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1IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF PHILEAS FOGG Phileas Fogg found himself twenty hours
2behind time. Passepartout, the involuntary cause of this delay, was desperate. He had ruined his master! At this moment
3the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, looking him intently in the face, said: "Seriously, sir, are you in great
4haste?" "Quite seriously." "I have a purpose in asking," resumed Fix. "Is it absolutely necessary that you should be in
5New York on the 11th, before nine o'clock in the evening, the time that the steamer leaves for Liverpool?" "It is
6absolutely necessary." "And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, you would have reached New York
7on the morning of the 11th?" "Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left." "Good! you are therefore twenty
8hours behind. Twelve from twenty leaves eight. You must regain eight hours. Do you wish to try to do so?" "On foot?"
9asked Mr. Fogg. "No; on a sledge," replied Fix. "On a sledge with sails. A man has proposed such a method to me." It was
10the man who had spoken to Fix during the night, and whose offer he had refused. Phileas Fogg did not reply at once; but
11Fix, having pointed out the man, who was walking up and down in front of the station, Mr. Fogg went up to him. An
12instant after, Mr. Fogg and the American, whose name was Mudge, entered a hut built just below the fort. There Mr. Fogg
13examined a curious vehicle, a kind of frame on two long beams, a little raised in front like the runners of a sledge,
14and upon which there was room for five or six persons. A high mast was fixed on the frame, held firmly by metallic
15lashings, to which was attached a large brigantine sail. This mast held an iron stay upon which to hoist a jib-sail.
16Behind, a sort of rudder served to guide the vehicle. It was, in short, a sledge rigged like a sloop. During the winter,
17when the trains are blocked up by the snow, these sledges make extremely rapid journeys across the frozen plains from
18one station to another. Provided with more sails than a cutter, and with the wind behind them, they slip over the
19surface of the prairies with a speed equal if not superior to that of the express trains. Mr. Fogg readily made a
20bargain with the owner of this land-craft. The wind was favourable, being fresh, and blowing from the west. The snow had
21hardened, and Mudge was very confident of being able to transport Mr. Fogg in a few hours to Omaha. Thence the trains
22eastward run frequently to Chicago and New York. It was not impossible that the lost time might yet be recovered; and
23such an opportunity was not to be rejected. Not wishing to expose Aouda to the discomforts of travelling in the open
24air, Mr. Fogg proposed to leave her with Passepartout at Fort Kearney, the servant taking upon himself to escort her to
25Europe by a better route and under more favourable conditions. But Aouda refused to separate from Mr. Fogg, and
26Passepartout was delighted with her decision; for nothing could induce him to leave his master while Fix was with him.
27It would be difficult to guess the detective's thoughts. Was this conviction shaken by Phileas Fogg's return, or did he
28still regard him as an exceedingly shrewd rascal, who, his journey round the world completed, would think himself
29absolutely safe in England? Perhaps Fix's opinion of Phileas Fogg was somewhat modified; but he was nevertheless
30resolved to do his duty, and to hasten the return of the whole party to England as much as possible. At eight o'clock
31the sledge was ready to start. The passengers took their places on it, and wrapped themselves up closely in their
32travelling-cloaks. The two great sails were hoisted, and under the pressure of the wind the sledge slid over the
33hardened snow with a velocity of forty miles an hour. The distance between Fort Kearney and Omaha, as the birds fly, is
34at most two hundred miles. If the wind held good, the distance might be traversed in five hours; if no accident happened
35the sledge might reach Omaha by one o'clock. What a journey! The travellers, huddled close together, could not speak for
36the cold, intensified by the rapidity at which they were going. The sledge sped on as lightly as a boat over the waves.
37When the breeze came skimming the earth the sledge seemed to be lifted off the ground by its sails. Mudge, who was at
38the rudder, kept in a straight line, and by a turn of his hand checked the lurches which the vehicle had a tendency to
39make. All the sails were up, and the jib was so arranged as not to screen the brigantine. A top-mast was hoisted, and
40another jib, held out to the wind, added its force to the other sails. Although the speed could not be exactly
41estimated, the sledge could not be going at less than forty miles an hour. "If nothing breaks," said Mudge, "we shall
42get there!" Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge's interest to reach Omaha within the time agreed on, by the offer of a
43handsome reward. The prairie, across which the sledge was moving in a straight line, was as flat as a sea. It seemed
44like a vast frozen lake. The railroad which ran through this section ascended from the south-west to the north-west by
45Great Island, Columbus, an important Nebraska town, Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha. It followed throughout the right
46bank of the Platte River. The sledge, shortening this route, took a chord of the arc described by the railway. Mudge was
47not afraid of being stopped by the Platte River, because it was frozen. The road, then, was quite clear of obstacles,
48and Phileas Fogg had but two things to fear--an accident to the sledge, and a change or calm in the wind. But the
49breeze, far from lessening its force, blew as if to bend the mast, which, however, the metallic lashings held firmly.
50These lashings, like the chords of a stringed instrument, resounded as if vibrated by a violin bow. The sledge slid
51along in the midst of a plaintively intense melody. "Those chords give the fifth and the octave," said Mr. Fogg. These
52were the only words he uttered during the journey. Aouda, cosily packed in furs and cloaks, was sheltered as much as
53possible from the attacks of the freezing wind. As for Passepartout, his face was as red as the sun's disc when it sets
54in the mist, and he laboriously inhaled the biting air. With his natural buoyancy of spirits, he began to hope again.
55They would reach New York on the evening, if not on the morning, of the 11th, and there were still some chances that it
56would be before the steamer sailed for Liverpool. Passepartout even felt a strong desire to grasp his ally, Fix, by the
57hand. He remembered that it was the detective who procured the sledge, the only means of reaching Omaha in time; but,
58checked by some presentiment, he kept his usual reserve. One thing, however, Passepartout would never forget, and that
59was the sacrifice which Mr. Fogg had made, without hesitation, to rescue him from the Sioux. Mr. Fogg had risked his
60fortune and his life. No! His servant would never forget that! While each of the party was absorbed in reflections so
61different, the sledge flew past over the vast carpet of snow. The creeks it passed over were not perceived. Fields and
62streams disappeared under the uniform whiteness. The plain was absolutely deserted. Between the Union Pacific road and
63the branch which unites Kearney with Saint Joseph it formed a great uninhabited island. Neither village, station, nor
64fort appeared. From time to time they sped by some phantom-like tree, whose white skeleton twisted and rattled in the
65wind. Sometimes flocks of wild birds rose, or bands of gaunt, famished, ferocious prairie-wolves ran howling after the
66sledge. Passepartout, revolver in hand, held himself ready to fire on those which came too near. Had an accident then
67happened to the sledge, the travellers, attacked by these beasts, would have been in the most terrible danger; but it
68held on its even course, soon gained on the wolves, and ere long left the howling band at a safe distance behind. About
69noon Mudge perceived by certain landmarks that he was crossing the Platte River. He said nothing, but he felt certain
70that he was now within twenty miles of Omaha. In less than an hour he left the rudder and furled his sails, whilst the
71sledge, carried forward by the great impetus the wind had given it, went on half a mile further with its sails unspread.
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