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16 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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  Chapter sixteen, in which Fix does not seem to understand in the least what
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  is said to him. The Rangoon, one of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's
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  boats plying in the Chinese and Japanese seas, was a screw steamer built of
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  iron, weighing about seventeen hundred and seventy tons and with engines of four hundred
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  horse power. She was as fast, but not as well fitted up as
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  the Mongolia, and Aouda was not as comfortably provided for on board of her
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  as phileas Fogg could have wished. However, the trip from Calcutta to Hong
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  Kong only comprised some three thousand, five hundred miles, occupying from ten to
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  twelve days, and the young woman was not difficult to please. During the
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  first days of the journey, Aouda became better acquainted with her protector and constantly
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  gave evidence of her deep gratitude for what he had done. The phlegmatic gentleman
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  listened to her dartly, at least with coldness, neither his voice nor his
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  manner betraying the slightest emotion, but he seemed to be always on the watch
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  that nothing should be wanting to Oude his comfort. He visited her regularly each
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  day at certain hours, not so much to talk himself as to sit and
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  hear her talk. He treated her with the strictest politeness, but with the
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  precision of an automaton, the movements of which had been arranged for this purpose.
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  Aouda did not know quite what to make of him, though Passepartout had
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  given her some hints of his master's eccentricity and made her smile by telling her
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  of the wager which was sending him around the world. After all, she
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  owed phileas fogg her life, and she always regarded him through the exalting medium
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  of her gratitude. Aouda confirmed the Parsi Guide's narrative of her touching history.
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  She did indeed belong to the highest of the native races of India. Many
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  the Parsi merchants have made great fortunes there by dealing in cotton, and one
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  of them, Sir Jamut c Jijibhoi, was made a baronet by the English
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  government. Aouda was a relative of this great man, and it was her
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  cousin Jiji, whom she hoped to join at Hong Kong. Whether she would
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  find a protector in him, she could not tell. But mister fogg essayed
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  to calm her anxieties and to assure her that everything would be Mathematically he used
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  the very word arranged. Aouda fastened her great eyes clear as the sacred lakes
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  of the Himalaya upon him, But the intractable fog, as reserved as ever,
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  did not seem at all inclined to throw himself into this lake. The
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  first few days of the voyage passed prosperously amid favorable weather and propitious winds,
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  and they soon came in sight of the great Andaman, the principle of the
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  islands in the Bay of Bengal, with its picturesque saddle peak two thousand,
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  four hundred feet high looming above the waters. The steamer passed along near the
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  shores, but the savage Papuans, who are in the lowest scale of humanity
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  but are not, as has been asserted, cannibals, did not make their
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  appearance. The panorama of the islands as they steamed by them was superb vast
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  forests of palms, racks, bamboo, teak, wood of the giant mimosa
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  and treelike ferns covered the foreground, while behind the graceful outlines of the mountains
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  were traced against the sky, and along the coast swarmed by thousands the precious
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  swallows, whose nests furnish a luxurious dish to the tables of the celestial Empire.
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  The varied landscape afforded by the Andaman Islands was soon passed, however,
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  and the Rangoon rapidly approached the Straits of Malacca, which gave access to the
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  China Seas. What was Detective Fix so unluckily drawn on from country to country
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  doing all this while he had managed to embark on the Rangoon at Calcutta without
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  being seen by Passepartout, after leaving orders that if the warrant should arrive,
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  it should be forwarded to him at Hong Kong, and he hoped to conceal
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  his presence to the end of the voyage. It would have been difficult to
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  explain why he was on board without awakening Passepartout's suspicions, who thought him still
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  at Bombay. But necessity impelled him, nevertheless, to renew his acquaintance with
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  a worthy servant. As will be seen, all the detectives, hopes and
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  wishes were now centered on Hong Kong. For the steamer's stay at Singapore would
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  be too brief to enable him to take any steps there. The arrest must
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  be made at Hong Kong or the robber would probably escape him forever. Hong
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  Kong was the last England fish ground on which he could set foot. Beyond
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  China, Japan, America offered De fog an almost certain refuge. If the
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  warrant should at last make its appearance at Hong Kong, Fix could arrest him
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  and give him into the hands of the local police, and there would be
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  no further trouble. But beyond Hong Kong, a simple warrant would be of
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  no avail. An extradition warrant would be necessary, and that would result in
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  delays and obstacles of which the rascal would take advantage to elude justice. Fix
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  thought over these probabilities during the long hours which he spent in his cabin and
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  kept repeating to himself. Now, either the warrant will be at Hong Kong,
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  in which case I shall arrest my man, or it will not be
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  there, and this time it is absolutely necessary that I should delay his departure.
