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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:20 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:20 -0700 |
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diff --git a/103-h/103-h.htm b/103-h/103-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d9b97c2 --- /dev/null +++ b/103-h/103-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11072 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne</title> +<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> +<style type="text/css"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.center {text-align: center; + text-indent: 0em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.right {text-align: right; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +p.footnote {font-size: 90%; + text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +sup { vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.6em; } + +div.fig { display:block; + margin:0 auto; + text-align:center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em;} + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 103 ***</div> + +<div class="fig" style="width:55%;"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" style="width:100%;" alt="[Illustration]" /> +</div> + +<h1>Around the World in Eighty Days</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">by Jules Verne</h2> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap01">CHAPTER I. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE ONE AS MASTER, THE OTHER AS MAN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap02">CHAPTER II. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap03">CHAPTER III. IN WHICH A CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE WHICH SEEMS LIKELY TO COST PHILEAS FOGG DEAR</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap04">CHAPTER IV. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ASTOUNDS PASSEPARTOUT, HIS SERVANT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap05">CHAPTER V. IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO THE MONEYED MEN, APPEARS ON ’CHANGE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap06">CHAPTER VI. IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap07">CHAPTER VII. WHICH ONCE MORE DEMONSTRATES THE USELESSNESS OF PASSPORTS AS AIDS TO DETECTIVES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TALKS RATHER MORE, PERHAPS, THAN IS PRUDENT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap09">CHAPTER IX. IN WHICH THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN PROVE PROPITIOUS TO THE DESIGNS OF PHILEAS FOGG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap10">CHAPTER X. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS ONLY TOO GLAD TO GET OFF WITH THE LOSS OF HIS SHOES</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap11">CHAPTER XI. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SECURES A CURIOUS MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AT A FABULOUS PRICE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap12">CHAPTER XII. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS VENTURE ACROSS THE INDIAN FORESTS, AND WHAT ENSUED</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF THE GANGES WITHOUT EVER THINKING OF SEEING IT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap15">CHAPTER XV. IN WHICH THE BAG OF BANKNOTES DISGORGES SOME THOUSANDS OF POUNDS MORE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI. IN WHICH FIX DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND IN THE LEAST WHAT IS SAID TO HIM</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII. SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE FROM SINGAPORE TO HONG KONG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG, PASSEPARTOUT, AND FIX GO EACH ABOUT HIS BUSINESS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TAKES A TOO GREAT INTEREST IN HIS MASTER, AND WHAT COMES OF IT</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap20">CHAPTER XX. IN WHICH FIX COMES FACE TO FACE WITH PHILEAS FOGG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI. IN WHICH THE MASTER OF THE “TANKADERE” RUNS GREAT RISK OF LOSING A REWARD OF TWO HUNDRED POUNDS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT FINDS OUT THAT, EVEN AT THE ANTIPODES, IT IS CONVENIENT TO HAVE SOME MONEY IN ONE’S POCKET</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT’S NOSE BECOMES OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV. DURING WHICH MR. FOGG AND PARTY CROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV. IN WHICH A SLIGHT GLIMPSE IS HAD OF SAN FRANCISCO</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PARTY TRAVEL BY THE PACIFIC RAILROAD</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT UNDERGOES, AT A SPEED OF TWENTY MILES AN HOUR, A COURSE OF MORMON HISTORY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap28">CHAPTER XXVIII. IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT DOES NOT SUCCEED IN MAKING ANYBODY LISTEN TO REASON</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap29">CHAPTER XXIX. IN WHICH CERTAIN INCIDENTS ARE NARRATED WHICH ARE ONLY TO BE MET WITH ON AMERICAN RAILROADS</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap30">CHAPTER XXX. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SIMPLY DOES HIS DUTY</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap31">CHAPTER XXXI. IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF PHILEAS FOGG</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap32">CHAPTER XXXII. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ENGAGES IN A DIRECT STRUGGLE WITH BAD FORTUNE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap33">CHAPTER XXXIII. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SHOWS HIMSELF EQUAL TO THE OCCASION</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap34">CHAPTER XXXIV. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AT LAST REACHES LONDON</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap35">CHAPTER XXXV. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DOES NOT HAVE TO REPEAT HIS ORDERS TO PASSEPARTOUT TWICE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap36">CHAPTER XXXVI. IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG’S NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A PREMIUM ON ’CHANGE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#chap37">CHAPTER XXXVII. IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED NOTHING BY HIS TOUR AROUND THE WORLD, UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap01"></a>CHAPTER I.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PASSEPARTOUT ACCEPT EACH OTHER, THE ONE AS MASTER, +THE OTHER AS MAN</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg was a member of the Reform, and that was all. +</p> + +<p> +The way in which he got admission to this exclusive club was simple enough. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +If to live in this style is to be eccentric, it must be confessed that there is +something good in eccentricity. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The new servant,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +A young man of thirty advanced and bowed. +</p> + +<p> +“You are a Frenchman, I believe,” asked Phileas Fogg, “and +your name is John?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Passepartout suits me,” responded Mr. Fogg. “You are well +recommended to me; I hear a good report of you. You know my conditions?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good! What time is it?” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty-two minutes after eleven,” returned Passepartout, drawing +an enormous silver watch from the depths of his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +“You are too slow,” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me, monsieur, it is impossible—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap02"></a>CHAPTER II.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL </h2> + +<p> +“Faith,” muttered Passepartout, somewhat flurried, +“I’ve seen people at Madame Tussaud’s as lively as my new +master!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 Molière 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap03"></a>CHAPTER III.<br/> +IN WHICH A CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE WHICH SEEMS LIKELY TO COST PHILEAS FOGG +DEAR</h2> + +<p> +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 <i>Times</i>, 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 +<i>Standard</i>, 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 <i>Pall Mall</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Ralph,” said Thomas Flanagan, “what about that +robbery?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh,” replied Stuart, “the Bank will lose the money.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But have you got the robber’s description?” asked Stuart. +</p> + +<p> +“In the first place, he is no robber at all,” returned Ralph, +positively. +</p> + +<p> +“What! a fellow who makes off with fifty-five thousand pounds, no +robber?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps he’s a manufacturer, then.” +</p> + +<p> +“The <i>Daily Telegraph</i> says that he is a gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +There were real grounds for supposing, as the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I maintain,” said Stuart, “that the chances are in favour of +the thief, who must be a shrewd fellow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, but where can he fly to?” asked Ralph. “No country is +safe for him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pshaw!” +</p> + +<p> +“Where could he go, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I don’t know that. The world is big enough.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was once,” said Phileas Fogg, in a low tone. “Cut, +sir,” he added, handing the cards to Thomas Flanagan. +</p> + +<p> +The discussion fell during the rubber, after which Stuart took up its thread. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean by ‘once’? Has the world grown +smaller?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And also why the thief can get away more easily.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be so good as to play, Mr. Stuart,” said Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“In eighty days,” interrupted Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>Daily +Telegraph:</i>— +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +From London to Suez <i>viâ</i> Mont Cenis and Brindisi, by rail and steamboats +................. 7 days<br/> +From Suez to Bombay, by steamer .................... 13 ”<br/> +From Bombay to Calcutta, by rail ................... 3 ”<br/> +From Calcutta to Hong Kong, by steamer ............. 13 ”<br/> +From Hong Kong to Yokohama (Japan), by steamer ..... 6 ”<br/> +From Yokohama to San Francisco, by steamer ......... 22 ”<br/> +From San Francisco to New York, by rail ............. 7 ”<br/> +From New York to London, by steamer and rail ........ 9 ”<br/> +-------<br/> +Total ............................................ 80 days.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“All included,” returned Phileas Fogg, continuing to play despite +the discussion. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“All included,” calmly retorted Fogg; adding, as he threw down the +cards, “Two trumps.” +</p> + +<p> +Stuart, whose turn it was to deal, gathered them up, and went on: “You +are right, theoretically, Mr. Fogg, but practically—” +</p> + +<p> +“Practically also, Mr. Stuart.” +</p> + +<p> +“I’d like to see you do it in eighty days.” +</p> + +<p> +“It depends on you. Shall we go?” +</p> + +<p> +“Heaven preserve me! But I would wager four thousand pounds that such a +journey, made under these conditions, is impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite possible, on the contrary,” returned Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, make it, then!” +</p> + +<p> +“The journey round the world in eighty days?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“I should like nothing better.” +</p> + +<p> +“When?” +</p> + +<p> +“At once. Only I warn you that I shall do it at your expense.