whole being washed down with several cups of tea, for
which the Reform is famous. He rose at thirteen minutes
to one, and directed his steps towards the large hall, a
sumptuous apartment adorned with lavishly-framed
paintings. A flunkey handed him an uncut Times, which
he proceeded to cut with a skill which betrayed familiarity
with this delicate operation. The perusal of this paper
absorbed Phileas Fogg until a quarter before four, whilst
the Standard, his next task, occupied him till the dinner
hour. Dinner passed as breakfast had done, and Mr. Fogg
re-appeared in the reading-room and sat down to the Pall
Mall at twenty minutes before six. Half an hour later
several members of the Reform came in and drew up to
the fireplace, where a coal fire was steadily burning. They
were Mr. Fogg's usual partners at whist: Andrew Stuart, an
engineer; John Sullivan and Samuel Fallentin, bankers;
Thomas Flanagan, a brewer; and Gauthier Ralph, one of
the Directors of the Bank of England— all rich and highly
respectable personages, even in a club which comprises the
princes of English trade and finance.
'Well, Ralph,' said Thomas Flanagan, 'what about that
robbery?'
'Oh,' replied Stuart, 'the Bank will lose the money.'
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'On the contrary,' broke in Ralph, 'I hope we may put
our hands on the robber. Skilful detectives have been sent
to all the principal ports of America and the Continent,
and he'll be a clever fellow if he slips through their
fingers.'
'But have you got the robber's description?' asked
Stuart.
'In the first place, he is no robber at all,' returned
Ralph, positively.
'What! a fellow who makes off with fifty-five thousand
pounds, no robber?'
'No.'
'Perhaps he's a manufacturer, then.'
'The Daily Telegraph says that he is a gentleman.'
It was Phileas Fogg, whose head now emerged from
behind his newspapers, who made this remark. He bowed
to his friends, and entered into the conversation. The affair
which formed its subject, and which was town talk, had
occurred three days before at the Bank of England. A
package of banknotes, to the value of fifty-five thousand
pounds, had been taken from the principal cashier's table,
that functionary being at the moment engaged in
registering the receipt of three shillings and sixpence. Of
course, he could not have his eyes everywhere. Let it be
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observed that the Bank of England reposes a touching
confidence in the honesty of the public. There are neither
guards nor gratings to protect its treasures; gold, silver,
banknotes are freely exposed, at the mercy of the first
comer. A keen observer of English customs relates that,
being in one of the rooms of the Bank one day, he had
the curiosity to examine a gold ingot weighing some seven
or eight pounds. He took it up, scrutinised it, passed it to
his neighbour, he to the next man, and so on until the
ingot, going from hand to hand, was transferred to the end
of a dark entry; nor did it return to its place for half an
hour. Meanwhile, the cashier had not so much as raised
his head. But in the present instance things had not gone
so smoothly. The package of notes not being found when
five o'clock sounded from the ponderous clock in the
'drawing office,' the amount was passed to the account of
profit and loss. As soon as the robbery was discovered,
picked detectives hastened off to Liverpool, Glasgow,
Havre, Suez, Brindisi, New York, and other ports,
inspired by the proffered reward of two thousand pounds,
and five per cent. on the sum that might be recovered.
Detectives were also charged with narrowly watching
those who arrived at or left London by rail, and a judicial
examination was at once entered upon.
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There were real grounds for supposing, as the Daily
Telegraph said, that the thief did not belong to a
professional band. On the day of the robbery a well-
dressed gentleman of polished manners, and with a well-
to-do air, had been observed going to and fro in the
paying room where the crime was committed. A
description of him was easily procured and sent to the
detectives; and some hopeful spirits, of whom Ralph was
one, did not despair of his apprehension. The papers and
clubs were full of the affair, and everywhere people were
discussing the probabilities of a successful pursuit; and the
Reform Club was especially agitated, several of its
members being Bank officials.
Ralph would not concede that the work of the
detectives was likely to be in vain, for he thought that the
prize offered would greatly stimulate their zeal and
activity. But Stuart was far from sharing this confidence;
and, as they placed themselves at the whist-table, they
continued to argue the matter. Stuart and Flanagan played
together, while Phileas Fogg had Fallentin for his partner.
As the game proceeded the conversation ceased, excepting
between the rubbers, when it revived again.
'I maintain,' said Stuart, 'that the chances are in favour
of the thief, who must be a shrewd fellow.'
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'Well, but where can he fly to?' asked Ralph. 'No
country is safe for him.'
