"Gracious me!" said Porthos, "there"s Phoebus ruined."
"The cardinal will pay you a hundred pistoles."
"I"m above that."
"Let us set out again, at full gallop."
"Yes, if we can."
But at last the lieutenant"s horse refused to go on; he could not breathe; one last spur, instead of making him advance, made him fall.
"The devil!" exclaimed Porthos; "there"s Vulcan foundered."
"Zounds!" cried D"Artagnan, "then we must stop! Give me your horse, Porthos. What the devil are you doing?"
"By Jove, I am falling, or rather, Bayard is falling," answered Porthos.
All three then cried: "All"s over."
"Hush!" said D"Artagnan.
"What is it?"
"I hear a horse."
"It belongs to one of our companions, who is overtaking us."
"No," said D"Artagnan, "it is in advance."
"That is another thing," said Porthos; and he listened toward the quarter indicated by D"Artagnan.
"Monsieur," said Mousqueton, who, abandoning his horse on the high road, had come on foot to rejoin his master, "Phoebus could no longer hold out and----"
"Silence!" said Porthos.
In fact, at that moment a second neighing was borne to them on the night wind.
"It is five hundred feet from here, in advance," said D"Artagnan.
"True, monsieur," said Mousqueton; "and five hundred feet from here is a small hunting-house."
"Mousqueton, thy pistols," said D"Artagnan.
"I have them at hand, monsieur."
"Porthos, take yours from your holsters."
"I have them."
"Good!" said D"Artagnan, seizing his own; "now you understand, Porthos?"
"Not too well."
"We are out on the king"s service."
"Well?"
"For the king"s service we need horses."
"That is true," said Porthos.
"Then not a word, but set to work!"
They went on through the darkness, silent as phantoms; they saw a light glimmering in the midst of some trees.
"Yonder is the house, Porthos," said the Gascon; "let me do what I please and do you what I do."
They glided from tree to tree till they arrived at twenty steps from the house unperceived and saw by means of a lantern suspended under a hut, four fine horses. A groom was rubbing them down; near them were saddles and bridles.
D"Artagnan approached quickly, making a sign to his two companions to remain a few steps behind.
"I buy those horses," he said to the groom.
The groom turned toward him with a look of surprise, but made no reply.
"Didn"t you hear, fellow?"
"Yes, I heard."
"Why, then, didn"t you reply?"
"Because these horses are not to be sold," was the reply.
"I take them, then," said the lieutenant.
And he took hold of one within his reach; his two companions did the same thing.
"Sir," cried the groom, "they have traversed six leagues and have only been unsaddled half an hour."
"Half an hour"s rest is enough," replied the Gascon.
The groom cried aloud for help. A kind of steward appeared, just as D"Artagnan and his companions were prepared to mount. The steward attempted to expostulate.
"My dear friend," cried the lieutenant, "if you say a word I will blow out your brains."
"But, sir," answered the steward, "do you know that these horses belong to Monsieur de Montbazon?"
"So much the better; they must be good animals, then."
"Sir, I shall call my people."
"And I, mine; I"ve ten guards behind me, don"t you hear them gallop? and I"m one of the king"s musketeers. Come, Porthos; come, Mousqueton."
They all mounted the horses as quickly as possible.
"Halloo! hi! hi!" cried the steward; "the house servants, with the carbines!"
"On! on!" cried D"Artagnan; "there"ll be firing! on!"
They all set off, swift as the wind.
"Here!" cried the steward, "here!" whilst the groom ran to a neighboring building.
"Take care of your horses!" cried D"Artagnan to him.
"Fire!" replied the steward.
A gleam, like a flash of lightning, illumined the road, and with the flash was heard the whistling of b.a.l.l.s, which were fired wildly in the air.
"They fire like grooms," said Porthos. "In the time of the cardinal people fired better than that, do you remember the road to Crevecoeur, Mousqueton?"
"Ah, sir! my left side still pains me!"
"Are you sure we are on the right track, lieutenant?"
"Egad, didn"t you hear? these horses belong to Monsieur de Montbazon; well, Monsieur de Montbazon is the husband of Madame de Montbazon----"
"And----"
"And Madame de Montbazon is the mistress of the Duc de Beaufort."
"Ah! I understand," replied Porthos; "she has ordered relays of horses."
"Exactly so."
"And we are pursuing the duke with the very horses he has just left?"
"My dear Porthos, you are really a man of most superior understanding," said D"Artagnan, with a look as if he spoke against his conviction.
"Pooh!" replied Porthos, "I am what I am."
They rode on for an hour, till the horses were covered with foam and dust.
"Zounds! what is yonder?" cried D"Artagnan.
"You are very lucky if you see anything such a night as this," said Porthos.
"Something bright."
"I, too," cried Mousqueton, "saw them also."
"Ah! ah! have we overtaken them?"
"Good! a dead horse!" said D"Artagnan, pulling up his horse, which shied; "it seems their horses, too, are breaking down, as well as ours."
"I seem to hear the noise of a troop of hors.e.m.e.n," exclaimed Porthos, leaning over his horse"s mane.
"Impossible."
"They appear to be numerous."
"Then "tis something else."
"Another horse!" said Porthos.
"Dead?"
"No, dying."
"Saddled?"
"Yes, saddled and bridled."
"Then we are upon the fugitives."
"Courage, we have them!"
"But if they are numerous," observed Mousqueton, ""tis not we who have them, but they who have us."
"Nonsense!" cried D"Artagnan, "they"ll suppose us to be stronger than themselves, as we"re in pursuit; they"ll be afraid and will disperse."
"Certainly," remarked Porthos.
"Ah! do you see?" cried the lieutenant.
"The lights again! this time I, too, saw them," said Porthos.
"On! on! forward! forward!" cried D"Artagnan, in his stentorian voice; "we shall laugh over all this in five minutes."
And they darted on anew. The horses, excited by pain and emulation, raced over the dark road, in the midst of which was now seen a moving ma.s.s, denser and more obscure than the rest of the horizon.
26. The Rencontre.