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Deal over again, then,” said Phileas Fogg. “There’s a +false deal.” +</p> + +<p> +Stuart took up the pack with a feverish hand; then suddenly put them down +again. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Mr. Fogg,” said he, “it shall be so: I will wager the +four thousand on it.” +</p> + +<p> +“Calm yourself, my dear Stuart,” said Fallentin. “It’s +only a joke.” +</p> + +<p> +“When I say I’ll wager,” returned Stuart, “I mean +it.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Twenty thousand pounds!” cried Sullivan. “Twenty thousand +pounds, which you would lose by a single accidental delay!” +</p> + +<p> +“The unforeseen does not exist,” quietly replied Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“But, Mr. Fogg, eighty days are only the estimate of the least possible +time in which the journey can be made.” +</p> + +<p> +“A well-used minimum suffices for everything.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will jump—mathematically.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are joking.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“We accept,” replied Messrs. Stuart, Fallentin, Sullivan, Flanagan, +and Ralph, after consulting each other. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said Mr. Fogg. “The train leaves for Dover at a +quarter before nine. I will take it.” +</p> + +<p> +“This very evening?” asked Stuart. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The clock struck seven, and the party offered to suspend the game so that Mr. +Fogg might make his preparations for departure. +</p> + +<p> +“I am quite ready now,” was his tranquil response. “Diamonds +are trumps: be so good as to play, gentlemen.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap04"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ASTOUNDS PASSEPARTOUT, HIS SERVANT</h2> + +<p> +Having won twenty guineas at whist, and taken leave of his friends, Phileas +Fogg, at twenty-five minutes past seven, left the Reform Club. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg repaired to his bedroom, and called out, “Passepartout!” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout did not reply. It could not be he who was called; it was not the +right hour. +</p> + +<p> +“Passepartout!” repeated Mr. Fogg, without raising his voice. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout made his appearance. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ve called you twice,” observed his master. +</p> + +<p> +“But it is not midnight,” responded the other, showing his watch. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it; I don’t blame you. We start for Dover and Calais in ten +minutes.” +</p> + +<p> +A puzzled grin overspread Passepartout’s round face; clearly he had not +comprehended his master. +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur is going to leave home?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” returned Phileas Fogg. “We are going round the +world.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout opened wide his eyes, raised his eyebrows, held up his hands, and +seemed about to collapse, so overcome was he with stupefied astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +“Round the world!” he murmured. +</p> + +<p> +“In eighty days,” responded Mr. Fogg. “So we haven’t a +moment to lose.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the trunks?” gasped Passepartout, unconsciously swaying his +head from right to left. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You have forgotten nothing?” asked he. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing, monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +“My mackintosh and cloak?” +</p> + +<p> +“Here they are.” +</p> + +<p> +“Good! Take this carpet-bag,” handing it to Passepartout. +“Take good care of it, for there are twenty thousand pounds in it.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout nearly dropped the bag, as if the twenty thousand pounds were in +gold, and weighed him down. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout had a moist sensation about the eyes; his master’s action +touched his susceptible heart. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, that would be quite unnecessary, Mr. Fogg,” said Ralph +politely. “We will trust your word, as a gentleman of honour.” +</p> + +<p> +“You do not forget when you are due in London again?” asked Stuart. +</p> + +<p> +“In eighty days; on Saturday, the 21st of December, 1872, at a quarter +before nine p.m. Good-bye, gentlemen.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Just as the train was whirling through Sydenham, Passepartout suddenly uttered +a cry of despair. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! In my hurry—I—I forgot—” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” +</p> + +<p> +“To turn off the gas in my room!” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, young man,” returned Mr. Fogg, coolly; “it will +burn—at your expense.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap05"></a>CHAPTER V.<br/> +IN WHICH A NEW SPECIES OF FUNDS, UNKNOWN TO THE MONEYED MEN, APPEARS ON +’CHANGE</h2> + +<p> +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 <i>Times, Standard, Morning Post</i>, and <i>Daily +News</i>, and twenty other highly respectable newspapers scouted Mr. +Fogg’s project as madness; the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>Illustrated London News</i> +came out with his portrait, copied from a photograph in the Reform Club. A few +readers of the <i>Daily Telegraph</i> even dared to say, “Why not, after +all? Stranger things have come to pass.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +This article made a great deal of noise, and, being copied into all the papers, +seriously depressed the advocates of the rash tourist. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +<i>Suez to London.</i> +</p> + +<p class="letter"> +R<small>OWAN</small>, C<small>OMMISSIONER OF</small> P<small>OLICE</small>, +S<small>COTLAND</small> Y<small>ARD</small>:<br/> + I’ve found the bank robber, Phileas Fogg. Send without delay warrant +of arrest to Bombay. +</p> + +<p class="right"> +F<small>IX</small>, <i>Detective</i>. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap06"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br/> +IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, BETRAYS A VERY NATURAL IMPATIENCE</h2> + +<p> +The circumstances under which this telegraphic dispatch about Phileas Fogg was +sent were as follows: +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>viâ</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“So you say, consul,” asked he for the twentieth time, “that +this steamer is never behind time?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does she come directly from Brindisi?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.’” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I hope so, Mr. Fix, for it was a heavy robbery.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fix evidently was not wanting in a tinge of self-conceit. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +As he passed among the busy crowd, Fix, according to habit, scrutinised the +passers-by with a keen, rapid glance. +</p> + +<p> +It was now half-past ten. +</p> + +<p> +“The steamer doesn’t come!” he exclaimed, as the port clock +struck. +</p> + +<p> +“She can’t be far off now,” returned his companion. +</p> + +<p> +“How long will she stop at Suez?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And does she go from Suez directly to Bombay?” +</p> + +<p> +“Without putting in anywhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Unless,” objected the consul, “he is exceptionally shrewd. +An English criminal, you know, is always better concealed in London than +anywhere else.” +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>viâ</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>visaed</i>. 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Is this your passport?” asked he. +</p> + +<p> +“No, it’s my master’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your master is—” +</p> + +<p> +“He stayed on board.” +</p> + +<p> +“But he must go to the consul’s in person, so as to establish his +identity.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, is that necessary?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite indispensable.” +</p> + +<p> +“And where is the consulate?” +</p> + +<p> +“There, on the corner of the square,” said Fix, pointing to a house +two hundred steps off. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll go and fetch my master, who won’t be much pleased, +however, to be disturbed.” +</p> + +<p> +The passenger bowed to Fix, and returned to the steamer. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap07"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br/> +WHICH ONCE MORE DEMONSTRATES THE USELESSNESS OF PASSPORTS AS AIDS TO +DETECTIVES</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“If he is as shrewd as I think he is, consul, he will come.” +</p> + +<p> +“To have his passport <i>visaed?</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>visa</i> the passport.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not? If the passport is genuine I have no right to refuse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Still, I must keep this man here until I can get a warrant to arrest him +from London.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, that’s your look-out. But I cannot—” +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>visa</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“You are Mr. Phileas Fogg?” said the consul, after reading the +passport. +</p> + +<p> +“I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“And this man is your servant?” +</p> + +<p> +“He is: a Frenchman, named Passepartout.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are from London?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you are going—” +</p> + +<p> +“To Bombay.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good, sir. You know that a <i>visa</i> is useless, and that no +passport is required?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know it, sir,” replied Phileas Fogg; “but I wish to prove, +by your <i>visa</i>, that I came by Suez.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well?” queried the detective. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, he looks and acts like a perfectly honest man,” replied the +consul. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I concede that; but then, you know, all descriptions—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Fix started off in search of Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“Left London, Wednesday, October 2nd, at 8.45 p.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Reached Paris, Thursday, October 3rd, at 7.20 a.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Left Paris, Thursday, at 8.40 a.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Reached Turin by Mont Cenis, Friday, October 4th, at 6.35 a.m. +</p> + +<p>“Left Turin, Friday, at 7.20 a.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Arrived at Brindisi, Saturday, October 5th, at 4 p.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Sailed on the ‘Mongolia,’ Saturday, at 5 p.m. +</p> + +<p>“Reached Suez, Wednesday, October 9th, at 11 a.m. +</p> + +<p> +“Total of hours spent, 158½; or, in days, six days and a half.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap08"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TALKS RATHER MORE, PERHAPS, THAN IS PRUDENT</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, my friend,” said the detective, coming up with him, +“is your passport <i>visaed?</i>” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, it’s you, is it, monsieur?” responded Passepartout. +“Thanks, yes, the passport is all right.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you are looking about you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; but we travel so fast that I seem to be journeying in a dream. So +this is Suez?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“In Egypt?