Servadac

“ For the last fortnight Servadac had not been occupying his proper lodgings in the military quarters; having been appointed to make a local levy, he had been living in a gourbi, or native hut, on the Mostaganem coast, between four and five miles from the Shelif. His orderly was his sole companion, and by any other man than the captain the enforced exile would have been esteemed little short of a severe penance. ”

“ Ben Zoof left to go into the kitchen, and Servadac approached the professor in order to assist him in rising to a sitting posture.
“Do you recognize your quondam pupil, professor?” he asked.
“Ah, yes, yes; you are Servadac,” replied Rosette. “It is twelve years or more since I saw you; I hope you have improved.”
“Quite a reformed character, sir, I assure you,” said Servadac, smiling.
“Well, that's as it should be; that's right,” said the astronomer with fussy importance. “But let me have my coffee,” he added impatiently; “I cannot collect my thoughts without my coffee.” ”

“ THE ANTECEDENTS OF CAPTAIN SERVADAC AND HIS ORDERLY, BEN ZOOF. At the time of which I am writing, there might be seen in the registers of the Minister of War the following entry—
Servadac (Hector) , born at St. Trélody in the district of Lesparre, department of the Gironde, July 19th, 18—.
Property: 1200 francs in rentes.
Length of service: Fourteen years, three months, and five days.
Service: Two years at school at St. Cyr; two years at L'Ecole d'Application; two years in the 8th Regiment of the Line; two years in the 3rd Light Cavalry; seven years in Algeria. ”

“ The silence of bewilderment was broken at length by Count Timascheff making inquiry whether nothing had been heard from England, either by telegraph or by any passing ship.
“No,” said the colonel; “not a ship has passed; and the cable is broken.”
“But do not the Italian telegraphs assist you?” continued the count.
“Italian! I do not comprehend you. You must mean the Spanish, surely.”
“How?” demanded Timascheff.
“Confound it!” cried the impatient Servadac. “What matters whether it be Spanish or Italian? Tell us, have you had no communication at all from Europe?—no news of any sort from London?” ”

“ The old man hung his head, abashed.
“I will tell you what,” said Servadac after a brief interval; “I will give you leave to hear what this stranger has to tell as soon as he is able to tell us anything; at present we have not heard a word from his lips.”
The Jew looked perplexed.
“Yes,” said Servadac; “when we hear his story, you shall hear it too.”
“And I hope it will be to your liking, old Ezekiel!” added Ben Zoof in a voice of irony.
They had none of them long to wait, for within a few minutes Rosette's peevish voice was heard calling:
“Joseph! Joseph!” ”

“ Count Timascheff, expressing his regret that his purse contained only paper money, begged to place it at Captain Servadac's disposal.
“No paper, no paper!” exclaimed Isaac. “Paper has no currency in Gallia.”
“About as much as silver,” coolly retorted the count.
“I am a poor man,” began the Jew.
“Now, Hakkabut, stop these miserable lamentations of yours, once for all. Hand us over two hundred and thirty francs in silver money, or we will proceed to help ourselves.”
Isaac began to yell with all his might: “Thieves! thieves!” ”

“ The astronomer bit his lip, frowned, snorted, and cast at him a withering look, but did not take any further notice.
“Now, Captain Servadac,” said the professor, “take your pen again, if you please, and find me the volume of Gallia.”
The captain hesitated.
“Quick, quick!” cried the professor, impatiently; “surely you have not forgotten how to find the volume of a sphere!”
“A moment's breathing time, please.”
“Breathing time, indeed! A mathematician should not want breathing time! Come, multiply the surface by the third of the radius. Don't you recollect?” ”

“ At a sign from Servadac, an orderly, who had been standing at a respectful distance, led forward a magnificent Arabian horse; the captain vaulted into the saddle, and followed by his attendant, well mounted as himself, started off towards Mostaganem. It was half-past twelve when the two riders crossed the bridge that had been recently erected over the Shelif, and a quarter of an hour later their steeds, flecked with foam, dashed through the Mascara Gate, which was one of five entrances opened in the embattled wall that encircled the town. ”

