Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East, Oliver Optic [read along books TXT] 📗

respects to the visitors; and Mrs. Blossom declared that she was never so "frustrated" in all her life.

"I should like to take my band with me," said General Noury, when the officials had all departed. "I am very fond of music, and I think it will afford us all a great deal of pleasure; of course I mean at my own expense."

"I beg your pardon, General Noury, but it must be at my expense," interposed Lord Tremlyn. "I was thinking myself what an addition it would be to have such excellent music on our way, and I am sure it will add a great deal to the earnestness of the welcome we shall everywhere receive. As to the expense, I hope and beg that not another word will be said about it. The entire party are the guests of Sir Modava and myself."

"I protest"--Captain Ringgold began.

"Pardon me, my dear Captain; you are all our guests, and protests are entirely out of order," interposed Lord Tremlyn.

It was a very pleasant and friendly dispute that followed, and his lordship had carried his point at the close of it. The commander had been to the landlord, and asked for his bill; but the worthy Parsee informed him that it had already been paid. He had remonstrated with the hosts; but they had been inflexible. It was finally decided that nothing more should be said about expense; for his lordship declared that it was a very disagreeable subject to him. The captain believed that he was entirely sincere; and though he had never encountered such extreme liberality before, he gave up the point.

"You can tie your purse-strings with a hard knot, Uncle Moses, for you will not have occasion to undo them again for a month," said Captain Ringgold. "I don't quite like it."

"I don't know that I wonder at the generosity of our hosts," replied the trustee, as he put his fat arm around the neck of Louis, who stood next to him. "If this young man had been in the situation of Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava when you picked them up, I am very sure I should not have grumbled if I had been called upon to disburse a sum equal to what this trip will cost them, if they, or any one, had picked him up. There are two sides to this question, Captain."

"Then you fight on the other side, though you hold the purse-strings," said the commander.

"Would I give a hundred thousand dollars for saving Sir Louis's life? His mother would give ten times that sum, and all the rest of the young man's fortune. That is a matter about which we must not be mean; and the other side take that view of it. I quite agree that not another word ought to be said about expense," responded Uncle Moses, giving the young millionaire another hug.

"Uncle Moses is not a bit like the miser that could not afford a candle at his death-bed in the night," added Louis. "If they had done as much for us as we have for them, I should be glad to take them all around the world, and pay for an Italian band of music all the way."

"That's right, Sir Louis! Do as you would be done by," chuckled the trustee.

"It just occurs to me, Captain Sharp," said the commander of the Guardian-Mother, as the former was about to leave, "that there is no reason for your going to Surat, for we can take the general, Dr. Henderson, and the band along with us. You have a voyage of two thousand miles before you."

"Which I can make in seven or eight days without hurrying," replied the captain of the Blanche. "I could get to Calcutta before you do if I sailed two weeks hence."

"Just as you please."

But General Noury seemed to like the idea of getting on board of the Guardian-Mother even for a day, and adopted the suggestion of Captain Ringgold.

"There is next to nothing to be seen at Surat, and we shall go from there immediately to Baroda, on our way to Lahore," interposed Lord Tremlyn. "The Maharajah of Gwalior is an old friend of Sir Modava, and I am well acquainted with him. I have no doubt we shall be very hospitably treated there, and that you will be introduced to many things that will interest you. If Captain Sharp desires to see some Indian sports, he can go with us to Baroda, stay a week, and then return to his ship here by railway."

"I like that idea, as my wife wishes to see a little more of India on shore, though she does not wish to take the long journey you are to make," added Captain Sharp.

This plan was accepted, and the party separated. The next morning the carriages conveyed them to the Apollo Bunder, and at seven o'clock the Guardian-Mother was under way. The band was playing on the promenade, and the party were taking their last view of Bombay and its surroundings. Captain Sharp and his wife were on board. The three doctors formed a trio by themselves, and were discussing jungle fever, which existed in the low lands beyond Byculla.

The sea outside was smooth; and at four o'clock in the afternoon the steamer was among the Malacca shoals, in the Gulf of Cambay, with a pilot on board. She soon entered the Tapti River, fifteen miles from its mouth. The band had scattered after the noonday concert, and the party took the chairs in Conference Hall.

"I suppose you wish to know something about the places you visit, ladies and gentlemen," said Lord Tremlyn, rising before them, and bowing at the applause with which he was heartily greeted. "This is Surat, a hundred and sixty miles north of Bombay, on the Tapti River, which you may spell with a double e at the end if you prefer. It has a population of a hundred and ten thousand. It extends about a mile along this river, with the government buildings in the centre.

