11. If a ball strike another ball, and then pass through a hoop, the player can either croquet or continue his stroke, and has not to pass through the same hoop again.
[From this rule the reader may infer, that if a ball go through its hoop either by striking another ball or by hitting the sides of the hoop, it is considered to have passed the hoop.
It has been suggested that a ball is dead directly it croquets another, and that therefore any stroke it makes after that is of no avail; but as this not only does away with [Rule 11], but prevents any player croquing two balls in one stroke, we cannot adopt it.]
12. If a ball, instead of playing at its hoop, play at a ball on the other side of the hoop, and consequently have to be moved by the hand through its own hoop in order to croquet, it is not considered to have gone through the hoop, but must return to the proper side of the hoop in the ordinary manner.
13. A ball is not through a hoop if the handle of the mallet when laid across the two sides of the hoop from whence the ball came touches the ball without moving the hoop.
14. If a player strike a ball which he cannot croquet, and by that stroke go through a hoop, the last stroke holds good, and he has another turn.
15. If a ball, when croqued through its hoop in a wrong direction, roll back through the hoop, it has not to pass through the same hoop in the same direction again.
THE CROQUET.
[When the game of Croquet first came into fashion, there was only one mode of the croquet, which was that usually known as the tight croquet. Since then other forms, known as the loose and slipping croquet, have come into fashion, and have met with so much favour that it is impossible to deny their claims to our attention. In the tight croquet the player must keep his foot upon his own ball, and is not allowed to move it while he makes the stroke; but in the loose croquet he need not even put his foot on his own ball at all, and is able consequently to drive not only his adversary’s ball, but also his own, in any direction he pleases. The adoption of this plan, even although it lengthens and complicates the game, affords so much pleasure to the players themselves, that it is becoming universally adopted. Some writers, however, insist that to rovers only should the privilege of the loose croquet be accorded; whilst others, on the other hand, would allow the privilege only to those who are not rovers. In fact, so much is to be said on each side, that the better plan is to allow the players to choose which of these courses they think fit to adopt. In some places, in addition to the loose croquet, a practice prevails which is usually known by the term “taking two off.” Thus if a player croquet a ball, he is allowed to drive his own ball in any direction he pleases, without touching the croqued ball. After this he has another stroke, so that he is enabled to get close to any ball on the ground. This plan seems to us so highly objectionable, and so thoroughly subversive of all good play, that we must decline to recommend it. It should also be known that many of our correspondents object to loose croquet altogether, on the ground that it tends greatly to prolong the turns, and thus spoils the game, as people, grown tired of waiting, lose all interest in it, and forget when their turn comes to play. What expressions more common on the ground than “Whose turn is it now?”]
16. A player is allowed the privilege of croquing whenever his ball strikes another, except when by doing so he makes the ball that is struck hit the winning-post, if it have passed through the hoops.