He thought to himself, “Here they are.  What’s this about game?  Are they talking of me?” And becoming aware of the orange in his hand he thought further, “These are very good oranges.  Leonie’s own tree.  I may just as well eat this orange instead of flinging it away.”

Emerging from a tangle of rocks and bushes, General Feraud and his seconds discovered General D’Hubert engaged in peeling the orange.  They stood still waiting till he looked up.  Then the seconds raised their hats, and General Feraud, putting his hands behind his back, walked aside a little way.

“I am compelled to ask one of you, messieurs, to act for me.  I have brought no friends.  Will you?”

The one-eyed cuirassier said judicially: 

“That cannot be refused.”

The other veteran remarked: 

“It’s awkward all the same.”

“Owing to the state of the people’s minds in this part of the country there was no one I could trust with the object of your presence here,” explained General D’Hubert urbanely.  They saluted, looked round, and remarked both together: 

“Poor ground.”

“It’s unfit.”

“Why bother about ground, measurements, and so on.  Let us simplify matters.  Load the two pairs of pistols.  I will take those of General Feraud and let him take mine.  Or, better still, let us take a mixed pair.  One of each pair.  Then we will go into the wood while you remain outside.  We did not come here for ceremonies, but for war.  War to the death.  Any ground is good enough for that.  If I fall you must leave me where I lie and clear out.  It wouldn’t be healthy for you to be found hanging about here after that.”

It appeared after a short parley that General Feraud was willing to accept these conditions.  While the seconds were loading the pistols he could be heard whistling, and was seen to rub his hands with an air of perfect contentment.  He flung off his coat briskly, and General D’Hubert took off his own and folded it carefully on a stone.

“Suppose you take your principal to the other side of the wood and let him enter exactly in ten minutes from now,” suggested General D’Hubert calmly, but feeling as if he were giving directions for his own execution.  This, however, was his last moment of weakness.

“Wait!  Let us compare watches first.”

He pulled out his own.  The officer with the chipped nose went over to borrow the watch of General Feraud.  They bent their heads over them for a time.

“That’s it.  At four minutes to five by yours.  Seven to, by mine.”

It was the cuirassier who remained by the side of General D’Hubert, keeping his one eye fixed immovably on the white face of the watch he held in the palm of his hand.  He opened his mouth wide, waiting for the beat of the last second, long before he snapped out the word: 

“Avancez!”