CHAPTER XII.
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG
AND HIS COMPANIONS VENTURE THROUGH THE FORESTS OF
The guide, in order to shorten the distance to be gone over,
left to his right the line of the road, the construction of which was still in
process. This line, very crooked, owing to the capricious ramifications of the
Vindhia mountains, did not follow the shortest route, which it was Phileas
Fogg’s interest to take. The Parsee, very familiar with the roads and paths of
the country, thought to gain twenty miles by cutting through the forest, and
they submitted to him.
Phileas
Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, plunged to their necks in their howdahs, were
much shaken up by the rough trot of the elephant, whom his mahout urged into a
rapid gait. But they bore it with the peculiar British apathy, talking very
little, and scarcely seeing each other.
As for
Passepartout, perched upon the animal’s back, and directly subjected to the
swaying from side to side, he took care, upon his master’s recommendation, not
to keep his tongue between his teeth, as it would have been cut short off. The
good fellow, at one time thrown forward on the elephant’s neck, at another
thrown back upon his rump, was making leaps like a clown on a spring-board. But
he joked and laughed in the midst of his somersets, and from time to time he
would take from his bag a lump of sugar, which the intelligent Kiouni took with
the end of his trunk, without interrupting for an instant his regular trot.
After two
hours’ march the guide stopped the elephant, and gave him an hour’s rest. The
animal devoured branches of trees and shrubs, first having quenched his thirst
at a neighboring pond. Sir Francis Cromarty did not complain of this halt. He
was worn out. Mr. Fogg appeared as if he had just got out of bed.
“But he
is made of iron!” said the Brigadier-General, looking at him with admiration.
“Of
wrought iron,” replied Passepartout, who was busy preparing a hasty breakfast.
At noon,
the guide gave the signal for starting. The country soon assumed a very wild
aspect. To the large forests there succeeded copses of tamarinds and dwarf
palms, then vast, arid plains, bristling with scanty shrubs, and strewn with
large blocks of syenites. All this part of upper Bundelcund, very little
visited by travellers, is inhabited by a fanatical population, hardened in the
most terrible practices of the Hindoo religion. The government of the English
could not have been regularly established over a territory subject to the
influence of the rajahs, whom it would have been difficult to reach in their
inaccessible retreats in the Vindhias.
Several times they saw fierce bands of Indians, who made angry
gestures when they saw the swift quadruped pass. The Parsee avoided them as much
as possible, believing them to be unpleasant people to meet. Few animals were
seen this day, scarcely a few monkeys even, who fled with a thousand
contortions and grimaces, with which Passepartout was much amused.
One thought among many others troubled this young man. What would Mr.
Fogg do with the elephant when he reached the Allahabad station? Would he take him with him? Impossible! The
cost of transportation added to the price of purchase would make him a ruinous
animal. Would he be sold, would he be set at liberty? This fine animal deserved
to have some thought taken for him. If,
perchance, Mr. Fogg should present the elephant to him, he would be very much
embarrassed. It did not cease to occupy his mind.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the principal chain of the Vindhias
had been crossed, and the travellers stopped at the foot of the northern slope
in a ruined bungalow.
The distance travelled during this day was about twenty-five miles,
and there remained about as much more to reach the station of Allahabad.
The night was cold. The Parsee
kindled a fire of dry branches in the interior of the bungalow, whose warmth
was much appreciated. The supper was made from the provisions purchased at
Kholby. The travellers eat like stiff, tired people. The conversation
commencing by a few disconnected phrases, soon ended in loud snoring. The guide
watched near Kiouni, who slept standing, supported by the trunk of a large
tree.
No incident marked this night.
The howlings of panthers disturbed the silence sometimes, together with
the sharp chattering of monkeys. But the
carnivorous animals did not go further than utter their cries and made no
hostile demonstration against the occupants of the bungalow. Sir Francis Cromarty slept heavily like a
brave soldier worn out with fatigue. Passepartout dreamed in this disturbed
sleep of the shaking-up of the day before.
As for Mr. Fogg he slept as peacefully as if he had been in his quiet
mansion in Saville Row.
At six o'clock in the morning they resumed their march. The guide hoped to arrive at Allahabad the same
evening. In this way, Mr. Fogg would lose only a part of the forty-eight hours
saved since the commencement of the journey.
They were
descending the last declivities of the Vindhias. Kiouni had resumed his rapid
gait. Towards noon, the guide went round the
At two
o’clock, the guide entered the shelter of a thick forest, which he had to
traverse for a space of several miles. He preferred to travel thus under cover
of the woods. At all events, up to this moment there had been no unpleasant
meeting, and it seemed as if the journey would be accomplished without
accident, when the elephant, showing some signs of uneasiness, suddenly
stopped.
