by Oliver Optic
CHAPTER XXXVI
THE PARTING FESTIVITIES ON THE HOOGLY
While the hunters were so successfully bagging the big game of the jungle,Captain O'Flaherty had taken the party who had remained on board thesteamer on an excursion through some of the waterways of the Sunderbunds,so that they were not wearied by waiting for those more actively employed.The united party had thoroughly enjoyed the day, even into the evening. Theskins of the tigers and leopards were sent to an expert, to be prepared forfuture preservation when the time should admit.
At the hotel the wonderful success of the hunters was the theme of theother guests; but the place was regarded as a dangerous one, though thatwould not deter Englishmen from visiting it if it were not so difficult ofaccess, for a government steam-yacht was not available for many parties.The next morning the tourists were taken to the Botanical Garden, a shortdistance above the city, which is said to be the finest as well as the mostspacious in the world.
It was not an affair of greenhouses, like most of such places they hadseen; for they were superfluous in the Torrid Zone, and all the plants grewin the open air. The ladies and most of the gentlemen were greatlyinterested in the plants and flowers, and the whole forenoon was agreeablypassed in viewing them. Uncle Moses insisted that the baobab and the Indianbanyan were literally the "biggest things" there; for the trunk of theformer was ten feet in diameter, while the latter covered half a squaremile of ground. The latter had been considerably damaged by a cyclone.
At the end of a week in Calcutta, every day of which had been occupied tothe pleasure and instruction of the tourists, Captain Ringgold insistedthat they must remain no longer. It was the middle of March, and the hotweather was coming on, and the company must return to the Guardian-Motheron the following morning. It was not an unpleasant announcement, as theyhad all become greatly attached to the steamer, for they had always beenexceedingly happy on board of her.
"It is time for me to settle up our accounts, Lord Tremlyn," said thecommander, as they were seated on the veranda after the intended departurehad been announced.
"That time has not come, Captain Ringgold; and it never will come," repliedhis lordship very decidedly. "I thought we had disposed of that questiononce for all at Bombay. You and your party have been our guests from themoment we landed. Sir Modava and I have done our best, in the time allottedto us, to make you acquainted with India, and to make the time passpleasantly with you. As far as we had influence, we have used it to promotethe objects of your visit."
"You have done a hundred times more than we had any right to expect, andcertainly we should not have asked for what you have given us; but it seemsto be no more than right that we should pay our own expenses, and we shallbe just as grateful to you for the vast service you have rendered us."
"What we have done does not extinguish a tithe of our obligations to youand your ship's company. Any money allusion grieves me, and the verythought of being paid almost breaks the heart of Sir Modava. I beg you notto allude to the matter again. Now, my dear Captain Ringgold," continuedhis lordship, taking what looked like a picture-frame from a table nearhim, "I ask the privilege of presenting to you this testimonial of thegratitude of the three cabin survivors of the wreck of the Travancore,which I will ask you to hang up in the cabin of the Guardian-Mother."
The commander took the frame, in which was a printed testimonial,containing a full account of the rescue of the survivors of the wreck, witha concluding paragraph, expressive of the obligations of the principalpersons rescued, to the captain and his ship's company for their noble andsuccessful exertions in saving them and all the people on board. It had theautographs of Lord Tremlyn, Sir Modava, and Dr. Ferrolan at the foot of theprinted statement. It was on parchment, printed in plain, clear type, andthe frame was as elegant as money could buy.
"I accept this as the property of the ship, and to me personally nothingcould be more valued," replied the commander, extending his thanks atconsiderable length; but he said nothing more about payment, though hecould not help thinking that their elegant and bountiful hospitality hadcost the viscount and the Indian gentleman several thousand pounds.
"But we do not separate just yet; and I have another favor to ask of you,Captain Ringgold, which is that you will give us a passage to Colombo,"added Lord Tremlyn.
"For myself and my party, we shall all be delighted to have you remain withus indefinitely," replied the commander, taking his lordship's hand. "Iextend to you, Sir Modava, and Dr. Ferrolan a cordial invitation tocomplete with us our voyage around the world; and we will endeavor to be ashospitable to you in the United States as you have been to us in India."
"Nothing would afford me so great a pleasure," replied Lord Tremlyn; "butit would be quite impossible for me to accept the invitation, for I mustreturn to England, and report upon my mission to India."
