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Chapter XLVI
Chapter XLVI
The Bastion Saint-Gervais
On arriving at the lodging of his three friends, D`Artagnan found them
assembled in the same chamber: Athos was meditating, Porthos was twisting his
mustaches, Aramis was reading prayers in a charming little livre d`heures,
bound in blue velvet.
"Pardieu!" said he, "gentlemen! I hope what you have to tell me is
worth the trouble; or else, I warn you, I will not pardon you for making me
come here instead of getting a little rest, after a night spent in taking and
dismantling a bastion. Ah! why were you not there, gentlemen; it was warm
work!"
"We were in a place where it was not very cold!" replied Porthos, giving
his mustache a twist which was peculiar to him.
"Hush!" said Athos.
"Oh! oh!" said D`Artagnan, comprehending the slight frown of the
musketeer; "it appears there is something fresh abroad."
"Aramis," said Athos, "you went to breakfast the day before yesterday,
at the auberge of the Parpaillot, I believe?"
"Yes."
"How did you fare?"
"For my part, I ate but little; the day before yesterday was a fish day,
and they had nothing but meat."
"What!" said Athos, "no fish at a seaport?"
"They say," said Aramis, resuming his pious studies, "that the dyke
which the cardinal is making drives them all out into the open sea."
"But that is not quite what I mean to ask you," replied Athos: "I want
to know if you were left alone, and nobody interrupted you."
"Why, I think there were not many intruders; yes, Athos, I know what you
mean, we shall do very comfortably at the Parpaillot."
"Let us go to the Parpaillot, then; for here the walls are like sheets
of paper."
D`Artagnan, who was accustomed to his friend`s manner of acting, and who
perceived immediately by a word, a gesture, or a sign from him, that the
circumstances were serious, took Athos` arm, and went out without saying
anything; Porthos followed, chatting with Aramis.
On their way they met with Grimaud: Athos made him a sign to come with
him: Grimaud, according to custom, obeyed in silence; the poor lad had nearly
come to the pass of forgetting how to speak.
They arrived at the buvette of the Parpaillot: it was seven o`clock in
the morning, and daylight began to appear: the three friends ordered
breakfast, and went into a room in which, the host said, they would not be
disturbed.
Unfortunately, the hour was badly chosen for a private conference; the
morning drum had just been beaten; every one shook off the drowsiness of
night, and, to dispel the humid morning air, came to take a drop at the
buvette: dragoons, Swiss, guards, musketeers, light-horseman, succeeded each
other with a rapidity which might answer the purpose of the host very well,
but agreed badly with the views of the four friends. Thus they replied very
curtly to the salutations, healths, and jokes of their companions.
"I see how it will be," said Athos; "we shall get into some pretty
quarrel or other, and we don`t stand in need of one just now. D`Artagnan,
tell us what sort of a night you have had, and we will describe ours
afterward."
"Ah! yes," said a light-horseman, with a glass of eau-de-vie in his
hand, which he degustated slowly; "ah! yes! I hear you gentlemen of the
guards have been in the trenches to-night, and that you did not get much the
best of the Rochellais."
D`Artagnan looked at Athos to know if he ought to reply to this intruder
who mixed unasked in their conversation.
"Well!" said Athos, "don`t you head M. de Busigny, who does you the
honor to ask you a question? Relate what has passed during the night, since
these gentlemen desire it."
"Have you not taken a bastion?" said a Swiss, who was drinking rum out
of a beer glass.
"Yes, monsieur," said D`Artagnan, bowing, "we have had that honor: we
even have, as you may have heard, introduced a barrel of powder under one of
the angles, which, in blowing up, made a very pretty breach; without
reckoning that, as the bastion was not of yesterday, all the rest of the
building was much shaken."
"And what bastion is it?" asked a dragoon, with his saber run through
a goose, which he was taking to be cooked.
"The bastion Saint-Gervais," replied D`Artagnan, "from behind which the
Rochellais annoyed our workmen."
"Was the affair hot?"
