Chapter 27 Chapter Twenty-eight Passepartout cannot be understood

The train left Great Salt Lake and Ogden stations and continued north, reaching the Wilbur River an hour later.It's been almost 900 miles from San Francisco.From here the train headed east through the steep Wasatch Mountains. American road engineers had encountered serious difficulties in this region, which included the Wasatch Mountains and the Rocky Mountains.Consequently, the government of the United States of America paid for this section of the road an amount of forty-eight thousand dollars per mile in aid, while in the plains it was only sixteen thousand dollars per mile.However, those engineers, as we have said, did not forcefully change the natural terrain. When laying the route, they deftly followed the terrain in circles, bypassed the impassable mountains, and laid the railway to the vast plain.Only one cave, 14,000 feet long, was drilled throughout this stretch.

When the railway was laid to the Great Salt Lake, it had reached the apex of the whole line elevation.From here onwards there is a long slope, descending to the Basin of the Bittle River, and then ascending again to the middle of the American continent, which is as far from the Atlantic as from the Pacific. In this mountainous area, there are many rivers, and the railway must cross the Sewage River, Qingshui River and other small bridges.Passepartout became more and more impatient as the train drew nearer to its destination.As for Fix, he would have liked to fly over this uncomfortable region at once.He was afraid of delay; he was more anxious than Phileas Fogg himself about a turn-off in the road, and he wished he could be back in England sooner!

At ten o'clock in the evening the train reached Fort Brigill, barely stopped, and immediately continued on, twenty miles into Wyoming (formerly the Dakotas) and along the whole of the Bittle River Basin.Colorado's hydroelectric power system is built using a part of the water power of the Bittle River. The next day was December 7th, the train stopped at Qingshuihe Station for a quarter of an hour.It rained and snowed the night before, but now the snow has half melted, and it doesn't hinder the train's progress at all.But, in any case, this bad weather could not but trouble Passepartout, for the snow, which soaked the wheels in the mud, was always unfavorable to their journey.

"I don't understand," said Passepartout to himself, "why my master travels in winter! Wouldn't it be safer to wait until the weather was warmer?" But while the good-natured lad was concerned about the drop in temperature and the changing weather, Lady Aouda was anxious about something else. The thing is like this, some passengers got off the train and walked on the platform of Qingshuihe Station, waiting to drive.Lady Aouda saw through the window that one of these travelers was Colonel Storm Proctor, who had insulted Phileas Fogg in San Francisco.Mrs. Aouda did not want to be seen by the colonel, so she turned her back to the window.The situation at that time worried Mrs. Aouda very much, and she was very concerned about Mr. Fogg.Although this gentleman is so calm, his consideration for Mrs. Aouda is becoming more and more meticulous.Mrs. Aouda perhaps did not realize to what extent her savior excited in her heart what she could only call gratitude.But she didn't know that there was a further emotion than "gratitude".So when she found this rough colonel, she felt very nervous in her heart. She knew that Mr. Fogg was going to settle accounts with him sooner or later.There can be no doubt that it was sheer chance that Colonel Proctor took this train.But, in fact, he was already on the car, so he had to do everything possible to prevent Phileas Fogg from discovering his enemy.

When the train started, Lady Aouda, taking advantage of Mr. Fogg's dozing, told Fix and Passepartout of the sight of Colonel Proctor. "What?" cried Fix, "that fellow Proctor is in the car too! Don't worry, ma'am, don't worry, he will come first if he wants trouble with Mr. . . . I'll settle the score! I think it's me who suffered the most in this matter!" "Besides, I can handle him," said Passepartout; "don't think he's a colonel." "Mr. Fix," said Lady Aouda, "you know that Mr. Fogg will not let anyone else stand in his place. He has said that he himself will come to America again to settle accounts with the man who insulted him. Now, if he sees Colonel Proctor, we can't stop them, and things will be bad. So now we must try to keep Mr. Fogg from seeing him."

"You are right, ma'am," said Fix. "If they meet, it will be the end of it all. Whether Mr. Fogg wins or loses, he will delay, and then..." "In that case," said Passepartout, "the gentlemen of the Reform Club will be at a disadvantage. We shall be in New York in only four days! If Mr. Fogg does not leave this carriage during those four days, We can hope that Mr. Fogg won't run into the damned Yankee! We can just keep them off." Their conversation broke off.For Mr Fogg was awake, admiring the view through the frozen pane.Passepartout, after a while, without his master and Lady Aouda hearing, asked Fix in a low voice:

