Around the World in 100 Days Read Online Free Page B

Hardiman repeated, gleefully. “Dr. Doyle, would you please make a note of all of this, for the record? Six thousand pounds. One hundred days.”
    â€œOne more thing,” said Sullivan. “We should clearly stipulate that the vehicle must go the entire distance under its own power—that is, not aboard a flatcar or a ship, or towed by horses.”
    â€œYou can hardly expect me to drive across the ocean,” said Harry. “Or across rivers.”
    â€œOf course not,” said Hardiman. “Let the record state, then, that you may ship the motorcar across any and all bodies of water, but otherwise the motorcar must travel under its own power. Agreed?”
    â€œAgreed.” Harry shook the hands of the three men in turn. “And now, if you will excuse me, I have quite a number of preparations to make.”
    As he left the library, he heard Hardiman say snidely to the others, “He needs to prepare himself all right—to lose this wager!”
    Harry’s heart was racing and he felt flushed and vibrant, the way he did after bowling a strenuous inning of cricket. “Go ahead and laugh, gentlemen,” he muttered under his breath. “The last laugh will be mine.”
    He was halfway down the stairs before a thought occurred to him that dampened his buoyant mood. If he was going to travel all the way around the world, he would need a certain amount of money for expenses—just how much money, he wasn’t sure. According to Harry’s mother, her husband had spent something on the order of ten thousand pounds in making his epic journey, but that was an extreme case. After all, in addition to paying for his passage and Passepartout’s, Fogg had purchased a whole ship, not to mention an entire elephant.
    Harry’s expenses would be far more modest. Fuel was no problem; the Flash would burn nearly anything, from kerosene to wood chips. Nor was lodging; he could sleep in the car. But he would need food and steamship tickets and that sort of thing.
    Every cent of his own income had gone into building the Flash , and, though his mother had ample money for personal and household expenses, she had nothing put by.
    There was no option but to approach his father.

FOUR Showing that
    ALTHOUGH PHILEAS FOGG DOES NOT DRIVE A MOTORCAR, HE DOES DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN
    Of the twenty thousand pounds he had won as a result of his famous wager, Phileas Fogg had put five thousand into a trust fund for his son, where it had sat for nearly two decades, collecting three percent interest per annum. Harry himself couldn’t draw upon the fund until the age of twenty-one. But perhaps he could persuade his father to advance him a small portion of it.
    Harry would have been wise to wait until five-forty, when Phileas Fogg’s customary whist-playing time was over. But Harry was not known for his wisdom; he headed at once for the card room.
    His father was seated at a table with three other men, all of whom glanced up and greeted Harry. Phileas Fogg seemed oblivious of his presence. The man’s attention was entirely on the game. “Sir?” said Harry softly. There was no response. “Father? I need to talk to you.”
    â€œI’m listening,” said his father, without looking up from his cards. “Six diamonds.”
    â€œIt’s . . . it’s a private matter.”
    â€œIs it urgent?”
    â€œYes, sir.” Well, that was true, in a sense. After all, he had only a week in which to do everything.
    â€œWill you excuse me, gentlemen?” Fogg led his son to the private drawing room that adjoined the card room. “Is something wrong?”
    â€œNot exactly. You see ...” Whenever Harry was in a tight spot, he took the same approach he did in cricket: No use shilly-shallying, just deliver the ball and take what comes. “Well, sir, after you left, I bet Hardiman and his friends that I could drive the Flash around the world.”
    â€œThe