Sir Modava and Dr. Ferrolan also declined, for reasons given. The companyhad called upon some of the officials of the government and officers of thearmy, at the request of his lordship, and most of them made parting callsthe next forenoon; and the viceroy sent his private secretary, with thebest wishes of his Excellency for a prosperous voyage, to them. Aftertiffin they all went on board, where their baggage had been sent before,the Italian band playing all the time on Captain O'Flaherty's steamer,which put them on board.
General Noury had sent word to Captain Sharp that he should continue withthe party to Colombo, and that he could proceed at once to that port. Infact, he liked the company of the party on board of the Guardian-Mother sowell that he was not inclined to part with them at present.
The passengers took possession of their staterooms, and there was still oneleft for the general, and the band was quartered in the library. The hourfor sailing had been fixed at three o'clock; and just before that time theCherub, Captain O'Flaherty, appeared, having on board a regimental band andthe friends of Lord Tremlyn, Sir Modava, and Dr. Ferrolan, who extended tothem the compliment of an escort, and, incidentally, to the commander andhis passengers.
About half an hour before the time for sailing a shore boat came up to thegangway, and a well-dressed gentleman with a swarthy face ascended thesteps. He asked to see Captain Ringgold, and he was called down from theupper deck. It was Mazagan.
"I have called, Captain, to remind you that our account has not yet beensettled," said the villanous Moor. "I have another to add to it, for thedestruction of the Fatime, his Highness the Pacha Ali-Noury's steam-yacht,which he authorizes me to collect."
"Does he, indeed?" replied the captain, laughing; for, having the "weathergauge" of the rascal, he was disposed to treat the matter very lightly.
"I have the account in the handwriting of his Highness," added Mazagan, ashe presented a paper written in good English.
"Very well; but I prefer to settle the account with his Highness himself,"added the commander, as he touched an electric bell, which brought Sparksto the boudoir into which they had gone. "Ask the general to come here," hesaid in a low tone to the steward.
"But I do not choose to wait a year or two for a settlement," protested thevisitor.
"You need not wait five minutes," added Captain Ringgold.
The Moor began to go over his story again, but it was interrupted by theentrance of General Noury. Mazagan looked at him, and seemed to be unableto believe the evidence of his own eyes. The commander stated the case tohim.
"Is this account in your handwriting, General?" he asked.
"Certainly not," replied the Pacha. "We have discussed this matter fully,and I have no claim whatever against you; neither has this man. I settledall my accounts with him; and I have his receipt in full, signed by him,and witnessed by Captain Sharp and his wife. He is a swindler and avillain; and if I ever catch him in Morocco he shall have the bowstring!"
The general denounced him in the severest manner, and then asked thecommander to send him out of the ship. Knott was at the gangway, the piratewas turned over to him, an
d hustled down the steps into his boat. Thegeneral expressed his regret that the captain had been annoyed by thevillain again, and was confident he would never see or hear from him again;and he never did.
Promptly at the hour set the Guardian-Mother got under way, and theCherub's band played its liveliest airs. When it stopped to rest, theItalian band played, and thus the music was kept up for three hours, whenthe steamers were at Diamond Harbor. Here they came alongside each other,and all the company on board the Cherub were invited to a collation onboard of the Guardian-Mother, at which Captain Ringgold presided, and manyspeeches were made by the residents of Calcutta, and by the passengers onboard.
The ship's company on each vessel were not left out in the cold; for, whiletheir officers were at the collation, Baldy Bickling, the second cook,regaled them from the abundant stores provided for the occasion, of whichnotice had been given to Mr. Melanchthon Sage, the chief steward, the daybefore. At this point adieus were exchanged, the Guardian-Mother went tosea, and the Cherub returned to Calcutta. The passengers were tired out andretired early.
It was an easy run, from Diamond Harbor to Madras in two days and a half,for the Guardian-Mother. The weather was favorable, and the tourists usedtheir time in getting rested. The social occasions, the playing of theband, and the singing in the music-room, made plenty of variety. But thecommander did not lose sight of what he regarded as one of the principalobjects of the long voyage, the instruction of the young people, andincidentally of the elder ones.
On the forenoon of the second day out the passengers were called togetherin Conference Hall, and they were glad to assemble there again. Thetemperature was moderate, the sea was in its most cheerful mood, and, aftertheir long stay on shore, they were glad to be out of sight of land again.Mr. Gaskette had been busy during the vacation the ship's company hadobtained at Bombay and Calcutta; had made several new maps, one of whichwas the shores of the Bay and Sea of Bengal from Calcutta to the southernpoint of Ceylon; and he had enlarged a small map of Ceylon, to be used whenthe ship arrived at Colombo, or sooner. It was Sir Modava who mounted theplatform for this occasion; and he was received with the heartiestapplause, for he had become even more popular than at first.
