Around the World in Eighty Days, Part 9: Simply His Duty

5:49:00 Chapter XXVIII: In which Passepartout could not manage to make the voice of reason heard

5:49:00 Chapter Twenty-eight. In which Passepartout could not manage to make the voice of reason heard.

5:49:07 On leaving Great Salt Lake and Ogden station, the train climbed northwards for an hour as far as the Weber River, having covered about nine hundred miles from San Francisco. From that point it turned east again across the rugged mass of the Wahsatch Mountains.

5:49:24 It was in this part of the territory, between these mountains and the Rocky Mountains proper, that the American engineers grappled with their most serious difficulties. And so, on this stretch, the Union government's subsidy rose to forty-eight thousand dollars a mile, whereas on the plains it had been only sixteen thousand.

5:49:45 But the engineers, as has been said, did no violence to nature; they outwitted it, getting round the difficulties; and to reach the great basin, only one tunnel, fourteen thousand feet long, was bored along the whole course of the railroad.

5:50:02 It was at the Salt Lake itself that the line had so far reached its greatest altitude. From that point its profile described a very long curve, dropping towards the valley of Bitter Creek and then rising again to the watershed between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

5:50:20 Streams were numerous in this mountainous region. The Muddy, the Green and others had to be crossed on little bridges.

5:50:29 Passepartout had grown more impatient the nearer he came to the goal. But Fix, in his turn, would have liked to be out of this difficult country already.

5:50:38 He feared delays, he dreaded accidents, and he was in more of a hurry than Phileas Fogg himself to set foot on English soil!

5:50:48 At ten o'clock in the evening the train stopped at Fort Bridger station, which it left again almost at once.

5:50:55 And twenty miles further on it entered the State of Wyoming—formerly Dakota—following the whole valley of Bitter Creek, from which flow some of the waters that make up the river system of the Colorado.

5:51:09 The next day, the seventh of December, there was a quarter of an hour's stop at Green River station. Snow had fallen fairly heavily during the night; but, mixed with rain and half melted, it could not hinder the progress of the train.

5:51:25 This bad weather did not fail to worry Passepartout, however, for an accumulation of snow, clogging the wheels of the cars, would certainly have put the journey in jeopardy.

5:51:36 Jean Passepartout: What an idea for my master to travel in winter! Couldn't he have waited for the fine season to improve his chances?

5:51:44 But at that moment, while the honest fellow was concerned only with the state of the sky and the falling temperature, Mrs. Aouda was feeling keener fears, which arose from quite another cause.

5:51:58 Some passengers had got down from their car and were walking up and down the platform at Green River station while waiting for the train to leave.

5:52:07 Now, through the window, the young woman recognised among them Colonel Stamp W. Proctor, the American who had behaved so rudely towards Phileas Fogg during the San Francisco meeting. Mrs. Aouda, not wishing to be seen, drew back quickly.

5:52:23 This circumstance made a deep impression on the young woman. She had grown attached to the man who, however coldly, gave her every day the proofs of the most absolute devotion.

5:52:35 No doubt she did not understand the full depth of the feeling her rescuer inspired in her, and as yet she gave that feeling no other name than gratitude; but, unknown to herself, there was more to it than that.

5:52:50 And so her heart sank when she recognised the coarse individual of whom Mr. Fogg meant, sooner or later, to demand satisfaction for his conduct.

5:53:00 Clearly it was chance alone that had brought Colonel Proctor onto this train; but there he was, all the same, and Phileas Fogg must at all costs be prevented from catching sight of his adversary.

5:53:14 When the train was under way again, Mrs. Aouda took advantage of a moment when Mr. Fogg was dozing to acquaint Fix and Passepartout with the situation.

5:53:25 Fix: That Proctor is on the train! Well, set your mind at rest, madam: before he has to deal with the man…

5:53:32 Fix: with Mr. Fogg, he will have to deal with me! It seems to me that in all this it was I who received the gravest insults!

5:53:41 Jean Passepartout: And besides, I'll take care of him, colonel or no colonel.

5:53:45 Aouda: Mr. Fix, Mr. Fogg will leave it to no one else to avenge him. He is a man, as he has told us, to come back to America to find the one who insulted him.

5:53:55 Aouda: So if he catches sight of Colonel Proctor, we shall not be able to prevent a meeting, and it may have deplorable consequences. He must not see him, then.

5:54:05 Fix: You are right, madam. A meeting might ruin everything. Victor or vanquished, Mr. Fogg would be delayed, and…

5:54:12 Jean Passepartout: And that would play into the hands of the gentlemen of the Reform Club. In four days we shall be in New York!

5:54:18 Jean Passepartout: Well, then, if for four days my master doesn't leave his car, we may hope that chance won't bring him face to face with that cursed American, God confound him! And we'll know how to prevent it…

5:54:30 The conversation broke off. Mr. Fogg had woken up and was looking at the countryside through the snow-flecked window.

5:54:39 But later, out of hearing of his master and of Mrs. Aouda, Passepartout said to the police inspector:

5:54:46 Jean Passepartout: Would you really fight for him?

5:54:48 Fix: I'll do anything to bring him back to Europe alive!

5:54:51 replied Fix simply, in a tone that showed an implacable will.

5:54:56 Passepartout felt something like a shiver run through his body, but his convictions regarding his master did not weaken.

5:55:05 And now, was there any way of keeping Mr. Fogg in this compartment, so as to prevent any meeting between the colonel and him? That could hardly be difficult, the gentleman being by nature neither restless nor curious.

5:55:20 In any case, the police inspector believed he had found the means, for a few moments later he was saying to Phileas Fogg:

5:55:28 Fix: These are long, slow hours, sir, that one spends like this on the railway.

5:55:33 Phileas Fogg: Indeed, but they pass.

5:55:36 Fix: On board the steamers you were in the habit of playing your whist?

5:55:39 Phileas Fogg: Yes, but here it would be difficult. I have neither cards nor partners.

5:55:44 Fix: Oh, as for cards, we shall easily find some to buy. They sell everything on American trains. As for partners, if by any chance madam…

5:55:53 Aouda: Certainly, sir. I know whist. It is part of an English education.

5:55:58 Fix: And I have some pretensions to playing the game well. Now, with the three of us and a dummy…

5:56:04 Phileas Fogg: As you please, sir,

5:56:06 replied Phileas Fogg, delighted to take up his favourite game again—even on the railway.

5:56:13 Passepartout was dispatched in search of the steward, and he soon came back with two complete packs, markers, counters and a small table covered with cloth. Nothing was lacking.

5:56:26 The game began.

5:56:27 Mrs. Aouda knew whist quite well enough, and she even received a few compliments from the severe Phileas Fogg. As for the inspector, he was simply a first-rate player, and a worthy match for the gentleman.

5:56:42 Jean Passepartout: Now we've got him. He won't budge again!

5:56:47 At eleven o'clock in the morning the train reached the watershed between the two oceans. This was at Bridger Pass, at a height of seven thousand five hundred and twenty-four English feet above sea level, one of the highest points touched by the line in its passage through the Rocky Mountains.

5:57:05 After about two hundred miles more, the travellers would at last find themselves on those long plains which stretch to the Atlantic, and which nature had made so favourable for the laying of a railway.

5:57:19 On the slope of the Atlantic basin the first streams were already opening out, tributaries or sub-tributaries of the North Platte River. The whole horizon to the north and east was covered by that immense semicircular curtain which forms the northern part of the Rocky Mountains, dominated by Laramie Peak.

5:57:40 Between this curve and the railway stretched vast, well-watered plains. On the right of the railroad rose, tier upon tier, the first slopes of the mountain mass which curves round to the south as far as the sources of the Arkansas River, one of the great tributaries of the Missouri.

5:57:59 At half-past twelve the travellers caught a momentary glimpse of Fort Halleck, which commands that country. A few hours more and the crossing of the Rocky Mountains would be accomplished. It could therefore be hoped that no accident would mark the train's passage through this difficult region.

5:58:17 The snow had stopped falling. The weather was turning cold and dry. Great birds, frightened by the locomotive, fled far away. No wild beast, bear or wolf, showed itself on the plain. It was the wilderness in all its immense bareness.

5:58:37 After a fairly comfortable lunch, served in the car itself, Mr. Fogg and his partners had just resumed their interminable whist when violent blasts of the whistle were heard.

5:58:49 The train stopped.

5:58:51 Passepartout put his head out of the door and saw nothing to account for the stop. No station was in sight.

5:58:59 For a moment Mrs. Aouda and Fix feared that Mr. Fogg might take it into his head to get down onto the line. But the gentleman merely said to his servant:

5:59:09 Phileas Fogg: Go and see what it is.

