9 Phileas Fogg Spends a Lot of Money

CHAPTER 9 Phileas Fogg Spends a Lot of Money The train entered the station in Calcutta and the passengers climbed off. Phileas wanted to get going right away so they could board the Hong Kong steamer in plenty of

time. They had a few hours before it was due to leave. Phileas wanted to make sure Aouda was comfortable and had everything she needed. Of course, that meant that Passepartout would have to run some errands. A policeman stopped Phileas just after he had helped Aouda down from the train. "Are you Mr. Phileas Fogg?" he asked. "I am," Phileas replied. "And this man is your butler?" He pointed to Passepartout. "He is." "Then both of you need to come with me." The policeman walked toward a carriage and opened the door for them. Not wanting to leave Aouda behind, Phileas told her to come with them. After a quiet twenty-minute journey, they arrived at a small house. The policeman opened up the carriage door. As he let them

out, he said, "Follow me." He led the three of them into a small room with bars on the windows. "You'll stand before Judge Obadiah at precisely eight- thirty." "We are prisoners?" Phileas exclaimed. "Nonsense! There must be some mistake." He turned to Aouda and Passepartout. "Not to worry, we shall be on board the steamer by noon." The door opened and the policeman came back. He brought them into the courtroom. Judge Obadiah, a fat, round man, came in. "The first case!" The judge called. "Phileas Fogg!" the judge's clerk shouted. "Present," Phileas said. Three men came into the courtroom. At first Phileas and Passepartout thought they were members of the gang trying to get Aouda back. But then one of them produced Passepartout's shoes!

"Mr. Passepartout, you are charged with illegally entering a temple. These shoes are the proof that you were indeed there," the judge said. "My shoes!" Passepartout said loudly. "So you do admit you were there?" Passepartout nodded slowly. "Good. You will be fined one hundred and fifty pounds and will need to spend one week in jail." Phileas spoke up. "I shall pay his bail. Then he won't need to stay in jail. What's the cost?" The judge looked at him. "It's rather steep, sir. Two thousand pounds." Phileas took a roll of bills out of his carpetbag and paid the bail. Detective Fix stood at the back of the courtroom watching everything. He thought he had found a sure-fire way of keeping Phileas in India until he could get the proper

arrest warrant. But now that Passepartout had bail, it looked like Phileas was going to get away again! He had never imagined the robber would be so free with his money. "Good," said the judge. "This money will be returned to you once Passepartout has

completed his time in jail. If he doesn't return, we shall keep the money." Phileas nodded. "That's fine, sir." He turned to Passepartout and Aouda, and said, "Let's go!" Passepartout grabbed his shoes on the way out. "We need to be on our way to the wharf right now!" With a heavy heart, Passepartout followed his monsieur. He did not enjoy having his boss spend money on mistakes that he had made. He glanced up to see Fix standing off in the corner looking very angry indeed. For a second, Passepartout wondered what he was doing there, but he was in too much of a hurry to give the matter much thought.