"The streets are well paved, and the houses are packed very closely together. There are four very handsome Mohammedan mosques here, so our friend the general will have a place to go to on our Friday." The Mussulman bowed, and gave the speaker one of his prettiest smiles. "The Parsees, of whom a few families own half the place, are prominent in business, as in Bombay; and they supply the most skilful mechanics, the liveliest clerks, and the quickest boys in the schools. They have two fire-temples here. The Hindus, especially the Buniahs and the Jains, are as prominent as in Bombay. The city was founded before 1512; for then it was burned by the Portuguese, who did it again eighteen years later.

"It had a very extensive commerce in its earlier years, and flourished on its cotton trade during the American war. In 1811 it had a population of two hundred and fifty thousand; but five and thirty years later it had less than one-third of that; but has gained somewhat up to the present time. Nearly a hundred years ago it was the most populous city of India. But I do not propose to exhaust the subject, and now you may see for yourselves."

His lordship and the Hindu gentleman, since their liberality had been whispered through the ship, were exceedingly popular, and both were warmly applauded whenever they opened their mouths. The party found enough to occupy their attention till the ship came to anchor, with its brass band in full blast, off the public buildings. A steam-launch came off for the passengers; for the hosts had written to every place they were to visit, and carriages were in readiness for them when they landed.

They rode over the town after a collation at a clubhouse, and saw all that was to be seen. They were quartered for the night at private residences, and there was almost a struggle to know who should receive them.

CHAPTER XXIV THE RECEPTION OF THE MAHARAJAH AT BARODA

India has nearly twenty thousand miles of railroads open and in use, and thousands more in process of construction. As in England, they are invariably called "railways." They do not have baggage, but it is "luggage;" a baggage-car is unknown, for they call it a "van;" and the conductor is the "guard." Our travellers had become accustomed to these terms, and many others, in England, and now used them very familiarly.

Early rising is hardly a virtue in India; for he who sleeps after six in the morning loses the best part of the day, especially in the hot season. The tourists were up before this hour, and had coffee wherever they were. They had been treated with the utmost kindness and consideration, and their hosts could not do enough for them. They were conveyed to the railway station by them, and there found his lordship with a plan of a number of carriages--they are not cars there. On this plan he had placed, with the assistance of the commander, the names of the entire party.

They were to leave at seven; for it is pleasanter to travel early in the morning than later in the day, and the train was all ready. They were not a little astonished when they were introduced to their quarters in the vehicles, to find them quite as luxurious as a Pullman, though they were constructed on a different plan, and were wanting in some of the conveniences of the American palace-car, though better adapted to the climate of the country.

Each carriage contained but two compartments; but they were suites of rooms on a small scale. The principal one was of good size, and on one side was cushioned to the ceiling, so that being "knocked about" did not imperil the traveller's bones and flesh. Against this stuffed partition was a low couch, which could be made up as a bed at night, or used as a reclining sofa by day.

Over it was a swinging couch suspended by straps, which could be folded up, or be entirely removed, and formed a couch like the one below it. On the other side of the apartment was a toilet-room, with all conveniences required for washing and other purposes, including a water-cooler. In this compartment the traveller takes his servant, and often a cook, for the valet cannot meddle with culinary matters; and they sleep on the floor wherever they can find a place. A reasonable additional price is charged for accommodations in this luxurious style.

The journey to Baroda would occupy hardly more than three hours, and these elaborate arrangements were scarcely necessary for the time they were to be used; but the members of the party looked upon them with especial interest in connection with the long travel to Lahore, and that which was to follow to Calcutta, though they were to break the journey several times on the way.

The "Big Four" had a compartment to themselves, with the two servants, Sayad and Moro, who proved to be such good fellows that the boys liked them very much. Sir Modava had managed to dismiss more than half of the attendants furnished at first, for all the party declared that such a mob of them was a nuisance; and the others had overcome their repugnance to serving more than one person in the face of dismissal, for their perquisites had already been considerable as they valued money.

"This isn't bad for a haythen counthry," said Felix, as he stretched himself on the lower couch. "We'll git to Calcutty widout breakin' ahl the bones in our bodies."

"This is vastly better than anything I expected to find here," replied Louis, as he pushed his crony over against the partition, and lay down at his side.

"But where do the elephants and the tigers come in?" asked Scott, as he called upon Moro to "shine" his shoes. "I haven't seen an elephant since I came here."

"Elephants are not worked in this country," added Morris. "The Moguls use them when they want to go in state, and sometimes when they go hunting tigers; and then the big beast gets most of the hard scratches."

"But the elephant can take care of himself when the mahout allows him to do so," argued Scott.

"Is the mahout his schnout?" asked Felix.

"You know better than that, Flix. The mahout is the fellow that sits on the elephant's neck and conducts him. He is the driver," replied Morris.

"Is he afeerd of schnakes?"

"He needn't be, perched on the top of the pachyderm," answered Scott.

"Who is he? Oi've not been introjuced to 'm."

"Are you