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.