Quotation from: The Valley of the Moon

Written by: Jack London

"You didn't know Timothy McManus, did you?"

"No; I'd never seen him before, and I've never seen him since."

"But what'd you wanta do it for?" Billy persisted.

The young man laughed, then controlled himself.

"To save my life, I don't know. I have one friend, a most
intelligent chap that writes sober, scientific books, and he's
always aching to throw an egg into an electric fan to see what
will happen. Perhaps that's the way it was with me, except that
there was no aching. When I saw those legs flying past, I merely
stuck my stick in between. I didn't know I was going to do it. I
just did it. Timothy McManus was no more surprised than I was."