Page:Works of Jules Verne - Parke - Vol 7.djvu/236

 this place from Allahabad, and they were passed over in two hours.

During this passage the young woman completely revived; the drowsy fumes of the "hang" disappeared. What was her astonishment to find herself on this railway, in this compartment clothed in European habiliments, in the midst of travelers entirely unknown to her. At first her companions gave her the greatest care, and revived her with a few drops of liquor; then the brigadier general told the story. He dwelt upon the devotion of Phileas Fogg, who had not hesitated to stake his life to save her, and upon the denouement of the adventure, due to the bold imagination of Passepartout.

Mr. Fogg let him go on without saying a word. Passepartout, quite ashamed, repeated that "it was not worth while."

Aouda thanked her deliverers profusely, by her tears more than by her words. Her beautiful eyes, rather than her lips, were the interpreters of her gratitude. Then, her thoughts carrying her back to the scenes of the suttee, seeing again the Indian country where so many dangers still awaited her, she shuddered with terror.

Phileas Fogg understood what was passing in Aouda's mind, and, to reassure her, offered, very coolly, to take her to Hong Kong, where she might remain until this affair had died out. Aouda accepted the offer gratefully. At Hong Kong there resided one of her relatives, a Parsee like herself, and one of the principal merchants of that city, which is entirely English, though occupying a point on the Chinese coast.

At half-past twelve, noon, the train stopped at the Benares station. The Brahmin legends assert that this place occupies the site of the ancient Casi, which was formerly suspended in space, between the zenith and the nadir, like Mahomet's tomb. But at this more material period Benares, the Athens of India, was prosaically resting on the earth, and Passepartout could for an instant see its brick houses, its clay huts, which gave it a very desolate appearance, without any local color.

Here was where Sir Francis Cromarty was going to stop. The troops which he was rejoining were camping a few miles to the north of the city. The brigadier general then