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

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  Chapter seventeen, showing what happened on the voyage from Singapore to Hong Kong.
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  The detective and Passepartout met often on deck after this interview, though, Fix
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  was reserved and did not attempt to induce his companion to divulge any more facts
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  concerning mister Fogg. He caught a glimpse of that mysterious gentleman once or twice,
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  but mister Fogg usually confined himself to the cabin where he kept aouda company,
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  or, according to his inveterate habit took a hand at whist Passepartout began
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  very seriously to conjecture what strange chance kept Fix still on the route that his
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  master was pursuing. It was really worth considering why this certainly very amiable and
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  complacent person whom he had first met at Suez, had then encountered on board
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  the Mongolia, who disembarked at Bombay, which he announced as his destination,
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  and now turned up so unc spectaclely on the Rangoon was following mister Fogg's tracks
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  step by step? What was Fix's object? Passepartout was ready to wager his
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  Indian shoes, which he had religiously preserved that Fix would also leave Hong Kong
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  at the same time with them, and probably on the same steamer. Passepartout
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  might have cudgeled his brain for a century without hitting upon the real object which
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  the detective had in view. He never could have imagined that Phileas Fogg was
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  being tracked as a robber around the globe. But as it is in human
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  nature to attempt the solution of every mystery, Passepartout suddenly discovered an explanation of
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  Fix's movements which was in truth far from unreasonable. Fix, he thought,
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  could only be an agent of mister Fogg's friends at the Reform Club, sent
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  to follow him up and to ascertain that he really went round the world as
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  had been agreed upon on it's clear, repeated the worthy servant to himself,
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  proud of his shrewdness. He's a spy sent to keep us in view.
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  That isn't quite the thing either, to be spying mister Fogg, who is
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  so honorable a man, Ah, gentlemen of the Reform this cell cost you,
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  dear Pasepartout, enchanted with his discovery, resolved to say nothing to his
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  master, lest he should be justly offended at this mistrust on the part of
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  his adversaries, but he determined to cheff Fix when he had the chance,
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  with mysterious allusions, which, however, need not betray his real suspicions.
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  During the afternoon of Wednesday, thirtieth October, the rangoon entered the Strait of
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  Malaca, which separates the peninsula of that name from Sumatra. The mountainous and
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  craggy islets intercepted the beauties of this noble island from the view of the travelers.
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  The rangoon made anchor at Singapore the next day at four a m.
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  To receive coal, having gained half a day on the prescribed time of her
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  arrival. Phileas Fogg noted this gain in his journal, and then, accompanied
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  by Aouda, who betrayed a desire for a walk on shore, disembarked.
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  Fix, who suspected mister Fogg's every movement, followed them cautiously without being himself
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  perceived, while passepartout laughing in his sleeve at Fix's maneuvers, went about his
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  usual errands. The island of Singapore is not imposing in aspect, for there
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  are no mountains, yet its appearance is not without attractions. It is a
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  park checkered by pleasant highways and avenues. A handsome carriage drawn by a sleek
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  pair of New Holland horses, carried Phileas Fogg and Aouda into the midst of
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  rows of palms with brilliant foliage and of clove trees, whereof the cloves formed
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  the heart of a half open flower. Pepper plants replaced the prickly hedges of
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  European fields. Sago bushes, large ferns with gorgeous branches varied the aspect of
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  this tropical climb, while nutmeg trees in full foliage filled the air with a
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  penetrating perfume. Agile and grinning bands of monkeys skipped about in the trees,
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  nor were tigers wanting in the jungles. After a drive of two hours through
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  the country, Aouda and mister Fogg returned to the town, which is a
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  vast collection of heavy looking irregular houses, surrounded by charming gardens rich in tropical
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  fruits and plants. And at ten o'clock they re embarked, closely followed by
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  the detective who had kept them constantly in sight, Passepartout, who had been
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  purchasing several dozen mangoes, a fruit as large as good sized apples, of
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  a dark brown color outside and a bright red within, and whose white pulp
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  melting in the mouth affords Gourman's a delicious sensation, was waiting for them on
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  deck. He was only too glad to offer some mangoes to Aouda, who
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  thanked him very gracefully for them. At eleven o'clock, the Rangoon rode out
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  of Singapore Harbor, and in a few hours the high mountains of Malacca would
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  their forests, inhabited by the most beautifully furred tigers in the world, were
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  lost to view. Singapore is distant, some thirteen hundred miles from the island
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  of Hong Kong, which is a little English colony near the Chinese coast.
