Jules Verne · a new plain-English translation from the original language
In a few moments Fix had rejoined Passepartout on the quay, as he strolled and looked about, not believing himself, for his part, obliged to see nothing.
"Well, my friend," Fix said to him, coming up, "is your passport visaed?"
"Ah, it's you, sir," replied the Frenchman. "Much obliged. We're perfectly in order."
"And you're taking a look at the country?"
"Yes, but we go so fast that it seems to me I'm traveling in a dream. And so we're at Suez?"
"At Suez."
"In Egypt?"
"In Egypt, precisely."
"And in Africa?"
"In Africa."
"In Africa!" repeated Passepartout. "I can't believe it. Imagine, sir, that I fancied I'd go no farther than Paris, and that famous capital I saw again for just about seven-twenty in the morning to eight-forty, between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de Lyon, through the windows of a cab and in driving rain! I'm sorry for it! I'd have liked to see Père-Lachaise and the Circus of the Champs-Élysées again!"
"You're in a great hurry, then?" asked the police inspector.
"Me, no, but it's my master. By the way, I must buy socks and shirts! We left without trunks, with only an overnight bag."
"I'll take you to a bazaar where you'll find everything you need."
"Sir," replied Passepartout, "you're really most obliging!..."
And the two of them set off. Passepartout kept talking all the while.
"Above all," he said, "let me take good care not to miss the boat!"
"You have time," replied Fix, "it's still only noon!"
Passepartout drew out his big watch.
"Noon," he said. "Come now! It's nine fifty-two!"
"Your watch is slow," replied Fix.
"My watch! A family watch, that comes down from my great-grandfather! It doesn't vary by five minutes a year. It's a real chronometer!"
"I see what it is," replied Fix. "You've kept London time, which is about two hours behind Suez. You must take care to set your watch to the local noon of each country."
"Me! touch my watch!" cried Passepartout, "never!"
"Well, then it won't agree with the sun."
"So much the worse for the sun, sir! It'll be the one in the wrong!"
And the good fellow put his watch back into his fob with a superb gesture.
A few moments later, Fix said to him:
"So you left London in a hurry?"
"I should say so! Last Wednesday, at eight in the evening, against all his habits, Mr. Fogg came back from his club, and scarcely three-quarters of an hour after that we were off."
"But where is he going, then, this master of yours?"
"Always straight ahead! He's going around the world!"
"Around the world?" cried Fix.
"Yes, in eighty days! A wager, he says, but, between us, I don't believe a word of it. It wouldn't stand to reason. There's something else behind it."
"Ah! he's a character, this Mr. Fogg?"
"I should think so."
"He's rich, then?"
"Obviously, and he's carrying a tidy sum with him, in brand-new bank notes! And he doesn't spare the money along the way! Look! he's promised a magnificent reward to the Mongolia's engineer if we reach Bombay well ahead of time!"
"And you've known him long, this master of yours?"
"Me!" replied Passepartout, "I entered his service the very day of our departure."
One easily imagines the effect these answers were bound to produce on the already overexcited mind of the police inspector.
This hurried departure from London, so soon after the theft, this large sum carried off, this haste to reach far-off countries, this pretext of an eccentric wager—everything confirmed, and was bound to confirm, Fix in his ideas. He got the Frenchman talking some more and acquired the certainty that this fellow did not know his master at all, that the latter lived in isolation in London, that he was said to be rich without anyone knowing the source of his fortune, that he was an impenetrable man, and so on. But at the same time Fix could hold it for certain that Phileas Fogg was not landing at Suez, and that he really was going to Bombay.
"Is it far, Bombay?" asked Passepartout.
"Fairly far," replied the agent. "You've still got some ten days at sea."
"And where do you place Bombay?"
"In India."
"In Asia?"
"Naturally."
"The devil! The thing is, I'll tell you... there's something that nags at me... it's my jet!"
"What jet?"
"My gas jet that I forgot to turn off and that's burning on my account. Now, I've worked out that it costs me two shillings every twenty-four hours, just sixpence more than I earn, and you understand that however little the journey drags on..."
Did Fix understand the business of the gas? It's not likely. He was no longer listening and was making up his mind. The Frenchman and he had reached the bazaar. Fix left his companion to do his shopping there, urged him not to miss the departure of the Mongolia, and hurried back to the offices of the consular agent.
Fix, now that his conviction was formed, had recovered all his composure.
"Sir," he said to the consul, "I've no doubt left. I have my man. He's passing himself off as an eccentric who wants to go around the world in eighty days."
"Then he's a sly one," replied the consul, "and he means to come back to London after throwing off all the police forces of both continents!"
"We shall see," replied Fix.
"But aren't you mistaken?" the consul asked once again.
"I'm not mistaken."
"Then why did this thief insist on having his passage through Suez confirmed by a visa?"
"Why?... I've no idea, Consul," replied the detective, "but listen to me."
And, in a few words, he reported the salient points of his conversation with the servant of the said Fogg.
"Indeed," said the consul, "all the presumptions point to this man. And what do you mean to do?"
"Send a dispatch to London with an urgent request to forward me a warrant of arrest at Bombay, embark on the Mongolia, shadow my thief as far as the Indies, and there, on that English soil, accost him politely, my warrant in hand and my hand on his shoulder."
These words spoken coolly, the agent took leave of the consul and went to the telegraph office. From there he sent to the director of the metropolitan police that dispatch we already know.
A quarter of an hour later, Fix, his light luggage in hand, well provided with money besides, was embarking aboard the Mongolia, and soon the fast steamer was running at full steam over the waters of the Red Sea.