Chapter 30 Chapter 31. The Agent Seriously Serving the Interest of Phileas Fogg

Phileas Fogg was delayed for twenty hours.Passepartout was inadvertently caused this, so Passepartout was very disappointed.He had really ruined his master at once. At this moment the spy approached Mr. Fogg and asked: "By the truth, sir, are you in a hurry to go?" "Quickly, to tell the truth," replied Phileas Fogg. "I really want to know," said Fix, "is it necessary for you to arrive in New York before nine o'clock on the evening of the eleventh, that is to say, before the steamer for Liverpool leaves?" "Very necessary." "If it hadn't been for this Indian attack on the train, you would have been in New York early on the eleventh, wouldn't you?"

"Yes, then I'd be on board twelve hours before the steamer leaves." "Yes, now you have been delayed for twenty hours. Twenty minus twelve and eight. Are you going to make up for these eight hours?" "On foot?" asked Mr. Fogg. "Not on foot, but in a sledge," replied Fix, "in a sledge with sails. A man once asked me to hire his sledge." This was the same man who had spoken to Fix the night before, when Fix had not promised to hire his sledge. Phileas Fogg did not answer; Fix pointed out to him the American sleigher who was strolling in front of the station.Mr. Fogg walked up to the man.After a while Phileas Fogg and the American named McKee walked into a small hut not far below Fort Kearney.Mr. Fogg saw a rather strange car in the house.It is a sled made of a wooden frame nailed to two long pieces of wood, with the head slightly upturned, much like the two bottom frames of a wheelless trailer.It can sit five or six people.In the forward third of the sled was a tall mast with a large square sail attached to it.The mast is tightly bound by several iron cables, and there is an iron pillar on it to support the huge cloth sail.A single scull is installed at the back as a wooden rudder to control the direction.

It turned out that what Mr. Fogg had seen was a sloop.On the plains covered with ice and snow in winter, when the train is blocked by heavy snow and cannot move forward, this means of transportation can be used to slide quickly from one station to another.Such a sled can be set with such a large sail that a water-racing clipper is bound to turn somersaults.The wind from behind propelled the sled across the ice of the steppe at a speed equal to, if not faster than, that of an express. Without much effort, Mr. Fogg and the owner of the land boat had agreed on a price.The wind was fine now, the westerly wind was blowing hard, the snow was frozen, and in a few hours McKee could get Fork to the Omaha station.There are many train lines, extending in all directions, with frequent travels to Chicago and New York.This will make it possible to make up for the delay.Now there is no hesitation, so I have to try my luck like this.

Mr. Fogg did not want Mrs. Aouda to make such a arduous journey in the open fields.How could she bear the cold and the speed of the sledge?He therefore suggested to Lady Aouda that Passepartout should accompany her to wait for the train at Fort Kearny.Then the honest lad escorted her safely to Europe.Mrs. Aouda did not want to be separated from Mr. Fogg.Passepartout was very pleased with her decision.In fact, Passepartout would never leave his master, especially since Fix was still with Mr. Fogg. As for the ideological activities of the secret agents of the police department, it is really hard to describe them now.Had Phileas Fogg's return shaken his confidence?Or is it still affirmed that Fokker was a rascal of the utmost cunning, who attempted to circumnavigate the globe in this way for a week, and return to England with complete impunity?Perhaps Fix's opinion of Phileas Fogg had changed somewhat now.However, he will never let go of his duties, and he is more anxious than anyone to do everything possible to get back to England one day sooner.At eight o'clock the sleigh was ready for departure; the passengers--or, indeed, passengers, it might have been called--were in the sledge, all wrapped up tightly in the traveling blanket.Both sails were up, and the wind-sled was galloping across the frozen snow at forty miles an hour.

The straight-line distance from Fort Kearney to Omaha--what the Americans call the bee-fly distance--is no more than two hundred miles at best.If the wind direction remains the same, the distance can be covered in five hours.If nothing happens on the way, we can reach Omaha by one o'clock in the afternoon. What kind of travel is this!The passengers were crowded together so tightly that they could not even speak a word.Because the faster the sled ran, the colder people felt, and it was too cold to speak.The sled glided over the snow as lightly as a boat on water, and it was more stable than a boat, which would at least waver a little.When the cold wind blew across the land, the sled was carried by the two white sails like huge wings, as if it had left the ground and flew in the air. McGee held the tiller tightly and kept moving forward in a straight line.Sometimes the sled would tip to one side; a turn of the rudder by McKee brought it back on a straight course.The hornsail was up too—the spinnaker was no longer obscuring its wind.A top mast is added to the big sail, and the top sail for a ride is set up, which increases the sail surface of the entire sled and increases the driving force of the wind.At present, although there is no way of scientifically calculating the speed of the sledge, it can be concluded that it will be going at least forty miles an hour.

