"Never," cried the king; "while Crève cur lives! Cock-a-doodle—do! Death or victory!"
He sprang over the fence as he spoke.
"the king had crossed the rubicon.
SITUATION SECOND.
The king had crossed the Rubicon. There was no going back with honour now. He was fairly over the fence, and in the domains of the rival king.
King Albus bent his wattles to the ground, and gazed at his rival with one eye. His rival's back was turned towards him, and he took not the slightest notice of the king.
"I wonder if he'll fight!" said the king to himself. "For my part I hope he won't, for I don't feel half so full of courage on this side of the fence as I did on the other. I daren't go back, though. How the young hens would giggle if I did, and how the old ones would cackle! No!"
All this time King Albus never moved; he still held his wattles close to the ground, and still looked at his rival with one eye, only sometimes he turned his head and looked with the other.
"He is pretending not to see me," he continued.