The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-10-19

Nv hat is the matterP" asked Mr.. |
Fogg.
MASTER.
Marriage impossible"
"Impossible?n
Impossible -to morrow.
"Whyp"
Because tomorrow is Sunday
Monday" replied Mr.. Fogg.
No to-day Saturday,
Saturday. Impossibler'
Yes, yes, yes, yesf' cried Passepar-
tout. lyon have made y mistake of
one day. We arrived twenty-four
hours in advance but there are not ten
minutes leitr'
Passepartout seized his master Ly the
collar. and dragged him along with
irresistible force!
Phileas Fogg, thus taken, without
having time to reflect, lett his room,
went out of his house, jumped into a
cab. promised one hundred pounds 10
the driver, and, after running over two
dogs and running into i've carriages,
arrived at the Reform Club.
The clock indicated quarter of nine,
when he appeared in the grand sa-
loon.
Phileas Fogg had accomplished this
tour Of the world in eighty days!
Phileas Fogg had won his bet of TWEEN
ty thonsand'pounds!
And now, how could so exact and
cautious a man have made this mistake
of day? How did he think that was
the evening of Saturday, December q,
when it was only Friday. December 20,
only seyenty-nine daj after his depart
ure
This is the reason for this mistake. 1t
is very simple.
Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting
it. gained day on his journey only
because he had made the tour of the
world going to the east, and on the con-
tiary he would have lost day going in
, the contrary direction, that is, towards
| the ueSt.
Indeed, iourneying towards the east,
Phileas Fogg was going towards the
sun, and consequently the days became
as many tirues four minutes less for
him, as he crossed degrees in that di-
rection. Now there are three hundred
and sixty degrees to the carth's circum-
| ference, and these three hundred and
sixty degrees, multiplied by four min
utes, give precisely twenty-four hours
that is to say, the day unconsciously
gained. In other words, while Phileas
Fogg, travelling towards the east. saw
the sun pass the meridian eighty times,
his colleagues, remaining in London,
saw it pass only serertg-ni,le times
Therefore, this very day, which was
Saturday, and not Sunday, as Mr.. Fogg
! thought, his friends were waiting for
him in the saloon of the Reform Club.
And Passepartout's famous watch,
which had always kept London time,
would have shown this, if it had indi-
Gated the days, as well as the minutes
and hours!
Phileas Fogg, then, had won the
twenty Thousand pounds. But as he
spent in his journey about nineteen
| thousand, the pecuniary result was
| small. However, as has been said, the
eccentric gentleman had sought in his
bet to gain the victory, and not to make
money. And even the Thousand pounds
remaining he divided between Passe-
partout and the unfortunate Fix,
against whom he could not cherish a
grudge. Only for the sake of exact
] ness, he retained from his servant the
cost of the gas burnt through his fault
for nineteen hundred and twenty hours.
This very evening Mr.. Fogg, as inn
| passible and phlegmatic as ever, said to
Mrs. Aouda:
This marriage is still agreeable to
your
Mr. Fogg," replied Mrs. Aouda,
sit is for me to ask you that question.
You were ruined; now you are rich -
Pardon me, madame; my fortune
belongs to you. If you had not thought
of the marriage, my servant would not
have gone to the house of Rev. Samuel
Wilson, would not have been APP
prised of my mistake, and ="
Dear Mr.. Fogg,' said the young
woman.
''Dear Aouda," replied Phileas Fogg
1t is really understood that the mar
rage took place forts eight hours later,
and Passepartout, superb, Respondent,
dazzling, was present as the young
woman's witness. Had he not saved
her, and did they not owe him that
honor?
AT daylight the next morning Passe-
partout knocked noisily at his master 5
door.
The door opened. and the impossible
gentleman appeared.
What is the matter, PassepartoutP
Whats the matter sirl have just
found out this moment"
Whai?'
"That we could make the tour of the
world in seventy-eight days"
doubtless, S." replied Mr.. Fogg, "by
not crossing India, But if | had moi
crossed India, | would not have saved
Mrs. Aouda, she would not be my wife
; and"
And Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door
Thus Phileas Fogg won his bet. IL
eighty days he had accomplished thu
tour around the world! To do this ht
had employed every means of convey
ance. steamers, railways, carriages
yachts, merchant vessels, sledges, ele
plants. The eccentric gentleman haC
displayed in this affair his wonderful
qualities of GOODNESS and exactness.
But what them. What had he gained
by leaving homer What had he brough
back from his Journeys?
Nothing, do you say? Nothing, per
haps, but charming woman, who-im
probable as it may appear-made hin
the happiest of men!
Truly, would you not, for less thai
that, make the tour of the world?
THE END.