"Do you wish me then to allow to perish the unfortunate man to whom everyone of us that is living owes his life? I shall go."
"Well, no, you shall not go alone!" cried the captain, moved in spite of himself. "No! You are a brave heart! Thirty volunteers!" he added, turning to his soldiers.
The whole company advanced in a body. The captain had to select from these brave fellows. Thirty soldiers were picked out, and an old sergeant put at their head.
"Thanks, captain!" said Mr. Fogg.
"You will permit me to accompany you?" Fix asked the gentleman.
"You will do as you please," replied Phileas Fogg. "But if you wish to do me a service, you will remain by Aouda. In case anything should happen to me———"
A sudden paleness overcast the detective's face. To separate himself from the man whom he had followed step by step and with so much persistence! To let him venture so much in the desert. Fix looked closely at the gentleman, and whatver he may have thought, in spite of his prejudices, in spite of his inward struggle, he dropped his eyes before that quiet, frank look.
"I will remain," he said.
A few moments after, Mr. Fogg pressed the young woman's hand; then, having placed in her care his precious traveling bag, he set out with the sergeant and his little band.
But before starting, he said to the soldiers, "My friends, there are five thousand dollars for you if you save the prisoners!"
It was then a few minutes past noon.
Aouda retired into a sitting room of the station, and there, alone, she waited, thinking of Phileas Fogg, his simple and grand generosity, his quiet courage. Mr. Fogg had sacrificed his fortune, and now he was staking his life—and all this without hesitation from a sense of duty, without words. Phileas Fogg was a hero in her eyes.
The detective was not thinking thus, and he could not restrain his agitation. He walked feverishly up and down the platform of the station, one moment vanquished, he became himself again. Fogg having gone, he comprehended his foolishness in letting him go. What! Had he
