eight, you win. If you get six and he gets nine, he wins. Ought the
first or second player to win, and how? When you have settled the
question with fifteen pebbles try again with, say, thirteen.


393.--THE TWO ROOKS.

This is a puzzle game for two players. Each player has a single rook.
The first player places his rook on any square of the board that he may
choose to select, and then the second player does the same. They now
play in turn, the point of each play being to capture the opponent's
rook. But in this game you cannot play through a line of attack without
being captured. That is to say, if in the diagram it is Black's turn to
play, he cannot move his rook to his king's knight's square, or to his
king's rook's square, because he would enter the "line of fire" when
passing his king's bishop's square. For the same reason he cannot move
to his queen's rook's seventh or eighth squares. Now, the game can never
end in a draw. Sooner or later one of the rooks must fall, unless, of
course, both players commit the absurdity of not trying to win. The
trick of winning is ridiculously simple when you know it. Can you solve
the puzzle?

[Illustration]


394.--PUSS IN THE CORNER.

[Illustration]

This variation of the last puzzle is also played by two persons. One