memory, ten men illustrious amongst the seekers of
adventures, ill-treated by fortune, and not on good terms
with justice. Upon this D’Artagnan rose, and instantly set
off on the search, telling Planchet not to expect him to
breakfast, and perhaps not to dinner. A day and a half spent
in rummaging amongst certain dens of Paris sufficed for his
recruiting; and, without allowing his adventurers to
communicate with each other, he had picked up and got
together, in less than thirty hours, a charming collection
of ill-looking faces, speaking a French less pure than the
English they were about to attempt. These men were, for the
most part, guards, whose merit D’Artagnan had had an
opportunity of appreciating in various encounters, whom
drunkenness, unlucky sword-thrusts, unexpected winnings at
play, or the economical reforms of Mazarin, had forced to
seek shade and solitude, those two great consolers of
irritated and chafing spirits. They bore upon their
countenances and in their vestments the traces of the
Page 131
Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later
heartaches they had undergone. Some had their visages
scarred, — all had their clothes in rags. D’Artagnan
comforted the most needy of these brotherly miseries by a
prudent distribution of the crowns of the society; then,
having taken care that these crowns should be employed in
the physical improvement of the troop, he appointed a
trysting place in the north of France, between Berghes and
Saint Omer. Six days were allowed as the utmost term, and
D’Artagnan was sufficiently acquainted with the good-will,
the good-humor, and the relative probity of these
illustrious recruits, to be certain that not one of them
would fail in his appointment. These orders given, this
rendezvous fixed, he went to bid farewell to Planchet, who
asked news of his army. D’Artagnan did not think proper to
inform him of the reduction he had made in his personnel. He
feared that the confidence of his associate would be abated
by such an avowal. Planchet was delighted to learn that the
army was levied, and that he (Planchet) found himself a kind
of half king, who from his throne-counter kept in pay a body
of troops destined to make war against perfidious Albion,
that enemy of all true French hearts. Planchet paid down in
double louis, twenty thousand livres to D’Artagnan, on the
part of himself (Planchet), and twenty thousand livres,
still in double louis, in account with D’Artagnan.
D’Artagnan placed each of the twenty thousand francs in a
bag, and weighing a hag in each hand, — “This money is very
embarrassing, my dear Planchet,” said he. “Do you know this
weighs thirty pounds?”
“Bah! your horse will carry that like a feather.”
D’Artagnan shook his head. “Don’t tell me such things,
Planchet: a horse overloaded with thirty pounds, in addition
to the rider and his portmanteau, cannot cross a river so
easily — cannot leap over a wall or ditch so lightly; and
the horse failing, the horseman fails. It is true that you,
Planchet, who have served in the infantry, may not be aware
of all that.”
“Then what is to be done, monsieur?” said Planchet, greatly
embarrassed.
“Listen to me,” said D’Artagnan. “I will pay my army on its
return home. Keep my half of twenty thousand livres, which
you can use during that time.”
“And my half?” said Planchet.
“I shall take that with me.”
“Your confidence does me honor,” said Planchet: “but
supposing you should not return?”
“That is possible, though not very probable. Then, Planchet,
in case I should not return — give me a pen! I will make my
will.” D’Artagnan took a pen and some paper, and wrote upon
a plain sheet, — “I, D’Artagnan, possess twenty thousand
livres, laid up cent by cent during thirty years that I have
been in the service of his majesty the king of France. I
leave five thousand to Athos, five thousand to Porthos and
five thousand to Aramis, that they may give the said sums in
my name and their own to my young friend Raoul, Vicomte de
Bragelonne. I give the remaining five thousand to Planchet,
that he may distribute the fifteen thousand with less regret
Page 132