“ MONEY AT A PREMIUM. “Who's there? I have nothing here for any one. Go away!” Such was the inhospitable greeting with which Isaac Hakkabut received his visitors.
“Hakkabut! do you take us for thieves?” asked Servadac, in tones of stern displeasure.
“Oh, your Excellency, my lord, I did not know that it was you,” whined the Jew, but without emerging any farther from his cabin. ”

“ The captain and his friends, who had returned to the cabin, looked on with mingled amusement and bewilderment.
“They are mine!” shrieked Hakkabut.
“I will have them!” shouted the professor
“You shall kill me first!” bellowed the Jew.
“No, but I must!” persisted the professor again.
It was manifestly time for Servadac to interfere.
“My dear professor,” he said, smiling, “allow me to settle this little matter for you.”
“Ah! your Excellency,” moaned the agitated Jew, “protect me! I am but a poor man—”
“None of that, Hakkabut. Hold your tongue.” ”

“ You must perish with cold, you will not have the chance of digging out ice-huts like the Esquimaux.”
“As to rest,” said Servadac, “we shall take none; we shall keep on our way continuously; by travelling day and night without intermission, we shall not be more than three days in reaching Formentera.”
“Believe me,” persisted the lieutenant, calmly, “your enthusiasm is carrying you too far; the feat you propose is impossible ”

“ The orderly wondered how his master could refrain from strangling the old miser upon the spot; but Servadac, rather amused than otherwise, determined to try another form of persuasion.
“Come, Hakkabut, I see that you are not disposed either to lend or to sell your steelyard. What do you say to letting us hire it?”
The Jew's eyes twinkled with a satisfaction that he was unable to conceal.
“But what security would you give? The instrument is very valuable;” and he looked more cunning than ever.
“What is it worth? If it is worth twenty francs, I will leave a deposit of a hundred. ”

“ When Ben Zoof and Negrete had extricated their patient from the envelope of furs in which he had been wrapped by Servadac and the lieutenant, they found themselves face to face with a shrivelled little man, about five feet two inches high, with a round bald head, smooth and shiny as an ostrich's egg, no beard unless the unshorn growth of a week could be so described, and a long hooked nose that supported a huge pair of spectacles such as with many near-sighted people seems to have become a part of their individuality. ”

“ But we must take our guns,"
"Why take our guns?" asked Servadac. "I hope we are not going to fight."
"No, not with men," said Ben Zoof; "but it does not answer to throw a chance away for giving battle to those thieves of birds."
Leaving little Nina and her goat in the gourbi, Servadac, Count Timascheff, and the lieutenant, greatly mystified, took up their guns and followed the orderly. All along their way they made unsparing slaughter of the birds that hovered over and around them. Nearly every species of the feathered tribe seemed to have its representative in that living cloud. ”

“ Ignorance!” shouted Rosette.
“Insolence!” retorted Servadac.
Ben Zoof, really thinking that his master was angry, made a threatening movement towards the professor.
“Touch me if you dare!” screamed Rosette, drawing himself up to the fullest height his diminutive figure would allow. “You shall answer for your conduct before a court of justice!”
“Where? On Gallia?” asked the captain.
“No; on the earth.”
“The earth! Pshaw! You know we shall never get there; our velocity is changed.”
“On the earth,” repeated the professor, with decision.
“Trash!” cried Ben Zoof. “The earth will be too far off!” ”

“ Still Hakkabut hesitated to make the first advance, and it was accordingly with much satisfaction that he hailed Captain Servadac's appearance on board the Hansa.
"Hakkabut," said the captain, plunging without further preface into business, "we want some coffee, some tobacco, and other things. I have come to-day to order them, to settle the price, and to-morrow Ben Zoof shall fetch the goods away."
"Merciful heavens!" the Jew began to whine; but Servadac cut him short.
"None of that miserable howling! Business! I am come to buy your goods. I shall pay for them." ”

“ Consider, it is the only steelyard in all this new world of ours; it is worth more, much more. If I take your deposit it must be in gold—all gold. But how much do you agree to give me for the hire—the hire, one day?”
“You shall have twenty francs,” said Servadac.
“Oh, it is dirt cheap; but never mind, for one day, you shall have it. Deposit in gold money a hundred francs, and twenty francs for the hire.”
The old man folded his hands in meek resignation.
“The fellow knows how to make a good bargain,” said Servadac, as Isaac, after casting a distrustful look around, went out of the cabin. ”

