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Page 48
"It's a pity he didn't sit down on his boomerang infernal-machine, and
then set it a-going: he might a been on the moon by this time, where the
fool belongs, with the other lunatics. If he ever comes into my new
ice-cream parlor--(twelve by sixteen, gas-lights, three tables, and six
chairs; two spoons furnished with one saucer if desired, and a napkin
for your lady free; ten cents a saucer, and ginger-bread thrown in)--why
out he goes, too quick. Oh, he's a daisy, he is! If you ever want to
remind me of him, anybody, ask me to lend you a dime; and when I shake
my head and my teeth rattle, I'll remember the lunkhead, sure enough."
I frowned down the youngster, for he had promised not to obtrude his
opinion in the presence of Bainbridge. But as his words did not refer in
any manner to the story that Bainbridge was telling us, I should not
have objected to them, but that with Arthur it was necessary to be
cautious in creating precedents, which, as I have intimated, in his case
almost immediately congealed into vested rights; and our agreement had
obligated him to observe complete silence on the subject of Peters'
story, and, if I correctly remember--though Arthur denied this
latter--on all other subjects, in the presence of Doctor Bainbridge.
As Bainbridge appeared to have nothing further to say, and was making
those slight occasional movements which I knew presaged his departure, I
began to talk of Peters' leap; and in the most guarded manner--for with
Bainbridge any question of the facts of his narrative required tact and
delicacy to avoid the giving of offence--to discuss the subject of
leaping in general, the facts and probabilities relating to distance,
and the laws and conditions that might govern and regulate the
running-leap.
"Do you not think," I finally asked, "that Peters somewhat overestimates
the distance of his marvelous leap? I am aware that Peters was, both in
strength and in agility, almost preterhuman; but fifty feet or
thereabouts! That seems scarcely possible. Our best athletes, I believe,
have never, on level ground, made a running leap of much more than half
that distance. Now forty feet, under all the circumstances, would not
strike me as impossible, though thirty-five would better chime with my
ideas of the probable, and thirty would remove all possibility of any
draft on my credulity."
"It is not a question of ideas or of credulity," answered Bainbridge,
"but one of fact. However, we will look at the incident from the
stand-point of reason and experience. Now let us assume that a running
leap of twenty-five feet on level ground would not be beyond the ability
of a trained athlete. I think you will allow to Peters a natural
advantage of seven feet over an ordinary athlete, when you consider the
superiority of his form, so well adapted to leaping--a form that gives
to him the advantage of an orang-outang, without the disadvantage of
hand-like feet, so poorly suited to flat surfaces. From the fullest
information I could obtain from Peters, I believe that in leaping he
obtains more impetus from his arms than from his legs; but even with his
preternatural strength he does not get quite as much impulse-force from
his legs as would an ordinary athlete. I myself think that the use of
his arms in making this leap gave him an advantage of one-third over
another man of equal strength. However, I ask you to allow him from all
advantage of form, in the leap alone, seven feet, or twenty-eight per
cent."
To this proposition I assented.
"Then," continued Bainbridge, "it must be remembered that so far as the
actual leap is concerned, he missed the opposite edge of the abyss--for
he did miss it, and any other man would have gone to the bottom of the
chasm. It was only the length of his arm, with its excessive strength,
and the iron grip of that enormous hand, which prevented complete
failure. As a matter of fact, the walls of the abyss being fifty feet
apart, Peters leaped only forty-seven feet. Am I correct?"
Again I assented.
"Then," said Bainbridge, "we have brought within the limits of reason
thirty-five of the fifty feet, and fifteen feet remain to be accounted
for. Now let us recall to your memory the fact that the edge of the
abyss toward which he leaped was twelve feet lower than the edge from
which he sprung; and that, in his progress across the chasm he fell, in
addition to this twelve feet, his own height--which, according to Pym's
diary was, at that period, four feet and eight inches. If Peters could
have covered thirty-five feet on level ground, could he have covered
fifty feet with the advantage of a drop of nearly seventeen feet?
Assuming a certain weight for Peters, we could calculate the number of
foot-pounds of energy, or the initial velocity, necessary to make a leap
of thirty-five feet on level ground, and how many foot-pounds it would
require to make a leap of fifty feet with a drop of sixteen feet and
eight inches taken into the conditions. But as most of the equations in
our calculation are approximative, I prefer that the element of
gravitation should be handled in a general way. If a leaper were to
impel himself horizontally only, he would, in the shortest leap, fall
below a level. This fall may be met to the extent of about two feet, by
drawing up the legs--that is, by 'hunkering' as the leap progresses, and
alighting on his feet with the body to that extent lower than when the
spring began. In a leap of twenty-five feet, however, the leaper is
compelled to project himself upward as well as forward; and an
instinctive sense of just how little energy may be expended in raising
himself, and how much may be left for the forward impulse, is one of the
chief elements of his proficiency. Peters did not have to raise his body
at all."
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