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33 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Adventure Books Library

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Chapter thirty three, in which Phileas Fogg shows himself equal to the occasion.
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An hour after the Henrietta passed the lighthouse which marks the entrance of the Hudson,
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turned the point of Sandy Hook and put to sea. During the day
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she skirted Long Island, passed Fire Island, and directed her course rapidly eastward.
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At noon the next day a man mounted the bridge to ascertain the vessel's
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position. It might be thought that this was Captain Speedy, not the least
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in the world. It was Phileas Fogg, esquire as for Captain Speedy,
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he was shut up in his cabin under lock and key, and was uttering
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loud cries which signified in anger at once pardonable and excessive. What had happened
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was very simple. Phileas Fogg wished to go to Liverpool, but the captain
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would not carry him there. Then Phileas Fogg had taken passage for Poordeux,
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and during the thirty hours he had been on board, had so shrewdly managed
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with his bank notes that the sailors and stokers, who were only an occasional
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crew and were not on the best terms with the captain, went over to
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him in a body. This was why Phileas Fogg was in command instead of
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Captain Speedy, why the captain was a prisoner in his cabin, and why,
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in short, the Henrietta was directing her course towards Liverpool. It was
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very clear to see mister Fogg manage the craft that he had been a sailor.
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How the adventure ended will be seen. Anon Aouda was anxious, though
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she said nothing as for passepartout. He thought mister Fogg's maneuver simply glorious.
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The captain had said between eleven and twelve knots, and the Henrietta confirmed his
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prediction. If then, for there were ifs still the sea did not become
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too boisterous, If if the wind did not veer round to the east,
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if no accident happened to the boat or its machinery, the Henrietta might cross
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the three thousand miles from New York to Liverpool in the nine days between the
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twelfth and the twenty first of December. It is true that once arrived,
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the affair on board the Henrietta, added to that of the Bank of England,
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might create more difficulties from mister Fogg than he imagined or could desire.
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During the first days, they went along smoothly enough. The sea was not
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very unpropitious, The wind seemed stationary in the northeast. The sails were hoisted,
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and the Henrietta plowed across the waves like a real Transatlantic steamer. Passepartout
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was delighted his master's last exploit, the consequences of which he ignored, enchanted
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him. Never had the crew seen so jolly and dexterous a fellow. He
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formed warm friendships with the sailors and amazed them with his acrobatic feats. He
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thought they managed the vessel like gentlemen, and that the stokers fired up like
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heroes. His loquacious good humor infected everyone. He had forgotten the past,
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its vexations and delays. He only thought of the end, so nearly accomplished,
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and sometimes he boiled over with impatience, as if heated by the furnaces
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of the Henrietta. Often, also, the worthy fellow revolved around Fix,
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looking at him with a keen, distrustful eye, But he did not speak
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to him, for their old intimacy no longer existed. Fix, it must
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be confessed, understood nothing of what was going on the conquest of the Henrietta.
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The bribery of the crew Fog, managing the boat like a skilled seaman,
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amazed and confused him. He did not know what to think. For
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after all, a man who began by stealing fifty five thousand pounds might end
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by stealing a vessel. And Fix was not unnaturally inclined to conclude that the
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Henrietta under Fogg's command was not going to Liverpool at all, but to some
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part of the world where the robber turned into a pirate would quietly put himself
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in safety. The conjecture was at least a plausible one, and the detective
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began to seriously regret that he had embarked on the affair. As for Captain
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Speedy, he continued to howl and growl in his cabin and passepartout whose duty
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it was to carry him his meals. Courageous as he was, took the
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greatest precautions, mister Fogg did not seem even to know that there was a
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captain on board. On the thirteenth, they passed the edge of the banks
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of Newfoundland, a dangerous locality during the winter, especially there are frequent fogs
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and heavy gales of wind ever since the evening before. The barometer suddenly falling
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had indicated an approaching change in the atmosphere, and during the night the temperature
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varied, the cold became sharper, and the wind veered to the southeast.
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This was a misfortune. Mister Fogg, in order not to deviate from his
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course, furled his sails and increased the force of the steam. But the
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vessel speed slackened owing to the state of the sea, the long waves of
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which broke against the stern. She pitched violently, and this retarded her progress.
