Journey by Train: Section III

Prose

Journey by Train

Section III

Mr. Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty, after searching the village from end to end, came back without having found anything.

‘I shall go on foot,’ said Phileas Fogg.

Passepartout, who had now rejoined his master, made an unhappy face, as he thought of his magnificent 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.’

Kiouni—this was the name of the animal—could doubtless travel rapidly for a long time, and, in the absence of any other means of transport, Mr. Fogg resolved to hire him.

When therefore Mr. Fogg proposed this to the elephant’s owner, he refused point-blank. Mr. Fogg persisted, offering the excessive sum of ten pounds an hour for the loan of the animal to Allahabad. Refused.  Twenty  pounds? Refuse also. Forty pounds? Still refused.

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 owner, perhaps thinking he was going to make a great bargain, still refused.

Mr. Fogg offered first twelve hundred, then fifteen hundred, eighteen hundred, two thousand pounds. Passepartout was fairly white with suspense. At two thousand pounds the man yielded.

‘Good heavens, what a price for an elephant!’ cried Passepartout.

A young man, with an intelligent face, offered his services as a guide, which Mr. Fogg accepted, promising so generous a reward as to greatly increased his zeal. The elephant was led out and equipped.

The man, who was a skilled elephant driver, covered the elephant’s back with a sort of saddle-cloth, and attached to each of its sides some uncomfortable howdahs. Phileas Fogg paid the elephant owner with some banknotes which he extracted from the famous carpet-bag, an action that made poor Passepartout lose his breath.

While Sir Francis and Mr. Fogg took the howdahs on either side, Passepartout got onto the saddle-cloth between them. The driver 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 short cuts.

                                                                                                                        Jules Verne

Discuss and answer.

1. Which mode of transport did Fogg choose?

Answer: At first, Fogg chose to go on foot to Allahabad. Then he purchased an elephant to take them to Allahabad.

2. Did he hire Kiouni? Why?

Answer: No, he did not hire Kiouni, but purchased it for 2000 pounds, because the owner of the elephant intended to make a big bargain and so refused to hire him.

3. Why was the elephant owner happy with the deal?

Answer: The elephant owner was happy with the deal because Mr. Fogg offered him 2000 pounds to purchase the elephant.

GLOSSARY

Hesitation -unwilling

Conveyance- transportation

rapidly-  quickly

persisted- continued

refused- not willing

point- blank-bluntly

flurried- worried

yielded- accepted

howdahs- a seat for riding on the back of an elephant

carpet bag- Mr. Phileas Fogg left London with very little luggage. All his money was in the carpet bag.

 perched- positioned