• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“Well, then,” said Porthos, “here’s my advice.”

“Speak.”

“Four men traveling together will be suspect. D’Artagnan will give each of us his instructions: I’ll go ahead on the road to Boulogne, to clear the way; Athos will leave two hours later by the road to Amiens; Aramis will follow us on the road to Noyon; and as for d’Artagnan, he can leave by whatever road he likes, in Planchet’s clothes, while Planchet will follow us as d’Artagnan and in the uniform of the guards.”

“Gentlemen,” said Athos, “in my opinion it’s not suitable for lackeys to have any part in such an affair. A gentlemen may betray a secret by chance, a lackey will almost invariably sell it.”

“Porthos’s plan seems impracticable to me,” said d’Artagnan, “in that I myself don’t know what instructions I can give you. I am the bearer of a letter, that’s all. I do not have and cannot make three copies of this letter, since it is sealed. In my opinion, then, we must travel together. The letter is here in this pocket.” And he showed them the pocket where the letter was. “If I am killed, one of you will take it, and you will continue on your way; if he is killed, it will be the next man’s turn, and so on; provided one of us gets there, that’s all that matters.”

“Bravo, d’Artagnan! I’m of the same opinion,” said Athos. “Besides, we must be consistent: I go to take the waters at Forges, you accompany me; instead of the waters at Forges, I go to take the waters at the sea; I’m a free man. They want to arrest us, I show M. de Tréville’s letter, and you show your leaves; they attack us, we defend ourselves; they try us, we stubbornly insist that we have no other intention than to dip ourselves a certain number of times in the sea. They would have too easy a time with four isolated men, while four men together make a troop. We’ll arm the four lackeys with pistols and muskets. If they send an army against us, we’ll give battle, and the survivor, as d’Artagnan said, will carry the letter.”

“Well spoken,” cried Aramis. “You don’t speak often, Athos, but when you do, it’s like St. John Golden-mouth.85 I adopt Athos’s plan. And you, Porthos?”

“I do, too,” said Porthos, “if it suits d’Artagnan. D’Artagnan, as bearer of the letter, is naturally the leader of the undertaking; we’ll do what he decides.”

“Well, then,” said d’Artagnan, “I decide that we adopt Athos’s plan and that we leave in half an hour.”

“Adopted!” the three musketeers picked up in chorus.

And each of them reached a hand out to the pouch, took seventy-five pistoles, and went to make his preparations for leaving at the agreed time.

XX

THE JOURNEY

At two o’clock in the morning, our four adventurers left Paris by the porte Saint-Denis. As long as it was night, they remained silent; despite themselves, they fell under the influence of the darkness and saw ambushes everywhere.

At the first rays of light, their tongues were loosened; with the sun, their gaiety returned. It was like the eve of a battle: their hearts throbbed, their eyes laughed; they felt that life, which they were perhaps about to leave, was, when all is said, a good thing.

The look of the caravan, moreover, was most imposing: the black horses of the musketeers, their martial appearance, that habit of the squadron which makes these noble soldier’s companions march in step, would have given away the strictest incognito.

The valets followed, armed to the teeth.

Everything went well as far as Chantilly, where they arrived towards eight o’clock in the morning. It was time for breakfast. They dismounted in front of an inn recommended by a sign representing St. Martin giving half his cloak to a poor man. The lackeys were told not to unsaddle the horses and to be ready to leave again immediately.

They went into the common room and sat down at a table.

A gentleman who had just arrived by the road from Dammartin was sitting at the same table having breakfast. He started a conversation about rain and fair weather; the travelers replied. He drank their health; the travelers returned his civility.