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

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  Chapter six, in which Fix, the detective betrays a very natural impatience.
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  The circumstances under which this telegraphic dispatch about Phileas Fogg was sent were as follows.
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  The steamer Mongolia, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company, built of
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  iron, of two thousand, eight hundred tons burden and five hundred horse power,
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  was due at eleven o'clock a m. On Wednesday, the ninth of
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  October at Suez. The Mongolia plied regularly between Brendisi and Bombay via the Suez
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  Canal, and was one of the fastest steamers belonging to the company, always
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  making more than ten knots an hour between Brendisi and Suez and nine and a
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  half between Suez and Bombay. Two men were promenading up and down the wharves
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  among the crowd of natives and strangers who were sojourneying at this once straggling village,
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  now thanks to the enterprise of Monsieur Lessip's, a fast growing town.
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  One was the British consul at Suez, who, despite the prophecies of the
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  English government and the unfavorable predictions of Stevenson, was in the habit of seeing
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  from his office window English ships daily passing to and fro on the Great Canal,
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  by which the old roundabout route from England to India by the Cape of
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  Good Hope was abridged by at least a half. The other was a small,
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  slight built personage with a nervous, intelligent face and bright eyes peering out
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  from under eyebrows which he was incessantly twitching. He was just now manifesting unmistakable
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  signs of impatience, nervously pacing up and down, and unable to stand still
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  for a moment. This was Fix, one of the detectives who had been
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  dispatched from England in search of the bank robber. It was his task to
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  narrowly watch every passenger who arrived at Suez, and to follow up all who
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  seemed to be suspicious characters or bore a resemblance to the description of the criminal
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  which he had received two days before from the police headquarters at London. The
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  detective was evidently inspired by the hope of obtaining the splendid reward which would be
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  the prize of success, and awaited with a feverish impatience. Easy to understand,
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  the arrival of the steamer Mongolia. So you say, Conseil asked he
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  for the twentieth time that this steamer is never behind time. No, mister
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  Fix, replied the consul. She was bespoken yesterday at port, said,
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  and the rest of the way is of no account to such a craft.
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  I repeat that the Mongolia has been in advance of the time required by the
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  company's regulations and gained the prize awarded for excess of speed. Does she come
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  directly from Brindisi? Directly from Brindisi, she takes on the Indian males there,
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  and she left there Saturday at five p m. Have patience, mister
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  Fix, she will not be late. But really, I don't see how
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  from the description you have you will be able to recognize your man, even
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  if he is on board the Mongolia. A man rather feels the presence of
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  these fellows console than recognizes them. You must have a cent for them,
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  and a scent is like a sixth sense, which combines hearing, seeing,
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  and smelling. I've arrested more than one of these gentlemen in my time,
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  and if my thief is on board, I'll answer for it. He'll not
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  slip through my fingers. I hope so, mister Fix, for it was
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  a heavy robbery, a magnificent robbery, Consul fifty five thousand pounds. We
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  don't often have such windfalls. Burglars are getting to be so contemptible nowadays A
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  fellow gets hung for a handful of shillings. Mister Fix, said the consul.
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  I like your way of talking, and hope you'll succeed. But I
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  fear you will find it far from easy. Don't you see the description which
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  you have there has a singular resemblance to an honest man, Consul remarked the
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  detective dogmatically. Great robbers always resemble honest folks. Fellows who have rascally faces
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  have only one course to take, and that is to remain honest, otherwise
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  they would be arrested off hand. The artistic thing is to unmask honest countenances.
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  Is no like task, I admit, but a real art. Mister
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  Fix evidently was not wanting in a tinge of self conceit. Little by little,
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  the scene on the quay became more animated. Sailors of various nations,
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  merchants, ship brokers, porters, fellows bustled to and fro, as if
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  the steamer were immediately expected. The weather was clear and slightly chilly. The
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  minarets of the town loomed above the houses in the pale rays of the sun.
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  A jetty pier some two thousand yards along extended into the roadstead. A
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  number of fishing smacks and coasting boats, some retaining the fantastic fashion of ancient
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  galleries, were discernible on the Red Sea as he passed among the busy crowd.
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  Fix, according to Habit, scrutinized the passers by with a keen,
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  rapid glance. It was now half past ten. The steamer doesn't come,
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  he exclaimed, as the port clock struck. She can't be far off,
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  now, returned his companion. How long will she stop at Suez? Four
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  hours long enough to get in her coal? It is thirteen hundred and ten
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  miles from Suez to Aden, at the other end of the Red Sea,
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  and she has to take in a fresh coal supply. And does she go
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  from Suis directly to Bombay without putting in anywhere? Good? Said Fix.
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  If the robber is on board, he will no doubt get off at Suez
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  so as to reach the Dutch or French colonies in Asia by some other route.
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  He ought to know that he would not be safe an hour in India,
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  which is English soil. Unless objected the Consul, he is exceptionally shrewd.
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  An English criminal, you know, is always better concealed in London than
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  anywhere else. This observation furnished the detective food for thought, and meanwhile the
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  Consul went away to his office. Fix, left alone, was more impatient
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  than ever, having a presentiment that the robber was on board the Mongolia.
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  If he had indeed left London intending to reach the New World, he would
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  naturally take the route via India, which was less watched and more difficult to
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  watch than that of the Atlantic. But Fix's reflections were soon interrupted by a
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  succession of sharp whistles which announced the arrival of the Mongolia. The porters and
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  fellahs rushed down the key, and a dozen boats pushed off from the shore
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  to go and meet the steamer. Soon her gigantic hull appeared, passing along
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  between the banks and eleven o'clock struck. As she anchored in the road.
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  She brought an unusual number of passengers, some of whom remained on deck to
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  scan the picturesque panorama of the town, while the greater part disembarked in the
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  boats and landed on the quy. Fix took up a position and carefully examined
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  each face and figure which made its appearance. Presently, one of the passengers,
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  after vigorously pushing his way through the importunate crowd of porters, came up
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  to him and politely asked if he could point out the English consulate, at
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  the same time showing a passport which he wished to have visaed. Fix instinctively
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  took the passport and with a rapid glance read the description of its bearer.
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  An involuntary motion of surprise nearly escaped him, for the description in the passport
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  was identical with that of the bank robber which he had received from Scotland.
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  Yard. Is this your passport? Asked he. No, it is my
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  master's, and your master is he stayed on board? But he must go
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  to the consuls in person so as to establish his identity. Oh, is
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  that necessary? Quite indispensable? And where is the consulate? There on the
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  corner of the square, said Fix, pointing to a house two hundred steps
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  off. I'll go and fetch my master, who won't be much pleased,
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  however, to be disturbed. The passenger bowed to fix and returned to the
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  steamer. End of chapter