by Jules Verne
Chapter XV
IN WHICH THE BAG OF BANKNOTES DISGORGES SOME THOUSANDS OF POUNDS MORE
The train entered the station, and Passepartout jumping out first, wasfollowed by Mr. Fogg, who assisted his fair companion to descend.Phileas Fogg intended to proceed at once to the Hong Kong steamer, inorder to get Aouda comfortably settled for the voyage. He wasunwilling to leave her while they were still on dangerous ground.
Just as he was leaving the station a policeman came up to him, andsaid, "Mr. Phileas Fogg?"
"I am he."
"Is this man your servant?" added the policeman, pointing toPassepartout.
"Yes."
"Be so good, both of you, as to follow me."
Mr. Fogg betrayed no surprise whatever. The policeman was arepresentative of the law, and law is sacred to an Englishman.Passepartout tried to reason about the matter, but the policeman tappedhim with his stick, and Mr. Fogg made him a signal to obey.
"May this young lady go with us?" asked he.
"She may," replied the policeman.
Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and Passepartout were conducted to a palkigahri, asort of four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two horses, in which they tooktheir places and were driven away. No one spoke during the twentyminutes which elapsed before they reached their destination. Theyfirst passed through the "black town," with its narrow streets, itsmiserable, 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 itwas early morning, elegantly dressed horsemen and handsome equipageswere passing back and forth.
The carriage stopped before a modest-looking house, which, however, didnot have the appearance of a private mansion. The policeman havingrequested his prisoners--for so, truly, they might be called--to descend,conducted them into a room with barred windows, and said: "You willappear before Judge Obadiah at half-past eight."
He then retired, and closed the door.
"Why, we are prisoners!" exclaimed Passepartout, falling into a chair.
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 receivethis treatment, it is for having saved me!"
Phileas Fogg contented himself with saying that it was impossible. Itwas 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, abandonAouda, but would escort her to Hong Kong.
"But the steamer leaves at noon!" observed Passepartout, nervously.
"We shall be on board by noon," replied his master, placidly.
It was said so positively that Passepartout could not help muttering tohimself, "Parbleu that's certain! Before noon we shall be on board."But he was by no means reassured.
At half-past eight the door opened, the policeman appeared, and,requesting them to follow him, led the way to an adjoining hall. Itwas evidently a court-room, and a crowd of Europeans and nativesalready occupied the rear of the apartment.
Mr. Fogg and his two companions took their places on a bench oppositethe desks of the magistrate and his clerk. Immediately after, JudgeObadiah, a fat, round man, followed by the clerk, entered. Heproceeded to take down a wig which was hanging on a nail, and put ithurriedly on his head.
"The first case," said he. Then, putting his hand to his head, heexclaimed, "Heh! This is not my wig!"
"No, your worship," returned the clerk, "it is mine."
"My dear Mr. Oysterpuff, how can a judge give a wise sentence in aclerk's wig?"
The wigs were exchanged.
Passepartout was getting nervous, for the hands on the face of the bigclock over the judge seemed to go around with terrible rapidity.
"The first case," repeated Judge Obadiah.
"Phileas Fogg?" demanded Oysterpuff.
"I am here," replied Mr. Fogg.
"Passepartout?"
"Present," responded Passepartout.
"Good," said the judge. "You have been looked for, prisoners, for twodays on the trains from Bombay."
"But of what are we accused?" asked Passepartout, impatiently.
"You are about to be informed."
"I am an English subject, sir," said Mr. Fogg, "and I have the right--"
"Have you been ill-treated?"
"Not at all."
"Very well; let the complainants come in."
A door was swung open by order of the judge, and three Indian priestsentered.
"That's it," muttered Passepartout; "these are the rogues who weregoing to burn our young lady."
The priests took their places in front of the judge, and the clerkproceeded to read in a loud voice a complaint of sacrilege againstPhileas Fogg and his servant, who were accused of having violated aplace held consecrated by the Brahmin religion.
"You hear the charge?" asked the judge.
"Yes, sir," replied Mr. Fogg, consulting his watch, "and I admit it."
"You admit it?"
"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."
The priests looked at each other; they did not seem to understand whatwas said.
"Yes," cried Passepartout, warmly; "at the pagoda of Pillaji, wherethey were on the point of burning their victim."
The judge stared with astonishment, and the priests were stupefied.
"What victim?" said Judge Obadiah. "Burn whom? In Bombay itself?"
"Bombay?" cried Passepartout.
"Certainly. We are not talking of the pagoda of Pillaji, but of thepagoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay."
"And as a proof," added the clerk, "here are the desecrator's veryshoes, which he left behind him."
Whereupon he placed a pair of shoes on his desk.
