Off on a Comet! a Journey through Planetary Space

  CHAPTER IX MARKET PRICES IN GALLIA

  "All right!" said Servadac, convinced by the professor's ill humor thatthe danger was past; "no doubt we are in for a two years' excursion, butfifteen months more will take us back to the earth!"

  "And we shall see Montmartre again!" exclaimed Ben Zoof, in excitedtones that betrayed his delight in the anticipation.

  To use a nautical expression, they had safely "rounded the point," andthey had to be congratulated on their successful navigation; for if,under the influence of Jupiter's attraction, the comet had been retardedfor a single hour, in that hour the earth would have already traveled2,300,000 miles from the point where contact would ensue, and manycenturies would elapse before such a coincidence would possibly againoccur.

  On the 1st of November Gallia and Jupiter were 40,000,000 miles apart.It was little more than ten weeks to the 15th of January, when thecomet would begin to re-approach the sun. Though light and heat were nowreduced to a twenty-fifth part of their terrestrial intensity, so thata perpetual twilight seemed to have settled over Gallia, yet thepopulation felt cheered even by the little that was left, and buoyedup by the hope that they should ultimately regain their proper positionwith regard to the great luminary, of which the temperature has beenestimated as not less than 5,000,000 degrees.

  Of the anxiety endured during the last two months Isaac Hakkabut hadknown nothing. Since the day he had done his lucky stroke of business hehad never left the tartan; and after Ben Zoof, on the following day, hadreturned the steelyard and the borrowed cash, receiving back the paperroubles deposited, all communication between the Jew and Nina's Hive hadceased. In the course of the few minutes' conversation which Ben Zoofhad held with him, he had mentioned that he knew that the whole soil ofGallia was made of gold; but the old man, guessing that the orderly wasonly laughing at him as usual, paid no attention to the remark, and onlymeditated upon the means he could devise to get every bit of the moneyin the new world into his own possession. No one grieved over thelife of solitude which Hakkabut persisted in leading. Ben Zoof giggledheartily, as he repeatedly observed "it was astonishing how theyreconciled themselves to his absence."

  The time came, however, when various circumstances prompted him to thinkhe must renew his intercourse with the inhabitants of the Hive. Some ofhis goods were beginning to spoil, and he felt the necessity of turningthem into money, if he would not be a loser; he hoped, moreover, thatthe scarcity of his commodities would secure very high prices.

  It happened, just about this same time, that Ben Zoof had been callinghis master's attention to the fact that some of their most necessaryprovisions would soon be running short, and that their stock of coffee,sugar, and tobacco would want replenishing. Servadac's mind, of course,turned to the cargo on board the _Hansa_, and he resolved, according tohis promise, to apply to the Jew and become a purchaser. Mutual interestand necessity thus conspired to draw Hakkabut and the captain together.

  Often and often had Isaac gloated in his solitude over the prospect offirst selling a portion of his merchandise for all the gold and silverin the colony. His recent usurious transaction had whetted his appetite.He would next part with some more of his cargo for all the paper moneythey could give him; but still he should have goods left, and they wouldwant these. Yes, they should have these, too, for promissory notes.Notes would hold good when they got back again to the earth; bills fromhis Excellency the governor would be good bills; anyhow there wouldbe the sheriff. By the God of Israel! he would get good prices, and hewould get fine interest!

  Although he did not know it, he was proposing to follow the practice ofthe Gauls of old, who advanced money on bills for payment in a futurelife. Hakkabut's "future life," however, was not many months in advanceof the present.

  Still Hakkabut hesitated to make the first advance, and it wasaccordingly with much satisfaction that he hailed Captain Servadac'sappearance on board the _Hansa_.

  "Hakkabut," said the captain, plunging without further preface intobusiness, "we want some coffee, some tobacco, and other things. I havecome to-day to order them, to settle the price, and to-morrow Ben Zoofshall fetch the goods away."

  "Merciful, heavens!" the Jew began to whine; but Servadac cut him short.

  "None of that miserable howling! Business! I am come to buy your goods.I shall pay for them."

  "Ah yes, your Excellency," whispered the Jew, his voice trembling likea street beggar. "Don't impose on me. I am poor; I am nearly ruinedalready."

  "Cease your wretched whining!" cried Servadac. "I have told you once, Ishall pay for all I buy."

  "Ready money?" asked Hakkabut.

  "Yes, ready money. What makes you ask?" said the captain, curious tohear what the Jew would say.

  "Well, you see--you see, your Excellency," stammered out the Jew, "togive credit to one wouldn't do, unless I gave credit to another. You aresolvent--I mean honorable, and his lordship the count is honorable; butmaybe--maybe--"

  "Well?" said Servadac, waiting, but inclined to kick the old rascal outof his sight.

  "I shouldn't like to give credit," he repeated.

  "I have not asked you for credit. I have told you, you shall have readymoney."

  "Very good, your Excellency. But how will you pay me?"

  "Pay you? Why, we shall pay you in gold and silver and copper, while ourmoney lasts, and when that is gone we shall pay you in bank notes."

  "Oh, no paper, no paper!" groaned out the Jew, relapsing into hisaccustomed whine.

  "Nonsense, man!" cried Servadac.

  "No paper!" reiterated Hakkabut.

  "Why not? Surely you can trust the banks of England, France, andRussia."

