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|
- -intro-
- The Project Gutenberg EBook of Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne
- This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
- almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
- re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
- with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
- Title: Around the World in 80 Days
- Author: Jules Verne
- Release Date: May 15, 2008 [EBook #103]
- Last updated: February 18, 2012
- Last updated: May 5, 2012
- Language: English
- Character set encoding: ASCII
- *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS ***
- -intro-
- AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS
- CONTENTS
- CHAPTER
- I IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE
- ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN
- II IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND
- HIS IDEAL
- III IN WHICH A CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE WHICH SEEMS LIKELY TO COST
- PHILEAS FOGG DEAR
- IV IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ASTOUNDS PASSEPARTOUT, HIS SERVANT
- V IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO THE MONEYED MEN,
- APPEARS ON 'CHANGE
- VI IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE
- VII WHICH ONCE MORE DEMONSTRATES THE USELESSNESS OF PASSPORTS AS
- AIDS TO dETECTIVES
- VIII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TALKS RATHER MORE, PERHAPS, THAN IS PRUDENT
- IX IN WHICH THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN PROVE PROPITIOUS
- TO THE DESIGNS OF PHILEAS FOGG
- X IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS ONLY TOO GLAD TO GET OFF WITH THE LOSS
- OF HIS SHOES
- XI IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SECURES A CURIOUS MEANS OF CONVEYANCE
- AT A FABULOUS PRICE
- XII IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS VENTURE ACROSS THE
- INDIAN FORESTS, AND WHAT ENSUED
- XIII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS
- THE BRAVE
- XIV IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE BEAUTIFUL
- VALLEY OF THE GANGES WITHOUT EVER THINKING OF SEEING IT
- XV IN WHICH THE BAG OF BANKNOTES DISGORGES SOME THOUSANDS OF POUNDS
- MORE
- XVI IN WHICH FIX DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND IN THE LEAST WHAT IS
- SAID TO HIM
- XVII SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE FROM SINGAPORE TO HONG KONG
- XVIII IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG, PASSEPARTOUT, AND FIX GO EACH ABOUT HIS
- BUSINESS
- XIX IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TAKES A TOO GREAT INTEREST IN HIS MASTER,
- AND WHAT COMES OF IT
- XX IN WHICH FIX COMES FACE TO FACE WITH PHILEAS FOGG
- XXI IN WHICH THE MASTER OF THE "TANKADERE" RUNS GREAT RISK OF LOSING
- A REWARD OF TWO HUNDRED POUNDS
- XXII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT FINDS OUT THAT, EVEN AT THE ANTIPODES,
- IT IS CONVENIENT TO HAVE SOME MONEY IN ONE'S POCKET
- XXIII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT'S NOSE BECOMES OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG
- XXIV DURING WHICH MR. FOGG AND PARTY CROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN
- XXV IN WHICH A SLIGHT GLIMPSE IS HAD OF SAN FRANCISCO
- XXVI IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PARTY TRAVEL BY THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- XXVII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT UNDERGOES, AT A SPEED OF TWENTY MILES AN
- HOUR, A COURSE OF MORMON HISTORY
- XXVIII IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT DOES NOT SUCCEED IN MAKING ANYBODY LISTEN
- TO REASON
- XXIX IN WHICH CERTAIN INCIDENTS ARE NARRATED WHICH ARE ONLY TO BE MET
- WITH ON AMERICAN RAILROADS
- XXX IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SIMPLY DOES HIS DUTY
- XXXI IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS
- OF PHILEAS FOGG
- XXXII IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ENGAGES IN A DIRECT STRUGGLE WITH BAD
- FORTUNE
- XXXIII IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SHOWS HIMSELF EQUAL TO THE OCCASION
- XXXIV IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AT LAST REACHES LONDON
- XXXV IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DOES NOT HAVE TO REPEAT HIS ORDERS TO
- PASSEPARTOUT TWICE
- XXXVI IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG'S NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A PREMIUM ON 'CHANGE
- XXXVII IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED NOTHING BY HIS TOUR
- AROUND THE WORLD, UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS
- Chapter I
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER,
- THE ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN
- Mr. Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No. 7, Saville Row, Burlington
- Gardens, the house in which Sheridan died in 1814. He was one of the
- most noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemed always to
- avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, about whom little
- was known, except that he was a polished man of the world. People said
- that he resembled Byron--at least that his head was Byronic; but he was
- a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live on a thousand years without
- growing old.
- Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Fogg was
- a Londoner. He was never seen on 'Change, nor at the Bank, nor in the
- counting-rooms of the "City"; no ships ever came into London docks of
- which he was the owner; he had no public employment; he had never been
- entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's
- Inn, or Gray's Inn; nor had his voice ever resounded in the Court of
- Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen's Bench, or the
- Ecclesiastical Courts. He certainly was not a manufacturer; nor was he
- a merchant or a gentleman farmer. His name was strange to the
- scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part
- in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London
- Institution, the Artisan's Association, or the Institution of Arts and
- Sciences. He belonged, in fact, to none of the numerous societies
- which swarm in the English capital, from the Harmonic to that of the
- Entomologists, founded mainly for the purpose of abolishing pernicious
- insects.
- Phileas Fogg was a member of the Reform, and that was all.
- The way in which he got admission to this exclusive club was simple
- enough.
- He was recommended by the Barings, with whom he had an open credit.
- His cheques were regularly paid at sight from his account current,
- which was always flush.
- Was Phileas Fogg rich? Undoubtedly. But those who knew him best could
- not imagine how he had made his fortune, and Mr. Fogg was the last
- person to whom to apply for the information. He was not lavish, nor,
- on the contrary, avaricious; for, whenever he knew that money was
- needed for a noble, useful, or benevolent purpose, he supplied it
- quietly and sometimes anonymously. He was, in short, the least
- communicative of men. He talked very little, and seemed all the more
- mysterious for his taciturn manner. His daily habits were quite open
- to observation; but whatever he did was so exactly the same thing that
- he had always done before, that the wits of the curious were fairly
- puzzled.
- Had he travelled? It was likely, for no one seemed to know the world
- more familiarly; there was no spot so secluded that he did not appear
- to have an intimate acquaintance with it. He often corrected, with a
- few clear words, the thousand conjectures advanced by members of the
- club as to lost and unheard-of travellers, pointing out the true
- probabilities, and seeming as if gifted with a sort of second sight, so
- often did events justify his predictions. He must have travelled
- everywhere, at least in the spirit.
- It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not absented himself from
- London for many years. Those who were honoured by a better
- acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend
- to have ever seen him anywhere else. His sole pastimes were reading
- the papers and playing whist. He often won at this game, which, as a
- silent one, harmonised with his nature; but his winnings never went
- into his purse, being reserved as a fund for his charities. Mr. Fogg
- played, not to win, but for the sake of playing. The game was in his
- eyes a contest, a struggle with a difficulty, yet a motionless,
- unwearying struggle, congenial to his tastes.
- Phileas Fogg was not known to have either wife or children, which may
- happen to the most honest people; either relatives or near friends,
- which is certainly more unusual. He lived alone in his house in
- Saville Row, whither none penetrated. A single domestic sufficed to
- serve him. He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours
- mathematically fixed, in the same room, at the same table, never taking
- his meals with other members, much less bringing a guest with him; and
- went home at exactly midnight, only to retire at once to bed. He never
- used the cosy chambers which the Reform provides for its favoured
- members. He passed ten hours out of the twenty-four in Saville Row,
- either in sleeping or making his toilet. When he chose to take a walk
- it was with a regular step in the entrance hall with its mosaic
- flooring, or in the circular gallery with its dome supported by twenty
- red porphyry Ionic columns, and illumined by blue painted windows.
- When he breakfasted or dined all the resources of the club--its
- kitchens and pantries, its buttery and dairy--aided to crowd his table
- with their most succulent stores; he was served by the gravest waiters,
- in dress coats, and shoes with swan-skin soles, who proffered the
- viands in special porcelain, and on the finest linen; club decanters,
- of a lost mould, contained his sherry, his port, and his
- cinnamon-spiced claret; while his beverages were refreshingly cooled
- with ice, brought at great cost from the American lakes.
- If to live in this style is to be eccentric, it must be confessed that
- there is something good in eccentricity.
- The mansion in Saville Row, though not sumptuous, was exceedingly
- comfortable. The habits of its occupant were such as to demand but
- little from the sole domestic, but Phileas Fogg required him to be
- almost superhumanly prompt and regular. On this very 2nd of October he
- had dismissed James Forster, because that luckless youth had brought
- him shaving-water at eighty-four degrees Fahrenheit instead of
- eighty-six; and he was awaiting his successor, who was due at the house
- between eleven and half-past.
- Phileas Fogg was seated squarely in his armchair, his feet close
- together like those of a grenadier on parade, his hands resting on his
- knees, his body straight, his head erect; he was steadily watching a
- complicated clock which indicated the hours, the minutes, the seconds,
- the days, the months, and the years. At exactly half-past eleven Mr.
- Fogg would, according to his daily habit, quit Saville Row, and repair
- to the Reform.
- A rap at this moment sounded on the door of the cosy apartment where
- Phileas Fogg was seated, and James Forster, the dismissed servant,
- appeared.
- "The new servant," said he.
- A young man of thirty advanced and bowed.
- "You are a Frenchman, I believe," asked Phileas Fogg, "and your name is
- John?"
- "Jean, if monsieur pleases," replied the newcomer, "Jean Passepartout,
- a surname which has clung to me because I have a natural aptness for
- going out of one business into another. I believe I'm honest,
- monsieur, but, to be outspoken, I've had several trades. I've been an
- itinerant singer, a circus-rider, when I used to vault like Leotard,
- and dance on a rope like Blondin. Then I got to be a professor of
- gymnastics, so as to make better use of my talents; and then I was a
- sergeant fireman at Paris, and assisted at many a big fire. But I
- quitted France five years ago, and, wishing to taste the sweets of
- domestic life, took service as a valet here in England. Finding myself
- out of place, and hearing that Monsieur Phileas Fogg was the most exact
- and settled gentleman in the United Kingdom, I have come to monsieur in
- the hope of living with him a tranquil life, and forgetting even the
- name of Passepartout."
- "Passepartout suits me," responded Mr. Fogg. "You are well recommended
- to me; I hear a good report of you. You know my conditions?"
- "Yes, monsieur."
- "Good! What time is it?"
- "Twenty-two minutes after eleven," returned Passepartout, drawing an
- enormous silver watch from the depths of his pocket.
- "You are too slow," said Mr. Fogg.
- "Pardon me, monsieur, it is impossible--"
- "You are four minutes too slow. No matter; it's enough to mention the
- error. Now from this moment, twenty-nine minutes after eleven, a.m.,
- this Wednesday, 2nd October, you are in my service."
- Phileas Fogg got up, took his hat in his left hand, put it on his head
- with an automatic motion, and went off without a word.
- Passepartout heard the street door shut once; it was his new master
- going out. He heard it shut again; it was his predecessor, James
- Forster, departing in his turn. Passepartout remained alone in the
- house in Saville Row.
- Chapter II
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL
- "Faith," muttered Passepartout, somewhat flurried, "I've seen people at
- Madame Tussaud's as lively as my new master!"
- Madame Tussaud's "people," let it be said, are of wax, and are much
- visited in London; speech is all that is wanting to make them human.
- During his brief interview with Mr. Fogg, Passepartout had been
- carefully observing him. He appeared to be a man about forty years of
- age, with fine, handsome features, and a tall, well-shaped figure; his
- hair and whiskers were light, his forehead compact and unwrinkled, his
- face rather pale, his teeth magnificent. His countenance possessed in
- the highest degree what physiognomists call "repose in action," a
- quality of those who act rather than talk. Calm and phlegmatic, with a
- clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure
- which Angelica Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas. Seen
- in the various phases of his daily life, he gave the idea of being
- perfectly well-balanced, as exactly regulated as a Leroy chronometer.
- Phileas Fogg was, indeed, exactitude personified, and this was betrayed
- even in the expression of his very hands and feet; for in men, as well
- as in animals, the limbs themselves are expressive of the passions.
- He was so exact that he was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was
- economical alike of his steps and his motions. He never took one step
- too many, and always went to his destination by the shortest cut; he
- made no superfluous gestures, and was never seen to be moved or
- agitated. He was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always
- reached his destination at the exact moment.
- He lived alone, and, so to speak, outside of every social relation; and
- as he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and
- that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody.
- As for Passepartout, he was a true Parisian of Paris. Since he had
- abandoned his own country for England, taking service as a valet, he
- had in vain searched for a master after his own heart. Passepartout
- was by no means one of those pert dunces depicted by Moliere with a
- bold gaze and a nose held high in the air; he was an honest fellow,
- with a pleasant face, lips a trifle protruding, soft-mannered and
- serviceable, with a good round head, such as one likes to see on the
- shoulders of a friend. His eyes were blue, his complexion rubicund,
- his figure almost portly and well-built, his body muscular, and his
- physical powers fully developed by the exercises of his younger days.
- His brown hair was somewhat tumbled; for, while the ancient sculptors
- are said to have known eighteen methods of arranging Minerva's tresses,
- Passepartout was familiar with but one of dressing his own: three
- strokes of a large-tooth comb completed his toilet.
- It would be rash to predict how Passepartout's lively nature would
- agree with Mr. Fogg. It was impossible to tell whether the new servant
- would turn out as absolutely methodical as his master required;
- experience alone could solve the question. Passepartout had been a
- sort of vagrant in his early years, and now yearned for repose; but so
- far he had failed to find it, though he had already served in ten
- English houses. But he could not take root in any of these; with
- chagrin, he found his masters invariably whimsical and irregular,
- constantly running about the country, or on the look-out for adventure.
- His last master, young Lord Longferry, Member of Parliament, after
- passing his nights in the Haymarket taverns, was too often brought home
- in the morning on policemen's shoulders. Passepartout, desirous of
- respecting the gentleman whom he served, ventured a mild remonstrance
- on such conduct; which, being ill-received, he took his leave. Hearing
- that Mr. Phileas Fogg was looking for a servant, and that his life was
- one of unbroken regularity, that he neither travelled nor stayed from
- home overnight, he felt sure that this would be the place he was after.
- He presented himself, and was accepted, as has been seen.
- At half-past eleven, then, Passepartout found himself alone in the
- house in Saville Row. He began its inspection without delay, scouring
- it from cellar to garret. So clean, well-arranged, solemn a mansion
- pleased him; it seemed to him like a snail's shell, lighted and warmed
- by gas, which sufficed for both these purposes. When Passepartout
- reached the second story he recognised at once the room which he was to
- inhabit, and he was well satisfied with it. Electric bells and
- speaking-tubes afforded communication with the lower stories; while on
- the mantel stood an electric clock, precisely like that in Mr. Fogg's
- bedchamber, both beating the same second at the same instant. "That's
- good, that'll do," said Passepartout to himself.
- He suddenly observed, hung over the clock, a card which, upon
- inspection, proved to be a programme of the daily routine of the house.
- It comprised all that was required of the servant, from eight in the
- morning, exactly at which hour Phileas Fogg rose, till half-past
- eleven, when he left the house for the Reform Club--all the details of
- service, the tea and toast at twenty-three minutes past eight, the
- shaving-water at thirty-seven minutes past nine, and the toilet at
- twenty minutes before ten. Everything was regulated and foreseen that
- was to be done from half-past eleven a.m. till midnight, the hour at
- which the methodical gentleman retired.
- Mr. Fogg's wardrobe was amply supplied and in the best taste. Each
- pair of trousers, coat, and vest bore a number, indicating the time of
- year and season at which they were in turn to be laid out for wearing;
- and the same system was applied to the master's shoes. In short, the
- house in Saville Row, which must have been a very temple of disorder
- and unrest under the illustrious but dissipated Sheridan, was cosiness,
- comfort, and method idealised. There was no study, nor were there
- books, which would have been quite useless to Mr. Fogg; for at the
- Reform two libraries, one of general literature and the other of law
- and politics, were at his service. A moderate-sized safe stood in his
- bedroom, constructed so as to defy fire as well as burglars; but
- Passepartout found neither arms nor hunting weapons anywhere;
- everything betrayed the most tranquil and peaceable habits.
- Having scrutinised the house from top to bottom, he rubbed his hands, a
- broad smile overspread his features, and he said joyfully, "This is
- just what I wanted! Ah, we shall get on together, Mr. Fogg and I!
- What a domestic and regular gentleman! A real machine; well, I don't
- mind serving a machine."
- Chapter III
- IN WHICH A CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE WHICH SEEMS LIKELY TO COST PHILEAS
- FOGG DEAR
- Phileas Fogg, having shut the door of his house at half-past eleven,
- and having put his right foot before his left five hundred and
- seventy-five times, and his left foot before his right five hundred and
- seventy-six times, reached the Reform Club, an imposing edifice in Pall
- Mall, which could not have cost less than three millions. He repaired
- at once to the dining-room, the nine windows of which open upon a
- tasteful garden, where the trees were already gilded with an autumn
- colouring; and took his place at the habitual table, the cover of which
- had already been laid for him. His breakfast consisted of a side-dish,
- a broiled fish with Reading sauce, a scarlet slice of roast beef
- garnished with mushrooms, a rhubarb and gooseberry tart, and a morsel
- of Cheshire cheese, the whole being washed down with several cups of
- tea, for which the Reform is famous. He rose at thirteen minutes to
- one, and directed his steps towards the large hall, a sumptuous
- apartment adorned with lavishly-framed paintings. A flunkey handed him
- an uncut Times, which he proceeded to cut with a skill which betrayed
- familiarity with this delicate operation. The perusal of this paper
- absorbed Phileas Fogg until a quarter before four, whilst the Standard,
- his next task, occupied him till the dinner hour. Dinner passed as
- breakfast had done, and Mr. Fogg re-appeared in the reading-room and
- sat down to the Pall Mall at twenty minutes before six. Half an hour
- later several members of the Reform came in and drew up to the
- fireplace, where a coal fire was steadily burning. They were Mr.
- Fogg's usual partners at whist: Andrew Stuart, an engineer; John
- Sullivan and Samuel Fallentin, bankers; Thomas Flanagan, a brewer; and
- Gauthier Ralph, one of the Directors of the Bank of England--all rich
- and highly respectable personages, even in a club which comprises the
- princes of English trade and finance.
- "Well, Ralph," said Thomas Flanagan, "what about that robbery?"
- "Oh," replied Stuart, "the Bank will lose the money."
- "On the contrary," broke in Ralph, "I hope we may put our hands on the
- robber. Skilful detectives have been sent to all the principal ports
- of America and the Continent, and he'll be a clever fellow if he slips
- through their fingers."
- "But have you got the robber's description?" asked Stuart.
- "In the first place, he is no robber at all," returned Ralph,
- positively.
- "What! a fellow who makes off with fifty-five thousand pounds, no
- robber?"
- "No."
- "Perhaps he's a manufacturer, then."
- "The Daily Telegraph says that he is a gentleman."
- It was Phileas Fogg, whose head now emerged from behind his newspapers,
- who made this remark. He bowed to his friends, and entered into the
- conversation. The affair which formed its subject, and which was town
- talk, had occurred three days before at the Bank of England. A package
- of banknotes, to the value of fifty-five thousand pounds, had been
- taken from the principal cashier's table, that functionary being at the
- moment engaged in registering the receipt of three shillings and
- sixpence. Of course, he could not have his eyes everywhere. Let it be
- observed that the Bank of England reposes a touching confidence in the
- honesty of the public. There are neither guards nor gratings to
- protect its treasures; gold, silver, banknotes are freely exposed, at
- the mercy of the first comer. A keen observer of English customs
- relates that, being in one of the rooms of the Bank one day, he had the
- curiosity to examine a gold ingot weighing some seven or eight pounds.
- He took it up, scrutinised it, passed it to his neighbour, he to the
- next man, and so on until the ingot, going from hand to hand, was
- transferred to the end of a dark entry; nor did it return to its place
- for half an hour. Meanwhile, the cashier had not so much as raised his
- head. But in the present instance things had not gone so smoothly.
- The package of notes not being found when five o'clock sounded from the
- ponderous clock in the "drawing office," the amount was passed to the
- account of profit and loss. As soon as the robbery was discovered,
- picked detectives hastened off to Liverpool, Glasgow, Havre, Suez,
- Brindisi, New York, and other ports, inspired by the proffered reward
- of two thousand pounds, and five per cent. on the sum that might be
- recovered. Detectives were also charged with narrowly watching those
- who arrived at or left London by rail, and a judicial examination was
- at once entered upon.
- There were real grounds for supposing, as the Daily Telegraph said,
- that the thief did not belong to a professional band. On the day of
- the robbery a well-dressed gentleman of polished manners, and with a
- well-to-do air, had been observed going to and fro in the paying room
- where the crime was committed. A description of him was easily
- procured and sent to the detectives; and some hopeful spirits, of whom
- Ralph was one, did not despair of his apprehension. The papers and
- clubs were full of the affair, and everywhere people were discussing
- the probabilities of a successful pursuit; and the Reform Club was
- especially agitated, several of its members being Bank officials.
- Ralph would not concede that the work of the detectives was likely to
- be in vain, for he thought that the prize offered would greatly
- stimulate their zeal and activity. But Stuart was far from sharing
- this confidence; and, as they placed themselves at the whist-table,
- they continued to argue the matter. Stuart and Flanagan played
- together, while Phileas Fogg had Fallentin for his partner. As the
- game proceeded the conversation ceased, excepting between the rubbers,
- when it revived again.
- "I maintain," said Stuart, "that the chances are in favour of the
- thief, who must be a shrewd fellow."
- "Well, but where can he fly to?" asked Ralph. "No country is safe for
- him."
- "Pshaw!"
- "Where could he go, then?"
- "Oh, I don't know that. The world is big enough."
- "It was once," said Phileas Fogg, in a low tone. "Cut, sir," he added,
- handing the cards to Thomas Flanagan.
- The discussion fell during the rubber, after which Stuart took up its
- thread.
- "What do you mean by `once'? Has the world grown smaller?"
- "Certainly," returned Ralph. "I agree with Mr. Fogg. The world has
- grown smaller, since a man can now go round it ten times more quickly
- than a hundred years ago. And that is why the search for this thief
- will be more likely to succeed."
- "And also why the thief can get away more easily."
- "Be so good as to play, Mr. Stuart," said Phileas Fogg.
- But the incredulous Stuart was not convinced, and when the hand was
- finished, said eagerly: "You have a strange way, Ralph, of proving that
- the world has grown smaller. So, because you can go round it in three
- months--"
- "In eighty days," interrupted Phileas Fogg.
- "That is true, gentlemen," added John Sullivan. "Only eighty days, now
- that the section between Rothal and Allahabad, on the Great Indian
- Peninsula Railway, has been opened. Here is the estimate made by the
- Daily Telegraph:
- From London to Suez via Mont Cenis and
- Brindisi, by rail and steamboats ................. 7 days
- From Suez to Bombay, by steamer .................... 13 "
- From Bombay to Calcutta, by rail ................... 3 "
- From Calcutta to Hong Kong, by steamer ............. 13 "
- From Hong Kong to Yokohama (Japan), by steamer ..... 6 "
- From Yokohama to San Francisco, by steamer ......... 22 "
- From San Francisco to New York, by rail ............. 7 "
- From New York to London, by steamer and rail ........ 9 "
- ------
- Total ............................................ 80 days."
- "Yes, in eighty days!" exclaimed Stuart, who in his excitement made a
- false deal. "But that doesn't take into account bad weather, contrary
- winds, shipwrecks, railway accidents, and so on."
- "All included," returned Phileas Fogg, continuing to play despite the
- discussion.
- "But suppose the Hindoos or Indians pull up the rails," replied Stuart;
- "suppose they stop the trains, pillage the luggage-vans, and scalp the
- passengers!"
- "All included," calmly retorted Fogg; adding, as he threw down the
- cards, "Two trumps."
- Stuart, whose turn it was to deal, gathered them up, and went on: "You
- are right, theoretically, Mr. Fogg, but practically--"
- "Practically also, Mr. Stuart."
- "I'd like to see you do it in eighty days."
- "It depends on you. Shall we go?"
- "Heaven preserve me! But I would wager four thousand pounds that such
- a journey, made under these conditions, is impossible."
- "Quite possible, on the contrary," returned Mr. Fogg.
- "Well, make it, then!"
- "The journey round the world in eighty days?"
- "Yes."
- "I should like nothing better."
- "When?"
- "At once. Only I warn you that I shall do it at your expense."
- "It's absurd!" cried Stuart, who was beginning to be annoyed at the
- persistency of his friend. "Come, let's go on with the game."
- "Deal over again, then," said Phileas Fogg. "There's a false deal."
- Stuart took up the pack with a feverish hand; then suddenly put them
- down again.
- "Well, Mr. Fogg," said he, "it shall be so: I will wager the four
- thousand on it."
- "Calm yourself, my dear Stuart," said Fallentin. "It's only a joke."
- "When I say I'll wager," returned Stuart, "I mean it."
- "All right," said Mr. Fogg; and, turning to the others, he continued:
- "I have a deposit of twenty thousand at Baring's which I will willingly
- risk upon it."
- "Twenty thousand pounds!" cried Sullivan. "Twenty thousand pounds,
- which you would lose by a single accidental delay!"
- "The unforeseen does not exist," quietly replied Phileas Fogg.
- "But, Mr. Fogg, eighty days are only the estimate of the least possible
- time in which the journey can be made."
- "A well-used minimum suffices for everything."
- "But, in order not to exceed it, you must jump mathematically from the
- trains upon the steamers, and from the steamers upon the trains again."
- "I will jump--mathematically."
- "You are joking."
- "A true Englishman doesn't joke when he is talking about so serious a
- thing as a wager," replied Phileas Fogg, solemnly. "I will bet twenty
- thousand pounds against anyone who wishes that I will make the tour of
- the world in eighty days or less; in nineteen hundred and twenty hours,
- or a hundred and fifteen thousand two hundred minutes. Do you accept?"
- "We accept," replied Messrs. Stuart, Fallentin, Sullivan, Flanagan, and
- Ralph, after consulting each other.
- "Good," said Mr. Fogg. "The train leaves for Dover at a quarter before
- nine. I will take it."
- "This very evening?" asked Stuart.
- "This very evening," returned Phileas Fogg. He took out and consulted
- a pocket almanac, and added, "As today is Wednesday, the 2nd of
- October, I shall be due in London in this very room of the Reform Club,
- on Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine p.m.; or
- else the twenty thousand pounds, now deposited in my name at Baring's,
- will belong to you, in fact and in right, gentlemen. Here is a cheque
- for the amount."
- A memorandum of the wager was at once drawn up and signed by the six
- parties, during which Phileas Fogg preserved a stoical composure. He
- certainly did not bet to win, and had only staked the twenty thousand
- pounds, half of his fortune, because he foresaw that he might have to
- expend the other half to carry out this difficult, not to say
- unattainable, project. As for his antagonists, they seemed much
- agitated; not so much by the value of their stake, as because they had
- some scruples about betting under conditions so difficult to their
- friend.
- The clock struck seven, and the party offered to suspend the game so
- that Mr. Fogg might make his preparations for departure.
- "I am quite ready now," was his tranquil response. "Diamonds are
- trumps: be so good as to play, gentlemen."
- Chapter IV
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ASTOUNDS PASSEPARTOUT, HIS SERVANT
- Having won twenty guineas at whist, and taken leave of his friends,
- Phileas Fogg, at twenty-five minutes past seven, left the Reform Club.
- Passepartout, who had conscientiously studied the programme of his
- duties, was more than surprised to see his master guilty of the
- inexactness of appearing at this unaccustomed hour; for, according to
- rule, he was not due in Saville Row until precisely midnight.
- Mr. Fogg repaired to his bedroom, and called out, "Passepartout!"
- Passepartout did not reply. It could not be he who was called; it was
- not the right hour.
- "Passepartout!" repeated Mr. Fogg, without raising his voice.
- Passepartout made his appearance.
- "I've called you twice," observed his master.
- "But it is not midnight," responded the other, showing his watch.
- "I know it; I don't blame you. We start for Dover and Calais in ten
- minutes."
- A puzzled grin overspread Passepartout's round face; clearly he had not
- comprehended his master.
- "Monsieur is going to leave home?"
- "Yes," returned Phileas Fogg. "We are going round the world."
- Passepartout opened wide his eyes, raised his eyebrows, held up his
- hands, and seemed about to collapse, so overcome was he with stupefied
- astonishment.
- "Round the world!" he murmured.
- "In eighty days," responded Mr. Fogg. "So we haven't a moment to lose."
- "But the trunks?" gasped Passepartout, unconsciously swaying his head
- from right to left.
- "We'll have no trunks; only a carpet-bag, with two shirts and three
- pairs of stockings for me, and the same for you. We'll buy our clothes
- on the way. Bring down my mackintosh and traveling-cloak, and some
- stout shoes, though we shall do little walking. Make haste!"
- Passepartout tried to reply, but could not. He went out, mounted to
- his own room, fell into a chair, and muttered: "That's good, that is!
- And I, who wanted to remain quiet!"
- He mechanically set about making the preparations for departure.
- Around the world in eighty days! Was his master a fool? No. Was this
- a joke, then? They were going to Dover; good! To Calais; good again!
- After all, Passepartout, who had been away from France five years,
- would not be sorry to set foot on his native soil again. Perhaps they
- would go as far as Paris, and it would do his eyes good to see Paris
- once more. But surely a gentleman so chary of his steps would stop
- there; no doubt--but, then, it was none the less true that he was
- going away, this so domestic person hitherto!
- By eight o'clock Passepartout had packed the modest carpet-bag,
- containing the wardrobes of his master and himself; then, still
- troubled in mind, he carefully shut the door of his room, and descended
- to Mr. Fogg.
- Mr. Fogg was quite ready. Under his arm might have been observed a
- red-bound copy of Bradshaw's Continental Railway Steam Transit and
- General Guide, with its timetables showing the arrival and departure of
- steamers and railways. He took the carpet-bag, opened it, and slipped
- into it a goodly roll of Bank of England notes, which would pass
- wherever he might go.
- "You have forgotten nothing?" asked he.
- "Nothing, monsieur."
- "My mackintosh and cloak?"
- "Here they are."
- "Good! Take this carpet-bag," handing it to Passepartout. "Take good
- care of it, for there are twenty thousand pounds in it."
- Passepartout nearly dropped the bag, as if the twenty thousand pounds
- were in gold, and weighed him down.
- Master and man then descended, the street-door was double-locked, and
- at the end of Saville Row they took a cab and drove rapidly to Charing
- Cross. The cab stopped before the railway station at twenty minutes
- past eight. Passepartout jumped off the box and followed his master,
- who, after paying the cabman, was about to enter the station, when a
- poor beggar-woman, with a child in her arms, her naked feet smeared
- with mud, her head covered with a wretched bonnet, from which hung a
- tattered feather, and her shoulders shrouded in a ragged shawl,
- approached, and mournfully asked for alms.
- Mr. Fogg took out the twenty guineas he had just won at whist, and
- handed them to the beggar, saying, "Here, my good woman. I'm glad that
- I met you;" and passed on.
- Passepartout had a moist sensation about the eyes; his master's action
- touched his susceptible heart.
- Two first-class tickets for Paris having been speedily purchased, Mr.
- Fogg was crossing the station to the train, when he perceived his five
- friends of the Reform.
- "Well, gentlemen," said he, "I'm off, you see; and, if you will examine
- my passport when I get back, you will be able to judge whether I have
- accomplished the journey agreed upon."
- "Oh, that would be quite unnecessary, Mr. Fogg," said Ralph politely.
- "We will trust your word, as a gentleman of honour."
- "You do not forget when you are due in London again?" asked Stuart.
- "In eighty days; on Saturday, the 21st of December, 1872, at a quarter
- before nine p.m. Good-bye, gentlemen."
- Phileas Fogg and his servant seated themselves in a first-class
- carriage at twenty minutes before nine; five minutes later the whistle
- screamed, and the train slowly glided out of the station.
- The night was dark, and a fine, steady rain was falling. Phileas Fogg,
- snugly ensconced in his corner, did not open his lips. Passepartout,
- not yet recovered from his stupefaction, clung mechanically to the
- carpet-bag, with its enormous treasure.
- Just as the train was whirling through Sydenham, Passepartout suddenly
- uttered a cry of despair.
- "What's the matter?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "Alas! In my hurry--I--I forgot--"
- "What?"
- "To turn off the gas in my room!"
- "Very well, young man," returned Mr. Fogg, coolly; "it will burn--at
- your expense."
- Chapter V
- IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO THE MONEYED MEN, APPEARS ON
- 'CHANGE
- Phileas Fogg rightly suspected that his departure from London would
- create a lively sensation at the West End. The news of the bet spread
- through the Reform Club, and afforded an exciting topic of conversation
- to its members. From the club it soon got into the papers throughout
- England. The boasted "tour of the world" was talked about, disputed,
- argued with as much warmth as if the subject were another Alabama
- claim. Some took sides with Phileas Fogg, but the large majority shook
- their heads and declared against him; it was absurd, impossible, they
- declared, that the tour of the world could be made, except
- theoretically and on paper, in this minimum of time, and with the
- existing means of travelling. The Times, Standard, Morning Post, and
- Daily News, and twenty other highly respectable newspapers scouted Mr.
- Fogg's project as madness; the Daily Telegraph alone hesitatingly
- supported him. People in general thought him a lunatic, and blamed his
- Reform Club friends for having accepted a wager which betrayed the
- mental aberration of its proposer.
- Articles no less passionate than logical appeared on the question, for
- geography is one of the pet subjects of the English; and the columns
- devoted to Phileas Fogg's venture were eagerly devoured by all classes
- of readers. At first some rash individuals, principally of the gentler
- sex, espoused his cause, which became still more popular when the
- Illustrated London News came out with his portrait, copied from a
- photograph in the Reform Club. A few readers of the Daily Telegraph
- even dared to say, "Why not, after all? Stranger things have come to
- pass."
- At last a long article appeared, on the 7th of October, in the bulletin
- of the Royal Geographical Society, which treated the question from
- every point of view, and demonstrated the utter folly of the enterprise.
- Everything, it said, was against the travellers, every obstacle imposed
- alike by man and by nature. A miraculous agreement of the times of
- departure and arrival, which was impossible, was absolutely necessary
- to his success. He might, perhaps, reckon on the arrival of trains at
- the designated hours, in Europe, where the distances were relatively
- moderate; but when he calculated upon crossing India in three days, and
- the United States in seven, could he rely beyond misgiving upon
- accomplishing his task? There were accidents to machinery, the
- liability of trains to run off the line, collisions, bad weather, the
- blocking up by snow--were not all these against Phileas Fogg? Would he
- not find himself, when travelling by steamer in winter, at the mercy of
- the winds and fogs? Is it uncommon for the best ocean steamers to be
- two or three days behind time? But a single delay would suffice to
- fatally break the chain of communication; should Phileas Fogg once
- miss, even by an hour; a steamer, he would have to wait for the next,
- and that would irrevocably render his attempt vain.
- This article made a great deal of noise, and, being copied into all the
- papers, seriously depressed the advocates of the rash tourist.
- Everybody knows that England is the world of betting men, who are of a
- higher class than mere gamblers; to bet is in the English temperament.
- Not only the members of the Reform, but the general public, made heavy
- wagers for or against Phileas Fogg, who was set down in the betting
- books as if he were a race-horse. Bonds were issued, and made their
- appearance on 'Change; "Phileas Fogg bonds" were offered at par or at a
- premium, and a great business was done in them. But five days after
- the article in the bulletin of the Geographical Society appeared, the
- demand began to subside: "Phileas Fogg" declined. They were offered
- by packages, at first of five, then of ten, until at last nobody would
- take less than twenty, fifty, a hundred!
- Lord Albemarle, an elderly paralytic gentleman, was now the only
- advocate of Phileas Fogg left. This noble lord, who was fastened to
- his chair, would have given his fortune to be able to make the tour of
- the world, if it took ten years; and he bet five thousand pounds on
- Phileas Fogg. When the folly as well as the uselessness of the
- adventure was pointed out to him, he contented himself with replying,
- "If the thing is feasible, the first to do it ought to be an
- Englishman."
- The Fogg party dwindled more and more, everybody was going against him,
- and the bets stood a hundred and fifty and two hundred to one; and a
- week after his departure an incident occurred which deprived him of
- backers at any price.
- The commissioner of police was sitting in his office at nine o'clock
- one evening, when the following telegraphic dispatch was put into his
- hands:
- Suez to London.
- Rowan, Commissioner of Police, Scotland Yard:
- I've found the bank robber, Phileas Fogg. Send with out delay warrant
- of arrest to Bombay.
- Fix, Detective.
- The effect of this dispatch was instantaneous. The polished gentleman
- disappeared to give place to the bank robber. His photograph, which
- was hung with those of the rest of the members at the Reform Club, was
- minutely examined, and it betrayed, feature by feature, the description
- of the robber which had been provided to the police. The mysterious
- habits of Phileas Fogg were recalled; his solitary ways, his sudden
- departure; and it seemed clear that, in undertaking a tour round the
- world on the pretext of a wager, he had had no other end in view than
- to elude the detectives, and throw them off his track.
- Chapter VI
- IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE
- The circumstances under which this telegraphic dispatch about Phileas
- Fogg was sent were as follows:
- The steamer Mongolia, belonging to the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
- built of iron, of two thousand eight hundred tons burden, and five
- hundred horse-power, was due at eleven o'clock a.m. on Wednesday, the
- 9th of October, at Suez. The Mongolia plied regularly between Brindisi
- and Bombay via the Suez Canal, and was one of the fastest steamers
- belonging to the company, always making more than ten knots an hour
- between Brindisi and Suez, and nine and a half between Suez and Bombay.
- Two men were promenading up and down the wharves, among the crowd of
- natives and strangers who were sojourning at this once straggling
- village--now, thanks to the enterprise of M. Lesseps, a fast-growing
- town. One was the British consul at Suez, who, despite the prophecies
- of the English Government, and the unfavourable predictions of
- Stephenson, was in the habit of seeing, from his office window, English
- ships daily passing to and fro on the great canal, by which the old
- roundabout route from England to India by the Cape of Good Hope was
- abridged by at least a half. The other was a small, slight-built
- personage, with a nervous, intelligent face, and bright eyes peering
- out from under eyebrows which he was incessantly twitching. He was
- just now manifesting unmistakable signs of impatience, nervously pacing
- up and down, and unable to stand still for a moment. This was Fix, one
- of the detectives who had been dispatched from England in search of the
- bank robber; it was his task to narrowly watch every passenger who
- arrived at Suez, and to follow up all who seemed to be suspicious
- characters, or bore a resemblance to the description of the criminal,
- which he had received two days before from the police headquarters at
- London. The detective was evidently inspired by the hope of obtaining
- the splendid reward which would be the prize of success, and awaited
- with a feverish impatience, easy to understand, the arrival of the
- steamer Mongolia.
- "So you say, consul," asked he for the twentieth time, "that this
- steamer is never behind time?"
- "No, Mr. Fix," replied the consul. "She was bespoken yesterday at Port
- Said, and the rest of the way is of no account to such a craft. I
- repeat that the Mongolia has been in advance of the time required by
- the company's regulations, and gained the prize awarded for excess of
- speed."
- "Does she come directly from Brindisi?"
- "Directly from Brindisi; she takes on the Indian mails there, and she
- left there Saturday at five p.m. Have patience, Mr. Fix; she will not
- be late. But really, I don't see how, from the description you have,
- you will be able to recognise your man, even if he is on board the
- Mongolia."
- "A man rather feels the presence of these fellows, consul, than
- recognises them. You must have a scent for them, and a scent is like a
- sixth sense which combines hearing, seeing, and smelling. I've
- arrested more than one of these gentlemen in my time, and, if my thief
- is on board, I'll answer for it; he'll not slip through my fingers."
- "I hope so, Mr. Fix, for it was a heavy robbery."
- "A magnificent robbery, consul; fifty-five thousand pounds! We don't
- often have such windfalls. Burglars are getting to be so contemptible
- nowadays! A fellow gets hung for a handful of shillings!"
- "Mr. Fix," said the consul, "I like your way of talking, and hope
- you'll succeed; but I fear you will find it far from easy. Don't you
- see, the description which you have there has a singular resemblance to
- an honest man?"
