To-night I will try and visit him. I have taken care to lay in a few
provisions at Sou-Tcheou.
We started at three o'clock. We have got a more powerful engine on.
Across this undulating country the gradients are occasionally rather
steep. Seven hundred kilometres separate us from the important city of
Lan-Tcheou, where we ought to arrive to-morrow morning, running thirty
miles an hour.
I remarked to Pan-Chao that this average was not a high one.
"What would you have?" he replied, crunching the watermelon seeds. "You
will not change, and nothing will change the temperament of the
Celestials. As they are conservatives in all things, so will they be
conservative in this matter of speed, no matter how the engine may be
improved. And, besides, Monsieur Bombarnac, that there are railways at
all in the Middle Kingdom is a wonder to me."
"I agree with you, but where you have a railway you might as well get
all the advantage out of it that you can."
"Bah!" said Pan-Chao carelessly.
"Speed," said I, "is a gain of time--and to gain time--"
"Time does not exist in China, Monsieur Bombarnac, and it cannot exist
for a population of four hundred millions.
Pages:
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289