Across India by Oliver Optic

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[Illustration: "He was dressed in the most magnificent robes of India."
--Page 234.]

_All-Over-the-World Library--Third Series_

ACROSS INDIA

OR

LIVE BOYS IN THE FAR EAST

BY

OLIVER OPTIC

AUTHOR OF "A MISSING MILLION" "A MILLIONAIRE AT SIXTEEN" "A YOUNG
KNIGHT-ERRANT" "STRANGE SIGHTS ABROAD" "AMERICAN BOYS
AFLOAT" "THE YOUNG NAVIGATORS" "UP AND DOWN
THE NILE" "ASIATIC BREEZES" AND UPWARDS
OF ONE HUNDRED OTHER VOLUMES

BOSTON

LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS

10 MILK STREET

1895

* * * * *

TO

MY LONG-TRIED FRIEND OF MORE THAN FORTY YEARS,
WITH WHOM IN ALL THAT TIME,
I HAVE NOT HAD A BICKER OR A SHADOW OF UNPLEASANTNESS
THOUGH HE HAS BEEN MY SENIOR PUBLISHER FOR MORE
THAN AN ENTIRE GENERATION, AND TO WHOM
I HAVE NOT DEDICATED A BOOK
FOR THIRTY YEARS

WILLIAM LEE

This Volume

IS RESPECTFULLY AND CORDIALLY INSCRIBED BY HIS
FAITHFUL AND EVER GRATEFUL FRIEND

WILLIAM T. ADAMS

* * * * *

PREFACE

"Across India" is the first volume of the third series of the
"All-Over-the-World Library," in which the voyage of the Guardian-Mother is
continued from Aden, where some important changes were made in the current
of events, including the disposal of the little steamer Maud, which figured
to a considerable extent in the later volumes of the library, though they
also comprehended the addition of another and larger consort to the ship,
in which the distinguished Pacha, as a reformed and entirely reconstructed
person, sails in company with the voyagers.

A few days out from the port of departure, a stirring event, a catastrophe
of the sea, adds three very important personages to the cabin passengers of
the Guardian-Mother, and affords two of the "live boys" an opportunity to
distinguish themselves in a work of humanity requiring courage and skill.
These additions to the company prove to be a very fortunate acquisition to
the party; for they are entirely familiar with everything in and relating
to India. They are titled individuals, two of the trio, who have not only
travelled all over the peninsula, but have very influential relations with
the officers of the government, and the native princes, rajahs, kings,
maharajahs, and nobles.

The commander, the professor, the surgeon, the young millionaire, and
others who have hitherto given the "talks" and lectures for the instruction
of the young people, and incidentally of the older ones also, find
themselves almost entirely relieved from duty in this direction by those
whom the ship's company have saved from inevitable death in the stormy
billows of the Arabian Sea. The gratitude of the two titled members of the
trio, and their earnest appreciation of the educational object of the long
voyage, induce them to make themselves very useful on board.

They do not confine themselves to the duty presented to them in "Conference
Hall;" but they are profuse, and even extravagant, in their hospitality,
becoming the hosts of the entire party, and treating them like princes in
the principal cities of India, in all of which they are quite at home. One
of the Hindu maharajahs proves to be an old friend of both of them, and the
party reside a week at his court; and the time is given up to the study of
manners and customs, as well as to hunting and the sports of the country.

Felix McGavonty, with Kilkenny blood in his veins, is firm in his belief
that he ought not to be afraid of snakes, and does for India a little of
what St. Patrick did completely for Ireland. The other "live boys," though
not so much inclined as the Milesian to battle with the cobra-de-capello,
have some experience in shooting tigers, leopards, deer, pythons,
crocodiles, and other game, though not enough to wholly satisfy their
natural enterprise.

The tour of the party is made by railroad in India, from Bombay, taking in
Lahore, Delhi, Agra, Cawnpoor, Lucknow, Benares, Calcutta, and by the
Guardian-Mother to Madras and Ceylon. On the way and in the cities the
titled conductors continue their "talks" and lectures about the places
visited, with as much of history as time would permit, including an epitome
of those great events in India, the Mutiny of the Sepoys, the "Black Hole,"
and other events of the past. The speakers were assisted by elaborate maps,
which the reader can find in his atlas. Statistics are given to some extent
for purposes of comparison. Brief notices of the lives of such men as
Bishop Heber, Sir Colin Campbell, Henry Havelock, and others are
introduced.

