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The Blog of Phileas Fogg: October 25th 1872

From: Harry Hayfield <welshliberaldemocrat~at~yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 22:41:11 +0100
To: "Jules Verne Forum" <jvf~at~Gilead.org.il>

"A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep. Where the scattered
waters rave, and the winds their revels keep! Like an eagle caged, I pine,
on this dull, unchanging shore. Oh! Give me the flashing brine, The spray
and the tempest's roar! Once more on the deck I stand of my own
swift-gliding craft. Set sail! Farewell to the land! The gale follows fair
abaft. A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep. Where the
scattered waters rave, and the winds their revels keep!"

You can tell I'm back on a ship can't you! Welcome aboard the Rangoon our
home from home for the next fortnight or so as we head towards Hong Kong,
but we very nearly didn't all board this morning due to a slight case of
legal difficulties. We'd just arrived in Calcutta when a policeman came up
and asked who we were. I replied that I was Phileas Fogg and that I was
being accompanied by Passepartout and the Princess. He then asked us to
follow him. Well, as you can imagine I was scratching my head as to what was
going on, but this soon became clear when he invited us into a small house
and informed us that we would be seeing a judge about eighty minutes later.

At 8.30 this morning, we were led into a courtroom and a judge entered
followed by his clerk. After a slight confusion over wigs, the case was
formally put. This box of tricks came up trumps again and recorded the trial
word for word and I've now had a chance to review precisely what happened.
It turns out that myself and Passepartout were both being charged with
sacrilege and as an accomplice to the charge of sacrilege. Well, as you can
imagine this took me a little by suprise but as soon as the prosecuters
arrived it all started to make sense. The charge related to the act of
suttee that we stopped. When we were asked if we understood the charge, I
answered in the postive and asked if the priests could explain what they
were doing at the same time. Passepartout got a little carried away and
shouted "Yes, at the pagoda of Pillaji, where they were on the point of
burning their victim". The priests didn't seem to understand the question
and the judge even asked "What victim?". It turned out that we'd got the
wrong end of the stick. These priests belonged to the temple at Bombay where
Passepartout lost his shoes and sure enough a few seconds later the shoes
were presented as evidence!

This made things a lot easier. We both admitted our guilt and our punishment
was delivered. Passepartout was to be jailed for fifteen days and fined £300
and I was to be jailed for seven days and fined £150. Just as the case was
about to be concluded I stood up and announced "I offer bail!". The judge
agreed and a sum of £2,000 was decided (which I paid instantly) and we were
both released on bail. And with that little problem sorted (and Passepartout
reunited with his shoes) we all made our way on board the Rangoon.

So here we are back on the ocean waves and throughly enjoying a chance to
relax. In fact Passepartout has taken the time to relax as well and this
evening was taking a stab at the open theatre session. He sang a song (in
French of course) which he said was a traditional French folksong. Well, if
it is a traditional song it seems very apt indeed as my box of tricks
translated the song into English for me and the Princess to read. The song
is called "Tout Autour Le Monde" which translates as "All Around the World!"
(as I said quite apt!)

"All around the world, we'll go together day by day (Whistles), Anytime you
want me you can whistle in this way (Whistles), And I will be there ready to
help you anywhere (Whistles). Hand in hand, we'll always go to many places
we don't know and we'll sing along the way and every time we'll find a way
to carry on! All around the world, we'll go together day by day (Whistles),
And we'll see new people, white or black or any way (Whistles), Mr. Fogg
will the be the boss and Aouda'll be there too (Whistles). Hand in hand,
we'll always go to many places we don't know and we'll sing along the way
and every time we'll find a way to carry on!!"

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Received on Thu 26 Oct 2006 - 07:00:55 IST

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