THE CANTERBURY PUZZLES
perfectly straight line and send it exactly one of two distances, so that
it would either go towards the hole, pass over it, or drop into it,
what would the two distances be that would carry him in the least
number of strokes round the whole course ?
" Beshrew me," Sir Hugh would say, " if I know any who could
do it in this perfect way ; albeit, the point is a pretty one."
Two very good distances are 125 and 75, which carry you round
in 28 strokes, but this is not the correct answer. Can the reader
get round in fewer strokes with two other distances ?
33.—
Tilting at the Ring.
Another favourite sport at the castle was tilting at the ring. A
horizontal bar was fixed in a post, and at the end of a hanging
supporter was placed a circular ring as shown in the above illustrated
title. By raising or lowering the bar the ring could be adjusted to
the proper height—generally about the level of the left eyebrow of
the horseman. The object was to ride swiftly some eighty paces
and run the lance through the ring, which was easily detached and
remained on the lance as the property of the skilful winner. It
was a very difficult feat, and men were not unnaturally proud of
the rings they had succeeded in capturing.
At one tournament at the castle Henry de Gournay beat Stephen
Malet by six rings. Each had his rings made into a chain, De
Gournay*s chain being exactly sixteen inches in length, and Malet's
six inches. Now, as the rings were all of the same size and made
of metal half an inch thick, the little puzzle proposed by Sir Hugh
was to discover just how many rings each man had won.
34.—
The Noble Demoiselle.
Seated one night in the hall of the castle, Sir Hugh desired the
company to fill their cups and listen while he told the tale of his
adventure as a youth in rescuing from captivity a noble demoiselle
who was languishing in the dungeon of the castle belonging to his
father's greatest enemy. The story was a thrilling one, and when
he related the final escape from all the dangers and horrors of the
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