so gay this time as he would have been with the prospect of
finding some good friends at Calais, instead of joining the
ten scamps there; melancholy, however, did not visit him
more than once a day, and it was about five visits that he
received from that somber deity before he got sight of the
sea at Boulogne, and then these visits were indeed but
short. But when once D’Artagnan found himself near the field
of action, all other feelings but that of confidence
disappeared never to return. From Boulogne he followed the
coast to Calais. Calais was the place of general rendezvous,
and at Calais he had named to each of his recruits the
hostelry of “Le Grand Monarque,” where living was not
extravagant, where sailors messed, and where men of the
sword, with sheath of leather, be it understood, found
lodging, table, food, and all the comforts of life, for
thirty sous per diem. D’Artagnan proposed to himself to take
them by surprise in flagrante delicto of wandering life, and
to judge by the first appearance if he could count on them
as trusty companions.
He arrived at Calais at half past four in the afternoon.
CHAPTER 22
D’Artagnan travels for the House of Planchet and Company
The hostelry of “Le Grand Monarque” was situated in a little
street parallel to the port without looking out upon the
port itself. Some lanes cut — as steps cut the two
parallels of the ladder — the two great straight lines of
the port and the street. By these lanes passengers came
suddenly from the port into the street, or from the street
on to the port. D’Artagnan, arrived at the port, took one of
these lanes, and came out in front of the hostelry of “Le
Grand Monarque.” The moment was well chosen and might remind
D’Artagnan of his start in life at the hostelry of the
“Franc-Meunier” at Meung. Some sailors who had been playing
at dice had started a quarrel, and were threatening each
other furiously. The host, hostess, and two lads were
watching with anxiety the circle of these angry gamblers,
from the midst of which war seemed ready to break forth,
bristling with knives and hatchets. The play, nevertheless,
was continued. A stone bench was occupied by two men, who
appeared thence to watch the door; four tables, placed at
the back of the common chamber, were occupied by eight other
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individuals. Neither the men at the door, nor those at the
tables, took any part in the play or the quarrel. D’Artagnan
recognized his ten men in these cold, indifferent
spectators. The quarrel went on increasing. Every passion
has, like the sea, its tide which ascends and descends.
Reaching the climax of passion, one sailor overturned the
table and the money which was upon it. The table fell, and
the money rolled about. In an instant all belonging to the
hostelry threw themselves upon the stakes, and many a piece
of silver was picked up by people who stole away whilst the
sailors were scuffling with each other.
The two men on the bench and the eight at the tables,
although they seemed perfect strangers to each other, these
ten men alone, we say, appeared to have agreed to remain
impassible amidst the cries of fury and the chinking of
money. Two only contented themselves with pushing with their
feet combatants who came under their table. Two others,
rather than take part in this disturbance, buried their
hands in their pockets; and another two jumped upon the
table they occupied, as people do to avoid being submerged
by overflowing water.
“Come, come,” said D’Artagnan to himself, not having lost
one of the details we have related, “this is a very fair
gathering — circumspect, calm, accustomed to disturbance,
acquainted with blows! Peste! I have been lucky.”
All at once his attention was called to a particular part of
the room. The two men who had pushed the strugglers with
their feet were assailed with abuse by the sailors, who had
become reconciled. One of them, half drunk with passion, and
quite drunk with beer, came, in a menacing manner, to demand