'Pshaw!'
'Where could he go, then?'
'Oh, I don't know that. The world is big enough.'
'It was once,' said Phileas Fogg, in a low tone. 'Cut,
sir,' he added, handing the cards to Thomas Flanagan.
The discussion fell during the rubber, after which
Stuart took up its thread.
'What do you mean by 'once'? Has the world grown
smaller?'
'Certainly,' returned Ralph. 'I agree with Mr. Fogg.
The world has grown smaller, since a man can now go
round it ten times more quickly than a hundred years ago.
And that is why the search for this thief will be more
likely to succeed.'
'And also why the thief can get away more easily.'
'Be so good as to play, Mr. Stuart,' said Phileas Fogg.
But the incredulous Stuart was not convinced, and
when the hand was finished, said eagerly: 'You have a
strange way, Ralph, of proving that the world has grown
smaller. So, because you can go round it in three
months—'
'In eighty days,' interrupted Phileas Fogg.
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'That is true, gentlemen,' added John Sullivan. 'Only
eighty days, now that the section between Rothal and
Allahabad, on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, has
been opened. Here is the estimate made by the Daily
Telegraph:
From London to Suez via Mont Cenis and
Brindisi, by rail and steamboats ................. 7 days
From Suez to Bombay, by steamer .................... 13 '
From Bombay to Calcutta, by rail ................... 3 '
From Calcutta to Hong Kong, by steamer ............. 13 '
From Hong Kong to Yokohama (Japan), by steamer ..... 6
'
From Yokohama to San Francisco, by steamer ......... 22 '
From San Francisco to New York, by rail ............. 7 '
From New York to London, by steamer and rail ........ 9 '
Total ............................................ 80 days.'
'Yes, in eighty days!' exclaimed Stuart, who in his
excitement made a false deal. 'But that doesn't take into
account bad weather, contrary winds, shipwrecks, railway
accidents, and so on.'
'All included,' returned Phileas Fogg, continuing to
play despite the discussion.
'But suppose the Hindoos or Indians pull up the rails,'
replied Stuart; 'suppose they stop the trains, pillage the
luggage-vans, and scalp the passengers!'
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'All included,' calmly retorted Fogg; adding, as he
threw down the cards, 'Two trumps.'
Stuart, whose turn it was to deal, gathered them up,
and went on: 'You are right, theoretically, Mr. Fogg, but
practically—'
'Practically also, Mr. Stuart.'
'I'd like to see you do it in eighty days.'
'It depends on you. Shall we go?'
'Heaven preserve me! But I would wager four thousand
pounds that such a journey, made under these conditions,
is impossible.'
'Quite possible, on the contrary,' returned Mr. Fogg.
'Well, make it, then!'
'The journey round the world in eighty days?'
'Yes.'
'I should like nothing better.'
'When?'
'At once. Only I warn you that I shall do it at your
expense.'
'It's absurd!' cried Stuart, who was beginning to be
annoyed at the persistency of his friend. 'Come, let's go on
with the game.'
'Deal over again, then,' said Phileas Fogg. 'There's a
false deal.'
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Stuart took up the pack with a feverish hand; then
suddenly put them down again.
'Well, Mr. Fogg,' said he, 'it shall be so: I will wager
the four thousand on it.'
'Calm yourself, my dear Stuart,' said Fallentin. 'It's only
a joke.'
'When I say I'll wager,' returned Stuart, 'I mean it.' 'All
right,' said Mr. Fogg; and, turning to the others, he
continued: 'I have a deposit of twenty thousand at Baring's
which I will willingly risk upon it.'
'Twenty thousand pounds!' cried Sullivan. 'Twenty
thousand pounds, which you would lose by a single
accidental delay!'
'The unforeseen does not exist,' quietly replied Phileas
Fogg.
'But, Mr. Fogg, eighty days are only the estimate of the
least possible time in which the journey can be made.'
'A well-used minimum suffices for everything.'
'But, in order not to exceed it, you must jump
mathematically from the trains upon the steamers, and
from the steamers upon the trains again.'
'I will jump—mathematically.'
'You are joking.'
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'A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking
about so serious a thing as a wager,' replied Phileas Fogg,
solemnly. 'I will bet twenty thousand pounds against
anyone who wishes that I will make the tour of the world
in eighty days or less; in nineteen hundred and twenty
hours, or a hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred
minutes. Do you accept?'
