Careful attention to this will ensure cutting with the true edge, and, in the first instance, all the cuts should be made slowly and deliberately, so that errors may be instantly corrected. This may be somewhat tedious to the impetuous learner, but it really saves time in the end.
The target should be hung up on a wall with the centre about the height of a man’s shoulder from the ground. Directly below the centre a straight line should be drawn on the ground from the wall, and at right angles to it.
The beginner should be stationed on this line in the position of “Attention,” at about nine or ten feet from the wall, so that when he comes into the first position of the exercise his right foot may be on the line, and may point directly towards the wall.
Instructions as to drawing swords, etc., will be given later on with the Extension Motions and rules for loose play (vide p. 44). At this stage it may possibly be less confusing to merely give the following positions, leaving to the concluding portions of the chapter a few amplifications which may materially assist the swordsman when he has begun to take a genuine interest in the subject.
Attention.—Having taken the cutlass in the right hand, stand facing the target, body and head erect, and the heels close together and meeting at an angle of sixty degrees on the line drawn from the wall.
With the sword hand in front of, and on a level with, the elbow, which should be close to the body, and with the blade pointing perpendicularly upwards with the edge to the front, you will be in the position of “Carry swords.” Now relax the grasp of the last three fingers, and, without altering the position of the hand, let the back of the blade fall on the shoulder half-way between the neck and the point of the shoulder. This forms the position of “Slope swords,” with which the exercise begins.
First Position.—Bring the right heel before the left; feet at right angles, right foot pointing towards target; shoulders square to left, and weight of body chiefly resting on left leg.
Second Position.—Bend both knees, keeping them well apart, without raising the heels or altering the erect position of the body. Step out with the right foot along the line for about eighteen or twenty inches straight in direction of the target, still retaining most of the weight of the body on the left leg.
Third Position.—Step out still further along the line—about a yard or so (according to the height of the individual)—keeping the shin-bone as nearly as possible perpendicular to the instep. The left leg should be straight and the left heel should not leave the ground. The heels should be both on the line, and the shoulders should be square to the left; i.e. the right shoulder should be well extended and the left held back. The weight is now, of course, principally on the right leg.
At the word “Attention,” then, the pupil should come into the position of “Slope swords,” already described.