وقتی آقایان دزد هستند

CHAPTER THREE

When gentlemen are thieves

9 October

Inspector Fix was one of the detectives investigating the robbery at the Bank of England. In his years as a detective he knew only one thing for certain: all the biggest criminals looked like respectable gentlemen. The money, the quick departure. It all made sense. Phileas Fogg was a respectable gentleman, and he, Inspector Fix, wanted to get the reward for catching him.

He soon discovered that Phileas Fogg was on the Mongolia, a ship that sailed from Brindisi, in Italy, to Bombay, in India.

Our detective decided to look carefully at all the people getting on and off the Mongolia. On Wednesday, 9 October, Inspector Fix saw Phileas Fogg and his manservant as they arrived in the Suez Canal.

‘So, there’s our thief!’ he whispered. ‘All I need to do now is to tell Scotland Yard and wait for a warrant for his arrest, and then the reward is mine.’

Fix decided to speak to Fogg’s manservant. ‘Egypt is a beautiful country,’ began the Inspector.

‘Yes, that’s true, but we are travelling so quickly,’ replied Passepartout.

‘Why are you travelling so quickly? Surely you can’t see Egypt in only a few days.’

‘My master wants to travel around the world in eighty days…’ he said, looking at the detective’s confused face. ‘I know, it’s complete madness.’

‘Well, your master is… an unusual man, but I imagine he must be very rich to try to do a journey like that in such a short time.’

‘To tell you the truth, he has the money he needs. But… I really must leave. We have a boat to catch. Good day, Mr…?’

‘Fix, my name is Ins…, Mr Fix. And I believe that we are possibly going the same way. Are you also going to Bombay?’

‘Yes, we are. Sorry, not to introduce myself. My name’s Jean Passepartout. I’m sure we’ll see each other again.’ Passepartout touched his hat and waved goodbye.

His conversation with Passepartout made Inspector Fix feel even more certain that Phileas Fogg was the thief. ‘I must stop him,’ he thought. But how? Without the warrant for his arrest it was impossible, and he could escape again. He was worried.

Phileas Fogg, on the other hand, was carefully planning his journey. He kept detailed notes of the date, the length of each part of the journey, the time and the places they stopped in.

On 10 October, the ship left Suez for the next stop - Bombay. The sea was rough, but Phileas Fogg was not worried and soon found people on the ship to play cards with.

On 20 October they arrived in Bombay. Phileas Fogg and his manservant left the ship and went to the station to catch the train to Calcutta. On their way there Passepartout began to think about his master’s bet.

He felt worried. Yes, it was true, they were two days early, but anything could still happen.

The train left Bombay on time.

Three days later the train stopped at a small village. Passepartout heard the train driver shout, ‘Everyone must get off. The railway line ends here!’ The railway line from Bombay to Calcutta was not yet finished. The passengers had to travel to the next station, Allahabad, on their own. People who often travelled between the two towns were quick to find a way to continue their journey. Among the different types of transport there were little carts pulled by cows and ponies, and rickshaws pulled by bicycles or the men from the village.

Passepartout was worried about how to get to the next station, but Phileas Fogg immediately found a man with an elephant and after a short discussion, the man sold him the elephant for a very high price, and the two travellers were soon on their way to the next station with a guide and the elephant, called Kiouni.

At about nine o’clock that night our adventurers came to a big forest of palm trees where they had to stop to let Kiouni rest and eat the leaves from the trees. For a few days they slept in huts in the middle of the jungle. Sometimes they heard the cries of the monkeys and the sound of the tigers. Their journey was going well until the elephant suddenly stopped.