n
efficient and well-armed soldier capable of taking the field at any
moment.

The smartest men become non-commissioned officers, and carry the
insignia of their rank on their caps back to private life, where they
become again the instructors of the local militia companies. There are
two classes of commissioned officers--the officer of the standing
army, trained in a Continental army, and who wears a distinctive
uniform, and at least one of these is detailed for service in all the
militia centres; and the militia officer, who receives his training
with the standing battalion or batteries.

Thus at a preconcerted signal, by trumpet and bonfires at night, and
in some districts by a salvo of rifles, the whole Montenegrin Army can
be mobilised at any given spot within the time that the furthest
detachment can travel to the place of rendezvous. An example of the
rapidity and ease of this mobilisation was once given to the late
Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, at Cetinje, when an army, drawn from
every part of the country, equipped and ready for the field, was
assembled within thirty-six hours of the first alarm. There is no
commissariat, for each soldier supplies his own food, or rather his
wife will keep him supplied in a lengthy campaign; no cavalry, for
they are useless; and no heavy artillery.

Law is administered by district courts for the more serious cases,
with a Supreme Court of Appeal at Cetinje. There are no lawyers or
costs; each man brings his own case and witnesses in civil matters,
and criminals are dealt with summarily--that is to say, his district
captain sends him in chains to Podgorica, where he receives his final
sentence. The smaller district captains and "kmets," or mayors, have a
limited amount of jurisdiction, and can inflict punishments, either in
fines or short terms of imprisonment. They also settle all minor cases
of dispute.

The central, and soon to be the only, prison is at Podgorica. The
majority of prisoners are undergoing different sentences, with and
without chains, for murders in connection with the vendetta, according
to the circumstances. A man who defends his honour, who kills his
slanderer, is very lightly punished.

Against only one class of offender does Prince Nicolas exercise his
autocratic powers, _i.e._ the political offender, with whom he is
relentless. Such men are thrown into prison, interred in dark cells
without trial, and can languish till death sets them free. In thi