CHAPTER 3 DETECTIVE FIX

ROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS

Jules Verne

CHAPTER 1 PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT. 1

CHAPTER 2 THE BET. 2

CHAPTER 3 DETECTIVE FIX.. 4

CHAPTER 4 INDIA.. 5

CHAPTER 5 AOUDA.. 7

CHAPTER 6 CALCUTTA.. 8

CHAPTER 7 HONG KONG.. 9

CHAPTER 8 TO JAPAN?. 10

CHAPTER 9 TO SAN FRANCISCO.. 12

CHAPTER 10 ACROSS AMERICA.. 13

CHAPTER 11 ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.. 14

CHAPTER 12 THE END OF THE JOURNEY.. 15

CHAPTER 1 PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT

In 1872, the Reform Club in London's Pall Mall was a club for men only. Phileas Fogg went to the Preform Club every day. He left his house at 7 Savile Row at 11.30 in the morning and walked to the club. He had his lunch and his dinner there. He read the papers at the club, and he played cards. He left late in the evening and walked back to Savile Row. He went to bed at midnight.

Phileas Fogg was a cold man. He didn't talk much, and nobody knew much about him. But everything in his life had to be right. His washing water had to be at 31°C — not 30°C and not 32°C.

At 9.37 on the morning of 2nd October 1872 his servant, James Forster, brought him water at 30°C, not 31°C. So this servant had to go. Phileas Fogg sat at home in his Savile Row house. He waited for his new servant.

The new servant came. He was about thirty years old.

'You are French,' said Phileas Fogg,'and your name is John?'

'No,' said the new servant.' My name is Jean, Mr Fogg. They call me Jean Passepartout, because in French a " passepartout" can open every door. When things are bad, I can always get out. I can get out of anything!'

'Tell me about your work,' said Phileas Fogg.

'I am a good man and I can do a lot of different jobs,' said Jean Passepartout. 'I was a fireman in Paris. And ... look!' Passepartout did a high jump, then put his left leg and then his right leg on his head. He was a strong man.

'But I left France in 1867,' said Passepartout,'and I came to England. I want to be a servant. I am looking for a quiet life. People say that you are the quietest man in Britain. So I want to work for you. I want to live quietly now. I want to forget the name " Passepartout".'

'I'll call you Passepartout,' said Phileas Fogg.' What time is it?'

Passepartout pulled out a big watch and looked at it.

'It is 11.29, Mr. Fogg,' he said.

'All right. From now, 11.29 on 2nd October 1872, you are my servant.'

With those words, Phileas Fogg put on his hat and went out. There was nobody in the house, then, only Passepartout.

'Here I am,' the Frenchman thought.' But what do I do?'

He went into every room in the house. He found his room, and in it there was a timetable. Everything was there, starting from 8 o'clock. Phileas Fogg got up at that time.

8.23 Bring tea.

9.37 Bring washing water (31°C).

11.30 PF goes to the Reform Club.

Then, from 11.30 in the morning to midnight, everything was on the timetable. Mr. Fogg always went to bed at midnight.

Passepartout smiled. 'This is right for me,' he thought. 'Mr. Fogg is the man for me!'

CHAPTER 2 THE BET

It was 6.10 in the evening at the Reform Club. Phileas Fogg was in the card room. He was at a card table with the same five men as yesterday and the day before and the day before that.

Phileas Fogg and the five men didn't usually talk when they played cards. But this evening, before the game started, the men talked about a newspaper story. A thief walked into the Bank of England and took fifty-five thousand pounds. Then he walked out again. One of the men at the card table, Ralph, had a very good job at the Bank of England.

'They'll catch the man,' Ralph said.' The best detectives are at every port. They know that the man is tall. He wears expensive clothes. They'11 find him.'

'Oh, I don't know,' said Stuart, another man at the table.' The world is a very big place.'

'It was a big place,' said Phileas Fogg.

'What do you mean – “was”? Is it smaller now?' said Stuart.

'Yes,' said Ralph. 'I think Mr. Fogg is right. You can go round the world more quickly now.'

'All right,' said Stuart. 'You can go round the world in about three months, but that doesn't mean. .'

