But we are getting ahead of our story. To start at the very beginning, we must go back to the time when the first savage warrior used a plank of wood to protect himself from the rocks hurled by his enemy. This was the start of the never-ending competition between arms and armor. As the weapons of offense developed from stone to spear, to arrow, to arquebus, the wooden plank developed into a shield of brass and then of steel; and then, since a separate shield became too bothersome to carry, it was converted into armor that the warrior could wear and so have both hands free for battle. For every improvement in arms there was a corresponding improvement in armor.
After gunpowder was invented, the idea of armor for men began to wane, because no armor could be built strong enough to ward off the rifle-bullet and at the same time light enough for a man to wear. The struggle between arms and armor was then confined to the big guns and the steel protection of forts and war-ships.
But not so long ago the machine-gun was invented, and this introduced a new phase of warfare. Not more than one rifle-bullet in a thousand finds its mark on the battle-field. The Boers in the battle of Colenso established a record with one hit in six hundred shots. In the excitement of battle men are too nervous to take careful aim and they are apt to fire either too high or too low, so that the mortality is not nearly so great as some would expect. But with the machine-gun there is not this waste of ammunition, because it fires a stream of bullets, the effect of which can readily be determined by the man who operates the volley. The difference between the machine-gun fire and rifle fire is something like the difference between hitting a tin can with a stone or with a stream of water. It is no easy matter to score a hit with the stone; but any one can train a garden hose on the can, because he can see where the water is striking and move his hose accordingly until he covers the desired spot. In the same way, with the machine-gun, it is much easier to train the stream of bullets upon the mark, and, having once found the mark, to hold the aim. That is one reason why the destruction of a machine-gun is so tremendous; another, of course, being that it will discharge so many more shots per minute than the common rifle.