Reading Help Around the world in eighty days Ch.I-VI
and accusing it of sluggishness, and mentally blaming Mr. Fogg `
` for not having bribed the engineer. The worthy fellow was ignorant that, `
` while it was possible by such means to hasten the rate of a steamer, `
` it could not be done on the railway. `
` `
` The train entered the defiles of the Sutpour Mountains, which separate `
` the Khandeish from Bundelcund, towards evening. The next day Sir Francis `
` Cromarty asked Passepartout what time it was; to which, on consulting `
` his watch, he replied that it was three in the morning. This famous timepiece, `
` always regulated on the Greenwich meridian, which was now some seventy-seven `
` degrees westward, was at least four hours slow. Sir Francis corrected `
` Passepartout's time, whereupon the latter made the same remark that he had `
` done to Fix; and upon the general insisting that the watch should be `
` regulated in each new meridian, since he was constantly going eastward, `
` that is in the face of the sun, and therefore the days were shorter `
` by four minutes for each degree gone over, Passepartout obstinately refused `
` to alter his watch, which he kept at London time. It was an innocent delusion `
` which could harm no one. `
` `
` The train stopped, at eight o'clock, in the midst of a glade some `
` fifteen miles beyond Rothal, where there were several bungalows, `
` and workmen's cabins. The conductor, passing along the carriages, `
` shouted, "Passengers will get out here!" `
` `
` Phileas Fogg looked at Sir Francis Cromarty for an explanation; `
` but the general could not tell what meant a halt in the midst `
` of this forest of dates and acacias. `
` `
` Passepartout, not less surprised, rushed out and speedily returned, crying: `
` "Monsieur, no more railway!" `
` `
` "What do you mean?" asked Sir Francis. `
` `
` "I mean to say that the train isn't going on." `
` `
` The general at once stepped out, while Phileas Fogg calmly followed him, `
` and they proceeded together to the conductor. `
` `
` "Where are we?" asked Sir Francis. `
` `
` "At the hamlet of Kholby." `
` `
` "Do we stop here?" `
` `
` "Certainly. The railway isn't finished." `
` `
` "What! not finished?" `
` `
` "No. There's still a matter of fifty miles to be laid `
` from here to Allahabad, where the line begins again." `
` `
` "But the papers announced the opening of the railway throughout." `
` `
` "What would you have, officer? The papers were mistaken." `
` `
` "Yet you sell tickets from Bombay to Calcutta," retorted Sir Francis, `
` who was growing warm. `
` `
` "No doubt," replied the conductor; "but the passengers know `
` that they must provide means of transportation for themselves `
` from Kholby to Allahabad." `
` `
` Sir Francis was furious. Passepartout would willingly have knocked `
` the conductor down, and did not dare to look at his master. `
` `
` "Sir Francis," said Mr. Fogg quietly, "we will, if you please, `
` look about for some means of conveyance to Allahabad." `
` `
` "Mr. Fogg, this is a delay greatly to your disadvantage." `
` `
` "No, Sir Francis; it was foreseen." `
` `
` "What! You knew that the way--" `
` `
` "Not at all; but I knew that some obstacle or other would sooner or later `
` arise on my route. Nothing, therefore, is lost. I have two days, `
` which I have already gained, to sacrifice. A steamer leaves Calcutta `
` for Hong Kong at noon, on the 25th. This is the 22nd, and we shall `
` reach Calcutta in time." `
` `
` There was nothing to say to so confident a response. `
` `
` It was but too true that the railway came to a termination at this point. `
` The papers were like some watches, which have a way of getting too fast, `
` and had been premature in their announcement of the completion of the line. `
` The greater part of the travellers were aware of this interruption, and, `
` leaving the train, they began to engage such vehicles as the village `
` could provide four-wheeled palkigharis, waggons drawn by zebus, `
` carriages that looked like perambulating pagodas, palanquins, ponies, `
` and what not. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village `
` from end to end, came back without having found anything. `
` `
` "I shall go afoot," said Phileas Fogg. `
` `
` Passepartout, who had now rejoined his master, made a wry grimace, `
` as he thought of his magnificent, but too frail Indian shoes. `
` Happily he too had been looking about him, and, after a moment's hesitation, `
` said, "Monsieur, I think I have found a means of conveyance." `
` `
` "What?" `
` `
` "An elephant! An elephant that belongs to an Indian who lives `
` but a hundred steps from here." `
` `
` "Let's go and see the elephant," replied Mr. Fogg. `
` `
` They soon reached a small hut, near which, enclosed within `
` some high palings, was the animal in question. An Indian came `
` out of the hut, and, at their request, conducted them within `
` the enclosure. The elephant, which its owner had reared, not for `
` a beast of burden, but for warlike purposes, was half domesticated. `
