Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (top novels to read TXT) 📖

Chapter XVI

IN WHICH FIX DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND

IN THE LEAST WHAT IS SAID TO HIM

 

The Rangoon—one of the Peninsular and Oriental Company’s boats

plying in the Chinese and Japanese seas—was a screw steamer,

built of iron, weighing about seventeen hundred and seventy tons,

and with engines of four hundred horse-power. She was as fast,

but not as well fitted up, as the Mongolia, and Aouda was not as

comfortably provided for on board of her as Phileas Fogg could have wished.

However, the trip from Calcutta to Hong Kong only comprised some

three thousand five hundred miles, occupying from ten to twelve days,

and the young woman was not difficult to please.

 

During the first days of the journey Aouda became better acquainted

with her protector, and constantly gave evidence of her deep gratitude

for what he had done. The phlegmatic gentleman listened to her,

apparently at least, with coldness, neither his voice nor his manner

betraying the slightest emotion; but he seemed to be always on the watch

that nothing should be wanting to Aouda’s comfort. He visited her

regularly each day at certain hours, not so much to talk himself,

as to sit and hear her talk. He treated her with the strictest politeness,

but with the precision of an automaton, the movements of which had been

arranged for this purpose. Aouda did not quite know what to make of him,

though Passepartout had given her some hints of his master’s eccentricity,

and made her smile by telling her of the wager which was sending him

round the world. After all, she owed Phileas Fogg her life, and she

always regarded him through the exalting medium of her gratitude.

 

Aouda confirmed the Parsee guide’s narrative of her touching history.

She did, indeed, belong to the highest of the native races of India.

Many of the Parsee merchants have made great fortunes there by dealing

in cotton; and one of them, Sir Jametsee Jeejeebhoy, was made a baronet

by the English government. Aouda was a relative of this great man,

and it was his cousin, Jeejeeh, whom she hoped to join at Hong Kong.

Whether she would find a protector in him she could not tell;

but Mr. Fogg essayed to calm her anxieties, and to assure her that

everything would be mathematically—he used the very word—arranged.

Aouda fastened her great eyes, “clear as the sacred lakes of the Himalaya,”

upon him; but the intractable Fogg, as reserved as ever, did not seem

at all inclined to throw himself into this lake.

 

The first few days of the voyage passed prosperously, amid favourable

weather and propitious winds, and they soon came in sight of

the great Andaman, the principal of the islands in the Bay of Bengal,

with its picturesque Saddle Peak, two thousand four hundred feet high,

looming above the waters. The steamer passed along near the shores,

but the savage Papuans, who are in the lowest scale of humanity,

but are not, as has been asserted, cannibals, did not make their appearance.

 

The panorama of the islands, as they steamed by them, was superb.

Vast forests of palms, arecs, bamboo, teakwood, of the gigantic mimosa,

and tree-like ferns covered the foreground, while behind, the graceful outlines

of the mountains were traced against the sky; and along the coasts swarmed

by thousands the precious swallows whose nests furnish a luxurious dish

to the tables of the Celestial Empire. The varied landscape afforded by

the Andaman Islands was soon passed, however, and the Rangoon rapidly

approached the Straits of Malacca, which gave access to the China seas.

 

What was detective Fix, so unluckily drawn on from country to country,

doing all this while? He had managed to embark on the Rangoon at Calcutta

without being seen by Passepartout, after leaving orders that,

if the warrant should arrive, it should be forwarded to him at Hong Kong;

and he hoped to conceal his presence to the end of the voyage.

It would have been difficult to explain why he was on board

without awakening Passepartout’s suspicions, who thought him still at Bombay.

But necessity impelled him, nevertheless, to renew his acquaintance

with the worthy servant, as will be seen.

 

All the detective’s hopes and wishes were now centred on Hong Kong;

for the steamer’s stay at Singapore would be too brief to enable

him to take any steps there. The arrest must be made at Hong Kong,

or the robber would probably escape him for ever. Hong Kong was

the last English ground on which he would set foot; beyond, China,

Japan, America offered to Fogg an almost certain refuge.

If the warrant should at last make its appearance at Hong Kong,

Fix could arrest him and give him into the hands of the local police,

and there would be no further trouble. But beyond Hong Kong,

a simple warrant would be of no avail; an extradition warrant

would be necessary, and that would result in delays and obstacles,

of which the rascal would take advantage to elude justice.

