The train entered the station, and Passepartout, jumping out first, was followed by Mr Fogg, who assisted his fair companion to descend. Phileas Fogg intended to proceed at once to the Hong Kong steamer, in order to get Aouda comfortably settled for the voyage. He was unwilling to leave her while they were still on dangerous ground.
Just as lie was leaving the station a policeman came up to him, and said, `Mr Phileas Fogg?'
`I am he.'
`Is this man your servant?' added the policeman, pointing to Passepartout.
`Yes.'
`Be so good, both of you, as to follow me.'
Mr Fogg betrayed no surprise whatever. The policeman was a representative of the law, and law is sacred to an Englishman. Passepartout tried to reason about the matter, but the policeman tapped him 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 `palki-gari', a sort of four-wheeled carriage, drawn by two horses, in which they took their places and were driven away. No one spoke during the twenty minutes which elapsed before they reached their destination. They first passed through the `black town', with its narrow streets, its miserable, 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 it was early morning, elegantly dressed horsemen and handsome equipages were passing back and forth.
The carriage stopped before a modest-looking house, which, however, did not have the appearance of a private mansion. The policeman having requested his prisoners - for so, truly, they might be called - to descend, conducted them into a room with barred windows, and said: `You will appear 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 receive this treatment; it is for having saved me!'
Phileas Fogg contented himself with saying that it was impossible. It was 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 abandon Aouda, 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 to himself, `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. It was evidently a court-room, and a crowd of Europeans and natives already occupied the rear of the apartment.
Mr Fogg and his two companions took their places on a bench opposite the desks of the magistrate and his clerk. Immediately after, Judge Obadiah, a fat, round man, followed by the clerk, entered. He proceeded to take down a wig which was hanging on a nail, and put it hurriedly on his head.
`The first case,' said he; then, putting his hand to his head, he exclaimed, `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 a clerk's wig?'
The wigs were exchanged.
Passepartout was getting nervous, for the hands on the face of the big clock over the judge seemed to go round 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 two days 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 priests entered.
`That's it,' muttered Passepartout; `these are the rogues who were going to burn our young lady.'
The priests took their places in front of the judge, and the clerk proceeded to read in a loud voice, a complaint of sacrilege against Phileas Fogg and his servant, who were accused of having violated a place 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 what was said.
`Yes,' cried Passepartout, warmly; `at the pagoda of Pillaji, where they 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 the pagoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay.'
`And as a proof,' added the clerk, `here are the desecrator's very shoes, which he left behind him.'
Whereupon he placed a pair of shoes on his desk.
`My shoes!' cried Passepartout, in his surprise permitting this imprudent exclamation to escape him.
The confusion of master and man, who had quite forgotten the affair at Bombay, for which they were now detained at Calcutta, may be imagined.
Fix, the detective, had foreseen the advantage which Passepartout's escapade gave him, and, delaying his departure for twelve hours, had consulted the priests of Malabar Hill. Knowing that the English authorities dealt very severely with this kind of misdemeanour, he promised them a goodly sum in damages, and sent them forward to Calcutta by the next train. Owing to the delay caused by the rescue of the young widow, Fix and the priests reached the Indian capital before Mr Fogg and his servants, the magistrates having been already warned by a despatch to arrest thgm should they arrive. Fix's disappointment when he learned that Phileas Fogg had not made his appearance in Calcutta, may be imagined. He made up his mind that the robber had stopped somewhere on the route and taken refuge in the southern provinces. For twenty-four hours Fix watched the station with feverish anxiety; at last he was rewarded by seeing Mr Fogg and Passepartout arrive, accompanied by a young woman, whose presence he was wholly at a loss to explain. He hastened for a policeman; and this was how the party came to be arrested and brought before Judge Obadiah.
Had Passepartout been a little less preoccupied, he would have espied the detective ensconced in a corner of the court-room, watching the proceedings with an interest easily understood; for the warrant had failed 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 and sternly the religions of the Indian people, and as the man Passepartout has admitted that he violated the sacred pagoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay, on the 20th of October, I condemn the said Passepartout to imprisonment for fifteen days and a fine of three hundred pounds.'
`Three hundred pounds!' cried Passepartout, startled at the largeness of the sum.
`Silence!' shouted the constable.
`And inasmuch,' continued the judge, `as it is not proved that the act was not done by the connivance of the master with the servant, and as the master in any case must be held responsible for the acts of his paid servant, I condemn Phileas Fogg to a week's imprisonment and a fine of one hundred and fifty pounds.'