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, in Egypt.” +</p> + +<p> +“And in Africa?” +</p> + +<p> +“In Africa.” +</p> + +<p> +“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 Père la +Chaise and the circus in the Champs Elysées!” +</p> + +<p> +“You are in a great hurry, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will show you an excellent shop for getting what you want.” +</p> + +<p> +“Really, monsieur, you are very kind.” +</p> + +<p> +And they walked off together, Passepartout chatting volubly as they went along. +</p> + +<p> +“Above all,” said he; “don’t let me lose the +steamer.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have plenty of time; it’s only twelve o’clock.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout pulled out his big watch. “Twelve!” he exclaimed; +“why, it’s only eight minutes before ten.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your watch is slow.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I regulate my watch? Never!” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, then, it will not agree with the sun.” +</p> + +<p> +“So much the worse for the sun, monsieur. The sun will be wrong, +then!” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where is your master going?” +</p> + +<p> +“Always straight ahead. He is going round the world.” +</p> + +<p> +“Round the world?” cried Fix. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! Mr. Fogg is a character, is he?” +</p> + +<p> +“I should say he was.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is he rich?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you have known your master a long time?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, no; I entered his service the very day we left London.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Is Bombay far from here?” asked Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“Pretty far. It is a ten days’ voyage by sea.” +</p> + +<p> +“And in what country is Bombay?” +</p> + +<p> +“India.” +</p> + +<p> +“In Asia?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +“The deuce! I was going to tell you there’s one thing that worries +me—my burner!” +</p> + +<p> +“What burner?” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“We’ll see about that,” replied Fix. +</p> + +<p> +“But are you not mistaken?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not mistaken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why was this robber so anxious to prove, by the <i>visa</i>, that he had +passed through Suez?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why? I have no idea; but listen to me.” +</p> + +<p> +He reported in a few words the most important parts of his conversation with +Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“In short,” said the consul, “appearances are wholly against +this man. And what are you going to do?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap09"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br/> +IN WHICH THE RED SEA AND THE INDIAN OCEAN PROVE PROPITIOUS TO THE DESIGNS OF +PHILEAS FOGG</h2> + +<p> +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, brigadiers, £2,400, and +generals of divisions, £4,000. 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! I quite recognise you. You are the servant of the strange +Englishman—” +</p> + +<p> +“Just so, monsieur—” +</p> + +<p> +“Fix.” +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur Fix,” resumed Passepartout, “I’m charmed to +find you on board. Where are you bound?” +</p> + +<p> +“Like you, to Bombay.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s capital! Have you made this trip before?” +</p> + +<p> +“Several times. I am one of the agents of the Peninsular Company.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you know India?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why yes,” replied Fix, who spoke cautiously. +</p> + +<p> +“A curious place, this India?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, very curious. Mosques, minarets, temples, fakirs, pagodas, tigers, +snakes, elephants! I hope you will have ample time to see the sights.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And Mr. Fogg is getting on well?” asked Fix, in the most natural +tone in the world. +</p> + +<p> +“Quite well, and I too. I eat like a famished ogre; it’s the sea +air.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I never see your master on deck.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never; he hasn’t the least curiosity.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know, Mr. Passepartout, that this pretended tour in eighty days +may conceal some secret errand—perhaps a diplomatic mission?” +</p> + +<p> +“Faith, Monsieur Fix, I assure you I know nothing about it, nor would I +give half a crown to find out.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg and his servant went ashore at Aden to have the passport again +<i>visaed;</i> Fix, unobserved, followed them. The <i>visa</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +“Very curious, <i>very</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap10"></a>CHAPTER X.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS ONLY TOO GLAD TO GET OFF WITH THE LOSS OF HIS +SHOES</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The passengers of the “Mongolia” went ashore at half-past four +p.m.; at exactly eight the train would start for Calcutta. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, my lord,” the rogue boldly replied, “rabbit from the +jungles.” +</p> + +<p> +“And this rabbit did not mew when he was killed?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mew, my lord! What, a rabbit mew! I swear to you—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“For the cats, my lord?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps for the travellers as well!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“No, I’ll stay,” muttered he. “An offence has been +committed on Indian soil. I’ve got my man.” +</p> + +<p> +Just then the locomotive gave a sharp screech, and the train passed out into +the darkness of the night. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap11"></a>CHAPTER XI.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SECURES A CURIOUS MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AT A FABULOUS +PRICE</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How so, Sir Francis?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Such a delay would not have deranged my plans in the least,” said +Mr. Fogg. “I have constantly foreseen the likelihood of certain +obstacles.” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout, not less surprised, rushed out and speedily returned, crying: +“Monsieur, no more railway!” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” asked Sir Francis. +</p> + +<p> +“I mean to say that the train isn’t going on.” +</p> + +<p> +The general at once stepped out, while Phileas Fogg calmly followed him, and +they proceeded together to the conductor. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are we?” asked Sir Francis. +</p> + +<p> +“At the hamlet of Kholby.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do we stop here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. The railway isn’t finished.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! not finished?” +</p> + +<p> +“No. There’s still a matter of fifty miles to be laid from here to +Allahabad, where the line begins again.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the papers announced the opening of the railway throughout.” +</p> + +<p> +“What would you have, officer? The papers were mistaken.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yet you sell tickets from Bombay to Calcutta,” retorted Sir +Francis, who was growing warm. +</p> + +<p> +“No doubt,” replied the conductor; “but the passengers know +that they must provide means of transportation for themselves from Kholby to +Allahabad.” +</p> + +<p> +Sir Francis was furious. Passepartout would willingly have knocked the +conductor down, and did not dare to look at his master. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir Francis,” said Mr. Fogg quietly, “we will, if you +please, look about for some means of conveyance to Allahabad.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Fogg, this is a delay greatly to your disadvantage.” +</p> + +<p> +“No, Sir Francis; it was foreseen.” +</p> + +<p> +“What! You knew that the way—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +There was nothing to say to so confident a response. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village from end to end, +came back without having found anything. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall go afoot,” said Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” +</p> + +<p> +“An elephant! An elephant that belongs to an Indian who lives but a +hundred steps from here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Let’s go and see the elephant,” replied Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +At two thousand pounds the Indian yielded. +</p> + +<p> +“What a price, good heavens!” cried Passepartout, “for an +elephant.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap12"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS VENTURE ACROSS THE INDIAN FORESTS, AND +WHAT ENSUED</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Of forged iron,” replied Passepartout, as he set about preparing a +hasty breakfast. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It was then four o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +“What’s the matter?” asked Sir Francis, putting out his head. +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know, officer,” replied the Parsee, listening +attentively to a confused murmur which came through the thick branches. +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“A procession of Brahmins is coming this way. We must prevent their +seeing us, if possible.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Francis, recognising the statue, whispered, “The goddess Kali; the +goddess of love and death.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of death, perhaps,” muttered back Passepartout, “but of +love—that ugly old hag? Never!” +</p> + +<p> +The Parsee made a motion to keep silence. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Francis watched the procession with a sad countenance, and, turning to the +guide, said, “A suttee.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg had heard what Sir Francis said, and, as soon as the procession +had disappeared, asked: “What is a suttee?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, the scoundrels!” cried Passepartout, who could not repress his +indignation. +</p> + +<p> +“And the corpse?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Is that of the prince, her husband,” said the guide; “an +independent rajah of Bundelcund.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The poor wretch!” exclaimed Passepartout, “to be burned +alive!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“How do you know?” +</p> + +<p> +“Everybody knows about this affair in Bundelcund.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the wretched creature did not seem to be making any +resistance,” observed Sir Francis. +</p> + +<p> +“That was because they had intoxicated her with fumes of hemp and +opium.” +</p> + +<p> +“But where are they taking her?” +</p> + +<p> +“To the pagoda of Pillaji, two miles from here; she will pass the night +there.” +</p> + +<p> +“And the sacrifice will take place—” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow, at the first light of dawn.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Save the woman, Mr. Fogg!” +</p> + +<p> +“I have yet twelve hours to spare; I can devote them to that.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, you are a man of heart!” +</p> + +<p> +“Sometimes,” replied Phileas Fogg, quietly; “when I have the +time.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap13"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE </h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Sir Francis frankly put the question to him. +</p> + +<p> +“Officers,” replied the guide, “I am a Parsee, and this woman +is a Parsee. Command me as you will.” +</p> + +<p> +“Excellent!” