purely to occupy his time,
but he presently came to take a lively interest in it, and was soon
able to take to pieces and put together again the cumbrous but simple
machines which constituted the clocks of the period.

Workshops were not in those days factories. The master of a craft
worked, surrounded by his craftsmen and apprentices. Every wheel and
spring were made upon the premises, fashioned and finished with chisel
and file; and there was an interest in the work far beyond any which it
possesses in the present day, when watches are turned out wholesale, the
separate parts being prepared by machinery, and the work of the artisan
consisting solely in the finishing and putting them together.

Laying aside his armour and gay attire, and donning a workman's apron,
Malcolm sat at the bench by the side of the master, shaping and filing,
and listening to his stories connected with the trade and history
of Nuremberg. He anticipated no advantage from the knowledge he was
gaining, but regarded it simply as a pleasant way of getting through a
portion of the day.

Thus for three months the armies confronted each other. Provisions were
becoming terribly scarce, the magazines of the city were emptying fast,
and although working night and day, the mills of the place did not
suffice to grind flour for the needs of so many mouths. The population
of the city itself was greatly swollen by the crowds of Protestant
fugitives who had fled there for refuge on the approach of the
Imperialists, and the magazines of the city dwindled fast under the
demands made upon them by this addition, and that of the Swedish army,
to the normal population. Fever broke out in the city and camp. The
waters of the Pegnitz were tainted by the carcasses of dead horses and
other animals. The supplies of forage had long since been exhausted, and
the baggage and troop animals died in vast numbers.

Still there was no sign of a change. Wallenstein would not attack,
Gustavus could not. The Swedish king waited to take advantage of some
false move on the part of the Imperial commander; but Wallenstein was as
great a general as himself, and afforded him no opening, turning a deaf
ear to the entreaties and importunities of Maximilian that he would end
the tedious siege by an attack upon the small and enfeebled army around
Nuremberg.

All this time Gustavus was in constant communication with his generals
outside, his messengers making their way by speed or strata