CHAPTER 2 THE BET
It was 6.10 in the evening at the Reform Club. Phileas Fogg was in the card room. He was at
a card table with the same five men as yesterday and the day before and the day before that.
Phileas Fogg and the five men didn't usually talk when they played cards. But this evening,
before the game started, the men talked about a newspaper story. A thief walked into the
Bank of England and took fifty-five thousand pounds. Then he walked out again. One of the
men at the card table, Ralph, had a very good job at the Bank of England.
'They'll catch the man,' Ralph said.' The best detectives are at every port. They know that the
man is tall. He wears expensive clothes. They'11 find him.'
'Oh, I don't know,' said Stuart, another man at the table.' The world is a very big place.'
'It was a big place,' said Phileas Fogg.
What do you mean – ―was‖? Is it smaller now?' said Stuart.
'Yes,' said Ralph. 'I think Mr. Fogg is right. You can go round the world more quickly now.'
'All right,' said Stuart. 'You can go round the world in about three months, but that doesn't
mean. .'
'Not three months,' said Phileas Fogg. 'Eighty days.'
'Fogg's right,' said Ralph.' The Rothal to Allahabad railway, in India, is open now. Look —
today's Times has a timetable for a journey round the world.' And he showed them, on the
centre page of the paper.
London to Suez — railway and ship 7 days
Suez to Bombay — ship 13 "
Bombay to Calcutta — railway 3 "
Calcutta to Hong Kong — ship 13 "
Hong Kong to Yokohama — ship 6 "
Yokohama to San Francisco — ship 22 "
San Francisco to New York — railway 7 "
New York to London — ship and railway 9 "
80 days
'Yes,' said Stuart,' eighty days. It's all right on paper. But a lot of things can happen in eighty
days. They can stop you on the way.'
'No, they can't, Mr. Stuart,' said Phileas Fogg
'Well, why don't you try, Mr. Fogg?'