"And I'll go along and help," added Markham, visibly distracted because of the broker's folly.
They started down the steep with rod-long steps; and presently one would have thought they wore seven-league boots from the amount of speed they developed.
Instead of putting a stop to the broker's performance they joined in. By and by they were playing leapfrog, every bound taking them forward half a hundred feet.
"Gravity here is far from having the force it has on Terra," remarked the professor. "Exertion comes easy and gives most astonishing results. Those men, Mr. Munn, are not used to such activity, yet their marvelous gymnastics do not seem to tire them in the least. Suppose that we ourselves make a test of the Mercurial gravity?"
I needed no second bidding, and Quinn and I took the descent as buoyantly as thistle-down before the wind. Somehow the lightness of our heels got into our heads, and the staid professor and myself began cavorting like a pair of ten-year-olds.
The delightful freedom of movement, was as novel as it was exhilarating. Liberty of muscle bred license of mind; had we been smoking opium we could not have acted more outrageously.
Nor was there any fatigue apparent. I felt that I could have run a hundred miles in as many minutes and never paused for breath.
Carried away by the wonderful effects of diminished gravity, we forgot all about our projected investigation of the little hills. In the midst of a game of tag we were suddenly brought to our senses with a round turn.
A pall had fallen over the landscape. The sun was blotted out by inky clouds, and a tremendous wind began to blow.
"We must get back to the car!" cried Quinn.