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“However,” resumed the guide, “it is certain, not only that +we shall risk our lives, but horrible tortures, if we are taken.” +</p> + +<p> +“That is foreseen,” replied Mr. Fogg. “I think we must wait +till night before acting.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so,” said the guide. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Come!” whispered the guide. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“It is only eight now,” said the brigadier, “and these guards +may also go to sleep.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is not impossible,” returned the Parsee. +</p> + +<p> +They lay down at the foot of a tree, and waited. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“We have nothing to do but to go away,” whispered Sir Francis. +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing but to go away,” echoed the guide. +</p> + +<p> +“Stop,” said Fogg. “I am only due at Allahabad tomorrow +before noon.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what can you hope to do?” asked Sir Francis. “In a few +hours it will be daylight, and—” +</p> + +<p> +“The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last +moment.” +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The resuscitated rajah approached Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg, and, in an abrupt +tone, said, “Let us be off!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap14"></a>CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF THE +GANGES WITHOUT EVER THINKING OF SEEING IT</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg replied that he would reflect upon the matter. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +When the poet-king, Ucaf Uddaul, celebrates the charms of the queen of +Ahmehnagara, he speaks thus: +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The guide’s eyes glistened. +</p> + +<p> +“Your honour is giving me a fortune!” cried he. +</p> + +<p> +“Take him, guide,” returned Mr. Fogg, “and I shall still be +your debtor.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap15"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br/> +IN WHICH THE BAG OF BANKNOTES DISGORGES SOME THOUSANDS OF POUNDS MORE </h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Just as he was leaving the station a policeman came up to him, and said, +“Mr. Phileas Fogg?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am he.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is this man your servant?” added the policeman, pointing to +Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be so good, both of you, as to follow me.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“May this young lady go with us?” asked he. +</p> + +<p> +“She may,” replied the policeman. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +He then retired, and closed the door. +</p> + +<p> +“Why, we are prisoners!” exclaimed Passepartout, falling into a +chair. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“But the steamer leaves at noon!” observed Passepartout, nervously. +</p> + +<p> +“We shall be on board by noon,” replied his master, placidly. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The first case,” said he. Then, putting his hand to his head, he +exclaimed, “Heh! This is not my wig!” +</p> + +<p> +“No, your worship,” returned the clerk, “it is mine.” +</p> + +<p> +“My dear Mr. Oysterpuff, how can a judge give a wise sentence in a +clerk’s wig?” +</p> + +<p> +The wigs were exchanged. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout was getting nervous, for the hands on the face of the big clock +over the judge seemed to go around with terrible rapidity. +</p> + +<p> +“The first case,” repeated Judge Obadiah. +</p> + +<p> +“Phileas Fogg?” demanded Oysterpuff. +</p> + +<p> +“I am here,” replied Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Passepartout?” +</p> + +<p> +“Present,” responded Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“Good,” said the judge. “You have been looked for, prisoners, +for two days on the trains from Bombay.” +</p> + +<p> +“But of what are we accused?” asked Passepartout, impatiently. +</p> + +<p> +“You are about to be informed.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am an English subject, sir,” said Mr. Fogg, “and I have +the right—” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you been ill-treated?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; let the complainants come in.” +</p> + +<p> +A door was swung open by order of the judge, and three Indian priests entered. +</p> + +<p> +“That’s it,” muttered Passepartout; “these are the +rogues who were going to burn our young lady.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You hear the charge?” asked the judge. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir,” replied Mr. Fogg, consulting his watch, “and I +admit it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You admit it?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The priests looked at each other; they did not seem to understand what was +said. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” cried Passepartout, warmly; “at the pagoda of Pillaji, +where they were on the point of burning their victim.” +</p> + +<p> +The judge stared with astonishment, and the priests were stupefied. +</p> + +<p> +“What victim?” said Judge Obadiah. “Burn whom? In Bombay +itself?” +</p> + +<p> +“Bombay?” cried Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly. We are not talking of the pagoda of Pillaji, but of the +pagoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay.” +</p> + +<p> +“And as a proof,” added the clerk, “here are the +desecrator’s very shoes, which he left behind him.” +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon he placed a pair of shoes on his desk. +</p> + +<p> +“My shoes!” cried Passepartout, in his surprise permitting this +imprudent exclamation to escape him. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Judge Obadiah had unfortunately caught Passepartout’s rash exclamation, +which the poor fellow would have given the world to recall. +</p> + +<p> +“The facts are admitted?” asked the judge. +</p> + +<p> +“Admitted,” replied Mr. Fogg, coldly. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Three hundred pounds!” cried Passepartout, startled at the +largeness of the sum. +</p> + +<p> +“Silence!” shouted the constable. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You have that right,” returned the judge. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“This sum will be restored to you upon your release from prison,” +said the judge. “Meanwhile, you are liberated on bail.” +</p> + +<p> +“Come!” said Phileas Fogg to his servant. +</p> + +<p> +“But let them at least give me back my shoes!” cried Passepartout +angrily. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap16"></a>CHAPTER XVI.<br/> +IN WHICH FIX DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND IN THE LEAST WHAT IS SAID TO HIM </h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>must</i> succeed! But how shall I +prevent his departure, if that should turn out to be my last resource?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It was now the 30th of October, and on the following day the +“Rangoon” was due at Singapore. +</p> + +<p> +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’?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, no,” replied Fix; “I shall stop at Hong Kong—at +least for some days.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!” said Passepartout, who seemed for an instant perplexed. +“But how is it I have not seen you on board since we left +Calcutta?” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“A young lady?” replied the detective, not seeming to comprehend +what was said. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“But does your master propose to carry this young woman to Europe?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all. We are simply going to place her under the protection of one +of her relatives, a rich merchant at Hong Kong.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing to be done there,” said Fix to himself, concealing his +disappointment. “A glass of gin, Mr. Passepartout?” +</p> + +<p> +“Willingly, Monsieur Fix. We must at least have a friendly glass on board +the ‘Rangoon.’” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap17"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br/> +SHOWING WHAT HAPPENED ON THE VOYAGE FROM SINGAPORE TO HONG KONG</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Fix, who suspected Mr. Fogg’s every movement, followed them cautiously, +without being himself perceived; while Passepartout, laughing in his sleeve at +Fix’s manœuvres, went about his usual errands. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“You are in a great hurry, then,” said Fix to him one day, +“to reach Hong Kong?” +</p> + +<p> +“A very great hurry!” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Fogg, I suppose, is anxious to catch the steamer for +Yokohama?” +</p> + +<p> +“Terribly anxious.” +</p> + +<p> +“You believe in this journey around the world, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Absolutely. Don’t you, Mr. Fix?” +</p> + +<p> +“I? I don’t believe a word of it.” +</p> + +<p> +“You’re a sly dog!” said Passepartout, winking at him. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout went still further the next day; he could not hold his tongue. +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Fix,” said he, in a bantering tone, “shall we be so +unfortunate as to lose you when we get to Hong Kong?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” responded Fix, a little embarrassed, “I don’t +know; perhaps—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, I am quite sure of that!” cried Passepartout, laughing +heartily. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap18"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG, PASSEPARTOUT, AND FIX GO EACH ABOUT HIS BUSINESS </h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“At high tide to-morrow morning,” answered the pilot. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said Mr. Fogg, without betraying any astonishment. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout, who heard what passed, would willingly have embraced the pilot, +while Fix would have been glad to twist his neck. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the steamer’s name?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“The ‘Carnatic.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Ought she not to have gone yesterday?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir; but they had to repair one of her boilers, and so her +departure was postponed till to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you,” returned Mr. Fogg, descending mathematically to the +saloon. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout clasped the pilot’s hand and shook it heartily in his +delight, exclaiming, “Pilot, you are the best of good fellows!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +At one o’clock the “Rangoon” was at the quay, and the +passengers were going ashore. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is very simple,” responded the gentleman. “Go on to +Europe.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I cannot intrude—” +</p> + +<p> +“You do not intrude, nor do you in the least embarrass my project. +Passepartout!” +</p> + +<p> +“Monsieur.” +</p> + +<p> +“Go to the ‘Carnatic,’ and engage three cabins.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap19"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT TAKES A TOO GREAT INTEREST IN HIS MASTER, AND WHAT COMES +OF IT</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, Monsieur Fix,” said Passepartout, “have you decided to +go with us so far as America?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” returned Fix, through his set teeth. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” exclaimed Passepartout, laughing heartily. “I knew +you could not persuade yourself to separate from us. Come and engage your +berth.