5:59:11 Passepartout dashed out of the car. Some forty passengers had already left their seats, and among them Colonel Stamp W. Proctor.

5:59:20 The train had stopped before a signal turned to red, which closed the line. The engine-driver and the conductor had got down and were arguing rather heatedly with a flagman whom the station-master at Medicine Bow, the next station, had sent ahead to meet the train.

5:59:37 Some passengers had come up and were joining in the discussion—among them the aforesaid Colonel Proctor, with his loud voice and his imperious gestures.

5:59:48 Passepartout, having joined the group, heard the flagman saying:

5:59:52 the signalman at Medicine Bow: No! There's no way of getting across! The bridge at Medicine Bow is shaky and wouldn't bear the weight of the train.

5:59:59 The bridge in question was a suspension bridge thrown across some rapids, a mile from the spot where the train had stopped. According to the flagman it was on the point of collapse; several of the wires had snapped, and it was impossible to risk crossing it.

6:00:15 The flagman was therefore in no way exaggerating when he declared that they could not get across.

6:00:21 And besides, given the careless habits of the Americans, it may be said that when they begin to be prudent, it would be madness not to be prudent too.

6:00:31 Passepartout, not daring to go and tell his master, listened with clenched teeth, as motionless as a statue.

6:00:40 Colonel Stamp Proctor: See here! We're not going to stay here, I reckon, taking root in the snow!

6:00:45 the Pacific Railroad conductor: Colonel,

6:00:46 replied the conductor,

6:00:47 the Pacific Railroad conductor: we've telegraphed to Omaha station for a train, but it isn't likely to reach Medicine Bow in less than six hours.

6:00:54 Jean Passepartout: Six hours!

6:00:56 the Pacific Railroad conductor: No doubt. Besides, we'll need that much time to get to the station on foot.

6:01:01 an American passenger: On foot!

6:01:03 cried all the passengers.

6:01:05 an American passenger: But how far off is this station, then?

6:01:07 one of them asked the conductor.

6:01:09 the Pacific Railroad conductor: Twelve miles, on the other side of the river.

6:01:13 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Twelve miles in the snow!

6:01:15 The colonel let fly a volley of oaths, rounding on the company, rounding on the conductor; and Passepartout, furious, was not far from joining in the chorus. Here was a material obstacle against which, this time, all his master's banknotes would be of no avail.

6:01:34 Moreover, the disappointment was general among the passengers, who, not to mention the delay, saw themselves obliged to tramp some fifteen miles across the snow-covered plain. And so there was a hubbub of exclamations and vociferations, which would certainly have attracted the attention of Phileas Fogg had that gentleman not been absorbed in his game.

6:01:58 Passepartout, however, found himself obliged to tell him, and he was making for the car with his head hanging, when the engine-driver—a true Yankee named Forster—raised his voice and said:

6:02:11 Locomotive engineer, 40s: Gentlemen, there might be a way of getting across.

6:02:14 an American passenger: Over the bridge?

6:02:16 Locomotive engineer, 40s: Over the bridge.

6:02:17 Colonel Stamp Proctor: With our train?

6:02:18 Locomotive engineer, 40s: With our train.

6:02:20 Passepartout had stopped, and was devouring the engine-driver's words.

6:02:25 the Pacific Railroad conductor: But the bridge is ready to fall!

6:02:27 Locomotive engineer, 40s: No matter. I believe that if we run the train at its very top speed, we'd have some chance of getting over.

6:02:34 Jean Passepartout: Diable!

6:02:35 But a number of passengers had been won over by the proposal at once. It particularly pleased Colonel Proctor. That hothead found the thing perfectly feasible.

6:02:46 He even recalled that engineers had had the idea of crossing rivers 'without a bridge', with rigid trains launched at full speed, et cetera. And in the end everyone concerned in the question came round to the engine-driver's view.

6:03:01 an American passenger: We have fifty chances of getting across.

6:03:05 an American passenger: Sixty.

6:03:06 an American passenger: Eighty!… Ninety out of a hundred!

6:03:09 Passepartout was dumbfounded, though he was ready to try anything to get across Medicine Creek; but the attempt seemed to him a little too 'American'.

6:03:19 Jean Passepartout: Besides, there's a much simpler thing to do, and these people don't even think of it!…

6:03:24 Jean Passepartout: Monsieur, the method proposed by the engine-driver seems to me a little risky, but…

6:03:29 an American passenger: Eighty chances!

6:03:31 replied the passenger, and turned his back on him.