` The Indian had begun already, by often irritating him, and feeding `
` him every three months on sugar and butter, to impart to him `
` a ferocity not in his nature, this method being often employed `
` by those who train the Indian elephants for battle. Happily, `
` however, for Mr. Fogg, the animal's instruction in this direction `
` had not gone far, and the elephant still preserved his natural `
` gentleness. Kiouni--this was the name of the beast--could `
` doubtless travel rapidly for a long time, and, in default of `
` any other means of conveyance, Mr. Fogg resolved to hire him. `
` But elephants are far from cheap in India, where they are becoming `
` scarce, the males, which alone are suitable for circus shows, `
` are much sought, especially as but few of them are domesticated. `
` When therefore Mr. Fogg proposed to the Indian to hire Kiouni, `
` he refused point-blank. Mr. Fogg persisted, offering the excessive `
` sum of ten pounds an hour for the loan of the beast to Allahabad. `
` Refused. Twenty pounds? Refused also. Forty pounds? Still refused. `
` Passepartout jumped at each advance; but the Indian declined to be tempted. `
` Yet the offer was an alluring one, for, supposing it took the elephant `
` fifteen hours to reach Allahabad, his owner would receive no less than `
` six hundred pounds sterling. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg, without getting in the least flurried, then proposed `
` to purchase the animal outright, and at first offered a thousand pounds `
` for him. The Indian, perhaps thinking he was going to make a great bargain, `
` still refused. `
` `
` Sir Francis Cromarty took Mr. Fogg aside, and begged him to reflect `
` before he went any further; to which that gentleman replied that `
` he was not in the habit of acting rashly, that a bet of twenty thousand `
` pounds was at stake, that the elephant was absolutely necessary to him, `
` and that he would secure him if he had to pay twenty times his value. `
` Returning to the Indian, whose small, sharp eyes, glistening with avarice, `
` betrayed that with him it was only a question of how great a price `
` he could obtain. Mr. Fogg offered first twelve hundred, then fifteen hundred, `
` eighteen hundred, two thousand pounds. Passepartout, usually so rubicund, `
` was fairly white with suspense. `
` `
` At two thousand pounds the Indian yielded. `
` `
` "What a price, good heavens!" cried Passepartout, "for an elephant." `
` `
` It only remained now to find a guide, which was comparatively easy. `
` A young Parsee, with an intelligent face, offered his services, `
` which Mr. Fogg accepted, promising so generous a reward as to materially `
` stimulate his zeal. The elephant was led out and equipped. The Parsee, `
` who was an accomplished elephant driver, covered his back with a sort `
` of saddle-cloth, and attached to each of his flanks some curiously `
` uncomfortable howdahs. Phileas Fogg paid the Indian with some banknotes `
` which he extracted from the famous carpet-bag, a proceeding that seemed `
` to deprive poor Passepartout of his vitals. Then he offered to carry `
` Sir Francis to Allahabad, which the brigadier gratefully accepted, `
` as one traveller the more would not be likely to fatigue the `
` gigantic beast. Provisions were purchased at Kholby, and, `
` while Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side, `
` Passepartout got astride the saddle-cloth between them. `
` The Parsee perched himself on the elephant's neck, and at nine o'clock `
` they set out from the village, the animal marching off through the `
` dense forest of palms by the shortest cut. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter XII `
` `
` IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS `
` VENTURE ACROSS THE INDIAN FORESTS, AND WHAT ENSUED `
` `
` `
` In order to shorten the journey, the guide passed to the left of the line `
` where the railway was still in process of being built. This line, `
` owing to the capricious turnings of the Vindhia Mountains, `
` did not pursue a straight course. The Parsee, who was quite familiar `
` with the roads and paths in the district, declared that they would gain `
` twenty miles by striking directly through the forest. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, plunged to the neck `
` in the peculiar howdahs provided for them, were horribly jostled `
` by the swift trotting of the elephant, spurred on as he was by `
` the skilful Parsee; but they endured the discomfort with true `
` British phlegm, talking little, and scarcely able to catch a glimpse `
` of each other. As for Passepartout, who was mounted on the beast's back, `
` and received the direct force of each concussion as he trod along, `
` he was very careful, in accordance with his master's advice, `
` to keep his tongue from between his teeth, as it would otherwise `
` have been bitten off short. The worthy fellow bounced from `
` the elephant's neck to his rump, and vaulted like a clown on a spring-board; `
` yet he laughed in the midst of his bouncing, and from time to time took `
` a piece of sugar out of his pocket, and inserted it in Kiouni's trunk, `
