human
Well, my son, he said cheerily,
gpt
I wanted to catch up with someone,--an old beggar-man who lost something in our area-way. I wanted to return it to him,
human
So? But one can't expect to catch up with folks when one gets _winded_ and has to stop every now and then for breath. Better try my mode.
gpt
Please, sir, what is your mode?
human
To begin with, explained his companion,
gpt
I have to accomplish the most astonishing feats in the manner of speed. Literally I have to travel so fast that I am in two places at once. You will the better believe me when I tell you who I am,--Jack Frost, at your service, sir. Now, by what means do you think I manage it ?
human
I 'm sure I don't know. I should like immensely to find out,
gpt
How do you get to places yourself? inquired Jack Frost.
human
Do you always run?
gpt
Oh, no, indeed. I almost always ride on my bicycle. Then I can _go_ like anything, 'specially down _coasts_. Upgrades are kind of hard sometimes, but not so very. Oh, I can go quick enough when I have my bicycle.
human
Now then, broke in Jack Frost,
gpt
One wheel? repeated Lionel, thoughtfully;
human
Suppose you guess, proposed Jack Frost.
gpt
I 'll put it in the form of a conundrum: If a thing having two wheels is called a _bi_cycle, what would a thing having but one be called?
human
Oh, that's an old one. I 've heard that before, and the answer is, a wheelbarrow, you know.
gpt
I see I shall have to tell you, he said.
human
If a thing having two wheels is called a _bi_cycle, a thing having but one would naturally be an _i_cicle. Of course you might have known I should use an icicle.
gpt
But oh, Mr. Frost, objected Lionel,
human
I never saw an icicle with a wheel in my life, and I never saw one go either.
gpt
That's because you have n't seen me on one; and even if you had seen me on one, you wouldn't have known it,--we travel so fast. Did you ever notice that when things are going at the very rapidest rate possible, they seem to be standing perfectly still? That's the way with icicles. They have tremendous speed in them. They go so fast you can't realize it, and then when they are slowing up they don't do it with a clumsy jerk as bicycles do; they just gradually melt out of sight.
human
Yes, I 've seen them do that. I 've seen them go that way, admitted Lionel.
gpt
But will you take me to the beggar? I'm 'fraid I sha'n't be able to give him his rule if I don't hurry up.
human
But do you know in what direction he went? asked Jack Frost.
gpt
If one wants to catch up with any one, one needs to have _some_ idea of the direction he took. It's quite a _desideratum_,--when you get home, look that up.
human
What a silly I was! he said.
gpt
Perhaps I was going just the opposite way from the one he went. Oh, dear! how can I ever give him back his rule? It is such a beauty. If it had been mine, I 'd just hate to lose it.
human
Let us examine it, suggested Jack Frost,