Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Early stage of travel

On the morning of the 6th of May I rose from the Spencer Hotel, where I had been staying since my arrival in Calcutta, the capital of India, and which was one of the most luxurious hotels in the city.For me, this great city has no secrets.Every day, I walk on foot in the morning; in the evening, I take a car to Strong, which is the big square in front of Fort William, where there are always some gorgeous European cars parked, and there are also a few fat and rich locals mixed with disdain. In the luxury cars we drove, we walked through those weird oriental bazaars, went to see the crematorium of the dead by the Ganges, the botanical garden of the naturalist Kuker and "Mrs. Kali", the The terrible four-armed woman and the murderous god of death are located in a small temple in the suburbs, which is still in the primitive local civilization compared with the modern civilization in the city center.Then, admire the Governor's Palace standing opposite the Spencer Hotel, the peculiar Corinne Lord Palace and the Town Hall built to commemorate outstanding contemporary figures, take a closer look at the interesting Ugli Mosque, and then drive again Run around the port, lined with beautiful British naval business buildings, and then it's time to say goodbye to sergeants or philosophers,-these birds have so many inexplicable and interesting names! —It is they who make the streets of the city look clean and pleasant.By this time, the city in front of me had nowhere to go, and I had to leave it.

So this morning I rode in Government Square in a wretched two-horse carriage--nothing to compare with the comforts of English-made carriages--and soon arrived at Colonel Moreau's. The door of a bungalow. Our train stops just over a hundred paces outside the suburbs.So we can move into our new house,--that's really a good way to say it. Of course, all our luggage has been placed in the special luggage room on the car in advance.Besides, we only brought some necessities of life.As for arms, Captain Ord thought it necessary to carry at least four Infields with blasting cartridges, four shotguns, two duck guns, and several rifles and pistols--enough to arm our whole party.With these weapons, it is more than enough to deal with an edible game, and we can hunt brown beasts.

Captain Ord was simply triumphant!Not only because they finally freed the colonel from his lonely life after retirement, but also because he was about to travel to northern India on a unique train in the world. Excited and full of energy, he spoke with interjections and shook hands with such strength that he could crush bones. The time to go has come.The hot air in the steam oven is boiling, and the engine is about to start.The mechanic holds the regulating valve in one hand and is ready.Bursts of regular sirens have pierced the sky. "Let's go!" cried Captain Ord, waving his hat. "Iron Behemoth, let's go!" The alias taken is very appropriate and accepted by everyone.

Let's briefly talk about the companions who live in the second mobile home: Stoll, the mechanic, was an Englishman who had worked for South India until he had resigned a few months before.Bonkers knew him and knew he was capable, so he was hired to work for Colonel Moreau.This man is forty years old, capable and knowledgeable, and he is our good helper. The fireman's name was Karut.He was one of those Indians that the major railway companies scrambled to employ, because in India, the weather is already very hot, and the temperature at the fireside is unbearable for ordinary people, and they are the only ones who can work in such heat.For the same reason, when those ocean shipping companies sailed on the Red Sea, they always hired Arabs as firemen.They have extraordinary ability to resist high temperature. If Europeans stay in such a high temperature place, they will be roasted to death in a few minutes.Our fireman was also well chosen.

Colonel Morrow's orderly was a thirty-five-year-old Indian of the Gurgha race called Gumi.The regiments in which he had served had been disciplined enough to accept the new type of cartridge, and it was this cartridge that sparked the Indian riots, or at least provided a pretext for them.Gumi is small, nimble and fit, devoted to everything he does, still wearing the black Rifles uniform that he regards as his own. Both Sergeant Mark Real and Gumi were loyal to Colonel Moreau. They had been by his side through every campaign in India, had helped him in his vain search for Nana Saib, and had bid farewell to his military career and retired to civilian service with him, and they would never leave him.