'We accept,' replied Messrs. Stuart, Fallentin, Sullivan,
Flanagan, and Ralph, after consulting each other.
'Good,' said Mr. Fogg. 'The train leaves for Dover at a
quarter before nine. I will take it.'
'This very evening?' asked Stuart.
'This very evening,' returned Phileas Fogg. He took
out and consulted a pocket almanac, and added, 'As today
is Wednesday, the 2nd of October, I shall be due in
London in this very room of the Reform Club, on
Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine
p.m.; or else the twenty thousand pounds, now deposited
in my name at Baring's, will belong to you, in fact and in
right, gentlemen. Here is a cheque for the amount.'
A memorandum of the wager was at once drawn up
and signed by the six parties, during which Phileas Fogg
preserved a stoical composure. He certainly did not bet to
win, and had only staked the twenty thousand pounds,
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half of his fortune, because he foresaw that he might have
to expend the other half to carry out this difficult, not to
say unattainable, project. As for his antagonists, they
seemed much agitated; not so much by the value of their
stake, as because they had some scruples about betting
under conditions so difficult to their friend.
The clock struck seven, and the party offered to
suspend the game so that Mr. Fogg might make his
preparations for departure.
'I am quite ready now,' was his tranquil response.
'Diamonds are trumps: be so good as to play, gentlemen.'
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Chapter IV
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG
ASTOUNDS PASSEPARTOUT,
HIS SERVANT
Having won twenty guineas at whist, and taken leave
of his friends, Phileas Fogg, at twenty-five minutes past
seven, left the Reform Club.
Passepartout, who had conscientiously studied the
programme of his duties, was more than surprised to see
his master guilty of the inexactness of appearing at this
unaccustomed hour; for, according to rule, he was not due
in Saville Row until precisely midnight.
Mr. Fogg repaired to his bedroom, and called out,
'Passepartout!'
Passepartout did not reply. It could not be he who was
called; it was not the right hour.
'Passepartout!' repeated Mr. Fogg, without raising his
voice.
Passepartout made his appearance.
'I've called you twice,' observed his master.
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'But it is not midnight,' responded the other, showing
his watch.
'I know it; I don't blame you. We start for Dover and
Calais in ten minutes.'
A puzzled grin overspread Passepartout's round face;
clearly he had not comprehended his master.
'Monsieur is going to leave home?'
'Yes,' returned Phileas Fogg. 'We are going round the
world.'
Passepartout opened wide his eyes, raised his eyebrows,
held up his hands, and seemed about to collapse, so
overcome was he with stupefied astonishment.
'Round the world!' he murmured.
'In eighty days,' responded Mr. Fogg. 'So we haven't a
moment to lose.'
'But the trunks?' gasped Passepartout, unconsciously
swaying his head from right to left.
'We'll have no trunks; only a carpet-bag, with two
shirts and three pairs of stockings for me, and the same for
you. We'll buy our clothes on the way. Bring down my
mackintosh and traveling-cloak, and some stout shoes,
though we shall do little walking. Make haste!'
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Passepartout tried to reply, but could not. He went out,
mounted to his own room, fell into a chair, and muttered:
'That's good, that is! And I, who wanted to remain quiet!'
He mechanically set about making the preparations for
departure. Around the world in eighty days! Was his
master a fool? No. Was this a joke, then? They were going
to Dover; good! To Calais; good again! After all,
Passepartout, who had been away from France five years,
would not be sorry to set foot on his native soil again.
Perhaps they would go as far as Paris, and it would do his
eyes good to see Paris once more. But surely a gentleman
so chary of his steps would stop there; no doubt— but,
then, it was none the less true that he was going away, this
so domestic person hitherto!
By eight o'clock Passepartout had packed the modest
carpet-bag, containing the wardrobes of his master and
himself; then, still troubled in mind, he carefully shut the
door of his room, and descended to Mr. Fogg.
Mr. Fogg was quite ready. Under his arm might have
been observed a red-bound copy of Bradshaw's
Continental Railway Steam Transit and General Guide,
with its timetables showing the arrival and departure of
steamers and railways. He took the carpet-bag, opened it,
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and slipped into it a goodly roll of Bank of England notes,
which would pass wherever he might go.
'You have forgotten nothing?' asked he.
'Nothing, monsieur.'
'My mackintosh and cloak?'
'Here they are.'
'Good! Take this carpet-bag,' handing it to
Passepartout. 'Take good care of it, for there are twenty
thousand pounds in it.'
