Of course, in going up, I shall have to work my way against the attraction of gravitation, and that will make it much harder for me to swim up than it was to swim down. I am really like a fish in a basket that is floating down a river. So long as the fish remains perfectly still he won't get any nearer the ends of the basket; but if he wants to swim, he will find it easier to swim down with the current to the lower end of the basket than to swim against the current to the upper end."
William's simile of the fish in the basket was perfectly correct, but there was a serious flaw in his conclusions as to what would happen in the given case, and this error was the cause of his meeting with a new experience, which might have turned out rather unpleasantly.
"It can't make very much difference, anyway," thought William; "for even if I find it too hard to swim up, I can turn around and swim down again. I shall, however, give myself a good start by jumping up from the floor with all my might, and will thus have less distance to swim."
With these words, our hero, bracing himself by the handles at the bottom of the car in order to get a good start, put down his feet against the floor, and gave himself a strong upward push.
