Around the World in Eighty Days

Phileas Fogg was a man of mystery. Apart from a few simple facts, no one knew anything about him. He had no family and lived in a large house in London. He was rich but had only one servant to look after him.

Fogg was a man of very exact habits. In his house hung a time-table. It showed that he had tea and toast at exactly 8.23 each morning.

At 9.37 his servant took him his shaving-water heated to exactly 86° Fahrenheit. Each day, at exactly 11.30, he left home and went to the Reform Club.

He spent his day at the club reading. Then, at exactly 6.10, he played cards, and returned home afterwards at exactly the same time each evening. His fellow card-players found the handsome Phileas Fogg quiet and charming. They noted that he never seemed interested in money. Any money he won at cards he gave to charity.

Because these few simple facts were all that anyone knew about him, what began as a bet nearly ended in tragedy for Phileas Fogg. It happened like this ... 

On the second day of October, 1872, a new servant went to work for Phileas Fogg. He was a Frenchman named Jean Passepartout. He had had many jobs. He had been a fireman in Paris, a singer, and an acrobat in a circus. He was strong, yet gentle, and his happy, smiling face made him popular wherever he went. After wandering from job to job, all Passepartout wanted now was to settle down and lead a quiet life. Phileas Fogg seemed to be just the master he needed—he couldn't have been more wrong!

At half-past eleven on the day Jean Passepartout started work, Phileas Fogg went, as usual, to the Reform Club. He spent the day reading, then at ten minutes past six, as usual, he met his friends for their game of cards. They were talking excitedly about a bank robbery—£55 000 had just been stolen from the Bank of England. The thief had picked up a bundle of notes and simply walked out with them. Several people had seen him, and his description had been sent out. A reward was offered for his capture, and detectives were watching railway stations and ports to try to stop him leaving the country.

As they played, the card-players talked of hiding places where a bank-robber could lie low. They wondered how quickly he could get abroad to escape the hunt.

'The world is a big place to hide in!' said one.

'Yes,' agreed Phileas Fogg, 'but now that we have telegrams, railways and steamships, the world has become much smaller.'

'The world hasn't shrunk,' replied one of his friends, 'just because we can travel around it in three months!'

'You don't need three months!' said Fogg. 'You can travel around the world in eighty days!'

'Eighty days! Impossible!' laughed another player.

'Think of the things that could go wrong!' said a third.

'No!' exclaimed Phileas Fogg. 'I know it can be done. I'll bet twenty thousand pounds on it. To prove it, I'll set out tonight! I shall go around the world in eighty days!'

'You're joking!' 'You can't leave tonight!' 'You'll never do it!' exclaimed his friends, one after the other.

'I will,' said Fogg quietly. 'An Englishman doesn't joke when he makes a bet like this. Do you accept the bet?'

'Very well,' his friends agreed, 'we accept.'

'Good,' Fogg told them. 'Today is Wednesday, October 2nd. I shall be back here, in the Reform Club, at a quarter to nine, on Saturday, December 21st. Now, gentlemen, let us finish our game!'

When he got home, Phileas Fogg called to his servant, 'Pack a small bag, Passepartout. We leave for Dover in ten minutes. We are going around the world.'

'Around the world!' gasped Passepartout.

'Yes, around the world,' Fogg repeated. 'We start at once!'

'A fine thing!' muttered poor Passepartout as he packed a bag. 'All I wanted was a quiet life! Now I've a master who sets out on a crazy adventure!'

By eight o'clock they were ready to leave. Fogg carried a time-table of the ships and railways of the world. Into their bag he slipped a thick roll of banknotes.

'Take good care of this bag,' he told Passepartout. 'It has twenty thousand pounds in it.'

At the station Fogg booked two tickets to Paris. His friends from the Reform Club were waiting to see him off.

'Gentlemen,' he said, 'when I return you may examine my passport. You will be able to see the stamps of the countries I shall have passed through. They will prove I have been around the world. We will meet again at a quarter to nine on the evening of Saturday, December 21st.'

The train puffed out of the station. Phileas Fogg sat silently in his corner seat, and Passepartout, hugging the bag, stared out gloomily into the dark night.

The news of Phileas Fogg's bet spread like wildfire. His picture was in every newspaper, and people spoke of little else. Some thought he was bound on an exciting adventure, others shook their heads and said he must be mad.

