Here is War, done down to rational proportions, and yet out of the way of mankind, even as our fathers turned human sacrifices into the eating of little images and symbolic mouthfuls. For my own part, I am _prepared_. I have nearly five hundred men, more than a score of guns, and I twirl my moustache and hurl defiance eastward from my home in Essex across the narrow seas. Not only eastward. I would conclude this little discourse with one other disconcerting and exasperating sentence for the admirers and practitioners of Big War. I have never yet met in little battle any military gentleman, any captain, major, colonel, general, or eminent commander, who did not presently get into difficulties and confusions among even the elementary rules of the Battle. You have only to play at Little Wars three or four times to realise just what a blundering thing Great War must be. Great War is at present, I am convinced, not only the most expensive game in the universe, but it is a game out of all proportion. Not only are the masses of men and material and suffering and inconvenience too monstrously big for reason, but--the available heads we have for it, are too small. That, I think, is the most pacific realisation conceivable, and Little War brings you to it as nothing else but Great War can do.
When the declarer leads a suit it is often important to count how many he and your partner can possibly hold. For instance: You have four, K x x x; Dummy has four, A J 10 x, and declarer leads the Queen. It is useless to play your King; for either the Queen is a singleton, and the declarer cannot continue the suit, which will compel Dummy to lead it to you eventually; or, the third round will be trumped, perhaps by your partner. If you have only two small cards with the King, put it on the Queen. You cannot save it, but you may establish your partner’s 9. In the last three tricks, if you find yourself with a doubtful card, and the best and a small card of a suit which the declarer leads through you, win the trick and lead the doubtful card, for if the declarer held the best of that suit he would have led it first, to be sure of a trick. _=Dummy on the Right.=_ When Dummy leads through you, your skill in avoiding any traps the declarer may be setting for you will depend on your knowledge of how he manages his hand, and your ability to infer what he holds. As a general principle, it may be assumed that any high card led by Dummy forms part of a combination, the unseen part of which is in the declarer’s hand. If Dummy leads a Queen from Q x x, you holding A J x, it is almost a certainty that the declarer holds the King.
When the 4 is face up, covered by the 3 face down, it counts _=two=_. When the 4 is face down, covered by the 3 face up, it counts _=three=_. When the 3 is face down, covered by the 4 face up, it counts _=four=_. [Illustration: [🃓 covered by [🃔 covered by [🃓 covering a [🃔 covering a facedown card] facedown card] facedown card] facedown card] ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR. ] The number of pips exposed on the card which is face up is immaterial; the relative position of the two cards will always determine the score. Rubber or game scores must be kept on a whist marker, or on a sheet of paper. _=PLAYERS.