forty-five minutes past eight in the evening
`` All the better , '' was Fogg 's reply . `` You wo n't forget when you have to come back , '' observed Stuart . `` In eighty days , '' replied Mr. Fogg . `` On Saturday , the 21st day of December , 1872 , at forty-five minutes past eight in the evening . _ Au revoir _ , gentlemen . '' At twenty minutes to nine Phileas Fogg and his servant took their places in the train . At 8.45 the engine whistled and the train started .