In Which a New Security Appears on the London Exchange
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 traveling. The Times, Standard, Morning Post and Daily
News, and twenty other highly respectable newspapers scouted Mr.
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 travelers, 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 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 traveling 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 issued, and made their appearance on the Exchange. "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 confined
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.
The commissioner of police was sitting in his office at nine
o'clock one evening, when the following telegraphic despatch was
put 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 polished
gentleman disappeared to give place to the bank robber. His
photograph, which was hung with those of the rest of the members
of 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.