Fix soon caught up with Passepartout, who was wandering around the quay, looking at everything with great curiosity.
“Your passport has been stamped, hasn’t it?” Fix asked.
“Ah, it’s you, monsieur!” Passepartout replied. “Yes, everything is fine with the passport.”
“And you’re looking around?”
“Yes. We’re traveling so fast that I feel as if I’m dreaming. So this is Suez?”
“Yes.”
“In Egypt?”
“Certainly.”
“And Egypt is in Africa?”
“Of course.”
“In Africa!” Passepartout exclaimed. “Just think, monsieur! I had no idea we would go farther than Paris. And I barely saw Paris at all. I was there from twenty minutes past seven until twenty minutes before nine in the morning, traveling between the Northern Station and the Lyons Station, looking through a train window while it poured with rain!”
He sighed.
“I really wish I’d had time to visit Père Lachaise again and see the circus on the Champs-Élysées.”
“You seem to be in a great hurry,” Fix observed.
“Not me. My master is the one in a hurry. Oh, and I need to buy some shoes and shirts. We left London without any trunks. All we have is this little carpetbag.”
“I know an excellent shop where you can buy everything you need.”
“Really? That’s very kind of you, monsieur.”
The two men walked off together, and Passepartout kept talking happily as they went.
“Most importantly,” he said, “please don’t let me miss the steamer.”
“You have plenty of time. It’s only twelve o’clock.”
Passepartout immediately pulled out his large watch.
“Twelve o’clock?” he cried. “But my watch says it’s only eight minutes before ten!”
“Your watch is slow.”
“My watch? Slow?” Passepartout looked offended. “This is a family watch, monsieur. It belonged to my great-grandfather. It doesn’t lose five minutes in an entire year. It’s a perfect chronometer!”
“I see what happened,” Fix said. “You’re still keeping London time. Suez is two hours ahead of London. You should adjust your watch to local time whenever you enter a new country.”
“Adjust my watch? Never!”
“Then your watch won’t agree with the sun.”
“So much the worse for the sun!” Passepartout declared. “Then the sun will be wrong!”
With that, he proudly put the watch back into his pocket.
After they had walked in silence for a few minutes, Fix started asking questions again.
“You left London in rather a hurry, didn’t you?”
“I should say we did! Last Friday, Monsieur Fogg came home from his club at eight o’clock in the evening. Forty-five minutes later, we were already on our way.”
“And where is your master going?”
“Straight ahead, wherever the route takes him. He’s going around the world.”
“Around the world?” Fix exclaimed.
“Yes. And he plans to do it in eighty days!”
“Eighty days?”
“That’s what he says. Apparently, it’s a bet. But between you and me, I don’t believe that story for a second. It makes no sense. There must be something else behind it.”
“Ah, so Mr. Fogg is an unusual man?”
“I certainly think so.”
“Is he wealthy?”
“I’d say so. He’s carrying a huge amount of brand-new banknotes with him. And he certainly isn’t afraid to spend money. He even offered the engineer of the Mongolia a large reward if he gets us to Bombay ahead of schedule.”
“You’ve known your master for a long time?”
“Not at all. I started working for him on the very day we left London.”
Fix could hardly believe his luck.
Everything seemed to support his suspicion.
Fogg had left London almost immediately after the robbery. He was carrying a large amount of money. He was rushing toward distant countries. And he had invented an extraordinary story about traveling around the world in eighty days.
Fix became even more certain that he had found the bank robber.
He continued questioning Passepartout and soon discovered that the poor fellow knew almost nothing about his master.
Fogg had lived alone in London. Everyone believed he was rich, but nobody knew where his money came from. He kept his personal affairs and habits completely private.
Fix was now convinced that Fogg would not stop at Suez. He was heading for Bombay.
“Is Bombay far from here?” Passepartout suddenly asked.
“Quite far. About ten days by sea.”
“And what country is Bombay in?”
“India.”
“In Asia?”
“Certainly.”
“Good heavens!” Passepartout suddenly exclaimed. “There’s something else that’s bothering me.”
“What is that?”
“My gas burner!”
“Your gas burner?”
“Yes. I forgot to turn it off before we left. It’s probably still burning right now, and I’m paying for it!”
Fix stared at him.
“I calculated that it costs me two shillings every twenty-four hours. That’s sixpence more than I earn in a day! So you can imagine how worried I am the longer this journey lasts—”
Fix was hardly listening.
His mind was already working on another problem.
By now they had reached the shop. Fix left Passepartout there to buy his shoes and shirts, reminding him once again not to miss the Mongolia.
Then the detective hurried back to the consulate.
Now that he was almost certain of Fogg’s identity, Fix was completely calm.
“Consul,” he said, “I have no more doubts. I’ve found my man.”
“Really?”
“He’s pretending to be an eccentric gentleman who is traveling around the world in eighty days.”
“Then he’s clever,” the consul replied. “He probably intends to return to London after throwing the police off his trail.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“But what if you’re mistaken?”
“I’m not mistaken.”
“Then why was the robber so eager to prove with his passport that he had passed through Suez?”
“I don’t know. But let me explain what I’ve learned.”
Fix quickly told the consul the most important parts of his conversation with Passepartout.
“In short,” the consul said, “everything we know seems to point toward this man. What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to send a telegram to London requesting an arrest warrant. The warrant must be sent immediately to Bombay. Then I’ll take the Mongolia, follow my man to India, and arrest him there on British territory.”
Fix smiled calmly.
“With the warrant in one hand and my other hand on his shoulder.”
Having said this, Fix left the consulate and hurried to the telegraph office.
There, he sent the message to the London police.
Fifteen minutes later, Fix was already on board the Mongolia, carrying only a small bag.
A few minutes after that, the powerful steamer left the harbor at full speed and headed out onto the Red Sea.