Part 109 (1/2)
”The devil take the rogue who gets hio and take nan ”Raoul, did you ever see anybody hung?”
”Never,that sounds! If you were on guard in the trenches, as I was, and a spy! But, pardon ht, it is a hideous sight to see a person hung! At what hour do they hang them, er respectfully, delighted at joining conversation with two men of the sword, ”it will take place at about three o'clock”
”Aha! it is now only half-past one; let us step out, we shall be there in tiet away before the arrival of the malefactor”
”Malefactors, eois; ”there are two of them”
”Monsieur, I return to you rew older, had beco, he directed his course rapidly in the direction of La Greve Without that great experience musketeers have of a crowd, to which were joined an irresistible strength of wrist, and an uncommon suppleness of shoulders, our two travelers would not have arrived at their place of destination
They followed the line of the Quai, which they had gained on quitting the Rue Saint-Honore, where they left Athos D'Artagnan went first; his elbow, his wrist, his shoulder fores which he kne to insinuate with skill into the groups, to make them split and separate like firewood He made use sometimes of the hilt of his sword as an additional help: introducing it between ribs that were too rebellious,it take the part of a lever or crowbar, to separate husband from wife, uncle from nephew, and brother froracious smiles, that people must have had ribs of bronze not to cry thank you when the wrist made its play, or hearts of diamond not to be enchanted when such a bland s his friend, cajoled the women who adidity of his muscles, and both opened, thanks to these maneuvers, the coht of the two gibbets, fronan, he did not even see theabled roof, its s croith the curious, attracted and even absorbed all the attention he was capable of He distinguished in the Place and around the houses a good number of musketeers on leave, who, so ceremony What rejoiced him above all was to see that his tenant, the cabaretier, was so busy he hardly knehich way to turn Three lads could not supply the drinkers
They filled the shop, the chanan called Raoul's attention to this concourse, adding: ”The felloill have no excuse for not paying his rent Look at those drinkers, Raoul, one would say they were jolly conan, however, contrived to catch hold of the master by the corner of his apron, and to make himself known to him
”Ah, monsieur le chevalier,” said the cabaretier, half distracted, ”onemy cellar upside down”
”The cellar, if you like, but not the money-box”
”Oh, monsieur, your thirty-seven and a half pistoles are all counted out ready for you, upstairs in my chamber; but there are in that cha the staves of a little barrel of Oporto which I tapped for the Give me a minute,--only a o,” said Raoul, in a low voice, to D'Artagnan; ”this hilarity is vile!”
”Monsieur,” replied D'Artagnan, sternly, ”you will please to reht to familiarize himself with all kinds of spectacles There are in the eye, when it is young, fibers which we ood save from the moment when the eye has become hardened, and the heart remains tender Besides, my little Raoul, would you leaveof you Look, there is yonder in the lower court a tree, and under the shade of that tree we shall breathe more freely than in this hot atmosphere of spilt wine”
Frouests of the I hubbub of the tide of people, and lost neither a cry nor a gesture of the drinkers, at tables in the cabaret, or dissenan had wished to place himself as a vidette for an expedition, he could not have succeeded better The tree under which he and Raoul were seated covered thee; it was a low, thick chestnut-tree, with inclined branches, that cast their shade over a table so dilapidated the drinkers had abandoned it We said that fros and cos of the waiters; the arrival of fresh drinkers; the welcoiven to the newcomers by others already installed He observed all this to amuse hi ti Raoul recalled his attention to it ”Monsieur,” said he, ”you do not hurry your tenant, and the condemned will soon be here There will then be such a press we shall not be able to get out”
”You are right,” said the musketeer; ”Hola! oh! somebody there!
Mordioux!” But it was in vain he cried and knocked upon the wreck of the old table, which fell to pieces beneath his fist; nobody cao and seek the cabaretier himself, to force him to a definite explanation, when the door of the court in which he ith Raoul, a door which coarden situated at the back, opened, and a man dressed as a cavalier, with his sword in the sheath, but not at his belt, crossed the court without closing the door; and having cast an oblique glance at D'Artagnan and his companion, directed his course towards the cabaret itself, looking about in all directions with his eyes capable of piercing walls of consciences
”Hu That, no doubt, now, is so matters” At the same moment the cries and disturbance in the upper chambers ceased Silence, under such circumstances, surprises nan wished to see as the cause of this sudden silence He then perceived that this man, dressed as a cavalier, had just entered the principal cha the tipplers, who all listened to hinan would perhaps have heard his speech but for the dominant noise of the popular claue of the orator But it was soon finished, and all the people the cabaret contained caroups, so that there only remained six in the chamber; one of these six, thehireat fire in the chie by the fine weather and the heat
”It is very singular,” said D'Artagnan to Raoul, ”but I think I know those faces yonder”
”Don't you think you can smell the smoke here?” said Raoul
”I rather think I can snan
He had not finished speaking, when four of these men came down into the court, and without the appearance of any bad design, , at intervals, glances at D'Artagnan, which signified nan, in a low voice, ”there is so to the subject, chevalier”
”Well, I am as curious as an old woet a better view of the place I would lay a wager that vieill be so curious”
”But you know,to become a passive and indifferent spectator of the death of the two poor devils”