Around the World in Eighty Days, Part 2: The Detective

43:28 Chapter V: In which a new stock appears on the London market

43:28 Chapter Five. In which a new stock appears on the London market.

43:34 When he left London, Phileas Fogg had, no doubt, very little suspicion of the great stir that his departure was about to cause. The news of the wager spread first through the Reform Club, and produced a real commotion among the members of that honourable circle.

43:52 Then from the club the commotion passed to the newspapers by way of the reporters, and from the newspapers to the public of London and of the whole United Kingdom.

44:03 This 'round-the-world question' was commented on, argued over and dissected with as much passion and ardour as if it had been a new Alabama affair. Some took Phileas Fogg's part; others—and they soon made up a considerable majority—declared against him.

44:20 To go round the world otherwise than in theory and on paper, in this minimum of time, with the means of communication now in use, was not merely impossible; it was madness!

44:33 The Times, the Standard, the Evening Star, the Morning Chronicle and twenty other papers of wide circulation declared against Mr. Fogg. The Daily Telegraph alone supported him, to a certain extent.

44:47 Phileas Fogg was generally called a maniac, a madman, and his fellow members of the Reform Club were blamed for having taken up a wager which betrayed a weakening in the mental faculties of the man who proposed it.

45:02 Extremely heated, but logical, articles appeared on the question. Everyone knows the interest that is taken in England in everything to do with geography. So there was not a reader, of whatever class, who did not devour the columns devoted to the case of Phileas Fogg.

45:20 During the first few days some bold spirits—women, chiefly—were for him, especially after the Illustrated London News had published his portrait, taken from his photograph lodged in the archives of the Reform Club.

45:35 Certain gentlemen dared to say:

45:37 Well, well! Why not, after all? Stranger things have been seen!

45:43 They were mostly readers of the Daily Telegraph. But it was soon felt that this paper itself was beginning to waver.

45:51 And indeed, on the seventh of October, a long article appeared in the Bulletin of the Royal Geographical Society. It treated the question from every point of view, and demonstrated clearly the folly of the enterprise.

46:05 According to this article, everything was against the traveller: the obstacles of man, the obstacles of nature. To succeed in this project, one had to suppose a miraculous agreement between the hours of departure and arrival, an agreement which did not exist, which could not exist.

46:26 At a pinch, and in Europe, where the distances to be covered are relatively modest, one may count on trains arriving at fixed times; but when they take three days to cross India and seven days to cross the United States, could the elements of such a problem be founded on their punctuality?

46:44 And engine failures, derailments, collisions, bad weather, the piling up of snow—was not everything against Phileas Fogg? On the steamers, would he not find himself, in winter, at the mercy of gales or fogs? Is it so rare, then, for the fastest ships on the ocean lines to suffer delays of two or three days?

47:07 Now, one delay, a single one, would be enough to break the chain of connections beyond repair. If Phileas Fogg missed the departure of a steamer, were it only by a few hours, he would be forced to wait for the next steamer, and by that very fact his journey would be irrevocably compromised.

47:29 The article made a great noise. Almost all the newspapers reprinted it, and Phileas Fogg's shares fell remarkably.

47:38 In the first days after the gentleman's departure, large transactions had been entered into on the 'hazard' of his enterprise. Everyone knows what the world of betting men is in England: a world more intelligent and of a higher tone than that of the gamblers. Betting is in the English temperament.

47:56 So not only did the various members of the Reform Club lay considerable bets for or against Phileas Fogg, but the mass of the public joined in the movement. Phileas Fogg was entered, like a racehorse, in a kind of stud-book. He was also made into a stock, which was at once quoted on the London market.

48:18 'Phileas Fogg' was asked for and offered, firm or on option, and an enormous business was done. But five days after his departure, after the article in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society, offers began to pour in. Phileas Fogg fell. He was offered in parcels.

48:39 Taken at first at five to one, then at ten, he soon found takers only at twenty, at fifty, at a hundred!

48:47 Only one supporter remained to him. This was the old invalid, Lord Albermale.

48:54 The honourable gentleman, confined to his armchair, would have given his fortune to be able to go round the world, even in ten years!—and he wagered five thousand pounds—one hundred thousand francs—on Phileas Fogg.

49:09 And when people demonstrated to him the uselessness of the project, along with its foolishness, he merely replied:

49:16 Lord Albemarle: If the thing can be done, it is well that an Englishman should be the first to have done it!

49:23 Matters, then, stood thus: Phileas Fogg's supporters were growing ever fewer; everyone, and not without reason, was turning against him; he was taken now only at a hundred and fifty, at two hundred to one; when, seven days after his departure, a wholly unexpected incident meant that he was not taken at all.

49:47 For on that day, at nine o'clock in the evening, the chief of the Metropolitan Police had received a telegraphic dispatch worded as follows:

49:57 Fix: Suez to London.

