目 录 上一节 下一节 
火车从萨克拉门托继续前进，经过江克欣、洛克林、奥本和科尔法克斯等站，进入了西埃拉--内华达山区。上午七点钟火车开过了西斯科。一小时之后，车上的卧铺又变成了普通的坐椅。旅客们可以透过玻璃窗尽情阅览这山区的美景。这里的铁路线是顺着西埃拉山脉崎岖的山势铺设的。它忽而贴在山腰，忽而在悬崖上前进，有时为了避免急转弯，它的曲度大得惊人，有时伸入两山对峙的狭谷里，使人颇有“山穷无路”之感。那火车头看来黑里透光，象是一具灵柩，顶上一盏照明灯射出雪亮刺眼的光芒，此外还附装着一个银色的警钟和一具象猪嘴似的伸在车头前的“驱牛”排障器。这时，在汽笛怒吼和瀑布奔流的共鸣声中，只见火车吐出的黑烟在漆黑的松林上空缭绕飞舞。 There were few or no bridges or tunnels on the route. The railway turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to violate nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another. 在这一段路上几乎可以说没有山洞，也没有桥梁。铁路盘着山腰前进，从这座山到那座山，铁路完全是顺着自然地势铺设的，毫不寻求捷径和直路。 The train entered the State of Nevada through the Carson Valley about nine o'clock, going always northeasterly; and at midday reached Reno, where there was a delay of twenty minutes for breakfast. 将近九点钟的时候，火车从卡尔松山谷进入了内华达州，继续向东北奔驰。火车在雷诺停了二十分钟，旅客们吃了午饭，十二时正，又从雷诺出发。 From this point the road, running along Humboldt River, passed northward for several miles by its banks; then it turned eastward, and kept by the river until it reached the Humboldt Range, nearly at the extreme eastern limit of Nevada. 铁路线沿着亨堡尔特河从这里北上，一直要走好几英里：然后又转向东进，一直到亨博尔特山脉，始终不离开这条河的河岸。位于内华达州东部边缘的亨博尔特山脉，是亨博尔特河的发源地。 Having breakfasted, Mr. Fogg and his companions resumed their places in the car, and observed the varied landscape which unfolded itself as they passed along the vast prairies, the mountains lining the horizon, and the creeks, with their frothy, foaming streams. Sometimes a great herd of buffaloes, massing together in the distance, seemed like a moveable dam. These innumerable multitudes of ruminating beasts often form an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the trains; thousands of them have been seen passing over the track for hours together, in compact ranks. The locomotive is then forced to stop and wait till the road is once more clear. 饭后，福克先生、艾娥达夫人和他们的两个旅伴重新回到车厢，舒舒服服地分坐在两张双人椅上，他们欣赏着从眼前掠过的千变万化的景物：广阔无边的草原，浮现在天边的群山和滚滚流动的小河。有时可以看到一大群野牛在远处排成大队，它们简直象是一座活动的堤防，这一支由无数反刍动物组成的大军，经常在铁路上给来往火车造成无法克服的障碍。人们曾经看见过成千上万的野牛一队紧接着一队穿过铁路，往往一过就得好几个钟头，这时火车只好停下来，等野牛过完了才能继续前进。 
今天正好就遇上了这种事。下午快三点钟的时候，约有一万两三千头野牛，拦住了前面的路轨，机车放慢了速度，想用车头前面的排障器冲入牛群强行通过，但是，没有成功，火车只好在这个攻不进的牛群前停了下来。人们只好眼看着这些被美国人错误地叫做“水牛”的反刍野兽不慌不忙地穿过铁路。它们一边走一边时而发出惊人的吼声。这些野牛比欧洲的牡牛大，腿和尾巴都很短，前肩高耸形成一个肉峰，两角分开向下弯曲，头颈和双肩都满了长鬃毛。这种牛群的移动是无法阻拦的。当它们朝着某一个方向前进的时候，谁也不能叫它们停止或者改变方狗。它们简直是活肉形成的河流，任何堤防也挡不住。 The travellers gazed on this curious spectacle from the platforms; but Phileas Fogg, who had the most reason of all to be in a hurry, remained in his seat, and waited philosophically until it should please the buffaloes to get out of the way. 旅客们都跑到车桥上看这个奇怪的场面去了。但是斐利亚·福克，这位本来应该比别人更着急的绅士却依然稳坐不动，用哲学家那种“以不变应万变”的精神等待野牛让路。 Passepartout was furious at the delay they occasioned, and longed to discharge his arsenal of revolvers upon them. 而路路通却对这一大群野兽拦住火车白白耗费时间，感到异常愤怒。他简直想把他所有的几支手枪都拿出来向这群畜牲狠狠地射击一顿、 "What a country!" cried he. "Mere cattle stop the trains, and go by in a procession, just as if they were not impeding travel! Parbleu! I should like to know if Mr. Fogg foresaw this mishap in his programme! And here's an engineer who doesn't dare to run the locomotive into this herd of beasts!" “这种鬼地方！”路路通叫着说，“一群死牛就能把火车给拦住！成群结队地过铁路，一点也不着急，好象它们一点不妨碍交通似的。天晓得！我现在倒很想知道福克先生对这件意外的事是不是也预先定在他的计划里了。还有这个火车司机，他居然不敢开车从这群拦路的野牛中冲过去！” The engineer did not try to overcome the obstacle, and he was wise. He would have crushed the first buffaloes, no doubt, with the cow-catcher; but the locomotive, however powerful, would soon have been checked, the train would inevitably have been thrown off the track, and would then have been helpless. 司机确实是一点也没打算冲破面前的障碍，他这样谨慎是对的。他如果冲过去的话，毫无疑问那几头首当其中的野牛一定会被机车排障器压碎，但是，不管机车多么有力，它也会很快地被迫停车，少不了还会出轨，结果那就要真的抛锚了。 
