Part 108 (1/2)
The Duc de Beaufort wrote to Athos The letter destined for the living only reached the dead God had changed the address
”MY DEAR COMTE,” wrote the prince, in his large, school-boy's hand,--”a greatloses one of the bravest of soldiers I lose a friend You lose M de Bragelonne He has died gloriously, so gloriously that I have not the strength to weep as I could wish Receive my sad co to the greatness of our hearts This is an iood friend,
”LE DUC DE BEAUFORT”
The letter contained a relation written by one of the prince's secretaries It was therecital, and the most true, of that disnan, accustoainst tenderness, could not help starting on reading the name of Raoul, the name of that beloved boy who had beco,” said the prince's secretary, ”neur commanded the attack Normandy and Picardy had taken positions in the rocks dohts of the mountain, upon the declivity of which were raised the bastions of Gigelli
”The cannon opened the action; the regiments marched full of resolution; the pikemen with pikes elevated, the musket-bearers with their weapons ready The prince followed attentively the march and movements of the troops, so as to be able to sustain theneur were the oldest captains and his aides-de-caelonne had received orders not to leave his highness In the meantime the eneainst the ulate their fire, and the balls, better directed, killed several iainst the rahly handled There was a sort of hesitation in our troops, who found themselves ill-seconded by the artillery In fact, the batteries which had been established the evening before had but a weak and uncertain aim, on account of their position The upward direction of the aie
”Monseigneur, coe artillery, coates ainst the place M de Bragelonne offered hineur refused to acquiesce in the vicoht, for he loved and wished to spare the young nobleht, and the event took upon itself to justify his foresight and refusal; for scarcely had the sergeant charged with the ained the seashore, when two shots fro carbines issued froeant fell, dyeing the sand with his blood; observing which, M de Bragelonne sneur, who said to him, 'You see, vicomte, I have saved your life Report that, so it fro nobleman sneur, that but for your kindness I should have been killed, where the poor sergeant has fallen, and should be at rest' M
de Bragelonne neur answered hi man, one would say that your mouth waters for death; but, by the soul of Henry IV, I have pro you back alive; and, please the Lord, I elonne colored, and replied, in a lower voice, 'Monseigneur, pardon ood opportunities; and it is so delightful to distinguish ourselves before our general, particularly when that general is M le Duc de Beaufort'
”Monseigneur was a little softened by this; and, turning to the officers who surrounded hiih to the ditches and intrenchrenades, which had but small effect In theseen the atteeant to approach the vessels, understood that he must act without orders, and opened fire Then the Arabs, finding themselves seriously injured by the balls fro the destruction and the ruin of their walls, uttered the most fearful cries Their horseallop, bent over their saddles, and rushed full tilt upon the colu their pikes, stopped this mad assault Repulsed by the firm attitude of the battalion, the Arabs threw themselves with fury towards the _etat-uard at that neur drew his sword; his secretaries and people ied in coelonne was able to satisfy the inclination he had so clearly shown froht near the prince with the valor of a Roman, and killed three Arabs with his small sword But it was evident that his bravery did not arise froht It was ilut, intoxicate hie He excited hineur called to hineur, because ere close to him heard it He did not, however, stop, but continued his course to the intrenchelonne was a well-disciplined officer, this disobedience to the orders of neur very much surprised everybody, and M de Beaufort redoubled his earnestness, crying, 'Stop, Bragelonne! Where are you going? Stop,' repeated esture of M le duc, we all raised our hands
We expected that the cavalier would turn bridle; but M de Bragelonne continued to ride towards the palisades
”'Stop, Bragelonne!' repeated the prince, in a very loud voice, 'stop!
in the naelonne turned round; his countenance expressed a lively grief, but he did not stop; we then concluded that his horse must have run aith him When M le duc saw cause to conclude that the vicoer renadiers, his highness cried, 'Musketeers, kill his horse! A hundred pistoles for the man who kills his horse!' But who could expect to hit the beast without at least wounding his rider?
