25. An Adventure on the High Road.
The musketeers rode the whole length of the Faubourg Saint Antoine andof the road to Vincennes, and soon found themselves out of the town,then in a forest and then within sight of a village.
The horses seemed to become more lively with each successive step; theirnostrils reddened like glowing furnaces. D'Artagnan, freely applying hisspurs, was in advance of Porthos two feet at the most; Mousquetonfollowed two lengths behind; the guards were scattered according to thevarying excellence of their respective mounts.
From the top of an eminence D'Artagnan perceived a group of peoplecollected on the other side of the moat, in front of that part of thedonjon which looks toward Saint Maur. He rode on, convinced that in thisdirection he would gain intelligence of the fugitive. In five minutes hehad arrived at the place, where the guards joined him, coming up one byone.
The several members of that group were much excited. They looked at thecord, still hanging from the loophole and broken at about twenty feetfrom the ground. Their eyes measured the height and they exchangedconjectures. On the top of the wall sentinels went and came with afrightened air.
A few soldiers, commanded by a sergeant, drove away idlers from theplace where the duke had mounted his horse. D'Artagnan went straight tothe sergeant.
"My officer," said the sergeant, "it is not permitted to stop here."
"That prohibition is not for me," said D'Artagnan. "Have the fugitivesbeen pursued?"
"Yes, my officer; unfortunately, they are well mounted."
"How many are there?"
"Four, and a fifth whom they carried away wounded."
"Four!" said D'Artagnan, looking at Porthos. "Do you hear, baron? Theyare only four!"
A joyous smile lighted Porthos's face.
"How long a start have they?"
"Two hours and a quarter, my officer."
"Two hours and a quarter--that is nothing; we are well mounted, are wenot, Porthos?"
Porthos breathed a sigh; he thought of what was in store for his poorhorses.
"Very good," said D'Artagnan; "and now in what direction did they setout?"
"That I am forbidden to tell."
D'Artagnan drew from his pocket a paper. "Order of the king," he said.
"Speak to the governor, then."
"And where is the governor?"
"In the country."
Anger mounted to D'Artagnan's face; he frowned and his cheeks werecolored.
"Ah, you scoundrel!" he said to the sergeant, "I believe you areimpudent to me! Wait!"
He unfolded the paper, presented it to the sergeant with one hand andwith the other took a pistol from his holsters and cocked it.
"Order of the king, I tell you. Read and answer, or I will blow out yourbrains!"
The sergeant saw that D'Artagnan was in earnest. "The Vendomois road,"he replied.
"And by what gate did they go out?"
"By the Saint Maur gate."
"If you are deceiving me, rascal, you will be hanged to-morrow."
"And if you catch up with them you won't come back to hang me," murmuredthe sergeant.
D'Artagnan shrugged his shoulders, made a sign to his escort andstarted.
"This way, gentlemen, this way!" he cried, directing his course towardthe gate that had been pointed out.
But, now that the duke had escaped, the concierge had seen fit to fastenthe gate with a double lock. It was necessary to compel him to open it,as the sergeant had been compelled to speak, and this took another tenminutes. This last obstacle having been overcome, the troop pursuedtheir course with their accustomed ardor; but some of the horses couldno longer sustain this pace; three of them stopped after an hour'sgallop, and one fell down.
D'Artagnan, who never turned his head, did not perceive it. Porthos toldhim of it in his calm manner.
"If only we two arrive," said D'Artagnan, "it will be enough, since theduke's troop are only four in number."
"That is true," said Porthos
And he spurred his courser on.
At the end of another two hours the horses had gone twelve leagueswithout stopping; their legs began to tremble, and the foam they shedwhitened the doublets of their masters.
"Let us rest here an instant to give these poor creatures breathingtime," said Porthos.
"Let us rather kill them! yes, kill them!" cried D'Artagnan; "I seefresh tracks; 'tis not a quarter of an hour since they passed thisplace."
In fact, the road was trodden by horses' feet, visible even in theapproaching gloom of evening.
They set out; after a run of two leagues, Mousqueton's horse sank.
"Gracious me!" said Porthos, "there's Phoebus ruined."
"The cardinal will pay you a hundred pistoles."
"I'm above that."
"Let us set out again, at full gallop."
"Yes, if we can."
But at last the lieutenant's horse refused to go on; he could notbreathe; one last spur, instead of making him advance, made him fall.
"The devil!" exclaimed Porthos; "there's Vulcan foundered."
"Zounds!" cried D'Artagnan, "then we must stop! Give me your horse,Porthos. What the devil are you doing?"
"By Jove, I am falling, or rather, Bayard is falling," answered Porthos.
All three then cried: "All's over."
"Hush!" said D'Artagnan.
"What is it?"
"I hear a horse."
"It belongs to one of our companions, who is overtaking us."
"No," said D'Artagnan, "it is in advance."
"That is another thing," said Porthos; and he listened toward thequarter indicated by D'Artagnan.
"Monsieur," said Mousqueton, who, abandoning his horse on the high road,had come on foot to rejoin his master, "Phoebus could no longer hold outand----"
"Silence!" said Porthos.