Fix rubbed his hands softly with satisfaction; if Phileas Fogg could be detained in Calcutta a week, it would be more than time for the warrant to arrive. Passepartout was stupefied. This sentence ruined his master. A wager of twenty thousand pounds lost, because he, like a precious fool, had gone into that abominable pagoda!
Phileas Fogg, as self-composed as if the judgment did not in the least concern him, did not even lift his eyebrows while it was being pronounced. Just as the clerk was calling the next case, he rose, and said, `I offer bail.'
`You have that right,' returned the judge.
Fix's blood ran cold, but he resumed his composure when he heard the judge announce that the bail required for each prisoner would be one thousand pounds.
`I will pay it at once,' said Mr Fogg, taking a roll of bank-bills from the carpet-bag, which Passepartout had by him, and placing them on the clerk's desk.
`This sum will be restored to you upon your release from prison,' said the 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 Passepartout, angrily.
`Ah, these are pretty dear shoes!' he muttered, as they were handed to him. `More than a thousand pounds apiece; besides, they pinch my feet.'
Mr Fogg, offering his arm to Aouda, then departed, followed by the crestfallen Passepartout. Fix still nourished hopes that the robber would not, after all, leave the two thousand pounds behind him, but would 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 soon landed on one of the quays.
The `Rangoon' was moored half a mile off in the harbour, its signal of departure hoisted at the mast-head. Eleven o'clock was striking; Mr Fogg was an hour in advance of time. Fix saw them leave the carriage and push off in a boat for the steamer, and stamped his feet with disappointment.
`The rascal is off, after all!' he exclaimed. `Two thousand pounds sacrificed! He's as prodigal as a thief! I'll follow him to the end of the world if necessary; but at the rate he's going on, the stolen money will soon be exhausted.'
The detective was not far wrong in making this conjecture. Since leaving London, what with travelling expenses, bribes, the purchase of the elephant, bails and fines, Mr Fogg had already spent more than five thousand pounds on the way, and the percentage of the sum recovered from the bank robber, promised to the detectives, was rapidly diminishing.
福克先生刚要走出车站,一个警察走过来对他说:
“您是斐利亚·福克先生吗?”
“是的。”
“这一位可是您的仆人?”警察指着路路通说。
“是的。”
“请您两位跟我走一趟。”
福克先生丝毫没有露出惊奇的神态。这位警察是代表法律的,法律对于任何英国人来说,都是神圣的。路路通呢,他具有法国人脾气,他想跟警察讲理,但是警察用警棍碰了碰他,同时斐利亚·福克作了一个手势要他服从。
“这位年轻的夫人可以跟我们一道去吗?”福克先生问。
“可以。”警察回答。
警察带着福克先生、艾娥达夫人和路路通上了一辆四轮四座的马车,驾着两匹马,就这样拉着他们走了。一路上谁也没说一句话。
马车先经过“贫民窟”狭窄的街道,街道两旁尽是些矮小的土屋。这些屋子里聚居着很多衣衫褴楼肮脏不堪的“流浪汉”,接着马车又穿过“欧洲区”,这里到处是砖瓦结构的住宅,密茂成荫的椰子树和高大的杉树,使人大有清心悦目之感。虽然还是清晨,可是,威武的骑兵和华丽的马车早已在街头奔驰了。
四轮马车在一所房子前面停了下来,这所房子外表虽然很平常,但看起来不象是私人住宅。警察叫他的囚犯们下了车——我们很可以用“囚犯”这个名词称呼他们,然后把他们带进一间有铁窗的屋子里,对他们说:
“八点半钟,欧巴第亚法官将要审讯你们。”
然后,警察把门锁上走了。
“糟了!我们被押起来了!”路路通叫着说,一面没精打采地往椅子上一坐。艾娥达夫人立即向福克先生说:
“先生,”她虽然极力保持镇静,但说话的语调不能掩饰她内心的激动,“您现在只好别管我了。他们抓您一定是为了我,一定是因为您救了我。”
福克先生只回答说:“不可能是为这件事。为火葬的事抓我们?那绝对不可能!那些僧侣怎敢到这里告状?一定是搞错了。”福克先生接着表示不论如何他也不能丢下艾娥达夫人,他一定要把她送到香港。
“可是十二点钟船就要开了!”路路通提醒他说。
“我们十二点以前准能上船。”这位绅士毫无表情,简单地说。
他的话是那样肯定和干脆,使路路通情不自禁地自言自语起来:
“对!这准没问题!我们十二点钟以前一定能上船。”可是他自己心里却一点把握也没有。
到了八点半钟,房门开了。来的还是那个警察。他把犯人带到隔壁的一个大厅里。这是一个审判厅,公众旁听席上坐着很多欧洲人和本地人。
福克先生、艾娥达夫人和路路通在法官和书记官席位对面的长凳子上坐了下来。
审判官欧巴第亚出庭了。他后面跟着一个书记官。这位法官是个大胖子,胖得象个大皮球。他把挂在钉子上的假发取下来,熟练地往头上一扣,同时宣布:
“开始第一个案件。”
但是这时他用手摸了一下自己的胖脑袋说:
“咦!这假发不是我的!”