It was
then four o’clock.
“What is
the matter?” asked Sir Francis Cromarty, raising his head above his howdah.
“I do not
know, officer,” replied the Parsee, listening to a confused murmur which came
through the thick branches.
A few
moments after, this murmur became more defined. It might have been called a
concert still very distant, of human voices and brass instruments.
Passepartout
was all eyes, all ears. Mr. Fogg waited patiently, without uttering a word.
The
Parsee jumped down, fastened the elephant to a tree, and plunged into the
thickest of the undergrowth, A few minutes later he returned saying:—
“A
Brahmin procession coming this way. If it is possible let us avoid being seen.”
The guide
unfastened the elephant, and led him into a thicket, recommending the travelers
not to descend. He held himself ready to mount the elephant quickly, should
flight be come necessary. But he thought that the troop of the faithful would
pass without noticing him, for the thickness of the foliage entirely concealed
him.
The
discordant noise of voices and instruments approached. Monotonous chants were
mingled with the sound of the drums and cymbals. Soon the head of the
procession appeared from under the trees, at fifty paces from the spot occupied
by Mr. Fogg and his companions. Through the branches they readily distinguished
the curious personnel of this
religious ceremony.
In the
first line were the priests, with mitres upon their heads and attired in long
robes adorned with gold and silver lace. They were surrounded by men, women,
and children, who were singing a sort of funereal psalmody, interrupted at
regular intervals by the beating of tam-tams and cymbals. Behind them on a car
with large wheels, whose spokes and felloes represented serpents intertwined,
appeared a hideous statue, drawn by two pairs of richly caparisoned zebus. This
statue had four arms, its body colored with dark red, its eyes haggard, its
hair tangled, its tongue hanging out, its lips colored with henna and betel.
Its neck was encircled by a collar of skulls, around its waist a girdle of
human hands. It was erect upon a prostrate giant, whose head was missing.
Sir
Francis Cromarty recognized this statue.
“The
goddess Kali,” he murmured; “the goddess of love and death.”
“Of
death, I grant, but of love, never!” said Passepartout. “The ugly old woman!”
The
Parsee made him a sign to keep quiet.
Around
the statue there was a group of old fakirs jumping and tossing themselves about
convulsively. Smeared with bands of ochre, covered with cross-like cuts, whence
their blood escaped drop by drop—stupid fanatics, who, in the great Hindoo
ceremonies, precipitated themselves under the wheels of the car of Juggernaut.
Behind
them, some brahmins in all the magnificence of their Oriental costume, were
dragging a woman who could hardly hold herself erect.
This
woman was young, and as fair as a European. Her head, her neck, her shoulders,
her ears, her arms, her hands, and her toes were loaded down with jewels,
necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and finger-rings. A tunic, embroidered with
gold, covered with a light muslin, displayed the outlines of her form.
Behind
this young woman—a violent contrast for the eyes—were guards, armed with naked
sabres fastened to their girdles and long damaskeened pistols, carrying a
corpse upon a palanquin.
It was
the body of an old man, dressed in the rich garments of a rajah, having, as in
life, his turban embroidered with pearls, his robe woven of silk and gold, his
sash of cashmere ornamented with diamonds, and his magnificent arms as an
Indian prince.
Then,
musicians and a rearguard of fanatics, whose cries sometimes drowned the
deafening noise of the instruments, closed up the cortege.
Sir
Francis Cromarty looked at all this pomp with a singularly sad air, and turning
to the guide, he said:—
“A
suttee!”
The
Parsee made an affirmative sign and put his fingers on his lips. The long
procession slowly came out from the trees, and soon the last of it disappeared
in the depths of the forest.
Little by
little the chanting died out. There were still the sounds of distant cries, and
finally a profound silence succeeded all this tumult.
Phileas
Fogg had heard the word uttered by Sir Francis Cromarty, and as soon as the
procession had disappeared he asked:
“What is
a suttee?”
“A
suttee, Mr. Fogg,” replied the Brigadier-General, “is a human sacrifice, but a
voluntary sacrifice. The woman that you have just seen will be burned to-morrow
in the early part of the day.”
“Oh the
villains!” cried Passepartout, who could not prevent this cry of indignation.
“And this
corpse?” asked Mr. Fogg.
“It is
that of the prince, her husband,” replied the guide “an independent Rajah of
Bundelcund.”
