Chapter XXXVII. The Two Lighters.
D'Artagnan had set off; Fouquet likewise was gone, and with a rapiditywhich doubled the tender interest of his friends. The first moments ofthis journey, or better say, this flight, were troubled by a ceaselessdread of every horse and carriage to be seen behind the fugitive. It wasnot natural, in fact, if Louis XIV. was determined to seize this prey,that he should allow it to escape; the young lion was already accustomedto the chase, and he had bloodhounds sufficiently clever to be trusted.But insensibly all fears were dispersed; the surintendant, by hardtraveling, placed such a distance between himself and his persecutors,that no one of them could reasonably be expected to overtake him. Asto his position, his friends had made it excellent for him. Was he nottraveling to join the king at Nantes, and what did the rapidity provebut his zeal to obey? He arrived, fatigued, but reassured, at Orleans,where he found, thanks to the care of a courier who had preceded him,a handsome lighter of eight oars. These lighters, in the shape ofgondolas, somewhat wide and heavy, containing a small chamber, coveredby the deck, and a chamber in the poop, formed by a tent, then acted aspassage-boats from Orleans to Nantes, by the Loire, and this passage,a long one in our days, appeared then more easy and convenient than thehigh-road, with its post-hacks and its ill-hung carriages. Fouquet wenton board this lighter, which set out immediately. The rowers, knowingthey had the honor of conveying the surintendant of the finances, pulledwith all their strength, and that magic word, the _finances_, promisedthem a liberal gratification, of which they wished to prove themselvesworthy. The lighter seemed to leap the mimic waves of the Loire.Magnificent weather, a sunrise that empurpled all the landscape,displayed the river in all its limpid serenity. The current and therowers carried Fouquet along as wings carry a bird, and he arrivedbefore Beaugency without the slightest accident having signalized thevoyage. Fouquet hoped to be the first to arrive at Nantes; there hewould see the notables and gain support among the principal members ofthe States; he would make himself a necessity, a thing very easy for aman of his merit, and would delay the catastrophe, if he did not succeedin avoiding it entirely. "Besides," said Gourville to him, "at Nantes,you will make out, or we will make out, the intentions of your enemies;we will have horses always ready to convey you to Poitou, a bark inwhich to gain the sea, and when once upon the open sea, Belle-Isle isyour inviolable port. You see, besides, that no one is watching you, noone is following." He had scarcely finished when they discovered ata distance, behind an elbow formed by the river, the masts of a hugelighter coming down. The rowers of Fouquet's boat uttered a cry ofsurprise on seeing this galley.
"What is the matter?" asked Fouquet.
"The matter is, monseigneur," replied the patron of the bark, "that itis a truly remarkable thing--that lighter comes along like a hurricane."
Gourville started, and mounted to the deck, in order to obtain a betterview.
Fouquet did not go up with him, but said to Gourville, with restrainedmistrust: "See what it is, dear friend."
The lighter had just passed the elbow. It came on so fast, that behindit might be plainly seen the white wake illumined with the fires of theday.
"How they go," repeated the skipper, "how they go! They must be wellpaid! I did not think," he added, "that oars of wood could behave betterthan ours, but yonder oarsmen prove the contrary."
"Well they may," said one of the rowers, "they are twelve, and we buteight."
"Twelve rowers!" replied Gourville, "twelve! impossible."
The number of eight rowers for a lighter had never been exceeded, evenfor the king. This honor had been paid to monsieur le surintendant, morefor the sake of haste than of respect.
"What does it mean?" said Gourville, endeavoring to distinguish beneaththe tent, which was already apparent, travelers which the most piercingeye could not yet have succeeded in discovering.
"They must be in a hurry, for it is not the king," said the patron.
Fouquet shuddered.
"By what sign do you know that it is not the king?" said Gourville.
"In the first place, because there is no white flag with fleurs-de-lis,which the royal lighter always carries."
"And then," said Fouquet, "because it is impossible it should be theking, Gourville, as the king was still in Paris yesterday."
Gourville replied to the surintendant by a look which said: "You werethere yourself yesterday."
"And by what sign do you make out they are in such haste?" added he, forthe sake of gaining time.
"By this, monsieur," said the patron; "these people must have set out along while after us, and they have already nearly overtaken us."
