is a man who will help us, and without delay."

"Confess, monsieur," said he, "that it is good to have once been a good
man."

"My father always said so, monsieur."

"Confess, likewise, that it is a sad circumstance in which you find
yourself, of falling in with men destined to be shot or hanged, and to
learn that these men are old acquaintances--old hereditary
acquaintances."

"Oh! you are not reserved for such a frightful fate as that, messieurs
and friends!" said the young man, warmly.

"Bah! you said so yourself."

"I said so just now, when I did not know you; but now that I know you, I
say--you will avoid this dismal fate, if you like."

"How--if we like!" cried Aramis, whose eyes beamed with intelligence as
he looked alternately at the prisoner and Porthos.

"Provided," continued Porthos, looking, in his turn, with noble
intrepidity at M. Biscarrat and the bishop--"provided nothing
disgraceful be required of us."

"Nothing at all will be required of you, gentlemen," replied the
officer--"what should they ask of you? If they find you they will kill
you, that is a settled thing; try, then, gentlemen, to prevent their
finding you."

"I don't think I am mistaken," said Porthos, with dignity; "but it
appears evident to me that if they want to find us, they must come and
seek us here."

"In that you are perfectly right, my worthy friend," replied Aramis,
constantly consulting with his looks the countenance of Biscarrat, who
was silent and constrained. "You wish, M. de Biscarrat, to say something
to us, to make us some overture, and you dare not--is not that true?"

"Ah! gentlemen and friends! it is because in speaking I betray my duty.
But, hark! I hear a voice which liberates mine by dominating over it."

"Cannon?" cried Porthos.

"Cannon and musketry, too!" cried the bishop.

On hearing at a distance, among the rocks, these sinister reports of a
combat which they thought had ceased--"What can that be!" asked Porthos.

"Eh! pardieu!" cried Aramis; "this is just what I expected."

"What is that?"

"The attack made by you was nothing but a feint; is not that true,
monsieur? And while your companions allowed themselves to be repulsed,
you were certain of effecting a landing on the other side of the
island."

"Oh! several, monsieur."

"We are lost then," said the bishop of Vannes, quietly.

"Lost! that is possible," replied the Seigneur de Pierrefonds, "but we
are not taken or hanged." And so s