Around the World in Eighty Days (Illustrated Edition)

Author: Jules Verne (French), translated by Yang Xiaoguo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: Around the World in Eighty Days. A major theft occurred at the Bank of England. While discussing the possibility of the thief's escape, Phileas Fogg made a bet that, according to calculations made by The Daily Telegraph, one could travel around the world in 80 days. The newspaper also revealed that the railway line across India was completed. To verify the accuracy of these calculations and win the bet, Fogg set off immediately with his newly hired servant, Passepartout. Detective Fix, believing that the thief from the Bank of England was none other than Fogg, awaited him at the Suez Canal. He requested London to issue an arrest warrant while tracking Fogg, ready to arrest him as soon as the warrant arrived. Upon arriving in Mumbai, Fogg and his servant boarded a train to Calcutta, but they mistakenly believed that the entire railway line was completed, when in fact the final section was still under construction. The train dropped them off, and to continue their journey, Fogg had to buy an elephant. While traveling through the forest, the two travelers encountered an Indian funeral procession, where these Indians insisted that the widow of a recently deceased prince join her husband in death. Thanks to Passepartout's clever scheme, Fogg finally rescued the unconscious young woman, Aouda. Aouda had been raised in British fashion and was forced to marry the elderly, dying local king. The three of them arrived in Calcutta, but Fix, using a trivial excuse, incited others to arrest them. Fogg posted bail, allowing him to continue his journey, much to the detective's disappointment. In Hong Kong, the spy got Passepartout drunk in a smoking room, preventing him from informing his master of the departure time of the passenger ship to Yokohama, Japan. As a result, only the half-drunk Passepartout boarded the ship. It seemed that the bet was lost, but Fogg refused to give up. He rented a pilot boat and caught up with the ship traveling from Shanghai to Yokohama at sea. After experiencing countless adventures, the three of them reunited and reached America. Our travelers took a train from San Francisco to New York. Along the way, the train was attacked by Native Americans, and Passepartout was kidnapped. Fogg, disregarding his journey and wealth, bravely rescued Passepartout. Various accidents caused our travelers to lose time, and they only arrived in New York shortly after the transatlantic passenger ship scheduled to take them to had departed. Fogg had no choice but to take a freighter to Bordeaux. As soon as they set sail, he bought the ship and its crew. At this point, we discovered that Fogg was a shrewd and skilled retired naval officer, very adept at handling unexpected situations. He maximized the ship's firepower, burned all the coal, and decided to set fire to the wooden superstructure of the ship. By the time they reached New York, the ship was left with nothing but an empty shell. Fogg planned to take a mail coach from New York to Dublin. However, he was arrested by Fix. Only when the real thief was captured and released did Fogg get free, but this wasted several more hours. Due to these mishaps, Fogg arrived in London 24 hours late, meaning he was supposed to arrive on Saturday but was delayed until Sunday. He was bankrupt! This disaster exposed the emotions of our protagonist: Aouda proposed to Fogg to be his lifelong companion. The heart of this calm and composed gentleman was gentler than he was willing to admit, greatly upsetting him. Thus, this normally cold man confessed his love, which had been secretly growing for a long time, and Passepartout went to ask Father Wilson to marry them the next day.