[Illustration]

"Now, gentlemen," continued Dawkins, "I happen to be a bit of a
mathematician; and hearing the conversation, I saw at once that for a
spot to be exactly two, three, and four furlongs from successive corners
of a square, the square must be of a particular area. You can't get such
measurements to meet at one point in any square you choose. They can only
happen in a field of one size, and that is just what these men never
suspected. I will leave you the puzzle of working out just what that area
is.

"Well, when I found the size of the field, I was not long in discovering
the field itself, for the man had let out the district in the
conversation. And I did not need to make the eight digs, for, as luck
would have it, the third spot I tried was the right one. The treasure was
a substantial sum, for it has brought me home and enabled me to start in
a business that already shows signs of being a particularly lucrative
one. I often smile when I think of that poor fellow going about for the
rest of his life saying: 'If only I knew the size of the field!' while he
has placed the treasure safe in my own possession. I tried to find the
man, to make him some compensation anonymously, but without success.
Perhaps he stood in little need of the money, while it has saved me from
ruin."

Could the reader have discovered the required area of the field from
those details overheard in the wineshop? It is an elegant little puzzle,
and furnishes another example of the practical utility, on unexpected
occasions, of a knowledge of the art of problem-solving.

THE PROFESSOR'S PUZZLES

"Why, here is the Professor!" exclaimed Grigsby. "We'll make him show us
some new puzzles."

It was Christmas Eve, and the club was nearly deserted. Only Grigsby,
Hawkhurst, and myself, of all the members, seemed to be detained in town
over the season of mirth and mince-pies. The man, however, who had just
entered was a welcome addition to our number. "The Professor of Puzzles,"
as we had nicknamed him, was very popular at the club, and when, as on
the present occasion, things got a little slow, his arrival was a
positive blessing.

He was a man of middle age, cheery and kind-hearted, but inclined to be
cynical. He had all his life dabbled in puzzles, problems, and enigmas of
every kind, and what the Professor didn't know about these matters was
admittedly not worth knowing. His puzzles always had a charm of their
own, and this wa