"Yes, moderately so; we lost five men, and the Rochellais eight or ten."
"Blazempleu!" said the Swiss, who, notwithstanding the admirable
collection of oaths possessed by the German language, had acquired a habit
of swearing in French.
"But it is probable," said the light-horseman, "that they will send
pioneers this morning to reinstate the bastion."
"Yes, that`s probable," said D`Artagnan.
"Gentlemen," said Athos, "I have a wager to propose."
"Ah! ah! a wager!" cried the Swiss.
"What is it?" said the light-horseman.
"Stop a bit," said the dragoon, placing his saber like a spit upon the
two large iron dogs which held the fire in the chimney - "Stop a bit, I am
in it. You master host! a dripping pan immediately, that I may not lose a
drop of the fat of this estimable bird."
"You are quite right," said the Swiss; "goose-grease is good with
pastry."
"There!" said the dragoon. "Now for the wager. We are all attention,
M. Athos."
"Ah! now for the wager!" said the light-horseman.
"Well, Monsieur de Busigny, I will bet you," said Athos, "that my three
companions, MM. Porthos, Aramis, and D`Artagnan, and myself, will go and
breakfast in the bastion Saint-Gervais, and we will remain there an hour, by
the watch, whatever the enemy may do to dislodge us."
Porthos and Aramis looked at each other; they began to comprehend.
"Well, but," said D`Artagnan, in Athos` ear, "you are going to get us
all killed without mercy."
"We are much more likely to be killed," said Athos, "if we do not go."
"Ma foi! gentlemen," said Porthos, turning round upon his chair, and
twisting his mustache, "that`s a fair bet, I hope."
"I take it," said M. de Busigny; "now let us fix the stake."
"Why, you are four, gentlemen," said Athos, "and we are four; a dinner
for eight - will that do?"
"Capitally," replied M. de Busigny.
"Perfectly well," said the dragoon.
"That`s just the thing," said the Swiss. The fourth auditor, who,
during all this conversation had played a mute part, made a sign of the head
to show that he acquiesced in the proposition.
"The breakfast for these gentlemen is ready," said the host.
"Well, bring it in," said Athos.
The host obeyed. Athos called Grimaud, pointed to a large basket which
lay in a corner, and made a sign to him to wrap the viands up in the napkins.
Grimaud perceived that it was to be a breakfast on the grass, took the
basket, packed up the viands, added the bottles, and then took the basket on
his arm.
"But where are you going to eat my breakfast?" said the host.
"Of what consequence is that to you, if you are paid for it?" said
Athos, and he threw two pistoles majestically on to the table.
"Shall I give you the change, mon officer?" said the host.
"No, only add two bottles of champagne, and the difference will be for
the napkins."
The host had not quite so good a bargain as he at first hoped for, but
he made amends by slipping in two bottles of Anjou wine instead of two
bottles of champagne.
"Monsieur de Busigny," said Athos, "will you be so kind as to set your
watch with mine, or permit me to regulate mine by yours?"
"Which you please, monsieur!" said the light-horseman, drawing from his
fob a very handsome watch, surrounded with diamonds; "half-past seven," said
he.
"Thirty-five minutes after seven," said Athos, "by which you perceive
I am five minutes faster than you."
And bowing to all the astonished persons present, the young men took the
road to the bastion St. Gervais, followed by Grimaud, who carried the basket,
ignorant of where he was going, but, in the passive obedience which Athos had
taught him, not even thinking of asking.
As long as they were within the camp, the four friends did not exchange
one word; besides, they were followed by the curious, who hearing of the
wager, were anxious to know how they would come out of it. But when once
they had passed the line of circumvallation, and found themselves in the open
plain, D`Artagnan, who was completely ignorant of what was going forward,
thought it was time to demand an explanation.
"And now, my dear Athos," said he, "do me the kindness to tell me where
we are going?"
"Why, you see plainly enough we are going to the bastion."
"But what are we going to do there?"
"Why, you know, equally well, we are going to breakfast there."