The party did not claim to have seen all there was of India; simply to have
obtained "specimen bricks" of the principal cities, with a fair idea of the
manners and customs of the people.

WILLIAM. T. ADAMS.

* * * * *

CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

ABOUT FINDING THE LONGITUDE. 1

CHAPTER II.

THE WRECK IN THE ARABIAN SEA. 10

CHAPTER III.

A REVIEW OF THE PAST FOURTEEN MONTHS. 19

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST AND SECOND CUTTERS TO THE RESCUE. 30

CHAPTER V.

THE TITLED GENTLEMEN OF THE TRAVANCORE 40

CHAPTER VI.

THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION IN THE CABIN. 50

CHAPTER VII.

DR. FERROLAN'S EXPLANATION OF THE WRECK 60

CHAPTER VIII.

AN INTERVIEW IN THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN. 70

CHAPTER IX.

CONCERNING THE GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA. 80

CHAPTER X.

THE FLORA AND THE SNAKES OF INDIA 90

CHAPTER XI.

A PLEASANT DINNER-PARTY AT SEA 100

CHAPTER XII.

THE POPULATION AND PEOPLE OF INDIA 109

CHAPTER XIII.

LORD TREMLYN DISCOURSES MORE ABOUT INDIA 118

CHAPTER XIV.

SIR HENRY HAVELOCK AND THE MUTINY 128

CHAPTER XV.

ARRIVAL OF THE GUARDIAN-MOTHER AT BOMBAY 138

CHAPTER XVI.

A MULTITUDE OF NATIVE SERVANTS 148

CHAPTER XVII.

A HOSPITAL FOR THE BRUTE CREATION 158

CHAPTER XVIII.

A SNAKY SPECTACLE IN BOMBAY 168

CHAPTER XIX.

MORE SNAKES AND THE CAVES OF ELEPHANTA 178

CHAPTER XX.

A JUVENILE WEDDING AND HINDU THEATRICALS 187

CHAPTER XXI.

JUGGERNAUT AND JUGGLERS 197

CHAPTER XXII.

A MERE STATEMENT ABOUT BUDDHISM 207

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE UNEXAMPLED LIBERALITY OF THE HOSTS 217

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE RECEPTION OF THE MAHARAJAH AT BARODA 227

CHAPTER XXV.

FELIX MCGAVONTY BRINGS DOWN SOME SNAKES 237

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE MAGNIFICENT PROCESSION OF THE SOWARI 246

CHAPTER XXVII.

VARIOUS COMBATS IN THE GUICOWAR'S ARENA 256

CHAPTER XXVIII.

AT THE CAPITAL OF THE PUNJAB 266

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE WONDERFUL CITY OF DELHI 276

CHAPTER XXX.

THE MAGNIFICENT MAUSOLEUM OF AGRA 286

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE TERRIBLE STORY OF CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW 296

CHAPTER XXXII.

MORE OF LUCKNOW, AND SOMETHING OF BENARES 306

CHAPTER XXXIII.

A STEAMER TRIP UP AND DOWN THE GANGES 316

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ALL OVER THE CITY OF CALCUTTA 327

CHAPTER XXXV.

A SUCCESSFUL HUNT IN THE SUNDERBUNDS 339

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE PARTING FESTIVITIES ON THE HOOGLY 351

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE FAREWELL TO CEYLON AND INDIA 367

* * * * *

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"HE WAS DRESSED IN THE MOST MAGNIFICENT ROBES OF INDIA" _Frontispiece_

"A READY SEAMAN SEIZED HIM BY THE ARM" 45

"MISS BLANCHE WAS WALKING THE DECK WITH LOUIS AND SIR MODARA" 90

"THE YOUNG MILLIONAIRE WALKED BY THE SIDE OF THE VEHICLE" 155

"SNAKES! SCREAMED MRS. BELGRAVE" 184

"HE SAW A HUGE COBRA DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF HIM" 242

"THE STRIPED BEAST WENT UP INTO THE AIR" 263

"CAPTAIN RINGGOLD BROUGHT DOWN ANOTHER" 349

* * * * *

ACROSS INDIA

CHAPTER I

ABOUT FINDING THE LONGITUDE

"Well, Captain Scott, what is the run to-day?" asked Louis Belgrave, the
owner of the steam-yacht Guardian-Mother, which had at this date made her
way by a somewhat devious course half way round the world, and was in the
act of making the other half.

