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by means of currents of air, by which the heat could be modified according to the seasons; incredibly low fares, owing to the cheapness of construction and working expenses—forgetting, or waving aside, all considerations of the question of gravitation and of wear and tear.
All that now came back to my mind.
S0, then, this "Utopia" had become a reality, and these two cylinders of iron at my feet passed thence under the Atlantic and reached to the coast of England!
In spite of the evidence, T could not bring myself to believe in the thing having been done. That the tubes had been laid I could not doubt: but that men could travel by this route—never!
"Was it not impossible even to obtain a current of air of that length?"—I expressed that opinion aloud.
"Quite easy, on the contrary!" protested Colonel Pierce; "to obtain it, all that is required is a great number of steam fans similar to those used in blast furnaces. The air is driven by them with a force which is practically unlimited, propelling it at the speed of 1,800 kilomètres an hour—almost that of a cannon-ball!--so that our carriages with their travellers, in the space of two hours and forty minutes, accomplish the journey between Boston and Liverpool."
"Eighteen hundred kilomètres an hour!" I exclaimed.
"Not one less. And what extraordinary consequences arise from such a rate of speed! The time at Liverpool being four hours and forty minutes in advance of ours, a traveller starting from Boston at nine o'clock in the morning, arrives in England at 3.53 in the afternoon. Isn't that a journey quickly made? In another sense, on the contrary, our trains, in this latitude, gain over the sun more than 900 kilomètres an hour, beating that planet hand over hand: quitting Liverpool at noon, for example, the traveller will reach the station where we now are at thirty-four minutes past nine in the morning—that 1s to say, earlier than he started! Ha! ha! I don't think one can travel quicker than that!"
I did not know what to think. Was I talking with a madman?—or must I credit these fabulous theories, in spite of the objections which rose in my mind?
"Very well, so be it!" I said. I will admit that travellers may take this madbrained route, and that you can obtain this incredible speed. But, when you have got this speed, how do you check 1t? When you come to a stop, everything must be shattered to pieces!"
"Not at all," replied the Colonel, shrugging his shoulders. "Between our tubes—one tor the out, the other for the home journey—consequently worked by currents going in opposite directions—a communication exists at every joint. When a train is approaching, an electric spark advertises us of the fact; left to itself, the train would continue its course by reason of the speed it had acquired; but, simply by the turning of a handle, we
