Page:Around the World in Eighty Days (1873, Towle).pdf/388

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Chapter XXXII.
In Which Phileas Fogg Engages in a Direct Struggle With Bad Fortune.

The "China," in leaving, seemed to have carried off Phileas Fogg's last hope. None of the other steamers were able to serve his projects. The "Pereire," of the French Transatlantic Company, whose admirable steamers are equal to any in speed and comfort, did not leave until the 14th; the Hamburg boats did not go directly to Liverpool or London, but to Havre; and the additional trip from Havre to Southampton would render Phileas Fogg's last efforts of no avail. The Inman steamer did not depart till the next day, and could not cross the Atlantic in time to save the wager.

Mr. Fogg learned all this in consulting his "Bradshaw," which gave him the daily movements of the transatlantic steamers.

Passepartout was crushed; it overwhelmed him to lose