Page 43 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 43
Around the World in 80 Days
It was now half-past ten.
‘The steamer doesn’t come!’ he exclaimed, as the port
clock struck.
‘She can’t be far off now,’ returned his companion.
‘How long will she stop at Suez?’
‘Four hours; long enough to get in her coal. It is
thirteen hundred and ten miles from Suez to Aden, at the
other end of the Red Sea, and she has to take in a fresh
coal supply.’
‘And does she go from Suez directly to Bombay?’
‘Without putting in anywhere.’
‘Good!’ said Fix. ‘If the robber is on board he will no
doubt get off at Suez, so as to reach the Dutch or French
colonies in Asia by some other route. He ought to know
that he would not be safe an hour in India, which is
English soil.’
‘Unless,’ objected the consul, ‘he is exceptionally
shrewd. An English criminal, you know, is always better
concealed in London than anywhere else.’
This observation furnished the detective food for
thought, and meanwhile the consul went away to his
office. Fix, left alone, was more impatient than ever,
having a presentiment that the robber was on board the
Mongolia. If he had indeed left London intending to reach
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