Part 76 (1/2)
It was then striking half-past ten by St Paul's
Arrived at the hotel it was not long before Athos entered
”All's well,” he cried, as he entered; ”I have hired a cedar wherry, as light as a canoe, as easy on the wing as any s It is waiting for us at Greenwich, opposite the Isle of Dogs, manned by a captain and fourwill keep thehts Once on board we drop down the Thames and in two hours are on the open sea In case I aer and the skiff is called the Lightning A handkerchief, tied at the four corners, is to be the signal”
Next nan entered
”Empty your pockets,” said he; ”I want a hundred pounds, and as for my own----” and he emptied thenan ran out and returned directly after
”There,” said he, ”it's done Ough! and not without a deal of trouble, too”
”Has the executioner left London?” asked Athos
”Ah, you see that plan was not sure enough; he ate and return by another”
”Where is he, then?”
”In the cellar”
”The cellar--what cellar?”
”Our landlord's, to be sure Mousqueton is propped against the door and here's the key”
”Bravo!” said Ara else, with money; but it cost me dear”
”How much?” asked Athos
”Five hundred pounds”
”And where did you get so much money?” said Athos ”Had you, then, that sunan, with a sigh
”Ah, true,” said Araht it back, then, from Monsieur des Essarts?” asked Porthos
”Yes, but it was fated that I should not keep it”
”So, then, we are all right as regards the executioner,” said Athos; ”but unfortunately every executioner has his assistant, his man, or whatever you call hiood luck would have it, just as I thought I should have two affairs toIn the excess of his zeal he had acco's , and one of the crossbea and broke it”
”Ah!” cried Aramis, ”that accounts for the cry I heard”
”Probably,” said D'Artagnan, ”but as he is a thoughtful young man he promised to send four expert workmen in his place to help those already at the scaffold, and wrote the ht home to Master Too down to Whitehall, with three of his friends Here's the letter he sent by a uinea”
”And what on earth are you going to do with it?” asked Athos
”Can't you guess, lish like John Bull himself, are Master Tom Loe, your three companions Do you understand it now?”
Athos uttered a cry of joy and admiration, ran to a closet and drew forth workmen's clothes, which the four friends i a saw, Porthos a vise, Aranan a hammer and some nails
The letter from the executioner's assistant satisfied the master carpenter that those were the ht Charles heard a great noise beneath hisIt arose fro of pincers and cranching of saws
Lying dressed upon his bed, the noise awoke hiloomy echo in his heart He could not endure it, and sent Parry to ask the sentinel to beg the workently and not disturb the last slu The sentinel was unwilling to leave his post, but allowed Parry to pass
Arriving at theParry found an unfinished scaffold, over which they were nailing a covering of black serge Raised to the height of twenty feet, so as to be on a level with the , it had ter stories Parry, odious as was this sight to hiht or ten work thethe last hooks of the iron balcony
”My friends,” said Parry,beside theet a sleep”
One of the tas standing up, was of gigantic size and was driving a pick with all hisbeside hi the pieces of stone The face of the first was lost to Parry in the darkness; but as the second turned around and placed his finger on his lips Parry started back in amazement
”Very well, very well,” said the work that if he sleeps badly to-night he will sleep better to-ht”
These blunt words, so terrible if taken literally, were received by the other work he was drea his return At the uarded the door put his head through the opening, curious as to what the king was doing The king was lying on his bed, resting on his elbow Parry closed the door and approaching the king, his face radiant with joy: ”Sire,” he said, in a low voice, ”do you knoho these work so much noise?”
”I? No; hoould you have : ”It is the Co , astounded
”Yes, and at the sa clasped his hands and raised his eyes to Heaven; then leaping down fro aside the curtain tried to distinguish the figures outside, but in vain
Parry was not wrong It was Athos he had recognized, and Porthos as boring a hole through the wall
This hole communicated with a kind of loft--the space between the floor of the king's roo of the one below it Their plan was to pass through the hole they wereinto this loft and cut out fro's rooh this the king was to escape the next night, and, hidden by the black covering of the scaffold, was to change his dress for that of a workman, slip out with his deliverers, pass the sentinels, ould suspect nothing, and so reach the skiff that aiting for hiilded the tops of the houses The aperture was finished and Athos passed through it, carrying the clothes destined for the king wrapped in black cloth, and the tools hich he was to open a co's room He had only two hours' work to do to open co to the calculations of the four friends, they had the entire day before the absent, another nan returned to change his workman's clothes for his chestnut-colored suit, and Porthos to put on his red doublet As for Aramis, he went off to the bishop's palace to see if he could possibly pass in with Juxon to the king's presence All three agreed to s went on