Showing how Passe-partout took too great an interest in his Master,
and what came of it.
Hong Kong is only an island, which fell into the possession of the
English by the Treaty of Nankin, in 1843. In a few years the
colonising enterprise of the British made of it an important city and
a fine port--Victoria. The island is at the mouth of the Canton river,
sixty miles only from Macao, upon the opposite bank. Hong Kong has
beaten the other port in the struggle for commercial supremacy, and
the greater traffic in Chinese merchandise finds its way to the
island. There are docks, hospitals, wharfs, warehouses, a cathedral, a
Government house, macadamised roads, &c., which give to Hong Kong as
English an aspect as a town in Kent or Surrey, which had by some
accident fallen to the antipodes.
Passe-partout, with his hands in his pockets, wandered towards Port
Victoria, gazing at the people as they passed, and admiring the
palanquins and other conveyances. The city appeared to him like
Bombay, Calcutta, and Singapore; or like any other town colonised by
the English.
At the port situated at the mouth of the Canton river was a regular
confusion of ships of all nations, commercial and warlike: junks,
sempas, tankas, and even flower-boats, like floating garden-borders.
Passe-partout remarked several of the natives, elderly men, clothed in
nankeen; and when he went to a barber's to be shaved, he inquired of
the man, who spoke pretty good English, who they were, and was
informed that these men were all eighty years of age, and were
therefore permitted to wear the imperial colour, namely yellow.
Passe-partout, without exactly knowing why, thought this very funny.
After being shaved, he went to the quay from which the _Carnatic_ was
to start, and there he found Fix walking up and down, in a very
disturbed manner.
"Ho, ho!" thought Passe-partout, "this does not look well for the
Reform Club;" and with a merry smile he accosted the detective without
appearing to have noticed his vexation. Fix had indeed good reasons
for feeling annoyed. The warrant had not arrived. No doubt it was on
its way, but it was quite impossible it could reach Hong Kong for
several days, and as this was the last British territory at which Mr.
Fogg would touch, he would escape if he could not be detained somehow.
"Well, Mr. Fix," said Passe-partout, "have you decided to come to
America with us?"
"Yes," replied Fix, between his clenched teeth.
"Come along, then," said Passe-partout, laughing loudly; "I knew you
could not leave us. Come and engage your berth."
So they went to the office, and took four places. But the clerk
informed them that the _Carnatic_, having had her repairs completed,
would sail that evening at eight o'clock, and not next morning, as
previously announced.
"Very good," said Passe-partout, "that will suit my master exactly. I
will go and tell him."
And now Fix determined to make a bold move. He would tell
Passe-partout everything. This was perhaps the only way by which he
could keep Phileas Fogg at Hong Kong.
As they quitted the office. Fix offered his companion some
refreshment, which Passe-partout accepted. They saw a tavern close by,
which they entered, and reached a large well-decorated room, at the
end of which was a large camp-bedstead furnished with cushions. On
this lay a number of men asleep. About thirty people were seated at
small tables drinking beer, porter, brandy, or other liquors; and the
majority of drinkers were smoking long pipes of red clay filled with
little balls of opium steeped in rose-water. From time to time a
smoker would subside under the table, and the waiters would carry him
and place him on the bed at the end of the room. There were about
twenty of these stupefied smokers altogether.
Fix and Passe-partout perceived that they had entered a smoking-house,
patronised by those wretched idiots devoted to one of the most
injurious vices of humanity--the smoking of opium, which the English
merchants sell every year to the value of one million four hundred
thousand pounds. The Chinese Government has vainly endeavoured by
stringent laws to remedy the evil, but in vain. The habit has
descended from the rich to the poorest classes, and now opium is
smoked everywhere at all times by men and women, and those accustomed
to it cannot do without it A great smoker can consume eight pipes a
day, but he dies in five years.
It was to one of these dens that Fix and Passe-partout had come for
refreshment; the latter had no money, but accepted his companion's
treat, hoping to return the civility at some future time. Fix ordered
two bottles of port, to which the Frenchman paid considerable
attention, while Fix, more cautious, watched his companion narrowly.
They talked upon many subjects, and particularly respecting Fix's
happy determination to sail in the _Carnatic_; and that put
Passe-partout in mind that he ought to go and inform his master
respecting the alteration in the time of the steamer's departure,
which, as the bottles were empty, he proceeded to do.
"Just one moment," said Fix, detaining him.
"What do you want, Mr. Fix?"
"I want to speak to you seriously."
"Seriously!" exclaimed Passe-partout. "Well, then, let us talk
to-morrow, I have no time to-day."
"You had better wait," said Fix; "it concerns your master."
Passe-partout looked closely at his companion, and as the expression
of his face was peculiar he sat down again.
"What have you got to say to me?" he said.
Fix placed his hand on his companion's arm, and said, in a low voice,
"You have guessed who I am, eh?"
"Rather," replied Passe-partout.
"Well, then, I am going to tell you everything."
"Yes, now that I know everything, my friend. That's pretty good.