6:03:34 Jean Passepartout: I know that well enough,

6:03:36 replied Passepartout, turning to another gentleman,

6:03:39 Jean Passepartout: but a simple reflection…

6:03:40 an American passenger: No reflections, they're no use!

6:03:42 replied the American he had addressed, shrugging his shoulders.

6:03:46 an American passenger: The engine-driver says we'll get across!

6:03:49 Jean Passepartout: No doubt, we'll get across, but it would perhaps be more prudent…

6:03:53 Colonel Stamp Proctor: What! Prudent!

6:03:55 cried Colonel Proctor, who had chanced to overhear the word and fairly leapt at it.

6:04:00 Colonel Stamp Proctor: At full speed, you're told! Do you understand? At full speed!

6:04:05 Jean Passepartout: I know… I understand…

6:04:08 Passepartout kept repeating, for nobody would let him finish his sentence,

6:04:13 Jean Passepartout: but it would be, if not more prudent, since the word offends you, at least more natural…

6:04:19 an American passenger: Who? What?

6:04:20 an American passenger: What?

6:04:21 an American passenger: What's the matter with that fellow and his 'natural'?…

6:04:25 came the cry from all sides.

6:04:28 The poor fellow no longer knew whom to turn to in order to make himself heard.

6:04:33 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Are you afraid?

6:04:35 Jean Passepartout: Me, afraid! Very well, then! I'll show these people that a Frenchman can be as American as they are!

6:04:42 the Pacific Railroad conductor: All aboard! All aboard!

6:04:44 Jean Passepartout: Yes! All aboard, all aboard! And at once! But nobody will stop me thinking it would have been more natural to have us passengers cross the bridge on foot first, and the train afterwards!…

6:04:56 But nobody heard this wise reflection, and nobody would have been willing to admit how right it was.

6:05:04 The passengers had gone back to their cars. Passepartout resumed his seat without saying a word of what had happened. The players were entirely taken up with their whist.

6:05:16 The locomotive whistled vigorously. The engine-driver, reversing steam, backed his train for nearly a mile—drawing back like a jumper who wants to take a run.

6:05:29 Then, at a second whistle, the forward movement began again.

6:05:34 It gathered pace; soon the speed became terrifying;

6:05:39 nothing could be heard but a single neigh issuing from the locomotive;

6:05:43 the pistons were beating twenty strokes a second; the axles were smoking in their grease-boxes.

6:05:49 One could feel, so to speak, that the whole train, running at a hundred miles an hour, no longer weighed upon the rails.

6:05:57 Speed was eating up weight.

6:06:01 And they got across!

6:06:02 It was like a flash of lightning. Nothing was seen of the bridge. The train leapt, one may say, from one bank to the other, and the engine-driver did not manage to stop his runaway engine until five miles beyond the station.

6:06:18 But the train had scarcely crossed the river when the bridge, now utterly wrecked, crashed down into the rapids of Medicine Bow.

6:06:33 Chapter XXIX: In which an account is given of sundry incidents such as are met with only on the railroads of the Union

6:06:38 Chapter Twenty-nine. In which an account is given of sundry incidents such as are met with only on the railroads of the Union.

6:06:47 That same evening the train went on its way without hindrance, passed Fort Sauders, crossed the Cheyenne Pass and reached Evans Pass. Here the railroad attained the highest point of its whole course, namely eight thousand and ninety-one feet above the level of the ocean.

6:07:06 The travellers had now only to descend to the Atlantic, across those boundless plains levelled by nature.

6:07:14 Here, on the 'grand trunk', was the branch line to Denver City, the chief town of Colorado. This territory is rich in gold and silver mines, and more than fifty thousand inhabitants have already made their homes there.

6:07:29 By this time thirteen hundred and eighty-two miles had been covered since San Francisco, in three days and three nights. Four nights and four days, in all likelihood, would be enough to reach New York. Phileas Fogg was therefore keeping within his regulation time.

6:07:47 During the night they left Camp Walbah on their left. Lodge Pole Creek ran parallel to the line, following the straight boundary common to the States of Wyoming and Colorado. At eleven o'clock they entered Nebraska, passed near Sedgwick, and touched at Julesburgh, which stands on the south branch of the Platte River.

6:08:08 It was at this point that the inauguration of the Union Pacific Road took place, on the twenty-third of October, eighteen sixty-seven; its chief engineer was General J. M. Dodge.

