Servadac found that night had lasted precisely six hours.
Ben Zoof, who was unaccustomed to so brief a period of repose,
was still slumbering soundly.

"Come, wake up!" said Servadac, shaking him by the shoulder;
"it is time to start."

"Time to start?" exclaimed Ben Zoof, rubbing his eyes.
"I feel as if I had only just gone to sleep."

"You have slept all night, at any rate," replied the captain;
"it has only been for six hours, but you must make it enough."

"Enough it shall be, sir," was the submissive rejoinder.

"And now," continued Servadac, "we will take the shortest way back
to the gourbi, and see what our horses think about it all."

"They will think that they ought to be groomed," said the orderly.

"Very good; you may groom them and saddle them as quickly as you like.
I want to know what has become of the rest of Algeria:
if we cannot get round by the south to Mostaganem, we must
go eastwards to Tenes." And forthwith they started.
Beginning to feel hungry, they had no hesitation in gathering
figs, dates, and oranges from the plantations that formed
a continuous rich and luxuriant orchard along their path.
The district was quite deserted, and they had no reason to fear
any legal penalty.