If Gummi was the colonel's orderly, then Fox,--a naturally optimistic, sociable, genuine Englishman--was Captain Ord's orderly, but he was no less inferior to his superior in hunting.Despite his low position, the upright young man never tried to change it.And how his slickness matched his name!Fox: Fox!But it was a fox that captured thirty-six tigers—three fewer than his captain.He knew very well that this amount could not be exceeded. In this entourage, in addition to those mentioned above, there was our Negro chef, who worked in the kitchen in the front part of the second car, sandwiched between two storage rooms.Born in France, but he has roasted meat and stewed meat all over the world, this Mr. Palazard, - his last name, - always thinks that he is doing something very remarkable, not an ordinary Ordinary occupation.So whenever he hovered over the hearth, sprinkling pepper, salt, and other seasonings into soup with the delicate precision of a chemist, he always assumed an air of authority.But since Mr. Palazarde is capable and clean, we cannot help pardoning his chef's vanity.

Thus, Mr. Edward Morrow, Bonkers, Captain Ord and I, and Mr. Mark Rell, Stoll, Carut, Gumi, Fox and Mr. Palazard,—ten in all,— - The Iron Behemoth and its two mobile homes will take us on a trip to northern India.There were also two hounds, Vann and Black, whom the Captain used to praise for their ferocity in the fur hunt. Bengal is, if not the strangest, at least the wealthiest region on the Indian peninsula.Evidently it was not a place of Indian princes, for most of them lived in the capital of the country, but it was a densely populated province, which might be regarded as a real kingdom of the Indians.It reaches the unattainable Himalayas to the north, and we will diagonally pass through this region.

After some discussion, we agreed on the first phase of our travel plan: travel a few miles upstream along the Ugli River, a tributary of the Ganges, from which Calcutta is irrigated, from France on the right bank. Starting from the city of Shandernagor, proceed along the railway to Budwan, then diagonally through Bear, and return to the Ganges at Benares. "My friends," said Colonel Moreau, "the route of travel is for you to decide. . . . You don't have to take my opinion into consideration. Any decision you make will please me." "My dear Moreau," said Bonkers, evidently disapproving of his statement, "you should let us know your opinion..."

"No, Bonkers," replied the Colonel, "I trust your decision, and any province is all the same to me, and I have no particular interest. I just want to know: When you get to Benales After that, where do you go next?" "Continue to go north!" Captain Odd shouted excitedly, "Go directly through the Udd Kingdom, and then go to the Himalayas!" "In that case, my friends..." Colonel Moreau stammered, "maybe I'll ask you... let's talk about it then. Do as you say!" Mr. Edward Morrow's answer really surprised me.What are his real thoughts?Did he agree to travel with us just because he wanted to try his luck?Did he think that Nana Saib was still alive and that he might find his enemy in northern India?Could it be that he is still obsessed with revenge?I had a hunch that there must be something buried in Colonel Moreau's heart, and the only one who knew it was Sergeant Mark Real.

We were all sitting around the living room of the steam room early this morning.The balcony door and two windows were open, and there was a fan hanging from the ceiling, so it didn't feel hot. The Iron Behemoth is controlled by Stoll's regulator.At this moment, the travelers want to enjoy the scenery outside the car to their heart's content, so according to their requirements, the giant beast only moves forward one mile per hour. When the car drove out of the suburbs of Calcutta, there were still a large number of people following behind, including Europeans who admired the convoy, and a large group of Indians who respected and feared the convoy.Although the number of onlookers dwindled as the train passed away, we could still hear "Wow! Wow!" from the stunned passers-by.No doubt they were less impressed by the two ornate carriages than by the gigantic puffing elephant that drew them.

