ted that
the females are chiefly anxious to wed, as unmarried women are not
admitted to the full privileges of membership. These poor creatures do
not appear to be well off or happy. Some perhaps are rich and clothed
in European style, but the majority were dressed _a la Indienne_.

Passe-partout beheld these women with some degree of awe, but above
all he pitied the husbands of these wives. It seemed to him to be an
awful thing to guide so many wives through all the mazes of life, and
to conduct them to the Mormon paradise, with the prospect of meeting
the glorious Joe Smith, who no doubt was there a shining light. He
felt quite disgusted, and he fancied--perhaps he was mistaken--that
some of the young ladies gazed at him alarmingly, and in a manner to
compromise his liberty.

Fortunately his sojourn in the City of the Saints was not of long
duration. At four o'clock the travellers took their places in the
return train. The whistle sounded, but just as the train began to move
a cry was heard, "Stop, stop!"

But the train did not stop. The gentleman who uttered these cries was
a Mormon too late for the train. He ran till he was out of breath.
Fortunately the railroad was quite open, there were no barriers nor
gates to pass. He rushed along the line, jumped upon the footboard of
the last carriage, and then threw himself panting into the nearest
seat. Passe-partout, who had been watching him intently, learnt that
he had run away after some domestic quarrel, and when the Mormon had
recovered his breath Passe-partout plucked up courage to inquire how
many wives the fugitive had left, as, judging from his anxiety to get
away, he must have had twenty at least.

"One, sir," replied the Mormon, raising his arms to heaven. "One, sir;
and, by thunder, that one was quite enough!"

CHAPTER XXVIII.

In which Passe-partout cannot make anyone listen to the Language of
Reason.

The train leaving Salt Lake and Ogden Station went on northwards as
far as Weber River, about nine hundred miles from San Francisco; from
this point it turned to the west across the Wahsatch range. It was in
this part of the State that the American engineers had found the
greatest difficulty. In this portion of the line also the Government
subsidy had been raised to forty-eight thousand dollars a mile,
instead of the sixteen thousand dollars a mile on the plains; but the
engineers, so it is said, had stolen a march on nature, turned all the