window of the second floor.
"Very well, sir," said Comminges, "you shall hear of this
anon."
"And you of me, sir," said Louvieres; "and we shall see then
who can speak the loudest."
Friquet and Nanette continued to shout; the cries, the noise
of the shot and the intoxicating smell of powder produced
their usual maddening effects.
"Down with the officer! down with him!" was the cry.
"One step nearer," said Comminges, putting down the sashes,
that the interior of the carriage might be well seen, and
placing his sword on his prisoner's breast, "one step
nearer, and I kill the prisoner; my orders were to carry him
off alive or dead. I will take him dead, that's all."
A terrible cry was heard, and the wife and daughters of
Broussel held up their hands in supplication to the people;
the latter knew that this officer, who was so pale, but who
appeared so determined, would keep his word; they continued
to threaten, but they began to disperse.
"Drive to the palace," said Comminges to the coachman, who
was by then more dead than alive.
The man whipped his animals, which cleared a way through the
crowd; but on arriving on the Quai they were obliged to
stop; the carriage was upset, the horses carried off,
stifled, mangled by the crowd. Raoul, on foot, for he had
not time to mount his horse again, tired, like the guards,
of distributing blows with the flat of his sword, had
recourse to its point. But this last and dreaded resource
served only to exasperate the multitude. From time to time a
shot from a musket or the blade of a rapier flashed among
the crowd; projectiles continued to hail down from the
windows and some shots were heard, the echo of which, though
they were probably fired in the air, made all hearts
vibrate. Voices, unheard except on days of revolution, were
distinguished; faces were seen that only appeared on days of
bloodshed. Cries of "Death! death to the guards! to the
Seine with the officer!" were heard above all the noise,
deafening as it was. Raoul, his hat in ribbons, his face
bleeding, felt not only his strength but also his reason
going; a red mist covered his sight, and through this mist
he saw a hundred threatening arms stretched over him, ready
to seize upon him when he fell. The guards were unable to
help any one -- each one was occupied with his
self-preservation. All was over; carriages, horses, guards,
and perhaps even the prisoner were about to be torn to
shreds, when all at once a voice well known to Raoul was
heard, and suddenly a great sword glittered in the air; at
the same time the crowd opened, upset, trodden down, and an
officer of the musketeers, striking and cutting right and
left, rushed up to Raoul and took him in his arms just as he
was about to fall.
"God's blood!" cried the officer, "have they killed him? Woe
to them if it be so!"
And he turned around, so stern with anger, strength and
threat, that the most excited rebels hustled back on one
another, in order to escape, and some of them even rolled
into the Seine.
"Monsieur d'Artagnan!" murmured Raoul.
"Yes, 'sdeath! in person, and fortunately it seems for you,
my young friend. Come on, here, you others," he continued,
rising in his stirrups, raising his sword, and addressing
those musketeers who had not been able to follow his rapid
onslaught. "Come, sweep away all that for me! Shoulder
muskets! Present arms! Aim ---- "
At this command the mountain of populace thinned so suddenly
that D'Artagnan could not repress a burst of Homeric
laughter.
"Thank you, D'Artagnan," said Comminges, showing half of his
body through the window of the broken vehicle, "thanks, my
young friend; your name -- that I may mention it to the
queen."
Raoul was about to reply when D'Artagnan bent down to his
ear.
"Hold your tongue," said he, "and let me answer. Do not lose
time, Comminges," he continued; "get out of the carriage if
you can and make another draw up; be quick, or in five
minutes the mob will be on us again with swords and muskets
and you will be killed. Hold! there's a carriage coming over
yonder."
Then bending again to Raoul, he whispered: "Above all things
do not divulge your name."
"That's right. I will go," said Comminges; "and if they come
back, fire!"
"Not at all -- not at all," replied D'Artagnan; "let no one
move. On the contrary, one shot at this moment would be paid
for dearly to-morrow."
Comminges took his four guards and as many musketeers and
ran to the carriage, from which he made the people inside
dismount, and brought them to the vehicle which had upset.