- "Consul," remarked the detective, dogmatically, "great robbers always
- resemble honest folks. Fellows who have rascally faces have only one
- course to take, and that is to remain honest; otherwise they would be
- arrested off-hand. The artistic thing is, to unmask honest
- countenances; it's no light task, I admit, but a real art."
- Mr. Fix evidently was not wanting in a tinge of self-conceit.
- Little by little the scene on the quay became more animated; sailors of
- various nations, merchants, ship-brokers, porters, fellahs, bustled to
- and fro as if the steamer were immediately expected. The weather was
- clear, and slightly chilly. The minarets of the town loomed above the
- houses in the pale rays of the sun. A jetty pier, some two thousand
- yards along, extended into the roadstead. A number of fishing-smacks
- and coasting boats, some retaining the fantastic fashion of ancient
- galleys, were discernible on the Red Sea.
- As he passed among the busy crowd, Fix, according to habit, scrutinised
- the passers-by with a keen, rapid glance.
- 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
- the New World, he would naturally take the route via India, which was
- less watched and more difficult to watch than that of the Atlantic.
- But Fix's reflections were soon interrupted by a succession of sharp
- whistles, which announced the arrival of the Mongolia. The porters and
- fellahs rushed down the quay, and a dozen boats pushed off from the
- shore to go and meet the steamer. Soon her gigantic hull appeared
- passing along between the banks, and eleven o'clock struck as she
- anchored in the road. She brought an unusual number of passengers,
- some of whom remained on deck to scan the picturesque panorama of the
- town, while the greater part disembarked in the boats, and landed on
- the quay.
- Fix took up a position, and carefully examined each face and figure
- which made its appearance. Presently one of the passengers, after
- vigorously pushing his way through the importunate crowd of porters,
- came up to him and politely asked if he could point out the English
- consulate, at the same time showing a passport which he wished to have
- visaed. Fix instinctively took the passport, and with a rapid glance
- read the description of its bearer. An involuntary motion of surprise
- nearly escaped him, for the description in the passport was identical
- with that of the bank robber which he had received from Scotland Yard.
- "Is this your passport?" asked he.
- "No, it's my master's."
- "And your master is--"
- "He stayed on board."
- "But he must go to the consul's in person, so as to establish his
- identity."
- "Oh, is that necessary?"
- "Quite indispensable."
- "And where is the consulate?"
- "There, on the corner of the square," said Fix, pointing to a house two
- hundred steps off.
- "I'll go and fetch my master, who won't be much pleased, however, to be
- disturbed."
- The passenger bowed to Fix, and returned to the steamer.
- Chapter VII
- WHICH ONCE MORE DEMONSTRATES THE USELESSNESS OF PASSPORTS AS AIDS TO
- DETECTIVES
- The detective passed down the quay, and rapidly made his way to the
- consul's office, where he was at once admitted to the presence of that
- official.
- "Consul," said he, without preamble, "I have strong reasons for
- believing that my man is a passenger on the Mongolia." And he narrated
- what had just passed concerning the passport.
- "Well, Mr. Fix," replied the consul, "I shall not be sorry to see the
- rascal's face; but perhaps he won't come here--that is, if he is the
- person you suppose him to be. A robber doesn't quite like to leave
- traces of his flight behind him; and, besides, he is not obliged to
- have his passport countersigned."
- "If he is as shrewd as I think he is, consul, he will come."
- "To have his passport visaed?"
- "Yes. Passports are only good for annoying honest folks, and aiding in
- the flight of rogues. I assure you it will be quite the thing for him
- to do; but I hope you will not visa the passport."
- "Why not? If the passport is genuine I have no right to refuse."
- "Still, I must keep this man here until I can get a warrant to arrest
- him from London."
- "Ah, that's your look-out. But I cannot--"
- The consul did not finish his sentence, for as he spoke a knock was
- heard at the door, and two strangers entered, one of whom was the
- servant whom Fix had met on the quay. The other, who was his master,
- held out his passport with the request that the consul would do him the
- favour to visa it. The consul took the document and carefully read it,
- whilst Fix observed, or rather devoured, the stranger with his eyes
- from a corner of the room.
- "You are Mr. Phileas Fogg?" said the consul, after reading the passport.
- "I am."
- "And this man is your servant?"
- "He is: a Frenchman, named Passepartout."
- "You are from London?"
- "Yes."
- "And you are going--"
- "To Bombay."
- "Very good, sir. You know that a visa is useless, and that no passport
- is required?"
- "I know it, sir," replied Phileas Fogg; "but I wish to prove, by your
- visa, that I came by Suez."
- "Very well, sir."
- The consul proceeded to sign and date the passport, after which he
- added his official seal. Mr. Fogg paid the customary fee, coldly
- bowed, and went out, followed by his servant.
- "Well?" queried the detective.
- "Well, he looks and acts like a perfectly honest man," replied the
- consul.
- "Possibly; but that is not the question. Do you think, consul, that
- this phlegmatic gentleman resembles, feature by feature, the robber
- whose description I have received?"
- "I concede that; but then, you know, all descriptions--"
- "I'll make certain of it," interrupted Fix. "The servant seems to me
- less mysterious than the master; besides, he's a Frenchman, and can't
- help talking. Excuse me for a little while, consul."
- Fix started off in search of Passepartout.
- Meanwhile Mr. Fogg, after leaving the consulate, repaired to the quay,
- gave some orders to Passepartout, went off to the Mongolia in a
- boat, and descended to his cabin. He took up his note-book, which
- contained the following memoranda:
- "Left London, Wednesday, October 2nd, at 8.45 p.m. "Reached Paris,
- Thursday, October 3rd, at 7.20 a.m. "Left Paris, Thursday, at 8.40
- a.m. "Reached Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday, October 4th, at 6.35 a.m.
- "Left Turin, Friday, at 7.20 a.m. "Arrived at Brindisi, Saturday,
- October 5th, at 4 p.m. "Sailed on the Mongolia, Saturday, at 5 p.m.
- "Reached Suez, Wednesday, October 9th, at 11 a.m. "Total of hours
- spent, 158+; or, in days, six days and a half."
- These dates were inscribed in an itinerary divided into columns,
- indicating the month, the day of the month, and the day for the
- stipulated and actual arrivals at each principal point Paris, Brindisi,
- Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco,
- New York, and London--from the 2nd of October to the 21st of December;
- and giving a space for setting down the gain made or the loss suffered
- on arrival at each locality. This methodical record thus contained an
- account of everything needed, and Mr. Fogg always knew whether he was
- behind-hand or in advance of his time. On this Friday, October 9th, he
- noted his arrival at Suez, and observed that he had as yet neither
- gained nor lost. He sat down quietly to breakfast in his cabin, never
- once thinking of inspecting the town, being one of those Englishmen who
- are wont to see foreign countries through the eyes of their domestics.
- Chapter VIII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TALKS RATHER MORE, PERHAPS, THAN IS PRUDENT
- Fix soon rejoined Passepartout, who was lounging and looking about on
- the quay, as if he did not feel that he, at least, was obliged not to
- see anything.
- "Well, my friend," said the detective, coming up with him, "is your
- passport visaed?"
- "Ah, it's you, is it, monsieur?" responded Passepartout. "Thanks, yes,
- the passport is all right."
- "And you are looking about you?"
- "Yes; but we travel so fast that I seem to be journeying in a dream.
- So this is Suez?"
- "Yes."
- "In Egypt?"
- "Certainly, in Egypt."
- "And in Africa?"
- "In Africa."
- "In Africa!" repeated Passepartout. "Just think, monsieur, I had no
- idea that we should go farther than Paris; and all that I saw of Paris
- was between twenty minutes past seven and twenty minutes before nine in
- the morning, between the Northern and the Lyons stations, through the
- windows of a car, and in a driving rain! How I regret not having seen
- once more Pere la Chaise and the circus in the Champs Elysees!"
- "You are in a great hurry, then?"
- "I am not, but my master is. By the way, I must buy some shoes and
- shirts. We came away without trunks, only with a carpet-bag."
- "I will show you an excellent shop for getting what you want."
- "Really, monsieur, you are very kind."
- And they walked off together, Passepartout chatting volubly as they
- went along.
- "Above all," said he; "don't let me lose the steamer."
- "You have plenty of time; it's only twelve o'clock."
- Passepartout pulled out his big watch. "Twelve!" he exclaimed; "why,
- it's only eight minutes before ten."
- "Your watch is slow."
- "My watch? A family watch, monsieur, which has come down from my
- great-grandfather! It doesn't vary five minutes in the year. It's a
- perfect chronometer, look you."
- "I see how it is," said Fix. "You have kept London time, which is two
- hours behind that of Suez. You ought to regulate your watch at noon in
- each country."
- "I regulate my watch? Never!"
- "Well, then, it will not agree with the sun."
- "So much the worse for the sun, monsieur. The sun will be wrong, then!"
- And the worthy fellow returned the watch to its fob with a defiant
- gesture. After a few minutes silence, Fix resumed: "You left London
- hastily, then?"
- "I rather think so! Last Friday at eight o'clock in the evening,
- Monsieur Fogg came home from his club, and three-quarters of an hour
- afterwards we were off."
- "But where is your master going?"
- "Always straight ahead. He is going round the world."
- "Round the world?" cried Fix.
- "Yes, and in eighty days! He says it is on a wager; but, between us, I
- don't believe a word of it. That wouldn't be common sense. There's
- something else in the wind."
- "Ah! Mr. Fogg is a character, is he?"
- "I should say he was."
- "Is he rich?"
- "No doubt, for he is carrying an enormous sum in brand new banknotes
- with him. And he doesn't spare the money on the way, either: he has
- offered a large reward to the engineer of the Mongolia if he gets us to
- Bombay well in advance of time."
- "And you have known your master a long time?"
- "Why, no; I entered his service the very day we left London."
- The effect of these replies upon the already suspicious and excited
- detective may be imagined. The hasty departure from London soon after
- the robbery; the large sum carried by Mr. Fogg; his eagerness to reach
- distant countries; the pretext of an eccentric and foolhardy bet--all
- confirmed Fix in his theory. He continued to pump poor Passepartout,
- and learned that he really knew little or nothing of his master, who
- lived a solitary existence in London, was said to be rich, though no
- one knew whence came his riches, and was mysterious and impenetrable in
- his affairs and habits. Fix felt sure that Phileas Fogg would not land
- at Suez, but was really going on to Bombay.
- "Is Bombay far from here?" asked Passepartout.
- "Pretty far. It is a ten days' voyage by sea."
- "And in what country is Bombay?"
- "India."
- "In Asia?"
- "Certainly."
- "The deuce! I was going to tell you there's one thing that worries
- me--my burner!"
- "What burner?"
- "My gas-burner, which I forgot to turn off, and which is at this moment
- burning at my expense. I have calculated, monsieur, that I lose two
- shillings every four and twenty hours, exactly sixpence more than I
- earn; and you will understand that the longer our journey--"
- Did Fix pay any attention to Passepartout's trouble about the gas? It
- is not probable. He was not listening, but was cogitating a project.
- Passepartout and he had now reached the shop, where Fix left his
- companion to make his purchases, after recommending him not to miss the
- steamer, and hurried back to the consulate. Now that he was fully
- convinced, Fix had quite recovered his equanimity.
- "Consul," said he, "I have no longer any doubt. I have spotted my man.
- He passes himself off as an odd stick who is going round the world in
- eighty days."
- "Then he's a sharp fellow," returned the consul, "and counts on
- returning to London after putting the police of the two countries off
- his track."
- "We'll see about that," replied Fix.
- "But are you not mistaken?"
- "I am not mistaken."
- "Why was this robber so anxious to prove, by the visa, that he had
- passed through Suez?"
- "Why? I have no idea; but listen to me."
- He reported in a few words the most important parts of his conversation
- with Passepartout.
- "In short," said the consul, "appearances are wholly against this man.
- And what are you going to do?"
- "Send a dispatch to London for a warrant of arrest to be dispatched
- instantly to Bombay, take passage on board the Mongolia, follow my
- rogue to India, and there, on English ground, arrest him politely, with
- my warrant in my hand, and my hand on his shoulder."
- Having uttered these words with a cool, careless air, the detective
- took leave of the consul, and repaired to the telegraph office, whence
- he sent the dispatch which we have seen to the London police office. A
- quarter of an hour later found Fix, with a small bag in his hand,
- proceeding on board the Mongolia; and, ere many moments longer, the
- noble steamer rode out at full steam upon the waters of the Red Sea.
- Chapter IX
- IN WHICH THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN PROVE PROPITIOUS TO THE
- DESIGNS OF PHILEAS FOGG
- The distance between Suez and Aden is precisely thirteen hundred and
- ten miles, and the regulations of the company allow the steamers one
- hundred and thirty-eight hours in which to traverse it. The Mongolia,
- thanks to the vigorous exertions of the engineer, seemed likely, so
- rapid was her speed, to reach her destination considerably within that
- time. The greater part of the passengers from Brindisi were bound for
- India some for Bombay, others for Calcutta by way of Bombay, the
- nearest route thither, now that a railway crosses the Indian peninsula.
- Among the passengers was a number of officials and military officers of
- various grades, the latter being either attached to the regular British
- forces or commanding the Sepoy troops, and receiving high salaries ever
- since the central government has assumed the powers of the East India
- Company: for the sub-lieutenants get 280 pounds, brigadiers, 2,400
- pounds, and generals of divisions, 4,000 pounds. What with the
- military men, a number of rich young Englishmen on their travels, and
- the hospitable efforts of the purser, the time passed quickly on the
- Mongolia. The best of fare was spread upon the cabin tables at
- breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the eight o'clock supper, and the ladies
- scrupulously changed their toilets twice a day; and the hours were
- whirled away, when the sea was tranquil, with music, dancing, and games.
- But the Red Sea is full of caprice, and often boisterous, like most
- long and narrow gulfs. When the wind came from the African or Asian
- coast the Mongolia, with her long hull, rolled fearfully. Then the
- ladies speedily disappeared below; the pianos were silent; singing and
- dancing suddenly ceased. Yet the good ship ploughed straight on,
- unretarded by wind or wave, towards the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. What
- was Phileas Fogg doing all this time? It might be thought that, in his
- anxiety, he would be constantly watching the changes of the wind, the
- disorderly raging of the billows--every chance, in short, which might
- force the Mongolia to slacken her speed, and thus interrupt his
- journey. But, if he thought of these possibilities, he did not betray
- the fact by any outward sign.
- Always the same impassible member of the Reform Club, whom no incident
- could surprise, as unvarying as the ship's chronometers, and seldom
- having the curiosity even to go upon the deck, he passed through the
- memorable scenes of the Red Sea with cold indifference; did not care to
- recognise the historic towns and villages which, along its borders,
- raised their picturesque outlines against the sky; and betrayed no fear
- of the dangers of the Arabic Gulf, which the old historians always
- spoke of with horror, and upon which the ancient navigators never
- ventured without propitiating the gods by ample sacrifices. How did
- this eccentric personage pass his time on the Mongolia? He made his
- four hearty meals every day, regardless of the most persistent rolling
- and pitching on the part of the steamer; and he played whist
- indefatigably, for he had found partners as enthusiastic in the game as
- himself. A tax-collector, on the way to his post at Goa; the Rev.
- Decimus Smith, returning to his parish at Bombay; and a
- brigadier-general of the English army, who was about to rejoin his
- brigade at Benares, made up the party, and, with Mr. Fogg, played whist
- by the hour together in absorbing silence.
- As for Passepartout, he, too, had escaped sea-sickness, and took his
- meals conscientiously in the forward cabin. He rather enjoyed the
- voyage, for he was well fed and well lodged, took a great interest in
- the scenes through which they were passing, and consoled himself with
- the delusion that his master's whim would end at Bombay. He was
- pleased, on the day after leaving Suez, to find on deck the obliging
- person with whom he had walked and chatted on the quays.
- "If I am not mistaken," said he, approaching this person, with his most
- amiable smile, "you are the gentleman who so kindly volunteered to
- guide me at Suez?"
- "Ah! I quite recognise you. You are the servant of the strange
- Englishman--"
- "Just so, monsieur--"
- "Fix."
- "Monsieur Fix," resumed Passepartout, "I'm charmed to find you on
- board. Where are you bound?"
- "Like you, to Bombay."
- "That's capital! Have you made this trip before?"
- "Several times. I am one of the agents of the Peninsular Company."
- "Then you know India?"
- "Why yes," replied Fix, who spoke cautiously.
- "A curious place, this India?"
- "Oh, very curious. Mosques, minarets, temples, fakirs, pagodas,
- tigers, snakes, elephants! I hope you will have ample time to see the
- sights."
- "I hope so, Monsieur Fix. You see, a man of sound sense ought not to
- spend his life jumping from a steamer upon a railway train, and from a
- railway train upon a steamer again, pretending to make the tour of the
- world in eighty days! No; all these gymnastics, you may be sure, will
- cease at Bombay."
- "And Mr. Fogg is getting on well?" asked Fix, in the most natural tone
- in the world.
- "Quite well, and I too. I eat like a famished ogre; it's the sea air."
- "But I never see your master on deck."
- "Never; he hasn't the least curiosity."
- "Do you know, Mr. Passepartout, that this pretended tour in eighty days
- may conceal some secret errand--perhaps a diplomatic mission?"
- "Faith, Monsieur Fix, I assure you I know nothing about it, nor would I
- give half a crown to find out."
- After this meeting, Passepartout and Fix got into the habit of chatting
- together, the latter making it a point to gain the worthy man's
- confidence. He frequently offered him a glass of whiskey or pale ale
- in the steamer bar-room, which Passepartout never failed to accept with
- graceful alacrity, mentally pronouncing Fix the best of good fellows.
- Meanwhile the Mongolia was pushing forward rapidly; on the 13th, Mocha,
- surrounded by its ruined walls whereon date-trees were growing, was
- sighted, and on the mountains beyond were espied vast coffee-fields.
- Passepartout was ravished to behold this celebrated place, and thought
- that, with its circular walls and dismantled fort, it looked like an
- immense coffee-cup and saucer. The following night they passed through
- the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which means in Arabic The Bridge of Tears,
- and the next day they put in at Steamer Point, north-west of Aden
- harbour, to take in coal. This matter of fuelling steamers is a
- serious one at such distances from the coal-mines; it costs the
- Peninsular Company some eight hundred thousand pounds a year. In these
- distant seas, coal is worth three or four pounds sterling a ton.
- The Mongolia had still sixteen hundred and fifty miles to traverse
- before reaching Bombay, and was obliged to remain four hours at Steamer
- Point to coal up. But this delay, as it was foreseen, did not affect
- Phileas Fogg's programme; besides, the Mongolia, instead of reaching
- Aden on the morning of the 15th, when she was due, arrived there on the
- evening of the 14th, a gain of fifteen hours.
- Mr. Fogg and his servant went ashore at Aden to have the passport again
- visaed; Fix, unobserved, followed them. The visa procured, Mr. Fogg
- returned on board to resume his former habits; while Passepartout,
- according to custom, sauntered about among the mixed population of
- Somalis, Banyans, Parsees, Jews, Arabs, and Europeans who comprise the
- twenty-five thousand inhabitants of Aden. He gazed with wonder upon
- the fortifications which make this place the Gibraltar of the Indian
- Ocean, and the vast cisterns where the English engineers were still at
- work, two thousand years after the engineers of Solomon.
- "Very curious, very curious," said Passepartout to himself, on
- returning to the steamer. "I see that it is by no means useless to
- travel, if a man wants to see something new." At six p.m. the
- Mongolia slowly moved out of the roadstead, and was soon once more on
- the Indian Ocean. She had a hundred and sixty-eight hours in which to
- reach Bombay, and the sea was favourable, the wind being in the
- north-west, and all sails aiding the engine. The steamer rolled but
- little, the ladies, in fresh toilets, reappeared on deck, and the
- singing and dancing were resumed. The trip was being accomplished most
- successfully, and Passepartout was enchanted with the congenial
- companion which chance had secured him in the person of the delightful
- Fix. On Sunday, October 20th, towards noon, they came in sight of the
- Indian coast: two hours later the pilot came on board. A range of
- hills lay against the sky in the horizon, and soon the rows of palms
- which adorn Bombay came distinctly into view. The steamer entered the
- road formed by the islands in the bay, and at half-past four she hauled
- up at the quays of Bombay.
- Phileas Fogg was in the act of finishing the thirty-third rubber of the
- voyage, and his partner and himself having, by a bold stroke, captured
- all thirteen of the tricks, concluded this fine campaign with a
- brilliant victory.
- The Mongolia was due at Bombay on the 22nd; she arrived on the 20th.
- This was a gain to Phileas Fogg of two days since his departure from
- London, and he calmly entered the fact in the itinerary, in the column
- of gains.
- Chapter X
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS ONLY TOO GLAD TO GET OFF WITH THE LOSS OF HIS
- SHOES
- Everybody knows that the great reversed triangle of land, with its base
- in the north and its apex in the south, which is called India, embraces
- fourteen hundred thousand square miles, upon which is spread unequally
- a population of one hundred and eighty millions of souls. The British
- Crown exercises a real and despotic dominion over the larger portion of
- this vast country, and has a governor-general stationed at Calcutta,
- governors at Madras, Bombay, and in Bengal, and a lieutenant-governor
- at Agra.
- But British India, properly so called, only embraces seven hundred
- thousand square miles, and a population of from one hundred to one
- hundred and ten millions of inhabitants. A considerable portion of
- India is still free from British authority; and there are certain
- ferocious rajahs in the interior who are absolutely independent. The
- celebrated East India Company was all-powerful from 1756, when the
- English first gained a foothold on the spot where now stands the city
- of Madras, down to the time of the great Sepoy insurrection. It
- gradually annexed province after province, purchasing them of the
- native chiefs, whom it seldom paid, and appointed the governor-general
- and his subordinates, civil and military. But the East India Company
- has now passed away, leaving the British possessions in India directly
- under the control of the Crown. The aspect of the country, as well as
- the manners and distinctions of race, is daily changing.
- Formerly one was obliged to travel in India by the old cumbrous methods
- of going on foot or on horseback, in palanquins or unwieldy coaches;
- now fast steamboats ply on the Indus and the Ganges, and a great
- railway, with branch lines joining the main line at many points on its
- route, traverses the peninsula from Bombay to Calcutta in three days.
- This railway does not run in a direct line across India. The distance
- between Bombay and Calcutta, as the bird flies, is only from one
- thousand to eleven hundred miles; but the deflections of the road
- increase this distance by more than a third.
- The general route of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway is as follows:
- Leaving Bombay, it passes through Salcette, crossing to the continent
- opposite Tannah, goes over the chain of the Western Ghauts, runs thence
- north-east as far as Burhampoor, skirts the nearly independent
- territory of Bundelcund, ascends to Allahabad, turns thence eastwardly,
- meeting the Ganges at Benares, then departs from the river a little,
- and, descending south-eastward by Burdivan and the French town of
- Chandernagor, has its terminus at Calcutta.
- The passengers of the Mongolia went ashore at half-past four p.m.; at
- exactly eight the train would start for Calcutta.
- Mr. Fogg, after bidding good-bye to his whist partners, left the
- steamer, gave his servant several errands to do, urged it upon him to
- be at the station promptly at eight, and, with his regular step, which
- beat to the second, like an astronomical clock, directed his steps to
- the passport office. As for the wonders of Bombay--its famous city
- hall, its splendid library, its forts and docks, its bazaars, mosques,
- synagogues, its Armenian churches, and the noble pagoda on Malabar
- Hill, with its two polygonal towers--he cared not a straw to see them.
- He would not deign to examine even the masterpieces of Elephanta, or
- the mysterious hypogea, concealed south-east from the docks, or those
- fine remains of Buddhist architecture, the Kanherian grottoes of the
- island of Salcette.
- Having transacted his business at the passport office, Phileas Fogg
- repaired quietly to the railway station, where he ordered dinner.
- Among the dishes served up to him, the landlord especially recommended
- a certain giblet of "native rabbit," on which he prided himself.
- Mr. Fogg accordingly tasted the dish, but, despite its spiced sauce,
- found it far from palatable. He rang for the landlord, and, on his
- appearance, said, fixing his clear eyes upon him, "Is this rabbit, sir?"
- "Yes, my lord," the rogue boldly replied, "rabbit from the jungles."
- "And this rabbit did not mew when he was killed?"
- "Mew, my lord! What, a rabbit mew! I swear to you--"
- "Be so good, landlord, as not to swear, but remember this: cats were
- formerly considered, in India, as sacred animals. That was a good
- time."
- "For the cats, my lord?"
- "Perhaps for the travellers as well!"
- After which Mr. Fogg quietly continued his dinner. Fix had gone on
- shore shortly after Mr. Fogg, and his first destination was the
- headquarters of the Bombay police. He made himself known as a London
- detective, told his business at Bombay, and the position of affairs
- relative to the supposed robber, and nervously asked if a warrant had
- arrived from London. It had not reached the office; indeed, there had
- not yet been time for it to arrive. Fix was sorely disappointed, and
- tried to obtain an order of arrest from the director of the Bombay
- police. This the director refused, as the matter concerned the London
- office, which alone could legally deliver the warrant. Fix did not
- insist, and was fain to resign himself to await the arrival of the
- important document; but he was determined not to lose sight of the
- mysterious rogue as long as he stayed in Bombay. He did not doubt for
- a moment, any more than Passepartout, that Phileas Fogg would remain
- there, at least until it was time for the warrant to arrive.
- Passepartout, however, had no sooner heard his master's orders on
- leaving the Mongolia than he saw at once that they were to leave Bombay
- as they had done Suez and Paris, and that the journey would be extended
- at least as far as Calcutta, and perhaps beyond that place. He began
- to ask himself if this bet that Mr. Fogg talked about was not really in
- good earnest, and whether his fate was not in truth forcing him,
- despite his love of repose, around the world in eighty days!
- Having purchased the usual quota of shirts and shoes, he took a
- leisurely promenade about the streets, where crowds of people of many
- nationalities--Europeans, Persians with pointed caps, Banyas with round
- turbans, Sindes with square bonnets, Parsees with black mitres, and
- long-robed Armenians--were collected. It happened to be the day of a
- Parsee festival. These descendants of the sect of Zoroaster--the most
- thrifty, civilised, intelligent, and austere of the East Indians, among
- whom are counted the richest native merchants of Bombay--were
- celebrating a sort of religious carnival, with processions and shows,
- in the midst of which Indian dancing-girls, clothed in rose-coloured
- gauze, looped up with gold and silver, danced airily, but with perfect
- modesty, to the sound of viols and the clanging of tambourines. It is
- needless to say that Passepartout watched these curious ceremonies with
- staring eyes and gaping mouth, and that his countenance was that of the
- greenest booby imaginable.
- Unhappily for his master, as well as himself, his curiosity drew him
- unconsciously farther off than he intended to go. At last, having seen
- the Parsee carnival wind away in the distance, he was turning his steps
- towards the station, when he happened to espy the splendid pagoda on
- Malabar Hill, and was seized with an irresistible desire to see its
- interior. He was quite ignorant that it is forbidden to Christians to
- enter certain Indian temples, and that even the faithful must not go in
- without first leaving their shoes outside the door. It may be said
- here that the wise policy of the British Government severely punishes a
- disregard of the practices of the native religions.
- Passepartout, however, thinking no harm, went in like a simple tourist,
- and was soon lost in admiration of the splendid Brahmin ornamentation
- which everywhere met his eyes, when of a sudden he found himself
- sprawling on the sacred flagging. He looked up to behold three enraged
- priests, who forthwith fell upon him; tore off his shoes, and began to
- beat him with loud, savage exclamations. The agile Frenchman was soon
- upon his feet again, and lost no time in knocking down two of his
- long-gowned adversaries with his fists and a vigorous application of
- his toes; then, rushing out of the pagoda as fast as his legs could
- carry him, he soon escaped the third priest by mingling with the crowd
- in the streets.
- At five minutes before eight, Passepartout, hatless, shoeless, and
- having in the squabble lost his package of shirts and shoes, rushed
- breathlessly into the station.
- Fix, who had followed Mr. Fogg to the station, and saw that he was
- really going to leave Bombay, was there, upon the platform. He had
- resolved to follow the supposed robber to Calcutta, and farther, if
- necessary. Passepartout did not observe the detective, who stood in an
- obscure corner; but Fix heard him relate his adventures in a few words
- to Mr. Fogg.
- "I hope that this will not happen again," said Phileas Fogg coldly, as
- he got into the train. Poor Passepartout, quite crestfallen, followed
- his master without a word. Fix was on the point of entering another
- carriage, when an idea struck him which induced him to alter his plan.
- "No, I'll stay," muttered he. "An offence has been committed on Indian
- soil. I've got my man."
- Just then the locomotive gave a sharp screech, and the train passed out
- into the darkness of the night.
- Chapter XI
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SECURES A CURIOUS MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AT A
- FABULOUS PRICE
- The train had started punctually. Among the passengers were a number
- of officers, Government officials, and opium and indigo merchants,
- whose business called them to the eastern coast. Passepartout rode in
- the same carriage with his master, and a third passenger occupied a
- seat opposite to them. This was Sir Francis Cromarty, one of Mr.
- Fogg's whist partners on the Mongolia, now on his way to join his corps
- at Benares. Sir Francis was a tall, fair man of fifty, who had greatly
- distinguished himself in the last Sepoy revolt. He made India his
- home, only paying brief visits to England at rare intervals; and was
- almost as familiar as a native with the customs, history, and character
- of India and its people. But Phileas Fogg, who was not travelling, but
- only describing a circumference, took no pains to inquire into these
- subjects; he was a solid body, traversing an orbit around the
- terrestrial globe, according to the laws of rational mechanics. He was
- at this moment calculating in his mind the number of hours spent since
- his departure from London, and, had it been in his nature to make a
- useless demonstration, would have rubbed his hands for satisfaction.
- Sir Francis Cromarty had observed the oddity of his travelling
- companion--although the only opportunity he had for studying him had
- been while he was dealing the cards, and between two rubbers--and
- questioned himself whether a human heart really beat beneath this cold
- exterior, and whether Phileas Fogg had any sense of the beauties of
- nature. The brigadier-general was free to mentally confess that, of
- all the eccentric persons he had ever met, none was comparable to this
- product of the exact sciences.
- Phileas Fogg had not concealed from Sir Francis his design of going
- round the world, nor the circumstances under which he set out; and the
- general only saw in the wager a useless eccentricity and a lack of
- sound common sense. In the way this strange gentleman was going on, he
- would leave the world without having done any good to himself or
- anybody else.
- An hour after leaving Bombay the train had passed the viaducts and the
- Island of Salcette, and had got into the open country. At Callyan they
- reached the junction of the branch line which descends towards
- south-eastern India by Kandallah and Pounah; and, passing Pauwell, they
- entered the defiles of the mountains, with their basalt bases, and
- their summits crowned with thick and verdant forests. Phileas Fogg and
- Sir Francis Cromarty exchanged a few words from time to time, and now
- Sir Francis, reviving the conversation, observed, "Some years ago, Mr.
- Fogg, you would have met with a delay at this point which would
- probably have lost you your wager."
- "How so, Sir Francis?"
- "Because the railway stopped at the base of these mountains, which the
- passengers were obliged to cross in palanquins or on ponies to
- Kandallah, on the other side."
- "Such a delay would not have deranged my plans in the least," said Mr.
- Fogg. "I have constantly foreseen the likelihood of certain obstacles."
- "But, Mr. Fogg," pursued Sir Francis, "you run the risk of having some
- difficulty about this worthy fellow's adventure at the pagoda."
- Passepartout, his feet comfortably wrapped in his travelling-blanket,
- was sound asleep and did not dream that anybody was talking about him.
- "The Government is very severe upon that kind of offence. It takes
- particular care that the religious customs of the Indians should be
- respected, and if your servant were caught--"
- "Very well, Sir Francis," replied Mr. Fogg; "if he had been caught he
- would have been condemned and punished, and then would have quietly
- returned to Europe. I don't see how this affair could have delayed his
- master."
- The conversation fell again. During the night the train left the
- mountains behind, and passed Nassik, and the next day proceeded over
- the flat, well-cultivated country of the Khandeish, with its straggling
- villages, above which rose the minarets of the pagodas. This fertile
- territory is watered by numerous small rivers and limpid streams,
- mostly tributaries of the Godavery.
- Passepartout, on waking and looking out, could not realise that he was
- actually crossing India in a railway train. The locomotive, guided by
- an English engineer and fed with English coal, threw out its smoke upon
- cotton, coffee, nutmeg, clove, and pepper plantations, while the steam
- curled in spirals around groups of palm-trees, in the midst of which
- were seen picturesque bungalows, viharis (sort of abandoned
- monasteries), and marvellous temples enriched by the exhaustless
- ornamentation of Indian architecture. Then they came upon vast tracts
- extending to the horizon, with jungles inhabited by snakes and tigers,
- which fled at the noise of the train; succeeded by forests penetrated
- by the railway, and still haunted by elephants which, with pensive
- eyes, gazed at the train as it passed. The travellers crossed, beyond
- Milligaum, the fatal country so often stained with blood by the
- sectaries of the goddess Kali. Not far off rose Ellora, with its
- graceful pagodas, and the famous Aurungabad, capital of the ferocious
- Aureng-Zeb, now the chief town of one of the detached provinces of the
- kingdom of the Nizam. It was thereabouts that Feringhea, the Thuggee
- chief, king of the stranglers, held his sway. These ruffians, united
- by a secret bond, strangled victims of every age in honour of the
- goddess Death, without ever shedding blood; there was a period when
- this part of the country could scarcely be travelled over without
- corpses being found in every direction. The English Government has
- succeeded in greatly diminishing these murders, though the Thuggees
- still exist, and pursue the exercise of their horrible rites.
- At half-past twelve the train stopped at Burhampoor where Passepartout
- was able to purchase some Indian slippers, ornamented with false
- pearls, in which, with evident vanity, he proceeded to encase his feet.
- The travellers made a hasty breakfast and started off for Assurghur,
- after skirting for a little the banks of the small river Tapty, which
- empties into the Gulf of Cambray, near Surat.
- Passepartout was now plunged into absorbing reverie. Up to his arrival
- at Bombay, he had entertained hopes that their journey would end there;
- but, now that they were plainly whirling across India at full speed, a
- sudden change had come over the spirit of his dreams. His old vagabond
- nature returned to him; the fantastic ideas of his youth once more took
- possession of him. He came to regard his master's project as intended
- in good earnest, believed in the reality of the bet, and therefore in
- the tour of the world and the necessity of making it without fail
- within the designated period. Already he began to worry about possible
- delays, and accidents which might happen on the way. He recognised
- himself as being personally interested in the wager, and trembled at
- the thought that he might have been the means of losing it by his
- unpardonable folly of the night before. Being much less cool-headed
- than Mr. Fogg, he was much more restless, counting and recounting the
- days passed over, uttering maledictions when the train stopped, and
- accusing it of sluggishness, and mentally blaming Mr. Fogg for not
- having bribed the engineer. The worthy fellow was ignorant that, while
- it was possible by such means to hasten the rate of a steamer, it could
- not be done on the railway.
- The train entered the defiles of the Sutpour Mountains, which separate
- the Khandeish from Bundelcund, towards evening. The next day Sir
- Francis Cromarty asked Passepartout what time it was; to which, on
- consulting his watch, he replied that it was three in the morning.
- This famous timepiece, always regulated on the Greenwich meridian,
- which was now some seventy-seven degrees westward, was at least four
- hours slow. Sir Francis corrected Passepartout's time, whereupon the
- latter made the same remark that he had done to Fix; and upon the
- general insisting that the watch should be regulated in each new
- meridian, since he was constantly going eastward, that is in the face
- of the sun, and therefore the days were shorter by four minutes for
- each degree gone over, Passepartout obstinately refused to alter his
- watch, which he kept at London time. It was an innocent delusion which
- could harm no one.
- The train stopped, at eight o'clock, in the midst of a glade some
- fifteen miles beyond Rothal, where there were several bungalows, and
- workmen's cabins. The conductor, passing along the carriages, shouted,
- "Passengers will get out here!"
- Phileas Fogg looked at Sir Francis Cromarty for an explanation; but the
- general could not tell what meant a halt in the midst of this forest of
- dates and acacias.
- Passepartout, not less surprised, rushed out and speedily returned,
- crying: "Monsieur, no more railway!"
- "What do you mean?" asked Sir Francis.
- "I mean to say that the train isn't going on."
- The general at once stepped out, while Phileas Fogg calmly followed
- him, and they proceeded together to the conductor.
- "Where are we?" asked Sir Francis.
- "At the hamlet of Kholby."
- "Do we stop here?"
- "Certainly. The railway isn't finished."
- "What! not finished?"
- "No. There's still a matter of fifty miles to be laid from here to
- Allahabad, where the line begins again."
- "But the papers announced the opening of the railway throughout."
- "What would you have, officer? The papers were mistaken."
- "Yet you sell tickets from Bombay to Calcutta," retorted Sir Francis,
- who was growing warm.
- "No doubt," replied the conductor; "but the passengers know that they
- must provide means of transportation for themselves from Kholby to
- Allahabad."
- Sir Francis was furious. Passepartout would willingly have knocked the
- conductor down, and did not dare to look at his master.
- "Sir Francis," said Mr. Fogg quietly, "we will, if you please, look
- about for some means of conveyance to Allahabad."
- "Mr. Fogg, this is a delay greatly to your disadvantage."
- "No, Sir Francis; it was foreseen."
- "What! You knew that the way--"
- "Not at all; but I knew that some obstacle or other would sooner or
- later arise on my route. Nothing, therefore, is lost. I have two days,
- which I have already gained, to sacrifice. A steamer leaves Calcutta
- for Hong Kong at noon, on the 25th. This is the 22nd, and we shall
- reach Calcutta in time."
- There was nothing to say to so confident a response.
- It was but too true that the railway came to a termination at this
- point. The papers were like some watches, which have a way of getting
- too fast, and had been premature in their announcement of the
- completion of the line. The greater part of the travellers were aware
- of this interruption, and, leaving the train, they began to engage such
- vehicles as the village could provide four-wheeled palkigharis, waggons
- drawn by zebus, carriages that looked like perambulating pagodas,
- palanquins, ponies, and what not.
- Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village from end
- to end, came back without having found anything.
- "I shall go afoot," said Phileas Fogg.
- Passepartout, who had now rejoined his master, made a wry grimace, as
- he thought of his magnificent, but too frail Indian shoes. Happily he
- too had been looking about him, and, after a moment's hesitation, said,
- "Monsieur, I think I have found a means of conveyance."
- "What?"
- "An elephant! An elephant that belongs to an Indian who lives but a
- hundred steps from here."
- "Let's go and see the elephant," replied Mr. Fogg.
- They soon reached a small hut, near which, enclosed within some high
- palings, was the animal in question. An Indian came out of the hut,
- and, at their request, conducted them within the enclosure. The
- elephant, which its owner had reared, not for a beast of burden, but
- for warlike purposes, was half domesticated. The Indian had begun
- already, by often irritating him, and feeding him every three months on
- sugar and butter, to impart to him a ferocity not in his nature, this
- method being often employed by those who train the Indian elephants for
- battle. Happily, however, for Mr. Fogg, the animal's instruction in
- this direction had not gone far, and the elephant still preserved his
- natural gentleness. Kiouni--this was the name of the beast--could
- doubtless travel rapidly for a long time, and, in default of any other
- means of conveyance, Mr. Fogg resolved to hire him. But elephants are
- far from cheap in India, where they are becoming scarce, the males,
- which alone are suitable for circus shows, are much sought, especially
- as but few of them are domesticated. When therefore Mr. Fogg proposed
- to the Indian to hire Kiouni, he refused point-blank. Mr. Fogg
- persisted, offering the excessive sum of ten pounds an hour for the
- loan of the beast to Allahabad. Refused. Twenty pounds? Refused
- also. Forty pounds? Still refused. Passepartout jumped at each
- advance; but the Indian declined to be tempted. Yet the offer was an
- alluring one, for, supposing it took the elephant fifteen hours to
- reach Allahabad, his owner would receive no less than six hundred
- pounds sterling.
- Phileas Fogg, without getting in the least flurried, then proposed to
- purchase the animal outright, and at first offered a thousand pounds
- for him. The Indian, perhaps thinking he was going to make a great
- bargain, still refused.
- Sir Francis Cromarty took Mr. Fogg aside, and begged him to reflect
- before he went any further; to which that gentleman replied that he was
- not in the habit of acting rashly, that a bet of twenty thousand pounds
- was at stake, that the elephant was absolutely necessary to him, and
- that he would secure him if he had to pay twenty times his value.