49:59 Fix: Rowan, Chief of Police, Central Administration, Scotland Yard.

50:03 Fix: Am shadowing Bank robber, Phileas Fogg. Send warrant of arrest without delay to Bombay, British India.

50:10 Fix: Fix, Detective.

50:13 The effect of this dispatch was immediate.

50:15 The honourable gentleman vanished, to make way for the thief of the bank-notes.

50:21 His photograph, kept at the Reform Club with those of all his fellow members, was examined. It reproduced, feature for feature, the man whose description had been furnished by the inquiry.

50:38 People recalled all that was mysterious in Phileas Fogg's existence, his solitude, his sudden departure; and it seemed evident that this personage, using a journey round the world as his pretext and backing it with a senseless wager, had had no other aim than to throw the agents of the English police off his track.

50:59 Chapter VI: In which Fix, the detective, shows a very natural impatience

51:03 Chapter Six. In which Fix, the detective, shows a very natural impatience.

51:10 Here are the circumstances in which this dispatch concerning the said Phileas Fogg had been sent.

51:17 On Wednesday, the ninth of October, the Mongolia, of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, was expected at Suez at eleven o'clock in the morning: an iron screw steamer with a spar-deck, of two thousand eight hundred tons burden and five hundred nominal horse-power.

51:35 The Mongolia ran regularly between Brindisi and Bombay by way of the Suez Canal. She was one of the Company's fastest ships, and she had always bettered the regulation speeds, which were ten miles an hour between Brindisi and Suez, and nine miles and fifty-three hundredths between Suez and Bombay.

51:55 While they waited for the Mongolia to arrive, two men were walking up and down the quay amid the crowd of townspeople and strangers who throng into this town—until lately a mere village—to which the great work of Monsieur de Lesseps assures a considerable future.

52:13 Of these two men, one was the consular agent of the United Kingdom stationed at Suez,

52:19 who—in spite of the gloomy forecasts of the British Government and the sinister predictions of the engineer Stephenson—saw English ships pass through this canal every day, thus cutting by half the old route from England to India round the Cape of Good Hope.

52:36 The other was a small, thin man with a fairly intelligent face, a nervous man, who knitted his brows with remarkable persistence. Through his long lashes there shone a very keen eye, whose fire, however, he knew how to put out at will.

52:53 At this moment he was showing certain signs of impatience, coming and going, unable to keep still.

53:00 This man's name was Fix, and he was one of those 'detectives', or English police agents, who had been sent to the various ports after the robbery committed at the Bank of England.

53:13 This Fix was to watch with the greatest care every traveller taking the Suez route and, if one of them seemed suspicious, to 'shadow' him while waiting for a warrant of arrest.

53:25 Two days before, as it happened, Fix had received from the chief of the Metropolitan Police the description of the presumed perpetrator of the robbery. It was that of the distinguished, well-dressed personage who had been observed in the paying-room of the Bank.

53:42 The detective, evidently much tempted by the large reward promised in case of success, was therefore awaiting the arrival of the Mongolia with an impatience easy to understand.

53:54 Fix: And you say, Consul,

53:55 he asked for the tenth time,

53:58 Fix: that this boat cannot be long now?

54:00 the British consul at Suez: No, Mr. Fix. She was signalled yesterday off Port Said, and the hundred and sixty kilometres of the canal are nothing to a ship of her speed. I tell you again, the Mongolia has always won the premium of twenty-five pounds which the Government grants for every twenty-four hours gained on the regulation times.

54:20 Fix: Does this steamer come straight from Brindisi?

54:23 the British consul at Suez: From Brindisi itself, where she took on the India mail; from Brindisi, which she left on Saturday at five in the evening. So be patient; she cannot be long in arriving.

54:33 the British consul at Suez: But I really do not see how, with the description you have received, you will be able to recognise your man, if he is on board the Mongolia.

54:41 Fix: Consul, one smells people of that sort rather than recognises them. You must have a nose for it, and a nose is a kind of special sense to which hearing, sight and smell all contribute.

54:53 Fix: I have arrested more than one of these gentlemen in my time, and provided my thief is on board, I answer for it that he will not slip through my fingers.

55:02 the British consul at Suez: I hope so, Mr. Fix, for this is a robbery of some size.

55:06 Fix: A magnificent robbery. Fifty-five thousand pounds! We don't often get such windfalls! Thieves are growing paltry! The breed of the Sheppards is dwindling away! Nowadays men get themselves hanged for a few shillings!

55:22 the British consul at Suez: Mr. Fix, you speak in such a manner that I heartily wish you success; but, I repeat, in the circumstances you are in, I fear it will be difficult.

55:32 the British consul at Suez: You do realise that, according to the description you have received, this thief looks exactly like an honest man.

55:40 Fix: Consul, great thieves always look like honest people. You will readily understand that those who have rascals' faces have only one course open to them, and that is to stay honest; otherwise they would get themselves arrested.