6:08:21 There the two powerful locomotives came to a halt, hauling the nine cars of the guests, among whom was the vice-president, Mr. Thomas C. Durant; there the cheering rang out;

6:08:35 there the Sioux and the Pawnees gave the spectacle of a mock battle; there the fireworks burst; there, finally, by means of a portable printing press, the first number of the newspaper the Railway Pioneer was published.

6:08:51 Thus was celebrated the inauguration of this great railway, an instrument of progress and civilisation, flung across the desert and destined to link together towns and cities which did not yet exist.

6:09:05 The whistle of the locomotive, more powerful than Amphion's lyre, was soon to make them spring up from American soil.

6:09:15 At eight o'clock in the morning Fort McPherson was left behind. Three hundred and fifty-seven miles separate that point from Omaha. The railway followed, along its left bank, the capricious windings of the south branch of the Platte River.

6:09:31 At nine o'clock they reached the important town of North Platte, built between these two arms of the great river, which unite around it to form one single artery—a considerable tributary, whose waters mingle with those of the Missouri a little above Omaha.

6:09:48 The hundred and first meridian had been crossed.

6:09:52 Mr. Fogg and his partners had resumed their game.

6:09:56 Not one of them complained of the length of the journey—not even the dummy.

6:10:02 Fix had begun by winning a few guineas, which he was now in the course of losing again, but he showed himself no less ardent a player than Mr. Fogg.

6:10:11 During that morning fortune favoured this gentleman singularly. Trumps and honours rained into his hands.

6:10:20 At one moment, having worked out a bold stroke, he was preparing to play spades when a voice was heard from behind the seat, saying:

6:10:28 Colonel Stamp Proctor: I'd play diamonds, myself…

6:10:31 Mr. Fogg, Mrs. Aouda and Fix looked up. Colonel Proctor was close by them.

6:10:37 Stamp W. Proctor and Phileas Fogg recognised each other at once.

6:10:43 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Ah! so it's you, Mr. Englishman, it's you who want to play spades!

6:10:49 Phileas Fogg: And who is playing them,

6:10:51 replied Phileas Fogg coldly, laying down a ten of that suit.

6:10:56 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Well, I say it shall be diamonds.

6:10:59 And he made as if to snatch the card that had been played, adding:

6:11:04 Colonel Stamp Proctor: You know nothing about this game.

6:11:06 Phileas Fogg: Perhaps I shall be more skilful at another,

6:11:09 said Phileas Fogg, rising.

6:11:11 Colonel Stamp Proctor: You've only to try it, son of John Bull!

6:11:15 Mrs. Aouda had turned pale. All her blood rushed back to her heart. She had seized the arm of Phileas Fogg, who gently put her from him.

6:11:25 Passepartout was ready to hurl himself upon the American, who was staring at his adversary with the most insulting air. But Fix had risen and, going up to Colonel Proctor, said to him:

6:11:37 Fix: You forget that it is with me you have to deal, sir—with me, whom you have not only insulted but struck!

6:11:44 Phileas Fogg: Mr. Fix, I beg your pardon, but this concerns me alone. By claiming that I was wrong to play spades, the colonel has offered me a fresh insult, and he shall give me satisfaction for it.

6:11:57 Colonel Stamp Proctor: When you like and where you like, and with whatever weapon you please!

6:12:04 Mrs. Aouda tried in vain to hold Mr. Fogg back. The inspector attempted to no purpose to take the quarrel upon himself. Passepartout wanted to throw the colonel out through the door, but a sign from his master stopped him.

6:12:20 Phileas Fogg left the car, and the American followed him out on to the platform.

6:12:26 Phileas Fogg: Sir, I am in very great haste to return to Europe, and any delay whatsoever would greatly prejudice my interests.

6:12:35 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Well! and what's that to me?

6:12:37 Phileas Fogg: Sir, after our meeting in San Francisco, I had formed the plan of coming back to America to find you, as soon as I had settled the affairs which call me to the Old World.

6:12:47 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Really!

6:12:49 Phileas Fogg: Will you give me a meeting in six months' time?

6:12:52 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Why not in six years?

6:12:55 Phileas Fogg: I said six months, and I shall be punctual to the appointment.

6:12:59 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Shuffling excuses, the whole of it! Now, or not at all.

6:13:04 Phileas Fogg: Very well. You are going to New York?

6:13:06 Colonel Stamp Proctor: No.

6:13:07 Phileas Fogg: To Chicago?

