'
"All along the road it had been evident that the country was roused to a
knowledge of the coming eclipse; we overheard remarks about it; small
telescopes travelled with us, and our landlord at Kansas City, when I
asked him to take care of a chronometer, said he had taken care of fifty
of them in the previous fortnight. Our party had three telescopes and
one chronometer.
"We had travelled so comfortably all along the Santa Fe road, from
Kansas City to Pueblo, that we had forgotten the possibility of other
railroad annoyances than those of heat and dust until we reached Pueblo.
At Pueblo all seemed to change. We left the Santa Fe road and entered
upon that of the Rio Grande.
"Which road was to blame, it is not for me to say, but there was trouble
at once about our 'round-trip ticket.' That settled, we supposed all was
right.
"In sending out telescopes so far as from Boston to Denver, I had
carefully taken out the glasses, and packed them in my trunks. I carried
the chronometer in my hand.
"It was only five hours' travel from Pueblo to Denver, and we went on to
that city. The trunks, for some unexplained reason, or for no reason at
all, chose to remain at Pueblo.
"One telescope-tube reached Denver when we did; but a telescope-tube is
of no value without glasses. We learned that there was a war between the
two railroads which unite at Pueblo, and war, no matter where or when it
occurs, means ignorance and stupidity.
Pages:
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242