ay, towards the works of which D'Artagnan
could as yet appreciate neither the strength nor the extent. Everywhere
was to be seen an activity equal to that which Telemachus observed
on his landing at Salentum. D'Artagnan felt a strong inclination to
penetrate into the interior; but he could not, under the penalty of
exciting mistrust, exhibit too much curiosity. He advanced then little
by little, scarcely going beyond the line formed by the fishermen on the
beach, observing everything, saying nothing, and meeting all suspicion
that might have been excited with a half-silly question or a polite bow.
And yet, whilst his companions carried on their trade, giving or selling
their fish to the workmen or the inhabitants of the city, D'Artagnan had
gained ground by degrees, and, reassured by the little attention paid to
him, he began to cast an intelligent and confident look upon the men and
things that appeared before his eyes. And his very first glance fell on
certain movements of earth about which the eye of a soldier could not be
mistaken. At the two extremities of the port, in order that their fires
should converge upon the great axis of the ellipsis formed by the basin,
in the first place, two batteries had been raised, evidently destined
to receive flank pieces, for D'Artagnan saw the workmen finishing the
platform and making ready the demi-circumference in wood upon which
the wheels of the pieces might turn to embrace every direction over the
epaulement. By the side of each of these batteries other workmen were
strengthening gabions filled with earth, the lining of another battery.
The latter had embrasures, and the overseer of the works called
successively men who, with cords, tied the saucissons and cut the
lozenges and right angles of turfs destined to retain the matting of
the embrasures. By the activity displayed in these works, already so
far advanced, they might be considered as finished: they were not yet
furnished with their cannons, but the platforms had their gites
and their madriers all prepared; the earth, beaten carefully, was
consolidated; and supposing the artillery to be on the island, in less
than two or three days the port might be completely armed. That which
astonished D'Artagnan, when he turned his eyes from the coast batteries
to the fortifications of the city, was to see that Belle-Isle was
defended by an entirely new system, of which he had often heard the
Comte de la Fere speak as a wonderful adv