“How,”
replied Phileas Fogg, without his voice betraying the least emotion, “do these
barbarous customs still exist in
“In the
largest part of
“The
unfortunate woman,” murmured Passepartout, “burned alive!”
“Yes,”
replied the General, “burned, and if she was not you would not believe to what
a miserable condition she would be reduced by her near relatives. They would
shave her hair; they would scarcely feed her with a few handsful of rice; they
would repulse her; she would be considered as an unclean creature, and would
die in some corner like a sick dog. So that the prospect of this frightful
existence frequently drives these unfortunates to the sacrifice much more than
love or religious fanaticism. Sometimes, however, the sacrifice is really
voluntary and the energetic intervention of the government is necessary to
prevent it. Some years ago, I was living at
During
the narrative of the General, the guide shook his head, and when he was
through, said:—
“The
sacrifice which takes place to-morrow is not voluntary.”
“How do
you know?”
“It is a
story which everybody in Bundelcund knows,” replied the guide.
“But this
unfortunate did not seem to make any resistance,” remarked Sir Francis
Cromarty.
“Because
she was intoxicated with the fumes of hemp and opium.”
“But
where are they taking her?”
“To the
pagoda of Pillaji, two miles from here. There she will pass the night in
waiting for the sacrifice.”
“And this
sacrifice will take place?”
“At the
first appearance of day.”
After this
answer, the guide brought the elephant out of the dense thicket, and jumped on
his neck. But at the moment that he was going to start him off by a peculiar
whistle, Mr. Fogg stopped him and addressing Sir Francis Cromarty, said: “If we
could save this woman!”
“Save
this woman Mr. Fogg!” cried the Brigadier-General.
“I have
still twelve hours to spare. I can devote them to her.”
“Why, you
are a man of heart!” said Sir Francis Cromarty.
“Sometimes,”
replied Phileas Fogg simply, “when I have time.”
_______________________
CHAPTER XIII.
IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT
PROVES AGAIN THAT FORTUNE SMILES UPON THE BOLD.
The design was bold, full of difficulties, perhaps
impracticable. Mr. Fogg was going to risk his life, or at least his liberty,
and consequently the success of his plans, but he did not hesitate. He found,
besides, a decided ally in Sir Francis Cromarty.
As to
Passepartout, he was ready and could be depended upon. His master’s idea
excited him. He felt that there was a heart and soul under this icy covering.
He almost loved Phileas Fogg.
Then
there was the guide. What part would he take in the matter? Would he not be
with the Indians? In default of his aid, it was at least necessary to be sure
of his neutrality.
Sir
Francis Cromarty put the question to him frankly.
“Officer,”
replied the guide, “I am a Parsee, and that woman is a Parsee. Make use of me.”
“Very
well, guide,” replied Mr. Fogg.
“However,
do you know,” replied the Parsee, “that we not only risk our lives, but
horrible punishments if we are taken? So see[1].”
“That is
seen,” replied Mr. Fogg. “I think that we shall have to wait for the night to
act?”
“I think
so, too,” replied the guide. The brave Hindoo then gave some details as to the
victim. She was an Indian of celebrated beauty, of the Parsee race, the
daughter of a rich merchant of
An
orphan, she was married against her will to this old rajah, of Bundelcund.
Three months after she was a widow. Knowing the fate that awaited her, she
fled, was retaken immediately, and the relatives of the rajah, who had an
interest in her death, devoted her to this sacrifice from which it seemed she could
not escape.
This
narrative could only strengthen Mr. Fogg and his companions in their generous
resolution. It was decided that the guide should turn the elephant towards the
pagoda of Pillaji, which he should approach as near as possible.
A half
hour afterwards a halt was made under a thick clump of trees, five hundred
paces from the pagoda, which they could not see, but they heard distinctly the
yellings of the fanatics.
The means
of reaching the victim was then discussed. The guide was acquainted with the
pagoda, in which he asserted that the young woman was imprisoned. Could they
enter by one of the doors, when the whole band was plunged in the sleep of
drunkenness, or would they have to make a hole through the wall? This could be
decided only at the moment and the place. But there could be no doubt that the
abduction must be accomplished this very night, and not when, daylight arrived,
the victim would be led to the sacrifice. Then no human intervention could save
her.
Mr. Fogg
and his companions waited for night. As soon as the shadows fell, towards six
o’clock in the evening, they determined to make a reconnoissance around the
pagoda. The last cries of the fakirs had died out. According to their customs,
these Indians were plunged in the heavy intoxication of “hang”, liquid opium
mixed with an infusion of hemp, and it would perhaps be possible to slip in
between them to the temple.