6:13:09 Colonel Stamp Proctor: No.

6:13:10 Phileas Fogg: To Omaha?

6:13:11 Colonel Stamp Proctor: That's no concern of yours! Do you know Plum Creek?

6:13:15 Phileas Fogg: No.

6:13:16 Colonel Stamp Proctor: It's the next stop. The train gets there in an hour, and stands there for ten minutes. Ten minutes is long enough to trade a few revolver shots.

6:13:26 Phileas Fogg: Very well. I will stop at Plum Creek.

6:13:29 Colonel Stamp Proctor: And I guess you'll stay there, too!

6:13:31 added the American with matchless insolence.

6:13:35 Phileas Fogg: Who knows, sir?

6:13:37 replied Mr. Fogg, and he went back into his car, as cool as ever.

6:13:43 There the gentleman began by reassuring Mrs. Aouda, telling her that braggarts were never to be feared. Then he asked Fix to act as his second in the encounter which was about to take place.

6:13:56 Fix could not refuse, and Phileas Fogg tranquilly resumed his interrupted game, playing spades with perfect calm.

6:14:06 At eleven o'clock the whistle of the locomotive announced that Plum Creek station was near. Mr. Fogg rose and, followed by Fix, went out on to the platform.

6:14:17 Passepartout went with him, carrying a pair of revolvers. Mrs. Aouda had stayed in the car, as pale as death.

6:14:26 At that moment the door of the other car opened, and Colonel Proctor likewise appeared on the platform, followed by his second, a Yankee of the same mettle.

6:14:36 But just as the two adversaries were about to step down on to the line, the conductor came running up and called out to them:

6:14:44 the Pacific Railroad conductor: No getting off, gentlemen.

6:14:45 Colonel Stamp Proctor: And why not?

6:14:47 the Pacific Railroad conductor: We're twenty minutes late, and the train isn't stopping.

6:14:50 Colonel Stamp Proctor: But I'm to fight this gentleman.

6:14:53 the Pacific Railroad conductor: I'm sorry, but we're off again at once.

6:14:56 the Pacific Railroad conductor: There's the bell ringing now!

6:14:58 The bell was indeed ringing, and the train started off again.

6:15:02 the Pacific Railroad conductor: I'm really very sorry, gentlemen. Under any other circumstances I could have obliged you. But after all, since you haven't had time to fight here, what's to stop you fighting as we go along?

6:15:14 Colonel Stamp Proctor: Perhaps that won't suit the gentleman!

6:15:16 Phileas Fogg: It suits me perfectly.

6:15:19 Jean Passepartout: Come now, we're in America and no mistake! And the conductor of the train is a gentleman of the very best society!

6:15:26 And so saying, he followed his master.

6:15:31 The two adversaries and their seconds, preceded by the conductor, made their way to the rear of the train, passing from one car to the next.

6:15:41 The last car was occupied by only some ten passengers. The conductor asked them whether they would kindly leave the place free for a few moments to two gentlemen who had an affair of honour to settle.

6:15:54 Why, of course! The passengers were only too happy to be agreeable to the two gentlemen, and they withdrew to the platforms.

6:16:03 This car, some fifty feet long, lent itself very conveniently to the occasion. The two adversaries could advance upon each other between the seats and pepper each other at their ease.

6:16:16 Never was a duel more easily arranged.

6:16:20 Mr. Fogg and Colonel Proctor, each furnished with two six-chambered revolvers, entered the car. Their seconds, remaining outside, shut them in.

6:16:31 At the first whistle of the locomotive they were to open fire… Then, after an interval of two minutes, whatever was left of the two gentlemen would be removed from the car.

6:16:43 Nothing could be simpler, in truth. It was so simple, indeed, that Fix and Passepartout felt their hearts beating fit to break.

6:16:52 They were waiting, then, for the agreed whistle, when suddenly wild cries rang out.

6:16:58 Shots accompanied them, but they did not come from the car reserved for the duellists. On the contrary, the firing ran on right up to the front and along the whole length of the train. Cries of terror could be heard from inside the cars.

6:17:12 Colonel Proctor and Mr. Fogg, revolvers in hand, came straight out of the car and rushed towards the front, where the shots and the cries rang out loudest.

6:17:22 They had understood that the train was being attacked by a band of Sioux.

6:17:27 These daring Sioux were old hands at this, and more than once already they had stopped trains.

