کلکته

CHAPTER 6 - CALCUTTA

Phileas Fogg, Passepartout and Aouda left the station at Calcutta. They wanted to go to the passport office and then to the ship. But a policeman came to them and said: ‘Are you Mr.

Phileas Fogg, and is this your servant ?’

‘Yes.’

‘Please follow me.’

Phileas Fogg’s face did not change. He didn’t feel anything, or he didn’t show it.

‘Can this young woman come with us ?’ he asked.

The policeman said, ‘Yes.’

At the police station, the policeman took them to a large room with a big cupboard in it. Then the three men in orange clothes from the Malabar temple in Bombay came in. One man carried Passepartout’s shoes.

‘The temple in Bombay!’ said Passepartout.

The men from the temple were in Calcutta because Fix brought them from Bombay. Fix told the Calcutta police about the Malabar temple. Now, he was in the big cupboard in the room, and he listened to everything.

The policeman said, ‘People from other countries cannot come to India and wear their shoes in a temple. It is not right.

You will have to stay in prison. You can tell your story next week. Then perhaps you will have to stay in prison.’

Fix was very happy about that. ‘The warrant will arrive before then,’ he thought.

Passepartout felt bad. He was not afraid of prison, but he thought of Phileas Fogg and his bet. ‘A bet of twenty thousand pounds,’ he thought. ‘And we will lose it, because I went into a temple in shoes!’

Phileas Fogg’s face did not change. He said:’ I want bail.’

‘Yes, you can have bail,’ said the policeman.

Fix, in the cupboard, was angry.

‘But,’ the policeman said, ‘because you do not live in this country, bail will be one thousand pounds each. You -will have to come back here in a week, and then you will get your money back. You can tell your story then.’

Fix was happy about that. He thought, ‘Fogg won’t pay two thousand pounds of bail money. He’ll stay in prison and wait.’

To Fix, Phileas Fogg was a bank thief, not a man with a twenty thousand pound bet.

‘I’ll pay,’ said Phileas Fogg.

‘You will get this money back,’ said the policeman, ‘when you come back next week. But now you can go, on bail.’

Passepartout turned to the three men from the temple. ‘ Please,’ he said,’ give me my shoes back.’

The Frenchman put on his shoes again. Then Fogg, Aouda and Passepartout went to the port as quickly as they could. Fix followed. He was very angry. ‘That’s two thousand pounds of the Bank of England’s money,’ he thought. ‘I’ll have to take Fogg back to England quickly.’