"May I ask one more question?" said one of my friends. "I have often
heard it said that if you don't know much about fencing the best thing
to do is, as soon as you come on guard, to make a sudden rush at the
other man before he has time to collect himself."
"Well," I replied, "if you wish to make sure of being incurably
spitted, that is the most infallible way to set about it.
"The seconds, before giving the signal to begin, have just asked your
opponent if he is ready. Is it likely that he will allow himself to be
rushed, or to be victimised by such a transparent piece of bluff?
"Is it not much more likely that he will have been told to look out for
a surprise attack? One of two things,--either the man who confronts
you is a skilful fencer, in which case he will not want you to give
him time to collect himself, but will be quite capable of taking his
own time; or his ignorance of fencing is on a par with yours, and
then it is a toss up. It follows that if this desperate plan of attack
is chosen, because it is thought likely to succeed, it is absurd. If
however it is chosen, because the man who chooses it is of a restive
impatient disposition, one who cannot wait and for whom cool defensive
tactics are an impossibility, the case is different.
"All that one can say to the pupil, whose temper is such that he cannot
play a waiting game, is something of this sort:--Trust your instinct,
be guided by your natural impulse. You quite understand that by acting
as you propose you run a greater risk; for your attack is delivered at
random, you are embarking on a wild and hazardous speculation. Your
only chance of success, as you yourself admit, is that you may, by
suddenly and violently letting yourself go for all you are worth, take
your opponent by surprise and put him off his parry. I can only give
you one word of advice. Before letting yourself go, try at any rate to
beat the other man's sword out of line in any way you can. Knock it up
or down, to one side or the other; as soon as you have made your beat,
let yourself go straight, without the least hesitation. By this means
you will avoid an interchange of hits or a stop thrust. But I warn you
this is not so easy as it sounds.
"Possibly, where so much depends on luck and accident, you may bring
off your hit. But if you are the wounded man, you will be wounded with
a vengeance, for you will probably run on the sword up to the hilt,--a
trifling consideration, which is perhaps worth taking into account.
"This plan in fact can never be recommended; it involves not only too
many risks, but risks that are too serious and too certain. I will show
you presently in greater detail why this is so, when we look at the
question from the other side, from the point of view of a fencer more
or less skilful, who is opposed to a novice ignorant of swordsmanship
but a determined natural fighter, who is thoroughly roused by a keen
sense of danger.