Chapter 7
“Have you decided to travel with us to America, Mr. Fix?’ asked Passepartout.
“Yes,” replied the detective, who, in fact, was determined to keep Phileas Fogg from leaving Hong Kong before the arrest warrant arrived.
“Good! I didn’t think you could bear to be apart from us,” said the servant, chuckling, “Let’s get cabins on the Carnatic.”
A man at the ticket office announced that the boiler was fixed and the Carnatic would sail that evening. Passepartout wanted to tell Phileas Fogg the good news at once, but Fix invited him to a tavern.
A man at the ticket office announced that the boiler was fixed and the Carnatic would sail that evening. Passepartout wanted to tell Phileas Fogg the good news at once, but Fix invited him to a tavern.
“Wait!” cried Fix, “I must tell you something very important before you leave.”
“Tell me tomorrow!” snapped Passepartout, “There is no time now!”
“What I have to say concerns Mr. Fogg.”
Passepartout sat down again.
“You have guessed who I am?” began Fix.
“Of course.”
“Then I’ll tell you everything.”
“I already know everything. But let me tell you that those gentlemen have gone to a lot of trouble and expense for nothing!”
“For nothing?” exclaimed Fix, “A very large sum of money is involved!”
“Yes, 20,000 pounds.”
“It’s 55,000 pounds,” Fix corrected.
“What?” shouted Passepartout, “Has Mr. Fogg really dared to bet 55,000 pounds? If so, that is all the more reason to hurry and tell him the change in the Carnatic’s timetable.”
“Wait!” cried Fix, “Help me! If I succeed, I will get 2,000 pounds as a reward. I’ll give you 500 pounds!”
“Help you?”
“Yes. I must keep Phileas Fogg in Hong Kong for a few days.”
“Do you know what you’re asking, Mr. Fix? It’s not enough for you to follow my master and question his honesty. These gentlemen you work for also want to stop him from making his trip around the world. What a shameless plot! And you think of yourself as a gentleman! You go back and tell the members of the Reform Club that Phileas Fogg is an honest man, and he wins his bets fairly!”
“Who do you think I am?” asked Fix, who was really puzzled by these remarks.
“Listen, Mr. Fix. I discovered that you were hired by the members of the Reform Club to try and stop Phileas Fogg from completing his journey around the world. However, I didn’t tell my master because I didn’t want to hurt him.”
Mr. Passepartout, I am not, in fact, a spy for the Reform Club. I am a police detective. Here is my badge to prove it!”
“But what do you want from me?”
“I will tell you. Mr. Fogg’s bet that he could travel around the world in 80 days was just a trick to keep you and the Reform Club members from discovering why he really had to leave London in a hurry.”
“Why was that?”
“On September 28, a man robbed the Bank of England of 55,000 pounds. Someone saw him and described him to the police. The robber can be none other than Phileas Fogg.”
“Nonsense!” snapped Passepartout, “My master is an honest man!”
“How can you be sure?” Fix prodded. “The very day you came to work for him, he made a wager and left the country without even taking time to pack suitcases. He also took along a large roll of banknotes.”
Passepartout reflected on Fix’s words. Indeed, he hardly knew Phileas Fogg when the trip began. Nevertheless, he had seen Mr. Fogg’s generosity in helping the beggar at the London railroad station, giving the valuable elephant to the Parsee, and, above all, risking his fortune (and his life) to stop and rescue Aouda.
“Listen!” said Fix, “I must delay Phileas Fogg in Hong Kong until the arrest warrant arrives. If you help me do this, I will share with you my 2,000-pound reward for catching the robber.”
“Never!” screamed Passepartout, who was quite drunk by now. “Besides, my master is not a robber!”
“Then you refuse to help me?”
“Yes, I refuse.”
“Very well. Let’s forget the whole thing and drink some more,” said Fix.
The liquor made Passepartout sleepy. As he leaned weakly against his chair, Fix slipped an opium pipe between his lips. The servant sank into a drugged sleep.
“Good!” Fix chuckled to himself, “Now Mr. Fogg will not learn that the Carnatic is sailing tonight!”
Phileas Fogg and Aouda shopped and dined in Hong Kong. When Passepartout failed to appear at bedtime, Fogg decided he must be enjoying himself before sailing the following morning. Fogg and Aouda reached the harbour to find that the Carnatic had left the night before. There was still no sign of Passepartout.
“I’d like to see your servant. Is he with you?” asked a man on the dock. It was Detective Fix. He pretended surprise at the news of Passepartout’s absence.
“Maybe he boarded the Carnatic without us,” suggested Phileas Fogg.
“Oh, did you plan to sail on the Carnatic? So did I. Now we will have to wait a week for another steamer for Yokohama.”
“There must be other boats ready to sail,” said Fogg. “We’ll find one.”
Just then a sailor approached, “I have a vessel for you, sir.”
“Of course. Where do you wish to go?”
“To Yokohama.”
“You must be joking! I can’t possibly take you that far!”
“I missed the Carnatic,” Fogg explained, “I must reach Yokohama by November 14 in order to catch a boat for America. I can offer you 100 pounds per day, plus 200 pounds more as a reward for getting me there on time.”
“I’m truly sorry, sir,” said the captain, “It’s too risky to make such a long trip in my little boat, especially at this time of year. Anyway, Yokohama is more than 1,600 miles from Hong Kong. We’d never make it on time. Maybe something else could be arranged, however.”
“What’s that?” asked Fogg eagerly.
“We could sail to Shanghai, which is only 800 miles from here. The American steamer starts at Shanghai and makes a stop at Yokohama. The steamer leaves Shanghai on November 11 at 7:00 in the morning. That gives us four days to reach Shanghai.”
“It’s a deal! My name is Phileas Fogg.”
“I am John Bunsby, captain of the Tankadere.”
“Would you like to join us, Mr. Fix?” Fogg asked the detective.
“Yes, and thank you very much!”
Fix was embarrassed to be travelling at Phileas Fogg’s expense, but he also felt that the ‘robber’ owed him something for putting him to so much trouble.
‘What a clever man Fogg is!’ thought Fix, ‘He’ll go all the way to America to throw the police off his track and then settle down to enjoy his stolen money!’
By sunrise on November 8, the Tankadere had travelled more than 100 miles; by evening, she had gone 220 miles. Captain Bunsby, eager for his reward, spared no effort to reach Shanghai on time. The following day, however, a terrible storm hit the ship.
“It’s a typhoon!” shouted the captain, “We must sail for the nearest port!”
“There is only one port for us,” said Phileas Fogg, “and that is Shanghai!”
It was useless to argue against such a man.
At 7:00, the hour that the Yokohama steamer was due to depart from Shanghai, Phileas Fogg was three miles from Shanghai harbour. Suddenly, the steamer appeared on the waves.
“Signal her!” Fogg ordered Captain Bunsby, “Hoist your flag!”
Bunsby ran the flag up at half mast—a signal that his ship was in danger. He also fired the small cannon that he kept on that deck for use in fog.
Would the steamer respond?