所以最好的办法就是耐心地等待，完事之后再加快速度来补偿耽搁了的时间。野牛的队伍，足足过了三个小时，直到天黑，铁路才给让出来。在最后一批牛群跨过铁路的时候，它们的先头部队则已经在南方地平线上消失了。 It was eight o'clock when the train passed through the defiles of the Humboldt Range, and half-past nine when it penetrated Utah, the region of the Great Salt Lake, the singular colony of the Mormons. 当火车驰过亨博尔特山脉的狭窄山道的时候，已经是晚上八点钟了。九点半钟，火车进入了犹他州。这里是大咸湖区域，是摩门教徒的世外桃源。 During the night of the 5th of December, the train ran south-easterly for about fifty miles; then rose an equal distance in a north-easterly direction, towards the Great Salt Lake. 12 月5号到6号的夜里，火车在一块方圆约五十英里的地区向东南奔驰，然后又折向东北，朝大咸湖前进。 Passepartout, about nine o'clock, went out upon the platform to take the air. The weather was cold, the heavens grey, but it was not snowing. The sun's disc, enlarged by the mist, seemed an enormous ring of gold, and Passepartout was amusing himself by calculating its value in pounds sterling, when he was diverted from this interesting study by a strange-looking personage who made his appearance on the platform. 上午将近九点钟的时候，路路通走到车桥上去透透空气。这时，气候很冷，天色灰暗，但是雪已经不下了。太阳的轮廓在云雾里显得特别大，活象一块巨大的金市。当路路通正在聚精会神地计算着这个金币能折合多少先令的时候，忽然出现了一个模样挺怪的人分散了他对这项有益的脑力劳动的注意。 This personage, who had taken the train at Elko, was tall and dark, with black moustache, black stockings, a black silk hat, a black waistcoat, black trousers, a white cravat, and dogskin gloves. He might have been taken for a clergyman. He went from one end of the train to the other, and affixed to the door of each car a notice written in manuscript. 这个人是搭车到埃尔科车站去的，高个子，深褐色面孔，黑胡子、黑袜子、黑丝帽、黑上衣、黑裤子，系着一条白色领带，戴着一双狗皮手套，看起来象个神甫。这人从车头走到车尾，在每一节车厢的门口用浆糊贴上一张用笔写的告示。 
路路通走过去看了看，告示上写着：摩门传教士维廉赫奇长老决定趁他在第四十八次客车上旅行的机会，举行一次有关摩门教教义的布道会，敦请有心士绅前来听讲“摩门圣教徒灵秘”，时间：十一时至十二时，地点：第117号车厢。 "I'll go," said Passepartout to himself. He knew nothing of Mormonism except the custom of polygamy, which is its foundation. “没说的，我一定去。”路路通自言自语地说，其实他对于摩门教，除了那种构成这个教派基础的“一夫多妻制”的风俗之外，什么也不知道。 The news quickly spread through the train, which contained about one hundred passengers, thirty of whom, at most, attracted by the notice, ensconced themselves in car No. 117. Passepartout took one of the front seats. Neither Mr. Fogg nor Fix cared to attend. 演讲传教的消息很快地在车上百十来个旅客中间传开了。其中对这个布道会有兴趣的至多不过三十个人，他们都被吸引到117号车厢里来了。十一点钟，听众都在椅子上坐下了，路路通坐在第一排。但是，他的主人和费克斯却都认为没有必要到那里去找麻烦。 At the appointed hour Elder William Hitch rose, and, in an irritated voice, as if he had already been contradicted, said, "I tell you that Joe Smith is a martyr, that his brother Hiram is a martyr, and that the persecutions of the United States Government against the prophets will also make a martyr of Brigham Young. Who dares to say the contrary?" 到了十一点钟，维廉赫奇长老站起来开始演讲，他说话的声音相当激动，仿佛已经有人反驳了他似的。他叫着说：“我告诉你们，你们听着，琼·史密斯是一位殉教者，他的兄弟希兰也是一位殉教者。美利坚合众国政府对于这些先知圣人进行了迫害，他们还要迫害另一个受难的圣徒小布里翰！你们在坐的有谁敢提出反对的意见吗？” No one ventured to gainsay the missionary, whose excited tone contrasted curiously with his naturally calm visage. No doubt his anger arose from the hardships to which the Mormons were actually subjected. The government had just succeeded, with some difficulty, in reducing these independent fanatics to its rule. It had made itself master of Utah, and subjected that territory to the laws of the Union, after imprisoning Brigham Young on a charge of rebellion and polygamy. The disciples of the prophet had since redoubled their efforts, and resisted, by words at least, the authority of Congress. Elder Hitch, as is seen, was trying to make proselytes on the very railway trains. 听众没有一个人愿意冒险提出反对的意见，他那天生沉静的面貌和他现在这种激愤的情绪形成一种强烈的对比。显然，他的愤怒也是可以理解的。因为当时摩门教正在受着严重的摧残。实际上，美国政府费了九牛二虎之力才压服了这些热爱独立的摩门教信徒。政府先以暴乱和重婚罪对小布里翰提起公诉，等到把小布里翰关进监牢之后，政府就变成了犹他州的主人，把这个州放在合众国管辖之下了。从那时起，小布里翰先知的门徒们就加倍努力展开活动。他们在等待时机采取行动的同时，不停地用演讲、宣教等方式来反对国会的决定。显然，维廉赫奇长老随时随地都在为自己的宗教作积极的宣传，即使在火车上也不肯休息。
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