No one dared the atteth one presented hiiment of Picardy, named Luzerne, who took aim at the animal, fired, and hit him in the quarters, forthe blood redden the hair of the horse Instead of falling, the cursed jennet was irritated, and carried him on more furiously than ever Every Picard who saw this unfortunate youngon to meet certain death, shouted in the loudest manner, 'Throw yourself off, monsieur le vicoelonne was an officer much beloved in the army Already had the vicomte arrived within pistol-shot of the rae was poured upon hiht of hiht; his horse was killed
”The vicomte was suative sign with his head, and continued to march towards the palisades This was a mortal imprudence Nevertheless the entire army was pleased that he would not retreat, since ill-chance had led hiiments clapped their hands It was at this e shook the walls, and the Vicoain disappeared in the ser saw his, a their intrenchments to come and cut off his head or take his body--as is the custoneur le Duc de Beaufort had followed all this with his eyes, and the sad spectacle drew fro the Arabs running like white phanto the mastic-trees, 'Grenadiers! lancers! will you let the these words and waving his sword, he hi in his steps, ran in their turn, uttering cries as terrible as those of the Arabs ild
”The coelonne, and with such inveteracy was it fought that a hundred and sixty Arabs were left upon the field, by the side of at least fifty of our troops It was a lieutenant from Normandy who took the body of the vicomte on his shoulders and carried it back to the lines The advantage was, however, pursued, the regiments took the reserve with them, and the enemy's palisades were utterly destroyed At three o'clock the fire of the Arabs ceased; the hand-to-hand fight lasted two hours; it was a massacre At five o'clock ere victorious at all points; the enemy had abandoned his positions, and M le duc ordered the white flag to be planted on the summit of the little elonne, who had eight large wounds in his body, through which almost all his blood had welled away Still, however, he had breathed, which afforded inexpressible joy topresent at the first dressing of the wounds and the consultation of the surgeons There were two aneur threw his arms around their necks, and promised them a thousand louis each if they could save him
”The vicomte heard these transports of joy, and whether he was in despair, or whether he suffered much from his wounds, he expressed by his countenance a contradiction, which gave rise to reflection, particularly in one of the secretaries when he had heard what follows
The third surgeon was the brother of Sylvain de Saint-Cosme, the most learned of the
M de Bragelonne fixed his eyes steadily upon the skillful surgeon, and see questioned by neur, replied that he saw plainly threewas the constitution of the wounded, so rich was he in youth, and so elonne htesttowards his assistants, 'Above everything, do not allow hier, or you will kill him;' and we all left the tent in very low spirits
That secretary I have ht he perceived a faint and sad selonne when the duke said to him, in a cheerful, kind voice, 'We will save you, vico, when it was believed the wounded youth had taken some repose, one of the assistants entered his tent, but rushed out again i loud cries We all ran up in disorder, M le duc with us, and the assistant pointed to the body of M de Bragelonne upon the ground, at the foot of his bed, bathed in the remainder of his blood It appeared that he had suffered some convulsion, some delirium, and that he had fallen; that the fall had accelerated his end, according to the prognosis of Frere Sylvain We raised the vicomte; he was cold and dead He held a lock of fair hair in his right hand, and that hand was tightly pressed upon his heart”
Then followed the details of the expedition, and of the victory obtained over the Arabs D'Artagnan stopped at the account of the death of poor Raoul ”Oh!”his eyes towards the chamber of the chateau, in which Athos slept in eternal sleep, ”They kept their words with each other,” said he, in a low voice; ”now I believe theh the parterre with slow and hborhood--were filled with grieving neighbors relating to each other the double catastrophe, andpreparations for the funeral
Chapter LX The Last Canto of the Poem
On the morrow, all the _noblesse_ of the provinces, of the environs, and whereverin detach to speak to anybody Two such heavy deaths falling upon the captain, so closely after the death of Porthos, for a long tiable and invulnerable
Except Grimaud, who entered his chauests He supposed, fro, that preparations were beingto ask for an extension of his leave of absence Grinan's apartment, had seated himself upon a joint-stool near the door, like a n to D'Artagnan to follow him The latter obeyed in silence Grimaud descended to the coer the place of the empty bed, and raised his eyes eloquently towards Heaven