Chapter 32 Chapter Thirty-Three: Phileas Fogg Overcomes Difficulties

An hour later, the Henrietta passed the lightship at the mouth of the Hudson River, rounded Sandy Hook Point, and sailed out to sea.All day the steamer kept a certain distance from the warning signs on Long Island and Fire Island, and galloped swiftly eastward. The next day was December 13th, at noon, I saw a person walking on the bridge to measure the position.It was supposed to be Captain Spiti.But I didn't guess right at all.That was Phileas Fogg. As for the captain Spiti, he has been locked in the captain's cabin very safely, and the door is locked.He was yelling inside, almost mad with rage.

What happened was very simple.Phileas Fogg wanted to go to Liverpool, but the captain refused to go, so Phileas Fogg agreed to go to Bordeaux.During the thirty hours since he was on board, Fokker launched his sterling offensive very successfully.The crew on the ship, from the sailors to the fireman, were all unavoidably a little selfish and fraudulent, not to mention that they were at odds with the captain, so naturally they all sided with Fokker now.This explains why Phileas Fogg was commanding from Captain Spiti's seat, why Spiti was shut up in the captain's cabin, and why the Henrietta sailed for Liverpool.But it was evident from Mr. Fogg's handling of the ship that he must have been a seaman in the past.

The outcome of this matter will be discussed later.At this moment, although Lady Aouda did not say a word, she could not help worrying about Mr. Fogg; as for him, he had long been confused, and as for Passepartout, he thought it would be done. beautiful. Captain Spiti said that the Henrietta's speed was eleven or twelve knots, and she actually maintained that average speed. If—God only knows!Now there are so many "ifs"! —If the weather is not too bad, if there is no east wind, if there is no trouble in the ship, and the machine does not fail, the Henrietta will certainly cover the three thousand miles from New York to Liverpool in nine days from December 12th to 21st. sea ​​miles away.But, to tell the truth, once in England, the gentleman would have been very embarrassed if the case of the Fokker's capture of the Henrietta had been added to the case of the robbery from the Bank of England.

For the first few days, the Henrietta sailed very smoothly.The sea was calm and the southwest wind was blowing all the time. The Henrietta spread its sails and was propelled by two large sails at the front and rear masts. It was going exactly like a passenger ship crossing the Atlantic. Passepartout was overjoyed.His master's ingenuity delighted him almost too much.As for the consequences, he didn't even think about it.Never had the crew seen a boy so cheerful and lively as Passepartout.He was infinitely courteous to the sailors, and his somersault stunt surprised them even more.He kept talking nice things to them and buying them nice drinks.In order to live up to Passepartout's kindness, the sailors worked like gentlemen very seriously.The stokers stoked the fire like heroes in spite of fatigue.Passepartout's optimism infected everyone.At this time, he had forgotten all the troubles and dangers of the past.All he could think of was the destination he was about to reach.There were times when he was impatient, as if the boilers of the Henrietta were burning inside him.The good boy sometimes walked around Fix, looking at Fix as if he had a lot to talk to!But he said nothing, for there was now no friendship between the two old friends.

And Fix, indeed, was quite bewildered now!The Henrietta was robbed, her crew bought off, and this Fokker worked on board like an old sailor.This series of strange things made him feel like he was in a fog.He really didn't know what to think!But, at any rate, as this gentleman was able to steal fifty-five thousand pounds in the past, he can certainly rob a ship today.Therefore, Fix would naturally think that Fokker would never go to Liverpool if he took control of the Henrietta, but would only go to a certain place, and when he got there, the thief would turn into a pirate and be at large forever!It should be admitted that his guess was quite reasonable. The detective now felt extremely remorseful, regretting that he should have been on Fogg's pirate ship.As for Captain Spiti, he still lost his temper in his cabin; Passepartout took care of the captain's diet, and, in spite of the lad's obstinate character, he took care of the errand.Look at Mr. Fogg again. He doesn't seem to have thought that there is a captain on this boat.

On December 13, the ship passed near Xindi Island, which was difficult to navigate.Especially in winter, it is often filled with dense fog and fierce wind.Since last night, the mercury column on the barometer has dropped rapidly, indicating that the climate is about to change.On the night of the 13th, the weather turned colder, and the northwest wind also turned to the southeast. This is really "the fast boat meets the headwind".In order to keep the ship from leaving its original course, Mr. Fogg had to roll up the sails and increase the horsepower to move forward.In any event the speed of the voyage was always reduced by the changing weather of the sea.The billowing huge waves kept hitting the bow of the ship, and the hull of the ship bumped back and forth with the wind and waves, which greatly affected the forward speed.The sea wind was blowing more and more fiercely, and it was about to become a hurricane, and the Henrietta would be beaten to the ground by the waves.However, if you must sail to escape a hurricane, all possible misfortunes are unpredictable.

