He again heard footsteps, but this time they were slower, more heavy.
He did not note how far they ran; but at last came a slower motion, a gallop, and then a trot.
Once more, the further the planet the slower it moved; there seemed to be some law connecting speed and distance.
She walked slowly to the curtain and nodded to the Nubian to draw it aside, and slower still she passed into the other room.
Hence, the tidal reaction on the moon, having as its primary effect, as we have seen, the pulling the moon a little forward, has also the secondary or indirect effect of making it move slower and go further off.
It is a small effect, but it is cumulative; and gradually, by much slower degrees than anything we have yet contemplated, we are presented with a picture of the month getting gradually shorter than the day, the moon gradually approaching instead of receding, and so, incalculable myriads of ages hence, precipitating itself upon the surface of the earth whence it arose.