Quote of the Day

Well if a dog can do it - she thought, and stepped into the car which rocked violently, feeling quite brave. This feeling disappeared immediately as the car dropped rapidly down the cliff face into space. She looked down once and was so appalled at the distance they were from the ground that she closed her eyes quickly as a shudder of absolute terror went through her. Midge said plaintely that she had left her tummy up at Wissifluh.

From SUSAN INTERFERES, Chapter 5, Looking for Fräulein Amacher. The cable car rides up to Wissifluh and back and the terror that Susan feels in the little red conveyance are described in detail in this chapter and provide the best moments of humour in the book. The cable car is described as a "small red tin box" and a "tin can". Only Bill enjoys the ride, while the girls are terrified.

The Cable-car to Wissifluh

This is the little red cable-car that conveyed Susan and the Carmichaels from Vitznau to Wissifluh and back. Only Bill enjoyed the sheer drops and hanging over empty space in this contraption. Midge, especially, was terrified, claiming that she had "seen a more substantial door on a toy motor-car". When the cable-car arrived for the return journey, the gang were amazed that it came up with a large length of drainpipe tied to the roof and carrying a man and an Alsatian dog that "jumped out nonchalantly, followed by the man, who then leant dizzily over open space and untied his drainpipe". The text then goes on to say that "For perhaps the first time in her life, Susan didn't offer to help". When Susan later suggested a return to Wissifluh, she was met with a firm No from Midge, who for once could not be browbeaten into falling in with Susan's plan. The terror of the Carmichaels and Susan on this trip is very convincing, and that is because Jane Shaw went through the same experience herself and recorded it in detail in her journal.