Twenty Years Later by Dumas, Alexandre. Part two

recaptured, because we were without clothes to disguise

ourselves and arms to defend ourselves.”

“That is true; we should need clothes and arms.”

“Well,” said D’Artagnan, rising, “we have them, friend

Porthos, and even something better.”

“Bah!” said Porthos, looking around.

“Useless to look; everything will come to us when wanted. At

about what time did we see the two Swiss guards walking

yesterday?”

“An hour after sunset.”

“If they go out to-day as they did yesterday we shall have

the honor, then, of seeing them in half an hour?”

“In a quarter of an hour at most.”

“Your arm is still strong enough, is it not, Porthos?”

Porthos unbuttoned his sleeve, raised his shirt and looked

complacently on his strong arm, as large as the leg of any

ordinary man.

“Yes, indeed,” said he, “I believe so.”

Page 564

Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After

“So that you could without trouble convert these tongs into

a hoop and yonder shovel into a corkscrew?”

“Certainly.” And the giant took up these two articles, and

without any apparent effort produced in them the

metamorphoses suggested by his companion.

“There!” he cried.

“Capital!” exclaimed the Gascon. “Really, Porthos, you are a

gifted individual!”

“I have heard speak,” said Porthos, “of a certain Milo of

Crotona, who performed wonderful feats, such as binding his

forehead with a cord and bursting it — of killing an ox

with a blow of his fist and carrying it home on his

shoulders, et cetera. I used to learn all these feat by

heart yonder, down at Pierrefonds, and I have done all that

he did except breaking a cord by the corrugation of my

temples.”

“Because your strength is not in your head, Porthos,” said

his friend.

“No; it is in my arms and shoulders,” answered Porthos with

gratified naivete.

“Well, my dear friend, let us approach the window and there

you can match your strength against that of an iron bar.”

Porthos went to the window, took a bar in his hands, clung

to it and bent it like a bow; so that the two ends came out

of the sockets of stone in which for thirty years they had

been fixed.

“Well! friend, the cardinal, although such a genius, could

never have done that.”

“Shall I take out any more of them?” asked Porthos.

“No; that is sufficient; a man can pass through that.”

Porthos tried, and passed the upper portion of his body

through.

“Yes,” he said.

“Now pass your arm through this opening.”

“Why?”

“You will know presently — pass it.”

Porthos obeyed with military promptness and passed his arm

through the opening.

“Admirable!” said D’Artagnan.

“The scheme goes forward, it seems.”

“On wheels, dear friend.”

“Good! What shall I do now?”

Page 565

Dumas, Alexandre – Twenty Years After

“Nothing.”

“It is finished, then?”

“No, not yet.”

“I should like to understand,” said Porthos.

“Listen, my dear friend; in two words you will know all. The

door of the guardhouse opens, as you see.”

“Yes, I see.”

“They are about to send into our court, which Monsieur de

Mazarin crosses on his way to the orangery, the two guards

who attend him.”

“There they are, coming out.”

“If only they close the guardhouse door! Good! They close

it.”

“What, then?”

“Silence! They may hear us.”

“I don’t understand it at all.”

“As you execute you will understand.”

“And yet I should have preferred —- ”

“You will have the pleasure of the surprise.”

“Ah, that is true.”

“Hush!”

Porthos remained silent and motionless.

In fact, the two soldiers advanced on the side where the

window was, rubbing their hands, for it was cold, it being

the month of February.

At this moment the door of the guardhouse was opened and one

of the soldiers was summoned away.

“Now,” said D’Artagnan, “I am going to call this soldier and

talk to him. Don’t lose a word of what I’m going to say to

you, Porthos. Everything lies in the execution.”

“Good, the execution of plots is my forte.”

“I know it well. I depend on you. Look, I shall turn to the

left, so that the soldier will be at your right, as soon as

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *