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Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge's interest to reach Omaha
within the time agreed on, by the offer of a handsome reward.
The prairie, across which the sledge was moving in a straight
line, was as flat as a sea. It seemed like a vast frozen lake.
The railroad which ran through this section ascended from the
south-west to the north-west by Great Island, Columbus,
an important Nebraska town, Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha.
It followed throughout the right bank of the Platte River.
The sledge, shortening this route, took a chord of the arc
described by the railway. Mudge was not afraid of being stopped
by the Platte River, because it was frozen. The road, then, was quite
clear of obstacles, and Phileas Fogg had but two things to fear--
an accident to the sledge, and a change or calm in the wind.
But the breeze, far from lessening its force, blew as if to
bend the mast, which, however, the metallic lashings held firmly.
These lashings, like the chords of a stringed instrument,
resounded as if vibrated by a violin bow. The sledge slid along
in the midst of a plaintively intense melody.
"Those chords give the fifth and the octave," said Mr. Fogg.
These were the only words he uttered during the journey.
Aouda, cosily packed in furs and cloaks, was sheltered
as much as possible from the attacks of the freezing wind.
As for Passepartout, his face was as red as the sun's disc
when it sets in the mist, and he laboriously inhaled the biting air.
With his natural buoyancy of spirits, he began to hope again.
They would reach New York on the evening, if not on the morning,
of the 11th, and there was still some chances that it would be before
the steamer sailed for Liverpool.
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