Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/167

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CHAPTER XXIII

IN WHICH OUR HERO INVENTS A NEW KIND OF SWIMMING

WILLIAM was right in his surmise. The presence of air in the car afforded him a point of resistance against which he could act, and he would therefore be able to reach the side of the car without resorting to any heroic measures such as he had been considering. Had there been no air in the car, however, the only possible way for him to have reached the floor, ceiling, or walls would have been some method similar to that suggested.

Our hero's first idea was naturally to reach the floor. He accordingly turned himself head downward, and proceeded literally to swim toward the bottom of the car. But William had failed to consider, in his calculations, how slight the resis-

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