The train passed rapidly across the state of Iowa.
During the night it crossed the Mississippi River and entered Illinois.
At four o'clock the next day, the travelers reached Chicago.
Nine hundred miles separated Chicago from New York, but trains were plentiful along this route.
Mr. Fogg led his companions from one train to another without pause as they traversed Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey in a flash.
Their last train followed the Hudson River into New York.
Late on the evening of December 11, it stopped at the station, right beside the pier where the ocean-going steamers docked.
But the steamer for Liverpool had left port three-quarters of an hour before!
Passepartout was crushed.
Mr. Fogg, however, merely said, "We will decide what is best tomorrow."
They crossed the Hudson River on a ferryboat and took a carriage to a hotel on Broadway.
The next morning, after instructing Passepartout and Aouda to be ready at a moment's notice, Mr. Fogg left the hotel.
It was 7:00 a.m. on December 12.
Until 8:45 p.m. on December 21—Mr. Fogg's last minute for completing his journey—there remained 9 days, 13 hours, and 45 minutes.
Mr. Fogg went to the banks of the Hudson to scout among the anchored ships.
They were mostly sailing boats, which would be too slow.
He was ready to give up hope when he spotted a trading vessel, its stack puffing a cloud of smoke, ready to depart.
He called out for the captain, who presented himself immediately.
He was a man around fifty, a sort of sea-wolf with big eyes and a growling voice. His name was Andrew Speedy.
"Is your ship a fast one?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"Yes. Its name is the Henrietta, and it is well known," said the captain.
"Will you carry me and three other passengers to Liverpool?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"No. I am setting out for Bordeaux, France," replied the captain.
"I am willing to pay any sum of money," said Mr. Fogg.
"It makes no difference," said Captain Speedy. "My destination is Bordeaux."
"I will buy your ship," insisted Mr. Fogg.
"No," refused the captain flatly.
Phileas Fogg did not betray his disappointment, but the situation was serious.
Up to this point, money had removed all difficulties. He thought hard.
He must cross the Atlantic one way or another.
"Well, will you carry me to Bordeaux?" he asked.
"No," answered Captain Speedy.
"I offer you two thousand dollars," said Fogg.
"Per passenger?" asked the captain, becoming interested.
"Yes. Two thousand dollars per passenger," agreed Mr. Fogg.
Captain Speedy scratched his head. He had eight thousand dollars to gain without changing his route!
"I start in an hour," he said simply.
"We will be onboard," said Mr. Fogg, and true to his word,
he, Aouda, Passepartout, and Mr. Fix were standing on the deck when the Henrietta lifted its anchor.
The next day as the ship steamed eastward, a man mounted the bridge to check the ship's position.
He unrolled the navigation charts and gazed out over the sea.
Who was in command of the Henrietta? It was none other than Phileas Fogg!
What had happened was simple. Phileas Fogg wanted to go to Liverpool.
Captain Speedy would not take him. So Mr. Fogg had bribed all the sailors, and they had switched their loyalty to him.
Captain Speedy was locked in his cabin screaming loudly.
Passepartout thought Mr. Fogg's maneuver was simply glorious.
It was clear, as he watched Mr. Fogg manage the craft, that Mr. Fogg had been a sailor.
Therefore if the sea did not become too stormy, if the wind did not turn against them,
if no accident happened to the boat or its machinery, the Henrietta would arrive in Liverpool in nine days, on December 21.
The first days of the crossing went smoothly.
They passed the banks of Newfoundland without encountering fog or heavy seas,
but on the third day, the clouds darkened and the wind blew from the southeast.
To maintain his speed, Mr. Fogg instructed the crew to increase the fires in the engine's boilers.
On December 16 the engineer, looking serious, came on deck and spoke with Mr. Fogg.
"You are certain of what you tell me?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"Absolutely," said the engineer.
The engine's fires had been burning hot for too long.
They were running out of coal. Mr. Fogg did not hesitate.
"Feed the fires until the coal is exhausted," he said.
The vessel continued at full speed, but three days away from Liverpool, the engineer announced that the coal was gone.
Mr. Fogg asked Passepartout to bring Captain Speedy on deck. The captain appeared in a rage.
"I have sent for you, sir—" began Mr. Fogg.
"Pirate!" yelled Captain Speedy.
Fogg continued, "—to ask you to sell me your ship."
"By all the devils, no!" yelled the captain.
"But I shall be obliged to burn her," said Mr. Fogg.
Mr. Fogg managed to find us a boat to Liverpool, though I didn't expect him to become the captain!
Luckily, there were many boats traveling along the Hudson, one of the busiest rivers in the United States.
The Hudson runs through New York State in the eastern part of the United States.
It is 315 miles long and forms part of the boundary between the states of New York and New Jersey.
The river is named after Henry Hudson, an Englishman who was sailing for the Dutch East India Company and explored it around 1609.
Parts of the river are so beautiful that many artists have been inspired to paint it and the surrounding landscape.
This art movement even has a name: the Hudson River School.
As we rushed past, I would have liked to stop to paint the river too.
But as you know, Mr. Fogg, was in quite a hurry to reach another body of water—the Atlantic Ocean!