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1Passepartout, joining the group, heard the signal-man say, "No! you can't pass. The bridge at Medicine Bow is shaky, and
2would not bear the weight of the train." This was a suspension-bridge thrown over some rapids, about a mile from the
3place where they now were. According to the signal-man, it was in a ruinous condition, several of the iron wires being
4broken; and it was impossible to risk the passage. He did not in any way exaggerate the condition of the bridge. It may
5be taken for granted that, rash as the Americans usually are, when they are prudent there is good reason for it.
6Passepartout, not daring to apprise his master of what he heard, listened with set teeth, immovable as a statue. "Hum!"
7cried Colonel Proctor; "but we are not going to stay here, I imagine, and take root in the snow?" "Colonel," replied the
8conductor, "we have telegraphed to Omaha for a train, but it is not likely that it will reach Medicine Bow in less than
9six hours." "Six hours!" cried Passepartout. "Certainly," returned the conductor, "besides, it will take us as long as
10that to reach Medicine Bow on foot." "But it is only a mile from here," said one of the passengers. "Yes, but it's on
11the other side of the river." "And can't we cross that in a boat?" asked the colonel. "That's impossible. The creek is
12swelled by the rains. It is a rapid, and we shall have to make a circuit of ten miles to the north to find a ford." The
13colonel launched a volley of oaths, denouncing the railway company and the conductor; and Passepartout, who was furious,
14was not disinclined to make common cause with him. Here was an obstacle, indeed, which all his master's banknotes could
15not remove. There was a general disappointment among the passengers, who, without reckoning the delay, saw themselves
16compelled to trudge fifteen miles over a plain covered with snow. They grumbled and protested, and would certainly have
17thus attracted Phileas Fogg's attention if he had not been completely absorbed in his game. Passepartout found that he
18could not avoid telling his master what had occurred, and, with hanging head, he was turning towards the car, when the
19engineer, a true Yankee, named Forster called out, "Gentlemen, perhaps there is a way, after all, to get over." "On the
20bridge?" asked a passenger. "On the bridge." "With our train?" "With our train." Passepartout stopped short, and eagerly
21listened to the engineer. "But the bridge is unsafe," urged the conductor. "No matter," replied Forster; "I think that
22by putting on the very highest speed we might have a chance of getting over." "The devil!" muttered Passepartout. But a
23number of the passengers were at once attracted by the engineer's proposal, and Colonel Proctor was especially
24delighted, and found the plan a very feasible one. He told stories about engineers leaping their trains over rivers
25without bridges, by putting on full steam; and many of those present avowed themselves of the engineer's mind. "We have
26fifty chances out of a hundred of getting over," said one. "Eighty! ninety!" Passepartout was astounded, and, though
27ready to attempt anything to get over Medicine Creek, thought the experiment proposed a little too American. "Besides,"
28thought he, "there's a still more simple way, and it does not even occur to any of these people! Sir," said he aloud to
29one of the passengers, "the engineer's plan seems to me a little dangerous, but--" "Eighty chances!" replied the
30passenger, turning his back on him. "I know it," said Passepartout, turning to another passenger, "but a simple idea--"
31"Ideas are no use," returned the American, shrugging his shoulders, "as the engineer assures us that we can pass."
32"Doubtless," urged Passepartout, "we can pass, but perhaps it would be more prudent--" "What! Prudent!" cried Colonel
33Proctor, whom this word seemed to excite prodigiously. "At full speed, don't you see, at full speed!" "I know--I see,"
34repeated Passepartout; "but it would be, if not more prudent, since that word displeases you, at least more natural--"
35"Who! What! What's the matter with this fellow?" cried several. The poor fellow did not know to whom to address himself.
36"Are you afraid?" asked Colonel Proctor. "I afraid? Very well; I will show these people that a Frenchman can be as
37American as they!" "All aboard!" cried the conductor. "Yes, all aboard!" repeated Passepartout, and immediately. "But
38they can't prevent me from thinking that it would be more natural for us to cross the bridge on foot, and let the train
39come after!" But no one heard this sage reflection, nor would anyone have acknowledged its justice. The passengers
40resumed their places in the cars. Passepartout took his seat without telling what had passed. The whist-players were
41quite absorbed in their game. The locomotive whistled vigorously; the engineer, reversing the steam, backed the train
42for nearly a mile--retiring, like a jumper, in order to take a longer leap. Then, with another whistle, he began to move
43forward; the train increased its speed, and soon its rapidity became frightful; a prolonged screech issued from the
44locomotive; the piston worked up and down twenty strokes to the second. They perceived that the whole train, rushing on
45at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, hardly bore upon the rails at all. And they passed over! It was like a flash. No
46one saw the bridge. The train leaped, so to speak, from one bank to the other, and the engineer could not stop it until
47it had gone five miles beyond the station. But scarcely had the train passed the river, when the bridge, completely
48ruined, fell with a crash into the rapids of Medicine Bow.
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