Ten Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part two

repaired every year.”

“Is it in ruins, then?”

“It is old.”

“Thank you.”

“The fact is,” said D’Artagnan to himself, “nothing is more

natural; every proprietor has a right to repair his own

property. It would be like telling me I was fortifying the

Image-de-Notre-Dame, when I was simply obliged to make

repairs. In good truth, I believe false reports have been

made to his majesty, and he is very likely to be in the

wrong.”

“You must confess,” continued he then, aloud, and addressing

the fisherman — for his part of a suspicious man was

imposed upon him by the object even of his mission — “you

must confess, my dear monsieur, that these stones travel in

a very curious fashion.”

“How so?” said the fisherman

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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later

“They come from Nantes or Painboeuf by the Loire, do they

not?”

“With the tide.”

“That is convenient, — I don’t say it is not, but why do

they not go straight from Saint-Nazaire to Belle-Isle?”

“Eh! because the chalands (barges) are fresh-water boats,

and take the sea badly,” replied, the fisherman.

“That is not sufficient reason.”

“Pardon me, monsieur, one may see that you have never been a

sailor, added the fisherman, not without a sort of disdain.

“Explain that to me, if you please, my good man. It appears

to me that to come from Painboeuf to Pirial, and go from

Pirial to Belle-Isle, is as if we went from Roche-Bernard to

Nantes, and from Nantes to Pirial.”

“By water that would be the nearest way,” replied the

fisherman imperturbably.

“But there is an elbow?”

The fisherman shook his head.

“The shortest road from one place to another is a straight

line,” continued D’Artagnan.

“You forget the tide, monsieur.”

“Well! take the tide.”

“And the wind.”

“Well, and the wind.”

“Without doubt, the current of the Loire carries barks

almost as far as Croisic. If they want to lie by a little,

or to refresh the crew, they come to Pirial along the coast;

from Pirial they find another inverse current, which carries

them to the Isle-Dumal, two leagues and a half.”

“Granted.”

“There the current of the Vilaine throws them upon another

isle, the isle of Hoedic.”

“I agree with that.”

“Well, monsieur, from that isle to Belle-Isle the way is

quite straight. The sea broken both above and below, passes

like a canal — like a mirror between the two isles; the

chalands glide along upon it like ducks upon the Loire;

that’s how it is.”

“It does not signify,” said the obstinate M. Agnan; “it is a

long way round.”

“Ah! yes; but M. Fouquet will have it so,” replied, as

conclusive, the fisherman, taking off his woolen cap at the

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Dumas, Alexandre – Ten Years Later

enunciation of that respected name.

A look from D’Artagnan, a look as keen and piercing as a

sword-blade, found nothing in the heart of the old man but

simple confidence — on his features, nothing but

satisfaction and indifference. He said, “M. Fouquet will

have it so,” as he would have said, “God has willed it.”

D’Artagnan had already advanced too far in this direction;

besides, the chalands being gone, there remained nothing at

Pirial but a single bark — that of the old man, and it did

not look fit for sea without great preparation. D’Artagnan

therefore patted Furet, who as a new proof of his charming

character, resumed his march with his feet in the

salt-mines, and his nose to the dry wind, which bends the

furze and the broom of this country. They reached Croisic

about five o’clock.

If D’Artagnan had been a poet, it was a beautiful spectacle:

the immense strand of a league or more, the sea covers at

high tide, and which, at the reflux, appears gray and

desolate, strewed with polypi and seaweed, with pebbles

sparse and white, like bones in some vast old cemetery. But

the soldier, the politician, and the ambitious man, had no

longer the sweet consolation of looking towards heaven to

read there a hope or a warning. A red sky signifies nothing

to such people but wind and disturbance. White and fleecy

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