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CHAPTER 29
In Which Certain Incidents Are Narrated
Which Are Only To Be Met With On American
Railroads
The train pursued its course, that evening,
without interruption, passing Fort Saunders,
crossing Cheyne Pass, and reaching Evans Pass.
The road here attained the highest elevation of
the journey, eight thousand and ninety-two feet
above the level of the sea. The travellers had
now only to descend to the Atlantic by
limitless plains, levelled by nature. A branch
of the "grand trunk" led off southward to
Denver, the capital of Colorado. The country
round about is rich in gold and silver, and
more than fifty thousand inhabitants are
already settled there.
Thirteen hundred and eighty-two miles had
been passed over from San Francisco, in three
days and three nights; four days and nights
more would probably bring them to New York.
Phileas Fogg was not as yet behind-hand.
During the night Camp Walbach was passed on
the left; Lodge Pole Creek ran parallel with
the road, marking the boundary between the
territories of Wyoming and Colorado. They
entered Nebraska at eleven, passed near
Sedgwick, and touched at Julesburg, on the
southern branch of the Platte River.
It was here that the Union Pacific Railroad
was inaugurated on the 23rd of October, 1867,
by the chief engineer, General Dodge. Two
powerful locomotives, carrying nine cars of
invited guests, amongst whom was Thomas C.
Durant, vice-president of the road, stopped at
this point; cheers were given, the Sioux and
Pawnees performed an imitation Indian battle,
fireworks were let off, and the first number of
the Railway Pioneer was printed by a press
brought on the train. Thus was celebrated the
inauguration of this great railroad, a mighty
instrument of progress and civilisation, thrown
across the desert, and destined to link
together cities and towns which do not yet
exist. The whistle of the locomotive, more
powerful than Amphion's lyre, was about to bid
them rise from American soil.
Fort McPherson was left behind at eight in
the morning, and three hundred and fifty-seven
miles had yet to be traversed before reaching
Omaha. The road followed the capricious
windings of the southern branch of the Platte
River, on its left bank. At nine the train
stopped at the important town of North Platte,
built between the two arms of the river, which
rejoin each other around it and form a single
artery, a large tributary, whose waters empty
into the Missouri a little above Omaha.
The one hundred and first meridian was
passed.
Mr. Fogg and his partners had resumed their
game; no one--not even the dummy-- complained
of the length of the trip. Fix had begun by
winning several guineas, which he seemed likely
to lose; but he showed himself a not less
eager whist-player than Mr. Fogg. During the
morning, chance distinctly favoured that
gentleman. Trumps and honours were showered
upon his hands.
Once, having resolved on a bold stroke, he
was on the point of playing a spade, when a
voice behind him said, "I should play a
diamond."
Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Fix raised their heads,
and beheld Colonel Proctor.
Stamp Proctor and Phileas Fogg recognised
each other at once.
"Ah! it's you, is it, Englishman?" cried the
colonel; "it's you who are going to play a
spade!"
"And who plays it," replied Phileas Fogg
coolly, throwing down the ten of spades.
"Well, it pleases me to have it diamonds,"
replied Colonel Proctor, in an insolent
tone.
He made a movement as if to seize the card
which had just been played, adding, "You don't
understand anything about whist."
"Perhaps I do, as well as another," said
Phileas Fogg, rising.
"You have only to try, son of John Bull,"
replied the colonel.
Aouda turned pale, and her blood ran cold.
She seized Mr. Fogg's arm and gently pulled him
back. Passepartout was ready to pounce upon the
American, who was staring insolently at his
opponent. But Fix got up, and, going to Colonel
Proctor said, "You forget that it is I with
whom you have to deal, sir; for it was I whom
you not only insulted, but struck!"
"Mr. Fix," said Mr. Fogg, "pardon me, but
this affair is mine, and mine only. The colonel
has again insulted me, by insisting that I
should not play a spade, and he shall give me
satisfaction for it."
"When and where you will," replied the
American, "and with whatever weapon you
choose."
Aouda in vain attempted to retain Mr. Fogg;
as vainly did the detective endeavour to make
the quarrel his. Passepartout wished to throw
the colonel out of the window, but a sign from
his master checked him. Phileas Fogg left the
car, and the American followed him upon the
platform. "Sir," said Mr. Fogg to his
adversary, "I am in a great hurry to get back
to Europe, and any delay whatever will be
greatly to my disadvantage."
"Well, what's that to me?" replied Colonel
Proctor.
"Sir," said Mr. Fogg, very politely, "after
our meeting at San Francisco, I determined to
return to America and find you as soon as I had
completed the business which called me to
England."
"Really!"
"Will you appoint a meeting for six months
hence?"
"Why not ten years hence?"
"I say six months," returned Phileas Fogg;
"and I shall be at the place of meeting
promptly."
"All this is an evasion," cried Stamp
Proctor. "Now or never!"
"Very good. You are going to New York?"
"No."
"To Chicago?"
"No."
"To Omaha?"
"What difference is it to you? Do you know
Plum Creek?"
"No," replied Mr. Fogg.
"It's the next station. The train will be
there in an hour, and will stop there ten
minutes. In ten minutes several revolver-shots
could be exchanged."
"Very well," said Mr. Fogg. "I will stop at
Plum Creek."
"And I guess you'll stay there too," added
the American insolently.
"Who knows?" replied Mr. Fogg, returning to
the car as coolly as usual. He began to
reassure Aouda, telling her that blusterers
were never to be feared, and begged Fix to be
his second at the approaching duel, a request
which the detective could not refuse. Mr. Fogg
resumed the interrupted game with perfect
calmness.
