plenty of time to send orders to the other two companies;
and the sooner it is done, the better."

The conference was about to break up, when the surgeon--who had
listened in silence--said:

"The general plan is simple enough but, tell me, how do you propose
to set about blowing the tunnel up? You may be able to hold it for
half an hour, at most. How do you think of proceeding?"

Major Tempe and his officers looked at each other. They had not, as
yet, thought the matter over; but the instant it was put plainly
before them, they saw the difficulty.

"Oh," Lieutenant de Maupas said, confidently, "we shall, of course,
put the nitroglycerine somewhere in the middle of the tunnel, and
blow the whole affair up."

Lieutenant de Maupas had been a sailor; and his quickness of
decision and go-ahead, straight-forward way of doing everything
made him, at once, a favorite and an amusement to the men; who had
nicknamed him "Grande Vitesse," or, as we should say in English,
the "Express."

"I am afraid the matter is rather more difficult than you imagine,
De Maupas," Major Tempe said, with a smile. "This is in
Ribouville's way; as he was in the Engineers, he will know all
about it."

The officer named, however, did not reply for some little time; but
sat with his head on his hand, in deep thought.

"I feel ashamed to own it," he said, at last; "but I really do not
know how one could set about the matter so as to have a chance of
really destroying the tunnel, after so short a time for
preparation. Were the tunnel an ordinary, brick-lined tunnel, the
proposition of De Maupas--slightly modified--would no doubt have
the effect of bringing down the brick lining, and the earth behind
would fall in, of itself; but with a tunnel cut in the solid rock,
it would be difficult. The natural strength of the tunnel would be
so great that the force of the explosion would simply be lost,
through the ends. It might or might not bring down a few masses of
rock, but one could not rely upon it doing even that.

"If I had time, the matter would be easy enough. I should make a
deep chamber in the solid rock, at the side of the tunnel; insert
my charge, and then tamp or fasten it in, with masonry. This would
ensure its destruction, at the point of explosion; but I have no
hope of any great damage being done, by merely putting two barrels
of nitroglycerine down upon the line, and then firing them. I can
assure you the point mooted by the doctor