"I was saying the other day that I did not believe in secret thrusts,
and that the thrusts that have received this absurd misnomer are
nothing but strokes that are not generally recognised by the ordinary
rules of fencing. Strip them of their imaginary terrors, and far from
being dangerous to you they become more than a little dangerous for the
man who attempts them.
"To describe them, we need not distinguish more than two sorts,--methods
of attack, and methods of evading or dodging an opponent's attack.
These tricks are all very much of the same character. Take this for
an example:--lunge as though you were making a simple attack, then
suddenly draw your arm back to make your opponent parry in the air,
throw yourself out of line and let drive, hitting him in the ribs.
"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."