“On my honor, in one single throw.”
“But having lost the horses, I am particularly anxious to preserve the harnesses.”
“Stake your diamond, then.”
“This? That’s another matter. Never, never!”
“The devil!” said Athos. “I would propose to you to stake Planchet, but as that has already been done, the Englishman would not, perhaps, be willing.”
“Decidedly, my dear Athos,” said d’Artagnan, “I should like better not to risk anything.”
“That’s a pity,” said Athos, cooly. “The Englishman is overflowing with pistoles. Good Lord, try one throw! One throw is soon made!”
“And if I lose?”
“You will win.”
“But if I lose?”
“Well, you will surrender the harnesses.”
“Have with you for one throw!” said d’Artagnan.
Athos went in quest of the Englishman, whom he found in the stable, examining the harnesses with a greedy eye. The opportunity was good. He proposed the conditions–the two harnesses, either against one horse or a hundred pistoles. The Englishman calculated fast; the two harnesses were worth three hundred pistoles. He consented.
D’Artagnan threw the dice with a trembling hand, and turned up the number three; his paleness terrified Athos, who, however, consented himself with saying, “That’s a sad throw, comrade; you will have the horses fully equipped, monsieur.”
The Englishman, quite triumphant, did not even give himself the trouble to shake the dice. He threw them on the table without looking at them, so sure was he of victory; d’Artagnan turned aside to conceal his ill humor.
“Hold, hold, hold!” said Athos, wit his quiet tone; “that throw of the dice is extraordinary. I have not seen such a one four times in my life. Two aces!”
The Englishman looked, and was seized with astonishment. d’Artagnan looked, and was seized with pleasure.
“Yes,” continued Athos, “four times only; once at the house of Monsieur Crequy; another time at my own house in the country, in my chateau at–when I had a chateau; a third time at Monsieur de Treville’s where it surprised us all; and the fourth time at a cabaret, where it fell to my lot, and where I lost a hundred louis and a supper on it.”
“Then Monsieur takes his horse back again,” said the Englishman.
“Certainly,” said d’Artagnan.
“Then there is no revenge?”
“Our conditions said, ‘No revenge,’ you will please to recollect.”
“That is true; the horse shall be restored to your lackey, monsieur.”
“A moment,” said Athos; “with your permission, monsieur, I wish to speak a word with my friend.”
“Say on.”
Athos drew d’Artagnan aside.
“Well, Tempter, what more do you want with me?” said d’Artagnan. “You want me to throw again, do you not?”
“No, I would wish you to reflect.”
“On what?”
“You mean to take your horse?”
“Without doubt.”
“You are wrong, then. I would take the hundred pistoles. You know you have staked the harnesses against the horse or a hundred pistoles, at your choice.”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, I repeat, you are wrong. What is the use of one horse for us two? I could not ride behind. We should look like the two sons of Anmon, who had lost their brother. You cannot think of humiliating me by prancing along by my side on that magnificent charger. For my part, I should not hesitate a moment; I should take the hundred pistoles. We want money for our return to Paris.”
“I am much attached to that horse, Athos.”
“And there again you are wrong. A horse slips and injures a joint; a horse stumbles and breaks his knees to the bone; a horse eats out of a manger in which a glandered horse has eaten. There is a horse, while on the contrary, the hundred pistoles feed their master.”
“But how shall we get back?”
“Upon our lackey’s horses, PARDIEU. Anybody may see by our bearing that we are people of condition.”
“Pretty figures we shall cut on ponies while Aramis and Porthos caracole on their steeds.”
“Aramis! Porthos!” cried Athos, and laughed aloud.
“What is it?” asked d’Artagnan, who did not at all comprehend the hilarity of his friend.
“Nothing, nothing! Go on!”
“Your advice, then?”
“To take the hundred pistoles, d’Artagnan. With the hundred pistoles we can live well to the end of the month. We have undergone a great deal of fatigue, remember, and a little rest will do no harm.”