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The breeze, little by little swelled into a tempest, and it was
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to be feared that the Henrietta might not be able to maintain herself upright on
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the waves. Passepartout's visage darkened with the skies, and for two days the
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poor fellow experienced constant fright. But Phileas Fogg was a bold mariner and knew
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how to maintain headway against the sea, and he kept on his course without
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even decreasing his head steam. The Henrietta, when she could not rise upon
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the waves, crossed them, swamping her deck, but passing safely. Sometimes
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the screw rose out of the water, beating its protruding end when a mountain
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of water raised the stern above the waves, but the craft always kept straight
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ahead. The wind, however, did not grow as boisterous as might have
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been feared. It was not one of those tempests which burst and rush on
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with the speed of ninety miles an hour. It continued fresh, but unhappily
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it remained obstinately in the southeast, rendering the sails useless. The sixteenth of
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December was the seventy fifth day since Phileas Fogg's departure from London, and the
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Henrietta had not yet been seriously delayed. Half of the voyage was almost accomplished,
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and the worst localities had been passed. In summer, success would have
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been well nigh certain. In winter, they were at the mercy of the
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bad season. Passepartout said nothing, but he cherished hope in secret, and
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comforted himself with the reflection that if the wind failed them, they might still
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count on the steam. On this day, the engineer came on deck,
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went up to mister Fogg, and began to speak earnestly with him, Without
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knowing why. It was a presentiment, perhaps Passepartout became vaguely uneasy. He
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would have given one of his ears to hear with the other what the engineer
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was saying. He finally managed to catch a few words and was sure he
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heard his master say, you are certain of what you tell me? Certain,
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sir, replied the engineer. You must remember that since we started we
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have got up hot fires in all our furnaces, and though we had cold
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enough to go on short steam from New York to Bordeaux, we haven't enough
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to go with all steam from New York to Liverpool. I will consider,
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replied mister Fogg. Passepartout understood it all. He was seized with mortal anxiety.
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The coal was giving out. Ah, if my master can get over
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that, muttered he, he'll be a famous man. He could not help
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imparting to fix what he had overheard. Then you believe that we are really
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are going to Liverpool, of course, ass replied the detective, shrugging his
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shoulders and turning on his heel. Pass Partout was on the point of vigorously
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resenting the epithet, the reason of which he could not, for the life
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of him comprehend, But he reflected that the unfortunate. Fix was probably very
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much disappointed and humiliated in his self esteem after having so awkwardly followed a false
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scent around the world and refrained. And now what course would Phileas Fogg adopt?
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It was difficult to imagine. Nevertheless, he seemed to have decided upon
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one. For that evening. He sent for the engineer and said to him,
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feed all the fires until the coal is exhausted. A few moments after
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the funnel of the Henrietta vomited forth torrents of smoke. The vessel continued to
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proceed with all steam on. But on the eighteenth the engineer, as he
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had predicted, announced that the coal would give out in the course of the
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day. Do not let the fires go down, replied mister Fogg. Keep
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them up to the last, let the valves be filled. Towards noon.
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Phileas Fogg, having ascertained their position, called past partout and ordered him to
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go for Captain Speedy. It was as if the honest fellow had been commanded
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to unchain a tiger. He went to the poop, saying to himself,
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he will be like a madman in a few moments, with cries and oaths.
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A bomb appeared on the poop deck. The bomb was Captain Speedy.
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It was clear that he was on the point of bursting. Where are we
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were the first words his anger permitted him to utter. Had the poor man
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been an apoplectic, he could never have recovered from his paroxysm of wrath.
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Where are we? He repeated with purple face. Seven hundred and seven miles
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from Liverpool, replied mister Fogg, with imperturbable calmness. Pirate, cried Captain
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Speedy. I have sent for you, sir, pick a roon, Sir,
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continued mister Fogg, to ask you to sell me your vessel. No,
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by all the devils, no, but I shall be obliged to burn
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her, burn the henrietta, Yes, at least the upper part of her.
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The coal has given out. Burn my vessel, cried Captain Speedy,
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who could scarcely pronounce the words A vessel worth fifty thousand dollars. Here are
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sixty thousand, replied Phileas Fogg, handing the captain a roll of bank bills.
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This had a prodigious effect on Andrew Speedy. An American can scarcely remain
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unmoved at the sight of sixty thousand dollars. The captain forgot in an instant,
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his anger, his imprisonment, and all his grudges against his passenger.
