The count took it, at the same time making a slight bow.

It was the first time since their meeting that the two men had shaken hands; on the other hand, not a single word about their former rivalry had ever escaped their lips; perhaps that was all forgotten now.
The silence of a few moments was broken by Servadac saying, "Do you not think we ought to explain our situation to the Spaniards ?" "No, no, your Excellency," burst in Ben Zoof, emphatically; "the fellows are chicken-hearted enough already; only tell them what has happened, and in sheer despondency they will not do another stroke of work." "Besides," said Lieutenant Procope, who took very much the same view as the orderly, "they are so miserably ignorant they would be sure to misunderstand you." "Understand or misunderstand," replied Servadac, "I do not think it matters.

They would not care.

They are all fatalists.

Only give them a guitar and their castanets, and they will soon forget all care and anxiety.