Those who have once beheld such a spectacle know that there is nothing more solemn, more striking, than the raging sea, rolling, with its deafening roar, its dark billows beneath the pale light of a wintry moon.
"Gracious Heaven, we are hesitating!" cried D'Artagnan; "if we hesitate what will the servants do?"
"I do not hesitate, you know," said Grimaud.
"Sir," interposed Blaisois, "I warn you that I can only swim in 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 perfect being, bid spirit triumph over body. Do you, Aramis, order the servants. Porthos, kill every one who stands in your way."
And after pressing the hand of Athos, D'Artagnan chose a moment when the ship rolled backward, so that he had only to plunge into the water, which was already up to his waist.
Athos followed him before the felucca rose again on the waves; the cable which tied the boat to the vessel was then seen plainly rising out of the sea.
D'Artagnan swam to it and held it, suspending himself by this rope, his head alone out of water.
In one second Athos joined him.
Then they saw, as the felucca turned, two other heads peeping, 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 the boat! 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 tragedy and half comedy, had been performed by him with Musqueton and Blaisois, who, frightened by the noise of the sea, by the whistling of the wind, by the sight of that dark water yawning like a gulf beneath them, shrank back instead of going forward.
"Come, come!" said Porthos; "jump in."
"But, monsieur," said Musqueton, "I can't swim; let me stay here."
"And me, too, monsieur," said Blaisois.
"I assure you, I shall be very much in the way in that little boat," said Musqueton.
"And I know I shall drown before reaching it," continued Blaisois.
"Come along! I shall strangle you both if you don't get out," said Porthos at last, seizing Musqueton by the throat.
"Forward, Blaisois!"
A groan, stifled by the grasp of Porthos, was all the reply of poor Blaisois, for the giant, taking him neck and heels, plunged him into the water headforemost, pushing him out of the window as if he had been a plank.
"Now, Musqueton," he said, "I hope you don't mean to desert your master?"
"Ah, sir," replied Musqueton, his eyes filling with tears, "why did you re-enter the army? We were all so happy in the Chateau de Pierrefonds!"
And without any other complaint, passive and obedient, either from true devotion to his master or from the example set by Blaisois, Musqueton leaped into the sea headforemost.
A sublime action, at all events, for Musqueton looked upon himself as dead. But Porthos was not a man to abandon an old servant, and when Musqueton rose above the water, blind as a new-born puppy, he found he was supported by the large hand of Porthos and that he was thus enabled, without having occasion even to move, to advance toward the cable with the dignity of a very triton.
In a few minutes Porthos had rejoined his companions, who were already in the boat; but when, after they had all got in, it came to his turn, there was great danger that in putting his huge leg over the edge of the boat he would upset 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, rocked only by the swashing waves.
"Come, Athos!" said D'Artagnan, giving his hand to the count; "you are going to see something curious," added the Gascon.