Part 22 (1/2)

It was Passepartout's fault Abandoning his position, clearing the footlights without the aid of his wings, and claallery, he fell at the feet of one of the spectators, crying, ”Ah, my master! My master!”

”You here?”

”Myself”

”Very well; then let us go to the stea, Aouda and Passepartout passed through the lobby of the theatre to the outside, where they encountered the Honorable Mr

Batulcar, furious with rage He dee” of the pyra him a handful of banknotes

At half-past six, the very hour of departure, Mr Fogg and Aouda, followed by Passepartout, who in his hurry had retained his wings and nose six feet long, stepped upon the A and Party Cross the Pacific Ocean

What happened when the pilot boat canals made by the Tankadere had been seen by the captain of the Yokoha at half-mast, had directed his course towards the little craft

Phileas Fogg, after paying the stipulated price of his passage to John Bunsby, and rewarding that worthy with the additional sum of five hundred and fifty pounds, boarded the steaasaki and Yokoha of the 14th of Nove on board the Carnatic, where he learned, to Aouda's great delight--and perhaps to his own, though he betrayed no emotion--that Passepartout, a Frenchman, had really arrived on her the day before

The San Francisco stea, and it became necessary to find Passepartout, if possible, without delay Mr Fogg applied in vain to the French and English consuls, and, after wandering through the streets a long ti servant

Chance, or perhaps a kind of presentiment, at last led him into the Honorable Mr Batulcar's theatre He certainly would not have recognized Passepartout in the eccentricon his back, perceived his , which so changed the position of his nose as to bring the ”pyrae

All this Passepartout learned froe frohai on the Tankadere, in coe countenance on hearing this nae to his master what had taken place between the detective and hiave of his absence, he si opiu heard this narrative coldly, without a word Then he furnished hismore in harmony with his position Within an hour the Frenchs, and retained nothing about hiou

The steamer which was about to depart froed to the Pacific Mail Steamshi+p Coe paddle-wheel steamer of two thousand five hundred tons, well-equipped and very fast

The -beam rose and fell above the deck At one end a piston-rod worked up and down At the other was a connecting-rod which, in changing the rectilinear motion to a circular one, was directly connected with the shaft of the paddles The General Grant was rigged with three e capacity for sails, and thustwelve miles an hour, she would cross the ocean in twenty-one days Phileas Fogg was therefore justified in hoping that he would reach San Francisob the 2nd of Deceaining several hours on the fatal date of the 21st of Deceers on board, ae number of coolies on their way to California, and several East Indian officers, ere spending their vacation inof e The steae paddles, rolled but little, and the Pacific al was as cal companion felt herself ratitude His silent but generous nature iht; and it was almost unconsciously that she yielded to emotions which did not seem to have the least effect upon her protector Aouda took the keenest interest in his plans, and became impatient at any incident which seemed likely to retard his journey

She often chatted with Passepartout, who did not fail to perceive the state of the lady's heart Being the ies of Phileas Fogg's honesty, generosity and devotion He took pains to calm Aouda's doubts of a successful ter her that the most difficult part of it had passed, that now they were beyond the fantastic countries of japan and China, and were fairly on their way to civilized places again A railway train from San Francisco to New York, and a transatlantic stea them to the end of this ireed upon

On the ninth day after leaving Yokoha had traveled exactly one half of the terrestrial globe The General Grant passed, on the 23rd of Novehtieth meridian, and was at the very antipodes of London Mr

Fogg had, it is true, exhausted fifty-two of the eighty days in which he was to coht left But, though he was only halfway by the difference of one over two-thirds of the whole journey; for he had been obliged tocircuits froapore, and froapore to Yokohama Could he have folloithout deviation the fiftieth parallel, which is that of London, the whole distance would only have been about twelve thousand ular methods of locomotion, to travel twenty-six thousand, of which he had, on the 23rd of November, accomplished seventeen thousand five hundred And now the course was a straight one, and Fix was no longer there to put obstacles in their way!

It happened also, on the 23rd of November, that Passepartout made a joyful discovery It will be re his fa that of the countries he had passed through as quite false and unreliable Now, on this day, though he had not changed the hands, he found that his watch exactly agreed with the shi+p's chronometers His triumph was hilarious

He would have liked to knohat Fix would say if he were aboard!

”The rogue told me a lot of stories,” repeated Passepartout, ”about the meridians, the sun, and the moon! Moon, indeed!

Moonshi+ne more likely! If one listened to that sort of people, a pretty sort of tiulate itself by norant that, if the face of his watch had been divided into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks, he would have no reason for exultation; for the hands of his watch would then, instead of as now indicating nine o'clock in theThat is, it would have shown the twenty-first hour after ht--precisely the difference between London tihtieth meridian But if Fix had been able to explain this purely physical effect, Passepartout would not have admitted it, even if he had comprehended it Moreover, if the detective had been on board at that moment, Passepartout would have joined issue with him on a quite different subject, and in an entirely different manner

Where was Fix at that moment?

He was actually on board the General Grant