THE GROTTO.
In spite of the sort of divination which was the remarkable side of the
character of Aramis, the event, subject to the chances of things over
which uncertainty presides, did not fall out exactly as the bishop of
Vannes had foreseen. Biscarrat, better mounted than his companions,
arrived the first at the opening of the grotto, and comprehended that
the fox and the dogs were all engulfed in it. Only struck by that
superstitious terror which every dark and subterraneous way naturally
impresses upon the mind of man, he stopped at the outside of the grotto,
and waited till his companions should have assembled round him.
"Well!" asked the young men, coming up out of breath, and unable to
understand the meaning of his inaction.
"Well! I cannot hear the dogs; they and the fox must be all engulfed in
this cavern."
"They were too close up," said one of the guards, "to have lost scent
all at once. Besides, we should hear them from one side or another. They
must, as Biscarrat says, be in this grotto."
"But then," said one of the young men, "why don't they give tongue?"
"It is strange!" said another.
"Well, but," said a fourth, "let us go into this grotto. Does it happen
to be forbidden that we should enter it?"
"No," replied Biscarrat. "Only as it looks as dark as a wolf's mouth,
we might break our necks in it."
"Witness the dogs," said a guard, "who seem to have broken theirs."
"What the devil can have become of them?" asked the young men in chorus.
And every master called his dog by his name, whistled to him in his
favorite note, without a single one replying to either the call or the
whistle.
"It is perhaps an enchanted grotto," said Biscarrat; "let us see." And
jumping from his horse, he made a step into the grotto.
"Stop! stop! I will accompany you," said one of the guards, on seeing
Biscarrat disappear in the shade of the cavern's mouth.
"No," replied Biscarrat, "there must be something extraordinary in the
place--don't let us risk ourselves all at once. If in ten minutes you do
not hear of me, you can come in, but not all at once."
"Be it so," said the young men, who, besides, did not see that Biscarrat
ran much risk in the enterprise, "we will wait for you." And without
dismounting from their horses, they formed a circle round the grotto.
Biscarrat entered then alone, and advanced through the darkness till he
came in contact with the muzzle of Porthos' musket. The resistance which
his chest met with astonished him; he naturally raised his hand and laid
hold of the icy barrel. At the same instant Yves lifted a knife against
the young man, which was about to fall upon him with all the force of a
Breton's arm, when the iron wrist of Porthos stopped it half way. Then,
like low muttering thunder, his voice growled in the darkness, "I will
not have him killed!"
Biscarrat found himself between a protection and a threat, the one
almost as terrible as the other. However brave the young man might be,
he could not prevent a cry escaping him, which Aramis immediately
suppressed by placing a handkerchief over his mouth. "Monsieur de
Biscarrat," said he in a low voice, "we mean you no harm, and you must
know that, if you have recognized us; but, at the first word, the first
sigh, or the first breath, we shall be forced to kill you as we have
killed your dogs."
"Yes, I recognize you, gentlemen," said the officer, in a low voice.
"But why are you here--what are you doing here? Unfortunate men! I
thought you were in the fort."
"And you, monsieur, you were to obtain conditions for us, I think?"
"I did all I was able, messieurs, but--"
"But what?"
"But there are positive orders."
"To kill us?" Biscarrat made no reply. It would have cost him too much
to speak of the cord to gentlemen. Aramis understood the silence of his
prisoner.
"M. Biscarrat," said he, "you would be already dead if we had not had
regard for your youth and our ancient association with your father; but
you may yet escape from the place by swearing that you will not tell
your companions what you have seen."
"I will not only swear that I will not speak of it," said Biscarrat,
"but I still further swear that I will do everything in the world to
prevent my companions from setting foot in the grotto."
"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried several voices from the outside, coming
like a whirlwind into the cave.
"Reply," said Aramis.
"Here am I!" cried Biscarrat.
"Now, begone; we depend upon your loyalty." And he left his hold of the
young man, who hastily returned toward the light.
"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried the voices, still nearer. And the shadows
of several human forms projected into the interior of the grotto.
Biscarrat rushed to meet his friends in order to stop them, and met them
just as they were adventuring into the cave. Aramis and Porthos listened
with the intense attention of men whose life depends upon a breath of
air.
"Oh! oh!" exclaimed one of the guards, as he came to the light, "how
pale you are!"
"Pale!" cried another, "you ought to say livid."
"I!" said the young man, endeavoring to collect his faculties.
"In the name of Heaven! what has happened to you?" exclaimed all voices.
"You have not a drop of blood in your veins, my poor friend," said one
of them, laughing.
"Messieurs, it is serious," said another, "he is going to faint; does
any one of you happen to have any salts?" And they all laughed.
