w. So Kwaiba had heard from all he met. Ah! A fellow to put all the
girls in a flutter. He is the very image of this Kwaiba in younger
years. The husbands were little troubled when he was around. The fair
ones were attracted. Well, well: they all had their turn at Kwaiba; and
Kwaiba has stood the pace. He is as good to-day as ever; in some
ways.... And it is a man like Iemon San who has married the--lady of
Tamiya." Iemon knew the term "O'Bake" had nearly slipped out. Knowing
O'Iwa's attractiveness of temperament, feeling touched in his own
conceit, this astonished and satirical reception he met with on every
side nettled him more than a little. Perhaps Kwaiba noted it. With
greatest unction he urged a cushion and at once changed the subject.
"Iemon San is noted as a _go_ player. This Kwaiba is a mere amateur. It
is for him to ask odds in making request for a game.... Ho! Heigh! The
_go_ board and stones!"

Kwaiba and Iemon were the antagonists. Natsume and Imaizumi sat at the
sides of the board. Kwaiba, confident in his powers, readily accepted
the deprecatory answer of Iemon at its face value. The game was to be on
even terms. Iemon really was an expert of the sixth grade; certainly of
several grades superiority to Kwaiba.[21] The latter's brows knit as his
position rapidly became imperilled. Natsume was in a ferment. Fish or
wine? If Iemon sought Kwaiba's favour by a preliminary sound thrashing
at his favourite game, the prospects of either were small. He dropped
his tobacco pipe. In picking it up he gave the buttocks of Iemon a
direct and severe pinch. Iemon was too astonished to cry out. His ready
mind sought a motive for this unexpected assault and pain. The face of
Natsume was unmoved, that of Imaizumi anxious. A glance at Kwaiba's
attitude enlightened him. Politeness and a dinner were at stake. Even
Natsume and Imaizumi wondered and admired at what followed. The blunder
of Iemon was a stroke of genius, the inspiration of an expert player. It
was a slight blunder, not obvious to the crudeness of Kwaiba; but it
opened up the whole of Iemon's position and put the game in his
antagonist's hands. Kwaiba promptly seized the advantage. His triumphant
glance shifted continually from Iemon to the onlookers, as the former
struggled bravely with a desperate position. Kwaiba won this first game
somewhat easily. A second he lost by a bare margin. In the third he
scored success in a manner to make evident his superiority over