The Man in the Iron Mask
The Silver Dish.
The passed off well. Athos and his son France at the of fifteen day; sometimes more, sometimes less, according to the of Raoul’s grief. It took them a to Toulon, and they all of D’Artagnan at Antibes. They were to that the captain of the was of an on his route, for Athos from his an that such a as he had his for a well-closed on Avignon. Raoul was much at not meeting with D’Artagnan. His to take a and from that of steel. Athos from that D’Artagnan when in any affair, on his own account or on the service of the king. He to his friend, or him by too pressing inquiries. And yet when Raoul his labor of the flotilla, and got together the and to send them to Toulon, one of the told the that his had been up to since a he had on account of a who was in great to embark. Athos, that this man was telling a in order to be left at to fish, and so more money when all his were gone, upon having the details. The him that six days previously, a man had come in the night to his boat, for the purpose of visiting the of St. Honnorat. The price was upon, but the had with an case, which he upon embarking, in of the many that the operation. The to retract. He had threatened, but his had him nothing but a of from the gentleman’s cane, which upon his and long. Swearing and grumbling, he had to the of his at Antibes, who among themselves and protect each other; but the had a paper, at of which the syndic, to the very ground, from the fisherman, and him for having been refractory. They then with the freight.
“But all this not tell us,” said Athos, “how you your boat.”
“This is the way. I was St. Honnorat as the me; but he his mind, and that I not pass to the south of the abbey.”
“And why not?”
“Because, monsieur, there is in of the square tower of the Benedictines, the southern point, the bank of the Moines.”
“A rock?” asked Athos.
“Level with the water, but water; a passage, yet one I have a thousand times; the me to land him at Sainte-Marguerite’s.”
“Well?”
“Well, monsieur!” the fisherman, with his Provencal accent, “a man is a sailor, or he is not; he his course, or he is nothing but a fresh-water lubber. I was obstinate, and to try the channel. The took me by the collar, and told me he would me. My himself with a hatchet, and so did I. We had the of the night to pay him out for. But the his sword, and used it in such an manner, that we neither of us near him. I was about to my at his head, and I had a right to do so, hadn’t I, monsieur? for a is master, as a citizen is in his chamber; I was going, then, in self-defense, to cut the in two, when, all at once—believe me or not, monsieur—the great case opened of itself, I don’t know how, and there came out of it a of a phantom, his with a black and a black mask, something terrible to look upon, which came me with its fist.”
“And that was—” said Athos.
“That was the devil, monsieur; for the gentleman, with great glee, out, on him: ‘Ah! thank you, monseigneur!’”
“A most story!” the comte, looking at Raoul.
“And what did you do?” asked the of the fisherman.
“You must know, monsieur, that two men, such as we are, be no match for two gentlemen; but when one of them out to be the devil, we had no chance! My and I did not stop to one another; we but one jump into the sea, for we were seven or eight hundred of the shore.”
“Well, and then?”
“Why, and then, monseigneur, as there was a little wind from the southwest, the into the of Sainte-Marguerite’s.”
“Oh!—but the travelers?”
“Bah! you need not be about them! It was plain that one was the devil, and protected the other; for when we the boat, after she got again, of these two by the shock, we nothing, not the or the case.”
“Very strange! very strange!” the comte. “But after that, what did you do, my friend?”
“I my to the of Sainte-Marguerite’s, who my under my nose by telling me if I him with such he would have me flogged.”
“What! did the himself say so?”
“Yes, monsieur; and yet my was injured, injured, for the is left upon the point of Sainte-Marguerite’s, and the a hundred and twenty to repair it.”
“Very well,” Raoul; “you will be from the service. Go.”
“We will go to Sainte-Marguerite’s, shall we?” said the to Bragelonne, as the man walked away.
“Yes, monsieur, for there is something to be up; that man not to me to have told the truth.”
“Nor to me either, Raoul. The of the man and the having disappeared, may be told to some these have upon their in the open sea, to him for his in embarking.”
“I the same suspicion; the was more likely to property than a man.”
“We shall see to that, Raoul. The very much D’Artagnan; I his methods of proceeding. Alas! we are no longer the of days. Who the or the iron of this has not succeeded in doing that which the best of Europe, balls, and have not been able to do in years?”
That same day they set out for Sainte-Marguerite’s, on a chasse-maree come from Toulon under orders. The they on landing was a one. The with flowers and fruits. In its part it as a garden for the governor. Orange, pomegranate, and trees the weight of their or fruits. All this garden, in the parts, red ran about in among the and of junipers, and at every step of the and Raoul a his and to away to the burrow. In fact, this was uninhabited. Flat, nothing but a for the of embarkation, and under the protection of the governor, who with them, use of it as a entrepot, at the of not killing the game or the garden. With this compromise, the was in a to be satisfied with a of eight men to his fortress, in which twelve of green. The was a of happy farmer, wines, figs, oil, and oranges, his and in the sun of his casemates. The fortress, by a ditch, its only guardian, like three upon with each other by with moss.