  "Ah no! I must have gold. Nothing so safe as gold."

  "Well then," said the captain, not wanting to lose his temper, "youshall have it your own way; we have plenty of gold for the present.We will leave the bank notes for by and by." The Jew's countenancebrightened, and Servadac, repeating that he should come again the nextday, was about to quit the vessel.

  "One moment, your Excellency," said Hakkabut, sidling up with ahypocritical smile; "I suppose I am to fix my own prices."

  "You will, of course, charge ordinary prices--proper market prices;European prices, I mean."

  "Merciful heavens!" shrieked the old man, "you rob me of my rights; youdefraud me of my privilege. The monopoly of the market belongs to me. Itis the custom; it is my right; it is my privilege to fix my own prices."

  Servadac made him understand that he had no intention of swerving fromhis decision.

  "Merciful heavens!" again howled the Jew, "it is sheer ruin. The time ofmonopoly is the time for profit; it is the time for speculation."

  "The very thing, Hakkabut, that I am anxious to prevent. Just stop now,and think a minute. You seem to forget _my_ rights; you are forgettingthat, if I please, I can confiscate all your cargo for the commonuse. You ought to think yourself lucky in getting any price at all. Becontented with European prices; you will get no more. I am not goingto waste my breath on you. I will come again to-morrow;" and, withoutallowing Hakkabut time to renew his lamentations, Servadac went away.

  All the rest of the day the Jew was muttering bitter curses againstthe thieves of Gentiles in general, and the governor of Gallia inparticular, who were robbing him of his just profits, by binding himdown to a maximum price for his goods, just as if it were a time ofrevolution in the state. But he would be even with them yet; he wouldhave it all out of them: he would make European prices pay, after all.He had a plan--he knew how; and he chuckled to himself, and grinnedmaliciously.

  True to his word, the captain next morning arrived at the tartan. Hewas accompanied by Ben Zoof and two Russian sailors. "Good-morning, oldEleazar; we have come to do our little bit of friendly business withyou, you know," was Ben Zoof's greeting.

  "What do you want to-day?" asked the Jew.

  "To-day we want coffee, and we want sugar, and we want tobacco. We musthave ten kilogrammes of each. Take care they are all good; all firstra
te. I am commissariat officer, and I am responsible."

  "I thought you were the governor's aide-de-camp," said Hakkabut.

  "So I am, on state occasions; but to-day, I tell you. I amsuperintendent of the commissariat department. Now, look sharp!"

  Hakkabut hereupon descended into the hold of the tartan, and soonreturned, carrying ten packets of tobacco, each weighing one kilogramme,and securely fastened by strips of paper, labeled with the Frenchgovernment stamp.

  "Ten kilogrammes of tobacco at twelve francs a kilogramme: a hundred andtwenty francs," said the Jew.

  Ben Zoof was on the point of laying down the money, when Servadacstopped him.

  "Let us just see whether the weight is correct."

  Hakkabut pointed out that the weight was duly registered on everypacket, and that the packets had never been unfastened. The captain,however, had his own special object in view, and would not be diverted.The Jew fetched his steelyard, and a packet of the tobacco was suspendedto it.

  "Merciful heavens!" screamed Isaac.

  The index registered only 133 grammes!

  "You see, Hakkabut, I was right. I was perfectly justified in havingyour goods put to the test," said Servadac, quite seriously.

  "But--but, your Excellency--" stammered out the bewildered man.

  "You will, of course, make up the deficiency," the captain continued,not noticing the interruption.

  "Oh, my lord, let me say--" began Isaac again.

  "Come, come, old Caiaphas, do you hear? You are to make up thedeficiency," exclaimed Ben Zoof.

  "Ah, yes, yes; but--"

  The unfortunate Israelite tried hard to speak, but his agitationprevented him. He understood well enough the cause of the phenomenon,but he was overpowered by the conviction that the "cursed Gentiles"wanted to cheat him. He deeply regretted that he had not a pair ofcommon scales on board.

  "Come, I say, old Jedediah, you are a long while making up what'sshort," said Ben Zoof, while the Jew was still stammering on.

  As soon as he recovered his power of articulation, Isaac began to pourout a medley of lamentations and petitions for mercy. The captain wasinexorable. "Very sorry, you know, Hakkabut. It is not my fault that thepacket is short weight; but I cannot pay for a kilogramme except I havea kilogramme."

  Hakkabut pleaded for some consideration.

  "A bargain is a bargain," said Servadac. "You must complete yourcontract."

  And, moaning and groaning, the miserable man was driven to make up thefull weight as registered by his own steelyard. He had to repeat theprocess with the sugar and coffee: for every kilogramme he had to weighseven. Ben Zoof and the Russians jeered him most unmercifully.

  "I say, old Mordecai, wouldn't you rather give your goods away, thansell them at this rate? I would."

  "I say, old Pilate, a monopoly isn't always a good thing, is it?"

  "I say, old Sepharvaim, what a flourishing trade you're driving!"

  Meanwhile seventy kilogrammes of each of the articles required wereweighed, and the Jew for each seventy had to take the price of ten.

  All along Captain Servadac had been acting only in jest. Aware thatold Isaac was an utter hypocrite, he had no compunction in turning abusiness transaction with him into an occasion for a bit of fun. Butthe joke at an end, he took care that the Jew was properly paid all hislegitimate due.