"It does n't matter," remarked Mr. Bombus; "for even if you did you
could n't apply it in this case. But we 're getting on in our journey.
Yes, indeed, we seem to be really getting on."
"Why, I should hope so!" returned Betty. "It seems to me I never flew
so fast in all my life before and for such a long time. If we were n't
getting on, I think I should be discouraged. We seem to be almost
running a race, we go so quickly."
"We are running a race," observed Mr. Bombus.
Betty opened her eyes wide and said: "Why, _I_ did n't know it. When
did we begin?"
"When we started, Child. Pray, don't be stupid!" replied her friend, a
little severely.
"But with whom are we running it?" queried Betty.
"With Time," whispered Mr. Bombus, confidentially. "One always has to
beat him before one can get to By-and-by. And then it depends on one's
self whether one likes it or not after one gets there."
But even as he spoke Betty seemed to feel herself hurried along more
rapidly than ever, as if she were making a final effort to outstrip
some one; and then she was brought to so sudden a standstill that she
had to do her best to keep from falling forward, and was still quite
dizzy with her effort when she heard a panting voice say, "That last
rush quite took away my breath!" and found herself being addressed by
Mr. Bombus, who was very red in the face and gasping rather painfully,
and whom she had, for the moment, forgotten.
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