Around the World in 80 Days Part III

CHAPTER 9 - TO SAN FRANCISCO

Near Shanghai, the captain of the boat General Grant saw the signal flags from another ship. A smaller boat, Tankedere, wanted his help. The American ship stopped next to the Tankedere. Phileas Fogg gave Bunsby five hundred and fifty pounds and climbed onto the General Grant. He paid for three tickets to San Francisco, and then Aouda and Fix got onto the American ship, too.

The first stop was Yokohama. When the General Grant arrived there on the morning of the 14th of November, Fogg and Aouda went to the Carnatic. But Passepartout was not there.

Phileas Fogg and Aouda looked for Passepartout in the town. They asked questions everywhere. They only had one day before the General Grant left for San Francisco. Phileas Fogg and Aouda walked through the streets of Yokohama —north, south, east, and west. But they couldn't find Passepartout.

On their way back to the port, they looked in the gardens. There were a lot of gardens in Yokohama. And in the last garden before the port they saw Passepartout on a chair in the sun. The servant was very happy, and they all went quickly to the General Grant.

In Yokohama, Fix went to the police. The warrant was there from Hong Kong but it was too late. Fix couldn't use the warrant in Japan or America. 

Passepartout saw Fix on the ship the next day, and the Frenchman hit the detective. Fix fell down on his back.

'Why did you do that?' asked Fix. He got up slowly.

'Because you are a bad man.'

'Let's talk.'

'Talk?'

'Yes. I want to help your Mr. Fogg now.'

'Oh!' said Passepartout.' So now you know that Mr. Fogg is not a thief.'

'No. He's a thief and I have a warrant for him.' Passepartout started to hit him again, so Fix said quickly,' Wait! I can't use the warrant here. But Mr. Fogg is going to England. I can use the warrant there. So I want to help him. He wants to get to England quickly, and I want him to get there too. So I can help you now, and you can help me. We can be friends.'

'Friends? Never!' said Passepartout. 'But you can help Mr. Fogg. That's fine.'

'I'll help him. A Scotland Yard detective can do a lot of things. But don't tell him about the bar in Hong Kong. And don't say I'm a detective. Then I'll help him.'

Passepartout thought hard but said nothing.

The General Grant had the wind behind her and a good engine, too. On 3rd December, she went through the Golden Gate Bridge (opened in 1937) and into San Francisco.

CHAPTER 10 - ACROSS AMERICA

They had to wait for the train from San Francisco to New York. It left at 6 o'clock in the evening. Phileas Fogg went with Aouda and got a stamp in his passport. Passepartout bought guns for the railway journey. The Sioux Indians were dangerous.

At 5.45, Phileas Fogg, Aouda and Passepartout were at the station. The train was ready. And there was Fix again! Phileas Fogg couldn't understand it.

They all got on the train. The journey time was seven days. Phileas Fogg wanted to catch a ship from New York to Liverpool on 11th December.

On the first day, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Passepartout looked out of the window and saw some buffaloes.

He saw hundreds of the big animals, and then thousands of them. They walked in front of the train and the train had to stop.

Some people on the train were angry because the train had to stop on a hot day. They had to sit there and wait. But Phileas Fogg wasn't angry. He didn't look at his watch. He sat quietly and waited. In three hours, the thousands of buffaloes moved slowly across the railway, and then the train could start again.

The next morning, everybody on the train heard the Sioux Indians. They heard guns and shouts. Passepartout looked out of the window. The Indians were on fast horses. They wanted to get on the train and take everybody's money. But a lot of people on the train had guns and they fought.

A Sioux Indian killed the train driver. The Sioux wanted to stop the train but he did not understand the engine. The train went faster, not slower.

They were very near the station at Fort Kearney, and there were soldiers there. The people on the train wanted to stop the train at the station. Then the soldiers could help them.

Somebody had to get to the engine and stop the train.

Passepartout called, 'I will go!'

He climbed out of the window and then climbed under the train to the engine. The Indians didn't see him. Then Passepartout stopped the engine very near Fort Kearney.

Other people from the train walked to Fort Kearney and talked to the soldiers. The soldiers came back to the train. The Sioux ran away, but they took three people from the train with them. Passepartout was one of the three.

