ssary to admit miraculous
concordance in the hours of the arrival and departure of trains and
ships--a concordance which could not and did not exist. In Europe
perhaps he might be able to reckon upon the punctuality of trains, but
when three days are occupied in crossing India, and seven in
traversing the American continent, how was it possible that he could
count upon absolute success? Were not accidents to machinery, runnings
off the rails, collisions, bad weather, or snowdrifts all against
Phileas Fogg? On board ship in winter-time he would be at the mercy of
hurricanes or contrary winds. Even the best steamers of the
transoceanic lines experience a delay of sometimes two or three days.
Now, if only one such delay occurred, the chain of communication would
be irreparably severed. If Phileas Fogg lost a steamer by only a few
hours, he would be obliged to wait for the following boat; and that
fact alone would imperil the success of the whole undertaking.

This article made a great sensation. It was copied into almost all the
papers, and the "shares" of Phileas Fogg fell in proportion.

For the first few days after his departure a good deal of money was
laid on the success or failure of the enterprise. Everyone knows that
people in England are great gamblers; it comes natural to them. So the
public all went into the speculation. Phileas Fogg became a sort of
favourite, as in horse-racing. He was of a certain value on the Stock
Exchange. Fogg bonds were offered at par or at a premium, and enormous
speculations were entered into. But five days after his departure,
subsequently to the appearance of the article above quoted, the bonds
were at a discount, and they were offered to anybody who would take
them.

One supporter was still left to him, and that the paralytic Lord
Albemarle. This worthy gentleman, who was unable to leave his chair,
would have given his whole fortune to have made the tour of the world,
even in ten years, and he had laid fifty thousand pounds on Phileas
Fogg; and when people explained to him at the same time the folly and
uselessness of the expedition, he would merely reply: "If the thing
can be done, the first man to do it ought to be an Englishman."

Now as things were, the partisans of Phileas Fogg were becoming fewer
by degrees and beautifully less. Everybody, and not without reason,
was against him. People would only take fifty or even two hundred to
one, when, seven days after his departure,