The
Parsee guiding, Mr. Fogg, Sir Francis Cromarty, and Passepartout advanced
noiselessly through the forest. After ten minutes’ creeping under the branches,
they arrived on the edge of a small river, and there by the light of iron
torches at the end of which was burning pitch, they saw a pile of wood. It was
the funeral pile, made of costly sandal wood, and already saturated with
perfumed oil. On its upper part the embalmed body of the rajah was resting,
which was to be burned at the same time as his widow. At one hundred paces from
this pile rose the pagoda whose minarets in the darkness pierced the tops of
the trees.
“Come!”
said the guide in a low voice.
And redoubling his precaution, followed by his companions, he
slipped quietly through the tall grass.
The silence was disturbed only by the murmuring of the wind in the
branches.
Soon the
guide stopped at the end of a clearing, lit up by a few torches. The ground was
covered with groups of sleepers, heavy with drunkenness. It might have been thought
a field of battle covered with the dead. Men, women, and children all in
a confused mass. Some few drunken men were tottering hither and thither.
In the
background, among the trees, the
The Parsee did not advance any further. He had recognized the impossibility of
forcing the entrance of the temple, and he led his companions to the rear.
Phileas
Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty understood as well as himself that they could
attempt nothing on this side. They stopped and talked in a low tone.
“Let us
wait,” said the Brigadier-General, “it is not eight o’clock yet, and it is
possible that these guards may succumb to sleep.”
“That is
possible, indeed,” replied the Parsee.
Phileas
Fogg and his companions stretched themselves out at the foot of a tree and
waited.
The time appeared long to them! The guide left them sometimes and
went to look at the edge of the wood. The guards of the rajah were still
watching by the light of the torches, and a faint light came through the
windows of the pagoda.
They
waited thus until midnight. The situation did not change. The same watching
outside. It was evident that they could not count on the drowsiness of the
guards. The intoxication of the "hang" had
probably been kept from them. It was necessary then to act differently, and get
in by an opening made in the wall of the pagoda. There was still the question
whether the priests were watching by their victim with as much care as the
soldiers at the temple gate.
After a
final conversation, the guide said he was ready to start. Mr. Fogg, Sir
Francis, and Passepartout followed him. They made a pretty long detour, so as
to reach the pagoda by the rear.
About a
half hour past midnight they arrived at the foot of the walls, without having
met any one. No watch had been established on this side, but windows and doors
were entirely wanting.
The night was dark. The moon, then in her last quarter, was scarcely
above the horizon, and was covered in heavy clouds. The height of the trees
further increased the darkness.
But it
was not sufficient to reach the foot of the walls, it was necessary to make an
opening there. For this operation Phileas Fogg and his companions had nothing
at all but their pocket-knives. Fortunately, the temple walls were composed of
a mixture of bricks and wood, which could not be difficult to make a hole
through. The first brick once taken out, the others would easily follow.
They went
at it, making as little noise as possible. The Parsee, from one side, and
Passepartout, from the other, worked to unfasten the bricks, so as to get an
opening two feet wide.
The work
was progressing, when a
cry was heard from the interior of the temple, and nearly at the same time
other cries answered from the outside.
Passepartout and the guide stopped their work. Had they been surprised? Had the alarm been
given? The most ordinary prudence would order them to go away, which Phileas
Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty did at the same time. They lay down again under
the cover of the wood, waiting until the alarm, if there had been one, had
ceased, and ready, in this case, to resume their work.
But—unfortunate
mischance—some guards showed themselves at the rear of the pagoda, and
established themselves there so as to hinder any approach.
It would
be difficult to describe the disappointment of these four men, stopped in their
work. Now that they could not reach the victim, how
could they save her? Sir Francis Cromarty clenched his fists, Passepartout was
beside himself, and the guide had some difficulty to restrain him. The
impassible Fogg waited without showing his feelings.
“What can
we do but leave?” asked the General in a low voice.
“We can
only leave,” replied the guide.
“Wait,”
said Fogg. “It will do if I reach
“But what
hope have you?” replied Sir Francis Cromarty, “It will soon be daylight, and—”
“The
chance which escapes us now may return at the last moment.”
The General
would have liked to read Phileas Fogg’s eyes.
What was
this cold-blooded Englishman counting on? Would he, at the moment of the
sacrifice, rush towards the young woman, and openly tear her from her
murderers?
