e; directly he gets _your_ side of your point you are in
difficulties. Therefore never let the point of your bayonet wander far
from the lines leading straight to his body.

There is, of course, the "Shorten-arms," shown in Fig. 39; but in actual
conflict you might be a dead man twice over before you could get the
bayonet back to the position indicated. When the swordsman gets to close
quarters, and has possibly missed you, a good plan is to knock him down
with the butt of the rifle--using the weapon like the quarter-staff
(_vide_ Fig. 9).

The next two sketches show the positions in "Low Guard" and "Point from
Low Guard"--the latter being particularly effective on broken ground
when an enemy is rushing up a hill at you, or when you want to spike a
fellow hiding in long grass.

[Illustration: Fig. 42.--High guard--opposed to mounted man.]

[Illustration: Fig. 43.--Head parry.]

The "High Guard" and "Head Parry" are chiefly used when dealing with
cavalry. It seems to me hardly necessary to give the points of these
guards, as they simply amount to extending the arms straight in the
direction of the foe.

A man on foot possesses one or two great advantages over a mounted man,
for his movements are quicker, and if he can only avoid being ridden
down and can keep on the horseman's bridle-hand side, he ought to have a
good chance of delivering his point in the left side. It is most
important that the man on foot should be ready to spring back so as to
avoid a sudden sweep to the left, which will bring him, if the horse is
spurred forward at the same time, right under the rider's sword arm.

It is almost superfluous to add that in practice the general habiliments
should be much the same as those used when playing quarter-staff. In the
illustrations the hands are left bare in order to show the grip of the
rifle, but boxing-gloves should invariably be worn, or a broken finger
may be the result.

CHAPTER VI.

THE CUDGEL.

One remembers reading somewhere, I think in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's
Progress," of a certain "grievous crab-tree cudgel," and the impression
left by this description is that the weapon, gnarled and knotty, was
capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm.

Any thick stick under two feet long, such as a watchman's staff or a
policeman's truncheon, may be fairly called a cudgel, and it is not so
long ago that cudgel-play formed one of the chief attractions at country
fairs in many parts of Engla