一种新型有价证券在伦敦交易所出现
斐利亚·福克先生以为自己从伦敦出发这件事会引起很大的轰动，这想法一点不错。先是大打赌的消息传遍了改良俱乐部，引起了俱乐部里这些会员们的极大兴趣。然后从俱乐部又传到各报馆的记者那里，各报都登出来了。这件事被人们吵吵嚷嚷地议论着、争辩着、推测着。仿佛第二起“亚拉巴马号”事件那样，大家热狂地“打赌”，拥护和反对的人都一样地起劲。一些人是斐利亚·福克的拥护者，不久以后，大部分人——特别是那些“白报纸”先生们——都反对他了。他们认为这件事是荒谬的、愚蠢的，指责它是不合情理的，连支持他的人也说这种旅行只能在理论上成立，实际上，仅凭现有的交通工具，要想用八十天环绕地球一周是不可能的。《泰晤士报》、《标准报》、《晚星报》、《每日晨报》和其它二十多种有声望的大报，都异口同声地反对福克。只有《每日电讯》稍微给福克一点支持。福克普遍被人当作怪人，他的那些朋友也因此受到人们的责备，人们指责他们不该接受这样一次打赌，这说明接受打赌的人，神经也跟提出打赌的人一样不正常。
这些新闻报发表了许多充满热情但非常不合逻辑的文章。谁都知道在英国，凡是和地理有关的事儿大家都感兴趣。因此，不论哪一阶层的读者，都抢着看那些和斐利亚·福克旅行有关的报纸。
起初，有好些大胆的人——主要是妇女——拥护斐利亚·福克，特别是在《伦敦新闻画报》发表了斐利亚·福克的半身像之后。有些《每日电讯》的读者甚至这样说：“为什么不可能呢？比这更离奇的事也不是没有发生过！”但是，一般人都认为这是个神经过敏的病态计划。
10月7日那天，皇家地理学会的会刊发表了一篇长的论文，从各方面来讨论这个问题，它明确地指出，做这种事的人简直是发疯。照这篇文章的说法，任何事都和旅行的人作对，无论是人为的困难，还是自然的阻力都妨碍着他。要完成这样一个计划，就必须要有一个非常准确的出发和到达的时间配合，而这种配合是不可能的。在像欧洲这样一段距离不算太大的路程上，还敢希望火车能按时到达，但是在他必须花三天工夫横跨印度，七天工夫横贯美国大陆的情况下，他能这样有把握地把时间掌握得这样准确吗？机器出了毛病，火车出轨、天气恶劣、积雪阻碍等等，这些种种，不都是对斐利亚·福克不利的吗？在冬季里旅行，在轮船上难道他就不会受到风浪的摆布吗？在最好的远洋汽船上，迟到两三天是常见的事。可是只要耽误一个钟头，就足以使他整个旅行计划脱节。万一这样，他就只有再次出发，他再也不可能按期到达了。
这篇文章引起很大的反应，差不多全英国的报纸都转载了。福克先生的股票行情立即大跌。人们都知道，在英国，打赌是一种流行的风尚，比一般的赌博要庄重些。打赌在人们的天性里扎了根。不仅改良俱乐部的会员们在组织大宗输赢，一般的大众也照样地打起了赌。斐利亚·福克本人就像是一匹赛马一样被登记在赌注登记簿上了。在交易所里甚至还出现了他的股票，伦敦市场上也有了“斐利亚·福克”的牌价。人们收进或是抛出他的股票，行情在不断看涨。在皇家地理学会那篇文章发表后的第五天，“斐利亚·福克”的股票在市场上过剩了，大家纷纷抛售。最初是五人对一，接着是十人对一，很快就跌到二十人对一、五十人对一、一百人对一了！
支持福克的只剩下了一个人——瘫痪的老勋爵阿尔马洛。这位可敬的老绅士长年坐在椅子上，他要是能够作一次环球旅行，就是花上十年工夫，他倾家荡产也情愿。他下了五十镑的赌注，并且宣称如果这事能以办到，第一个来办的人应该是个英国人。他还认为斐利亚·福克是有办法的。
这时，福克的事业显得越来越黯淡了。不但别人，连他的同伴们，在打赌失败后也不承认他了。因为打赌的金额已经成了一百对一，甚至两百对一了！在福克先生走了七天之后，发生了一件完全出乎意外的事，这件事使他再也不可能得到任何人的支持了。
那天晚上九点钟，警察局局长办公室里坐着一个人，局长交给他一份电报。这个警察局长就是警察局的负责人。这个电报的内容如下：
苏伊士致伦敦
苏格兰场警察局局长罗万收
我发现了银行盗窃犯斐利亚·福克。速发拘票至孟买。
侦探费克斯
这份电报一发表，效果立竿见影。那位可敬的绅士立刻不见了，代替他的是个银行盗窃犯。他的照片原来和改良俱乐部里其它会员的照片挂在一起，现在人们仔细地端详着它，觉得他简直是跟警察局所描述的那个罪犯的相貌一模一样。人们想象着福克平时的生活秘不可测，想到他一向行迹孤僻，想到他突然出走，很明显，他所谓用打赌作借口的环游世界，只不过是为了逃避侦探的追踪的一种诡计罢了。
IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO THE MONEYED MEN, APPEARS ON
’CHANGE
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 travelling. 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 travellers, 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 travelling 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 ’Change; “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 fastened 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 dispatch 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 dispatch 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 at 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.
