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11 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Adventure Books Collection

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Chapter eleven, in which Phileas Fogg secures a curious means of conveyance at a
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fabulous price. The train had started punctually. Among the passengers were a number
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of officers, government officials, and opium and indigo merchants whose business called them
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to the eastern coast. Passepartout rode in the same carriage with his master,
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and a third passenger occupied a seat opposite to them. This was Sir Francis
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Cromarty, one of mister Fogg's wist partners on the Mongolia, now on his
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way to join his corps at Benares. Sir Francis was a tall, fair
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man of fifty who had greatly distinguished himself in the last Sepoy Revolt. He
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made India his home, only paying brief visits to England at rare intervals,
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and was almost as familiar as a native with the customs, history and character
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of India and its people. But Phileas Fogg, who was not traveled but
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only describing a circumference, took no pains to inquire into these subjects. He
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was a solid body traversing at orbit around the terrestrial globe. According to the
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laws of rational mechanics. He was at this moment calculating in his mind the
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number of hours spent since his departure from London, and had it been in
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his nature to make a useless demonstration, would have rubbed his hands for satisfaction.
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Sir Francis Cromarty had observed the oddity of his traveling companion, although the
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only opportunity he had for studying him had been while he was dealing the cards
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and between two rubbers, and questioned himself whether a human heart really beat beneath
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this cold exterior, and whether Phileas Fogg had any sense of the beauties of
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nature. The Brigadier General was free to mentally confess that of all the eccentric
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persons he had ever met, none was comparable to this product of the exact
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sciences. Phileas Fogg had not concealed from Sir Francis his design of going round
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the world, nor the circumstances under which he set out, And the General
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only saw in the wager a useless eccentricity and a lack of sound common sense.
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In the way this strange gentleman was going on, he would leave the
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world without having done any good to himself. Or anybody else. An hour
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after leaving Bombay, the train had passed the viaducts and the island of Salsat
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and had got into the open country. At Calianne, they reached the junction
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of the branch line which descends towards southeastern India by Candala and Puna, and
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passing Pollwell, they entered the defiles of the mountains, with their basalt bases
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and their summits crowned with thick and verdant forests. Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis
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Cromarty exchanged a few words from time to time, and now Sir Francis,
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reviving the conversation observed some years ago, mister Fogg, you would have met
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with a delay at this point, which would probably have lost you your wager.
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How So, Sir Francis, because the railway stopped at the base of
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these mountains, which the passengers were obliged to cross in palanquins or on ponies,
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to Candallah on the other side, such a delay would not have deranged
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my plans in the least, said mister Fogg. I have constantly foreseen the
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likelihood of certain obstacles. But mister Fogg pursued, Sir Francis, you're on
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the risk of having some difficulty about this worthy fellow's adventure at the Pagoda.
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Passepartout his feet comfortably wrapped in his traveling blanket, was sound asleep and did
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not dream that anybody was talking about him. The government is very severe upon
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that kind of offense. It takes particular care that the religious customs of the
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Indians should be respected. And if your servant were caught, very well,
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Sir Francis replied, mister Fogg. If he had been caught, he would
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have been condemned and punished, and then would have quietly returned to Europe.
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I don't see how this affair could have delayed his master. The conversation fell
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again during the night. The train left the mountains behind and passed Nessek,
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and the next day proceeded over the flat, well cultivated country of the Candiche,
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with its straggling villages, above which rose the minarets of the Pagodas.