The young magnate was eighteen years old, and was walking on the promenade
deck of the steamer with a beautiful young lady of sixteen when he asked
for information in regard to the run, or the distance made by the ship
during the last sea-day.

"Before I answer your question, my dear Louis, I must protest against being
any longer addressed as captain, for I am not now entitled to that
honorable appellation," replied the young man addressed by the owner.

"Once a captain always a captain," replied Louis. "One who has been
a member of Congress is still an 'Honorable,' though his term of
office expired twenty or forty years ago. The worthy commander of the
Guardian-Mother was always called Captain Ringgold in Von Blonk Park and
New York, though he had not been in command of a ship for ten years,"
argued Louis.

"That's right; but the circumstances are a little different in my case. In
the first place, I am only eighteen years old, and my brief command was a
very small one, as the world goes. It hardly entitles me to be called
captain after I have ceased to be in command. In charge of the little Maud
I was the happiest young fellow on the Eastern Continent; but I am just as
happy now, for this morning I was formally appointed third officer of the
Guardian-Mother, at the wages paid to Captain Sharp when he had the same
position."

"I congratulate you, Mr. Scott," said Louis, grasping the hand of the new
officer, though he had been duly consulted in regard to the appointment the
day before.

"Permit me to congratulate you also, Mr. Scott," added Miss Blanche, as she
extended to him her delicate little hand.

"Thank you, Miss Woolridge," replied the new third officer, raising the
uniform cap he had already donned, and bowing as gracefully as a
dancing-master. "Thank you with all my heart, Louis. I won't deny that I
was considerably broken up when the Maud was sold; but now I am glad of it,
for it has given me a position that I like better."

"Now, Mr. Scott, what is the run for to-day?" asked Louis, renewing his
first question.

"I don't know," replied the third officer with a mischievous smile.

"You don't know!" exclaimed Louis.

"I do not, Louis."

"I thought all the officers, including the commander, took the observation,
and worked up the reckoning for the longitude. We got eight bells nearly an
hour ago, and the bulletin must have been posted by this time."

"It was posted some time ago. All the officers work up the reckoning; and I
did so with the others. The commander and I agreed to a second."

"What do you mean by saying you do not know the run?" demanded Louis.

"I do know the run; but that was not what you asked me," answered Scott
with the same mischievous smile.

"What did I ask you?"

"The first time you asked me all right, and I should have answered you if I
had not felt obliged to switch off and inform you and Miss Woolridge of my
new appointment. The second time you put it you changed the question."

"I changed it?" queried Louis.

"You remember that when Mrs. Blossom asked Flix where under the sun he had
been, he replied that he had not been anywhere, as it happened to be in the
evening, when the sun was not overhead."

"A quibble!" exclaimed Louis, laughing.

"Granted; but one which was intended to test your information in regard to
a nautical problem. You asked me the second time for the run of to-day for
the last twenty-four hours."

"And that was what I asked you the first time," answered Louis.

"I beg your pardon, but you asked me simply for the run to-day."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Will you please to tell me how many hours there are in a sea-day?" asked
Scott, becoming more serious.

"That depends," answered Louis, laughing. "You have me on the run."

"You will find that the bulletin signed by the first officer gives the run
as 330 miles; but the answer to your second question is 337 miles, about,"
added the third officer. "Just here the day is only twenty-three hours and
forty minutes long as we are running; and the faster we go the shorter the
day," continued the speaker, who was ciphering all the time on a card.

"I don't see how that can be," interposed Miss Blanche, with one of her
prettiest smiles.

"There is the lunch-bell; but I shall be very happy to explain the matter
more fully later in the day, Miss Woolridge, unless you prefer that Louis
should do it," suggested Scott.

"I doubt if I could do it, and I should be glad to listen to the
explanation," replied Louis, as they descended to the main cabin; for the
new third officer was permitted to retain his place at the table as well as
his state-room.

The commander had suggested that there was likely to be some change of
cabin arrangements; for it was not in accordance with his ideas of right
that the third officer should be admitted to the table, while the first and
second were excluded; and Louis was very desirous that his friend Scott
should remain in the cabin. The repasts on board the steamer were social
occasions, and the party often sat quite an hour at the table, as at the
present luncheon. But as soon as the company left their places, Louis and
Miss Blanche followed the third officer to the promenade deck, to hear the
desired explanation of sea-time.

"Of course you know how the longitude of the ship is obtained, Miss
Woolridge?" the young officer began.

"Papa explained it to me once, but I could not understand it," replied the
fair maiden.

