Around the World in Eighty Days. Junior Deluxe Edition

  Chapter 5

  In Which a New Security Appears on the London Exchange

  Phileas Fogg rightly suspected that his departure from Londonwould create a lively sensation at the West End. The news of thebet spread through the Reform Club, and afforded an excitingtopic of conversation to its members. From the club it soon gotinto the papers throughout England. The boasted "tour of theworld" was talked about, disputed, argued with as much warmth asif the subject were another Alabama claim. Some took sides withPhileas Fogg, but the large majority shook their heads anddeclared against him. It was absurd, impossible, they declared,that the tour of the world could be made, except theoreticallyand on paper, in this minimum of time, and with the existingmeans of traveling. The Times, Standard, Morning Post and DailyNews, and twenty other highly respectable newspapers scouted Mr.Fogg's project as madness. The Daily Telegraph alone hesitatinglysupported him. People in general thought him a lunatic, andblamed his Reform Club friends for having accepted a wager whichbetrayed the mental aberration of its proposer.

  Articles no less passionate than logical appeared on thequestion, for geography is one of the pet subjects of theEnglish; and the columns devoted to Phileas Fogg's venture wereeagerly devoured by all classes of readers. At first some rashindividuals, principally of the gentler sex, espoused his cause,which became still more popular when the Illustrated London Newscame out with his portrait, copied from a photograph in theReform Club. A few readers of the Daily Telegraph even dared tosay, "Why not, after all? Stranger things have come to pass."

  At last a long article appeared, on the 7th of October, in thebulletin of the Royal Geographical Society, which treated thequestion from every point of view, and demonstrated the utterfolly of the enterprise.

  Everything, it said, was against the travelers, every obstacleimposed alike by man and by nature. A miraculous agreement of thetimes of departure and arrival, which was impossible, wasabsolutely necessary to his success. He might, perhaps, reckon onthe arrival of trains at the designated hours, in Europe, wherethe distances were relatively moderate; but when he calculatedupon crossing India in three days, and the United States inseven, could he rely beyond misgiving upon accomplishing histask? There were accidents to machinery, the liability of trainsto run off the line, collisions, bad weather, the blocking up bysnow--were not all these against Phileas Fogg? Would he not findhimself, when traveling by steamer in winter, at the mercy of thewinds and fogs? Is it uncommon for the best ocean steamers to betwo or three days behind time? But a single delay would sufficeto fatally break the chain of communication. Should Phileas Foggonce miss, even by an hour, a steamer, he would have to waitfor the next, and that would irrevocably render his attemptvain.

  This article made a great deal of noise, and, being copied intoall the papers, seriously depressed the advocates of the rashtourist.

  Everybody knows that England is the world of betting men, who areof a higher class than mere gamblers. To bet is in the Englishtemperament. Not only the members of the Reform, but the generalpublic, made heavy wagers for or against Phileas Fogg, who wasset down in the betting books as if he were a race horse. Bondswere issued, and made their appearance on the Exchange. "PhileasFogg bonds" were offered at par or at a premium, and a greatbusiness was done in them. But five days after the article in thebulletin of the Geographical Society appeared, the demand beganto subside. "Phileas Fogg" declined. They were offered bypackages, at first of five, then of ten, until at last nobodywould take less than twenty, fifty, a hundred!

  Lord Albemarle, an elderly paralytic gentleman, was now the onlyadvocate of Phileas Fogg left. This noble lord, who was confinedto his chair, would have given his fortune to be able to make thetour of the world, if it took ten years; and he bet fivethousand pounds on Phileas Fogg. When the folly as well as theuselessness of the adventure was pointed out to him, hecontented himself with replying, "If the thing is feasible, thefirst to do it ought to be an Englishman."

  The Fogg party dwindled more and more. Everybody was goingagainst him, and the bets stood a hundred and fifty and twohundred to one; and a week after his departure an incidentoccurred which deprived him of backers at any price.

  The commissioner of police was sitting in his office at nineo'clock one evening, when the following telegraphic despatch wasput into his hands:

  Suez to London

  ROWAN, COMMISSIONER OF POLICE, SCOTLAND YARD:

  I've found the bank robber, Phileas Fogg. Send without delay warrant of arrest to Bombay. FIX, Detective

  The effect of this despatch was instantaneous. The polishedgentleman disappeared to give place to the bank robber. Hisphotograph, which was hung with those of the rest of the membersof the Reform Club, was minutely examined, and it betrayed,feature by feature, the description of the robber which had beenprovided to the police. The mysterious habits of Phileas Foggwere recalled; his solitary ways, his sudden departure; and itseemed clear that, in undertaking a tour round the world on thepretext of a wager, he had had no other end in view than to eludethe detectives, and throw them off his track.