Their neck-feathers bristle up as they gaze at each other fixedly with flashes of anger darting from their little round eyes.

Now the moment has come; the attendants place them on the ground a short distance apart and leave them a clear field.
Slowly they advance, their footfalls are, audible on the hard ground.

No one in the crowd speaks, no one breathes.

Raising and lowering their heads as if to gauge one another with a look, the two cocks utter sounds of defiance and contempt.

Each sees the bright blade throwing out its cold, bluish reflections.