Fogg and Passepartout travelled from Paris to Italy. There they went aboard the steamer, Mongolia, that would take them to Bombay, on the west coast of India.

At Suez, Passepartout, holding a passport, went ashore. A stranger, standing near the ship, watched him closely.

'Can I help you, sir?' the stranger asked Passepartout.

'I want to get this passport stamped,' Passepartout told him. 'Can you tell me the way to the Consul's office?'

The stranger's keen eyes studied the passport. In it he saw the picture of Phileas Fogg.

'This is not your passport,' he said. 'The owner of the passport will have to come ashore and go to the office himself.'

'That won't please my master,' said Passepartout. He hurried back on board to find Phileas Fogg.

The stranger hurried to the Consul's office.

'Sir,' he told the Consul, 'my name is Fix. I am a detective, sent here by Scotland Yard. We are searching for a bank-robber. I'm sure he has just arrived in Suez. You must keep him here until I can get a warrant for his arrest!'

'I can't do that,' said the Consul. 'If his passport is in order, I can't keep him here.'

Phileas Fogg walked into the office. Whilst the Consul stamped the passport, Fix stared at Fogg. He was sure this was his man! He mustn't let Fogg out of his sight! Before the ship sailed for Bombay, he would have to send a telegram to London.

That evening, a telegram arrived at Scotland Yard:

Suez to Scotland Yard, London.

HAVE FOUND BANK-ROBBER PHILEAS FOGG.

SEND WARRANT OF ARREST TO BOMBAY.

FIX, DETECTIVE.

Soon the newspapers were full of stories about the mystery man, Phileas Fogg. In the Reform Club, other members carefully examined his photograph. It was certainly very like the description of the bank-robber! His world tour was just a trick to throw the police off his track. Instead of being a hero, Fogg was now a hunted bank-robber!

On board the Mongolia, Phileas Fogg played cards. Detective Fix was on board, too, and Passepartout Was pleased to meet him again. Passepartout told him all about his rich master and his trip around the world. Everything the servant told him made Fix more and more sure that Fogg was the bank-robber. Of course, it never entered poor Passepartout's head that Fix was a detective hunting his master.

When they reached Bombay there were three hours to spare before the train left on its long journey across India to Calcutta. Passepartout set out to explore Bombay. He went into a temple. Three angry priests threw themselves on him, because he had entered their temple without taking off his shoes. Passepartout fought them off bravely and escaped. At the railway station he told Fogg about the fight. Fix, still waiting for his arrest warrant, watched them and listened.

'If I could have Passepartout put in prison for fighting in the temple,' thought Fix, 'Fogg will have to wait for him to be set free. By then the arrest warrant will have come and I shall get my man!'

The train left and Fix stayed behind. He had work to do if Passepartout was to be arrested.

The train rolled steadily across India. Then suddenly, without warning, it stopped, and the startled passengers were told to get out.

'Look, sir!' cried Passepartout. 'There's no more railway track!'

The railway lines stopped fifty miles short of the next station! The passengers would have to make their own way there. Passepartout thought quickly, then ran to a nearby village. He soon returned with good news for his master. 'Sir,' he cried excitedly, 'I've found a man who has an elephant. He will take us to the next station!'

Soon they were bumping and bouncing along on the back of an elephant, on their way to Calcutta. After a while, they could hear strange sounds ahead. The driver halted the elephant to listen.

'Bandits!' said Passepartout.

They moved away from the path quietly, and hid among the trees to watch from a distance. A big funeral procession passed by, with drums beating and voices wailing. A Raja had died, and his body was being taken to be burned. His beautiful young wife, Aouda, was being led along by armed guards.

'What will happen to her?' asked Fogg.

'She will be burned alive, with the body of her dead husband,' whispered the driver.

'Never!' said Fogg. 'We must save her! Follow them!'

At a safe distance, they followed the procession. When it stopped near a temple, they waited once more among the trees. As they watched, a great pile of wood was stacked up for a fire, and the Raja's body was placed on top of it. Then, as night fell, the guards led the young wife into the temple. Guards stood around its walls.

In the darkness, Passepartout worked out a plan to rescue Aouda, and just before dawn, he crept silently to the fire. He climbed to the top and hid in the pile of logs.

