Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

  Chapter VI

  IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE

  The circumstances under which this telegraphic dispatch about PhileasFogg was sent were as follows:

  The steamer Mongolia, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company,built of iron, of two thousand eight hundred tons burden, and fivehundred horse-power, was due at eleven o'clock a.m. on Wednesday, the9th of October, at Suez. The Mongolia plied regularly between Brindisiand Bombay via the Suez Canal, and was one of the fastest steamersbelonging to the company, always making more than ten knots an hourbetween Brindisi and Suez, and nine and a half between Suez and Bombay.

  Two men were promenading up and down the wharves, among the crowd ofnatives and strangers who were sojourning at this once stragglingvillage--now, thanks to the enterprise of M. Lesseps, a fast-growingtown. One was the British consul at Suez, who, despite the propheciesof the English Government, and the unfavourable predictions ofStephenson, was in the habit of seeing, from his office window, Englishships daily passing to and fro on the great canal, by which the oldroundabout route from England to India by the Cape of Good Hope wasabridged by at least a half. The other was a small, slight-builtpersonage, with a nervous, intelligent face, and bright eyes peeringout from under eyebrows which he was incessantly twitching. He wasjust now manifesting unmistakable signs of impatience, nervously pacingup and down, and unable to stand still for a moment. This was Fix, oneof the detectives who had been dispatched from England in search of thebank robber; it was his task to narrowly watch every passenger whoarrived at Suez, and to follow up all who seemed to be suspiciouscharacters, or bore a resemblance to the description of the criminal,which he had received two days before from the police headquarters atLondon. The detective was evidently inspired by the hope of obtainingthe splendid reward which would be the prize of success, and awaitedwith a feverish impatience, easy to understand, the arrival of thesteamer Mongolia.

  "So you say, consul," asked he for the twentieth time, "that thissteamer is never behind time?"

  "No, Mr. Fix," replied the consul. "She was bespoken yesterday at PortSaid, and the rest of the way is of no account to such a craft. Irepeat that the Mongolia has been in advance of the time required bythe company's regulations, and gained the prize awarded for excess ofspeed."

  "Does she come directly from Brindisi?"

  "Directly from Brindisi; she takes on the Indian mails there, and sheleft there Saturday at five p.m. Have patience, Mr. Fix; she will notbe late. But really, I don't see how, from the description you have,you will be able to recognise your man, even if he is on board theMongolia."

  "A man rather feels the presence of these fellows, consul, thanrecognises them. You must have a scent for them, and a scent is like asixth sense which combines hearing, seeing, and smelling. I'vearrested more than one of these gentlemen in my time, and, if my thiefis on board, I'll answer for it; he'll not slip through my fingers."

  "I hope so, Mr. Fix, for it was a heavy robbery."

  "A magnificent robbery, consul; fifty-five thousand pounds! We don'toften have such windfalls. Burglars are getting to be so contemptiblenowadays! A fellow gets hung for a handful of shillings!"

  "Mr. Fix," said the consul, "I like your way of talking, and hopeyou'll succeed; but I fear you will find it far from easy. Don't yousee, the description which you have there has a singular resemblance toan honest man?"

  "Consul," remarked the detective, dogmatically, "great robbers alwaysresemble honest folks. Fellows who have rascally faces have only onecourse to take, and that is to remain honest; otherwise they would bearrested off-hand. The artistic thing is, to unmask honestcountenances; it's no light task, I admit, but a real art."

  Mr. Fix evidently was not wanting in a tinge of self-conceit.

  Little by little the scene on the quay became more animated; sailors ofvarious nations, merchants, ship-brokers, porters, fellahs, bustled toand fro as if the steamer were immediately expected. The weather wasclear, and slightly chilly. The minarets of the town loomed above thehouses in the pale rays of the sun. A jetty pier, some two thousandyards along, extended into the roadstead. A number of fishing-smacksand coasting boats, some retaining the fantastic fashion of ancientgalleys, were discernible on the Red Sea.

  As he passed among the busy crowd, Fix, according to habit, scrutinisedthe passers-by with a keen, rapid glance.

  It was now half-past ten.

  "The steamer doesn't come!" he exclaimed, as the port clock struck.

  "She can't be far off now," returned his companion.

  "How long will she stop at Suez?"

  "Four hours; long enough to get in her coal. It is thirteen hundredand ten miles from Suez to Aden, at the other end of the Red Sea, andshe has to take in a fresh coal supply."

  "And does she go from Suez directly to Bombay?"

  "Without putting in anywhere."

  "Good!" said Fix. "If the robber is on board he will no doubt get offat Suez, so as to reach the Dutch or French colonies in Asia by someother route. He ought to know that he would not be safe an hour inIndia, which is English soil."

  "Unless," objected the consul, "he is exceptionally shrewd. An Englishcriminal, you know, is always better concealed in London than anywhereelse."

  This observation furnished the detective food for thought, andmeanwhile the consul went away to his office. Fix, left alone, wasmore impatient than ever, having a presentiment that the robber was onboard the Mongolia. If he had indeed left London intending to reachthe New World, he would naturally take the route via India, which wasless watched and more difficult to watch than that of the Atlantic.But Fix's reflections were soon interrupted by a succession of sharpwhistles, which announced the arrival of the Mongolia. The porters andfellahs rushed down the quay, and a dozen boats pushed off from theshore to go and meet the steamer. Soon her gigantic hull appearedpassing along between the banks, and eleven o'clock struck as sheanchored in the road. She brought an unusual number of passengers,some of whom remained on deck to scan the picturesque panorama of thetown, while the greater part disembarked in the boats, and landed onthe quay.

  Fix took up a position, and carefully examined each face and figurewhich made its appearance. Presently one of the passengers, aftervigorously pushing his way through the importunate crowd of porters,came up to him and politely asked if he could point out the Englishconsulate, at the same time showing a passport which he wished to havevisaed. Fix instinctively took the passport, and with a rapid glanceread the description of its bearer. An involuntary motion of surprisenearly escaped him, for the description in the passport was identicalwith that of the bank robber which he had received from Scotland Yard.

  "Is this your passport?" asked he.

  "No, it's my master's."

  "And your master is--"

  "He stayed on board."

  "But he must go to the consul's in person, so as to establish hisidentity."

  "Oh, is that necessary?"

  "Quite indispensable."

  "And where is the consulate?"

  "There, on the corner of the square," said Fix, pointing to a house twohundred steps off.

  "I'll go and fetch my master, who won't be much pleased, however, to bedisturbed."

  The passenger bowed to Fix, and returned to the steamer.