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“That will suit my master all the better,” said Passepartout. +“I will go and let him know.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +Fix caught him by the arm, and said, “Wait a moment.” +</p> + +<p> +“What for, Mr. Fix?” +</p> + +<p> +“I want to have a serious talk with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Stay! What I have to say concerns your master.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout, at this, looked attentively at his companion. Fix’s face +seemed to have a singular expression. He resumed his seat. +</p> + +<p> +“What is it that you have to say?” +</p> + +<p> +Fix placed his hand upon Passepartout’s arm, and, lowering his voice, +said, “You have guessed who I am?” +</p> + +<p> +“Parbleu!” said Passepartout, smiling. +</p> + +<p> +“Then I’m going to tell you everything—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Useless!” said Fix. “You speak confidently. It’s clear +that you don’t know how large the sum is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course I do,” returned Passepartout. “Twenty thousand +pounds.” +</p> + +<p> +“Fifty-five thousand!” answered Fix, pressing his companion’s +hand. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Help you?” cried Passepartout, whose eyes were standing wide open. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; help me keep Mr. Fogg here for two or three days.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“What do you mean?” +</p> + +<p> +“I mean that it is a piece of shameful trickery. They might as well +waylay Mr. Fogg and put his money in their pockets!” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s just what we count on doing.” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +Fix began to be puzzled. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“But who do you think I am?” asked Fix, looking at him intently. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“He knows nothing, then?” +</p> + +<p> +“Nothing,” replied Passepartout, again emptying his glass. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well,” said the detective to himself, “as he is not an +accomplice, he will help me.” +</p> + +<p> +He had no time to lose: Fogg must be detained at Hong Kong, so he resolved to +make a clean breast of it. +</p> + +<p> +“Listen to me,” said Fix abruptly. “I am not, as you think, +an agent of the members of the Reform Club—” +</p> + +<p> +“Bah!” retorted Passepartout, with an air of raillery. +</p> + +<p> +“I am a police detective, sent out here by the London office.” +</p> + +<p> +“You, a detective?” +</p> + +<p> +“I will prove it. Here is my commission.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout was speechless with astonishment when Fix displayed this document, +the genuineness of which could not be doubted. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What nonsense!” cried Passepartout, striking the table with his +fist. “My master is the most honourable of men!” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, yes,” repeated the poor fellow, mechanically. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you like to be arrested as his accomplice?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what do you want of me?” said he, at last, with an effort. +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“I! But I—” +</p> + +<p> +“I will share with you the two thousand pounds reward offered by the Bank +of England.” +</p> + +<p> +“Never!” replied Passepartout, who tried to rise, but fell back, +exhausted in mind and body. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +“You refuse?” +</p> + +<p> +“I refuse.” +</p> + +<p> +“Consider that I’ve said nothing,” said Fix; “and let +us drink.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; let us drink!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +And, after paying his bill, Fix left the tavern. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap20"></a>CHAPTER XX.<br/> +IN WHICH FIX COMES FACE TO FACE WITH PHILEAS FOGG</h2> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p> +“It is in the interest of my journey—a part of my programme.” +</p> + +<p> +The purchases made, they returned to the hotel, where they dined at a +sumptuously served <i>table-d’hôte;</i> 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 <i>Times</i> +and <i>Illustrated London News</i>. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I was, sir,” replied Mr. Fogg coldly. “But I have not the +honour—” +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon me; I thought I should find your servant here.” +</p> + +<p> +“Do you know where he is, sir?” asked Aouda anxiously. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” responded Fix, feigning surprise. “Is he not with +you?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Aouda. “He has not made his appearance since +yesterday. Could he have gone on board the ‘Carnatic’ without +us?” +</p> + +<p> +“Without you, madam?” answered the detective. “Excuse me, did +you intend to sail in the ‘Carnatic’?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Is your honour looking for a boat?” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you a boat ready to sail?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, your honour; a pilot-boat—No. 43—the best in the +harbour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Does she go fast?” +</p> + +<p> +“Between eight and nine knots the hour. Will you look at her?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your honour will be satisfied with her. Is it for a sea +excursion?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; for a voyage.” +</p> + +<p> +“A voyage?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, will you agree to take me to Yokohama?” +</p> + +<p> +The sailor leaned on the railing, opened his eyes wide, and said, “Is +your honour joking?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry,” said the sailor; “but it is impossible.” +</p> + +<p> +“I offer you a hundred pounds per day, and an additional reward of two +hundred pounds if I reach Yokohama in time.” +</p> + +<p> +“Are you in earnest?” +</p> + +<p> +“Very much so.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg turned to Aouda and asked her, “You would not be afraid, would +you, madam?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not with you, Mr. Fogg,” was her answer. +</p> + +<p> +The pilot now returned, shuffling his hat in his hands. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, pilot?” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Only sixteen hundred,” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s the same thing.” +</p> + +<p> +Fix breathed more freely. +</p> + +<p> +“But,” added the pilot, “it might be arranged another +way.” +</p> + +<p> +Fix ceased to breathe at all. +</p> + +<p> +“How?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pilot,” said Mr. Fogg, “I must take the American steamer at +Yokohama, and not at Shanghai or Nagasaki.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are sure of that?” +</p> + +<p> +“Perfectly.” +</p> + +<p> +“And when does the boat leave Shanghai?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you could go—” +</p> + +<p> +“In an hour; as soon as provisions could be got aboard and the sails put +up.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is a bargain. Are you the master of the boat?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; John Bunsby, master of the ‘Tankadere.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you like some earnest-money?” +</p> + +<p> +“If it would not put your honour out—” +</p> + +<p> +“Here are two hundred pounds on account sir,” added Phileas Fogg, +turning to Fix, “if you would like to take advantage—” +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks, sir; I was about to ask the favour.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well. In half an hour we shall go on board.” +</p> + +<p> +“But poor Passepartout?” urged Aouda, who was much disturbed by the +servant’s disappearance. +</p> + +<p> +“I shall do all I can to find him,” replied Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry to have nothing better to offer you,” said Mr. Fogg to +Fix, who bowed without responding. +</p> + +<p> +The detective had a feeling akin to humiliation in profiting by the kindness of +Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“It’s certain,” thought he, “though rascal as he is, he +is a polite one!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap21"></a>CHAPTER XXI.<br/> +IN WHICH THE MASTER OF THE “TANKADERE” RUNS GREAT RISK OF LOSING A +REWARD OF TWO HUNDRED POUNDS</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Late in the day they passed through the capricious channels of Hong Kong, and +the “Tankadere,” impelled by favourable winds, conducted herself +admirably. +</p> + +<p> +“I do not need, pilot,” said Phileas Fogg, when they got into the +open sea, “to advise you to use all possible speed.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It’s your trade, not mine, pilot, and I confide in you.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Let us not speak of that, sir,” replied Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“But, if I insist—” +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir,” repeated Mr. Fogg, in a tone which did not admit of a +reply. “This enters into my general expenses.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we are going to have a squall.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is the wind north or south?” asked Mr. Fogg quietly. +</p> + +<p> +“South. Look! a typhoon is coming up.” +</p> + +<p> +“Glad it’s a typhoon from the south, for it will carry us +forward.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“I think so too.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” said the pilot. “But which one?” +</p> + +<p> +“I know of but one,” returned Mr. Fogg tranquilly. +</p> + +<p> +“And that is—” +</p> + +<p> +“Shanghai.” +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +So the “Tankadere” kept steadily on her northward track. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Confound her!” cried John Bunsby, pushing back the rudder with a +desperate jerk. +</p> + +<p> +“Signal her!” said Phileas Fogg quietly. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Fire!” said Mr. Fogg. And the booming of the little cannon +resounded in the air. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap22"></a>CHAPTER XXII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT FINDS OUT THAT, EVEN AT THE ANTIPODES, IT IS CONVENIENT +TO HAVE SOME MONEY IN ONE’S POCKET</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!’” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I beg your pardon,” said Passepartout persistently. “He is a +tall gentleman, quiet, and not very talkative, and has with him a young +lady—” +</p> + +<p> +“There is no young lady on board,” interrupted the purser. +“Here is a list of the passengers; you may see for yourself.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout scanned the list, but his master’s name was not upon it. All +at once an idea struck him. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! am I on the ‘Carnatic?’” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“On the way to Yokohama?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +As he was strolling along, Passepartout espied some violets among the shrubs. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” said he; “I’ll have some supper.” +</p> + +<p> +But, on smelling them, he found that they were odourless. +</p> + +<p> +“No chance there,” thought he. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap23"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT’S NOSE BECOMES OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Good!” thought he. “I will imagine I am at the +Carnival!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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: +</p> + +<p class="center"> +ACROBATIC JAPANESE TROUPE,<br/> +HONOURABLE WILLIAM BATULCAR, PROPRIETOR,<br/> +LAST REPRESENTATIONS,<br/> +PRIOR TO THEIR DEPARTURE TO THE UNITED STATES,<br/> +OF THE<br/> +LONG NOSES! LONG NOSES!<br/> +UNDER THE DIRECT PATRONAGE OF THE GOD TINGOU!