ow to do so had opened
instead of closing the regulator, and the train was now proceeding at
tremendous speed. Others of the tribe had entered the cars as actively
as apes, and were now engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the
passengers. They pillaged the baggage-waggon, and were all the time
fighting incessantly.

The travellers defended themselves courageously; they barricaded some
of the cars which were besieged like forts, carried along at the rate
of forty or fifty miles an hour. Mrs. Aouda had been most courageous.
Revolver in hand, she defended herself heroically, firing through the
broken windows whenever she caught sight of a savage. As many as
twenty Sioux had fallen, and lay crushed by the wheels; and many
passengers, grievously wounded, lay stretched upon the seats.

But it was necessary to put an end to the fight, which had lasted for
ten minutes, and would result in a victory for the Indians if the
train were not stopped. Fort Kearney Station, where there was a guard,
was only a couple of miles farther on, and if that were passed, the
Indians would be masters of the train till the next station was
reached. The guard was fighting bravely by the side of Mr. Fogg, when
he was shot down. As he fell he cried, "If the train is not stopped in
less than five minutes, we are all lost!"

"It shall be stopped," said Fogg, who was about to rush out.

"Stay where you are, sir," said Passe-partout, "this is my business."

His master had not time to stop the brave fellow, who, unseen by the
Indians, managed to creep along beneath the carriages, and then
calling all his agility to his aid, with marvellous dexterity he
managed to reach the fore part of the train without being seen. There,
suspended by one hand between the baggage-waggon and the tender, with
the other hand he unfastened the coupling-chains; but owing to the
great tension, he was not able to loose the draw-bar, but it was
fortunately jerked out as the train jolted. The locomotive, thus
detached, sped along at a tremendous pace in front, while the train
gradually slackened speed, and the breaks assisting it, it was pulled
up within a hundred feet of Fort Kearney. The soldiers, attracted by
the sound of firing, hastily turned out; but the Indians did not wait
for them. They all disappeared before the train stopped.

But when the travellers came to count the passengers, they found that
several were missing, and amongst the absentees was the brave
French