Passepartout's countenance became very melancholy as the weather darkened.For two days the honest lad had been in fear.However, Phileas Fogg is really a brave seaman, he is good at fighting with the sea, he has been commanding the ship, and he will not even slow down.Whenever a big wave came and the Henrietta was unable to rush up to the crest of the wave, she passed under the huge wave. The whole deck was washed by the sea water, but the ship passed it anyway.Sometimes, huge waves lifted the stern of the ship high like a mountain. At this time, the screw propeller was exposed to the water surface, and immediately idling violently, but the ship continued to move forward.

In fact, the gale was not as fierce as people expected.It wasn't a ninety mph hurricane this time.It's just a strong wind.But the bad thing is that the wind direction remains the same, it has been blowing from southeast to northwest, and the sails can't be used at all.Judging from the present and future situation, it shows that the machinery on board is in great need of the help of the sail! December 16th was the seventy-fifth day of Mr. Fogg's absence from London.On the whole the Henrietta has suffered no worrying delays.Half the voyage was almost done, and the most difficult places were past.Now if it is summer, then it can be said that success is in sight, but now it is winter, then it has to be at the mercy of this bad season.Passepartout said nothing, but he felt hopeful in his heart.He thought it was possible to rely on the machine even if there was no tailwind.However, on this day, the crew of the ship came to the deck to find Mr. Fogg, and he talked with Mr. Fogg excitedly for a long time.Passepartout did not know why, but it was probable that a presentiment made him feel unaccountably apprehensive.He really wanted to concentrate the hearing of both ears on one ear, so as to hear what they were talking about.After all, he still heard a few words, one of which was said by his master:

"Are you sure about what you just said?" "Of course, sir," replied the engineer, "you don't forget that all our boilers have been fully fired since we started the ship. If our coal fires are small enough to drive from New York to Bordeaux , then we wouldn't have enough coal to drive a fire from New York to Liverpool!" "Well, I'll think about it," replied Mr. Fogg. Now Passepartout understood, and he was very worried, because the coal was going to be burned up! "Hey! If my master can solve this problem," he said to himself, "he is a wonderful man!"

Passepartout met Fix, and he could not help telling him this. "Then," replied Fix, gnashing his teeth, "do you really think we're going to Liverpool?" "Of course!" "Fool!" said the detective, shrugging his shoulders and walking away. Passepartout was about to seriously ask Fix what "fool" meant. He really didn't know what Fix was referring to, but he thought to himself that this hapless Fix must be a fool now. Frustrated, he stupidly stared at a hypothetical Xiaoyu who circled the earth, and had to admit his mistake at the end, which must have dealt a great blow to his self-esteem.