At ten o'clock, the table was set in the dining room, which was more secure and comfortable than sitting in the box of the first-class train, and we had the honor of eating Mr. Palazard's lunch. Our train runs along the banks of the Ugli River, a tributary of the Ganges in the west. The many small tributaries of the Ganges at the mouth of the sea are intertwined into a dense network of rivers. The Sandbunds Plain is the delta formed by the alluvial flow of these rivers. "My dear Mockley," said Bonkers to me, "look over there, this holy river has conquered the Bay of Bengal as holy as it is. A feat of time. Every inch of it is the Ganges Brought from the Himalayas. This province is formed by the accumulation of bits and pieces of mountain soil over time..." "How old and new it is!" Captain Ord went on to be full of emotion, "Ah! What a capricious, eccentric and capricious Ganges! People built a city on its bank, and after several centuries, this The surroundings of the city have turned into a plain, the old river has long since dried up, and the flow direction of the Ganges and the location of the mouth of the sea have all changed! Therefore, in the two cities of Baimaal and Galle, which were once nourished by the river, due to The betrayal of the river, and now only the dry rice fields on the plain are left!" "Ah!" I replied, "should we fear the same fate for Calcutta?" "Who knows?" "That's good! Let's never stay there!" said Bonkers, "but the fact is that the problem could be solved with more dams! The engineers will find a way to stop the Ganges from flooding if necessary! They will give Put it on a tights!" "My dear Bonkers, it's lucky for you that the Indians don't hear you talking about their holy river like that! Otherwise, they'd never forgive you!" I said to him. "You're right," replied Bonkers, "that the Ganges is God's son, if not God himself, to the Hindus, and so in their eyes everything Ganges does is perfect!" "Even the fever, cholera, and plague it spreads are beyond reproach!" exclaimed Captain Ord, "but the tigers and crocodiles that are so numerous in the Sandbounds are not immune to these rampant endemic diseases." In fact, the opposite is true! These animals seem to be well adapted to the plague-polluted air, just as the English in India prefer health resorts with pure and cool air in the hot season. Ah! These cruel beasts!" De suddenly turned his head and shouted to the orderly who was clearing the dining table: "Fox?" "What's the matter, Captain?" Fox asked in response. "Isn't that where you killed your thirty-seventh?" "Yes, Captain, it's just two miles from Port Canning," Fox said with some inclination. "That was one night..." "Enough, Fox!" the captain continued, downing a large glass of strong liquor mixed with sugar water, "I know the story of the thirty-seventh. The thirty-eighth will only interest me more!" "But Mr. Captain, the thirty-eighth one hasn't been killed yet!" "Fox, you'll do it, and so will I, my forty-one!" We never hear the word "tiger" in the conversation between Captain Ord and his orderly.Because there is absolutely no need to say it.The two hunters had a tacit understanding of each other. As our train continued to move forward, the Ugli River, which was about a kilometer wide before Calcutta, gradually narrowed.Upstream from the city, low embankments were built on both sides of the river to keep the river from flooding.From here, terrible sea hurricanes often flood inland, bringing disaster to the whole province.Unrecognizable neighborhoods, collapsed houses, submerged crops, thousands of corpses piled up in cities and villages, the irresistible nature of human beings, is such a scene of disastrous defeat after the overwhelming wind.The hurricane that occurred in 1864 was particularly terrible. We know that India's climate is divided into three seasons: rainy season, cold season and hot season.Among them, the hot season is the shortest but also the hardest.March, April and May are particularly hot, with May being the hottest of the three months.At this time, even a few hours in the sun can be life-threatening-at least for Europeans.In fact, even the indoor temperature was as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit (about 41 degrees Celsius). Mr. de Valbesson once described the people at that time: "They were as hot as a high fever. In the war to suppress the riots, officers and soldiers had to put their heads under the tap all day to prevent congestion." But since the steam room is always going on, the ceiling fan blows the air, and the vetiver hanging in front of the window smells moist because it is often watered, we didn't suffer too much.Besides, the rainy season, which lasts from June to October, is coming, I'm afraid it will be more troublesome than the hot season.All in all, there was nothing unpleasant about our trip. In the afternoon, we took a short walk in the