"What do you mean by 'used to be?' Has the world grown smaller, then?"
"Of course it has," replied Ralph. "I am of Mr. Fogg's opinion; the world has grown smaller, inasmuch as one can go round it ten times quicker than you could a hundred years ago. That is the reason why, in the present case, search will be more rapid, and render the escape of the thief easier."
"Your lead, Mr. Stuart," said Fogg.
But the incredulous Stuart was not convinced, and he again returned to the subject.
"I must say, Mr. Ralph," he continued, "that you have found an easy way that the world has grown smaller, because one now go round it in three months."
"In eighty days only," said Phileas Fogg.
"That is a fact, gentlemen," added John Sullivan. "You can make the tour of the world in eighty days, now that the section of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway is opened between Rothal and Allahabad, and here is the estimate made by The Morning Chronicle:
London to Suez, by Mont Cenis and Brindisi, Rail and Steamer . . . 7 days.
Suez to Bombay, by Steamer . . . 13 "
Bombay to Calcutta, by Rail . . . 3 "