Aouda started to cry, but Phileas Fogg said to her, ‘I’ll get him back.'

The captain gave Phileas Fogg thirty soldiers, and they went after the Indians. Fix wanted to go with Phileas Fogg, but Phileas Fogg said, 'Please stay here and look after Aouda.'

He walked away, and Aouda watched him. It started to snow. More and more snow fell out of a dark sky. Phileas Fogg and the thirty soldiers did not come back that day or the next night. Fix and Aouda waited at Fort Kearney, but the train left without them.

The next morning, Fix, Aouda and the soldiers at Fort Kearney heard a shout. The thirty soldiers were back with Phileas Fogg, Passepartout, and the two other people from the train.

'The train left without us,' Fix told Phileas Fogg.' The next

train is this evening.'

But that was too late. Phileas Fogg was now twenty hours behind his timetable. They could not arrive in New York by train before their ship, the China, left.

CHAPTER 11 - ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

How could Phileas Fogg win his bet now? No ship in his book of ship and train timetables could get him to London by the 21st of December.

In New York, Phileas Fogg looked round the port for a fast ship. He wanted to buy one. He saw the Henrietta, and spoke to the captain.

'Are you leaving New York, Captain?'

'In an hour,' said the captain. He was a hard man, and his answer was unfriendly.

'Where are you going?'

'To Bordeaux.'

'Can you take us with you?'

'No, I don't take people. Look in Bradshaw for a nice ship. I take things from port to port.'

'Fast ?' asked Phileas Fogg.' Do you take things fast?'

'Yes. Very fast. The Henrietta does twelve miles an hour.'

'Will you take me, and three other people, to Liverpool, Captain...What's your name?'

'My name's Speedy and the answer's no!'

'Then I'll buy the ship from you.'

'No!'

Phileas Fogg thought for a minute. Then he said, ' Will you take us to Bordeaux? I can give you two thousand dollars.'

'For each person?'

'Yes.'

Captain Speedy thought about it. Eight thousand dollars!

'We're leaving at nine,' he said.

Phileas Fogg, Aouda, Passepartout and Fix were on the ship

when she left New York at 9 o'clock.

The next day, the 13th of December, Phileas Fogg was captain of the ship. Captain Speedy was in his room, and two seamen watched him carefully. He couldn't leave the room. He shouted, but he couldn't get out.

What happened on that day was this: Phileas Fogg wanted to go to Liverpool. The captain didn't want to go there, but the seamen hated their captain. And Phileas Fogg gave them some money, so they were happy about the new plan.

Now the captain had to stay in his room. Aouda was not very happy about it, but Passepartout enjoyed it. Phileas Fogg was a very good ship's captain. Perhaps he was a seaman when he was younger. With her fast engine, and the wind behind her, the Henrietta moved quickly over the water.

But one of the seamen said, 'Mr Fogg, this engine can take us faster. We have to put more wood on the fire.'

'And where do we get more wood?'

'From the ship. They built everything on it from wood.'

'Thank you,' said Phileas Fogg.' I'll have to think about it.' He walked round the ship looking at the wood. Then he called Passepartout.' Bring Captain Speedy to me.'

Captain Speedy ran to Phileas Fogg. He wanted to kill him.

'Thief!' he shouted. 'You took my ship! Where are we?'

'Seven hundred and seventy miles from Liverpool,' said Fogg. 'But I sent for you, Captain, because I want to buy your ship.'

'No! No! No!'

'I'm going to put some of it on the fire, so the engine can take us to Liverpool faster.'

'My ship ! This ship cost fifty thousand dollars!'

'Here's sixty thousand,' said Phileas Fogg, and he gave the captain the money. Twelve thousand pounds.

'Oh!' Captain Speedy was suddenly a different man. The Henrietta cost fifty thousand dollars, but she was twenty years old.

'You only want the wood?'

'Oh yes. I'm only buying the wood.'

'Thank you,' said the captain.

And so, at 11:40 on the 21st of December, Phileas Fogg put his foot on the ground in Liverpool. And at 11:41, Fix said, ' Phileas Fogg. I'm a Scotland Yard detective. Please come with me to the nearest police station.'

CHAPTER 12 - THE END OF THE JOURNEY

Phileas Fogg was in a police station in Liverpool. He looked at his watch. Two o'clock. He had to be at the Reform Club before 8:45.