But when it was necessary to convey the prisoner from one
carriage to the other, the people, catching sight of him
whom they called their liberator, uttered every imaginable
cry and knotted themselves once more around the vehicle.
"Start, start!" said D'Artagnan. "There are ten men to
accompany you. I will keep twenty to hold in check the mob;
go, and lose not a moment. Ten men for Monsieur de
Comminges."
As the carriage started off the cries were redoubled and
more than ten thousand people thronged the Quai and
overflowed the Pont Neuf and adjacent streets. A few shots
were fired and one musketeer was wounded.
"Forward!" cried D'Artagnan, driven to extremities, biting
his moustache; and then he charged with his twenty men and
dispersed them in fear. One man alone remained in his place,
gun in hand.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, "it is thou who wouldst have him
assassinated? Wait an instant." And he pointed his gun at
D'Artagnan, who was riding toward him at full speed.
D'Artagnan bent down to his horse's neck the young man
fired, and the ball severed the feathers from the hat. The
horse started, brushed against the imprudent man, who
thought by his strength alone to stay the tempest, and he
fell against the wall. D'Artagnan pulled up his horse, and
whilst his musketeers continued to charge, he returned and
bent with drawn sword over the man he had knocked down.
"Oh, sir!" exclaimed Raoul, recognizing the young man as
having seen him in the Rue Cocatrix, "spare him! it is his
son!"
D'Artagnan's arm dropped to his side. "Ah, you are his son!"
he said; "that is a different thing."
"Sir, I surrender," said Louvieres, presenting his unloaded
musket to the officer.
"Eh, no! do not surrender, egad! On the contrary, be off,
and quickly. If I take you, you will be hung!"
The young man did not wait to be told twice, but passing
under the horse's head disappeared at the corner of the Rue
Guenegaud.
"I'faith!" said D'Artagnan to Raoul, "you were just in time
to stay my hand. He was a dead man; and on my honor, if I
had discovered that it was his son, I should have regretted
having killed him."
"Ah! sir!" said Raoul, "allow me, after thanking you for
that poor fellow's life, to thank you on my own account. I
too, sir, was almost dead when you arrived."
"Wait, wait, young man; do not fatigue yourself with
speaking. We can talk of it afterward."
Then seeing that the musketeers had cleared the Quai from
the Pont Neuf to the Quai Saint Michael, he raised his sword
for them to double their speed. The musketeers trotted up,
and at the same time the ten men whom D'Artagnan had given
to Comminges appeared.
"Halloo!" cried D'Artagnan; "has something fresh happened?"
"Eh, sir!" replied the sergeant, "their vehicle has broken
down a second time; it really must be doomed."
"They are bad managers," said D'Artagnan, shrugging his
shoulders. "When a carriage is chosen, it ought to be
strong. The carriage in which a Broussel is to be arrested
ought to be able to bear ten thousand men."
"What are your commands, lieutenant?"
"Take the detachment and conduct him to his place."
"But you will be left alone?"
"Certainly. So you suppose I have need of an escort? Go."
The musketeers set off and D'Artagnan was left alone with
Raoul.
"Now," he said, "are you in pain?"
"Yes; my head is not only swimming but burning."
"What's the matter with this head?" said D'Artagnan, raising
the battered hat. "Ah! ah! a bruise."
"Yes, I think I received a flower-pot upon my head."
"Brutes!" said D'Artagnan. "But were you not on horseback?
you have spurs."
"Yes, but I got down to defend Monsieur de Comminges and my
horse was taken away. Here it is, I see."
At this very moment Friquet passed, mounted on Raoul's
horse, waving his parti-colored cap and crying, "Broussel!
Broussel!"
"Halloo! stop, rascal!" cried D'Artagnan. "Bring hither that
horse."
Friquet heard perfectly, but he pretended not to do so and
tried to continue his road. D'Artagnan felt inclined for an
instant to pursue Master Friquet, but not wishing to leave
Raoul alone he contented himself with taking a pistol from
the holster and cocking it.
