What happened when the pilot-boat came in sight of Shanghai will beeasily guessed. The signals made by the Tankadere had been seen by thecaptain of the Yokohama steamer, who, espying the flag at half-mast,had directed his course towards the little craft. Phileas Fogg, afterpaying the stipulated price of his passage to John Busby, and rewardingthat worthy with the additional sum of five hundred and fifty pounds,ascended the steamer with Aouda and Fix; and they started at once forNagasaki and Yokohama.

They reached their destination on the morning of the 14th of November.Phileas Fogg lost no time in going on board the Carnatic, where helearned, to Aouda's great delight--and perhaps to his own, though hebetrayed no emotion--that Passepartout, a Frenchman, had really arrivedon her the day before.

The San Francisco steamer was announced to leave that very evening, andit became necessary to find Passepartout, if possible, without delay.Mr. Fogg applied in vain to the French and English consuls, and, afterwandering through the streets a long time, began to despair of findinghis missing servant. Chance, or perhaps a kind of presentiment, atlast led him into the Honourable Mr. Batulcar's theatre. He certainlywould not have recognised Passepartout in the eccentric mountebank'scostume; but the latter, lying on his back, perceived his master in thegallery. He could not help starting, which so changed the position ofhis nose as to bring the "pyramid" pell-mell upon the stage.

All this Passepartout learned from Aouda, who recounted to him what hadtaken place on the voyage from Hong Kong to Shanghai on the Tankadere,in company with one Mr. Fix.

Passepartout did not change countenance on hearing this name. Hethought that the time had not yet arrived to divulge to his master whathad taken place between the detective and himself; and, in the accounthe gave of his absence, he simply excused himself for having beenovertaken by drunkenness, in smoking opium at a tavern in Hong Kong.

Mr. Fogg heard this narrative coldly, without a word; and thenfurnished his man with funds necessary to obtain clothing more inharmony with his position. Within an hour the Frenchman had cut offhis nose and parted with his wings, and retained nothing about himwhich recalled the sectary of the god Tingou.

The steamer which was about to depart from Yokohama to San Franciscobelonged to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and was named theGeneral Grant. She was a large paddle-wheel steamer of two thousandfive hundred tons; well equipped and very fast. The massivewalking-beam rose and fell above the deck; at one end a piston-rodworked up and down; and at the other was a connecting-rod which, inchanging the rectilinear motion to a circular one, was directlyconnected with the shaft of the paddles. The General Grant was riggedwith three masts, giving a large capacity for sails, and thusmaterially aiding the steam power. By making twelve miles an hour, shewould cross the ocean in twenty-one days. Phileas Fogg was thereforejustified in hoping that he would reach San Francisco by the 2nd ofDecember, New York by the 11th, and London on the 20th--thus gainingseveral hours on the fatal date of the 21st of December.

There was a full complement of passengers on board, among them English,many Americans, a large number of coolies on their way to California,and several East Indian officers, who were spending their vacation inmaking the tour of the world. Nothing of moment happened on thevoyage; the steamer, sustained on its large paddles, rolled but little,and the Pacific almost justified its name. Mr. Fogg was as calm andtaciturn as ever. His young companion felt herself more and moreattached to him by other ties than gratitude; his silent but generousnature impressed her more than she thought; and it was almostunconsciously that she yielded to emotions which did not seem to havethe least effect upon her protector. Aouda took the keenest interestin his plans, and became impatient at any incident which seemed likelyto retard his journey.

She often chatted with Passepartout, who did not fail to perceive thestate of the lady's heart; and, being the most faithful of domestics,he never exhausted his eulogies of Phileas Fogg's honesty, generosity,and devotion. He took pains to calm Aouda's doubts of a successfultermination of the journey, telling her that the most difficult part ofit had passed, that now they were beyond the fantastic countries ofJapan and China, and were fairly on their way to civilised placesagain. A railway train from San Francisco to New York, and atransatlantic steamer from New York to Liverpool, would doubtless bringthem to the end of this impossible journey round the world within theperiod agreed upon.

On the ninth day after leaving Yokohama, Phileas Fogg had traversedexactly one half of the terrestrial globe. The General Grant passed,on the 23rd of November, the one hundred and eightieth meridian, andwas at the very antipodes of London. Mr. Fogg had, it is true,exhausted fifty-two of the eighty days in which he was to complete thetour, and there were only twenty-eight left. But, though he was onlyhalf-way by the difference of meridians, he had really gone overtwo-thirds of the whole journey; for he had been obliged to make longcircuits from London to Aden, from Aden to Bombay, from Calcutta toSingapore, and from Singapore to Yokohama. Could he have followedwithout deviation the fiftieth parallel, which is that of London, thewhole distance would only have been about twelve thousand miles;whereas he would be forced, by the irregular methods of locomotion, totraverse twenty-six thousand, of which he had, on the 23rd of November,accomplished seventeen thousand five hundred. And now the course was astraight one, and Fix was no longer there to put obstacles in their way!

