The Cruise of the Branwen

THE FENCING TOURNAMENT Captain Senat, of the French Army Fencing School at Joinville, wounded by accident in a foil competition. Three of these were champions (Kavanagh having also obtained in competition the first place in the official French epee team at Paris), and M. Mohr was a very effective epeeist. Although it may be said with truth that an ideally stronger epee team might have been picked from the very best French fencers, still at the time and place it was as strong a combination as could be put in the field. The English team was un– changed. From the first it was evident that the result would mainly depend on details of the judging. This was very superior to what had prevailed in the individual competitions, Professor Verbrugge, of Antwerp, presiding. But it was most unfortunate for us that in the very first round two or three light but clean hits on the arm made by Lord Desborough and others of our men were missed by the jury, while subsequent hits by the French were noted and counted, this being sufficient to turn the scale against us. As the contest went on it became clear that the English were fighting in a style more closely appropriate to the epee than the French, two at least of whom were really rather foil fencers, and the balance against us was slowly reduced. Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon won all his fights; Seligman and Desborough fought like Trojans, and at length, with only two assaults more to make, it aopeared that if I could win one and SeHgman III