Page 284 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

Fix remained stationary in the same place, but did not
sleep. Once a man approached and spoke to him, and the
detective merely replied by shaking his head.
Thus the night passed. At dawn, the half-extinguished

disc of the sun rose above a misty horizon ; but it was now
possible to recognise objects two miles off. Phileas Fogg
and the squad had gone southward; in the south all was
still vacancy. It was then seven o’clock.
The captain, who was really alarmed, did not know
what course to take.
Should he send another detachment to the rescue of
the first? Should he sacrifice more men, with so few
chances of saving those already sacrificed? His hesitation
did not last long, however. Calling one of his lieutenants,
he was on the point of ordering a reconnaissance, when
gunshots were heard. Was it a signal? The soldiers rushed
out of the fort, and half a mile off they perceived a little
band returning in good order.
Mr. Fogg was marching at their head, and just behind
him were Passepartout and the other two travellers,
rescued from the Sioux.
They had met and fought the Indians ten miles south of
Fort Kearney. Shortly before the detachment arrived,
Passepartout and his companions had begun to struggle

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