The Wager

En el Reform Club Phileas Fogg discute con sus amigos sobre un artículo del Daily Telegraph que señala que con la apertura de una nueva vía en India será posible viajar alrededor del mundo en 80 días. De La vuelta al mundo en 80 días, de Julio Verne…

"I would wager four thousand pounds that such a journey, made under these conditions, is impossible."

"Quite possible, on the contrary," returned Mr. Fogg.

"Well, make it, then!"

"The journey round the world in eighty days?"

"Yes."

"I should like nothing better."

"When?"

"At once. Only I warn you that I shall do it at your expense."…

New Daily Telegraph, 1882

"Well, Mr. Fogg," said he, "it shall be so: I will wager the four thousand on it."

"Calm yourself, my dear Stuart," said Fallentin. "It's only a joke."

"When I say I'll wager," returned Stuart, "I mean it."

"All right," said Mr. Fogg; and, turning to the others, he continued: "I have a deposit of twenty thousand at Baring's which I will willingly risk upon it."

"Twenty thousand pounds!" cried Sullivan. "Twenty thousand pounds, which you would lose by a single accidental delay!"

"The unexpected does not exist," quietly replied Phileas Fogg.

"But, Mr. Fogg, eighty days are only the estimate of the least possible time in which the journey can be made."

"A well-used minimum suffices for everything."

"But, in order not to exceed it, you must jump mathematically from the trains upon the steamers, and from the steamers upon the trains again."

"I will jump—mathematically."

"You are joking."

"A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a thing as a wager," replied Phileas Fogg, solemnly. "I will bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone who wishes that I will make the tour of the world in eighty days or less; in nineteen hundred and twenty hours, or a hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred minutes. Do you accept?"

"We accept," replied Messrs. Stuart, Fallentin, Sullivan, Flanagan, and Ralph, after consulting each other.

"Good," said Mr. Fogg. "The train leaves for Dover at a quarter before nine. I will take it."

"This very evening?" asked Stuart.

"This very evening," returned Phileas Fogg. He took out and consulted a pocket almanac, and added, "As today is Wednesday, the 2nd of October, I shall be due in London in this very room of the Reform Club, on Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine p.m.; or else the twenty thousand pounds, now deposited in my name at Baring's, will belong to you, in fact and in right, gentlemen. Here is a cheque for the amount."

A memorandum of the wager was at once drawn up and signed by the six parties, during which Phileas Fogg preserved a stoical composure… (Adaptado de La vuelta al mundo en 80 días, de Julio Verne)

Vocabulario

Wager: a bet (una apuesta)

Daily Telegraph: The Daily Telegraph and Courier fue fundado por Arthur B. Sleigh en junio de 1855 para sacar a luz un ofensa personal contra el futuro comandante en jefe de la armada británica, el príncipe George. Joseph Levy, dueño de The Sunday Times, accedió a imprimir el periódico, y la primera edición fue publicada en 1855. El diario tenía 4 páginas. No tuvo éxito y Sleigh no pudo pagar la factura a Levy. Levy se apoderó del diario, tratando de producir un diario más barato para competir con The Daily News y The Morning Post.