<br/> +GREAT ATTRACTION! +</p> + +<p> +“The United States!” said Passepartout; “that’s just +what I want!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout entered and asked for Mr. Batulcar, who straightway appeared in +person. +</p> + +<p> +“What do you want?” said he to Passepartout, whom he at first took +for a native. +</p> + +<p> +“Would you like a servant, sir?” asked Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“So I can be of no use to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +“The devil! I should so like to cross the Pacific with you!” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“A man dresses as he can.” +</p> + +<p> +“That’s true. You are a Frenchman, aren’t you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; a Parisian of Paris.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then you ought to know how to make grimaces?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” +</p> + +<p> +“You are pretty strong, eh?” +</p> + +<p> +“Especially after a good meal.” +</p> + +<p> +“And you can sing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” returned Passepartout, who had formerly been wont to sing in +the streets. +</p> + +<p> +“But can you sing standing on your head, with a top spinning on your left +foot, and a sabre balanced on your right?” +</p> + +<p> +“Humph! I think so,” replied Passepartout, recalling the exercises +of his younger days. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, that’s enough,” said the Honourable William Batulcar. +</p> + +<p> +The engagement was concluded there and then. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The performance was much like all acrobatic displays; but it must be confessed +that the Japanese are the first equilibrists in the world. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +But the principal attraction was the exhibition of the Long Noses, a show to +which Europe is as yet a stranger. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +“You here?” +</p> + +<p> +“Myself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well; then let us go to the steamer, young man!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap24"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.<br/> +DURING WHICH MR. FOGG AND PARTY CROSS THE PACIFIC OCEAN</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Where was Fix at that moment? +</p> + +<p> +He was actually on board the “General Grant.” +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“For this time—yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then let me have a word with you.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I—” +</p> + +<p> +“In your master’s interests.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Aha!” cried Passepartout; “you are convinced he is an honest +man?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout listened, with closed fists. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout listened very attentively to Fix, and was convinced that he spoke +with entire good faith. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we friends?” asked the detective. +</p> + +<p> +“Friends?—no,” replied Passepartout; “but allies, +perhaps. At the least sign of treason, however, I’ll twist your neck for +you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Agreed,” said the detective quietly. +</p> + +<p> +Eleven days later, on the 3rd of December, the “General Grant” +entered the bay of the Golden Gate, and reached San Francisco. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg had neither gained nor lost a single day. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap25"></a>CHAPTER XXV.<br/> +IN WHICH A SLIGHT GLIMPSE IS HAD OF SAN FRANCISCO</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +When Passepartout reached the International Hotel, it did not seem to him as if +he had left England at all. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +After breakfast, Mr. Fogg, accompanied by Aouda, started for the English +consulate to have his passport <i>visaed</i>. 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Hurrah for Camerfield!” +</p> + +<p> +“Hurrah for Mandiboy!” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” returned Mr. Fogg; “and blows, even if they are +political, are still blows.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps,” replied Mr. Fogg, simply. +</p> + +<p> +“At least, there are two champions in presence of each other, the +Honourable Mr. Camerfield and the Honourable Mr. Mandiboy.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“An English subject—” began Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Yankee!” exclaimed Mr. Fogg, darting a contemptuous look at the +ruffian. +</p> + +<p> +“Englishman!” returned the other. “We will meet again!” +</p> + +<p> +“When you please.” +</p> + +<p> +“What is your name?” +</p> + +<p> +“Phileas Fogg. And yours?” +</p> + +<p> +“Colonel Stamp Proctor.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks,” said Mr. Fogg to the detective, as soon as they were out +of the crowd. +</p> + +<p> +“No thanks are necessary,” replied Fix; “but let us +go.” +</p> + +<p> +“Where?” +</p> + +<p> +“To a tailor’s.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It was a political meeting, sir,” replied the porter. +</p> + +<p> +“But I thought there was a great deal of disturbance in the +streets.” +</p> + +<p> +“It was only a meeting assembled for an election.” +</p> + +<p> +“The election of a general-in-chief, no doubt?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“No, sir; of a justice of the peace.” +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg got into the train, which started off at full speed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap26"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND PARTY TRAVEL BY THE PACIFIC RAILROAD</h2> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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, <i>viâ</i> Sacramento, to the Pacific—its grade, +even on the Rocky Mountains, never exceeding one hundred and twelve feet to the +mile. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Book and news dealers, sellers of edibles, drinkables, and cigars, who seemed +to have plenty of customers, were continually circulating in the aisles. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout was furious at the delay they occasioned, and longed to discharge +his arsenal of revolvers upon them. +</p> + +<p> +“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 <i>this</i> mishap in his programme! +And here’s an engineer who doesn’t dare to run the locomotive into +this herd of beasts!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap27"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT UNDERGOES, AT A SPEED OF TWENTY MILES AN HOUR, A COURSE +OF MORMON HISTORY</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I’ll go,” said Passepartout to himself. He knew nothing of +Mormonism except the custom of polygamy, which is its foundation. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No!” replied Passepartout courageously, in his turn retiring from +the car, and leaving the Elder to preach to vacancy. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“One, sir,” replied the Mormon, raising his arms heavenward +—“one, and that was enough!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap28"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT DOES NOT SUCCEED IN MAKING ANYBODY LISTEN TO REASON </h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Aouda seized a moment when Mr. Fogg was asleep to tell Fix and Passepartout +whom she had seen. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, besides,” added Passepartout, “I’ll take charge +of him, colonel as he is.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I would do anything,” replied Fix, in a tone which betrayed +determined will, “to get him back living to Europe!” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout felt something like a shudder shoot through his frame, but his +confidence in his master remained unbroken. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes,” replied Mr. Fogg; “but they pass.” +</p> + +<p> +“You were in the habit of playing whist,” resumed Fix, “on +the steamers.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; but it would be difficult to do so here. I have neither cards nor +partners.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, but we can easily buy some cards, for they are sold on all the +American trains. And as for partners, if madam plays—” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, sir,” Aouda quickly replied; “I understand whist. +It is part of an English education.” +</p> + +<p> +“I myself have some pretensions to playing a good game. Well, here are +three of us, and a dummy—” +</p> + +<p> +“As you please, sir,” replied Phileas Fogg, heartily glad to resume +his favourite pastime even on the railway. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Now,” thought Passepartout, “we’ve got him. He +won’t budge.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout rushed out of the car. Thirty or forty passengers had already +descended, amongst them Colonel Stamp Proctor. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout, not daring to apprise his master of what he heard, listened with +set teeth, immovable as a statue. +</p> + +<p> +“Hum!” cried Colonel Proctor; “but we are not going to stay +here, I imagine, and take root in the snow?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Six hours!” cried Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly,” returned the conductor, “besides, it will take +us as long as that to reach Medicine Bow on foot.” +</p> + +<p> +“But it is only a mile from here,” said one of the passengers. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, but it’s on the other side of the river.” +</p> + +<p> +“And can’t we cross that in a boat?” asked the colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“On the bridge?” asked a passenger. +</p> + +<p> +“On the bridge.” +</p> + +<p> +“With our train?” +</p> + +<p> +“With our train.” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout stopped short, and eagerly listened to the engineer. +</p> + +<p> +“But the bridge is unsafe,” urged the conductor. +</p> + +<p> +“No matter,” replied Forster; “I think that by putting on the +very highest speed we might have a chance of getting over.” +</p> + +<p> +“The devil!” muttered Passepartout. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“We have fifty chances out of a hundred of getting over,” said one. +</p> + +<p> +“Eighty! ninety!” +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Eighty chances!” replied the passenger, turning his back on him. +</p> + +<p> +“I know it,” said Passepartout, turning to another passenger, +“but a simple idea—” +</p> + +<p> +“Ideas are no use,” returned the American, shrugging his shoulders, +“as the engineer assures us that we can pass.” +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless,” urged Passepartout, “we can pass, but perhaps it +would be more prudent—” +</p> + +<p> +“What! Prudent!” cried Colonel Proctor, whom this word seemed to +excite prodigiously. “At full speed, don’t you see, at full +speed!” +</p> + +<p> +“I know—I see,” repeated Passepartout; “but it would +be, if not more prudent, since that word displeases you, at least more +natural—” +</p> + +<p> +“Who! What! What’s the matter with this fellow?” cried +several. +</p> + +<p> +The poor fellow did not know to whom to address himself. +</p> + +<p> +“Are you afraid?” asked Colonel Proctor. +</p> + +<p> +“I afraid? Very well; I will show these people that a Frenchman can be as +American as they!” +</p> + +<p> +“All aboard!” cried the conductor. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap29"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.<br/> +IN WHICH CERTAIN INCIDENTS ARE NARRATED WHICH ARE ONLY TO BE MET WITH ON +AMERICAN RAILROADS</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>Railway Pioneer</i> 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The one hundred and first meridian was passed. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Fix raised their heads, and beheld Colonel Proctor. +</p> + +<p> +Stamp Proctor and Phileas Fogg recognised each other at once. