THE DISHONEST SERVANTS.
Three gentlemen, with their servants, had to cross over a river in a boat in which two passengers only could be transported at one time. The servants were known to have planned to murder and rob one or more of the masters if two servants were left with one master or three servants with two masters. The question to be decided was how these six persons were to cross so that the boat could be returned, and yet so that the servants on either side of the river should not outnumber the masters. The following is one of the several ways in which the difficulty might have been overcome:—Two servants go over first, one returns; two servants go over again, one again returning with the boat; two of the masters next go over, and a master and one of the previously taken servants returns; then two of the masters again go over, and the servant already crossed takes the boat back, leaving the three masters safely crossed; the servants are left to come over in any manner they choose.