55:54 Fix: It is the honest faces, above all, that one must look hard at. Difficult work, I grant you, and no longer a trade but an art.

56:03 It will be seen that the said Fix was not lacking in a certain dose of self-esteem.

56:10 Meanwhile the quay was gradually coming to life. Sailors of various nationalities, merchants, brokers, porters and fellahs were flocking to it. The steamer's arrival was evidently near.

56:24 The weather was fairly fine, but the air was cold, with the wind in the east. A few minarets stood out above the town in the pale rays of the sun. Towards the south, a jetty two thousand metres long stretched like an arm across the roadstead of Suez.

56:43 On the surface of the Red Sea rolled a number of fishing boats and coasting vessels, some of which have kept in their lines the elegant build of the ancient galley.

56:53 As he moved about among these people, Fix, from a habit of his profession, scanned the passers-by with a rapid glance.

57:01 It was then half past ten.

57:05 Fix: But this steamer will never get here!

57:08 he exclaimed, hearing the harbour clock strike.

57:11 the British consul at Suez: She cannot be far off.

57:13 Fix: How long will she stop at Suez?

57:16 the British consul at Suez: Four hours. Time enough to take on her coal. From Suez to Aden, at the far end of the Red Sea, is reckoned thirteen hundred and ten miles, and she must lay in a supply of fuel.

57:26 Fix: And from Suez this ship goes straight to Bombay?

57:30 the British consul at Suez: Straight there, without breaking bulk.

57:32 Fix: Well, then, if the thief has taken this route and this boat, his plan must be to land at Suez, so as to reach the Dutch or French possessions in Asia by some other way. He must know very well that he would not be safe in India, which is English soil.

57:47 the British consul at Suez: Unless he is a very clever man. As you know, an English criminal is always better hidden in London than he would be abroad.

57:55 With this reflection, which gave the detective a great deal to reflect on, the consul went back to his offices, which were a short distance away.

58:04 The police inspector remained alone, in the grip of a nervous impatience, with the rather odd presentiment that his thief must be on board the Mongolia.

58:15 And in truth, if the rascal had left England meaning to reach the New World, the route by way of India, less closely watched, or harder to watch, than the Atlantic route, must have had his preference.

58:29 Fix was not left long to his reflections. Sharp blasts of a whistle announced the arrival of the steamer.

58:37 The whole throng of porters and fellahs rushed down to the quay in a tumult somewhat alarming for the limbs and the clothes of the passengers. Some ten boats pushed off from the shore and went out to meet the Mongolia.

58:51 Soon the gigantic hull of the Mongolia was seen passing between the banks of the canal, and eleven o'clock was striking when the steamer came to anchor in the roads, while her steam escaped with a great noise through the exhaust pipes.

59:06 There were a good many passengers on board. Some stayed on the spar-deck to gaze at the picturesque panorama of the town; but most of them landed in the boats which had come alongside the Mongolia.

59:20 Fix scrupulously examined everyone who set foot on shore.

59:25 At that moment one of them came up to him, after vigorously pushing away the fellahs who were besieging him with offers of service, and asked him very politely whether he could show him the way to the offices of the English consular agent.

59:39 And at the same time this passenger held out a passport on which, no doubt, he wished to have the British visa stamped.

59:47 Fix instinctively took the passport and, with a rapid glance, read the description on it.

59:53 He was very nearly betrayed into an involuntary start. The sheet trembled in his hand. The description written out on the passport was identical with the one he had received from the chief of the Metropolitan Police.

1:00:07 Fix: This passport is not yours?

1:00:09 Jean Passepartout: No, it's my master's passport.

1:00:12 Fix: And your master?

1:00:14 Jean Passepartout: He has stayed on board.

1:00:15 Fix: But he must present himself in person at the consul's offices, to establish his identity.

1:00:21 Jean Passepartout: What! Is that necessary?

1:00:23 Fix: Indispensable.

1:00:25 Jean Passepartout: And where are these offices?

1:00:27 Fix: There, at the corner of the square,

1:00:29 replied the inspector, pointing to a house two hundred paces away.

1:00:34 Jean Passepartout: Then I'll go and fetch my master, though he won't much like being put to the trouble!

1:00:39 Whereupon the passenger bowed to Fix and went back on board the steamer.

1:00:44 Chapter VII: Which shows once again the uselessness of passports in police matters

1:00:49 Chapter Seven. Which shows once again the uselessness of passports in police matters.

1:00:56 The inspector went back down to the quay and made his way quickly to the consul's offices. At his urgent request he was at once shown in to that official.

1:01:06 Fix: Consul,

1:01:07 he said without further preamble,

1:01:10 Fix: I have strong reasons for believing that our man has taken passage on board the Mongolia.

