Missing the ship to England felt like a final, crushing blow. Phileas Fogg quickly checked the schedules for other passenger ships, but none of them could cross the ocean in time. His perfect plan seemed completely ruined.
Passepartout felt terrible. He was completely overwhelmed by guilt. He blamed himself for every mistake, every delay, and every wasted dollar on their long journey. He felt certain that his foolish actions had destroyed his master's fortune. But Mr. Fogg remained perfectly calm. He did not blame his servant at all. He simply led the group to a nearby hotel to rest for the night.
While Fogg slept peacefully, the others stayed awake, feeling extremely anxious about their impossible situation. It was now the morning of December 12th. Mr. Fogg had exactly nine days and a few hours left to reach his final stop in London. Every single minute was critical.
Leaving the others at the hotel, Mr. Fogg walked down to the busy harbor. He looked at the hundreds of ships resting in the water. Most of them were sailing boats, which were far too slow for his tight deadline. He desperately needed a steamship.
Just as he was about to give up hope, he noticed a ship called the Henrietta. Thick black smoke was rising from its chimney, showing that it was preparing to leave the harbor. Fogg immediately paid a small boat to row him out to the vessel.
On the wooden deck, he met the ship's commander, Captain Andrew Speedy. The captain was a loud, rough man with a red face and a very bad temper.
Mr. Fogg politely asked if the ship could take his group to Liverpool.
"No!" the captain shouted. He firmly explained that he was sailing to Bordeaux, France, and he absolutely refused to change his destination for anyone.
Mr. Fogg tried every possible solution. He offered to pay a huge price for a ticket. The captain refused. He offered to rent the entire ship. The captain refused. He even offered to completely purchase the ship. The stubborn captain still said no. For the first time on this long journey around the world, money was failing to solve Mr. Fogg's problems.
But Phileas Fogg never panicked. He quickly changed his strategy. If the captain was determined to go to France, then Fogg would go to France, too. He calmly asked if the captain would take four passengers to Bordeaux for the massive price of two thousand dollars each.
Captain Speedy scratched his head. Eight thousand dollars was an incredible amount of money. He usually hated having passengers on his ship, but this guaranteed profit was simply impossible to resist. Suddenly, these people looked like very valuable cargo. The captain quickly accepted the deal, but he warned Fogg that the ship was leaving in exactly thirty minutes.
With quiet speed, Mr. Fogg raced back to the hotel, collected Aouda, Passepartout, and Fix, and brought them straight back to the harbor. They climbed aboard the Henrietta just as the sailors were pulling up the heavy iron anchor.
When Passepartout heard how much this boat ride cost, he let out a long, painful groan. The massive price was terrible to imagine. Meanwhile, Detective Fix was secretly furious. He still believed Fogg was a bank robber, and he was watching Fogg spend all the stolen money. By the time they finally reached England, Fix worried there would be absolutely nothing left for the police to recover.