question: CHAPTER LIV

"I Don't Think She Is a Snake"

On the following day, Tuesday, the Boncassens went, and then there were none of the guests left but Mrs. Finn and Lady Mabel Grex,--with of course Miss Cassewary. The Duke had especially asked both Mrs. Finn and Lady Mabel to remain, the former, through his anxiety to show his repentance for the injustice he had formerly done her, and the latter in the hope that something might be settled as soon as the crowd of visitors should have gone. He had never spoken quite distinctly to Mabel. He had felt that the manner in which he had learned his son's purpose,--that which once had been his son's purpose,--forbade him to do so. But he had so spoken as to make Lady Mabel quite aware of his wish. He would not have told her how sure he was that Silverbridge would keep no more racehorses, how he trusted that Silverbridge had done with betting, how he believed that the young member would take a real interest in the House of Commons, had he not intended that she should take a special interest in the young man. And then he had spoken about the house in London. It was to be made over to Silverbridge as soon as Silverbridge should marry. And there was Gatherum Castle. Gatherum was rather a trouble than otherwise. He had ever felt it to be so, but had nevertheless always kept it open perhaps for a month in the year. His uncle had always resided there for a fortnight at Christmas. When Silverbridge was married it would become the young man's duty to do something of the same kind. Gatherum was the White Elephant of the family, and Silverbridge must enter in upon his share of the trouble. He did not know that in saying all this he was offering his son as a husband to Lady Mabel, but she understood it as thoroughly as though he had spoken the words.
1. Who was to have no more racing animals?
2. Was he to discontinue taking bets as well?
3. And what would he be interested in?
4. Where is he supposed to have a home?
5. When?
6. What place was an issue?
7. Who stayed there during once a year?
8. During what holiday?
9. For how long?
10. Did the place have a nickname?
11. What day was it?
12. How many people were still there?
13. Anyone else?
14. Who?
15. Who had been specifically requested to stay?
16. By whom?
17. Had he done either of them wrong?
18. Who?
19. Which is?
20. Why did he want the other to stay?
****
answer: 1. Silverbridge
2. Yes
3. the House of Commons
4. London
5. as soon as Silverbridge should marry
6. Gatherum Castle
7. His uncle had
8. Christmas
9. a fortnight
10. the White Elephant
11. Tuesday
12. Mrs. Finn and Lady Mabel Grex
13. Yes
14. Miss Cassewary
15. Mrs. Finn and Lady Mabel
16. The Duke
17. Yes
18. the former
19. Mrs. Finn
20. in the hope that something might be settled

question: He's out there somewhere, an instant icon in the records of American conflict, the final big-game hunter. But a puzzle, too, his identity would be kept a secret for now, and maybe forever.

He is the unknown shooter. The nameless, faceless triggerman who put a bullet in the head of the world's most notorious terrorist, Bin Laden.

He's likely between the ages of 26 and 33, says Marcinko, founder of the "SEALs Team 6" that many believe led the attack on Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He'll be old enough to have had time to hurdle the extra training tests required to join the counter-terrorism unit, yet young enough to stand the body-punishing harshness of the job. The shooter's a man, it's safe to say, because there are no women in the SEALs. And there's a good chance he's white, though the SEALs have stepped up efforts to increase the number of minorities in their ranks, Marcinko and Smith say.

He was probably a high school or college athlete, Smith says, a physical specimen who combines strength, speed and wisdom. "They call themselves 'tactical athletes,'" says Smith, who works with many future SEALs in his Heroes of Tomorrow training program in Severna Park. "It's getting very scientific."

Marcinko puts it in more conventional terms: "He'll be ripped," says the author of the best-selling autobiography "Rogue Warrior.""He's got a lot of upper-body strength. Long arms. Thin waist. Flat stomach."

On this point, Greitens departs a bit. "You can't make a lot of physical assumptions," says the author of "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL." There are SEALs who are 5 feet 4 and SEALs who are 6 feet 5, Greitens says. In his training group, he adds, there were college football boys who couldn't hack it; those who survived were most often men in good shape, but they also had a willingness to show their concerns in favor of the mission.

The shooter's probably not the crew-cut , neatly shaven ideal we've come to expect from American fighting forces. "He's bearded, rough-looking, like a street naughty boy," Marcinko supposes. "You don't want to stick out." Marcinko calls it "modified grooming standards."

His hands will be calloused , Smith says, or just rough enough," as Marcinko puts it. And "he's got frag in him somewhere," Marcinko says, using the battlefield shorthand for "fragments" of bullets or explosive devices. This will not have been the shooter's first adventure. Marcinko estimates that he might have made a dozen or more deployments , tours when he was likely to have dealt with quite a number of dangerous situations, getting ready any time for explosive devices or bullets.
1. Who did the sniper kill?
2. How did he do it?
3. Where'd in the world did it happen?
4. Where's that?
5. What group was the shooter with?
6. What kind of team is that?
7. Who's their founder?
8. Are any females on the team?
9. What are the odds the shooter was white?
10. Do they think he was a student athlete?
11. What group is Smith with?
12. Where's that?
13. Who wrote "Rogue Warrior" ?
14. Does he think the shooter is buff?
15. Does he think the guy probably has a flabby beer belly?
16. Scrawny upper body?
17. Who wrote "The Heart and the Fist?"
18. Are some SEALs short?
19. Does he think the shooter looks rough?
20. What is "frag" short for?
****
answer:
1. Bin Laden
2. bullet in the head
3. Abbottabad
4. Pakistan
5. Team 6
6. SEAL
7. unknown
8. no
9. good chance
10. probably
11. Heroes of Tomorrow training program
12. Severna Park
13. Marcinko
14. He'll be ripped
15. no
16. lot of upper-body
17. unknown
18. some are
19. not necessarily
20. "fragments"