Reading Help Around the world in eighty days Ch.VII-XIII
`
` Meanwhile the passengers and some of the wounded, among them `
` Colonel Proctor, whose injuries were serious, had taken their `
` places in the train. The buzzing of the over-heated boiler was `
` heard, and the steam was escaping from the valves. The engineer `
` whistled, the train started, and soon disappeared, mingling `
` its white smoke with the eddies of the densely falling snow. `
` `
` The detective had remained behind. `
` `
` Several hours passed. The weather was dismal, and it was very cold. `
` Fix sat motionless on a bench in the station; he might have been `
` thought asleep. Aouda, despite the storm, kept coming out `
` of the waiting-room, going to the end of the platform, `
` and peering through the tempest of snow, as if to pierce `
` the mist which narrowed the horizon around her, and to hear, `
` if possible, some welcome sound. She heard and saw nothing. `
` Then she would return, chilled through, to issue out again `
` after the lapse of a few moments, but always in vain. `
` `
` Evening came, and the little band had not returned. Where could they be? `
` Had they found the Indians, and were they having a conflict with them, `
` or were they still wandering amid the mist? The commander of the fort `
` was anxious, though he tried to conceal his apprehensions. `
` As night approached, the snow fell less plentifully, `
` but it became intensely cold. Absolute silence rested on the plains. `
` Neither flight of bird nor passing of beast troubled the perfect calm. `
` `
` Throughout the night Aouda, full of sad forebodings, her heart `
` stifled with anguish, wandered about on the verge of the plains. `
` Her imagination carried her far off, and showed her innumerable dangers. `
` What she suffered through the long hours it would be impossible to describe. `
` `
` Fix remained stationary in the same place, but did not sleep. `
` Once a man approached and spoke to him, and the detective `
` merely replied by shaking his head. `
` `
` Thus the night passed. At dawn, the half-extinguished disc of the sun `
` rose above a misty horizon; but it was now possible to recognise objects `
` two miles off. Phileas Fogg and the squad had gone southward; `
` in the south all was still vacancy. It was then seven o'clock. `
` `
` The captain, who was really alarmed, did not know what course to take. `
` `
` Should he send another detachment to the rescue of the first? `
` Should he sacrifice more men, with so few chances of saving those `
` already sacrificed? His hesitation did not last long, however. `
` Calling one of his lieutenants, he was on the point of ordering `
` a reconnaissance, when gunshots were heard. Was it a signal? `
` The soldiers rushed out of the fort, and half a mile off they `
` perceived a little band returning in good order. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg was marching at their head, and just behind him were `
` Passepartout and the other two travellers, rescued from the Sioux. `
` `
` They had met and fought the Indians ten miles south of Fort Kearney. `
` Shortly before the detachment arrived, Passepartout and his companions `
` had begun to struggle with their captors, three of whom the Frenchman `
` had felled with his fists, when his master and the soldiers hastened up `
` to their relief. `
` `
` All were welcomed with joyful cries. Phileas Fogg distributed `
` the reward he had promised to the soldiers, while Passepartout, `
` not without reason, muttered to himself, "It must certainly be `
` confessed that I cost my master dear!" `
` `
` Fix, without saying a word, looked at Mr. Fogg, and it would have `
` been difficult to analyse the thoughts which struggled within him. `
` As for Aouda, she took her protector's hand and pressed it in her own, `
` too much moved to speak. `
` `
` Meanwhile, Passepartout was looking about for the train; he thought `
` he should find it there, ready to start for Omaha, and he hoped `
` that the time lost might be regained. `
` `
` "The train! the train!" cried he. `
` `
` "Gone," replied Fix. `
` `
` "And when does the next train pass here?" said Phileas Fogg. `
` `
` "Not till this evening." `
` `
` "Ah!" returned the impassible gentleman quietly. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter XXXI `
` `
` IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, `
` CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF PHILEAS FOGG `
` `
` `
` Phileas Fogg found himself twenty hours behind time. `
` Passepartout, the involuntary cause of this delay, was desperate. `
` He had ruined his master! `
` `
` At this moment the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, `
` looking him intently in the face, said: `
` `
` "Seriously, sir, are you in great haste?" `
` `
` "Quite seriously." `
` `
` "I have a purpose in asking," resumed Fix. "Is it absolutely `
` necessary that you should be in New York on the 11th, before nine o'clock `
` in the evening, the time that the steamer leaves for Liverpool?" `
` `
` "It is absolutely necessary." `
