CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rush to the Coast

That same night eight men left Paris in the middle of the night: Athos, Porthos, Aramis, d'Artagnan and their four servants. Each man carried a sword, knives and they even had a few handguns.

They traveled easily through the night, and did not have any trouble until they reached Chantilly in the early morning. They were hungry for breakfast, and went to an inn. They entered the eating hall and had a large breakfast. When they finished eating, the men stood up.

"Wait, my friends," a stranger yelled as they stood up. "Before you leave, join me in a drink to the great Cardinal Richelieu!"

"Certainly," Porthos replied. "If you will also drink to the King's health with me."

The stranger jumped to his feet and stared at Porthos. "I do not know any King but the great Cardinal," he cried.

"Then you must either be drunk, or a fool." Porthos replied.

The stranger reached for his sword.

"You cannot stop this fight now," Athos said to Porthos, "We will leave your servant and horse here. Quickly kill this man, and then follow after us."

The three men went outside and jumped on their horses, they heard the sound of steel hitting against steel through a window of the inn, they then rode fast along the road.

Many miles ahead, the road became narrow between two high hills. In front of them they saw about ten men fixing the road. As they reached the men, Aramis stopped and asked one of the men where they were. Suddenly, one man yelled loudly and all the men ran and jumped into a large hole on one side of the road, from which each man lifted a hidden gun.

"It's a surprise attack!" d'Artagnan shouted. "Ride! Ride fast!"

As the men rode down the road bullets flew all around them. One bullet came so close that it shot d'Artagnan's hat off his head. Then he heard Aramis cry out loudly. A bullet had gone into his arm, but he grasped his horse hard and kept moving as fast as the others.

A mile later they all stopped and did all they could to stop the blood flowing from Aramis' wound. They then rode on as fast as they could for three more hours. By this time Aramis' face had become very pale. They found an inn and left Aramis there with his servant.

Athos, d'Artagnan and their two servants rode on, not reaching another town until after midnight, and slept in an inn. The inn owner only had two rooms left, and each was at opposite sides of the inn. Athos and d'Artagnan knew that it would be safer if they stayed close together, so they decided to sleep in the common hall.

D'Artagnan's servant Planchet slept next to the door, to guard them through the night. Athos' servant Grimaud, slept outside near the horses, with orders to have them ready at five in the morning.

Just before five they heard a terrible scream and the sounds of fighting near the horses. They ran outside and found Grimaud lying almost dead on the ground, he had been beaten with sticks. The horses were all gone. Athos and d'Artagnan now were certain that the Cardinal had planned against them.

Two fresh and strong horses were standing ready by the door of the inn; their owners had slept in the inn that night and were paying their bill.

Athos went inside to pay their bill also, while d'Artagnan and Planchet waited outside.

The inn owner looked at the coins that Athos gave him and then cried out that they were false and he would have Athos arrested.

"You lie!" said Athos, stepping towards him with anger in his eyes.

At that moment, four men, carrying guns and swords, entered through a side door and attacked Athos.

"D'Artagnan!" he yelled loudly. "I am attacked! Run quickly!" he then fired two gunshots.

D'Artagnan and Planchet knew they had no time to lose. They jumped onto the two horses by the door and rode off at top speed.

After a short while d'Artagnan slowed down his horse. "Could you see inside? What happened to Athos?" d'Artagnan asked.

"Mister d'Artagnan," said Planchet, "I saw a man fall from each of his two gun shots, and when we rode off I could see that he was using his sword to fight the other two."

"Brave and strong Athos!" said d'Artagnan quietly to himself. "It was hard for me to leave him there! But we must reach our goal. Now, let us ride!"

The two men were now close to the coast. They rode fast on the last part of their journey to the coast. When they were only three hundred steps from the doors of the port, d'Artagnan's horse fell down and was too tired to stand up again. Planchet's horse was tired also and would not leave the other horse. They got off the horses and ran towards the port.

In front of them they saw a rich gentleman and his servant talking to a ship captain. D'Artagnan listened to their conversation.

"I need to go to England immediately. Can you take me?"

"I could take you easily, sir," replied the ship captain, "but this morning Cardinal Richelieu made the order that no people could cross without a letter from the Cardinal."

"I have that letter," said the gentleman, pulling out a piece of paper from his pocket. "Here it is."

"You must first have it examined by the port official," said the captain, "and then I will be happy to take you."

"Very well," said the gentleman, "I will be back soon. Please prepare your ship."

The gentleman and his servant started walking to see the port official. D'Artagnan and Planchet followed them closely. Once outside the gates to the port, d'Artagnan ran in front of the gentleman and turned around.

"Sir," d'Artagnan said coolly, "I need that letter you have in your pocket and I am going to take it from you."

"Are you crazy?" asked the man. "Let me pass at once!"

"You will not pass!"

"Foolish young man, I will have to shoot out your brains. Servant! Give me my pistol!"

"Planchet," yelled d'Artagnan. "You stop the servant. I'll get the master."

With a quick movement Planchet threw the servant down to the ground, and had a knife at his neck. The gentleman pulled out his sword and jumped at d'Artagnan, only to learn that this man from Gascony was much better with a sword than he was. Within a minute d'Artagnan had hit the sword out of his hand.

D'Artagnan hit the gentleman in the head with the handle of his sword and the man fell down like.a stone. D'Artagnan took the Cardinal's letter from his pocket. The name on the letter was the Comte de Wardes.

Planchet and d'Artagnan then pulled the two men into the forest and tied them to a tree.

"And now," d'Artagnan said, fixing his hair, "let's go and see the port official."

He introduced himself as the Comte de Wardes to the port official.

"Do you have a letter from the Cardinal?" the port official asked.

"Yes. Here it is."

"Very good," said the port official, "We need these letters now because the Cardinal is trying to stop someone from crossing to England."

Yes," answered d'Artagnan. "It is a man called d'Artagnan; he must be stopped at all costs."

"Do you know him? What does he look like?" the port official asked excitedly.

"Yes I could describe him well," said d'Artagnan, and gave the port official a description of the real Comte de Wardes.

"Is he with anyone?" asked the port official.

"He is probably with his servant."

"We will look for them."

An hour later d'Artagnan and Planchet were already on a ship to England. At ten o'clock the next morning, the ship arrived in the harbor of Dover. Just a few hours after that d'Artagnan and Planchet rode into the streets of London.

(end of section)