. That will please Jones.«
    It tickled Marco to the marrow to hear about such an odd character; but it
also prepared him for accidents; and in my experience, when you travel with a
king who is letting on to be something else and can't remember it more than
about half the time, you can't take too many precautions.
    This was the best store we had come across yet; it had everything in it, in
small quantities, from anvils and dry goods all the way down to fish and
pinchbeck jewelry. I concluded I would bunch my whole invoice right here, and
not go pricing around any more. So I got rid of Marco, by sending him off to
invite the mason and the wheelwright, which left the field free to me. For I
never care to do a thing in a quiet way; it's got to be theatrical, or I don't
take any interest in it. I showed up money enough, in a careless way, to corral
the shopkeeper's respect, and then I wrote down a list of the things I wanted,
and handed it to him to see if he could read it. He could, and was proud to show
that he could. He said he had been educated by a priest, and could read and
write both. He ran it through, and remarked with satisfaction that it was a
pretty heavy bill. Well, and so it was, for a little concern like that. I was
not only providing a swell dinner, but some odds and ends of extras. I ordered
that the things be carted out and delivered at the dwelling of Marco the son of
Marco by Saturday evening, and send me the bill at dinner time Sunday. He said I
could depend upon his promptness and exactitude, it was the rule of the house.
He also observed that he would throw in a couple of miller-guns for the Marcos
gratis - that everybody was using them, now. He had a mighty opinion of that
clever device. I said:
    »And please fill them up to the middle mark, too; and add that to the bill.«
    He would, with pleasure. He filled them, and I took them with me. I couldn't
venture to tell him that the miller-gun was a little invention of my own, and
that I had officially ordered that every shopkeeper in the kingdom keep them on
hand and sell them at government price - which was the merest trifle, and the
shopkeeper got that, not the government. We furnished them for
