Overtaking

“ When, in pursuing a well-laid attack, you find it necessary to force your adversary’s defence, with the loss of some pieces; if, upon counting as many moves forward as you can, you find a prospect of success, sacrifice a piece or two to gain your end: these bold attempts make the finest games. ”

“ In these contests each runner or combatant tried to get in the way of his adversary, and, balancing himself on one stilt, to strike his rival with the other, so as to bring him to the ground amid the laughter and jeers of the spectators. ”

“ The first hit, correct or incorrect, is decisive, no matter how it is delivered, no matter where.
“Do not forget that you have to reckon not only with skill but with the possibility of surprise, not only with subtlety but with brute force, not only with science but with blind and headlong ignorance. Your opponent does not greatly care whether he lets your blood in orthodox style, or whether he operates on your face for instance, or on those parts of the body that are too much neglected in the fencing room. ”

“ When the reader passes on to descriptions of arm grips, leg tackles, throttlings, and holds in which a grip at the small of the back is employed, he should remember, when practising, to be at all times careful not to use these tactics with more force than is necessary for strengthening the muscles of both antagonists and for acquiring the victory.
When first starting in with the work it is always well for the opponents to arrange in advance who is to secure the victory. Then the one who is on the defensive employs only sufficient strength to prevent too easy a conquest. ”

“ The conqueror might win by other methods than by bringing his opponent to the ground: if he could hurl or hustle him outside the ring, victory was his. The rules are said to authorise forty-eight falls—twelve throws, twelve lifts, twelve twists, and twelve throws over the back. ”

“ After a few of these alternate turnings have been made, the next thing to do is to imagine that the opponent intends to attack him on one side,—say the right,—and then, by a vigorous twist, to rise to the left, at the same time dodging and crouching, ready for the next move of attack. ”

“ When they fought, if they ever did fight, it would be to a finish, wearing the spiked boots of the river driver, and with no one to interfere. And meanwhile, if either could work the other an injury, he would do so. ”

“ In general and on principle, accompany the parry with a retreat of either a full pace or a half pace, according to action of your adversary. Parry with firm foot only when, like the conjuror forcing a card, you have led the adversary to make the attack for which you are prepared.
If you see in the opponent a disposition to attack with firm foot within middle measure, without either advancing or retreating by sudden and irregular movements, never attempt- ing to surprise nor to deceive by unforeseen combinations, then a tic! ”

“ Do not be too much afraid of losing a rook for an inferior piece; though a rook is better than any other, except the queen, yet it seldom comes into play, so as to operate, until the end of the game; and it is generally better to have a worse piece in play than a superior out.
28. When you have moved a piece, which your adversary drives away with a pawn, that is a bad move, your enemy gaining a double advantage. At this nice game no move can be indifferent. ”

“ It is the object of each contestant to apply the pressure of his own foot to such an extent that he forces his adversary over on his back. At the outset it is much better to use this work along purely resistant lines, allowing each to gain the victory in turn. ”

“ He follows, and observes her track:
Where'er she issues from the rout,
He deftly shifts his reins about:
Explores each method of advance,
Wheels round and round, weighs chance with chance,
And shakes the inevitable lance. ”

“ It was the fashion that a team of runners use against one dangerous opponent, challenging him one after the other and running him out so that the best in the team can come through with a spurt at the end and pass the flagging enemy. ”

“ After a few rounds he knows he is overmatched, but there is something at the back of his brain that will not let him cave in. Round after round he stands punishment, and round after round he grimly comes up, till, possibly, his opponent loses heart, or a fluky hit turns the scale in his favour. ”

“ One opponent, and then the other, should be allowed the victory, though not without fairly stubborn resistance from the one on the defensive. In time it will be found well to gain variety by occasionally making this feat a rigid test of strength and of endurance. ”

“ With desperate struggles each strove to gain an advantage; but strength on the one side, and activity on the other, foiled their opposing exertions. The turf was torn up under their feet, and they were whirled round, now in this direction, and now in that, until, maddened by the contest, neither thought of his personal safety, nor heeded the frightful abyss on the brink of which they fought. ”

“ Thus he was continually being brought up to the fight, as a prize-fighter may be seen to be, who is carried up round after round, without any hope on his own part, and who, in each round, drops to the ground before the very wind of his opponent's blows. ”

“ One arm, however, is free—he clutches in his despair for something that might serve him for a weapon—his club lay within his grasp—hope springs to his heart—he brings down the weapon with a desperate effort, and it fell on the head of his opponent. ”

“ As a general rule, however, it may as well be said here as elsewhere that, in brook-jumping, pace comes first and then judgment. With a powerful impetus you get over; should your horse blunder, somehow—if with a fall at the other side, no matter: less speed enables you to pick your ground better, but it throws all the odds on the side of a cold-bath, should the span be wider than you calculated on, or the bank be soft, and let you in. ”

“ If they be more equally matched, they close soon, and endeavour to throw each other by entwining their legs, or lifting each other from the ground; in which struggles they shew a prodigious exertion of strength, every muscle, as it were, being ready to burst with straining. When one is thrown, he immediately quits the field, but the victor sits down for a few seconds, then gets up, and goes to the side he came from, who proclaim the victory aloud, in a sentence delivered slowly, and in a musical cadence. ”

“ One, who has drawn back in the attitude of striking, looks as if he could fell an ox with a single blow of his powerful arm. The other is a more lithe and agile figure, and there is a quick fire in his countenance which might overbalance the massive strength of his opponent. ”

