er; and
as I was coming home, whom should I meet but Ned Collier: so we had a mug
of cider together at the Barley Mow, where I sold him exactly a fifth of
what I had left, and gave him a fifth of a goose over for the missus.
These nineteen that I have brought back I couldn't get rid of at any
price." Now, how many geese did Farmer Rouse send to market? My humane
readers may be relieved to know that no goose was divided or put to any
inconvenience whatever by the sales.

[Illustration]

58.--_The Chalked Numbers._

"We laughed greatly at a pretty jest on the part of Major Trenchard, a
merry friend of the Squire's. With a piece of chalk he marked a
different number on the backs of eight lads who were at the party." Then,
it seems, he divided them in two groups, as shown in the illustration, 1,
2, 3, 4 being on one side, and 5, 7, 8, 9 on the other. It will be seen
that the numbers of the left-hand group add up to 10, while the numbers
in the other group add up to 29. The Major's puzzle was to rearrange the
eight boys in two new groups, so that the four numbers in each group
should add up alike. The Squire's niece asked if the 5 should not be a 6;
but the Major explained that the numbers were quite correct if properly
regarded.

[Illustration]

59.--_Tasting the Plum Puddings._

"Everybody, as I suppose, knows well that the number of different
Christmas plum puddings that you taste will bring you the same number of
lucky days in the new year. One of the guests (and his name has escaped
my memory) brought with him a sheet of paper on which were drawn
sixty-four puddings, and he said the puzzle was an allegory of a sort,
and he intended to show how we might manage our pudding-tasting with as
much dispatch as possible." I fail to fully understand this fanciful and
rather overstrained view of the puzzle. But it would appear that the
puddings were arranged regularly, as I have shown them in the
illustration, and that to strike out a pudding was to indicate that it
had been duly tasted. You have simply to put the point of your pencil on
the pudding in the top corner, bearing a sprig of holly, and strike out
all the sixty-four puddings through their centres in twenty-one straight
strokes. You can go up or down or horizontally, but not diagonally or
obliquely; and you must never strike out a pudding twice, as that would
imply a second and unnecessary tasting of those indigestible dainties.
But the peculiar part