As it
gained speed Mrs. Cortlandt, to divert her guest's mind from his
recent ordeal, began to explain the points of interest as they
passed. She showed him the old French workings where a nation's
hopes lay buried, the mechanical ruins that had cost a king's
ransom, the Mount Hope Cemetery, whither daily trains had borne
the sacrifice before science had robbed the fever of its terrors.
She told him, also, something of the railroad's history, how it
had been built to bridge the gap in the route to the Golden West,
the manifold difficulties overcome in its construction, and the
stupendous profits it had made. Having the blood of a railroad-
builder in his veins, Anthony could not but feel the interest of
all this, though it failed to take his attention wholly from the
wonders of the landscape that slipped by on either side. It was
his first glimpse of tropic vegetation, and he used his eyes to
good advantage, while he listened politely to his informant.
The matted thickets, interlaced with vine and creeper, were all
ablaze with blossoms, for this was the wet season, in which nature
runs riot. Great trees of strange character rose out of the
tangle, their branches looped with giant cables and burdened with
flowering orchids or half hidden beneath other parasites.
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