"If nothing goes wrong," McKee said, "we'll be there on time!" McKee hoped to arrive in Omaha on schedule, because Mr. Fogg had already promised McKee a large bonus. The plain, like a calm sea, the sleigh ran straight across.The plain is like a vast and boundless frozen pond. In this area, this railway extending from southwest to northwest passes through Big Island and Columbus, an important town in Nebraska, and then passes Hulier, Fremont, Finally arrived in Omaha.The railway always runs along the right bank of the Platte River.The sledges went straight through the arc, shortening the arc formed by the railroad.McKee took the straight road from Fremont, not worrying that the Platte River would block their way, because the water was already frozen.All the way is full of flat ice and snow, you can travel unimpeded.So Phileas Fogg had only two worries at present: one, that the sled would break down;

However, the wind did not weaken at all. On the contrary, the mast tightly bound by the steel cable was bent by the wind.These steel cables are like strings on a musical instrument, being pulled by an invisible bow and making a whistling and vibrating sound.Amidst this whining and harmonious music, and in this extremely tense atmosphere, the sled was galloping wildly. "The sounds these cables make are fifths and octaves," said Mr. Fogg. These were the only words Mr. Fogg uttered during this part of the journey.Lady Aouda was wrapped tightly in furs and traveling blankets, and her traveling companions did everything possible to keep her from the cold.As for Passepartout, his whole face was round and red, like the sun in the evening mist; and he was drinking the biting cold wind, and he regained his old confidence, and success was born. hope.He was supposed to arrive in New York in the morning, but now he arrived in the evening.However, even at night, there is still a good chance of catching the mail ship bound for Liverpool.

Passepartout was even tempted to shake hands with his ally Fix.For he did not forget that it was thanks to the detective that the sleigh had been found.In fact, the only way to get to Omaha on time is by sled.But from some premonition Passepartout remained silent and did not shake hands with Fix. But there was one thing Passepartout would never forget.That was the kind of self-sacrifice Mr. Fogg had shown in order to save him from the Sioux.To save him, Mr. Fogg risked his entire fortune and his own life... never to forget!Passepartout will never forget! When the passengers were thinking about their different thoughts, the sled kept speeding in the boundless snow field.Sometimes the sleds passed the tributaries and creeks of the Little Lane, but the passengers did not notice these rivers, for the fields and rivers had turned into plains of pure white, and the land was bare and bare.This whole area, including the Union Pacific Railroad and the branch from Fort Kearney to St. Joseph, forms a deserted island of snow.There are no villages, no stations, not even a military fort.From time to time the traveler caught a glimpse of some ugly wild tree, its branches covered with ice and snow, like white skeletons of the dead swaying in the cold wind.Sometimes flocks of wild birds suddenly fly into the sky from the place where the sledge passes.Sometimes I met a pack of wolves who were starving and skinny on the grassland. Driven by their desire to grab food, they frantically chased the sleds in groups and ran wildly.Meanwhile Passepartout held his pistol ready to shoot at those wolves who came closest to the sledge.Should the sledge fail and stop at this time, the travelers who were being pursued by wolves would be in danger of dying.But the sled was going well, and soon it was ahead, and before long the howling wolves were left behind.

At twelve o'clock McKee recognized from somewhere that they were crossing the frozen Platte River.He didn't say anything, but he was convinced that the Omaha station would be twenty miles away. In fact, it was not even one o'clock before the experienced pilot lowered the tiller, and hastily furled the white sail into a coil.The sled was still racing on now, and after half a mile without sail, at last it came to a halt.McKee pointed to a patch of snow-covered roofs and said, "Here we are." It's here, it's here.It’s here that there are countless trains to Omaha in the eastern United States every day!

Passepartout and Fix jumped out of the sled first, and stretched their limbs numb with cold.They helped Mr. Fogg and the young lady down again.Phileas Fogg generously paid McGee rent and bonuses.Passepartout shook hands with McKee as if he were an old friend.Then everyone rushed to the Omaha station. Omaha is an important city in Nebraska.So much for the Pacific Railroad.The city is a hub for traffic to the Mississippi Basin and the Atlantic Ocean.The section of the railway from Omaha to Chicago is called the Chicago-Stone Island Railway. This railway is an eastbound straight line with more than fifty stations along the way.

At this time, there was a direct train leaving.Phileas Fogg and his traveling companions barely managed to get into the car.They saw nothing of Omaha.But Passepartout had no regrets about it, and he thought that the question now was not whether to visit Omaha. The train races through Iowa at breakneck speed.It passes Council Bluffs, Des Moines and Iowa.Crossed the Mississippi at Davenport that night.The train entered Illinois from Stone Island.The next day, December 10th, the train reached Chicago at four o'clock in the afternoon.The city has been rebuilt from the ashes of the fire, and it stands more majestic than ever on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan. Only nine hundred miles from Chicago to New York.And there are many trains to New York.Immediately after Mr Fogg got out of the train he hopped on another train.It was a light locomotive belonging to the Pittsburgh-Fort Wayne-Chicago Railroad Company, and it pulled the train away from the station, moving at full speed, as if the locomotive knew that the noble gentleman had no more time to lose.It flew like lightning over Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey; through new cities with ancient names, some of which had only roads and streetcars, and no houses had yet been built.At last the passengers saw the Hudson River, and on December 11, at a quarter past eleven in the evening, the train arrived at the station on the right of the Gunnar Steamship Line, in other words, at the wharf of the Royal Mail Line of England and North America. However, the China ship bound for Liverpool had already set off forty-five minutes ago!