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Off on a Comet-Part2_JULES VERNE(1828-1905)_Translated Works(翻译文学)-第2页

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orderly to Captain Servadac. Side by side they fought in two campaigns.



Servadac had saved Ben Zoof's life in Japan; Ben Zoof had rendered

his master a like service in the Soudan. The bond of union thus



effected could never be severed; and although Ben Zoof's achievements

had fairly earned him the right of retirement, he firmly declined all



honors or any pension that might part him from his superior officer.

Two stout arms, an iron constitution, a powerful frame, and an



indomitable courage were all loyally devoted to his master's service,

and fairly entitled him to his _soi-disant_ designation of "The Rampart



of Montmartre." Unlike his master, he made no pretension to any gift of

poetic power, but his inexhaustible memory made him a living encyclopaedia;



and for his stock of anecdotes and trooper's tales he was matchless.

Thoroughly appreciating his servant's good qualities, Captain Servadac



endured with imperturbable good humor those idiosyncrasies,

which in a less faithfulfollower would have been intolerable,



and from time to time he would drop a word of sympathy that served

to deepen his subordinate's devotion.



On one occasion, when Ben Zoof had mounted his hobby-horse,

and was indulging in high-flown praises about his beloved



eighteenth arrondissement, the captain had remarked gravely,

"Do you know, Ben Zoof, that Montmartre only requires a matter



of some thirteen thousand feet to make it as high as Mont Blanc?"

Ben Zoof's eyes glistened with delight; and from that moment Hector Servadac



and Montmartre held equal places in his affection.

CHAPTER III



INTERRUPTED EFFUSIONS

Composed of mud and loose stones, and covered with a thatch of turf



and straw, known to the natives by the name of "driss," the gourbi,

though a grade better than the tents of the nomad Arabs, was yet far



inferior to any habitation built of brick or stone. It adjoined an old

stone hostelry, previously occupied by a detachment of engineers,



and which now afforded shelter for Ben Zoof and the two horses.

It still contained a considerable number of tools, such as mattocks,



shovels, and pick-axes.

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. After dinner,



leaving his orderly to stow away the remains of the repast

in what he was pleased to term the "cupboard of his stomach."



Captain Servadac turned out into the open air to smoke his pipe

upon the edge of the cliff. The shades of night were drawing on.



An hour previously, veiled in heavy clouds, the sun had sunk

below the horizon that bounded the plain beyond the Shelif.



The sky presented a most singular appearance. Towards the north,

although the darkness rendered it impossible to see beyond



a quarter of a mile, the upper strata of the atmosphere were

suffused with a rosy glare. No well-defined fringe of light,



nor arch of luminous rays, betokened a display of aurora borealis,

even had such a phenomenon been possible in these latitudes;



and the most experienced meteorologist would have been puzzled

to explain the cause of this strikingillumination on this 31st



of December, the last evening of the passing year.

But Captain Servadac was no meteorologist, and it is to be



doubted whether, since leaving school, he had ever opened his "Course

of Cosmography." Besides, he had other thoughts to occupy his mind.



The prospects of the morrow offered serious matter for consideration.

The captain was actuated by no personal animosity against the count;



though rivals, the two men regarded each other with sincere respect;

they had simply reached a crisis in which one of them was _de trop;_



which of them, fate must decide.

At eight o'clock, Captain Servadac re-entered the gourbi, the single



apartment of which contained his bed, a small writing-table, and some

trunks that served instead of cupboards. The orderly performed his



culinary operations in the adjoining building, which he also used as a




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