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him sea-sick he made no account of this inconvenience;
and, whilst his body was writhing under their effects, his
spirit bounded with hopeful exultation.
Passepartout was enraged beyond expression by the
unpropitious weather. Everything had gone so well till
now! Earth and sea had seemed to be at his master s
service; steamers and railways obeyed him; wind and steam
united to speed his journey. Had the hour of adversity
come? Passepartout was as much excited as if the twenty
thousand pounds were to come from his own pocket. The
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storm exasperated him, the gale made him furious, and he
longed to lash the obstinate sea into obedience. Poor
fellow! Fix carefully concealed from him his own
satisfaction, for, had he betrayed it, Passepartout could
scarcely have restrained himself from personal violence.
Passepartout remained on deck as long as the tempest
lasted, being unable to remain quiet below, and taking it
into his head to aid the progress of the ship by lending a
hand with the crew. He overwhelmed the captain,
officers, and sailors, who could not help laughing at his
impatience, with all sorts of questions. He wanted to
know exactly how long the storm was going to last;
whereupon he was referred to the barometer, which
seemed to have no intention of rising. Passepartout shook
it, but with no perceptible effect; for neither shaking nor
maledictions could prevail upon it to change its mind.
On the 4th, however, the sea became more calm, and
the storm lessened its violence; the wind veered
southward, and was once more favourable. Passepartout
cleared up with the weather. Some of the sails were
unfurled, and the Rangoon resumed its most rapid speed.
The time lost could not, however, be regained. Land was
not signalled until five o clock on the morning of the 6th;
the steamer was due on the 5th. Phileas Fogg was twenty-
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four hours behind-hand, and the Yokohama steamer
would, of course, be missed.
The pilot went on board at six, and took his place on
the bridge, to guide the Rangoon through the channels to
the port of Hong Kong. Passepartout longed to ask him if
the steamer had left for Yokohama; but he dared not, for
he wished to preserve the spark of hope, which still
remained till the last moment. He had confided his anxiety
to Fix who the sly rascal! tried to console him by
saying that Mr. Fogg would be in time if he took the next
boat; but this only put Passepartout in a passion.
Mr. Fogg, bolder than his servant, did not hesitate to
approach the pilot, and tranquilly ask him if he knew
when a steamer would leave Hong Kong for Yokohama.
 At high tide to-morrow morning, answered the pilot.
 Ah! said Mr. Fogg, without betraying any
astonishment.
Passepartout, who heard what passed, would willingly
have embraced the pilot, while Fix would have been glad
to twist his neck.
 What is the steamer s name? asked Mr. Fogg.
 The Carnatic.
 Ought she not to have gone yesterday?
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 Yes, sir; but they had to repair one of her boilers, and
so her departure was postponed till to-morrow.
 Thank you, returned Mr. Fogg, descending
mathematically to the saloon.
Passepartout clasped the pilot s hand and shook it
heartily in his delight, exclaiming,  Pilot, you are the best
of good fellows!
The pilot probably does not know to this day why his
responses won him this enthusiastic greeting. He
remounted the bridge, and guided the steamer through the
flotilla of junks, tankas, and fishing boats which crowd the
harbour of Hong Kong.
At one o clock the Rangoon was at the quay, and the
passengers were going ashore.
Chance had strangely favoured Phileas Fogg, for had
not the Carnatic been forced to lie over for repairing her
boilers, she would have left on the 6th of November, and
the passengers for Japan would have been obliged to await
for a week the sailing of the next steamer. Mr. Fogg was,
it is true, twenty-four hours behind his time; but this
could not seriously imperil the remainder of his tour.
The steamer which crossed the Pacific from Yokohama
to San Francisco made a direct connection with that from
Hong Kong, and it could not sail until the latter reached
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Yokohama; and if Mr. Fogg was twenty-four hours late
on reaching Yokohama, this time would no doubt be
easily regained in the voyage of twenty-two days across
the Pacific. He found himself, then, about twenty-four
hours behind-hand, thirty-five days after leaving London.
The Carnatic was announced to leave Hong Kong at
five the next morning. Mr. Fogg had sixteen hours in
which to attend to his business there, which was to deposit
Aouda safely with her wealthy relative.
On landing, he conducted her to a palanquin, in which
they repaired to the Club Hotel. A room was engaged for
the young woman, and Mr. Fogg, after seeing that she
wanted for nothing, set out in search of her cousin
Jeejeeh. He instructed Passepartout to remain at the hotel
until his return, that Aouda might not be left entirely
alone.
Mr. Fogg repaired to the Exchange, where, he did not
doubt, every one would know so wealthy and
considerable a personage as the Parsee merchant. Meeting
a broker, he made the inquiry, to learn that Jeejeeh had
left China two years before, and, retiring from business
with an immense fortune, had taken up his residence in
Europe in Holland the broker thought, with the
merchants of which country he had principally traded.
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Phileas Fogg returned to the hotel, begged a moment s
conversation with Aouda, and without more ado, apprised
her that Jeejeeh was no longer at Hong Kong, but
probably in Holland.
Aouda at first said nothing. She passed her hand across
her forehead, and reflected a few moments. Then, in her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]