ns.
Therefore I will go immediately and carry my resignation to the king.
I tender it before you all, enjoining you all to fall back with me upon
the coast of France, in such a way as not to compromise the safety of
the forces his majesty has confided to me. For this purpose, return all
to your posts; within an hour, we shall have the ebb of the tide. To
your posts, gentlemen! I suppose," added he, on seeing that all prepared
to obey him, except the surveillant officer, "you have no orders to
object, this time?"

And D'Artagnan almost triumphed while speaking these words. This plan
would prove the safety of his friends. The blockade once raised, they
might embark immediately, and set sail for England or Spain, without
fear of being molested. Whilst they were making their escape, D'Artagnan
would return to the king; would justify his return by the indignation
which the mistrust of Colbert had raised in him; he would be sent back
with full powers, and he would take Belle-Isle; that is to say, the
cage, after the birds had flown. But to this plan the officer opposed a
further order of the king's. It was thus conceived:

"From the moment M. d'Artagnan shall have manifested the desire of
giving in his resignation, he shall no longer be reckoned leader of the
expedition, and every officer placed under his orders shall be held to
no longer obey him. Moreover, the said Monsieur d'Artagnan, having lost
that quality of leader of the army sent against Belle-Isle, shall set
out immediately for France, accompanied by the officer who will have
remitted the message to him, and who will consider him a prisoner for
whom he is answerable."

Brave and careless as he was, D'Artagnan turned pale. Everything had
been calculated with a depth of precognition which, for the first time
in thirty years, recalled to him the solid foresight and inflexible
logic of the great cardinal. He leaned his head on his hand, thoughtful,
scarcely breathing. "If I were to put this order in my pocket," thought
he, "who would know it, what would prevent my doing it? Before the king
had had time to be informed, I should have saved those poor fellows
yonder. Let us exercise some small audacity! My head is not one of those
the executioner strikes off for disobedience. We will disobey!" But at
the moment he was about to adopt this plan, he saw the officers around
him reading similar orders, which the passive agent of the thoughts of
that infernal Colbert had dist