“I don’t think I said so. It was rather long-drawn, though. It’s impossible to give a full-lunged cry without having it give the effect of being long-drawn.”
“You would say it lasted—how long?”
“A second, I should say. Certainly not more. Just about a second.”
“A second is a long time, isn’t it, Mr. Fargo, when a man stands at the brink of death. Often the tables can be turned in as long a time as a second. Many times a second has given a man time to save his life—to prepare a defense—even to flee. Does it seem to you unusual that a man would give that much energy and time to cry for help when he was still uninjured, and still had a second of life.”
“Not at all—under certain circumstances.”
“What circumstances?”
“It would depend on the nature of the force. A man might see—that while he still had strength left to fight, he wouldn’t have the least chance to win.”
“Exactly. Yet if a man had time to call out that way, he’d at least have time to run. A man can take a big jump in a second, Fargo.”
Fargo’s voice fell. “Perhaps he couldn’t run.”