HI
s
THE HESPERIAN.
bony arm hanging in mid-air. But the
whisper was speaking on cheerfully like the
crackling of a pine fire, "let me present to you
my friends your friends." Derrick strained
his eyes to see. Where were the friends?
Ah, yes, there they were aftrr all! Here was
a straight, slender, dark-skinned foot; here a
pair of floppy ears held together invisibly;
here a piece of chalky earth held by unseen
fingers; here the half defined outline ofa
man's shoulder convulsed repeatedly by a
wheezy, breathless cough; and every where
were other dim outlines disappearing and re
appearing in endless permutations.
The whisper at his side was going on in a
smooth, apologetic tone, "We are aware that
you dislike spirits and for this reason we have
tried to make ourselves visible; but as you
preceive we have only partially succeeded.
For this we beg your pardon and ask leave to
lay before you our needs, feeling assured that
you will assist us." The thought stole into
Derrick's mind that this speech had been
learned by heart for the occasion, but he
smiled a ghastly, gracious smile and the
speaker went on monotonously. "We are
from the east and are come to learn of the
west; we are from cf o'd and are come to
learn of to-day. It has been a weary while
to wait but we are here at last to kneel at your
feet and learn."
Derrick wondered how they could kneel
without having any knees but he spoke in
tending to say what words of welcome were
possible. He only gasped, "the square of
the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the
squares of the base and the perpendicu
lar." A clapping of hands followed, sound
ing muffled and swishy like churning thick
cream.
Dei rick felt faint and giddy. He tried to
rise to his feet; but the air was thick about
him and he had to push his way up. He felt
things moving away from his hands sliding
on each other like soap-bubbles. He shrank
back and tried to sit down but he remained
bouncing in air, half sitting, half standing.
".You may. begin now," the voice above the
skeleton arm commanded. Derrick had no
need to ask any questions. His tongue
clicked against his dry palate and he felt him
self repeating dizzily, " an algebraical func
tion of x may be defined in the most general
manner as the root of an algebraical equation
of integral degree the coefficients of which are
rational integral algebraical functions of x,
and a rational intregal algebraical function of
x may be defined as the sum of a finite num
ber of terms, multiples of integral powers of
x.
Again the low still murium of applause.
Derrick heard it as if he slept; he was talking
on. He did not know what he was saying; he
heard occasioinlly his own voice, but he felt
that he was saying just three words over and
over, "radius of gyration, radius of gyration,
radius of gyration."
On and on he talked with his eyes fastened
now on the ears turned toward him to listen;
now on the foot which was. swinging around
strangely; now on a skinny neck held toward
him in eager attention. Not one tangible
face among them. If he could only get
away.
Derrick felt himself think almost connect
edly as his tongue rattled on. What was to
be the end of it all? It must be almost
morning, The lamps was still burning but
the oil was gone.
He talked faster listening, for some sound
from the world outside. After a time he
heard a clock somewhere below him striking
with queer wavering strokes, first soft, then
loud, then soft again. Seven times it struck.
It was morning, then, though dark yet. They
were not going with the night; he must get
rid of them some way. .
"I I think I will stop now," he quavered.
A moment's intense silence! He felt himself
crowded back and forth by the indignant air.
Involuntarily he began again explaining the
nature of hyperbola like curves at infinity.
A thrill of enthusiasm ran over the things be
fore him. An inspiration flashed to his mind.
"Yes," he went on craftily, persuasively,
"Mathematicians long ago agreed that hyper
bola like curves are tangent to straight lines,
at infinity. But," Derrick half sighed, "it,
has always been a matter of regret to them as
it is to me that the matter cannot be tested
