The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas (the beginning after the end novel read txt) ๐
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- Author: Alexandre Dumas
Read book online ยซThe Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas (the beginning after the end novel read txt) ๐ยป. Author - Alexandre Dumas
โIt must be as you please, monseigneur,โ replied the skipper Yves, respectfully; โbut I donโt believe that by the slope of the cavern, and in the dark in which we shall be obliged to maneuver our boat, the road will be so convenient as the open air. I know the beach well, and can certify that it is as smooth as a grass-plot in a garden; the interior of the grotto, on the contrary, is rough; without reckoning, monseigneur, that at its extremity we shall come to the trench which leads into the sea, and perhaps the canoe will not pass down it.โ
โI have made my calculation,โ said the bishop, โand I am certain it will pass.โ
โSo be it; I wish it may, monseigneur,โ continued Yves; โbut your highness knows very well that to make it reach the extremity of the trench, there is an enormous stone to be liftedโthat under which the fox always passes, and which closes the trench like a door.โ
โIt can be raised,โ said Porthos; โthat is nothing.โ
โOh! I know that monseigneur has the strength of ten men,โ replied Yves; โbut that is giving him a great deal of trouble.โ
โI think the skipper may be right,โ said Aramis; โlet us try the open-air passage.โ
โThe more so, monseigneur,โ continued the fisherman, โthat we should not be able to embark before day, it will require so much labor, and that as soon as daylight appears, a good vedette placed outside the grotto would be necessary, indispensable even, to watch the maneuvers of the lighters or cruisers that are on the look-out for us.โ
โYes, yes, Yves, your reasons are good; we will go by the beach.โ
And the three robust Bretons went to the boat, and were beginning to place their rollers underneath it to put it in motion, when the distant barking of dogs was heard, proceeding from the interior of the island.
Aramis darted out of the grotto, followed by Porthos. Dawn just tinted with purple and white the waves and plain; through the dim light, melancholy fir-trees waved their tender branches over the pebbles, and long flights of crows were skimming with their black wings the shimmering fields of buckwheat. In a quarter of an hour it would be clear daylight; the wakened birds announced it to all nature. The barkings which had been heard, which had stopped the three fishermen engaged in moving the boat, and had brought Aramis and Porthos out of the cavern, now seemed to come from a deep gorge within about a league of the grotto.
โIt is a pack of hounds,โ said Porthos; โthe dogs are on a scent.โ
โWho can be hunting at such a moment as this?โ said Aramis.
โAnd this way, particularly,โ continued Porthos, โwhere they might expect the army of the royalists.โ
โThe noise comes nearer. Yes, you are right, Porthos, the dogs are on a scent. But, Yves!โ cried Aramis, โcome here! come here!โ
Yves ran towards him, letting fall the cylinder which he was about to place under the boat when the bishopโs call interrupted him.
โWhat is the meaning of this hunt, skipper?โ said Porthos.
โEh! monseigneur, I cannot understand it,โ replied the Breton. โIt is not at such a moment that the Seigneur de Locmaria would hunt. No, and yet the dogsโโ
โUnless they have escaped from the kennel.โ
โNo,โ said Goenne, โthey are not the Seigneur de Locmariaโs hounds.โ
โIn common prudence,โ said Aramis, โlet us go back into the grotto; the voices evidently draw nearer, we shall soon know what we have to trust to.โ
They re-entered, but had scarcely proceeded a hundred steps in the darkness, when a noise like the hoarse sigh of a creature in distress resounded through the cavern, and breathless, rapid, terrified, a fox passed like a flash of lightning before the fugitives, leaped over the boat and disappeared, leaving behind its sour scent, which was perceptible for several seconds under the low vaults of the cave.
โThe fox!โ cried the Bretons, with the glad surprise of born hunters.
โAccursed mischance!โ cried the bishop, โour retreat is discovered.โ
โHow so?โ said Porthos; โare you afraid of a fox?โ
โEh! my friend, what do you mean by that? why do you specify the fox? It is not the fox alone. Pardieu! But donโt you know, Porthos, that after the foxes come hounds, and after hounds men?โ
Porthos hung his head. As though to confirm the words of Aramis, they heard the yelping pack approach with frightful swiftness upon the trail. Six foxhounds burst at once upon the little heath, with mingling yelps of triumph.
โThere are the dogs, plain enough!โ said Aramis, posted on the look-out behind a chink in the rocks; โnow, who are the huntsmen?โ
โIf it is the Seigneur de Locmariaโs,โ replied the sailor, โhe will leave the dogs to hunt the grotto, for he knows them, and will not enter in himself, being quite sure that the fox will come out the other side; it is there he will wait for him.โ
โIt is not the Seigneur de Locmaria who is hunting,โ replied Aramis, turning pale in spite of his efforts to maintain a placid countenance.
โWho is it, then?โ said Porthos.
โLook!โ
Porthos applied his eye to the slit, and saw at the summit of a hillock a dozen horsemen urging on their horses in the track of the dogs, shouting, โTaiaut! taiaut!โ
โThe guards!โ said he.
โYes, my friend, the kingโs guards.โ
โThe
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