Journeys, say they, will be performed in no
time, that is, as soon as you start for a place you arrive at it, just
like an arrow, that no sooner leaves the bow than you see it stuck in
the bull's eye."
"In that case," observed Jack, "it will be necessary to do away with
respiration, as well as horses."
"A Londoner will be able to say to his wife, My dear, I am going to
Birmingham to-day, but I will be back to dinner; and if a Parisian
lights his cigar at Paris, it will burn till he arrives at Bordeaux."
"Holloa, Willis, you have fairly converted Fritz and me into marines
at last."
"I am only speaking of what will be, not of what is--that makes all
the difference you know. It is expected that there will be steam
coaches on every turnpike-road; so that, instead of hiring a
post-chaise, you will have to order a locomotive, and instead of
postboys, you will to engage an engineer and stoker."
"Then, instead of saying, Put the horses to," remarked Jack, "we
shall have to say, Get the steam up."
"Exactly; and when you go on a pleasure excursion, you will be whisked
from one point to another without having time to see whether you pass
through a desert or a flower-garden."
"What, then, is to become of adventures by the way, road-side inns,
and banditti?"
"All to be suppressed."
"So it appears," said Jack; "men are to be carried about from place to
place like flocks of sheep; perhaps they will invent steam dogs as
well to run after stragglers, and bring them into the fold by the calf
of the leg.
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