"My shoes!" cried Passepartout, in his surprise permitting thisimprudent exclamation to escape him.
The confusion of master and man, who had quite forgotten the affair atBombay, for which they were now detained at Calcutta, may be imagined.
Fix the detective, had foreseen the advantage which Passepartout'sescapade gave him, and, delaying his departure for twelve hours, hadconsulted the priests of Malabar Hill. Knowing that the Englishauthorities dealt very severely with this kind of misdemeanour, hepromised them a goodly sum in damages, and sent them forward toCalcutta by the next train. Owing to the delay caused by the rescue ofthe young widow, Fix and the priests reached the Indian capital beforeMr. Fogg and his servant, the magistrates having been already warned bya dispatch to arrest them should they arrive. Fix's disappointmentwhen he learned that Phileas Fogg had not made his appearance inCalcutta may be imagined. He made up his mind that the robber hadstopped somewhere on the route and taken refuge in the southernprovinces. For twenty-four hours Fix watched the station with feverishanxiety; at last he was rewarded by seeing Mr. Fogg and Passepartoutarrive, accompanied by a young woman, whose presence he was wholly at aloss to explain. He hastened for a policeman; and this was how theparty came to be arrested and brought before Judge Obadiah.
Had Passepartout been a little less preoccupied, he would have espiedthe detective ensconced in a corner of the court-room, watching theproceedings with an interest easily understood; for the warrant hadfailed to reach him at Calcutta, as it had done at Bombay and Suez.
Judge Obadiah had unfortunately caught Passepartout's rash exclamation,which the poor fellow would have given the world to recall.
"The facts are admitted?" asked the judge.
"Admitted," replied Mr. Fogg, coldly.
"Inasmuch," resumed the judge, "as the English law protects equally andsternly the religions of the Indian people, and as the man Passepartouthas admitted that he violated the sacred pagoda of Malabar Hill, atBombay, on the 20th of October, I condemn the said Passepartout toimprisonment for fifteen days and a fine of three hundred pounds."
"Three hundred pounds
!" cried Passepartout, startled at the largenessof the sum.
"Silence!" shouted the constable.
"And inasmuch," continued the judge, "as it is not proved that the actwas not done by the connivance of the master with the servant, and asthe master in any case must be held responsible for the acts of hispaid servant, I condemn Phileas Fogg to a week's imprisonment and afine of one hundred and fifty pounds."
Fix rubbed his hands softly with satisfaction; if Phileas Fogg could bedetained in Calcutta a week, it would be more than time for the warrantto arrive. Passepartout was stupefied. This sentence ruined hismaster. A wager of twenty thousand pounds lost, because he, like aprecious fool, had gone into that abominable pagoda!
Phileas Fogg, as self-composed as if the judgment did not in the leastconcern him, did not even lift his eyebrows while it was beingpronounced. Just as the clerk was calling the next case, he rose, andsaid, "I offer bail."
"You have that right," returned the judge.
Fix's blood ran cold, but he resumed his composure when he heard thejudge announce that the bail required for each prisoner would be onethousand pounds.
"I will pay it at once," said Mr. Fogg, taking a roll of bank-billsfrom the carpet-bag, which Passepartout had by him, and placing them onthe clerk's desk.
"This sum will be restored to you upon your release from prison," saidthe judge. "Meanwhile, you are liberated on bail."
"Come!" said Phileas Fogg to his servant.
"But let them at least give me back my shoes!" cried Passepartoutangrily.
"Ah, these are pretty dear shoes!" he muttered, as they were handed tohim. "More than a thousand pounds apiece; besides, they pinch my feet."
Mr. Fogg, offering his arm to Aouda, then departed, followed by thecrestfallen Passepartout. Fix still nourished hopes that the robberwould not, after all, leave the two thousand pounds behind him, butwould 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 soonlanded on one of the quays.
The Rangoon was moored half a mile off in the harbour, its signal ofdeparture hoisted at the mast-head. Eleven o'clock was striking; Mr.Fogg was an hour in advance of time. Fix saw them leave the carriageand push off in a boat for the steamer, and stamped his feet withdisappointment.
"The rascal is off, after all!" he exclaimed. "Two thousand poundssacrificed! He's as prodigal as a thief! I'll follow him to the endof the world if necessary; but, at the rate he is going on, the stolenmoney will soon be exhausted."
The detective was not far wrong in making this conjecture. Sinceleaving London, what with travelling expenses, bribes, the purchase ofthe elephant, bails, and fines, Mr. Fogg had already spent more thanfive thousand pounds on the way, and the percentage of the sumrecovered from the bank robber promised to the detectives, was rapidlydiminishing.