"Then we will explain that first. One of the great circles extending
through the poles is called the prime meridian; and any one may be
selected, though that of Greenwich has been almost universally adopted.
This place is near London. From this prime meridian longitude is
calculated, which means that any given locality is so many degrees east
or west of it. Sandy Hook is in longitude 74 deg., or it is that number of
degrees west of Greenwich. Aden is in 45 deg. east longitude."

"Then you find how many miles it is by multiplying the number of degrees
by 69," suggested Miss Blanche.

"You have forgotten about knots, or sea-miles," said Louis.

"So I have! I should have said multiply by 60," added the young lady.

"That would not do it any better," replied Scott.

"Degrees of latitude are always the same for all practical purposes; but
degrees of longitude are as--

'Variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made,'"

continued the third officer, who was about to say "as a woman's mind;"
but he concluded that it was not quite respectful to the lovely being
before him.

"What a poetical sea-monster you are, Mr. Scott!" exclaimed Miss Blanche
with a silvery laugh.

"I won't do so any more," Scott protested, and then continued his
explanation. "Degrees of longitude vary from nothing at the poles, up to
69.07 statute, or 60 geographical or sea-miles, at the equator. We are
now in about 15 deg. north latitude; and a degree of longitude is 66.65
statute miles, or 57.9855 sea-miles, near enough to call it 58. By the
way, Louis, multiply the number of statute miles by .87, and it gives
you the sea-miles. Divide the knots by the same decimal, and it gives
the statute miles."

"I will try to remember that decimal as you have done," replied Louis.
"Now, Mr. Scott, don't open Bowditch's Navigator to us, or talk about
projection,' 'logarithms,' 'Gunter,' and 'inspection;' for I am not capable
of understanding them, for my trigonometry has gone to the weeping
willows."

"Talk to us in English, Mr. Scott," laughed Miss Blanche.

"Let us go up to Conference Hall, where there is a table," said the third
officer, as he produced a book he had brought up from his state-room. He
led the way to the promenade, where he spread out a chart in the "Orient
Guide," which had twenty-six diagrams of a clock, one at the foot of every
fifteen degrees of longitude. At this point the commander came upon the
promenade.

"Formerly the figures on a timepiece in Italy, and perhaps elsewhere, went
up to twenty-four, instead of repeating the numbers up to twelve; and these
diagrams are constructed on that plan," continued Scott.

"An attempt has been made to re-establish this method in our own country. I
learned once from a folder that a certain steamer would leave Detroit at
half-past twenty-two; meaning half-past ten. But the plan was soon
abandoned," interposed the captain.

"Aden, from which we sailed the other day, is in longitude 45 deg. east. Every
degree by meridians is equal to four minutes of clock-time. Multiply the
longitude by four, and the result in minutes is the difference of time
between Greenwich and Aden, 180 minutes, or three hours. When it is noon at
Greenwich, it is three o'clock at Aden, as you see in the diagram before
you."

"Three o'clock in the morning, Mr. Scott?" queried the commander.

"In the afternoon, I should have added. Going east the time is faster, and
_vice versa_," continued the young officer. "At our present speed our
clocks must be put about twenty minutes ahead, for a third of an hour has
gone to Davy Jones's locker."

"I understand all that perfectly," said Miss Blanche with an air of
triumph.

"You will be a sea-monster before you get home. The sirens were beautiful,
and sang very sweetly," added Scott jocosely.

"They were wicked, and I don't want to be one. But I do not quite
understand how you found out what time it was at noon to-day," added the
young lady.

"For every degree of longitude sailed there is four minutes' difference of
clock-time," Scott proceeded. "You know that a chronometer is a timepiece
so nicely constructed and cared for, that it practically keeps perfect
time. Meridians are imaginary great circles, and we are always on one of
them. With our sextants we find when the centre of the sun is on the
celestial meridian corresponding to the terrestrial one; and at that
instant it is noon where we are. Then we know what time it is. We compare
the time thus obtained with that indicated by the chronometer, and find a
difference of four hours."

"I see it all!" exclaimed the fair maiden, as triumphantly as though she
had herself reasoned out the problem. "Four hours make 240 minutes, and
four minutes to a degree gives 60 deg. as the longitude.

"Quite correct, Miss Woolridge," added Scott approvingly.

"If I could only take the sun, I could work up the longitude myself," the
little beauty declared.

"You have already taken the son," replied Scott; but he meant the son of
Mrs. Belgrave, and he checked himself before he had "put his foot in it;"
for Louis would have resented such a remark.

