during two moves, could tear up a rail, and eight men in three moves
replace it.

I will confess I have never yet tried over these more elaborate
developments of Little Wars, partly because of the limited time at my
disposal, and partly because they all demand a number of players who
are well acquainted with the same on each side if they are not to last
interminably. The Battle of Hook's Farm (one player a side) took a whole
afternoon, and most of my battles have lasted the better part of a day.



VI

ENDING WITH A SORT OF CHALLENGE


I COULD go on now and tell of battles, copiously. In the memory of the
one skirmish I have given I do but taste blood. I would like to go on,
to a large, thick book. It would be an agreeable task. Since I am the
chief inventor and practiser (so far) of Little Wars, there has fallen
to me a disproportionate share of victories. But let me not boast. For
the present, I have done all that I meant to do in this matter. It is
for you, dear reader, now to get a floor, a friend, some soldiers and
some guns, and show by a grovelling devotion your appreciation of this
noble and beautiful gift of a limitless game that I have given you.

And if I might for a moment trumpet! How much better is this amiable
miniature than the Real Thing! Here is a homeopathic remedy for the
imaginative strategist. Here is the premeditation, the thrill, the