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23 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty three, in which Passepartout's nose becomes outrageously long.
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  Speaker 1: The next morning, poor jaded, famish Passepartout said to himself
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  Speaker 1: that he must get something to eat at all hazards,
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  Speaker 1: and the sinner he did so, the better. He might
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  Speaker 1: indeed sell his watch, but he would have starved first.
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  Speaker 1: Now or never, he must use the strong, if not
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  Speaker 1: melodious voice which nature had bestowed upon him. He knew
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  Speaker 1: several French and English songs and resolved to try them
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  Speaker 1: upon the Japanese, who must be lovers of music, since
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  Speaker 1: they were forever pounding on their symbols tam tams and tambourines,
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  Speaker 1: and could not but appreciate European talent. It was perhaps
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  Speaker 1: rather early in the morning to get up a concert,
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  Speaker 1: and the audience, prematurely aroused from their slumbers, might not
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  Speaker 1: possibly pay their entertainer with coin bearing the mikado's features.
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  Speaker 1: Passepartout therefore decided to wait several hours, and as he
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  Speaker 1: was sauntering along, it occurred to him that he would
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  Speaker 1: seem rather too well dressed for a wandering artist. The
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  Speaker 1: idea struck him to change his garments for clothes more
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  Speaker 1: in harmony with his project, by which he might also
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  Speaker 1: get a little money to satisfy the immediate cravings of hunger.
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  Speaker 1: The resolution taken, it remained to carry it out. It
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  Speaker 1: was only after a long search that Passepartout discovered a
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  Speaker 1: native dealer in old clothes, to whom he applied for
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  Speaker 1: an exchange. The man liked the European costume, an ere
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  Speaker 1: long pass par two issued from his shop, accoutered in
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  Speaker 1: an old Japanese coat, and a sort of one sided
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  Speaker 1: turban faded with long use. A few small pieces of
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  Speaker 1: silver moreover jingled in his pocket, good thought he, I
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  Speaker 1: will imagine I am at the carnival. His first care
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  Speaker 1: after being thus Japanese was to utter a tea house
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  Speaker 1: of modest appearance, and upon half a bird and a
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  Speaker 1: little rice, to breakfast, like a man for whom dinner
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  Speaker 1: was as yet a problem to be solved. Now thought he,
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  Speaker 1: when he had eaten heartily. I mustn't lose my head.
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  Speaker 1: I can't sell this costume again for one still more Japanese.
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  Speaker 1: I must consider how to leave this country of the sun,
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  Speaker 1: of which I shall not retain the most delightful of memories,
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  Speaker 1: as quickly as possible, it occurred to him to visit
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  Speaker 1: the steamers which were about to leave for America. He
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  Speaker 1: would offer himself as a cook or servant in payment
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  Speaker 1: of his passage and meals. Once at San Francisco he
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  Speaker 1: would find some means of going on. The difficulty was
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  Speaker 1: how to traverse the four thousand, seven hundred miles of
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  Speaker 1: the Pacific which lay between Japan and the New World.
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  Speaker 1: Passepartout was not the man to let an idea go begging,
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  Speaker 1: and directed his steps toward the docks. But as he
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  Speaker 1: approached them, his project, which at first had seemed so simple,
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  Speaker 1: began to grow more and more formidable to his mind.
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  Speaker 1: What need would they have of a cook or servant
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  Speaker 1: on an American steamer? And what confidence would they put
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  Speaker 1: in him? Dressed as he was? What references could he give?
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  Speaker 1: As he was reflecting in this wise, his eyes fell
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  Speaker 1: upon an immense placard which a sort of clown was
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  Speaker 1: carrying through the streets. This placard, which was in English
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  Speaker 1: read as follows acrobatic Japanese troop Honorable William Battelcar proprietor
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  Speaker 1: last representations prior to their departure to the United States
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  Speaker 1: of the Long noses, long noses, under the direct patronage
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  Speaker 1: of the God Tingou Great attraction the United States, said Passepartout,
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  Speaker 1: That's just what I want. He followed the clown and
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  Speaker 1: soon found himself once more in the Japanese quarter. A
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  Speaker 1: quarter of an hour later, he stopped before a large
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  Speaker 1: cabin adorned with several clusters of streamers, the exterior walls
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  Speaker 1: of which were designed to represent, in violent colors and
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  Speaker 1: without perspective, a company of jugglers. This was the Honorable
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  Speaker 1: William Battlecar's establishment that gentleman was a sort of barnum,
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  Speaker 1: the director of a troop of mountebanks, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, equilibrists,
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  Speaker 1: and gymnasts, who, according to the placard, was giving his
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  Speaker 1: last performances before leaving the Empire of the Sun for
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  Speaker 1: the States of the Union. Passepartout entered and asked for
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  Speaker 1: mister Battlecar, who straightway appeared in person. What do you want,
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  Speaker 1: said he to Passepartout, whom he at first took for
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  Speaker 1: a native. Would you lack a servant, sir, asked Passepartout.
