"Why not?" said Nathan, beginning to look a little concerned.
"Unless," said his father, "you had something above you, to push against, so as to push yourselves down. You would be just like a boy in a boat, off from the shore, and without any paddle or pole. He could not get back again."
"We might tie a rope to something," said James, "before we went up, and so pull ourselves down."
"Yes, that you might do."
"And could not we flap our hands, like a bird, and so fly a little?"
"Perhaps you could," said his father.
Here the children all began to flap their hands, like young birds trying to fly; and Rollo said again, he wished, with all his heart, there was no gravitation; "for then," said he, "we should have strength enough to fly."
"That would lead to serious consequences," said his father.
"What consequences?" said James.
"Much more serious than you would suppose."