57. Johnson parked the car on the macadam in front of the police building; the three of us entered, with Green leading the way and Johnson behind me, bringing up the rear. I looked around the re-acquaint myself with the layout, which I hadn't seen for nearly six months.

58. The main squad room contained four desks arranged two by two in the center; two of them were occupied by policemen trying to look busy in the presence of the sergeant. To the right was a wall lined with two rather decrepit armchairs and a table containing the communications radio. Sergeant-Major Green's office occupied a room behind that wall. To the left was a wall with several metal filing cabinets, and behind that wall was an office for the two bombardiers (or "two-stripers"), who were Green's immediate subordinates. At the left side of the rear wall was a door leading to the toilets and showers. Each of the four barred cells in that area was furnished with an iron cot, a table, a chair, and a steel locker.

59. "We have a new guest," shouted Green to the entire room. Bombardier Farrell came from his office and motioned me to follow him through the door to the cell area.

60. "Take your pick," he invited. "You're the only customer we've got."

61. I chose the corner cell, farthest from the showers and toilets, and went inside. Farrell followed me to the cell door and leaned against its frame. "Are you the bloke who just rode a motorcycle through Colonel Charles's kingdom?" he inquired. I nodded my head. "Bloody amazing! Absolutely amazing!" he said. Shaking his head, he walked away smiling—leaving my cell door wide open.

62. "Bombardier!" I called after him. "Aren't you supposed to lock the door?"

63. He turned, still smiling. "Why, are you planning to escape?"

64. "No," I admitted.

65. "Well then; you might as well wander around, as long as you don't make any more trouble," he said, still smiling.

66. I sat on the cot and pondered this for a while, It was obvious I was not being taken seriously as a prisoner, and I took some encouragement from the fact that they were treating the whole episode very lightly. But my relief was short-lived when I remembered that it was not their building I had so recently desecrated.

67. Deciding to test my freedom, I wandered out of the cell and into the squad room. The two policemen at their desks turned to look at me, and I nodded a greeting.

68. "Want some tea?" asked the occupant of the desk closest to me.

69. "Yes, please," I answered.

70. He waved his hand, indicating a neat stack of heavy white china cups and a large blue enamelled teapot sitting on a two-burner electric hot plate. I prepared a cup of steaming tea to my liking, and turned to find that the offerer of the tea had left his desk and was standing next to me.

71. "What was it like?" he asked.

72. "What was what like?" I replied.

73. "Riding inside a building with all those people about," he added.

74. "It was very, very noisy and very scary," I told him.

75. We talked a while longer until he returned to his desk. I walked over to one of the armchairs and sat down to enjoy my tea as well as a newspaper I found lying on the adjacent chair.

76. Bombardier Farrell breezed into the room and stopped by the chair. "You'll take your meals with us, which will be delivered at the appropriate times; this afternoon Johnson will take you to your barracks where you will pack your gear and bring it here back here," he said. "You will arrange your kit in a military manner in your cell and, after breakfast on Monday, you will stand inspection by the Officer of the Day at 0800 hours," he concluded.

77. "Yes, Bombardier," I nodded.

78. The rest of the day passed uneventfully. I moved my gear and arranged it in a military manner, and had my meals at the appropriate times. Every time a different policeman came on duty, I had to repeat my story and answer their many questions. In the evening, the duty policeman and I played cards and listened to the radio; by midnight I had crawled exhaustedly into bed and fallen into a deep, untroubled sleep.