` `
` "And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, `
` you would have reached New York on the morning of the 11th?" `
` `
` "Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left." `
` `
` "Good! you are therefore twenty hours behind. Twelve from twenty `
` leaves eight. You must regain eight hours. Do you wish to try to do so?" `
` `
` "On foot?" asked Mr. Fogg. `
` `
` "No; on a sledge," replied Fix. "On a sledge with sails. `
` A man has proposed such a method to me." `
` `
` It was the man who had spoken to Fix during the night, and `
` whose offer he had refused. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg did not reply at once; but Fix, having pointed out the man, `
` who was walking up and down in front of the station, Mr. Fogg went up to him. `
` An instant after, Mr. Fogg and the American, whose name was Mudge, `
` entered a hut built just below the fort. `
` `
` There Mr. Fogg examined a curious vehicle, a kind of frame on two long beams, `
` a little raised in front like the runners of a sledge, and upon which there `
` was room for five or six persons. A high mast was fixed on the frame, held `
` firmly by metallic lashings, to which was attached a large brigantine sail. `
` This mast held an iron stay upon which to hoist a jib-sail. Behind, a sort `
` of rudder served to guide the vehicle. It was, in short, a sledge rigged `
` like a sloop. During the winter, when the trains are blocked up by the snow, `
` these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one `
` station to another. Provided with more sails than a cutter, and with the wind `
` behind them, they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal `
` if not superior to that of the express trains. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg readily made a bargain with the owner of this land-craft. `
` The wind was favourable, being fresh, and blowing from the west. `
` The snow had hardened, and Mudge was very confident of being able `
` to transport Mr. Fogg in a few hours to Omaha. Thence the trains `
` eastward run frequently to Chicago and New York. It was not impossible `
` that the lost time might yet be recovered; and such an opportunity `
` was not to be rejected. `
` `
` Not wishing to expose Aouda to the discomforts of travelling `
` in the open air, Mr. Fogg proposed to leave her with Passepartout `
` at Fort Kearney, the servant taking upon himself to escort her `
` to Europe by a better route and under more favourable conditions. `
` But Aouda refused to separate from Mr. Fogg, and Passepartout `
` was delighted with her decision; for nothing could induce him `
` to leave his master while Fix was with him. `
` `
` It would be difficult to guess the detective's thoughts. Was this `
` conviction shaken by Phileas Fogg's return, or did he still regard him `
` as an exceedingly shrewd rascal, who, his journey round the world completed, `
` would think himself absolutely safe in England? Perhaps Fix's opinion `
` of Phileas Fogg was somewhat modified; but he was nevertheless resolved `
` to do his duty, and to hasten the return of the whole party to England `
` as much as possible. `
` `
` At eight o'clock the sledge was ready to start. The passengers `
` took their places on it, and wrapped themselves up closely `
` in their travelling-cloaks. The two great sails were hoisted, `
` and under the pressure of the wind the sledge slid over the hardened `
` snow with a velocity of forty miles an hour. `
` `
` The distance between Fort Kearney and Omaha, as the birds fly, `
` is at most two hundred miles. If the wind held good, the distance `
` might be traversed in five hours; if no accident happened the sledge `
` might reach Omaha by one o'clock. `
` `
` What a journey! The travellers, huddled close together, could not speak `
` for the cold, intensified by the rapidity at which they were going. `
` The sledge sped on as lightly as a boat over the waves. When the breeze `
` came skimming the earth the sledge seemed to be lifted off the ground `
` by its sails. Mudge, who was at the rudder, kept in a straight line, `
` and by a turn of his hand checked the lurches which the vehicle `
` had a tendency to make. All the sails were up, and the jib `
` was so arranged as not to screen the brigantine. A top-mast was hoisted, `
` and another jib, held out to the wind, added its force to the other sails. `
` Although the speed could not be exactly estimated, the sledge could not `
` be going at less than forty miles an hour. `
` `
` "If nothing breaks," said Mudge, "we shall get there!" `
` `
` Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge's interest to reach Omaha `
` within the time agreed on, by the offer of a handsome reward. `
` `
` The prairie, across which the sledge was moving in a straight `
` line, was as flat as a sea. It seemed like a vast frozen lake. `
` The railroad which ran through this section ascended from the `
` south-west to the north-west by Great Island, Columbus, `
` an important Nebraska town, Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha. `