"I am to tell you something, not much, about Madras, where we shall arriveabout this time day after to-morrow," the Hindu gentleman began; and theusual smile which had fascinated all the ladies was on his face. "Madras isthe third city in population of India, or next to Bombay, with 452,518souls, by the census published last year. It is on the Coromandel coast,which is nearly the whole of the Madras Presidency. It is nearly the entirewestern shore of the Sea of Bengal, including the bay, as the northern partof it is called in modern times. There is scarcely a single safe harbor forlarge vessels.
"I suppose you have often heard the expression, 'in the Carnatic,' for itis memorable as the scene of the struggle in the last century betweenEngland and France for the supremacy of India. Though there is no statewith that name, nearly the whole coast region south of the Godavery Riverretains this name. In fact, there is no little confusion of names in manyparts of India. The country near the Arabian Sea still receives thedesignation of the Deccan, from the Kistna River to the Gulf of Cambay onthe north. But this name does not belong to a political division,"continued the speaker, pointing out every location and river he named.
"Madras extends along the shore nine miles, and is thus exposed to the furyof the sea for this distance; for it is not on a river, like Calcutta, or asheltered bay, like Bombay. Formerly, on the approach of a cyclone, vesselslying in the roadstead, as the only harbor it had, which was no harbor, hadto put to sea to avoid being driven on the shore. Decidedly it was a veryinconvenient place to build a city; but the town formerly consisted of anumber of villages, which have been united, after the fashion of some ofyour American cities.
"An attempt has been in progress the last twenty years to make a harbor inthe shape of an enclosure of strong walls, about half a mile square. It wasseriously damaged by a cyclone a dozen years ago; but they are still atwork upon it, though it is said to be doubtful whether or not it will everbe safe for ships in a violent storm. There is always a heavy surf rollingin on this coast, even in what the commander would call a smooth sea."
"Then how shall we get ashore there?" inquired Mrs. Belgrave.
"The natives construct a boat, which is a sort of raft of planks, tiedtogether with ropes, called a _masulah_, which passes through the surfvery well in ordinary weather; but no boat could live in a cyclone in a seathere, for the waves are fourteen feet high."
"I should like to try it with the second cutter, so far as the waves areconcerned; but bumping on the bottom might spoil the attempt," said Mr.Gaskette, who was standing by his map.
"It would not be prudent in a cyclone, and I trust you will have nooccasion to try the experiment," added Sir Modava. "But cyclones are rarehere, except from the last of May and into June, and in October, November,and early in December; so that the port is not liable to more than twostorms a year. The average rainfall is forty-nine inches, falling onninety-five days; but in seventy-four years, ending two years ago, itvaried from a foot and a half to seven feet and four inches. It is dry heresome years, and rather damp when they get eighty-eight inches.
"Going to Madras in March, the temperature of the place is of noconsequence to you, except as a matter of curiosity, being in the TorridZone. It will be from 76 deg. to 88 deg. while you are here. The averagetemperature for the year is 82 deg.; in the hot months it rises to over 100 deg.;the highest in twenty-seven years was 113 deg., and the lowest 57.6 deg.. Asea-breeze often sets in about noon, lasting till sunset, greatly modifyingthe heat. I think I need say no more about the city till we get there."
This talk was followed by a concert by the band. The ship sped on hercourse, though something to instruct and amuse was going on all the time.At the time set Madras was in sight, and a little later the surf was seenrolling in on the shore. The depth is shallow near the land, which causesthe water to break. The Guardian-Mother was anchored in the deep water, andLord Tremlyn invited the party to proceed to the apartments at the RoyalHotel which he had bespoken for them. The commander made no furtherobjections to the matter of expense, and the invitation was promptlyaccepted. A number of the masulah-boats, not the rafts, were engaged toland them. They were much like any other boat, though they were paddled,and not rowed. They saw the catamarans, constructed as the Hindu gentlemanhad described, paddled on the waves by a single man, wearing a sugar-loafhat.
The masulah-boats went to the shore very comfortably, and carriages were inwaiting for the party on the beach near where they landed. As they passedthrough the streets everything seemed to be very much as it was inCalcutta; and they saw similar palanquins, bullock-carts, and elephants.The Malabar Hindu was not very different from those of other sections ofthe country, though he had some peculiarities of costume.
