Page 303 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 303
Around the World in 80 Days
board, had so shrewdly managed with his banknotes that
the sailors and stokers, who were only an occasional crew,
and were not on the best terms with the captain, went
over to him in a body. This was why Phileas Fogg was in
command instead of Captain Speedy; why the captain was
a prisoner in his cabin; and why, in short, the Henrietta
was directing her course towards Liverpool. It was very
clear, to see Mr. Fogg manage the craft, that he had been a
sailor.
How the adventure ended will be seen anon. Aouda
was anxious, though she said nothing. As for Passepartout,
he thought Mr. Fogg’s manoeuvre simply glorious. The
captain had said ‘between eleven and twelve knots,’ and
the Henrietta confirmed his prediction.
If, then—for there were ‘ifs’ still—the sea did not
become too boisterous, if the wind did not veer round to
the east, if no accident happened to the boat or its
machinery, the Henrietta might cross the three thousand
miles from New York to Liverpool in the nine days,
between the 12th and the 21st of December. It is true
that, once arrived, the affair on board the Henrietta, added
to that of the Bank of England, might create more
difficulties for Mr. Fogg than he imagined or could desire.
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