Passepartout nearly dropped the bag, as if the twenty
thousand pounds were in gold, and weighed him down.
Master and man then descended, the street-door was
double-locked, and at the end of Saville Row they took a
cab and drove rapidly to Charing Cross. The cab stopped
before the railway station at twenty minutes past eight.
Passepartout jumped off the box and followed his master,
who, after paying the cabman, was about to enter the
station, when a poor beggar-woman, with a child in her
arms, her naked feet smeared with mud, her head covered
with a wretched bonnet, from which hung a tattered
feather, and her shoulders shrouded in a ragged shawl,
approached, and mournfully asked for alms.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Mr. Fogg took out the twenty guineas he had just won
at whist, and handed them to the beggar, saying, 'Here,
my good woman. I'm glad that I met you;' and passed on.
Passepartout had a moist sensation about the eyes; his
master's action touched his susceptible heart.
Two first-class tickets for Paris having been speedily
purchased, Mr. Fogg was crossing the station to the train,
when he perceived his five friends of the Reform.
'Well, gentlemen,' said he, 'I'm off, you see; and, if you
will examine my passport when I get back, you will be
able to judge whether I have accomplished the journey
agreed upon.'
'Oh, that would be quite unnecessary, Mr. Fogg,' said
Ralph politely. 'We will trust your word, as a gentleman
of honour.'
'You do not forget when you are due in London
again?' asked Stuart.
'In eighty days; on Saturday, the 21st of December,
1872, at a quarter before nine p.m. Good-bye,
gentlemen.'
Phileas Fogg and his servant seated themselves in a first-
class carriage at twenty minutes before nine; five minutes
later the whistle screamed, and the train slowly glided out
of the station.
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The night was dark, and a fine, steady rain was falling.
Phileas Fogg, snugly ensconced in his corner, did not open
his lips. Passepartout, not yet recovered from his
stupefaction, clung mechanically to the carpet-bag, with its
enormous treasure.
Just as the train was whirling through Sydenham,
Passepartout suddenly uttered a cry of despair.
'What's the matter?' asked Mr. Fogg.
'Alas! In my hurry—I—I forgot—'
'What?'
'To turn off the gas in my room!'
'Very well, young man,' returned Mr. Fogg, coolly; 'it
will burn— at your expense.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter V
IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES
OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO
THE MONEYED MEN,
APPEARS ON 'CHANGE
Phileas Fogg rightly suspected that his departure from
London would create a lively sensation at the West End.
The news of the bet spread through the Reform Club,
and afforded an exciting topic of conversation to its
members. From the club it soon got into the papers
throughout England. The boasted 'tour of the world' was
talked about, disputed, argued with as much warmth as if
the subject were another Alabama claim. Some took sides
with Phileas Fogg, but the large majority shook their
heads and declared against him; it was absurd, impossible,
they declared, that the tour of the world could be made,
except theoretically and on paper, in this minimum of
time, and with the existing means of travelling. The
Times, Standard, Morning Post, and Daily News, and
twenty other highly respectable newspapers scouted Mr.
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Fogg's project as madness; the Daily Telegraph alone
hesitatingly supported him. People in general thought him
a lunatic, and blamed his Reform Club friends for having
accepted a wager which betrayed the mental aberration of
its proposer.
Articles no less passionate than logical appeared on the
question, for geography is one of the pet subjects of the
English; and the columns devoted to Phileas Fogg's
venture were eagerly devoured by all classes of readers. At
first some rash individuals, principally of the gentler sex,
espoused his cause, which became still more popular when
the Illustrated London News came out with his portrait,
copied from a photograph in the Reform Club. A few
readers of the Daily Telegraph even dared to say, 'Why
not, after all? Stranger things have come to pass.'
At last a long article appeared, on the 7th of October,
in the bulletin of the Royal Geographical Society, which
treated the question from every point of view, and
demonstrated the utter folly of the enterprise.
Everything, it said, was against the travellers, every
obstacle imposed alike by man and by nature. A
miraculous agreement of the times of departure and
arrival, which was impossible, was absolutely necessary to
his success. He might, perhaps, reckon on the arrival of
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trains at the designated hours, in Europe, where the
distances were relatively moderate; but when he calculated
upon crossing India in three days, and the United States in
seven, could he rely beyond misgiving upon
accomplishing his task? There were accidents to
machinery, the liability of trains to run off the line,
collisions, bad weather, the blocking up by snow—were
not all these against Phileas Fogg? Would he not find
himself, when travelling by steamer in winter, at the
mercy of the winds and fogs? Is it uncommon for the best
ocean steamers to be two or three days behind time? But a
single delay would suffice to fatally break the chain of
communication; should Phileas Fogg once miss, even by
an hour; a steamer, he would have to wait for the next,
and that would irrevocably render his attempt vain.