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  Speaker 1: A servant cried mister Battlecar, caressing the thick gray beard
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  Speaker 1: hung from his chin, I already have two who are
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  Speaker 1: obedient and faithful, have never left me, and serve me
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  Speaker 1: for their nourishment. And here they are, added he holding
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  Speaker 1: out his two robust arms, furred with veins as large
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  Speaker 1: as the strings of a base vial. So I can
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  Speaker 1: be of no use to you. None is the devil.
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  Speaker 1: I should so like to cross the Pacific with you, Ah,
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  Speaker 1: said the honorable mister battlecr You are no more a
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  Speaker 1: Japanese than I am a monkey. Who are you dressed
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  Speaker 1: up in that way? A man dresses as he can.
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  Speaker 1: That's true. You are a Frenchman, aren't you? Yes? At
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  Speaker 1: parisian a Paris. Then you ought to know how to
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  Speaker 1: make grimaces? Why, replied Paspertout, a little vexed that his
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  Speaker 1: nationality should cause this question. We French and know how
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  Speaker 1: to make grimaces, it is true, but not any better
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  Speaker 1: than the Americans do. True. Well, if I can't take
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  Speaker 1: you as a servant, I can as a clown, you see,
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  Speaker 1: my friend. In France they exhibit foreign clowns, and in
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  Speaker 1: foreign parts French clowns. Ah. You are pretty strong, eh,
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  Speaker 1: especially after a good meal, and you can sing, yes,
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  Speaker 1: returned Passepartout, who had formerly been wont to sing in
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  Speaker 1: the streets. But can you sing standing on your head
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  Speaker 1: with a top spinning on your left foot and a
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  Speaker 1: saber balanced on your right Huh, I think so, replied Passepartout,
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  Speaker 1: recalling the exercises of his younger days. Well that's enough,
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  Speaker 1: said the Honorable William battlecr The engagement was concluded there
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  Speaker 1: and then passe Partout had at last found something to do.
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  Speaker 1: He was engaged to act in the celebrated Japanese troop.
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  Speaker 1: It was not a very dignified position, but within a
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  Speaker 1: week he would be on his way to San Francisco.
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  Speaker 1: The performance, so noisily announced by the Honorable mister battle Car,
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  Speaker 1: was to commence at three o'clock, and soon the deafening
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  Speaker 1: instruments of a Japanese orchestra resounded at the door Passepartout,
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  Speaker 1: though he had not been able to study or rehearse,
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  Speaker 1: a part, was designated to lend the aid of his
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  Speaker 1: sturdy shoulders in the great exhibition of the human pyramid,
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  Speaker 1: executed by the long noses of the god Tingu. This
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  Speaker 1: great attraction was to close the performance. Before three o'clock.
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  Speaker 1: The large shed was invaded by the spectators comprising Europeans
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  Speaker 1: and natives, Chinese and Japanese men, women and children, who
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  Speaker 1: precipitated themselves upon the narrow benches and into the boxes
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  Speaker 1: opposite the stage. The musicians took up of tam tams, flutes, bones, tambourines,
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  Speaker 1: and immense drums. The performance was much like all acrobatic displays,
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  Speaker 1: but it must be confessed that the Japanese are the
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  Speaker 1: first equilibrius in the world. One with a fan and
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  Speaker 1: some bits of paper performed the graceful trick of the
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  Speaker 1: butterflies and the flowers. Another traced in the air, with
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  Speaker 1: the odorous smoke of his pipe, a series of blue words,
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  Speaker 1: which composed a compliment to the audience, while a third
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  Speaker 1: juggled with some lighted candles, which he extinguished successively as
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  Speaker 1: they passed his lips and re lit again without interrupting
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  Speaker 1: for an instant his juggling. Another reproduced the most singular
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  Speaker 1: combinations with a spinning top in his hands. The revolving
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  Speaker 1: tops seemed to be animated with the life of their own.
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  Speaker 1: In their interminable whirling, they ran over pipe stems, the
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  Speaker 1: edges of sabers, wires, and even hairs stretched across the stage.
