Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/48

Like all soldiers, war kites should be trim and martial in appearance. Their uniform may be as brilliant and fanciful as the ingenuity and taste of the builder suggests, always remembering that lightness and strength are essential qualities. An appropriate name or emblem, marked, painted, or pasted on, would serve not only to distinguish the combatants from their more peaceful brother aërostats, but would give to each kite an individuality, and thus allow successful veterans to become famous throughout kitedom. There are but two "arms" to this novel "service," or rather two modes of warfare. The first, unarmed, might be compared to the friendly jousts of the knights of old when they met for trials of skill. The second, armed, is more like the mortal combat where but one survives.

The usual form of the unarmed fighting kite is that of the ordinary bow kite. It should be made about two and one-half feet high. Base of bow, fourteen inches below top of spine or centre-stick, and twenty-seven inches broad. Cover the frame with paper cambric. Make the tail of string, with stripes of colored paper inserted in loops an inch or so apart. A paper tassel at the end will give it a finished look. Ten feet is about the proper length of tail for a kite of this size.

In fighting with this unarmed soldier the object is to capture your opponent's kite by entangling its tail in your own