- Returning to the Indian, whose small, sharp eyes, glistening with
- avarice, betrayed that with him it was only a question of how great a
- price he could obtain. Mr. Fogg offered first twelve hundred, then
- fifteen hundred, eighteen hundred, two thousand pounds. Passepartout,
- usually so rubicund, was fairly white with suspense.
- At two thousand pounds the Indian yielded.
- "What a price, good heavens!" cried Passepartout, "for an elephant."
- It only remained now to find a guide, which was comparatively easy. A
- young Parsee, with an intelligent face, offered his services, which Mr.
- Fogg accepted, promising so generous a reward as to materially
- stimulate his zeal. The elephant was led out and equipped. The
- Parsee, who was an accomplished elephant driver, covered his back with
- a sort of saddle-cloth, and attached to each of his flanks some
- curiously uncomfortable howdahs. Phileas Fogg paid the Indian with
- some banknotes which he extracted from the famous carpet-bag, a
- proceeding that seemed to deprive poor Passepartout of his vitals.
- Then he offered to carry Sir Francis to Allahabad, which the brigadier
- gratefully accepted, as one traveller the more would not be likely to
- fatigue the gigantic beast. Provisions were purchased at Kholby, and,
- while Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side,
- Passepartout got astride the saddle-cloth between them. The Parsee
- perched himself on the elephant's neck, and at nine o'clock they set
- out from the village, the animal marching off through the dense forest
- of palms by the shortest cut.
- Chapter XII
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS VENTURE ACROSS THE INDIAN
- FORESTS, AND WHAT ENSUED
- In order to shorten the journey, the guide passed to the left of the
- line where the railway was still in process of being built. This line,
- owing to the capricious turnings of the Vindhia Mountains, did not
- pursue a straight course. The Parsee, who was quite familiar with the
- roads and paths in the district, declared that they would gain twenty
- miles by striking directly through the forest.
- Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, plunged to the neck in the
- peculiar howdahs provided for them, were horribly jostled by the swift
- trotting of the elephant, spurred on as he was by the skilful Parsee;
- but they endured the discomfort with true British phlegm, talking
- little, and scarcely able to catch a glimpse of each other. As for
- Passepartout, who was mounted on the beast's back, and received the
- direct force of each concussion as he trod along, he was very careful,
- in accordance with his master's advice, to keep his tongue from between
- his teeth, as it would otherwise have been bitten off short. The
- worthy fellow bounced from the elephant's neck to his rump, and vaulted
- like a clown on a spring-board; yet he laughed in the midst of his
- bouncing, and from time to time took a piece of sugar out of his
- pocket, and inserted it in Kiouni's trunk, who received it without in
- the least slackening his regular trot.
- After two hours the guide stopped the elephant, and gave him an hour
- for rest, during which Kiouni, after quenching his thirst at a
- neighbouring spring, set to devouring the branches and shrubs round
- about him. Neither Sir Francis nor Mr. Fogg regretted the delay, and
- both descended with a feeling of relief. "Why, he's made of iron!"
- exclaimed the general, gazing admiringly on Kiouni.
- "Of forged iron," replied Passepartout, as he set about preparing a
- hasty breakfast.
- At noon the Parsee gave the signal of departure. The country soon
- presented a very savage aspect. Copses of dates and dwarf-palms
- succeeded the dense forests; then vast, dry plains, dotted with scanty
- shrubs, and sown with great blocks of syenite. All this portion of
- Bundelcund, which is little frequented by travellers, is inhabited by a
- fanatical population, hardened in the most horrible practices of the
- Hindoo faith. The English have not been able to secure complete
- dominion over this territory, which is subjected to the influence of
- rajahs, whom it is almost impossible to reach in their inaccessible
- mountain fastnesses. The travellers several times saw bands of
- ferocious Indians, who, when they perceived the elephant striding
- across-country, made angry and threatening motions. The Parsee avoided
- them as much as possible. Few animals were observed on the route; even
- the monkeys hurried from their path with contortions and grimaces which
- convulsed Passepartout with laughter.
- In the midst of his gaiety, however, one thought troubled the worthy
- servant. What would Mr. Fogg do with the elephant when he got to
- Allahabad? Would he carry him on with him? Impossible! The cost of
- transporting him would make him ruinously expensive. Would he sell
- him, or set him free? The estimable beast certainly deserved some
- consideration. Should Mr. Fogg choose to make him, Passepartout, a
- present of Kiouni, he would be very much embarrassed; and these
- thoughts did not cease worrying him for a long time.
- The principal chain of the Vindhias was crossed by eight in the
- evening, and another halt was made on the northern slope, in a ruined
- bungalow. They had gone nearly twenty-five miles that day, and an
- equal distance still separated them from the station of Allahabad.
- The night was cold. The Parsee lit a fire in the bungalow with a few
- dry branches, and the warmth was very grateful, provisions purchased at
- Kholby sufficed for supper, and the travellers ate ravenously. The
- conversation, beginning with a few disconnected phrases, soon gave
- place to loud and steady snores. The guide watched Kiouni, who slept
- standing, bolstering himself against the trunk of a large tree.
- Nothing occurred during the night to disturb the slumberers, although
- occasional growls from panthers and chatterings of monkeys broke the
- silence; the more formidable beasts made no cries or hostile
- demonstration against the occupants of the bungalow. Sir Francis slept
- heavily, like an honest soldier overcome with fatigue. Passepartout
- was wrapped in uneasy dreams of the bouncing of the day before. As for
- Mr. Fogg, he slumbered as peacefully as if he had been in his serene
- mansion in Saville Row.
- The journey was resumed at six in the morning; the guide hoped to reach
- Allahabad by evening. In that case, Mr. Fogg would only lose a part of
- the forty-eight hours saved since the beginning of the tour. Kiouni,
- resuming his rapid gait, soon descended the lower spurs of the
- Vindhias, and towards noon they passed by the village of Kallenger, on
- the Cani, one of the branches of the Ganges. The guide avoided
- inhabited places, thinking it safer to keep the open country, which
- lies along the first depressions of the basin of the great river.
- Allahabad was now only twelve miles to the north-east. They stopped
- under a clump of bananas, the fruit of which, as healthy as bread and
- as succulent as cream, was amply partaken of and appreciated.
- At two o'clock the guide entered a thick forest which extended several
- miles; he preferred to travel under cover of the woods. They had not
- as yet had any unpleasant encounters, and the journey seemed on the
- point of being successfully accomplished, when the elephant, becoming
- restless, suddenly stopped.
- It was then four o'clock.
- "What's the matter?" asked Sir Francis, putting out his head.
- "I don't know, officer," replied the Parsee, listening attentively to a
- confused murmur which came through the thick branches.
- The murmur soon became more distinct; it now seemed like a distant
- concert of human voices accompanied by brass instruments. Passepartout
- was all eyes and ears. Mr. Fogg patiently waited without a word. The
- Parsee jumped to the ground, fastened the elephant to a tree, and
- plunged into the thicket. He soon returned, saying:
- "A procession of Brahmins is coming this way. We must prevent their
- seeing us, if possible."
- The guide unloosed the elephant and led him into a thicket, at the same
- time asking the travellers not to stir. He held himself ready to
- bestride the animal at a moment's notice, should flight become
- necessary; but he evidently thought that the procession of the faithful
- would pass without perceiving them amid the thick foliage, in which
- they were wholly concealed.
- The discordant tones of the voices and instruments drew nearer, and now
- droning songs mingled with the sound of the tambourines and cymbals.
- The head of the procession soon appeared beneath the trees, a hundred
- paces away; and the strange figures who performed the religious
- ceremony were easily distinguished through the branches. First came
- the priests, with mitres on their heads, and clothed in long lace
- robes. They were surrounded by men, women, and children, who sang a
- kind of lugubrious psalm, interrupted at regular intervals by the
- tambourines and cymbals; while behind them was drawn a car with large
- wheels, the spokes of which represented serpents entwined with each
- other. Upon the car, which was drawn by four richly caparisoned zebus,
- stood a hideous statue with four arms, the body coloured a dull red,
- with haggard eyes, dishevelled hair, protruding tongue, and lips tinted
- with betel. It stood upright upon the figure of a prostrate and
- headless giant.
- Sir Francis, recognising the statue, whispered, "The goddess Kali; the
- goddess of love and death."
- "Of death, perhaps," muttered back Passepartout, "but of love--that
- ugly old hag? Never!"
- The Parsee made a motion to keep silence.
- A group of old fakirs were capering and making a wild ado round the
- statue; these were striped with ochre, and covered with cuts whence
- their blood issued drop by drop--stupid fanatics, who, in the great
- Indian ceremonies, still throw themselves under the wheels of
- Juggernaut. Some Brahmins, clad in all the sumptuousness of Oriental
- apparel, and leading a woman who faltered at every step, followed.
- This woman was young, and as fair as a European. Her head and neck,
- shoulders, ears, arms, hands, and toes were loaded down with jewels and
- gems with bracelets, earrings, and rings; while a tunic bordered with
- gold, and covered with a light muslin robe, betrayed the outline of her
- form.
- The guards who followed the young woman presented a violent contrast to
- her, armed as they were with naked sabres hung at their waists, and
- long damascened pistols, and bearing a corpse on a palanquin. It was
- the body of an old man, gorgeously arrayed in the habiliments of a
- rajah, wearing, as in life, a turban embroidered with pearls, a robe of
- tissue of silk and gold, a scarf of cashmere sewed with diamonds, and
- the magnificent weapons of a Hindoo prince. Next came the musicians
- and a rearguard of capering fakirs, whose cries sometimes drowned the
- noise of the instruments; these closed the procession.
- Sir Francis watched the procession with a sad countenance, and, turning
- to the guide, said, "A suttee."
- The Parsee nodded, and put his finger to his lips. The procession
- slowly wound under the trees, and soon its last ranks disappeared in
- the depths of the wood. The songs gradually died away; occasionally
- cries were heard in the distance, until at last all was silence again.
- Phileas Fogg had heard what Sir Francis said, and, as soon as the
- procession had disappeared, asked: "What is a suttee?"
- "A suttee," returned the general, "is a human sacrifice, but a
- voluntary one. The woman you have just seen will be burned to-morrow
- at the dawn of day."
- "Oh, the scoundrels!" cried Passepartout, who could not repress his
- indignation.
- "And the corpse?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "Is that of the prince, her husband," said the guide; "an independent
- rajah of Bundelcund."
- "Is it possible," resumed Phileas Fogg, his voice betraying not the
- least emotion, "that these barbarous customs still exist in India, and
- that the English have been unable to put a stop to them?"
- "These sacrifices do not occur in the larger portion of India," replied
- Sir Francis; "but we have no power over these savage territories, and
- especially here in Bundelcund. The whole district north of the
- Vindhias is the theatre of incessant murders and pillage."
- "The poor wretch!" exclaimed Passepartout, "to be burned alive!"
- "Yes," returned Sir Francis, "burned alive. And, if she were not, you
- cannot conceive what treatment she would be obliged to submit to from
- her relatives. They would shave off her hair, feed her on a scanty
- allowance of rice, treat her with contempt; she would be looked upon as
- an unclean creature, and would die in some corner, like a scurvy dog.
- The prospect of so frightful an existence drives these poor creatures
- to the sacrifice much more than love or religious fanaticism.
- Sometimes, however, the sacrifice is really voluntary, and it requires
- the active interference of the Government to prevent it. Several years
- ago, when I was living at Bombay, a young widow asked permission of the
- governor to be burned along with her husband's body; but, as you may
- imagine, he refused. The woman left the town, took refuge with an
- independent rajah, and there carried out her self-devoted purpose."
- While Sir Francis was speaking, the guide shook his head several times,
- and now said: "The sacrifice which will take place to-morrow at dawn is
- not a voluntary one."
- "How do you know?"
- "Everybody knows about this affair in Bundelcund."
- "But the wretched creature did not seem to be making any resistance,"
- observed Sir Francis.
- "That was because they had intoxicated her with fumes of hemp and
- opium."
- "But where are they taking her?"
- "To the pagoda of Pillaji, two miles from here; she will pass the night
- there."
- "And the sacrifice will take place--"
- "To-morrow, at the first light of dawn."
- The guide now led the elephant out of the thicket, and leaped upon his
- neck. Just at the moment that he was about to urge Kiouni forward with
- a peculiar whistle, Mr. Fogg stopped him, and, turning to Sir Francis
- Cromarty, said, "Suppose we save this woman."
- "Save the woman, Mr. Fogg!"
- "I have yet twelve hours to spare; I can devote them to that."
- "Why, you are a man of heart!"
- "Sometimes," replied Phileas Fogg, quietly; "when I have the time."
- Chapter XIII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE
- The project was a bold one, full of difficulty, perhaps impracticable.
- Mr. Fogg was going to risk life, or at least liberty, and therefore the
- success of his tour. But he did not hesitate, and he found in Sir
- Francis Cromarty an enthusiastic ally.
- As for Passepartout, he was ready for anything that might be proposed.
- His master's idea charmed him; he perceived a heart, a soul, under that
- icy exterior. He began to love Phileas Fogg.
- There remained the guide: what course would he adopt? Would he not
- take part with the Indians? In default of his assistance, it was
- necessary to be assured of his neutrality.
- Sir Francis frankly put the question to him.
- "Officers," replied the guide, "I am a Parsee, and this woman is a
- Parsee. Command me as you will."
- "Excellent!" said Mr. Fogg.
- "However," resumed the guide, "it is certain, not only that we shall
- risk our lives, but horrible tortures, if we are taken."
- "That is foreseen," replied Mr. Fogg. "I think we must wait till night
- before acting."
- "I think so," said the guide.
- The worthy Indian then gave some account of the victim, who, he said,
- was a celebrated beauty of the Parsee race, and the daughter of a
- wealthy Bombay merchant. She had received a thoroughly English
- education in that city, and, from her manners and intelligence, would
- be thought an European. Her name was Aouda. Left an orphan, she was
- married against her will to the old rajah of Bundelcund; and, knowing
- the fate that awaited her, she escaped, was retaken, and devoted by the
- rajah's relatives, who had an interest in her death, to the sacrifice
- from which it seemed she could not escape.
- The Parsee's narrative only confirmed Mr. Fogg and his companions in
- their generous design. It was decided that the guide should direct the
- elephant towards the pagoda of Pillaji, which he accordingly approached
- as quickly as possible. They halted, half an hour afterwards, in a
- copse, some five hundred feet from the pagoda, where they were well
- concealed; but they could hear the groans and cries of the fakirs
- distinctly.
- They then discussed the means of getting at the victim. The guide was
- familiar with the pagoda of Pillaji, in which, as he declared, the
- young woman was imprisoned. Could they enter any of its doors while
- the whole party of Indians was plunged in a drunken sleep, or was it
- safer to attempt to make a hole in the walls? This could only be
- determined at the moment and the place themselves; but it was certain
- that the abduction must be made that night, and not when, at break of
- day, the victim was led to her funeral pyre. Then no human
- intervention could save her.
- As soon as night fell, about six o'clock, they decided to make a
- reconnaissance around the pagoda. The cries of the fakirs were just
- ceasing; the Indians were in the act of plunging themselves into the
- drunkenness caused by liquid opium mingled with hemp, and it might be
- possible to slip between them to the temple itself.
- The Parsee, leading the others, noiselessly crept through the wood, and
- in ten minutes they found themselves on the banks of a small stream,
- whence, by the light of the rosin torches, they perceived a pyre of
- wood, on the top of which lay the embalmed body of the rajah, which was
- to be burned with his wife. The pagoda, whose minarets loomed above
- the trees in the deepening dusk, stood a hundred steps away.
- "Come!" whispered the guide.
- He slipped more cautiously than ever through the brush, followed by his
- companions; the silence around was only broken by the low murmuring of
- the wind among the branches.
- Soon the Parsee stopped on the borders of the glade, which was lit up
- by the torches. The ground was covered by groups of the Indians,
- motionless in their drunken sleep; it seemed a battlefield strewn with
- the dead. Men, women, and children lay together.
- In the background, among the trees, the pagoda of Pillaji loomed
- distinctly. Much to the guide's disappointment, the guards of the
- rajah, lighted by torches, were watching at the doors and marching to
- and fro with naked sabres; probably the priests, too, were watching
- within.
- The Parsee, now convinced that it was impossible to force an entrance
- to the temple, advanced no farther, but led his companions back again.
- Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty also saw that nothing could be
- attempted in that direction. They stopped, and engaged in a whispered
- colloquy.
- "It is only eight now," said the brigadier, "and these guards may also
- go to sleep."
- "It is not impossible," returned the Parsee.
- They lay down at the foot of a tree, and waited.
- The time seemed long; the guide ever and anon left them to take an
- observation on the edge of the wood, but the guards watched steadily by
- the glare of the torches, and a dim light crept through the windows of
- the pagoda.
- They waited till midnight; but no change took place among the guards,
- and it became apparent that their yielding to sleep could not be
- counted on. The other plan must be carried out; an opening in the
- walls of the pagoda must be made. It remained to ascertain whether the
- priests were watching by the side of their victim as assiduously as
- were the soldiers at the door.
- After a last consultation, the guide announced that he was ready for
- the attempt, and advanced, followed by the others. They took a
- roundabout way, so as to get at the pagoda on the rear. They reached
- the walls about half-past twelve, without having met anyone; here there
- was no guard, nor were there either windows or doors.
- The night was dark. The moon, on the wane, scarcely left the horizon,
- and was covered with heavy clouds; the height of the trees deepened the
- darkness.
- It was not enough to reach the walls; an opening in them must be
- accomplished, and to attain this purpose the party only had their
- pocket-knives. Happily the temple walls were built of brick and wood,
- which could be penetrated with little difficulty; after one brick had
- been taken out, the rest would yield easily.
- They set noiselessly to work, and the Parsee on one side and
- Passepartout on the other began to loosen the bricks so as to make an
- aperture two feet wide. They were getting on rapidly, when suddenly a
- cry was heard in the interior of the temple, followed almost instantly
- by other cries replying from the outside. Passepartout and the guide
- stopped. Had they been heard? Was the alarm being given? Common
- prudence urged them to retire, and they did so, followed by Phileas
- Fogg and Sir Francis. They again hid themselves in the wood, and
- waited till the disturbance, whatever it might be, ceased, holding
- themselves ready to resume their attempt without delay. But, awkwardly
- enough, the guards now appeared at the rear of the temple, and there
- installed themselves, in readiness to prevent a surprise.
- It would be difficult to describe the disappointment of the party, thus
- interrupted in their work. They could not now reach the victim; how,
- then, could they save her? Sir Francis shook his fists, Passepartout
- was beside himself, and the guide gnashed his teeth with rage. The
- tranquil Fogg waited, without betraying any emotion.
- "We have nothing to do but to go away," whispered Sir Francis.
- "Nothing but to go away," echoed the guide.
- "Stop," said Fogg. "I am only due at Allahabad tomorrow before noon."
- "But what can you hope to do?" asked Sir Francis. "In a few hours it
- will be daylight, and--"
- "The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment."
- Sir Francis would have liked to read Phileas Fogg's eyes. What was
- this cool Englishman thinking of? Was he planning to make a rush for
- the young woman at the very moment of the sacrifice, and boldly snatch
- her from her executioners?
- This would be utter folly, and it was hard to admit that Fogg was such
- a fool. Sir Francis consented, however, to remain to the end of this
- terrible drama. The guide led them to the rear of the glade, where
- they were able to observe the sleeping groups.
- Meanwhile Passepartout, who had perched himself on the lower branches
- of a tree, was resolving an idea which had at first struck him like a
- flash, and which was now firmly lodged in his brain.
- He had commenced by saying to himself, "What folly!" and then he
- repeated, "Why not, after all? It's a chance,--perhaps the only one; and
- with such sots!" Thinking thus, he slipped, with the suppleness of a
- serpent, to the lowest branches, the ends of which bent almost to the
- ground.
- The hours passed, and the lighter shades now announced the approach of
- day, though it was not yet light. This was the moment. The slumbering
- multitude became animated, the tambourines sounded, songs and cries
- arose; the hour of the sacrifice had come. The doors of the pagoda
- swung open, and a bright light escaped from its interior, in the midst
- of which Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis espied the victim. She seemed,
- having shaken off the stupor of intoxication, to be striving to escape
- from her executioner. Sir Francis's heart throbbed; and, convulsively
- seizing Mr. Fogg's hand, found in it an open knife. Just at this
- moment the crowd began to move. The young woman had again fallen into
- a stupor caused by the fumes of hemp, and passed among the fakirs, who
- escorted her with their wild, religious cries.
- Phileas Fogg and his companions, mingling in the rear ranks of the
- crowd, followed; and in two minutes they reached the banks of the
- stream, and stopped fifty paces from the pyre, upon which still lay the
- rajah's corpse. In the semi-obscurity they saw the victim, quite
- senseless, stretched out beside her husband's body. Then a torch was
- brought, and the wood, heavily soaked with oil, instantly took fire.
- At this moment Sir Francis and the guide seized Phileas Fogg, who, in
- an instant of mad generosity, was about to rush upon the pyre. But he
- had quickly pushed them aside, when the whole scene suddenly changed.
- A cry of terror arose. The whole multitude prostrated themselves,
- terror-stricken, on the ground.
- The old rajah was not dead, then, since he rose of a sudden, like a
- spectre, took up his wife in his arms, and descended from the pyre in
- the midst of the clouds of smoke, which only heightened his ghostly
- appearance.
- Fakirs and soldiers and priests, seized with instant terror, lay there,
- with their faces on the ground, not daring to lift their eyes and
- behold such a prodigy.
- The inanimate victim was borne along by the vigorous arms which
- supported her, and which she did not seem in the least to burden. Mr.
- Fogg and Sir Francis stood erect, the Parsee bowed his head, and
- Passepartout was, no doubt, scarcely less stupefied.
- The resuscitated rajah approached Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg, and, in an
- abrupt tone, said, "Let us be off!"
- It was Passepartout himself, who had slipped upon the pyre in the midst
- of the smoke and, profiting by the still overhanging darkness, had
- delivered the young woman from death! It was Passepartout who, playing
- his part with a happy audacity, had passed through the crowd amid the
- general terror.
- A moment after all four of the party had disappeared in the woods, and
- the elephant was bearing them away at a rapid pace. But the cries and
- noise, and a ball which whizzed through Phileas Fogg's hat, apprised
- them that the trick had been discovered.
- The old rajah's body, indeed, now appeared upon the burning pyre; and
- the priests, recovered from their terror, perceived that an abduction
- had taken place. They hastened into the forest, followed by the
- soldiers, who fired a volley after the fugitives; but the latter
- rapidly increased the distance between them, and ere long found
- themselves beyond the reach of the bullets and arrows.
- Chapter XIV
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY
- OF THE GANGES WITHOUT EVER THINKING OF SEEING IT
- The rash exploit had been accomplished; and for an hour Passepartout
- laughed gaily at his success. Sir Francis pressed the worthy fellow's
- hand, and his master said, "Well done!" which, from him, was high
- commendation; to which Passepartout replied that all the credit of the
- affair belonged to Mr. Fogg. As for him, he had only been struck with
- a "queer" idea; and he laughed to think that for a few moments he,
- Passepartout, the ex-gymnast, ex-sergeant fireman, had been the spouse
- of a charming woman, a venerable, embalmed rajah! As for the young
- Indian woman, she had been unconscious throughout of what was passing,
- and now, wrapped up in a travelling-blanket, was reposing in one of the
- howdahs.
- The elephant, thanks to the skilful guidance of the Parsee, was
- advancing rapidly through the still darksome forest, and, an hour after
- leaving the pagoda, had crossed a vast plain. They made a halt at
- seven o'clock, the young woman being still in a state of complete
- prostration. The guide made her drink a little brandy and water, but
- the drowsiness which stupefied her could not yet be shaken off. Sir
- Francis, who was familiar with the effects of the intoxication produced
- by the fumes of hemp, reassured his companions on her account. But he
- was more disturbed at the prospect of her future fate. He told Phileas
- Fogg that, should Aouda remain in India, she would inevitably fall
- again into the hands of her executioners. These fanatics were
- scattered throughout the county, and would, despite the English police,
- recover their victim at Madras, Bombay, or Calcutta. She would only be
- safe by quitting India for ever.
- Phileas Fogg replied that he would reflect upon the matter.
- The station at Allahabad was reached about ten o'clock, and, the
- interrupted line of railway being resumed, would enable them to reach
- Calcutta in less than twenty-four hours. Phileas Fogg would thus be
- able to arrive in time to take the steamer which left Calcutta the next
- day, October 25th, at noon, for Hong Kong.
- The young woman was placed in one of the waiting-rooms of the station,
- whilst Passepartout was charged with purchasing for her various
- articles of toilet, a dress, shawl, and some furs; for which his master
- gave him unlimited credit. Passepartout started off forthwith, and
- found himself in the streets of Allahabad, that is, the City of God,
- one of the most venerated in India, being built at the junction of the
- two sacred rivers, Ganges and Jumna, the waters of which attract
- pilgrims from every part of the peninsula. The Ganges, according to
- the legends of the Ramayana, rises in heaven, whence, owing to Brahma's
- agency, it descends to the earth.
- Passepartout made it a point, as he made his purchases, to take a good
- look at the city. It was formerly defended by a noble fort, which has
- since become a state prison; its commerce has dwindled away, and
- Passepartout in vain looked about him for such a bazaar as he used to
- frequent in Regent Street. At last he came upon an elderly, crusty
- Jew, who sold second-hand articles, and from whom he purchased a dress
- of Scotch stuff, a large mantle, and a fine otter-skin pelisse, for
- which he did not hesitate to pay seventy-five pounds. He then returned
- triumphantly to the station.
- The influence to which the priests of Pillaji had subjected Aouda began
- gradually to yield, and she became more herself, so that her fine eyes
- resumed all their soft Indian expression.
- When the poet-king, Ucaf Uddaul, celebrates the charms of the queen of
- Ahmehnagara, he speaks thus:
- "Her shining tresses, divided in two parts, encircle the harmonious
- contour of her white and delicate cheeks, brilliant in their glow and
- freshness. Her ebony brows have the form and charm of the bow of Kama,
- the god of love, and beneath her long silken lashes the purest
- reflections and a celestial light swim, as in the sacred lakes of
- Himalaya, in the black pupils of her great clear eyes. Her teeth,
- fine, equal, and white, glitter between her smiling lips like dewdrops
- in a passion-flower's half-enveloped breast. Her delicately formed
- ears, her vermilion hands, her little feet, curved and tender as the
- lotus-bud, glitter with the brilliancy of the loveliest pearls of
- Ceylon, the most dazzling diamonds of Golconda. Her narrow and supple
- waist, which a hand may clasp around, sets forth the outline of her
- rounded figure and the beauty of her bosom, where youth in its flower
- displays the wealth of its treasures; and beneath the silken folds of
- her tunic she seems to have been modelled in pure silver by the godlike
- hand of Vicvarcarma, the immortal sculptor."
- It is enough to say, without applying this poetical rhapsody to Aouda,
- that she was a charming woman, in all the European acceptation of the
- phrase. She spoke English with great purity, and the guide had not
- exaggerated in saying that the young Parsee had been transformed by her
- bringing up.
- The train was about to start from Allahabad, and Mr. Fogg proceeded to
- pay the guide the price agreed upon for his service, and not a farthing
- more; which astonished Passepartout, who remembered all that his master
- owed to the guide's devotion. He had, indeed, risked his life in the
- adventure at Pillaji, and, if he should be caught afterwards by the
- Indians, he would with difficulty escape their vengeance. Kiouni,
- also, must be disposed of. What should be done with the elephant,
- which had been so dearly purchased? Phileas Fogg had already
- determined this question.
- "Parsee," said he to the guide, "you have been serviceable and devoted.
- I have paid for your service, but not for your devotion. Would you
- like to have this elephant? He is yours."
- The guide's eyes glistened.
- "Your honour is giving me a fortune!" cried he.
- "Take him, guide," returned Mr. Fogg, "and I shall still be your
- debtor."
- "Good!" exclaimed Passepartout. "Take him, friend. Kiouni is a brave
- and faithful beast." And, going up to the elephant, he gave him
- several lumps of sugar, saying, "Here, Kiouni, here, here."
- The elephant grunted out his satisfaction, and, clasping Passepartout
- around the waist with his trunk, lifted him as high as his head.
- Passepartout, not in the least alarmed, caressed the animal, which
- replaced him gently on the ground.
- Soon after, Phileas Fogg, Sir Francis Cromarty, and Passepartout,
- installed in a carriage with Aouda, who had the best seat, were
- whirling at full speed towards Benares. It was a run of eighty miles,
- and was accomplished in two hours. During the journey, the young woman
- fully recovered her senses. What was her astonishment to find herself
- in this carriage, on the railway, dressed in European habiliments, and
- with travellers who were quite strangers to her! Her companions first
- set about fully reviving her with a little liquor, and then Sir Francis
- narrated to her what had passed, dwelling upon the courage with which
- Phileas Fogg had not hesitated to risk his life to save her, and
- recounting the happy sequel of the venture, the result of
- Passepartout's rash idea. Mr. Fogg said nothing; while Passepartout,
- abashed, kept repeating that "it wasn't worth telling."
- Aouda pathetically thanked her deliverers, rather with tears than
- words; her fine eyes interpreted her gratitude better than her lips.
- Then, as her thoughts strayed back to the scene of the sacrifice, and
- recalled the dangers which still menaced her, she shuddered with terror.
- Phileas Fogg understood what was passing in Aouda's mind, and offered,
- in order to reassure her, to escort her to Hong Kong, where she might
- remain safely until the affair was hushed up--an offer which she
- eagerly and gratefully accepted. She had, it seems, a Parsee relation,
- who was one of the principal merchants of Hong Kong, which is wholly an
- English city, though on an island on the Chinese coast.
- At half-past twelve the train stopped at Benares. The Brahmin legends
- assert that this city is built on the site of the ancient Casi, which,
- like Mahomet's tomb, was once suspended between heaven and earth;
- though the Benares of to-day, which the Orientalists call the Athens of
- India, stands quite unpoetically on the solid earth, Passepartout
- caught glimpses of its brick houses and clay huts, giving an aspect of
- desolation to the place, as the train entered it.
- Benares was Sir Francis Cromarty's destination, the troops he was
- rejoining being encamped some miles northward of the city. He bade
- adieu to Phileas Fogg, wishing him all success, and expressing the hope
- that he would come that way again in a less original but more
- profitable fashion. Mr. Fogg lightly pressed him by the hand. The
- parting of Aouda, who did not forget what she owed to Sir Francis,
- betrayed more warmth; and, as for Passepartout, he received a hearty
- shake of the hand from the gallant general.
- The railway, on leaving Benares, passed for a while along the valley of
- the Ganges. Through the windows of their carriage the travellers had
- glimpses of the diversified landscape of Behar, with its mountains
- clothed in verdure, its fields of barley, wheat, and corn, its jungles
- peopled with green alligators, its neat villages, and its still
- thickly-leaved forests. Elephants were bathing in the waters of the
- sacred river, and groups of Indians, despite the advanced season and
- chilly air, were performing solemnly their pious ablutions. These were
- fervent Brahmins, the bitterest foes of Buddhism, their deities being
- Vishnu, the solar god, Shiva, the divine impersonation of natural
- forces, and Brahma, the supreme ruler of priests and legislators. What
- would these divinities think of India, anglicised as it is to-day, with
- steamers whistling and scudding along the Ganges, frightening the gulls
- which float upon its surface, the turtles swarming along its banks, and
- the faithful dwelling upon its borders?
- The panorama passed before their eyes like a flash, save when the steam
- concealed it fitfully from the view; the travellers could scarcely
- discern the fort of Chupenie, twenty miles south-westward from Benares,
- the ancient stronghold of the rajahs of Behar; or Ghazipur and its
- famous rose-water factories; or the tomb of Lord Cornwallis, rising on
- the left bank of the Ganges; the fortified town of Buxar, or Patna, a
- large manufacturing and trading-place, where is held the principal
- opium market of India; or Monghir, a more than European town, for it is
- as English as Manchester or Birmingham, with its iron foundries,
- edgetool factories, and high chimneys puffing clouds of black smoke
- heavenward.
- Night came on; the train passed on at full speed, in the midst of the
- roaring of the tigers, bears, and wolves which fled before the
- locomotive; and the marvels of Bengal, Golconda ruined Gour,
- Murshedabad, the ancient capital, Burdwan, Hugly, and the French town
- of Chandernagor, where Passepartout would have been proud to see his
- country's flag flying, were hidden from their view in the darkness.
- Calcutta was reached at seven in the morning, and the packet left for
- Hong Kong at noon; so that Phileas Fogg had five hours before him.
- According to his journal, he was due at Calcutta on the 25th of
- October, and that was the exact date of his actual arrival. He was
- therefore neither behind-hand nor ahead of time. The two days gained
- between London and Bombay had been lost, as has been seen, in the
- journey across India. But it is not to be supposed that Phileas Fogg
- regretted them.
- Chapter XV
- IN WHICH THE BAG OF BANKNOTES DISGORGES SOME THOUSANDS OF POUNDS MORE
- The train entered the station, and Passepartout jumping out first, was
- followed by Mr. Fogg, who assisted his fair companion to descend.
- Phileas Fogg intended to proceed at once to the Hong Kong steamer, in
- order to get Aouda comfortably settled for the voyage. He was
- unwilling to leave her while they were still on dangerous ground.
- Just as he was leaving the station a policeman came up to him, and
- said, "Mr. Phileas Fogg?"
- "I am he."
- "Is this man your servant?" added the policeman, pointing to
- Passepartout.
- "Yes."
- "Be so good, both of you, as to follow me."
- Mr. Fogg betrayed no surprise whatever. The policeman was a
- representative of the law, and law is sacred to an Englishman.
- Passepartout tried to reason about the matter, but the policeman tapped
- him with his stick, and Mr. Fogg made him a signal to obey.
- "May this young lady go with us?" asked he.
- "She may," replied the policeman.
- Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout were conducted to a palkigahri, a
- sort of four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two horses, in which they took
- their places and were driven away. No one spoke during the twenty
- minutes which elapsed before they reached their destination. They
- first passed through the "black town," with its narrow streets, its
- miserable, dirty huts, and squalid population; then through the
- "European town," which presented a relief in its bright brick mansions,
- shaded by coconut-trees and bristling with masts, where, although it
- was early morning, elegantly dressed horsemen and handsome equipages
- were passing back and forth.
- The carriage stopped before a modest-looking house, which, however, did
- not have the appearance of a private mansion. The policeman having
- requested his prisoners--for so, truly, they might be called--to descend,
- conducted them into a room with barred windows, and said: "You will
- appear before Judge Obadiah at half-past eight."
- He then retired, and closed the door.
- "Why, we are prisoners!" exclaimed Passepartout, falling into a chair.
- Aouda, with an emotion she tried to conceal, said to Mr. Fogg: "Sir,
- you must leave me to my fate! It is on my account that you receive
- this treatment, it is for having saved me!"
- Phileas Fogg contented himself with saying that it was impossible. It
- was quite unlikely that he should be arrested for preventing a suttee.
- The complainants would not dare present themselves with such a charge.
- There was some mistake. Moreover, he would not, in any event, abandon
- Aouda, but would escort her to Hong Kong.
- "But the steamer leaves at noon!" observed Passepartout, nervously.
- "We shall be on board by noon," replied his master, placidly.
- It was said so positively that Passepartout could not help muttering to
- himself, "Parbleu that's certain! Before noon we shall be on board."
- But he was by no means reassured.
- At half-past eight the door opened, the policeman appeared, and,
- requesting them to follow him, led the way to an adjoining hall. It
- was evidently a court-room, and a crowd of Europeans and natives
- already occupied the rear of the apartment.
- Mr. Fogg and his two companions took their places on a bench opposite
- the desks of the magistrate and his clerk. Immediately after, Judge
- Obadiah, a fat, round man, followed by the clerk, entered. He
- proceeded to take down a wig which was hanging on a nail, and put it
- hurriedly on his head.
- "The first case," said he. Then, putting his hand to his head, he
- exclaimed, "Heh! This is not my wig!"
- "No, your worship," returned the clerk, "it is mine."
- "My dear Mr. Oysterpuff, how can a judge give a wise sentence in a
- clerk's wig?"
- The wigs were exchanged.
- Passepartout was getting nervous, for the hands on the face of the big
- clock over the judge seemed to go around with terrible rapidity.
- "The first case," repeated Judge Obadiah.
- "Phileas Fogg?" demanded Oysterpuff.
- "I am here," replied Mr. Fogg.
- "Passepartout?"
- "Present," responded Passepartout.
- "Good," said the judge. "You have been looked for, prisoners, for two
- days on the trains from Bombay."
- "But of what are we accused?" asked Passepartout, impatiently.
- "You are about to be informed."
- "I am an English subject, sir," said Mr. Fogg, "and I have the right--"
- "Have you been ill-treated?"
- "Not at all."
- "Very well; let the complainants come in."
- A door was swung open by order of the judge, and three Indian priests
- entered.
- "That's it," muttered Passepartout; "these are the rogues who were
- going to burn our young lady."
- The priests took their places in front of the judge, and the clerk
- proceeded to read in a loud voice a complaint of sacrilege against
- Phileas Fogg and his servant, who were accused of having violated a
- place held consecrated by the Brahmin religion.
- "You hear the charge?" asked the judge.
- "Yes, sir," replied Mr. Fogg, consulting his watch, "and I admit it."
- "You admit it?"
- "I admit it, and I wish to hear these priests admit, in their turn,
- what they were going to do at the pagoda of Pillaji."
- The priests looked at each other; they did not seem to understand what
- was said.
- "Yes," cried Passepartout, warmly; "at the pagoda of Pillaji, where
- they were on the point of burning their victim."
- The judge stared with astonishment, and the priests were stupefied.
- "What victim?" said Judge Obadiah. "Burn whom? In Bombay itself?"
- "Bombay?" cried Passepartout.
- "Certainly. We are not talking of the pagoda of Pillaji, but of the
- pagoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay."
- "And as a proof," added the clerk, "here are the desecrator's very
- shoes, which he left behind him."
- Whereupon he placed a pair of shoes on his desk.
- "My shoes!" cried Passepartout, in his surprise permitting this
- imprudent exclamation to escape him.
- The confusion of master and man, who had quite forgotten the affair at
- Bombay, for which they were now detained at Calcutta, may be imagined.
- Fix the detective, had foreseen the advantage which Passepartout's
- escapade gave him, and, delaying his departure for twelve hours, had
- consulted the priests of Malabar Hill. Knowing that the English
- authorities dealt very severely with this kind of misdemeanour, he
- promised them a goodly sum in damages, and sent them forward to
- Calcutta by the next train. Owing to the delay caused by the rescue of
- the young widow, Fix and the priests reached the Indian capital before
- Mr. Fogg and his servant, the magistrates having been already warned by
- a dispatch to arrest them should they arrive. Fix's disappointment
- when he learned that Phileas Fogg had not made his appearance in
- Calcutta may be imagined. He made up his mind that the robber had
- stopped somewhere on the route and taken refuge in the southern
- provinces. For twenty-four hours Fix watched the station with feverish
- anxiety; at last he was rewarded by seeing Mr. Fogg and Passepartout
- arrive, accompanied by a young woman, whose presence he was wholly at a
- loss to explain. He hastened for a policeman; and this was how the
- party came to be arrested and brought before Judge Obadiah.
- Had Passepartout been a little less preoccupied, he would have espied
- the detective ensconced in a corner of the court-room, watching the
- proceedings with an interest easily understood; for the warrant had
- failed to reach him at Calcutta, as it had done at Bombay and Suez.
- Judge Obadiah had unfortunately caught Passepartout's rash exclamation,
- which the poor fellow would have given the world to recall.
- "The facts are admitted?" asked the judge.
- "Admitted," replied Mr. Fogg, coldly.
- "Inasmuch," resumed the judge, "as the English law protects equally and
- sternly the religions of the Indian people, and as the man Passepartout
- has admitted that he violated the sacred pagoda of Malabar Hill, at
- Bombay, on the 20th of October, I condemn the said Passepartout to
- imprisonment for fifteen days and a fine of three hundred pounds."
- "Three hundred pounds!" cried Passepartout, startled at the largeness
- of the sum.
- "Silence!" shouted the constable.