However, go on; but first let me tell you that those gentlemen have
sent you on a wild-goose chase."
"It is evident that you do not know how large the sum in question is,"
said Fix.
"Oh yes, but I do," said Passe-partout, "it is twenty thousand
pounds."
"Fifty-five thousand," replied Fix, shaking the Frenchman's hand.
"What!" exclaimed Passe-partout, "has Mr. Fogg risked fifty-five
thousand pounds? Well, then, all the more reason we should not lose
any time," he added, as he rose from his chair.
"Fifty-five thousand pounds," continued Fix, pressing his companion
into his seat again, as a flask of brandy was placed before them; "and
if I succeed I shall get a percentage of two thousand pounds. If you
will assist me I will give you five hundred."
"Assist you!" exclaimed Passe-partout, as he stared wildly at the
detective.
"Yes, assist me to keep Mr. Fogg here for some hours longer."
"What is that you say?" said Passe-partout. "Not content with tracking
my master, do these gentlemen suspect his good face and wish to put
obstacles in his way? I am ashamed of them."
"What are you talking about?" said Fix.
"I say it is a piece of meanness; they might just as well pick Mr.
Fogg's pocket."
"That is just the very thing we want to do."
"Then it is a conspiracy, is it?" exclaimed Passe-partout, who was
getting excited by the brandy which he unconsciously had swallowed, "a
regular conspiracy; and they call themselves gentlemen and friends!"
Fix began to feel very puzzled.
"Friends!" exclaimed Passe-partout, "members of the Reform Club,
indeed! Do you know, Mr. Fix, that my master is an honest man, and
when he has made a bet he wins it fairly?"
"But can you guess who I am?" said Fix, looking steadily at
Passe-partout.
"An agent of the members of the club, whose business it is to hinder
my master; and a dirty job it is, too; so although I have found you
out long ago, I did not like to betray you to Mr. Fogg."
"Then he knows nothing about it," said Fix quickly.
"Nothing," replied Passe-partout, emptying his glass once more.
The detective passed his hand over his eyes and considered what he was
to do. Passe-partout appeared sincere, and this rendered his plan all
the more difficult; he evidently was not his master's accomplice. "He
will, therefore, help me," said Fix to himself.
There was no time to lose. At any risk Fogg must be stopped at Hong
Kong.
"Listen," said Fix, in a sharp tone; "I am not what you think me."
"Bah!" said Passe-partout.
"I am a detective, sent out by the police authorities in London."
"You a detective?"
"Yes, I can prove it. Here is my authority;" and drawing a paper from
his pocketbook, he exhibited his instructions to the stupefied
Passe-partout, who was unable to utter a word.
"This wager of Mr. Fogg's," continued Fix, "is merely to blindfold you
and his colleagues at the Reform Club. He had a motive in securing
your unconscious complicity."
"But why?" said Passe-partout.
"For this reason. On the 28th of last September, the sum of fifty-five
thousand pounds was stolen from the Bank of England, by a person whose
description is fortunately known. That description tallies exactly
with Mr. Fogg's appearance."
"Absurd," exclaimed Passe-partout, striking the table with his fist;
"my master is the most honest man in the world."
"What do you know about it?" replied Fix. "You only entered his
service on the day he left on a mad excursion, without luggage, and
carrying an immense sum in bank-notes; and do you dare to maintain
that he is an honest man?"
"Yes, yes," repeated the other mechanically.
"Do you wish to be arrested as an accomplice?"
Passe-partout clutched his head with both hands; he was stupefied. He
did not dare to look at the detective. Phileas Fogg a robber! This
brave, generous man, the rescuer of Aouda, a thief? And yet
circumstantial evidence was strong. Passe-partout did not wish to
believe it. He could not believe in his master's guilt.
"Well, then, what do you want me to do?" he said, with an effort.
"Look here," said Fix: "I have tracked Mr. Fogg so far, but as yet I
have not received a warrant, which I asked to be sent from London. You
must help me to keep your master in Hong Kong."
"But I--"
"If so, I will share with you the reward of two thousand pounds
promised by the bank."
"Never!" replied Passe-partout, who attempted to rise, but fell back
utterly exhausted and stupefied.
"Mr. Fix," he stammered, "even if you have told the truth, supposing
my master is the thief you are searching for--which I deny--I have
been, I am still in his service; he is kind and generous to me, and I
will never betray him for all the gold in the world."
"You refuse, then?"
"Absolutely."
"Well, then," said Fix, "forget all I have said. And now let us have a
drink."
"Yes, let us have another glass."
Passe-partout felt that the liquor was overcoming him more and more.
Fix having made up his mind that he must be separated from his master
at any price, determined to finish the matter. On the table were some
pipes of opium. Fix handed one of these to Passe-partout, who took a
few puffs and fell back perfectly insensible.
"At last," muttered Fix, as Passe-partout collapsed. "Mr. Fogg will
not hear of the change of time for the sailing of the _Carnatic_, and
if so, he will have to go without this infernal Frenchman."
Then paying the score, he quitted the tavern.