Around the World in Eighty Days. Junior Deluxe Edition

  Chapter 24

  During Which Mr. Fogg and Party Cross the Pacific Ocean

  What happened when the pilot boat came in sight of Shanghai willbe easily guessed. The signals made by the Tankadere had beenseen by the captain of the Yokohama steamer, who, seeing the flagat half-mast, had directed his course towards the little craft.Phileas Fogg, after paying the stipulated price of his passage toJohn Bunsby, and rewarding that worthy with the additional sum offive hundred and fifty pounds, boarded the steamer with Aouda andFix; and they started at once for Nagasaki and Yokohama.

  They reached their destination on the morning of the 14th ofNovember. Phileas Fogg lost no time in going on board theCarnatic, where he learned, to Aouda's great delight--andperhaps to his own, though he betrayed no emotion--thatPassepartout, a Frenchman, had really arrived on her the daybefore.

  The San Francisco steamer was announced to leave that veryevening, and it became necessary to find Passepartout, ifpossible, without delay. Mr. Fogg applied in vain to the Frenchand English consuls, and, after wandering through the streets along time, began to despair of finding his missing servant.Chance, or perhaps a kind of presentiment, at last led him intothe Honorable Mr. Batulcar's theatre. He certainly would not haverecognized Passepartout in the eccentric mountebank's costume;but the latter, lying on his back, perceived his master in thegallery. He could not help starting, which so changed theposition of his nose as to bring the "pyramid" pell-mell upon thestage.

  All this Passepartout learned from Aouda, who told him what hadtaken place on the voyage from Hong Kong to Shanghai on theTankadere, in company with one Mr. Fix.

  Passepartout did not change countenance on hearing this name. Hethought that the time had not yet arrived to divulge to hismaster what had taken place between the detective and himself. Inthe account he gave of his absence, he simply excused himself forhaving become drunk smoking opium at a tavern in Hong Kong.

  Mr. Fogg heard this narrative coldly, without a word. Then hefurnished his man with funds necessary to obtain clothing more inharmony with his position. Within an hour the Frenchman had cutoff his nose and parted with his wings, and retained nothingabout him which recalled the sectary of the god Tingou.

  The steamer which was about to depart from Yokohama to SanFrancisco belonged to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, andwas named the General Grant. She was a large paddle-wheel steamerof two thousand five hundred tons, well-equipped and very fast.The massive walking-beam rose and fell above the deck. At one enda piston-rod worked up and down. At the other was aconnecting-rod which, in changing the rectilinear motion to acircular one, was directly connected with the shaft of thepaddles. The General Grant was rigged with three masts, giving alarge capacity for sails, and thus materially aiding the steampower. By making twelve miles an hour, she would cross the oceanin twenty-one days. Phileas Fogg was therefore justified inhoping that he would reach San Francisco by the 2nd of December,New York by the 11th, and London on the 20th--thus gainingseveral hours on the fatal date of the 21st of December.

  There was a full complement of passengers on board, among themEnglish, many Americans, a large number of coolies on their wayto California, and several East Indian officers, who werespending their vacation in making a tour of the world. Nothing ofmoment happened on the voyage. The steamer, sustained on itslarge paddles, rolled but little, and the Pacific almostjustified its name.

  Mr. Fogg was as calm and taciturn as ever. His young companionfelt herself more and more attached to him by other ties thangratitude. His silent but generous nature impressed her more thanshe thought; and it was almost unconsciously that she yielded toemotions which did not seem to have the least effect upon herprotector. Aouda took the keenest interest in his plans, andbecame impatient at any incident which seemed likely to retardhis journey.

  She often chatted with Passepartout, who did not fail to perceivethe state of the lady's heart. Being the most faithful ofservants, he never exhausted his eulogies of Phileas Fogg'shonesty, generosity and devotion. He took pains to calm Aouda'sdoubts of a successful termination of the journey, telling herthat the most difficult part of it had passed, that now they werebeyond the fantastic countries of Japan and China, and werefairly on their way to civilized places again. A railway trainfrom San Francisco to New York, and a transatlantic steamer fromNew York to Liverpool, would doubtless bring them to the end ofthis impossible journey round the world within the period agreedupon.

  On the ninth day after leaving Yokohama, Phileas Fogg hadtraveled exactly one half of the terrestrial globe. The GeneralGrant passed, on the 23rd of November, the one hundred andeightieth meridian, and was at the very antipodes of London. Mr.Fogg had, it is true, exhausted fifty-two of the eighty days inwhich he was to complete the tour, and there were onlytwenty-eight left. But, though he was only halfway by thedifference of meridians, he had really gone over two-thirds ofthe whole journey; for he had been obliged to make long circuitsfrom London to Aden, from Aden to Bombay, from Calcutta toSingapore, and from Singapore to Yokohama. Could he have followedwithout deviation the fiftieth parallel, which is that of London,the whole distance would only have been about twelve thousandmiles; whereas he would be forced, by the irregular methods oflocomotion, to travel twenty-six thousand, of which he had, onthe 23rd of November, accomplished seventeen thousand fivehundred. And now the course was a straight one, and Fix was nolonger there to put obstacles in their way!

