A BIZARRE BET
No one in London could say they truly knew Phileas Fogg, though his address and habits were common knowledge. Every day at midmorning, Fogg left his house and headed to the Reform Club, a building where members spent their time reading books and newspapers, playing cards and even eating delicious meals. No one knew how he had gotten so wealthy or anything about his family. He was, without a doubt, a very mysterious character, someone who rarely said a word and who followed a very precise, perfectly timed routine.
Once they got to the Charing Cross station, the two purchased first class tickets for Paris and settled in to their compartment.
They had no idea that their departure was about to become the talk of the town – and the entire country! The next day, the biggest newspapers in England wrote pages and pages about the undertaking of Mr. Phileas Fogg.
CHAPTER
2
A SUSPICIOUS MAN
Once they left Paris, the two headed at a fast clip to Italy. Upon reaching the southern coastal town of Brindisi, they boarded a steamer that would take them to Suez. But in the port of Suez, an inspector by the name of Fix was hard at work, interviewing every Englishman getting off of every ship in an attempt to find the thief who had robbed the bank in London just a few days prior.
Passepartout got to work trying to find a means of transport, and the only solution he managed to come up with was a massive Indian elephant. However, the animal’s owner didn’t want to rent him or sell him. After lengthy negotiations, Fogg bought the elephant for £2,000. Then he hired a local village boy to lead the animal on which Fogg, Passepartout and the general settled into for the journey.
And off they went along the road that led through the Indian forest. Despite the incessant rattling of the baskets, which made for a rather unpleasant ride, the travelers continued stridently on. After spending the night in a clearing, they set out again to cross the thick vegetation of the subcontinent.
CHAPTER 3
A STRANGE TRIAL !
The elephant ran quickly and reached the town where the train station was located. Fogg and the general took the young widow to a compartment, but only after having given their massive means of transport to the Indian guide. Passepartout, on the other hand, first explored the shops to try to buy fashionable European clothing for the woman. The train reached Kolkata the next day.
But what had come of poor Passepartout?
After having woken up in the bar, still a bit dazed, he headed to the port. All that he could remember was the name of the steamship that he had booked for himself, Fogg and Auda. The sailors got him settled in second class, and by the time they were far out at sea, his memory came flooding back.
After inquiring, he learned that neither his employer nor the young widow had taken their places on the steamer.
With a heavy heart, Passepartout prepared to take the trip alone. Once he reached Yokohama, without a cent to his name, he realized he had to find a way to get to the United States of America.
After asking anyone and everyone he could, he finally found a group of acrobats ready to head out on their North American tour!
CHAPTER 4
SAILING THE OCEAN
Once they reached the ship, Fogg explained how they had managed to get to the Japanese city and figure out that Passepartout had also disembarked the day before. They had searched for him everywhere, until they finally saw him under the big circus tent where he was performing. On the ship bound for America, Passepartout ran into the detective, who had been tracking Fogg like a hound. He lunged to attack him, but Fix calmly said, “There’s no point in getting angry, sir. We won’t dock on English soil, so I won’t be able to arrest your employer. But I swear, as soon as we reach England, I’ll have him in cuffs in no time.” The two then came to a sort of truce, and a few days later they were in San Francisco.
Fogg shot out of the customs office with his companions, running straight to the train station. The train to London, however, had already left!
Tapping into what remained of his money, he had one of the fastest locomotives there readied, and he set off to London. After all that strife, he reached the station at 8:45 pm. He lost the bet by just five minutes!
That night, Fogg came home and locked himself in his room. He was a ruined man. He had lost all his money on that trip. Passepartout was a mess, too. He felt guilty for not having immediately said who the detective traveling with them really was, and what he really wanted.
Fogg ran outside and paid a buggy driver £100 to take him at full speed to the club. At 8:45 pm on the dot, he opened the doors to the room where the gentlemen that he had made the bet with were waiting for him. Fogg had completed the journey around the world in eighty days. Or better yet, in seventy-nine. Since he always traveled east, he gained four minutes for every degree headed in that direction. Adding it all up, twenty-four hours exactly!
Fogg was no longer a poor man, and two days later, he was happily married to Auda, whom he wouldn’t have ever met if it hadn’t been for that extraordinary journey.