 percent of the players will have been born in the first quarter of the year, 30 percent in the next quarter, 20 percent in the third quarter, and just 10 percent between October and December.\n\nThe kids coming into Citizen Schools are like hockey players born in the late fall. They need extra learning time to catch up.\n\nWhy should Bill Gates and his classmates at a fancy private school be the only ones to get access to thousands of hours of computer time? How much faster would our technology industry have developed, producing how many more jobs, if all schools had a computer like his did and a mechanism to allow students to learn for extra hours? How much better would we be as a country if instead of just a few kids getting extra ice time, or extra tutoring time, or extra enrichment time\u2014all kids got it? Some kids would still rise to the top, and others would still bring up the rear. But we would have something much closer to a true meritocracy than we do today, and our average educational attainment would rise, boosting the economy for everyone.\n\n# CHAPTER TEN\n\n# FROM A NATION OF CONSUMERS TO A NATION OF MAKERS: INSPIRING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATIVE THINKING IN OUR SCHOOLS\n\nTinkering seems to come naturally to McCalvin Romaine, who is now in his twenties and pursuing a career in technology at Digitas, one of the world's top online marketing firms. On Tuesday afternoons he can often be found at the Washington Irving School in Roslindale, Massachusetts, volunteering with teams of sixth and seventh graders and teaching the young students how to pull apart computers, install more RAM, and identify and fix software problems.\n\nReflecting on his childhood, Romaine's eyes open wide and he smiles broadly as he remembers the time he turned his Mom's hair dryer into a flashlight. All it took, he remembers, was duct tape, copper wire, and a little ingenuity to connect the dryer's batteries to a small light bulb rather than a heating coil and blower. That the flashlight operated and looked like a gun, turning on as you pressed the plastic trigger at the base of the dryer, added to the excitement felt by the nascent inventor. But Romaine also remembers a dark side to his project. He brought his flashlight into school one day and his teacher threatened to throw the whole project in the trash if he didn't put it away. Then she reprimanded him for straying from his assigned work.\n\nRomaine was a Citizen Schools student in middle school, and his favorite apprenticeships were in hip-hop dance, law, and a technology class not very different from the one he teaches today. \"I was always a curious kid growing up,\" Romaine told me. \"But it wasn't until I joined Citizen Schools that I really understood where these math and science courses that I took in school could take you in the future. Just seeing so many volunteers who were real professionals in my apprenticeships, it gave me an outlet for my creativity and it gave me some insight as far as the career paths I could pursue.\"\n\nAcross America we face a giant and growing mismatch between what our schools are teaching and what our children need. Creativity and scientific thinking and innovative problem-solving are skills increasingly in demand in today's job market. Yet too many of our schools focus on teaching students how to follow rules, memorize facts, and master basic arithmetic and reading. Schools persist with an old paradigm despite mounting evidence that the scientific thinking of American students lags that of students in most other industrialized countries and new evidence that the creativity and innovativeness of American students\u2014which had formerly set the United States apart\u2014is in decline. Some of the mismatch is due to the short agrarian-era school day discussed in the previous chapter and to the limited time allocated to scientific learning in schools in the era of high-stakes math and reading assessments. One study showed that in the last fifteen years there has been a 23 percent decline in time devoted to science instruction in schools, down to a low of 2.3 hours a week in 2011\u201312. In my experience, the decline has been most dramatic in schools serving the lowest-income students.\n\nCompounding the time-on-task challenge, too few schools have the equipment or orientation to offer significant time for hands-on science projects, the type most likely to spark interest in science or engineering as a career and to build creative-thinking skills. Researcher Robert Tai and his colleagues have demonstrated that interest in science in middle school is a stronger predictor of who goes into careers in STEM fields than is math or science proficiency. And the Lemelson-MIT Program sponsored research indicating a majority of teenagers reported they may be discouraged from pursuing STEM careers because they do not personally know any engineers or know what engineers do. Yet despite looming talent shortages in all sorts of STEM disciplines, we persist with a school system that is offering kids less time for science, less time to conduct experiments and build things, and in most cases no time at all to meet and work with real scientists and engineers like Marcus DeLatte and David Mantus. Where is the interest supposed to come from?\n\nToo often the shortage of exciting STEM opportunities in public schools means that the only kids who get cool STEM opportunities are kids who already have STEM-savvy role models in their lives. These are mostly the children of engineers and doctors and scientists, most of whom are white, male, and middle class. No wonder our homegrown STEM pipeline is drying up like an old riverbed in a drought. Among students who took AP (Advance Placement) computer science classes in 2010\u201311, for instance, a gateway into one of the fastest-growing segments of the STEM workforce, just 2 percent were African Americans and only 16 percent were girls. In California that same year, 51 percent of all K\u201312 students were Latino, but among those taking AP computer science, just 7 percent were. We shouldn't be surprised that just 14 percent of engineers in America are women, and only 5 percent are African Americans.\n\nAs I was launching Citizen Schools in the mid-1990s, there was a lot of talk in education circles about creativity and higher-order thinking skills. Of course, I wanted Citizen Schools to promote both. Who wouldn't? But we also had pressure from parents and school partners to make sure their children were progressing on the basics\u2014arithmetic, reading, and writing\u2014and that seemed like a key priority for Citizen Schools too. We were stuck in a raging debate between back-to-basics purists and advocates for twenty-first-century skills such as higher-order problem solving, teamwork, and creativity. The focus on basics was often associated with E. D. Hirsch, who wrote a series of books outlining what all Americans should know. The second approach was associated with an unusual alliance of corporate leaders and educational progressives.\n\nAs I tried to navigate Citizen Schools through this educational debate, I often turned to a slender volume called _Teaching the New Basic Skills_ , published in 1996 by educational economists Richard Murnane and Frank Levy. Instead of guessing what skills graduates needed\u2014and would increasingly need in the future\u2014the authors studied in detail the actual hiring practices of eight large American companies, including Northwestern Mutual Life, AT&T, and Mitsubishi Motors of America. By starting with real data about the skills workers needed to get good entry-level jobs, Murnane and Levy cut through a lot of the ideological abstractions. I also appreciated that the \"new basic skills\" Murnane and Levy described as necessary for the modern workforce were also a good inventory of the skills active citizens need to thrive in a democracy. Schools need to prepare students to earn a living in the work world but also to contribute to their communities.\n\nMurnane and Levy drew three central conclusions. First, companies hiring for entry-level middle-class jobs have an increasingly clear set of standards. To be hired, applicants need ninth-grade-level math and reading skills, but they also must possess the ability to communicate nuanced ideas orally and in writing, to work well on diverse teams, to form hypotheses and test them, and to use technology to solve problems. These are what Murnane and Levy call the new basic skills, a subset of what others call twenty-first-century skills.\n\nSecond, Murnane and Levy's research indicated that half of the eighteen-year-olds in the country, even as they are poised to graduate from high school, do not possess the new basic skills and therefore are not eligible to get hired at entry-level jobs at companies like those named above.\n\nThird, the authors concluded that the new basic skills can be taught, and that just as with traditional academic skills, they can be learned through practice. Murnane commented: \"These skills need to be practiced and after-school and extended day programs provide a great way to practice them.\"\n\nAt company after company they visited during their research, Murnane and Levy learned that hiring managers had adopted a multistage process for winnowing their applicant pools. In every case the hiring process took into account cognitive and analytic skills taught in school but also tested for other abilities. At Mitsubishi Motors of America, for instance, prospective employees were first given a drug test and the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), an IQ-like test that assesses nine different skills including verbal and numerical aptitude. Depending on the exact job, the company set minimum thresholds for the GTAB, typically near the fiftieth percentile. Prospective employees who passed the drug test and scored at the required level on the GATB would be invited back to take a mechanical aptitude test and then to engage in two expensive hands-on assessments. In the first of the hands-on tests, the authors explained, each applicant was assigned to a small team composed of men and women with various ethnic backgrounds. Their task was to assemble circuit boards, wires, and modular components on a large frame according to a blueprint. The team members could pursue the work in any fashion they chose. At the end they held a _kaizen_ meeting (a continuous-improvement approach pioneered by Japanese corporations) to discuss how they could have done the job better. Then they assembled a second board. Throughout the ninety-minute activity, trained evaluators assessed the applicants on teamwork, communication skills, and creative problem-solving abilities.\n\nI was deeply influenced by Murnane and Levy's work and found it highly relevant to our own. They had pinpointed a mismatch between the goals and values of schools and the requirements of the workplace. But rather than business being the bad guy, representing soul-crushing conformity and slavish obedience to the profit-driven dictates of \"The Man\" while education offered a high-minded vision of learning and discovery, somehow things had been reversed. Schools were the ones following the industrial-age playbook, and many in the corporate world were looking for something new.\n\nThe biggest mismatch between what schools are offering and what the workforce needs concerns creativity. In 2010 IBM released a poll of fifteen hundred CEOs, who identified creativity as the number one \"leadership competency\" of the future. The next year the social-networking site LinkedIn reported that \"creative\" was the most commonly used word in the profiles of its members. Clearly creativity is hot in the business world. But there is new evidence that the creativity of America's children\u2014long the envy of the world\u2014has been in decline since the mid-1980s. The decline was brought to light by Kyung Hee Kim, who analyzed fifty years of data from the world's most established creativity assessment: the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking. In 2010 _Newsweek_ magazine trumpeted the topic on its cover, calling it a \"Creativity Crisis.\"\n\nKim and others who have analyzed the data say that creativity in America started to decline sometime between 1984 and 1990. In Kim's words, the data indicate that \"children have become less emotionally expressive, less energetic, less talkative and verbally expressive, less humorous, less imaginative, less unconventional, less lively and passionate, less perceptive, less apt to connect seemingly irrelevant things, less synthesizing, and less likely to see things from a different angle.\" The change has been significant, with 85 percent of students in 2008 scoring below the level for the average student in 1984.\n\nAs the nation thinks through how to prepare more young people for the innovation economy of the present and the future\u2014for jobs that require a strong grounding in basic academic proficiencies _and_ a bent toward innovation, tinkering, and team-based problem solving where there are no rules\u2014we need to rethink how we build those skills and who is best positioned to teach them.\n\nThese were the key questions posed in 2004 at Reimagining After-School: A Symposium on Learning and Leading in the 21st Century, organized by Citizen Schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Prolific author and Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter kicked off the conference with a call for \"kaleidoscope thinking,\" which questioned who should teach twenty-first-century skills and when and where they should be taught. I spoke and urged my colleagues in the after-school and Expanded Learning Time fields to lift our sights beyond the low standard of keeping kids safe during potentially risky afternoon hours and instead see extended learning time as a front-burner solution to America's educational and social challenges, such as how to teach creativity and innovative problem solving.\n\nThe Reimagining After School conference drew two state commissioners of education, numerous district-level leaders, national policymakers, multiple foundation presidents, and extended-day leaders from across the country. A surprise attendee\u2014and a presenter\u2014was Tyeisha Bogy, an assertive sixth grader from the Grover Cleveland Middle School in Boston's Fields Corner neighborhood, a school so challenged that it would close for good five years later. Tyeisha was one of ten sixth and seventh graders who had enrolled in a Citizen Schools apprenticeship I taught called Power Learning Out of School. The course was my effort to question the paradigm around where and when learning happens, while also introducing my students to interesting people. I also wanted the students to apply their middle school math skills in a real-world pursuit with an authentic audience.\n\nThis was an unorthodox Citizen Schools apprenticeship with no toolboxes, video games, rocket launches, or mock trials. But my students did important work. Our goal: to interview as many CEOs and other senior executives as possible, ask them about the key skills they needed to get to the top, and find out where they had learned those skills.\n\nWe started with in-person and conference-call interviews, and we completed some great ones with Jeff Taylor, CEO of Monster.com, and the heads of the Boston Children's Museum and a fast-growing beauty products business. These interviews helped me and my ten apprentice research assistants to build a questionnaire that we posted on SurveyMonkey.com. We then recruited nonprofit and for-profit CEOs to fill out the survey online, eventually getting more than two hundred responses. While I am quite sure our sampling techniques did not meet the standards of the Gallup polling group, what we learned was interesting.\n\nWe discovered that of the nine skills that helped executives get to the top (ranging from math to teamwork to creativity), just three of them were learned primarily at school, with three learned primarily at home and three learned primarily through after-school and summer activities. The three most important tickets to the top, our executives said, were perseverance, teamwork, and creativity. Further, they said that these skills were primarily learned outside of school, either at home or in various enrichment experiences like those described in this book.\n\nLooking back at the results of the survey and at the urgent challenge of teaching creativity and innovation, I am convinced we need to embrace both in-school and extended-day (and year) strategies. Within the core day we need to stop giving science and related topics short shrift. And we need to recruit new teachers who are familiar with the wondrous things that can be done in physics and biology and chemistry labs and who have the ability to link basic math and science facts to cool new discoveries. I'm involved in one exciting national effort called 100Kin10, which is designed to promote the hiring and support of one hundred thousand excellent new science and math teachers over the next ten years. The effort was launched by the Carnegie Corporation (the same foundation that brought us the public library) and is supported by the White House and CEOs from some of the top technology companies in the world.\n\nBut the real game changer for STEM education and for boosting innovation and creativity is to recruit one million scientists and engineers to team up with those one hundred thousand full-time math and science teachers. Getting STEM professionals in every classroom, and giving students of all ages a chance to make things with STEM professionals after school, would make science classes more fun, more engaging, and more connected to the creative discoveries happening in the real world. Most schools in the country are within a few miles of a university, hospital, or industry lab brimming with science, engineering, and medical professionals, some portion of who are interested in advancing the learning of young people.\n\nImagine being a student in a school in which real chemists joined your regularly scheduled science class every Monday to conduct real-world \u00adexperiments, and where every Wednesday you could choose among electives taught by video game designers, medical researchers, and astronomers. Imagine if a requirement of your sophomore year was to complete an internship in a local lab and conduct an experiment and gather evidence to prove or disprove your hypothesis.\n\nIn an effort to build a movement around just this type of STEM mentoring, Citizen Schools is incubating a new organization, US2020, which is designed to coordinate and promote efforts to mobilize STEM professionals. We aim to match individual mentors\u2014most drawn from corporate members like Cisco, HP, Tata Consulting Services, Raytheon, and Salesforce\u2014with schools and nonprofits that know how to coordinate real-world projects, like Citizen Schools, FIRST, 4-H, Spark, and others. I am serving as executive chairman of US2020, which we plan to spin off as an independent organization in late 2014.\n\nUS2020 was launched by President Obama at the White House science fair in April 2013 and has set a bold goal of mobilizing one million STEM mentors by the year 2020, creating millions of \"moments of discovery\" for children. \"We would never teach football by having students study it in a textbook,\" said President Obama's science advisor, John Holdren, noting that football players only get good by putting on pads and getting on the field. Similarly, students need to get into the lab and grapple with real-world experiments and projects. At the US2020 launch, President Obama said we need \"all hands on deck\" to improve STEM education.\n\nWhen the president says we need all hands on deck, he is talking about people like Steve Robinson, a molecular biologist. In 2002 Robinson and his wife adopted a child, and the couple agreed that Steve would take a year away from full-time work and take the lead on child care. Robinson was excited for a sabbatical and eager to dig into life at home, but he decided he'd also love to teach one course as a volunteer, spending one or two mornings a week at the local high school. He approached the school principal and asked if given his credentials as a PhD in molecular biology, he could develop and teach an optional advanced course for some of the older students in the school. The principal was intrigued, but said that because Robinson was noncertified, he wouldn't be allowed to teach even one elective. Disappointed, Robinson took his offer to the leaders of a nearby private school and they eagerly snapped him up.