"But why did we not breakfast at the Parpaillot?"
"Because we have some very important matters to communicate to each
other, and it was impossible to talk five minutes in that auberge without
being annoyed by all those importunate fellows, who keep coming in, saluting
you, and addressing you; yonder," said Athos, pointing to the bastion, "they
will, at least, not come and disturb us."
"It appears to me," said D`Artagnan, with that prudence which allied
itself in him so naturally with excessive bravery, "it appears that we could
have found some retired place on the downs or the seashore."
"Where we should have been seen all four conferring together, so that
at the end of a quarter of an hour the cardinal would have been informed by
his spies that we were holding a council."
"Yes," said Aramis, "Athos is right: Animadvertuntur in desertis."
"A desert would not have been amiss," said Porthos, "but the matter was
where to find it."
"There is no desert where a bird cannot pass over one`s head, where a
fish cannot leap out of the water, where a rabbit cannot come out of its
burrow, and I believe that bird, fish, and rabbit would be all spies of the
cardinal. Better, then, follow up our enterprise, from which, besides, we
cannot retreat without shame; we have made a wager, which could not be
foreseen, and of which I defy any one to guess the true cause; we are going,
in order to win it, to remain an hour in the bastion. We either shall be or
shall not be attacked. If we are not, we shall have all the time to talk,
and nobody will hear us, for, I will answer for it the walls of the bastion
have no ears; if we are attacked, we will talk of our affairs just the same,
and while defending ourselves, we shall cover ourselves with glory. You see
that everything is to our advantage."
"Yes," said D`Artagnan, "but I think there is very little doubt that one
of us will catch a ball."
"Well!" replied Athos, "I am sure you ought to know that the balls most
to be dreaded are not from open enemies."
"But, for such an expedition, we surely ought to have brought our
muskets."
"You are stupid, friend Porthos, why should we load ourselves with a
useless burden?"
"For my part, I don`t think a good musket, twelve cartridges, and a
powder flask very useless things, in face of an enemy."
"Well," replied Athos, "have you not heard what D`Artagnan said?"
"What did he say to the purpose?"
"D`Artagnan said that in the attack of last night, eight or ten
Frenchmen were killed, and as many Rochellais."
"What then?"
"The bodies were not plundered, were they? it appears the conquerors
had something else to do."
"Well?"
"Well! we shall find their muskets, their cartridges, and their flasks,
and instead of four musketoons and twelve balls, we shall have fifteen guns
and a hundred charges to fire."
"Oh! Athos!" said Aramis, "truly, thou art a great man."
Porthos bowed, in a sign of agreement. D`Artagnan alone did not appear
to be quite satisfied.
Grimaud, no doubt, shared the misgivings of the young man, for, seeing
that they continued to advance toward the bastion, a circumstance which he
had not at first suspected, he pulled his master by the skirt of his coat.
"Where are we going?" asked he, by a gesture.
Athos pointed to the bastion.
"But," said the still silent Grimaud, in the usual dialect current
between him and his master, "we shall leave our skins behind us."
Athos raised his eyes, and pointed with his finger toward heaven.
Grimaud put his basket on the ground, and sat down with a shake of the
head.
Athos took a pistol from his belt, looked to see if it was properly
primed, cocked it, and placed the muzzle close to Grimaud`s ear.
Grimaud was on his legs again, as if by magic. Athos then made him a
sign to take up his basket, and to walk on first. Grimaud obeyed. All that
Grimaud gained by this pantomime of a minute, was to pass from the rear-guard
to the vanguard.
When arrived at the bastion, the four friends turned round.
More than three hundred soldiers of all kinds were assembled at the gate
of the camp; and in a separate group might be distinguished M. de Busigny,
the dragoon, the Swiss, and the fourth wagerer.
Athos took off his hat, placed it on the end of his sword, and waved it
in the air.
All the spectators returned him his salute, accompanying this politeness
with a loud hurrah! which was audible at the bastion.
After which they all four disappeared in the bastion, Grimaud having
preceded them.
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