Chapter XLIX. An Homeric Song.

by Alexandre Dumas

　　It is time to pass to the other camp, and to describe at once thecombatants and the field of battle. Aramis and Porthos had gone to thegrotto of Locmaria with the expectation of finding there their canoeready armed, as well as the three Bretons, their assistants; and they atfirst hoped to make the bark pass through the little issue of the cavern,concealing in that fashion both their labors and their flight. Thearrival of the fox and dogs obliged them to remain concealed. The grottoextended the space of about a hundred toises, to that little slopedominating a creek. Formerly a temple of the Celtic divinities, whenBelle-Isle was still called Kalonese, this grotto had beheld more thanone human sacrifice accomplished in its mystic depths. The firstentrance to the cavern was by a moderate descent, above which distortedrocks formed a weird arcade; the interior, very uneven and dangerous fromthe inequalities of the vault, was subdivided into several compartments,which communicated with each other by means of rough and jagged steps,fixed right and left, in uncouth natural pillars. At the thirdcompartment the vault was so low, the passage so narrow, that the barkwould scarcely have passed without touching the side; nevertheless, inmoments of despair, wood softens and stone grows flexible beneath thehuman will. Such was the thought of Aramis, when, after having foughtthe fight, he decided upon flight - a flight most dangerous, since allthe assailants were not dead; and that, admitting the possibility ofputting the bark to sea, they would have to fly in open day, before theconquered, so interested on recognizing their small number, in pursuingtheir conquerors. When the two discharges had killed ten men, Aramis,familiar with the windings of the cavern, went to reconnoiter them one byone, and counted them, for the smoke prevented seeing outside; and heimmediately commanded that the canoe should be rolled as far as the greatstone, the closure of the liberating issue. Porthos collected all hisstrength, took the canoe in his arms, and raised it up, whilst theBretons made it run rapidly along the rollers. They had descended intothe third compartment; they had arrived at the stone which walled theoutlet. Porthos seized this gigantic stone at its base, applied hisrobust shoulder, and gave a heave which made the wall crack. A cloud ofdust fell from the vault, with the ashes of ten thousand generations ofsea birds, whose nests stuck like cement to the rock. At the third shockthe stone gave way, and oscillated for a minute. Porthos, placing hisback against the neighboring rock, made an arch with his foot, whichdrove the block out of the calcareous masses which served for hinges andcramps. The stone fell, and daylight was visible, brilliant, radiant,flooding the cavern through the opening, and the blue sea appeared to thedelighted Bretons. They began to lift the bark over the barricade.Twenty more toises, and it would glide into the ocean. It was duringthis time that the company arrived, was drawn up by the captain, anddisposed for either an escalade or an assault. Aramis watched overeverything, to favor the labors of his friends. He saw thereinforcements, counted the men, and convinced himself at a single glanceof the insurmountable peril to which fresh combat would expose them. Toescape by sea, at the moment the cavern was about to be invaded, wasimpossible. In fact, the daylight which had just been admitted to thelast compartments had exposed to the soldiers the bark being rolledtowards the sea, the two rebels within musket-shot; and one of theirdischarges would riddle the boat if it did not kill the navigators.Besides, allowing everything, - if the bark escaped with the men on boardof it, how could the alarm be suppressed - how could notice to the royallighters be prevented? What could hinder the poor canoe, followed by seaand watched from the shore, from succumbing before the end of the day?Aramis, digging his hands into his gray hair with rage, invoked theassistance of God and the assistance of the demons. Calling to Porthos,who was doing more work than all the rollers - whether of flesh or wood -"My friend," said he, "our adversaries have just received areinforcement.""Ah, ah!" said Porthos, quietly, "what is to be done, then?""To recommence the combat," said Aramis, "is hazardous.""Yes," said Porthos, "for it is difficult to suppose that out of two, oneshould not be killed; and certainly, if one of us was killed, the otherwould get himself killed also." Porthos spoke these words with thatheroic nature which, with him, grew grander with necessity.Aramis felt it like a spur to his heart. "We shall neither of us bekilled if you do what I tell you, friend Porthos.""Tell me what?""These people are coming down into the grotto.""Yes.""We could kill about fifteen of them, but no more.""How many are there in all?" asked Porthos."They have received a reinforcement of seventy-five men.""Seventy-five and five, eighty. Ah!" sighed Porthos."If they fire all at once they will riddle us with balls.""Certainly they will.""Without reckoning," added