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! it’s you, is it, Englishman?” cried the colonel; +“it’s you who are going to play a spade!” +</p> + +<p> +“And who plays it,” replied Phileas Fogg coolly, throwing down the +ten of spades. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, it pleases me to have it diamonds,” replied Colonel Proctor, +in an insolent tone. +</p> + +<p> +He made a movement as if to seize the card which had just been played, adding, +“You don’t understand anything about whist.” +</p> + +<p> +“Perhaps I do, as well as another,” said Phileas Fogg, rising. +</p> + +<p> +“You have only to try, son of John Bull,” replied the colonel. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“When and where you will,” replied the American, “and with +whatever weapon you choose.” +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, what’s that to me?” replied Colonel Proctor. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Really!” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you appoint a meeting for six months hence?” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not ten years hence?” +</p> + +<p> +“I say six months,” returned Phileas Fogg; “and I shall be at +the place of meeting promptly.” +</p> + +<p> +“All this is an evasion,” cried Stamp Proctor. “Now or +never!” +</p> + +<p> +“Very good. You are going to New York?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“To Chicago?” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“To Omaha?” +</p> + +<p> +“What difference is it to you? Do you know Plum Creek?” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” replied Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Mr. Fogg. “I will stop at Plum +Creek.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I guess you’ll stay there too,” added the American +insolently. +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +“Why not?” asked the colonel. +</p> + +<p> +“We are twenty minutes late, and we shall not stop.” +</p> + +<p> +“But I am going to fight a duel with this gentleman.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am sorry,” said the conductor; “but we shall be off at +once. There’s the bell ringing now.” +</p> + +<p> +The train started. +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“That wouldn’t be convenient, perhaps, for this gentleman,” +said the colonel, in a jeering tone. +</p> + +<p> +“It would be perfectly so,” replied Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Well, we are really in America,” thought Passepartout, “and +the conductor is a gentleman of the first order!” +</p> + +<p> +So muttering, he followed his master. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The Sioux were armed with guns, from which came the reports, to which the +passengers, who were almost all armed, responded by revolver-shots. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +“It shall be stopped,” said Phileas Fogg, preparing to rush from +the car. +</p> + +<p> +“Stay, monsieur,” cried Passepartout; “I will go.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap30"></a>CHAPTER XXX.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SIMPLY DOES HIS DUTY</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, Mr.—Mr. Fogg!” cried she, clasping his hands and +covering them with tears. +</p> + +<p> +“Living,” added Mr. Fogg, “if we do not lose a moment.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Sir,” said Mr. Fogg to the captain, “three passengers have +disappeared.” +</p> + +<p> +“Dead?” asked the captain. +</p> + +<p> +“Dead or prisoners; that is the uncertainty which must be solved. Do you +propose to pursue the Sioux?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“The lives of three men are in question, sir,” said Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Doubtless; but can I risk the lives of fifty men to save three?” +</p> + +<p> +“I don’t know whether you can, sir; but you ought to do so.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nobody here,” returned the other, “has a right to teach me +my duty.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well,” said Mr. Fogg, coldly. “I will go alone.” +</p> + +<p> +“You, sir!” cried Fix, coming up; “you go alone in pursuit of +the Indians?” +</p> + +<p> +“Would you have me leave this poor fellow to perish—him to whom +every one present owes his life? I shall go.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks, captain,” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Will you let me go with you?” asked Fix. +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“I will stay,” said he. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +It was then a little past noon. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Aouda, on seeing the locomotive come up, hurried out of the station, and asked +the conductor, “Are you going to start?” +</p> + +<p> +“At once, madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“But the prisoners, our unfortunate fellow-travellers—” +</p> + +<p> +“I cannot interrupt the trip,” replied the conductor. “We are +already three hours behind time.” +</p> + +<p> +“And when will another train pass here from San Francisco?” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow evening, madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“To-morrow evening! But then it will be too late! We must +wait—” +</p> + +<p> +“It is impossible,” responded the conductor. “If you wish to +go, please get in.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will not go,” said Aouda. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The detective had remained behind. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The captain, who was really alarmed, did not know what course to take. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg was marching at their head, and just behind him were Passepartout and +the other two travellers, rescued from the Sioux. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The train! the train!” cried he. +</p> + +<p> +“Gone,” replied Fix. +</p> + +<p> +“And when does the next train pass here?” said Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“Not till this evening.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” returned the impassible gentleman quietly. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap31"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.<br/> +IN WHICH FIX, THE DETECTIVE, CONSIDERABLY FURTHERS THE INTERESTS OF PHILEAS +FOGG</h2> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg found himself twenty hours behind time. Passepartout, the +involuntary cause of this delay, was desperate. He had ruined his master! +</p> + +<p> +At this moment the detective approached Mr. Fogg, and, looking him intently in +the face, said: +</p> + +<p> +“Seriously, sir, are you in great haste?” +</p> + +<p> +“Quite seriously.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“It is absolutely necessary.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, if your journey had not been interrupted by these Indians, you +would have reached New York on the morning of the 11th?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; with eleven hours to spare before the steamer left.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“On foot?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“No; on a sledge,” replied Fix. “On a sledge with sails. A +man has proposed such a method to me.” +</p> + +<p> +It was the man who had spoken to Fix during the night, and whose offer he had +refused. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“If nothing breaks,” said Mudge, “we shall get there!” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg had made it for Mudge’s interest to reach Omaha within the time +agreed on, by the offer of a handsome reward. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Those chords give the fifth and the octave,” said Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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 were still some +chances that it would be before the steamer sailed for Liverpool. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +It stopped at last, and Mudge, pointing to a mass of roofs white with snow, +said: “We have got there!” +</p> + +<p> +Arrived! Arrived at the station which is in daily communication, by numerous +trains, with the Atlantic seaboard! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The “China,” for Liverpool, had started three-quarters of an hour +before! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap32"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG ENGAGES IN A DIRECT STRUGGLE WITH BAD FORTUNE</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg learned all this in consulting his “Bradshaw,” which gave +him the daily movements of the transatlantic steamers. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“The captain?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“I am the captain.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am Phileas Fogg, of London.” +</p> + +<p> +“And I am Andrew Speedy, of Cardiff.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are going to put to sea?” +</p> + +<p> +“In an hour.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are bound for—” +</p> + +<p> +“Bordeaux.” +</p> + +<p> +“And your cargo?” +</p> + +<p> +“No freight. Going in ballast.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have you any passengers?” +</p> + +<p> +“No passengers. Never have passengers. Too much in the way.” +</p> + +<p> +“Is your vessel a swift one?” +</p> + +<p> +“Between eleven and twelve knots. The “Henrietta,” well +known.” +</p> + +<p> +“Will you carry me and three other persons to Liverpool?” +</p> + +<p> +“To Liverpool? Why not to China?” +</p> + +<p> +“I said Liverpool.” +</p> + +<p> +“No!” +</p> + +<p> +“No?” +</p> + +<p> +“No. I am setting out for Bordeaux, and shall go to Bordeaux.” +</p> + +<p> +“Money is no object?” +</p> + +<p> +“None.” +</p> + +<p> +The captain spoke in a tone which did not admit of a reply. +</p> + +<p> +“But the owners of the ‘Henrietta’—” resumed +Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“The owners are myself,” replied the captain. “The vessel +belongs to me.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will freight it for you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +“I will buy it of you.” +</p> + +<p> +“No.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“No, not if you paid me two hundred dollars.” +</p> + +<p> +“I offer you two thousand.” +</p> + +<p> +“Apiece?” +</p> + +<p> +“Apiece.” +</p> + +<p> +“And there are four of you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Four.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“We will be on board at nine o’clock,” replied, no less +simply, Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +When Passepartout heard what this last voyage was going to cost, he uttered a +prolonged “Oh!” which extended throughout his vocal gamut. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap33"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG SHOWS HIMSELF EQUAL TO THE OCCASION</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +How the adventure ended will be seen anon. Aouda was anxious, though she said +nothing. As for Passepartout, he thought Mr. Fogg’s manœuvre simply +glorious. The captain had said “between eleven and twelve knots,” +and the “Henrietta” confirmed his prediction. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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 +transatlantic steamer. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Then you believe that we really are going to Liverpool?” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ass!” replied the detective, shrugging his shoulders and turning +on his heel. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Do not let the fires go down,” replied Mr. Fogg. “Keep them +up to the last. Let the valves be filled.” +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Where are we?” he repeated, with purple face. +</p> + +<p> +“Seven hundred and seven miles from Liverpool,” replied Mr. Fogg, +with imperturbable calmness. +</p> + +<p> +“Pirate!” cried Captain Speedy. +</p> + +<p> +“I have sent for you, sir—” +</p> + +<p> +“Pickaroon!” +</p> + +<p> +“—sir,” continued Mr. Fogg, “to ask you to sell me your +vessel.” +</p> + +<p> +“No! By all the devils, no!” +</p> + +<p> +“But I shall be obliged to burn her.” +</p> + +<p> +“Burn the ‘Henrietta’!