Around the World in Eighty Days. Junior Deluxe EditionVerne, Jules
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Around the World in Eighty Days. Junior Deluxe Edition
Verne, Jules
Adventure stories; Voyages around the world -- Fiction
Night came. The moon was entering her first quarter, and her
insufficient light would soon die out in the mist on the horizon.
Clouds were rising from the east, and already overcast a part of
the heavens.
The pilot had hung out his lights, which was very necessary in
these seas crowded with vessels bound landward. Collisions are
not uncommon occurrences, and, at the speed she was going, the
least shock would shatter the gallant little craft.
Fix, seated in the bow, gave himself up to meditation. He kept
apart from his fellow-travelers, knowing Mr. Fogg's taciturn
tastes. Besides, he did not quite like to talk to the man whose
favors he had accepted. He was thinking, too, of the future. It
seemed certain that Fogg would not stop at Yokohama, but would at
once take the boat for San Francisco; and the vast extent of
America would ensure him impunity and safety. Fogg's plan
appeared to him the simplest in the world.
Instead of sailing directly from England to the United States,
like a common villain, he had traveled three quarters of the
globe, so as to gain the American continent more surely. There,
after throwing the police off his track, he would quietly enjoy
himself with the fortune stolen from the bank. But, once in the
United States, what should he, Fix, do? Should he abandon this
man? No, a hundred times no! Until he had secured his
extradition, he would not lose sight of him for an hour. It was
his duty, and he would fulfill it to the end. At all events,
there was one thing to be thankful for. Passepartout was not with
his master; and it was above all important, after the confidences
Fix had imparted to him, that the servant should never have
speech with his master.
Phileas Fogg was also thinking of Passepartout, who had so
strangely disappeared. Looking at the matter from every point of
view, it did not seem to him impossible that, by some mistake,
the man might have embarked on the Carnatic at the last moment.
This was also Aouda's opinion, who regretted very much the loss
of the worthy fellow to whom she owed so much. They might then
find him at Yokohama, for, if the Carnatic was carrying him
thither, it would be easy to ascertain if he had been on board.
A brisk breeze arose about ten o'clock; but, though it might have
been prudent to take in a reef, the pilot, after carefully
examining the heavens, let the craft remain rigged as before. The
Tankadere bore sail admirably, as she drew a great deal of water,
and everything was prepared for high speed in case of a gale.
Mr. Fogg and Aouda descended into the cabin at midnight, having
been already preceded by Fix, who had lain down on one of the
cots. The pilot and crew remained on deck all night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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