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  Speaker 1: They turned around on the edges of large glasses, crossed
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  Speaker 1: bamboo ladders dispersed into all the corners, and produced strange
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  Speaker 1: musical effects by the combination of their various pitches of tone.
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  Speaker 1: The jugglers tossed them in the air, threw them like
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  Speaker 1: shuttlecocks with wooden battle doors, and yet they kept on spinning.
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  Speaker 1: They put them into their pockets and took them out,
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  Speaker 1: still whirling. As before. It is useless to describe the
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  Speaker 1: astonishing performance of the acrobats and gymnasts. The turning on ladders, poles, balls, barrels,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. Was executed with wonderful precision. But the principal
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  Speaker 1: attraction was the exhibition of the long noses, a show
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  Speaker 1: to which Europe is as yet a stranger. The long
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  Speaker 1: noses form a peculiar company under the direct patronage of
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  Speaker 1: the god Tingu. Attired after the fashion of the Middle Ages,
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  Speaker 1: they bore upon their shoulders a splendid pair of wings.
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  Speaker 1: But what especially distinguished them was the law long noses
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  Speaker 1: which were fastened to their faces, and the uses which
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  Speaker 1: they made of them. These noses were made of bamboo
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  Speaker 1: and were five, six and even ten feet long. Some
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  Speaker 1: straight others curved, some ribboned, and some having imitation warts
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  Speaker 1: upon them. It was upon these appendages fixed tightly on
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  Speaker 1: their real noses that they performed their gymnastic exercises. A
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  Speaker 1: dozen of these sectories of tingu lay flat upon their backs,
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  Speaker 1: while others, dressed to represent lightning rods, came and froliced
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  Speaker 1: on their noses, jumping from one to another and performing
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  Speaker 1: the most skillful leapings and somersaults. As the last scene,
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  Speaker 1: a human pyramid had been announced, in which fifty long
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  Speaker 1: noses were to represent the car of Juggernaut. But instead
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  Speaker 1: of forming a pyramid by mounting each other's shoulders, the
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  Speaker 1: artists were to group themselves on top of the noses.
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  Speaker 1: It happened, but the performer, who had hitherto formed the
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  Speaker 1: base of the car, had quitted the troop, and as
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  Speaker 1: to fill this part, only strength and adroitness were necessary,
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  Speaker 1: Passepartout had been chosen to take his place. The poor
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  Speaker 1: fellow really felt sad when melancholy reminiscence of his youth,
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  Speaker 1: he donned his costume adorned with very colored wings, and
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  Speaker 1: fastened to his natural feature a false nose six feet long.
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  Speaker 1: But he cheered up when he thought that this nose
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  Speaker 1: was winning him something to eat, he went upon the
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  Speaker 1: stage and took his place beside the rest, who were
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  Speaker 1: to compose the base of the car of Juggernaut. They
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  Speaker 1: all stretched themselves on the floor, their noses pointing to
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  Speaker 1: the ceiling. A second group of artists disposed themselves on
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  Speaker 1: these long appendages, then a third above these, then a fourth,
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  Speaker 1: until a human monument, reaching to the very cornices of
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  Speaker 1: the theater soon arose on top of the noses, this
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  Speaker 1: loud applause, in the midst of which the orchestra was
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  Speaker 1: just striking up a deafening air. When the pyramid tottered,
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  Speaker 1: the balance was lost, one of the lower noses vanished
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  Speaker 1: from the pyramid, and the human monument was shattered like
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  Speaker 1: a castle built of cards. It was Passepartout's fault, abandoning
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  Speaker 1: his position, clearing the footlights without the aid of his wings,
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  Speaker 1: and clambering up to the right hand gallery. He fell
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  Speaker 1: at the feet of one of the spectators, crying, ah,
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  Speaker 1: my master, my master, you here myself very well. Then
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  Speaker 1: let us go to the steamer, young man. Mister fogg
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  Speaker 1: Aouda and Passepartout passed through the lobby of the theater
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  Speaker 1: to the outside, where they encountered the honorable mister battle Car.
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  Speaker 1: Furious with rage, he demanded damages for the breakage of
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  Speaker 1: the pyramid, and Phileas Fogg appeased him by giving him
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  Speaker 1: a handful of banks notes. At half past six, the
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  Speaker 1: very hour of departure, mister Fogg and Aouda, followed by Passepartout,
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  Speaker 1: who in his hurry had retained his wings and nose
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  Speaker 1: six feet long, stepped upon the American steamer. End of
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  Speaker 1: chapter