'Not three months,' said Phileas Fogg. 'Eighty days.'

'Fogg's right,' said Ralph.' The Rothal to Allahabad railway, in India, is open now. Look — today's Times has a timetable for a journey round the world.' And he showed them, on the centre page of the paper.

London to Suez — railway and ship 7 days

Suez to Bombay — ship 13 "

Bombay to Calcutta — railway 3 "

Calcutta to Hong Kong — ship 13 "

Hong Kong to Yokohama — ship 6 "

Yokohama to San Francisco — ship 22 "

San Francisco to New York — railway 7 "

New York to London — ship and railway 9 "

80 days

'Yes,' said Stuart,' eighty days. It's all right on paper. But a lot of things can happen in eighty days. They can stop you on the way.'

'No, they can't, Mr. Stuart,' said Phileas Fogg.

'Well, why don't you try, Mr. Fogg?'

'Go round the world in eighty days?' said Phileas Fogg. 'All right. I have twenty thousand pounds in Baring's Bank. I'll bet all of it.'

'Twenty thousand pounds!' cried Ralph. ' Something will happen on the journey, and you'll lose all your money.' 'Nothing will stop me,' Phileas Fogg said. In the end, Phileas Fogg's five friends took the bet. 'Each person will pay you four thousand pounds — that's twenty thousand pounds — when we see you again here in the Reform Club in eighty days at the end of your journey round the world,' said Ralph.' Or you have to pay us twenty thousand pounds. That's the bet.'

Phileas Fogg thought for a minute. ' Today is Wednesday, 2nd October. So I have to be back here, in this room in the Reform Club, on Saturday, 21st December at 8.45 in the evening.'

At 7.25, Phileas Fogg said good night to his friends and left the Reform Club. At 7.50, he opened the door of his house in Savile Row and went in.

'Mr. Fogg? Is that you?' said Passepartout. He looked at the timetable. This was not on the timetable.

'We are leaving in ten minutes for Dover and Calais,' said Phileas Fogg.' We are going round the world.'

Passepartout's eyes opened wide — very wide. He opened his arms then jumped on one leg.

'Round the world!' he said.

'In eighty days,' said Phileas Fogg.' We have to go now. Now!'

'But your bags?'

'I'm not taking any bags. Well, one small bag. We can buy things on the way. Bring down my coat. Wear strong shoes. Move!'

At 8 o'clock, Passepartout was ready with a small bag. ‘A quiet life,' he thought. 'Where is my quiet life?'

Phileas Fogg was ready. He had a book under his arm — Bradshaw's, a railway and ship timetable. He took the bag from Passepartout and put a lot of money into it. Then he gave the bag to Passepartout.

'Look after it,' he said.' There's twenty thousand pounds in it.'

At the station, Phileas Fogg saw his five friends from the Reform Club.

'You're here to say goodbye? That's kind,' he said. ' I'll have stamps in my passport for each country. You can see them when I come back.'

'We won't look at your passport,' said Ralph. 'You're an Englishman.'

At 8.40, Phileas Fogg and Passepartout took their places in the train, and at 8.45 the train started.

Some days later, the police at Scotland Yard had a letter from their detective, Detective Fix.

Suez, 9th October

To Scotland Yard, London

I am following the bank thief, Phileas Fogg. Send a warrant to Bombay now.

Fix (detective)

CHAPTER 3 DETECTIVE FIX

On Wednesday, 9th October a small thin man waited for a ship at Suez, Egypt. The ship, a fast ship, was the Mongolia. The man was Detective Fix. He was at the port because he wanted to find the Bank of England thief.

Fix looked at everybody. He wanted a tall man in expensive clothes. When the Mongolia arrived at the port, Phileas Fogg left the ship. He had to get a stamp in his passport. He went back to the ship. Fix watched him,

Then the detective found Passepartout out in the town.

'Can I help you?' asked Fix.

'You are very kind,' said Passepartout.' This is Suez ?'

'Yes,' said Fix.' Suez, in Egypt, in Africa.'

Passepartout looked at Fix with wide eyes.