`
` for not having bribed the engineer. The worthy fellow was ignorant that, `
` while it was possible by such means to hasten the rate of a steamer, `
` it could not be done on the railway. `
` `
` The train entered the defiles of the Sutpour Mountains, which separate `
` the Khandeish from Bundelcund, towards evening. The next day Sir Francis `
` Cromarty asked Passepartout what time it was; to which, on consulting `
` his watch, he replied that it was three in the morning. This famous timepiece, `
` always regulated on the Greenwich meridian, which was now some seventy-seven `
` degrees westward, was at least four hours slow. Sir Francis corrected `
` Passepartout's time, whereupon the latter made the same remark that he had `
` done to Fix; and upon the general insisting that the watch should be `
` regulated in each new meridian, since he was constantly going eastward, `
` that is in the face of the sun, and therefore the days were shorter `
` by four minutes for each degree gone over, Passepartout obstinately refused `
` to alter his watch, which he kept at London time. It was an innocent delusion `
` which could harm no one. `
` `
` The train stopped, at eight o'clock, in the midst of a glade some `
` fifteen miles beyond Rothal, where there were several bungalows, `
` and workmen's cabins. The conductor, passing along the carriages, `
` shouted, "Passengers will get out here!" `
` `
` Phileas Fogg looked at Sir Francis Cromarty for an explanation; `
` but the general could not tell what meant a halt in the midst `
` of this forest of dates and acacias. `
` `
` Passepartout, not less surprised, rushed out and speedily returned, crying: `
` "Monsieur, no more railway!" `
` `
` "What do you mean?" asked Sir Francis. `
` `
` "I mean to say that the train isn't going on." `
` `
` The general at once stepped out, while Phileas Fogg calmly followed him, `
` and they proceeded together to the conductor. `
` `
` "Where are we?" asked Sir Francis. `
` `
` "At the hamlet of Kholby." `
` `
` "Do we stop here?" `
` `
` "Certainly. The railway isn't finished." `
` `
` "What! not finished?" `
` `
` "No. There's still a matter of fifty miles to be laid `
` from here to Allahabad, where the line begins again." `
` `
` "But the papers announced the opening of the railway throughout." `
` `
` "What would you have, officer? The papers were mistaken." `
` `
` "Yet you sell tickets from Bombay to Calcutta," retorted Sir Francis, `
` who was growing warm. `
` `
` "No doubt," replied the conductor; "but the passengers know `
` that they must provide means of transportation for themselves `
` from Kholby to Allahabad." `
` `
` Sir Francis was furious. Passepartout would willingly have knocked `
` the conductor down, and did not dare to look at his master. `
` `
` "Sir Francis," said Mr. Fogg quietly, "we will, if you please, `
` look about for some means of conveyance to Allahabad." `
` `
` "Mr. Fogg, this is a delay greatly to your disadvantage." `
` `
` "No, Sir Francis; it was foreseen." `
` `
` "What! You knew that the way--" `
` `
` "Not at all; but I knew that some obstacle or other would sooner or later `
` arise on my route. Nothing, therefore, is lost. I have two days, `
` which I have already gained, to sacrifice. A steamer leaves Calcutta `
` for Hong Kong at noon, on the 25th. This is the 22nd, and we shall `
` reach Calcutta in time." `
` `
` There was nothing to say to so confident a response. `
` `
` It was but too true that the railway came to a termination at this point. `
` The papers were like some watches, which have a way of getting too fast, `
` and had been premature in their announcement of the completion of the line. `
` The greater part of the travellers were aware of this interruption, and, `
` leaving the train, they began to engage such vehicles as the village `
` could provide four-wheeled palkigharis, waggons drawn by zebus, `
` carriages that looked like perambulating pagodas, palanquins, ponies, `
` and what not. `
` `
` Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village `
` from end to end, came back without having found anything. `
` `
` "I shall go afoot," said Phileas Fogg. `
` `
` Passepartout, who had now rejoined his master, made a wry grimace, `
` as he thought of his magnificent, but too frail Indian shoes. `
` Happily he too had been looking about him, and, after a moment's hesitation, `
` said, "Monsieur, I think I have found a means of conveyance." `
` `
` "What?" `
` `
` "An elephant! An elephant that belongs to an Indian who lives `
` but a hundred steps from here." `
` `
` "Let's go and see the elephant," replied Mr. Fogg. `
` `
` They soon reached a small hut, near which, enclosed within `
` some high palings, was the animal in question. An Indian came `
` out of the hut, and, at their request, conducted them within `
` the enclosure. The elephant, which its owner had reared, not for `
` a beast of burden, but for warlike purposes, was half domesticated. `
` The Indian had begun already, by often irritating him, and feeding `
