mself declared on one occasion,
"By the bones of Saint Jingo, this Sir Hugh hath a sharp wit. Certes, I
wot not the riddle that he may not rede withal." It is, therefore, a
source of particular satisfaction that the recent discovery of some
ancient rolls and documents relating mainly to the family of De Fortibus
enables me to place before my readers a few of the posers that racked
people's brains in the good old days. The selection has been made to suit
all tastes, and while the majority will be found sufficiently easy to
interest those who like a puzzle that _is_ a puzzle, but well within the
scope of all, two that I have included may perhaps be found worthy of
engaging the attention of the more advanced student of these things.

32.--_The Game of Bandy-Ball._

Bandy-ball, cambuc, or goff (the game so well known to-day by the name of
golf), is of great antiquity, and was a special favourite at Solvamhall
Castle. Sir Hugh de Fortibus was himself a master of the game, and he
once proposed this question.

They had nine holes, 300, 250, 200, 325, 275, 350, 225, 375, and 400
yards apart. If a man could always strike the ball in a 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
si