'Africa!' he said.' This morning I saw Paris again, from 7.20 to 8.15 in the morning, through the windows of a train, between two railway stations. And now I am here in Africa.'

'You haven't got much time, then?' asked the detective.

' No, Mr. Fogg hasn't got much time. Oh, and I have to buy some clothes. We came away with only one small bag for the journey.'

'I'll show you the way to the shops.'

'Thank you,' said Passepartout. And the two men walked through Suez. ' I have to be careful about the time. The ship leaves again in a short time.'

'You've got time for shopping,' Fix answered. 'And you've got time for lunch.'

Passepartout pulled out his big watch.

‘Lunch?' he said.' It's 9.52 in the morning!'

'No, it's 11.52,' said Fix. 'You've got London time on your watch. That's two hours behind Suez time. When you go round the -world, time changes. On your journey you'll have to change the time on your watch for each new country.'

'What! Change the time on my watch ? Never!' said Passepartout.

Fix smiled. Five minutes later he said,' Here are the shops. You can buy everything here. I think you left London quickly.'

'Oh yes! Last Wednesday, Mr. Fogg came back from his club at 7.50 in the evening. He usually comes back at midnight. And then we started our journey.'

Fix thought about that. Then he asked, ‘But where is Mr. Fogg going?'

'Round the world.'

'Round the world ?'

'Yes, in eighty days. He says it is for a bet.'

' Is he rich ?' Fix asked.

'I think he is,' said Passepartout. The Frenchman was always ready to talk. 'He has a lot of new banknotes with him, and he buys things all the time. He gave the captain of the Mongolia a lot of money because he wanted to get to Bombay early.'

So the detective wrote to London and asked for a warrant in Bombay. Phileas Fogg was tall and wore expensive clothes. He left London quickly. He had a lot of money in new banknotes. Phileas Fogg was, Fix thought, the Bank of England thief.

Ten minutes before the Mongolia left Suez, Fix was on the ship with a light bag and some money. He was on his way to Bombay.

CHAPTER 4 INDIA

Phileas Fogg looked at the timetable. 'The Mongolia will arrive in Bombay on 22nd October' he wrote in his little black book.

But she arrived two days early because there was a north-west wind behind her. He wrote 'two days early' in the little black book, but he did not smile.

At 4.30 in the afternoon of 20th October, everybody left the ship and went into Bombay.

'The train from Bombay to Calcutta leaves at 8 o'clock,' Phileas Fogg told Passepartout.' Be at the railway station before then/Then he went to the passport office and had dinner at the railway station.

Fix went to the police in Bombay and asked about the warrant. He could not take Phileas Fogg back to England without a warrant. But the warrant was not there. It was in the post from England, so Fix could do nothing.

Passepartout looked at Bombay. Everything was interesting to the young man. He stood outside the fine temple at Malabar. He liked it, so he went inside.

But Passepartout didn't know that you can't go into a temple in India in your shoes.

'This temple is really lovely,' thought Passepartout. He looked at the beautiful things in there. Suddenly three men in orange clothes started to hit him. Then they threw him to the floor and took his shoes. They were very angry. They shouted something, but Passepartout didn't understand the language. But the Frenchman was young and strong. He pushed the men away and ran out of the temple into the street.

At 7.55, five minutes before the train left, Passepartout arrived at the station without his shoes, without a hat, and without the bag of new clothes. He found Phileas Fogg at the dinner table.

Fix was at the station restaurant too. He sat behind Phileas Fogg and watched him. He listened to Passepartout and Phileas Fogg. Passepartout moved his arms up and down when he told Phileas Fogg about the temple.

The detective smiled.' So the servant did something wrong in this country,' he thought.' I can use that. The thief will have to stay in India. And I can wait for the warrant from England.'

Phileas Fogg and Passepartout sat on the train through the night, the next day and the next night. Everything was different outside from one minute to the next minute. Passepartout watched the many changes through the window. They were very interesting to him. Phileas Fogg was not interested.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, on 22nd October, the train stopped near the station at Rothal. A man from the railway came to the train window.

'Everybody, get out of the train please,' he called. ' Why do we have to get out ?' asked Phileas Fogg. 'Because there is no more railway after this. It begins again at Allahabad, about fifty miles from here.'