In fact, at that moment a second neighing was borne to them on the nightwind.
"It is five hundred feet from here, in advance," said D'Artagnan.
"True, monsieur," said Mousqueton; "and five hundred feet from here is asmall hunting-house."
"Mousqueton, thy pistols," said D'Artagnan.
"I have them at hand, monsieur."
"Porthos, take yours from your holsters."
"I have them."
"Good!" said D'Artagnan, seizing his own; "now you understand, Porthos?"
"Not too well."
"We are out on the king's service."
"Well?"
"For the king's service we need horses."
"That is true," said Porthos.
"Then not a word, but set to work!"
They went on through the darkness, silent as phantoms; they saw a lightglimmering in the midst of some trees.
"Yonder is the house, Porthos," said the Gascon; "let me do what Iplease and do you what I do."
They glided from tree to tree till they arrived at twenty steps from thehouse unperceived and saw by means of a lantern suspended under a hut,four fine horses. A groom was rubbing them down; near them were saddlesand bridles.
D'Artagnan approached quickly, making a sign to his two companions toremain a few steps behind.
"I buy those horses," he said to the groom.
The groom turned toward him with a look of surprise, but made no reply.
"Didn't you hear, fellow?"
"Yes, I heard."
"Why, then, didn't you reply?"
"Because these horses are not to be sold," was the reply.
"I take them, then," said the lieutenant.
And he took hold of one within his reach; his two companions did thesame thing.
"Sir," cried the groom, "they have traversed six leagues and have onlybeen unsaddled half an hour."
"Half an hour's rest is enough," replied the Gascon.
The groom cried aloud for help. A kind of steward appeared, just asD'Artagnan and his companions were prepared to mount. The stewardattempted to expostulate.
"My dear friend," cried the l
ieutenant, "if you say a word I will blowout your brains."
"But, sir," answered the steward, "do you know that these horses belongto Monsieur de Montbazon?"
"So much the better; they must be good animals, then."
"Sir, I shall call my people."
"And I, mine; I've ten guards behind me, don't you hear them gallop? andI'm one of the king's musketeers. Come, Porthos; come, Mousqueton."
They all mounted the horses as quickly as possible.
"Halloo! hi! hi!" cried the steward; "the house servants, with thecarbines!"
"On! on!" cried D'Artagnan; "there'll be firing! on!"
They all set off, swift as the wind.
"Here!" cried the steward, "here!" whilst the groom ran to a neighboringbuilding.
"Take care of your horses!" cried D'Artagnan to him.
"Fire!" replied the steward.
A gleam, like a flash of lightning, illumined the road, and with theflash was heard the whistling of balls, which were fired wildly in theair.
"They fire like grooms," said Porthos. "In the time of the cardinalpeople fired better than that, do you remember the road to Crevecoeur,Mousqueton?"
"Ah, sir! my left side still pains me!"
"Are you sure we are on the right track, lieutenant?"
"Egad, didn't you hear? these horses belong to Monsieur de Montbazon;well, Monsieur de Montbazon is the husband of Madame de Montbazon----"
"And----"
"And Madame de Montbazon is the mistress of the Duc de Beaufort."
"Ah! I understand," replied Porthos; "she has ordered relays of horses."
"Exactly so."
"And we are pursuing the duke with the very horses he has just left?"
"My dear Porthos, you are really a man of most superior understanding,"said D'Artagnan, with a look as if he spoke against his conviction.
"Pooh!" replied Porthos, "I am what I am."
They rode on for an hour, till the horses were covered with foam anddust.
"Zounds! what is yonder?" cried D'Artagnan.
"You are very lucky if you see anything such a night as this," saidPorthos.
"Something bright."
"I, too," cried Mousqueton, "saw them also."
"Ah! ah! have we overtaken them?"
"Good! a dead horse!" said D'Artagnan, pulling up his horse, whichshied; "it seems their horses, too, are breaking down, as well as ours."
"I seem to hear the noise of a troop of horsemen," exclaimed Porthos,leaning over his horse's mane.
"Impossible."
"They appear to be numerous."
"Then 'tis something else."
"Another horse!" said Porthos.
"Dead?"
"No, dying."
"Saddled?"
"Yes, saddled and bridled."
"Then we are upon the fugitives."
"Courage, we have them!"
"But if they are numerous," observed Mousqueton, "'tis not we who havethem, but they who have us."
"Nonsense!" cried D'Artagnan, "they'll suppose us to be stronger thanthemselves, as we're in pursuit; they'll be afraid and will disperse."
"Certainly," remarked Porthos.
"Ah! do you see?" cried the lieutenant.
"The lights again! this time I, too, saw them," said Porthos.
"On! on! forward! forward!" cried D'Artagnan, in his stentorian voice;"we shall laugh over all this in five minutes."
And they darted on anew. The horses, excited by pain and emulation,raced over the dark road, in the midst of which was now seen a movingmass, denser and more obscure than the rest of the horizon.
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