In the early 1900´s, a hard-working cat called Pusty works as a waiter in a gentleman´s club in London. The club caters the upper crust of London´s animal populace. An arrogant millionaire, Rumplehog, enters the club and demands to have his "special dinner" prepared at once. The club´s chef, Tumbo the hippopotamus, scrambles to prepare the bully´s meal, with Pusty and a Mouse helping.
While Rumplehog waits impatiently, he overhears a conversation at the next table, where three newspaper editors are discussing the latest claim: with all the remarkable advances in mass transportation over the past decade or so, a person could actually take a trip around the world in a mere 150 days!
Rumplehog scoffs at this ridiculous assertion, as Pusty enters with his meal. The mischievous Pusty suggests that a clever fellow might actually cut that time in half, and traverse the globe in a mere eighty days!
Rumplehog is thoroughly amused by this absurd claim, and wagers the cagey feline that if he could actually perform this impossible feat, he would give Pusty all his sizeable fortune! However, if the cat fails to return in time, he agrees to serve as Rumplehog´s personal slave, forever!..