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  I have failed at Bombay, and I have failed at Calcutta. If
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  I fail at home Hung Kong, my reputation is lost. Cost what it
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  may, I must succeed. But how shall I prevent his departure? If
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  that should turn out to be my last resource? Fix made up his mind
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  that if worst came to worst, he would make a confidant of Passepartout and
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  tell him what kind of a fellow his master really was. That Passepartout was
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  not Fogg's accomplice. He was very certain the servant, enlightened by his disclosure
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  and afraid of being himself implicated in the crime, would doubtless become an ally
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  of the detective. But this method was a dangerous one, only to be
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  employed when everything else had failed. A word from Passepartout to his master would
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  ruin all. The detective was therefore in a sore strait. But suddenly a
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  new idea struck him. The presence of Aouda on the rangoon in company with
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  Phileas Fogg gave him new material for reflection. Who was this woman? What
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  combination of events had made her Fogg's traveling companion. They had evidently met somewhere
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  between Bombay and Calcutta. But where had they met accidentally or had Fogg gone
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  into the interior purposely in quest of the charming damsel. Fix was fairly puzzled.
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  He asked himself whether there had not been a wicked elopement. And this
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  idea so impressed itself upon his mind that he determined to make use of the
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  supposed intrigue. Whether the young woman was married or not, he would be
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  able to create such difficulties for mister Fogg at Hong Kong that he could not
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  escape by paying any amount of money. But could he even wait till they
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  reached Hong Kong. Fogg had an abominable way of jumping from one boat to
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  another, and before anything could be effected, might get full underway again for
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  Yokohama. Fix decided that he must warn the English authorities and signal the rangoon
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  before her arrival. This was easy to do since the steamer stopped at Singapore,
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  whence there is a telegraphic wire to Hong Kong. He finally resolved.
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  Moreover, before acting more positively to question passpartout, it would not be difficult
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  to make him talk, and as there was no time to lose, Fix
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  prepared to make himself known. It was now the thirtieth of October, and
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  on the following day the rangoon was due at Singapore. Fix emerged from his
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  cabin and went on deck. Passepartout was promenading up and down in the forward
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  part of the steamer. The detective rushed forward with every appearance of extreme surprise
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  and exclaimed, you here on the rangoon, What, monsieur Fix saw you
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  on board? Returned the really doonished past Partout, recognizing his crony of the
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  Mongolia. Why I left you at Bombay and here you are on the way
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  to Hong Kong. Are you going round the world too? No, no,
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  replied Fix. I shall stop at Hong Kong at least for some days.
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  Hum said Passepartout, who seemed for an instant perplexed. But how is
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  it that I have not seen you on board since we left Calcutta? Oh
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  ah, a trifle of sea sickness. I've been staying in my berth.
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  The Gulf of Bengal does not agree with me as well as the Indian Ocean.
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  And how is mister Fogg as well and as punctual as ever? Not
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  a day behind time. But Monsieur Fix, you don't know that we have
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  a young lady with us, A young lady, replied the detective, not
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  seeming to comprehend what was said. Pass Partout there thereupon recounted Aouda's history,
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  the affair of the Bombay Pagoda, the purchase of the elephant for two thousand
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  pounds, the rescue, the arrest and sentence of the Calcutta court, and
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  the restoration of mister Fogg and himself to liberty on bail. Fix, who
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  was familiar with the last events, seemed to be equally ignorant of all that
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  Passepartout related, and the latter was charmed to find so interested a listener.
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  But does your master propose to carry this young woman to Europe? Not at
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  all. We are simply going to place her under the protection of one of
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  her relatives, a rich merchant at Hong Kong. Nothing to be done,
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  there, said Fix to himself, concealing his disappointment. A glass of gin,
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  mister Paspartout willing me, Monsieur Fix, we must at least have a
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  friendly glass on board the rangoon. End of chapter