When they reached the hotel, which was a very comfortable one, in Englishstyle, it was two hours to tiffin, and most of the party preferred to passthe time in the parlor. The live boys could not keep still, and they wentout for a walk. The sights were not novel enough to hold them; and when adriver of a bullock-cart salaamed to them, and pointed to his vehicle,Felix suggested that they should take a ride. Of course, they could notspeak a word of the language; and, however it may have been with otherconductors of vehicles, this one did not know a word of English.
"Mavalipoor?" interrogated the driver, when the "Big Four" had seatedthemselves in the corners of the vehicle, which had a body like an omnibusfor four, with a top like the dome of a small temple. They had no idea whatthe word or sentence used by the driver had been, but supposed it wassomething worth seeing in the town. Two palanquins went by them at fulltilt, and they saw what was to be seen in the street. They went on severalmiles, till they appeared to be leaving the city behind them, and theythought it was time to call a halt. They talked vigorously to the cartman,and all of them pointed back to the city, and yelled "Mad
ras!"
"Mavalipoor!" screamed the driver, pointing with equal energy in thedirection the cart was headed. But the fellow would not stop, and thelively boys all leaped out of the cart to the ground. He would not go onwithout them; but fortunately a gentleman in English costume came along onhorseback. The quartet touched their hats to him, and he stopped his steed.Louis stated that they wished to go to the Royal Hotel.
"The hotel is not in this direction," replied the horseman with muchsuavity. But at this moment the driver had something to say, and deliveredhimself with energy. "He says you engaged him to take you to Mavalipoor,"the rider explained. Louis stated their position, that when the cartmansaid "Mavalipoor" they had assented, without knowing what he meant.
"You can make it all right with the man by giving him a rupee when heleaves you at your hotel," replied the gentleman, laughing heartily at themistake, and then informed them that there were some Hindu temples atMavalipoor, more than thirty miles distant, that were visited by strangers.He then ordered the driver to convey his fare to the Royal Hotel, in a veryperemptory manner, and the man obeyed. Thanking the gentleman for hiskindness, they parted. The cartman was in a hurry now, and he urged hishumpbacked bullocks into a lively trot.
At the door the boys gave the driver two rupees, and the fellow salaamed asthough he had received a guinea. There are plenty of landaus in Madras atthree rupees a day; and the dak, as the cart is called, and palanquins arebecoming things of the past. Tiffin was ready; and a line of carriages wasat the door waiting for the tourists when they had disposed of the lunch,and they seated themselves for a drive.
"I warn you," said Sir Modava, as the carriages drove off, "that you willfind little here to interest you, after visiting, as you have, theprincipal cities of India."
"We are about tired of sight-seeing," added Mrs. Belgrave rather languidly;and this was about the situation of most of the party.
They passed the People's Park, an inviting enclosure, with ponds andpleasant walks, to the Black Town, which contains the homes of the natives,though there are plenty of shops; and it is crossed by several goodavenues. They came to a street like that called The Strand in Calcutta, andthey drove the whole length of it. They passed into Fort St. George, whichseemed to be a city of itself. Leaving it, they crossed the little riverthat meanders through the town, and flows into the ocean at this point.
On this shore road were the principal public buildings of the city, andnear the end of it was St. Thomas's Cathedral. This is said to be the sitewhere the apostle of this name, "Doubting Thomas," was martyred. Earlytradition buried him in Edessa, in Mesopotamia, but a later account senthim to India; but this is something for learned doctors to discuss. At St.George's Cathedral the party entered to see the statue, made by Chantrey,of Bishop Heber, who looks gently and tenderly upon a native convert at hisfeet.
They rode all over the town, and found several ponds, called tanks; and thegreat fort is washed on one side by the river. The second day the partywere driven into the suburbs. At a rocky point on the river they found aparty of half-naked men washing sheets and pillow-cases. The ladies wereinterested, and the carriages stopped to enable them to see the operation.They had something like washboards, laid on the bank of the stream, whichthey were hammering with all their might with the sheets, standing in theshallow water as they did so. Mrs. Blossom declared they must tear them allto pieces, and she was quite indignant at the way it was done.
Another day finished Madras; and, though there was little to see, comparedwith the places they had visited before, Mrs. Belgrave declared they hadhad a good time. On the morning following they went on board of theGuardian-Mother, and she sailed for Ceylon.