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  Phileas Fogg hoped to accomplish the journey in six days so as to be in
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  time for the steamer, which would leave on the sixth of November for Yokohama,
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  the principal Japanese port. The Rangoon had a large quota of passengers,
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  many of whom disembarked at Singapore, Among them a number of Indians, Ceylonese,
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  Chinamen, Melays and Portuguese, mostly second class travelers. The weather,
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  which had hitherto been fine, changed with the last quarter of the moon.
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  The seas rolled heavily, and the wind at intervals rose almost to a storm,
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  but happily blew from the southwest, and thus aided the steamer's progress.
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  The captain, as often as possible, put up his sails, and under
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  the double action of steam and sail, the vessel made rapid progress along the
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  coasts of Anam and Cochin, China. Owing to the defective construction of the
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  rangoon, however, unusual precautions became necessary in unfavorable weather. But the loss
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  of time which resulted from this cause, while it nearly drove past Partiu out
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  of his senses, did not seem to effect his master in the least.
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  Passepartout blamed the captain, the engineer, and the crew, and consigned all
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  who were connected with the ship to the land where the pepper grows. Perhaps
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  the thought of the gas which was remorselessly burning at his expense in savile row
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  had something to do with his hot impatience. You are in a great hurry,
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  then said Fix to him, one day to reach Hong Kong a very
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  great hurry, mister Fogg, I suppose is anxious to catch the steamer for
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  Yokohama, terribly anxious. You believe in this journey around the world, then
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  absolutely don't you, mister fix II, I don't believe a word of it.
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  You're a sly dog, said Passepartout, winking at him. This expression
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  rather disturbed Fix. Without his knowing, why had the Frenchman guessed his real
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  purpose? He knew not what to think. But how could Passepartout have discovered
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  that he was a detective? Yet, in speaking as he did, the
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  man evidently meant more than he expressed. Passepartout went still further the next day.
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  He could not hold his tongue. Mister Fix, said he in a
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  bantering tone. Shall we be so unfortunate as to lose you when we get
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  to Hong Kong, why, responded Fix, a little embarrassed. I don't
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  know. Perhaps, ah, if you could only go on with us,
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  an agent of the Peninsular Company, you know can't stop on the way.
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  You are only going to Bombay, and here you are in China. America
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  is not far off, and from America to Europe is only a step Fix
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  looked intently at his companion, whose countenance was as serene as possible, and
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  laughed with him. But Passepartout persisted in chaffing him by asking him if he
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  made much by his present occupation. Yes, and no, returned Fix.
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  They're is good amber ad luck in such things. But you must understand that
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  I don't travel at my own expense. Oh I am quite sure of that,
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  cried Passepartout, laughing heartily. Fix, fairly puzzled, descended to his
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  cabin and gave himself up to his reflections. He was evidently suspected somehow or
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  other the Frenchman had found out that he was a detective. But had he
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  told his master? What part was he playing in all this? Was he
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  an accomplice or not? Was the game then up? Fix spent several hours
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  turning these things over in his mind, sometimes thinking that all was lost,
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  then persuading himself that Fogg was ignorant of his presence, and then undecided what
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  course it was best to take. Nevertheless, he preserved his coolness of mind
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  and at last resolved to deal plainly with Passepartout if he did not find it
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  practicable to arrest Fog at Hong Kong, and if Fogg made preparations to leave
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  that last foothold of English territory, he Fix would tell Passepartout all either the
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  servant was the accomplice of his master, and in this case the master knew
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  of his operations and he should fail, or else the servant knew nothing about
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  the robbery, and then his interest would be to abandon the robber. Such
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  was the situation between Fix and Passepartout. Meanwhile, Phileas Fogg moved about above
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  them in the most majestic and unconscious indifference. He was passing methodically in his
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  orbit around the world, regardless of the lesser stars which gravitated around him.
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  Yet there was near by what the astronomers would call a disturbing star, which
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  might have produced an agitation in this gentleman's heart. But no, the charms
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  of Aouda failed to act to Passepartout's great surprise, and the disturbances, if
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  they existed, would have been more difficult to calculate than those of Uranus which
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  led to the discovery of Neptune. It was every day an increasing wander to
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  Passepartout, who read in Aouda's eyes the depths of her gratitude to his master.
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  Phileas Fogg, though brave and gallant must be, he thought quite heartless.
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  As to the sentiment which this journey might have awakened in him, there
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  was clearly no trace of such a thing. While poor Passepartout existed in perpetual
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  reveries. One day he was leaning on the railing of the engine room and
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  was observing the engine when a sudden pitch of the steamer threw the screw out
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  of the water. The steam came hissing out of the valves, and this
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  made Passepartout indignant. The valves are not sufficiently charged, he exclaimed. We
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  are not going oh these English If this was an American craft, we should
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  blow up perhaps, but we should at all events go faster. End of chapter