The man who laughs at the word duel would not laugh if he were standing before another’s pistol, and knew that within a second of the word “fire,” he would have a bullet in his breast and be dead.
He does not differentiate between the “advertisement duels” which sometimes take place on the Continent, where neither combatant intends to shoot the other, but merely wants to get his name in the papers, and a real duel by which a wronged man seeks redress.
In a sword duel a man, if young and active, can avoid being fatally injured. He can keep all but his right wrist and knee out of danger, and as soon as he gets a scratch on them, give up the fight on the plea of being “at a disadvantage.”
But with pistols it is different, provided the seconds have not (in order to prevent a fatal termination) altered the sights or reduced the powder charge. In fact, if he has an accurate and properly loaded pistol in his hands, a good shot can make certain of hitting his opponent.
When such a one misses his man or hits him in a non-vital part, it is because he has done so purposely, not wanting to kill the man.
Sometimes a man who feels he is in the wrong, stands up to be shot at, and either misses his opponent on purpose, or does not shoot at all.
On a recent occasion, when a duellist had not fired when the word was given, someone had the bad taste to ask him why he did not shoot. The answer was “I forgot.”
This was the occasion for a stream of jokes; the writers of these jokes did not of course appreciate the chivalry of not shooting, and the delicacy of the reply. They made all sorts of silly remarks about “absentmindedness,” only exposing their own empty-headedness thereby.
Having now cleared the ground, I will in the next chapter give details of how a pistol duel is conducted, and how to train for it.
In countries where duelling is allowed, the upper classes know how to fence, and to shoot the duelling pistol; they need no teaching if called out. Any one who has learnt to shoot from instructions given in this book needs no further teaching. He only needs to be told the rules. There are, however, a few points in which duelling differs from the rapid-fire practice I have given, one being the position the pistol is raised from, and when it is permissible to raise it.