Passe-partout could have embraced the pilot for this information, while Fix would gladly have twisted his neck.
"What is the name of the steamer?" asked Mr. Fogg.
"The Carnatic," replied the pilot.
"Ought she not to have sailed yesterday?"
"Yes; but one of her boilers required repairing, so she will not start till to-morrow."
"Thank you," replied Mr. Fogg, as he descended quietly to the cabin.
Passe-partout wrung the pilot's hand, exclaiming, "Well, you are a good fellow."
Probably to this day the pilot has not the slightest idea of what Passe-partout was driving at. He merely whistled, and went back to his station on the bridge to guide the steamer through a flotilla of junks, tankas, and fishing-boats, and a crowd of other vessels which encumbered the waters of Hong Kong.
At one o'clock the steamer was alongside the quay, and the passengers went ashore.
On this occasion it must be confessed that fortune had singularly favoured Phileas Fogg. But for the necessary repairs to her boilers, the Carnatic would have sailed on the 5th, and the travellers bound for Japan would have been obliged to wait for eight days for the next steamer. Mr. Fogg, it is true, was twenty-four hours behindhand, but this would not seriously affect his journey.