"Bah!" said Gourville, "who told you that they do not come fromBeaugency or from Moit even?"
"We have seen no lighter of that shape, except at Orleans. It comes fromOrleans, monsieur, and makes great haste."
Fouquet and Gourville exchanged a glance. The captain remarked theiruneasiness, and, to mislead him, Gourville immediately said:
"Some friend, who has laid a wager he would catch us; let us win thewager, and not allow him to come up with us."
The patron opened his mouth to say that it was quite impossible, butFouquet said with much _hauteur_,--"If it is any one who wishes toovertake us, let him come."
"We can try, monseigneur," said the man, timidly. "Come, you fellows,put out your strength; row, row!"
"No," said Fouquet, "on the contrary; stop short."
"Monseigneur! what folly!" interrupted Gourville, stooping towards hisear.
"Pull up!" repeated Fouquet. The eight oars stopped, and resisting thewater, created a retrograde motion. It stopped. The twelve rowers in theother did not, at first, perceive this maneuver, for they continuedto urge on their boat so vigorously that it arrived quickly withinmusket-shot. Fouquet was short-sighted, Gourville was annoyed by thesun, now full in his eyes; the skipper alone, with that habit andclearness which are acquired by a constant struggle with the elements,perceived distinctly the travelers in the neighboring lighter.
"I can see them!" cried he; "there are two."
"I can see nothing," said Gourville.
"You will not be long before you distinguish them; in twenty strokes oftheir oars they will be within ten paces of us."
But what the patron announced was not realized; the lighter imitatedthe movement commanded by Fouquet, and instead of coming to join itspretended friends, it stopped short in the middle of the river.
"I cannot comprehend this," said the captain.
"Nor I," cried Gourville.
"You who can see so plainly the people in that lighter," resumedFouquet, "try to describe them to us, before we are too far off."
"I thought I saw two," replied the boatman. "I can only see one now,under the tent."
"What sort of man is he?"
"He is a dark man, broad-shouldered, bull-necked."
A little cloud at that moment passed across the azure, darkening thesun. Gourville, who was still looking, with one hand over his eyes,became able to see what he sought, and all at once, jumping from thedeck into the chamber where Fouquet awaited him: "Colbert!" said he, ina voice broken by emotion.
"Colbert!" repeated Fouquet. "Too strange! but no, it is impossible!"
"I tell you I recognized him, and he, at the same time, so plainlyrecognized me, that he is just gone into the chamber on the poop.Perhaps the king has sent him on our track."
"In that case he would join us, instead of lying by. What is he doingthere?"
"He is watching us, without a doubt."
"I do not like uncertainty," said Fouquet; "let us go straight up tohim."
"Oh! monseigneur, do not do that, the lighter is full of armed men."
"He wishes to arrest me, then, Gourville? Why does he not come on?"
"Monseigneur, it is not consistent with your dignity to go to meet evenyour ruin."
"But to allow them to watch me like a malefactor!"
"Nothing yet proves that they are watching you, monseigne
ur; bepatient!"
"What is to be done, then?"
"Do not stop; you were only going so fast to appear to obey the king'sorder with zeal. Redouble the speed. He who lives will see!"
"That is better. Come!" cried Fouquet; "since they remain stock-stillyonder, let us go on."
The captain gave the signal, and Fouquet's rowers resumed their taskwith all the success that could be looked for from men who had rested.Scarcely had the lighter made a hundred fathoms, than the other, thatwith the twelve rowers, resumed its rapid course. This position lastedall day, without any increase or diminution of distance between the twovessels. Towards evening Fouquet wished to try the intentions of hispersecutor. He ordered his rowers to pull towards the shore, as if toeffect a landing. Colbert's lighter imitated this maneuver, and steeredtowards the shore in a slanting direction. By the merest chance, atthe spot where Fouquet pretended to wish to land, a stableman, fromthe chateau of Langeais, was following the flowery banks leading threehorses in halters. Without doubt the people of the twelve-oared lighterfancied that Fouquet was directing his course to these horses readyfor flight, for four or five men, armed with muskets, jumped from thelighter on to the shore, and marched along the banks, as if to gainground on the horseman. Fouquet, satisfied of having forced the enemy toa demonstration, considered his intention evident, and put his boatin motion again. Colbert's people returned likewise to theirs, and thecourse of the two vessels was resumed with fresh perseverance. Uponseeing this, Fouquet felt himself threatened closely, and in a propheticvoice--"Well, Gourville," said he, whisperingly, "what did I say at ourlast repast, at my house? Am I going, or not, to my ruin?"
