Part 38 (1/2)
”No,” replied D'Artagnan; ”for the most difficult part now remains to be done, and I will think over that difficult part”
”Bah!” said Planchet; ”I have such great confidence in you, M
d'Artagnan, that I would not give my hundred thousand livres for ninety thousand livres down”
”And devil take nan took a candle and went up to his bedroonan prepares to travel
D'Artagnan reflected to such good purpose during the night that his plan was settled byhis elbow on his knee, and his chin in his hand;--”this is it I shall seek out forty steady, fir habits of discipline I shall promise the if they do not return, or half for their kindred As to food and lodging, that concerns the English, who have cattle in their pastures, bacon in their bacon-racks, fowls in their poultry-yards, and corn in their barns I will present myself to General Monk with my little body of troops He will receive e of it, as soon as possible”
But without going further, D'Artagnan shook his head and interrupted himself ”No,” said he; ”I should not dare to relate this to Athos; the way is therefore not honorable I must use violence,” continued he,--”very certainly Imy loyalty With forty men I will traverse the country as a partisan But if I fall in with, not forty thousand English, as Planchet said, but purely and si that a my forty warriors there should be found at least ten stupid ones--ten ill allow themselves to be killed one after the other, from mere folly?
No; it is, in fact, impossible to find forty men to be depended upon--they do not exist I must learn how to be contented with thirty
With tenany armed encounter, on account of the small number of my people; and if the encounter should take place, my chance is better with thirty men than forty Besides, I should save five thousand francs; that is to say, the eighth ofso, I should have thirty men I shall divide them into three bands,--ill spread ourselves about over the country, with an injunction to reunite at a given moment; in this fashi+on, ten by ten, we should excite no suspicion--we should pass unperceived Yes, yes, thirty--that is a ic number There are three tens--three, that divine nuether, will look rather inan, ”I want thirty horses That is ruinous Where the devil was ot the horses? We cannot, however, think of striking such a bloithout horses Well, so be it, that sacrifice et the horses in the country--they are not bad, besides But I forgot--peste! Three bands--that necessitates three leaders; there is the difficulty Of the three commanders I have already one--that is myself;--yes, but the two others will of themselves cost almost as much money as all the rest of the troop No; positively I must have but one lieutenant In that case, then, I should reduce my troop to twenty men
I know very well that twenty men is but very little; but since with thirty I was determined not to seek to come to blows, I should do so more carefully still with twenty Twenty--that is a round number; that, besides, reduces the number of the horses by ten, which is a consideration; and then, with a good lieutenant--Mordioux! what things patience and calculation are! Was I not going to embark with forty men, and I have now reduced them to twenty for an equal success? Ten thousand livres saved at one stroke, and more safety; that is well! Now, then, let us see; we have nothing to do but to find this lieutenant--let him be found, then; and after--That is not so easy; he ood, a second myself Yes, but a lieutenant must have my secret, and as that secret is worth a million, and I shall only pay my man a thousand livres, fifteen hundred at the most, my man will sell the secret to Monk Mordioux! no lieutenant Besides, this oras,--this man would be sure to have in the troop soeant would penetrate the secret of the lieutenant, in case the latter should be honest and unwilling to sell it Then the sergeant, less honest and less aive up the whole for fifty thousand livres Come, come! that is impossible The lieutenant is impossible But then I must have no fractions; I cannot divide my troop in two, and act upon two points, at once, without another self, who--But what is the use of acting upon two points, as we have only onea corps by placing the right here, and the left there?
A single corps--Mordioux! a single one, and that co in one band are suspected by everybody; twenty horseether, or a coainst them and the passill be required; the which coive it, would shoot M d'Artagnan and his men like so many rabbits I reduce myself then to ten men; in this fashi+on I shall act simply and with unity; I shall be forced to be prudent, which is half the success in an affair of the kind I aht, perhaps, have drawn me into some folly Ten horses are not many, either, to buy or take A capital idea; what tranquillity it infuses into ers! Tenten horses laden with merchandise of whatever kind, are tolerated, well received everywhere Ten men travel on account of the house of Planchet & Co, of France,--nothing can be said against that
These ten ood ood pistol in the holster They never allow thens They are, perhaps, in truth, a little disposed to be s is not, like polyga offense The worst that can happen to us is the confiscation of our merchandise Our merchandise confiscated--a fine affair that! Come, come! it is a superb plan Ten e for my service; ten men who shall be as resolute as forty, ould cost reater security, I will never open ns, and to whom I shall only say 'My friends, there is a blow to be struck' Things being after this fashi+on, Satan will be very malicious if he plays me one of his tricks Fifteen thousand livres saved--that's superb--out of twenty!”
Thus fortified by his laborious calculations, D'Artagnan stopped at this plan, and deter in it He had already on a list furnished by his inexhaustible st the seekers of adventure, ill-treated by fortune, and not on good ternan rose, and instantly set off on the search, telling Planchet not to expect him to breakfast, and perhaps not to dinner A day and a half spent in rust certain dens of Paris sufficed for his recruiting; and, without allowing his adventurers to coether, in less than thirty hours, a char a French less pure than the English they were about to atteuards, whosein various encounters, whos at play, or the economical reforms of Mazarin, had forced to seek shade and solitude, those two great consolers of irritated and chafing spirits They bore upon their countenances and in their vestone Sos D'Artagnan comforted the most needy of these brotherly miseries by a prudent distribution of the crowns of the co taken care that these crowns should be employed in the physical i place in the north of France, between Bergues and Saint Onan was sufficiently acquainted with the good-will, the good-humor, and the relative probity of these illustrious recruits, to be certain that not one of theiven, this rendezvous fixed, he went to bid farewell to Planchet, who asked news of his arnan did not think it proper to inform him of the reduction he had made in his personnel He feared that the confidence of his associate would be abated by such an avowal Planchet was delighted to learn that the army was levied, and that he (Planchet) found hi, who from his throne-counter kept in pay a body of troops destined to ainst perfidious Albion, that enemy of all true French hearts Planchet paid down in double louis, twenty thousand livres to D'Artagnan, on the part of himself (Planchet), and twenty thousand livres, still in double louis, in account with D'Artagnan D'Artagnan placed each of the twenty thousand francs in a bag, and weighing a bag in each hand,--”This , hs thirty pounds?”
”Bah! your horse will carry that like a feather”
D'Artagnan shook his head ”Don't tell s, Planchet: a horse overloaded with thirty pounds, in addition to the rider and his portmanteau, cannot cross a river so easily--cannot leap over a wall or ditch so lightly; and the horse failing, the horseman fails It is true that you, Planchet, who have served in the infantry, may not be aware of all that”
”Then what is to be done, reatly enan ”I will pay my army on its return home
Keepthat time”
”And my half?” said Planchet
”I shall take that with me”
”Your confidence doesyou should not return?”
”That is possible, though not very probable Then, Planchet, in case I should not return--give nan took a pen and sonan, possess twenty thousand livres, laid up cent per cent during thirty years that I have been in the service of hisof France
I leave five thousand to Athos, five thousand to Porthos, and five thousand to Araive the said su friend Raoul, Vico five thousand to Planchet, that hen these presents--D'ARTAGNAN”
Planchet appeared very curious to knohat D'Artagnan had written