1:01:15 And Fix related what had passed between the servant and himself on the subject of the passport.

1:01:21 the British consul at Suez: Very well, Mr. Fix,

1:01:23 replied the consul,

1:01:25 the British consul at Suez: I should not be sorry to see this rascal's face. But perhaps he will not present himself at my office, if he is what you suppose. A thief does not care to leave traces of his passage behind him; and besides, the formality of passports is no longer compulsory.

1:01:41 Fix: Consul,

1:01:41 replied the detective,

1:01:43 Fix: if he is as clever a man as we must suppose, he will come!

1:01:47 the British consul at Suez: To have his passport stamped?

1:01:49 Fix: Yes. Passports are never any use except to annoy honest folk and help rascals to get away. I assure you this one will be in order; but I do hope you will not put your visa on it…

1:02:02 the British consul at Suez: And why not? If the passport is in order,

1:02:05 replied the consul,

1:02:07 the British consul at Suez: I have no right to refuse my visa.

1:02:09 Fix: But, Consul, I simply must keep this man here until I have received a warrant of arrest from London.

1:02:15 the British consul at Suez: Ah, that, Mr. Fix, is your affair,

1:02:18 replied the consul,

1:02:20 the British consul at Suez: but for my part I cannot…

1:02:22 The consul did not finish his sentence.

1:02:26 At that moment there was a knock at the door of his private room, and the office clerk showed in two strangers, one of whom was the very servant who had talked with the detective.

1:02:37 They were, in fact, the master and the man. The master presented his passport, laconically asking the consul to be so good as to put his visa on it.

1:02:48 The consul took the passport and read it attentively, while Fix, in a corner of the room, watched the stranger, or rather devoured him with his eyes.

1:02:59 When the consul had finished reading:

1:03:02 the British consul at Suez: You are Phileas Fogg, Esquire?

1:03:04 Phileas Fogg: Yes, sir.

1:03:05 the British consul at Suez: And this man is your servant?

1:03:07 Phileas Fogg: Yes. A Frenchman named Passepartout.

1:03:11 the British consul at Suez: You have come from London?

1:03:12 Phileas Fogg: Yes.

1:03:13 the British consul at Suez: And you are going?

1:03:15 Phileas Fogg: To Bombay.

1:03:16 the British consul at Suez: Very good, sir. You know that this formality of the visa is useless, and that we no longer require passports to be shown?

1:03:23 Phileas Fogg: I know that, sir,

1:03:24 replied Phileas Fogg,

1:03:26 Phileas Fogg: but I wish to have my passage through Suez attested by your visa.

1:03:30 the British consul at Suez: Very well, sir.

1:03:32 And the consul, having signed and dated the passport, affixed his seal to it. Mr. Fogg paid the visa fee and, after a cold bow, went out, followed by his servant.

1:03:45 Fix: Well?

1:03:46 the British consul at Suez: Well,

1:03:48 replied the consul,

1:03:50 the British consul at Suez: he looks a perfectly honest man!

1:03:53 Fix: Possibly,

1:03:54 replied Fix,

1:03:55 Fix: but that is not the point. Do you not find, Consul, that this phlegmatic gentleman resembles, feature for feature, the thief whose description I have received?

1:04:05 the British consul at Suez: I grant you that, but, as you know, all descriptions…

1:04:10 Fix: I mean to get to the bottom of it,

1:04:12 replied Fix.

1:04:13 Fix: The servant strikes me as less of a riddle than the master. What is more, he's a Frenchman, and he won't be able to hold his tongue. I'll see you again soon, Consul.

1:04:23 So saying, the detective went out and set off in search of Passepartout.

1:04:29 Meanwhile Mr. Fogg, on leaving the consulate, had made his way to the quay. There he gave his servant a few orders; then he got into a boat, returned on board the Mongolia and went back to his cabin. He then took out his notebook, in which were written the following memoranda:

1:04:47 Phileas Fogg: Left London, Wednesday, the second of October, eight forty-five in the evening.

1:04:53 Phileas Fogg: Arrived Paris, Thursday, the third of October, seven twenty in the morning.

1:04:58 Phileas Fogg: Left Paris, Thursday, eight forty in the morning.

1:05:02 Phileas Fogg: Arrived Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday, the fourth of October, six thirty-five in the morning.

1:05:08 Phileas Fogg: Left Turin, Friday, seven twenty in the morning.

1:05:12 Phileas Fogg: Arrived Brindisi, Saturday, the fifth of October, four in the afternoon.

1:05:18 Phileas Fogg: Embarked on the Mongolia, Saturday, five in the afternoon.

1:05:22 Phileas Fogg: Arrived Suez, Wednesday, the ninth of October, eleven in the morning.

1:05:28 Phileas Fogg: Total of hours spent: one hundred and fifty-eight and a half; or, in days: six and a half days.

