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at this important Nebraska town. Omaha is connected with Chicago by the
Chicago and Rock Island Railroad, which runs directly east, and passes
fifty stations.
A train was ready to start when Mr.
Fogg and his party reached the station, and they only had time to get into
the cars. They had seen nothing of Omaha; but Passepartout confessed to
himself that this was not to be regretted, as they were not travelling to
see the sights.
The train passed rapidly across the
State of Iowa, by Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Iowa City. During the
night it crossed the Mississippi at Davenport, and by Rock Island entered
Illinois. The next day, which was the 10th, at four o'clock in the
evening, it reached Chicago, already risen from its ruins, and more
proudly seated than ever on the borders of its beautiful Lake
Michigan.
Nine hundred miles separated Chicago from
New York; but trains are not wanting at Chicago. Mr. Fogg passed at once
from one to the other, and the locomotive of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne,
and Chicago Railway left at full speed, as if it fully comprehended that
that gentleman had no time to lose. It traversed Indiana, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey like a flash, rushing through towns with
antique names, some of which had streets and car-tracks, but as yet no
houses. At last the Hudson came into view; and, at a quarter-past eleven
in the evening of the 11th, the train stopped in the station on the right
bank of the river, before the very pier of the Cunard line.
[pgallery] [img alt="Interior"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj81sDHhYSOoxDORcyFIj7ujjPGF6mwnXwZSkPj1rp6Egq6WCSZBbTbFTC1O5h86A7vp-GqpUEsDDCsRqAde2qYQPabf9bO8NKU_5sAv6W8PNaRkf_7fZF2q2gZFu_gWZx-iCzekhbNeHM/s320/city_5.jpg"][/img]
[img alt="Wedding"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZxUh7WLVDHAAgBvS_iBDKU1LzFAIYa_b0EqN8_QplxVPRhKvSBjD4tBosr6ZDA_QYBAFcL-hHU0Zh3dgoLhHO4eeAMjlzmRrhE8pVRnc9dM1NjTIRe2ag-WjI9DGhhPpZwNtiNBe6rbU/s1600/foods_6.jpg"][/img]
[img alt="fashion"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmMnwpLWRc8GZEGgOkVM7TOo1g9wzqqtj7IccTdrAH9iBcaMKhH7r3PM_lEY6DW3MeNOTKnG1HlS4xVKAMDEeYZIepMOi_l0_mxe4Oh2GqTaRxxfvbeLmfvxrocEJKlOEGTa7feJTEcOo/s320/foods_3.jpg"][/img]
[img alt="flower"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6CCbWrY_DEsFQ7LpLmEB1baP5rcs-1Jbc0wGKELbYxq6dElllN4ZpGPhzvC9Mh71d0ap4NBtgqh5VF5d0vHTDXT856h2OBBCt8Ezdd9a81G6VN_GKolrrAUAG9sJ5ONMBwn09vEYILvU/s1600/cars_4.jpg"][/img]
[img alt="other fashion"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvK3RF6jDR-dewg0EvJE1DjBDG0btE3AgFMCcLW4Wnyt5cd6xHYZaewYspmNcBZMrEkeDrtcSl8h-zVavXztmMIO3E-WaZ1I9UqpZihUdfuyRsdMD-GvLxln-e1rfI0xec_i1VOeKw2nE/s1600/cars_6.jpg"][/img]
[img alt="cars"
src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB9WiD-ApIvdDAfajVLKsevOR-jHmLOAhzuvAvM4c-C4FB4KRygGg74CkPrB5WwaHuV43bElQ1h3PLktIanzXmPM6TxrNxd8tXyZz8hc1hh0io3c4FnHi6Vz6BTTuQZ4hwvD81EZ5IsEY/s1600/cars_7.jpg"][/img]
[/pgallery]
The China, for
Liverpool, had started three-quarters of an hour
before!
The China, in leaving,
seemed to have carried off Phileas Fogg's last hope. None of the other
steamers were able to serve his projects. The Pereire, of the French
Transatlantic Company, whose admirable steamers are equal to any in speed
and comfort, did not leave until the 14th; the Hamburg boats did not go
directly to Liverpool or London, but to Havre; and the additional trip
from Havre to Southampton would render Phileas Fogg's last efforts of no
avail. The Inman steamer did not depart till the next day, and could not
cross the Atlantic in time to save the wager.
Mr.
Fogg learned all this in consulting his Bradshaw, which gave him the daily
movements of the trans-Atlantic steamers.
three-quarters of an hour. It was his fault, for, instead of helping his
master, he had not ceased putting obstacles in his path! And when he
recalled all the incidents of the tour, when he counted up the sums
expended in pure loss and on his own account, when he thought that the
immense stake, added to the heavy charges of this useless journey, would
completely ruin Mr. Fogg, he overwhelmed himself with bitter
self-accusations. Mr. Fogg, however, did not reproach him; and, on leaving
the Cunard pier, only said: "We will consult about what is best to-morrow.
Come."
The party crossed the Hudson in the Jersey
City ferryboat, and drove in a carriage to the St. Nicholas Hotel, on
Broadway. Rooms were engaged, and the night passed, briefly to Phileas
Fogg, who slept profoundly, but very long to Aouda and the others, whose
agitation did not permit them to rest.
The next day
was the 12th of December. From seven in the morning of the 12th to a
quarter before nine in the evening of the 21st there were nine days,
thirteen hours, and forty-five minutes. If Phileas Fogg had left in the
China, one of the fastest steamers on the Atlantic, he would have reached
Liverpool, and then London, within the period agreed upon.