deal."

[Illustration: "James and Nathan both ran towards him, thinking that he
must be hurt."--Page 37.]

So Rollo ran off after the umbrella, very much interested in proving to
James, by actual experiment, that the air was a real thing. When he came
with it, he was himself inclined to make the first experiment from the
low side of the shed. He could climb up, by means of a fence at the
corner. James advised him, however, to try it first from the end of a
woodpile, which was pretty high, but yet not so high as the shed. James
was not quite sure that the experiment would succeed, and he was afraid
that Rollo might get hurt.

Rollo said that he was not afraid to jump off the shed. He knew the
parachute would bear him up. He did not believe but that he could jump
off the house with it; and, at any rate, he could jump off the shed, he
knew. He accordingly clambered up, and, taking his station upon the
eaves, he spread the umbrella over his head, and then jumped off.

Down he came with great violence; his cap flew off in one direction, and
his umbrella rolled away in another, as he had to put out both his
hands, to save himself, when he reached the ground. As it was, he came
down upon all fours, and in such a way, that James and Nathan both ran
towards him, thinking that he must be hurt.

"Did you hurt yourself, Rollo?" said James.

"No," said Rollo, "not much."

"I don't think the umbrella did you much good."

"No," said Rollo, as he got up rubbing his elbows, "it didn't, and I
don't see what the reason is."

"You came down just as hard as you would without it."

"Yes," said Nathan, "and he almost broke his back; I don't believe the
air is any real thing at all."

The fact was, that the umbrella did do _some_ good. Rollo did not come
down quite so hard as he would have done without it. It retarded his
descent a little. But it was not large enough to enable him to descend
in safety. When his father said that a parachute was in fact only a
large umbrella, he meant a great deal larger than Rollo had supposed. A
parachute, such as is used with balloons, is a great deal larger than
any umbrella that ever was made.

QUESTIONS.

What was Nathan's wish, after he had read his father something
out of his book? Did he think that he could fly if he had
wings? Did his father think so? What deficiency did his father
think was even more important than that of wings? Did Nathan
think that a boy w