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"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 claimwhatever.""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. Hereis my card.""And mine."This rapid altercation was thus brought to an end by the formal interchange of the names of thedisputants. 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 inMostaganem at two o'clock that day; and the captain and the count were on the point of partingfrom each other, with a salute of punctilious courtesy, when Timascheff, as if struck by a suddenthought, said abruptly: "Perhaps it would be better, captain, not to allow the real cause of this totranspi.