Aramis, "that the detonation might occasion acollapse of the cavern.""Ay," said Porthos, "a piece of falling rock just now grazed my shoulder.""You see, then?""Oh! it is nothing.""We must determine upon something quickly. Our Bretons are going tocontinue to roll the canoe towards the sea.""Very well.""We two will keep the powder, the balls, and the muskets here.""But only two, my dear Aramis - we shall never fire three shotstogether," said Porthos, innocently, "the defense by musketry is a badone.""Find a better, then.""I have found one," said the giant, eagerly; "I will place myself inambuscade behind the pillar with this iron bar, and invisible,unattackable, if they come in floods, I can let my bar fall upon theirskulls, thirty times in a minute. Hein! what do you think of theproject? You smile!""Excellent, dear friend, perfect! I approve it greatly; only you willfrighten them, and half of them will remain outside to take us byfamine. What we want, my good friend, is the entire destruction of thetroop. A single survivor encompasses our ruin.""You are right, my friend, but how can we attract them, pray?""By not stirring, my good Porthos.""Well! we won't stir, then; but when they are all together - ""Then leave it to me, I have an idea.""If it is so, and your idea proves a good one - and your idea is mostlikely to be good - I am satisfied.""To your ambuscade, Porthos, and count how many enter.""But you, what will you do?""Don't trouble yourself about me; I have a task to perform.""I think I hear shouts.""It is they! To your post. Keep within reach of my voice and hand."Porthos took refuge in the second compartment, which was in darkness,absolutely black. Aramis glided into the third; the giant held in hishand an iron bar of about fifty pounds weight. Porthos handled thislever, which had been used in rolling the bark, with marvelous facility.During this time, the Bretons had pushed the bark to the beach. In thefurther and lighter compartment, Aramis, stooping and concealed, was busywith some mysterious maneuver. A command was given in a loud voice. Itwas the last order of the captain commandant. Twenty-five men jumpedfrom the upper rocks into the first compartment of the grotto, and havingtaken their ground, began to fire. The echoes shrieked and barked, thehissing balls seemed actually to rarefy the air, and then opaque smokefilled the vault."To the left! to the left!" cried Biscarrat, who, in his first assault,had seen the passage to the second chamber, and who, animated by thesmell of powder, wished to guide his soldiers in that direction. Thetroop, accordingly, precipitated themselves to the left - the passagegradually growing narrower. Biscarrat, with his hands stretched forward,devoted to death, marched in advance of the muskets. "Come on! come on!"exclaimed he, "I see daylight!""Strike, Porthos!" cried the sepulchral voice of Aramis.Porthos breathed a heavy sigh - but he obeyed. The iron bar fell fulland direct upon the head of Biscarrat, who was dead before he had endedhis cry. Then the formidable lever rose ten times in ten seconds, andmade ten corpses. The soldiers could see nothing; they heard sighs andgroans; they stumbled over dead bodies, but as they had no conception ofthe cause of all this, they came forward jostling each other. Theimplacable bar, still falling, annihilated the first platoon, without asingle sound to warn the second, which was quietly advancing; only,commanded by the captain, the men had stripped a fir, growing on theshore, and, with its resinous branches twisted together, the captain hadmade a flambeau. On arriving at the compartment where Porthos, like theexterminating angel, had destroyed all he touched, the first rank drewback in terror. No firing had replied to that of the guards, and yettheir way was stopped by a heap of dead bodies - they literally walked inblood. Porthos was still behind his pillar. The captain, illuminingwith trembling pine-torch this frightful carnage, of which he in vainsought the cause, drew back towards the pillar behind which Porthos wasconcealed. Then a gigantic hand issued from the shade, and fastened onthe throat of the captain, who uttered a stifle rattle; his stretched-outarms beating the air, the torch fell and was extinguished in blood. Asecond after, the corpse of the captain dropped close to the extinguishedtorch, and added another body to the heap of dead which blocked up thepassage. All this was effected as mysteriously as though by magic. Athearing the rattling in the throat of the captain, the soldiers whoaccompanied him had turned round, caught a glimpse of his extended arms,his eyes starting from their sockets, and then the torch fell and theywere left in darkness. From an unreflective, instinctive, mechanicalfeeling, the lieutenant cried:"Fire!"Immediately a volley of musketry flamed, thundered, roared in the cavern,bringing down enormous fragments from the vaults. The cavern was lightedfor an instant by this discharge, and then immediately returned to pitchydarkness rendered thicker by the smoke. To this succeeded a profoundsilence, broken only by the steps of the third brigade, now entering thecavern.