e purchased; for, while the dispute
about the colors of the uniform had been going on, the greedy merchants
had advanced the price of all cloths to such an exorbitant figure that
the government could n't afford to buy it."

"To the cuckoo with your escapement! The men have got to have uniforms!"

"Beg pardon; don't begin yet to waste expletives, else you will not have
any left at the end of the hour! The counties then agreed to pay the sum
advanced on the original price of the cloth, whereupon the escapement
said the money would have to be forthcoming at once, as the cloth could
not be bought on credit."

"Well, is there no treasury which could supply enough funds for this
worthy object?" asked the count.

"Yes; there is the public treasury for current expenses. But the
treasurer will not give any money to the militia until they are mounted
and equipped; the escapement will not furnish the cloth for the uniforms
without the money; and the treasury will not give any money until the
militia has its uniforms!"

"Well, a man can fight without a uniform. If only these men have horses
under them and weapons in their hands--"

"Two of these requisites we already have; but the escapement announces
that arms of the latest improvements cannot be furnished, because the
government has not got them."

"Well, the old ones will answer."

"They _would_ if we had enough flints; but they are not to be had,
because the insurrectionary Poles have captured the flint depot in
Lemberg."

"Each man certainly could get a flint for himself."

"Even then there are only enough guns for about one half of the men. The
escapement suggested that to those who had no arms it would
furnish--halberds!"

"What? Halberds!" cried Vavel, losing all patience. "Halberds against
Bonaparte? Halberds against the legions who have broken a path from one
end of Europe to the other with their bayonets, and with them carved
their triumphs on the pyramids? Halberds against them? Do you take me to
be a fool, Herr Vice-palatine?"

He sprang to his feet and began to pace the floor excitedly, his guest
meanwhile eying him with a roguish glance.

"There!" at last exclaimed Herr Bernat, "I will not tease you any
longer. Fortunately, there is a clock-repairer who, so soon as he
perceived how tardily the hands performed their task, with his finger
twirled them around the entire dial, whereupon the clock struck the
hour. This able repairer is our king, who at on