That
would have been madness, and how could it be admitted that this man was mad to
this degree? Nevertheless, Sir Francis Cromarty consented to wait until the
denouement of this terrible scene. However, the guide did not leave his
companions at the spot where they had hid, and he took them back to the
foreground of the clearing. There, sheltered by a clump of trees, they could
watch the sleeping groups.
In the
meantime Passepartout, perched upon the lower branches of a tree, was
meditating an idea which had first crossed his mind like a flash, and which
finally imbedded itself in his brain.
He had
commenced by saying to himself, “What madness!” and now he repeated, “Why not,
after all? It is a chance, perhaps the only one, and with such brutes—”
At all
events, Passepartout did not put his thought into any other shape, but he was
not slow in sliding down, with the ease of a snake, on the lower branches of
the tree, the end of which bent toward the ground.
The hours
were passing, and soon a few less sombre shades announced the approach of day.
But the darkness was still great.
It was
the time fixed. It was like a resurrection in this slumbering crowd. The groups
wakened up. The beating of tam-tams sounded, songs and cries burst out anew.
The hour had come in which the unfortunate was to die.
The doors
of the pagoda were now opened. A more intense light came from the interior. Mr.
Fogg and Sir Francis could see the victim, all lighted up, whom two priests
were dragging to the out-side. It seemed to them that, shaking off the
drowsiness of intoxication by the highest instincts of self-preservation, the
unfortunate woman, was trying to escape from her executioners. Sir Francis’
heart throbbed violently, and with a convulsive movement seizing Phileas Fogg’s
hand, he felt that it held an open knife.
At this
moment, the crowd was agitated. The young woman had fallen again into the
stupor produced by the fumes of the hemp. She passed between the fakirs, who
escorted her with their religious cries.
Phileas
Fogg and his companions followed her, mingling with the rear ranks of the
crowd.
Two
minutes after, they arrived at the edge of the river, and stopped less than
fifty paces from the funeral pile, upon which was lying the rajah’s body. In
the semi-obscurity, they saw the victim, motionless, stretched near her husband’s
corpse.
Then a
torch was brought, and the wood, impregnated with oil, soon took fire.
At this
moment, Sir Francis Cromarty and the guide held back Phileas Fogg, who in an
impulse of generous madness, was going to rush towards the pile.
But
Phileas Fogg had already pushed them back, when the scene changed suddenly. A
cry of terror arose. The whole crowd, frightened, cast themselves upon the
ground.
The old
rajah was not dead, then; he was seen suddenly rising upright, like a phantom,
raising the young woman in his arms, descending from the pile in the midst of
the clouds of smoke which gave him a spectral appearance.
The
fakirs, the priests, overwhelmed with a sudden fear, were prostrate, their
faces to the ground, not daring to raise their eyes, and look at such a
miracle! The inanimate victim was held by the vigorous arms carrying her,
without seeming to be much of a weight. Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis had remained
standing. The Parsee had bowed his head, and Passepartout, without doubt was
not less stupefied.
The
resuscitated man came near the spot where Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty
were, and said shortly:—
“Let us
be off!”
It was
Passepartout himself who had slipped to the pile in the midst of the thick
smoke! It was Passepartout who, profiting by the great darkness still
prevailing, had rescued the young woman from death! It was Passepartout who,
playing his part with the boldest good-luck, passed out in the midst of the
general fright!
An
instant after the four disappeared in the woods, and the elephant took them
onwards with a rapid trot. But cries, shouts, and even a ball, piercing Phileas
Fogg’s hat, apprised them that the stratagem had been discovered.
Indeed,
on the burning pile still lay the body of the old rajah. The priests, recovered
from their fright, learned that the abduction had taken place.
They
immediately rushed into the forest. The guards followed them. Shots were fired;
but the abductors fled rapidly, and, in a few moments, they were out of range
of balls or arrows.
_______________________
CHAPTER XIV.
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG DESCENDS THE ENTIRE
CHAPTER XXXII
par 3
The Periere, of the French Transportation Company,—whose splendid
vessels equal in speed and surpass all others without exception—would not start
until the 14th of December. And besides, like those of the Hamburg Company, she
would not go directly to Liverpool or London, but to Havre, and this additional
trip from Havre to Southampton, delaying Phileas Fogg, would have rendered his
last efforts to no avail.
There was no use of thinking of the Inman steamers, one of which,
the City of Paris, would put out to sea the next day. These ships are specially
devoted to the transportation of emigrants, their engines are weak, they
navigate by sail as much as by steam, and their speed is only medium. They
would use on the voyage from New York to England more time than remained for
Fogg to win his bet.
End
of corrections. August 6, 2010