1:05:37 Mr. Fogg entered these dates in an itinerary laid out in columns, which showed—from the second of October to the twenty-first of December—the month, the day of the month, the day of the week, and the scheduled and the actual arrivals at each principal point:

1:05:53 Paris, Brindisi, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York, Liverpool, London.

1:06:07 It made it possible to reckon the time gained or the time lost at every stage of the journey.

1:06:13 This methodical itinerary thus took account of everything, and Mr. Fogg always knew whether he was ahead of time or behind it.

1:06:22 On that day, then, Wednesday, the ninth of October, he entered his arrival at Suez, which, agreeing as it did with the scheduled arrival, left him neither a gainer nor a loser.

1:06:35 Then he had luncheon served in his cabin. As for seeing the town, he never even thought of it, being of that breed of Englishmen who have their servants do the sightseeing in the countries they pass through.

1:06:48 Chapter VIII: In which Passepartout talks rather more, perhaps, than he should

1:06:53 Chapter Eight. In which Passepartout talks rather more, perhaps, than he should.

1:06:59 In a few moments Fix had caught up on the quay with Passepartout, who was strolling and gazing about him, not thinking himself, for his part, obliged to see nothing.

1:07:09 Fix: Well, my friend,

1:07:11 said Fix, coming up to him,

1:07:13 Fix: has your passport been stamped?

1:07:15 Jean Passepartout: Ah, it's you, monsieur,

1:07:17 replied the Frenchman.

1:07:18 Jean Passepartout: Much obliged. We are perfectly in order.

1:07:22 Fix: And... you are taking a look at the country?

1:07:25 Jean Passepartout: Yes, but we go so fast that I feel as if I were travelling in a dream. So this is Suez, is it?

1:07:32 Fix: This is Suez.

1:07:34 Jean Passepartout: In Egypt?

1:07:35 Fix: In Egypt, to be sure.

1:07:38 Jean Passepartout: And in Africa?

1:07:39 Fix: In Africa.

1:07:41 Jean Passepartout: In Africa! I can't believe it.

1:07:44 Jean Passepartout: Just imagine, monsieur, I fancied we were going no farther than Paris; and that famous capital I saw again only from twenty past seven in the morning till twenty to nine, between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de Lyon, through the windows of a cab and in pouring rain!

1:08:00 Jean Passepartout: I'm sorry for it! I should have liked to see Père-Lachaise again, and the circus on the Champs-Élysées!

1:08:06 Fix: You are in a great hurry, then?

1:08:08 asked the police inspector.

1:08:10 Jean Passepartout: Not me; it's my master. Which reminds me, I must buy some socks and shirts! We set off without trunks, with nothing but a carpet-bag.

1:08:19 Fix: I will take you to a bazaar where you will find everything you need.

1:08:23 Jean Passepartout: Monsieur, you really are too kind!…

1:08:26 And the two of them set off. Passepartout chattered on.

1:08:31 Jean Passepartout: Above all, I must take good care not to miss the boat!

1:08:35 Fix: You have plenty of time. It's only noon!

1:08:38 Passepartout pulled out his big watch.

1:08:41 Jean Passepartout: Noon? Come, come! It's nine fifty-two!

1:08:45 Fix: Your watch is slow.

1:08:47 Jean Passepartout: My watch! A family heirloom that came down from my great-grandfather! It's never five minutes out in a year. A true chronometer!

1:08:56 Fix: I see what it is. You have kept London time, which is about two hours behind Suez. You must take care to set your watch by the noon of each country.

1:09:06 Jean Passepartout: Me! Touch my watch!

1:09:09 cried Passepartout.

1:09:11 Jean Passepartout: Never!

1:09:12 Fix: Well, then, it will no longer agree with the sun.

1:09:15 Jean Passepartout: So much the worse for the sun, monsieur! It's the sun that will be wrong!

1:09:20 And the good fellow put his watch back in his fob with a magnificent gesture.

1:09:26 A few moments later Fix said to him:

1:09:29 Fix: So you left London in a hurry?

1:09:31 Jean Passepartout: I should think so! Last Wednesday, at eight in the evening, against all his habits, Mr. Fogg came home from his club, and three-quarters of an hour later we were off.

1:09:41 Fix: But where is he going, this master of yours?

1:09:44 Jean Passepartout: Straight on, always straight on! He's going round the world!

1:09:49 Fix: Round the world?

1:09:51 Jean Passepartout: Yes, in eighty days! A wager, he says; but, between ourselves, I don't believe a word of it. It wouldn't make common sense. There's something else behind it.

1:10:02 Fix: Ah! An eccentric, is he, this Mr. Fogg?

1:10:07 Jean Passepartout: So I believe.

1:10:08 Fix: He is rich, then?

1:10:10 Jean Passepartout: Evidently, and he has a tidy sum with him, in brand-new bank-notes! And he doesn't spare his money on the way! Why, he has promised the engineer of the Mongolia a handsome reward if we get to Bombay well ahead of time!