\n\nIt turned out that Robinson loved teaching and was good at it. Midway through his year as a part-time volunteer, he applied for a full-time job at the same private school and was hired on the spot, turning his career upside down but allowing him to pursue a passion and share it with dozens of new students every year. In 2007, after just four years as a full-time teacher, Robinson was awarded an Einstein Fellowship, given to the very best math and science teachers in the nation. Robinson was born in Illinois, and for his fellowship he was assigned to work with the freshman US senator from Illinois, none other than future president Barack Obama. Robinson became a key advisor in the Obama campaign, and until recently he served in the White House as President Obama's senior science education advisor. Now Robinson is back teaching science full-time at a Democracy Prep charter school in Harlem.\n\nFor every Steve Robinson who volunteers to teach science and then is so excited by the challenge and opportunity that he switches careers, there will be a hundred people like David Mantus and Alan Su, who take great pleasure in teaching\u2014and are good at it\u2014but want to continue doing science, or engineering, or law as their full-time job.\n\nAmerica's schools need to open their doors wide to more Robinsons and more Mantuses and Su's too. If we want children growing up on the South Side of Chicago to become chemists for Abbott Labs, which is located in suburban Chicago, or electrical engineers for Boeing, which is located downtown, we need these children to meet chemists and engineers at these companies and do real-world projects with them.\n\nOne of the most interesting recent developments in the informal learning space is the maker movement, a fast-growing effort to stimulate more backyard inventing and to showcase the work of tinkerers and artists and inventors. Makers are people who might be the next Steve Wozniak, who hung out with other tinkerers at the Homebrew Computer Club in a friend's Menlo Park garage before teaming up with Steve Jobs to create Apple Computer. Or they could be your neighbor who organizes a day for the kids on the street to make tie-dye shirts, or who designs a pedal-powered green TV that allows her to exercise while watching her favorite show and maintaining a carbon footprint of zero.\n\nIf there is a leader of the maker movement it is Dale Dougherty, a middle-aged technology entrepreneur and the founder of Global Network Navigator, or GNN, a Web portal and the first site on the Internet to be supported by advertising revenue. Dougherty is now the publisher of _MAKE_ magazine, a quarterly publication that highlights DIY (do it yourself) and DIWO (do it with others) projects and hawks the building blocks of the maker movement, including 3-D printers and Arduino microcontrollers, the brains of small, electronically controlled gadgets that can tell lights when to turn on and off or control the movements of a small robot. Simple 3-D printers are now available for less than $1,000, and many believe they could radically decentralize manufacturing in the coming decades.\n\nIf you are a technology CEO, makers are the type of young \"creative class\" workers you want working with you. And if you are a mayor, you want more makers in your city. In fact, when makers are present in critical mass, they drive innovation and economic growth for an entire city, as powerfully documented by Richard Florida in his book _The Rise of the Creative Class._ Recently, people active in the maker movement have been thinking about how to insert maker thinking and maker activities into schools. Dougherty and _MAKE_ magazine teamed up with Pixar, Intel, and Cognizant, three leading technology firms, to launch the Maker Education Initiative, or Maker Ed as it is known, and Maker Corps, efforts to open and support more than one hundred new maker spaces in schools and community centers around the country. The maker spaces are essentially arts and crafts rooms with soldering irons, parts to build robots, and 3-D printers or industrial design tools. In a parallel effort, DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, made a 2011 grant of $10 million to Maker and Otherlab, a San Francisco firm, to create industrial design labs in one thousand schools, although sequestration budget cuts have slowed the rollout.\n\nUS2020 and Citizen Schools are working closely with Maker Ed and Maker Corps, and I see the maker movement as a way to scale the apprenticeship experience much faster than could be done just through Citizen Schools. But I also know that the maker movement, like FIRST, is primarily white and Asian, middle class, and suburban. If you go to the Maker Faires that Dougherty organizes at the San Mateo Fairgrounds, and at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, and in New York, you see incredible creativity. You also see lots of people (one hundred thousand plus in San Mateo every spring). But you don't see a lot of kids. And you definitely don't see many kids or adults from the inner city. You are much more likely to see a young David Mantus with his rocket scientist father than an Adam Barriga or a McCalvin Romaine. I sometimes wonder if the maker movement will contribute to a renaissance in creativity but mostly among those already on the right side of the opportunity divide.\n\nIn September of 2012 my eleven-year-old daughter, Orla, and I headed to the New York Maker Faire, held outside the New York Hall of Science in Queens on the grounds of the 1964 World's Fair. The gathering was beautiful, like a high-tech Woodstock. Huge puppets from the Bread and Puppets group in Vermont paraded around the fairground. Long-haired engineers in tie-dyed shirts biked around on old three-speeds outfitted with huge butterfly wings. Thousands of burritos were being eaten. There was a workshop featuring a young inventor from Sierra Leone who had made an entire FM radio station, including the batteries to power it, out of scrap materials and a 3-D printer. He was now employing three journalists and three DJs and making plans to build a windmill to bring electricity to his community.\n\nThe ingenuity was inspiring. Several of the Maker Ed corporate partners were there, and they had brought young inventors from across the country. Orla and I met Joey Hudy, who was not much older than Orla and had designed a hydraulic marshmallow cannon that he had demonstrated the previous spring to President Obama at the White House Science Fair. We also met with Anthony Rodriguez, a young inventor from Newark who said he hoped to become an industrial designer or a multimedia producer. \"My favorite part,\" he said, \"is you see a problem or a need and then you can just make something for it.\"\n\nThere was lots of stuff for sale at Maker Faire. You could buy robotics kits and rocket launchers, arts and crafts materials, dressmaking kits, and even 3-D printers. Orla and I checked out one of the 3-D printers and were fascinated but a little disappointed. The concept is cool but the reality of the production process is it's slow. The printer we saw was creating a pocketsize bottle opener, maybe two inches by one inch by a quarter-inch thick. The printer went back and forth for about half an hour spraying layer after layer of red plastic according to the template that had been programmed into the attached computer.\n\nAs Orla and I headed back to Manhattan on the elevated Number 7 train, we passed graffiti-covered bodegas and Laundromats, open-air vegetable stands, and check-cashing stores in the Willets Point neighborhood near the Hall of Science. The handful of passengers coming from Maker Faire stood out in sharp relief from the locals sharing the same subway car.\n\nWe noticed a Jamaican man with a Pittsburgh Steelers cap and an energetic three-year-old son who hopped from seat to seat and stared curiously out the window. There was a middle-aged Chinese man with a shopping cart filled with thousands of sheets of roasted dried seaweed. And there were a half-dozen young Latino men with Rocawear T-shirts, jeans, and Adidas sneakers. None of these folks had been to the faire, and if they noticed it as the train rumbled past, it was only with a fleeting glance.\n\nStanding out on the train, as did Orla and I, was a middle-aged father and his three young children. The dad had tired eyes, and I imagined him up late at night writing computer code. His young son held a lightsaber he had bought at the faire and was engaging in an imaginary sword fight with a subway pole. The eldest child, a girl, was recounting the Maker Faire project that most inspired her. I imagined David Mantus as a young child taking this same train with his technician grandfather or his rocket scientist father to go to the New York Hall of Science, and I was reminded anew of the power of relationship and the power of experience to imprint any number of characteristics, including creativity.\n\nI was inspired by Maker Faire. The crowd was overwhelmingly white and middle class, but there were a significant number of immigrants from India and the Far East and a small number of African Americans and Latinos. With effort, these numbers could grow. The event made me hopeful. But as I headed away on the Number 7 train, I was equally humbled by the challenge of equalizing access to all it has to offer.\n\n# CHAPTER ELEVEN\n\n# SOCIAL NETWORKS AND SOCIAL SKILLS\n\nRobert Putnam has a gentle, pious demeanor befitting the son of a Methodist small-businessman from the Midwest, which he is. But on the Fourth of July weekend of 2012, Putnam, author of the best-selling 2000 book _Bowling Alone_ and described by the London _Sunday Times_ as \"the most influential academic in the world today,\" gave a talk at the Aspen Institute's annual Ideas Festival that was shocking.\n\n\"The American Dream of equality of opportunity is destined to decay in the years ahead,\" Putnam told the assembled power brokers. \"Whether or not you care about inequality in wealth and income, we should all be worried about growing inequality in opportunity.\"\n\nPutnam has made social capital _\u2014_ the relationships we all have with family, close friends, and extended networks\u2014his lifelong obsession. He believes that human productivity, quality of life, and professional success are determined as much or more by _who_ you know, and the depth and quality of those connections, as they are by _what_ you know, or even by your family's relative wealth.\n\nPutnam's research raises a trio of imposing challenges for educators trying to reduce opportunity and achievement gaps. First, as Putnam and his research team document exhaustively in _Bowling Alone,_ and have continued to demonstrate, social capital has been declining steadily since its high point in the 1960s. People may have more contacts on Facebook or Instagram, but we spend less time with our friends, we trust people less, and we have fewer people we feel comfortable turning to for a favor.\n\nSecond, social capital and social skills are becoming more important to success in the highly networked twenty-first-century economy, an assertion also convincingly made by Richard Florida in _The Rise of the Creative Class._ Not good for Americans to have less social capital just as its importance to both individual and community success grows.\n\nThird, social capital is more and more unequally distributed. This was the focus of Putnam's talk in Aspen, in which he described a \"sharply growing class divide among America's youth.\" Most Americans have less social capital today than they did one or two generations ago. But the decline has been steepest for Americans with lower incomes and less formal education.\n\nPutnam helps us see that the opportunity divide is not just a divide in access to good teaching of math, science, or writing, but a divide that is much more fundamental: a divide in access to positive experiences and relationships _that are foundational to almost everything we do._\n\nPutnam and other researchers, including famed sociologist James S. Coleman, have documented a variety of ways in which access to childhood social experiences and networks that are proven to support adult success has become more unequal. Thirty years ago, for instance, upper-income children were slightly more likely than lower-income children (67 percent rather than 62 percent) to participate in extracurricular high school clubs like chess, theater, or community service. Today, that modest gap has almost quadrupled. Thirty years ago children of parents with a college degree and children of parents with a high school degree attended church at about the same rates. Today, on any given Sunday, children of better-educated parents are 50 percent more likely to attend church and to build the associated social networks. Today if you are an upper-income child in high school, your likelihood of serving as captain of a varsity sports team\u2014a proven chance to strengthen leadership skills\u2014is 27 percent, whereas just 12 percent of lower-income students will get this same opportunity. Gaps have also grown in overall levels of trust, in time spent with parents, and in participation in high school sports. And, as we discussed in the opening chapter, the investment gap has tripled between what upper- and lower-income families spend on out-of-school tutoring and extracurricular activities like piano lessons and robotics camps.\n\nSociologist Coleman was one of the first to clearly document the impact of social capital on educational and career outcomes in his influential 1988 article, \"Social Capital and the Creation of Human Capital.\" It's not just nice to participate in extracurricular clubs, or in a faith community, or to spend more time with caring adults, he argued; these experiences drive students to entirely different places.\n\nColeman documented, for instance, that children who attend church regularly are half as likely to drop out of high school compared to their peers who rarely or never attend church. This holds true even when the peer families have the same levels of education and financial resources. When a child has weak social networks, less time with caring adults, and lower expectations from those adults, he or she is almost four times more likely to drop out of high school compared to peers whose families have the same education and financial standing but have weaker social networks. Other more recent research has drawn causal links between social capital and math and reading scores.\n\nThe case for social capital's influence on career (as opposed to academic) success is strongest of all, and its influence is on the rise. In an _Atlantic_ article titled \"Where the Skills Are,\" Richard Florida argues that we are going through a second seismic change in the orientation of our economy and the abilities it values in its workers. For much of human history, Florida says, the differential ability that drove variation in human success was physical strength and dexterity. People who could plough more land, catch more fish, make more shoes, or lay bricks better and faster were rewarded for it. By the middle of the twentieth century, Florida argues, the world economy transitioned, and analytical brainpower became the skill that was increasingly prized by employers and recognized in the marketplace. This was the first seismic shift, and it meant that the difference in the earning power of someone with strong analytical skills and someone with weak analytical skills was now much larger than the difference in earning power between a skilled and not-so-skilled bricklayer.\n\nFlorida believes that we have now entered a third phase in our economic history\u2014one in which social skills have become more important than analytical skills. In his _Atlantic_ article he describes how an examination of US labor market job listings and average wages led to his conclusion.\n\nFlorida went on to describe the implications for education: \"Given the rising demand for social skills in our economy, it is curious that we devote so few of our educational resources to building them. A growing chorus has noted the failure of US schools to adequately teach math, science, and technology, but social intelligence is equally important, and we need to cultivate it more systematically.\"\n\nUpdating our schools with more time for learning and more citizen power will create a foundation that enables schools to more effectively build the social capital and social skills crucial for student success. If we instead continue to ignore social capital as a systemic driver of opportunity and achievement gaps, we will contribute to the current vicious cycle in which families and communities with lower levels of income and education provide their children with less exposure to the relationships and opportunities that drive adult success, which will in turn leave their children with even less income and an even lower likelihood of achieving academic and professional success.\n\nAs Citizen Schools was getting started, my colleagues and I got to know Robert Putnam, and in 2000, when he published _Bowling Alone,_ he included a nice shout-out to Citizen Schools, calling our efforts an effective way to \"serve civic ends\" and to \"strengthen the civic muscles of participants.\" For a young and mostly unknown organization, this was welcome recognition.\n\nAs we got to know Putnam, we learned that there were two types of social capital and that each was critical to helping individuals get ahead. \"Bonding\" social capital involves close connections to people like you\u2014such as the people from your church or neighborhood or from people who share your same ancestry. People who have strong bonding social capital reinforce shared social norms and often do favors for each other, making what Tom Wolfe, in his novel _The Bonfire of the Vanities_ , called \"deposits in the favor bank.\" In communities with high levels of trust, you expect that favors will be repaid, and this helps the community operate effectively. \"Bridging\" social capital is equally important and, Putnam taught us, even more important to individuals from low-income communities. Bridging social capital is when you form a relationship with someone who is different from you\u2014from another side of town, a different class, and with an entirely different network.\n\nPutnam's ideas resonated with me. It was my mom's network that helped me set up that summer camp when I was just fifteen. And it was the fact that my dad knew Senator Gary Hart that opened the door to a summer internship on his campaign when I was just nineteen\u2014an internship that became the turning point in my life. For my wife, Maureen, strong bonding social capital gave her initial access to the world of work. Then, as her jobs evolved, she built bridging capital with the \"Jewish mother\" whose hair she cut and with others. New doors opened.\n\nBut how would this work at Citizen Schools? Can social capital be transferred, or does it just reproduce, cementing inequality? Can a few young educators and a few hundred community volunteers build social capital for low-income children stuck in struggling schools, while building their own social capital in the process? And if volunteers can build social capital in tough schools and tough neighborhoods, will it really make a difference for the kids? Or is social capital such an elusive and hard-to-measure asset that we'd be wiser to bet all our chips on building academic skills? After reflecting on my early experience at Citizen Schools, I concluded that social capital _can_ be imparted and _is_ life-changing. It's not easy to build social capital for a thirteen-year-old kid. But it's not easy to build reading skills either. And both are vital to the future success of our students.\n\nIn some cases, social capital is clearly transferable and transformative. Consider the examples of Chrystal and Col, two former Citizen Schools students. Both were born in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, and came to Boston as young children.