# II explained — The Special Correspondent

> Chapter companion for The Special Correspondent by Jules Verne.

## What happens

Claudius Bombarnac continues his journey on the Transgeorgian railway, observing his traveling companions including the American Fulk Ephrinell and a mysterious lady who takes his seat. He reflects on the brief stop at Elisabethpol, the landscape, and his growing curiosity about Ephrinell's business with Strong, Bulbul & Co. The chapter ends with the train's arrival at Baku.

## Themes in this chapter

### Journalism and Observation

Bombarnac's role as a special correspondent drives his detailed observations of companions and landscape, even in darkness.

### Commerce and Enterprise

Ephrinell's description of Strong, Bulbul & Co. highlights American industrial scale and global commerce.

### Travel and Adventure

The journey through the Caucasus and the Caspian region, with brief stops and night travel, evokes the adventure of the Grand Transasiatic.

## Character check-ins

### Claudius Bombarnac

Narrator and special correspondent; reflects on his journey and companions.

### Fulk Ephrinell

American commercial traveler for Strong, Bulbul & Co.; describes the company's vast industrial scale.

### Miss Horatia Bluett

Lady who takes Bombarnac's seat at Elisabethpol; described as Anglo-Saxon and cool.

## Key lines

> Mr. Bombarnac! Nothing will happen either to you or me. Wait a bit, I promise you a journey, the most prosaic, the most homely, the flattest⁠—flat as the steppes of Kara Koum, which the Grand Transasiatic traverses in Turkestan, and the plains of the desert of Gobi it crosses in China⁠—

Ephrinell assures Bombarnac that the journey will be uneventful and monotonous, comparing it to the flat steppes and deserts ahead.

_Ephrinell's prediction of a dull journey contrasts with Bombarnac's expectations as a journalist._

> Imagine a colossal workshop, immense buildings for the mounting and adjusting of the pieces, a steam engine of fifteen hundred horsepower, ventilators making six hundred revolutions a minute, boilers consuming a hundred tons of coals a day, a chimney stack four hundred and fifty feet high, vast outhouses for the storage of our goods, which we send to the five parts of the world, a general manager, two sub-managers, four secretaries, eight undersecretaries, a staff of five hundred clerks and nine hundred workmen, a whole regiment of travelers like your servant, working in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Australasia, in short, a turnover exceeding annually one hundred million dollars!

Ephrinell boasts about the enormous scale of Strong, Bulbul & Co., detailing its workforce, machinery, and global reach.

_This hyperbolic description emphasizes American industrial prowess and Ephrinell's pride in his company._

> I have bought a timetable and I consult it. The map which accompanies it shows me station by station the course of the line between Tiflis and Baku.

Bombarnac studies the railway timetable and map to track the route from Tiflis to Baku.

_Shows Bombarnac's meticulous nature as a journalist, wanting to know every detail of the journey._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_special_correspondent_se/chapters/ii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_special_correspondent_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_special_correspondent_se/chapters