he awe._

OFF ON A COMET OR HECTOR SERVADAC

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I. A CHALLENGE

"Nothing, sir, can induce me to surrender my claim."

"I am sorry, count, but in such a matter your views cannot modify mine."

"But allow me to point out that my seniority unquestionably gives me a
prior right."

"Mere seniority, I assert, in an affair of this kind, cannot possibly
entitle you to any prior claim whatever."

"Then, captain, no alternative is left but for me to compel you to yield
at the sword's point."

"As you please, count; but neither sword nor pistol can force me to
forego my pretensions. Here is my card."

"And mine."

This rapid altercation was thus brought to an end by the formal
interchange of the names of the disputants. On one of the cards was
inscribed:

_Captain Hector Servadac,
Staff Officer, Mostaganem._

On the other was the title:

_Count Wassili Timascheff,
On board the Schooner "Dobryna."_

It did not take long to arrange that seconds should be appointed, who
would meet in Mostaganem at two o'clock that day; and the captain and
the count were on the point of parting from each other, with a salute of
punctilious courtesy, when Timascheff, as if struck by a sudden thought,
said abruptly: "Perhaps it would be better, captain, not to allow the
real cause of this to transpire?"

"Far better," replied Servadac; "it is undesirable in every way for any
names to be mentioned."

"In that case, however," continued the count, "it will be necessary to
assign an ostensible pretext of some kind. Shall we allege a musical
dispute? a contention in which I feel bound to defend Wagner, while you
are the zealous champion of Rossini?"

"I am quite content," answered Servadac, with a smile; and with another
low bow they parted.

The scene, as here depicted, took place upon the extremity of a little
cape on the Algerian coast, between Mostaganem and Tenes, about two
miles from the mouth of the Shelif. The headland rose more than sixty
feet above the sea-level, and the azure waters of the Mediterranean, as
they softly kissed the strand, were tinged with the reddish hue of the
ferriferous rocks that formed its base. It was the 31st of December. The
noontide sun, which usually illuminated the various projections of the
coast with a dazzling brightness, was hidden by a dense mass of cloud,
and the fog, which for some unaccoun