The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

  Chapter XLVI. The Son of Biscarrat.

  The Bretons of the Isle were very proud of this victory; Aramis did notencourage them in the feeling.

  "What will happen," said he to Porthos, when everybody was gone home,"will be that the anger of the king will be roused by the account of theresistance; and that these brave people will be decimated or shot whenthey are taken, which cannot fail to take place."

  "From which it results, then," said Porthos, "that what we have done isof not the slightest use."

  "For the moment it may be," replied the bishop, "for we have a prisonerfrom whom we shall learn what our enemies are preparing to do."

  "Yes, let us interrogate the prisoner," said Porthos, "and the means ofmaking him speak are very simple. We are going to supper; we will invitehim to join us; as he drinks he will talk."

  This was done. The officer was at first rather uneasy, but becamereassured on seeing what sort of men he had to deal with. He gave,without having any fear of compromising himself, all the detailsimaginable of the resignation and departure of D'Artagnan. He explainedhow, after that departure, the new leader of the expedition had ordereda surprise upon Belle-Isle. There his explanations stopped. Aramisand Porthos exchanged a glance that evinced their despair. No moredependence to be placed now on D'Artagnan's fertile imagination--nofurther resource in the event of defeat. Aramis, continuing hisinterrogations, asked the prisoner what the leaders of the expeditioncontemplated doing with the leaders of Belle-Isle.

  "The orders are," replied he, "to kill _during_ combat, or hang_afterwards_."

  Porthos and Aramis looked at each other again, and the color mounted totheir faces.

  "I am too light for the gallows," replied Aramis; "people like me arenot hung."

  "And I am too heavy," said Porthos; "people like me break the cord."

  "I am sure," said the prisoner, gallantly, "that we could haveguaranteed you the exact kind of death you preferred."

  "A thousand thanks!" said Aramis, seriously. Porthos bowed.

  "One more cup of wine to your health," said he, drinking himself. Fromone subject to another the chat with the officer was prolonged. He wasan intelligent gentleman, and suffered himself to be led on by the charmof Aramis's wit and Porthos's cordial _bonhomie_.

  "Pardon me," said he, "if I address a question to you; but men who arein their sixth bottle have a clear right to forget themselves a little."

  "Address it!" cried Porthos; "address it!"

  "Speak," said Aramis.

  "Were you not, gentlemen, both in the musketeers of the late king?"

  "Yes, monsieur, and amongst the best of them, if you please," saidPorthos.

  "That is true; I should say even the best of all soldiers, messieurs, ifI did not fear to offend the memory of my father."

  "Of your father?" cried Aramis.

  "Do you know what my name is?"

  "_Ma foi!_ no, monsieur; but you can tell us, and--"

  "I am called Georges de Biscarrat."

  "Oh!" cried Porthos, in his turn. "Biscarrat! Do you remember that name,Aramis?"

  "Biscarrat!" reflected the bishop. "It seems to me--"

  "Try to recollect, monsieur," said the officer.

  "_Pardieu!_ that won't take me long," said Porthos. "Biscarrat--calledCardinal--one of the four who interrupted us on the day on which weformed our friendship with D'Artagnan, sword in hand."

  "Precisely, gentlemen."

  "The only one," cried Aramis, eagerly, "we could not scratch."

  "Consequently, a capital blade?" said the prisoner.

  "That's true! most true!" exclaimed both friends together. "_Ma foi!_Monsieur Biscarrat, we are delighted to make the acquaintance of such abrave man's son."

  Biscarrat pressed the hands held out by the two musketeers. Aramislooked at Porthos as much as to say, "Here is a man who will help us,"and without delay,--"Confess, monsieur," said he, "that it is good tohave once been a good man."

  "My father always said so, monsieur."

  "Confess, likewise, that it is a sad circumstance in which you findyourself, of falling in with men destined to be shot or hung, andto learn that these men are old acquaintances, in fact, hereditaryfriends."

  "Oh! you are not reserved for such a frightful fate as that, messieursand friends!" said the young man, warmly.

  "Bah! you said so yourself."

  "I said so just now, when I did not know you; but now that I know you, Isay--you will evade this dismal fate, if you wish!"

  "How--if we wish?" echoed Aramis, whose eyes beamed with intelligence ashe looked alternately at the prisoner and Porthos.

  "Provided," continued Porthos, looking, in his turn, with nobleintrepidity, at M. Biscarrat and the bishop--"provided nothingdisgraceful be required of us."

  "Nothing at all will be required of you, gentlemen," replied theofficer--"what should they ask of you? If they find you they will killyou, that is a predetermined thing; try, then, gentlemen, to preventtheir finding you."

  "I don't think I am mistaken," said Porthos, with dignity; "but itappears evident to me that if they want to find us, they must come andseek us here."

  "In that you are perfectly right, my worthy friend," replied Aramis,constantly consulting with his looks the countenance of Biscarrat, whohad grown silent and constrained. "You wish, Monsieur de Biscarrat, tosay something to us, to make us some overture, and you dare not--is thattrue?"

  "Ah! gentlemen and friends! it is because by speaking I betray thewatchword. But, hark! I hear a voice that frees mine by dominating it."

  "Cannon!" said Porthos.

  "Cannon and musketry, too!" cried the bishop.

