e of two-edged significance which for a period
enveloped all whom he approached; as in the faces of maidens concealed
behind fans when he passed, the down-drawn lips and up-raised eyes
of those of fuller maturity, the practice in most of his own kind
of turning aside, pressing their hands about their middle parts, and
bending forward into a swollen attitude devoid of grace, on the spur of
a sudden remembrance, and in the auspicious but undeniably embarrassing
manner in which all the unfledged ones of the village clustered about
his retiring footsteps, saluting him continually as one "James," upon
whom had been conferred the gratifying title of "Sunny." Thus may the
outline of the combat be recounted.

From each opposing group eleven were chosen as a band, and we of our
company putting on a robe of distinctive green (while they elected to
be regarded as an assemblage of brown crickets), we presently came to a
suitable spot where the trial was to be decided. So far this person
had reasonably assumed that at a preconcerted signal the contest would
begin, all rising into the air together, uttering cries of menace,
bounding unceasingly and in every way displaying the dexterity of our
proportions. Indeed, in the reasonableness of this expectation it cannot
be a matter for reproach to one of the green grass-hoppers--who need not
be further indicated--that he had already begun a well-simulated note
of challenge to those around clad in brown, and to leap upwards in
a preparatory essay, when the ever-alert Sir Philip took him
affectionately by the arm, on the plea that the seclusion of a
neighbouring pavilion afforded a desirable shade.

Beyond that point it is difficult to convey an accurately grouped and
fully spread-out design of the encounter. In itself the scheme and
intention of counterfeiting the domestic life and rivalries of two
opposing bands of insects was pleasantly conceived, and might have been
carried out with harmonious precision, but, after the manner of these
remote tribes, the original project had been overshadowed and the purity
of the imagination lost beneath a mass of inconsistent detail. To
this imperfection must it be laid that when at length this person was
recalled from the obscurity of the pagoda and the alluring society of
a maiden of the village, to whom he was endeavouring to expound the
strategy of the game, and called upon to engage actively in it, he
courteously admitted to those who led him fort