Around the World in Eighty Days. Junior Deluxe Edition

by Jules Verne

  Chapter 19

  In Which Passepartout Takes a Too Great Interest in His Master,and What Comes of It

  Hong Kong is an island which came into the possession of theEnglish by the Treaty of Nankin, after the war of 1842; and thecolonizing genius of the English has created upon it an importantcity and an excellent port. The island is situated at the mouthof the Canton River, and is separated by about sixty miles fromthe Portuguese town of Macao, on the opposite coast. Hong Konghas beaten Macao in the struggle for the Chinese trade, and nowthe greater part of the transportation of Chinese goods finds itsdepot at the former place. Docks, hospitals, wharves, a Gothiccathedral, a government house, macadamized streets, give to HongKong the appearance of a town in Kent or Surrey transferred bysome strange magic to the antipodes.

  Passepartout wandered, with his hands in his pockets, towards theVictoria port, gazing as he went at the curious palanquins andother modes of conveyance, and the groups of Chinese, Japaneseand Europeans who passed to and fro in the streets. Hong Kongseemed to him not unlike Bombay, Calcutta and Singapore, since,like them, it betrayed everywhere the evidence of Englishsupremacy. At the Victoria port he found a confused mass of shipsof all nations: English, French, American and Dutch, men-of-warand trading vessels, Japanese and Chinese junks, sempas, tankasand flower-boats, which formed so many floating parterres.Passepartout noticed in the crowd a number of the natives whoseemed very old and were dressed in yellow. On going into abarber's to get shaved he learned that these ancient men were allat least eighty years old, at which age they are permitted towear yellow, which is the Imperial color. Passepartout, withoutexactly knowing why, thought this very funny.

  On reaching the quay where they were to embark on the Carnatic,he was not astonished to find Fix walking up and down. Thedetective seemed very much disturbed and disappointed.

  "This is bad," muttered Passepartout, "for the gentlemen of theReform Club!" He accosted Fix with a merry smile, as if he hadnot perceived that gentleman's chagrin. The detective had,indeed, good reasons to inveigh against the bad luck whichpursued him. The warrant had not come! It was certainly on theway, but as certainly it could not now reach Hong Kong forseveral days. This being the last English territory on Mr. Fogg'sroute, the robber would escape, unless he could manage to detainhim.

  "Well, Monsieur Fix," said Passepartout, "have you decided to gowith us as far as America?"

  "Yes," returned Fix, through his set teeth.

  "Good!" exclaimed Passepartout, laughing heartily. "I knew youcould not persuade yourself to separate from us. Come and engageyour berth."

  They entered the steamer office and secured cabins for fourpersons. The clerk, as he gave them the tickets, informed themthat, the repairs on the Carnatic having been completed, thesteamer would leave that very evening, and not next morning, ashad been announced.

  "That will suit my master all the better," said Passepartout. "Iwill go and let him know."

  Fix now decided to make a bold move. He resolved to tellPassepartout all. It seemed to be the only possible means ofkeeping Phileas Fogg several days longer at Hong Kong. Heaccordingly invited his companion into a tavern which caught hiseye on the quay. On entering, they found themselves in a largeroom handsomely decorated, at the end of which was a largecampbed furnished with cushions. Several persons lay upon thisbed in a deep sleep. At the small tables which were arrangedabout the room some thirty customers were drinking English beer,porter, gin and brandy; smoking, the while, long red clay pipesstuffed with little balls of opium mingled with essence of rose.From time to time one of the smokers, overcome with thenarcotic, would slip under the table, whereupon the waiters,taking him by the head and feet, carried and laid him upon thebed. The bed already supported twenty of these stupefied sots.

  Fix and Passepartout saw that they were in a smoking househaunted by those wretched, cadaverous, idiotic creatures to whomthe English merchants sell every year the miserable drug calledopium, to the amount of one million four hundred thousandpounds--thousands devoted to one of the most despicable vices whichafflict humanity! The Chinese government has in vain attempted todeal with the evil by stringent laws. It passed gradually fromthe rich, to whom it was at first exclusively reserved, to thelower classes, and then its ravages could not be arrested. Opiumis smoked everywhere, at all times, by men and women, in theCelestial Empire. Once accustomed to it, the victims cannotdispense with it, except by suffering horrible bodily contortionsand agonies. A great smoker can smoke as many as eight pipes aday, but he dies in five years. It was in one of these dens thatFix and Passepartout, in search of a friendly glass, foundthemselves. Passepartout had no money, but willingly acceptedFix's invitation in the hope of returning the obligation at somefuture time.

  They ordered two bottles of port, to which the Frenchman didample justice, while Fix observed him with close attention. Theychatted about the journey, and Passepartout was especially merryat the idea that Fix was going to continue it with them. When thebottles were empty, however, he rose to go and tell his master ofthe change in the time of the sailing of the Carnatic.

