d to your lunge out; only be careful to recover quickly,
and get the hand you have thus moved back to its former position.

Advancing and retreating are effected much in the same way as in bayonet
exercise; viz. for the advance, move the left foot swiftly forward in
the direction of your opponent for a distance of, say, eighteen inches
or two feet, following this up with the right foot _for the same
distance_, so that the same relative positions are maintained; for the
retreat, move the right foot back the required distance and follow up
with the left foot.

In speaking of the retreat, it must be mentioned that, from the great
length of the staff, you cannot, very often, get out of the way by the
ordinary retreat, as above described, but may have to make an
undignified jump back for five or six feet, to avoid a quick return or,
possibly, an unexpected lead-off. In a stiff bout this jumping, with all
the heavy impedimenta indispensable to the game, takes it out of one
considerably, and, on this account, it is a first-rate exercise for any
man who may wish to get into good training.

[Illustration: Fig. 11.--First hit, with slide.]

The most common mistake learners of the quarter-staff make is that they
try very long sweeping hits, which are easily guarded, instead of
shorter and sharper taps, which run up points and are much more
scientific.

Your sweeping hit may be likened to the "hook-hit" at boxing, for it
lays open your weak points and leaves you for an instant in a position
from which there is a difficulty in recovery.

In all these games be well "pulled together." Watch a good fencer,
either with the foils or with the sticks; see how seldom his point
wanders far from the lines of attack, and how quick he is with the
returns! You cannot guard and return with any sort of effect if you go
in for ugly sweeping hits or hard heavy guards.

The heavy hit may come off occasionally, the clumsy guard may turn the
point, but why misdirect energy? It is surely unnecessary to put forth
great muscular effort when you know that the strength of a small child,
_if properly applied_, is ample to put aside the most powerful thrust or
the heaviest cut.

If quite unacquainted with fencing, broad-sword, stick-play, or
bayonet-exercise, never be tempted into a bout with the quarter-staff.
No one should ever go in for this game without previous knowledge.

My own idea is that learning fencing with the foils should precede a