Friquet had a quick eye and a fine ear. He saw D'Artagnan's
movement, heard the sound of the click, and stopped at once.
"Ah! it is you, your honor," he said, advancing toward
D'Artagnan; "and I am truly pleased to meet you."
D'Artagnan looked attentively at Friquet and recognized the
little chorister of the Rue de la Calandre.
"Ah! 'tis thou, rascal!" said he, "come here: so thou hast
changed thy trade; thou art no longer a choir boy nor a
tavern boy; thou hast become a horse stealer?"
"Ah, your honor, how can you say so?" exclaimed Friquet. "I
was seeking the gentleman to whom this horse belongs -- an
officer, brave and handsome as a youthful Caesar; "then,
pretending to see Raoul for the first time:
"Ah! but if I mistake not," continued he, "here he is; you
won't forget the boy, sir."
Raoul put his hand in his pocket.
"What are you about?" asked D'Artagnan.
"To give ten francs to this honest fellow," replied Raoul,
taking a pistole from his pocket.
"Ten kicks on his back!" said D'Artagnan; "be off, you
little villain, and forget not that I have your address."
Friquet, who did not expect to be let off so cheaply,
bounded off like a gazelle up the Quai a la Rue Dauphine,
and disappeared. Raoul mounted his horse, and both leisurely
took their way to the Rue Tiquetonne.
D'Artagnan watched over the youth as if he had been his own
son.
They arrived without accident at the Hotel de la Chevrette.
The handsome Madeleine announced to D'Artagnan that Planchet
had returned, bringing Musqueton with him, who had
heroically borne the extraction of the ball and was as well
as his state would permit.
D'Artagnan desired Planchet to be summoned, but he had
disappeared.
"Then bring some wine," said D'Artagnan. "You are much
pleased with yourself," said he to Raoul when they were
alone, "are you not?"
"Well, yes," replied Raoul. "It seems to me I did my duty. I
defended the king."
"And who told you to defend the king?"
"The Comte de la Fere himself."
"Yes, the king; but to-day you have not fought for the king,
you have fought for Mazarin; which is not quite the same
thing."
"But you yourself?"
"Oh, for me; that is another matter. I obey my captain's
orders. As for you, your captain is the prince, understand
that rightly; you have no other. But has one ever seen such
a wild fellow," continued he, "making himself a Mazarinist
and helping to arrest Broussel! Breathe not a word of that,
or the Comte de la Fere will be furious."
"You think the count will be angry with me?"
"Think it? I'm certain of it; were it not for that, I should
thank you, for you have worked for us. However, I scold you
instead of him, and in his place; the storm will blow over
more easily, believe me. And moreover, my dear child,"
continued D'Artagnan, "I am making use of the privilege
conceded to me by your guardian."
"I do not understand you, sir," said Raoul.
D'Artagnan rose, and taking a letter from his writing-desk,
presented it to Raoul. The face of the latter became serious
when he had cast his eyes upon the paper.
"Oh, mon Dieu!" he said, raising his fine eyes to
D'Artagnan, moist with tears, "the count has left Paris
without seeing me?"
"He left four days ago," said D'Artagnan.
"But this letter seems to intimate that he is about to incur
danger, perhaps death."
"He -- he -- incur danger of death! No, be not anxious; he
is traveling on business and will return ere long. I hope
you have no repugnance to accept me as your guardian in the
interim."
"Oh, no, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said Raoul, "you are such a
brave gentleman and the Comte de la Fere has so much
affection for you!"
"Eh! Egad! love me too; I will not torment you much, but
only on condition that you become a Frondist, my young
friend, and a hearty Frondist, too."
"But can I continue to visit Madame de Chevreuse?"
"I should say you could! and the coadjutor and Madame de
Longueville; and if the worthy Broussel were there, whom you
so stupidly helped arrest, I should tell you to excuse
