American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-11-05
TOUR OF THE WORLD IN
EIGHTY DAYS.

CHAPTER xxvL.-oosrrNurp.

cTnzPTER xxvL-doSrrNuED
The travellers left Oakland Station a
six o clock. 1t was already night. col,
ami -dreary. with an overcast sky
threatening snow. The train did no
move with great rapidity. Countin;
the stops. it did not run more thai
twenty miles an hour, a speed whicl
ought. however, to enable it to eros
the United States in the fixed time.
They talked but little in the car
Sleep soon ovcrcame the passengers
Passepartout sat near the detective
but he did not speak to him. Sine,
:, the late events, their relations had DC
come somewhat cold. No more sym
pathy or intimacy. Fix had moi
changed his manncr,s, but Passcpartoul
reta' ned an extreme reserve, ready nj
the least suspicion to choke his old
friend.
An hour after the starting of the
train a fine snow commenced to fall,
which fortunately could not delay the
progress of the train. Through the
windows nothing was seen but an i'm
mense white sheet, against which the
clouds of steam from the locomotive
looked grayish.
At eight o clock steward entered
the car, and announced to the passen-
gers that the hour for retiring had
come. This was sleeping car, which
in q few minutes was trans Ormel into
q dormitory. The backs of the seats
unfolded. beds carefully packed away
were unrolled by an ingenious system,
berths were improviscd in few mo-
ments, and each passenger had soon at
his disposal a comfortable bed. which
thick curtains protected from all indis-
erect looks. The sheets were clean and
the pillows soft Nothing more to be
done but to lie down and sleep-which
every one did, as il he had been in the
comfortable cabin of q steamer-whIle
the train moved on under full head of
steam across the State of California.
In that portion of the country between
ground is not very hilly. This portion
of the railroad, under the name of the
Central Pacific, originally had Sacra-
mento for its starting point, and went
towards the east to meet that starting
from Omaha From San Francisc) to
the Capital of California the line ran di-
rectly tolthe northeast, along American
River, which empties into San Pablo
Bay. The one hundred and twenty
miles included between these two inn
pOrtant cities were accomplished in six
hours. and towards midnight. while
they were getting their irst sleep, the
travellers assea through Sacramento.
They saw nothing of that large city, the
seat of the State Government of Califor-
MIA, nor its fine wharves. its broad
streets, its splendid hotels, its squares,
nor its churches
Leaving Sacramento, the train having
passed Junction. Roclin, Auburn and
Colfax Stations, plunged into the Sierra
Nevada 1t was seven o'clock in the
morning when Cisco Station was passed.
An hour afterwards the dormitory had
become an ordinary car. and the pas
sengers could get through the windows
a glimpse of the picturesque views of
this mountainous country.
About nine o'clock the train entered
the State of Nevada, through the Car
son Valley, always following a north
difection-e Atnoon it left Reno,
where the passengers had twenty min
utes for breakfast.
From this point the iron road, skirt
ing Humboldt River, passed few miles
70 the north. Then it bent to the east, |
and did not leave the stream until it |
the Humboldt range. where the
river takes its source, nearly in the |
eastern end Of the State of Nevada
After breakfasting. Mr.. Fogg. Mrs.
Aouda and their companions took their |
seats again in the car. phiIeas Fogg,
the young woman, Fix. and Passepar-
tout, comfortably seated. looked at the
varied country passing before their
sight. vast prair.es, mountains whose /
profiles were shown upon the horizon, |
snd creeks tumbling down, a foaining [
mass of water Sometimes. a large
herd of bisons,. gathering in the dis
.ance, appeared like moving dam.
these innumerable armies of grazing
animals frequently oppose an insur-
obstacle to the passage of
rains. Thousands of these animals
rave been seen moving on for several
lOurs in close ranks across the railroad.
The locomotive is then forced 10 stop
md wait until the path is clear again.
The same thing happened on this oc-
'asion- About three o'clock in the aft
,fnOon herd of ten or twelve thousand
locked the railroad The engine, hav-
ng slackened its speed, tried to plunge
Is spur into the flank of the immense
but it had to stop before the
mass.
They saw these buffaloes, as the
americans improperly call them, NOV
ng with their steady gait, frequently
terribly. They had larger
'ody than those Of the bulls o. Europe.
hort legs and tail, q projecting saddle
orming a muscular bump, horns sepa-
ated at the base, their heads, neck and
houlders covered with long, shaggy
air. They could not think of stopping
his moving mass. When the bisons
werve them from it or modify it. They
re torrent of living flesh which no
am could hold
The travellers. scattered on the plat
orms, looked at this curious spectacle.
'ut Phileas Fogg, who ought to be the
lost in q hurry, had remained in his
BAT and was waiting philosophically !
ntil IL should please the buffaloes to /
pen passage. Passepartout was furi-
us ut the delay caused by the mass of Z
He wanted to fire all his re-
divers at them.
what q countryr' he cried. "Mere
attle stop trains, and move along in l
recession without hurrying, as il they
id not impede travel! Parbleaul 1
'ould like TO know il Mr.. Fogg had I
,rescen this mischance I'm his pro- {
And what an engineer, who |
oes not dare to rush his engine through t
lis impeding mass of beastsr' t
The engineer had not attempted to t
vercome the obstacle, and he acted S
isely. He would undoubtedly have t
rushed the first bufTaloes struck by the
but, powerful as it was,
le engine would have soon been .
opped and the train thrown off the
ack and wrecked. jh
The best course, then, was to wait p
Itiently, ready to make up the lost c
ne by an increase OF the speed of the C