The bicycle bounded over the road like a thing of life; farmhouses and churches, dogs and chickens came to him and passed.

Old folks stood and gazed at him, the children cheered him.
In this way he sped merrily onward for about five miles.

Then, as he explains it, the feeling began to grow upon him that something was wrong.
He was not surprised at the silence; the wind was blowing strongly, and the machine was rattling a good deal.

It was a sense of void that came upon him.

He stretched out his hand behind him, and felt; there was nothing there but space.