[Illustration]
"By my halidame!" exclaimed Sir Hugh, "if some of yon varlets had been
put in chains, which for their sins they do truly deserve, then would
they well know, mayhap, that the length of any chain having like rings is
equal to the inner width of a ring multiplied by the number of rings and
added to twice the thickness of the iron whereof it is made. It may be
shown that the inner width of the rings used in the tilting was one inch
and two-thirds thereof, and the number of rings Stephen Malet did win
was three, and those that fell to Henry de Gournay would be nine."
The knight was quite correct, for 1-2/3 in. x 3 + 1 in. = 6 in., and
1-2/3 in. x 9 + 1 in. = 16 in. Thus De Gournay beat Malet by six rings.
The drawing showing the rings may assist the reader in verifying the
answer and help him to see why the inner width of a link multiplied by
the number of links and added to twice the thickness of the iron gives
the exact length. It will be noticed that every link put on the chain
loses a length equal to twice the thickness of the iron.