All these interpellations, all these jokes crossed each other round
Biscarrat as the balls cross each other in the fire of a _mélée_. He
recovered himself amid a deluge of interrogations.
"What do you suppose I have seen?" asked he. "I was too hot when I
entered the grotto, and I have been struck with the cold; that is all."
"But the dogs, the dogs, have you seen them again--did you see anything
of them--do you know anything about them?"
"I suppose they have gone out by another way."
"Messieurs," said one of the young men, "there is in that which is going
on, in the paleness and silence of our friend, a mystery which Biscarrat
will not, or cannot reveal. Only, and that is a certainty, Biscarrat has
seen something in the grotto.
"Well, for my part, I am very curious to see what it is, even if it were
the devil! To the grotto! messieurs, to the grotto!"
"To the grotto!" repeated all the voices. And the echo of the cavern
carried like a menace to Porthos and Aramis. "To the grotto! to the
grotto!"
Biscarrat threw himself before his companions. "Messieurs! messieurs!"
cried he, "in the name of Heaven! do not go in!"
"Why, what is there so terrific in the cavern?" asked several at once.
"Come, speak, Biscarrat."
"Decidedly, it is the devil he has seen," repeated he who had before
advanced that hypothesis.
"Well!" said another; "if he has seen him, he need not be selfish: he
may as well let us have a look at him in our turns."
"Messieurs! messieurs! I beseech you," urged Biscarrat.
"Nonsense!--Let us pass!"
"Messieurs, I implore you not to enter!"
"Why, you went in yourself."
Then one of the officers who--of a riper age than the others--had, till
this time, remained behind, and had said nothing, advanced, "Messieurs,"
said he, with a calmness which contrasted with the animation of the
young men, "there is in this some person, or something, that is not the
devil; but which, whatever it may be, has had sufficient power to
silence our dogs. We must know who this some one is, or what this
something is."
Biscarrat made a last effort to stop his friends, but it was useless. In
vain he threw himself before the most rash; in vain he clung to the
rocks to bar the passage; the crowd of young men rushed into the cave,
in the steps of the officer who had spoken last, but who had sprung in
first, sword in hand, to face the unknown danger. Biscarrat, repulsed by
his friends, not able to accompany them, without passing in the eyes of
Porthos and Aramis for a traitor and a perjurer, with painfully
attentive ear and still supplicating hands leaned against the rough side
of a rock which he thought must be exposed to the fire of the
musketeers. As to the guards, they penetrated further and further, with
cries that grew weaker as they advanced. All at once, a discharge of
musketry, growling like thunder, exploded beneath the vault. Two or
three balls were flattened against the rock where Biscarrat was leaning.
At the same instant cries, howlings, and imprecations burst forth, and
the little troop of gentlemen reappeared--some pale, some bleeding--all
enveloped in a cloud of smoke, which the outward air seemed to draw from
the depths of the cavern. "Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried the fugitives,
"you knew there was an ambuscade in that cavern, and you have not warned
us! Biscarrat, you are the cause that four of us have been killed! Woe
be to you, Biscarrat!"
"You are the cause of my being wounded to death," said one of the
young men, gathering his blood in his hand, and casting it into the face
of Biscarrat. "My blood be upon your head!" And he rolled in agony at
the feet of the young man.
"But, at least, tell us who is there?" cried several furious voices.
Biscarrat remained silent. "Tell us, or die!" cried the wounded man,
raising himself upon one knee, and lifting toward his companion an arm
bearing a useless sword. Biscarrat rushed toward him, opening his breast
for the blow, but the wounded man fell back not to rise again--uttering
a groan which was his last. Biscarrat, with hair on end, haggard eyes,
and bewildered head, advanced toward the interior of the cavern, saying,
"You are right. Death to me, who have allowed my companions to be
assassinated. I am a base wretch!" And throwing away his sword, for he
wished to die without defending himself, he rushed head foremost into
the cavern. The others followed him. The eleven who remained out of
sixteen imitated his example; but they did not go farther than the
first. A second discharge laid five upon the icy sand; and, as it was
impossible to see whence this murderous thunder issued, the others fell
back with a terror that can be better imagined than expressed. But, far
from flying, as the others had done, Biscarrat remained safe and sound,
seated on a fragment of rock, and waited. There were only six gentlemen
left.
"Seriously," said one of the survivors, "is it the devil?"
"Ma foi! it is much worse," said another.
"Ask Biscarrat, he knows."
"Where is Biscarrat?" The young men looked round them and saw that
Biscarrat did not answer.
"He is dead!" said two or three voices.