“对了,欧巴第亚先生,”书记官说,“那是我的。”
“啊,亲爱的奥依斯特布夫先生,您叫一位法官戴上书记官的假发,那怎么能办好案子!”
于是他们换了假发。
在他们演这场换假发的开场戏时,路路通早急得象热锅上的蚂蚁了。他觉得审判厅里那个大挂钟上的指针简直快得象野马似的在奔跑。
这时法官欧巴第亚又重新宣布:
“开始第一个案件。”
于是书记官奥依斯特布夫开始点名:
“斐利亚·福克?”
“我在这里。”福克先生说。
“路路通?”
“有!”路路通回答。
“那好吧,”法官欧巴第亚说,“被告注意,这两天我们一直在所有从孟买乘火车来的旅客中找你们。”
“可是他们到底凭什么告我们?”路路通不耐烦地叫着说。
“你马上就会知道了!”法官说。
“法官先生,”福克说,“我是英国的公民,所以我有权利……”
“有谁对您不礼貌吗?”欧巴第亚先生问。
“一点没有。”
“那好吧!把原告带上来。”
法官命令一下,于是一个小门开了,三个僧侣跟着一个法警走了进来。
“啊,原来真的是为了这档子事呀!”路路通嘴里嘟哝着说,“这不就是要烧死艾娥达夫人的那些坏蛋吗?”
三个僧侣朝着法官站着,书记官开始高声诵读控告斐利亚·福克先生和他的仆人亵读神灵的诉状:被告曾经玷污了婆罗门教神圣的寺庙。
“您听清楚了吗?”法官问福克先生。
“清楚了,法官先生,”福克一面看着自己的表回答说,“我承认。”
“怎么?您承认了?……”
“我承认了,但是我也希望这三位原告也承认他们在庇拉吉庙所干的事。”
三个僧侣面面相觑,被告所说这些话,他们好象一点也不懂。
“那还用说!”路路通气愤他说,“就是在庇拉吉庙,他们要在庙前把一个人活活烧死!”
这句话把三个僧侣都吓楞了,法官欧巴第亚也大吃一惊。
“把一个什么人?”法官问,“烧死谁?就在孟买城里吗?”
“孟买?”路路通惊奇地问。
“自然是孟买,不过,不是在庇拉吉庙,而是在孟买玛勒巴山的寺院。”
“这儿还有物证。喏,这是玷污寺院的犯人穿的鞋子。”书记官接着法官的话说,同时把一双鞋子放在公案上。
“这是我的鞋!”路路通看到自己的鞋,感到万分惊奇,不自觉地叫了一声。
这时可以猜想出他们主仆二人那种狼狈不堪的心情。原来路路通在孟买闯的那个乱子,他们早已忘到九霄云外去了,怎么也想不到他们今天竟会为这件事在加尔各答受审。
实际上,密探费克斯早已看到,他可以从路路通碰上的这个倒霉的事件里得到好处。于是他就把从孟买动身的时间往后推迟了十二小时,跑到玛勒巴山寺为僧侣们出主意,说他们准能得到一大笔损害赔偿费,因为他很清楚英国玫府对于这一类的罪行是十分严厉的;这样他就叫三个僧侣从孟买坐了下一班火车来追踪他们的犯人。但是斐利亚·福克主仆二人因为援救一个年轻的寡妇,在路上耽搁了一些时间,所以费克斯和这三个印度教的僧侣就在福克主仆二人之前先到达了加尔各答。这时加尔各答的法院也已经接到了电报通知,只等福克他们一下火车,就立即逮捕归案。费克斯到达加尔各答之后,他发现福克先生根本就没有来加尔各答,这时他那种失望的心情是可想而知的。他认为:这个强盗准是在印度半岛铁路线上的某一个车站下了车,一定是在印度北部哪一个地区躲起来了。费克斯焦急不安地在车站上直等了二十四个小时。今天早上,当他看见福克居然陪着一个不知道从哪儿来的年轻女人从火车上下来的时候,他是多么高兴呵,他马上叫一个警察过去把他们抓起来了。这就是福克先生、路路通和本德尔汗德土王的寡妇被带到欧巴第亚法官这儿来的全部经过。
