Grimaud waited till he heard the bolt grind in the lock andwhen he was satisfied that he was alone he slowly rose fromhis recumbent posture.

"Ah!" he said, wiping with his sleeve large drops of sweatfrom his forehead, "how lucky it was that Musqueton wasthirsty!"

He made haste to pass out by the opening, still thinkinghimself in a dream; but the sight of the gunpowder in thetankard proved to him that his dream was a fatal nightmare.

It may be imagined that D'Artagnan listened to these detailswith increasing interest; before Grimaud had finished herose without noise and putting his mouth to Aramis's ear,and at the same time touching him on the shoulder to preventa sudden movement:

"Chevalier," he said, "get up and don't make the leastnoise."

Aramis awoke. D'Artagnan, pressing his hand, repeated hiscall. Aramis obeyed.

"Athos is near you," said D'Artagnan; "warn him as I havewarned you."

Aramis easily aroused Athos, whose sleep was light, likethat of all persons of a finely organized constitution. Butthere was more difficulty in arousing Porthos. He wasbeginning to ask full explanation of that breaking in on hissleep, which was very annoying to him, when D'Artagnan,instead of explaining, closed his mouth with his hand.

Then our Gascon, extending his arms, drew to him the headsof his three friends till they almost touched one another.

"Friends," he said, "we must leave this craft at once or weare dead men."

"Bah!" said Athos, "are you still afraid?"

"Do you know who is captain of this vessel?"

"No."

"Captain Groslow."

The shudder of the three musketeers showed to D'Artagnanthat his words began to make some impression on them.

"Groslow!" said Aramis; "the devil!

"Who is this Groslow?" asked Porthos. "I don't rememberhim."

"Groslow is the man who broke Parry's head and is nowgetting ready to break ours."

"Oh! oh!"

"And do you know who is his lieutenant?"

"His lieutenant? There is none," said Athos. "They don'thave lieutenants in a felucca manned by a crew of four."

"Yes, but Monsieur Groslow is not a captain of the ordinarykind; he has a lieutenant, and that lieutenant is MonsieurMordaunt."

This time the musketeers did more than shudder - theyalmost cried out. Those invincible men were subject to amysterious and fatal influence which that name had overthem; the mere sound of it filled them with terror.

"What shall we do?" said Athos.

"We must seize the felucca," said Aramis.

"And kill him," said Porthos.

"The felucca is mined," said D'Artagnan. "Those casks whichI took for casks of port wine are filled with powder. WhenMordaunt finds himself discovered he will destroy all,friends and foes; and on my word he would be bad company ingoing either to Heaven or to hell."

"You have some plan, then?" asked Athos.

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"Have you confidence in me?"

"Give your orders," said the three musketeers.

"Wry well; come this way."

D'Artagnan went toward a very small, low window, just largeenough to let a man through. He turned it gently on itshinges.

"There," he said, "is our road."

"The deuce! it is a very cold one, my dear friend," saidAramis.

"Stay here, if you like, but I warn you 'twill be rather toowarm presently."

"But we cannot swim to the shore."

"The longboat is yonder, lashed to the felucca. We will takepossession of it and cut the cable. Come, my friends."

"A moment's delay," said Athos; "our servants?"

"Here we are!" they cried.

Meantime the three friends were standing motionless beforethe awful sight which D'Artagnan, in raising the shutters,had disclosed to them through the narrow opening of thewindow.

Those who have once beheld such a spectacle know that thereis nothing more solemn, more striking, than the raging sea,rolling, with its deafening roar, its dark billows beneaththe pale light of a wintry moon.

"Gracious Heaven, we are hesitating!" cried D'Artagnan; "ifwe hesitate what will the servants do?"

"I do not hesitate, you know," said Grimaud.

"Sir," interposed Blaisois, "I warn you that I can only swimin rivers."

"And I not at all," said Musqueton.

But D'Artagnan had now slipped through the window.

"You have decided, friend?" said Athos.

"Yes," the Gascon answered; "Athos! you, who are a perfectbeing, bid spirit triumph over body. Do you, Aramis, orderthe servants. Porthos, kill every one who stands in yourway."

And after pressing the hand of Athos, D'Artagnan chose amoment when the ship rolled backward, so that he had only toplunge into the water, which was already up to his waist.

Athos followed him before the felucca rose again on thewaves; the cable which tied the boat to the vessel was thenseen plainly rising out of the sea.

D'Artagnan swam to it and held it, suspending himself bythis rope, his head alone out of water.

In one second Athos joined him.

Then they saw, as the felucca turned, two other headspeeping, those of Aramis and Grimaud.

"I am uneasy about Blaisois," said Athos; "he can, he says,only swim in rivers."

"When people can swim at all they can swim anywhere. To theboat! to the boat!"

"But Porthos, I do not see him."

"Porthos is coming - he swims like Leviathan."

In fact, Porthos did not appear; for a scene, half tragedyand half comedy, had been performed by him with Musquetonand Blaisois, who, frightened by the noise of the sea, bythe whistling of the wind, by the sight of that dark wateryawning like a gulf beneath them, shrank back instead ofgoing forward.

"Come, come!" said Porthos; "jump in."

"But, monsieur," said Musqueton, "I can't swim; let me stayhere."

"And me, too, monsieur," said Blaisois.

"I assure you, I shall be very much in the way in thatlittle boat," said Musqueton.

"And I know I shall drown before reaching it," continuedBlaisois.

"Come along! I shall strangle you both if you don't getout," said Porthos at last, seizing Musqueton by the throat."Forward, Blaisois!"

A groan, stifled by the grasp of Porthos, was all the replyof poor Blaisois, for the giant, taking him neck and heels,plunged him into the water headforemost, pushing him out ofthe window as if he had been a plank.

"Now, Musqueton," he said, "I hope you don't mean to desertyour master?"

"Ah, sir," replied Musqueton, his eyes filling with tears,"why did you re-enter the army? We were all so happy in theChateau de Pierrefonds!"

And without any other complaint, passive and obedient,either from true devotion to his master or from the exampleset by Blaisois, Musqueton leaped into the sea headforemost.A sublime action, at all events, for Musqueton looked uponhimself as dead. But Porthos was not a man to abandon an oldservant, and when Musqueton rose above the water, blind as anew-born puppy, he found he was supported by the large handof Porthos and that he was thus enabled, without havingoccasion even to move, to advance toward the cable with thedignity of a very triton.

In a few minutes Porthos had rejoined his companions, whowere already in the boat; but when, after they had all gotin, it came to his turn, there was great danger that inputting his huge leg over the edge of the boat he wouldupset the little vessel. Athos was the last to enter.

"Are you all here?" he asked.

"Ah! have you your sword, Athos?" cried D'Artagnan.

"Yes."

"Cut the cable, then."

Athos drew a sharp poniard from his belt and cut the cord.The felucca went on, the boat continued stationary, rockedonly by the swashing waves.

"Come, Athos!" said D'Artagnan, giving his hand to thecount; "you are going to see something curious," added theGascon.