As the rays of the morning sun filled the sky, the lovely Aouda, fainting with fear, was led by the guards to the funeral fire. The guards forced her to lie down beside her dead husband. Wild singing broke out from the great crowd, and the drums began to beat once more. Then, the fire was lit. Flames and smoke shot up to the sky. Knife in hand, Phileas Fogg was about to dash forward when suddenly, out of the flames and smoke, Passepartout stood up on top of the fire. Terrified, the guards and mourners threw themselves to the ground. 'The Raja lives!' someone cried.

Passepartout seized Aouda from the flames, bounded from the fire, and dashed with her to safety. Phileas Fogg helped them onto the elephant, and they were off. Shots and cries rang out behind them. They had escaped in the nick of time! As the elephant moved swiftly over the ground, away from danger, Aouda thanked her rescuers. Her beautiful eyes were filled with tears of joy.

That night they reached the next railway station, and boarded the train for Calcutta. Fogg had been thinking hard, and he knew that Aouda would never be safe in India. He had decided to take her with him to Hong Kong, where she had a cousin who would take care of her. But when they got out of the train at Calcutta, a policeman stopped them.

'If I'm charged with stealing Aouda,' thought Fogg, 'I shall refuse to send her back to her death!' To his surprise, however, the policeman arrested Passepartout, and charged him with fighting in the temple in Bombay.

In the court, Fogg paid his servant's fine. At the back of the court-room, Fix, the detective, was furious. The arrest warrant for Fogg had still not arrived, and he could delay him no longer.

Just as the steamer for Hong Kong was about to sail, they all raced on board. During the voyage, Phileas Fogg and Aouda spent their time happily. He found her gentle and charming, and she learned to love the noble, kindly man who was taking her to safety.

Passepartout was surprised to see Fix again. He began to think he might be a spy sent by the Reform Club to watch them, but he did not tell Phileas Fogg of his suspicions.

Despite fierce storms, they docked in Hong Kong sixteen hours before their next ship, the Carnatic, sailed for Yokohama in Japan. Fogg hurried into town with Aouda, to find her cousin. To Aouda's dismay, however, her relative had left Hong Kong and had gone to live in Holland.

'You must come to Europe with us!' Phileas Fogg told her.

Meanwhile, Passepartout had wandered into the city on his own. Much to his surprise, he met Fix.

'Are you going to Japan, too, sir?' he asked.

'I am,' the detective told him. Together they went to book tickets for the ship to Yokohama. At the ticket office they learned that she would sail earlier than they had expected.

'My master will be pleased to sail tonight,' Passepartout said. 'I must hurry to tell him.'

'There's plenty of time,' said the cunning detective. 'Let's have a glass of wine together.'

Over a glass of wine, Fix at last told Passepartout that he was a detective. 'Your master,' he said, 'is the missing bank-robber. Help me to catch him and I'll share the reward with you!'

'Nonsense!' cried Passepartout. 'My master is the most honest of men! I'll never betray such a fine man! Never!'

'You know nothing about him,' Fix told the loyal Passepartout. 'But at least we can still be friends,' he went on. 'Come on, let's have another drink!'

Again they drank. Poor Passepartout's head began to reel. Fix placed a pipe in the servant's hand. Passepartout took a few puffs, not knowing that he was smoking a pipe of opium. In moments, he fell into a drugged sleep.

Quietly Fix slipped away. Now the Carnatic would sail without Fogg and his servant! If only the arrest warrant would arrive! Then the detective could arrest Phileas Fogg and the reward would be his!

Fogg and Aouda waited for Passepartout to return. When he did not come, they hurried to the docks. Passepartout was not there. Instead, they found Fix, who told them that the Carnatic had already sailed.

'In that case,' said Fogg, 'I shall find another ship to take us!'

The detective's heart sank. He was going to be unlucky again, because the warrant had still not arrived.

Fogg quickly found the captain of a small boat willing to take them to Shanghai. There they could catch a steamer for Yokohama. 'You have also missed the Carnatic,' Fogg said to Fix. 'May we take you with us?'

Fix gladly agreed. Thanks to the bank- robber's kindness, the detective could still keep an eye on him!

Fogg had the town searched for Passepartout but in vain. Fix kept silent. When the ship was ready to sail, Fogg and Aouda sadly had to leave without their faithful servant.