'But it's in The Times', said Phileas Fogg. He had the centre page of the newspaper with him. 'Look. The paper says " The railway between Rothal and Allahabad is open now."'

'The paper is wrong.'

'But your company sells tickets from Bombay to Calcutta,' the Englishman said.

'Oh, yes,' the railway man answered.' But everybody knows that they have to go from Rothal to Allahabad on foot or on a horse.'

He was right. The other people in the train knew about the railway. They left the train quickly and went to the village. They took all the horses.

'We'll walk,' said Phileas Fogg.

Passepartout looked down at his feet. He didn't have any shoes. His shoes were in the Malabar temple in Bombay.

'There's an elephant over there,' he said.

The man with the elephant smiled a wide smile. A man with an elephant is a rich man when there isn't a railway. Phileas Fogg started at ten pounds an hour. No? Twenty? No? Forty? No.

In the end, the man sold the elephant to Phileas Fogg for two thousand pounds.

'Elephant meat is expensive,' Passepartout thought.

Next, they had to find a guide. They didn't know the way to Allahabad. That was easier. A young Indian from the village saw them with the elephant.

'Do you want a guide?' he asked. He spoke English, too.

Every two hours, the guide stopped the elephant. It ate and drank some water. Phileas Fogg, Passepartout and the guide sat under a tree, out of the sun. Then they started again. They moved quickly, and climbed higher.

By 8 o'clock in the evening, they were over the Vindhia mountains. They were half-way to Allahabad. The guide stopped for the night.

They started again at 6 o'clock the next morning, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon they were near Allahabad.

They were in some trees when suddenly the elephant stopped. They heard the sound of singing and loud music. The guide drove the elephant into the thickest trees.

'It is a dead man,' said the guide, quietly.' They are taking a dead man to a temple. Tomorrow they will start a fire and put the dead man on the fire.'

Through the trees, they saw a lot of people. Some men wore the same orange clothes as the three men at the Malabar temple. Some men played music. Some women and children walked behind them. Then they saw a young woman. Some men pushed her in front of them. She was very beautiful, but she was very weak. She couldn't walk very well. Men at the back carried a dead man in fine clothes.

'The dead man was important,' said the guide. ' The young woman was his wife, and they will put her on the fire tomorrow with her dead husband.'

'What?' said Phileas Fogg. 'Are you saying that this woman wants to die with her husband ?'

'Sometimes a wife wants to die when her husband dies,' answered the guide. 'But this young woman does not want to die. Those people, the people in the orange clothes, say she has to do it.'

'No!' said Passepartout.' But can't she get away from them?'

'They put something in her food,' the guide said.' Look — she is very tired. Then she will sleep.'

'We'll get her out of here,' said Phileas Fogg.

'Please think before you try that,' said the guide. 'These people are dangerous.'

'But, Mr. Fogg, the bet ...' said Passepartout.

Phileas Fogg looked at the timetable. ‘I am one day early. We can use the day well, and get the young woman away from here.'

'Well,' said the guide. 'We can follow them, but we cannot go too near. They are going to a temple about two miles from here. I know about the young wife, too. Her name is Aouda. Her father had a big company in Bombay. But her father and mother died and she had to marry that old man. We cannot do anything now. But I will help you when it gets dark.'

CHAPTER 5 AOUDA

People sang and shouted. The noise came through the trees. The guide stopped the elephant and they walked. They could see the temple, white in the dark night. Some men with guns sat round it and watched.

'The young woman is inside the temple,' said the guide, quietly. The dead man was on top of some wood, to the right. ' When the sun comes up, they will put the woman next to her husband. Then they will start the fire.'

'We'll have to think of something. We have to set the young woman out of there,' said Phileas Fogg.

But Phileas Fogg and the guide did not have any ideas. And the men with guns round the temple did not go to sleep. They watched. They watched very carefully.

After an hour or two the guide said, 'Mr. Fogg, where is your servant ?'

Phileas Fogg could not answer that. Passepartout was not there.

The sun came up in the east. The people woke and went noisily to the wood with the dead man on top. Then some men brought Aouda out of the temple. She did not move when they put her down on top of the wood, next to her dead husband. There was something in her food again that morning.