  On hearing at a distance, among the rocks, these sinister reports of acombat which they thought had ceased:

  "What can that be?" asked Porthos.

  "Eh! _Pardieu!_" cried Aramis; "that is just what I expected."

  "What is that?"

  "That the attack made by you was nothing but a feint; is not that true,monsieur? And whilst your companions allowed themselves to be repulsed,you were certain of effecting a landing on the other side of theisland."

  "Oh! several, monsieur."

  "We are lost, then," said the bishop of Vannes, quietly.

  "Lost! that is possible," replied the Seigneur de Pierrefonds, "but weare not taken or hung." And so saying, he rose from the table, went tothe wall, and coolly took down his sword and pistols, which he examinedwith the care of an old soldier who is preparing for battle, and whofeels that life, in a great measure, depends upon the excellence andright conditions of his arms.

  At the report of the cannon, at the news of the surprise which mightdeliver up the island to the royal troops, the terrified crowd rushedprecipitately to the fort to demand assistance and advice from theirleaders. Aramis, pale and downcast, between two flambeaux, showedhimself at the window which looked into the principal court, full ofsoldiers waiting for orders and bewildered inhabitants imploring succor.

  "My friends," said D'Herblay, in a grave and sonorous voice, "M.Fouquet, your protector, your friend, you father, has been arrested byan order of the king, and thrown into the Bastile." A sustained yell ofvengeful fury came floating up to the window at which the bishop stood,and enveloped him in a magnetic field.

  "Avenge Monsieur Fouquet!" cried the most excited of his hearers, "deathto the royalists!"

  "No, my friends," replied Aramis, solemnly; "no, my friends; noresistance. The king is master in his kingdom. The king is the mandatoryof God. The king and God have struck M. Fouquet. Humble yourselvesbefore the hand of God. Love God and the king, who have struck M.Fouquet. But do not avenge your seigneur, do not think of avenging him.You would sacrifice yourselves in vain--you, your wives and children,your property, your liberty. Lay down your arms, my friends--lay downyour arms! since the king commands you so to do--and retire peaceably toyour dwellings. It is I who ask you to do so; it is I who beg you to doso; it is I who now, in the hour of need, command you to do so, in thename of M. Fouquet
."

  The crowd collected under the window uttered a prolonged roar of angerand terror. "The soldiers of Louis XIV. have reached the island,"continued Aramis. "From this time it would no longer be a fight betwixtthem and you--it would be a massacre. Begone, then, begone, and forget;this time I command you, in the name of the Lord of Hosts!"

  The mutineers retired slowly, submissive, silent.

  "Ah! what have you just been saying, my friend?" said Porthos.

  "Monsieur," said Biscarrat to the bishop, "you may save all theseinhabitants, but thus you will neither save yourself nor your friend."

  "Monsieur de Biscarrat," said the bishop of Vannes, with a singularaccent of nobility and courtesy, "Monsieur de Biscarrat, be kind enoughto resume your liberty."

  "I am very willing to do so, monsieur; but--"

  "That would render us a service, for when announcing to the king'slieutenant the submission of the islanders, you will perhaps obtain somegrace for us on informing him of the manner in which that submission hasbeen effected."

  "Grace!" replied Porthos with flashing eyes, "what is the meaning ofthat word?"

  Aramis touched the elbow of his friend roughly, as he had beenaccustomed to do in the days of their youth, when he wanted to warnPorthos that he had committed, or was about to commit, a blunder.Porthos understood him, and was silent immediately.

  "I will go, messieurs," replied Biscarrat, a little surprised likewiseat the word "grace" pronounced by the haughty musketeer, of and to whom,but a few minutes before, he had related with so much enthusiasm theheroic exploits with which his father had delighted him.

  "Go, then, Monsieur Biscarrat," said Aramis, bowing to him, "and atparting receive the expression of our entire gratitude."

  "But you, messieurs, you whom I think it an honor to call my friends,since you have been willing to accept that title, what will become ofyou in the meantime?" replied the officer, very much agitated at takingleave of the two ancient adversaries of his father.

  "We will wait here."

  "But, _mon Dieu!_--the order is precise and formal."

  "I am bishop of Vannes, Monsieur de Biscarrat; and they no more shoot abishop than they hang a gentleman."

  "Ah! yes, monsieur--yes, monseigneur," replied Biscarrat; "it is true,you are right, there is still that chance for you. Then, I will depart,I will repair to the commander of the expedition, the king's lieutenant.Adieu! then, messieurs, or rather, to meet again, I hope."

  The worthy officer, jumping upon a horse given him by Aramis, departedin the direction of the sound of cannon, which, by surging the crowdinto the fort, had interrupted the conversation of the two friends withtheir prisoner. Aramis watched the departure, and when left alone withPorthos:

  "Well, do you comprehend?" said he.

  "_Ma foi!_ no."

  "Did not Biscarrat inconvenience you here?"

  "No; he is a brave fellow."

  "Yes; but the grotto of Locmaria--is it necessary all the world shouldknow it?"

  "Ah! that is true, that is true; I comprehend. We are going to escape bythe cavern."

  "If you please," cried Aramis, gayly. "Forward, friend Porthos; our boatawaits us. King Louis has not caught us--_yet_."