  It happened also, on the 23rd of November, that Passepartout madea joyful discovery. It will be remembered that the obstinatefellow had insisted on keeping his famous family watch at Londontime, and on regarding that of the countries he had passedthrough as quite false and unreliable. Now, on this day, thoughhe had not changed the hands, he found that his watch exactlyagreed with the ship's chronometers. His triumph was hilarious.He would have liked to know what Fix would say if he were aboard!

  "The rogue told me a lot of stories," repeated Passepartout,"about the meridians, the sun, and the moon! Moon, indeed!Moonshine more likely! If one listened to that sort of people, apretty sort of time one would keep! I was sure that the sun wouldsome day regulate itself by my watch!"

  Passepartout was ignorant that, if the face of his watch had beendivided into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks, he wouldhave no reason for exultation; for the hands of his watch wouldthen, instead of as now indicating nine o'clock in the morning,indicate nine o'clock in the evening. That is, it would haveshown the twenty-first hour after midnight--precisely thedifference between London time and that of the one hundred andeightieth meridian. But if Fix had been able to explain thispurely physical effect, Passepartout would not have admitted it,even if he had comprehended it. Moreover, if the detective hadbeen on board at that moment, Passepartout would have joinedissue with him on a quite different subject, and in an entirelydifferent manner.

  Where was Fix at that moment?

  He was actually on board the General Grant.

  On reaching Yokohama, the detective, leaving Mr. Fogg, whom heexpected to meet again during the day, had repaired at once tothe English consulate, where he at last found the warrant ofarrest. It had followed him from Bombay, and had come by theCarnatic, on which steamer he himself was supposed to be. Fix'sdisappointment may be imagined when he reflected that the warrantwas now useless. Mr. Fogg had left English ground, and it was nownecessary to procure his extradition!

  "Well," thought Fix, after a moment of anger, "my warrant is notgood here, but it will be in England. The rogue evidently intendsto return to his own country, thinking he has thrown the policeoff his track. Good! I will follow him across the Atlantic. Asfor the money, heaven grant there may be some left! But thefellow has already spent in traveling, rewards, trials, bail,elephants and all sorts of charges, more than five thousandpounds. Yet, after all, the bank is rich!"

  His course decided on, he went on board the General Grant, andwas there when Mr. Fogg and Aouda arrived. To his utteramazement, he recognized Passepartout, despite his theatricaldisguise.
He quickly concealed himself in his cabin, to avoid anawkward explanation, and hoped--thanks to the number ofpassengers--to remain unperceived by Mr. Fogg's servant.

  On that very day, however, he met Passepartout face to face onthe forward deck. The latter, without a word, made a rush forhim, grasped him by the throat, and, much to the amusement of agroup of Americans, who immediately began to bet on him,administered to the detective a perfect volley of blows, whichproved the great superiority of French over English pugilisticskill.

  When Passepartout had finished, he found himself relieved andcomforted. Fix got up in a somewhat rumpled condition, and,looking at his adversary, coldly said, "Have you done?"

  "For this time--yes."

  "Then let me have a word with you."

  "But I--"

  "In your master's interests."

  Passepartout seemed to be vanquished by Fix's coolness, for hequietly followed him, and they sat down aside from the rest ofthe passengers.

  "You have given me a thrashing," said Fix. "Good, I expected it.Now, listen to me. Up to this time I have been Mr. Fogg'sadversary. I am now in his game."

  "Aha!" cried Passepartout. "You are convinced he is an honestman?"

  "No," replied Fix coldly, "I think him a rascal. Sh! don't budge,and let me speak. As long as Mr. Fogg was on English ground, itwas for my interest to detain him there until my warrant ofarrest arrived. I did everything I could to keep him back. I sentthe Bombay priests after him. I got you intoxicated at Hong Kong.I separated you from him, and I made him miss the Yokohamasteamer."

  Passepartout listened, with closed fists.

  "Now," resumed Fix, "Mr. Fogg seems to be going back to England.Well, I will follow him there. But hereafter I will do as much tokeep obstacles out of his way as I have done up to this time toput them in his path. I've changed my game, you see, and simplybecause it was in my interest to change it. Your interest is thesame as mine, for it is only in England that you will knowwhether you are in the service of a criminal or an honest man."

  Passepartout listened very attentively to Fix, and was convincedthat he spoke with entire good faith.

  "Are we friends?" asked the detective.

  "Friends? No," replied Passepartout. "But allies, perhaps. At theleast sign of treason, however, I'll twist your neck for you.

  "Agreed," said the detective quietly.

  Eleven days later, on the 3rd of December, the General Grantentered the bay of the Golden Gate, and reached San Francisco.

  Mr. Fogg had neither gained nor lost a single day.