 

Fix thought over these probabilities during the long hours

which he spent in his cabin, and kept repeating to himself,

“Now, either the warrant will be at Hong Kong, in which case

I shall arrest my man, or it will not be there; and this time

it is absolutely necessary that I should delay his departure.

I have failed at Bombay, and I have failed at Calcutta; if I fail

at Hong Kong, my reputation is lost: Cost what it may, I must succeed!

But how shall I prevent his departure, if that should turn out to be

my last resource?”

 

Fix made up his mind that, if worst came to worst, he would make

a confidant of Passepartout, and tell him what kind of a fellow

his master really was. That Passepartout was not Fogg’s accomplice,

he was very certain. The servant, enlightened by his disclosure,

and afraid of being himself implicated in the crime, would doubtless

become an ally of the detective. But this method was a dangerous one,

only to be employed when everything else had failed. A word from

Passepartout to his master would ruin all. The detective was therefore

in a sore strait. But suddenly a new idea struck him. The presence

of Aouda on the Rangoon, in company with Phileas Fogg, gave him

new material for reflection.

 

Who was this woman? What combination of events had made her Fogg’s

travelling companion? They had evidently met somewhere between Bombay

and Calcutta; but where? Had they met accidentally, or had Fogg gone

into the interior purposely in quest of this charming damsel?

Fix was fairly puzzled. He asked himself whether there had not

been a wicked elopement; and this idea so impressed itself

upon his mind that he determined to make use of the supposed intrigue.

Whether the young woman were married or not, he would be able to create

such difficulties for Mr. Fogg at Hong Kong that he could not escape

by paying any amount of money.

 

But could he even wait till they reached Hong Kong? Fogg had an

abominable way of jumping from one boat to another, and, before anything

could be effected, might get full under way again for Yokohama.

 

Fix decided that he must warn the English authorities, and signal

the Rangoon before her arrival. This was easy to do, since the steamer

stopped at Singapore, whence there is a telegraphic wire to Hong Kong.

He finally resolved, moreover, before acting more positively,

to question Passepartout. It would not be difficult to make him talk;

and, as there was no time to lose, Fix prepared to make himself known.

 

It was now the 30th of October, and on the following day the Rangoon

was due at Singapore.

 

Fix emerged from his cabin and went on deck. Passepartout was

promenading up and down in the forward part of the steamer.

The detective rushed forward with every appearance of extreme

surprise, and exclaimed, “You here, on the Rangoon?”

 

“What, Monsieur Fix, are you on board?” returned the really

astonished Passepartout, recognising his crony of the Mongolia.

“Why, I left you at Bombay, and here you are, on the way to Hong Kong!

Are you going round the world too?”

 

“No, no,” replied Fix; “I shall stop at Hong Kong—at least for some days.”

 

“Hum!” said Passepartout, who seemed for an instant perplexed.

“But how is it I have not seen you on board since we left Calcutta?”

 

“Oh, a trifle of sea-sickness—I’ve been staying in my berth.

The Gulf of Bengal does not agree with me as well as the Indian Ocean.

And how is Mr. Fogg?”

 

“As well and as punctual as ever, not a day behind time!

But, Monsieur Fix, you don’t know that we have a young lady with us.”

 

“A young lady?” replied the detective, not seeming to comprehend

what was said.

 

Passepartout thereupon recounted Aouda’s history, the affair

at the Bombay pagoda, the purchase of the elephant for

two thousand pounds, the rescue, the arrest, and sentence

of the Calcutta court, and the restoration of Mr. Fogg

and himself to liberty on bail. Fix, who was familiar

with the last events, seemed to be equally ignorant of all

that Passepartout related; and the later was charmed

to find so interested a listener.

 

“But does your master propose to carry this young woman to Europe?”

 

“Not at all. We are simply going to place her under the protection

of one of her relatives, a rich merchant at Hong Kong.”

 

“Nothing to be done there,” said Fix to himself, concealing his disappointment.

“A glass of gin, Mr. Passepartout?”

 

“Willingly, Monsieur Fix. We must at least have a friendly glass

on board the Rangoon.”