`
` Meanwhile the passengers and some of the wounded, among them `
` Colonel Proctor, whose injuries were serious, had taken their `
` places in the train. The buzzing of the over-heated boiler was `
` heard, and the steam was escaping from the valves. The engineer `
` whistled, the train started, and soon disappeared, mingling `
` its white smoke with the eddies of the densely falling snow. `
` `
` The detective had remained behind. `
` `
` Several hours passed. The weather was dismal, and it was very cold. `
` Fix sat motionless on a bench in the station; he might have been `
` thought asleep. Aouda, despite the storm, kept coming out `
` of the waiting-room, going to the end of the platform, `
` and peering through the tempest of snow, as if to pierce `
` the mist which narrowed the horizon around her, and to hear, `
` if possible, some welcome sound. She heard and saw nothing. `
` Then she would return, chilled through, to issue out again `
` after the lapse of a few moments, but always in vain. `
` `
` Evening came, and the little band had not returned. Where could they be? `
` Had they found the Indians, and were they having a conflict with them, `
` or were they still wandering amid the mist? The commander of the fort `
` was anxious, though he tried to conceal his apprehensions. `
` As night approached, the snow fell less plentifully, `
` but it became intensely cold. Absolute silence rested on the plains. `
` Neither flight of bird nor passing of beast troubled the perfect calm. `
` `
` Throughout the night Aouda, full of sad forebodings, her heart `
` stifled with anguish, wandered about on the verge of the plains. `
` Her imagination carried her far off, and showed her innumerable dangers. `
` What she suffered through the long hours it would be impossible to describe. `
` `
` Fix remained stationary in the same place, but did not sleep. `
` Once a man approached and spoke to him, and the detective `
` merely replied by shaking his head. `
` `
` Thus the night passed. At dawn, the half-extinguished disc of the sun `
` rose above a misty horizon; but it was now possible to recognise objects `
` two miles off. Phileas Fogg and the squad had gone southward; `
` in the south all was still vacancy. It was then seven o'clock. `
` `
` The captain, who was really alarmed, did not know what course to take. `
` `
` Should he send another detachment to the rescue of the first? `
` Should he sacrifice more men, with so few chances of saving those `
` already sacrificed? His hesitation did not last long, however. `
` Calling one of his lieutenants, he was on the point of ordering `
` a reconnaissance, when gunshots were heard. Was it a signal? `
` The soldiers rushed out of the fort, and half a mile off they `
` perceived a little band returning in good order. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg was marching at their head, and just behind him were `
` Passepartout and the other two travellers, rescued from the Sioux. `
` `
` They had met and fought the Indians ten miles south of Fort Kearney. `
` Shortly before the detachment arrived, Passepartout and his companions `
` had begun to struggle with their captors, three of whom the Frenchman `
` had felled with his fists, when his master and the soldiers hastened up `
` to their relief. `
` `
` All were welcomed with joyful cries. Phileas Fogg distributed `
` the reward he had promised to the soldiers, while Passepartout, `
` not without reason, muttered to himself, "It must certainly be `
` confessed that I cost my master dear!" `
` `
` Fix, without saying a word, looked at Mr. Fogg, and it would have `
` been difficult to analyse the thoughts which struggled within him. `
` As for Aouda, she took her protector's hand and pressed it in her own, `
` too much moved to speak. `
` `
` Meanwhile, Passepartout was looking about for the train; he thought `
` he should find it there, ready to start for Omaha, and he hoped `
` that the time lost might be regained. `
` `
` "The train! the train!" cried he. `
` `
` "Gone," replied Fix. `
` `
` "And when does the next train pass here?" said Phileas Fogg. `
` `
` "Not till this evening." `
` `
` "Ah!" returned the impassible gentleman quietly. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter XXXI `
` `
` IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, `
` CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF PHILEAS FOGG `
` `
` `
` Phileas Fogg found himself twenty hours behind time. `
` Passepartout, the involuntary cause of this delay, was desperate. `
` He had ruined his master! `
` `
` At this moment the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, `
` looking him intently in the face, said: `
` `
` "Seriously, sir, are you in great haste?" `
` `
` "Quite seriously." `
` `
` "I have a purpose in asking," resumed Fix. "Is it absolutely `
` necessary that you should be in New York on the 11th, before nine o'clock `
` in the evening, the time that the steamer leaves for Liverpool?" `
` `
` "It is absolutely necessary." `
` `