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This fertile territory is watered by numerous small rivers and limpid streams, mostly tributaries
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of the Godavari. Passepartout, on, waking and looking out could not realize
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that he was actually crossing India in a railway train. The locomotive, guided
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by an English engineer and fed with English coal, threw out its smoke upon
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cotton, coffee, nutmeg, clove and pepper plantations, while the steam curled
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in spirals round groups of palm trees, in the midst of which were seen
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picturesque bungalows, viharis, a sort of abandoned monasteries, and marvelous temples enriched
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by the exhaustless ornamentation of Indian architecture. Then they came upon vast tracks extending
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to the horizon, with jungles inhabited by snakes and tigers, which fled at
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the noise of the train, succeeded by forests penetrated by the railway, and
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still haunted by elephants, which, with pensive eyes gazed at the train as
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it passed. The travelers crossed beyond Milligaum, the fatal country so often stained
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with blood by the sectaries of the goddess Kali. Not far off rose Ellora,
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with its graceful pagodas, and the famous Arungabad, capital of the ferocious
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auring Zeb, now the chief town of one of the detached provinces of the
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Kingdom of the Nizam. It was thereabouts that Ferengia, the Thagi, chief
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king of the Stranglers, held his sway. These Ruffians, united by a
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secret bond, strangled victims of every age in honor of the Goddess Death,
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without ever shedding blood. There was a period when this part of the country
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could scarcely be traveled over without corpses being found in every direction. The English
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government had succeeded in greatly diminishing these murders, though the Thugis still exist and
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pursue the exercise of their horrible rights. At half past twelve, the trains
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stopped at Burhampur, where Passepartout was able to purchase some Indian slippers ornamented with
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false pearls, in which, with evident vanity, he proceeded to encase his
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feet. The travelers made a hasty breakfast and started off for Assergur. After
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skirting for a little the banks of the small river Tapti, which empties into
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the Gulf of Cambray near Surat, Passepartout was now plunged into absorbing revery.
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Up to his arrival at Bombay, he had entertained hopes that their journey would
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end there. But now that they were plainly whirling across India at full speed,
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a sudden change had come over the spirit of his dreams. His old
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vagabond nature returned to him, The fantastic ideas of his youth once more took
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possession of him. He came to regard his master's project as intended in good
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earnest believed in the reality of the bet, and therefore in the tour of
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the world and the necessity of making it without fail within the designated period.
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Already he began to worry about possible delays and accidents which might happen on the
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way. He recognized himself as being personally interested in the wager, and trembled
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at the thought that he might have been the means of losing it by his
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unpardonable folly of the night before. Being much less cool headed than mister Fogg,
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he was much more restless, counting and recounting the days passed over,
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uttering maledictions when the train stopped, and accusing it of sluggishness, and mentally
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blaming mister Fogg for not having bribed the engineer. The worthy fellow was ignorant
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that while it was possible by such means to hasten the rate of a steamer,
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it could not be done on the railway. The train entered the defiles
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of the set poor mountains which separate the Condiche from Buldukound. Towards evening next
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day, Sir Francis Cromarty asked passpartiou what time it was, to which,
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on consoling his watch, he replied that it was three in the morning.
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This famous time piece, always regulated on the Greenwich meridian, which was now
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some seventy seven degrees westward, was at least four hours slow. Sir Francis
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corrected Passparteu's time, whereupon the latter made the same remark that he had done
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to fix, and upon the General insisting that the watch should be regulated in
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each new meridian, since he was constantly going eastward, that is, in
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the face of the sun, and therefore the days were shorter by four minutes
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for each degree gone over, Passepartout obstinately refused to alter his watch, which
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he kept at London time. It was an innocent delusion which could harm no
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one. The train stopped at eight o'clock in the midst of a glade some
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fifteen miles beyond rou Fall, where there were several bungalows and workmen's cabins.
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The conductor, passing along the carriages, shouted, passengers will get out here.
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Phileas Fogg looked at Sir Francis Cromarty for an explanation, but the General
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could not tell what meant a halt in the midst of this forest of dates
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and acacias. Passepartout, not less surprised, rushed out and speedily returned,
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crying, monsieur, no more railway. What do you mean, asked Sir
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Francis. I mean to say that the train isn't going on. The General
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at once stepped out, while Phileas Fogg calmly followed him, and they proceeded
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together to the conductor. Where are we, asked Sir Francis, at the
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hamlet of Colby? Do we stop here? Certainly the railway isn't finished?
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What? No, not finished? No, there's still a matter of fifty
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miles to be laid from here to Allahabad, where the line begins again.
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But the papers announced the opening of the railway throughout. What would you have,
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officer? The papers were mistaken? Yet your sell tickets from Bombay to
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Calcutta, retorted Sir Francis, who was growing warm, no doubt, replied
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the conductor. But the passengers know that they must provide means of transportation for
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themselves from Colby to Allahabad. Sir Francis was furious. Passepartout would willingly have
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knocked the conductor down, and did not dare to look at his master.
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Sir Francis said mister Fogg quietly, we will if you please look about for
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some means of conveyance to Allahabad. Mister Fogg, this is a delay greatly
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to your disadvantage. No, Sir Francis, it was foreseen. What you
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knew that the way not at all? But I knew that some obstacle or
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other would sooner or later arise on my route. Nothing therefore is lost.
