Home Categories science fiction Around the World in Eighty Days

Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Across the Pacific Ocean

We already know what happened in Shanghai.The signal sent by the Don Cadel at that time has been detected by the cruise ship bound for Yokohama.The captain, seeing the flag of the boat at half-mast, ordered the mail-boat to proceed to the Don Cadel.A short time later, Mr. Phileas Fogg settled the fare, and handed over to Captain John Bansby a note amounting to five hundred pounds (twelve thousand and five hundred francs).Then the noble gentleman, Lady Aouda, and Fix all boarded the steamer bound for Nagasaki and Yokohama at once. On the morning of November 14th, the cruise ship arrived in Yokohama on time.Mr. Fogg left Fix to his own business, and then Mr. Fogg went to the Carnatic.There he learned that Passepartout had indeed been in Yokohama the night before, and this news greatly pleased Lady Aouda.Mr. Fogg might have been equally pleased, but he didn't show it in his face.

Mr. Phileas Fogg was sailing for San Francisco that evening, so he went at once to Passepartout.He asked the French and British consulates, but got no information.He had searched the streets of Yokohama and found nothing, so he gave up hope of getting Passepartout back again.But at this moment, perhaps by chance, or by a certain premonition, he walked into Mr. Baturka's circus shed.At that time Passepartout was wearing such a strange ancient costume, Mr. Fogg would not recognize him of course, but Passepartout, who was lying on his back on the stage, saw his master sitting in the box above the flower building.At this time, the young man could no longer keep his nose in its original position without moving, so the whole "Arhat Tower" lost its balance and collapsed.

Then Passepartout also learned about the past few days from Mrs. Aouda.Mrs. Aouda told him how he got from Hong Kong to Yokohama, how he took the Don Cadel with a Mr. Fix, and so on. Passepartout did not frown at the name of Fix.He felt that it was not the time to explain to Mr. Fogg the entanglement between Fix and himself.As for Passepartout's own experience, he only admitted that he got drunk by smoking opium in a tobacco den in Yokohama. Mr. Fogg listened to his account calmly, without saying a word, and then gave him a sum sufficient to enable him to purchase more suitable clothes on board.In less than an hour, this honest young man had lost his fake nose and flower wings, and there was no trace of "Tiangu Shenpai" decoration on him anymore.

The cruise ship from Yokohama to San Francisco is a ship of the Pacific Steamship Company. The name of the ship is the General Grant. It is a large ship of 2,500 tons, well equipped and fast.A very long steam engine lever is exposed on the deck, and the two ends are constantly moving. One end of this lever is connected to the piston handle, and the other end is connected to the crankshaft of the turbine. In this way, the linear driving force of the lever is converted into a direct The power that drives the turbine makes the axle spin continuously.The General Grant was fitted with three large sails.The sail is very wide, which effectively assists the engine to accelerate the sailing speed.At this speed of twelve knots an hour, the cruiser could cross the Pacific in less than twenty-one days.Therefore, Mr. Phileas Fogg believes that he will be able to reach San Francisco on December 2nd, New York on the 11th, and return to London on December 20th.That would allow him to complete the trip hours before the fateful date of December 21.

There are quite a lot of passengers on board, some of them are British, but more of them are Americans; there are also many coolie immigrants going to America; some of them are officers serving in the Indian army, and they are using their vacations to travel around the world. This time, there were no nautical accidents during the trip.Relying on its huge turbines, and with the help of its fully deployed sails, the General Grant moved smoothly and smoothly.The Pacific Ocean can indeed be said to be worthy of the name "Taiping".Mr. Fogg was taciturn, as before.His young traveling companion, Lady Aouda, now felt more and more affection for him than gratitude.His amiable and quiet character produced an effect on Lady Aouda's heart that she could not even imagine. It can even be said that Lady Aouda had fallen into a subtle fantasy unconsciously. And this elusive Mr. Fogg seems to know nothing about Mrs. Aouda's mood.

In addition, Mrs. Aouda now seemed very interested in Mr. Fogg's travel plans.She was always worried that some accident would prevent them from completing this travel plan.She often chatted with Passepartout, this young man, who had already guessed the other party's mind from the tone of Madam Aouda's conversation.He is now blindly worshiping his master like a superstitious man worshiping a god, and he can't stop praising Mr. Fogg for his honesty, generosity, and enthusiasm for people; success.He said again and again that the most difficult stage is over; we have left the unfathomable places of China and Japan, we have returned to these civilized countries, and at last only need to take the train from San Francisco to New York, Then take a ship across the ocean, from New York to London, and there is no doubt that this round-the-world trip that people think is impossible can be completed on time.

Nine days after leaving Yokohama, Mr. Phileas Fogg had circled exactly half the world without any excess or excess. The General Grant crossed the 180-degree meridian on November 23. This meridian in the southern hemisphere happens to be in a vertical line with London in the northern hemisphere across the earth.It is true that Mr. Fogg's eighty days had now expired fifty-two days, and he had only twenty-eight days left.We must note, however, that if the gentleman had only traveled half the distance measured in terms of the earth's meridian of longitude, he had in fact completed more than two-thirds of his planned journey.Because he had to go around in such a big circle, from London to Aden, from Aden to Mumbai, from Calcutta to Singapore, and from Singapore to Yokohama!If he circled the earth in a straight line along the 50th parallel of latitude where London is located, the whole journey would be only about 12,000 miles; but due to traffic conditions, he had to detour 26,000 miles to return to London.At present, as of November 23rd, he had covered about 17,500 miles, but the road from here to London was straight, and the troublemaker Fix was gone.

