Danner guessed the reason for that walk. He said to his wife with rare firmness: “If the boy wants to walk with me, we’re going.”

After supper they went out. Mrs. Danner felt that she had been shut out of her own son’s world. And she realized that he was growing up.

Danner and his son strolled along the leafy street. They talked about his work in school. His father seemed to Hugo more human than he had ever been. He even ventured the first step toward other conversation. “Well, son, what is it?”

Hugo caught his breath. “Well—I kind of thought I ought to tell you. You see—this afternoon—well—you know I’ve always been a sort of strong kid—”

Danner trembled. “I know—”

“And you haven’t said much about it to me. Except to be gentle—”

“That’s so. You must remember it.”

“Well—I don’t have to be gentle with myself, do I? When I’m alone—like in the woods, that is?”

The older one pondered. “You mean—you like to—ah—let yourself out—when you’re alone?”

“That’s what I mean.” The usual constraint between them had receded. Hugo was grateful for his father’s help. “You see, dad, I—well—I went walkin’ to-day—and I—I kind of tried myself out.”

Danner answered in breathless eagerness: “And?”

“Well—I’m not just a strong kid, dad. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. It seems I’m not like other kids at all. I guess it’s been gettin’ worse all these years since I was a baby.”

“Worse?”

“I mean—I been gettin’ stronger. An’ now it seems like I’m about—well—I don’t like to boast—but it seems like I’m about the strongest man in the world. When I try it, it seems like there isn’t any stopping me. I can go on—far as I like. Runnin’. Jumpin’.” His confession had commenced in detail. Hugo warmed to it. “I can do things, dad. It kind of scares me. I can jump higher’n a house. I can run faster’n a train. I can pull up big trees an’ push ’em over.”

“I see.” Danner’s spine tingled. He worshipped his son then. “Suppose you show me.”

Hugo looked up and down the street. There was no one in sight. The evening was still duskily lighted by afterglow. “Look out then. I’m gonna jump.”

Mr. Danner saw his son crouch. But he jumped so quickly that he vanished. Four seconds elapsed. He landed where he had stood. “See, dad?”

“Do it again.”

On the second trial the professor’s eyes followed the soaring form. And he realized the magnitude of the thing he had wrought.

“Did you see me?”

Danner nodded. “I saw you, son.”

“Kind of funny, isn’t it?”