Latest / Daily Classic Sci Fi Books / 18 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Chapter eighteen, in which Phileas Fogg passed partout and fix
- 0:04Speaker 1: go each about his business. The weather was bad during
- 0:10Speaker 1: the latter days of the voyage. The wind, obstinately remaining
- 0:15Speaker 1: in the northwest, blew a gale and retarded the steamer.
- 0:19Speaker 1: The rangoon rolled heavily, and the passengers became impatient of
- 0:22Speaker 1: the long, monstrous waves which the wind raised before their path.
- 0:27Speaker 1: A sort of tempest arose on the third of November,
- 0:30Speaker 1: the squall knocking the vessel about with fury, and the
- 0:33Speaker 1: waves running high. The rangoon reefed all her sails, and
- 0:37Speaker 1: even the rigging proved too much whistling and shaking amid
- 0:41Speaker 1: the squall. The steamer was forced to proceed slowly, and
- 0:45Speaker 1: the captain estimated that she would reach Hong Kong twenty
- 0:48Speaker 1: hours behind time, and more if the storm lasted. Phileas
- 0:53Speaker 1: Fogg gazed at the tempestuous sea, which seem to be
- 0:56Speaker 1: struggling especially to delay him. With his habitual tranquility, he
- 1:01Speaker 1: never changed countenance for an instant, though a delay of
- 1:04Speaker 1: twenty hours, by making him too late for the Yokohama boat,
- 1:08Speaker 1: would almost inevitably cause the loss of the wager. But
- 1:12Speaker 1: this man of nerve. Manifested neither impatience nor annoyance. It
- 1:17Speaker 1: seemed as if the storm were a part of his
- 1:19Speaker 1: program and had been foreseen. Aouda was amazed to find
- 1:24Speaker 1: him as calm as he had been from the first
- 1:26Speaker 1: time she saw him. Fix did not look at the
- 1:29Speaker 1: state of things in the same light. The storm greatly
- 1:32Speaker 1: pleased him. His satisfaction would have been complete had the
- 1:36Speaker 1: rangoon been forced to retreat before the violence of wind
- 1:39Speaker 1: and waves. Each delay filled him with hope, for it
- 1:43Speaker 1: became more and more probable that fog would be obliged
- 1:46Speaker 1: to remain some days at Hong Kong. And now the
- 1:49Speaker 1: heavens themselves became his allies. With the gusts and squalls.
- 1:54Speaker 1: It mattered not that they made him sea sick. He
- 1:57Speaker 1: made no account of this inconvenience, and whilst his his
- 2:00Speaker 1: body was writhing under their effects, his spirit bounded with
- 2:03Speaker 1: hopeful exultation. Passepartout was enraged beyond expression by the unpropitious weather.
- 2:10Speaker 1: Everything had gone so well till now earth and sea
- 2:14Speaker 1: had seen to be had his master's service. Steamers and
- 2:17Speaker 1: railways obeyed him. Wind and steam united to speed his journey.
- 2:22Speaker 1: Had the hour of adversity come past Partout was as
- 2:26Speaker 1: much excited as if the twenty thousand pounds were to
- 2:29Speaker 1: come from his own pocket. The storm exasperated him, The
- 2:33Speaker 1: gale made him furious, and he longed to lash the
- 2:36Speaker 1: obstinate sea into obedience. Poor fellow Fix carefully concealed from
- 2:42Speaker 1: him his own satisfaction, for had he betrayed it, Past
- 2:46Speaker 1: Partu could scarcely have restrained himself from personal violence. Pastpartu
- 2:52Speaker 1: remained on deck as long as the tempest lasted, being
- 2:55Speaker 1: unable to remain quiet below, and taking it into his
- 2:59Speaker 1: head to aid the proput of the ship by lending
- 3:01Speaker 1: a hand with the crew. He overwhelmed the captain, officers
- 3:05Speaker 1: and sailors, who could not help laughing at his impatience.
- 3:09Speaker 1: With all sorts of questions. He wanted to know exactly
- 3:13Speaker 1: how long the storm was going to last, whereupon he
- 3:16Speaker 1: was referred to the barometer, which seemed to have no
- 3:19Speaker 1: intention of rising. Passepartout shook it, but with no perceptible effect,
- 3:25Speaker 1: for neither shaking nor maledictions could prevail upon it to
- 3:28Speaker 1: change its mind. On the fourth, however, the sea became
- 3:32Speaker 1: more calm and the storm lessened its violence, the wind
- 3:36Speaker 1: veered southward and was once more favorable. Passepartout cleared up
- 3:41Speaker 1: with the weather. Some of the sails were unfurled, and
- 3:44Speaker 1: the rangoon resumed its most rapid speed. The time loss
- 3:48Speaker 1: could not, however, be regained. Land was not signaled until
- 3:53Speaker 1: five o'clock in the morning of the sixth. The steamer
- 3:56Speaker 1: was due on the fifth Phileas Fogg was twenty four
- 3:59Speaker 1: hours hours behindhand, and the Yokohama steamer would of course
- 4:03Speaker 1: be missed. The pilot went on board at six and
- 4:07Speaker 1: took his place on the bridge to guide the rangoon
- 4:09Speaker 1: through the channels to the port of Hong Kong. Passepartout
- 4:13Speaker 1: longed to ask him if the steamer had left for Yokohama,
- 4:17Speaker 1: but he dared not, for he wished to preserve the
- 4:19Speaker 1: spark of hope, which still remained till the last moment
- 4:24Speaker 1: he had confided his anxiety to fix who The sly
- 4:28Speaker 1: rascal tried to console him by saying that mister Fogg
- 4:32Speaker 1: would be in time if he took the next boat,
- 4:34Speaker 1: but this only put Passepartout in a passion. Mister Fogg,
- 4:39Speaker 1: bolder than his servant, did not hesitate to approach the pilot,
- 4:43Speaker 1: and tranquility asked him if he knew when a steamer
- 4:45Speaker 1: would leave Hong Kong for Yokohama at high tide tomorrow morning,
- 4:51Speaker 1: answered the pilot, Ah, said mister Fogg, without betraying any astonishment. Passepartout,
- 4:59Speaker 1: who heard what pas As, would willingly have embraced the pilot,
- 5:02Speaker 1: while fix would have been glad to twist his neck.