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I have two days, which I have already gained to sacrifice. A steamer
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leaves Calcutta for Hong Kong at noon on the twenty fifth. This is the
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twenty second, and we shall reach Calcutta in time. There was nothing to
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say to so confident a response. It was but too true that the railway
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came to a termination at this point. The papers were like some watches,
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which have a way of getting too fast and have been premature in their announcement
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of the completion of the line. The greater part of the travelers were aware
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of this interruption, and leaving the train, they began to engage such vehicles
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as the village could provide. Four wheeled packagarries, wagons drawn by zebus,
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carriages that looked like perambulating pagodas, palanquins, ponies and what not. Mister
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Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village from end to end,
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came back without having found anything. I shall go afoot, said Phileas Fogg.
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Passepartout, who had now rejoined his master, made a wry grimace as
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he thought of his magnificent but too frail Indian shoes. Happily, he too
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had been looking about him, and, after a moment's hesitation, said monsieur,
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I think I have found a means of conveyance. What an elephant?
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An elephant that belongs to an Indian who lives but a hundred steps from here.
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Let's go and see the elephant, replied mister Fogg. They soon reached
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a small hut near which enclosed within some high palings was the animal in question.
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An Indian came out of the hut and at their request conducted them within
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the enclosure. The elephant, which its owner had reared not for a beast
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of burden but for warlike purposes, was half domesticated. The Indian had begun
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already by often irritating him and feeding him every three months on sugar and butter,
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to impart to him a ferocity not in his nature, this method being
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often employed by those who trained the Indian elephants for battle. Happily, however,
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for mister Fogg, the animal's instruction in this direction had not gone far,
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and the elephant still preserved his natural gentleness. Kiuni, this was the
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name of the beast, could doubtless travel rapidly for a long time, and
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in default of any other means of conveyance, mister Fogg resolved to hire him.
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But elephants are far from cheap in India, where they are become scarce.
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The males, which alone are suitable for circus shows, are much sought,
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especially as but few of them are domesticated. When therefore, mister Fogg
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proposed to the Indian to hire Kiuni he refused point blank. Mister Fogg persisted,
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offering the excessive sum of ten pounds an hour for the loan of the
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beast to Allahabad refused, twenty pounds refused. Also, forty pounds still refused.
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Passpartio jumped at each advance, but the Indian declined to be tempted.
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Yet the offer was an alluring one, for supposing it took the elephant fifteen
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hours to reach Allahabad, his owner would receive no less than six hundred pounds.
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Sterling Phileas Fogg, without getting in the least flurried, then proposed to
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purchase the animal outright, and at first offered one thousand pounds for him.
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The Indian, perhaps thinking he was going to make a great bargain, still
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refused. Sir Francis Cromarty took mister Fogg aside and begged him to reflect before
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he went any further, to which that gentleman replied that he was not in
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the habit of acting rashly, that a bet of twenty thousand pounds was at
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stake, but the elephant was absolutely necessary to him, and that he would
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secure him if he had to pay twenty times his value. Returning to the
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Indian, whose small, sharp eyes glistening with avarice, betrayed that with him
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it was only a question of how great a price he could obtain. Mister
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Fogg offered first twelve hundred, then fifteen hundred, eighteen hundred, two thousand
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pounds. Passe partout, usually so rubicund was fairly white with suspense. At
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two thousand pounds, the Indian yielded what the price good heavens, cried passepartout
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for an elephant. It only remained now to find a guide, which was
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comparatively easy. A young Parsi with an intelligent face offered his services, which
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mister Fogg accepted, promising so generous a ward as to materially stimulate his zeal.
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The elephant was led out and equipped. The Parsi, who was an
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accomplished elephant driver, covered his back with a sort of saddlecloth and attached to
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each of his flanks some curiously uncomfortable howdahs phileas Fogg paid the Indian with some
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bank notes which he extracted from the famous carpet bag, a proceeding that seemed
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to deprive poor passepartout of his vitals. Then he offered to carry Sir Francis
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to Allahabad, which the Brigadier gratefully accepted, as one traveler the more would
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not be likely to fatigue. The gigantic beast provisions were purchased at Colby,
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and while Sir Francis and mister Fogg took the howdahs on either side, passepartout
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got astride the saddlecloth between them. The Parsi perched himself on the elephant's neck,
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and at nine o'clock they set out from the village, the animal marching
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off through the dense forest of palms. By the shortest cut end of chapter