Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/124

104 At this juncture Mr. Curtis, who had entered the room, thought it necessary to put in an oar.

"I think, with the doctor, William, that you won't be absolutely helpless while you're falling. I remember, when I was a youngster like you, I used to go swimming with a number of other boys. There was a very high dock from which we used to dive, and one day a comrade, in a spirit of mischief, pushed me overboard when I was n't looking. I was badly frightened, I can tell you, when I felt myself falling; but I knew that if I fell flat I should be badly hurt, so I kicked and squirmed as I went down, and succeeded in turning myself around, so that I reached the water head first, and was n't hurt a bit."

"Yes," said William, " the same thing has often happened to me. Besides, I know that cats, when they fall, always manage to land on their feet. Some years ago, my mother one day heard her pet canary fluttering about in its cage, and knowing that something was wrong, she rushed to the window, and spied a large black cat, that had climbed up the wistaria-vine and was trying to get at the cage.

"Mother was so angry and excited that she caught the cat by the back of the neck and threw