"Oh! no," replied another; "I saw him through the smoke, sitting quietly
on a rock. He is in the cavern; he is waiting for us."
"He must know who is there."
"And how should he know them?"
"He was taken prisoner by the rebels."
"That is true. Well! let us call him, and learn from him whom we have
to deal with." And all voices shouted, "Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" But
Biscarrat did not answer.
"Good!" said the officer who had shown so much coolness in the affair.
"We have no longer any need of him; here are re-enforcements coming."
In fact, a company of the guards, left in the rear by their officers,
whom the ardor of the chase had carried away--from seventy-five to
eighty men--arrived in good order, led by their captain and the first
lieutenant. The five officers hastened to meet their soldiers; and, in a
language, the eloquence of which may be easily imagined, they related
the adventure, and asked for aid. The captain interrupted them. "Where
are your companions?" demanded he.
"Dead!"
"But there were sixteen of you!"
"Ten are dead. Biscarrat is in the cavern, and we are five."
"Biscarrat is then a prisoner?"
"Probably."
"No; for here he is--look." In fact, Biscarrat appeared at the opening
of the grotto.
"He makes us a sign to come on," said the officer. "Come on!"
"Come on!" cried all the troop. And they advanced to meet Biscarrat.
"Monsieur," said the captain, addressing Biscarrat, "I am assured that
you know who the men are in that grotto, and who make such a desperate
defense. In the king's name I command you to declare what you know."
"Captain," said Biscarrat, "you have no need to command me; my word has
been restored to me this very instant; and I come in the name of these
men."
"To tell me who they are?"
"To tell you they are determined to defend themselves to the death,
unless you grant them good terms."
"How many are there of them, then?"
"There are two," said Biscarrat.
"There are two--and want to impose conditions upon us?"
"There are two, and they have already killed ten of our men."
"What sort of people are they--giants?"
"Better than that. Do you remember the history of the bastion Saint
Gervais, captain?"
"Yes; where four musketeers held out against an army."
"Well, these two men were of those musketeers."
"And their names?"
"At that period they were called Porthos and Aramis. Now, they are
styled M. d'Herblay and M. de Valon."
"And what interest have they in all this?"
"It is they who held Belle-Isle for M. Fouquet!"
A murmur ran through the ranks of the soldiers on hearing the two words
"Porthos and Aramis." "The musketeers! the musketeers!" repeated they.
And among all these brave men, the idea that they were going to have a
struggle against two of the oldest glories of the French army, made a
shiver, half enthusiasm, half terror, run through them. In fact, those
four names--D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis--were venerated among
all who wore a sword: as, in antiquity, the names of Hercules, Theseus,
Castor, and Pollux, were venerated.
"Two men--and they have killed ten in two discharges! That is
impossible, Monsieur Biscarrat!"
"Eh! captain," replied the latter, "I do not tell you that they have not
with them two or three men, as the musketeers of the bastion
Saint-Gervais had two or three lackeys; but, believe me, captain, I have
seen these men, I have been taken prisoner by them--I know they
themselves alone could suffice to destroy an army."
"That we shall see," said the captain, "and that in a moment too.
Gentlemen, attention!"
At this reply, no one stirred, and all prepared to obey. Biscarrat alone
risked a last attempt. "Monsieur," said he, in a low voice, "believe me;
let us pass on our way. Those two men, those two lions you are going to
attack, will defend themselves to the death. They have already killed
ten of our men; they will kill double the number, and end by killing
themselves rather than surrender. What shall we gain by fighting them?"
"We shall gain the consciousness, monsieur, of not having made eighty of
the king's guards retire before two rebels. If I listened to your
advice, monsieur, I should be a dishonored man; and by dishonoring
myself I should dishonor the army. Forward, men!"
And he marched first as far as the opening of the grotto. There he
halted. The object of this halt was to give to Biscarrat and his
companions time to describe to him the interior of the grotto. Then,
when he believed he had a sufficient acquaintance with the places, he
divided his company into three bodies, which were to enter successively,
keeping up a sustained fire in all directions. No doubt, in this attack
they should lose five more men, perhaps ten; but, certainly, they must
end by taking the rebels, since there was no issue; and, at any rate,
two men could not kill eighty.
"Captain," said Biscarrat, "I beg to be allowed to march at the head of
the first platoon."
"So be it," replied the captain; "you have all the honor of it. That is
a present I make you."
"Thanks!" replied the young man, with all the firmness of his race.
"Take your sword, then."
"I shall go as I am, captain," said Biscarrat, "for I do not go to kill.
I go to be killed."
And placing himself at the head of the first platoon, with his head
uncovered and his arms crossed--"March, gentlemen!" said he.