“ Gallia has nothing to do with you. Gallia is mine; and you must submit to the government which I please to ordain.”
“And who told you that Gallia is not going back to the earth?” asked the professor, with a look of withering scorn.
“Why, isn't her mass diminished? Isn't she split in half? Isn't her velocity all altered?” demanded the captain.
“And pray who told you this?” again said the professor, with a sneer.
“Everybody. Everybody knows it, of course,” replied Servadac.
“Everybody is very clever. And you always were a very clever scholar too. We remember that of old, don't we?” ”

“ The captain was inexorable.
“Very sorry, you know, Hakkabut. It is not my fault that the packet is short weight; but I cannot pay for a kilogramme except I have a kilogramme.”
Hakkabut pleaded for some consideration.
“A bargain is a bargain,” said Servadac. “You must complete your contract.”
And, moaning and groaning, the miserable man was driven to make up the full weight as registered by his own steelyard. He had to repeat the process with the sugar and coffee: for every kilogramme he had to weigh seven. Ben Zoof and the Russians jeered him most unmercifully. ”

“ The consciousness that his tartan was the subject of discussion made the Jew give way to such vehement ejaculations of anxiety, that Servadac turned round and peremptorily ordered him to desist from his clamour. Leaving the old man under the surveillance of the count and Ben Zoof, the captain and the lieutenant stepped into a small boat and were soon alongside the floating emporium. ”

“ ON his return Servadac communicated to the count the result of his expedition, and, though perfectly silent on the subject of his personal project, did not conceal the fact that the Spaniards, without the smallest right, had sold Ceuta to the English.
Having refused to quit their post, the Englishmen had virtually excluded themselves from any further consideration; they had had their warning, and must now take the consequences of their own incredulity. ”

“ As to a collision with a comet, there was not the faintest trace of any such phenomenon crossing men's minds, and awakening, as it surely would, a panic little short of the certified approach of the millennium.
“Nobody expects us,” said Servadac; “that is very certain.”
“No, indeed,” answered Ben Zoof, with a sigh; he was manifestly disappointed that his return to Mostaganem was not welcomed with a triumphal reception. ”

“ Uncomfortable as was their temporary abode, Servadac and his attendant made no complaints: neither of them was dainty in the matter either of board or lodging.
“Give a man a little philosophy and a good digestion, and he will thrive anywhere,” was a favourite speech of the captain's. A true Gascon, he had his philosophy, like his pocket-money, always at hand; and as for his digestion, it may be doubted whether the weight of all the waters of the Garonne would have caused it any inconvenience. And in this respect Ben Zoof was quite a match for his matter ”

“ Intensely anxious as he was to revisit the province of Oran, and eager, too, to satisfy himself of the welfare of his faithful Ben Zoof, Servadac could not but own the reasonableness of the lieutenant’s objections, and yielded to the proposal that the eastward course should be adopted. The wind gave signs only too threatening of the breeze rising to a gale ”

“ Then seemed to creep over everyone a kind of moral torpor as well as physical lassitude, which Servadac, the count, and the lieutenant did their best not only to combat in themselves, but to counteract in the general community. They provided a variety of intellectual pursuits; they instituted debates in which everybody was encouraged to take part ”

“ Captain Servadac mounted his horse Zephyr, and Ben Zoof simultaneously got astride his mare Gelette, named after the mill of Montmartre. They galloped off in the direction of the Shelif, and were not long in discovering that the diminution in the pressure of the atmosphere had precisely the same effect upon their horses as it had had upon themselves. Their muscular strength seemed five times as great as hitherto; their hoofs scarcely touched the ground, and they seemed transformed from ordinary quadrupeds into veritable hippogriffs. Happily, Servadac and his orderly were fearless riders ”

“ When Lieutenant Procope was about to press his inquiries in a more categorical form, therefore, Servadac, thinking it inadvisable to press the little savant too far, interrupted him by asking the professor how he accounted for the earth having suffered so little from such a formidable concussion.
"I account for it in this way," answered Rosette: "the earth was traveling at the rate of 28,000 leagues an hour, and Gallia at the rate of 57,000 leagues an hour. ”