  Fix caught him by the arm, and said, "Wait a moment."

  "What for, Mr. Fix?"

  "I want to have a serious talk with you."

  "A serious talk!" cried Passepartout, drinking up the little winethat was left in the bottom of his glass. "Well, we'll talk aboutit tomorrow. I haven't time now."

  "Stay! What I have to say concerns your master."

  Passepartout, at this, looked attentively at his companion. Fix'sface seemed to have a singular expression. He resumed his seat.

  "What is it that you have to say?"

  Fix placed his hand upon Passepartout's arm, and, lowering hisvoice, said, "You have guessed who I am?"

  "Parbleu!" said Passepartout, smiling.

  "Then I'm going to tell you everything--"

  "Now that I know everything, my friend! Ah! that's very good. Butgo on, go on. First, though, let me tell you that those gentlemenhave put themselves to a useless expense."

  "Useless!" said Fix. "You speak confidently. It's clear that youdon't know how large the sum is."

  "Of course I do," returned Passepartout. "Twenty thousandpounds."

  "Fifty-five thousand!" answered Fix, pressing his companion'shand.

  "What!" cried the Frenchman. "Has Monsieur Fogg dared--fifty-fivethousand pounds! Well, there's all the more reason fornot losing an instant," he continued, getting up hastily.

  Fix pushed Passepartout back in his chair, and resumed:"Fifty-five thousand pounds, and if I succeed, I get two thousandpounds. If you'll help me, I'll let you have five hundred ofthem."

  "Help you?" cried Passepartout, whose eyes were standing wideopen.

  "Yes, help me keep Mr. Fogg here for two or three days."

  "Why, what are you saying? Those gentlemen are not satisfied withfollowing my master and suspecting his honor, but they must tryto put obstacles in his way! I blush for them!"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean that it is a piece of shameful trickery. They might aswell waylay Mr. Fogg and put his money in their pockets!"

  "That's just what we count on doing."

  "It's a conspiracy, then," cried Passepartout, who became moreand more excited as the liquor mounted in his head, for he drankwithout perceiving it. "A real conspiracy! And gentlemen, too.Bah!"

  Fix began to be puzzled.

  "Members of the Reform Club!" continued Passepartout. "You mustknow, Monsieur Fix, that my master is an honest man, and that,when he makes a wager, he tries to win it fairly!"

  "But who do you think I am?" asked Fix, looking at him intently.

  "Parbleu! An agent of the members of the Reform Club, sent outhere to interrupt my master's journey. But, though I found youout some time ago, I've taken good care to say nothing about itto Mr. Fogg."

  "He knows nothing, then?"

  "Nothing," replied Passepartout, again emptying his glass. Thedetective passed his hand across his forehead, hesitating
beforehe spoke again. What should he do? Passepartout's mistake seemedsincere, but it made his design more difficult. It was evidentthat the servant was not the master's accomplice, as Fix had beeninclined to suspect.

  "Well," said the detective to himself, "as he is not anaccomplice, he will help me."

  He had no time to lose. Fogg must be detained at Hong Kong, so heresolved to make a clean breast of it.

  "Listen to me," said Fix abruptly. "I am not, as you think, anagent of the members of the Reform Club--"

  "Bah!" retorted Passepartout, with an air of raillery.

  "I am a police detective, sent out here by the London office."

  "You, a detective?"

  "I will prove it. Here is my commission."

  Passepartout was speechless with astonishment when Fix displayedthis document, the genuineness of which could not be doubted.

  "Mr. Fogg's wager," resumed Fix, "is only a pretext, of which youand the gentlemen of the Reform are dupes. He had a motive forsecuring your innocent complicity."

  "But why?"

  "Listen. On the 28th of last September a robbery of fifty-fivethousand pounds was committed at the Bank of England by a personwhose description was fortunately secured. Here is thisdescription. It answers exactly to that of Mr. Phileas Fogg."

  "What nonsense!" cried Passepartout, striking the table with hisfist. "My master is the most honorable of men!"

  "How can you tell? You know scarcely anything about him. You wentinto his service the day he came away; and he came away on afoolish pretext, without trunks, and carrying a large amount inbanknotes. And yet you are bold enough to assert that he is anhonest man!"

  "Yes, yes," repeated the poor fellow, mechanically.

  "Would you like to be arrested as his accomplice?"

  Passepartout, overcome by what he had heard, held his headbetween his hands, and did not dare to look at the detective.Phileas Fogg, the saviour of Aouda, that brave and generous man,a robber! And yet how many presumptions there were against him!Passepartout tried to reject the suspicions which forcedthemselves upon his mind. He did not wish to believe that hismaster was guilty.

  "Well, what do you want of me?" he said, at last, with an effort.

  "See here," replied Fix, "I have tracked Mr. Fogg to this place,but as yet I have failed to receive the warrant of arrest forwhich I sent to London. You must help me to keep him here in HongKong--"