y
can be. Being English, I believe them to be above suspicion; being
sometimes a competitor myself, it would not be for me to impugn their
honesty if they were not. Whatever he does, I would always advise the
athlete to preserve his faith in judges and a stoical silence when he
does not quite agree with them.

All I would suggest for the benefit of judges and judged alike in these
trials of skill which test the eyesight and quickness of the umpires
almost as much as the eyesight and quickness of the competitors, is that
some definite code of scoring should be established and recognized
amongst the different schools-of-arms in England.

In order to facilitate the scoring they have a very good plan at the
Military Tournament of chalking the competitors' sticks. This precaution
ensures a mark upon the jacket every time the ash-plant hits it; but
even this is not always sufficient, for it is quite possible for a true
guard to be opposed to a hard cut with a pliant stick, with the result
that the attacker's stick whips over and leaves a mark which ought not
to be scored, for had the weapons been of steel this could not have
happened.

This, however, is a point which would generally be detected by one of
the three judges in the ring.

What gives rise to question in players' minds is not any small point
like this, so much as the question of timing and countering.

To take the last first: If A and B lunge together, both making direct
attacks, and both get home simultaneously, it is generally admitted that
the result is a counter, and nothing is to be scored to any one.

But if A makes a direct attack, and B, ignoring it, stands fast and
counters, this is a wilful omission to protect himself on his part; and
even if his cut should get home as soon as A's it should not count, nor,
I think, should it be allowed to cancel A's point, for A led, as the
movement of his foot in lunging showed, and B's plain duty was to stop
A's attack before returning it. This he would have done naturally
enough if he had had the fear of a sharp edge before his eyes.

I even doubt whether a time-thrust or cut should ever be allowed to
score, unless the result of it be such as would have rendered the direct
attack ineffectual in real fighting. Should not the rule be, either that
the point scores to the person making the direct attack, as shown by the
action of his foot in lunging (unless, indeed, the attacked person has
guarded and returned, whe