It happened also, on the 23rd of November, that Passepartout made ajoyful discovery. It will be remembered that the obstinate fellow hadinsisted on keeping his famous family watch at London time, and onregarding that of the countries he had passed through as quite falseand unreliable. Now, on this day, though he had not changed the hands,he found that his watch exactly agreed with the ship's chronometers.His triumph was hilarious. He would have liked to know what Fix wouldsay if he were aboard!

"The rogue told me a lot of stories," repeated Passepartout, "about themeridians, the sun, and the moon! Moon, indeed! moonshine morelikely! If one listened to that sort of people, a pretty sort of timeone would keep! I was sure that the sun would some day regulate itselfby my watch!"

Passepartout was ignorant that, if the face of his watch had beendivided into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks, he would haveno reason for exultation; for the hands of his watch would then,instead of as now indicating nine o'clock in the morning, indicate nineo'clock in the evening, that is, the twenty-first hour after midnightprecisely the difference between London time and that of the onehundred and eightieth meridian. But if Fix had been able to explainthis purely physical effect, Passepartout would not have admitted, evenif he had comprehended it. Moreover, if the detective had been onboard at that moment, Passepartout would have joined issue with him ona quite different subject, and in an entirely different manner.

Where was Fix at that moment?

He was actually on board the General Grant.

On reaching Yokohama, the detective, leaving Mr. Fogg, whom he expectedto meet again during the day, had repaired at once to the Englishconsulate, where he at last found the warrant of arrest. It hadfollowed him from Bombay, and had come by the Carnatic, on whichsteamer he himself was supposed to be. Fix's disappointment may beimagined when he reflected that the warrant was now useless. Mr. Fogghad left English ground, and it was now necessary to procure hisextradition!

"Well," thought Fix, after a moment of anger, "my warrant is not goodhere, but it will be in England. The rogue evidently intends to returnto his own country, thinking he has thrown the police off his track.Good! I will follow him across the Atlantic. As for the money, heavengrant there may be some left! But the fellow has already spent intravelling, rewards, trials, bail, elephants, and all sorts of charges,more than five thousand pounds. Yet, after all, the Bank is rich!"

His course decided on, he went on board the General Grant, and wasthere when Mr. Fogg and Aouda arrived. To his utter amazement, herecognised Passepartout, despite his theatrical disguise. He quicklyconcealed himself in his cabin, to avoid an awkward explanation, andhoped--thanks to the number of passengers--to remain unperceived by Mr.Fogg's servant.

On that very day, however, he met Passepartout face to face on theforward deck. The latter, without a word, made a rush for him, graspedhim by the throat, and, much to the amusement of a group of Americans,who immediately began to bet on him, administered to the detective aperfect volley of blows, which proved the great superiority of Frenchover English pugilistic skill.

When Passepartout had finished, he found himself relieved andcomforted. Fix got up in a somewhat rumpled condition, and, looking athis adversary, coldly said, "Have you done?"

"For this time--yes."

"Then let me have a word with you."

"But I--"

"In your master's interests."

Passepartout seemed to be vanquished by Fix's coolness, for he quietlyfollowed him, and they sat down aside from the rest of the passengers.

"You have given me a thrashing," said Fix. "Good, I expected it. Now,listen to me. Up to this time I have been Mr. Fogg's adversary. I amnow in his game."

"Aha!" cried Passepartout; "you are convinced he is an honest man?"

"No," replied Fix coldly, "I think him a rascal. Sh! don't budge, andlet me speak. As long as Mr. Fogg was on English ground, it was for myinterest to detain him there until my warrant of arrest arrived. I dideverything I could to keep him back. I sent the Bombay priests afterhim, I got you intoxicated at Hong Kong, I separated you from him, andI made him miss the Yokohama steamer."

Passepartout listened, with closed fists.

"Now," resumed Fix, "Mr. Fogg seems to be going back to England. Well,I will follow him there. But hereafter I will do as much to keepobstacles out of his way as I have done up to this time to put them inhis path. I've changed my game, you see, and simply because it was formy interest to change it. Your interest is the same as mine; for it isonly in England that you will ascertain whether you are in the serviceof a criminal or an honest man."

Passepartout listened very attentively to Fix, and was convinced thathe spoke with entire good faith.

"Are we friends?" asked the detective.

"Friends?--no," replied Passepartout; "but allies, perhaps. At theleast sign of treason, however, I'll twist your neck for you."

"Agreed," said the detective quietly.

Eleven days later, on the 3rd of December, the General Grant enteredthe bay of the Golden Gate, and reached San Francisco.

Mr. Fogg had neither gained nor lost a single day.