1:10:23 Fix: And have you known him long, this master of yours?

1:10:27 Jean Passepartout: Me? I entered his service on the very day we left.

1:10:31 It is easy to imagine the effect that these answers were bound to have on the police inspector's already overexcited mind.

1:10:39 This hurried departure from London so soon after the robbery, this large sum carried off, this haste to reach distant lands, this pretext of an eccentric wager—everything confirmed, and could not fail to confirm, Fix in his ideas.

1:10:56 He drew the Frenchman out still further, and became certain that the fellow knew nothing whatever about his master; that his master lived a solitary life in London; that he was said to be rich, though no one knew the source of his fortune; that he was an impenetrable man; and so on.

1:11:14 But at the same time Fix could take it as certain that Phileas Fogg was not landing at Suez, and that he really was going on to Bombay.

1:11:23 Jean Passepartout: Is it far, Bombay?

1:11:25 Fix: Fairly far. You still have some ten days at sea.

1:11:29 Jean Passepartout: And where do you take Bombay to be?

1:11:31 Fix: In India.

1:11:33 Jean Passepartout: In Asia?

1:11:34 Fix: Naturally.

1:11:36 Jean Passepartout: Diable! The thing is, I'll tell you… there's something that's worrying me… it's my burner!

1:11:43 Fix: What burner?

1:11:45 Jean Passepartout: My gas-burner, which I forgot to turn off, and which is burning at my expense.

1:11:51 Jean Passepartout: Now, I've worked out that it costs me two shillings every twenty-four hours, exactly sixpence more than I earn;

1:11:59 Jean Passepartout: and you understand that if the journey goes on at all long…

1:12:03 Did Fix understand the business of the gas?

1:12:06 It is hardly likely. He was no longer listening, and was making up his mind.

1:12:13 He and the Frenchman had reached the bazaar. Fix left his companion there to do his shopping, urged him not to miss the sailing of the Mongolia, and hurried back to the consular agent's offices.

1:12:25 Now that his conviction was settled, Fix had recovered all his composure.

1:12:31 Fix: Sir,

1:12:31 he said to the consul,

1:12:33 Fix: I have no doubt left. I have my man. He is passing himself off as an eccentric who wants to go round the world in eighty days.

1:12:41 the British consul at Suez: Then he's a sly one, and he means to come back to London after throwing the police of both continents off the scent!

1:12:48 Fix: We shall see.

1:12:50 the British consul at Suez: But are you not mistaken?

1:12:52 the consul asked once more.

1:12:54 Fix: I am not mistaken.

1:12:56 the British consul at Suez: Then why was this thief so set on having his passage through Suez certified by a visa?

1:13:02 Fix: Why?… I have no idea, Consul, but listen to me.

1:13:07 And in a few words he reported the salient points of his conversation with the servant of the said Fogg.

1:13:13 the British consul at Suez: Indeed, every presumption is against this man. And what are you going to do?

1:13:18 Fix: Send a dispatch to London with an urgent request for a warrant of arrest to be sent to me at Bombay; go aboard the Mongolia; shadow my thief all the way to India; and there, on English soil, accost him politely, with my warrant in my hand and my hand on his shoulder.

1:13:36 These words coolly spoken, the detective took leave of the consul and went to the telegraph office.

1:13:44 From there he sent the chief of the Metropolitan Police the dispatch that we already know.

1:13:50 A quarter of an hour later Fix, his light luggage in his hand—and well provided with money, it may be added—went aboard the Mongolia; and soon the swift steamer was speeding at full steam over the waters of the Red Sea.

1:14:05 Chapter IX: In which the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean prove propitious to the designs of Phileas Fogg

1:14:09 Chapter Nine. In which the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean prove propitious to the designs of Phileas Fogg.

1:14:17 The distance between Suez and Aden is exactly thirteen hundred and ten miles, and the Company's regulations allow its steamers a hundred and thirty-eight hours to cover it. The Mongolia, her fires vigorously stoked, was going at such a rate as to arrive ahead of the scheduled time.

1:14:36 Most of the passengers who had embarked at Brindisi—nearly all of them, in fact—were bound for India. Some were going to Bombay, others to Calcutta, but by way of Bombay; for since a railway has crossed the whole breadth of the Indian peninsula, it is no longer necessary to round the point of Ceylon.

1:14:56 Among these passengers of the Mongolia were various civil officials and officers of every rank.

1:15:03 Of the officers, some belonged to the British army proper; others commanded the sepoys, the Indian troops; all of them handsomely paid, even now that the Government has taken over the rights and the obligations of the old East India Company: second lieutenants at seven thousand francs, brigadiers at sixty thousand, generals at one hundred thousand.