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The Henrietta was twenty years old. It was a great bargain. The bomb
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would not go off after all. Mister Fogg had taken away the match.
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And I shall still have the iron hull, said the captain in a softer
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tone. The iron hull and the engine is it? Agreed? Agreed?
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And Andrew Speedy, seizing the banknotes, counted them and signed them to his
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pocket. During this colloquy, passepartout was as white as a sheet, and
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Fix seemed on the point of having an apoplectic fit. Nearly twenty thousand pounds
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had been expended, and Fogg left the hull and engine to the captain.
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That is near the whole value of the craft. It was true, however,
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that fifty five thousand pounds have been stolen from the bank. When Andrew
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Speedy had pocketed the money, mister Fogg said to him, don't let this
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astonish you, sir. You must know that I shall lose twenty thousand pounds
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unless I arrive in London by a quarter before nine on the evening of the
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twenty first of December. I missed the steamer at New York, and as
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you refused to take me to Liverpool, and I did well, cried Andrew
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Speedy, for I have gained at least forty thousand dollars by it. He
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added, more sedately, do you know one thing, Captain Fogg. Captain
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Fogg, you've got something of a Yankee about you. And having paid his
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passenger what he considered a high compliment, he was going away when mister Fogg
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said, the vessel now belongs to me, certainly, from the keel to
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the trunk of the mass. All the wood that is very well. Have
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the interior seats, bunks and frames pulled down and burned them. It was
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necessary to have dry wood to keep the steam up to the adequate pressure,
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And on that day the poop cabins, bunks, and the spare deck were
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sacrificed. On the next day, the nineteenth of December, the masts,
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rafts and spars were burned. The crew worked lustily keeping up the fires.
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Passpar two hewed, cut and sawed away with all his might. There was
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a perfect rage for demolition the railings, fittings, the greater part of the
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deck and top sides disappeared on the twentieth, and the Henrietta was now only
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a flat hulk. But on this day they sighted the Irish coast and fastnet
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light. By ten in the evening, they were passing Queenstown, Phileas Fogg
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had only twenty four hours more in which to get to London. That length
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of time was necessary to reach Liverpool with all steam on, and the steam
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was about to give out altogether. Sir, said Captain Speedy, who was
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now deeply interested in mister Fogg's project. I really commiserate you. Everything is
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against you. We are only opposite Queenstown, ah, said mister Fogg.
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Is that place where we see the lights, Queenstown. Yes, can we
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enter the harbor? Not under three hours? Only at high tide stay,
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replied mister Fogg, calmly, without betraying in his features, that by a
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supreme inspiration he was about to attempt once more to conquer ill fortune. Queenstown
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is the Irish port at which the Transatlantic steamers stopped to put off the mails.
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These mails are carried to Dublin by express trains, always held in readiness
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to start from Dublin. They are sent on to Liverpool by the most rapid
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boats, and thus gained twelve hours on the Atlantic steamers. Phileas Fogg counted
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on gaining twelve hours in the same way. Instead of arriving at Liverpool the
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next evening by the Henrietta, He would be there by noon, and would
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therefore have time to reach London before a quarter before nine in the evening.
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The Henrietta entered Queenstown Harbor at one o'clock in the morning, it then being
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high tide, and Phileas Fogg, after being grasped heartily by the hand by
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Captain Speedy, left that gentleman on the leveled hulk of his craft, which
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was still worth half what he had sold it for. The party went on
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shore at once. Fix was greatly tempted to arrest mister Fogg on the same
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spot, but he did not why what struggle was going on within him?
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Had he changed his mind about his man? Did he understand that he had
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made a grave mistake. He did not, however, abandon mister Fogg.
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They all got upon the train, which was just ready to start at half
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past one at dawn of day. They were in Dublin, and they lost
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no time in embarking on a steamer, which, disdaining to rise upon the
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waves, invariably cut through them. Phileas Fogg at last disembarked on the Liverpool
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Key at twenty minutes before twelve twenty first December. He was only six hours
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distant from London. But at this moment Fix came up, put his hand
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upon mister Fogg's shoulder, and, showing his warrants, said you are really
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Phileas Fogg. I am I arrest you in the Queen's name. End of chapter