At 2:33, there was a lot of noise in the police station. The door opened, and Fix ran in. He was red in the face.

'Mr. Fogg!' he cried. ‘I’m sorry. I'm very sorry. A mistake...my mistake. We have the Bank of England thief in prison. I was on the ship, so I didn't know.'

Then Phileas Fogg moved quickly for the first and last time in his life. He hit Fix very hard. Fix fell on the floor and stayed there.

Passepartout and Aouda came in and they all went quickly to Liverpool railway station. The London train wasn't there. They were too late.

Phileas Fogg paid for a train. They were the only people on it. But when the train arrived in London, the clock showed 8:50. Phileas Fogg was five minutes late.

Aouda and Passepartout were unhappier about the bet than Phileas Fogg. This fine man had twenty thousand pounds with him at the start of the journey. And now he had one thousand pounds. He also had twenty thousand pounds in Baring's Bank, but he had to pay it to his five friends in the Reform Club.

At home in Savile Row, Phileas Fogg stayed in his room all day. He thought about money and made plans.

At half past seven in the evening, he came down and spoke to Aouda. He was not sad and he was not excited. He looked at Aouda and smiled.

'Aouda,' he said,' I'm sorry. I brought you to England and now I have these money problems. Are you unhappy now?'

'Unhappy!' said Aouda. She couldn't tell him.

'I was rich before the bet,' said Phileas Fogg.' I brought you here to a good life, away from your dangerous life in India. But now I don't have much money. But, Aouda, can I give this money to you? Please.'

Aouda stood up. 'I don't want any money, but I want to be with you. I want to be your wife. Please ask me.' She gave him her hand.

Phileas Fogg looked into her beautiful eyes. There was love in them.

'You know ?' he asked.' Do you know that I love you?'

'Yes,' she said.

Phileas Fogg called Passepartout, and he came quickly. Mr. Fogg had Aoudas hand in his hand. Passepartout saw that and he was very, very happy.

'Do you think, Passepartout,' Phileas Fogg said,' that you can speak to Mr Wilson, at my church? Is it too late in the day?'

Passepartout smiled. 'It is never too late,' he said. It was 8:05.

'For tomorrow, Monday?' he asked.

'For tomorrow, Monday,' said Phileas Fogg and Aouda.

Passepartout ran out. At 8:35 he was back. He was red in the face. and he couldn't speak.

'What is it ?' asked Phileas Fogg.

'Mr. Fogg . .. Please ... Mr. Fogg, tomorrow ... You and Aouda. Not possible...'

'Not possible ? Why ?' asked Phileas Fogg.

'Because tomorrow is Sunday...'

'Monday,' said Fogg.

'No, today is Saturday!'

'No, it isn't.'

'Yes, it is!' cried Passepartout. 'We made a mistake. We arrived in England a day early. But you only have ten minutes. Lets go, Mr. Fogg! You will have to run to the Reform Club. You do it in twenty-five minutes every day, but today you have only ten minutes. Run, Mr. Fogg, run!'

He pulled Phileas Fogg to the door. Phileas Fogg ran, and he thought about his mistake. Of course! The time changes in every country. When you go round the world to the west, you lose one day. But when you go round the world to the east, you have one more day. But now, was he too late? Phileas Fogg ran through London.

Phileas Fogg's friends were at the card table in the Reform Club that evening. When the clock said 8:25 Stuart said, 'In twenty minutes he'll be too late. The last train from Liverpool arrived at 7:23, and the next one arrives at 12:10. We're going to win our bet!'

Nobody said anything. They weren't really happy. They didn't really want to win the bet. They liked Phileas Fogg. So they played cards and said nothing.

'Eight forty-three,' said Stuart.

Two more minutes. The five men looked sadder and sadder. They watched the door and waited. A moment before 8:45 Phileas Fogg opened the door and said quietly, 'Here I am, my friends.' He won the bet.

'Now I am a rich man again,' said Phileas Fogg to Aouda, 'so I'll ask you again. Do you want to be my wife?'

'Yes,' said Aouda. 'But you were a poor man when you asked me. And now you're a rich man again, so do you want to be my husband?'

Passepartout did not wait for the answer. He ran to the church and told Mr. Wilson.