On the 23rd of November, Passepartout also discovered something that pleased him greatly.We always remember the stubborn young man who kept his big family heirloom silver watch keeping London time unchanged.All along the way he kept thinking that other people's clocks were telling the wrong time.But today, although he never pulled up or reversed his watch hands, he found that it moved exactly like the big clock on the ship. Passepartout felt a sense of triumph for another reason, and that was, if Fix were here, he would have liked to hear what the fellow would have said to his watch. "This bastard, he has given me a lot of meridians, suns, and moons!" said Passepartout. "Hey! If you listen to them, don't have another It's exactly the hour. I've known for a long time that one day the sun will follow my watch!  …"

But Passepartout did not understand that if his face divided the twenty-four hours like that Italian clock, he would never be so complacent.If so, when the big clock on the ship points to nine o'clock in the morning, the hour hand on Passepartout's watch will point to nine o'clock in the evening, which is the twenty-first o'clock in twenty-four hours, so his watch and The difference between the big clock on the ship is exactly equal to the difference between the time in the area of ​​180 degrees of the meridian and London time. Even if Fix could explain this truth clearly, Passepartout would probably not understand it, and even if he understood it, he would not admit that Fix was right.But if, assuming—which of course is unlikely—that the detective had suddenly appeared on board this ship, Passepartout, who hated him deeply and was justified, would have taken a different attitude. Treat him, and never talk to him about the big silver watch.

But where was Fix now? ... Fix was nowhere else but on the General Grant. In fact, the agent left Mr. Fogg as soon as he arrived in Yokohama, and went to the British Consulate immediately, although he intended to see Mr. Fogg that day.At the consulate, he finally got the arrest warrant that had followed him for forty days from Mumbai.Because the relevant authorities thought that Fix would definitely take the Carnatic, they also handed over the arrest ticket to this ship, which was sent from Hong Kong to Yokohama.It can be imagined how much this matter troubled our detective!The detention ticket is useless here, it has become a piece of waste paper!Mr. Fogg has left the British sphere of influence!If you want to arrest him now, you must go through extradition procedures with the local government!

"Never mind!" said Fix to himself, after his anger subsided, "my arrest ticket won't work here. But when it comes to the mainland, it's still in charge. Fogg, the rascal, seems to be a real thing." To go back to England, he thought the Police Department had been covered by him. Well! I'll keep an eye on it. As for the stolen money, God knows how much there is left! Travel expenses, bonuses, court costs, bail, big money He's already squandered over five thousand pounds on elephants and other expenses along the way. But, anyway, there's plenty of money in the bank!" After he made up his mind, he immediately boarded the General Grant.When Mr. Fogg and Mrs. Aouda boarded, Fix was already on board.Never expecting to see Passepartout in his old Japanese costume, he immediately took refuge in his cabin, so as not to cause a dispute and spoil the matter.One day, because there were so many tourists, Fix thought that he would never be discovered by his opponent, so he went out, but the road to the enemy was narrow, and at this time, he met Passepartout on the foredeck. Without further ado, the French boy went up and strangled Fix by the neck, and now some Yankees watching around were very happy, and they immediately divided into two factions, taking the victory of Passepartout and Fix. Lost and gambled money.The young man gave the hapless spy a solid blow with his left and right blows, from which it can be seen that French boxing is much better than English boxing. Passepartout, after having beaten Fix, seemed somewhat relieved, and less angry.At this time, Fix's appearance was already very ugly. He got up and looked at Passepartout, and said coldly: "Have you beaten enough?" "Well, that's enough for now." "Okay, let's go, let's talk." "I'm still with you..." "What is good for your master." Passepartout seemed to be subdued by this quiet opponent, and he followed him to the bow deck and sat down. "You beat me up," said Fix, "it's nothing, I was expecting you to beat me. But now, listen to me, I've always been against Mr. Fogg, but from now on , I'm going to help him." "Ah!" cried Passepartout, "you now believe him to be a gentleman?" "I don't believe it," said Fix, drily, "I believe he's a rascal. Hey! Don't do it, and listen to me, will you! When Mr. Fogg is in the British sphere, stop Fogg and treat me It's good, because I have to wait for London to send me a warrant. For this purpose, I have exhausted all means. I have persuaded the monks of Bombay to rush to Calcutta and sued him. I used to get you drunk and separated you in Hong Kong, called He can't get on the boat to Yokohama..." Passepartout listened, clenching his great fists. "But now," went on Fix, "Mr. Fogg seems to be going back to England, isn't he? That's very well. I've followed him all the way to England. But from now on I'm going to help him clear the air of his journey." I must use the urgency and enthusiasm that I used to try to prevent him from traveling to help him return to England. You know now that my role has changed, and my role has changed because It is in my own interest to do so. I repeat, your interests are mine now, because you will not know whether you are working for a good man or a criminal until you arrive in England. " Passepartout listened very carefully to Fix's passage.He was sure that Fix said what was in his heart. "Can we be called friends?" asked Fix. "Friends? We are not," replied Passepartout, "we are only allies, yes, only on the condition that Mr. Fogg's interests are guaranteed, that is, as long as I find you One trick and I'll strangle you to death!" "I agree," Fix said flatly. Eleven days later, on December 3, the General Grant sailed into Golden Gate Harbor and arrived in San Francisco. So far Mr. Fogg had only arrived in San Francisco on time, not a day late, but not early either.
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