"Do you really want to do Mr. Fogg's job with that fellow?" "I will do everything in my power to bring Mr. Falk back to Europe alive!" Fex replied simply, and it could be heard from his tone that he had made up his mind. Passepartout seemed to shudder at this, but his confidence in Mr. Fogg was not shaken.But what is the way to keep Mr. Fogg in the carriage now and prevent him from meeting the colonel?This may not be difficult, because this gentleman is by nature a person who does not like activities or watching. Finally Fix thought he had found a good way.Before long he said to Phileas Fogg:

"Sir, how long and slow the time is going when we sit in the train like this." "Yes," said Mr. Fogg, "but it's going slowly, but it's going on!" "While on board," went on Fix, "you used to beat whist, I suppose?" "Yes," replied Phileas Fogg, "but here it is difficult, for I have neither cards nor opponents." "Oh! cards, we can buy them on the trains, and everything is sold on American trains. As for the opponent... Madame, it may happen that you will also..." "Yes, sir, I can," said Mrs. Aouda cheerfully, "and I can play whist. That's what I learned in English school, too."

"As for me," went on Fix, "I should very much like to have an opportunity to improve my whistling. That's all there is to it, the three of us, and leave one side . . . " "If you want to come, let's come," said Mr. Fogg, who enjoyed playing his favorite "whistler" even on the train. Passepartout hurried to the steward, and quickly procured two decks of cards, some chips for scoring, and a small table covered with a tablecloth.Everything is ready, they start to play cards.Lady Aouda played remarkably well, and even the prudish Mr. Fogg sometimes praised her skill.As for Fix, who was simply the best whist player, he and this gentleman could be described as equals.At this moment, Passepartout looked on and said to himself:

"Now we kind of have him on hold, and he's never going to leave the poker table again." At eleven o'clock in the morning the train reached a point as far from the Pacific Ocean as from the Atlantic Ocean, that is, at Bridger Pass, which is 7,524 feet above sea level.It is one of the highest hills on the railroad line through the Rocky Mountains.After another two hundred miles or so, the passenger train will reach the vast plain extending all the way to the Atlantic coast, and it is very convenient to build a railway on such a plain. In the hillside area of ​​the Atlantic Basin, there are many small tributary rivers branched off by the North Platte River.The entire northern and eastern horizon was covered by a great half-side curtain of mountains to the north of the Rocky Mountains.The highest peak in the mountains is Lalami Peak.Between this semicircular mountain and the railway is a great plain full of rivers and rivers.On the right side of the railway, there is a slope approaching the mountains.The rest of the mountains continue south to the source of the Arkansas River, one of the important tributaries of the Missouri River.