“ If there is a question as to a hit, acknowledge it as against yourself, as in the cut below, by springing up to attention and bringing the hilt up to the level of the mouth, blade upright, and knuckles turned to your front.
Fig. 24.—Acknowledging.
Again, if you should get an awkward cut, do all you can not to return savagely. If you make any difference at all, play more lightly for the next five minutes, otherwise you may drift into a clumsy slogging match, ending in bad blood. Finally, if you do get hold of a vicious opponent, do not, whatever you do, show that you mind his blows. ”

“ A man, coming up behind me, passes me, and turns half round; then another, crossing me on the opposite side, spins me suddenly round to my first position. Before I have walked a hundred paces, I am more bruised than if I had gone ten leagues. ”

“ Bravo! you advance like a professor. See that you keep your legs bent and the body upright, so as to be always ready for advance or retreat. If you cannot avoid stooping, lean forward rather than backward. By carrying the body forward you are no more exposed than you were before; for the body by its inclined position protects itself, presents a smaller sur [Pg 52] face, and makes it more difficult for your opponent to fix his point, when he might otherwise hit you; but if you throw the body back, you lose the power of making a quick attack and a quick riposte. ”

“ When he reaches to within striking distance of his opponent, he pulls up short, and, with the momentum created by his run behind him, deals an awful whack. But the other man has placed himself in the defensive attitude, and, as the weapon falls, he springs forwards and upwards to parry the blow destined to crash upon his skull. ”

“ To one who fences or has used the broad sword a feeling for oppositional line should come as second nature. A long sweeping stroke must be parried or opposed frankly; the riposte must also be parried. A bout is a picturesque composition of two men and two minds in which unity of the whole and of the parts is preserved by the balance of opposed measures. The analogy is appropriate. The artist stands off brush in hand [pg 51] and fights his subject to a finish, the force of one stroke neutralizing and parrying another. ”

“ This is a dodging or deceiving your Adversary, making him believe you give back in earnest, and make an offer to Thrust in one place when you really design to do it in another.
Beating.
This is no other than striking the Feeble of your Adversaries Sword with the Edg and Fort of yours, either with your Right-hand only, or the help of your Left, joyned to the Blade, about a foot [Pg 69] from the Hilt; and so you will cause the Beat to have the greater Spring or Force. ”

“ When it became three against two, the two would tackle one opponent and it was the task of the single man to try to keep the two others on the same side so that they could not grasp him on both sides at once. It was exciting enough to see one man being pulled by one arm from one side, while another man was trying to throw his opposite leg over the horse. ”

“ The winner of the last race could only just keep level with the other, and seemed about to collapse at each thundering jump, when his rival, beginning a great leap too early, fell in the middle of the shock and lost the race. ”

“ And now you are racing through the night, and the highwayman is racing ahead of you; the race must be protracted. To overtake him too soon would be injudicious. You must wait until the lady's feelings of terror have been wrought to their highest pitch. ”

“ He puts out his force over the field on his own side, anywhere up to the distance of one move off the middle line--that is to say, he must not put any man within one move of the middle line, but he may do so anywhere on his own side of that limit--and then the loser of the toss becomes first player, and sets out his men a move from his back line. ”

“ Moreover, in our desire to bring the game to a climax, we decided that instead of a fight to a finish we would fight to some determined point, and we found very good sport in supposing that the arrival of three men of one force upon the back line of the opponent's side of the country was of such strategic importance as to determine the battle. ”

“ His very impetuosity usually saved him from danger unless his opponent was an old hand at the game and knew how to measure up the proper amount of defensive and offensive tactics in the same maneuver. ”

“ Revers montant.—You feint in Seconde; the opponent comes to its parry and replies in Tierce; you withdraw the arm, leaving the heels as they were, and cut upwards with the false edge, tightening the grasp of thumb and fore-fingers as much as possible. This movement is especially useful; it is one of the best of Time Cuts, when the adversary indulges in long and complicated feints and false attacks. ”

“ This contest usually ends in a real fight: one advances, and when at a distance of five or six inches makes a leap at his adversary, and the other, prepared for what is coming and in position, leaps too at the same time, so that they meet midway, and strike each other with their long spiny hind legs. ”

“ In the race keep your eyes well on the tape, and never lessen your pace when in front, or let misgivings disturb you when behind; your opponent may have the pace of you and not be able to stay. It is better to be a good second than nowhere. ”

“ If you are knowing in the chronicles of the ring you will recall to mind an event in the early 'nineties when, for a minute and sundry odd seconds, a champion and a "would-be" faced each other on the alien side of an international river. So brief a conflict had rarely imposed upon the fair promise of true sport. ”

“ Kinging of him is, when his Ball lyes in so advantageous a manner, as that if you strike his Ball, he must inevitably strike down the King, then you win, and prevent the Loss of that End: But with this Caution however, That you be careful how you strike, for if you do king him, and your Ball happens to fly over the Table, or into a Hazard, you shall lose One notwithstanding you have King’d him ”

“ The young man leapt suddenly, lunged, smote imaginary balls, belaboured invisible opponents, ran with immense speed but no progress, was thrown to earth by the Prince of the Air, kicked, struggled, then bounded to his feet again. ”

“ If they are very fast they may succeed in carrying it a long way before they are caught—'tackled,' as we call it. It is their duty also to keep their eye on the quarter-backs of the enemy, and to tackle them if they get away. ”

“ The adversary, that is, the last player, who could not succeed in taking up all the sticks, is allowed to lay down as many as he pleases of the sticks he has collected, and may arrange them according to his fancy. ”

“ See how the prostrate man plants his foot on the thigh of his enemy and note the tremendous energy he exerts to keep off the [Pg 91] foe, who, turning as upon a pivot, with his grip on the other’s head, exerts no less force to keep the advantage gained. ”