- "And inasmuch," continued the judge, "as it is not proved that the act
- was not done by the connivance of the master with the servant, and as
- the master in any case must be held responsible for the acts of his
- paid servant, I condemn Phileas Fogg to a week's imprisonment and a
- fine of one hundred and fifty pounds."
- Fix rubbed his hands softly with satisfaction; if Phileas Fogg could be
- detained in Calcutta a week, it would be more than time for the warrant
- to arrive. Passepartout was stupefied. This sentence ruined his
- master. A wager of twenty thousand pounds lost, because he, like a
- precious fool, had gone into that abominable pagoda!
- Phileas Fogg, as self-composed as if the judgment did not in the least
- concern him, did not even lift his eyebrows while it was being
- pronounced. Just as the clerk was calling the next case, he rose, and
- said, "I offer bail."
- "You have that right," returned the judge.
- Fix's blood ran cold, but he resumed his composure when he heard the
- judge announce that the bail required for each prisoner would be one
- thousand pounds.
- "I will pay it at once," said Mr. Fogg, taking a roll of bank-bills
- from the carpet-bag, which Passepartout had by him, and placing them on
- the clerk's desk.
- "This sum will be restored to you upon your release from prison," said
- the judge. "Meanwhile, you are liberated on bail."
- "Come!" said Phileas Fogg to his servant.
- "But let them at least give me back my shoes!" cried Passepartout
- angrily.
- "Ah, these are pretty dear shoes!" he muttered, as they were handed to
- him. "More than a thousand pounds apiece; besides, they pinch my feet."
- Mr. Fogg, offering his arm to Aouda, then departed, followed by the
- crestfallen Passepartout. Fix still nourished hopes that the robber
- would not, after all, leave the two thousand pounds behind him, but
- would decide to serve out his week in jail, and issued forth on Mr.
- Fogg's traces. That gentleman took a carriage, and the party were soon
- landed on one of the quays.
- The Rangoon was moored half a mile off in the harbour, its signal of
- departure hoisted at the mast-head. Eleven o'clock was striking; Mr.
- Fogg was an hour in advance of time. Fix saw them leave the carriage
- and push off in a boat for the steamer, and stamped his feet with
- disappointment.
- "The rascal is off, after all!" he exclaimed. "Two thousand pounds
- sacrificed! He's as prodigal as a thief! I'll follow him to the end
- of the world if necessary; but, at the rate he is going on, the stolen
- money will soon be exhausted."
- The detective was not far wrong in making this conjecture. Since
- leaving London, what with travelling expenses, bribes, the purchase of
- the elephant, bails, and fines, Mr. Fogg had already spent more than
- five thousand pounds on the way, and the percentage of the sum
- recovered from the bank robber promised to the detectives, was rapidly
- diminishing.
- Chapter XVI
- IN WHICH FIX DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND IN THE LEAST WHAT IS SAID TO
- HIM
- The Rangoon--one of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's boats plying
- in the Chinese and Japanese seas--was a screw steamer, built of iron,
- weighing about seventeen hundred and seventy tons, and with engines of
- four hundred horse-power. She was as fast, but not as well fitted up,
- as the Mongolia, and Aouda was not as comfortably provided for on board
- of her as Phileas Fogg could have wished. However, the trip from
- Calcutta to Hong Kong only comprised some three thousand five hundred
- miles, occupying from ten to twelve days, and the young woman was not
- difficult to please.
- During the first days of the journey Aouda became better acquainted
- with her protector, and constantly gave evidence of her deep gratitude
- for what he had done. The phlegmatic gentleman listened to her,
- apparently at least, with coldness, neither his voice nor his manner
- betraying the slightest emotion; but he seemed to be always on the
- watch that nothing should be wanting to Aouda's comfort. He visited
- her regularly each day at certain hours, not so much to talk himself,
- as to sit and hear her talk. He treated her with the strictest
- politeness, but with the precision of an automaton, the movements of
- which had been arranged for this purpose. Aouda did not quite know
- what to make of him, though Passepartout had given her some hints of
- his master's eccentricity, and made her smile by telling her of the
- wager which was sending him round the world. After all, she owed
- Phileas Fogg her life, and she always regarded him through the exalting
- medium of her gratitude.
- Aouda confirmed the Parsee guide's narrative of her touching history.
- She did, indeed, belong to the highest of the native races of India.
- Many of the Parsee merchants have made great fortunes there by dealing
- in cotton; and one of them, Sir Jametsee Jeejeebhoy, was made a baronet
- by the English government. Aouda was a relative of this great man, and
- it was his cousin, Jeejeeh, whom she hoped to join at Hong Kong.
- Whether she would find a protector in him she could not tell; but Mr.
- Fogg essayed to calm her anxieties, and to assure her that everything
- would be mathematically--he used the very word--arranged. Aouda
- fastened her great eyes, "clear as the sacred lakes of the Himalaya,"
- upon him; but the intractable Fogg, as reserved as ever, did not seem
- at all inclined to throw himself into this lake.
- The first few days of the voyage passed prosperously, amid favourable
- weather and propitious winds, and they soon came in sight of the great
- Andaman, the principal of the islands in the Bay of Bengal, with its
- picturesque Saddle Peak, two thousand four hundred feet high, looming
- above the waters. The steamer passed along near the shores, but the
- savage Papuans, who are in the lowest scale of humanity, but are not,
- as has been asserted, cannibals, did not make their appearance.
- The panorama of the islands, as they steamed by them, was superb. Vast
- forests of palms, arecs, bamboo, teakwood, of the gigantic mimosa, and
- tree-like ferns covered the foreground, while behind, the graceful
- outlines of the mountains were traced against the sky; and along the
- coasts swarmed by thousands the precious swallows whose nests furnish a
- luxurious dish to the tables of the Celestial Empire. The varied
- landscape afforded by the Andaman Islands was soon passed, however, and
- the Rangoon rapidly approached the Straits of Malacca, which gave
- access to the China seas.
- What was detective Fix, so unluckily drawn on from country to country,
- doing all this while? He had managed to embark on the Rangoon at
- Calcutta without being seen by Passepartout, after leaving orders that,
- if the warrant should arrive, it should be forwarded to him at Hong
- Kong; and he hoped to conceal his presence to the end of the voyage.
- It would have been difficult to explain why he was on board without
- awakening Passepartout's suspicions, who thought him still at Bombay.
- But necessity impelled him, nevertheless, to renew his acquaintance
- with the worthy servant, as will be seen.
- All the detective's hopes and wishes were now centred on Hong Kong; for
- the steamer's stay at Singapore would be too brief to enable him to
- take any steps there. The arrest must be made at Hong Kong, or the
- robber would probably escape him for ever. Hong Kong was the last
- English ground on which he would set foot; beyond, China, Japan,
- America offered to Fogg an almost certain refuge. If the warrant
- should at last make its appearance at Hong Kong, Fix could arrest him
- and give him into the hands of the local police, and there would be no
- further trouble. But beyond Hong Kong, a simple warrant would be of no
- avail; an extradition warrant would be necessary, and that would result
- in delays and obstacles, of which the rascal would take advantage to
- elude justice.
- Fix thought over these probabilities during the long hours which he
- spent in his cabin, and kept repeating to himself, "Now, either the
- warrant will be at Hong Kong, in which case I shall arrest my man, or
- it will not be there; and this time it is absolutely necessary that I
- should delay his departure. I have failed at Bombay, and I have failed
- at Calcutta; if I fail at Hong Kong, my reputation is lost: Cost what
- it may, I must succeed! But how shall I prevent his departure, if that
- should turn out to be my last resource?"
- Fix made up his mind that, if worst came to worst, he would make a
- confidant of Passepartout, and tell him what kind of a fellow his
- master really was. That Passepartout was not Fogg's accomplice, he was
- very certain. The servant, enlightened by his disclosure, and afraid
- of being himself implicated in the crime, would doubtless become an
- ally of the detective. But this method was a dangerous one, only to be
- employed when everything else had failed. A word from Passepartout to
- his master would ruin all. The detective was therefore in a sore
- strait. But suddenly a new idea struck him. The presence of Aouda on
- the Rangoon, in company with Phileas Fogg, gave him new material for
- reflection.
- Who was this woman? What combination of events had made her Fogg's
- travelling companion? They had evidently met somewhere between Bombay
- and Calcutta; but where? Had they met accidentally, or had Fogg gone
- into the interior purposely in quest of this charming damsel? Fix was
- fairly puzzled. He asked himself whether there had not been a wicked
- elopement; and this idea so impressed itself upon his mind that he
- determined to make use of the supposed intrigue. Whether the young
- woman were married or not, he would be able to create such difficulties
- for Mr. Fogg at Hong Kong that he could not escape by paying any amount
- of money.
- But could he even wait till they reached Hong Kong? Fogg had an
- abominable way of jumping from one boat to another, and, before
- anything could be effected, might get full under way again for Yokohama.
- Fix decided that he must warn the English authorities, and signal the
- Rangoon before her arrival. This was easy to do, since the steamer
- stopped at Singapore, whence there is a telegraphic wire to Hong Kong.
- He finally resolved, moreover, before acting more positively, to
- question Passepartout. It would not be difficult to make him talk;
- and, as there was no time to lose, Fix prepared to make himself known.
- It was now the 30th of October, and on the following day the Rangoon
- was due at Singapore.
- Fix emerged from his cabin and went on deck. Passepartout was
- promenading up and down in the forward part of the steamer. The
- detective rushed forward with every appearance of extreme surprise, and
- exclaimed, "You here, on the Rangoon?"
- "What, Monsieur Fix, are you on board?" returned the really astonished
- Passepartout, recognising his crony of the Mongolia. "Why, I left you
- at Bombay, and here you are, on the way to Hong Kong! Are you going
- round the world too?"
- "No, no," replied Fix; "I shall stop at Hong Kong--at least for some
- days."
- "Hum!" said Passepartout, who seemed for an instant perplexed. "But
- how is it I have not seen you on board since we left Calcutta?"
- "Oh, a trifle of sea-sickness--I've been staying in my berth. The Gulf
- of Bengal does not agree with me as well as the Indian Ocean. And how
- is Mr. Fogg?"
- "As well and as punctual as ever, not a day behind time! But, Monsieur
- Fix, you don't know that we have a young lady with us."
- "A young lady?" replied the detective, not seeming to comprehend what
- was said.
- Passepartout thereupon recounted Aouda's history, the affair at the
- Bombay pagoda, the purchase of the elephant for two thousand pounds,
- the rescue, the arrest, and sentence of the Calcutta court, and the
- restoration of Mr. Fogg and himself to liberty on bail. Fix, who was
- familiar with the last events, seemed to be equally ignorant of all
- that Passepartout related; and the later was charmed to find so
- interested a listener.
- "But does your master propose to carry this young woman to Europe?"
- "Not at all. We are simply going to place her under the protection of
- one of her relatives, a rich merchant at Hong Kong."
- "Nothing to be done there," said Fix to himself, concealing his
- disappointment. "A glass of gin, Mr. Passepartout?"
- "Willingly, Monsieur Fix. We must at least have a friendly glass on
- board the Rangoon."
- Chapter XVII
- SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE FROM SINGAPORE TO HONG KONG
- The detective and Passepartout met often on deck after this interview,
- though Fix was reserved, and did not attempt to induce his companion to
- divulge any more facts concerning Mr. Fogg. He caught a glimpse of
- that mysterious gentleman once or twice; but Mr. Fogg usually confined
- himself to the cabin, where he kept Aouda company, or, according to his
- inveterate habit, took a hand at whist.
- Passepartout began very seriously to conjecture what strange chance
- kept Fix still on the route that his master was pursuing. It was
- really worth considering why this certainly very amiable and complacent
- person, whom he had first met at Suez, had then encountered on board
- the Mongolia, who disembarked at Bombay, which he announced as his
- destination, and now turned up so unexpectedly on the Rangoon, was
- following Mr. Fogg's tracks step by step. What was Fix's object?
- Passepartout was ready to wager his Indian shoes--which he religiously
- preserved--that Fix would also leave Hong Kong at the same time with
- them, and probably on the same steamer.
- Passepartout might have cudgelled his brain for a century without
- hitting upon the real object which the detective had in view. He never
- could have imagined that Phileas Fogg was being tracked as a robber
- around the globe. But, as it is in human nature to attempt the
- solution of every mystery, Passepartout suddenly discovered an
- explanation of Fix's movements, which was in truth far from
- unreasonable. Fix, he thought, could only be an agent of Mr. Fogg's
- friends at the Reform Club, sent to follow him up, and to ascertain
- that he really went round the world as had been agreed upon.
- "It's clear!" repeated the worthy servant to himself, proud of his
- shrewdness. "He's a spy sent to keep us in view! That isn't quite the
- thing, either, to be spying Mr. Fogg, who is so honourable a man! Ah,
- gentlemen of the Reform, this shall cost you dear!"
- Passepartout, enchanted with his discovery, resolved to say nothing to
- his master, lest he should be justly offended at this mistrust on the
- part of his adversaries. But he determined to chaff Fix, when he had
- the chance, with mysterious allusions, which, however, need not betray
- his real suspicions.
- During the afternoon of Wednesday, 30th October, the Rangoon entered
- the Strait of Malacca, which separates the peninsula of that name from
- Sumatra. The mountainous and craggy islets intercepted the beauties of
- this noble island from the view of the travellers. The Rangoon weighed
- anchor at Singapore the next day at four a.m., to receive coal, having
- gained half a day on the prescribed time of her arrival. Phileas Fogg
- noted this gain in his journal, and then, accompanied by Aouda, who
- betrayed a desire for a walk on shore, disembarked.
- Fix, who suspected Mr. Fogg's every movement, followed them cautiously,
- without being himself perceived; while Passepartout, laughing in his
- sleeve at Fix's manoeuvres, went about his usual errands.
- The island of Singapore is not imposing in aspect, for there are no
- mountains; yet its appearance is not without attractions. It is a park
- checkered by pleasant highways and avenues. A handsome carriage, drawn
- by a sleek pair of New Holland horses, carried Phileas Fogg and Aouda
- into the midst of rows of palms with brilliant foliage, and of
- clove-trees, whereof the cloves form the heart of a half-open flower.
- Pepper plants replaced the prickly hedges of European fields;
- sago-bushes, large ferns with gorgeous branches, varied the aspect of
- this tropical clime; while nutmeg-trees in full foliage filled the air
- with a penetrating perfume. Agile and grinning bands of monkeys
- skipped about in the trees, nor were tigers wanting in the jungles.
- After a drive of two hours through the country, Aouda and Mr. Fogg
- returned to the town, which is a vast collection of heavy-looking,
- irregular houses, surrounded by charming gardens rich in tropical
- fruits and plants; and at ten o'clock they re-embarked, closely
- followed by the detective, who had kept them constantly in sight.
- Passepartout, who had been purchasing several dozen mangoes--a fruit
- as large as good-sized apples, of a dark-brown colour outside and a
- bright red within, and whose white pulp, melting in the mouth, affords
- gourmands a delicious sensation--was waiting for them on deck. He was
- only too glad to offer some mangoes to Aouda, who thanked him very
- gracefully for them.
- At eleven o'clock the Rangoon rode out of Singapore harbour, and in a
- few hours the high mountains of Malacca, with their forests, inhabited
- by the most beautifully-furred tigers in the world, were lost to view.
- Singapore is distant some thirteen hundred miles from the island of
- Hong Kong, which is a little English colony near the Chinese coast.
- Phileas Fogg hoped to accomplish the journey in six days, so as to be
- in time for the steamer which would leave on the 6th of November for
- Yokohama, the principal Japanese port.
- The Rangoon had a large quota of passengers, many of whom disembarked
- at Singapore, among them a number of Indians, Ceylonese, Chinamen,
- Malays, and Portuguese, mostly second-class travellers.
- The weather, which had hitherto been fine, changed with the last
- quarter of the moon. The sea rolled heavily, and the wind at intervals
- rose almost to a storm, but happily blew from the south-west, and thus
- aided the steamer's progress. The captain as often as possible put up
- his sails, and under the double action of steam and sail the vessel
- made rapid progress along the coasts of Anam and Cochin China. Owing
- to the defective construction of the Rangoon, however, unusual
- precautions became necessary in unfavourable weather; but the loss of
- time which resulted from this cause, while it nearly drove Passepartout
- out of his senses, did not seem to affect his master in the least.
- Passepartout blamed the captain, the engineer, and the crew, and
- consigned all who were connected with the ship to the land where the
- pepper grows. Perhaps the thought of the gas, which was remorselessly
- burning at his expense in Saville Row, had something to do with his hot
- impatience.
- "You are in a great hurry, then," said Fix to him one day, "to reach
- Hong Kong?"
- "A very great hurry!"
- "Mr. Fogg, I suppose, is anxious to catch the steamer for Yokohama?"
- "Terribly anxious."
- "You believe in this journey around the world, then?"
- "Absolutely. Don't you, Mr. Fix?"
- "I? I don't believe a word of it."
- "You're a sly dog!" said Passepartout, winking at him.
- This expression rather disturbed Fix, without his knowing why. Had the
- Frenchman guessed his real purpose? He knew not what to think. But
- how could Passepartout have discovered that he was a detective? Yet,
- in speaking as he did, the man evidently meant more than he expressed.
- Passepartout went still further the next day; he could not hold his
- tongue.
- "Mr. Fix," said he, in a bantering tone, "shall we be so unfortunate as
- to lose you when we get to Hong Kong?"
- "Why," responded Fix, a little embarrassed, "I don't know; perhaps--"
- "Ah, if you would only go on with us! An agent of the Peninsular
- Company, you know, can't stop on the way! You were only going to
- Bombay, and here you are in China. America is not far off, and from
- America to Europe is only a step."
- Fix looked intently at his companion, whose countenance was as serene
- as possible, and laughed with him. But Passepartout persisted in
- chaffing him by asking him if he made much by his present occupation.
- "Yes, and no," returned Fix; "there is good and bad luck in such
- things. But you must understand that I don't travel at my own expense."
- "Oh, I am quite sure of that!" cried Passepartout, laughing heartily.
- Fix, fairly puzzled, descended to his cabin and gave himself up to his
- reflections. He was evidently suspected; somehow or other the
- Frenchman had found out that he was a detective. But had he told his
- master? What part was he playing in all this: was he an accomplice or
- not? Was the game, then, up? Fix spent several hours turning these
- things over in his mind, sometimes thinking that all was lost, then
- persuading himself that Fogg was ignorant of his presence, and then
- undecided what course it was best to take.
- Nevertheless, he preserved his coolness of mind, and at last resolved
- to deal plainly with Passepartout. If he did not find it practicable
- to arrest Fogg at Hong Kong, and if Fogg made preparations to leave
- that last foothold of English territory, he, Fix, would tell
- Passepartout all. Either the servant was the accomplice of his master,
- and in this case the master knew of his operations, and he should fail;
- or else the servant knew nothing about the robbery, and then his
- interest would be to abandon the robber.
- Such was the situation between Fix and Passepartout. Meanwhile Phileas
- Fogg moved about above them in the most majestic and unconscious
- indifference. He was passing methodically in his orbit around the
- world, regardless of the lesser stars which gravitated around him. Yet
- there was near by what the astronomers would call a disturbing star,
- which might have produced an agitation in this gentleman's heart. But
- no! the charms of Aouda failed to act, to Passepartout's great
- surprise; and the disturbances, if they existed, would have been more
- difficult to calculate than those of Uranus which led to the discovery
- of Neptune.
- It was every day an increasing wonder to Passepartout, who read in
- Aouda's eyes the depths of her gratitude to his master. Phileas Fogg,
- though brave and gallant, must be, he thought, quite heartless. As to
- the sentiment which this journey might have awakened in him, there was
- clearly no trace of such a thing; while poor Passepartout existed in
- perpetual reveries.
- One day he was leaning on the railing of the engine-room, and was
- observing the engine, when a sudden pitch of the steamer threw the
- screw out of the water. The steam came hissing out of the valves; and
- this made Passepartout indignant.
- "The valves are not sufficiently charged!" he exclaimed. "We are not
- going. Oh, these English! If this was an American craft, we should
- blow up, perhaps, but we should at all events go faster!"
- Chapter XVIII
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG, PASSEPARTOUT, AND FIX GO EACH ABOUT HIS BUSINESS
- The weather was bad during the latter days of the voyage. The wind,
- obstinately remaining in the north-west, blew a gale, and retarded the
- steamer. The Rangoon rolled heavily and the passengers became
- impatient of the long, monstrous waves which the wind raised before
- their path. A sort of tempest arose on the 3rd of November, the squall
- knocking the vessel about with fury, and the waves running high. The
- Rangoon reefed all her sails, and even the rigging proved too much,
- whistling and shaking amid the squall. The steamer was forced to
- proceed slowly, and the captain estimated that she would reach Hong
- Kong twenty hours behind time, and more if the storm lasted.
- Phileas Fogg gazed at the tempestuous sea, which seemed to be
- struggling especially to delay him, with his habitual tranquillity. He
- never changed countenance for an instant, though a delay of twenty
- hours, by making him too late for the Yokohama boat, would almost
- inevitably cause the loss of the wager. But this man of nerve
- manifested neither impatience nor annoyance; it seemed as if the storm
- were a part of his programme, and had been foreseen. Aouda was amazed
- to find him as calm as he had been from the first time she saw him.
- Fix did not look at the state of things in the same light. The storm
- greatly pleased him. His satisfaction would have been complete had the
- Rangoon been forced to retreat before the violence of wind and waves.
- Each delay filled him with hope, for it became more and more probable
- that Fogg would be obliged to remain some days at Hong Kong; and now
- the heavens themselves became his allies, with the gusts and squalls.
- It mattered not that they made him sea-sick--he made no account of this
- inconvenience; and, whilst his body was writhing under their effects,
- his spirit bounded with hopeful exultation.
- Passepartout was enraged beyond expression by the unpropitious weather.
- Everything had gone so well till now! Earth and sea had seemed to be
- at his master's service; steamers and railways obeyed him; wind and
- steam united to speed his journey. Had the hour of adversity come?
- Passepartout was as much excited as if the twenty thousand pounds were
- to come from his own pocket. The storm exasperated him, the gale made
- him furious, and he longed to lash the obstinate sea into obedience.
- Poor fellow! Fix carefully concealed from him his own satisfaction,
- for, had he betrayed it, Passepartout could scarcely have restrained
- himself from personal violence.
- Passepartout remained on deck as long as the tempest lasted, being
- unable to remain quiet below, and taking it into his head to aid the
- progress of the ship by lending a hand with the crew. He overwhelmed
- the captain, officers, and sailors, who could not help laughing at his
- impatience, with all sorts of questions. He wanted to know exactly how
- long the storm was going to last; whereupon he was referred to the
- barometer, which seemed to have no intention of rising. Passepartout
- shook it, but with no perceptible effect; for neither shaking nor
- maledictions could prevail upon it to change its mind.
- On the 4th, however, the sea became more calm, and the storm lessened
- its violence; the wind veered southward, and was once more favourable.
- Passepartout cleared up with the weather. Some of the sails were
- unfurled, and the Rangoon resumed its most rapid speed. The time lost
- could not, however, be regained. Land was not signalled until five
- o'clock on the morning of the 6th; the steamer was due on the 5th.
- Phileas Fogg was twenty-four hours behind-hand, and the Yokohama
- steamer would, of course, be missed.
- The pilot went on board at six, and took his place on the bridge, to
- guide the Rangoon through the channels to the port of Hong Kong.
- Passepartout longed to ask him if the steamer had left for Yokohama;
- but he dared not, for he wished to preserve the spark of hope, which
- still remained till the last moment. He had confided his anxiety to
- Fix who--the sly rascal!--tried to console him by saying that Mr. Fogg
- would be in time if he took the next boat; but this only put
- Passepartout in a passion.
- Mr. Fogg, bolder than his servant, did not hesitate to approach the
- pilot, and tranquilly ask him if he knew when a steamer would leave
- Hong Kong for Yokohama.
- "At high tide to-morrow morning," answered the pilot.
- "Ah!" said Mr. Fogg, without betraying any astonishment.
- Passepartout, who heard what passed, would willingly have embraced the
- pilot, while Fix would have been glad to twist his neck.
- "What is the steamer's name?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "The Carnatic."
- "Ought she not to have gone yesterday?"
- "Yes, sir; but they had to repair one of her boilers, and so her
- departure was postponed till to-morrow."
- "Thank you," returned Mr. Fogg, descending mathematically to the saloon.
- Passepartout clasped the pilot's hand and shook it heartily in his
- delight, exclaiming, "Pilot, you are the best of good fellows!"
- The pilot probably does not know to this day why his responses won him
- this enthusiastic greeting. He remounted the bridge, and guided the
- steamer through the flotilla of junks, tankas, and fishing boats which
- crowd the harbour of Hong Kong.
- At one o'clock the Rangoon was at the quay, and the passengers were
- going ashore.
- Chance had strangely favoured Phileas Fogg, for had not the Carnatic
- been forced to lie over for repairing her boilers, she would have left
- on the 6th of November, and the passengers for Japan would have been
- obliged to await for a week the sailing of the next steamer. Mr. Fogg
- was, it is true, twenty-four hours behind his time; but this could not
- seriously imperil the remainder of his tour.
- The steamer which crossed the Pacific from Yokohama to San Francisco
- made a direct connection with that from Hong Kong, and it could not
- sail until the latter reached Yokohama; and if Mr. Fogg was twenty-four
- hours late on reaching Yokohama, this time would no doubt be easily
- regained in the voyage of twenty-two days across the Pacific. He found
- himself, then, about twenty-four hours behind-hand, thirty-five days
- after leaving London.
- The Carnatic was announced to leave Hong Kong at five the next morning.
- Mr. Fogg had sixteen hours in which to attend to his business there,
- which was to deposit Aouda safely with her wealthy relative.
- On landing, he conducted her to a palanquin, in which they repaired to
- the Club Hotel. A room was engaged for the young woman, and Mr. Fogg,
- after seeing that she wanted for nothing, set out in search of her
- cousin Jeejeeh. He instructed Passepartout to remain at the hotel
- until his return, that Aouda might not be left entirely alone.
- Mr. Fogg repaired to the Exchange, where, he did not doubt, every one
- would know so wealthy and considerable a personage as the Parsee
- merchant. Meeting a broker, he made the inquiry, to learn that Jeejeeh
- had left China two years before, and, retiring from business with an
- immense fortune, had taken up his residence in Europe--in Holland the
- broker thought, with the merchants of which country he had principally
- traded. Phileas Fogg returned to the hotel, begged a moment's
- conversation with Aouda, and without more ado, apprised her that
- Jeejeeh was no longer at Hong Kong, but probably in Holland.
- Aouda at first said nothing. She passed her hand across her forehead,
- and reflected a few moments. Then, in her sweet, soft voice, she said:
- "What ought I to do, Mr. Fogg?"
- "It is very simple," responded the gentleman. "Go on to Europe."
- "But I cannot intrude--"
- "You do not intrude, nor do you in the least embarrass my project.
- Passepartout!"
- "Monsieur."
- "Go to the Carnatic, and engage three cabins."
- Passepartout, delighted that the young woman, who was very gracious to
- him, was going to continue the journey with them, went off at a brisk
- gait to obey his master's order.
- Chapter XIX
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TAKES A TOO GREAT INTEREST IN HIS MASTER, AND
- WHAT COMES OF IT
- Hong Kong is an island which came into the possession of the English by
- the Treaty of Nankin, after the war of 1842; and the colonising genius
- of the English has created upon it an important city and an excellent
- port. The island is situated at the mouth of the Canton River, and is
- separated by about sixty miles from the Portuguese town of Macao, on
- the opposite coast. Hong Kong has beaten Macao in the struggle for the
- Chinese trade, and now the greater part of the transportation of
- Chinese goods finds its depot at the former place. Docks, hospitals,
- wharves, a Gothic cathedral, a government house, macadamised streets,
- give to Hong Kong the appearance of a town in Kent or Surrey
- transferred by some strange magic to the antipodes.
- Passepartout wandered, with his hands in his pockets, towards the
- Victoria port, gazing as he went at the curious palanquins and other
- modes of conveyance, and the groups of Chinese, Japanese, and Europeans
- who passed to and fro in the streets. Hong Kong seemed to him not
- unlike Bombay, Calcutta, and Singapore, since, like them, it betrayed
- everywhere the evidence of English supremacy. At the Victoria port he
- found a confused mass of ships of all nations: English, French,
- American, and Dutch, men-of-war and trading vessels, Japanese and
- Chinese junks, sempas, tankas, and flower-boats, which formed so many
- floating parterres. Passepartout noticed in the crowd a number of the
- natives who seemed very old and were dressed in yellow. On going into
- a barber's to get shaved he learned that these ancient men were all at
- least eighty years old, at which age they are permitted to wear yellow,
- which is the Imperial colour. Passepartout, without exactly knowing
- why, thought this very funny.
- On reaching the quay where they were to embark on the Carnatic, he was
- not astonished to find Fix walking up and down. The detective seemed
- very much disturbed and disappointed.
- "This is bad," muttered Passepartout, "for the gentlemen of the Reform
- Club!" He accosted Fix with a merry smile, as if he had not perceived
- that gentleman's chagrin. The detective had, indeed, good reasons to
- inveigh against the bad luck which pursued him. The warrant had not
- come! It was certainly on the way, but as certainly it could not now
- reach Hong Kong for several days; and, this being the last English
- territory on Mr. Fogg's route, the robber would escape, unless he could
- manage to detain him.
- "Well, Monsieur Fix," said Passepartout, "have you decided to go with
- us so far as America?"
- "Yes," returned Fix, through his set teeth.
- "Good!" exclaimed Passepartout, laughing heartily. "I knew you could
- not persuade yourself to separate from us. Come and engage your berth."
- They entered the steamer office and secured cabins for four persons.
- The clerk, as he gave them the tickets, informed them that, the repairs
- on the Carnatic having been completed, the steamer would leave that
- very evening, and not next morning, as had been announced.
- "That will suit my master all the better," said Passepartout. "I will
- go and let him know."
- Fix now decided to make a bold move; he resolved to tell Passepartout
- all. It seemed to be the only possible means of keeping Phileas Fogg
- several days longer at Hong Kong. He accordingly invited his companion
- into a tavern which caught his eye on the quay. On entering, they
- found themselves in a large room handsomely decorated, at the end of
- which was a large camp-bed furnished with cushions. Several persons
- lay upon this bed in a deep sleep. At the small tables which were
- arranged about the room some thirty customers were drinking English
- beer, porter, gin, and brandy; smoking, the while, long red clay pipes
- stuffed with little balls of opium mingled with essence of rose. From
- time to time one of the smokers, overcome with the narcotic, would slip
- under the table, whereupon the waiters, taking him by the head and
- feet, carried and laid him upon the bed. The bed already supported
- twenty of these stupefied sots.
- Fix and Passepartout saw that they were in a smoking-house haunted by
- those wretched, cadaverous, idiotic creatures to whom the English
- merchants sell every year the miserable drug called opium, to the
- amount of one million four hundred thousand pounds--thousands devoted
- to one of the most despicable vices which afflict humanity! The
- Chinese government has in vain attempted to deal with the evil by
- stringent laws. It passed gradually from the rich, to whom it was at
- first exclusively reserved, to the lower classes, and then its ravages
- could not be arrested. Opium is smoked everywhere, at all times, by
- men and women, in the Celestial Empire; and, once accustomed to it, the
- victims cannot dispense with it, except by suffering horrible bodily
- contortions and agonies. A great smoker can smoke as many as eight
- pipes a day; but he dies in five years. It was in one of these dens
- that Fix and Passepartout, in search of a friendly glass, found
- themselves. Passepartout had no money, but willingly accepted Fix's
- invitation in the hope of returning the obligation at some future time.
- They ordered two bottles of port, to which the Frenchman did ample
- justice, whilst Fix observed him with close attention. They chatted
- about the journey, and Passepartout was especially merry at the idea
- that Fix was going to continue it with them. When the bottles were
- empty, however, he rose to go and tell his master of the change in the
- time of the sailing of the Carnatic.
- Fix caught him by the arm, and said, "Wait a moment."
- "What for, Mr. Fix?"
- "I want to have a serious talk with you."
- "A serious talk!" cried Passepartout, drinking up the little wine that
- was left in the bottom of his glass. "Well, we'll talk about it
- to-morrow; I haven't time now."
- "Stay! What I have to say concerns your master."
- Passepartout, at this, looked attentively at his companion. Fix's face
- seemed to have a singular expression. He resumed his seat.
- "What is it that you have to say?"
- Fix placed his hand upon Passepartout's arm, and, lowering his voice,
- said, "You have guessed who I am?"
- "Parbleu!" said Passepartout, smiling.
- "Then I'm going to tell you everything--"
- "Now that I know everything, my friend! Ah! that's very good. But go
- on, go on. First, though, let me tell you that those gentlemen have
- put themselves to a useless expense."
- "Useless!" said Fix. "You speak confidently. It's clear that you
- don't know how large the sum is."
- "Of course I do," returned Passepartout. "Twenty thousand pounds."
- "Fifty-five thousand!" answered Fix, pressing his companion's hand.
- "What!" cried the Frenchman. "Has Monsieur Fogg dared--fifty-five
- thousand pounds! Well, there's all the more reason for not losing an
- instant," he continued, getting up hastily.
- Fix pushed Passepartout back in his chair, and resumed: "Fifty-five
- thousand pounds; and if I succeed, I get two thousand pounds. If
- you'll help me, I'll let you have five hundred of them."
- "Help you?" cried Passepartout, whose eyes were standing wide open.
- "Yes; help me keep Mr. Fogg here for two or three days."
- "Why, what are you saying? Those gentlemen are not satisfied with
- following my master and suspecting his honour, but they must try to put
- obstacles in his way! I blush for them!"
- "What do you mean?"
- "I mean that it is a piece of shameful trickery. They might as well
- waylay Mr. Fogg and put his money in their pockets!"
- "That's just what we count on doing."
- "It's a conspiracy, then," cried Passepartout, who became more and more
- excited as the liquor mounted in his head, for he drank without
- perceiving it. "A real conspiracy! And gentlemen, too. Bah!"
- Fix began to be puzzled.
- "Members of the Reform Club!" continued Passepartout. "You must know,
- Monsieur Fix, that my master is an honest man, and that, when he makes
- a wager, he tries to win it fairly!"
- "But who do you think I am?" asked Fix, looking at him intently.
- "Parbleu! An agent of the members of the Reform Club, sent out here to
- interrupt my master's journey. But, though I found you out some time
- ago, I've taken good care to say nothing about it to Mr. Fogg."
- "He knows nothing, then?"
- "Nothing," replied Passepartout, again emptying his glass.
- The detective passed his hand across his forehead, hesitating before he
- spoke again. What should he do? Passepartout's mistake seemed
- sincere, but it made his design more difficult. It was evident that
- the servant was not the master's accomplice, as Fix had been inclined
- to suspect.
- "Well," said the detective to himself, "as he is not an accomplice, he
- will help me."
- He had no time to lose: Fogg must be detained at Hong Kong, so he
- resolved to make a clean breast of it.
- "Listen to me," said Fix abruptly. "I am not, as you think, an agent
- of the members of the Reform Club--"
- "Bah!" retorted Passepartout, with an air of raillery.
- "I am a police detective, sent out here by the London office."
- "You, a detective?"
- "I will prove it. Here is my commission."
- Passepartout was speechless with astonishment when Fix displayed this
- document, the genuineness of which could not be doubted.
- "Mr. Fogg's wager," resumed Fix, "is only a pretext, of which you and
- the gentlemen of the Reform are dupes. He had a motive for securing
- your innocent complicity."
- "But why?"
- "Listen. On the 28th of last September a robbery of fifty-five
- thousand pounds was committed at the Bank of England by a person whose
- description was fortunately secured. Here is his description; it
- answers exactly to that of Mr. Phileas Fogg."
- "What nonsense!" cried Passepartout, striking the table with his fist.
- "My master is the most honourable of men!"
- "How can you tell? You know scarcely anything about him. You went
- into his service the day he came away; and he came away on a foolish
- pretext, without trunks, and carrying a large amount in banknotes. And
- yet you are bold enough to assert that he is an honest man!"
- "Yes, yes," repeated the poor fellow, mechanically.
- "Would you like to be arrested as his accomplice?"
- Passepartout, overcome by what he had heard, held his head between his
- hands, and did not dare to look at the detective. Phileas Fogg, the
- saviour of Aouda, that brave and generous man, a robber! And yet how
- many presumptions there were against him! Passepartout essayed to
- reject the suspicions which forced themselves upon his mind; he did not
- wish to believe that his master was guilty.
- "Well, what do you want of me?" said he, at last, with an effort.
- "See here," replied Fix; "I have tracked Mr. Fogg to this place, but as
- yet I have failed to receive the warrant of arrest for which I sent to
- London. You must help me to keep him here in Hong Kong--"
- "I! But I--"
- "I will share with you the two thousand pounds reward offered by the
- Bank of England."
- "Never!" replied Passepartout, who tried to rise, but fell back,
- exhausted in mind and body.
- "Mr. Fix," he stammered, "even should what you say be true--if my
- master is really the robber you are seeking for--which I deny--I have
- been, am, in his service; I have seen his generosity and goodness; and
- I will never betray him--not for all the gold in the world. I come
- from a village where they don't eat that kind of bread!"
- "You refuse?"
- "I refuse."
- "Consider that I've said nothing," said Fix; "and let us drink."
- "Yes; let us drink!"
- Passepartout felt himself yielding more and more to the effects of the
- liquor. Fix, seeing that he must, at all hazards, be separated from
- his master, wished to entirely overcome him. Some pipes full of opium
- lay upon the table. Fix slipped one into Passepartout's hand. He took
- it, put it between his lips, lit it, drew several puffs, and his head,
- becoming heavy under the influence of the narcotic, fell upon the table.
- "At last!" said Fix, seeing Passepartout unconscious. "Mr. Fogg will
- not be informed of the Carnatic's departure; and, if he is, he will
- have to go without this cursed Frenchman!"
- And, after paying his bill, Fix left the tavern.
- Chapter XX
- IN WHICH FIX COMES FACE TO FACE WITH PHILEAS FOGG
- While these events were passing at the opium-house, Mr. Fogg,
- unconscious of the danger he was in of losing the steamer, was quietly
- escorting Aouda about the streets of the English quarter, making the
- necessary purchases for the long voyage before them. It was all very
- well for an Englishman like Mr. Fogg to make the tour of the world with
- a carpet-bag; a lady could not be expected to travel comfortably under
- such conditions. He acquitted his task with characteristic serenity,
- and invariably replied to the remonstrances of his fair companion, who
- was confused by his patience and generosity:
- "It is in the interest of my journey--a part of my programme."
- The purchases made, they returned to the hotel, where they dined at a
- sumptuously served table-d'hote; after which Aouda, shaking hands with
- her protector after the English fashion, retired to her room for rest.
- Mr. Fogg absorbed himself throughout the evening in the perusal of The
- Times and Illustrated London News.
- Had he been capable of being astonished at anything, it would have been
- not to see his servant return at bedtime. But, knowing that the
- steamer was not to leave for Yokohama until the next morning, he did
- not disturb himself about the matter. When Passepartout did not appear
- the next morning to answer his master's bell, Mr. Fogg, not betraying
- the least vexation, contented himself with taking his carpet-bag,
- calling Aouda, and sending for a palanquin.
- It was then eight o'clock; at half-past nine, it being then high tide,
- the Carnatic would leave the harbour. Mr. Fogg and Aouda got into the
- palanquin, their luggage being brought after on a wheelbarrow, and half
- an hour later stepped upon the quay whence they were to embark. Mr.
- Fogg then learned that the Carnatic had sailed the evening before. He
- had expected to find not only the steamer, but his domestic, and was
- forced to give up both; but no sign of disappointment appeared on his
- face, and he merely remarked to Aouda, "It is an accident, madam;
- nothing more."
- At this moment a man who had been observing him attentively approached.
- It was Fix, who, bowing, addressed Mr. Fogg: "Were you not, like me,
- sir, a passenger by the Rangoon, which arrived yesterday?"
- "I was, sir," replied Mr. Fogg coldly. "But I have not the honour--"
- "Pardon me; I thought I should find your servant here."
- "Do you know where he is, sir?" asked Aouda anxiously.
- "What!" responded Fix, feigning surprise. "Is he not with you?"
- "No," said Aouda. "He has not made his appearance since yesterday.
- Could he have gone on board the Carnatic without us?"
