Chapter 22, Section 2

Passepartout realises that Fogg and Aouda missed the steamer, and remembers what Fix told him

Should he divulge Fix’s real errand to his master? Would it do to tell the part the detective was playing. Would it not be better to wait until Mr. Fogg reached London again, and then impart to him that an agent of the metropolitan police had been following him round the world, and have a good laugh over it? No doubt; at least, it was worth considering. The first thing to do was to find Mr. Fogg, and apologise for his singular behaviour.

Passepartout got up and proceeded, as well as he could with the rolling of the steamer, to the after-deck. He saw no one who resembled either his master or Aouda. “Good!” muttered he; “Aouda has not got up yet, and Mr. Fogg has probably found some partners at whist.”

He descended to the saloon. Mr. Fogg was not there. Passepartout had only, however, to ask the purser the number of his master’s state-room. The purser replied that he did not know any passenger by the name of Fogg.

“I beg your pardon,” said Passepartout persistently. “He is a tall gentleman, quiet, and not very talkative, and has with him a young lady–”

“There is no young lady on board,” interrupted the purser. “Here is a list of the passengers; you may see for yourself.”

Passepartout scanned the list, but his master’s name was not upon it. All at once an idea struck him.

“Ah! am I on the Carnatic?”

“Yes.”

“On the way to Yokohama?”

“Certainly.”

Passepartout had for an instant feared that he was on the wrong boat; but, though he was really on the Carnatic, his master was not there.

He fell thunderstruck on a seat. He saw it all now. He remembered that the time of sailing had been changed, that he should have informed his master of that fact, and that he had not done so. It was his fault, then, that Mr. Fogg and Aouda had missed the steamer. Yes, but it was still more the fault of the traitor who, in order to separate him from his master, and detain the latter at Hong Kong, had inveigled him into getting drunk! He now saw the detective’s trick; and at this moment Mr. Fogg was certainly ruined, his bet was lost, and he himself perhaps arrested and imprisoned! At this thought Passepartout tore his hair. Ah, if Fix ever came within his reach, what a settling of accounts there would be!

After his first depression, Passepartout became calmer, and began to study his situation. It was certainly not an enviable one. He found himself on the way to Japan, and what should he do when he got there? His pocket was empty; he had not a solitary shilling, not so much as a penny. His passage had fortunately been paid for in advance; and he had five or six days in which to decide upon his future course. He fell to at meals with an appetite, and ate for Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and himself. He helped himself as generously as if Japan were a desert, where nothing to eat was to be looked for.

Past Perfect Continuous

Would it not be better to wait until Mr. Fogg reached London again, and then impart to him that an agent of the metropolitan police had been following him round the world, and have a good laugh over it?

We use the past perfect continuous tense to talk about a past event that was in progress when another past event occurred. In this example, we have the past perfect continuous phrase ‘an agent of the metropolitan police had been following him’. This action was in progress while Phileas Fogg was making his journey around the world. In this particular example, Passepartout is imagining a point in the future, when they finish the journey and return to London. The two events (the journey and the agent following them) occurred before this imagined point in time. Learn more about the past perfect continuous tense.

Vocabulary

divulge

\Di*vulge"\

To impart; to communicate.
— 1913 Webster

impart

\Im*part"\

To communicate the knowledge of; to make known; to show by words or tokens; to tell; to disclose.
— 1913 Webster

thunderstruck

To astonish, or strike dumb, as with something terrible.
— 1913 Webster

traitor

\Trai"tor\

One who betrays any confidence or trust; a betrayer.
— 1913 Webster

inveigled

To lead astray as if blind; to persuade to something evil by deceptive arts or flattery; to entice; to insnare; to seduce; to wheedle.
— 1913 Webster