letter. But these four consonants do not appear. Therefore Y must occur
in the middle, and the only word that I can find is "PYX," and there can
be little doubt that this was the word. At any rate, it solves our
puzzle.

52.--_Crossing the Moat._

No doubt some of my readers will smile at the statement that a man in a
boat on smooth water can pull himself across with the tiller rope! But it
is a fact. If the jester had fastened the end of his rope to the stern of
the boat and then, while standing in the bows, had given a series of
violent jerks, the boat would have been propelled forward. This has often
been put to a practical test, and it is said that a speed of two or three
miles an hour may be attained. See W. W. Rouse Ball's _Mathematical
Recreations_.

53.--_The Royal Gardens._

[Illustration]

This puzzle must have struck many readers as being absolutely impossible.
The jester said: "I had, of a truth, entered every one of the sixteen
gardens once, and never more than once." If we follow the route shown in
the accompanying diagram, we find that there is no difficulty in once
entering all the gardens but one before reaching the last garden
containing the exit B. The difficulty is to get into the garden with a
star, because if we leave the B garden we are compelled to enter it a
second time before escaping, and no garden may be entered twice. The
trick consists in the fact that you may enter that starred garden without
necessarily leaving the other. If, when the jester got to the gateway
where the dotted line makes a sharp bend, his intention had been to hide
in the starred garden, but after he had put one foot through the doorway,
upon the star, he discovered it was a false alarm and withdrew, he could
truly say: "I entered the starred garden, because I put my foot and part
of my body in it; and I did not enter the other garden twice, because,
after once going in I never left it until I made my exit at B." This is
the only answer possible, and it was doubtless that which the jester
intended.

See "The Languishing Maiden," in _A. in M._

54.--_Bridging the Ditch._

[Illustration]

The solution to this puzzle is best explained by the illustration. If he
had placed his eight planks, in the manner shown, across the angle of the
ditch, he would have been able to cross without much trouble. The king's
jester might thus have well overcome all his difficulties and got safely
away, as he has