1:15:26 The salaries of the civil officials are higher still. Mere assistants, on the lowest rung of the hierarchy, receive twelve thousand francs; judges, sixty thousand francs; presidents of courts, two hundred and fifty thousand francs; governors, three hundred thousand francs; and the Governor-General, more than six hundred thousand francs. Author's note.

1:15:51 Life on board the Mongolia was therefore pleasant, in this company of officials, among whom mingled a few young Englishmen who, with a million in their pockets, were going out to found trading-houses in distant parts. The purser, the Company's man of trust and the captain's equal on board, did things sumptuously.

1:16:12 At breakfast in the morning, at lunch at two, at dinner at half past five, at supper at eight, the tables groaned under dishes of fresh meat and side dishes supplied by the steamer's butcher's shop and pantries.

1:16:28 The lady passengers—there were a few—changed their dresses twice a day. There was music, and even dancing, when the sea allowed.

1:16:37 But the Red Sea is very capricious and too often rough, like all such long and narrow gulfs. When the wind blew from either the Asian or the African coast, the Mongolia, a long screw-driven spindle, caught broadside on, rolled frightfully.

1:16:56 The ladies would then disappear; the pianos fell silent; singing and dancing stopped together. And yet, in spite of the squalls, in spite of the swell, the steamer, driven by her powerful engine, ran on without delay towards the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb.

1:17:17 What was Phileas Fogg doing all this time?

1:17:20 One might suppose that, forever uneasy and anxious, he was preoccupied with changes of wind that might hinder the ship's progress, with the wild movements of the swell that threatened to cause an accident to the engine—

1:17:34 in short, with every possible damage which, by forcing the Mongolia to put into some port, would have endangered his journey?

1:17:42 Not in the least; or at any rate, if this gentleman thought of such eventualities, he let nothing of it appear. He was still the impassive man, the imperturbable member of the Reform Club, whom no incident or accident could take by surprise.

1:17:59 He seemed no more moved than the ship's chronometers. He was rarely seen on deck. He cared little to observe this Red Sea, so rich in memories, the stage of mankind's first historic scenes. He did not come up to identify the curious towns scattered along its shores, whose picturesque outlines sometimes stood out against the horizon.

1:18:23 He did not even dream of the dangers of this Arabian Gulf, of which the ancient historians, Strabo, Arrian, Artemidorus, Edrisi, always spoke with dread, and on which seafarers of old never ventured without first consecrating their voyage with propitiatory sacrifices.

1:18:43 What, then, was this eccentric doing, imprisoned in the Mongolia? First of all, he ate his four meals a day, without either rolling or pitching ever managing to upset so marvellously organised a machine. Then he played whist.

1:19:01 Yes! He had found partners as passionate about the game as himself: a collector of taxes on his way to his post at Goa; a clergyman, the Reverend Decimus Smith, returning to Bombay; and a brigadier-general of the English army, rejoining his corps at Benares.

1:19:19 These three passengers had the same passion for whist as Mr. Fogg, and they played for hours on end, no less silently than he.

1:19:28 As for Passepartout, seasickness had no hold on him. He occupied a cabin forward, and he too ate conscientiously. It must be said that, decidedly, this journey, made under such conditions, no longer displeased him.

1:19:45 He was making the best of it. Well fed, well lodged, he was seeing the world; and besides, he assured himself that the whole whim would come to an end at Bombay.

1:19:57 On the day after leaving Suez, the tenth of October, it was with a certain pleasure that he met on deck the obliging personage he had spoken to on landing in Egypt.

1:20:08 Jean Passepartout: If I am not mistaken,

1:20:10 he said, going up to him with his most amiable smile,

1:20:13 Jean Passepartout: it was you, monsieur, who so kindly acted as my guide at Suez?

1:20:18 Fix: Indeed, I recognise you! You are the servant of that eccentric Englishman…

1:20:23 Jean Passepartout: Exactly, monsieur…?

1:20:26 Fix: Fix.

1:20:27 Jean Passepartout: Monsieur Fix. Delighted to find you on board again. And where are you going?

1:20:32 Fix: Why, to Bombay, like you.

1:20:35 Jean Passepartout: Splendid! Have you made this voyage before?

1:20:38 Fix: Several times. I am an agent of the Peninsular Company.

1:20:42 Jean Passepartout: Then you know India?

1:20:44 Fix: Why… yes…

1:20:46 replied Fix, who did not wish to commit himself too far.

1:20:50 Jean Passepartout: And is it a curious place, this India?

1:20:53 Fix: Very curious! Mosques, minarets, temples, fakirs, pagodas, tigers, snakes, dancing girls! But I hope you will have time to see the country?

1:21:04 Jean Passepartout: I hope so, Monsieur Fix. You will understand that a man in his right mind can't be expected to spend his life jumping from a steamer into a train and from a train into a steamer, on the pretext of going round the world in eighty days!

