ever inspired in him by D'Artagnan's inventive imagination.
84
Strength and Sagacity -- Continued.
Supper was eaten in silence, but not in sadness; for from
time to time one of those sweet smiles which were habitual
to him in moments of good-humor illumined the face of
D'Artagnan. Not a scintilla of these was lost on Porthos;
and at every one he uttered an exclamation which betrayed to
his friend that he had not lost sight of the idea which
possessed his brain.
At dessert D'Artagnan reposed in his chair, crossed one leg
over the other and lounged about like a man perfectly at his
ease.
Porthos rested his chin on his hands, placed his elbows on
the table and looked at D'Artagnan with an expression of
confidence which imparted to that colossus an admirable
appearance of good-fellowship.
"Well?" said D'Artagnan, at last.
"Well!" repeated Porthos.
"You were saying, my dear friend ---- "
"No; I said nothing."
"Yes; you were saying you wished to leave this place."
"Ah, indeed! the will was never wanting."
"To get away you would not mind, you added, knocking down a
door or a wall."
"'Tis true -- I said so, and I say it again."
"And I answered you, Porthos, that it was not a good plan;
that we couldn't go a hundred steps without being
recaptured, because we were without clothes to disguise
ourselves and arms to defend ourselves."
"That is true; we should need clothes and arms."
"Well," said D'Artagnan, rising, "we have them, friend
Porthos, and even something better."
"Bah!" said Porthos, looking around.
"Useless to look; everything will come to us when wanted. At
about what time did we see the two Swiss guards walking
yesterday?"
"An hour after sunset."
"If they go out to-day as they did yesterday we shall have
the honor, then, of seeing them in half an hour?"
"In a quarter of an hour at most."
"Your arm is still strong enough, is it not, Porthos?"
Porthos unbuttoned his sleeve, raised his shirt and looked
complacently on his strong arm, as large as the leg of any
ordinary man.
"Yes, indeed," said he, "I believe so."
"So that you could without trouble convert these tongs into
a hoop and yonder shovel into a corkscrew?"
"Certainly." And the giant took up these two articles, and
without any apparent effort produced in them the
metamorphoses suggested by his companion.
"There!" he cried.
"Capital!" exclaimed the Gascon. "Really, Porthos, you are a
gifted individual!"
"I have heard speak," said Porthos, "of a certain Milo of
Crotona, who performed wonderful feats, such as binding his
forehead with a cord and bursting it -- of killing an ox
with a blow of his fist and carrying it home on his
shoulders, et cetera. I used to learn all these feat by
heart yonder, down at Pierrefonds, and I have done all that
he did except breaking a cord by the corrugation of my
temples."
"Because your strength is not in your head, Porthos," said
his friend.
"No; it is in my arms and shoulders," answered Porthos with
gratified naivete.
"Well, my dear friend, let us approach the window and there
you can match your strength against that of an iron bar."
Porthos went to the window, took a bar in his hands, clung
to it and bent it like a bow; so that the two ends came out
of the sockets of stone in which for thirty years they had
been fixed.
"Well! friend, the cardinal, although such a genius, could
never have done that."
"Shall I take out any more of them?" asked Porthos.
"No; that is sufficient; a man can pass through that."
Porthos tried, and passed the upper portion of his body
through.
"Yes," he said.
"Now pass your arm through this opening."
"Why?"
"You will know presently -- pass it."
Porthos obeyed with military promptness and passed his arm
through the opening.
"Admirable!" said D'Artagnan.
"The scheme goes forward, it seems."
"On wheels, dear friend."
"Good! What shall I do now?"
"Nothing."
"It is finished, then?"
"No, not yet."
"I should like to understand," said Porthos.
"Listen, my dear friend; in two words you will know all. The
door of the guardhouse opens, as you see."
"Yes, I see."
"They are about to send into our court, which Monsieur de
Mazarin crosses on his way to the orangery, the two guards
who attend him."
"There they are, coming out."
"If only they close the guardhouse door! Good! They close
it."
"What, then?"
"Silence! They may hear us."
"I don't understand it at all."
"As you execute you will understand."
"And yet I should have preferred ---- "
"You will have the pleasure of the surprise."
"Ah, that is true."
"Hush!"
Porthos remained silent and motionless.
In fact, the two soldiers advanced on the side where the
window was, rubbing their hands, for it was cold, it being
the month of February.
At this moment the door of the guardhouse was opened and one
of the soldiers was summoned away.
"Now," said D'Artagnan, "I am going to call this soldier and
talk to him. Don't lose a word of what I'm going to say to
you, Porthos. Everything lies in the execution."
"Good, the execution of plots is my forte."
"I know it well. I depend on you. Look, I shall turn to the
left, so that the soldier will be at your right, as soon as
he mounts on the bench to talk to us."
"But supposing he doesn't mount?"
"He will; rely upon it. As soon as you see him get up,
stretch out your arm and seize him by the neck. Then,
raising him up as Tobit raised the fish by the gills, you
must pull him into the room, taking care to squeeze him so
tight that he can't cry out."
"Oh!" said Porthos. "Suppose I happen to strangle him?"
"To be sure there would only be a Swiss the less in the
world; but you will not do so, I hope. Lay him down here;
we'll gag him and tie him -- no matter where -- somewhere.
So we shall get from him one uniform and a sword."
"Marvelous!" exclaimed Porthos, looking at the Gascon with
the most profound admiration.
"Pooh!" replied D'Artagnan.
"Yes," said Porthos, recollecting himself, "but one uniform
and one sword will not suffice for two."
"Well; but there's his comrade."
"True," said Porthos.
"Therefore, when I cough, stretch out your arm."
"Good!"
