15 Phileas Fogg Finds a Way to Liverpool

CHAPTER 15 Phileas Fogg Finds a Way to Liverpool The next day, Phileas left the hotel by himself. He intended to find a ship to take them to Liverpool right away. It was now December 12. He had just nine days,

thirteen hours, and forty-five minutes to go. He walked up and down the riverside, but he could find no boat to take him. He had almost given up all hope when he saw a small trading ship set apart from the rest. The chimney on top of the boat was puffing steam. It was about to leave. Phileas hailed a boat to take him out to the ship. Soon he found himself on board the Henrietta. The captain was on deck. He was fifty years old, with large round eyes, bright red hair, and a copper beard. His name was Andrew Speedy. "Are you about to set off to sea?" Phileas asked. "Yes. We leave for Bordeaux in an hour," Captain Speedy answered. "Have you any passengers?" "No passengers," Captain Speedy said. "We never take passengers. They get in the way." "Is your ship very fast?"

"Oh, she's fast all right. As fast as they come," said the captain. "Will you take me to Liverpool? Well, myself and three other passengers," Phileas asked. "No." "No?" "No. I said we're going to Bordeaux, so we're going to Bordeaux," Captain Speedy insisted. Phileas tried everything. He tried to buy the boat. He tried to pay the captain to take him, but all offers were refused. Until now, he had been able to buy his way around the world. This time money wasn't the answer. "Will you take us to Bordeaux then, for two thousand dollars apiece?" Phileas asked. Captain Speedy scratched his head. "There are four of you?" "Correct," Phileas answered. "Are you all ready to go?" Phileas nodded.

"Fine," the captain continued. "We set off at nine. If you're here, we'll take you to Bordeaux with us." This left Phileas just half an hour to race back to the hotel, gather up Aouda, Passepartout, and Fix, and then get back to the Henrietta. And Phileas Fogg never even showed an ounce of nerves! All four travelers were back on board with seconds to spare. Passepartout felt a bit uneasy knowing how much money his monsieur was spending to make it back to London in time to win the bet. As for Fix, every time Phileas paid for something, he saw his reward fading away. After all, the money he was spending belonged to the bank. The more money the robber spent, the less he had to give back to the bank. And the less the bank recovered, the less his own reward would be. Those thoughts did not do much for his already low spirits.

By noon the next day, the Henrietta was sailing along nicely. Phileas Fogg stood on the bridge and looked out across the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, Captain Speedy had locked himself away in his cabin. He was very unhappy indeed. Phileas wanted to go to Liverpool and would stop at nothing to get there. He had told his story to the entire crew. Once they knew how far he had already come, they decided to help him. They abandoned the captain's orders and put the ship on a new course—one bound for Liverpool. The voyage went well for the first few days. They burned the coal and kept the Henrietta going at full steam. They had passed Newfoundland and were now out in the open seas. Passepartout had been keeping the sailors company by performing for them. His good humor put everyone in a happy mood.

Aouda spent much of her time on deck with Phileas trying to calm her down. She was truly worried about how everything would turn out. Suddenly the weather turned. The Atlantic Ocean was a very dangerous place to be in the winter. There were awful storms and wicked waves. A boat could be blown off course or overturned in an instant. Instead of sailing, they used only the engine. The coal was the only energy pushing them forward. On December 16, the ship's engineer came on deck to tell Phileas that they were almost out of coal. "Let me think about it for a minute," Phileas said to the man. The two stood in silence while he considered what to do next. "Keep the engines at full steam," he said. "I've got a solution. Passepartout!" The butler jumped up from a lower deck and stood before him. "Please ask the captain