ributed to them. This contingency of his
disobedience had been foreseen--as all the rest had been.

"Monsieur," said the officer, coming up to him, "I await your good
pleasure to depart."

"I am ready, monsieur," replied D'Artagnan, grinding his teeth.

The officer immediately ordered a canoe to receive M. d'Artagnan and
himself. At sight of this he became almost distraught with rage.

"How," stammered he, "will you carry on the directions of the different
corps?"

"When you are gone, monsieur," replied the commander of the fleet, "it
is to me the command of the whole is committed."

"Then, monsieur," rejoined Colbert's man, addressing the new leader, "it
is for you that this last order remitted to me is intended. Let us see
your powers."

"Here they are," said the officer, exhibiting the royal signature.

"Here are your instructions," replied the officer, placing the folded
paper in his hands; and turning round towards D'Artagnan, "Come,
monsieur," said he, in an agitated voice (such despair did he behold in
that man of iron), "do me the favor to depart at once."

"Immediately!" articulated D'Artagnan, feebly, subdued, crushed by
implacable impossibility.

And he painfully subsided into the little boat, which started, favored
by wind and tide, for the coast of France. The king's guards embarked
with him. The musketeer still preserved the hope of reaching Nantes
quickly, and of pleading the cause of his friends eloquently enough
to incline the king to mercy. The bark flew like a swallow. D'Artagnan
distinctly saw the land of France profiled in black against the white
clouds of night.

"Ah! monsieur," said he, in a low voice, to the officer to whom, for
an hour, he had ceased speaking, "what would I give to know the
instructions for the new commander! They are all pacific, are they not?
and--"

He did not finish; the thunder of a distant cannon rolled athwart the
waves, another, and two or three still louder. D'Artagnan shuddered.

"They have commenced the siege of Belle-Isle," replied the officer. The
canoe had just touched the soil of France.

Chapter XLV. The Ancestors of Porthos.

When D'Artagnan left Aramis and Porthos, the latter returned to the
principal fort, in order to converse with greater liberty. Porthos,
still thoughtful, was a restraint on Aramis, whose mind had never felt
itself more free.

"Dear Porthos," said he, suddenly, "I will explain D'Artagnan's idea to
you."

"What idea