如果路路通不是那样聚精会神地听着法官审问自己的案子,他就会发现在旁听席后边的角落里坐着费克斯。费克斯那种特别关心审问和答辩的心情也是容易理解的。因为他在加尔各答和在苏伊士、孟买一样,还是没有接到伦敦寄来的拘票。
这时,法官欧巴第亚已经把路路通刚才脱口而出的那句话“这是我的鞋!”作成纪录。路路通对自己的失言非常后悔。他恨不得拿出自己所有的财富,去赎回这句一不小心滑出来的话。
“这些事情都承认了吗?”法官问。
“都承认了。”福克冷冰冰地说。
“根据——”法官于是宣判,“根据大英帝国对印度居民的各种宗教一视同仁,严格保护的法律,以及被告路路通先生已经承认曾于本年10月20日玷污孟买玛勒巴山寺神殿的事实,本庭判决:上述被告路路通禁闭十五日并罚款三百英镑(合七千五百金法郎)。”
“三百英镑?”路路通嚷着问,他就是对罚款数目特别敏感。
“别说话!”法警尖叫了一声。
“此外,”法官欧巴第亚接着宣判,“根据福克先生,不能提出主仆二人并非同谋的有力证据,无论如何福克先生对于自己仆人的一切行为应负责任。据此,本庭判决福克禁闭八天,并罚款一百五十英镑。书记官,现在开始审理第二个案件。”
坐在角落里的费克斯这时心里有说不出来的高兴。斐利亚·福克要在加尔各答坐八天禁闭,伦敦的拘票寄到这儿再慢也要不了八天。
路路通早给吓傻了。这个判决可把他的主人给坑死了。两万英镑的赌注输定了。这都是因为他去乱游瞎逛,都怪自己要跑到那个该死的破庙里去看稀罕。
斐利亚·福克先生依然不动声色,就象是这个判决与他毫无关系似的,甚至连眉头也没有皱一下。当书记官宣布开始审理另一个案件的时候,福克先生站起来说:
“我交保。”
“那是您的权利。”法官说。
费克斯象是脊梁上突然给泼了一盆凉水,但是当他听见法官说出下面一段话,他又安心了。
法官“根据福克先生和他仆人的外籍身分”,决定要被告各缴巨额保证金一千英镑(合二万五千金法郎)。
这样一来,福克先生要是不愿意服刑,就得缴两千英镑。
“我照付。”这位绅士说。
他从路路通背着的袋子里拿出了一包钞票放在书记官的桌子上。
“现在您就算缴保获释了,”法官说,“这笔钱等您什么时候来服刑,期满出狱时就还给您。”
“走!”福克先生对他的仆人说。
“可是至少他们得把鞋还给我啊!”路路通愤怒地喊着说。
书记官把鞋还给了他。
“喏,这双鞋价钱可真贵!”他嘟哝着说,“一千多英镑一只!还不说它们使我多么伤脑筋。”
福克先生让艾娥达夫人挽着自己的手臂一同走出了法庭,后面跟着垂头丧气的路路通。费克斯还在死心眼地希望着这个大窃犯一定宁愿坐八天禁闭而决不肯丢掉这两千英镑呢,所以他就继续跟踪斐利亚·福克。
福克先生叫来一辆马车,立即带着艾娥达夫人和路路通上车走了。费克斯跟在车后面跑,不一会儿,车子就停在加尔各答的一个码头上了。
仰光号泊在离码头半海里的海湾里,大桅顶上已经升起了开船的信号旗。钟敲了十一点。福克先生早到了一小时。
费克斯眼睁睁地看着福克带着艾娥达夫人和仆人下了车,上了一条小驳船,他气得在岸上直跺脚。
“这个流氓,”费克斯喊着说,“他真的走了!两千英镑就这样扔了!真是象强盗一样挥金如土!哼!你就是跑到天边,我也得盯着你!可是,照他这样搞下去,偷来的钱很快就会给他全部花光了!”
警察厅密探费克斯考虑到赃款的问题那是很自然的,实际上福克先生自从离开伦敦以后,旅费、奖金、买象、保释金和罚款,已经挥霍了五千多英镑了(合十二万五千金法郎),这样按追回赃款总数比例发给密探的奖金也就越弄越少了。