\n\nChrystal was a charmer, the type of student who attracts adults to her because of her eloquence and bright smile. Her home life was difficult, though, with Dad remaining in Haiti, Mom severely ill, and an aging grandmother struggling to keep up with the young children. When Chrystal was in sixth grade at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Dorchester, she enrolled in Citizen Schools. She would sometimes show up at our Saturday program with all her belongings in a trash bag. She would say she was moving from her grandmother's house to an aunt's house, or to another location. Deb Daccord, a lawyer with Mintz Levin who was one of her teachers, recalled that \"Chrystal was a standout student in our mock-trial class. She had a way of attracting role models to her because of her intelligence, but it was a patchwork of role models in a life with very little stability.\"\n\nWhen Chrystal's mom died during her high school years, she and her beloved younger brother initially went to live with their grandmother. But the grandmother was aging and couldn't handle both children, so they split up. Chrystal moved in with one aunt in Dorchester, and her brother joined a different relative in Brockton, almost an hour away. It had been five years since Daccord and Chrystal had met, though they had stayed in touch sporadically. Daccord herself had been orphaned as a teenager, and when she heard about Chrystal's latest move, she resolved to be a more active mentor. She remembers buying Chrystal a computer and going to her aunt's apartment to help her set it up, and then returning months later to fix it.\n\nWhen Crystal turned eighteen, government benefits that had been coming to her since the death of her mother ended, and her aunt kicked her out of the house. She was homeless, just as her senior year at English High School was supposed to begin. Daccord said her immediate impulse was to reach out. She consulted with her husband and two daughters, the eldest of whom had just gone off to college, and they were enthusiastic about helping. The Daccords decided to offer Chrystal a room in their home for the year and to help her navigate the college enrollment process. Chrystal happily accepted the offer, and with Deb's ongoing mentorship and support, Chrystal finished high school successfully and gained admittance to and enrolled in a four-year college, the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Chrystal is now working as a waitress at a restaurant in Boston while continuing to work toward her degree. While this level of generosity is not an everyday occurrence, there are many more examples of Citizen Schools community members going out of their way to help students.\n\nCol was another student of ours in Boston at around the same time. He lived with his dad and one sibling while his mom and two younger siblings remained in Haiti, where Col had completed the early years of his schooling. Col enrolled in the Citizen Schools 8th Grade Academy (8GA) program in the fall of 2003, and as part of 8GA he took two apprenticeships and visited ten colleges and universities, including an overnight trip to my alma mater, the University of Vermont. All 8GA students also wrote essays during the year with volunteer writing coaches drawn from the city's top law firms. Every other week, each student would meet one-on-one with their writing coach (they referred to their coach as \"my lawyer\") and at the end of the year they each published an essay in a glossy magazine called _Bridging._ Col's essay was about the high cost of college and his concern that it might discourage kids from pursuing a college education.\n\nAfter completing his 8GA year at Citizen Schools, Col enrolled in TechBoston High School, a small and supportive \"pilot\" school that we had encouraged him to consider. He enrolled in Upward Bound, a federal college-access program, and stayed connected to Citizen Schools through occasional alumni reunions. Four years later Col graduated high school on time and with solid grades and enrolled at the University of Vermont as part of the class of 2012. Hundreds of Boston eighth graders had trekked north to UVM through Citizen Schools, taking classes from great professors like Huck Gutman, visiting the university art museum, meeting admissions officers, scrimmaging with the women's basketball team, and braving the cold weather and the culture shock of life on an almost all-white campus. Col would be the first Citizen Schools alumnus to enroll.\n\nSocial capital certainly played a role in prompting Col to apply to and enroll at UVM. He had met students and faculty and staff on the admissions team back in eighth grade, and this made him more confident to apply, even though the school was far away and no one in his family had ever attended a college. The relationship with Citizen Schools was likely a plus on his application too, as UVM hoped the partnership would help it build a more diverse student body. But whatever role social capital played in Col's application and acceptance, it would become even more important after he enrolled.\n\nCol completed his freshman year, but his grades were low and he found it difficult to bond with his roommates. They were from wealthy families in the Boston suburbs and had never met anyone like Col, and they had little understanding of the academic and social challenges he faced. In Col's sophomore year his struggles grew. Like many first-generation college students, he couldn't pay all of his tuition. UVM's costs are high\u2014they were close to $45,000 in his freshman year\u2014but the university had provided Col with a substantial financial aid package. He had tuition relief worth close to $20,000 from UVM's general scholarship fund. Plus Col was eligible for a federal Pell grant of about $5,000, and he personally took out a subsidized Stafford student loan for another $6,500. He also served as a federal work-study student, earning money for school and picking up job skills as a computer technician at the business school. Rounding out the package were two special UVM scholarships. One of them, at $3,750 per year, was covered by the Minnie Parker Charitable Trust, a New York foundation chaired by Citizen Schools cofounder Ned Rimer, who had been my roommate for two years at UVM. Col was able to cover most of his tuition for his sophomore year too, but he had lost one of the smaller UVM scholarships (not the one from Minnie Parker) and tuition charged by the university had gone up more than $1,000. There was a gap of close to $5,000 between what he owed and what he could pay. In December the university froze Col's account, meaning that he couldn't register for spring courses, couldn't take out a book, and couldn't even log on to a computer.\n\nThe university thought the solution was simple. The gap was only a few thousand dollars, and they suggested that Col's parents take out a federal PLUS Loan at 8.5 percent interest. But Col's father wasn't willing to do this, as he was sending every penny he could back to his wife and two children in Haiti. Col was stuck in a quagmire that snares hundreds of thousands of first-generation college students every year and causes them to drop out of a four-year college. Six years after they enter college, only 11 percent of first-generation college students have earned a degree, compared to 55 percent of their more advantaged peers.\n\nCol reconnected with friends on the Citizen Schools staff, who in turn alerted Ned, the Citizen Schools cofounder and chair of the foundation that was funding UVM to support students like Col. Ned called a friend of his in the development office and made two suggestions: First, if this situation could be resolved, maybe the Minnie Parker Trust would make an additional contribution to the university, again targeted to helping students like Col succeed. Second, Ned, who along with me had recently received a distinguished alumni award from the university, appealed to their sense of justice. Col had already covered more than 90 percent of his tuition. Please solve the problem and let Col continue his studies, Ned asked.\n\nNed's appeal worked. Col was a long way from home. His roommates couldn't relate to his situation and his immediate family didn't have the money or the know-how to help. But because of Citizen Schools, Col's network at UVM also included an influential graduate of the university and a donor\u2014someone in Col's corner who was willing to make a call on his behalf. Three years later\u2014and after additional tuition scares again resolved through interventions by Ned and members of the Citizen Schools staff\u2014Col graduated on time with a degree in business.\n\nIn Col's case, social capital worked just the way it sometimes does for rich people. You have a problem\u2014like needing an introduction to someone who could offer you a job\u2014and someone you know helps you solve the problem. The connection doesn't _get_ you the job. You have to perform in the interview and be a strong candidate, just as Col had to get the work done and pass his courses. But when your connection has juice with someone in power, they help you get your foot in the door, which is often half the battle. Not every graduate of Citizen Schools or similar programs is going to be fortunate enough to receive scholarship funding via an influential leader like Ned. But what is scalable is the building of relationships so that hundreds of thousands of students like Col have someone in their corner, someone they feel comfortable calling who in turn can pick up the phone and get people in power to help.\n\nNancy DiTomaso, vice dean at Rutgers University, wrote an intriguing article in the _New York Times_ last year in which she stated that a major driver of employment inequality between blacks and whites is that whites have more connections with people in hiring roles and are therefore more likely to get the friendly introductions that lead to jobs. \"Getting an inside edge by using help from family and friends is a powerful, hidden force driving inequality in the United States,\" she wrote, basing her findings on thousands of interviews she has conducted. \"Inequality reproduces itself because help is typically reserved for people who are 'like me': the people who live in my neighborhood, those who attend my church or school or those with whom I have worked in the past. The mechanism that reproduces inequality, in other words, may be inclusion more than exclusion.\"\n\nSocial capital helps Citizen Schools kids get access to good high schools, to good summer programs, and as we've seen with Col, Chrystal, and others profiled in this book, to homes, colleges, and job interviews. Professionals like Deb Daccord and Ned Rimer have lots of social capital. Through Citizen Schools they get the chance to use it not only for their own children and the children of their friends but for other people's children too.\n\nSocial capital also helps students in more subtle ways. For sure it helps students get their foot in the door; but it also helps students see new doors, and sometimes it helps them develop the confidence to walk through the door and ask for help when it's needed.\n\nJadine Yarde, for instance, grew up in the same low-income Boston neighborhood as Col. She navigated her way through high school to college at St. John's University and into a good job as ad sales coordinator for DISH Network. She's a young professional in New York City and has become a skilled networker with a bright future. But Jadine told me that her newfound confidence was hard-won. In middle school, as she enrolled in Citizen Schools and started talking with her friends about her apprenticeship classes, such as one in entrepreneurship, some of them distanced themselves and said she should stop acting so high and mighty. \"I was fighting outside influences like peer pressure, and at the time I couldn't conceptualize what exactly Citizen Schools could do for me because I saw it as what stood in the way of me being a 'normal' middle school student who hung out with friends on Saturdays and went downtown to cause trouble after school.\"\n\nJadine said that Citizen Schools staff members and volunteers kept pushing her and became instrumental to her academic and professional development. \"Being able to meet through Citizen Schools with top execs at some of the most successful businesses and share my goals and aspirations is an environment that Citizen Schools created and it has helped me beyond measure. Now I am excited, motivated, and determined to be as successful as those I met as a twelve-year-old.\"\n\nAs I finished a recent conversation with Jadine, she wanted to reinforce one final point. Apprenticeships, she said, helped give her confidence _in her own ideas_ and the comfort to approach strangers at a cocktail party or in an interview and engage with them as intellectual and social peers. \"At Citizen Schools I was constantly reminded of my abilities. I realized that color and your academic standing do not define you and you should never fall victim to believing that they do. You are just as smart as a billionaire, you just have to give your dreams your undivided attention. Confidence is something that should be worn proudly.\"\n\nWhen a student builds a network of advocates, they not only have more people to open doors for them but more people willing to stand up for them in difficult situations. Let me give an example. For many years I taught a master's degree class to young teaching fellows at Citizen Schools, and as part of the class, we devoted one evening to watching clips from education-themed movies such as _Children of a Lesser God_ , _Dead Poets Society_ , and _Stand and Deliver_ , the last the story of real-life math teacher Jaime Escalante, who led a class of inner-city Los Angeles students to take and pass the AP calculus test. We always keyed in on the scene when Escalante, played by Edward James Olmos, visits his star pupil in her parents' restaurant after the parents have asked her to drop out of school to work at the family business. In the movie, Escalante brusquely confronts the hard-working immigrant parents and tells them their daughter should return to school. Every year we viewed the clip, our young staff would react the same way. They would be disappointed the girl had dropped out of school but would say that Escalante had crossed a line and should have left the decision about whether to attend school to the girl and her parents. But on two occasions when we asked our young student alumni\u2014kids like Chrystal, and Col, and Jadine\u2014to join us in watching the movie, they took a different point of view. They were glad Escalante intervened. They loved their families, but they wanted fiercer advocates for their interests, even if those advocates might occasionally cross lines and break from their parents' views.\n\nThere has been a growing recognition recently of the importance of social networks and of nonacademic skills such as grit and persistence, and suggestions that schools should try to build these skills and attributes. But too many schools and school reformers remain stuck in an obsolete paradigm. They focus on the traditional Three R's and generally see learning as something done in a chair and behind a desk and with a single teacher in front of the room. In most schools, students have too few chances to work on teams, too few chances to meet and work with successful adults, too few chances to learn about the world of work through internships, and little explicit training in how to give or ask for feedback. Activities that provide these skills\u2014like playing on sports teams, acting in plays, participating in internships, and building robots on a team\u2014are rare at most schools and only available to a small number of students.\n\nFor children like Chrystal and Col and Jardine, citizen power and an expanded learning day can build nonacademic skills and narrow social-capital gaps by giving kids chances to practice relating to many different adults while building confidence, higher levels of trust, and stronger social networks.\n\nWorking with very-low-income students in some of the toughest schools and neighborhoods in America, Citizen Schools has gotten our graduates to finish high school and enroll in college at rates that are the same as or higher than in middle-class communities. Some of the success comes from the academic boost we give students when they are still in middle school. But I believe an equally big success factor is the social capital we help our students develop.\n\n# CHAPTER TWELVE\n\n# SUPPORTING TEACHERS, AND PARENTS TOO\n\nOf all the questions I get about Citizen Schools, perhaps the most frequent is: \"Do the teachers like you?\" Many questioners seem conditioned to expect the worst of public school teachers and assume that a second shift of educators, offering different approaches and taking less or no pay, will inspire resentment from the full-time teachers who lead classes for a majority of the day.\n\nGenerally, however, America's teachers have embraced Citizen Schools and embraced an expanded learning day and citizen power in their schools. While a few teachers may react defensively and hide behind the closed door of their classrooms, the best teachers welcome any help they can get. Teachers' unions as well have generally embraced Citizen Schools. As stated earlier, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten visited the Edwards ELT campus and declared it in a _New York Times_ column, \"one of the most impressive schools I have seen in America.\" The Boston Teachers Union has gone so far as to explicitly advocate for a nine-plus-hour learning day for all students, with the extra time delivered either by teachers receiving extra pay or by outside programs like Citizen Schools.\n\nAdding a second shift of educators in schools could fundamentally change the teacher's job for the better, making it more sustainable and enjoyable while bringing more resources to kids and engaging families more deeply in their child's education. Suburban teachers often get this support from active families and well-organized extended-day programs. But most teachers in high-poverty schools feel overworked, undersupported, and unsuccessful. As a result, many of them leave teaching too soon, creating a higher-than-necessary teacher churn and more challenges for students. Many rigorous \"no excuses\" charter schools have been successful at lifting test scores, but they have even higher rates of teacher turnover than district schools because of the long days and breakneck pace. For district and charter schools, a second shift can make a full career in teaching more attractive.\n\nErin Dukeshire, a middle school science teacher at the Orchard Gardens K\u20138 ELT school in Boston, illustrates the point. Orchard Gardens, formerly one of the lowest-performing schools in Massachusetts, became a \"turnaround school\" in 2010 with new leadership, mostly new teachers, and an expanded learning day. Very quickly Orchard Gardens became one of the strongest schools in Massachusetts. In 2011\u201312 its middle-grade students had the highest rate of student learning growth of any middle school in the state. All of these students received an extra three hours of learning from Citizen Schools every day. Some students even had a chance to travel to the White House and meet with the president.\n\nBy the time Dukeshire came to Orchard Gardens, she was a relative veteran in the ed-reform world. She had taught for two years in Miami through Teach For America and then had joined a charter school in Boston that offered students a nine-hour day with core teachers covering the entire time. At Orchard Gardens, Principal Andrew Bott recruited her to be part of his turnaround team of teacher leaders.\n\n\"I was ready for a change and I was looking for leadership opportunities beyond the classroom,\" said Dukeshire. \"Also, I personally wasn't able to sustain the intensity at which I was working for that number of hours in a day. Since I was coming to Orchard Gardens at the start of the turnaround, the work was still intense and I was working just as hard that first year, but the difference was that the work with students ran until about two-twenty, and then Citizen Schools took over and I could use that afternoon time to work with my colleagues.\" Dukeshire, a 2014 winner of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching, said that having a high-quality partner extend the day for students while teachers prepare the next day's lesson with colleagues \"means that we have more time to create better outcomes for kids and it makes the profession of teaching more sustainable.