Around the World in Eighty Days Part 16

Pa.s.separtout wandered, with his hands in his pockets, towards the Victoria port, gazing as he went at the curious palanquins and other modes of conveyance, and the groups of Chinese, j.a.panese and Europeans who pa.s.sed to and fro in the streets. Hong Kong seemed to him not unlike Bombay, Calcutta and Singapore, since, like them, it betrayed everywhere the evidence of English supremacy. At the Victoria port he found a confused ma.s.s of s.h.i.+ps of all nations: English, French, American and Dutch, men-of-war and trading vessels, j.a.panese and Chinese junks, sempas, tankas and flower-boats, which formed so many floating parterres.

Pa.s.separtout noticed in the crowd a number of the natives who seemed very old and were dressed in yellow. On going into a barber's to get shaved he learned that these ancient men were all at least eighty years old, at which age they are permitted to wear yellow, which is the Imperial color. Pa.s.separtout, without exactly 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. The detective seemed very much disturbed and disappointed.

"This is bad," muttered Pa.s.separtout, "for the gentlemen of the Reform Club!" He accosted Fix with a merry smile, as if he had not perceived that gentleman's chagrin. The detective had, indeed, good reasons to inveigh against the bad luck which pursued him. The warrant had not come! It was certainly on the way, but as certainly it could not now reach Hong Kong for several days. This being the last English territory on Mr. Fogg's route, the robber would escape, unless he could manage to detain him.

"Well, Monsieur Fix," said Pa.s.separtout, "have you decided to go with us as far as America?"

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

"Good!" exclaimed Pa.s.separtout, laughing heartily. "I knew you could not persuade yourself to separate from us. Come and engage your berth."

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

"That will suit my master all the better," said Pa.s.separtout. "I will go and let him know."

Fix now decided to make a bold move. He resolved to tell Pa.s.separtout all. It seemed to be the only possible means of keeping Phileas Fogg several days longer at Hong Kong. He accordingly invited his companion into a tavern which caught his eye on the quay. On entering, they found themselves in a large room handsomely decorated, at the end of which was a large campbed furnished with cus.h.i.+ons. Several persons lay upon this bed in a deep sleep. At the small tables which were arranged about the room some thirty customers were drinking English beer, porter, gin and brandy; smoking, the while, long red clay pipes stuffed with little b.a.l.l.s of opium mingled with essence of rose.

From time to time one of the smokers, overcome with the narcotic, would slip under the table, whereupon the waiters, taking him by the head and feet, carried and laid him upon the bed. The bed already supported twenty of these stupefied sots.

Fix and Pa.s.separtout saw that they were in a smoking house haunted by those wretched, cadaverous, idiotic creatures to whom the English merchants sell every year the miserable drug called opium, to the amount of one million four hundred thousand pounds--thousands devoted to one of the most despicable vices which afflict humanity! The Chinese government has in vain attempted to deal with the evil by stringent laws. It pa.s.sed gradually from the rich, to whom it was at first exclusively reserved, to the lower cla.s.ses, and then its ravages could not be arrested. Opium is smoked everywhere, at all times, by men and women, in the Celestial Empire. Once accustomed to it, the victims cannot dispense with it, except by suffering horrible bodily contortions and agonies. A great smoker can smoke as many as eight pipes a day, but he dies in five years. It was in one of these dens that Fix and Pa.s.separtout, in search of a friendly gla.s.s, found themselves. Pa.s.separtout had no money, but willingly accepted Fix's invitation in the hope of returning the obligation at some future time.

They ordered two bottles of port, to which the Frenchman did ample justice, while Fix observed him with close attention. They chatted about the journey, and Pa.s.separtout was especially merry at the idea that Fix was going to continue it with them. When the bottles were empty, however, he rose to go and tell his master of the 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 Pa.s.separtout, drinking up the little wine that was left in the bottom of his gla.s.s. "Well, we'll talk about it tomorrow. I haven't time now."

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

Pa.s.separtout, at this, looked attentively at his companion. Fix's face seemed to have a singular expression. He resumed his seat.

"What is it that you have to say?"

Fix placed his hand upon Pa.s.separtout's arm, and, lowering his voice, said, "You have guessed who I am?"

"Parbleu!" said Pa.s.separtout, smiling.

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

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

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

"Of course I do," returned Pa.s.separtout. "Twenty thousand pounds."

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

"What!" cried the Frenchman. "Has Monsieur Fogg dared--fifty-five thousand pounds! Well, there's all the more reason for not losing an instant," he continued, getting up hastily.

Fix pushed Pa.s.separtout back in his chair, and resumed: "Fifty-five thousand pounds, and if I succeed, I get two thousand pounds. If you'll help me, I'll let you have five hundred of them."

"Help you?" cried Pa.s.separtout, whose eyes were standing wide open.

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

"Why, what are you saying? Those gentlemen are not satisfied with following my master and suspecting his honor, but they must try to 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 as well waylay Mr. Fogg and put his money in their pockets!"

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

"It's a conspiracy, then," cried Pa.s.separtout, who became more and more excited as the liquor mounted in his head, for he drank without perceiving it. "A real conspiracy! And gentlemen, too.

Bah!"

Fix began to be puzzled.

"Members of the Reform Club!" continued Pa.s.separtout. "You must know, 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 out here to interrupt my master's journey. But, though I found you out some time ago, I've taken good care to say nothing about it to Mr. Fogg."

"He knows nothing, then?"

"Nothing," replied Pa.s.separtout, again emptying his gla.s.s. The detective pa.s.sed his hand across his forehead, hesitating before he spoke again. What should he do? Pa.s.separtout's mistake seemed sincere, but it made his design more difficult. It was evident that the servant was not the master's accomplice, as Fix had been inclined to suspect.

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

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

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

"Bah!" retorted Pa.s.separtout, 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."

Pa.s.separtout was speechless with astonishment when Fix displayed this doc.u.ment, the genuineness of which could not be doubted.