` him every three months on sugar and butter, to impart to him `
` a ferocity not in his nature, this method being often employed `
` by those who train the Indian elephants for battle. Happily, `
` however, for Mr. Fogg, the animal's instruction in this direction `
` had not gone far, and the elephant still preserved his natural `
` gentleness. Kiouni--this was the name of the beast--could `
` doubtless travel rapidly for a long time, and, in default of `
` any other means of conveyance, Mr. Fogg resolved to hire him. `
` But elephants are far from cheap in India, where they are becoming `
` scarce, the males, which alone are suitable for circus shows, `
` are much sought, especially as but few of them are domesticated. `
` When therefore Mr. Fogg proposed to the Indian to hire Kiouni, `
` he refused point-blank. Mr. Fogg persisted, offering the excessive `
` sum of ten pounds an hour for the loan of the beast to Allahabad. `
` Refused. Twenty pounds? Refused also. Forty pounds? Still refused. `
` Passepartout jumped at each advance; but the Indian declined to be tempted. `
` Yet the offer was an alluring one, for, supposing it took the elephant `
` fifteen hours to reach Allahabad, his owner would receive no less than `
` six hundred pounds sterling. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg, without getting in the least flurried, then proposed `
` to purchase the animal outright, and at first offered a thousand pounds `
` for him. The Indian, perhaps thinking he was going to make a great bargain, `
` still refused. `
` `
` Sir Francis Cromarty took Mr. Fogg aside, and begged him to reflect `
` before he went any further; to which that gentleman replied that `
` he was not in the habit of acting rashly, that a bet of twenty thousand `
` pounds was at stake, that the elephant was absolutely necessary to him, `
` and that he would secure him if he had to pay twenty times his value. `
` Returning to the Indian, whose small, sharp eyes, glistening with avarice, `
` betrayed that with him it was only a question of how great a price `
` he could obtain. Mr. Fogg offered first twelve hundred, then fifteen hundred, `
` eighteen hundred, two thousand pounds. Passepartout, usually so rubicund, `
` was fairly white with suspense. `
` `
` At two thousand pounds the Indian yielded. `
` `
` "What a price, good heavens!" cried Passepartout, "for an elephant." `
` `
` It only remained now to find a guide, which was comparatively easy. `
` A young Parsee, with an intelligent face, offered his services, `
` which Mr. Fogg accepted, promising so generous a reward as to materially `
` stimulate his zeal. The elephant was led out and equipped. The Parsee, `
` who was an accomplished elephant driver, covered his back with a sort `
` of saddle-cloth, and attached to each of his flanks some curiously `
` uncomfortable howdahs. Phileas Fogg paid the Indian with some banknotes `
` which he extracted from the famous carpet-bag, a proceeding that seemed `
` to deprive poor Passepartout of his vitals. Then he offered to carry `
` Sir Francis to Allahabad, which the brigadier gratefully accepted, `
` as one traveller the more would not be likely to fatigue the `
` gigantic beast. Provisions were purchased at Kholby, and, `
` while Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side, `
` Passepartout got astride the saddle-cloth between them. `
` The Parsee perched himself on the elephant's neck, and at nine o'clock `
` they set out from the village, the animal marching off through the `
` dense forest of palms by the shortest cut. `
` `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter XII `
` `
` IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG AND HIS COMPANIONS `
` VENTURE ACROSS THE INDIAN FORESTS, AND WHAT ENSUED `
` `
` `
` In order to shorten the journey, the guide passed to the left of the line `
` where the railway was still in process of being built. This line, `
` owing to the capricious turnings of the Vindhia Mountains, `
` did not pursue a straight course. The Parsee, who was quite familiar `
` with the roads and paths in the district, declared that they would gain `
` twenty miles by striking directly through the forest. `
` `
` Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, plunged to the neck `
` in the peculiar howdahs provided for them, were horribly jostled `
` by the swift trotting of the elephant, spurred on as he was by `
` the skilful Parsee; but they endured the discomfort with true `
` British phlegm, talking little, and scarcely able to catch a glimpse `
` of each other. As for Passepartout, who was mounted on the beast's back, `
` and received the direct force of each concussion as he trod along, `
` he was very careful, in accordance with his master's advice, `
` to keep his tongue from between his teeth, as it would otherwise `
` have been bitten off short. The worthy fellow bounced from `
` the elephant's neck to his rump, and vaulted like a clown on a spring-board; `
` yet he laughed in the midst of his bouncing, and from time to time took `
` a piece of sugar out of his pocket, and inserted it in Kiouni's trunk, `
`