\"\n\nAt the Isaac Newton School in East Harlem, New York, sixth-grade teacher David McKinney can teach his math class every morning knowing that every student in his class has done their homework from the previous day, because every student participates in the extended day with Citizen Schools and gets an hour of supported homework time from a second-shift teacher while still at school. Imagine this difference alone: Before ELT maybe half of your students completed their homework, since many had no structured time and place to complete it. Now all of your students, or almost all of them, complete it. Imagine how that changes your job as a teacher.\n\nFor Sara Sheckel, a former sixth-grade English teacher at the Mc\u00adKinley Institute of Technology in Redwood City, California, a second shift means that she can coordinate with five AmeriCorps teaching fellows, who collectively support the ninety-six sixth graders, a majority of them from Spanish-speaking families, enrolled in her four English classes. While Sheckel has one hour per day with each of her four classes of twenty-four students, the teaching fellows have three hours every day with one team of eighteen to twenty students. Sheckel benefits from the extra practice her students get building vocabulary skills with the teaching fellows, and she also gets help engaging parents and providing individualized guidance to her students. With so many students, it's not realistic for Sheckel to call every parent every week, or even every month, or to sit down one-on-one with all of her students. But in the course of just one week it _is_ realistic for the Citizen Schools teaching fellows to call every parent with an informative update and to have one-on-one conversations with every student on their team. Now Sheckel has a conduit to pass on key messages to students and parents and also a way to receive information back from them.\n\nIncreasingly, Citizen Schools ELT schools include a thirty- to sixty-minute block where first-shift and second-shift teachers lead a class together. At Elmhurst Community Prep in Oakland, which in 2012\u201313 had the most student learning growth of any middle school in the city, the teachers and teaching fellows co-teach an advisory block focused on goal-setting and on increasing students' ownership for their own success. Most days each adult in the room takes an advisory group of ten to twelve students, allowing students and adults alike to build meaningful relationships and trust, a sort of school-based social capital that often helps students advance. When students get better at asking for help, at speaking up when they don't understand something, and at holding give-and-take conversations with adults and peers, they are better positioned to move forward academically, socially, and professionally.\n\nThe more overlap time there is between first- and second-shift teachers, the more opportunity there is to re-create the core learning day in a way that supports teachers and improves student learning. In our ELT schools in East Palo Alto and San Jose, California, for instance, teaching fellows lead three hours of extended learning time but also support two to three \"regular\" classes each day. Before ELT, a typical school-day class was fifty minutes long and consisted of the teacher sharing a new concept for about twenty minutes and then giving students thirty minutes to practice the new skill as the teacher tried simultaneously to manage behavior across the full class while circulating for mini-interventions with students, a majority of whom are typically stuck on one or more steps in the lesson. With a teaching fellow in the room, the master teacher can introduce the lesson and have the class work through a few sample problems as a group. Then the teaching fellow can oversee the class, keeping students on task, while the lead teacher takes a succession of small groups to the worktable at the back of the room to unpack a new skill until each student has mastered it.\n\n\"Teachers and principals are telling us that having a teaching fellow support core classes is allowing teachers to close the instructional loop,\" said Katie Brown Rothschild, the Citizen Schools managing director of program in California and formerly a teaching fellow and campus director. \"They used to preassess for understanding, then teach and practice, and then assess again. Now they can preassess, teach and practice, assess again, and then remediate as needed. They love it.\"\n\nAllowing teachers time for pull-out tutoring, giving students extra academic practice time, and engaging parents in their child's learning are all important ways that Citizen Schools supports teachers. But the most important way we support teachers is by motivating students to try harder in school. By exposing students to exciting real-world projects, Citizen Schools helps make traditional school subjects become more relevant and enticing. All of a sudden a topic sentence becomes a key skill to win a mock trial, not just another academic standard on a long list that needs to be mastered. A student becomes motivated to learn the Pythagorean theorem because it helps unlock the secret of programming a video game.\n\n\"In education we can test kids, we can have progress reports, data reports, but the bottom line is if learning is not meaningful for a student they won't truly learn,\" said David Baiz, a former teacher and now principal at Global Technology Prep public school in East Harlem. \"Citizen Schools makes that connection possible and allows kids to see how learning is meaningful for their lives.\" Baiz described a student, Kamarthy, who did a Citizen Schools presentation with NBC iVillage. \"He is a student who struggled a lot in the school day and was never engaged. But he was very engaged in this presentation and it was a wonderful presentation. He felt so comfortable up there talking to these executives, presenting his products to board members, and giving a mini-speech. We saw his potential in a whole new way.\"\n\nCitizen Schools also supports teachers by allowing them to be mentors and master educators. With a second shift of eager young educators on the scene, experienced full-time teachers can not only _get_ help in the classroom but can _give_ help by mentoring the young teaching fellows sourced by Citizen Schools.\n\nAs an example, Kendra Engels, who served as campus director at the De Vargas Middle School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which in two years of ELT was able to raise math proficiency by eighteen percentage points and ELA proficiency by eight percentage points, described the relationship her team built with a strong teacher at the school.\n\n\"We had a teacher who taught English and who was really skilled at ELL (English-language learner) instruction techniques,\" shared Engels. \"She was often in the classroom when we were teaching and she ended up working with our Academic Program Lead to help her rewrite some of the lessons to better align with where she saw gaps in student learning and with how she taught in her class. We rearranged our staffing so that our three teaching fellows who worked most often with ELL students could observe her teaching. It was great, because it showed students that we were all colleagues and that the teachers and Citizen Schools staff were in it together. It was great for the teacher to see the planning that went into our programming and to have input into our instruction. And of course it was fabulous for our staff to have great techniques modeled by a pro.\"\n\nEngels said the same teacher also led a four-hour training session for the Citizen Schools staff that many deemed the best they'd had all year. They loved the new perspective, and she loved the opportunity to teach her craft.\n\nEngels and her team also partnered with teachers to use assessment data more effectively. Together they reviewed interim test results and came up with plans to boost student understanding and performance. \"The school led several half-day data-analysis sessions,\" Engels recounted, \"to strategize about how to best adjust instruction based on what the data said about student learning. This was the first session of its kind for the school in quite some time, if not ever, but was the type of thing we do at Citizen Schools all the time. Our staff was able to attend and contribute a lot of great ideas and strategies. It really helped the teachers to see us as colleagues and for them to see that we felt equally responsible for the standardized testing results and equally driven to improve them. We became partners toward one goal rather than just two entities working in the same space.\"\n\nELT also provides teachers with a pathway to leadership, often a tough road in schools where the typical management structure for a school of six hundred students is one principal, one assistant principal, a director of instruction or dean of discipline, a secretary, and fifty teachers. In the second and third years of ELT at her school in Redwood City, Sara Sheckel actually split her time between the school, where she taught two instead of four classes, and Citizen Schools, where she served as the part-time instructional coach, providing feedback and professional development to the first- and second-year educators in the teaching fellowship. The experience allowed her to continue adding value as a teacher while building management skills, ultimately leading to Sheckel's appointment for the 2013\u201314 year as assistant principal of the Roy Cloud K\u20138 school in another part of Redwood City.\n\nIn many ways, the job of teacher as currently constructed is an outmoded relic of an industrial age. The teacher works mostly alone, putting equal attention into tasks he or she is great at and ones he or she struggles with. The job in year one is similar to the job in year ten or year forty. Just as students are treated too much like widgets in a factory, receiving the same dosage of multiplication tables and the same serving of Mendel's peas, regardless of their understanding and interest, teachers are asked to teach the same topics and in basically the same way regardless of their skill and experience and the needs of their students. It's as if students came into a hospital and received the same medicine and the same fifty-minute examinations from doctors and nurses who followed the same script regardless of the ailment and regardless of the particular specialty and previous training of the medical professionals.\n\nThe United States has roughly 5 million medical professionals but only 624,000 doctors who care for patients. At its best, the medical system leverages each of those 5 million professionals to do what they can uniquely do best, with the role of an intake nurse different from that of a nurse practitioner, and different still from the X-ray technician, the medical resident, and the attending physician. Surely education could learn something from this differentiated approach.\n\nRight now there are approximately 3.5 million full-time teachers employed to teach about 50 million US students enrolled in about 100,000 K\u201312 schools. There are another 2.5 million public school employees, ranging from special-education paraprofessionals to lunch monitors, librarians, secretaries, principals, custodians, and administrators. Whereas in the 1950s the ratio was one teacher for every twenty-eight students, today, in part due to growing numbers of special-education students, it is one to fifteen, and in urban districts it's one teacher for every twelve students.\n\nThe sheer volume of teachers creates real problems for professionalization of the craft, as Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute, among others, have described. Even with modest rates of turnover, schools across the nation need to hire 280,000 new teachers per year, many more than the 120,000 full-time registered nurses hired each year, or the 26,000 new lawyers. As Hess notes, hiring 280,000 excellent teachers every year when there are only 1.5 million college graduates per year\u2014and just 500,000 from competitive colleges\u2014is an impossible task. A lot of people coming out of college don't want to be teachers, and yet we are trying to recruit almost one in five recent college graduates year after year. Imagine if we had slightly fewer teachers and paid them better and supported them with hundreds of thousands of teaching fellows, many of them training to become teachers but others taking a year or two to contribute to a local school before going on to careers in business or science, or the arts. Most teaching fellows would be right out of college, but some might be older professionals transitioning to a new career in education. This more flexible talent model would provide more continuity with better-supported master teachers staying longer, while also infusing schools with fresh energy and additional talented and caring adults.\n\nA model in which there were varying levels of teachers in a school would support educators at every level of experience, increase efficiency, and allow for more differentiation of student learning. Master teachers who had demonstrated excellent teaching over a sustained period of time could earn 50 percent more than typical teachers today and could teach one or two fewer classes per semester so they had time to coach their younger peers. Core teachers might have a similar teaching load to teachers today but would receive help from a teaching fellow, offloading work such as grading of homework and tests, supervising student practice sessions, and management of field trips. This would allow core teachers to put more time into the development of great lesson plans. Teaching fellows and volunteer citizen teachers could support the master and core teachers while also extending the learning day, providing more time for academic practice, more time for personalized learning (through online programs such as Khan Academy or software-based learning), and significantly more time for students to make and do things with real professionals. Together, this American Dream team of talented educators could build academic and social skills while also helping students discover the real-world applications of school-based knowledge.\n\nIn some respects this multitiered approach would look like the Isaac Newton Expanded Learning Time Middle School in East Harlem, which is located in the same building where my Mom taught freshman English more than forty years ago. After many years of disappointing performance, Principal Lisa Nelson adopted ELT in 2011\u201312 for all of the school's sixth graders and saw proficiency jump by twenty-six percentage points in math and seventeen percentage points in English. Nelson, a veteran administrator, also saw a new spirit in her school. Her teachers and her leadership team felt buoyed by the energy of the Citizen Schools second shift, and she increasingly turned to Citizen Schools campus director Seth Miran as a trusted partner. Her school was infused with artists and engineers and financial professionals. My mom even came back to her old school building and taught an apprenticeship in organic farming and said she learned a few new teaching tricks she wished she'd had decades earlier.\n\nIsaac Newton is now in the process of expanding ELT to all students in sixth through eighth grade. As part of this year's plan, Principal Nelson has asked her Citizen Schools teaching fellows to take the lead on interim assessments, including the administration of \"exit tickets,\" which are two- to three-question assessments to check for understanding at the end of a single lesson. Teaching fellows will score the various interim assessments, load the data onto a spreadsheet, and conduct initial analysis that they can then share with Citizen Schools and school-day colleagues. The core teachers will have more time to focus on instruction and lesson planning and other high-value activities.\n\nELT with Citizen Schools is one compelling way to reorganize the talent strategy of a school, but it's not the only way. Generation Schools in New York City delivers smaller class sizes and a longer day and year to its students\u2014while working within the New York City teacher's contract\u2014by eliminating most administrative and specialist positions. Many charter schools have developed junior-teacher models that allow rookie teachers to extend the learning day without burning out core teachers, while also developing needed bench strength for the school. As mentioned in chapter 6, a majority of Citizen Schools teaching fellows now transition directly from their two-year assignment to a full-time teaching role, in many cases after having earned a teaching certificate with one of our alternative certification partners. All the programs mentioned in chapter 8, including the National Academies Foundation, High Tech High, and the Met School, have found ways to creatively engage a second shift of educators to support core teachers, engage students, and build a bridge to parents.\n\nInfusing citizen power and extra learning time into schools also supports parents. For starters, and to state the obvious, a day that ends at five or six o'clock instead of two or three lines up better with the end of the workday, meaning children have fewer hours home alone or on the streets. Keeping kids off the streets is a low standard for extended-day programs, but it's an important first step. According to the Afterschool Alliance, more teens are victims or perpetrators of crime between 3:00 and 6:00 p.m. on school days than at any other time of the week. School-day afternoons are also a time of experimentation with drugs and with sex and, most commonly, a time for mind-numbing TV shows and violent video games.\n\nCitizen Schools and programs like it also create a bridge that helps parents connect with their children and the public schools they attend. Sometimes this bridge comes from the simple act of calling parents (or grandparents) at home just to check in and name something a student is doing well and something he or she could do better. Community police officer Denis Rorie had advised us to \"catch kids doing things right.\" That advice is reaffirmed every time I see parents beam with pride as they watch their children showcase a new skill. These WOW! moments open doors to new careers as well as to new conversations around the kitchen table.\n\nSometimes the extended-day staff serve as translators, literally. Our work in Revere, Massachusetts, an immigrant city with fast-changing demographics, is a case in point. When we started working in Revere, we learned that a majority of the students in the school spoke a language other than English at home. But not a single one of the school's thirty- eight full-time teachers was fluent in any foreign language. When the principal wanted to translate a flyer into Spanish, the most common language of the school's parents, she needed to send the text to the district and sometimes wouldn't get a translation back for three weeks! Fortunately a majority of the Citizen Schools staff was fluent or conversational in Spanish, and one staff member spoke Haitian Creole. We became an essential conduit for communication.\n\nThe sometimes-difficult relationship between urban parents and schoolteachers was driven home to me in 1999, when a few colleagues and I traveled with twelve parents and teachers from a Boston middle school to Camp Kiev, a high-end summer camp in Maine. We ventured all the way to Camp Kiev because it had an Outward Bound\u2013type ropes course, and camp director Dick Kennedy had lined up funding to pay his instructors to lead us in team-building activities. It turned out we needed all the help we could get.\n\nOn the first day of the retreat, when asked to suggest ways to improve the school, teachers quickly defaulted to complaining about parents, saying they needed to get their children to complete their homework and to get to school on time each day. I cringed. Parents blamed the teachers\u2014not those who had volunteered to attend the retreat but others they felt were not serving their children well. As parents they were entrusting their children's learning to the school but they were seeing disappointing results.\n\nOn the second day of the retreat, the facilitator asked participants to remember who held a vision for them when they were twelve years old. Most people had a story of a teacher, or a parent, or a helpful neighbor. But one father said that when he was twelve, no one had a vision for him, and he broke down crying. The ice was broken and the group started to come together. Later that day the group completed high and low ropes courses and team-building exercises. The barriers continued to fall. On the final day of the retreat, we started to think collectively about how an expanded learning day could be a platform for improving the school\u2014and improving communication. Parents and teachers were each a little more able to see things from the other's perspective.