- "Without you, madam?" answered the detective. "Excuse me, did you
- intend to sail in the Carnatic?"
- "Yes, sir."
- "So did I, madam, and I am excessively disappointed. The Carnatic, its
- repairs being completed, left Hong Kong twelve hours before the stated
- time, without any notice being given; and we must now wait a week for
- another steamer."
- As he said "a week" Fix felt his heart leap for joy. Fogg detained at
- Hong Kong for a week! There would be time for the warrant to arrive,
- and fortune at last favoured the representative of the law. His horror
- may be imagined when he heard Mr. Fogg say, in his placid voice, "But
- there are other vessels besides the Carnatic, it seems to me, in the
- harbour of Hong Kong."
- And, offering his arm to Aouda, he directed his steps toward the docks
- in search of some craft about to start. Fix, stupefied, followed; it
- seemed as if he were attached to Mr. Fogg by an invisible thread.
- Chance, however, appeared really to have abandoned the man it had
- hitherto served so well. For three hours Phileas Fogg wandered about
- the docks, with the determination, if necessary, to charter a vessel to
- carry him to Yokohama; but he could only find vessels which were
- loading or unloading, and which could not therefore set sail. Fix
- began to hope again.
- But Mr. Fogg, far from being discouraged, was continuing his search,
- resolved not to stop if he had to resort to Macao, when he was accosted
- by a sailor on one of the wharves.
- "Is your honour looking for a boat?"
- "Have you a boat ready to sail?"
- "Yes, your honour; a pilot-boat--No. 43--the best in the harbour."
- "Does she go fast?"
- "Between eight and nine knots the hour. Will you look at her?"
- "Yes."
- "Your honour will be satisfied with her. Is it for a sea excursion?"
- "No; for a voyage."
- "A voyage?"
- "Yes, will you agree to take me to Yokohama?"
- The sailor leaned on the railing, opened his eyes wide, and said, "Is
- your honour joking?"
- "No. I have missed the Carnatic, and I must get to Yokohama by the
- 14th at the latest, to take the boat for San Francisco."
- "I am sorry," said the sailor; "but it is impossible."
- "I offer you a hundred pounds per day, and an additional reward of two
- hundred pounds if I reach Yokohama in time."
- "Are you in earnest?"
- "Very much so."
- The pilot walked away a little distance, and gazed out to sea,
- evidently struggling between the anxiety to gain a large sum and the
- fear of venturing so far. Fix was in mortal suspense.
- Mr. Fogg turned to Aouda and asked her, "You would not be afraid, would
- you, madam?"
- "Not with you, Mr. Fogg," was her answer.
- The pilot now returned, shuffling his hat in his hands.
- "Well, pilot?" said Mr. Fogg.
- "Well, your honour," replied he, "I could not risk myself, my men, or
- my little boat of scarcely twenty tons on so long a voyage at this time
- of year. Besides, we could not reach Yokohama in time, for it is
- sixteen hundred and sixty miles from Hong Kong."
- "Only sixteen hundred," said Mr. Fogg.
- "It's the same thing."
- Fix breathed more freely.
- "But," added the pilot, "it might be arranged another way."
- Fix ceased to breathe at all.
- "How?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "By going to Nagasaki, at the extreme south of Japan, or even to
- Shanghai, which is only eight hundred miles from here. In going to
- Shanghai we should not be forced to sail wide of the Chinese coast,
- which would be a great advantage, as the currents run northward, and
- would aid us."
- "Pilot," said Mr. Fogg, "I must take the American steamer at Yokohama,
- and not at Shanghai or Nagasaki."
- "Why not?" returned the pilot. "The San Francisco steamer does not
- start from Yokohama. It puts in at Yokohama and Nagasaki, but it
- starts from Shanghai."
- "You are sure of that?"
- "Perfectly."
- "And when does the boat leave Shanghai?"
- "On the 11th, at seven in the evening. We have, therefore, four days
- before us, that is ninety-six hours; and in that time, if we had good
- luck and a south-west wind, and the sea was calm, we could make those
- eight hundred miles to Shanghai."
- "And you could go--"
- "In an hour; as soon as provisions could be got aboard and the sails
- put up."
- "It is a bargain. Are you the master of the boat?"
- "Yes; John Bunsby, master of the Tankadere."
- "Would you like some earnest-money?"
- "If it would not put your honour out--"
- "Here are two hundred pounds on account sir," added Phileas Fogg,
- turning to Fix, "if you would like to take advantage--"
- "Thanks, sir; I was about to ask the favour."
- "Very well. In half an hour we shall go on board."
- "But poor Passepartout?" urged Aouda, who was much disturbed by the
- servant's disappearance.
- "I shall do all I can to find him," replied Phileas Fogg.
- While Fix, in a feverish, nervous state, repaired to the pilot-boat,
- the others directed their course to the police-station at Hong Kong.
- Phileas Fogg there gave Passepartout's description, and left a sum of
- money to be spent in the search for him. The same formalities having
- been gone through at the French consulate, and the palanquin having
- stopped at the hotel for the luggage, which had been sent back there,
- they returned to the wharf.
- It was now three o'clock; and pilot-boat No. 43, with its crew on
- board, and its provisions stored away, was ready for departure.
- The Tankadere was a neat little craft of twenty tons, as gracefully
- built as if she were a racing yacht. Her shining copper sheathing, her
- galvanised iron-work, her deck, white as ivory, betrayed the pride
- taken by John Bunsby in making her presentable. Her two masts leaned a
- trifle backward; she carried brigantine, foresail, storm-jib, and
- standing-jib, and was well rigged for running before the wind; and she
- seemed capable of brisk speed, which, indeed, she had already proved by
- gaining several prizes in pilot-boat races. The crew of the Tankadere
- was composed of John Bunsby, the master, and four hardy mariners, who
- were familiar with the Chinese seas. John Bunsby, himself, a man of
- forty-five or thereabouts, vigorous, sunburnt, with a sprightly
- expression of the eye, and energetic and self-reliant countenance,
- would have inspired confidence in the most timid.
- Phileas Fogg and Aouda went on board, where they found Fix already
- installed. Below deck was a square cabin, of which the walls bulged
- out in the form of cots, above a circular divan; in the centre was a
- table provided with a swinging lamp. The accommodation was confined,
- but neat.
- "I am sorry to have nothing better to offer you," said Mr. Fogg to Fix,
- who bowed without responding.
- The detective had a feeling akin to humiliation in profiting by the
- kindness of Mr. Fogg.
- "It's certain," thought he, "though rascal as he is, he is a polite
- one!"
- The sails and the English flag were hoisted at ten minutes past three.
- Mr. Fogg and Aouda, who were seated on deck, cast a last glance at the
- quay, in the hope of espying Passepartout. Fix was not without his
- fears lest chance should direct the steps of the unfortunate servant,
- whom he had so badly treated, in this direction; in which case an
- explanation the reverse of satisfactory to the detective must have
- ensued. But the Frenchman did not appear, and, without doubt, was
- still lying under the stupefying influence of the opium.
- John Bunsby, master, at length gave the order to start, and the
- Tankadere, taking the wind under her brigantine, foresail, and
- standing-jib, bounded briskly forward over the waves.
- Chapter XXI
- IN WHICH THE MASTER OF THE "TANKADERE" RUNS GREAT RISK OF LOSING A
- REWARD OF TWO HUNDRED POUNDS
- This voyage of eight hundred miles was a perilous venture on a craft of
- twenty tons, and at that season of the year. The Chinese seas are
- usually boisterous, subject to terrible gales of wind, and especially
- during the equinoxes; and it was now early November.
- It would clearly have been to the master's advantage to carry his
- passengers to Yokohama, since he was paid a certain sum per day; but he
- would have been rash to attempt such a voyage, and it was imprudent
- even to attempt to reach Shanghai. But John Bunsby believed in the
- Tankadere, which rode on the waves like a seagull; and perhaps he was
- not wrong.
- Late in the day they passed through the capricious channels of Hong
- Kong, and the Tankadere, impelled by favourable winds, conducted
- herself admirably.
- "I do not need, pilot," said Phileas Fogg, when they got into the open
- sea, "to advise you to use all possible speed."
- "Trust me, your honour. We are carrying all the sail the wind will let
- us. The poles would add nothing, and are only used when we are going
- into port."
- "It's your trade, not mine, pilot, and I confide in you."
- Phileas Fogg, with body erect and legs wide apart, standing like a
- sailor, gazed without staggering at the swelling waters. The young
- woman, who was seated aft, was profoundly affected as she looked out
- upon the ocean, darkening now with the twilight, on which she had
- ventured in so frail a vessel. Above her head rustled the white sails,
- which seemed like great white wings. The boat, carried forward by the
- wind, seemed to be flying in the air.
- 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; for 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-travellers, knowing Mr. Fogg's taciturn tastes;
- besides, he did not quite like to talk to the man whose favours 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 traversed three quarters of the globe, so as to
- gain the American continent more surely; and 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 fulfil 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; and 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.
- At sunrise the next day, which was 8th November, the boat had made more
- than one hundred miles. The log indicated a mean speed of between
- eight and nine miles. The Tankadere still carried all sail, and was
- accomplishing her greatest capacity of speed. If the wind held as it
- was, the chances would be in her favour. During the day she kept along
- the coast, where the currents were favourable; the coast, irregular in
- profile, and visible sometimes across the clearings, was at most five
- miles distant. The sea was less boisterous, since the wind came off
- land--a fortunate circumstance for the boat, which would suffer, owing
- to its small tonnage, by a heavy surge on the sea.
- The breeze subsided a little towards noon, and set in from the
- south-west. The pilot put up his poles, but took them down again
- within two hours, as the wind freshened up anew.
- Mr. Fogg and Aouda, happily unaffected by the roughness of the sea, ate
- with a good appetite, Fix being invited to share their repast, which he
- accepted with secret chagrin. To travel at this man's expense and live
- upon his provisions was not palatable to him. Still, he was obliged to
- eat, and so he ate.
- When the meal was over, he took Mr. Fogg apart, and said, "sir"--this
- "sir" scorched his lips, and he had to control himself to avoid
- collaring this "gentleman"--"sir, you have been very kind to give me a
- passage on this boat. But, though my means will not admit of my
- expending them as freely as you, I must ask to pay my share--"
- "Let us not speak of that, sir," replied Mr. Fogg.
- "But, if I insist--"
- "No, sir," repeated Mr. Fogg, in a tone which did not admit of a reply.
- "This enters into my general expenses."
- Fix, as he bowed, had a stifled feeling, and, going forward, where he
- ensconced himself, did not open his mouth for the rest of the day.
- Meanwhile they were progressing famously, and John Bunsby was in high
- hope. He several times assured Mr. Fogg that they would reach Shanghai
- in time; to which that gentleman responded that he counted upon it.
- The crew set to work in good earnest, inspired by the reward to be
- gained. There was not a sheet which was not tightened, not a sail which
- was not vigorously hoisted; not a lurch could be charged to the man at
- the helm. They worked as desperately as if they were contesting in a
- Royal yacht regatta.
- By evening, the log showed that two hundred and twenty miles had been
- accomplished from Hong Kong, and Mr. Fogg might hope that he would be
- able to reach Yokohama without recording any delay in his journal; in
- which case, the many misadventures which had overtaken him since he
- left London would not seriously affect his journey.
- The Tankadere entered the Straits of Fo-Kien, which separate the island
- of Formosa from the Chinese coast, in the small hours of the night, and
- crossed the Tropic of Cancer. The sea was very rough in the straits,
- full of eddies formed by the counter-currents, and the chopping waves
- broke her course, whilst it became very difficult to stand on deck.
- At daybreak the wind began to blow hard again, and the heavens seemed
- to predict a gale. The barometer announced a speedy change, the
- mercury rising and falling capriciously; the sea also, in the
- south-east, raised long surges which indicated a tempest. The sun had
- set the evening before in a red mist, in the midst of the
- phosphorescent scintillations of the ocean.
- John Bunsby long examined the threatening aspect of the heavens,
- muttering indistinctly between his teeth. At last he said in a low
- voice to Mr. Fogg, "Shall I speak out to your honour?"
- "Of course."
- "Well, we are going to have a squall."
- "Is the wind north or south?" asked Mr. Fogg quietly.
- "South. Look! a typhoon is coming up."
- "Glad it's a typhoon from the south, for it will carry us forward."
- "Oh, if you take it that way," said John Bunsby, "I've nothing more to
- say." John Bunsby's suspicions were confirmed. At a less advanced
- season of the year the typhoon, according to a famous meteorologist,
- would have passed away like a luminous cascade of electric flame; but
- in the winter equinox it was to be feared that it would burst upon them
- with great violence.
- The pilot took his precautions in advance. He reefed all sail, the
- pole-masts were dispensed with; all hands went forward to the bows. A
- single triangular sail, of strong canvas, was hoisted as a storm-jib,
- so as to hold the wind from behind. Then they waited.
- John Bunsby had requested his passengers to go below; but this
- imprisonment in so narrow a space, with little air, and the boat
- bouncing in the gale, was far from pleasant. Neither Mr. Fogg, Fix,
- nor Aouda consented to leave the deck.
- The storm of rain and wind descended upon them towards eight o'clock.
- With but its bit of sail, the Tankadere was lifted like a feather by a
- wind, an idea of whose violence can scarcely be given. To compare her
- speed to four times that of a locomotive going on full steam would be
- below the truth.
- The boat scudded thus northward during the whole day, borne on by
- monstrous waves, preserving always, fortunately, a speed equal to
- theirs. Twenty times she seemed almost to be submerged by these
- mountains of water which rose behind her; but the adroit management of
- the pilot saved her. The passengers were often bathed in spray, but
- they submitted to it philosophically. Fix cursed it, no doubt; but
- Aouda, with her eyes fastened upon her protector, whose coolness amazed
- her, showed herself worthy of him, and bravely weathered the storm. As
- for Phileas Fogg, it seemed just as if the typhoon were a part of his
- programme.
- Up to this time the Tankadere had always held her course to the north;
- but towards evening the wind, veering three quarters, bore down from
- the north-west. The boat, now lying in the trough of the waves, shook
- and rolled terribly; the sea struck her with fearful violence. At
- night the tempest increased in violence. John Bunsby saw the approach
- of darkness and the rising of the storm with dark misgivings. He
- thought awhile, and then asked his crew if it was not time to slacken
- speed. After a consultation he approached Mr. Fogg, and said, "I
- think, your honour, that we should do well to make for one of the ports
- on the coast."
- "I think so too."
- "Ah!" said the pilot. "But which one?"
- "I know of but one," returned Mr. Fogg tranquilly.
- "And that is--"
- "Shanghai."
- The pilot, at first, did not seem to comprehend; he could scarcely
- realise so much determination and tenacity. Then he cried, "Well--yes!
- Your honour is right. To Shanghai!"
- So the Tankadere kept steadily on her northward track.
- The night was really terrible; it would be a miracle if the craft did
- not founder. Twice it could have been all over with her if the crew
- had not been constantly on the watch. Aouda was exhausted, but did not
- utter a complaint. More than once Mr. Fogg rushed to protect her from
- the violence of the waves.
- Day reappeared. The tempest still raged with undiminished fury; but
- the wind now returned to the south-east. It was a favourable change,
- and the Tankadere again bounded forward on this mountainous sea, though
- the waves crossed each other, and imparted shocks and counter-shocks
- which would have crushed a craft less solidly built. From time to time
- the coast was visible through the broken mist, but no vessel was in
- sight. The Tankadere was alone upon the sea.
- There were some signs of a calm at noon, and these became more distinct
- as the sun descended toward the horizon. The tempest had been as brief
- as terrific. The passengers, thoroughly exhausted, could now eat a
- little, and take some repose.
- The night was comparatively quiet. Some of the sails were again
- hoisted, and the speed of the boat was very good. The next morning at
- dawn they espied the coast, and John Bunsby was able to assert that
- they were not one hundred miles from Shanghai. A hundred miles, and
- only one day to traverse them! That very evening Mr. Fogg was due at
- Shanghai, if he did not wish to miss the steamer to Yokohama. Had
- there been no storm, during which several hours were lost, they would
- be at this moment within thirty miles of their destination.
- The wind grew decidedly calmer, and happily the sea fell with it. All
- sails were now hoisted, and at noon the Tankadere was within forty-five
- miles of Shanghai. There remained yet six hours in which to accomplish
- that distance. All on board feared that it could not be done, and
- every one--Phileas Fogg, no doubt, excepted--felt his heart beat with
- impatience. The boat must keep up an average of nine miles an hour,
- and the wind was becoming calmer every moment! It was a capricious
- breeze, coming from the coast, and after it passed the sea became
- smooth. Still, the Tankadere was so light, and her fine sails caught
- the fickle zephyrs so well, that, with the aid of the currents John
- Bunsby found himself at six o'clock not more than ten miles from the
- mouth of Shanghai River. Shanghai itself is situated at least twelve
- miles up the stream. At seven they were still three miles from
- Shanghai. The pilot swore an angry oath; the reward of two hundred
- pounds was evidently on the point of escaping him. He looked at Mr.
- Fogg. Mr. Fogg was perfectly tranquil; and yet his whole fortune was
- at this moment at stake.
- At this moment, also, a long black funnel, crowned with wreaths of
- smoke, appeared on the edge of the waters. It was the American
- steamer, leaving for Yokohama at the appointed time.
- "Confound her!" cried John Bunsby, pushing back the rudder with a
- desperate jerk.
- "Signal her!" said Phileas Fogg quietly.
- A small brass cannon stood on the forward deck of the Tankadere, for
- making signals in the fogs. It was loaded to the muzzle; but just as
- the pilot was about to apply a red-hot coal to the touchhole, Mr. Fogg
- said, "Hoist your flag!"
- The flag was run up at half-mast, and, this being the signal of
- distress, it was hoped that the American steamer, perceiving it, would
- change her course a little, so as to succour the pilot-boat.
- "Fire!" said Mr. Fogg. And the booming of the little cannon resounded
- in the air.
- Chapter XXII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT FINDS OUT THAT, EVEN AT THE ANTIPODES, IT IS
- CONVENIENT TO HAVE SOME MONEY IN ONE'S POCKET
- The Carnatic, setting sail from Hong Kong at half-past six on the 7th
- of November, directed her course at full steam towards Japan. She
- carried a large cargo and a well-filled cabin of passengers. Two
- state-rooms in the rear were, however, unoccupied--those which had been
- engaged by Phileas Fogg.
- The next day a passenger with a half-stupefied eye, staggering gait,
- and disordered hair, was seen to emerge from the second cabin, and to
- totter to a seat on deck.
- It was Passepartout; and what had happened to him was as follows:
- Shortly after Fix left the opium den, two waiters had lifted the
- unconscious Passepartout, and had carried him to the bed reserved for
- the smokers. Three hours later, pursued even in his dreams by a fixed
- idea, the poor fellow awoke, and struggled against the stupefying
- influence of the narcotic. The thought of a duty unfulfilled shook off
- his torpor, and he hurried from the abode of drunkenness. Staggering
- and holding himself up by keeping against the walls, falling down and
- creeping up again, and irresistibly impelled by a kind of instinct, he
- kept crying out, "The Carnatic! the Carnatic!"
- The steamer lay puffing alongside the quay, on the point of starting.
- Passepartout had but few steps to go; and, rushing upon the plank, he
- crossed it, and fell unconscious on the deck, just as the Carnatic was
- moving off. Several sailors, who were evidently accustomed to this
- sort of scene, carried the poor Frenchman down into the second cabin,
- and Passepartout did not wake until they were one hundred and fifty
- miles away from China. Thus he found himself the next morning on the
- deck of the Carnatic, and eagerly inhaling the exhilarating sea-breeze.
- The pure air sobered him. He began to collect his sense, which he
- found a difficult task; but at last he recalled the events of the
- evening before, Fix's revelation, and the opium-house.
- "It is evident," said he to himself, "that I have been abominably
- drunk! What will Mr. Fogg say? At least I have not missed the
- steamer, which is the most important thing."
- Then, as Fix occurred to him: "As for that rascal, I hope we are well
- rid of him, and that he has not dared, as he proposed, to follow us on
- board the Carnatic. A detective on the track of Mr. Fogg, accused of
- robbing the Bank of England! Pshaw! Mr. Fogg is no more a robber than
- I am a murderer."
- Should he divulge Fix's real errand to his master? Would it do to tell
- the part the detective was playing? Would it not be better to wait
- until Mr. Fogg reached London again, and then impart to him that an
- agent of the metropolitan police had been following him round the
- world, and have a good laugh over it? No doubt; at least, it was worth
- considering. The first thing to do was to find Mr. Fogg, and apologise
- for his singular behaviour.
- Passepartout got up and proceeded, as well as he could with the rolling
- of the steamer, to the after-deck. He saw no one who resembled either
- his master or Aouda. "Good!" muttered he; "Aouda has not got up yet,
- and Mr. Fogg has probably found some partners at whist."
- He descended to the saloon. Mr. Fogg was not there. Passepartout had
- only, however, to ask the purser the number of his master's state-room.
- The purser replied that he did not know any passenger by the name of
- Fogg.
- "I beg your pardon," said Passepartout persistently. "He is a tall
- gentleman, quiet, and not very talkative, and has with him a young
- lady--"
- "There is no young lady on board," interrupted the purser. "Here is a
- list of the passengers; you may see for yourself."
- Passepartout scanned the list, but his master's name was not upon it.
- All at once an idea struck him.
- "Ah! am I on the Carnatic?"
- "Yes."
- "On the way to Yokohama?"
- "Certainly."
- Passepartout had for an instant feared that he was on the wrong boat;
- but, though he was really on the Carnatic, his master was not there.
- He fell thunderstruck on a seat. He saw it all now. He remembered
- that the time of sailing had been changed, that he should have informed
- his master of that fact, and that he had not done so. It was his
- fault, then, that Mr. Fogg and Aouda had missed the steamer. Yes, but
- it was still more the fault of the traitor who, in order to separate
- him from his master, and detain the latter at Hong Kong, had inveigled
- him into getting drunk! He now saw the detective's trick; and at this
- moment Mr. Fogg was certainly ruined, his bet was lost, and he himself
- perhaps arrested and imprisoned! At this thought Passepartout tore his
- hair. Ah, if Fix ever came within his reach, what a settling of
- accounts there would be!
- After his first depression, Passepartout became calmer, and began to
- study his situation. It was certainly not an enviable one. He found
- himself on the way to Japan, and what should he do when he got there?
- His pocket was empty; he had not a solitary shilling, not so much as a
- penny. His passage had fortunately been paid for in advance; and he
- had five or six days in which to decide upon his future course. He
- fell to at meals with an appetite, and ate for Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and
- himself. He helped himself as generously as if Japan were a desert,
- where nothing to eat was to be looked for.
- At dawn on the 13th the Carnatic entered the port of Yokohama. This is
- an important port of call in the Pacific, where all the mail-steamers,
- and those carrying travellers between North America, China, Japan, and
- the Oriental islands put in. It is situated in the bay of Yeddo, and
- at but a short distance from that second capital of the Japanese
- Empire, and the residence of the Tycoon, the civil Emperor, before the
- Mikado, the spiritual Emperor, absorbed his office in his own. The
- Carnatic anchored at the quay near the custom-house, in the midst of a
- crowd of ships bearing the flags of all nations.
- Passepartout went timidly ashore on this so curious territory of the
- Sons of the Sun. He had nothing better to do than, taking chance for
- his guide, to wander aimlessly through the streets of Yokohama. He
- found himself at first in a thoroughly European quarter, the houses
- having low fronts, and being adorned with verandas, beneath which he
- caught glimpses of neat peristyles. This quarter occupied, with its
- streets, squares, docks, and warehouses, all the space between the
- "promontory of the Treaty" and the river. Here, as at Hong Kong and
- Calcutta, were mixed crowds of all races, Americans and English,
- Chinamen and Dutchmen, mostly merchants ready to buy or sell anything.
- The Frenchman felt himself as much alone among them as if he had
- dropped down in the midst of Hottentots.
- He had, at least, one resource,--to call on the French and English
- consuls at Yokohama for assistance. But he shrank from telling the
- story of his adventures, intimately connected as it was with that of
- his master; and, before doing so, he determined to exhaust all other
- means of aid. As chance did not favour him in the European quarter, he
- penetrated that inhabited by the native Japanese, determined, if
- necessary, to push on to Yeddo.
- The Japanese quarter of Yokohama is called Benten, after the goddess of
- the sea, who is worshipped on the islands round about. There
- Passepartout beheld beautiful fir and cedar groves, sacred gates of a
- singular architecture, bridges half hid in the midst of bamboos and
- reeds, temples shaded by immense cedar-trees, holy retreats where were
- sheltered Buddhist priests and sectaries of Confucius, and interminable
- streets, where a perfect harvest of rose-tinted and red-cheeked
- children, who looked as if they had been cut out of Japanese screens,
- and who were playing in the midst of short-legged poodles and yellowish
- cats, might have been gathered.
- The streets were crowded with people. Priests were passing in
- processions, beating their dreary tambourines; police and custom-house
- officers with pointed hats encrusted with lac and carrying two sabres
- hung to their waists; soldiers, clad in blue cotton with white stripes,
- and bearing guns; the Mikado's guards, enveloped in silken doubles,
- hauberks and coats of mail; and numbers of military folk of all
- ranks--for the military profession is as much respected in Japan as it
- is despised in China--went hither and thither in groups and pairs.
- Passepartout saw, too, begging friars, long-robed pilgrims, and simple
- civilians, with their warped and jet-black hair, big heads, long busts,
- slender legs, short stature, and complexions varying from copper-colour
- to a dead white, but never yellow, like the Chinese, from whom the
- Japanese widely differ. He did not fail to observe the curious
- equipages--carriages and palanquins, barrows supplied with sails, and
- litters made of bamboo; nor the women--whom he thought not especially
- handsome--who took little steps with their little feet, whereon they
- wore canvas shoes, straw sandals, and clogs of worked wood, and who
- displayed tight-looking eyes, flat chests, teeth fashionably blackened,
- and gowns crossed with silken scarfs, tied in an enormous knot behind
- an ornament which the modern Parisian ladies seem to have borrowed from
- the dames of Japan.
- Passepartout wandered for several hours in the midst of this motley
- crowd, looking in at the windows of the rich and curious shops, the
- jewellery establishments glittering with quaint Japanese ornaments, the
- restaurants decked with streamers and banners, the tea-houses, where
- the odorous beverage was being drunk with saki, a liquor concocted from
- the fermentation of rice, and the comfortable smoking-houses, where
- they were puffing, not opium, which is almost unknown in Japan, but a
- very fine, stringy tobacco. He went on till he found himself in the
- fields, in the midst of vast rice plantations. There he saw dazzling
- camellias expanding themselves, with flowers which were giving forth
- their last colours and perfumes, not on bushes, but on trees, and
- within bamboo enclosures, cherry, plum, and apple trees, which the
- Japanese cultivate rather for their blossoms than their fruit, and
- which queerly-fashioned, grinning scarecrows protected from the
- sparrows, pigeons, ravens, and other voracious birds. On the branches
- of the cedars were perched large eagles; amid the foliage of the
- weeping willows were herons, solemnly standing on one leg; and on every
- hand were crows, ducks, hawks, wild birds, and a multitude of cranes,
- which the Japanese consider sacred, and which to their minds symbolise
- long life and prosperity.
- As he was strolling along, Passepartout espied some violets among the
- shrubs.
- "Good!" said he; "I'll have some supper."
- But, on smelling them, he found that they were odourless.
- "No chance there," thought he.
- The worthy fellow had certainly taken good care to eat as hearty a
- breakfast as possible before leaving the Carnatic; but, as he had been
- walking about all day, the demands of hunger were becoming importunate.
- He observed that the butchers stalls contained neither mutton, goat,
- nor pork; and, knowing also that it is a sacrilege to kill cattle,
- which are preserved solely for farming, he made up his mind that meat
- was far from plentiful in Yokohama--nor was he mistaken; and, in
- default of butcher's meat, he could have wished for a quarter of wild
- boar or deer, a partridge, or some quails, some game or fish, which,
- with rice, the Japanese eat almost exclusively. But he found it
- necessary to keep up a stout heart, and to postpone the meal he craved
- till the following morning. Night came, and Passepartout re-entered
- the native quarter, where he wandered through the streets, lit by
- vari-coloured lanterns, looking on at the dancers, who were executing
- skilful steps and boundings, and the astrologers who stood in the open
- air with their telescopes. Then he came to the harbour, which was lit
- up by the resin torches of the fishermen, who were fishing from their
- boats.
- The streets at last became quiet, and the patrol, the officers of
- which, in their splendid costumes, and surrounded by their suites,
- Passepartout thought seemed like ambassadors, succeeded the bustling
- crowd. Each time a company passed, Passepartout chuckled, and said to
- himself: "Good! another Japanese embassy departing for Europe!"
- Chapter XXIII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT'S NOSE BECOMES OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG
- The next morning poor, jaded, famished Passepartout said to himself
- that he must get something to eat at all hazards, and the sooner he did
- so the better. He might, indeed, sell his watch; but he would have
- starved first. Now or never he must use the strong, if not melodious
- voice which nature had bestowed upon him. He knew several French and
- English songs, and resolved to try them upon the Japanese, who must be
- lovers of music, since they were for ever pounding on their cymbals,
- tam-tams, and tambourines, and could not but appreciate European talent.
- It was, perhaps, rather early in the morning to get up a concert, and
- the audience prematurely aroused from their slumbers, might not
- possibly pay their entertainer with coin bearing the Mikado's features.
- Passepartout therefore decided to wait several hours; and, as he was
- sauntering along, it occurred to him that he would seem rather too well
- dressed for a wandering artist. The idea struck him to change his
- garments for clothes more in harmony with his project; by which he
- might also get a little money to satisfy the immediate cravings of
- hunger. The resolution taken, it remained to carry it out.
- It was only after a long search that Passepartout discovered a native
- dealer in old clothes, to whom he applied for an exchange. The man
- liked the European costume, and ere long Passepartout issued from his
- shop accoutred in an old Japanese coat, and a sort of one-sided turban,
- faded with long use. A few small pieces of silver, moreover, jingled
- in his pocket.
- "Good!" thought he. "I will imagine I am at the Carnival!"
- His first care, after being thus "Japanesed," was to enter a tea-house
- of modest appearance, and, upon half a bird and a little rice, to
- breakfast like a man for whom dinner was as yet a problem to be solved.
- "Now," thought he, when he had eaten heartily, "I mustn't lose my head.
- I can't sell this costume again for one still more Japanese. I must
- consider how to leave this country of the Sun, of which I shall not
- retain the most delightful of memories, as quickly as possible."
- It occurred to him to visit the steamers which were about to leave for
- America. He would offer himself as a cook or servant, in payment of
- his passage and meals. Once at San Francisco, he would find some means
- of going on. The difficulty was, how to traverse the four thousand
- seven hundred miles of the Pacific which lay between Japan and the New
- World.
- Passepartout was not the man to let an idea go begging, and directed
- his steps towards the docks. But, as he approached them, his project,
- which at first had seemed so simple, began to grow more and more
- formidable to his mind. What need would they have of a cook or servant
- on an American steamer, and what confidence would they put in him,
- dressed as he was? What references could he give?
- As he was reflecting in this wise, his eyes fell upon an immense
- placard which a sort of clown was carrying through the streets. This
- placard, which was in English, read as follows:
- ACROBATIC JAPANESE TROUPE,
- HONOURABLE WILLIAM BATULCAR, PROPRIETOR,
- LAST REPRESENTATIONS,
- PRIOR TO THEIR DEPARTURE TO THE UNITED STATES,
- OF THE
- LONG NOSES! LONG NOSES!
- UNDER THE DIRECT PATRONAGE OF THE GOD TINGOU!
- GREAT ATTRACTION!
- "The United States!" said Passepartout; "that's just what I want!"
- He followed the clown, and soon found himself once more in the Japanese
- quarter. A quarter of an hour later he stopped before a large cabin,
- adorned with several clusters of streamers, the exterior walls of which
- were designed to represent, in violent colours and without perspective,
- a company of jugglers.
- This was the Honourable William Batulcar's establishment. That
- gentleman was a sort of Barnum, the director of a troupe of
- mountebanks, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, equilibrists, and gymnasts,
- who, according to the placard, was giving his last performances before
- leaving the Empire of the Sun for the States of the Union.
- Passepartout entered and asked for Mr. Batulcar, who straightway
- appeared in person.
- "What do you want?" said he to Passepartout, whom he at first took for
- a native.
- "Would you like a servant, sir?" asked Passepartout.
- "A servant!" cried Mr. Batulcar, caressing the thick grey beard which
- hung from his chin. "I already have two who are obedient and faithful,
- have never left me, and serve me for their nourishment and here they
- are," added he, holding out his two robust arms, furrowed with veins as
- large as the strings of a bass-viol.
- "So I can be of no use to you?"
- "None."
- "The devil! I should so like to cross the Pacific with you!"
- "Ah!" said the Honourable Mr. Batulcar. "You are no more a Japanese
- than I am a monkey! Who are you dressed up in that way?"
- "A man dresses as he can."
- "That's true. You are a Frenchman, aren't you?"
- "Yes; a Parisian of Paris."
- "Then you ought to know how to make grimaces?"
- "Why," replied Passepartout, a little vexed that his nationality should
- cause this question, "we Frenchmen know how to make grimaces, it is
- true but not any better than the Americans do."
- "True. Well, if I can't take you as a servant, I can as a clown. You
- see, my friend, in France they exhibit foreign clowns, and in foreign
- parts French clowns."
- "Ah!"
- "You are pretty strong, eh?"
- "Especially after a good meal."
- "And you can sing?"
- "Yes," returned Passepartout, who had formerly been wont to sing in the
- streets.
- "But can you sing standing on your head, with a top spinning on your
- left foot, and a sabre balanced on your right?"
- "Humph! I think so," replied Passepartout, recalling the exercises of
- his younger days.
- "Well, that's enough," said the Honourable William Batulcar.
- The engagement was concluded there and then.
- Passepartout had at last found something to do. He was engaged to act
- in the celebrated Japanese troupe. It was not a very dignified
- position, but within a week he would be on his way to San Francisco.
- The performance, so noisily announced by the Honourable Mr. Batulcar,
- was to commence at three o'clock, and soon the deafening instruments of
- a Japanese orchestra resounded at the door. Passepartout, though he
- had not been able to study or rehearse a part, was designated to lend
- the aid of his sturdy shoulders in the great exhibition of the "human
- pyramid," executed by the Long Noses of the god Tingou. This "great
- attraction" was to close the performance.
- Before three o'clock the large shed was invaded by the spectators,
- comprising Europeans and natives, Chinese and Japanese, men, women and
- children, who precipitated themselves upon the narrow benches and into
- the boxes opposite the stage. The musicians took up a position inside,
- and were vigorously performing on their gongs, tam-tams, flutes, bones,
- tambourines, and immense drums.
- The performance was much like all acrobatic displays; but it must be
- confessed that the Japanese are the first equilibrists in the world.
- One, with a fan and some bits of paper, performed the graceful trick of
- the butterflies and the flowers; another traced in the air, with the
- odorous smoke of his pipe, a series of blue words, which composed a
- compliment to the audience; while a third juggled with some lighted
- candles, which he extinguished successively as they passed his lips,
- and relit again without interrupting for an instant his juggling.
- Another reproduced the most singular combinations with a spinning-top;
- in his hands the revolving tops seemed to be animated with a life of
- their own in their interminable whirling; they ran over pipe-stems, the
- edges of sabres, wires and even hairs stretched across the stage; they
- turned around on the edges of large glasses, crossed bamboo ladders,
- dispersed into all the corners, and produced strange musical effects by
- the combination of their various pitches of tone. The jugglers tossed
- them in the air, threw them like shuttlecocks with wooden battledores,
- and yet they kept on spinning; they put them into their pockets, and
- took them out still whirling as before.
- It is useless to describe the astonishing performances of the acrobats
- and gymnasts. The turning on ladders, poles, balls, barrels, &c., was
- executed with wonderful precision.
- But the principal attraction was the exhibition of the Long Noses, a
- show to which Europe is as yet a stranger.
- The Long Noses form a peculiar company, under the direct patronage of
- the god Tingou. Attired after the fashion of the Middle Ages, they
- bore upon their shoulders a splendid pair of wings; but what especially
- distinguished them was the long noses which were fastened to their
- faces, and the uses which they made of them. These noses were made of
- bamboo, and were five, six, and even ten feet long, some straight,
- others curved, some ribboned, and some having imitation warts upon
- them. It was upon these appendages, fixed tightly on their real noses,
- that they performed their gymnastic exercises. A dozen of these
- sectaries of Tingou lay flat upon their backs, while others, dressed to
- represent lightning-rods, came and frolicked on their noses, jumping
- from one to another, and performing the most skilful leapings and
- somersaults.
- As a last scene, a "human pyramid" had been announced, in which fifty
- Long Noses were to represent the Car of Juggernaut. But, instead of
- forming a pyramid by mounting each other's shoulders, the artists were
- to group themselves on top of the noses. It happened that the
- performer who had hitherto formed the base of the Car had quitted the
- troupe, and as, to fill this part, only strength and adroitness were
- necessary, Passepartout had been chosen to take his place.
- The poor fellow really felt sad when--melancholy reminiscence of his
- youth!--he donned his costume, adorned with vari-coloured wings, and
- fastened to his natural feature a false nose six feet long. But he
- cheered up when he thought that this nose was winning him something to
- eat.
- He went upon the stage, and took his place beside the rest who were to
- compose the base of the Car of Juggernaut. They all stretched
- themselves on the floor, their noses pointing to the ceiling. A second
- group of artists disposed themselves on these long appendages, then a
- third above these, then a fourth, until a human monument reaching to
- the very cornices of the theatre soon arose on top of the noses. This
- elicited loud applause, in the midst of which the orchestra was just
- striking up a deafening air, when the pyramid tottered, the balance was
- lost, one of the lower noses vanished from the pyramid, and the human
- monument was shattered like a castle built of cards!
- It was Passepartout's fault. Abandoning his position, clearing the
- footlights without the aid of his wings, and, clambering up to the
- right-hand gallery, he fell at the feet of one of the spectators,
- crying, "Ah, my master! my master!"
- "You here?"
- "Myself."
- "Very well; then let us go to the steamer, young man!"
- Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout passed through the lobby of the
- theatre to the outside, where they encountered the Honourable Mr.
- Batulcar, furious with rage. He demanded damages for the "breakage" of
- the pyramid; and Phileas Fogg appeased him by giving him a handful of
- banknotes.
- At half-past six, the very hour of departure, Mr. Fogg and Aouda,
- followed by Passepartout, who in his hurry had retained his wings, and
- nose six feet long, stepped upon the American steamer.
- Chapter XXIV
- DURING WHICH MR. FOGG AND PARTY CROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN
- What happened when the pilot-boat came in sight of Shanghai will be
- easily guessed. The signals made by the Tankadere had been seen by the
- captain of the Yokohama steamer, who, espying the flag at half-mast,
- had directed his course towards the little craft. Phileas Fogg, after
- paying the stipulated price of his passage to John Busby, and rewarding
- that worthy with the additional sum of five hundred and fifty pounds,
- ascended the steamer with Aouda and Fix; and they started at once for
- Nagasaki 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 he
- learned, to Aouda's great delight--and perhaps to his own, though he
- betrayed no emotion--that Passepartout, a Frenchman, had really arrived
- on her the day before.
- The San Francisco steamer was announced to leave that very evening, and
- it became necessary to find Passepartout, if possible, without delay.
- Mr. Fogg applied in vain to the French and English consuls, and, after
- wandering through the streets a long time, began to despair of finding
- his missing servant. Chance, or perhaps a kind of presentiment, at
- last led him into the Honourable Mr. Batulcar's theatre. He certainly
- would not have recognised Passepartout in the eccentric mountebank's
- costume; but the latter, lying on his back, perceived his master in the
- gallery. He could not help starting, which so changed the position of
- his nose as to bring the "pyramid" pell-mell upon the stage.
- All this Passepartout learned from Aouda, who recounted to him what had
- taken 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. He
- thought that the time had not yet arrived to divulge to his master what
- had taken place between the detective and himself; and, in the account
- he gave of his absence, he simply excused himself for having been
- overtaken by drunkenness, in smoking opium at a tavern in Hong Kong.
