Page 292 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 292
Around the World in 80 Days
the Sioux. Mr. Fogg had risked his fortune and his life.
No! His servant would never forget that!
While each of the party was absorbed in reflections so
different, the sledge flew past over the vast carpet of snow.
The creeks it passed over were not perceived. Fields and
streams disappeared under the uniform whiteness. The
plain was absolutely deserted. Between the Union Pacific
road and the branch which unites Kearney with Saint
Joseph it formed a great uninhabited island. Neither
village, station, nor fort appeared. From time to time they
sped by some phantom-like tree, whose white skeleton
twisted and rattled in the wind. Sometimes flocks of wild
birds rose, or bands of gaunt, famished, ferocious prairie-
wolves ran howling after the sledge. Passepartout, revolver
in hand, held himself ready to fire on those which came
too near. Had an accident then happened to the sledge,
the travellers, attacked by these beasts, would have been in
the most terrible danger; but it held on its even course,
soon gained on the wolves, and ere long left the howling
band at a safe distance behind.
About noon Mudge perceived by certain landmarks
that he was crossing the Platte River. He said nothing, but
he felt certain that he was now within twenty miles of
Omaha. In less than an hour he left the rudder and furled
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