Page 276 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

The last Sioux were disappearing in the south, along the
banks of Republican River.
Mr. Fogg, with folded arms, remained motionless. He
had a serious decision to make. Aouda, standing near him,

looked at him without speaking, and he understood her
look. If his servant was a prisoner, ought he not to risk
everything to rescue him from the Indians? ‘I will find
him, living or dead,’ said he quietly to Aouda.
‘Ah, Mr.—Mr. Fogg!’ cried she, clasping his hands and
covering them with tears.
‘Living,’ added Mr. Fogg, ‘if we do not lose a
moment.’
Phileas Fogg, by this resolution, inevitably sacrificed
himself; he pronounced his own doom. The delay of a
single day would make him lose the steamer at New York,
and his bet would be certainly lost. But as he thought, ‘It
is my duty,’ he did not hesitate.
The commanding officer of Fort Kearney was there. A
hundred of his soldiers had placed themselves in a position
to defend the station, should the Sioux attack it.
‘Sir,’ said Mr. Fogg to the captain, ‘three passengers
have disappeared.’
‘Dead?’ asked the captain.

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