"I have seen them do it, but I never took the sun myself," protested the
maiden.

The sea had suddenly begun to make itself felt a few hours before, and a
flood of spray was cast over the promenade, which caused the party to
evacuate it, and move farther aft. It was the time of year for the
north-east monsoons to prevail, and the commander had declared that the
voyage would probably be smooth and pleasant all the way to Bombay. It did
not look much like it when the ship began to roll quite violently.

CHAPTER II

THE WRECK IN THE ARABIAN SEA

It was a sharp squall that suddenly struck the Guardian-Mother, heeling her
over so that everything movable on her decks or below went over to the lee
side, and sending no small quantity of salt water over her pilot-house. It
had begun to be what the ladies called rough some hours before; and with
them Captain Ringgold's reputation as a prophet was in peril, for he had
predicted a smooth sea all the way to Bombay.

The Blanche, the steam-yacht of General Noury, which was only a trifle
larger than the Guardian-Mother, rolled even more. She was following the
latter, and seemed to be of about equal speed, though no trial had been
made between them. Miss Blanche and Louis had retreated to a dryer place
than the promenade when the shower of spray broke over the pilot-house upon
them, leaving the commander and Mr. Scott there.

Captain Ringgold frowned as he looked out on the uneasy waves, for the
squall appeared to be a surprise to him; but it proved to be more than a
white squall, which may come out of a clear sky, while with a black one the
sky is wholly or partly covered with dark clouds. It continued to blow very
fresh, and the commotion in the elements amounted to nothing less than a
smart gale.

"This is uncommon in the region of the north-east monsoons," said the
commander, who was planking the promenade deck with Scott. "During January
and February the wind is set down as moderate in these waters. I have made
two runs from Cape of Good Hope to Bombay, and we had quiet seas from the
latitude of Cape Comorin to our destination both times; and I expected the
same thing at this season of the year on this voyage."

The captain was evidently vexed and annoyed at the failure of his
prediction, though squalls were liable to occur in any locality; but the
present rough weather had begun to look like a gale which might continue
for several days. The north-east monsoons were what he had a right to
expect; but the gale came up from the south south-west. The commander
appeared to be so much disturbed, that the young officer did not venture to
say anything for the next half-hour, though he continued to walk at his
side.

At the end of this time the commander descended to his cabin, inviting
Scott to go with him. On the great table was spread out the large chart of
the Indian Ocean. From Aden to Bombay he had drawn a red line, indicating
the course, east by north a quarter north, which was the course on which
the steamer was sailing.

"Have you the blue book that comes with this chart, Captain Ringgold?"
asked Scott, rather timidly, as though he had something on his mind which
he did not care to present too abruptly; for the commander was about the
biggest man on earth to him.

"This chart is an old one, as you may see by the looks of it and the
courses marked on it from the Cape of Good Hope," replied the captain,
looking at the young officer, to fathom his meaning. "I put all my charts
on board of the Guardian-Mother when we sailed for Bermuda the first time.
If I ever had the blue book of which you speak, I haven't it now; and I
forget all about it."

"I bought that chart at Aden the first day we were there, when I expected
to navigate the Maud to Bombay; and with it came the blue book, which
treats mainly of winds, weather, and currents," added Scott. "I studied it
with reference to this voyage, and I found a paragraph which interested me.
I will go to my state-room for the book, if you will permit me to read
about ten lines from it to you."

The captain did not object, and Scott soon returned to the commander's
cabin with the book. The autocrat of the ship was plainly dissatisfied with
himself at the failure of his prediction for fine weather, and perhaps he
feared that the ambitious young officer intended to instruct him in regard
to the situation, though Scott had conducted himself in the most modest and
inoffensive manner.

"I don't wish to be intrusive, Captain Ringgold, but I thought it was
possible that you had forgotten this paragraph," said the young officer,
with abundant deference in his tone and manner.

"Probably I never saw it; but read it, Mr. Scott," replied the commander.

"The weather is generally fine, and the sky clear, with neither squall nor
rain, except between Ras Seger and the island of Masira,'" Scott began to
read, when the commander interrupted him, and fixed his gaze on the chart,
to find the localities mentioned.

"Ras Sajer," said the captain, placing the point of his pencil on the cape
whose name he read. "That must be the one you mention."

"No doubt of it, sir; and I have noticed that the spelling on the chart and
in the books doesn't agree at all. The island is Massera on my chart."

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