The two friends then placed themselves as they had agreed,
Porthos being completely hidden in an angle of the window.
"Good-evening, comrade," said D'Artagnan in his most
fascinating voice and manner.
"Good-evening, sir," answered the soldier, in a strong
provincial accent.
"'Tis not too warm to walk," resumed D'Artagnan.
"No, sir."
"And I think a glass of wine will not be disagreeable to
you?"
"A glass of wine will be extremely welcome."
"The fish bites -- the fish bites!" whispered the Gascon to
Porthos.
"I understand," said Porthos.
"A bottle, perhaps?"
"A whole bottle? Yes, sir."
"A whole bottle, if you will drink my health."
"Willingly," answered the soldier.
"Come, then, and take it, friend," said the Gascon.
"With all my heart. How convenient that there's a bench
here. Egad! one would think it had been placed here on
purpose."
"Get on it; that's it, friend."
And D'Artagnan coughed.
That instant the arm of Porthos fell. His hand of iron
grasped, quick as lightning, firm as a pair of blacksmith's
pincers, the soldier's throat. He raised him, almost
stifling him as he drew him through the aperture, at the
risk of flaying him in the passage. He then laid him down on
the floor, where D'Artagnan, after giving him just time
enough to draw his breath, gagged him with his long scarf;
and the moment he had done so began to undress him with the
promptitude and dexterity of a man who had learned his
business on the field of battle. Then the soldier, gagged
and bound, was placed upon the hearth, the fire of which had
been previously extinguished by the two friends.
"Here's a sword and a dress," said Porthos.
"I take them," said D'Artagnan, "for myself. If you want
another uniform and sword you must play the same trick over
again. Stop! I see the other soldier issue from the
guardroom and come toward us."
"I think," replied Porthos, "it would be imprudent to
attempt the same manoeuvre again; it is said that no man can
succeed twice in the same way, and a failure would be
ruinous. No; I will go down, seize the man unawares and
bring him to you ready gagged."
"That is better," said the Gascon.
"Be ready," said Porthos, as he slipped through the opening.
He did as he said. Porthos seized his opportunity, caught
the next soldier by his neck, gagged him and pushed him like
a mummy through the bars into the room, and entered after
him. Then they undressed him as they had done the first,
laid him on their bed and bound him with the straps which
composed the bed -- the bedstead being of oak. This
operation proved as great a success as the first.
"There," said D'Artagnan, "this is capital! Now let me try
on the dress of yonder chap. Porthos, I doubt if you can
wear it; but should it be too tight, never mind, you can
wear the breastplate and the hat with the red feathers."
It happened, however, that the second soldier was a Swiss of
gigantic proportions, so, save that some few of the seams
split, his uniform fitted Porthos perfectly.
They then dressed themselves.
"'Tis done!" they both exclaimed at once. "As to you,
comrades," they said to the men, "nothing will happen to you
if you are discreet; but if you stir you are dead men."
The soldiers were complaisant; they had found the grasp of
Porthos pretty powerful and that it was no joke to fight
against it.
"Now," said D'Artagnan, "you wouldn't be sorry to understand
the plot, would you, Porthos?"
"Well, no, not very."
"Well, then, we shall go down into the court."
"Yes."
"We shall take the place of those two fellows."
"Well?"
"We will walk back and forth."
"That's a good idea, for it isn't warm."
"In a moment the valet-de-chambre will call the guard, as he
did yesterday and the day before."
"And we shall answer?"
"No, on the contrary, we shall not answer."
"As you please; I don't insist on answering."
"We will not answer, then; we will simply settle our hats on
our heads and we will escort his eminence."
"Where shall we escort him?"
"Where he is going -- to visit Athos. Do you think Athos
will be sorry to see us?"
"Oh!" cried Porthos, "oh! I understand."
"Wait a little, Porthos, before crying out; for, on my word,
you haven't reached the end," said the Gascon, in a jesting
tone.
"What is to happen?" said Porthos.
"Follow me," replied D'Artagnan. "The man who lives to see
shall see."
And slipping through the aperture, he alighted in the court.
Porthos followed him by the same road, but with more
difficulty and less diligence. They could hear the two
soldiers shivering with fear, as they lay bound in the
chamber.
Scarcely had the two Frenchmen touched the ground when a
door opened and the voice of the valet-de-chambre called
out:
"Make ready!"
At the same moment the guardhouse was opened and a voice
called out:
"La Bruyere and Du Barthois! March!"
It seems that I am named La Bruyere," remarked D'Artagnan.
"And I, Du Barthois," added Porthos.
"Where are you?" asked the valet-de-chambre, whose eyes,
dazzled by the light, could not clearly distinguish our
heroes in the gloom.
"Here we are," said the Gascon.
"What say you to that, Monsieur du Vallon?" he added in a
low tone to Porthos.
"If it but lasts, most capital," responded Porthos.
These two newly enlisted soldiers marched gravely after the
valet-de-chambre, who opened the door of the vestibule, then
another which seemed to be that of a waiting-room, and
showing them two stools:
"Your orders are very simple," he said; "don't allow
anybody, except one person, to enter here. Do you hear --
not a single creature! Obey that person implicitly. On your
return you cannot make a mistake. You have only to wait here
till I release you."
D'Artagnan was known to this valet-de-chambre, who was no
other than Bernouin, and he had during the last six or eight
months introduced the Gascon a dozen times to the cardinal.
The Gascon, therefore, instead of answering, growled out
"Ja! Ja!" in the most German and the least Gascon accent
possible.
As for Porthos, on whom D'Artagnan had impressed the
necessity of absolute silence and who did not even now begin
to comprehend the scheme of his friend, which was to follow
Mazarin in his visit to Athos, he was simply mute. All that
