of
his two campaigns in the Soudan and Japan, had been always stationed in
Algeria. He had now a staff appointment at Mostaganem, and had lately
been entrusted with some topographical work on the coast between Tenes
and the Shelif. It was a matter of little consequence to him that the
gourbi, in which of necessity he was quartered, was uncomfortable and
ill-contrived; he loved the open air, and the independence of his life
suited him well. Sometimes he would wander on foot upon the sandy shore,
and sometimes he would enjoy a ride along the summit of the cliff;
altogether being in no hurry at all to bring his task to an end. His
occupation, moreover, was not so engrossing but that he could find
leisure for taking a short railway journey once or twice a week; so
that he was ever and again putting in an appearance at the general's
receptions at Oran, and at the fetes given by the governor at Algiers.

It was on one of these occasions that he had first met Madame de L----,
the lady to whom he was desirous of dedicating the rondo, the first four
lines of which had just seen the light. She was a colonel's widow,
young and handsome, very reserved, not to say haughty in her manner, and
either indifferent or impervious to the admiration which she inspired.
Captain Servadac had not yet ventured to declare his attachment; of
rivals he was well aware he had not a few, and amongst these not the
least formidable was the Russian Count Timascheff. And although the
young widow was all unconscious of the share she had in the matter, it
was she, and she alone, who was the cause of the challenge just given
and accepted by her two ardent admirers.

During his residence in the gourbi, Hector Servadac's sole companion
was his orderly, Ben Zoof. Ben Zoof was devoted, body and soul, to his
superior officer. His own personal ambition was so entirely absorbed in
his master's welfare, that it is certain no offer of promotion--even had
it been that of aide-de-camp to the Governor-General of Algiers--would
have induced him to quit that master's service. His name might seem
to imply that he was a native of Algeria; but such was by no means the
case. His true name was Laurent; he was a native of Montmartre in Paris,
and how or why he had obtained his patronymic was one of those anomalies
which the most sagacious of etymologists would find it hard to explain.

Born on the hill of Montmartre, between the Solferino tower and the
mill of La Galette, Ben