to each his supplement of pay, as agreed upon." Their eyes sparkled.
"I will lay a wager there are not, at this moment, a hundred crowns
remaining in the purse of the richest among you."

"That is true," cried they in chorus.

"Gentlemen," said D'Artagnan, "then, this is the last order. The treaty
of commerce has been concluded thanks to our coup-de-main which made
us masters of the most skillful financier of England, for now I am
at liberty to confess to you that the man we had to carry off was the
treasurer of General Monk."

This word treasurer produced a certain effect on his army. D'Artagnan
observed that the eyes of Menneville alone did not evince perfect faith.
"This treasurer," he continued, "I conveyed to a neutral territory,
Holland; I forced him to sign the treaty; I have even reconducted him
to Newcastle, and as he was obliged to be satisfied with our proceedings
towards him--the deal coffer being always carried without jolting, and
being lined softly, I asked for a gratification for you. Here it is." He
threw a respectable-looking purse upon the cloth; and all involuntarily
stretched out their hands. "One moment, my lambs," said D'Artagnan; "if
there are profits, there are also charges."

"Oh! oh!" murmured they.

"We are about to find ourselves, my friends, in a position that would
not be tenable for people without brains. I speak plainly: we are
between the gallows and the Bastile."

"Oh! oh!" said the chorus.

"That is easily understood. It was necessary to explain to General Monk
the disappearance of his treasurer. I waited, for that purpose, till the
very unhopedfor moment of the restoration of King Charles II., who is
one of my friends."

The army exchanged a glance of satisfaction in reply to the sufficiently
proud look of D'Artagnan. "The king being restored, I restored to Monk
his man of business, a little plucked, it is true, but, in short,
I restored him. Now, General Monk, when he pardoned me, for he has
pardoned me, could not help repeating these words to me, which I charge
every one of you to engrave deeply there, between the eyes, under the
vault of the cranium:--'Monsieur, the joke has been a good one, but I
don't naturally like jokes; if ever a word of what you have done' (you
understand me, Menneville) 'escapes from your lips, or the lips of your
companions, I have, in my government of Scotland and Ireland, seven
hundred and forty-one wooden gibbets, of strong oak, clamped with ir