For myself, I should never hesitate between five bisques and fifteen, and I think that I should take four if I could not get five. My own feeling is that the right number is just over four.
I should say, in conclusion, that I am very ignorant of the mathematical calculations which bear on the matter, and I offer these opinions as the result of experience in actual play, and from watching matches where bisques were given.
CHAPTER VIII.
CASES AND DECISIONS.
The following Cases and Decisions are intended to meet questions often asked at tournaments; and also to cover points apparently not provided for in the laws. They have been prepared with the advice and assistance of Messrs. W. and E. Renshaw, B. C. Evelegh, N. L. Jackson, and R. D. Sears, to whom the author returns his thanks:—
I. A player standing outside the court volleys the ball or catches it in his hand, and claims the stroke because the ball was certainly going out of court.
Decision.—He loses the stroke. It makes no difference where he was standing. The return is presumed good until it strikes the ground outside of the court.
II. A player is struck by the ball served before it has touched the ground, he being outside of the service court. How does it count?
Decision.—The player struck loses the stroke. The service is presumably good until it strikes in the wrong court. A player cannot take the decision upon himself by stopping the ball. If it is going to be a fault he has only to get out of the way.