"Oh! monseigneur!"
"These two boats, which follow each other with so much emulation, as ifwe were disputing, M. Colbert and I, a prize for swiftness on theLoire, do they not aptly represent our fortunes; and do you not believe,Gourville, that one of the two will be wrecked at Nantes?"
"At least," objected Gourville, "there is still uncertainty; you areabout to appear at the States; you are about to show what sort of manyou are; your eloquence and genius for business are the buckler andsword that will serve to defend you, if not to conquer with. The Bretonsdo not know you; and when they become acquainted with you your causeis won! Oh! let M. Colbert look to it well, for his lighter is as muchexposed as yours to being upset. Both go quickly, his faster than yours,it is true; we shall see which will be wrecked first."
Fouquet, taking Gourville's hand--"My friend," said he, "everythingconsidered, remember the proverb, 'First come, first served!' Well! M.Colbert takes care not to pass me. He is a prudent man is M. Colbert."
He was right; the two lighters held their course as far as Nantes,watching each other. When the surintendant landed, Gourville hoped heshould be able to seek refuge at once, and have the relays prepared.But, at the landing, the second lighter joined the first, and Colbert,approaching Fouquet, saluted him on the quay with marks of theprofoundest respect--marks so significant, so public, that their resultwas the bringing of the whole population upon La Fosse. Fouquet wascompletely self-possessed; he felt that in his last moments of greatnesshe had obligations towards himself. He wished to fall from such a heightthat his fall should crush some of his enemies. Colbert was there--somuch the worse for Colbert. The surintendant, therefore, coming up tohim, replied, with that arrogant semi-closure of the eyes peculiar tohim--"What! is that you, M. Colbert?"
"To offer you my respects, monseigneur," said the latter.
"Were you in that lighter?"--pointing to the one with twelve rowers.
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Of twelve rowers?" said Fouquet; "what luxury, M. Colbert. For a momentI thought it was the queen-mother."
"Monseigneur!"--and Colbert blushed.
"This is a voyage that will cost those who have to pay for itdear, Monsieur l'Intendant!" said Fouquet. "But you have, happily,arrived!--You see, however," added he, a moment after, "that I, who hadbut eight rowers, arrived before you." And he turned his back towardshim, leaving him uncertain whether the maneuvers of the second lighterhad escaped the notice of the first. At least he did not give himthe satisfaction of showing that he had been frightened. Colbert, soannoyingly attacked, did not give way.
"I have not been quick, monseigneur," he replied, "because I followedyour example whenever you stopped."
"And why did you do that, Monsieur Colbert?" cried Fouquet, irritated bythe base audacity; "as you had a superior crew to mine, why did you noteither join me or pass me?"
"Out of respect," said the intendant, bowing to the ground.
Fouquet got into a carriage which the city had sent to him, we know notwhy or how, and he repaired to _la Maison de Nantes_, escorted by a vastcrowd of people, who for several days had been agog with expectation ofa convocation of the States. Scarcely was he installed when Gourvillewent out to order horses on the route to Poitiers and Vannes, and a boatat Paimboef. He performed these various operations with so much mystery,activity, and generosity, that never was Fouquet, then laboring under anattack of fever, more nearly saved, except for the counteraction of thatimmense disturber of human projects,--chance. A report was spread duringthe night, that the king was coming in great haste on post horses, andwould arrive in ten or twelve hours at the latest. The people, whilewaiting for the king, were greatly rejoiced to see the musketeers, newlyarrived, with Monsieur d'Artagnan, their captain, and quartered in thecastle, of which they occupied all the posts, in quality of guard ofhonor. M. d'Artagnan, who was very polite, presented himself, aboutten o'clock, at the lodgings of the surintendant to pay his respectfulcompliments; and although the minister suffered from fever, althoughhe was in such pain as to be bathed in sweat, he would receive M.d'Artagnan, who was delighted with that honor, as will be seen by theconversation they had together.
The Man in the Iron Mask Page 37