- 5:06Speaker 1: What is the steamer's name, asked mister Fogg. The carnatic
- 5:12Speaker 1: ought she not have gone yesterday? Yes, sir, but they
- 5:17Speaker 1: had to repair one of her boilers, and so her
- 5:19Speaker 1: departure was postponed till tomorrow. Thank you, returned mister Fogg,
- 5:25Speaker 1: Descending mathematically to the saloon. Passepartout clasped the pilot's hand
- 5:31Speaker 1: and shook it heartily in his delight, exclaiming, Pilot, you
- 5:35Speaker 1: are the best of good fellows. The pilot probably does
- 5:39Speaker 1: not know to this day why his responses won him
- 5:42Speaker 1: this enthusiastic greeting. He remounted the bridge and guided the
- 5:46Speaker 1: steamer through the flotilla of junks, tankas, and fishing boats
- 5:51Speaker 1: which crowded the harbor of Hong Kong. At one o'clock
- 5:55Speaker 1: the Rangoon was at the quay and the passengers were
- 5:58Speaker 1: going ashore. Chance had strangely favored Phileas Fogg, for had
- 6:03Speaker 1: not the Carnatic been forced to lie over for repairing
- 6:06Speaker 1: her boilers, she would have left on the sixth of November,
- 6:09Speaker 1: and the passengers for Japan would have been obliged to
- 6:12Speaker 1: wait for a week the sailing of the next steamer.
- 6:15Speaker 1: Mister Fogg was, it is true, twenty four hours behind
- 6:19Speaker 1: his time, but this could not seriously imperil the remainder
- 6:23Speaker 1: of his tour. The steamer which crossed the Pacific from
- 6:27Speaker 1: Yokohama to San Francisco made a direct connection with that
- 6:31Speaker 1: from Hong Kong, and it could not sail until the
- 6:34Speaker 1: latter reached Yokohama. And if mister Fogg was twenty four
- 6:37Speaker 1: hours late on reaching Yokohama, this time would no doubt
- 6:41Speaker 1: be easily regained in the voyage of twenty two days
- 6:44Speaker 1: across the Pacific. He found himself then about twenty four
- 6:48Speaker 1: hours behindhand. Thirty five days after leaving London, the Carnatic
- 6:53Speaker 1: was announced to leave Hong Kong at five the next morning.
- 6:57Speaker 1: Mister Fogg had sixteen hours in which to attend to
- 7:00Speaker 1: his business there, which was to deposit Aouda safely with
- 7:03Speaker 1: her wealthy relative. On landing, he conducted her to a
- 7:08Speaker 1: palanquin in which they repaired to the Club Hotel. A
- 7:12Speaker 1: room was engaged for the young woman, and mister Fogg,
- 7:15Speaker 1: after seeing that she wanted for nothing, set out in
- 7:18Speaker 1: search of her cousin Gigi. He instructed passepartout to remain
- 7:22Speaker 1: at the hotel until his return, that Aouda might not
- 7:26Speaker 1: be left entirely alone. Mister Fogg repaired to the exchange,
- 7:32Speaker 1: where he did not doubt everyone would know so wealthy
- 7:35Speaker 1: and considerable a personage as the Parsi merchant. Meeting a broker,
- 7:39Speaker 1: he made the inquiry to learn that Jiji had left
- 7:42Speaker 1: China two years before, and, retiring from business with an
- 7:46Speaker 1: immense fortune, had taken up his residence in Europe, in Holland.
- 7:51Speaker 1: The broker thought with the merchants of which country he
- 7:54Speaker 1: had principally traded Phileas Fogg returned to the hotel, begged
- 7:59Speaker 1: a moment's come conversation with Aouda, and without more ado
- 8:03Speaker 1: apprized her that Jiji was no longer at Hong Kong,
- 8:06Speaker 1: but probably in Holland. Aouda at first said nothing. She
- 8:11Speaker 1: passed her hand across her forehead and reflected a few moments. Then,
- 8:15Speaker 1: in her sweet, soft voice, she said, what ought I
- 8:20Speaker 1: to do? Mister Fogg? It is very simple, responded the gentleman,
- 8:26Speaker 1: go on to Europe, but I cannot intrude. You do
- 8:31Speaker 1: not intrude, nor do you in the least embarrass my project. Passepartout.
- 8:36Speaker 1: Messieurs go to the Carnatic and engage three cabins. Passepartout,
- 8:43Speaker 1: delighted that the young woman who was very gracious to
- 8:46Speaker 1: him was going to continue the journey with them, went
- 8:49Speaker 1: off at a brisk gait to obey his master's order.
- 8:54Speaker 1: End of chapter