\n\nI recently read through feedback surveys completed by 353 classroom teachers working in our ELT schools. There were helpful points of critique pointing to areas for improvement. Several teachers, for instance, said they loved the apprenticeships but wanted to see standards raised for the academic lessons led by teaching fellows. Others had complaints about the furniture being rearranged in their rooms, or about students being tired from the long day. But the overwhelming sentiment of the comments was gratitude. Teachers in the schools we partner with feel like they have allies\u2014new crews of professional colleagues who respect them and help them motivate, support, and teach their students.\n\nOf all 353 teachers responding to the anonymous survey, 94 percent said that Citizen Schools staff responded to their needs, and 93 percent said they had been responsive to Citizen Schools; 96 percent said they interact with Citizen Schools staff as professional colleagues; 88 percent of teachers said that Citizen Schools staff had initiated a conversation about student academic progress in the last semester, and a majority said this happened at least weekly.\n\nLooking at these numbers, I couldn't help but recall our start as a summer and after-school program at Dever School in Boston almost twenty years earlier. I remembered a painful incident at the end of our second year at Dever, when teachers we hardly knew were furious that students on our watch had damaged several blackboards in their classrooms. Ned and I went directly to the local hardware store and bought chalkboard paint and then spent the better part of a day repainting large green classroom chalkboards and leaving behind new packets of white and colored chalk. Today we still have the occasional chalkboard incident. That's going to happen any time space is being shared. But now there is a foundation of trust built on a track record of results and appreciation.\n\nIn many ways American education overall is also headed in a positive direction. Despite the challenges this book has discussed, average college graduation and high school graduation rates are going up, math scores are improving, and we now have hundreds\u2014maybe even thousands\u2014of schools delivering excellent results for low-income students. More outstanding college graduates are choosing to teach. We are moving toward a voluntarily adopted national Common Core curriculum that focuses more on higher-order thinking skills rather than regurgitation of memorized facts. And tests are about to become better, assessing writing and scientific thinking, not just the ability to guess correct answers on a fill-in-the-bubble test. The challenge for America is that while our schools are improving, schools around the world are improving faster. And the challenge for low-income American students is that while they are learning more\u2014and their parents and their teachers are working harder\u2014they are falling relatively further behind, left in the wake of a tsunami of privatized extra learning opportunities that benefit their upper-middle-class peers.\n\nWhen I started Citizen Schools I was not yet a parent, and I was just becoming a new type of teacher. The parents and teachers we worked with were role models for me, and I remember them vividly. I remember parents with six kids in tow traveling an hour on public transportation after a full day's work to attend a WOW!, eyes gleaming and smiles wide as they saw their child operate a robot she had built or argue a case in front of a federal judge. \"It's all she talks about at home,\" I would hear. \"She says she wants to be a lawyer now.\" I remember Hetty Mitchell, one of the parents in our first summer program, who worked at the Stop & Shop in Dorchester's Lower Mills section where I used to go for groceries. As I paid for my groceries, Hetty and I would talk about her daughter, Andrea, exchanging stories of accomplishments and challenges. I felt an important kinship.\n\nI also felt kinship with Margie Tkacik, the fifth-grade teacher in Dever's Room 202 who let me work with ten of her students for a few hours a week to launch Citizen Schools. Margie was such an enthusiastic teacher that at times she seemed to almost bubble over as she described her plans and visions for her students. She reminded me a little of my mother. When I started Citizen Schools, I had a recurring conversation with people who loved the model but thought I should embed the program in the existing six- or seven-hour school day. But this was maddening to me. What I learned from Margie was _not_ that her students needed me _instead_ of Margie. They needed as much time as possible with Margie _and_ some extra learning time with me.\n\nAs I look today over a troubled public education landscape\u2014a landscape where innovation and personalized learning is growing rapidly, but so is inequality\u2014I yearn for the chance to rebuild our national sense of shared public purpose. Public schools were intended to knit together a new country, giving children of immigrants and of business owners the same chance at an excellent education. Today public schools and their teachers feel under siege. Some of that is deserved, a consequence of resistance to fair-minded change and higher standards. But surely much of the acrimony is undeserved, driven in part by the lack of connection and therefore lack of empathy between upper- and lower-income parents, between business leaders and teachers, and between all of us as American citizens.\n\nGandhi said that we must _be_ the change we want to see in the world. If we want better public schools, we can't wait for some new curriculum or management plan or market mechanism. We need to roll up our sleeves and make them better. We need to step into schools with minimal judgment and as much curiosity and energy as we can muster. That's how to change the opportunity equation.\n\n# VOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n# LINDY SMALT, AMERICORPS TEACHING FELLOW\n\nThe backbone of the Citizen Schools second shift are teaching fellows, recent college graduates supported by the national AmeriCorps program. AmeriCorps members make Expanded Learning Time possible and support teachers and volunteers and parents, as described in the previous chapter. I believe dramatic expansion of AmeriCorps, as described in the final section of the book, is perhaps the most cost-effective and powerful investment we could make in equalizing opportunity in America. The following story is from AmeriCorps member Lindy Smalt, who served with Citizen Schools in Revere, Massachusetts, from 2010 to 2012.\n\n_Two years ago, I was a Wheaton College senior. I was undoubtedly one of the coolest kids on campus. I was a theater major, automatically mysterious and deep. Lindy was my name, and self-assurance was my game._\n\n_And yet there was that constant, dreadful feeling in the back of my mind\u2014What was I going to do after May? What if the rest of the world wasn't caught up on how cool I was? What was I going to do without my immense sense of purpose and popularity?_\n\n_I got very, very lucky\u2014I stumbled upon a job in education._\n\n_Now, let me be clear: When I faxed back the signed offer letter to Citizen Schools, I thought the teaching fellowship was going to be a two-year break for me to figure out what my \"real job\" would be._\n\n_That couldn't have been less true. I might have been a rock star at Wheaton, but nothing, not even my twenty-five-credit semester, could have prepared me for the incredibly demanding work of teaching in one of our nation's low-income communities._\n\n_Once obsessed with political philosophizing, I was shocked to find that teaching in a public school was the first time I wasn't just ranting about politics\u2014I was living them. A single forty-minute lesson at Garfield Middle School reflected so many of our nation's struggles, from the prison system, to immigration, to the drug war. In two years, I taught an Iraqi refugee, the daughter of a murderer, a boy who saw his parents murdered, a boy who got expelled for drug possession, a girl who spoke an unheard-of African dialect\u2014and these people were eleven. Through their lives, their sometimes absent parents, their complete apathy toward school, I saw\u2014for the first time\u2014the necessity of my work and of my life, and the true depth of our nation's struggles._\n\n_\"When we are very old,\" said one of my student's mothers to me this year, in half Arabic and broken English, as she placed her hand on mine, \"we will always think of Ms. Smalt. We will say, 'Ms. Smalt is the one who changed everything. She was the start of a new life.'\" She and her son, Abdellah, do not have a computer or a car; they walk to the local library to use the Internet. Yet with her support, Abdellah's unparalleled perseverance, and my resources in the community, we were able to secure a spot for her son in the high-performing charter high school in the next town, as well as garner a $2,500 grant for him to attend summer camp for the first time._\n\n_Students like Abdellah have all of the skills to succeed in college and beyond, but often there is no one to show them the way. He is small and gets swallowed in large classes of screaming, sassy preteens. But he is diligent, positive, and extremely kind, and he deserves a chance. And there are millions more like him._\n\n# SECTION THREE\n\n# NEXT STEPS FOR AMERICA AND FOR YOU\n\n# CHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\n# A CIVIC MARSHALL PLAN FOR EQUAL OPPORTUNITY\n\nWhat will it take to bring Citizen Schools and similar ideas to scale\u2014to truly reimagine and expand the learning day while narrowing class-based disparities in opportunity and achievement? Can we do it? Or as a nation have we lost our mojo, lost our heart, and lost our belief that big change is possible?\n\nI believe America is still the place where Adam Barriga, the grandson of a Peruvian immigrant who polishes the State House floor, can become, like David Mantus, a chemist, or rocket scientist, or anything he wants. We can still be the place where Miguel wants to take a young immigrant from Central America out for ice cream, and where that immigrant, Francisco, has the opportunity to give something back. We can be the place where Earline has a chance to pass along her life's passion for sewing, and where Linda finally gets to take off her heavy wool coat. We can be the place where a lousy school no longer drags down its neighborhood, but instead leads a renaissance in learning, like the Edwards did, transforming itself from worst to first and serving as a beacon of hope and pride for an entire city. We can do all of these things, but only if in our hearts and actions we truly embrace opportunity for the many, not just the few.\n\nThis book starts with a problem\u2014a well-documented and fast-growing achievement gap between the academic and career advancement of wealthier and poorer students\u2014and then discusses the causes and potential solutions. Some of the achievement gap (20 to 30 percent) is caused by inequality between schools in wealthier and poorer neighborhoods. That inequality needs to change. But most of the gap comes from unequal access to learning opportunities offered after school or in the summers, at home or in a growing constellation of tutoring centers, skill-building camps, and paid enrichment and internship programs. Upper-income kids get many thousands of dollars invested in these types of extra learning opportunities, and as a result they hone their basic academic skills; they build new skills such as the ability to innovate and create and work on teams, and they build increasingly important social networks and social skills. This inequality needs to change too.\n\nThis book describes how Citizen Schools and similar programs deploy citizen power and an expanded learning day to provide children in lower-income communities many of the same learning opportunities that are routine in wealthier communities. Citizen Schools and others are using this playbook today to narrow and even eliminate achievement gaps. But while existing programs help hundreds of thousands of low-income children beat the odds stacked against them, we aren't fundamentally changing the odds. Unless we do something much bolder, the gap between upper-income and lower-income families will continue to get bigger, overall economic growth will stagnate, and the number of Horatio Alger success stories will continue to dwindle.\n\nOn July 4, 1861, four months after taking office and with the first major battle of the Civil War looming, President Abraham Lincoln wrote to Congress with a single message. The leading purpose of government, he stated, is \"to elevate the conditions of men\u2014to lift artificial weights from all shoulders\u2014to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all\u2014to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race of life.\" Each of us as individuals can take action to provide fellow citizens with that fair chance in the race of life. But government, as Lincoln said, must do its part too.\n\nFollowing are six specific steps that government can take at the national, state, and\/or local level to increase opportunity and strengthen the nation.\n\n1. Fully fund the bipartisan Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act and get at least 250,000 Americans into full-time service, with a majority deployed to schools. AmeriCorps members, including members of a new School Turnaround Corps run in partnership with the Department of Education, can be the heart of a massively scaled \"second shift\" in education and can in turn recruit, train, and support citizen change makers like those described in this book. Fully funding AmeriCorps would cost $2 billion, which would pay for itself many times over in the form of higher educational attainment and higher wages for the millions who would benefit. A recent study indicated that each dollar invested in national service ultimately returns four dollars to the Treasury through higher wages (which lead to higher tax receipts) and lower social service costs.\n\n2. Initiate a national marketing campaign for mentors and volunteer teachers on the scale of the Rosie the Riveter campaign during World War II or the designated-driver campaign in the 1980s, inspired by Mothers Against Drunk Driving. David Mantus and Alan Su and Earline Shearer and Deb Daccord are the early adopters. Now we need to use their stories to promote mentoring and volunteer teaching as a personally rewarding way to strengthen our communities and country. We should use the bully pulpit of the US president and First Lady (and of mayors and governors and other political leaders across the country) to call for more citizen teachers, mentors, and tutors, and to recognize and reward volunteers and the companies that sponsor them.\n\n3. Pass the national Time for Innovation Matters in Education (TIME) Act. Introduced in 2008 by the late Senator Kennedy and reintroduced in 2011, the TIME Act would create an ELT fund allowing the federal government to offer matching grants to qualified schools. To ensure systemic shifts in funding priorities, the TIME Act should provide annual funding of $750 or more per student, with winning schools and districts needing to free up an additional $750 per student from their own budgets and commit to adding at least three hundred extra hours of high-quality learning time. As the economy and tax revenues rebound from the recent recession, states should dedicate 10 percent or more of increased revenues to state versions of the TIME Act that support high-quality Expanded Learning Time programs. As with the federal act, states could make five-year renewable grants of $750 or more per student per year with a one-to-one match required from recipient schools and communities. This would ensure that a combination of new and repurposed funding streams support and sustain the type of high-quality extended-day programs and workplace internships that can narrow or eliminate opportunity and achievement gaps.\n\n4. Revise the federal tax code so that contributors to local education foundations and private schools do not receive a tax break if they support schools that are already well funded and serve few low-income students. Donors would maintain their tax break if the school or district they are supporting is publicly funded at a lower than average level and serves a high percentage of low-income students. This idea aligns with a recent suggestion by Stanford professor of political science Rob Reich, who wrote a September 2013 _New York Times_ column describing how the Schools Foundation in wealthy Hillsborough, California, received $2,300 per student in tax-deductible donations while, across San Francisco Bay, students in low-income Oakland benefit from less than $100 per student in private donations. \"Private giving to public schools widens the gap between rich and poor,\" wrote Reich. \"It exacerbates inequalities in financing. It is philanthropy in the service of conferring advantage on the already well-off.\" Upper-income parents like me should absolutely contribute to the schools our children attend, whether public or private, but we shouldn't simultaneously withdraw funds from the public purse by deducting those contributions from our taxable income. Additional revenue that would flow to the IRS by making this change should be earmarked to pay for other proposals discussed in this chapter.\n\n5. Reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (commonly known as No Child Left Behind), the principal federal policy governing education. Ensure that its various programs move toward allowing more flexibility in how federal funds can be used but also require reasonable accountability for results. Specifically, Congress should make the following changes relative to the themes of this book:\n\na. Reserve 5 percent of Title I funding (this set-aside would equal about $750 million at current budget levels) for investments in partnerships between high-poverty districts and educational support organizations that have strong evidence of positively impacting student learning. Too much Title I funding is spent on what it was spent on last year without regard to effectiveness.\n\nb. Revise the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program ($1.2 billion) to explicitly authorize use of the funds for Expanded Learning Time models that serve all students in a school (in addition to optional after-school programs that extend the learning day for some students) and to explicitly require that funded programs involve a partnership between one or more schools and one or more community-based organizations and take a balanced educational approach that includes enrichment, as well as core academics.\n\nc. Revise the School Improvement Grants program ($500 million) to allow grants from states directly to nonprofit partners with proven school-turnaround models.\n\n6. Organize a new round of Race to the Top funding focused on hands-on learning in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). A relatively modest one-time federal investment in hands-on STEM learning could stimulate lasting changes in local school policy, stimulate new partnerships with private industry, and scale up programs such as US2020, which match STEM professionals with teachers and students.\n\nOffering Citizen Schools or similar programs to every middle school child in a majority-low-income school in America (about 4 million students) would cost about $6 billion, less than 1 percent of total US K\u201312 education spending. At least half this money could come from reallocations of current budgets and the AmeriCorps expansion described above. While some funds for ELT can come from stretching current dollars further and spending them more wisely, some new investment is also needed. This can come from modest changes to the tax code (reducing deductions for gifts to private schools and public schools that serve mostly upper-income children) as described above, or through allocation of a portion of additional revenues as the economy grows.