The Rock Island Argus., 1883-10-13
TOUR OF THE WORLD
EIGHTY DAYS.
JULES vERNEs GREAT STORY.
CHAPTER xxvI.-CoxrrNUEp.

CHAPTER RAANL-CONTINUED.
The travellers left Oakland Station at
six o clock. 1t was already night, cold
and dreary, with an overcast sky,
threatening snow The train did not
move with great rapidity. Counting
the stops, it did not run more than
twenty miles an hour, a speed winch
ought, however, to enable it to cross
the United States in the fixed time.
They talked but little in the car.
Sleep soon oyercame the passengers.
Passepartout sat near the detective,
but he did not speak to him. Since
the late events, their relations had be-.
come somewhat cold. No more SYM
pathy or intimacy. Fix had not
changed his manner. but Passepartout
retained an extreme reserve, ready ut
the least suspicion to choke his old
friend.
An hour. after the starting of the
train 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 a steward entered
the car, and announced to the passen-
gers that the. hour for retiring had
come. This was sleeping car, which
in a few minutes was transformed into
dormitory. The backs of the seats
unfolded, beds carefully packed away
were unrolled by an ingenious system,
berths we're improvIsed. in a few mo-
ments, and each passenger had soon st
his disposal comfortable bed, which
thick curtains protected from all indis-
Greet 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 if he had been in the
comfortable cabin of a steamer-whIle
the train moved on &nder full head of
steam across the State of California.
In that portion of the country between
San Francisco and Sacramento the
ground is not very hillv 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 Francisco to
the Capital of California the line ran di-
rectly to the northeast, along American
River, which empties into San Pablo
Bay. The one hundred and twenty
miles included between these two i'm
portant cities were accomplished in six
hours, and towards midnight, while
they were getting their first sleep, the
travellers passed 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 north
easterly direction. At tnoon 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
to the north. Then it bent to the east,
and did not leave the stream until it
reached 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. Phileas Fogg,
the young woman, Fix and Passepar-
tout, comfortably seated, looked at the
varied country passing before their
sight, vast prairies, mountains whose
profiles were shown upon the horizon,
and creeks tumbling down, q foaming
mass of water. Sometimes, a large
herd of bisons, gathering in the dis
tance, appeared like moving dam.
These innumerable armies of grazing
animals frequently oppose an insur-
mountable obstacle to the passage OF
trains. Thousands of these animals
have been seen moving on for several
hours in close ranks across the railroad.
The locomotive is then forced to stop
and wait until the path is clear again.
The same thing happened on this oc-
casion. Abott three o. clock in the aft
ernoOn herd of ten or twelve thousand
blocked the railroad. The engine, hav-
ing slackened its speed, tried to plunge
its spur into the flank of the immense
column, but it had to stop before the
impenetrablc mass.
They saw these buffaloes, as the
Americans improperly call them, moy-
ing with their steady gait, frequently
believing terribly. They had a larger
body than those Of the bulls of Europe,
short legs and tail, projecting saddle
forming muscular bump, horns sepa-
rated at the base, their heads, neck and
shoulders covered with long, shaggy
hair. They could not think of stopping
this moving mass. When the bisons
have adopted course nothing can
swerve them from it or modify it. They
are torrent of living flesh which nc
dam could hold
The travellers, scattered on the plat
forms, looked at this curious spectacle
But Phileas Fogg, who ought to be the
most in a hurry, had remained in his
seat and was waiting philosophically
until it should please the buffaloes tC
open passage. Passepartout was furi-
Gus at the delay caused by the mass o.
animals. He wanted to fire all his re-
volvers at them.
"What a countryr he cried. 'Mere
cattle stop trains, and move along in
procession without hurrying, as if they
did not impede travel! Parbleau! ]
would like to know if Mr. Fogg had
forsseen this mischance in his pro.
gramme! And what an engineer, who