The country in which the contest should take place was decided by lot. The question was—India or England. And the lot fell on England. But it was indeed a difficult matter to discover a place sufficiently great in this thickly populated country which would be suitable for this immense tournament. Eventually, a space of sufficient area was fixed upon, which consisted of a number of fields of sweet-smelling flowers that were being cultivated for the manufacture of perfumes; for the wealthy still affected the natural perfume of distilled flowers, to the manufactured odours of the perfume-chemist. These meadows formed a space of about two hundred acres, and being only a hundred miles from the metropolis proved most convenient for the purpose. For several weeks previous to the day a large number of carpenters and upholsterers were busily engaged making the necessary preparations. Tiers of seats to accommodate some thousands of persons were reared all round the field of combat, covered with crimson and gold cloth; while overhead were awnings of glittering silk composed of the finest drawn threads of glass, which shone brilliantly in the summer’s sun. Indeed, robes of silk formed of this material were common enough, for the cocoon of the silkworm was insufficient to meet the demand for this favourite fabric. But the throne, or seat of the Sovereign outshone all in magnificence. It was formed of beautifully carved coromandel wood, the natural markings of which presented the appearance of myriads of heads in countless variety of form. Therein could be seen the human face in every style of shape and expression; together with the heads of animals of every description. This beautifully marked wood was relieved by inlayings of ivory, edged with gold. The awning overhead which protected the monarch and his suite from the heat of the noonday sun, or summer’s shower, was also made of glass silk, the colours of which were artfully blended to represent the brilliant hues of the rainbow. The daïs arranged for the accommodation of the umpires was also handsomely decorated; and when the field was filled with the richly-dressed knights of the silver lance, mounted on graceful steeds of surpassing elegance of form, it looked, indeed, like fairyland itself. And now, behold, the day and hour have arrived for the great tournament, which has to decide the fate of the two contending Empires. Five hundred mounted, and an equal number of unmounted warriors on either side take their allotted positions, each armed with what appears to be a glittering silver lance, but is in reality an electrically-charged weapon whose only mission is to paralyse one particular limb of the adversary.