\n\nWhile there is much that government can do, there is a lot that we the people can do that won't require waiting for government. To narrow achievement gaps and broaden opportunity, citizens like you and me can:\n\n1. Volunteer as a citizen teacher (www.citizenschools.org), a mentor (mentor.org or us2020.org for scientists and engineers and others in the STEM disciplines), or a tutor in a high-need school near your home or office.\n\n2. Serve as a full-time AmeriCorps or VISTA member (www.americorps.gov) or a member of other full- and part-time service corps.\n\n3. Invest. If you are an upper-middle-class or wealthy parent, calculate what you spend on extra enrichment and tutoring for your own children and consider making a tax-deductible contribution of this amount or an amount you can afford to one of the many effective organizations trying to close the opportunity gap. Our kids deserve everything we are giving them, but so do other kids.\n\n4. Advocate for public schools, for extended-day programs, and for appropriate reforms to fully fund and reform public schools in your community.\n\n5. If you work for or run a business, a government agency, or a nonprofit, host a summer intern from a low- to moderate-income background. Try to pay them a stipend. But even if all you can cover is a few free lunches, provide a meaningful work experience that gives your intern a first step on her career ladder. If you work near an innovative high school that places students in for-credit internships (NAF, MET, High Tech High), sign up to host a student extern so they can earn credit while getting exposure to the world of work.\n\n6. If you are a social entrepreneur or want to become one, create a new program that lifts up opportunity for lower-income children. Evaluate it. Improve it. We need more examples of successful programs that are well evaluated, well documented, and marketed broadly. If you already run a promising or proven program addressing achievement and opportunity gaps, then grow it, tell your story, and share your methods.\n\nAmerica's success has never been about just government, or business, or individuals. At our best, our national character mixes rugged individualism with communitarian ideals. We celebrate the Horatio Alger story but also community barn raisings and volunteer fire departments and the neighborhood public school. In recent years, however, we have often lost sight of our community values. We've been distracted by our differences and have allowed a globalized economy to expand gaps of wealth and achievement. Equality of opportunity is a founding ideal of the nation, but we now have less of it than ever before.\n\nDespite this lament, the students, volunteers, and staff of Citizen Schools show us that the American capacity for generosity, compassion, and love of neighbor runs deep. Our participants are narrowing achievement gaps, broadening opportunity, and strengthening America. Let us hope these actions will inspire more to stand up\u2014together\u2014to make the opportunity equation work for the many, not just the few.\n\n# VOICES FROM CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n# AGOSTINHA DEPINA, STUDENT\n\nEvery spring, Citizen Schools hosts a fund-raising benefit in Boston. As with many benefits, there is chicken for dinner, some wine, a few brief speeches by staff and board members, and sometimes a video. But at these benefits the keynote speaker is always a student or a former student, someone who has lived the Citizen Schools program and who has the final word. The following speech was shared by alumnus Agostinha DePina on April 4, 2012.\n\n_Let me take you to my homeland._\n\n_Bare feet feeling the hot sand,_\n\n_Chasing chickens, riding horses._\n\n_These are my roots._\n\n_My name is Agostinha DePina, and I am a senior at John D. O'Bryant High School in Boston. I spent the first eight years of my life on the island of Fogo in Cape Verde, where my parents grew up, and only my mom went to high school. We were really poor. I remember sleeping on the floor, hungry some nights with one dress and no shoes. But I also remember feeling free and happy._\n\n_I immigrated to the US when I was nine years of age. My parents brought me here for the opportunity. But I was terrified. I remember my first day of elementary school, being in the big yellow bus in the middle of strangers, without knowing a word of English, and entering a classroom where I did not know what to do or what to say. So I placed myself in a comfort corner._\n\n_I might have gotten lost right away if it weren't for my second-grade teacher, Ms. Gomes. With her charismatic and intellectual teaching, she taught me English and helped me see what was possible in my new country. In the Cape Verdean culture, women are taught that their dreams of success are their husband's dreams, that they don't need a voice because the man has a voice. But in the United States, I saw things I had never seen before: girls of all ages going to school, mothers being independent and working, and women striving to be a part of something. Ms. Gomes showed me that women can become queens without a king. But I was still shy\u2014a quiet girl with a lot to say, but with no voice._\n\n_For several years I was a passionate student, always eager to go to school. My mom and my dad were always supportive of me. I could see how hard they worked for my six siblings and me\u2014my mom is a housekeeper at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel and my dad is a cleaner at UMass Boston. They told me every day that I am responsible for my future and my success._\n\n_However, as classes became more rigorous and the material was harder to understand, my parents' motivational speeches were not enough. In sixth and seventh grade, I couldn't keep my grades up, and I began to lose my drive for school._\n\n_In eighth grade, though, I was lucky. I got a support network that kept me from going off track. A group of people believed in my potential and gave me the knowledge and skills that have gotten me where I am today. These were the people of Citizen Schools._\n\n_My team leader, Julianne, would always come over and talk with me. Every time I had a test or quiz at school, Julianne would help me study. Then professionals from Putnam Investments came and taught us interview skills. Two volunteers from the law firm Choate, Hall, & Stewart\u2014Eleanor and Cara\u2014worked with me on writing essays that would be published in a magazine. They became my mentors._\n\n_And every Tuesday and Thursday, I took apprenticeships. I measured my school's carbon footprint one semester, and I tried creative writing. We created stories by observing regular day people during their daily activities. My citizen teacher Jennifer made me read my poem to my peers, where I overcame my shyness._\n\n_Julianne and the teaching fellows took us to visit eight different colleges. I loved visiting Brown and Trinity. A panel of Trinity students talked to us about their experience. Initially, I wasn't sure I wanted to go to college. But I remember one student talked about how Trinity College really made it possible for her to attend college and persevere. I knew that if she could do it, I could overcome any obstacle I face._\n\n_I am proud to say that I've just been admitted to Clark University, where I will major in communications. But I would not have made it into Clark, or even be graduating from the great high school I attend, without Citizen Schools. I wouldn't have discovered my passion for writing. And most importantly, the people I saw coming to my school and giving back made me realize that my aspiration in life is to give back. I am currently writing and performing with_ Teen Voices _magazine, where I use writing to empower other teen girls. My dream is to start a nonprofit for girls, to help them find the confidence that others have helped me find, and give other girls the opportunities that many women never receive._\n\n_All these people\u2014Jennifer, Eleanor, Cara\u2014they saw my talents and potential at the right time in my life, and they helped me reveal it. I'm especially grateful to my team leader, Julianne, who came over and sat next to that shy girl. I'm excited to say that Julianne is here tonight._\n\n_Thank you all. All of you in this room tonight are making it possible for teens to stay on track. You who volunteer, or send your employees to volunteer, are changing kids' lives. Your donations bring Citizen Schools to more schools and help students discover the drive to go to college. You realize that there is nothing more important than education, and you know that you have a role to play in helping teens learn what they want to become in life._\n\n_The girl who walked barefoot on the heat of the Cape Verdean sand_\n\n_With one dress to wear, no money in her hands_\n\n_Is the same girl who is now making her dreams come true_\n\n_Now it's my turn to give back so that everyone can see_\n\n_How this Cape Verdean girl who was a slave to poverty_\n\n_Is now the master of her destiny._\n\n# APPENDIX\n\n# EXPANDED LEARNING TIME SCHEDULE WITH CITIZEN SCHOOLS\n\n# ACKNOWLEDGMENTS\n\nWriting this book brought together my family story, the Citizen Schools story, and a journalistic story about the growing opportunity divide between lower- and upper-income children and what we can do about it. Telling the story was a privilege. But the book would not have been possible without the contributions of many others.\n\nMy parents, Fritz Schwarz and Marian Cross, and my sister, Eliza Schwarz, gracefully accepted that in a book about childhood and opportunity I wanted to talk about my own childhood, which meant talking about them too. Thank you for believing in me when it wasn't easy to and for each being great role models in many ways.\n\nMy children, Ronan and Orla, grew up around Citizen Schools, hanging out in our offices, and at apprenticeships, and WOW! celebrations. I remember when Citizen Schools apprentices held them as babies. Now Ronan, a high schooler, is alumni age, and Orla, if she were in one of our schools, would only have a year remaining before her Citizen Schools graduation. Thank you, Ronan and Orla, for putting up with Dad heading up to the \"man cave\" to work on this book so many evenings and so many weekends. And thank you for allowing me to tell an uncensored version of my childhood story. I feel confident talking about my wayward ways because I am so confident in both of you.\n\nMy wife, Maureen, is an artist and the most amazing storyteller I know. She has been the most important critic and supporter of this book, catching me when I lost my voice or went off track and helping make words and paragraphs and the entire story better. Thank you, Maureen, for being such a loving and passionate mother, and wife, and friend.\n\nI've worked on this book for two years, starting with an initial proposal and outline, gradually adding a few draft chapters, and then, after Beacon Press agreed to publish the book, writing most of the chapters in 2013 at a series of brief writing retreats and on a lot of weekend mornings. Along the way I have benefited from great encouragement and editorial advice worthy of William Strunk and E. B. White, from Susan Heath, Martha Eddison, David Stolow, Joel Horwich, Laura Pappano, Ted Fiske, Mike Kubiak, Melissa Ludtke, Sherif Nada, Diana Smith, Colin Stokes, Emily Bryan, David Shapiro, AnnMaura Connolly, Alexandra Bernadotte, and Jocelyn Glatzer. Each of you helped to make the book better. Thank you. Thanks as well to Ambassador Swanee Hunt and the Hunt Alternatives Fund for supporting the book and a writing retreat at the Columbine Ranch. Thanks as well to the great team at Beacon Press and to my editor, Alexis Rizzuto. Alex, I knew I was going to like you when I learned that Phil Rizzuto was your grand-uncle, and you've never disappointed. It goes without saying that any errors or oversights are my responsibility.\n\nImportant early research assistance came from Nina Barker and Renee Reid. Colin Lacy was my partner over the last year in tracking down footnotes, checking facts, and suggesting improvements to the storyline. And a number of Citizen Schools current or former staff helped me fact-check or track down stories. Thank you to Kelly Bernard, Allyson Crawford, Elle Ward, Rebecca Brown, Ruth Summers, Alana Siegner, Jessica Lander, and Holly Trippitt.\n\nA special thank-you goes to the core team that helped bring Citizen Schools to life and lead its growth. You have made this story possible. Ned Rimer has been a great friend since college and was a tremendous copilot for the first dozen years of Citizen Schools. He joins John Werner, Anita Price, Stephanie Davolos, and Tulaine Montgomery as the fantastic founding team that brought Citizen Schools from idea to reality. So many have made major contributions since then, but I want to particularly call out from the past and current executive staff Anuradha Desai, Adrian Haugabrook, Kate Carpenter Bernier, Lisa Ulrich, Kate Mehr, George Chu, Lori Stevens, Priscilla Cohen, Nell Kisiel, Pat Kirby, Claudia Alfaro, Kait Rogers, and the amazing Emily McCann, now our president, who has been a great partner for the last decade. Five powerful leaders have served as chair or cochair of the Citizen Schools board of directors: Marsha Feinberg and Shashi Rajpal, then Sherif Nada, then Andrew Balson, and most recently Larry Summers. I appreciate each of you and all the board members past and present who have shaped and supported Citizen Schools.\n\nFinally, I would like to thank the amazing volunteer citizen teachers and front-line staff of Citizen Schools who have made the work and the learning fun, and the young apprentices whose big dreams motivate us every day. Helping a child discover and achieve his or her dreams is the noblest job I can imagine, and it has been my great privilege to do it for the last twenty years.\n\n# NOTES\n\nFOREWORD\n\n. Tom Mortenson, \"Bachelor's Degree Attainment by Age 24 by Family Income Quartiles, 1970 to 2012,\" _Postsecondary Education Opportunity_ , 2013.\n\n. National Center for Education Statistics, \"Enrollment Rates of 18- to 24-Year-Olds in Degree-Granting Institutions, by Level of Institution and Sex and Race\/Ethnicity of Student: 1967 Through 2010,\" table 213, August 2011, \n\n. Aparna Mathur, Hao Fu, and Peter Hansen, \"The Mysterious and Alarming Rise of Single Parenthood in America,\" _Atlantic,_ September 2013, .\n\n. \"The 6,000-Hour Learning Gap,\" The After-School Corporation, 2013, . Multiple original sources cited.\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n. \"Distribution of Bachelor's Degrees Awarded by Age 24 by Family Income Quartiles 1970 to 2012,\" _Postsecondary Education Opportunity_ , no. 256 (\u00adOctober 2013), www.postsecondary.org.\n\n. Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds., _Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances_ (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011), 98\u201399.\n\n. Joseph P. Ferrie, \"History Lessons: The End Of American Exceptionalism? Mobility in the United States Since 1850,\" _Journal of Economic Perspectives_ 19, no. 3 (2005), 199\u2013215.\n\n. McKinsey & Company, Social Sector Office, _The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America's Schools_ (April 2009), .\n\n. Duncan and Murnane, _Whither Opportunity?_\n\n. Horace Mann, Twelfth Annual Report to the Massachusetts State Board of Education, 1848.\n\n. Erickson Arcaira, Juliet D. Vile, and Elizabeth R. Reisner, _Achieving High School Graduation: Citizen Schools' Youth Outcomes in Boston_ (Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates, 2010), www.policystudies.com; _Citizen Schools ELT Evaluation: Preliminary Findings_ (Cambridge, MA: Abt Associates, 2013), www.abtassociates.com.\n\n. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), _Education at a Glance 2011: OECD Indicators_ , .\n\n. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), _PISA 2012 Results_ , www.oecd.org\/pisa\/.\n\n. National Science Board, _Science and Engineering Indicators 2012_ (Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, 2012), .\n\n. Duncan and Murnane, _Whither Opportunity?_\n\n. \"Distribution of Bachelor's Degrees Awarded by Age 24 by Family Income Quartiles 1970 to 2012,\" _Postsecondary Education Opportunity_ , no. 256 (\u00adOctober 2013), www.postsecondary.org.\n\n. Joshua Wyner, John Bridgeland, and John Dilulio, _Achievement Trap: How America Is Failing Millions of High-Achieving Students from Lower-Income Families_ (Washington, DC: Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, 2007).\n\n. Duncan and Murnane, _Whither Opportunity?_ , 11.\n\n. Robert D. Putnam, Carl B. Frederick, and Kaisa Snellman, _Growing Class Gaps in Social Connectedness Among American Youth_ (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School of Government, 2012), 13.\n\n. College Board, _Education Pays: Update_ , 2005, . In 1972, the median earnings for males with a bachelor's degree were 22 percent higher than for males with a high school degree.\n\n. Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose, and Ban Cheah, _The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, Lifetime Earnings_ (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2011), .\n\n. Duncan and Murnane, _Whither Opportunity?_ , 339\u201358.\n\nCHAPTER ONE\n\n. Lauren Resnick, \"Learning in School and Out,\" _Educational Researcher_ 16, no. 9 (1987): 13\u201320.\n\n. In the race for the 1984 Democratic nomination, Gary Hart actually won more votes across the primary and caucus season than Walter Mondale, but Mondale secured the votes of most party superdelegates and cruised to a first-ballot win at the convention in San Francisco before being crushed in the general election by President Reagan. Hart was the odds-on favorite for the 1988 Democratic primary until being forced to drop out of the race when the _Miami Herald_ photographed him and a woman who was not his wife aboard a yacht in the Gulf of Mexico.\n\n. Bruce Feiler, _The Secrets of Happy Families: Improve Your Mornings, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More_ (New York: William Morrow, 2013).\n\n. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), _Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2010_ , 185, . Similar data has been found by researchers with the Equality of Opportunity Project, .\n\n. Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline, and Emmanuel Saez, Equality of Opportunity Project, 2013, .\n\nCHAPTER TWO\n\n. Teresa L. Morisi, \"The Early 2000s: A Period of Declining Teen Summer Employment Rates,\" _Monthly Labor Review_ 133, no. 5 (May 2010): 23\u201335.\n\nCHAPTER THREE\n\n. Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics, Core Files (Public Charities, 2010). From Amy S. Blackwood, Katie L. Roeger, and Sarah L. Pettijohn, _The Nonprofit Sector in Brief: Public Charities, Giving, and Volunteering, 2012_ (Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2012), .\n\n. Peter Kim and Jeffrey Bradach, \"Why More Nonprofits Are Getting Bigger,\" _Stanford Social Innovation Review_ (Spring 2012), .\n\nCHAPTER FOUR\n\n. National Commission on Excellence in Education, _A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform_ (April 1983), available at the website of the US Department of Education, .\n\n. Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993, 215.\n\n. Jennifer McMurrer, _NCLB Year 5: Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects_ (Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy, 2008), www.cep-dc.org.\n\nCHAPTER FIVE\n\n. Erikson Arcaira, Juliet D. Vile, and Elizabeth R. Reisner, _Citizen Schools: Achieving High School Graduation; Citizen Schools Youth Outcomes in Boston_ (Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates, 2010); Shaun Kellogg, Brandy Parker, Cheryl Loiselle, and Michael Kubiak, _Achieving High School Success: The Impact of Citizen Schools North Carolina_ (Boston: Citizen Schools Research & Evaluation, 2013).\n\n. Eric Schwarz and Ken Kay, eds., _The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning_ , issue 110, New Directions for Youth Development (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass\/Wiley, 2006).\n\n. Jim Collins, _Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap\u2014and Others Don't_ (New York: HarperBusiness, 2001), 85.\n\nCHAPTER SIX\n\n. Quoted in Kate Carpenter Bernier, _Expanding Learning Time: How the Edwards Middle School in Boston Partnered with Citizen Schools to Transform the Learning Day_ (Boston: Citizen Schools, April 2008), 4.