Phileas Fogg’s fugitive status

Phileas Fogg’s fugitive status rests on the police’s mistaken belief that he robbed the Bank of England, not on any evidence in these episodes that he committed the crime. The suspicion gives Detective Fix a reason to obstruct Fogg’s journey, but its force depends on where Fogg travels: when the warrant proves unusable in Yokohama, Fix shifts from trying to delay him to helping him reach England, where the question of guilt can be settled.

The Suspect in Transit

Aboard the Mongolia in the Red Sea, Fogg gives no outward sign of anxiety about delays or danger. Even as the ship rolls in rough weather, he keeps to his meals and whist, rarely going on deck; the narration presents him as outwardly as steady as the ship’s chronometers. That composure makes the contrast between his measured routine and the police pursuit especially sharp: the journey’s dangers occupy the foreground, while the arrest threat remains invisible in his behavior.

At Bombay, the passengers go ashore at half-past four, with the train for Calcutta due to leave at eight. Fogg says goodbye to his whist partners, gives Passepartout errands, and insists that he be at the station on time. Fogg himself goes to the passport office, then arranges dinner at the railway station. Bombay’s landmarks and religious buildings do not divert him. In the context of his fugitive status, the scene shows how his strict timetable carries him forward through places where a fugitive might be expected to hide or seek distraction, while he behaves as though the schedule alone governs his movements.

Jurisdiction and Fix’s Pursuit

When Fix reaches Yokohama, he obtains the arrest warrant that has followed him from Bombay aboard the Carnatic. The document arrives too late to serve its purpose: Fogg has left English ground, and Fix concludes that he must seek extradition. The obstacle is legal and geographical rather than a change in Fix’s suspicion. Fogg remains the man Fix believes to be the robber, but the warrant cannot simply be used wherever the pursuit leads.

Fix decides to continue after Fogg across the Atlantic, expecting that the warrant will be effective in England. He also counts the cost of the chase: Fogg has already spent more than five thousand pounds on travel, rewards, trials, bail, elephants, and other expenses. Fix’s calculation makes the pursuit more than a matter of tracking a suspect; it has become a costly campaign, though he consoles himself that the Bank is wealthy.

Obstruction, Reversal, and Temporary Alliance

Fix admits to Passepartout that he had deliberately hindered Fogg while they were on English ground, hoping to keep him there until the warrant arrived. He sent the Bombay priests after Fogg, got Passepartout intoxicated in Hong Kong, separated servant from master, and caused Fogg to miss the Yokohama steamer. The obstacles that had seemed like disconnected mishaps are thus disclosed as parts of a single strategy to detain the suspected robber within Fix’s reach.

At Yokohama, the failed warrant changes the strategy. Fix tells Passepartout that he will now remove obstacles from Fogg’s path rather than put them in it, because getting back to England serves Fix’s interest. He argues that Passepartout also needs Fogg to return so that he can learn whether his employer is a criminal or an honest man. Passepartout, who has listened with closed fists to Fix’s confession, accepts that he is speaking in good faith. The shift does not amount to a declaration of Fogg’s innocence: Fix still considers him a rogue. It instead converts pursuit into a temporary alliance, with both men now invested in reaching the place where the suspicion can be tested.

Meaning of the Fugitive Status

Fogg’s status is therefore a pressure imposed on the journey rather than a change in his visible conduct. He continues to travel by timetable, handles the passport formalities in Bombay, and shows no outward alarm in the Red Sea. Fix, by contrast, treats the route as a sequence of legal opportunities and failures. The contrast gives the pursuit its changing shape: obstruction is possible on English ground, becomes ineffective abroad, and gives way to cooperation when England again becomes the destination.

The episode also distinguishes accusation from proof. Fix’s warrant and his elaborate attempts to detain Fogg establish the seriousness of the suspicion, but Fix’s own admission reveals how much of the pursuit rests on his interpretation and tactics. Until they return to England, Passepartout cannot resolve whether he serves an honest man or a criminal, and Fix cannot act on the warrant in Yokohama. The fugitive status thus remains unsettled even as it redirects the pursuer’s conduct.