- Mr. Fogg heard this narrative coldly, without a word; and then
- furnished his man with funds necessary to obtain clothing more in
- harmony with his position. Within an hour the Frenchman had cut off
- his nose and parted with his wings, and retained nothing about him
- which recalled the sectary of the god Tingou.
- The steamer which was about to depart from Yokohama to San Francisco
- belonged to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and was named the
- General Grant. She was a large paddle-wheel steamer of two thousand
- five hundred tons; well equipped and very fast. The massive
- walking-beam rose and fell above the deck; at one end a piston-rod
- worked up and down; and at the other was a connecting-rod which, in
- changing the rectilinear motion to a circular one, was directly
- connected with the shaft of the paddles. The General Grant was rigged
- with three masts, giving a large capacity for sails, and thus
- materially aiding the steam power. By making twelve miles an hour, she
- would cross the ocean in twenty-one days. Phileas Fogg was therefore
- justified in hoping that he would reach San Francisco by the 2nd of
- December, New York by the 11th, and London on the 20th--thus gaining
- several 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 in
- making the tour of the world. Nothing of moment happened on the
- voyage; the steamer, sustained on its large paddles, rolled but little,
- and the Pacific almost justified its name. Mr. Fogg was as calm and
- taciturn as ever. His young companion felt herself more and more
- attached to him by other ties than gratitude; his silent but generous
- nature impressed her more than she thought; and it was almost
- unconsciously that she yielded to emotions which did not seem to have
- the least effect upon her protector. Aouda took the keenest interest
- in his plans, and became impatient at any incident which seemed likely
- to retard his journey.
- She often chatted with Passepartout, who did not fail to perceive the
- state 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 successful
- termination of the journey, telling her that the most difficult part of
- it had passed, that now they were beyond the fantastic countries of
- Japan and China, and were fairly on their way to civilised places
- again. A railway train from San Francisco to New York, and a
- transatlantic steamer from New York to Liverpool, would doubtless bring
- them to the end of this impossible journey round the world within the
- period agreed upon.
- On the ninth day after leaving Yokohama, Phileas Fogg had traversed
- exactly one half of the terrestrial globe. The General Grant passed,
- on the 23rd of November, the one hundred and eightieth meridian, and
- was 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 the
- tour, and there were only twenty-eight left. But, though he was only
- half-way by the difference of meridians, he had really gone over
- two-thirds of the whole journey; for he had been obliged to make long
- circuits from London to Aden, from Aden to Bombay, from Calcutta to
- Singapore, and from Singapore to Yokohama. Could he have followed
- without deviation the fiftieth parallel, which is that of London, the
- whole distance would only have been about twelve thousand miles;
- whereas he would be forced, by the irregular methods of locomotion, to
- traverse twenty-six thousand, of which he had, on the 23rd of November,
- accomplished seventeen thousand five hundred. And now the course was a
- straight one, and Fix was no longer there to put obstacles in their way!
- It happened also, on the 23rd of November, that Passepartout made a
- joyful discovery. It will be remembered that the obstinate fellow had
- insisted on keeping his famous family watch at London time, and on
- regarding that of the countries he had passed through as quite false
- and 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 would
- say if he were aboard!
- "The rogue told me a lot of stories," repeated Passepartout, "about the
- meridians, the sun, and the moon! Moon, indeed! moonshine more
- likely! If one listened to that sort of people, a pretty sort of time
- one would keep! I was sure that the sun would some day regulate itself
- by my watch!"
- Passepartout was ignorant that, if the face of his watch had been
- divided into twenty-four hours, like the Italian clocks, he would have
- no reason for exultation; for the hands of his watch would then,
- instead of as now indicating nine o'clock in the morning, indicate nine
- o'clock in the evening, that is, the twenty-first hour after midnight
- precisely the difference between London time and that of the one
- hundred and eightieth meridian. But if Fix had been able to explain
- this purely physical effect, Passepartout would not have admitted, even
- if he had comprehended it. Moreover, if the detective had been on
- board at that moment, Passepartout would have joined issue with him on
- a 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 expected
- to meet again during the day, had repaired at once to the English
- consulate, where he at last found the warrant of arrest. It had
- followed him from Bombay, and had come by the Carnatic, on which
- steamer he himself was supposed to be. Fix's disappointment may be
- imagined when he reflected that the warrant was now useless. Mr. Fogg
- had left English ground, and it was now necessary to procure his
- extradition!
- "Well," thought Fix, after a moment of anger, "my warrant is not good
- here, but it will be in England. The rogue evidently intends to return
- to his own country, thinking he has thrown the police off his track.
- Good! I will follow him across the Atlantic. As for the money, heaven
- grant there may be some left! But the fellow has already spent in
- travelling, 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 was
- there when Mr. Fogg and Aouda arrived. To his utter amazement, he
- recognised Passepartout, despite his theatrical disguise. He quickly
- concealed himself in his cabin, to avoid an awkward explanation, and
- hoped--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 the
- forward deck. The latter, without a word, made a rush for him, grasped
- him by the throat, and, much to the amusement of a group of Americans,
- who immediately began to bet on him, administered to the detective a
- perfect volley of blows, which proved the great superiority of French
- over English pugilistic skill.
- When Passepartout had finished, he found himself relieved and
- comforted. Fix got up in a somewhat rumpled condition, and, looking at
- his 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 quietly
- followed 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 am
- now 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, and
- let me speak. As long as Mr. Fogg was on English ground, it was for my
- interest to detain him there until my warrant of arrest arrived. I did
- everything I could to keep him back. I sent the Bombay priests after
- him, I got you intoxicated at Hong Kong, I separated you from him, and
- I 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 keep
- obstacles out of his way as I have done up to this time to put them in
- his path. I've changed my game, you see, and simply because it was for
- my interest to change it. Your interest is the same as mine; for it is
- only in England that you will ascertain whether you are in the service
- of a criminal or an honest man."
- Passepartout listened very attentively to Fix, and was convinced that
- he spoke with entire good faith.
- "Are we friends?" asked the detective.
- "Friends?--no," replied Passepartout; "but allies, perhaps. At the
- least 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 entered
- the bay of the Golden Gate, and reached San Francisco.
- Mr. Fogg had neither gained nor lost a single day.
- Chapter XXV
- IN WHICH A SLIGHT GLIMPSE IS HAD OF SAN FRANCISCO
- It was seven in the morning when Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout set
- foot upon the American continent, if this name can be given to the
- floating quay upon which they disembarked. These quays, rising and
- falling with the tide, thus facilitate the loading and unloading of
- vessels. Alongside them were clippers of all sizes, steamers of all
- nationalities, and the steamboats, with several decks rising one above
- the other, which ply on the Sacramento and its tributaries. There were
- also heaped up the products of a commerce which extends to Mexico,
- Chili, Peru, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and all the Pacific islands.
- Passepartout, in his joy on reaching at last the American continent,
- thought he would manifest it by executing a perilous vault in fine
- style; but, tumbling upon some worm-eaten planks, he fell through them.
- Put out of countenance by the manner in which he thus "set foot" upon
- the New World, he uttered a loud cry, which so frightened the
- innumerable cormorants and pelicans that are always perched upon these
- movable quays, that they flew noisily away.
- Mr. Fogg, on reaching shore, proceeded to find out at what hour the
- first train left for New York, and learned that this was at six o'clock
- p.m.; he had, therefore, an entire day to spend in the Californian
- capital. Taking a carriage at a charge of three dollars, he and Aouda
- entered it, while Passepartout mounted the box beside the driver, and
- they set out for the International Hotel.
- From his exalted position Passepartout observed with much curiosity the
- wide streets, the low, evenly ranged houses, the Anglo-Saxon Gothic
- churches, the great docks, the palatial wooden and brick warehouses,
- the numerous conveyances, omnibuses, horse-cars, and upon the
- side-walks, not only Americans and Europeans, but Chinese and Indians.
- Passepartout was surprised at all he saw. San Francisco was no longer
- the legendary city of 1849--a city of banditti, assassins, and
- incendiaries, who had flocked hither in crowds in pursuit of plunder; a
- paradise of outlaws, where they gambled with gold-dust, a revolver in
- one hand and a bowie-knife in the other: it was now a great commercial
- emporium.
- The lofty tower of its City Hall overlooked the whole panorama of the
- streets and avenues, which cut each other at right-angles, and in the
- midst of which appeared pleasant, verdant squares, while beyond
- appeared the Chinese quarter, seemingly imported from the Celestial
- Empire in a toy-box. Sombreros and red shirts and plumed Indians were
- rarely to be seen; but there were silk hats and black coats everywhere
- worn by a multitude of nervously active, gentlemanly-looking men. Some
- of the streets--especially Montgomery Street, which is to San Francisco
- what Regent Street is to London, the Boulevard des Italiens to Paris,
- and Broadway to New York--were lined with splendid and spacious
- stores, which exposed in their windows the products of the entire world.
- When Passepartout reached the International Hotel, it did not seem to
- him as if he had left England at all.
- The ground floor of the hotel was occupied by a large bar, a sort of
- restaurant freely open to all passers-by, who might partake of dried
- beef, oyster soup, biscuits, and cheese, without taking out their
- purses. Payment was made only for the ale, porter, or sherry which was
- drunk. This seemed "very American" to Passepartout. The hotel
- refreshment-rooms were comfortable, and Mr. Fogg and Aouda, installing
- themselves at a table, were abundantly served on diminutive plates by
- negroes of darkest hue.
- After breakfast, Mr. Fogg, accompanied by Aouda, started for the
- English consulate to have his passport visaed. As he was going out, he
- met Passepartout, who asked him if it would not be well, before taking
- the train, to purchase some dozens of Enfield rifles and Colt's
- revolvers. He had been listening to stories of attacks upon the trains
- by the Sioux and Pawnees. Mr. Fogg thought it a useless precaution,
- but told him to do as he thought best, and went on to the consulate.
- He had not proceeded two hundred steps, however, when, "by the greatest
- chance in the world," he met Fix. The detective seemed wholly taken by
- surprise. What! Had Mr. Fogg and himself crossed the Pacific
- together, and not met on the steamer! At least Fix felt honoured to
- behold once more the gentleman to whom he owed so much, and, as his
- business recalled him to Europe, he should be delighted to continue the
- journey in such pleasant company.
- Mr. Fogg replied that the honour would be his; and the detective--who
- was determined not to lose sight of him--begged permission to accompany
- them in their walk about San Francisco--a request which Mr. Fogg
- readily granted.
- They soon found themselves in Montgomery Street, where a great crowd
- was collected; the side-walks, street, horsecar rails, the shop-doors,
- the windows of the houses, and even the roofs, were full of people.
- Men were going about carrying large posters, and flags and streamers
- were floating in the wind; while loud cries were heard on every hand.
- "Hurrah for Camerfield!"
- "Hurrah for Mandiboy!"
- It was a political meeting; at least so Fix conjectured, who said to
- Mr. Fogg, "Perhaps we had better not mingle with the crowd. There may
- be danger in it."
- "Yes," returned Mr. Fogg; "and blows, even if they are political are
- still blows."
- Fix smiled at this remark; and, in order to be able to see without
- being jostled about, the party took up a position on the top of a
- flight of steps situated at the upper end of Montgomery Street.
- Opposite them, on the other side of the street, between a coal wharf
- and a petroleum warehouse, a large platform had been erected in the
- open air, towards which the current of the crowd seemed to be directed.
- For what purpose was this meeting? What was the occasion of this
- excited assemblage? Phileas Fogg could not imagine. Was it to
- nominate some high official--a governor or member of Congress? It was
- not improbable, so agitated was the multitude before them.
- Just at this moment there was an unusual stir in the human mass. All
- the hands were raised in the air. Some, tightly closed, seemed to
- disappear suddenly in the midst of the cries--an energetic way, no
- doubt, of casting a vote. The crowd swayed back, the banners and flags
- wavered, disappeared an instant, then reappeared in tatters. The
- undulations of the human surge reached the steps, while all the heads
- floundered on the surface like a sea agitated by a squall. Many of the
- black hats disappeared, and the greater part of the crowd seemed to
- have diminished in height.
- "It is evidently a meeting," said Fix, "and its object must be an
- exciting one. I should not wonder if it were about the Alabama,
- despite the fact that that question is settled."
- "Perhaps," replied Mr. Fogg, simply.
- "At least, there are two champions in presence of each other, the
- Honourable Mr. Camerfield and the Honourable Mr. Mandiboy."
- Aouda, leaning upon Mr. Fogg's arm, observed the tumultuous scene with
- surprise, while Fix asked a man near him what the cause of it all was.
- Before the man could reply, a fresh agitation arose; hurrahs and
- excited shouts were heard; the staffs of the banners began to be used
- as offensive weapons; and fists flew about in every direction. Thumps
- were exchanged from the tops of the carriages and omnibuses which had
- been blocked up in the crowd. Boots and shoes went whirling through
- the air, and Mr. Fogg thought he even heard the crack of revolvers
- mingling in the din, the rout approached the stairway, and flowed over
- the lower step. One of the parties had evidently been repulsed; but
- the mere lookers-on could not tell whether Mandiboy or Camerfield had
- gained the upper hand.
- "It would be prudent for us to retire," said Fix, who was anxious that
- Mr. Fogg should not receive any injury, at least until they got back to
- London. "If there is any question about England in all this, and we
- were recognised, I fear it would go hard with us."
- "An English subject--" began Mr. Fogg.
- He did not finish his sentence; for a terrific hubbub now arose on the
- terrace behind the flight of steps where they stood, and there were
- frantic shouts of, "Hurrah for Mandiboy! Hip, hip, hurrah!"
- It was a band of voters coming to the rescue of their allies, and
- taking the Camerfield forces in flank. Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Fix found
- themselves between two fires; it was too late to escape. The torrent
- of men, armed with loaded canes and sticks, was irresistible. Phileas
- Fogg and Fix were roughly hustled in their attempts to protect their
- fair companion; the former, as cool as ever, tried to defend himself
- with the weapons which nature has placed at the end of every
- Englishman's arm, but in vain. A big brawny fellow with a red beard,
- flushed face, and broad shoulders, who seemed to be the chief of the
- band, raised his clenched fist to strike Mr. Fogg, whom he would have
- given a crushing blow, had not Fix rushed in and received it in his
- stead. An enormous bruise immediately made its appearance under the
- detective's silk hat, which was completely smashed in.
- "Yankee!" exclaimed Mr. Fogg, darting a contemptuous look at the
- ruffian.
- "Englishman!" returned the other. "We will meet again!"
- "When you please."
- "What is your name?"
- "Phileas Fogg. And yours?"
- "Colonel Stamp Proctor."
- The human tide now swept by, after overturning Fix, who speedily got
- upon his feet again, though with tattered clothes. Happily, he was not
- seriously hurt. His travelling overcoat was divided into two unequal
- parts, and his trousers resembled those of certain Indians, which fit
- less compactly than they are easy to put on. Aouda had escaped
- unharmed, and Fix alone bore marks of the fray in his black and blue
- bruise.
- "Thanks," said Mr. Fogg to the detective, as soon as they were out of
- the crowd.
- "No thanks are necessary," replied. Fix; "but let us go."
- "Where?"
- "To a tailor's."
- Such a visit was, indeed, opportune. The clothing of both Mr. Fogg and
- Fix was in rags, as if they had themselves been actively engaged in the
- contest between Camerfield and Mandiboy. An hour after, they were once
- more suitably attired, and with Aouda returned to the International
- Hotel.
- Passepartout was waiting for his master, armed with half a dozen
- six-barrelled revolvers. When he perceived Fix, he knit his brows; but
- Aouda having, in a few words, told him of their adventure, his
- countenance resumed its placid expression. Fix evidently was no longer
- an enemy, but an ally; he was faithfully keeping his word.
- Dinner over, the coach which was to convey the passengers and their
- luggage to the station drew up to the door. As he was getting in, Mr.
- Fogg said to Fix, "You have not seen this Colonel Proctor again?"
- "No."
- "I will come back to America to find him," said Phileas Fogg calmly.
- "It would not be right for an Englishman to permit himself to be
- treated in that way, without retaliating."
- The detective smiled, but did not reply. It was clear that Mr. Fogg
- was one of those Englishmen who, while they do not tolerate duelling at
- home, fight abroad when their honour is attacked.
- At a quarter before six the travellers reached the station, and found
- the train ready to depart. As he was about to enter it, Mr. Fogg
- called a porter, and said to him: "My friend, was there not some
- trouble to-day in San Francisco?"
- "It was a political meeting, sir," replied the porter.
- "But I thought there was a great deal of disturbance in the streets."
- "It was only a meeting assembled for an election."
- "The election of a general-in-chief, no doubt?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "No, sir; of a justice of the peace."
- Phileas Fogg got into the train, which started off at full speed.
- Chapter XXVI
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PARTY TRAVEL BY THE PACIFIC RAILROAD
- "From ocean to ocean"--so say the Americans; and these four words
- compose the general designation of the "great trunk line" which crosses
- the entire width of the United States. The Pacific Railroad is,
- however, really divided into two distinct lines: the Central Pacific,
- between San Francisco and Ogden, and the Union Pacific, between Ogden
- and Omaha. Five main lines connect Omaha with New York.
- New York and San Francisco are thus united by an uninterrupted metal
- ribbon, which measures no less than three thousand seven hundred and
- eighty-six miles. Between Omaha and the Pacific the railway crosses a
- territory which is still infested by Indians and wild beasts, and a
- large tract which the Mormons, after they were driven from Illinois in
- 1845, began to colonise.
- The journey from New York to San Francisco consumed, formerly, under
- the most favourable conditions, at least six months. It is now
- accomplished in seven days.
- It was in 1862 that, in spite of the Southern Members of Congress, who
- wished a more southerly route, it was decided to lay the road between
- the forty-first and forty-second parallels. President Lincoln himself
- fixed the end of the line at Omaha, in Nebraska. The work was at once
- commenced, and pursued with true American energy; nor did the rapidity
- with which it went on injuriously affect its good execution. The road
- grew, on the prairies, a mile and a half a day. A locomotive, running
- on the rails laid down the evening before, brought the rails to be laid
- on the morrow, and advanced upon them as fast as they were put in
- position.
- The Pacific Railroad is joined by several branches in Iowa, Kansas,
- Colorado, and Oregon. On leaving Omaha, it passes along the left bank
- of the Platte River as far as the junction of its northern branch,
- follows its southern branch, crosses the Laramie territory and the
- Wahsatch Mountains, turns the Great Salt Lake, and reaches Salt Lake
- City, the Mormon capital, plunges into the Tuilla Valley, across the
- American Desert, Cedar and Humboldt Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and
- descends, via Sacramento, to the Pacific--its grade, even on the Rocky
- Mountains, never exceeding one hundred and twelve feet to the mile.
- Such was the road to be traversed in seven days, which would enable
- Phileas Fogg--at least, so he hoped--to take the Atlantic steamer at
- New York on the 11th for Liverpool.
- The car which he occupied was a sort of long omnibus on eight wheels,
- and with no compartments in the interior. It was supplied with two
- rows of seats, perpendicular to the direction of the train on either
- side of an aisle which conducted to the front and rear platforms.
- These platforms were found throughout the train, and the passengers
- were able to pass from one end of the train to the other. It was
- supplied with saloon cars, balcony cars, restaurants, and smoking-cars;
- theatre cars alone were wanting, and they will have these some day.
- Book and news dealers, sellers of edibles, drinkables, and cigars, who
- seemed to have plenty of customers, were continually circulating in the
- aisles.
- The train left Oakland station at six o'clock. It was already night,
- cold and cheerless, the heavens being overcast with clouds which seemed
- to threaten snow. The train did not proceed rapidly; counting the
- stoppages, it did not run more than twenty miles an hour, which was a
- sufficient speed, however, to enable it to reach Omaha within its
- designated time.
- There was but little conversation in the car, and soon many of the
- passengers were overcome with sleep. Passepartout found himself beside
- the detective; but he did not talk to him. After recent events, their
- relations with each other had grown somewhat cold; there could no
- longer be mutual sympathy or intimacy between them. Fix's manner had
- not changed; but Passepartout was very reserved, and ready to strangle
- his former friend on the slightest provocation.
- Snow began to fall an hour after they started, a fine snow, however,
- which happily could not obstruct the train; nothing could be seen from
- the windows but a vast, white sheet, against which the smoke of the
- locomotive had a greyish aspect.
- At eight o'clock a steward entered the car and announced that the time
- for going to bed had arrived; and in a few minutes the car was
- transformed into a dormitory. The backs of the seats were thrown back,
- bedsteads carefully packed were rolled out by an ingenious system,
- berths were suddenly improvised, and each traveller had soon at his
- disposition a comfortable bed, protected from curious eyes by thick
- curtains. The sheets were clean and the pillows soft. It only
- remained to go to bed and sleep which everybody did--while the train
- sped on across the State of California.
- The country between San Francisco and Sacramento is not very hilly.
- The Central Pacific, taking Sacramento for its starting-point, extends
- eastward to meet the road from Omaha. The line from San Francisco to
- Sacramento runs in a north-easterly direction, along the American
- River, which empties into San Pablo Bay. The one hundred and twenty
- miles between these cities were accomplished in six hours, and towards
- midnight, while fast asleep, the travellers passed through Sacramento;
- so that they saw nothing of that important place, the seat of the State
- government, with its fine quays, its broad streets, its noble hotels,
- squares, and churches.
- The train, on leaving Sacramento, and passing the junction, Roclin,
- Auburn, and Colfax, entered the range of the Sierra Nevada. 'Cisco was
- reached at seven in the morning; and an hour later the dormitory was
- transformed into an ordinary car, and the travellers could observe the
- picturesque beauties of the mountain region through which they were
- steaming. The railway track wound in and out among the passes, now
- approaching the mountain-sides, now suspended over precipices, avoiding
- abrupt angles by bold curves, plunging into narrow defiles, which
- seemed to have no outlet. The locomotive, its great funnel emitting a
- weird light, with its sharp bell, and its cow-catcher extended like a
- spur, mingled its shrieks and bellowings with the noise of torrents and
- cascades, and twined its smoke among the branches of the gigantic pines.
- There were few or no bridges or tunnels on the route. The railway
- turned around the sides of the mountains, and did not attempt to
- violate nature by taking the shortest cut from one point to another.
- The train entered the State of Nevada through the Carson Valley about
- nine o'clock, going always northeasterly; and at midday reached Reno,
- where there was a delay of twenty minutes for breakfast.
- From this point the road, running along Humboldt River, passed
- northward for several miles by its banks; then it turned eastward, and
- kept by the river until it reached the Humboldt Range, nearly at the
- extreme eastern limit of Nevada.
- Having breakfasted, Mr. Fogg and his companions resumed their places in
- the car, and observed the varied landscape which unfolded itself as
- they passed along the vast prairies, the mountains lining the horizon,
- and the creeks, with their frothy, foaming streams. Sometimes a great
- herd of buffaloes, massing together in the distance, seemed like a
- moveable dam. These innumerable multitudes of ruminating beasts often
- form an insurmountable obstacle to the passage of the trains; thousands
- of them have been seen passing over the track for hours together, in
- compact ranks. The locomotive is then forced to stop and wait till the
- road is once more clear.
- This happened, indeed, to the train in which Mr. Fogg was travelling.
- About twelve o'clock a troop of ten or twelve thousand head of buffalo
- encumbered the track. The locomotive, slackening its speed, tried to
- clear the way with its cow-catcher; but the mass of animals was too
- great. The buffaloes marched along with a tranquil gait, uttering now
- and then deafening bellowings. There was no use of interrupting them,
- for, having taken a particular direction, nothing can moderate and
- change their course; it is a torrent of living flesh which no dam could
- contain.
- The travellers gazed on this curious spectacle from the platforms; but
- Phileas Fogg, who had the most reason of all to be in a hurry, remained
- in his seat, and waited philosophically until it should please the
- buffaloes to get out of the way.
- Passepartout was furious at the delay they occasioned, and longed to
- discharge his arsenal of revolvers upon them.
- "What a country!" cried he. "Mere cattle stop the trains, and go by in
- a procession, just as if they were not impeding travel! Parbleu! I
- should like to know if Mr. Fogg foresaw this mishap in his programme!
- And here's an engineer who doesn't dare to run the locomotive into this
- herd of beasts!"
- The engineer did not try to overcome the obstacle, and he was wise. He
- would have crushed the first buffaloes, no doubt, with the cow-catcher;
- but the locomotive, however powerful, would soon have been checked, the
- train would inevitably have been thrown off the track, and would then
- have been helpless.
- The best course was to wait patiently, and regain the lost time by
- greater speed when the obstacle was removed. The procession of
- buffaloes lasted three full hours, and it was night before the track
- was clear. The last ranks of the herd were now passing over the rails,
- while the first had already disappeared below the southern horizon.
- It was eight o'clock when the train passed through the defiles of the
- Humboldt Range, and half-past nine when it penetrated Utah, the region
- of the Great Salt Lake, the singular colony of the Mormons.
- Chapter XXVII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT UNDERGOES, AT A SPEED OF TWENTY MILES AN HOUR, A
- COURSE OF MORMON HISTORY
- During the night of the 5th of December, the train ran south-easterly
- for about fifty miles; then rose an equal distance in a north-easterly
- direction, towards the Great Salt Lake.
- Passepartout, about nine o'clock, went out upon the platform to take
- the air. The weather was cold, the heavens grey, but it was not
- snowing. The sun's disc, enlarged by the mist, seemed an enormous ring
- of gold, and Passepartout was amusing himself by calculating its value
- in pounds sterling, when he was diverted from this interesting study by
- a strange-looking personage who made his appearance on the platform.
- This personage, who had taken the train at Elko, was tall and dark,
- with black moustache, black stockings, a black silk hat, a black
- waistcoat, black trousers, a white cravat, and dogskin gloves. He
- might have been taken for a clergyman. He went from one end of the
- train to the other, and affixed to the door of each car a notice
- written in manuscript.
- Passepartout approached and read one of these notices, which stated
- that Elder William Hitch, Mormon missionary, taking advantage of his
- presence on train No. 48, would deliver a lecture on Mormonism in car
- No. 117, from eleven to twelve o'clock; and that he invited all who
- were desirous of being instructed concerning the mysteries of the
- religion of the "Latter Day Saints" to attend.
- "I'll go," said Passepartout to himself. He knew nothing of Mormonism
- except the custom of polygamy, which is its foundation.
- The news quickly spread through the train, which contained about one
- hundred passengers, thirty of whom, at most, attracted by the notice,
- ensconced themselves in car No. 117. Passepartout took one of the
- front seats. Neither Mr. Fogg nor Fix cared to attend.
- At the appointed hour Elder William Hitch rose, and, in an irritated
- voice, as if he had already been contradicted, said, "I tell you that
- Joe Smith is a martyr, that his brother Hiram is a martyr, and that the
- persecutions of the United States Government against the prophets will
- also make a martyr of Brigham Young. Who dares to say the contrary?"
- No one ventured to gainsay the missionary, whose excited tone
- contrasted curiously with his naturally calm visage. No doubt his
- anger arose from the hardships to which the Mormons were actually
- subjected. The government had just succeeded, with some difficulty, in
- reducing these independent fanatics to its rule. It had made itself
- master of Utah, and subjected that territory to the laws of the Union,
- after imprisoning Brigham Young on a charge of rebellion and polygamy.
- The disciples of the prophet had since redoubled their efforts, and
- resisted, by words at least, the authority of Congress. Elder Hitch,
- as is seen, was trying to make proselytes on the very railway trains.
- Then, emphasising his words with his loud voice and frequent gestures,
- he related the history of the Mormons from Biblical times: how that, in
- Israel, a Mormon prophet of the tribe of Joseph published the annals of
- the new religion, and bequeathed them to his son Mormon; how, many
- centuries later, a translation of this precious book, which was written
- in Egyptian, was made by Joseph Smith, junior, a Vermont farmer, who
- revealed himself as a mystical prophet in 1825; and how, in short, the
- celestial messenger appeared to him in an illuminated forest, and gave
- him the annals of the Lord.
- Several of the audience, not being much interested in the missionary's
- narrative, here left the car; but Elder Hitch, continuing his lecture,
- related how Smith, junior, with his father, two brothers, and a few
- disciples, founded the church of the "Latter Day Saints," which,
- adopted not only in America, but in England, Norway and Sweden, and
- Germany, counts many artisans, as well as men engaged in the liberal
- professions, among its members; how a colony was established in Ohio, a
- temple erected there at a cost of two hundred thousand dollars, and a
- town built at Kirkland; how Smith became an enterprising banker, and
- received from a simple mummy showman a papyrus scroll written by
- Abraham and several famous Egyptians.
- The Elder's story became somewhat wearisome, and his audience grew
- gradually less, until it was reduced to twenty passengers. But this
- did not disconcert the enthusiast, who proceeded with the story of
- Joseph Smith's bankruptcy in 1837, and how his ruined creditors gave
- him a coat of tar and feathers; his reappearance some years afterwards,
- more honourable and honoured than ever, at Independence, Missouri, the
- chief of a flourishing colony of three thousand disciples, and his
- pursuit thence by outraged Gentiles, and retirement into the Far West.
- Ten hearers only were now left, among them honest Passepartout, who was
- listening with all his ears. Thus he learned that, after long
- persecutions, Smith reappeared in Illinois, and in 1839 founded a
- community at Nauvoo, on the Mississippi, numbering twenty-five thousand
- souls, of which he became mayor, chief justice, and general-in-chief;
- that he announced himself, in 1843, as a candidate for the Presidency
- of the United States; and that finally, being drawn into ambuscade at
- Carthage, he was thrown into prison, and assassinated by a band of men
- disguised in masks.
- Passepartout was now the only person left in the car, and the Elder,
- looking him full in the face, reminded him that, two years after the
- assassination of Joseph Smith, the inspired prophet, Brigham Young, his
- successor, left Nauvoo for the banks of the Great Salt Lake, where, in
- the midst of that fertile region, directly on the route of the
- emigrants who crossed Utah on their way to California, the new colony,
- thanks to the polygamy practised by the Mormons, had flourished beyond
- expectations.
- "And this," added Elder William Hitch, "this is why the jealousy of
- Congress has been aroused against us! Why have the soldiers of the
- Union invaded the soil of Utah? Why has Brigham Young, our chief, been
- imprisoned, in contempt of all justice? Shall we yield to force?
- Never! Driven from Vermont, driven from Illinois, driven from Ohio,
- driven from Missouri, driven from Utah, we shall yet find some
- independent territory on which to plant our tents. And you, my
- brother," continued the Elder, fixing his angry eyes upon his single
- auditor, "will you not plant yours there, too, under the shadow of our
- flag?"
- "No!" replied Passepartout courageously, in his turn retiring from the
- car, and leaving the Elder to preach to vacancy.
- During the lecture the train had been making good progress, and towards
- half-past twelve it reached the northwest border of the Great Salt
- Lake. Thence the passengers could observe the vast extent of this
- interior sea, which is also called the Dead Sea, and into which flows
- an American Jordan. It is a picturesque expanse, framed in lofty crags
- in large strata, encrusted with white salt--a superb sheet of water,
- which was formerly of larger extent than now, its shores having
- encroached with the lapse of time, and thus at once reduced its breadth
- and increased its depth.
- The Salt Lake, seventy miles long and thirty-five wide, is situated
- three miles eight hundred feet above the sea. Quite different from
- Lake Asphaltite, whose depression is twelve hundred feet below the sea,
- it contains considerable salt, and one quarter of the weight of its
- water is solid matter, its specific weight being 1,170, and, after
- being distilled, 1,000. Fishes are, of course, unable to live in it,
- and those which descend through the Jordan, the Weber, and other
- streams soon perish.
- The country around the lake was well cultivated, for the Mormons are
- mostly farmers; while ranches and pens for domesticated animals, fields
- of wheat, corn, and other cereals, luxuriant prairies, hedges of wild
- rose, clumps of acacias and milk-wort, would have been seen six months
- later. Now the ground was covered with a thin powdering of snow.
- The train reached Ogden at two o'clock, where it rested for six hours,
- Mr. Fogg and his party had time to pay a visit to Salt Lake City,
- connected with Ogden by a branch road; and they spent two hours in this
- strikingly American town, built on the pattern of other cities of the
- Union, like a checker-board, "with the sombre sadness of right-angles,"
- as Victor Hugo expresses it. The founder of the City of the Saints
- could not escape from the taste for symmetry which distinguishes the
- Anglo-Saxons. In this strange country, where the people are certainly
- not up to the level of their institutions, everything is done
- "squarely"--cities, houses, and follies.
- The travellers, then, were promenading, at three o'clock, about the
- streets of the town built between the banks of the Jordan and the spurs
- of the Wahsatch Range. They saw few or no churches, but the prophet's
- mansion, the court-house, and the arsenal, blue-brick houses with
- verandas and porches, surrounded by gardens bordered with acacias,
- palms, and locusts. A clay and pebble wall, built in 1853, surrounded
- the town; and in the principal street were the market and several
- hotels adorned with pavilions. The place did not seem thickly
- populated. The streets were almost deserted, except in the vicinity of
- the temple, which they only reached after having traversed several
- quarters surrounded by palisades. There were many women, which was
- easily accounted for by the "peculiar institution" of the Mormons; but
- it must not be supposed that all the Mormons are polygamists. They are
- free to marry or not, as they please; but it is worth noting that it is
- mainly the female citizens of Utah who are anxious to marry, as,
- according to the Mormon religion, maiden ladies are not admitted to the
- possession of its highest joys. These poor creatures seemed to be
- neither well off nor happy. Some--the more well-to-do, no doubt--wore
- short, open, black silk dresses, under a hood or modest shawl; others
- were habited in Indian fashion.
- Passepartout could not behold without a certain fright these women,
- charged, in groups, with conferring happiness on a single Mormon. His
- common sense pitied, above all, the husband. It seemed to him a
- terrible thing to have to guide so many wives at once across the
- vicissitudes of life, and to conduct them, as it were, in a body to the
- Mormon paradise with the prospect of seeing them in the company of the
- glorious Smith, who doubtless was the chief ornament of that delightful
- place, to all eternity. He felt decidedly repelled from such a
- vocation, and he imagined--perhaps he was mistaken--that the fair ones
- of Salt Lake City cast rather alarming glances on his person. Happily,
- his stay there was but brief. At four the party found themselves again
- at the station, took their places in the train, and the whistle sounded
- for starting. Just at the moment, however, that the locomotive wheels
- began to move, cries of "Stop! stop!" were heard.
- Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one. The gentleman who uttered
- the cries was evidently a belated Mormon. He was breathless with
- running. Happily for him, the station had neither gates nor barriers.
- He rushed along the track, jumped on the rear platform of the train,
- and fell, exhausted, into one of the seats.
- Passepartout, who had been anxiously watching this amateur gymnast,
- approached him with lively interest, and learned that he had taken
- flight after an unpleasant domestic scene.
- When the Mormon had recovered his breath, Passepartout ventured to ask
- him politely how many wives he had; for, from the manner in which he
- had decamped, it might be thought that he had twenty at least.
- "One, sir," replied the Mormon, raising his arms heavenward--"one, and
- that was enough!"
- Chapter XXVIII
- IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT DOES NOT SUCCEED IN MAKING ANYBODY LISTEN TO
- REASON
- The train, on leaving Great Salt Lake at Ogden, passed northward for an
- hour as far as Weber River, having completed nearly nine hundred miles
- from San Francisco. From this point it took an easterly direction
- towards the jagged Wahsatch Mountains. It was in the section included
- between this range and the Rocky Mountains that the American engineers
- found the most formidable difficulties in laying the road, and that the
- government granted a subsidy of forty-eight thousand dollars per mile,
- instead of sixteen thousand allowed for the work done on the plains.
- But the engineers, instead of violating nature, avoided its
- difficulties by winding around, instead of penetrating the rocks. One
- tunnel only, fourteen thousand feet in length, was pierced in order to
- arrive at the great basin.
- The track up to this time had reached its highest elevation at the
- Great Salt Lake. From this point it described a long curve, descending
- towards Bitter Creek Valley, to rise again to the dividing ridge of the
- waters between the Atlantic and the Pacific. There were many creeks in
- this mountainous region, and it was necessary to cross Muddy Creek,
- Green Creek, and others, upon culverts.
- Passepartout grew more and more impatient as they went on, while Fix
- longed to get out of this difficult region, and was more anxious than
- Phileas Fogg himself to be beyond the danger of delays and accidents,
- and set foot on English soil.
- At ten o'clock at night the train stopped at Fort Bridger station, and
- twenty minutes later entered Wyoming Territory, following the valley of
- Bitter Creek throughout. The next day, 7th December, they stopped for
- a quarter of an hour at Green River station. Snow had fallen
- abundantly during the night, but, being mixed with rain, it had half
- melted, and did not interrupt their progress. The bad weather,
- however, annoyed Passepartout; for the accumulation of snow, by
- blocking the wheels of the cars, would certainly have been fatal to Mr.
- Fogg's tour.
- "What an idea!" he said to himself. "Why did my master make this
- journey in winter? Couldn't he have waited for the good season to
- increase his chances?"
- While the worthy Frenchman was absorbed in the state of the sky and the
- depression of the temperature, Aouda was experiencing fears from a
- totally different cause.
- Several passengers had got off at Green River, and were walking up and
- down the platforms; and among these Aouda recognised Colonel Stamp
- Proctor, the same who had so grossly insulted Phileas Fogg at the San
- Francisco meeting. Not wishing to be recognised, the young woman drew
- back from the window, feeling much alarm at her discovery. She was
- attached to the man who, however coldly, gave her daily evidences of
- the most absolute devotion. She did not comprehend, perhaps, the depth
- of the sentiment with which her protector inspired her, which she
- called gratitude, but which, though she was unconscious of it, was
- really more than that. Her heart sank within her when she recognised
- the man whom Mr. Fogg desired, sooner or later, to call to account for
- his conduct. Chance alone, it was clear, had brought Colonel Proctor
- on this train; but there he was, and it was necessary, at all hazards,
- that Phileas Fogg should not perceive his adversary.
- Aouda seized a moment when Mr. Fogg was asleep to tell Fix and
- Passepartout whom she had seen.
- "That Proctor on this train!" cried Fix. "Well, reassure yourself,
- madam; before he settles with Mr. Fogg; he has got to deal with me! It
- seems to me that I was the more insulted of the two."
- "And, besides," added Passepartout, "I'll take charge of him, colonel
- as he is."
- "Mr. Fix," resumed Aouda, "Mr. Fogg will allow no one to avenge him.
- He said that he would come back to America to find this man. Should he
- perceive Colonel Proctor, we could not prevent a collision which might
- have terrible results. He must not see him."
- "You are right, madam," replied Fix; "a meeting between them might ruin
- all. Whether he were victorious or beaten, Mr. Fogg would be delayed,
- and--"
- "And," added Passepartout, "that would play the game of the gentlemen
- of the Reform Club. In four days we shall be in New York. Well, if my
- master does not leave this car during those four days, we may hope that
- chance will not bring him face to face with this confounded American.
- We must, if possible, prevent his stirring out of it."
- The conversation dropped. Mr. Fogg had just woke up, and was looking
- out of the window. Soon after Passepartout, without being heard by his
- master or Aouda, whispered to the detective, "Would you really fight
- for him?"
- "I would do anything," replied Fix, in a tone which betrayed determined
- will, "to get him back living to Europe!"
- Passepartout felt something like a shudder shoot through his frame, but
- his confidence in his master remained unbroken.
- Was there any means of detaining Mr. Fogg in the car, to avoid a
- meeting between him and the colonel? It ought not to be a difficult
- task, since that gentleman was naturally sedentary and little curious.
- The detective, at least, seemed to have found a way; for, after a few
- moments, he said to Mr. Fogg, "These are long and slow hours, sir, that
- we are passing on the railway."
- "Yes," replied Mr. Fogg; "but they pass."
- "You were in the habit of playing whist," resumed Fix, "on the
- steamers."
- "Yes; but it would be difficult to do so here. I have neither cards
- nor partners."
- "Oh, but we can easily buy some cards, for they are sold on all the
- American trains. And as for partners, if madam plays--"
- "Certainly, sir," Aouda quickly replied; "I understand whist. It is
- part of an English education."
- "I myself have some pretensions to playing a good game. Well, here are
- three of us, and a dummy--"
- "As you please, sir," replied Phileas Fogg, heartily glad to resume his
- favourite pastime even on the railway.
- Passepartout was dispatched in search of the steward, and soon returned
- with two packs of cards, some pins, counters, and a shelf covered with
- cloth.
