Round the World in Eighty Days Part 28

And now the question was, how could they detain Mr. Fogg in the car and prevent him meeting the Colonel? It ought not to be a very difficult matter, for Phileas was naturally of a sedentary disposition. However, the detective found a way, for shortly afterwards he said to Mr. Fogg:

"The time pa.s.ses very slowly."

"Yes," replied Fogg, "but it does pa.s.s."

"On board the steamer," continued the detective, "you used to like a game of whist."

"Yes," replied Fogg, "but here I have neither cards nor partners."

"Ah, we can easily purchase cards. As for partners, if madam can take a hand--"

"Certainly," replied the young lady. "I know whist, it is part of an English education."

"And," continued Fix, "I also have some little knowledge of the game, so we can play dummy."

"As you like," said Fogg, delighted to play his favourite game even in the train.

Pa.s.se-partout was immediately despatched to the steward, and he quickly returned with two packs of cards, some markers, and a board covered with cloth.

The game commenced, Mrs. Aouda played fairly well, and was complimented by Phileas. As for the detective, he was a first-rate player, and a worthy opponent of Mr. Fogg.

"Now," thought Pa.s.se-partout, "we have got him down and he won't move."

At eleven o'clock in the morning the train reached the watershed at Bridger Pa.s.s, at an elevation of seven thousand five hundred and twenty-four feet above the level of the sea. After traversing about two hundred miles more, the travellers found themselves in one of those extensive plains which proved so convenient to the laying of the railway.

At half-past twelve the travellers got a glimpse of Fort Halleck, and in a few hours afterwards they had crossed the Rocky Mountains. They were now in hopes that no accident would imperil the journey; the snow had ceased, and the air was frosty. Some large birds, startled by the locomotive, rose up, but no wild beasts appeared; the whole plain was a desert.

After a comfortable breakfast in his own car, Mr. Fogg and his companions resumed their whist. Just then a loud whistling was heard, and the train came to a stop. Pa.s.se-partout put his head out, but could see no cause for the stoppage. Mrs. Aouda and Fix were afraid that Mr. Fogg would get up and see what was the matter, but he merely told his servant to ascertain the reason of the delay.

Pa.s.se-partout jumped down. He found a number of pa.s.sengers already on the ground, and amongst them Colonel Proctor.

The train had been stopped by signal. The engine-driver and guard were talking excitedly with the signalman, whom the station-master at Medicine Bow had sent down. The pa.s.sengers joined in the discussion, and prominent amongst them was Colonel Proctor.

Pa.s.se-partout, as he joined the group, heard the signalman say: "You cannot pa.s.s. The bridge is unsafe, and will not bear the weight of the train."

The viaduct in question was a suspension-bridge over a rapid about a mile farther on. The signalman said that many of the supports were broken, and that it was impossible to cross; he did not exaggerate the danger, and it may be taken for granted that when an American is prudent there is good reason for not being rash.

Pa.s.se-partout did not dare to tell his master, but remained, listening with clenched teeth, motionless as a statue.

"That is all very fine," said Colonel Proctor, "but I guess we ain't going to stop here to take root in the snow."

"We have telegraphed to Omaha for a train, Colonel," said the guard; "but it can't reach Medicine Bow in less than six hours."

"Six hours!" exclaimed Pa.s.se-partout.

"Yes," replied the guard; "but it will take us that time to reach Medicine Bow on foot."

"Why, it is only a mile from here," said one of the pa.s.sengers.

"Only a mile, but on the other side of the river."

"And can't we cross in a boat?" asked the Colonel.

"Quite impossible; the creek has swollen with the rains; we shall have to go round ten miles to a ford."

The Colonel vented a choice collection of oaths, condemning the company, the guard, and creation generally; and Pa.s.se-partout, who was very angry, felt inclined to join him. Here was a material obstacle which all his master's money would not be able to remove.

The disappointment of the pa.s.sengers was general, for, without reckoning the delay, they found themselves obliged to walk fifteen miles in the snow. The commotion would have attracted Phileas Fogg's attention had he not been entirely absorbed in his game.

Nevertheless, Pa.s.se-partout would have told him of it if the engineer, a true Yankee, named Foster, had not said:

"Perhaps there is a way we can get over after all, gentlemen."

"Over the bridge?" asked a pa.s.senger.

"Yes."

"With the train, do you mean?" asked the Colonel.

"With the train."

Pa.s.se-partout stopped and listened anxiously for the engineer's explanation.

"But the bridge is almost broken," said the guard.

"Never mind," replied Foster: "I think that by putting on full-steam we may have a chance of getting across."

"The devil!" muttered Pa.s.se-partout.

But a certain number of the pa.s.sengers were attracted by the suggestion; Colonel Proctor was particularly pleased, and thought the plan quite feasible. He related various anecdotes concerning engineers, whom he had known, who crossed over rivers without any bridges at all by merely putting on full-steam, etc. The end of it was that many of the pa.s.sengers agreed with the engineer.

"The chances are fifty to a hundred about our getting over," said one.

"Sixty!" said another.

"Eighty, ninety!" said a third.

Pa.s.se-partout was dumfounded, and although he was very anxious to cross the river, he thought the proposed plan a little too American.

"Besides," he thought, "there is an easier way, which does not seem to have occurred to either of them;" so he said aloud to one of the pa.s.sengers:

"The engineer's plan seems to me somewhat dangerous; but--"

"Eighty chances!" replied the person addressed, turning away.

"I know that," replied Pa.s.se-partout, as he spoke to another; "but an idea--"

"Ideas are no use," replied the American; "the engineer tells us we can cross."