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1IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT RECEIVES A NEW PROOF THAT FORTUNE FAVORS THE BRAVE The project was a bold one, full of difficulty,
2perhaps impracticable. Mr. Fogg was going to risk life, or at least liberty, and therefore the success of his tour. But
3he did not hesitate, and he found in Sir Francis Cromarty an enthusiastic ally. As for Passepartout, he was ready for
4anything that might be proposed. His master's idea charmed him; he perceived a heart, a soul, under that icy exterior.
5He began to love Phileas Fogg. There remained the guide: what course would he adopt? Would he not take part with the
6Indians? In default of his assistance, it was necessary to be assured of his neutrality. Sir Francis frankly put the
7question to him. "Officers," replied the guide, "I am a Parsee, and this woman is a Parsee. Command me as you will."
8"Excellent!" said Mr. Fogg. "However," resumed the guide, "it is certain, not only that we shall risk our lives, but
9horrible tortures, if we are taken." "That is foreseen," replied Mr. Fogg. "I think we must wait till night before
10acting." "I think so," said the guide. The worthy Indian then gave some account of the victim, who, he said, was a
11celebrated beauty of the Parsee race, and the daughter of a wealthy Bombay merchant. She had received a thoroughly
12English education in that city, and, from her manners and intelligence, would be thought an European. Her name was
13Aouda. Left an orphan, she was married against her will to the old rajah of Bundelcund; and, knowing the fate that
14awaited her, she escaped, was retaken, and devoted by the rajah's relatives, who had an interest in her death, to the
15sacrifice from which it seemed she could not escape. The Parsee's narrative only confirmed Mr. Fogg and his companions
16in their generous design. It was decided that the guide should direct the elephant towards the pagoda of Pillaji, which
17he accordingly approached as quickly as possible. They halted, half an hour afterwards, in a copse, some five hundred
18feet from the pagoda, where they were well concealed; but they could hear the groans and cries of the fakirs distinctly.
19They then discussed the means of getting at the victim. The guide was familiar with the pagoda of Pillaji, in which, as
20he declared, the young woman was imprisoned. Could they enter any of its doors while the whole party of Indians was
21plunged in a drunken sleep, or was it safer to attempt to make a hole in the walls? This could only be determined at the
22moment and the place themselves; but it was certain that the abduction must be made that night, and not when, at break
23of day, the victim was led to her funeral pyre. Then no human intervention could save her. As soon as night fell, about
24six o'clock, they decided to make a reconnaissance around the pagoda. The cries of the fakirs were just ceasing; the
25Indians were in the act of plunging themselves into the drunkenness caused by liquid opium mingled with hemp, and it
26might be possible to slip between them to the temple itself. The Parsee, leading the others, noiselessly crept through
27the wood, and in ten minutes they found themselves on the banks of a small stream, whence, by the light of the rosin
28torches, they perceived a pyre of wood, on the top of which lay the embalmed body of the rajah, which was to be burned
29with his wife. The pagoda, whose minarets loomed above the trees in the deepening dusk, stood a hundred steps away.
30"Come!" whispered the guide. He slipped more cautiously than ever through the brush, followed by his companions; the
31silence around was only broken by the low murmuring of the wind among the branches. Soon the Parsee stopped on the
32borders of the glade, which was lit up by the torches. The ground was covered by groups of the Indians, motionless in
33their drunken sleep; it seemed a battlefield strewn with the dead. Men, women, and children lay together. In the
34background, among the trees, the pagoda of Pillaji loomed distinctly. Much to the guide's disappointment, the guards of
35the rajah, lighted by torches, were watching at the doors and marching to and fro with naked sabres; probably the
36priests, too, were watching within. The Parsee, now convinced that it was impossible to force an entrance to the temple,
37advanced no farther, but led his companions back again. Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis Cromarty also saw that nothing
38could be attempted in that direction. They stopped, and engaged in a whispered colloquy. "It is only eight now," said
39the brigadier, "and these guards may also go to sleep." "It is not impossible," returned the Parsee. They lay down at
40the foot of a tree, and waited. The time seemed long; the guide ever and anon left them to take an observation on the
41edge of the wood, but the guards watched steadily by the glare of the torches, and a dim light crept through the windows
42of the pagoda. They waited till midnight; but no change took place among the guards, and it became apparent that their
43yielding to sleep could not be counted on. The other plan must be carried out; an opening in the walls of the pagoda
44must be made. It remained to ascertain whether the priests were watching by the side of their victim as assiduously as
45were the soldiers at the door. After a last consultation, the guide announced that he was ready for the attempt, and
46advanced, followed by the others. They took a roundabout way, so as to get at the pagoda on the rear. They reached the
47walls about half-past twelve, without having met anyone; here there was no guard, nor were there either windows or
48doors. The night was dark. The moon, on the wane, scarcely left the horizon, and was covered with heavy clouds; the
49height of the trees deepened the darkness. It was not enough to reach the walls; an opening in them must be
50accomplished, and to attain this purpose the party only had their pocket-knives. Happily the temple walls were built of
51brick and wood, which could be penetrated with little difficulty; after one brick had been taken out, the rest would
52yield easily. They set noiselessly to work, and the Parsee on one side and Passepartout on the other began to loosen the
53bricks so as to make an aperture two feet wide. They were getting on rapidly, when suddenly a cry was heard in the
54interior of the temple, followed almost instantly by other cries replying from the outside. Passepartout and the guide
55stopped. Had they been heard? Was the alarm being given? Common prudence urged them to retire, and they did so, followed
56by Phileas Fogg and Sir Francis. They again hid themselves in the wood, and waited till the disturbance, whatever it
57might be, ceased, holding themselves ready to resume their attempt without delay. But, awkwardly enough, the guards now
58appeared at the rear of the temple, and there installed themselves, in readiness to prevent a surprise. It would be
59difficult to describe the disappointment of the party, thus interrupted in their work. They could not now reach the
60victim; how, then, could they save her? Sir Francis shook his fists, Passepartout was beside himself, and the guide
61gnashed his teeth with rage. The tranquil Fogg waited, without betraying any emotion. "We have nothing to do but to go
62away," whispered Sir Francis. "Nothing but to go away," echoed the guide. "Stop," said Fogg. "I am only due at Allahabad
63tomorrow before noon." "But what can you hope to do?" asked Sir Francis. "In a few hours it will be daylight, and--"
64"The chance which now seems lost may present itself at the last moment." Sir Francis would have liked to read Phileas
65Fogg's eyes. What was this cool Englishman thinking of? Was he planning to make a rush for the young woman at the very
66moment of the sacrifice, and boldly snatch her from her executioners? This would be utter folly, and it was hard to
67admit that Fogg was such a fool. Sir Francis consented, however, to remain to the end of this terrible drama. The guide
68led them to the rear of the glade, where they were able to observe the sleeping groups. Meanwhile Passepartout, who had
69perched himself on the lower branches of a tree, was resolving an idea which had at first struck him like a flash, and
70which was now firmly lodged in his brain. He had commenced by saying to himself, "What folly!" and then he repeated,
71"Why not, after all? It's a chance,--perhaps the only one; and with such sots!" Thinking thus, he slipped, with the
72suppleness of a serpent, to the lowest branches, the ends of which bent almost to the ground.
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