of athletics?" was the question I put next from my
lofty perch. "Do you go in for _games_ at all, now?"

"Of course we do!" said the fair-haired girl, affording a practical
demonstration of the fact by taking me down and proceeding with her
lively companions to engage in the old classical game of _pila_ or
[Greek: sphairistikae], the recreation in which Ulysses long ago found
Nausicaa engaged with her maidens. On this occasion, however, _I_
represented the _pila_, or ball, and although, in justice to their
accuracy of eye and hand, I am bound to admit that I was seldom
allowed to touch the ground as I sped swiftly from one to the other,
still I felt considerable relief when, on my urgent protestations that
I was fully convinced of their proficiency in this amusement, they
were prevailed upon to bring this pastime to a close.

"We are breaking the rule of silence in this room," said the
fair-haired one. "And you _do_ ask such a lot of questions! But, as
you seem curious about our athletic pursuits, come and I will try to
show you."

I crawled after my guide without a word, inwardly reflecting that
I was sorry I had spoken, and heartily cursing (though without
pronouncing it aloud) the very name of that eminent Physician, Dr.
CRICHTON BROWNE. She took me first of all to a field where a bevy of
maidens were engaged in a game of hockey.

"We are keen on hockey," said my guide, and, as she spoke, a girl,
flushed and radiant, caught me across the most sensitive part of
the shin with a hockey-stick. No need to ask _her_ if she felt well.
I limped away, and, in another part of the field, saw a comely and
robust maiden practising drop-kicks, utterly regardless of the fact
that I was looking on. I received the football in the pit of my
stomach, and the name of CRICHTON BROWNE died on my lips.

My guide smiled as she saw that I had taken in the scene that was
being enacted under my very nose.

"Do you play cricket?" she asked, with something like pity in her
eyes. I did _not_--but I was by this time in such condign fear of this
young Amazon that I was really afraid to admit my total ignorance of
the sport. She made me wicket-keep for her, _without_ pads, for an
entire hour, at the end of which I readily assented to an invitation
for further exploration.

We went through endless passages to an endless gymnasium, and every
now and then I came across an Indian club or a dumb-bell, wielded by
energetic female athletes. I shou