Part 13 (1/2)

”Yes, sir,” replied Mr Fogg, consulting his watch, ”and I admit it”

”You admit it?”

”I admit it, and I wish to hear these priests ad to do at the paGoda of Pillaji”

The priests looked at each other; they did not seem to understand as said

”Yes,” cried Passepartout, warmly; ”at the paGoda of Pillaji, where they were on the point of burning their victie stared with astonishment, and the priests were stupefied

”What victie Obadiah ”Burn whom? In Bombay itself?”

”Bombay?” cried Passepartout

”Certainly We are not talking of the paGoda of Pillaji, but of the paGoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay”

”And as a proof,” added the clerk, ”here are the desecrator's very shoes, which he left behind him”

Whereupon he placed a pair of shoes on his desk

”My shoes!” cried Passepartout, in his surprise per this imprudent exclamation to escape hiotten the affair at Bombay, for which they were now detained at Calcutta, ined

Fix the detective, had foreseen the advantage which Passepartout's escapade gave hi his departure for twelve hours, had consulted the priests of Malabar Hill Knowing that the English authorities dealt very severely with this kind of es, and sent the to the delay caused by the rescue of the young , Fix and the priests reached the Indian capital before Mr Fogg and his servant, thebeen already warned by a dispatch to arrest them should they arrive Fix's disappoint had not ined He made up his mind that the robber had stopped soe in the southern provinces For twenty-four hours Fix watched the station with feverish anxiety; at last he was rewarded by seeing Mr Fogg and Passepartout arrive, acco woman, whose presence he holly at a loss to explain He hastened for a policeht before Judge Obadiah

Had Passepartout been a little less preoccupied, he would have espied the detective ensconced in a corner of the court-roos with an interest easily understood; for the warrant had failed to reach hie Obadiah had unfortunately caught Passepartout's rash exclaiven the world to recall

”The facts are ad, coldly

”Inaslish law protects equally and sternly the religions of the Indian people, and as the man Passepartout has admitted that he violated the sacred paGoda of Malabar Hill, at Bombay, on the 20th of October, I condemn the said Passepartout to imprisonment for fifteen days and a fine of three hundred pounds”

”Three hundred pounds!” cried Passepartout, startled at the largeness of the sum

”Silence!” shouted the constable

”And inase, ”as it is not proved that the act was not done by the connivance of the master with the servant, and as the master in any case must be held responsible for the acts of his paid servant, I conde to a week's imprisonment and a fine of one hundred and fifty pounds”

Fix rubbed his hands softly with satisfaction; if Phileas Fogg could be detained in Calcutta a week, it would be more than time for the warrant to arrive Passepartout was stupefied This sentence ruined his er of twenty thousand pounds lost, because he, like a precious fool, had gone into that abo, as self-coment did not in the least concern hi pronounced Just as the clerk was calling the next case, he rose, and said, ”I offer bail”

”You have that right,” returned the judge

Fix's blood ran cold, but he resue announce that the bail required for each prisoner would be one thousand pounds