Athos and Raoul for some time the of the garden without any one to them to the governor. They ended by making their own way into the garden. It was at the time of the day. Each thing its under or stone. The spread their as if to all noises, to all existences; the under the broom, the under the leaf, slept as the did the heavens. Athos saw nothing but a soldier, upon the the second and third court, who was a of on his head. This man returned almost without his basket, and in the of his sentry-box. Athos he must have been dinner to some one, and, after having done so, returned to himself. All at once they some one call out, and their heads, in the of the of the window something of a white color, like a hand that was and forwards—something shining, like a by the of the sun. And they were able to what it was, a train, by a in the air, called their attention from the to the ground. A second noise was from the ditch, and Raoul ran to up a plate which was along the sand. The hand that had this plate a to the two gentlemen, and then disappeared. Athos and Raoul, each other, an of the plate, and they discovered, in upon the of it with the point of a knife, this inscription:
“I am the of the king of France—a to-day—a to-morrow. French and Christians, pray to God for the and the of the son of your old rulers.”
The plate from the hands of Athos Raoul was to make out the meaning of these words. At the same moment they a from the top of the donjon. Quick as Raoul his head, and that of his father likewise. A musket-barrel from the of the wall. A white like a from the mouth of the musket, and a was against a six of the two gentlemen.
“Cordieu!” Athos. “What, are people here? Come down, as you are!”
“Yes, come down!” Raoul, his at the castle.
One of the assailants—he who was about to fire—replied to these by an of surprise; and, as his companion, who to continue the attack, had re-seized his musket, he who had out up the weapon, and the into the air. Athos and Raoul, them from the platform, they would come to them, and waited with a demeanor. Five minutes had not elapsed, when a upon a called the eight soldiers of the to arms, and they themselves on the other of the with their in hand. At the of these men was an officer, Athos and Raoul as the one who had the musket. The man ordered the soldiers to “make ready.”
“We are going to be shot!” Raoul; “but, in hand, at least, let us the ditch! We shall kill at least two of these scoundrels, when their are empty.” And, the action to the word, Raoul was forward, by Athos, when a well-known voice them, “Athos! Raoul!”
“D’Artagnan!” the two gentlemen.
“Recover arms! Mordioux!” the captain to the soldiers. “I was sure I not be mistaken!”
“What is the meaning of this?” asked Athos. “What! were we to be without warning?”
“It was I who was going to shoot you, and if the missed you, I should not have missed you, my dear friends. How it is that I am to take a long aim, of at the I my weapon! I I you. Ah! my dear friends, how fortunate!” And D’Artagnan his brow, for he had fast, and with him was not feigned.
“How!” said Athos. “And is the who at us the of the fortress?”
“In person.”
“And why did he fire at us? What have we done to him?”
“Pardieu! You what the to you?”
“That is true.”
“That plate—the has something on it, has he not?”
“Yes.”
“Good heavens! I was he had.”
And D’Artagnan, with all the marks of disquietude, the plate, to read the inscription. When he had read it, a spread across his countenance. “Oh! good heavens!” he. “Silence!—Here is the governor.”
“And what will he do to us? Is it our fault?”
“It is true, then?” said Athos, in a voice. “It is true?”
“Silence! I tell you—silence! If he only you can read; if he only you have understood; I love you, my dear friends, I would be killed for you, but—”
“But—” said Athos and Raoul.
“But I not save you from if I saved you from death. Silence, then! Silence again!”
The came up, having the upon a bridge.
“Well!” said he to D’Artagnan, “what stops us?”
“You are Spaniards—you do not a word of French,” said the captain, eagerly, to his friends in a low voice.
“Well!” he, the governor, “I was right; these are two Spanish captains with I was at Ypres, last year; they don’t know a word of French.”
“Ah!” said the governor, sharply. “And yet they were trying to read the on the plate.”
D’Artagnan took it out of his hands, the with the point of his sword.
“How!” the governor, “what are you doing? I cannot read them now!”
“It is a secret,” D’Artagnan, bluntly; “and as you know that, according to the king’s orders, it is under the of death any one should it, I will, if you like, allow you to read it, and have you afterwards.”
During this apostrophe—half serious, ironical—Athos and Raoul the coolest, most silence.
“But, is it possible,” said the governor, “that these do not at least some words?”
“Suppose they do! If they do a spoken words, it not that they should what is written. They cannot read Spanish. A Spaniard, remember, ought to know how to read.”
The was to be satisfied with these explanations, but he was still tenacious. “Invite these to come to the fortress,” said he.
“That I will do. I was about to it to you.” The is, the captain had another idea, and would have his friends a hundred off. But he was to make the best of it. He the two in Spanish, them a invitation, which they accepted. They all the entrance of the fort, and, the being at an end, the eight soldiers returned to their leisure, for a moment by this adventure.