Some men brought fire to the wood. Phileas Fogg stood up and opened his mouth. He wanted to shout,' Stop!'

'Get down!' said the guide.' They will kill us!'

But suddenly everything changed. The people gave a great shout, and they fell down on their faces with their eyes to the ground.

The old man was not dead. He stood up and took the young woman in his arms. Then he came down through the fire. He walked over the people on the ground. Then he carried the woman easily in strong arms to Phileas Fogg and the guide.

'Let's go!' he said.' Quickly!'

It was Passepartout.

A minute later, the three men and the young woman were on the elephant. Aouda slept and knew nothing about it.

The sun was high and hot in the sky. It was nearly 10 o'clock in the morning.

The young guide said,' There, that is Allahabad. The railway starts again there. The train journey to Calcutta is about a day and a night.'

Phileas Fogg took a room at the railway station for Aouda. He sent Passepartout into the town for clothes and other things for the young woman. When the train was ready, Aouda was better.

Before they got in the train, Phileas Fogg paid the guide.

'That's your money, because you were our guide,' he said.' But you helped us in other ways. Would you like the elephant?'

The young guide gave a big smile. That was his only answer.

On the journey to Calcutta, Aouda learned about her night in the temple and about Passepartout and the fire. She said' Thank you' again and again, but she was afraid of her husband's family. She didn't want them to catch her again.

'I'll take you to Hong Kong,' Phileas Fogg said, 'and you can stay there.'

It was kind, but he spoke quite coldly.

She happily said, ' Oh, thank you! I have an uncle in Hong Kong. He will look after me.'

The train got to Calcutta at 7 o'clock in the morning. Phileas Fogg had five hours before the ship left for Hong Kong.

CHAPTER 6 CALCUTTA

Phileas Fogg, Passepartout and Aouda left the station at Calcutta. They wanted to go to the passport office and then to the ship. But a policeman came to them and said: 'Are you Mr. Phileas Fogg, and is this your servant ?'

'Yes.'

'Please follow me.'

Phileas Fogg's face did not change. He didn't feel anything, or he didn't show it.

'Can this young woman come with us ?' he asked.

The policeman said, 'Yes.'

At the police station, the policeman took them to a large room with a big cupboard in it. Then the three men in orange clothes from the Malabar temple in Bombay came in. One man carried Passepartout's shoes.

'The temple in Bombay!' said Passepartout.

The men from the temple were in Calcutta because Fix brought them from Bombay. Fix told the Calcutta police about the Malabar temple. Now, he was in the big cupboard in the room, and he listened to everything.

The policeman said, 'People from other countries cannot come to India and wear their shoes in a temple. It is not right. You will have to stay in prison. You can tell your story next week. Then perhaps you will have to stay in prison.'

Fix was very happy about that. 'The warrant will arrive before then,' he thought.

Passepartout felt bad. He was not afraid of prison, but he thought of Phileas Fogg and his bet. 'A bet of twenty thousand pounds,' he thought. 'And we will lose it, because I went into a temple in shoes!'

Phileas Fogg's face did not change. He said:' I want bail.'

'Yes, you can have bail,' said the policeman.

Fix, in the cupboard, was angry.

'But,' the policeman said, 'because you do not live in this country, bail will be one thousand pounds each. You -will have to come back here in a week, and then you will get your money back. You can tell your story then.'

Fix was happy about that. He thought, 'Fogg won't pay two thousand pounds of bail money. He'll stay in prison and wait.' To Fix, Phileas Fogg was a bank thief, not a man with a twenty thousand pound bet.

'I'll pay,' said Phileas Fogg.

'You will get this money back,' said the policeman, ‘when you come back next week. But now you can go, on bail.'

Passepartout turned to the three men from the temple. ' Please,' he said,' give me my shoes back.'

The Frenchman put on his shoes again. Then Fogg, Aouda and Passepartout went to the port as quickly as they could. Fix followed. He was very angry. 'That's two thousand pounds of the Bank of England's money,' he thought. 'I'll have to take Fogg back to England quickly.'

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 815