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23 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter twenty three, in which Passepartout's nose becomes outrageously long. The next morning,
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  poor jaded, famish Passepartout said to himself that he must get something to
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  eat at all hazards, and the sinner he did so, the better.
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  He might indeed sell his watch, but he would have starved first. Now
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  or never, he must use the strong, if not melodious voice which nature
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  had bestowed upon him. He knew several French and English songs and resolved to
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  try them upon the Japanese, who must be lovers of music, since they
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  were forever pounding on their symbols tam tams and tambourines, and could not but
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  appreciate European talent. It was perhaps rather early in the morning to get up
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  a concert, and the audience, prematurely aroused from their slumbers, might not
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  possibly pay their entertainer with coin bearing the mikado's features. Passepartout therefore decided to
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  wait several hours, and as he was sauntering along, it occurred to him
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  that he would seem rather too well dressed for a wandering artist. The idea
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  struck him to change his garments for clothes more in harmony with his project,
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  by which he might also get a little money to satisfy the immediate cravings of
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  hunger. The resolution taken, it remained to carry it out. It was
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  only after a long search that Passepartout discovered a native dealer in old clothes,
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  to whom he applied for an exchange. The man liked the European costume,
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  an ere long pass par two issued from his shop, accoutered in an old
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  Japanese coat, and a sort of one sided turban faded with long use.
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  A few small pieces of silver moreover jingled in his pocket, good thought he,
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  I will imagine I am at the carnival. His first care after being
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  thus Japanese was to utter a tea house of modest appearance, and upon half
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  a bird and a little rice, to breakfast, like a man for whom
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  dinner was as yet a problem to be solved. Now thought he, when
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  he had eaten heartily. I mustn't lose my head. I can't sell this
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  costume again for one still more Japanese. I must consider how to leave this
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  country of the sun, of which I shall not retain the most delightful of
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  memories, as quickly as possible, it occurred to him to visit the steamers
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  which were about to leave for America. He would offer himself as a cook
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  or servant in payment of his passage and meals. Once at San Francisco he
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  would find some means of going on. The difficulty was how to traverse the
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  four thousand, seven hundred miles of the Pacific which lay between Japan and the
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  New World. Passepartout was not the man to let an idea go begging,
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  and directed his steps toward the docks. But as he approached them, his
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  project, which at first had seemed so simple, began to grow more and
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  more formidable to his mind. What need would they have of a cook or
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  servant on an American steamer? And what confidence would they put in him?
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  Dressed as he was? What references could he give? As he was reflecting
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  in this wise, his eyes fell upon an immense placard which a sort of
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  clown was carrying through the streets. This placard, which was in English read
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  as follows acrobatic Japanese troop Honorable William Battelcar proprietor last representations prior to their departure
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  to the United States of the Long noses, long noses, under the direct
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  patronage of the God Tingou Great attraction the United States, said Passepartout, That's
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  just what I want. He followed the clown and soon found himself once more
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  in the Japanese quarter. A quarter of an hour later, he stopped before
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  a large cabin adorned with several clusters of streamers, the exterior walls of which
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  were designed to represent, in violent colors and without perspective, a company of
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  jugglers. This was the Honorable William Battlecar's establishment that gentleman was a sort of
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  barnum, the director of a troop of mountebanks, jugglers, clowns, acrobats,
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  equilibrists, and gymnasts, who, according to the placard, was giving
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  his last performances before leaving the Empire of the Sun for the States of the
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  Union. Passepartout entered and asked for mister Battlecar, who straightway appeared in person.
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  What do you want, said he to Passepartout, whom he at first
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  took for a native. Would you lack a servant, sir, asked Passepartout.
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  A servant cried mister Battlecar, caressing the thick gray beard hung from his
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  chin, I already have two who are obedient and faithful, have never left
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  me, and serve me for their nourishment. And here they are, added
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  he holding out his two robust arms, furred with veins as large as the
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  strings of a base vial. So I can be of no use to you.
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  None is the devil. I should so like to cross the Pacific with
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  you, Ah, said the honorable mister battlecr You are no more a Japanese
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  than I am a monkey. Who are you dressed up in that way?
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  A man dresses as he can. That's true. You are a Frenchman,
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  aren't you? Yes? At parisian a Paris. Then you ought to know
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  how to make grimaces? Why, replied Paspertout, a little vexed that his
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  nationality should cause this question. We French and know how to make grimaces,
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  it is true, but not any better than the Americans do. True.
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  Well, if I can't take you as a servant, I can as a
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  clown, you see, my friend. In France they exhibit foreign clowns,
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  and in foreign parts French clowns. Ah. You are pretty strong, eh,
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  especially after a good meal, and you can sing, yes, returned
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  Passepartout, who had formerly been wont to sing in the streets. But can
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  you sing standing on your head with a top spinning on your left foot and
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  a saber balanced on your right Huh, I think so, replied Passepartout,
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  recalling the exercises of his younger days. Well that's enough, said the Honorable
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  William battlecr The engagement was concluded there and then passe Partout had at last found
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  something to do. He was engaged to act in the celebrated Japanese troop.
