The King gave a sudden jerk, and for the moment there were signs of a battle upon the snow; then the King leant back again, and in another minute or so the operation was over. "It will soon be all right," said Carlo, mopping at his Majesty's chin. "Your Majesty shouldn't have moved." "It was my own fault, Carlo; you gave me a sudden idea, that's all." "You're welcome, your Majesty." As soon as he was alone the King took out his tablets. On these he was accustomed to record any great thoughts which occurred to him during the day. He now wrote in them these noble words: "_Jewels of wisdom may fall from the meanest of hinds._" He struck a gong to summon the Chancellor into his presence. "I have a great idea," he told the Chancellor. The Chancellor hid his surprise and expressed his pleasure. "To-night I propose to pay a secret visit to his Majesty the King of Barodia. Which of the many tents yonder have my spies located as the royal one?" "The big on in the centre, above which the Royal Arms fly." "I thought as much. Indeed I have often seen his Majesty entering it. But one prefers to do these things according to custom. Acting on the information given me by my trusty spies, I propose to enter the King of Barodia's tent at the dead of night, and----" The Chancellor shuddered in anticipation. "And shave his whiskers off." The Chancellor trembled with delight. "Your Majesty," he said in a quavering voice, "forty years, man and boy, have I served your Majesty, and your Majesty's late lamented father, and never have I heard such a beautiful plan." Merriwig struggled with himself for a moment, but his natural honesty was too much for him. "It was put into my head by a remark of my Court Barber's," he said casually. "But of course the actual working out of it has been mine." "Jewels of wisdom," said the Chancellor sententiously, "may fall from the meanest of hinds." "I suppose," said Merriwig, taking up his tablets and absently scratching out the words written thereon, "there is nothing in the rules against it?" "By no means, your Majesty. In the annuals of Euralia there are many instances of humour similar to that which your Majesty suggests: humour, if I may say so, which, while evidencing to the ignorant only the lighter side of war, has its roots in the most fundamental strategical considerations." Merriwig regarded him with admiration. This was indeed a Chancellor. "The very words," he answered, "which I said to myself when the idea came to me. 'The fact,' I said, 'that this will help us to win the war, must not disguise from us the fact that the King of Barodia will look extremely funny without his whiskers.' To-night I shall sally forth and put my plan into practice."