I braved another attempt at a Sam Loyd puzzle.
“Here is a pretty problem which I figured out during a ride from Bixley to Quixley astride of a razor-back mule. I asked Don Pedro if my steed had another gait, and he said it had but that it was much slower, so I pursued my journey at the uniform speed as shown in the sketch.
To encourage Don Pedro, who was my chief propelling power, I said we would pass through Pixley, so as to get some liquid refreshments; and from that moment he could think of nothing but Pixley. After we had been traveling for forty minutes I asked how far we had gone, and he replied: “Just half as far as it is to Pixley.” After creeping along for seven miles more I asked: “How far is it to Quixley?” and he replied as before: “Just half as far as it is to Pixley.”
We arrived at Quixley in another hour, which induces me to ask you to figure out the distance from Bixley to Quixley.”
I was disconcerted by what I thought was extraneous information and wondered if I had misunderstood his narrative again.
See the Bixley to Quixley Puzzle for solutions.