CHAPTER XVII
IN WHICH ONE THING AND ANOTHER IS TALKED ABOUT DURING THE TRIP FROM SINGAPORE TO HONG KONG
After this day, Passepartout and the detective met frequently, but the latter maintained a very great reserve towards his companion, and he did not try to make him talk. Once or twice only he had a glimpse of Mr. Fogg, who was glad to remain in the grand saloon of the Rangoon, either keeping company with Aouda, or playing at whist, according to his invariable habit.
As for Passepartout, he thought very seriously over the singular chance which had once more put Fix on his master's route. And in fact, it was a little surprising. This gentleman, very amiable and very complacent, certainly, whom they met first at Suez, who embarked upon the Mongolia, who landed at Bombay, where he said that he would stop, whom they meet again on the Rangoon, en route for Hong Kong—in a word, following step by step the route marked out by Mr. Fogg—he was worth the trouble of being thought about. There was at least a singular coincidence in it all. What interest had Fix in it? Passepartout was ready to bet his slippers—he had carefully preserved them—that Fix would leave Hong Kong at the same time as they, and probably on the same steamer.
If Passepartout had thought for a century, he would never have guessed the detective's mission. He would never have imagined that Phileas Fogg was being "followed," after the fashion of a robber, around the terrestrial globe. But as it is in human nature to give an explanation for everything, Passepartout, suddenly enlightened, interpreted in his way the permanent presence of Fix, and, indeed, his interpretation was very plausible. According to him Fix was, and could be, only a detective sent upon Mr. Fogg's tracks by his colleagues of the Reform Club, to prove that this tour around the world was accomplished regularly, according to the time agreed upon.
"That is plain! that is plain!" repeated the honest fellow to himself, quite proud of his clearsightedness. "He is a spy whom these gentlemen have put upon our heels. This is undignified! To have Mr. Fogg, a man so honorable and just, tracked by a detective! Ah! gentlemen of the Reform Club, that will cost you dearly!"
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