is friends, unable to accompany them, without passing in the eyes
of Porthos and Aramis for a traitor and a perjurer, with painfully
attentive ear and unconsciously supplicating hands leaned against the
rough side of a rock which he thought must be exposed to the fire of the
musketeers. As to the guards, they penetrated further and further,
with exclamations that grew fainter as they advanced. All at once, a
discharge of musketry, growling like thunder, exploded in the entrails
of the vault. Two or three balls were flattened against the rock on
which Biscarrat was leaning. At the same instant, cries, shrieks,
imprecations burst forth, and the little troop of gentlemen
reappeared--some pale, some bleeding--all enveloped in a cloud of
smoke, which the outer air seemed to suck from the depths of the cavern.
"Biscarrat! Biscarrat!" cried the fugitives, "you knew there was an
ambuscade in that cavern, and you did not warn us! Biscarrat, you are
the cause that four of us are murdered men! Woe be to you, Biscarrat!"

"You are the cause of my being wounded unto death," said one of the
young men, letting a gush of scarlet life-blood vomit in his palm, and
spattering it into Biscarrat's livid face. "My blood be on your head!"
And he rolled in agony at the feet of the young man.

"But, at least, tell us who is there?" cried several furious voices.

Biscarrat remained silent. "Tell us, or die!" cried the wounded man,
raising himself upon one knee, and lifting towards his companion an
arm bearing a useless sword. Biscarrat rushed towards him, opening his
breast for the blow, but the wounded man fell back not to rise again,
uttering a groan which was his last. Biscarrat, with hair on end,
haggard eyes, and bewildered head, advanced towards the interior of
the cavern, saying, "You are right. Death to me, who have allowed my
comrades to be assassinated. I am a worthless wretch!" And throwing away
his sword, for he wished to die without defending himself, he rushed
head foremost into the cavern. The others followed him. The eleven
who remained out of sixteen imitated his example; but they did not go
further than the first. A second discharge laid five upon the icy sand;
and as it was impossible to see whence this murderous thunder issued,
the others fell back with a terror that can be better imagined than
described. But, far from flying, as the others had done, Biscarrat
remained safe and sound, seated on a fragment of rock, and waited