A young Frenchman named Daru sees two men climbing toward the schoolhouse where he teaches and resides in the desert mountains of French Algeria. One man, the old Corsican gendarme Balducci, rides on horseback and holds a rope tethered to his prisoner, an unnamed Arab, who proceeds on foot. Balducci informs Daru that he is to receive the prisoner (who has killed a cousin of his in a fight over some grain) and deliver him to police headquarters at Tinguit, some fifteen kilometers away. At first Daru refuses Balducci’s order, then relents and takes the prisoner in; having been offended by Daru’s reluctance, Balducci leaves in a sullen mood.