What was Phileas Fogg going to do now?It's really hard to guess.However, it seems that this calm gentleman has figured out a way, because, on this very night, he called the driver and said to him: "Burn a big fire, drive forward at full speed, and wait for the coal to burn out." After a while, the Henrietta's chimney billowed black smoke again. The ship went on at top speed again.But, as the engineer had said, two days later, on the 18th of December, he informed Mr. Fogg that there was not enough coal for the day. "Don't put down the small fire," replied Mr. Fogg; "on the contrary, keep the fire going now, and don't stop the machine until the coals are gone." On this day, towards noon, Phileas Fogg, having measured the water and calculated the bearing of the ship, called Passepartout to fetch the captain, Spiti.The lad now seemed to be ordered to open a tiger cage.He went into the back cabin and said to himself: "Needless to say, this guy is going to throw a fit!" Sure enough, after a few minutes, I saw a person, yelling and cursing, jumping onto the rear deck like a bomb.This bomb is Captain Spiti.Apparently it was about to explode. "Where have we been?" he exclaimed angrily.This is his first sentence.To tell the truth, if this honest man fainted from a stroke with this energy, he would never come back to life. "Where have we been?" he repeated, his face purple with anger. "Seven hundred and seventy miles (three hundred leagues) from Liverpool," replied Mr. Fogg, with great composure. "Pirates!" cried Anjou Spiti. "Sir, I invite you here..." "You are a pirate!" "I have invited you," said Phileas Fogg, "to ask you to promise to sell me the ship." "Don't sell it, go to hell with you, I won't sell it!" "Because I'm going to burn it." "What? Burn my boat!?" "Yeah, at least burn the gear on board, because there's no more coal now." "Ah! Burn my ship?" cried Captain Spiti, who was too angry to speak. "My boat is worth fifty thousand dollars (250,000 francs)!" "Here, here is sixty thousand dollars (three hundred thousand francs)!" replied Phileas Fogg, handing the captain a wad of notes. Mr. Fogg's hand had an incomparable effect on Anchen Speedy.No American would be unmoved by the sight of $60,000.In the blink of an eye the captain forgot his anger, his confinement for several days, and his resentment against Mr. Fogg.His boat has been used for twenty years, such a good deal! ... This bomb will never explode again, because Mr. Fogg has pulled the detonator. "Then you can leave me the iron hull." The captain said in a very gentle tone. "I leave you the iron hull and machinery, sir. Are we done?" "It's done." Anjou Spiti grabbed the wad of banknotes, counted them, and pocketed them. Passepartout turned pale with fright at the sight.Fix just barely missed fainting.Falk had spent almost £20,000 so far.But this Fokker also gave the captain the iron hull and machinery for free, that is to say, he gave him almost the entire price of a ship for free!To be honest, he didn't care, because the total amount of money he had stolen from the bank was fifty-five thousand pounds! After Anjou Spiti had pocketed the bill, Mr. Fogg said: "Sir, don't be surprised by this. You know that if I don't get back to London by 8.45pm on December 21st, I'll lose £20,000. I missed the boat in New York." , and you won't send me to Liverpool..." "I'm quite satisfied with this business too," Anjou Spiti said loudly, "I can make at least forty thousand dollars out of fifty thousand dollars." Then he said emphatically: "Tell you, I feel now... oh, I forgot, what's your last name, Captain?" "Fork." "By the way, Captain Fokker, I think you are a bit of a beggar." After thus saying a few self-righteous compliments to Fogg, Spiti walked away.But now Phileas Fogg asked him again: "Now this boat is mine?" "Of course, of course, it's a deal, from top to bottom, all the firewood is yours!" "Okay, please ask someone to smash all the furniture, doors and windows in the cabin first, and burn the boiler." So the crew burned the dry wood according to the needs of the machine horsepower.That same day, the poop, studios, cabins, crew quarters, and lower decks were all burned up. The next day was December 19th, and the masts, riggings, and all spare timber were burned again.The sails were all down, too, and smashed with axes.The crew members were extremely active in their work.Lulu hacked with a knife, chopped with an axe, and pulled with a saw. He did the work of ten people by himself.It's just a frenzy of destruction. On the third day, December 20, the bulwarks, baffles, and other wooden fittings above the draft, and a large part of the deck, were burnt up.The Henrietta was now a bare barge.On this very day the Irish coast and the lighthouses of Fastnet were in sight.But it was not until ten o'clock in the evening that the Henrietta passed Queenstown.Only twenty-four hours remained before Phileas Fogg's scheduled arrival in London.Now is the time when the Henrietta needs to reach Liverpool as quickly as possible.But there was not enough steam in the boiler to satisfy the bold gentleman's wishes. "Sir," said Captain Speedy, now at last beginning to worry about Fogg too, to Mr. Fogg, "I am so sorry for you. Everything is against you! We are only now in Queenstown. the sea." "Oh!" said Mr. Fogg, "is the light ahead Queenstown?" "yes." "Can we get into port?" "You have to wait at least three hours, and you can only drive in when the tide is high." "Then wait!" replied Phileas Fogg quietly.At this time, there was a very inspiration that prompted him to overcome the current difficulties again!But there was nothing unusual on his face. Queenstown is a port on the coast of Ireland.Ships from the United States across the Atlantic to Europe unload their mail when they pass here, and from here they can be sent by express train to Dublin at any time, and from Dublin to Liverpool by express ship, which is cheaper than the fastest ship of the shipping company. Twelve hours sooner.Thus the mail from America saved twelve hours.Phileas Fogg wanted to do the same today.Originally, he would arrive in Liverpool tomorrow night on the Henrietta, but now he can arrive at noon tomorrow, so he will have time to reach London before 8:45 tomorrow night. At one o'clock in the morning the Henrietta sailed into the harbor of Queenstown on high tide.Captain Spiti warmly shook hands with Phileas Fogg as farewell.Mr Fogg left the captain on his bare iron hull.In fact, the bare boat is still worth thirty thousand dollars. The four passengers immediately disembarked and disembarked.At this time Fix really wanted to arrest Fogg, but he didn't do it!why?What kind of ideological struggle was going on in his mind?Was he now on the side of Mr. Fogg?Does he know now that he made a mistake?In any case, Fix would not give up on Mr. Fogg.He followed him, followed Lady Aouda, followed Passepartout who was too busy to catch his breath.Fix followed them onto the Queenstown train at half past one.Arrived in Dublin at dawn, and immediately boarded the ferry steamer.The ferries here come and go as fast as steel shuttles. These ships are full of mechanical equipment. They speed nonchalantly over the waves and cross the Irish Channel with light and steady posture. On December 21st, at eleven forty, Phileas Fogg finally arrived at Liverpool's docks.It only takes six hours to get to London. But at this moment, Fix came over, grabbed Fogg's shoulder with one hand, and took out the arrest warrant with the other: "Are you really Mr. Phileas Fogg?" he asked Phileas Fogg. "Yes, sir." "On behalf of the Queen's Government, I inform you that you are under arrest!"