"No, I mean stub. Stub means more than snub. Snub means just a plain turn up nose, but stub means that it's not only turned up, but has very little of itself left. It's just a stub--that's all," explained the bicycle. "Another boy I knew fell so hard that he pushed his whole face right through to the back of his head, and you don't know how queer it looks to see him walking backward on his way to school." "I guess I was in great luck," said Jimmieboy. "I might have had a much harder time than I did." "I should say so," said the bicycle. "A scratch and loss of appetite, when you might just as easily have had your whole personal appearance changed, is getting off very cheap. But, I say, why didn't you turn aside instead of trying to ride over that lawn mower? Didn't you know you'd get yourself into trouble?" "Of course I didn't," said Jimmieboy. "You don't suppose I wanted to commit soozlecide, do you? I heard papa talking to mamma about the rheumatic tires on his bicycle, and he said they were great inventions because they made the wheel boy--boy--well, boy something, I don't remember what." "Boyant?" asked the little bicycle, scratching its cyclometer with its pedal. "Yes--that was it," said Jimmieboy. "He said the rheumatic tires made the thing boyant, and I asked him what that meant. He said boyant was a word meaning light and airy--like a boy, you know, and that boyancy in a bicycle meant that it could jump over almost anything." "That is so," said Bikey. "That's what they have those tires for, but they can't jump over a lawn mower--unless"----Here Bikey paused and glanced anxiously around. It was evident that he had some great secret in his mind. "Unless what?" asked Jimmieboy, his curiosity at once aroused. "Unless a patent idea of mine, which you and I could try if you wanted to, is good." Bikey's voice sank into a whisper. "There's millions in my idea if it'll work," he continued. "Do you see this?" he asked, holding up his front wheel. "This tire I have on is filled with air, and it makes me seem light as air--but it's only seeming. I'm heavy, as you found out when you tried to get me to jump over the lawn mower, but if I could only do a thing I want to you could go sailing over a church steeple as easily as you can ride me over a lawn." "You mean to say you'd fly?" asked Jimmieboy, delighted at the idea. "No--not exactly," returned Bikey. "I never could fly and never wanted to. Birds do that, and you can buy a bird for two dollars; but a bicycle costs you anywhere from fifty to a hundred, which shows how much more valuable bicycles are than birds. No, I don't want to fly, but I would like to float." "On water?" asked Jimmieboy.