At eleven o'clock the locomotive's whistle
announced that they were approaching Plum Creek
station. Mr. Fogg rose, and, followed by Fix,
went out upon the platform. Passepartout
accompanied him, carrying a pair of revolvers.
Aouda remained in the car, as pale as
death.
The door of the next car opened, and Colonel
Proctor appeared on the platform, attended by a
Yankee of his own stamp as his second. But just
as the combatants were about to step from the
train, the conductor hurried up, and shouted,
"You can't get off, gentlemen!"
"Why not?" asked the colonel.
"We are twenty minutes late, and we shall
not stop."
"But I am going to fight a duel with this
gentleman."
"I am sorry," said the conductor; "but we
shall be off at once. There's the bell ringing
now."
The train started.
"I'm really very sorry, gentlemen," said the
conductor. "Under any other circumstances I
should have been happy to oblige you. But,
after all, as you have not had time to fight
here, why not fight as we go along?
"That wouldn't be convenient, perhaps, for
this gentleman," said the colonel, in a jeering
tone.
"It would be perfectly so," replied Phileas
Fogg.
"Well, we are really in America," thought
Passepartout, "and the conductor is a gentleman
of the first order!"
So muttering, he followed his master.
The two combatants, their seconds, and the
conductor passed through the cars to the rear
of the train. The last car was only occupied by
a dozen passengers, whom the conductor politely
asked if they would not be so kind as to leave
it vacant for a few moments, as two gentlemen
had an affair of honour to settle. The
passengers granted the request with alacrity,
and straightway disappeared on the
platform.
The car, which was some fifty feet long, was
very convenient for their purpose. The
adversaries might march on each other in the
aisle, and fire at their ease. Never was duel
more easily arranged. Mr. Fogg and Colonel
Proctor, each provided with two six-barrelled
revolvers, entered the car. The seconds,
remaining outside, shut them in. They were to
begin firing at the first whistle of the
locomotive. After an interval of two minutes,
what remained of the two gentlemen would be
taken from the car.
Nothing could be more simple. Indeed, it was
all so simple that Fix and Passepartout felt
their hearts beating as if they would crack.
They were listening for the whistle agreed
upon, when suddenly savage cries resounded in
the air, accompanied by reports which certainly
did not issue from the car where the duellists
were. The reports continued in front and the
whole length of the train. Cries of terror
proceeded from the interior of the cars.
Colonel Proctor and Mr. Fogg, revolvers in
hand, hastily quitted their prison, and rushed
forward where the noise was most clamorous.
They then perceived that the train was attacked
by a band of Sioux.
This was not the first attempt of these
daring Indians, for more than once they had
waylaid trains on the road. A hundred of them
had, according to their habit, jumped upon the
steps without stopping the train, with the ease
of a clown mounting a horse at full gallop.
The Sioux were armed with guns, from which
came the reports, to which the passengers, who
were almost all armed, responded by
revolver-shots.
The Indians had first mounted the engine,
and half stunned the engineer and stoker with
blows from their muskets. A Sioux chief,
wishing to stop the train, but not knowing how
to work the regulator, had opened wide instead
of closing the steam-valve, and the locomotive
was plunging forward with terrific
velocity.
The Sioux had at the same time invaded the
cars, skipping like enraged monkeys over the
roofs, thrusting open the doors, and fighting
hand to hand with the passengers. Penetrating
the baggage-car, they pillaged it, throwing the
trunks out of the train. The cries and shots
were constant. The travellers defended
themselves bravely; some of the cars were
barricaded, and sustained a siege, like moving
forts, carried along at a speed of a hundred
miles an hour.
Aouda behaved courageously from the first.
She defended herself like a true heroine with a
revolver, which she shot through the broken
windows whenever a savage made his appearance.
Twenty Sioux had fallen mortally wounded to the
ground, and the wheels crushed those who fell
upon the rails as if they had been worms.
Several passengers, shot or stunned, lay on the
seats.
It was necessary to put an end to the
struggle, which had lasted for ten minutes, and
which would result in the triumph of the Sioux
if the train was not stopped. Fort Kearney
station, where there was a garrison, was only
two miles distant; but, that once passed, the
Sioux would be masters of the train between
Fort Kearney and the station beyond.
The conductor was fighting beside Mr. Fogg,
when he was shot and fell. At the same moment
he cried, "Unless the train is stopped in five
minutes, we are lost!"
"It shall be stopped," said Phileas Fogg,
preparing to rush from the car.
"Stay, monsieur," cried Passepartout; "I
will go."
Mr. Fogg had not time to stop the brave
fellow, who, opening a door unperceived by the
Indians, succeeded in slipping under the car;
and while the struggle continued and the balls
whizzed across each other over his head, he
made use of his old acrobatic experience, and
with amazing agility worked his way under the
cars, holding on to the chains, aiding himself
by the brakes and edges of the sashes, creeping
from one car to another with marvellous skill,
and thus gaining the forward end of the
train.
There, suspended by one hand between the
baggage-car and the tender, with the other he
loosened the safety chains; but, owing to the
traction, he would never have succeeded in
unscrewing the yoking-bar, had not a violent
concussion jolted this bar out. The train, now
detached from the engine, remained a little
behind, whilst the locomotive rushed forward
with increased speed.
Carried on by the force already acquired,
the train still moved for several minutes; but
the brakes were worked and at last they
stopped, less than a hundred feet from Kearney
station.
The soldiers of the fort, attracted by the
shots, hurried up; the Sioux had not expected
them, and decamped in a body before the train
entirely stopped.
But when the passengers counted each other
on the station platform several were found
missing; among others the courageous Frenchman,
whose devotion had just saved them.
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