Let the Mean and Variance of five observations \( x_1 = 1, x_2 = 3, x_3 = a, x_4 = 7 \) and \( x_5 = b, \; a > b \), be \( 5 \) and \( 10 \) respectively. Then the Variance of the observations \( n + x_n, \; n = 1, 2, \ldots, 5 \) is:
\( 17 \)
\( 17.4 \)
\( 16 \)
\( 16.4 \)