Chapter 22
In Which Passepartout Finds Out That, Even at the Antipodes,It Is Convenient to Have Some Money in One's Pocket
The Carnatic, setting sail from Hong Kong at half-past six on the7th of November, directed her course at full steam towards Japan.She carried a large cargo and a well-filled cabin of passengers.Two state-rooms in the rear were, however, unoccupied--thosewhich had been engaged by Phileas Fogg.
The next day a passenger with a half-stupefied eye, staggeringgait and disordered hair, was seen to emerge from the secondcabin, and to totter to a seat on deck.
It was Passepartout. What had happened to him was as follows.Shortly after Fix left the opium den, two waiters had lifted theunconscious Passepartout, and had carried him to the bed reservedfor the smokers. Three hours later, pursued even in his dreams bya fixed idea, the poor fellow awoke, and struggled against thestupefying influence of the narcotic. The thought of a dutyunfulfilled shook off his torpor, and he hurried from the abodeof drunkenness. Staggering and holding himself up by keepingagainst the walls, falling down and creeping up again, andirresistibly impelled by a kind of instinct, he kept crying out,"The Carnatic! the Carnatic!"
The steamer lay puffing alongside the quay, on the point ofstarting. Passepartout had but few steps to go; and, rushing uponthe plank, he crossed it, and fell unconscious on the deck, justas the Carnatic was moving off. Several sailors, who wereevidently accustomed to this sort of scene, carried the poorFrenchman down into the second cabin, and Passepartout did notwake until they were one hundred and fifty miles away from China.Thus he found himself the next morning on the deck of theCarnatic, and eagerly inhaling the exhilarating sea breeze. Thepure air sobered him. He began to collect his sense, which hefound a difficult task, but at last he recalled the events of theevening before, Fix's revelation, and the opium house.
"It is evident," he said to himself, "that I have beenabominably drunk! What will Mr. Fogg say? At least I have notmissed the steamer, which is the most important thing."
Then, as Fix occurred to him: "As for that rascal, I hope we arewell rid of him, and that he has not dared, as he proposed, tofollow us on board the Carnatic. A detective on the track of Mr.Fogg, accused of robbing the Bank of England! Pshaw! Mr. Fogg isno more a robber than I am a murderer." Should he divulge Fix'sreal errand to his master? Would it do to tell the part thedetective was playing? Would it not be better to wait until Mr.Fogg reached London again, and then impart to him that an agentof the metropolitan police had been following him round theworld, and have a good laugh over it? No doubt, at least, it wasworth considering. The first thing to do was to find Mr. Fogg,and apologize for his singular behavior.
Passepartout got up and proceeded, as well as he could with therolling of the steamer, to the afterdeck. He saw no one whoresembled either his master or Aouda. "Good!" muttered he; "Aoudahas not gotten up yet, and Mr. Fogg has probably found somepartners at whist."
He descended to the saloon. Mr. Fogg was not there. Passepartouthad only, however, to ask the purser the number of his master'sstateroom. The purser replied that he did not know any passengerby the name of Fogg.
"I beg your pardon," said Passepartout persistently. "He is atall gentleman, quiet and not very talkative, and has with him ayoung lady--"
"There is no young lady on board," interrupted the purser. "Hereis a list of the passengers. You may see for yourself."
Passepartout scanned the list, but his master's name was not uponit. All at once an idea struck him.
"Ah! Am I on the Carnatic?"
"Yes."
"On the way to Yokohama?"
"Certainly."
Passepartout had for an instant feared that he was on the wrongboat; but, though he was really on the Carnatic, his master wasnot there. He fell thunderstruck on a seat. He saw it all now. Heremembered that the time of sailing had been changed, that heshould have informed his master of that fact, and that he had notdone so. It was his fault, then, that Mr. Fogg and Aouda hadmissed the steamer. Yes, but it was still more the fault of thetraitor who, in order to separate him from his master, and detainthe latter at Hong Kong, had inveigled him into getting drunk! Henow saw the detective's trick, and at this moment Mr. Fogg wascertainly ruined, his bet was lost, and he himself perhapsarrested and imprisoned! At this thought Passepartout tore hishair. Ah, if Fix ever came within his reach, what a settling ofaccounts there would be!
After his first depression, Passepartout became calmer, and beganto study his situation. It was certainly not an enviable one. Hefound himself on the way to Japan, and what should he do when hegot there? His pocket was empty. He had not a solitary shilling--notso much as a penny. His passage had fortunately been paid forin advance, and he had five or six days in which to decide uponhis future course. He fell to at meals with an appetite, and atefor Mr. Fogg, Aouda, and himself. He helped himself as generouslyas if Japan were a desert, where nothing to eat was to be lookedfor.
At dawn on the 13th the Carnatic entered the port of Yokohama.This is an important port of call in the Pacific, where all themail-steamers, and those carrying travelers between NorthAmerica, China, Japan and the Oriental islands put in. It issituated in the bay of Yeddo, and at but a short distance fromthat second capital of the Japanese Empire, and the residence ofthe Tycoon, the civil Emperor, before the Mikado, the spiritualEmperor, absorbed his office in his own. The Carnatic anchored atthe quay near the customhouse, in the midst of a crowd of shipsbearing the flags of all nations.