\n\n. In Worcester, Massachusetts, for instance, teachers at the Jacob Hiatt elementary school proposed teaming up with artists from the Worcester Art Museum and historians from the Paul Revere House. But these community-based educators would play an adjunct, not a leading, role.\n\n. Carpenter Bernier, _Expanding Learning Time_ , 10.\n\n. Ibid., 13.\n\n. Randi Weingarten, \"Evidence Matters,\" _New York Times_ , April 23, 2011, available at the website of the American Federation of Teachers, .\n\n. Replicating the Edwards's success at five thousand schools would reach approximately one million sixth graders\u2014or about 25 percent of the sixth-grade cohort and most low-income sixth graders. If these students, on average, closed achievement gaps with their upper-income peers, as happened at the Edwards, our national proficiency rate on international exams like PISA would go up about six percentage points.\n\n. At Orchard Gardens, from 2010 to 2013, the eighth-grade math proficiency rate as measured by the statewide MCAS exams went from 8 percent to 63 percent. During this same time period, math proficiency rates within Boston Public Schools went up by three points (34 to 37) and in the state of Massachusetts they went up by four points (from 51 to 55). At Orchard Gardens, from 2010 to 2013, the eighth-grade English proficiency rate on the statewide MCAS exams went from 36 percent to 74 percent. During this same time, proficiency rates within Boston Public Schools and the state of Massachusetts remained flat, staying at 58 percent and 78 percent respectively.\n\nCHAPTER SEVEN\n\n. On its website the Ashoka Foundation defines _social entrepreneurs_ as \"individuals with innovative solutions to society's most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change. Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to move in different directions\" (www.ashoka.org). The _Wikipedia_ entry on social entrepreneurship (citing \"The Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship\" by the late J. Gregory Dees) gives this definition: \"Social entrepreneurship is the process of pursuing suitable solutions to social problems. More specifically, social entrepreneurs adopt a mission to create and sustain social value. They pursue opportunities to serve this mission, while continuously adapting and learning. They draw upon appropriate thinking in both the business and nonprofit worlds and operate in all kinds of organizations: large and small; new and old; religious and secular; nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid.\" Peter Drucker's observation on entrepreneurs is that they rearrange resources toward higher and better uses; social entrepreneurs seek to do the same toward addressing social challenges.\n\n. Blackbaud, Inc., \"Index of National Fundraising Performance,\" 2013, .\n\n. Eric Schwarz, \"Realizing the American Dream: Historical Scorecard, Current Challenges, Future Opportunities,\" working paper, A Gathering of Leaders: Social Entrepreneurs and Scale in the 21st Century, February 15\u201318, 2005.\n\n. Greg Parks, \"The High\/Scope Perry Preschool Project,\" _Juvenile Justice Bulletin_ (October 2000): 3, available from the website of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, https:\/\/www.ncjrs.gov\/pdffiles1\/ojjdp\/181725.pdf.\n\n. FT 500, 2013, _Financial Times_ , www.ft.com\/intl\/indepth\/ft500.\n\n. \"The 200 Largest US Charities,\" _Forbes_ (2005), . In 2005, Habitat for Humanity was the only organization founded in the last forty years based on cash revenues. When in-kind contributions are included, there were two other organizations that had been founded in the last forty years, Gift In Kind International and AmeriCares.\n\n. Habitat for Humanity, \"About Us,\" .\n\n. Lawrence Mishel, Jared Bernstein, and Heather Boushey, _The State of Working America 2002\/2003_ (Ithaca, NY: ILR Press, 2003), 37\u201349. From 1973 to 2001, the percentage of American families in the lowest economic quartile who owned their homes declined from 51 percent to 49 percent. During this same period, Habitat built tens of thousands of homes for poor families across the country.\n\n. America Forward, _America Forward: Invent, Invest, Involve_ (Boston: New Profit, 2007), www.newprofit.com. This booklet was shared with Obama, McCain, and other candidates. It impacted thinking on reforms, including the Social Innovation Fund, an effort to have the federal government team up with philanthropy to scale proven and promising organizations.\n\n. Barack Obama's first inaugural address, 2009, .\n\n. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, .\n\n. US Department of Education, \"Race to the Top Executive Summary,\" 2009, . In 2009, $4.35 billion was appropriated for the Race to the Top Fund in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The program includes $4 billion for statewide reform grants and $350 million to support states working together to improve the quality of their assessments.\n\n. New America Foundation, Federal Education Budget Project, \"American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Background and Analysis,\" 2012, . Race to the Top funds were later included by Congress in regular appropriations, including nearly $700 million in fiscal year 2011 and almost $550 million in fiscal year 2012 for further rounds of the state competition and an Early Learning Challenge. The bill included language that would allow the department to create a district-level competition and continue the investment in the Early Learning Challenge.\n\n. US Department of Education, \"Investing in Innovation Fund (i3): Funding Status,\" . $650 million was included in the 2009 ARRA for the Investing in Innovation Fund. Almost all of that ($645,978,395) was spent in FY 10. The i3 competition is entering its third year, having been appropriated about $150 million each in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. In FY 2013, there is currently $134 million in estimated available funds.\n\nCHAPTER EIGHT\n\n. Charles T. Clotfelter, \"Patterns of Enrollment and Completion,\" in _Economic Challenges in Higher Education_ , edited by Charles T. Clotfelter et al. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 31, available from the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research, . See also Richard P\u00e9rez-Pe\u00f1a, \"US Bachelor Degree Rate Passes Milestone,\" _New York Times_ , February, 23, 2012, ; Amy K. Glasmeier, _An Atlas of Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart, 1960\u20132003_ (New York: Routledge, 2006), \"Introduction: The Paradox of Poverty in America\" available at the MIT Poverty in America Project website, , and US Census Bureau, \"Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011,\" press release, September 12, 2012, .\n\n. Lawrence A. Cremin, _American Education: The National Experience,_ _1783\u20131876_ (New York: Harper and Row, 1980).\n\n. James J. Kemple, _Career Academies: Long-Term Impacts on Labor Market Outcomes, Educational Attainment, and Transitions to Adulthood_ (New York: MDRC, 2008), .\n\n. High Tech High, \"Results,\" .\n\n. FIRST, www.usfirst.org; iMentor, www.imentor.org; City Year, www.cityyear.org.\n\n. Transcript of Lester Strong video interview, from Shar McBee, \"Why Volunteer with Children? Here's Why,\" _Huffington Post_ , March 26, 2013, . For more on Experience Corps: .\n\n. Nancy Morrow-Howell et al., _Evaluation of Experience Corps: Student Reading Outcomes_ , publication no. 09-01 (St. Louis: Center for Social Development, Washington University in St. Louis, 2009), .\n\n. Lester Strong, speaking on a panel at the Center for American Progress, \"The American Way to Change, How National Service and Volunteers Are Transforming America,\" April 21, 2010, event video at .\n\n. Ibid.\n\n. Rachel Schachter, \"Ambition Musician: Showing Students Real Possibilities,\" Citizen Schools, _InspirED_ (blog), 2012, .\n\n. David Jones, _The Citizen Teacher Experience Study: A Report of Research Results_ (Burlington: University of Vermont, 2012).\n\nCHAPTER NINE\n\n. Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds., _Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances_ (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011), 339\u201358.\n\n. Arne Duncan, \"Making the Middle Schools Matter,\" Remarks at the National Forum's Annual Schools to Watch Conference, June 23, 2011, .\n\n. National Institute of Mental Health, \"Imaging Study Shows Brain Maturing,\" press release, May 17, 2014, . \"The brain's center of reasoning and problem solving is among the last to mature. The decade-long magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study of normal brain development, from ages four to twenty-one, by researchers at NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) shows that such 'higher-order' brain centers, such as the prefrontal cortex, don't fully develop until young adulthood. . . . In the late 1990s, NIMH's Dr. Jay Giedd, a coauthor of the current study, and colleagues discovered a second wave of overproduction of gray matter just prior to puberty, followed by a second bout of \"use-it-or-lose-it\" pruning during the teen years. . . . Areas with more advanced functions\u2014integrating information from the senses, reasoning, and other 'executive' functions (prefrontal cortex)\u2014mature last.\"\n\n. Common Core State Standards Initiative, .\n\n. Rolf K. Blank, _What Is the Impact of Decline in Science Instructional Time in Elementary School?_ , prepared for the Noyce Foundation, 2012, available at the website of the Council of State Science Supervisors, .\n\n. Valerie Strauss, \"Survey: Teachers Work 53 Hours Per Week on Average,\" _Answer Sheet_ (blog), _Washington Post_ , March 16, 2012, .\n\n. Jessica Edwards, _Mapping the Field: A Report on Expanded-Time Schools in America_ (Boston: National Center on Time and Learning, 2012), .\n\n. Thomas Kuhn, _The Structure of Scientific Revolutions_ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962).\n\n. Malcolm Gladwell, _Outliers: The Story of Success_ (New York: Little, Brown, 2008).\n\n. Ibid., 2.\n\n. Ibid., 23.\n\nCHAPTER TEN\n\n. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), \"Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Results from PISA 2012: United States,\" . See also Kyung Hee Kim, \"The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking,\" _Creativity Research Journal_ 23, no. 4 (2001): 285\u201395.\n\n. Blank, _What Is the Impact of Decline in Science Instructional Time in Elementary School?_ , 8.\n\n. Robert Tai, Christine Qi Liu, Adam Maltese, and Xitao Fan, \"Planning Early for Careers in Science,\" _Science_ 312 (May 2006).\n\n. Lemelson-MIT Program, \"2010 Lemelson-MIT Invention Index Reveals Ways to Enhance Teens' Interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in the Classroom and Beyond,\" press release, January 28, 2010, .\n\n. US Congress Joint Economic Committee, _STEM Education: Preparing for the Jobs of the Future_ , 2012, .\n\n. National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, \"African Americans in Engineering,\" _NACME Research & Policy Brief_ 1, no. 4 (February 2012), .\n\n. Richard J. Murnane and Frank Levy, _Teaching the New Basic Skills: Principles for Educating Children to Thrive in a Changing Economy_ (New York: Free Press, 1996).\n\n. Richard Murnane, presentation at Reimagining After-School: A Symposium on Learning and Leading in the 21st Century, April 29, 2004, Cambridge, MA.\n\n. IBM, \"IBM 2010 Global CEO Study: Creativity Selected as Most Crucial Factor for Future Success,\" press release, May 18, 2010, .\n\n. Kyung Hee Kim, \"The Creativity Crisis: The Decrease in Creative Thinking Scores on the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking,\" _Creativity Research Journal_ 23, no. 4 (2011), 285\u201395.\n\n. Peter Gray, \"As Children's Freedom Has Declined, So Has Their Creativity,\" _Freedom to Learn_ (blog), _Psychology Today_ , September 17, 2012, .\n\n. 100Kin10, .\n\n. White House, \"New Details: President Obama to Host White House Science Fair,\" press release, April 22, 2013, . See also \"Remarks by the President at the White House Science Fair,\" April 22, 2013, .\n\n. Walter Isaacson, _Steve Jobs_ (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011).\n\n. Richard Florida, _The Rise of the Creative Class and How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community, and Everyday Life_ , rev. ed. (New York: Basic Books, 2012).\n\nCHAPTER ELEVEN\n\n. Robert D. Putnam, Carl B. Frederick, and Kaisa Snellman, \"Growing Class Gaps in Social Connectedness Among American Youth,\" paper presented at the Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America, Cambridge, MA, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, August 8, 2012, p. 19, available at www.hks.harvard.edu.\n\n. Ibid.\n\n. Author's notes from interviews of those attending the Aspen Ideas Festival, 2012.\n\n. Putnam, Frederick, and Snellman, \"Growing Class Gaps,\" 11. \"Participation in chess clubs, debate teams, school bands, and student councils bolster self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, boost high school grade point average, shape educational aspirations and attainment, as well as wages and occupational choice (Lamborn et al., 1992; Newmann et al., 1992; Eccles and Barber, 1999; Borghans et al., 2011).\"\n\n. Ibid., 11\u201317.\n\n. Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane, eds., _Whither Opportunity? Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances_ (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011).\n\n. James S. Coleman, \"Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital,\" _American Journal of Sociology_ 94 (1988): 95\u2013120.\n\n. Sean F. Reardon, \"The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations,\" in _Whither Opportunity?_ , eds. Duncan and Murnane, .\n\n. Richard Florida, \"Where the Skills Are,\" _Atlantic_ , October 2011.\n\n. Ibid.\n\n. Robert D. Putnam, _Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community_ (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), 405.\n\n. Tom Wolfe, _The Bonfire of the Vanities_ (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1987).\n\n. Jennifer Engle and Vincent Tinto, _Moving Beyond Access: College Success for Low-Income, First-Generation Students_ (Washington, DC: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, 2008), .\n\n. Nancy DiTomaso, \"How Social Networks Drive Black Unemployment,\" _New York Times_ , May 5, 2012, _Opinionator_ (blog), .\n\n. Paul Tough, _How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character_ (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012).\n\nCHAPTER TWELVE\n\n. Randi Weingarten, \"Evidence Matters,\" _New York Times_ , April 23, 2011, available at the website of the American Federation of Teachers, .\n\n. Boston Teachers Union, _e-Bulletin_ 22, December 13, 2011, .\n\n. Matthew Ronfeldt, Susanna Loeb, and James Wyckoff, \"How Teacher Turnover Harms Student Achievement,\" _American Educational Research Journal_ 50, no. 1 (2013): 4\u201336.\n\n. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, \"The Number of Practicing Primary Care Physicians in the United States,\" 2010, .\n\n. Frederick M. Hess, _The Same Thing Over and Over: How School Reformers Get Stuck in Yesterday's Ideas_ (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010).\n\n. Benjamin Scafidi, _The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America's Public Schools_ (Indianapolis: Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, 2012), . Note: Data from US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 _Digest of Education Statistics_ , table 76, and the 2011 _Digest of Education Statistics_ , table 69.\n\n. Catherine Rampell, \"The Lawyer Surplus, State by State,\" _Economix_ (blog), _New York Times_ , June 27, 2011, .\n\n. Frederick Hess, \"How to Get the Teachers We Want,\" _Education Next_ 9, no. 3 (2009): 34\u201339, .\n\n. For more information on these types of programs, see EnCorps, , and Encore Fellowships, .\n\n. These programs include partnership with Relay GSE, Reach, the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Education, and the Drexel Universtity Graduate School of Eduction alternative certification and master's programs.\n\n. Afterschool Alliance, \"Afterschool Essentials: Research and Polling,\" 2012, .\n\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN\n\n. Clive Belfield, _The Economic Value of National Service_ (New York: Center for Benefit-Cost Studies of Education, Teachers College Columbia University, 2013), .\n\n. Rob Reich, \"Not Very Giving,\" _New York Times_ , September 4, 2013, .\n\n. National Academies Foundation, www.naf.org; Met, www.metcenter.org; High Tech High, www.hightechhigh.org.\n\n# INDEX\n\nPlease note that page numbers are not accurate for the e-book edition.\n\nAbecedarian Project, 108\n\nacademic disengagement, 21\n\nacademic skills, 12, 63, 66, 68, 89, 152\n\naccountability, 86, 88\n\nachievement gap, 63, 195; class-based, 4\u20135, 12\u201315; closing of, 68, 92, 101\u20132; debate over cause of, 14\u201315; early-childhood education and, 108; income-based, 3\u20135, 9\u201310; race-based, xi, xiii; school-related factors in, 14\u201315\n\nadolescents, 23\u201324, 41, 50\n\naffiliate model of nonprofits. _See_ franchise model of nonprofits\n\nAfrican Americans: achievement gap and, xi; college completion rate for, 125; STEM careers and, 152\n\nThe After-School Corporation (TASC), 73\u201375, 142\u201343\n\nafter-school programs, 50, 86, 137\u201338, 143, 155\u201357, 185; After-School Corporation (TASC), 73\u201375; for English-language learners, 143; Massachusetts 2020, 77. _See also_ Expanded Learning Time (ELT) program; out-of-school experiences\n\nAIM (Aspire, Invest, Make the grade), 68\n\nAltonji, Joseph, 14\n\nAmateur Athletic Union (AAU), 137\n\nAmerican Federation of Teachers (AFT), 176\n\nAmeriCorps, 78, 89, 110, 112, 199; funding of, 196; teaching fellows, 67, 89, 97, 142, 178, 190\u201392\n\nanalytical skills, 166\u201367\n\nApple Computer, 103\u20134, 159\n\napprenticeships, 6\u20139, 23, 41\u201343, 78\u201379; carpentry, 58\u201359; cognitive, 23; fading, 23; modeling success, 23; scaffolding, 23; format for, 68; power of, 127\u201332\n\nart, 63, 139\u201340\n\nassessment data, 181\n\nat-risk students, 68\n\nBain Capital, 71, 105, 114\n\nBaiz, David, 180\n\nBalson, Andrew, 71\n\nBarnsley, Roger, 149\n\nBarrett, Michael, 42\n\nBarriga, Adam, 1\u20132, 97, 194\n\nBarriga, Eduardo, 3, 94\n\nbasic skills, priority on, 152\u201354\n\nBeasley, Caroline, 90\n\nbehavior management, 60\n\nBennett, Joel, 10\u201311, 58\u201359\n\nBogy, Tyeisha, 156\n\nbonding social capital, 167\u201368\n\nBoston City Singers, 137\n\nBoston Teachers Union, 176\n\n_Bowling Alone_ (Putnam), 164\u201365, 167\n\nBradach, Jeff, 73\n\nbranding, 76\u201377\n\nBridgespan, 70\n\nbridging social capital, 168\n\nBrookline, Massachusetts, 14\u201315\n\nBrown, Michael, 103, 115\n\nBryan, Emily, 91\u201392, 94\u201397\n\nBurke, Gil, 23\n\nBushkin, Kathy, 26\n\nBusiness Planning Council, 78\u201379\n\nCampbell, Karen Webb, 132\n\ncampus directors, 67\n\ncapitalism, 12\n\ncareer success: education and, 13; social capital and, 166\u201367\n\nCarnegie Corporation, 157\n\ncarpentry apprenticeship, 58\u201359\n\nCarter, Jimmy, 110\n\n_The Case for Twenty-First Century Learning_ (Schwarz and Kay), 78\n\nCastillo, Yoelinson, 83\n\nChambers, Ray, 55\n\ncharter schools, 62, 95, 113, 143, 177, 185\n\nChina, college graduation rates in, 11\n\nchurch attendance and social networks, 165, 166\n\ncitizen power, 124\u201334, 142, 195\n\nCitizen Schools: accomplishments of, 9\u201310; after-school programs, 52\u201353, 66; approach of, xii\u2013xiii; beginnings of, 5\u20139; benefits of, 64\u201365; challenges for, 48\u201349, 60, 63\u201364, 78\u201381; curriculum changes in, 66; ELT program and, 142; evaluation of, 68\u201369; founding staff of, 47\u201348, 54\u201355; fund-raising for, 56\u201357, 70\u201372, 78; growth of, 9\u201310, 58\u201361, 69, 72\u201381, 105, 116\u201317; i3 grant and, 114\u201317; idea for, 41\u201344; launch of, 40\u201357; national expansion of, 75\u201381; organizational infrastructure of, 66\u201381; protocols for, 60\u201361; Race to the Top and, 113; scaling, 114\u201315; staffing model of, 67; teacher support and, 176\u201385; Teaching Fellow program, 67, 78, 88\u201389, 97, 142, 178\u201385, 190\u201392; transformation