At half-past twelve the passengers caught a glimpse of a castle, Halleckburg, which overlooks the whole district.In a few hours, the trip through the Rocky Mountains would come to a triumphant conclusion.One can then hope to pass through this difficult mountainous region without incident.The snow stopped.The weather gets colder.Frightened by the running locomotive, the huge vulture hurriedly flew away.There was no beast of any kind on the plain, neither bear nor wolf, just a desolate wilderness. Mr. Fogg and his companions had a fairly comfortable lunch in their own compartment, and then immediately went on to play the never-ending "whistler".At this moment, a whistle sounded suddenly.The train stopped. Passepartout put his head out of the window, but saw nothing to stop the train, nor did he see the station. Mrs. Aouda and Fix were apprehensive that Mr. Fogg was going to go and see, but the gentleman only said to his servant: "Go and see, what's going on?" Passepartout immediately ran out of the carriage.By this time more than forty passengers had come out, among them Colonel Stom Proctor. The train stopped in front of a no-go red light.The train driver and conductor have come down.They were arguing bitterly with a watchman sent by the station master of Medici Bend ahead to wait for this train.Passengers also came to participate in this debate, and of course the Colonel Proctor just mentioned was indispensable.He yelled at the top of his voice, gesticulating and showing off. As Passepartout approached the group, he heard the watchman say: "No, there is no way to pass! The bridge at Medici Bend is already shaking and cannot stand the weight of the train." The bridge they speak of is a suspension bridge suspended over a rapid.Still a mile from here.According to the watchmen, the bridge was about to collapse, and many of the cables on it had been snapped.It is impossible to venture through.The keeper certainly said it couldn't pass, and he wasn't exaggerating at all.Besides, Americans have always been rash and indifferent; if they cared, only a madman would take the risk. Passepartout did not dare to tell his master the matter, and he remained motionless like a statue, listening to the argument with his teeth gritted. "Oh, that's it!" cried Colonel Proctor, "we can't get away, and I think we'll have to take root in the snow!" "Mr. Colonel," said the conductor, "wired to the Omaha station. They want to send a train. But it's hard to say whether we'll get to Medici Turn before six o'clock." "Until six o'clock!" cried Passepartout. "Isn't that so," said the conductor, "and besides, it takes us so long to walk from here to the station ahead." "But isn't it only a mile from the station?" asked a traveler. "It's actually a mile, but it's a detour across the river." "This river, can't we cross by boat?" asked the Colonel. "That can't be done, because of the rain the river has swelled. The current is so strong that we have to go around ten miles in a circle and go over a ford to the north." The colonel then cursed, blaming the company for something wrong, and the conductor for something wrong.Passepartout was also so angry that he was on the verge of scolding the Colonel. The obstacle in front of him was a kind of material force. No matter how much money Passepartout had, even if he took it all out, it would not be able to solve the problem this time. In addition, all the passengers were frustrated, not to mention the delay, and the travelers had to walk fifteen or sixteen miles through the ice and snow.So there was a great confusion of shouts and oaths, which would have attracted Phileas Fogg's attention had he not been preoccupied with whistling. Passepartout now felt obliged to tell his master what had happened, and he walked toward the carriage with his head bowed.At this moment, the train driver—his name was Fuerst, he was a standard "foreign beggar"—called out loudly: "Gentlemen, we may find a way to get there." "By the bridge?" asked a traveler. "Cross the bridge." "Driving the train?" asked the colonel. "Take the train over there." Passepartout heard every word of the driver's words, and he stopped. "But the bridge is going to collapse!" said the conductor. "That's all right," said Furst, "we'll just run the train at top speed, and we may get by with luck." "Damn him!" said Passepartout. But some of the passengers immediately joined in with the suggestion, and Colonel Proctor, in particular, was particularly sympathetic to the idea, and he thought it quite possible, the daredevil.He even told everyone that some engineers had thought of running a train at a high speed in a straight line to fly a train across a "bridgeless" river, and he also told some other similar strange things.In the end, everyone who cared about the issue agreed with the driver's opinion. "We've got a fifty percent chance of getting through," said one traveler. "Sixty percent chance," said another. "Eighty...ninety percent chance!" Passepartout was stunned.Although he is also prepared to use all means to cross the Medici River, he feels that this method is a bit too "American". "Besides," he thought to himself, "the passengers must be let down first; it is a very simple thing to do first, but these people don't even think about it! . . . " At this moment Passepartout spoke to a The passenger said: "Sir, this driver's idea is a bit risky to me, but..." "Eighty percent chance!" replied the traveler, who turned away after saying this.Passepartout went up to another gentleman and continued: "I know there's an eighty percent chance, but if you think about it..." "What's the use of thinking, there's nothing to think about!" said the American, who was listening to him, shrugging his shoulders, "The driver has already said, we can definitely pass!" "Yes," said Passepartout, "we can, if we are more cautious, we should—" "What! Caution!" cried Colonel Proctor, who happened to hear Passepartout's words, and jumped to his feet. "It's not prudence, I tell you, it's driving fast, you know? Driving fast." "I know . . . I understand . . . " said Passepartout, and no one would listen to him now, but he went on, "if you are not used to the words, be more careful, then I will Say, to make more sense, at least it should be..." "Who is he? What is he going to do? What did he say? Is what he said reasonable or unreasonable?..." The people around were coaxing. The poor boy, now he doesn't know whom to address. "Are you frightened?" Colonel Proctor asked him. "I! Afraid!" cried Passepartout. "Well, never mind! I'll show you people that a Frenchman can be as American as they are!" "Get on the train! Get on the train!" shouted the conductor. "Yes, get on," said Passepartout, "get on! get on at once! But you have to let me have my own ideas, and the most reasonable thing would be to let the passengers cross the bridge on foot first, and then take the Drive over!..." However, no one agreed with his reasonable idea, and no one thought he was reasonable.The passengers all went back to their compartments.Lulu sat down on his own seat, not even mentioning a word about what happened just now.Three fans who play "whistler" now have their hearts on the cards.The locomotive roared loudly, and the driver opened the steam door, and the train was reversed almost a mile, like a long jumper backing up for a leap. Immediately after the second whistle sounded, the train began to move forward again.It kept picking up speed, and after a while, the speed was so terrible that the only sound on the car was the rumble of the locomotive, the piston went back and forth twenty times a second, and the axle was smoking in the oil box. Say the whole train is moving like a hundred miles an hour, and the weight on the rails is reduced because the high speed cancels out the weight. The train has passed!Like lightning, even the shadow of the bridge was not seen in time. It could be said that it flew from the opposite bank. The train rushed five miles past the station before the driver barely stopped it.But as soon as the train had crossed the bridge crashed into the rapids at Medici Bend.