1:21:18 Jean Passepartout: No. All these gymnastics will stop at Bombay, you may be sure of it.

1:21:23 Fix: And is Mr. Fogg keeping well?

1:21:26 asked Fix in the most natural tone.

1:21:29 Jean Passepartout: Very well, Monsieur Fix. And so am I, for that matter. I eat like an ogre who has been fasting. It's the sea air.

1:21:38 Fix: But your master—I never see him on deck.

1:21:41 Jean Passepartout: Never. He has no curiosity.

1:21:44 Fix: Do you know, Mr. Passepartout, this so-called journey in eighty days might well be a cover for some secret mission… a diplomatic mission, for instance!

1:21:55 Jean Passepartout: Ma foi, Monsieur Fix, I know nothing about it, I confess; and, at bottom, I wouldn't give half a crown to find out.

1:22:03 After this meeting Passepartout and Fix often chatted together. The police inspector was anxious to strike up an acquaintance with the servant of the said Fogg. It might be of use to him some day.

1:22:16 So he often treated him, in the Mongolia's bar-room, to a few glasses of whisky or pale ale, which the good fellow accepted without ceremony and even returned, so as not to be outdone—finding this Fix, moreover, a thoroughly decent gentleman.

1:22:34 Meanwhile the steamer was making rapid progress. On the thirteenth Mocha was sighted, appearing within its girdle of ruined walls, above which rose a few green date palms. Far off, in the mountains, stretched vast fields of coffee shrubs.

1:22:52 Passepartout was delighted to gaze on this famous town, and he even thought that, with its circular walls and a dismantled fort that stood out like a handle, it looked like an enormous demitasse.

1:23:05 During the following night the Mongolia passed through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, whose Arabic name means the Gate of Tears, and the next day, the fourteenth, she put in at Steamer Point, to the north-west of Aden harbour. It was there that she was to take on a fresh supply of fuel.

1:23:24 A grave and important business, this feeding of the steamers' furnaces at such distances from the centres of production. For the Peninsular Company alone it is an annual expense amounting to eight hundred thousand pounds—twenty million francs.

1:23:41 Depots have had to be set up in a number of ports, and in these distant seas coal comes to eighty francs a ton.

1:23:49 The Mongolia still had sixteen hundred and fifty miles to go before reaching Bombay, and she was to remain four hours at Steamer Point to fill her bunkers.

1:24:00 But this delay could in no way harm Phileas Fogg's programme. It had been allowed for. Besides, the Mongolia, instead of reaching Aden only on the morning of the fifteenth of October, was entering it on the evening of the fourteenth. That was a gain of fifteen hours.

1:24:19 Mr. Fogg and his servant went ashore. The gentleman wished to have a visa put on his passport. Fix followed him without being noticed. The formality of the visa accomplished, Phileas Fogg returned on board to resume his interrupted game.

1:24:36 Passepartout, for his part, strolled about as was his custom among the population of Somalis, Banians, Parsees, Jews, Arabs and Europeans who make up the twenty-five thousand inhabitants of Aden.

1:24:50 He admired the fortifications which make this town the Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean, and some magnificent cisterns on which English engineers were still at work, two thousand years after the engineers of King Solomon.

1:25:05 Jean Passepartout: Very curious, very curious!

1:25:08 said Passepartout to himself as he went back on board.

1:25:12 Jean Passepartout: I see that travelling is not without its uses, if one wants to see something new.

1:25:18 At six in the evening the Mongolia was threshing the waters of Aden harbour with the blades of her screw, and she was soon running out over the Indian Ocean. She was allowed a hundred and sixty-eight hours for the crossing from Aden to Bombay.

1:25:33 As it turned out, the Indian Ocean was kind to her. The wind held in the north-west. The sails came to the aid of the steam.

1:25:43 The ship, better steadied, rolled less. The lady passengers reappeared on deck in fresh dresses. The singing and dancing began again.

1:25:54 The voyage thus went forward in the best of conditions. Passepartout was enchanted with the agreeable companion that chance had provided for him in the person of Fix.

1:26:06 On Sunday, the twentieth of October, towards noon, the Indian coast was sighted. Two hours later the pilot came aboard the Mongolia. On the horizon a background of hills was outlined harmoniously against the sky. Soon the rows of palms that cover the city stood out sharply.

1:26:27 The steamer entered the roadstead formed by the islands of Salcette, Colaba, Elephanta and Butcher, and at half past four she came alongside the quays of Bombay.

1:26:40 Phileas Fogg was just finishing the thirty-third rubber of the day; and he and his partner, by a daring manoeuvre, took all thirteen tricks, ending this fine crossing with an admirable slam.

1:26:54 The Mongolia was not due at Bombay until the twenty-second of October. She had arrived on the twentieth. Since his departure from London, then, this was a gain of two days, which Phileas Fogg methodically entered in his itinerary, in the column of profits.