of, 101\u20132; volunteers, 46, 48, 60, 64, 67\u201368, 97\u2013101, 120\u201323, 131\u201334; WOW! events, 1\u20133, 49\u201352, 54, 61, 126. _See also_ Clarence Edwards Middle School; Expanded Learning Time (ELT) program\n\ncitizen teachers, 7\u20139, 43, 48, 104, 184, 199; experiences of, 120\u201323; impact of, 97\u2013101, 127\u201334; training of, 67\u201368. _See also_ volunteers\/volunteering\n\nCity Year, 8, 45, 54, 73, 115; author's employment with, 40\u201341, 81, 103; as example of citizen power, 127; as model for Citizen Schools, 105\n\nClarence Edwards Middle School (Boston): ELT program at, 82, 85\u2013102; problems at, 82\u201384, 89\u201390; reforms at, 84\u201387; teacher buy-in at, 88; teachers at, 94\u201397; tensions at, 90\u201391; transformation at, 92\u2013101\n\nclass divide, xiii, 4\u20135, 12\u201315, 165\n\ncoaching, 23\n\nCoffey, Maureen, 46, 52, 168\n\ncognitive apprenticeships, 23\n\nCognizant, 133\n\nCohen, Ed, 45\n\nCohen, Priscilla, 69\n\nColeman, James S., 165\u201366\n\ncollege completion rate, xi, 11\u201312, 125, 172, 188\n\ncollege enrollment, 69, 102, 127\n\ncollege graduates, 11\u201312; earnings of, 13; first-generation, 170\u201372; skills of, 13\n\nCollegiate School (New York City), 19\u201320\n\nCollins, Jim, 81\n\nCommon Core curriculum, 140, 188\n\ncommunication skills, 153\n\ncompany-owned store approach, 73, 79\n\ncompetitive drive, 27\u201328\n\ncomputer science classes, 152\n\nconfidence, role in success, 22, 31, 65, 173\u201374\n\nco-teaching, 179\n\ncreative class, 160\n\ncreativity, 10, 118, 139, 151\u201363\n\ncrime, 185\n\nCromer, Mary, 24\u201325\n\nCross, Marian Lapsley, 27\n\ncrowdsourcing, 112\n\ncultural reform, 106, 110\n\ncurriculum development, 67\u201368\n\nDaccord, Deb, 10, 169\u201370, 173\n\nDARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), 160\n\nDavolos, Stephanie, 54\u201358\n\nDees, Greg, 73\n\nDeLatte, Marcus, 128\u201329, 152\n\ndemocracy, 12\n\nDepartment of Education, 113, 115, 116\n\nDepartment of Energy, 112\n\nDepina, Agostinha, 201\u20134\n\nDesai, Anuradha, 70\u201371\n\n_Dever (MA) Community News_ , 8\u20139, 43\u201344\n\nDever Elementary School (Boston), 7, 43, 52, 59, 63, 88, 187\u201388\n\nDiTomaso, Nancy, 173\n\nDougherty, Dale, 160\n\ndropout rates, 63, 93\n\nDrucker, Peter, 117\n\nDu Bois, W. E. B., xiii\n\nDukeshire, Erin, 177\u201378\n\nDuncan, Arne, 113, 139\n\nDuncan, Greg, 12\n\nearly-childhood education, 107\u20139\n\nearly-stage professionals, 133\n\nEchoing Green, 45\n\neconomies of scale, 108\n\neconomy, influence of social capital on, 166\u201367\n\nEdmeade, Stephanie, 84, 94\n\nEdna McConnell Clark Foundation, 71\n\neducation: career success and, 13; early-childhood, 107\u20139; as equalizer, 5\u20136; funding, 62; K\u201312, 104; STEM, 113, 151\u201352, 157\u201359, 198; system, 182\u201383; systemic change in, 103\u201310, 113\n\neducation reform, 61\u201364, 84, 104\u20135, 124; Investing in Innovation (i3), 114\u201317; plan for, 194\u2013200; Race to the Top initiative, 112\u201314\n\nEdward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, 112, 196\n\n8th Grade Academy, 66, 170\n\nEinstein Fellowship, 159\n\nElementary and Secondary Education Act, 198\n\nEmerson, Ralph Waldo, 44\n\nemployment inequality, 173\n\nemployment opportunities, 39\n\nEngels, Kendra, 180\u201381\n\nengineers, 11, 152\n\nEnglish language arts (ELA), 140\u201341\n\nEnglish language learners (ELLs), 1, 143, 181\n\nenrichment experiences, 3, 5, 12\u201314, 63, 94\u201395, 136\u201339. _See also_ apprenticeships; extracurricular activities; out-of-school experiences\n\nentry-level jobs, skills needed for, 153\u201354\n\nEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA), 112\n\nequal opportunity: ideal of, x, 164; steps to improve, 194\u2013200; in Europe, xi; in US, xi\n\nErikson, Erik, 24\n\nEscalante, Jaime, 174\u201375\n\nescape velocity, 32\n\nExpanded Learning Time (ELT) program, 2, 82, 104\u20135, 142; at the Clarence Edwards Middle School, 85\u2013102; expansion of, 101\u20132, 196\u201397; funding of, 198, 199; grant for, 86\u201387, 114\u201317; reasons for lack of broad adoption of, 146\u201349; results from, 101\u20132; stresses and challenges of, 143\u201346; teacher support and, 176\u201382; time schedule for, 205\n\nExperience Corps, 129\u201331\n\nextended-day learning, 135\u201349, 177\u201378, 185. _See also_ Expanded Learning Time (ELT) program\n\nexternal focus in organizations, 80\u201381\n\nextracurricular activities, 136\u201339, 166. _See also_ enrichment experiences\n\nFAO Schwarz, 29\u201330\n\nFeiler, Bruce, 30\n\nFeinberg, Marsha, 55\n\nfinancial aid, xi\n\nFIRST, 127\n\nfirst-generation college students, 170\u201372\n\nFlanagan, Leo, 93\u201395\n\nFlorida, Richard, 160, 165, 166\u201367\n\nforeign language, 140\n\n4-H, 127\n\nfranchise model for nonprofits, 72\u201378, 110\n\nFrank Friday assessments, 60\u201361\n\nFriedman, Lucy, 74\n\nFuller, Millard, 110\n\nfund-raising, 56\u201357, 70\u201372, 78\n\nGabrieli, Chris, 77\u201378. _See also_ Massachusetts 2020\n\nGarfield School (Brighton, MA), 60, 61\n\nGates, Bill, 148\n\nGeneral Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), 154\n\nGenera, Luis, 90\n\nGeneration Schools, 185\n\ngenetics, 147\n\nGergen, David, 106\u20137, 108\n\ngift giving, 59\n\nGirl Scouts, 127\n\nGladwell, Malcolm, 147\u201349\n\nGlobal Network Navigator (GNN), 160\n\nGordon, Robert, 112\n\ngovernment: actions by, to improve equal opportunity, 196\u2013200; funding, 108\u201310, 112, 113, 196, 198; role of, in nonprofit sector, 111\u201312\n\nGreenlaw, Mark, 133\n\ngrowth models for nonprofits, 72\u201378\n\nHabitat for Humanity, 109\u201310\n\nhands-on projects, 1, 2\u20133, 6, 19, 51, 63, 88\u201389, 151, 198. _See also_ apprenticeships; learning-by-doing approach\n\nHarbor Point housing community (Boston), 7\n\nHarrington, Barry, 105\n\nHart, Gary, 24\u201327, 42, 70, 168\n\nHead Start, 107\u20139\n\nHelies, Tony, 85\u201386, 97\u2013101\n\nHess, Rick, 183\n\nhigher-order thinking skills, 152\u201354, 188\n\nhigh school graduation rates, 68, 102, 106, 127, 188\n\nhigh school sports, 166\n\nhigh-stakes testing, 62\u201364, 151, 181\n\nHigh Tech High, 126\u201327\n\nhigh-wage jobs, 13\n\nhiring process, 153\u201354\n\nHirsch, E. D., 152\n\nhockey players, 148\u201349\n\nHoldren, John, 158\n\nhomework, 21, 32, 68, 178\n\nHudy, Joey, 161\n\nHughes, Brendan, 47\n\nhuman service businesses, 105\n\nHunt, Jim, 135\u201336\n\ni3. _See_ Investing in Innovation (i3)\n\nIBM, 103\u20134, 154\n\niMentor, 127\n\nimmigrant identity, 37\n\nincome inequality, 3\u20134, 12\n\ninequality: in education, 195; employment, 173; income, 3\u20134, 12; increase in, xi; of opportunity, 164, 305\n\ninnovation, 10, 118, 151, 157, 159\u201363\n\nintergenerational self, 31\n\ninternal focus in organizations, 80\u201381\n\ninternships, 6, 23, 24, 32, 39, 126, 158, 200\n\nInvesting in Innovation (i3), 113, 114\u201317\n\nIsaac Newton Expanded Learning Time Middle School, 184\u201385\n\nJobs, Steve, 103, 104, 159\n\nJohn F. Kennedy School of Government, 45\n\nJones, David, 133\u201334\n\nJumpStart, 105\n\njunior teachers, 185\n\nK\u201312 education, 104\n\nKamen, Dean, 127\n\nKanter, Rosabeth Moss, 155\n\nKennedy, John, Jr., 20\n\nKenney, Jack, 22\n\nKhan Academy, 184\n\nKhazei, Alan, 103\n\nKikuko, 48\n\nKim, Kyung Hee, 155\n\nKIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program), 115\n\nKirby, Pat, 145\n\nKirsch, Vanessa, 45\n\nknowledge-based economy, 12\n\nKopp, Wendy, 45\n\nKuhn, Thomas, 146\u201347\n\nKumon, 138\n\nlabor market, 166\u201367\n\nleadership opportunities, for teachers, 181\u201382\n\nlearning by doing approach, 54, 56, 60; _See also_ apprenticeships; hands-on projects\n\nlearning experiences, positive, 21\u201323, 32\n\nlearning opportunities: extra, 3, 5, 13\u201314, 63, 94\u201395, 136\u201339, 166; unequal access to, 136\u201337, 195\n\nlearning time, 42, 104, 124, 135\u201349; expanded, 9, 10, 77\u201378, 86\u201387, 118, 195; importance of, 147\u201349; insufficient, 139\u201341, 151; staffing extra, 142\u201343; unequal access to, 136\u201337. _See also_ Expanded Learning Time (ELT) program\n\nLesley University, 67\n\nlesson plans, 60\n\nLevy, Frank, 153\u201354\n\nLieberman, Aaron, 45\n\nlife skills, sharing, 6\u20137\n\nLight, Sarah, 47\n\nLincoln, Abraham, 195\n\nlow-income students, 1; academic skills of, 12; building blocks of success for, 117\u201318; childhood experiences for, 31\u201333, 35, 36\u201339, 165\u201366; college completion rate of, 12; disadvantages for, 4, 32\u201333, 165\u201366, 195; expectations of, 14, 147; opportunities for, 13\u201314; work experiences for, 39\n\nlow-skilled jobs, 13\n\n_MAKE_ magazine, 160\n\nMaker Corps, 160\u201361\n\nMaker Education Initiative (Maker Ed), 160\u201361\n\nmaker movement, 159\u201363; Maker Faires, 161\u201363\n\nMann, Horace, 6\n\nMansfield, Richard, 14\n\nMantus, David, 2\u20133, 10, 94, 97\u201399, 152, 159, 194\n\nMAP (Middle School Apprenticeship Program), 76\n\nMascoll, Keith, 47\n\nMassachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS), 62\u201363, 83, 92\n\nMassachusetts Department of Education, 86\u201387\n\nMassachusetts Education Reform Act (1993), 62\n\nMassachusetts 2020, 77\u201378, 86\u201387\n\nMATCH charter school (Boston), 143\n\nMatch Corps, 143\n\nmath instruction, 11, 140, 143\n\nMcAfee, Chuck, 83\n\nMcCann, Emily, 69\u201370\n\nMcCormack Middle School (Boston), 52\u201353\n\nMcKeen, Cindy, 82\u201383, 94\n\nMcKinney, David, 178\n\nmedical system in US, as compared to US education system, 182\n\nMendez, Nydia, 7, 43, 63, 88\n\nmentors\/mentoring, 10, 31, 118, \u00ad127\u201334, 169; advertising campaign for, 196; teachers as, 180\u201381\n\nmeritocracy, 149\n\nmerit pay, 113\n\nMersereau, Bob, 132\u201333\n\nMet School (Providence, RI), 126\u201327\n\nmiddle school, 139\u201341; middle school students, 74\u201375\n\nMiran, Seth, 184\n\nMitchell, Hetty, 188\n\nmoderate-income students, 4\n\nMontessori, Maria, 19\n\nMontessori schools, 19\n\nMontgomery, Tulaine, 54\u201357, 60\u201361\n\nMorgan, Dan, 28\n\nmothers, shared experiences of, 50\u201351. _See also_ parents\n\nMurnane, Richard, 12, 153\u201354\n\nmusic, 63, 139\u201340\n\nNada, Sherif, 77\n\nNational Academies Foundation (NAF), 126\n\n_A Nation at Risk_ (report), 61\u201362\n\nnature vs. nurture debate, 147\u201348\n\nNelson, Lisa, 184\n\nNew Profit Inc., 106\n\nNew York Maker Faire, 161\u201363. _See also_ maker movement\n\nNo Child Left Behind Act, 198\n\nnonacademic skills, 175\n\nnonprofit organizations: building blocks of, 46; funding and growth of, 44\u201345, 108\u20139, 112, 114\u201317; Obama election and, 111; scale and spread of, 105, 109\u201310\n\nObama, Barack, 110\u201313, 158, 159\n\nObama, Michelle, 111\n\n100Kin10, 157\n\nonline learning, 184\n\nopportunity: building blocks of, 10\u201311; employment, 39; equal, x, xi, 164; gap, wealth-based, 3\u20135; steps to improve equal, 194\u2013200; for upper-income students, 12\u201313, 14, 136\u201339; wealth and, 31\n\nopportunity equation, 3, 12\u201313, 33, 59\n\noptimism vs. skepticism in nonprofit organizations, 80\u201381\n\nOrchard Gardens school (Boston), 177\u201378\n\norganizational reform, 106\n\nout-of-school experiences, 3, 5, 12\u201314, 20\u201323, 39, 42. _See also_ enrichment experiences; extracurricular activities\n\nparents, 188; concerns of, 50\u201351; as models of success, 14, 23, 27\u201329; relationships between teachers and, 186\u201387; support for, 10, 185\u201387; support of, 22\u201323, 27, 32, 118; time spent with, 13, 166\n\nPerry Preschool Project, 107, 108\n\nperseverance, 157\n\nphilanthropy, 71\u201372, 112, 197\u201398\n\nPicciolini, Britton, 132\n\nPinsky, Biz, 47\u201348\n\nPinsky, Robert, 48\n\npolitical reform, 106, 110\n\npoor children. _See_ low-income students\n\npoverty, 14, 117; escaping from, 31\u201333; increase in, 106; and consequences of making mistakes, 32\u201333\n\nPower Learning Out of School apprenticeship, 156\u201357\n\npractice time, 147\u201349\n\nPrice, Anita, 46, 47, 55, 80\n\nprivate schools, 19\u201323\n\nproblem-solving skills, 151, 156\n\nprofessionalization, 80\n\nProskauer, Tim, 48\n\npublic schools, 117, 189; criticism of, 4, 176; funding of, 113; private donations to, 197\u201398, 199. _See also_ schools\n\nPutnam, Robert, 164\u201365, 167\u201368\n\nrace-based achievement gap, xi, xiii\n\nRace to the Top initiative, 112\u201314, 198\n\nracial equality, xi\u2013xii\n\nreal-world experiences, 127\u201328, 158, 180. _See also_ apprenticeships; hands-on projects\n\nrecruitment, 89\n\nReich, Rob, 197\n\nReimagining After-School symposium series, 78, 155\u201357\n\nReServe, 130\n\nResnick, Lauren, 23\n\nRetired and Senior Volunteer Program, 130\n\nretired volunteers, 129\u201331\n\nReville, Paul, 5, 87\n\nRiley, Jeff, 85, 93\n\nRimer, Ned, 46, 53, 55\u201356, 69, 171, 172, 173\n\nRobin Hood financing scheme, 62\n\nRobinson, Steve, 158\u201359\n\nRodgers, Charles, 75\n\nRodgers, Fran, 75\n\nRodriguez, Anthony, 161\u201362\n\nrole models, 27\u201331, 51, 127\u201328, 152, 169\n\nRomaine, McCalvin, 150\u201351\n\nRorie, Denis, 48, 186\n\nRothschild, Katie Brown, 179\u201380\n\nSabin, Mike, 85\u201386, 87, 88, 92, 93\n\nSaintil, Emmanuel, 90\n\nscale, of nonprofits, 105, 108\u201310, 114, 194\n\nSchachter, Rachel, 132\n\nschool day: in Boston, \u201384; ELT grant, 87; length of, 10, 42, 74, 78, 104, 118, 135\u201349, 151; and Massachusetts 2020, 77, 86; typical schedule for, 139\u201341. _See also_ learning time\n\nSchool Improvement Grants, 198\n\nschool-reform movement, 61\u201364\n\nschools: accountability for, 86; changing climate of, 62\u201363; charter, 62, 95, 113, 143, 177, 185; disengagement from, 21; funding of, 62, 113; leadership opportunities in, 181\u201382; private, 19\u201323; private donations to, 197\u201398, 199; role of, in achievement gap, 14\u201315\n\nschools of education, 62\n\nschool year, length of, 42\n\nSchwarz, Frederick, 29\n\nSchwarz, Fritz (author's grandfather), 27, 29, 30\n\nSchwarz, Henry (author's great-grandfather), 30\n\nscience in schools, 11, 63, 141, 143, 151\u201352, 157\n\nscience, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, 113, 151\u201352, 157\u201359, 198\n\nscientific thinking, 151\n\nSelby, Moriska, 90, 97\n\nsenior citizen volunteers, 129\u201331\n\nServe America Act, 112, 196\n\nShaheen, Jeanne, 26\n\nShea, Barbara, 15\n\nShearer, Earline, 11\n\nSheckel, Sara, 178\u201379, 182\n\nSherman, Robert, 56\u201357\n\nShore, Bill, 26\n\nSinger, Henry, 41\n\nskepticism vs. optimism in nonprofit organizations, 80\u201381\n\nSkloot, Ed, 56\n\nSkoll, Jeff, 111\n\nSkoll World Forum, 111\n\nSmalt, Lindy, 190\u201392\n\nsocial capital, 125, 139, 164\u201375; effect on world economy, 166\u201367\n\nsocial change, 106\u201310\n\nsocial entrepreneurs, 45, 106, 111, 199\u2013200\n\nSocial Innovation Fund, 112\n\nsocial media, 165\n\nsocial mobility, xi, 31\u201332, 33\n\nsocial networks, 10, 102, 118, 139, 165\u201366, 173\u201375, 195\n\nsocial skills, 4, 10, 102, 118, 139, 165, 167, 195\n\nsocial studies, 63, 141, 143\n\nSoros, George, 74\n\nspecial-education students, 143\u201346\n\nspecial-education teachers, 183\n\nsports, 139\u201340, 166\n\nspread, of nonprofits, 105, 108\u20139\n\nstaffing model, 67, 75\n\n_Stand and Deliver_ (film), 174\u201375\n\nstandardized testing, 62\u201364, 151, 181, 188\n\nSTEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education, 113, 151\u201352, 157\u201359, 198; professionals, 157\u201358, 159, 198\n\nStockdale, James, 81; Stockdale Paradox, 81\n\nStrong, Lester, 129\u201331\n\nstudent engagement, 101, 102\n\nStudent Leadership Council, 90\u201391\n\nstudent motivation, 180\n\nstudent outcomes, 68\u201369, 101\u20132\n\nStudents for Hart, 26\n\nstudy hall, 140\n\nSturz, Herb, 74\n\nSu, Alan, 10\u201311, 97\u201398, 133, 159\n\nsuburban teachers, 177\n\nsuccess: building blocks of, 117\u201318; factors in, 147\u201349; models of, 14, 23, 27\u201331, 43\n\nSullivan, Kerry, 115\n\nsummer camps, xii, 12, 22\u201323, 39, 41\u201342\n\nsummer programs, 67\n\nsupplemental learning, 136\u201339\n\nSurdna Foundation, 56\n\nTai, Robert, 151\n\nTamarack Tennis Camp, 22, 41\n\nTASC (The After-School Corporation), 73\u201375, 142\u201343\n\ntax breaks, 197\n\nTaylor, Jeff, 156\n\nteacher conferences, 21\n\nteachers, 189; attitudes of, toward Citizen Schools, 176, 187\u201388; blame of, 117; buy-in from, 88; collaboration between, 179; evaluation of, 113; junior, 185; levels of, 183\u201384; licensure standards for, 62; as mentors, 180\u201381; merit pay for, 113; number of, 182\u201383; pathways to leadership for, 181\u201382; quality of, 14, 136; recruitment of, 89, 183; relationships between parents and, 186\u201387; role of, \u00ad182\u201385; science and math, 157, 158\u201359; special-education, 183; suburban, 177; support for, 10, 176\u201385; supportive, 37, 118; turnover rates, 177; work day for, 142. _See also_ citizen teachers\n\nteachers' unions, 117, 176\n\nTeach For America, 67, 105, 115\n\n_Teaching the New Basic Skills_ (Murnane and Levy), 153\u201354\n\nteamwork, 152, 153, 157\n\nTechBoston High School, 170\n\ntechnology skills, 153\n\ntelevision, 185\n\ntest scores, 62, 92, 94, 113, 177, 181\n\nTherapeutic Learning Community (TLC), 144\n\nThomas, Joyce King, 120\u201323\n\nTime for Innovation Matters in Education (TIME) Act, 93, 196\u201397\n\nTimilty School (Roxbury, MA), 60, 61\n\nTitle I funding, 198\n\nTkacik, Margie, 7, 43, 189\n\nTocqueville, Alexis de, 125\n\ntraining, 67\u201368, 89\n\nTucker, Jake, 48\n\ntutors\/tutoring, 137, 138, 143, 166\n\n21st Century Community Learning Centers program, 198\n\ntwenty-first-century skills, 152\u201357\n\nUnited States: class divide in, xiii, 4\u20135, 12\u201315, 165; college graduation rate in, xi, 11\u201312, 125, 172, 188; decline of creativity in, 155; equal opportunity in, x\u2013xi; social mobility in, 31\u201332, 33\n\nUniversity of Vermont, 170\u201372\n\nupper-income students: advantages of, 3\u20135, 12\u201315, 136\u201337, 165\u201366, 195; childhood experiences for, 18\u201323, 27\u201331, 165\u201366; college completion rate of, 12; expectations of, 14; opportunities for, 12\u201313, 14, 136\u201339\n\nUpward Bound, 170\n\nurban schools, 82, 86\u201387, 93, 94\u201395\n\nUS2020, 158, 161, 199\n\nvideo games, 185\n\nviolence, 89\u201390; in schools, 82\u201383, 86\n\nvision, 80, 147\n\nVISTA, 199\n\nvolunteers\/volunteering, 11, 46, 48, 60, 64, 97\u2013101, 120\u201323, 196, 199; benefits for, 131\u201334; impact of, 127\u201334; senior citizens, 129\u201331; training of, 67\u201368\n\n_Wandenchaft_ (wanderlust) period, importance for adolescents, 24\n\n_Webby v. Dukakis_ , 62\n\nWeikart, David, 107\n\nWeingarten, Randi, 93, 176\n\nWerner, John, 46, 47, 55, 60\n\nWest Side Montessori School (New York City), 19\n\nWFD, 75\u201377\n\nWGBH-TV, 114\n\nWiatrowski, Lynn, 115\n\nWilliam H. Lincoln School (Brookline, MA), 14\u201315, 136\n\nWolfe, Tom, 168\n\nWoodrow Wilson School (Dorchester, MA), 58\u201359\n\nworkers, educated, 12\n\nwork experiences, 24\u201327, 37\u201339\n\nWork\/Family Directions (WFD), 75\u201377\n\nwork skills, 153\u201355, 166\u201367\n\nWOW! events, 1\u20133, 49\u201352, 54, 61, 126\n\nWozniak, Steve, 159\n\nYarde, Jadine, 173\u201374\n\nYear-Up, 105\n\nZigler, Edward, 107\nBeacon Press \nBoston, Massachusetts \nwww.beacon.org\n\nBeacon Press books \nare published under the auspices of \nthe Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations.\n\n\u00a9 2014 by Eric Schwarz \nAll rights reserved \nPrinted in the United States of America\n\n17 16 15 14 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1\n\nThis book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the uncoated paper \nANSI\/NISO specifications for permanence as revised in 1992.\n\nText design and composition by Kim Arney\n\n_Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data_\n\nSchwarz, Eric \nThe opportunity equation : how citizen teachers are combating \nthe achievement gap in America's schools \/ Eric Schwarz. \npages cm \nIncludes bibliographical references and index. \nISBN 978-0-8070-3372-2 (hardback) \nISBN 978-0-8070-3373-9 (ebook) \n1. Community and school\u2014United States. \n2. Educational change\u2014United States\u2014Citizen participation. \n3. Educational equalization\u2014United States. \n4. Community power\u2014United States. \n5. Social action\u2014United States. I. Title. \nLC221.S376 2014 \n370'973\u2014dc23 \n2014009331\n","meta":{"redpajama_set_name":"RedPajamaBook"}}