- The game commenced. Aouda understood whist sufficiently well, and even
- received some compliments on her playing from Mr. Fogg. As for the
- detective, he was simply an adept, and worthy of being matched against
- his present opponent.
- "Now," thought Passepartout, "we've got him. He won't budge."
- At eleven in the morning the train had reached the dividing ridge of
- the waters at Bridger Pass, seven thousand five hundred and twenty-four
- feet above the level of the sea, one of the highest points attained by
- the track in crossing the Rocky Mountains. After going about two
- hundred miles, the travellers at last found themselves on one of those
- vast plains which extend to the Atlantic, and which nature has made so
- propitious for laying the iron road.
- On the declivity of the Atlantic basin the first streams, branches of
- the North Platte River, already appeared. The whole northern and
- eastern horizon was bounded by the immense semi-circular curtain which
- is formed by the southern portion of the Rocky Mountains, the highest
- being Laramie Peak. Between this and the railway extended vast plains,
- plentifully irrigated. On the right rose the lower spurs of the
- mountainous mass which extends southward to the sources of the Arkansas
- River, one of the great tributaries of the Missouri.
- At half-past twelve the travellers caught sight for an instant of Fort
- Halleck, which commands that section; and in a few more hours the Rocky
- Mountains were crossed. There was reason to hope, then, that no
- accident would mark the journey through this difficult country. The
- snow had ceased falling, and the air became crisp and cold. Large
- birds, frightened by the locomotive, rose and flew off in the distance.
- No wild beast appeared on the plain. It was a desert in its vast
- nakedness.
- After a comfortable breakfast, served in the car, Mr. Fogg and his
- partners had just resumed whist, when a violent whistling was heard,
- and the train stopped. Passepartout put his head out of the door, but
- saw nothing to cause the delay; no station was in view.
- Aouda and Fix feared that Mr. Fogg might take it into his head to get
- out; but that gentleman contented himself with saying to his servant,
- "See what is the matter."
- Passepartout rushed out of the car. Thirty or forty passengers had
- already descended, amongst them Colonel Stamp Proctor.
- The train had stopped before a red signal which blocked the way. The
- engineer and conductor were talking excitedly with a signal-man, whom
- the station-master at Medicine Bow, the next stopping place, had sent
- on before. The passengers drew around and took part in the discussion,
- in which Colonel Proctor, with his insolent manner, was conspicuous.
- Passepartout, joining the group, heard the signal-man say, "No! you
- can't pass. The bridge at Medicine Bow is shaky, and would not bear
- the weight of the train."
- This was a suspension-bridge thrown over some rapids, about a mile from
- the place where they now were. According to the signal-man, it was in
- a ruinous condition, several of the iron wires being broken; and it was
- impossible to risk the passage. He did not in any way exaggerate the
- condition of the bridge. It may be taken for granted that, rash as the
- Americans usually are, when they are prudent there is good reason for
- it.
- Passepartout, not daring to apprise his master of what he heard,
- listened with set teeth, immovable as a statue.
- "Hum!" cried Colonel Proctor; "but we are not going to stay here, I
- imagine, and take root in the snow?"
- "Colonel," replied the conductor, "we have telegraphed to Omaha for a
- train, but it is not likely that it will reach Medicine Bow in less
- than six hours."
- "Six hours!" cried Passepartout.
- "Certainly," returned the conductor, "besides, it will take us as long
- as that to reach Medicine Bow on foot."
- "But it is only a mile from here," said one of the passengers.
- "Yes, but it's on the other side of the river."
- "And can't we cross that in a boat?" asked the colonel.
- "That's impossible. The creek is swelled by the rains. It is a rapid,
- and we shall have to make a circuit of ten miles to the north to find a
- ford."
- The colonel launched a volley of oaths, denouncing the railway company
- and the conductor; and Passepartout, who was furious, was not
- disinclined to make common cause with him. Here was an obstacle,
- indeed, which all his master's banknotes could not remove.
- There was a general disappointment among the passengers, who, without
- reckoning the delay, saw themselves compelled to trudge fifteen miles
- over a plain covered with snow. They grumbled and protested, and would
- certainly have thus attracted Phileas Fogg's attention if he had not
- been completely absorbed in his game.
- Passepartout found that he could not avoid telling his master what had
- occurred, and, with hanging head, he was turning towards the car, when
- the engineer, a true Yankee, named Forster called out, "Gentlemen,
- perhaps there is a way, after all, to get over."
- "On the bridge?" asked a passenger.
- "On the bridge."
- "With our train?"
- "With our train."
- Passepartout stopped short, and eagerly listened to the engineer.
- "But the bridge is unsafe," urged the conductor.
- "No matter," replied Forster; "I think that by putting on the very
- highest speed we might have a chance of getting over."
- "The devil!" muttered Passepartout.
- But a number of the passengers were at once attracted by the engineer's
- proposal, and Colonel Proctor was especially delighted, and found the
- plan a very feasible one. He told stories about engineers leaping
- their trains over rivers without bridges, by putting on full steam; and
- many of those present avowed themselves of the engineer's mind.
- "We have fifty chances out of a hundred of getting over," said one.
- "Eighty! ninety!"
- Passepartout was astounded, and, though ready to attempt anything to
- get over Medicine Creek, thought the experiment proposed a little too
- American. "Besides," thought he, "there's a still more simple way, and
- it does not even occur to any of these people! Sir," said he aloud to
- one of the passengers, "the engineer's plan seems to me a little
- dangerous, but--"
- "Eighty chances!" replied the passenger, turning his back on him.
- "I know it," said Passepartout, turning to another passenger, "but a
- simple idea--"
- "Ideas are no use," returned the American, shrugging his shoulders, "as
- the engineer assures us that we can pass."
- "Doubtless," urged Passepartout, "we can pass, but perhaps it would be
- more prudent--"
- "What! Prudent!" cried Colonel Proctor, whom this word seemed to
- excite prodigiously. "At full speed, don't you see, at full speed!"
- "I know--I see," repeated Passepartout; "but it would be, if not more
- prudent, since that word displeases you, at least more natural--"
- "Who! What! What's the matter with this fellow?" cried several.
- The poor fellow did not know to whom to address himself.
- "Are you afraid?" asked Colonel Proctor.
- "I afraid? Very well; I will show these people that a Frenchman can be
- as American as they!"
- "All aboard!" cried the conductor.
- "Yes, all aboard!" repeated Passepartout, and immediately. "But they
- can't prevent me from thinking that it would be more natural for us to
- cross the bridge on foot, and let the train come after!"
- But no one heard this sage reflection, nor would anyone have
- acknowledged its justice. The passengers resumed their places in the
- cars. Passepartout took his seat without telling what had passed. The
- whist-players were quite absorbed in their game.
- The locomotive whistled vigorously; the engineer, reversing the steam,
- backed the train for nearly a mile--retiring, like a jumper, in order
- to take a longer leap. Then, with another whistle, he began to move
- forward; the train increased its speed, and soon its rapidity became
- frightful; a prolonged screech issued from the locomotive; the piston
- worked up and down twenty strokes to the second. They perceived that
- the whole train, rushing on at the rate of a hundred miles an hour,
- hardly bore upon the rails at all.
- And they passed over! It was like a flash. No one saw the bridge.
- The train leaped, so to speak, from one bank to the other, and the
- engineer could not stop it until it had gone five miles beyond the
- station. But scarcely had the train passed the river, when the bridge,
- completely ruined, fell with a crash into the rapids of Medicine Bow.
- Chapter XXIX
- IN WHICH CERTAIN INCIDENTS ARE NARRATED WHICH ARE ONLY TO BE MET WITH
- ON AMERICAN RAILROADS
- The train pursued its course, that evening, without interruption,
- passing Fort Saunders, crossing Cheyne Pass, and reaching Evans Pass.
- The road here attained the highest elevation of the journey, eight
- thousand and ninety-two feet above the level of the sea. The
- travellers had now only to descend to the Atlantic by limitless plains,
- levelled by nature. A branch of the "grand trunk" led off southward to
- Denver, the capital of Colorado. The country round about is rich in
- gold and silver, and more than fifty thousand inhabitants are already
- settled there.
- Thirteen hundred and eighty-two miles had been passed over from San
- Francisco, in three days and three nights; four days and nights more
- would probably bring them to New York. Phileas Fogg was not as yet
- behind-hand.
- During the night Camp Walbach was passed on the left; Lodge Pole Creek
- ran parallel with the road, marking the boundary between the
- territories of Wyoming and Colorado. They entered Nebraska at eleven,
- passed near Sedgwick, and touched at Julesburg, on the southern branch
- of the Platte River.
- It was here that the Union Pacific Railroad was inaugurated on the 23rd
- of October, 1867, by the chief engineer, General Dodge. Two powerful
- locomotives, carrying nine cars of invited guests, amongst whom was
- Thomas C. Durant, vice-president of the road, stopped at this point;
- cheers were given, the Sioux and Pawnees performed an imitation Indian
- battle, fireworks were let off, and the first number of the Railway
- Pioneer was printed by a press brought on the train. Thus was
- celebrated the inauguration of this great railroad, a mighty instrument
- of progress and civilisation, thrown across the desert, and destined to
- link together cities and towns which do not yet exist. The whistle of
- the locomotive, more powerful than Amphion's lyre, was about to bid
- them rise from American soil.
- Fort McPherson was left behind at eight in the morning, and three
- hundred and fifty-seven miles had yet to be traversed before reaching
- Omaha. The road followed the capricious windings of the southern
- branch of the Platte River, on its left bank. At nine the train
- stopped at the important town of North Platte, built between the two
- arms of the river, which rejoin each other around it and form a single
- artery, a large tributary, whose waters empty into the Missouri a
- little above Omaha.
- The one hundred and first meridian was passed.
- Mr. Fogg and his partners had resumed their game; no one--not even the
- dummy--complained of the length of the trip. Fix had begun by winning
- several guineas, which he seemed likely to lose; but he showed himself
- a not less eager whist-player than Mr. Fogg. During the morning,
- chance distinctly favoured that gentleman. Trumps and honours were
- showered upon his hands.
- Once, having resolved on a bold stroke, he was on the point of playing
- a spade, when a voice behind him said, "I should play a diamond."
- Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Fix raised their heads, and beheld Colonel Proctor.
- Stamp Proctor and Phileas Fogg recognised each other at once.
- "Ah! it's you, is it, Englishman?" cried the colonel; "it's you who are
- going to play a spade!"
- "And who plays it," replied Phileas Fogg coolly, throwing down the ten
- of spades.
- "Well, it pleases me to have it diamonds," replied Colonel Proctor, in
- an insolent tone.
- He made a movement as if to seize the card which had just been played,
- adding, "You don't understand anything about whist."
- "Perhaps I do, as well as another," said Phileas Fogg, rising.
- "You have only to try, son of John Bull," replied the colonel.
- Aouda turned pale, and her blood ran cold. She seized Mr. Fogg's arm
- and gently pulled him back. Passepartout was ready to pounce upon the
- American, who was staring insolently at his opponent. But Fix got up,
- and, going to Colonel Proctor said, "You forget that it is I with whom
- you have to deal, sir; for it was I whom you not only insulted, but
- struck!"
- "Mr. Fix," said Mr. Fogg, "pardon me, but this affair is mine, and mine
- only. The colonel has again insulted me, by insisting that I should
- not play a spade, and he shall give me satisfaction for it."
- "When and where you will," replied the American, "and with whatever
- weapon you choose."
- Aouda in vain attempted to retain Mr. Fogg; as vainly did the detective
- endeavour to make the quarrel his. Passepartout wished to throw the
- colonel out of the window, but a sign from his master checked him.
- Phileas Fogg left the car, and the American followed him upon the
- platform. "Sir," said Mr. Fogg to his adversary, "I am in a great
- hurry to get back to Europe, and any delay whatever will be greatly to
- my disadvantage."
- "Well, what's that to me?" replied Colonel Proctor.
- "Sir," said Mr. Fogg, very politely, "after our meeting at San
- Francisco, I determined to return to America and find you as soon as I
- had completed the business which called me to England."
- "Really!"
- "Will you appoint a meeting for six months hence?"
- "Why not ten years hence?"
- "I say six months," returned Phileas Fogg; "and I shall be at the place
- of meeting promptly."
- "All this is an evasion," cried Stamp Proctor. "Now or never!"
- "Very good. You are going to New York?"
- "No."
- "To Chicago?"
- "No."
- "To Omaha?"
- "What difference is it to you? Do you know Plum Creek?"
- "No," replied Mr. Fogg.
- "It's the next station. The train will be there in an hour, and will
- stop there ten minutes. In ten minutes several revolver-shots could be
- exchanged."
- "Very well," said Mr. Fogg. "I will stop at Plum Creek."
- "And I guess you'll stay there too," added the American insolently.
- "Who knows?" replied Mr. Fogg, returning to the car as coolly as usual.
- He began to reassure Aouda, telling her that blusterers were never to
- be feared, and begged Fix to be his second at the approaching duel, a
- request which the detective could not refuse. Mr. Fogg resumed the
- interrupted game with perfect calmness.
- At eleven o'clock the locomotive's whistle announced that they were
- approaching Plum Creek station. Mr. Fogg rose, and, followed by Fix,
- went out upon the platform. Passepartout accompanied him, carrying a
- pair of revolvers. Aouda remained in the car, as pale as death.
- The door of the next car opened, and Colonel Proctor appeared on the
- platform, attended by a Yankee of his own stamp as his second. But
- just as the combatants were about to step from the train, the conductor
- hurried up, and shouted, "You can't get off, gentlemen!"
- "Why not?" asked the colonel.
- "We are twenty minutes late, and we shall not stop."
- "But I am going to fight a duel with this gentleman."
- "I am sorry," said the conductor; "but we shall be off at once.
- There's the bell ringing now."
- The train started.
- "I'm really very sorry, gentlemen," said the conductor. "Under any
- other circumstances I should have been happy to oblige you. But, after
- all, as you have not had time to fight here, why not fight as we go
- along?"
- "That wouldn't be convenient, perhaps, for this gentleman," said the
- colonel, in a jeering tone.
- "It would be perfectly so," replied Phileas Fogg.
- "Well, we are really in America," thought Passepartout, "and the
- conductor is a gentleman of the first order!"
- So muttering, he followed his master.
- The two combatants, their seconds, and the conductor passed through the
- cars to the rear of the train. The last car was only occupied by a
- dozen passengers, whom the conductor politely asked if they would not
- be so kind as to leave it vacant for a few moments, as two gentlemen
- had an affair of honour to settle. The passengers granted the request
- with alacrity, and straightway disappeared on the platform.
- The car, which was some fifty feet long, was very convenient for their
- purpose. The adversaries might march on each other in the aisle, and
- fire at their ease. Never was duel more easily arranged. Mr. Fogg and
- Colonel Proctor, each provided with two six-barrelled revolvers,
- entered the car. The seconds, remaining outside, shut them in. They
- were to begin firing at the first whistle of the locomotive. After an
- interval of two minutes, what remained of the two gentlemen would be
- taken from the car.
- Nothing could be more simple. Indeed, it was all so simple that Fix
- and Passepartout felt their hearts beating as if they would crack.
- They were listening for the whistle agreed upon, when suddenly savage
- cries resounded in the air, accompanied by reports which certainly did
- not issue from the car where the duellists were. The reports continued
- in front and the whole length of the train. Cries of terror proceeded
- from the interior of the cars.
- Colonel Proctor and Mr. Fogg, revolvers in hand, hastily quitted their
- prison, and rushed forward where the noise was most clamorous. They
- then perceived that the train was attacked by a band of Sioux.
- This was not the first attempt of these daring Indians, for more than
- once they had waylaid trains on the road. A hundred of them had,
- according to their habit, jumped upon the steps without stopping the
- train, with the ease of a clown mounting a horse at full gallop.
- The Sioux were armed with guns, from which came the reports, to which
- the passengers, who were almost all armed, responded by revolver-shots.
- The Indians had first mounted the engine, and half stunned the engineer
- and stoker with blows from their muskets. A Sioux chief, wishing to
- stop the train, but not knowing how to work the regulator, had opened
- wide instead of closing the steam-valve, and the locomotive was
- plunging forward with terrific velocity.
- The Sioux had at the same time invaded the cars, skipping like enraged
- monkeys over the roofs, thrusting open the doors, and fighting hand to
- hand with the passengers. Penetrating the baggage-car, they pillaged
- it, throwing the trunks out of the train. The cries and shots were
- constant. The travellers defended themselves bravely; some of the cars
- were barricaded, and sustained a siege, like moving forts, carried
- along at a speed of a hundred miles an hour.
- Aouda behaved courageously from the first. She defended herself like a
- true heroine with a revolver, which she shot through the broken windows
- whenever a savage made his appearance. Twenty Sioux had fallen
- mortally wounded to the ground, and the wheels crushed those who fell
- upon the rails as if they had been worms. Several passengers, shot or
- stunned, lay on the seats.
- It was necessary to put an end to the struggle, which had lasted for
- ten minutes, and which would result in the triumph of the Sioux if the
- train was not stopped. Fort Kearney station, where there was a
- garrison, was only two miles distant; but, that once passed, the Sioux
- would be masters of the train between Fort Kearney and the station
- beyond.
- The conductor was fighting beside Mr. Fogg, when he was shot and fell.
- At the same moment he cried, "Unless the train is stopped in five
- minutes, we are lost!"
- "It shall be stopped," said Phileas Fogg, preparing to rush from the
- car.
- "Stay, monsieur," cried Passepartout; "I will go."
- Mr. Fogg had not time to stop the brave fellow, who, opening a door
- unperceived by the Indians, succeeded in slipping under the car; and
- while the struggle continued and the balls whizzed across each other
- over his head, he made use of his old acrobatic experience, and with
- amazing agility worked his way under the cars, holding on to the
- chains, aiding himself by the brakes and edges of the sashes, creeping
- from one car to another with marvellous skill, and thus gaining the
- forward end of the train.
- There, suspended by one hand between the baggage-car and the tender,
- with the other he loosened the safety chains; but, owing to the
- traction, he would never have succeeded in unscrewing the yoking-bar,
- had not a violent concussion jolted this bar out. The train, now
- detached from the engine, remained a little behind, whilst the
- locomotive rushed forward with increased speed.
- Carried on by the force already acquired, the train still moved for
- several minutes; but the brakes were worked and at last they stopped,
- less than a hundred feet from Kearney station.
- The soldiers of the fort, attracted by the shots, hurried up; the Sioux
- had not expected them, and decamped in a body before the train entirely
- stopped.
- But when the passengers counted each other on the station platform
- several were found missing; among others the courageous Frenchman,
- whose devotion had just saved them.
- Chapter XXX
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SIMPLY DOES HIS DUTY
- Three passengers including Passepartout had disappeared. Had they been
- killed in the struggle? Were they taken prisoners by the Sioux? It
- was impossible to tell.
- There were many wounded, but none mortally. Colonel Proctor was one of
- the most seriously hurt; he had fought bravely, and a ball had entered
- his groin. He was carried into the station with the other wounded
- passengers, to receive such attention as could be of avail.
- Aouda was safe; and Phileas Fogg, who had been in the thickest of the
- fight, had not received a scratch. Fix was slightly wounded in the
- arm. But Passepartout was not to be found, and tears coursed down
- Aouda's cheeks.
- All the passengers had got out of the train, the wheels of which were
- stained with blood. From the tyres and spokes hung ragged pieces of
- flesh. As far as the eye could reach on the white plain behind, red
- trails were visible. The last Sioux were disappearing in the south,
- along the banks of Republican River.
- Mr. Fogg, with folded arms, remained motionless. He had a serious
- decision to make. Aouda, standing near him, looked at him without
- speaking, and he understood her look. If his servant was a prisoner,
- ought he not to risk everything to rescue him from the Indians? "I
- will find him, living or dead," said he quietly to Aouda.
- "Ah, Mr.--Mr. Fogg!" cried she, clasping his hands and covering them
- with tears.
- "Living," added Mr. Fogg, "if we do not lose a moment."
- Phileas Fogg, by this resolution, inevitably sacrificed himself; he
- pronounced his own doom. The delay of a single day would make him lose
- the steamer at New York, and his bet would be certainly lost. But as
- he thought, "It is my duty," he did not hesitate.
- The commanding officer of Fort Kearney was there. A hundred of his
- soldiers had placed themselves in a position to defend the station,
- should the Sioux attack it.
- "Sir," said Mr. Fogg to the captain, "three passengers have
- disappeared."
- "Dead?" asked the captain.
- "Dead or prisoners; that is the uncertainty which must be solved. Do
- you propose to pursue the Sioux?"
- "That's a serious thing to do, sir," returned the captain. "These
- Indians may retreat beyond the Arkansas, and I cannot leave the fort
- unprotected."
- "The lives of three men are in question, sir," said Phileas Fogg.
- "Doubtless; but can I risk the lives of fifty men to save three?"
- "I don't know whether you can, sir; but you ought to do so."
- "Nobody here," returned the other, "has a right to teach me my duty."
- "Very well," said Mr. Fogg, coldly. "I will go alone."
- "You, sir!" cried Fix, coming up; "you go alone in pursuit of the
- Indians?"
- "Would you have me leave this poor fellow to perish--him to whom every
- one present owes his life? I shall go."
- "No, sir, you shall not go alone," cried the captain, touched in spite
- of himself. "No! you are a brave man. Thirty volunteers!" he added,
- turning to the soldiers.
- The whole company started forward at once. The captain had only to
- pick his men. Thirty were chosen, and an old sergeant placed at their
- head.
- "Thanks, captain," said Mr. Fogg.
- "Will you let me go with you?" asked Fix.
- "Do as you please, sir. But if you wish to do me a favour, you will
- remain with Aouda. In case anything should happen to me--"
- A sudden pallor overspread the detective's face. Separate himself from
- the man whom he had so persistently followed step by step! Leave him
- to wander about in this desert! Fix gazed attentively at Mr. Fogg,
- and, despite his suspicions and of the struggle which was going on
- within him, he lowered his eyes before that calm and frank look.
- "I will stay," said he.
- A few moments after, Mr. Fogg pressed the young woman's hand, and,
- having confided to her his precious carpet-bag, went off with the
- sergeant and his little squad. But, before going, he had said to the
- soldiers, "My friends, I will divide five thousand dollars among you,
- if we save the prisoners."
- It was then a little past noon.
- Aouda retired to a waiting-room, and there she waited alone, thinking
- of the simple and noble generosity, the tranquil courage of Phileas
- Fogg. He had sacrificed his fortune, and was now risking his life, all
- without hesitation, from duty, in silence.
- Fix did not have the same thoughts, and could scarcely conceal his
- agitation. He walked feverishly up and down the platform, but soon
- resumed his outward composure. He now saw the folly of which he had
- been guilty in letting Fogg go alone. What! This man, whom he had
- just followed around the world, was permitted now to separate himself
- from him! He began to accuse and abuse himself, and, as if he were
- director of police, administered to himself a sound lecture for his
- greenness.
- "I have been an idiot!" he thought, "and this man will see it. He has
- gone, and won't come back! But how is it that I, Fix, who have in my
- pocket a warrant for his arrest, have been so fascinated by him?
- Decidedly, I am nothing but an ass!"
- So reasoned the detective, while the hours crept by all too slowly. He
- did not know what to do. Sometimes he was tempted to tell Aouda all;
- but he could not doubt how the young woman would receive his
- confidences. What course should he take? He thought of pursuing Fogg
- across the vast white plains; it did not seem impossible that he might
- overtake him. Footsteps were easily printed on the snow! But soon,
- under a new sheet, every imprint would be effaced.
- Fix became discouraged. He felt a sort of insurmountable longing to
- abandon the game altogether. He could now leave Fort Kearney station,
- and pursue his journey homeward in peace.
- Towards two o'clock in the afternoon, while it was snowing hard, long
- whistles were heard approaching from the east. A great shadow,
- preceded by a wild light, slowly advanced, appearing still larger
- through the mist, which gave it a fantastic aspect. No train was
- expected from the east, neither had there been time for the succour
- asked for by telegraph to arrive; the train from Omaha to San Francisco
- was not due till the next day. The mystery was soon explained.
- The locomotive, which was slowly approaching with deafening whistles,
- was that which, having been detached from the train, had continued its
- route with such terrific rapidity, carrying off the unconscious
- engineer and stoker. It had run several miles, when, the fire becoming
- low for want of fuel, the steam had slackened; and it had finally
- stopped an hour after, some twenty miles beyond Fort Kearney. Neither
- the engineer nor the stoker was dead, and, after remaining for some
- time in their swoon, had come to themselves. The train had then
- stopped. The engineer, when he found himself in the desert, and the
- locomotive without cars, understood what had happened. He could not
- imagine how the locomotive had become separated from the train; but he
- did not doubt that the train left behind was in distress.
- He did not hesitate what to do. It would be prudent to continue on to
- Omaha, for it would be dangerous to return to the train, which the
- Indians might still be engaged in pillaging. Nevertheless, he began to
- rebuild the fire in the furnace; the pressure again mounted, and the
- locomotive returned, running backwards to Fort Kearney. This it was
- which was whistling in the mist.
- The travellers were glad to see the locomotive resume its place at the
- head of the train. They could now continue the journey so terribly
- interrupted.
- Aouda, on seeing the locomotive come up, hurried out of the station,
- and asked the conductor, "Are you going to start?"
- "At once, madam."
- "But the prisoners, our unfortunate fellow-travellers--"
- "I cannot interrupt the trip," replied the conductor. "We are already
- three hours behind time."
- "And when will another train pass here from San Francisco?"
- "To-morrow evening, madam."
- "To-morrow evening! But then it will be too late! We must wait--"
- "It is impossible," responded the conductor. "If you wish to go,
- please get in."
- "I will not go," said Aouda.
- Fix had heard this conversation. A little while before, when there was
- no prospect of proceeding on the journey, he had made up his mind to
- leave Fort Kearney; but now that the train was there, ready to start,
- and he had only to take his seat in the car, an irresistible influence
- held him back. The station platform burned his feet, and he could not
- stir. The conflict in his mind again began; anger and failure stifled
- him. He wished to struggle on to the end.
- Meanwhile the passengers and some of the wounded, among them Colonel
- Proctor, whose injuries were serious, had taken their places in the
- train. The buzzing of the over-heated boiler was heard, and the steam
- was escaping from the valves. The engineer whistled, the train
- started, and soon disappeared, mingling its white smoke with the eddies
- of the densely falling snow.
- The detective had remained behind.
- Several hours passed. The weather was dismal, and it was very cold.
- Fix sat motionless on a bench in the station; he might have been
- thought asleep. Aouda, despite the storm, kept coming out of the
- waiting-room, going to the end of the platform, and peering through the
- tempest of snow, as if to pierce the mist which narrowed the horizon
- around her, and to hear, if possible, some welcome sound. She heard
- and saw nothing. Then she would return, chilled through, to issue out
- again after the lapse of a few moments, but always in vain.
- Evening came, and the little band had not returned. Where could they
- be? Had they found the Indians, and were they having a conflict with
- them, or were they still wandering amid the mist? The commander of the
- fort was anxious, though he tried to conceal his apprehensions. As
- night approached, the snow fell less plentifully, but it became
- intensely cold. Absolute silence rested on the plains. Neither flight
- of bird nor passing of beast troubled the perfect calm.
- Throughout the night Aouda, full of sad forebodings, her heart stifled
- with anguish, wandered about on the verge of the plains. Her
- imagination carried her far off, and showed her innumerable dangers.
- What she suffered through the long hours it would be impossible to
- describe.
- Fix remained stationary in the same place, but did not sleep. Once a
- man approached and spoke to him, and the detective merely replied by
- shaking his head.
- Thus the night passed. At dawn, the half-extinguished disc of the sun
- rose above a misty horizon; but it was now possible to recognise
- objects two miles off. Phileas Fogg and the squad had gone southward;
- in the south all was still vacancy. It was then seven o'clock.
- The captain, who was really alarmed, did not know what course to take.
- Should he send another detachment to the rescue of the first? Should
- he sacrifice more men, with so few chances of saving those already
- sacrificed? His hesitation did not last long, however. Calling one of
- his lieutenants, he was on the point of ordering a reconnaissance, when
- gunshots were heard. Was it a signal? The soldiers rushed out of the
- fort, and half a mile off they perceived a little band returning in
- good order.
- Mr. Fogg was marching at their head, and just behind him were
- Passepartout and the other two travellers, rescued from the Sioux.
- They had met and fought the Indians ten miles south of Fort Kearney.
- Shortly before the detachment arrived, Passepartout and his companions
- had begun to struggle with their captors, three of whom the Frenchman
- had felled with his fists, when his master and the soldiers hastened up
- to their relief.
- All were welcomed with joyful cries. Phileas Fogg distributed the
- reward he had promised to the soldiers, while Passepartout, not without
- reason, muttered to himself, "It must certainly be confessed that I
- cost my master dear!"
- Fix, without saying a word, looked at Mr. Fogg, and it would have been
- difficult to analyse the thoughts which struggled within him. As for
- Aouda, she took her protector's hand and pressed it in her own, too
- much moved to speak.
- Meanwhile, Passepartout was looking about for the train; he thought he
- should find it there, ready to start for Omaha, and he hoped that the
- time lost might be regained.
- "The train! the train!" cried he.
- "Gone," replied Fix.
- "And when does the next train pass here?" said Phileas Fogg.
- "Not till this evening."
- "Ah!" returned the impassible gentleman quietly.
- Chapter XXXI
- IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF
- PHILEAS FOGG
- Phileas Fogg found himself twenty hours behind time. Passepartout, the
- involuntary cause of this delay, was desperate. He had ruined his
- master!
- At this moment the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, looking him
- intently in the face, said:
- "Seriously, sir, are you in great haste?"
- "Quite seriously."
- "I have a purpose in asking," resumed Fix. "Is it absolutely necessary
- that you should be in New York on the 11th, before nine o'clock in the
- evening, the time that the steamer leaves for Liverpool?"
- "It is absolutely necessary."
- "And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, you
- would have reached New York on the morning of the 11th?"
- "Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left."
- "Good! you are therefore twenty hours behind. Twelve from twenty
- leaves eight. You must regain eight hours. Do you wish to try to do
- so?"
- "On foot?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "No; on a sledge," replied Fix. "On a sledge with sails. A man has
- proposed such a method to me."
- It was the man who had spoken to Fix during the night, and whose offer
- he had refused.
- Phileas Fogg did not reply at once; but Fix, having pointed out the
- man, who was walking up and down in front of the station, Mr. Fogg went
- up to him. An instant after, Mr. Fogg and the American, whose name was
- Mudge, entered a hut built just below the fort.
- There Mr. Fogg examined a curious vehicle, a kind of frame on two long
- beams, a little raised in front like the runners of a sledge, and upon
- which there was room for five or six persons. A high mast was fixed on
- the frame, held firmly by metallic lashings, to which was attached a
- large brigantine sail. This mast held an iron stay upon which to hoist
- a jib-sail. Behind, a sort of rudder served to guide the vehicle. It
- was, in short, a sledge rigged like a sloop. During the winter, when
- the trains are blocked up by the snow, these sledges make extremely
- rapid journeys across the frozen plains from one station to another.
- Provided with more sails than a cutter, and with the wind behind them,
- they slip over the surface of the prairies with a speed equal if not
- superior to that of the express trains.
- Mr. Fogg readily made a bargain with the owner of this land-craft. The
- wind was favourable, being fresh, and blowing from the west. The snow
- had hardened, and Mudge was very confident of being able to transport
- Mr. Fogg in a few hours to Omaha. Thence the trains eastward run
- frequently to Chicago and New York. It was not impossible that the
- lost time might yet be recovered; and such an opportunity was not to be
- rejected.
- Not wishing to expose Aouda to the discomforts of travelling in the
- open air, Mr. Fogg proposed to leave her with Passepartout at Fort
- Kearney, the servant taking upon himself to escort her to Europe by a
- better route and under more favourable conditions. But Aouda refused
- to separate from Mr. Fogg, and Passepartout was delighted with her
- decision; for nothing could induce him to leave his master while Fix
- was with him.
- It would be difficult to guess the detective's thoughts. Was this
- conviction shaken by Phileas Fogg's return, or did he still regard him
- as an exceedingly shrewd rascal, who, his journey round the world
- completed, would think himself absolutely safe in England? Perhaps
- Fix's opinion of Phileas Fogg was somewhat modified; but he was
- nevertheless resolved to do his duty, and to hasten the return of the
- whole party to England as much as possible.
- At eight o'clock the sledge was ready to start. The passengers took
- their places on it, and wrapped themselves up closely in their
- travelling-cloaks. The two great sails were hoisted, and under the
- pressure of the wind the sledge slid over the hardened snow with a
- velocity of forty miles an hour.
- The distance between Fort Kearney and Omaha, as the birds fly, is at
- most two hundred miles. If the wind held good, the distance might be
- traversed in five hours; if no accident happened the sledge might reach
- Omaha by one o'clock.
- What a journey! The travellers, huddled close together, could not
- speak for the cold, intensified by the rapidity at which they were
- going. The sledge sped on as lightly as a boat over the waves. When
- the breeze came skimming the earth the sledge seemed to be lifted off
- the ground by its sails. Mudge, who was at the rudder, kept in a
- straight line, and by a turn of his hand checked the lurches which the
- vehicle had a tendency to make. All the sails were up, and the jib was
- so arranged as not to screen the brigantine. A top-mast was hoisted,
- and another jib, held out to the wind, added its force to the other
- sails. Although the speed could not be exactly estimated, the sledge
- could not be going at less than forty miles an hour.
- "If nothing breaks," said Mudge, "we shall get there!"
- Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge's interest to reach Omaha within the
- time agreed on, by the offer of a handsome reward.
- The prairie, across which the sledge was moving in a straight line, was
- as flat as a sea. It seemed like a vast frozen lake. The railroad
- which ran through this section ascended from the south-west to the
- north-west by Great Island, Columbus, an important Nebraska town,
- Schuyler, and Fremont, to Omaha. It followed throughout the right bank
- of the Platte River. The sledge, shortening this route, took a chord
- of the arc described by the railway. Mudge was not afraid of being
- stopped by the Platte River, because it was frozen. The road, then,
- was quite clear of obstacles, and Phileas Fogg had but two things to
- fear--an accident to the sledge, and a change or calm in the wind.
- But the breeze, far from lessening its force, blew as if to bend the
- mast, which, however, the metallic lashings held firmly. These
- lashings, like the chords of a stringed instrument, resounded as if
- vibrated by a violin bow. The sledge slid along in the midst of a
- plaintively intense melody.
- "Those chords give the fifth and the octave," said Mr. Fogg.
- These were the only words he uttered during the journey. Aouda, cosily
- packed in furs and cloaks, was sheltered as much as possible from the
- attacks of the freezing wind. As for Passepartout, his face was as red
- as the sun's disc when it sets in the mist, and he laboriously inhaled
- the biting air. With his natural buoyancy of spirits, he began to hope
- again. They would reach New York on the evening, if not on the
- morning, of the 11th, and there was still some chances that it would be
- before the steamer sailed for Liverpool.
- Passepartout even felt a strong desire to grasp his ally, Fix, by the
- hand. He remembered that it was the detective who procured the sledge,
- the only means of reaching Omaha in time; but, checked by some
- presentiment, he kept his usual reserve. One thing, however,
- Passepartout would never forget, and that was the sacrifice which Mr.
- Fogg had made, without hesitation, to rescue him from the Sioux. Mr.
- Fogg had risked his fortune and his life. No! His servant would never
- forget that!
- While each of the party was absorbed in reflections so different, the
- sledge flew past over the vast carpet of snow. The creeks it passed
- over were not perceived. Fields and streams disappeared under the
- uniform whiteness. The plain was absolutely deserted. Between the
- Union Pacific road and the branch which unites Kearney with Saint
- Joseph it formed a great uninhabited island. Neither village, station,
- nor fort appeared. From time to time they sped by some phantom-like
- tree, whose white skeleton twisted and rattled in the wind. Sometimes
- flocks of wild birds rose, or bands of gaunt, famished, ferocious
- prairie-wolves ran howling after the sledge. Passepartout, revolver in
- hand, held himself ready to fire on those which came too near. Had an
- accident then happened to the sledge, the travellers, attacked by these
- beasts, would have been in the most terrible danger; but it held on its
- even course, soon gained on the wolves, and ere long left the howling
- band at a safe distance behind.
- About noon Mudge perceived by certain landmarks that he was crossing
- the Platte River. He said nothing, but he felt certain that he was now
- within twenty miles of Omaha. In less than an hour he left the rudder
- and furled his sails, whilst the sledge, carried forward by the great
- impetus the wind had given it, went on half a mile further with its
- sails unspread.
- It stopped at last, and Mudge, pointing to a mass of roofs white with
- snow, said: "We have got there!"
- Arrived! Arrived at the station which is in daily communication, by
- numerous trains, with the Atlantic seaboard!
- Passepartout and Fix jumped off, stretched their stiffened limbs, and
- aided Mr. Fogg and the young woman to descend from the sledge. Phileas
- Fogg generously rewarded Mudge, whose hand Passepartout warmly grasped,
- and the party directed their steps to the Omaha railway station.
- The Pacific Railroad proper finds its terminus at this important
- Nebraska town. Omaha is connected with Chicago by the Chicago and Rock
- Island Railroad, which runs directly east, and passes fifty stations.
- A train was ready to start when Mr. Fogg and his party reached the
- station, and they only had time to get into the cars. They had seen
- nothing of Omaha; but Passepartout confessed to himself that this was
- not to be regretted, as they were not travelling to see the sights.
- The train passed rapidly across the State of Iowa, by Council Bluffs,
- Des Moines, and Iowa City. During the night it crossed the Mississippi
- at Davenport, and by Rock Island entered Illinois. The next day, which
- was the 10th, at four o'clock in the evening, it reached Chicago,
- already risen from its ruins, and more proudly seated than ever on the
- borders of its beautiful Lake Michigan.
- Nine hundred miles separated Chicago from New York; but trains are not
- wanting at Chicago. Mr. Fogg passed at once from one to the other, and
- the locomotive of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, and Chicago Railway left
- at full speed, as if it fully comprehended that that gentleman had no
- time to lose. It traversed Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey
- like a flash, rushing through towns with antique names, some of which
- had streets and car-tracks, but as yet no houses. At last the Hudson
- came into view; and, at a quarter-past eleven in the evening of the
- 11th, the train stopped in the station on the right bank of the river,
- before the very pier of the Cunard line.
- The China, for Liverpool, had started three-quarters of an hour before!
- Chapter XXXII
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ENGAGES IN A DIRECT STRUGGLE WITH BAD FORTUNE
- The China, in leaving, seemed to have carried off Phileas Fogg's last
- hope. None of the other steamers were able to serve his projects. The
- Pereire, of the French Transatlantic Company, whose admirable steamers
- are equal to any in speed and comfort, did not leave until the 14th;
- the Hamburg boats did not go directly to Liverpool or London, but to
- Havre; and the additional trip from Havre to Southampton would render
- Phileas Fogg's last efforts of no avail. The Inman steamer did not
- depart till the next day, and could not cross the Atlantic in time to
- save the wager.
- Mr. Fogg learned all this in consulting his Bradshaw, which gave him
- the daily movements of the trans-Atlantic steamers.
- Passepartout was crushed; it overwhelmed him to lose the boat by
- three-quarters of an hour. It was his fault, for, instead of helping
- his master, he had not ceased putting obstacles in his path! And when
- he recalled all the incidents of the tour, when he counted up the sums
- expended in pure loss and on his own account, when he thought that the
- immense stake, added to the heavy charges of this useless journey,
- would completely ruin Mr. Fogg, he overwhelmed himself with bitter
- self-accusations. Mr. Fogg, however, did not reproach him; and, on
- leaving the Cunard pier, only said: "We will consult about what is best
- to-morrow. Come."
- The party crossed the Hudson in the Jersey City ferryboat, and drove in
- a carriage to the St. Nicholas Hotel, on Broadway. Rooms were engaged,
- and the night passed, briefly to Phileas Fogg, who slept profoundly,
- but very long to Aouda and the others, whose agitation did not permit
- them to rest.
- The next day was the 12th of December. From seven in the morning of
- the 12th to a quarter before nine in the evening of the 21st there were
- nine days, thirteen hours, and forty-five minutes. If Phileas Fogg had
- left in the China, one of the fastest steamers on the Atlantic, he
- would have reached Liverpool, and then London, within the period agreed
- upon.