` "And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, `
` you would have reached New York on the morning of the 11th?" `
` `
` "Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left." `
` `
` "Good! you are therefore twenty hours behind. Twelve from twenty `
` leaves eight. You must regain eight hours. Do you wish to try to do so?" `
` `
` "On foot?" asked Mr. Fogg. `
` `
` "No; on a sledge," replied Fix. "On a sledge with sails. `
` A man has proposed such a method to me." `
` `
` It was the man who had spoken to Fix during the night, and `
` whose offer he had refused. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg did not reply at once; but Fix, having pointed out the man, `
` who was walking up and down in front of the station, Mr. Fogg went up to him. `
` An instant after, Mr. Fogg and the American, whose name was Mudge, `
` entered a hut built just below the fort. `
` `
` There Mr. Fogg examined a curious vehicle, a kind of frame on two long beams, `
` a little raised in front like the runners of a sledge, and upon which there `
` was room for five or six persons. A high mast was fixed on the frame, held `
` firmly by metallic lashings, to which was attached a large brigantine sail. `
` This mast held an iron stay upon which to hoist a jib-sail. Behind, a sort `
` of rudder served to guide the vehicle. It was, in short, a sledge rigged `
` like a sloop. During the winter, when the trains are blocked up by the snow, `
` these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one `
` station to another. Provided with more sails than a cutter, and with the wind `
` behind them, they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal `
` if not superior to that of the express trains. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg readily made a bargain with the owner of this land-craft. `
` The wind was favourable, being fresh, and blowing from the west. `
` The snow had hardened, and Mudge was very confident of being able `
` to transport Mr. Fogg in a few hours to Omaha. Thence the trains `
` eastward run frequently to Chicago and New York. It was not impossible `
` that the lost time might yet be recovered; and such an opportunity `
` was not to be rejected. `
` `
` Not wishing to expose Aouda to the discomforts of travelling `
` in the open air, Mr. Fogg proposed to leave her with Passepartout `
` at Fort Kearney, the servant taking upon himself to escort her `
` to Europe by a better route and under more favourable conditions. `
` But Aouda refused to separate from Mr. Fogg, and Passepartout `
` was delighted with her decision; for nothing could induce him `
` to leave his master while Fix was with him. `
` `
` It would be difficult to guess the detective's thoughts. Was this `
` conviction shaken by Phileas Fogg's return, or did he still regard him `
` as an exceedingly shrewd rascal, who, his journey round the world completed, `
` would think himself absolutely safe in England? Perhaps Fix's opinion `
` of Phileas Fogg was somewhat modified; but he was nevertheless resolved `
` to do his duty, and to hasten the return of the whole party to England `
` as much as possible. `
` `
` At eight o'clock the sledge was ready to start. The passengers `
` took their places on it, and wrapped themselves up closely `
` in their travelling-cloaks. The two great sails were hoisted, `
` and under the pressure of the wind the sledge slid over the hardened `
` snow with a velocity of forty miles an hour. `
` `
` The distance between Fort Kearney and Omaha, as the birds fly, `
` is at most two hundred miles. If the wind held good, the distance `
` might be traversed in five hours; if no accident happened the sledge `
` might reach Omaha by one o'clock. `
` `
` What a journey! The travellers, huddled close together, could not speak `
` for the cold, intensified by the rapidity at which they were going. `
` The sledge sped on as lightly as a boat over the waves. When the breeze `
` came skimming the earth the sledge seemed to be lifted off the ground `
` by its sails. Mudge, who was at the rudder, kept in a straight line, `
` and by a turn of his hand checked the lurches which the vehicle `
` had a tendency to make. All the sails were up, and the jib `
` was so arranged as not to screen the brigantine. A top-mast was hoisted, `
` and another jib, held out to the wind, added its force to the other sails. `
` Although the speed could not be exactly estimated, the sledge could not `
` be going at less than forty miles an hour. `
` `
` "If nothing breaks," said Mudge, "we shall get there!" `
` `
` Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge's interest to reach Omaha `
` within the time agreed on, by the offer of a handsome reward. `
` `
` The prairie, across which the sledge was moving in a straight `
` line, was as flat as a sea. It seemed like a vast frozen lake. `
` The railroad which ran through this section ascended from the `
` south-west to the north-west by Great Island, Columbus, `
` an important Nebraska town, Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha. `
`