Summary
"Journey by Train" is an extract from the classic adventure novel Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne. The story follows Mr. Phileas Fogg, an Englishman, and his French attendant Passepartout, who attempt to travel around the world in eighty days on a wager of $20,000 made at the Reform Club.
In this extract, Fogg travels by train from Bombay through India. The train passes through the Island of Salcette, the mountains, Nassik, the flat country of Khandesh with its villages and temples, vast jungles with snakes and tigers, and forests where elephants gaze at the passing train. They stop at Burhampoor for breakfast and travel along the river Tapty towards the Sutpour Mountains.
However, at the hamlet of Kholby, the train stops abruptly because the railway is not yet finished -- fifty miles of track to Allahabad remain unlaid. Sir Francis Cromarty is furious at the inconvenience, but Mr. Fogg remains calm, saying he had foreseen such obstacles. Passepartout discovers an elephant named Kiouni nearby. After much negotiation, Mr. Fogg purchases the elephant outright for two thousand pounds. A young guide is hired, and the party sets off on the elephant through the dense forest of palms towards Allahabad.