steam room.As we get closer, we reach Shandernagor. I had been to this city before—the only French possession in the whole of Bengal.Shandernagor under the cover of the tricolor flag has only fifteen soldiers guarding the city, but in the wars of the eighteenth century, it was once a strong enemy of Calcutta, but now, the city has completely declined.There is no industry, no commerce, and the bustling bazaars and ports have long since become history.If Allahabad's railway had passed through the city, if only around its walls, Shandernagar might have regained some of its former vibrancy.However, British Railways could not meet the strict requirements of the French government and had to let the railway bypass the city.So Shandnagor lost his only chance to revive the business. Our train, of course, did not enter the city, but stopped three miles away on the road, at the entrance of a palm tree grove.When the whole convoy is settled, it's like a newly built village.But it is a mobile village. After spending a peaceful night in a small comfortable room, the next morning, that is, on May 7th, it will take us to start again. In the meantime, Bonkers fueled up.Although the machine did not consume much, he still insisted on keeping the tender full, that is to say, enough water, wood or coal for a sixty-hour journey. Captain Ord and his faithful Fox apply this principle to themselves, and their internal furnaces—I mean their stomachs, which provide a large surface for heating—are always stuffed to the brim with the most efficient operation for a long time. Nitrogen-containing fuel is essential for the human body machine. The rest of the journey is a little longer.It will take us two days and two nights to reach Budvan and visit the city on nine days. At six o'clock in the morning, Stoll let out a long, sharp cry, the gas in the cylinder was expelled, and the pace of the giant steel beast was slightly faster than the night before. We drove for hours along the railroad.This railway starts from Budwan, joins the Ganges Valley at Baimaar, and then goes all the way to Benares.The train from Calcutta whized past us.The exclamations of admiration from the passengers seemed to despise us.They can run faster than us, but definitely not more comfortable than us! During the two-day journey, the scenery along the way was unremarkable, which can be said to be monotonous.Tall coconut trees can be seen everywhere swaying in the wind, and Budwan will be the last frontier of their growth.This plant belonging to the palm family always likes to grow close to the sea and breathe the breath of the sea in the air.So as soon as you get out of the coastal zone, you don't see this plant anymore, and there are absolutely no coconut trees in central India.But the inland flora is just as interesting and varied. On both sides of the road are endless rice fields, which are divided into squares on a chessboard.And each square of land is surrounded by dikes like salt pans or oyster farms by the sea.This hot and humid land is shrouded in a layer of misty water vapor. The soil must be very fertile, and the green crops will surely have a good harvest. The next night, our steam house arrived in Budvan on time with its last column of steam, with a precision that even the express trains could not match. This city was originally the administrative capital of a British territory, but at the same time it was owned by an Indian maharaja, for which he had to pay nearly ten million in taxes to the government.Most of the houses in the city are small, separated by boulevards lined with coconuts and betel nuts.Our train passed through these avenues and stopped in a nice and cool shade.This night, another small block was added to the land owner's property.We would not even have exchanged Lord Budvan's splendid British-Indian palace, and its entire block, for our portable village of two houses. One can imagine what a stir our behemoth caused among the Bengalis, with their bald heads and Titus-like hair (referring to a haircut that is equally short front and back, after the statue of the Roman emperor Titus), The men only wore a cloth belt around their waists, while the women wrapped themselves in white sari from head to toe. They came from all directions to look at this strange monster. Although they were inevitably a little scared, their admiration was beyond words. "I have only one worry!" said Captain Ord, "that the lord of the town will be tempted by our steel behemoth and offer a large sum of money for it, and we cannot refuse so much money." , so I sold it!" "Never!" cried Bonkers for the first time. "If he wanted to, I could build him another elephant strong enough to pull all his estates! But this one is ours." , Don’t sell anything, Moreau, are you right?” "Don't sell anything!" Colonel Moreau's voice sounded like he wouldn't be tempted by eight million. Besides, we don't need to