one o'clock
_ Two thousand crafty mercenaries , skilled rioters and fighters from all parts of the world stood ready in the glad streets of Edelweiss to leap as one man to the standard of the Iron Count the instant he appeared in the square after the throwing of the bomb . A well-organised , carefully instructed army of no mean dimensions , in the uniform of the lout and vagabond , would rise like a flash of light before the dazzled , panic-stricken populace , and Marlanx would be master . Without the call of drum or bugle his sinister soldiers of fortune would leap into positions assigned them ; in orderly , determined company front , led by chosen officers , they would sweep the square , the Circus and the avenues , up-town to the Castle , down-town to the fortress and the railway station , everywhere establishing the pennant of the man who had been banished . The present dynasty was to end at one o'clock ! So said Marlanx ! How could Dangloss or Braze or Quinnox say him nay ? They would be dead or in irons before the first shock of disaster had ceased to thrill .