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Around the World in Eighty Days
Chapter 9. IN WHICH THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN PROVE PROPITIOUS TO THE DESIGNS OF PHILEAS FOGG
The distance between Suez and Aden is exactly thirteen hundred and ten miles.
The company rules give the steamers one hundred and thirty-eight hours to make the trip.
The "Mongolia," because the engineer worked hard, seemed likely to arrive much sooner.
Her speed was very fast, Most passengers from Brindisi were going to India, Some were for Bombay.
Others were for Calcutta by way of Bombay, the nearest route now that a railway crosses the Indian peninsula.
Among the passengers were several officials and army officers of different ranks.
Some of the officers were with the regular British forces.
Others commanded the Sepoy troops, they all got high pay since the central government took over the East India Company.
The sub-lieutenants get pound280, brigadiers pound2,400, and generals of divisions pound4,000.
With the army men, a number of rich young Englishmen on travel, and the friendly help of the purser, time passed quickly on the "Mongolia."
The best food was served in the cabin at breakfast, lunch, dinner and eight o'clock supper, the ladies changed clothes twice daily.
The hours passed quickly, when the sea was calm, with music, dancing, and games.
But the Red Sea is changeable, and often rough, like most long narrow seas.
When the wind came from the African or Asian coast the "Mongolia," with her long hull, rolled badly.
Then the ladies soon went below.
The pianos were quiet, Singing and dancing stopped at once.
Yet the good ship went straight on, not held back by wind or wave, toward the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
What was Phileas Fogg doing all this time?
You might think he'd be watching the wind, the angry waves, and every thing that might make the "Mongolia" slow down and stop his journey.
But if he thought of these chances, he didn't show it by any sign.
He was always the calm Reform Club man, no event surprised him, and he was steady as ship's clocks, rarely on deck.
He went through the memorable scenes of the Red Sea with cold indifference.
He didn't care to look at the historic towns and villages which along its shores showed their pretty shapes against the sky.
He showed no fear of the dangers of the Arabian Gulf.
Old writers always spoke of it with horror, and ancient sailors never went there without giving gifts to the gods.
How did this odd man spend his time on the "Mongolia"?
He had his four good meals every day, no matter how much the ship rolled and pitched.
He played whist without getting tired, for he had found partners as keen on the game as he was.
A tax-collector going to his post at Goa, the Rev.
Decimus Smith, returning to his parish at Bombay, and a brigadier-general returning to his brigade at Benares made up the group.
With Mr. Fogg, they played whist for hours together in deep silence.
As for Passepartout, he had also avoided sea-sickness, and ate his meals faithfully in the forward cabin, he rather liked the voyage.
He was well fed and had good rooms, and took much interest in the places they passed.
He told himself he hoped his master's strange plan would end at Bombay.
The day after leaving Suez, he was glad to find on deck helpful man he'd walked and talked with on the quays.
"If I'm not mistaken,"
He said, going up to this man with his friendliest smile, "you're the gentleman who so kindly offered to guide me at Suez?".
"Ah! I quite recognise you. You're the servant of the strange Englishman, "
"Just so, monsieur, "
"Fix."
"Monsieur Fix," said Passepartout, "I'm happy to find you on board. Where are you going?"
"Like you, to Bombay."
"That's great! Have you made this trip before?"
"Several times. I'm one of the agents of the Peninsular Company."
"Then you know India?"
"Why yes," replied Fix, who spoke carefully.
"A strange place, this India?"
"Oh, very strange. Mosques, minarets, temples, fakirs, pagodas, tigers, snakes, elephants! I hope you'll have plenty of time to see the sights."
"I hope so, Monsieur Fix."
"You see, a sensible man shouldn't spend his life jumping from a steamer onto a railway train."
"He shouldn't keep leaping from a railway train back onto a steamer, pretending to make the tour of the world in eighty days!"
"No, all these gymnastic actions, you can be sure, will stop at Bombay."
"And Mr. Fogg is getting on well?" asked Fix, in the most natural tone in the world.
"Quite well, and I too. I eat like a famished ogre, it's the sea air."
"But I never see your master on deck."
"Never, he hasn't the least curiosity."
"Do you know, Mr. Passepartout, that this supposed tour in eighty days may hide some secret task, perhaps a diplomatic mission?"
"Faith, Monsieur Fix, I assure you I know nothing about it, nor would I give half a crown to find out."
After this meeting, Passepartout and Fix began to talk together often, Fix trying to win the good man's trust.
He often offered him a glass of whiskey or pale ale in the steamer bar-room.
Passepartout always accepted with ready grace, thinking Fix was a very fine fellow.
Meanwhile the "Mongolia" moved forward quickly.
On the 13th, Mocha, surrounded by its ruined walls where date-trees were growing, was seen, and on the mountains beyond were large coffee-fields.
Passepartout was delighted to see this place and thought its round walls and ruined fort looked like a coffee cup and saucer.
The next night they passed through the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which in Arabic means "The Bridge of Tears,"
And the day after they stopped at Steamer Point, north-west of Aden harbour, to take in coal.
This matter of supplying coal to steamers is an important one at such distance from the coal-mines.
It costs the Peninsular Company about eight hundred thousand pounds a year.
In these far seas, coal is worth three or four pounds sterling a ton.
The "Mongolia" still had sixteen hundred and fifty miles to go before reaching Bombay, and had to stay four hours at Steamer Point to take coal on board.
But this delay, as they had expected, didn't affect Phileas Fogg's plan.
Besides, the "Mongolia,"
Instead of reaching Aden the morning of the 15th, the Mongolia arrived the evening of the 14th, a gain of fifteen hours.
Mr. Fogg and his servant went ashore at Aden to have the passport signed again.
Fix, unseen, followed them, the visa got, Mr. Fogg returned on board to go back to his old habits.
Passepartout, as usual, walked among the mixed people of Somalis, Banyans, Parsees, Jews, Arabs, and Europeans who make up the twenty-five thousand people of Aden.
He looked with wonder at the fortifications which make this place the Gibraltar of the Indian Ocean.
He looked also at the large cisterns where the English engineers were still at work, two thousand years after the engineers of Solomon.
"Very curious, very curious," said Passepartout to himself as he returned to the steamer.
"I see that it isn't useless to travel, if a man wants to see something new."
At six p.m. the "Mongolia" slowly left the roadstead, and was soon once more on the Indian Ocean.
She had one hundred sixty-eight hours to reach Bombay, the sea favored them, a northwest wind and full sails helped the engine.
The steamer rolled little, the ladies, in fresh clothes, came back on deck, and the singing and dancing started again.
The trip was going very well, and Passepartout was pleased with the friendly companion chance had given him in the person of the pleasant Fix.
On Sunday, October 20th, near noon, they saw the Indian coast.
Two hours later the pilot came on board.
A line of hills lay against the sky on the horizon, and soon the rows of palms that decorate Bombay came clearly into view.
The steamer entered the road formed by the islands in the bay, and at half-past four she tied up at the quays of Bombay.
Phileas Fogg was finishing the thirty-third rubber of the voyage, and his partner.
He, by a bold play, had won all thirteen of the tricks, ending this fine run with a brilliant victory.
The "Mongolia" was due at Bombay on the 22nd, she arrived on the 20th.
This was a gain to Phileas Fogg of two days since his start from London.
And he calmly wrote the fact in the itinerary, in the column of gains.