discuss the sale of behemoths.The lord was not in Budwan at all.It was just his Condal (equivalent to a private secretary), who came to inspect our convoy.In return he invited us--which we gladly accepted--to visit the Lord's garden, with its very beautiful tropical woods and babbling ponds and brooks, and to visit the zoo, which It is a large verdant lawn, dotted with pavilions of different shapes but all of them are extraordinary. In the garden, gentle roe deer, stags, yellow deer and elephants are carefully raised, as well as ferocious tigers, lions, leopards and leopards. Bear. "Cage the tiger like a bird, my captain! It's pathetic!" cried Fox indignantly. "You're quite right, Fox!" replied the Captain. "If you ask these hard-tempered fur beasts, they would rather roam free in the woods...even if they get shot!" "Ah! Captain, I feel the same way!" said the orderly with a sigh. We left Budvan the next day, May 10th.The refueled steam house crossed the rails by a path level with the railway, and drove straight to Ramgul, which is seventy-five miles from Calcutta. In this way we must give up some important cities along the way, such as Murshidabad, which is large, but neither its Indian nor British quarters have any characteristics at all; A city on a promontory, somewhat like Birmingham in England; Patna, the rich center of the opium trade and capital of the kingdom of Bear we are about to cross diagonally, is a verdant city.But we have a better option: take a route further south, two degrees below the Ganges Valley. During this stretch, the steel behemoth is no longer as stable as usual, but slightly wobbly, which gives us a first-hand experience of the steam room's wonderful shock absorption device.Besides, the road is not very difficult to walk.Maybe even ferocious carnivorous beasts will be afraid of this giant elephant that can swallow clouds and mist!But what surprised Captain Ord was that we didn't encounter a single prey along the way.However, he was originally planning to show his talents in northern India rather than Bangladesh, so he doesn't start shouting now. On May 15th, our convoy was within easy reach of Ramgul, which is 50 miles away from Budvan.The average speed is only about fifteen guli per twelve hours, not more. Three days later, that is, on the 18th, the train drove forward for more than a hundred miles and stopped near the small city of Jitra. At the beginning of the trip, it was basically safe and sound.Although the weather is hot, it is still very comfortable to take a nap on the balcony!During the hottest time of the day, we all stayed there to enjoy the cool leisurely. When night fell, Stoll and Karut cleaned the steam oven under the guidance of Bonkers and checked whether the machine was faulty. Then Captain Ord and I would hunt near the parking lot with Fox and Gummy and the two hounds.Our game was only small fur animals; though the captain, like all hunters, despises them, yet being a gourmet he will not say no to them, and the next day he will be like Mr. Palazard, triumphant. , eating the delicacies on the dinner table with relish, which also saved the food reserves in the car. Sometimes Gummi and Fox stayed behind to replenish the train with firewood and water.Shouldn't the tender be filled up for the next day?So Bonkers always parks by the side of a stream or near a grove of trees whenever possible.All these indispensable supplies are handled by careful engineers. When everything was done, we started smoking cigars—delicious Manila seluz. —was smoking and talking about the country that Ord and Bonkers knew so well.And the captain himself hates vulgar cigars very much, so he always holds a twenty-foot-long pipe in his mouth and sucks it in big mouthfuls. The smoke exudes a spice called "uka". The orderly always filled the pipe carefully with tobacco. For us, the greatest joy was that Colonel Moreau went for a walk around the camp with us.We always asked him to come with us before we left, but he always declined politely and stayed with Sergeant Marlene Rael.The two of them walked up and down the road, never more than a hundred paces apart.Though both men were extremely taciturn, they knew each other so well that they could exchange ideas without needing any words.The two are still fully immersed in the painful past that is still fresh in their memories.As our convoy drew ever closer to the north, how could painful memories not resurface in our minds as Edward Morrow and Sergeant approached the bloody uprising? It was evident that Colonel Moreau had not agreed to travel to North India simply for the sake of being with us, but what he really had in mind we did not know until later.Bonkers and Captain Ord agreed with me on this guess.The three of them are worried about the future, because we don't know if there will be any tragedy caused by this tin elephant traveling north and south on the peninsula.