6:17:34 As was their custom, without waiting for the train to stop, some hundred of them had sprung on to the footboards and scaled the cars as a clown mounts a horse at full gallop.

6:17:44 These Sioux were armed with rifles. Hence the shots, to which the passengers, nearly all of them armed, were replying with their revolvers.

6:17:53 First of all, the Sioux had rushed upon the engine. The driver and the fireman had been half stunned with blows from clubs.

6:18:01 A Sioux chief, wishing to stop the train but not knowing how to work the handle of the regulator, had turned the steam full on instead of shutting it off, and the locomotive, out of control, was racing along at a frightful speed.

6:18:16 At the same time the Sioux had invaded the cars; they were running in fury over the roofs, breaking in the doors and fighting hand to hand with the passengers.

6:18:25 Out of the luggage-van, which had been forced and pillaged, the packages were being flung on to the line. The cries and the firing never ceased.

6:18:35 Yet the passengers were putting up a courageous defence. Certain cars had been barricaded and were holding out under siege, like veritable fortresses on wheels, swept along at the rate of a hundred miles an hour.

6:18:48 From the first moment of the attack Mrs. Aouda had behaved with courage. Revolver in hand, she defended herself heroically, firing through the broken windows whenever an assailant appeared before her.

6:19:01 Some twenty Sioux, mortally struck, had fallen onto the line, and the wheels of the cars crushed those of them who slipped down from the platforms onto the rails.

6:19:12 Several passengers, gravely wounded by bullets or clubs, lay on the seats.

6:19:18 Yet an end had to be made of it. The struggle had already lasted ten minutes, and could only end to the advantage of the Sioux if the train did not stop.

6:19:28 Fort Kearney station, in fact, was less than two miles away. There was an American post there; but once that post was passed, the Sioux would be masters of the train between Fort Kearney and the next station.

6:19:41 The conductor was fighting at Mr. Fogg's side when a bullet brought him down.

6:19:46 As he fell, the man cried out:

6:19:49 the Pacific Railroad conductor: We're lost if the train doesn't stop within five minutes!

6:19:53 Phileas Fogg: It shall stop!

6:19:55 said Phileas Fogg, and he made to rush out of the car.

6:19:58 Jean Passepartout: Stay here, monsieur. This is my affair!

6:20:01 Phileas Fogg had no time to stop the brave fellow, who, opening a door without being seen by the Sioux, managed to slip underneath the car.

6:20:11 And then, while the fight went on and the bullets crossed above his head, he recovered his agility, his clown's suppleness;

6:20:18 worming his way along beneath the cars, clinging to the chains,

6:20:22 helping himself along by the brake levers and the side-beams of the frames, crawling from one car to the next with marvellous dexterity,

6:20:31 he made his way in this fashion to the front of the train.

6:20:34 He had not been seen; he could not have been.

6:20:38 There, hanging by one hand between the luggage-van and the tender, with the other he unhooked the safety chains;

6:20:46 but because of the strain of the pull, he could never have managed to unscrew the coupling bar had not a jolt of the engine sent the bar flying out.

6:20:55 And the train, uncoupled, dropped little by little behind, while the locomotive fled away with fresh speed.

6:21:03 Carried on by its momentum, the train rolled on for a few minutes more;

6:21:09 but the brakes were worked from inside the cars, and at last the train came to a stop less than a hundred paces from Kearney station.

6:21:18 There the soldiers of the fort, drawn by the firing, came running up in haste. The Sioux had not waited for them, and before the train had come to a complete halt the whole band had decamped.

6:21:31 But when the passengers counted themselves on the station platform, they found that several failed to answer to their names, and among them the brave Frenchman whose devotion had just saved them.

6:21:52 Chapter XXX: In which Phileas Fogg simply does his duty

6:21:56 Chapter Thirty. In which Phileas Fogg simply does his duty.

6:22:02 Three passengers, Passepartout included, had disappeared. Had they been killed in the fight? Were they prisoners of the Sioux? It was impossible as yet to tell.

6:22:14 The wounded were fairly numerous, but it was found that none of them was mortally hurt.

6:22:19 One of the most seriously struck was Colonel Proctor, who had fought bravely and had been brought down by a bullet in the groin. He was carried into the station with other passengers whose condition called for immediate care.

6:22:34 Mrs. Aouda was safe. Phileas Fogg, who had not spared himself, had not a scratch. Fix was wounded in the arm, a wound of no importance.

6:22:45 But Passepartout was missing, and tears were flowing from the young woman's eyes.

