To steal insidiously upon a destructively-included wild
beast and transfix it with one well-directed blow of a spear is
attended by difficulties and emotions which are entirely absent in the
case of a wickerwork animal covered with canvas-cloth, no matter how
deceptive in appearance the latter may be."
To afford Yin a more trustworthy example of how he should engage with
an adversary of formidable proportions, Quang resolved upon an
ingenious plan. Procuring the skin of a grey wolf, he concealed
himself within it, and in the early morning, while the mist-damp was
still upon the ground, he set forth to meet Yin, who had on a previous
occasion spoken to him of his intention to be at a certain spot at
such an hour. In this conscientious enterprise, the painstaking Quang
would doubtless have been successful, and Yin gained an assured
proficiency and experience, had it not chanced that on the journey
Quang encountered a labourer of low caste who was crossing the
enclosed ground on his way to the rice field in which he worked. This
contemptible and inopportune person, not having at any period of his
existence perfected himself in the recognized and elegant methods of
attack and defence, did not act in the manner which would assuredly
have been adopted by Yin in similar circumstances, and for which Quang
would have been fully prepared.
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