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  It was not a very dignified position, but within a week he would be
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  on his way to San Francisco. The performance, so noisily announced by the
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  Honorable mister battle Car, was to commence at three o'clock, and soon the
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  deafening instruments of a Japanese orchestra resounded at the door Passepartout, though he had
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  not been able to study or rehearse, a part, was designated to lend
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  the aid of his sturdy shoulders in the great exhibition of the human pyramid,
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  executed by the long noses of the god Tingu. This great attraction was to
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  close the performance. Before three o'clock. The large shed was invaded by the
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  spectators comprising Europeans and natives, Chinese and Japanese men, women and children,
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  who precipitated themselves upon the narrow benches and into the boxes opposite the stage.
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  The musicians took up of tam tams, flutes, bones, tambourines, and
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  immense drums. The performance was much like all acrobatic displays, but it must
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  be confessed that the Japanese are the first equilibrius in the world. One with
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  a fan and some bits of paper performed the graceful trick of the butterflies and
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  the flowers. Another traced in the air, with the odorous smoke of his
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  pipe, a series of blue words, which composed a compliment to the audience,
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  while a third juggled with some lighted candles, which he extinguished successively as
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  they passed his lips and re lit again without interrupting for an instant his juggling.
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  Another reproduced the most singular combinations with a spinning top in his hands.
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  The revolving tops seemed to be animated with the life of their own. In
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  their interminable whirling, they ran over pipe stems, the edges of sabers,
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  wires, and even hairs stretched across the stage. They turned around on the
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  edges of large glasses, crossed bamboo ladders dispersed into all the corners, and
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  produced strange musical effects by the combination of their various pitches of tone. The
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  jugglers tossed them in the air, threw them like shuttlecocks with wooden battle doors,
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  and yet they kept on spinning. They put them into their pockets and
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  took them out, still whirling. As before. It is useless to describe
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  the astonishing performance of the acrobats and gymnasts. The turning on ladders, poles,
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  balls, barrels, et cetera. Was executed with wonderful precision. But
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  the principal attraction was the exhibition of the long noses, a show to which
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  Europe is as yet a stranger. The long noses form a peculiar company under
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  the direct patronage of the god Tingu. Attired after the fashion of the Middle
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  Ages, they bore upon their shoulders a splendid pair of wings. But what
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  especially distinguished them was the law long noses which were fastened to their faces,
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  and the uses which they made of them. These noses were made of bamboo
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  and were five, six and even ten feet long. Some straight others curved,
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  some ribboned, and some having imitation warts upon them. It was upon
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  these appendages fixed tightly on their real noses that they performed their gymnastic exercises.
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  A dozen of these sectories of tingu lay flat upon their backs, while others,
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  dressed to represent lightning rods, came and froliced on their noses, jumping
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  from one to another and performing the most skillful leapings and somersaults. As the
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  last scene, a human pyramid had been announced, in which fifty long noses
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  were to represent the car of Juggernaut. But instead of forming a pyramid by
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  mounting each other's shoulders, the artists were to group themselves on top of the
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  noses. It happened, but the performer, who had hitherto formed the base
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  of the car, had quitted the troop, and as to fill this part,
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  only strength and adroitness were necessary, Passepartout had been chosen to take his
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  place. The poor fellow really felt sad when melancholy reminiscence of his youth,
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  he donned his costume adorned with very colored wings, and fastened to his natural
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  feature a false nose six feet long. But he cheered up when he thought
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  that this nose was winning him something to eat, he went upon the stage
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  and took his place beside the rest, who were to compose the base of
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  the car of Juggernaut. They all stretched themselves on the floor, their noses
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  pointing to the ceiling. A second group of artists disposed themselves on these long
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  appendages, then a third above these, then a fourth, until a human
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  monument, reaching to the very cornices of the theater soon arose on top of
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  the noses, this loud applause, in the midst of which the orchestra was
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  just striking up a deafening air. When the pyramid tottered, the balance was
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  lost, one of the lower noses vanished from the pyramid, and the human
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  monument was shattered like a castle built of cards. It was Passepartout's fault,
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  abandoning his position, clearing the footlights without the aid of his wings, and
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  clambering up to the right hand gallery. He fell at the feet of one
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  of the spectators, crying, ah, my master, my master, you
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  here myself very well. Then let us go to the steamer, young man.
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  Mister fogg Aouda and Passepartout passed through the lobby of the theater to the
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  outside, where they encountered the honorable mister battle Car. Furious with rage,
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  he demanded damages for the breakage of the pyramid, and Phileas Fogg appeased him
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  by giving him a handful of banks notes. At half past six, the
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  very hour of departure, mister Fogg and Aouda, followed by Passepartout, who
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  in his hurry had retained his wings and nose six feet long, stepped upon
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  the American steamer. End of chapter