- Mr. Fogg left the hotel alone, after giving Passepartout instructions
- to await his return, and inform Aouda to be ready at an instant's
- notice. He proceeded to the banks of the Hudson, and looked about
- among the vessels moored or anchored in the river, for any that were
- about to depart. Several had departure signals, and were preparing to
- put to sea at morning tide; for in this immense and admirable port
- there is not one day in a hundred that vessels do not set out for every
- quarter of the globe. But they were mostly sailing vessels, of which,
- of course, Phileas Fogg could make no use.
- He seemed about to give up all hope, when he espied, anchored at the
- Battery, a cable's length off at most, a trading vessel, with a screw,
- well-shaped, whose funnel, puffing a cloud of smoke, indicated that she
- was getting ready for departure.
- Phileas Fogg hailed a boat, got into it, and soon found himself on
- board the Henrietta, iron-hulled, wood-built above. He ascended to the
- deck, and asked for the captain, who forthwith presented himself. He
- was a man of fifty, a sort of sea-wolf, with big eyes, a complexion of
- oxidised copper, red hair and thick neck, and a growling voice.
- "The captain?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "I am the captain."
- "I am Phileas Fogg, of London."
- "And I am Andrew Speedy, of Cardiff."
- "You are going to put to sea?"
- "In an hour."
- "You are bound for--"
- "Bordeaux."
- "And your cargo?"
- "No freight. Going in ballast."
- "Have you any passengers?"
- "No passengers. Never have passengers. Too much in the way."
- "Is your vessel a swift one?"
- "Between eleven and twelve knots. The Henrietta, well known."
- "Will you carry me and three other persons to Liverpool?"
- "To Liverpool? Why not to China?"
- "I said Liverpool."
- "No!"
- "No?"
- "No. I am setting out for Bordeaux, and shall go to Bordeaux."
- "Money is no object?"
- "None."
- The captain spoke in a tone which did not admit of a reply.
- "But the owners of the Henrietta--" resumed Phileas Fogg.
- "The owners are myself," replied the captain. "The vessel belongs to
- me."
- "I will freight it for you."
- "No."
- "I will buy it of you."
- "No."
- Phileas Fogg did not betray the least disappointment; but the situation
- was a grave one. It was not at New York as at Hong Kong, nor with the
- captain of the Henrietta as with the captain of the Tankadere. Up to
- this time money had smoothed away every obstacle. Now money failed.
- Still, some means must be found to cross the Atlantic on a boat, unless
- by balloon--which would have been venturesome, besides not being
- capable of being put in practice. It seemed that Phileas Fogg had an
- idea, for he said to the captain, "Well, will you carry me to Bordeaux?"
- "No, not if you paid me two hundred dollars."
- "I offer you two thousand."
- "Apiece?"
- "Apiece."
- "And there are four of you?"
- "Four."
- Captain Speedy began to scratch his head. There were eight thousand
- dollars to gain, without changing his route; for which it was well
- worth conquering the repugnance he had for all kinds of passengers.
- Besides, passengers at two thousand dollars are no longer passengers,
- but valuable merchandise. "I start at nine o'clock," said Captain
- Speedy, simply. "Are you and your party ready?"
- "We will be on board at nine o'clock," replied, no less simply, Mr.
- Fogg.
- It was half-past eight. To disembark from the Henrietta, jump into a
- hack, hurry to the St. Nicholas, and return with Aouda, Passepartout,
- and even the inseparable Fix was the work of a brief time, and was
- performed by Mr. Fogg with the coolness which never abandoned him.
- They were on board when the Henrietta made ready to weigh anchor.
- When Passepartout heard what this last voyage was going to cost, he
- uttered a prolonged "Oh!" which extended throughout his vocal gamut.
- As for Fix, he said to himself that the Bank of England would certainly
- not come out of this affair well indemnified. When they reached
- England, even if Mr. Fogg did not throw some handfuls of bank-bills
- into the sea, more than seven thousand pounds would have been spent!
- Chapter XXXIII
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SHOWS HIMSELF EQUAL TO THE OCCASION
- An hour after, the Henrietta passed the lighthouse which marks the
- entrance of the Hudson, turned the point of Sandy Hook, and put to sea.
- During the day she skirted Long Island, passed Fire Island, and
- directed her course rapidly eastward.
- At noon the next day, a man mounted the bridge to ascertain the
- vessel's position. It might be thought that this was Captain Speedy.
- Not the least in the world. It was Phileas Fogg, Esquire. As for
- Captain Speedy, he was shut up in his cabin under lock and key, and was
- uttering loud cries, which signified an anger at once pardonable and
- excessive.
- What had happened was very simple. Phileas Fogg wished to go to
- Liverpool, but the captain would not carry him there. Then Phileas
- Fogg had taken passage for Bordeaux, and, during the thirty hours he
- had been on board, had so shrewdly managed with his banknotes that the
- sailors and stokers, who were only an occasional crew, and were not on
- the best terms with the captain, went over to him in a body. This was
- why Phileas Fogg was in command instead of Captain Speedy; why the
- captain was a prisoner in his cabin; and why, in short, the Henrietta
- was directing her course towards Liverpool. It was very clear, to see
- Mr. Fogg manage the craft, that he had been a sailor.
- How the adventure ended will be seen anon. Aouda was anxious, though
- she said nothing. As for Passepartout, he thought Mr. Fogg's manoeuvre
- simply glorious. The captain had said "between eleven and twelve
- knots," and the Henrietta confirmed his prediction.
- If, then--for there were "ifs" still--the sea did not become too
- boisterous, if the wind did not veer round to the east, if no accident
- happened to the boat or its machinery, the Henrietta might cross the
- three thousand miles from New York to Liverpool in the nine days,
- between the 12th and the 21st of December. It is true that, once
- arrived, the affair on board the Henrietta, added to that of the Bank
- of England, might create more difficulties for Mr. Fogg than he
- imagined or could desire.
- During the first days, they went along smoothly enough. The sea was
- not very unpropitious, the wind seemed stationary in the north-east,
- the sails were hoisted, and the Henrietta ploughed across the waves
- like a real trans-Atlantic steamer.
- Passepartout was delighted. His master's last exploit, the
- consequences of which he ignored, enchanted him. Never had the crew
- seen so jolly and dexterous a fellow. He formed warm friendships with
- the sailors, and amazed them with his acrobatic feats. He thought they
- managed the vessel like gentlemen, and that the stokers fired up like
- heroes. His loquacious good-humour infected everyone. He had
- forgotten the past, its vexations and delays. He only thought of the
- end, so nearly accomplished; and sometimes he boiled over with
- impatience, as if heated by the furnaces of the Henrietta. Often,
- also, the worthy fellow revolved around Fix, looking at him with a
- keen, distrustful eye; but he did not speak to him, for their old
- intimacy no longer existed.
- Fix, it must be confessed, understood nothing of what was going on.
- The conquest of the Henrietta, the bribery of the crew, Fogg managing
- the boat like a skilled seaman, amazed and confused him. He did not
- know what to think. For, after all, a man who began by stealing
- fifty-five thousand pounds might end by stealing a vessel; and Fix was
- not unnaturally inclined to conclude that the Henrietta under Fogg's
- command, was not going to Liverpool at all, but to some part of the
- world where the robber, turned into a pirate, would quietly put himself
- in safety. The conjecture was at least a plausible one, and the
- detective began to seriously regret that he had embarked on the affair.
- As for Captain Speedy, he continued to howl and growl in his cabin; and
- Passepartout, whose duty it was to carry him his meals, courageous as
- he was, took the greatest precautions. Mr. Fogg did not seem even to
- know that there was a captain on board.
- On the 13th they passed the edge of the Banks of Newfoundland, a
- dangerous locality; during the winter, especially, there are frequent
- fogs and heavy gales of wind. Ever since the evening before the
- barometer, suddenly falling, had indicated an approaching change in the
- atmosphere; and during the night the temperature varied, the cold
- became sharper, and the wind veered to the south-east.
- This was a misfortune. Mr. Fogg, in order not to deviate from his
- course, furled his sails and increased the force of the steam; but the
- vessel's speed slackened, owing to the state of the sea, the long waves
- of which broke against the stern. She pitched violently, and this
- retarded her progress. The breeze little by little swelled into a
- tempest, and it was to be feared that the Henrietta might not be able
- to maintain herself upright on the waves.
- Passepartout's visage darkened with the skies, and for two days the
- poor fellow experienced constant fright. But Phileas Fogg was a bold
- mariner, and knew how to maintain headway against the sea; and he kept
- on his course, without even decreasing his steam. The Henrietta, when
- she could not rise upon the waves, crossed them, swamping her deck, but
- passing safely. Sometimes the screw rose out of the water, beating its
- protruding end, when a mountain of water raised the stern above the
- waves; but the craft always kept straight ahead.
- The wind, however, did not grow as boisterous as might have been
- feared; it was not one of those tempests which burst, and rush on with
- a speed of ninety miles an hour. It continued fresh, but, unhappily,
- it remained obstinately in the south-east, rendering the sails useless.
- The 16th of December was the seventy-fifth day since Phileas Fogg's
- departure from London, and the Henrietta had not yet been seriously
- delayed. Half of the voyage was almost accomplished, and the worst
- localities had been passed. In summer, success would have been
- well-nigh certain. In winter, they were at the mercy of the bad
- season. Passepartout said nothing; but he cherished hope in secret,
- and comforted himself with the reflection that, if the wind failed
- them, they might still count on the steam.
- On this day the engineer came on deck, went up to Mr. Fogg, and began
- to speak earnestly with him. Without knowing why it was a
- presentiment, perhaps Passepartout became vaguely uneasy. He would
- have given one of his ears to hear with the other what the engineer was
- saying. He finally managed to catch a few words, and was sure he heard
- his master say, "You are certain of what you tell me?"
- "Certain, sir," replied the engineer. "You must remember that, since
- we started, we have kept up hot fires in all our furnaces, and, though
- we had coal enough to go on short steam from New York to Bordeaux, we
- haven't enough to go with all steam from New York to Liverpool." "I
- will consider," replied Mr. Fogg.
- Passepartout understood it all; he was seized with mortal anxiety. The
- coal was giving out! "Ah, if my master can get over that," muttered
- he, "he'll be a famous man!" He could not help imparting to Fix what
- he had overheard.
- "Then you believe that we really are going to Liverpool?"
- "Of course."
- "Ass!" replied the detective, shrugging his shoulders and turning on
- his heel.
- Passepartout was on the point of vigorously resenting the epithet, the
- reason of which he could not for the life of him comprehend; but he
- reflected that the unfortunate Fix was probably very much disappointed
- and humiliated in his self-esteem, after having so awkwardly followed a
- false scent around the world, and refrained.
- And now what course would Phileas Fogg adopt? It was difficult to
- imagine. Nevertheless he seemed to have decided upon one, for that
- evening he sent for the engineer, and said to him, "Feed all the fires
- until the coal is exhausted."
- A few moments after, the funnel of the Henrietta vomited forth torrents
- of smoke. The vessel continued to proceed with all steam on; but on
- the 18th, the engineer, as he had predicted, announced that the coal
- would give out in the course of the day.
- "Do not let the fires go down," replied Mr. Fogg. "Keep them up to the
- last. Let the valves be filled."
- Towards noon Phileas Fogg, having ascertained their position, called
- Passepartout, and ordered him to go for Captain Speedy. It was as if
- the honest fellow had been commanded to unchain a tiger. He went to
- the poop, saying to himself, "He will be like a madman!"
- In a few moments, with cries and oaths, a bomb appeared on the
- poop-deck. The bomb was Captain Speedy. It was clear that he was on
- the point of bursting. "Where are we?" were the first words his anger
- permitted him to utter. Had the poor man been an apoplectic, he could
- never have recovered from his paroxysm of wrath.
- "Where are we?" he repeated, with purple face.
- "Seven hundred and seven miles from Liverpool," replied Mr. Fogg, with
- imperturbable calmness.
- "Pirate!" cried Captain Speedy.
- "I have sent for you, sir--"
- "Pickaroon!"
- "--sir," continued Mr. Fogg, "to ask you to sell me your vessel."
- "No! By all the devils, no!"
- "But I shall be obliged to burn her."
- "Burn the Henrietta!"
- "Yes; at least the upper part of her. The coal has given out."
- "Burn my vessel!" cried Captain Speedy, who could scarcely pronounce
- the words. "A vessel worth fifty thousand dollars!"
- "Here are sixty thousand," replied Phileas Fogg, handing the captain a
- roll of bank-bills. This had a prodigious effect on Andrew Speedy. An
- American can scarcely remain unmoved at the sight of sixty thousand
- dollars. The captain forgot in an instant his anger, his imprisonment,
- and all his grudges against his passenger. The Henrietta was twenty
- years old; it was a great bargain. The bomb would not go off after
- all. Mr. Fogg had taken away the match.
- "And I shall still have the iron hull," said the captain in a softer
- tone.
- "The iron hull and the engine. Is it agreed?"
- "Agreed."
- And Andrew Speedy, seizing the banknotes, counted them and consigned
- them to his pocket.
- During this colloquy, Passepartout was as white as a sheet, and Fix
- seemed on the point of having an apoplectic fit. Nearly twenty
- thousand pounds had been expended, and Fogg left the hull and engine to
- the captain, that is, near the whole value of the craft! It was true,
- however, that fifty-five thousand pounds had been stolen from the Bank.
- When Andrew Speedy had pocketed the money, Mr. Fogg said to him, "Don't
- let this astonish you, sir. You must know that I shall lose twenty
- thousand pounds, unless I arrive in London by a quarter before nine on
- the evening of the 21st of December. I missed the steamer at New York,
- and as you refused to take me to Liverpool--"
- "And I did well!" cried Andrew Speedy; "for I have gained at least
- forty thousand dollars by it!" He added, more sedately, "Do you know
- one thing, Captain--"
- "Fogg."
- "Captain Fogg, you've got something of the Yankee about you."
- And, having paid his passenger what he considered a high compliment, he
- was going away, when Mr. Fogg said, "The vessel now belongs to me?"
- "Certainly, from the keel to the truck of the masts--all the wood, that
- is."
- "Very well. Have the interior seats, bunks, and frames pulled down,
- and burn them."
- It was necessary to have dry wood to keep the steam up to the adequate
- pressure, and on that day the poop, cabins, bunks, and the spare deck
- were sacrificed. On the next day, the 19th of December, the masts,
- rafts, and spars were burned; the crew worked lustily, keeping up the
- fires. Passepartout hewed, cut, and sawed away with all his might.
- There was a perfect rage for demolition.
- The railings, fittings, the greater part of the deck, and top sides
- disappeared on the 20th, and the Henrietta was now only a flat hulk.
- But on this day they sighted the Irish coast and Fastnet Light. By ten
- in the evening they were passing Queenstown. Phileas Fogg had only
- twenty-four hours more in which to get to London; that length of time
- was necessary to reach Liverpool, with all steam on. And the steam was
- about to give out altogether!
- "Sir," said Captain Speedy, who was now deeply interested in Mr. Fogg's
- project, "I really commiserate you. Everything is against you. We are
- only opposite Queenstown."
- "Ah," said Mr. Fogg, "is that place where we see the lights Queenstown?"
- "Yes."
- "Can we enter the harbour?"
- "Not under three hours. Only at high tide."
- "Stay," replied Mr. Fogg calmly, without betraying in his features that
- by a supreme inspiration he was about to attempt once more to conquer
- ill-fortune.
- Queenstown is the Irish port at which the trans-Atlantic steamers stop
- to put off the mails. These mails are carried to Dublin by express
- trains always held in readiness to start; from Dublin they are sent on
- to Liverpool by the most rapid boats, and thus gain twelve hours on the
- Atlantic steamers.
- Phileas Fogg counted on gaining twelve hours in the same way. Instead
- of arriving at Liverpool the next evening by the Henrietta, he would be
- there by noon, and would therefore have time to reach London before a
- quarter before nine in the evening.
- The Henrietta entered Queenstown Harbour at one o'clock in the morning,
- it then being high tide; and Phileas Fogg, after being grasped heartily
- by the hand by Captain Speedy, left that gentleman on the levelled hulk
- of his craft, which was still worth half what he had sold it for.
- The party went on shore at once. Fix was greatly tempted to arrest Mr.
- Fogg on the spot; but he did not. Why? What struggle was going on
- within him? Had he changed his mind about "his man"? Did he
- understand that he had made a grave mistake? He did not, however,
- abandon Mr. Fogg. They all got upon the train, which was just ready to
- start, at half-past one; at dawn of day they were in Dublin; and they
- lost no time in embarking on a steamer which, disdaining to rise upon
- the waves, invariably cut through them.
- Phileas Fogg at last disembarked on the Liverpool quay, at twenty
- minutes before twelve, 21st December. He was only six hours distant
- from London.
- But at this moment Fix came up, put his hand upon Mr. Fogg's shoulder,
- and, showing his warrant, said, "You are really Phileas Fogg?"
- "I am."
- "I arrest you in the Queen's name!"
- Chapter XXXIV
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AT LAST REACHES LONDON
- Phileas Fogg was in prison. He had been shut up in the Custom House,
- and he was to be transferred to London the next day.
- Passepartout, when he saw his master arrested, would have fallen upon
- Fix had he not been held back by some policemen. Aouda was
- thunderstruck at the suddenness of an event which she could not
- understand. Passepartout explained to her how it was that the honest
- and courageous Fogg was arrested as a robber. The young woman's heart
- revolted against so heinous a charge, and when she saw that she could
- attempt to do nothing to save her protector, she wept bitterly.
- As for Fix, he had arrested Mr. Fogg because it was his duty, whether
- Mr. Fogg were guilty or not.
- The thought then struck Passepartout, that he was the cause of this new
- misfortune! Had he not concealed Fix's errand from his master? When
- Fix revealed his true character and purpose, why had he not told Mr.
- Fogg? If the latter had been warned, he would no doubt have given Fix
- proof of his innocence, and satisfied him of his mistake; at least, Fix
- would not have continued his journey at the expense and on the heels of
- his master, only to arrest him the moment he set foot on English soil.
- Passepartout wept till he was blind, and felt like blowing his brains
- out.
- Aouda and he had remained, despite the cold, under the portico of the
- Custom House. Neither wished to leave the place; both were anxious to
- see Mr. Fogg again.
- That gentleman was really ruined, and that at the moment when he was
- about to attain his end. This arrest was fatal. Having arrived at
- Liverpool at twenty minutes before twelve on the 21st of December, he
- had till a quarter before nine that evening to reach the Reform Club,
- that is, nine hours and a quarter; the journey from Liverpool to London
- was six hours.
- If anyone, at this moment, had entered the Custom House, he would have
- found Mr. Fogg seated, motionless, calm, and without apparent anger,
- upon a wooden bench. He was not, it is true, resigned; but this last
- blow failed to force him into an outward betrayal of any emotion. Was
- he being devoured by one of those secret rages, all the more terrible
- because contained, and which only burst forth, with an irresistible
- force, at the last moment? No one could tell. There he sat, calmly
- waiting--for what? Did he still cherish hope? Did he still believe,
- now that the door of this prison was closed upon him, that he would
- succeed?
- However that may have been, Mr. Fogg carefully put his watch upon the
- table, and observed its advancing hands. Not a word escaped his lips,
- but his look was singularly set and stern. The situation, in any
- event, was a terrible one, and might be thus stated: if Phileas Fogg
- was honest he was ruined; if he was a knave, he was caught.
- Did escape occur to him? Did he examine to see if there were any
- practicable outlet from his prison? Did he think of escaping from it?
- Possibly; for once he walked slowly around the room. But the door was
- locked, and the window heavily barred with iron rods. He sat down
- again, and drew his journal from his pocket. On the line where these
- words were written, "21st December, Saturday, Liverpool," he added,
- "80th day, 11.40 a.m.," and waited.
- The Custom House clock struck one. Mr. Fogg observed that his watch
- was two hours too fast.
- Two hours! Admitting that he was at this moment taking an express
- train, he could reach London and the Reform Club by a quarter before
- nine, p.m. His forehead slightly wrinkled.
- At thirty-three minutes past two he heard a singular noise outside,
- then a hasty opening of doors. Passepartout's voice was audible, and
- immediately after that of Fix. Phileas Fogg's eyes brightened for an
- instant.
- The door swung open, and he saw Passepartout, Aouda, and Fix, who
- hurried towards him.
- Fix was out of breath, and his hair was in disorder. He could not
- speak. "Sir," he stammered, "sir--forgive me--most--unfortunate
- resemblance--robber arrested three days ago--you are free!"
- Phileas Fogg was free! He walked to the detective, looked him steadily
- in the face, and with the only rapid motion he had ever made in his
- life, or which he ever would make, drew back his arms, and with the
- precision of a machine knocked Fix down.
- "Well hit!" cried Passepartout, "Parbleu! that's what you might call a
- good application of English fists!"
- Fix, who found himself on the floor, did not utter a word. He had only
- received his deserts. Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout left the
- Custom House without delay, got into a cab, and in a few moments
- descended at the station.
- Phileas Fogg asked if there was an express train about to leave for
- London. It was forty minutes past two. The express train had left
- thirty-five minutes before. Phileas Fogg then ordered a special train.
- There were several rapid locomotives on hand; but the railway
- arrangements did not permit the special train to leave until three
- o'clock.
- At that hour Phileas Fogg, having stimulated the engineer by the offer
- of a generous reward, at last set out towards London with Aouda and his
- faithful servant.
- It was necessary to make the journey in five hours and a half; and this
- would have been easy on a clear road throughout. But there were forced
- delays, and when Mr. Fogg stepped from the train at the terminus, all
- the clocks in London were striking ten minutes before nine.
- Having made the tour of the world, he was behind-hand five minutes. He
- had lost the wager!
- Chapter XXXV
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DOES NOT HAVE TO REPEAT HIS ORDERS TO
- PASSEPARTOUT TWICE
- The dwellers in Saville Row would have been surprised the next day, if
- they had been told that Phileas Fogg had returned home. His doors and
- windows were still closed, no appearance of change was visible.
- After leaving the station, Mr. Fogg gave Passepartout instructions to
- purchase some provisions, and quietly went to his domicile.
- He bore his misfortune with his habitual tranquillity. Ruined! And by
- the blundering of the detective! After having steadily traversed that
- long journey, overcome a hundred obstacles, braved many dangers, and
- still found time to do some good on his way, to fail near the goal by a
- sudden event which he could not have foreseen, and against which he was
- unarmed; it was terrible! But a few pounds were left of the large sum
- he had carried with him. There only remained of his fortune the twenty
- thousand pounds deposited at Barings, and this amount he owed to his
- friends of the Reform Club. So great had been the expense of his tour
- that, even had he won, it would not have enriched him; and it is
- probable that he had not sought to enrich himself, being a man who
- rather laid wagers for honour's sake than for the stake proposed. But
- this wager totally ruined him.
- Mr. Fogg's course, however, was fully decided upon; he knew what
- remained for him to do.
- A room in the house in Saville Row was set apart for Aouda, who was
- overwhelmed with grief at her protector's misfortune. From the words
- which Mr. Fogg dropped, she saw that he was meditating some serious
- project.
- Knowing that Englishmen governed by a fixed idea sometimes resort to
- the desperate expedient of suicide, Passepartout kept a narrow watch
- upon his master, though he carefully concealed the appearance of so
- doing.
- First of all, the worthy fellow had gone up to his room, and had
- extinguished the gas burner, which had been burning for eighty days.
- He had found in the letter-box a bill from the gas company, and he
- thought it more than time to put a stop to this expense, which he had
- been doomed to bear.
- The night passed. Mr. Fogg went to bed, but did he sleep? Aouda did
- not once close her eyes. Passepartout watched all night, like a
- faithful dog, at his master's door.
- Mr. Fogg called him in the morning, and told him to get Aouda's
- breakfast, and a cup of tea and a chop for himself. He desired Aouda
- to excuse him from breakfast and dinner, as his time would be absorbed
- all day in putting his affairs to rights. In the evening he would ask
- permission to have a few moment's conversation with the young lady.
- Passepartout, having received his orders, had nothing to do but obey
- them. He looked at his imperturbable master, and could scarcely bring
- his mind to leave him. His heart was full, and his conscience tortured
- by remorse; for he accused himself more bitterly than ever of being the
- cause of the irretrievable disaster. Yes! if he had warned Mr. Fogg,
- and had betrayed Fix's projects to him, his master would certainly not
- have given the detective passage to Liverpool, and then--
- Passepartout could hold in no longer.
- "My master! Mr. Fogg!" he cried, "why do you not curse me? It was my
- fault that--"
- "I blame no one," returned Phileas Fogg, with perfect calmness. "Go!"
- Passepartout left the room, and went to find Aouda, to whom he
- delivered his master's message.
- "Madam," he added, "I can do nothing myself--nothing! I have no
- influence over my master; but you, perhaps--"
- "What influence could I have?" replied Aouda. "Mr. Fogg is influenced
- by no one. Has he ever understood that my gratitude to him is
- overflowing? Has he ever read my heart? My friend, he must not be
- left alone an instant! You say he is going to speak with me this
- evening?"
- "Yes, madam; probably to arrange for your protection and comfort in
- England."
- "We shall see," replied Aouda, becoming suddenly pensive.
- Throughout this day (Sunday) the house in Saville Row was as if
- uninhabited, and Phileas Fogg, for the first time since he had lived in
- that house, did not set out for his club when Westminster clock struck
- half-past eleven.
- Why should he present himself at the Reform? His friends no longer
- expected him there. As Phileas Fogg had not appeared in the saloon on
- the evening before (Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before
- nine), he had lost his wager. It was not even necessary that he should
- go to his bankers for the twenty thousand pounds; for his antagonists
- already had his cheque in their hands, and they had only to fill it out
- and send it to the Barings to have the amount transferred to their
- credit.
- Mr. Fogg, therefore, had no reason for going out, and so he remained at
- home. He shut himself up in his room, and busied himself putting his
- affairs in order. Passepartout continually ascended and descended the
- stairs. The hours were long for him. He listened at his master's door,
- and looked through the keyhole, as if he had a perfect right so to do,
- and as if he feared that something terrible might happen at any moment.
- Sometimes he thought of Fix, but no longer in anger. Fix, like all the
- world, had been mistaken in Phileas Fogg, and had only done his duty in
- tracking and arresting him; while he, Passepartout. . . . This thought
- haunted him, and he never ceased cursing his miserable folly.
- Finding himself too wretched to remain alone, he knocked at Aouda's
- door, went into her room, seated himself, without speaking, in a
- corner, and looked ruefully at the young woman. Aouda was still pensive.
- About half-past seven in the evening Mr. Fogg sent to know if Aouda
- would receive him, and in a few moments he found himself alone with her.
- Phileas Fogg took a chair, and sat down near the fireplace, opposite
- Aouda. No emotion was visible on his face. Fogg returned was exactly
- the Fogg who had gone away; there was the same calm, the same
- impassibility.
- He sat several minutes without speaking; then, bending his eyes on
- Aouda, "Madam," said he, "will you pardon me for bringing you to
- England?"
- "I, Mr. Fogg!" replied Aouda, checking the pulsations of her heart.
- "Please let me finish," returned Mr. Fogg. "When I decided to bring
- you far away from the country which was so unsafe for you, I was rich,
- and counted on putting a portion of my fortune at your disposal; then
- your existence would have been free and happy. But now I am ruined."
- "I know it, Mr. Fogg," replied Aouda; "and I ask you in my turn, will
- you forgive me for having followed you, and--who knows?--for having,
- perhaps, delayed you, and thus contributed to your ruin?"
- "Madam, you could not remain in India, and your safety could only be
- assured by bringing you to such a distance that your persecutors could
- not take you."
- "So, Mr. Fogg," resumed Aouda, "not content with rescuing me from a
- terrible death, you thought yourself bound to secure my comfort in a
- foreign land?"
- "Yes, madam; but circumstances have been against me. Still, I beg to
- place the little I have left at your service."
- "But what will become of you, Mr. Fogg?"
- "As for me, madam," replied the gentleman, coldly, "I have need of
- nothing."
- "But how do you look upon the fate, sir, which awaits you?"
- "As I am in the habit of doing."
- "At least," said Aouda, "want should not overtake a man like you. Your
- friends--"
- "I have no friends, madam."
- "Your relatives--"
- "I have no longer any relatives."
- "I pity you, then, Mr. Fogg, for solitude is a sad thing, with no heart
- to which to confide your griefs. They say, though, that misery itself,
- shared by two sympathetic souls, may be borne with patience."
- "They say so, madam."
- "Mr. Fogg," said Aouda, rising and seizing his hand, "do you wish at
- once a kinswoman and friend? Will you have me for your wife?"
- Mr. Fogg, at this, rose in his turn. There was an unwonted light in
- his eyes, and a slight trembling of his lips. Aouda looked into his
- face. The sincerity, rectitude, firmness, and sweetness of this soft
- glance of a noble woman, who could dare all to save him to whom she
- owed all, at first astonished, then penetrated him. He shut his eyes
- for an instant, as if to avoid her look. When he opened them again, "I
- love you!" he said, simply. "Yes, by all that is holiest, I love you,
- and I am entirely yours!"
- "Ah!" cried Aouda, pressing his hand to her heart.
- Passepartout was summoned and appeared immediately. Mr. Fogg still
- held Aouda's hand in his own; Passepartout understood, and his big,
- round face became as radiant as the tropical sun at its zenith.
- Mr. Fogg asked him if it was not too late to notify the Reverend Samuel
- Wilson, of Marylebone parish, that evening.
- Passepartout smiled his most genial smile, and said, "Never too late."
- It was five minutes past eight.
- "Will it be for to-morrow, Monday?"
- "For to-morrow, Monday," said Mr. Fogg, turning to Aouda.
- "Yes; for to-morrow, Monday," she replied.
- Passepartout hurried off as fast as his legs could carry him.
- Chapter XXXVI
- IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG'S NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A PREMIUM ON 'CHANGE
- It is time to relate what a change took place in English public opinion
- when it transpired that the real bankrobber, a certain James Strand,
- had been arrested, on the 17th day of December, at Edinburgh. Three
- days before, Phileas Fogg had been a criminal, who was being
- desperately followed up by the police; now he was an honourable
- gentleman, mathematically pursuing his eccentric journey round the
- world.
- The papers resumed their discussion about the wager; all those who had
- laid bets, for or against him, revived their interest, as if by magic;
- the "Phileas Fogg bonds" again became negotiable, and many new wagers
- were made. Phileas Fogg's name was once more at a premium on 'Change.
- His five friends of the Reform Club passed these three days in a state
- of feverish suspense. Would Phileas Fogg, whom they had forgotten,
- reappear before their eyes! Where was he at this moment? The 17th of
- December, the day of James Strand's arrest, was the seventy-sixth since
- Phileas Fogg's departure, and no news of him had been received. Was he
- dead? Had he abandoned the effort, or was he continuing his journey
- along the route agreed upon? And would he appear on Saturday, the 21st
- of December, at a quarter before nine in the evening, on the threshold
- of the Reform Club saloon?
- The anxiety in which, for three days, London society existed, cannot be
- described. Telegrams were sent to America and Asia for news of Phileas
- Fogg. Messengers were dispatched to the house in Saville Row morning
- and evening. No news. The police were ignorant what had become of the
- detective, Fix, who had so unfortunately followed up a false scent.
- Bets increased, nevertheless, in number and value. Phileas Fogg, like
- a racehorse, was drawing near his last turning-point. The bonds were
- quoted, no longer at a hundred below par, but at twenty, at ten, and at
- five; and paralytic old Lord Albemarle bet even in his favour.
- A great crowd was collected in Pall Mall and the neighbouring streets
- on Saturday evening; it seemed like a multitude of brokers permanently
- established around the Reform Club. Circulation was impeded, and
- everywhere disputes, discussions, and financial transactions were going
- on. The police had great difficulty in keeping back the crowd, and as
- the hour when Phileas Fogg was due approached, the excitement rose to
- its highest pitch.
- The five antagonists of Phileas Fogg had met in the great saloon of the
- club. John Sullivan and Samuel Fallentin, the bankers, Andrew Stuart,
- the engineer, Gauthier Ralph, the director of the Bank of England, and
- Thomas Flanagan, the brewer, one and all waited anxiously.
- When the clock indicated twenty minutes past eight, Andrew Stuart got
- up, saying, "Gentlemen, in twenty minutes the time agreed upon between
- Mr. Fogg and ourselves will have expired."
- "What time did the last train arrive from Liverpool?" asked Thomas
- Flanagan.
- "At twenty-three minutes past seven," replied Gauthier Ralph; "and the
- next does not arrive till ten minutes after twelve."
- "Well, gentlemen," resumed Andrew Stuart, "if Phileas Fogg had come in
- the 7:23 train, he would have got here by this time. We can,
- therefore, regard the bet as won."
- "Wait; don't let us be too hasty," replied Samuel Fallentin. "You know
- that Mr. Fogg is very eccentric. His punctuality is well known; he
- never arrives too soon, or too late; and I should not be surprised if
- he appeared before us at the last minute."
- "Why," said Andrew Stuart nervously, "if I should see him, I should not
- believe it was he."
- "The fact is," resumed Thomas Flanagan, "Mr. Fogg's project was
- absurdly foolish. Whatever his punctuality, he could not prevent the
- delays which were certain to occur; and a delay of only two or three
- days would be fatal to his tour."
- "Observe, too," added John Sullivan, "that we have received no
- intelligence from him, though there are telegraphic lines all along his
- route."
- "He has lost, gentleman," said Andrew Stuart, "he has a hundred times
- lost! You know, besides, that the China the only steamer he could have
- taken from New York to get here in time arrived yesterday. I have seen
- a list of the passengers, and the name of Phileas Fogg is not among
- them. Even if we admit that fortune has favoured him, he can scarcely
- have reached America. I think he will be at least twenty days
- behind-hand, and that Lord Albemarle will lose a cool five thousand."
- "It is clear," replied Gauthier Ralph; "and we have nothing to do but
- to present Mr. Fogg's cheque at Barings to-morrow."
- At this moment, the hands of the club clock pointed to twenty minutes
- to nine.
- "Five minutes more," said Andrew Stuart.
- The five gentlemen looked at each other. Their anxiety was becoming
- intense; but, not wishing to betray it, they readily assented to Mr.
- Fallentin's proposal of a rubber.
- "I wouldn't give up my four thousand of the bet," said Andrew Stuart,
- as he took his seat, "for three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine."
- The clock indicated eighteen minutes to nine.
- The players took up their cards, but could not keep their eyes off the
- clock. Certainly, however secure they felt, minutes had never seemed
- so long to them!
- "Seventeen minutes to nine," said Thomas Flanagan, as he cut the cards
- which Ralph handed to him.
- Then there was a moment of silence. The great saloon was perfectly
- quiet; but the murmurs of the crowd outside were heard, with now and
- then a shrill cry. The pendulum beat the seconds, which each player
- eagerly counted, as he listened, with mathematical regularity.
- "Sixteen minutes to nine!" said John Sullivan, in a voice which
- betrayed his emotion.
- One minute more, and the wager would be won. Andrew Stuart and his
- partners suspended their game. They left their cards, and counted the
- seconds.
- At the fortieth second, nothing. At the fiftieth, still nothing.
- At the fifty-fifth, a loud cry was heard in the street, followed by
- applause, hurrahs, and some fierce growls.
- The players rose from their seats.
- At the fifty-seventh second the door of the saloon opened; and the
- pendulum had not beat the sixtieth second when Phileas Fogg appeared,
- followed by an excited crowd who had forced their way through the club
- doors, and in his calm voice, said, "Here I am, gentlemen!"
- Chapter XXXVII
- IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED NOTHING BY HIS TOUR
- AROUND THE WORLD, UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS
- Yes; Phileas Fogg in person.
- The reader will remember that at five minutes past eight in the
- evening--about five and twenty hours after the arrival of the
- travellers in London--Passepartout had been sent by his master to
- engage the services of the Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriage
- ceremony, which was to take place the next day.
- Passepartout went on his errand enchanted. He soon reached the
- clergyman's house, but found him not at home. Passepartout waited a
- good twenty minutes, and when he left the reverend gentleman, it was
- thirty-five minutes past eight. But in what a state he was! With his
- hair in disorder, and without his hat, he ran along the street as never
- man was seen to run before, overturning passers-by, rushing over the
- sidewalk like a waterspout.
- In three minutes he was in Saville Row again, and staggered back into
- Mr. Fogg's room.
- He could not speak.
- "What is the matter?" asked Mr. Fogg.
- "My master!" gasped Passepartout--"marriage--impossible--"
- "Impossible?"
- "Impossible--for to-morrow."
- "Why so?"
- "Because to-morrow--is Sunday!"
- "Monday," replied Mr. Fogg.
- "No--to-day is Saturday."
- "Saturday? Impossible!"
- "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" cried Passepartout. "You have made a mistake of
- one day! We arrived twenty-four hours ahead of time; but there are
- only ten minutes left!"
- Passepartout had seized his master by the collar, and was dragging him
- along with irresistible force.
- Phileas Fogg, thus kidnapped, without having time to think, left his
- house, jumped into a cab, promised a hundred pounds to the cabman, and,
- having run over two dogs and overturned five carriages, reached the
- Reform Club.
- The clock indicated a quarter before nine when he appeared in the great
- saloon.
- Phileas Fogg had accomplished the journey round the world in eighty
- days!
- Phileas Fogg had won his wager of twenty thousand pounds!
- How was it that a man so exact and fastidious could have made this
- error of a day? How came he to think that he had arrived in London on
- Saturday, the twenty-first day of December, when it was really Friday,
- the twentieth, the seventy-ninth day only from his departure?
- The cause of the error is very simple.
- Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day on his journey,
- and this merely because he had travelled constantly eastward; he would,
- on the contrary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction,
- that is, westward.
- In journeying eastward he had gone towards the sun, and the days
- therefore diminished for him as many times four minutes as he crossed
- degrees in this direction. There are three hundred and sixty degrees
- on the circumference of the earth; and these three hundred and sixty
- degrees, multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four
- hours--that is, the day unconsciously gained. In other words, while
- Phileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun pass the meridian eighty
- times, his friends in London only saw it pass the meridian seventy-nine
- times. This is why they awaited him at the Reform Club on Saturday,
- and not Sunday, as Mr. Fogg thought.
- And Passepartout's famous family watch, which had always kept London
- time, would have betrayed this fact, if it had marked the days as well
- as the hours and the minutes!
- Phileas Fogg, then, had won the twenty thousand pounds; but, as he had
- spent nearly nineteen thousand on the way, the pecuniary gain was
- small. His object was, however, to be victorious, and not to win
- money. He divided the one thousand pounds that remained between
- Passepartout and the unfortunate Fix, against whom he cherished no
- grudge. He deducted, however, from Passepartout's share the cost of
- the gas which had burned in his room for nineteen hundred and twenty
- hours, for the sake of regularity.
- That evening, Mr. Fogg, as tranquil and phlegmatic as ever, said to
- Aouda: "Is our marriage still agreeable to you?"
- "Mr. Fogg," replied she, "it is for me to ask that question. You were
- ruined, but now you are rich again."
- "Pardon me, madam; my fortune belongs to you. If you had not suggested
- our marriage, my servant would not have gone to the Reverend Samuel
- Wilson's, I should not have been apprised of my error, and--"
- "Dear Mr. Fogg!" said the young woman.
- "Dear Aouda!" replied Phileas Fogg.
- It need not be said that the marriage took place forty-eight hours
- after, and that Passepartout, glowing and dazzling, gave the bride
- away. Had he not saved her, and was he not entitled to this honour?
- The next day, as soon as it was light, Passepartout rapped vigorously
- at his master's door. Mr. Fogg opened it, and asked, "What's the
- matter, Passepartout?"
- "What is it, sir? Why, I've just this instant found out--"
- "What?"
- "That we might have made the tour of the world in only seventy-eight
- days."
- "No doubt," returned Mr. Fogg, "by not crossing India. But if I had
- not crossed India, I should not have saved Aouda; she would not have
- been my wife, and--"
- Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door.
- Phileas Fogg had won his wager, and had made his journey around the
- world in eighty days. To do this he had employed every means of
- conveyance--steamers, railways, carriages, yachts, trading-vessels,
- sledges, elephants. The eccentric gentleman had throughout displayed
- all his marvellous qualities of coolness and exactitude. But what
- then? What had he really gained by all this trouble? What had he
- brought back from this long and weary journey?
- Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who,
- strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men!
- Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?
- End of Project Gutenberg's Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne
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