In our quarters the Chief’s chamber was on the first floor, Abeken, I believe, having a back room on the same landing. The remainder of us were lodged on the second floor in a dormitory or kind of hall which at first only contained two chairs and two bedsteads with mattresses but without quilts. The night was bitterly cold, and I only with my waterproof to cover me. Still it was quite endurable, especially when one fell asleep thinking of the poor soldiers who have to lie outside in the muddy fields. In the morning we were busy rearranging our apartment to suit our needs. Without depriving it of its original character we turned it into an office and dining-room. Theiss’s cleverness conjured up a magnificent table out of a sawing bench and a baker’s trough, a barrel, a small box and a door which we took off its hinges. This work of art served as breakfast and dining table for the Chancellor of the Confederation and ourselves, and in the intervals between those meals was used as a desk by the Councillors and Secretaries, who neatly committed to paper and reproduced in the form of despatches, instructions, telegrams, and newspaper articles the pregnant ideas which the Count thought out in our midst. The scarcity of chairs was to a certain extent overcome by requisitioning a bench from the kitchen, while some of the party contented themselves with boxes as seats. Wine bottles that had been emptied by the Minister served as candlesticks--experience proved that champagne bottles were the fittest for this purpose and as a matter of fact good wax candles burned as brightly in these as in a silver chandelier. It was more difficult to secure the necessary supply of water for washing, and sometimes it was hard even to get enough for drinking purposes, the soldiers having during the last two days almost drained the wells for themselves and their horses. Only one of our party lamented his lot and grumbled at these and other slight discomforts. The rest of us, including the far-travelled Abeken, accepted them all with good humour, as welcome and characteristic features of our expedition. The office of the Minister of War, or rather of the general staff, was on the ground floor, where Fouriere and a number of soldiers sat at the desks and rostrums in the two schoolrooms. The walls were covered with maps, &c., and with mottoes, one of which was particularly applicable to the present bad times: “_Faites-vous une étude de la patience, et sachez céder par raison._” The Chief came in while we were taking our coffee. He was in a bad temper, and asked why the proclamation threatening to punish with death a number of offences by the population against the laws of war had not been posted up. On his instructions I inquired of Stieber, who told me that Abeken had handed over the proclamation to the general staff, and that he (Stieber), as director of the military police, could only put up such notices when they came from his Majesty.