6:22:51 Meanwhile all the passengers had left the train. The wheels of the cars were stained with blood. From the hubs and the spokes hung shapeless shreds of flesh.

6:23:02 As far as the eye could reach, long red trails could be seen across the white plain. The last of the Sioux were just then disappearing into the south, towards the Republican River.

6:23:15 Mr. Fogg stood motionless, his arms folded. He had a grave decision to make.

6:23:22 Mrs. Aouda, beside him, was looking at him without uttering a word… He understood that look. If his servant was a prisoner, ought he not to risk everything to snatch him from the Sioux?…

6:23:35 Phileas Fogg: I will find him, dead or alive,

6:23:38 he said simply to Mrs. Aouda.

6:23:41 Aouda: Ah! sir… Mr. Fogg!

6:23:44 cried the young woman, seizing her companion's hands and covering them with her tears.

6:23:50 Phileas Fogg: Alive!

6:23:51 Phileas Fogg: if we do not lose a minute!

6:23:54 By this resolve Phileas Fogg sacrificed himself entirely. He had just pronounced his own ruin.

6:24:01 A single day's delay would make him miss the steamer at New York. His wager was irrevocably lost.

6:24:09 But with the thought 'It is my duty!' before him, he had not hesitated.

6:24:16 The captain commanding Fort Kearney was there. His soldiers—about a hundred men—had put themselves on the defensive in case the Sioux should make a direct attack upon the station.

6:24:28 Phileas Fogg: Sir,

6:24:28 said Mr. Fogg to the captain,

6:24:30 Phileas Fogg: three passengers have disappeared.

6:24:33 the captain at Fort Kearney: Dead?

6:24:34 asked the captain.

6:24:35 Phileas Fogg: Dead or prisoners. That is an uncertainty which must be ended. Is it your intention to pursue the Sioux?

6:24:43 the captain at Fort Kearney: That is a serious matter, sir,

6:24:45 said the captain.

6:24:46 the captain at Fort Kearney: Those Sioux may run as far as the other side of the Arkansas! I cannot abandon the fort entrusted to me.

6:24:53 Phileas Fogg: Sir, it is a question of the lives of three men.

6:24:57 the captain at Fort Kearney: No doubt… but can I risk the lives of fifty to save three?

6:25:03 Phileas Fogg: I do not know whether you can, sir, but you must.

6:25:07 the captain at Fort Kearney: Sir,

6:25:08 replied the captain,

6:25:09 the captain at Fort Kearney: nobody here need teach me what my duty is.

6:25:13 Phileas Fogg: Very well,

6:25:14 said Phileas Fogg coldly.

6:25:17 Phileas Fogg: I will go alone!

6:25:18 Fix: You, sir!

6:25:20 cried Fix, who had come up.

6:25:22 Fix: Go alone in pursuit of the Sioux!

6:25:25 Phileas Fogg: Would you have me leave that poor fellow to perish, the man to whom every living soul here owes his life? I shall go.

6:25:33 the captain at Fort Kearney: Well, no, you shall not go alone!

6:25:36 cried the captain, moved in spite of himself.

6:25:39 the captain at Fort Kearney: No! You are a fine fellow!… Thirty volunteers!

6:25:43 he added, turning to his soldiers.

6:25:47 The whole company stepped forward as one man. The captain had only to choose among these good fellows. Thirty soldiers were picked out, and an old sergeant placed himself at their head.

6:26:01 Phileas Fogg: Thank you, Captain!

6:26:03 Fix: You will allow me to come with you?

6:26:06 Phileas Fogg: You will do as you please, sir. But if you wish to do me a service, you will stay with Mrs. Aouda. In case anything should happen to me…

6:26:15 A sudden pallor overspread the police inspector's face. To part from the man he had followed step by step, and with such persistence! To let him venture off like this into the wilderness!

6:26:28 Fix looked attentively at the gentleman and, do what he would, in spite of his preconceptions, in spite of the struggle going on within him, he lowered his eyes before that calm and frank gaze.

6:26:42 Fix: I will stay,

6:26:44 he said.

6:26:46 A few moments later Mr. Fogg had pressed the young woman's hand; then, having handed over to her his precious travelling bag, he set off with the sergeant and his little troop.

6:26:58 But before setting out he had said to the soldiers:

6:27:01 Phileas Fogg: My friends, there are a thousand pounds for you if we save the prisoners!

6:27:07 It was then a few minutes past noon.