ten minutes
before nine
At that hour Phileas Fogg , having stimulated the engineer by the offer of a generous reward , at last set out towards London with Aouda and his faithful servant . It was necessary to make the journey in five hours and a half . This would have been easy on a clear road throughout . But there were forced delays , and when Mr. Fogg stepped from the train at the terminus , all the clocks in London were striking ten minutes before nine .1 Having made the tour of the world , he was behind time by five minutes . He had lost the wager ! 1 A somewhat remarkable eccentricity on the part of the London clocks ? Translator .