This article made a great deal of noise, and, being
copied into all the papers, seriously depressed the
advocates of the rash tourist.
Everybody knows that England is the world of betting
men, who are of a higher class than mere gamblers; to bet
is in the English temperament. Not only the members of
the Reform, but the general public, made heavy wagers
for or against Phileas Fogg, who was set down in the
betting books as if he were a race-horse. Bonds were
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issued, and made their appearance on 'Change; 'Phileas
Fogg bonds' were offered at par or at a premium, and a
great business was done in them. But five days after the
article in the bulletin of the Geographical Society
appeared, the demand began to subside: 'Phileas Fogg'
declined. They were offered by packages, at first of five,
then of ten, until at last nobody would take less than
twenty, fifty, a hundred!
Lord Albemarle, an elderly paralytic gentleman, was
now the only advocate of Phileas Fogg left. This noble
lord, who was fastened to his chair, would have given his
fortune to be able to make the tour of the world, if it took
ten years; and he bet five thousand pounds on Phileas
Fogg. When the folly as well as the uselessness of the
adventure was pointed out to him, he contented himself
with replying, 'If the thing is feasible, the first to do it
ought to be an Englishman.'
The Fogg party dwindled more and more, everybody
was going against him, and the bets stood a hundred and
fifty and two hundred to one; and a week after his
departure an incident occurred which deprived him of
backers at any price.
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The commissioner of police was sitting in his office at
nine o'clock one evening, when the following telegraphic
dispatch was put into his hands:
Suez to London.
Rowan, Commissioner of Police, Scotland Yard:
I've found the bank robber, Phileas Fogg. Send with
out delay warrant of arrest to Bombay.
Fix, Detective.
The effect of this dispatch was instantaneous. The
polished gentleman disappeared to give place to the bank
robber. His photograph, which was hung with those of
the rest of the members at the Reform Club, was minutely
examined, and it betrayed, feature by feature, the
description of the robber which had been provided to the
police. The mysterious habits of Phileas Fogg were
recalled; his solitary ways, his sudden departure; and it
seemed clear that, in undertaking a tour round the world
on the pretext of a wager, he had had no other end in
view than to elude the detectives, and throw them off his
track.
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Chapter VI
IN WHICH FIX, THE
DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A
VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE
The circumstances under which this telegraphic
dispatch about Phileas Fogg was sent were as follows:
The steamer Mongolia, belonging to the Peninsular and
Oriental Company, built of iron, of two thousand eight
hundred tons burden, and five hundred horse-power, was
due at eleven o'clock a.m. on Wednesday, the 9th of
October, at Suez. The Mongolia plied regularly between
Brindisi and Bombay via the Suez Canal, and was one of
the fastest steamers belonging to the company, always
making more than ten knots an hour between Brindisi and
Suez, and nine and a half between Suez and Bombay.
Two men were promenading up and down the
wharves, among the crowd of natives and strangers who
were sojourning at this once straggling village— now,
thanks to the enterprise of M. Lesseps, a fast-growing
town. One was the British consul at Suez, who, despite
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Around the World in 80 Days
the prophecies of the English Government, and the
unfavourable predictions of Stephenson, was in the habit
of seeing, from his office window, English ships daily
passing to and fro on the great canal, by which the old
roundabout route from England to India by the Cape of
Good Hope was abridged by at least a half. The other was
a small, slight-built personage, with a nervous, intelligent
face, and bright eyes peering out from under eyebrows
which he was incessantly twitching. He was just now
manifesting unmistakable signs of impatience, nervously
pacing up and down, and unable to stand still for a
moment. This was Fix, one of the detectives who had
been dispatched from England in search of the bank
robber; it was his task to narrowly watch every passenger
who arrived at Suez, and to follow up all who seemed to
be suspicious characters, or bore a resemblance to the
description of the criminal, which he had received two
days before from the police headquarters at London. The
detective was evidently inspired by the hope of obtaining
the splendid reward which would be the prize of success,
and awaited with a feverish impatience, easy to
understand, the arrival of the steamer Mongolia.
'So you say, consul,' asked he for the twentieth time,
'that this steamer is never behind time?'
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