Passepartout went timidly ashore on this so curious territory ofthe Sons of the Sun. He had nothing better to do than, takingchance for his guide, to wander aimlessly through the streets ofYokohama. He found himself at first in a thoroughly Europeanquarter, the houses having low fronts, and being adorned withverandas, beneath which he caught glimpses of neat peristyles.This quarter occupied, with its streets, squares, docks andwarehouses, all the space between the "promontory of the Treaty"and the river. Here, as at Hong Kong and Calcutta, were mixedcrowds of all races--Americans and English, Chinamen andDutchmen, mostly merchants ready to buy or sell anything. TheFrenchman felt himself as much alone among them as if he haddropped down in the midst of Hottentots.
He had, at least, one resource--to call on the French andEnglish consuls at Yokohama for assistance. But he shrank fromtelling the story of his adventures, intimately connected as itwas with that of his master; and, before doing so, he determinedto exhaust all other means of aid. As chance did not favor him inthe European quarter, he penetrated that inhabited by the nativeJapanese, determined, if necessary, to push on to Yeddo.
The Japanese quarter of Yokohama is called Benten, after thegoddess of the sea, who is worshipped on the islands round about.There Passepartout beheld beautiful fir and cedar groves, sacredgates of a singular architecture, bridges half hid in the midstof bamboos and reeds, temples shaded by immense cedar-trees. Hesaw holy retreats where there were sheltered Buddhist priests andsectaries of Confucius, and interminable streets, where a perfectharvest of rose-tinted and red-cheeked children, who looked as ifthey had been cut out of Japanese screens, and who were playingin the midst of short-legged poodles and yellowish cats, had beengathered.
The streets were crowded with people. Priests were passing inprocessions, beating their dreary tambourines; police andcustom-house officers with pointed hats encrusted with lace, andcarrying two sabres hung to their waists; soldiers, clad in bluecotton with white stripes, and bearing guns; the Mikado's guards,enveloped in silken doubles, hauberks and coats of mail; andnumbers of military folk of all ranks--for the militaryprofession is as much respected in Japan as it is despised inChina--went hither and thither in groups and pairs. Passepartoutsaw, too, begging friars, long-robed pilgrims and simplecivilians, with their warped and jet-black hair, big heads, longbusts, slender legs, short stature and complexions varying fromcopper-color to a dead white, but never yellow, like the Chinese,from whom the Japanese widely differ. He did not fail to observethe curious equipages--carriages and
palanquins, barrowssupplied with sails and litters made of bamboo; nor the women--whomhe thought not especially handsome--who took little stepswith their little feet, upon which they wore canvas shoes, strawsandals and clogs of worked wood, and who displayed tight-lookingeyes, flat chests, teeth fashionably blackened and gowns crossedwith silken scarfs, tied in an enormous knot behind--anornament which the modern Parisian ladies seem to have borrowedfrom the dames of Japan.
Passepartout wandered for several hours in the midst of thismotley crowd, looking in at the windows of the rich and curiousshops, the jewelry establishments glittering with quaint Japaneseornaments, the restaurants decked with streamers and banners, theteahouses, where the odorous beverage was being drunk with saki,a liquor concocted from the fermentation of rice, and thecomfortable smoking houses, where they were puffing, not opium,which is almost unknown in Japan, but a very fine, stringytobacco. He went on till he found himself in the fields, in themidst of vast rice plantations. There he saw dazzling camelliasexpanding themselves, with flowers which were giving forth theirlast colors and perfumes, not on bushes, but on trees, and withinbambooenclosures, cherry, plum and apple trees, which theJapanese cultivate rather for their blossoms than their fruit,and which queerly-fashioned, grinning scarecrows protected fromthe sparrows, pigeons, ravens and other voracious birds. On thebranches of the cedars were perched large eagles. Amid thefoliage of the weeping willows were herons, solemnly standing onone leg. On every hand were crows, ducks, hawks, wild birds and amultitude of cranes, which the Japanese consider sacred, andwhich to their minds symbolize long life and prosperity.
As he was strolling along, Passepartout saw some violets amongthe shrubs.
"Good!" said he. "I'll have some supper."
But, on smelling them, he found that they were odorless.
"No chance there," thought he.
The worthy fellow had certainly taken good care to eat as heartya breakfast as possible before leaving the Carnatic; but, as hehad been walking about all day, the demands of hunger weregrowing. He observed that the butchers' stalls contained neithermutton, goat, nor pork. Knowing also that it is a sacrilege tokill cattle, which are preserved solely for farming, he made uphis mind that meat was far from plentiful in Yokohama--nor washe mistaken. In default of butcher's meat, he could have wishedfor a quarter of wild boar or deer, a partridge, or some quails,some game or fish, which, with rice, the Japanese eat almostexclusively. But he found it necessary to keep up a stout heart,and to postpone the meal he craved till the following morning.Night came, and Passepartout re-entered the native quarter, wherehe wandered through the streets, lit by vari-colored lanterns. Helooked on at the dancers, who were executing skillful steps andboundings, and the astrologers who stood in the open air withtheir telescopes. Then he came to the harbor, which was lit up bythe resin torches of the fishermen, who were fishing from theirboats.
The streets at last became quiet. The patrol, the officers, insplendid costumes, and surrounded by their suites, succeeded thebustling crowd. Passepartout thought they seemed likeambassadors. Each time a company passed, Passepartout chuckled,and said to himself: "Good! Another Japanese embassy departingfor Europe!"