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; at least the upper part of her. The coal has given out.” +</p> + +<p> +“Burn my vessel!” cried Captain Speedy, who could scarcely +pronounce the words. “A vessel worth fifty thousand dollars!” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +“And I shall still have the iron hull,” said the captain in a +softer tone. +</p> + +<p> +“The iron hull and the engine. Is it agreed?” +</p> + +<p> +“Agreed.” +</p> + +<p> +And Andrew Speedy, seizing the banknotes, counted them and consigned them to +his pocket. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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—” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Fogg.” +</p> + +<p> +“Captain Fogg, you’ve got something of the Yankee about you.” +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Certainly, from the keel to the truck of the masts—all the wood, +that is.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very well. Have the interior seats, bunks, and frames pulled down, and +burn them.” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah,” said Mr. Fogg, “is that place where we see the lights +Queenstown?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes.” +</p> + +<p> +“Can we enter the harbour?” +</p> + +<p> +“Not under three hours. Only at high tide.” +</p> + +<p> +“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. +</p> + +<p> +Queenstown is the Irish port at which the transatlantic 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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg at last disembarked on the Liverpool quay, at twenty minutes +before twelve, 21st December. He was only six hours distant from London. +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“I am.” +</p> + +<p> +“I arrest you in the Queen’s name!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap34"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AT LAST REACHES LONDON</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +As for Fix, he had arrested Mr. Fogg because it was his duty, whether Mr. Fogg +were guilty or not. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The Custom House clock struck one. Mr. Fogg observed that his watch was two +hours too fast. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The door swung open, and he saw Passepartout, Aouda, and Fix, who hurried +towards him. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Well hit!” cried Passepartout, “Parbleu! that’s what +you might call a good application of English fists!” +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +There were several rapid locomotives on hand; but the railway arrangements did +not permit the special train to leave until three o’clock. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.<a href="#fn1" name="fnref1" id="fnref1"><sup>[1]</sup></a> +</p> + + +<p> +Having made the tour of the world, he was behind-hand five minutes. He had lost +the wager! +</p> + +<p class="footnote"> +<a name="fn1" id="fn1"></a> <a href="#fnref1">[1]</a> +A somewhat remarkable eccentricity on the part of the London +clocks!—T<small>RANSLATOR</small>. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap35"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DOES NOT HAVE TO REPEAT HIS ORDERS TO PASSEPARTOUT +TWICE</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +After leaving the station, Mr. Fogg gave Passepartout instructions to purchase +some provisions, and quietly went to his domicile. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg’s course, however, was fully decided upon; he knew what remained +for him to do. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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— +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout could hold in no longer. +</p> + +<p> +“My master! Mr. Fogg!” he cried, “why do you not curse me? It +was my fault that—” +</p> + +<p> +“I blame no one,” returned Phileas Fogg, with perfect calmness. +“Go!” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout left the room, and went to find Aouda, to whom he delivered his +master’s message. +</p> + +<p> +“Madam,” he added, “I can do nothing myself—nothing! I +have no influence over my master; but you, perhaps—” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, madam; probably to arrange for your protection and comfort in +England.” +</p> + +<p> +“We shall see,” replied Aouda, becoming suddenly pensive. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +He sat several minutes without speaking; then, bending his eyes on Aouda, +“Madam,” said he, “will you pardon me for bringing you to +England?” +</p> + +<p> +“I, Mr. Fogg!” replied Aouda, checking the pulsations of her heart. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, madam; but circumstances have been against me. Still, I beg to +place the little I have left at your service.” +</p> + +<p> +“But what will become of you, Mr. Fogg?” +</p> + +<p> +“As for me, madam,” replied the gentleman, coldly, “I have +need of nothing.” +</p> + +<p> +“But how do you look upon the fate, sir, which awaits you?” +</p> + +<p> +“As I am in the habit of doing.” +</p> + +<p> +“At least,” said Aouda, “want should not overtake a man like +you. Your friends—” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no friends, madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“Your relatives—” +</p> + +<p> +“I have no longer any relatives.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“They say so, madam.” +</p> + +<p> +“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?” +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah!” cried Aouda, pressing his hand to her heart. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg asked him if it was not too late to notify the Reverend Samuel Wilson, +of Marylebone parish, that evening. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout smiled his most genial smile, and said, “Never too +late.” +</p> + +<p> +It was five minutes past eight. +</p> + +<p> +“Will it be for to-morrow, Monday?” +</p> + +<p> +“For to-morrow, Monday,” said Mr. Fogg, turning to Aouda. +</p> + +<p> +“Yes; for to-morrow, Monday,” she replied. +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout hurried off as fast as his legs could carry him. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap36"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.<br/> +IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG’S NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A PREMIUM ON +’CHANGE</h2> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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.” +</p> + +<p> +“What time did the last train arrive from Liverpool?” asked Thomas +Flanagan. +</p> + +<p> +“At twenty-three minutes past seven,” replied Gauthier Ralph; +“and the next does not arrive till ten minutes after twelve.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why,” said Andrew Stuart nervously, “if I should see him, I +should not believe it was he.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“Observe, too,” added John Sullivan, “that we have received +no intelligence from him, though there are telegraphic lines all along his +route.” +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +“It is clear,” replied Gauthier Ralph; “and we have nothing +to do but to present Mr. Fogg’s cheque at Barings to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +At this moment, the hands of the club clock pointed to twenty minutes to nine. +</p> + +<p> +“Five minutes more,” said Andrew Stuart. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“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.” +</p> + +<p> +The clock indicated eighteen minutes to nine. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +“Seventeen minutes to nine,” said Thomas Flanagan, as he cut the +cards which Ralph handed to him. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +“Sixteen minutes to nine!” said John Sullivan, in a voice which +betrayed his emotion. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +At the fortieth second, nothing. At the fiftieth, still nothing. +</p> + +<p> +At the fifty-fifth, a loud cry was heard in the street, followed by applause, +hurrahs, and some fierce growls. +</p> + +<p> +The players rose from their seats. +</p> + +<p> +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!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="chap37"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.<br/> +IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED NOTHING BY HIS TOUR AROUND THE +WORLD, UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS</h2> + +<p> +Yes; Phileas Fogg in person. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +In three minutes he was in Saville Row again, and staggered back into Mr. +Fogg’s room. +</p> + +<p> +He could not speak. +</p> + +<p> +“What is the matter?” asked Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“My master!” gasped +Passepartout—“marriage—impossible—” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible?” +</p> + +<p> +“Impossible—for to-morrow.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why so?” +</p> + +<p> +“Because to-morrow—is Sunday!” +</p> + +<p> +“Monday,” replied Mr. Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +“No—to-day is Saturday.” +</p> + +<p> +“Saturday? Impossible!” +</p> + +<p> +“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!” +</p> + +<p> +Passepartout had seized his master by the collar, and was dragging him along +with irresistible force. +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +The clock indicated a quarter before nine when he appeared in the great saloon. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg had accomplished the journey round the world in eighty days! +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg had won his wager of twenty thousand pounds! +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +The cause of the error is very simple. +</p> + +<p> +Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day on his journey, and +this merely because he had travelled constantly <i>eastward;</i> he would, on +the contrary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction, that is, +<i>westward</i>. +</p> + +<p> +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 <i>eighty</i> times, his friends in London only saw it pass the +meridian <i>seventy-nine</i> times. This is why they awaited him at the Reform +Club on Saturday, and not Sunday, as Mr. Fogg thought. +</p> + +<p> +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! +</p> + +<p> +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. +</p> + +<p> +That evening, Mr. Fogg, as tranquil and phlegmatic as ever, said to Aouda: +“Is our marriage still agreeable to you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Mr. Fogg,” replied she, “it is for me to ask that question. +You were ruined, but now you are rich again.” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +“Dear Mr. Fogg!” said the young woman. +</p> + +<p> +“Dear Aouda!” replied Phileas Fogg. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +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?” +</p> + +<p> +“What is it, sir? Why, I’ve just this instant found +out—” +</p> + +<p> +“What?” +</p> + +<p> +“That we might have made the tour of the world in only seventy-eight +days.” +</p> + +<p> +“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—” +</p> + +<p> +Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door. +</p> + +<p> +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? +</p> + +<p> +Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who, strange as it +may appear, made him the happiest of men! +</p> + +<p> +Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 103 ***</div> +</body> + +</html> + + diff --git a/103-h/images/cover.jpg b/103-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..223bfd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/103-h/images/cover.jpg |
