“Or again:—after a false attack, dodge by stooping low to avoid the parry and riposte, and hit your opponent in the low lines. The sudden disappearance of your body will probably astonish him.
“Some men delight in charging at you with a shout, at the same time drawing back their arm to avoid your parry. This strange war-cry occasionally has the effect of causing a moment’s involuntary pause, of which they take advantage to drive their point home anyhow and anywhere.
“Others again, when the blades are engaged in tierce, suddenly bring their left foot to the front, at the same time swinging the body round, left shoulder forward and out of line with your point.
“If on the other hand these strokes, which if not foul are decidedly irregular, are employed to meet an attack, the same thing is done with slight variations. Suppose I deliver an attack; my opponent, instead of parrying, springs aside out of line. Sword and body vanish; the target has moved away; my attack loses itself in space, and I am hit by a flank movement.
“Or again, he ducks suddenly, supporting himself on his free hand, and allows my point to pass harmlessly over his head, while at the same time he hits me somewhere,—in the low lines of course.
“Or again, he seizes my blade in tierce, swings the left foot round to the front, suddenly arrives at close quarters, and before I have time either to retreat or to recover my guard, stabs me by drawing back or dropping his hand.
“I might extend this list of examples indefinitely, but you see that all these strokes are contrived on the same plan, and only differ from each other in unimportant details. It needs no argument to prove how completely the man who resorts to such tactics gives himself away if they are unsuccessful, for in order to make them really formidable there must be no hanging back,—you must let yourself go without the least reserve.”
VIII.
“But surely,” someone objected, “in the hands of a skilful swordsman they would be doubly dangerous?”