r lost sight of the
bronze equestrian statue of Louis XIII.

79. The Road to Picardy.

On leaving Paris, Athos and Aramis well knew that they would be
encountering great danger; but we know that for men like these there
could be no question of danger. Besides, they felt that the denouement
of this second Odyssey was at hand and that there remained but a single
effort to make.

Besides, there was no tranquillity in Paris itself. Provisions began to
fail, and whenever one of the Prince de Conti's generals wished to gain
more influence he got up a little popular tumult, which he put down
again, and thus for the moment gained a superiority over his colleagues.

In one of these risings, the Duc de Beaufort pillaged the house and
library of Mazarin, in order to give the populace, as he put
it, something to gnaw at. Athos and Aramis left Paris after this
coup-d'etat, which took place on the very evening of the day in which
the Parisians had been beaten at Charenton.

They quitted Paris, beholding it abandoned to extreme want, bordering
on famine; agitated by fear, torn by faction. Parisians and Frondeurs
as they were, the two friends expected to find the same misery, the
same fears, the same intrigue in the enemy's camp; but what was their
surprise, after passing Saint Denis, to hear that at Saint Germain
people were singing and laughing, and leading generally cheerful lives.
The two gentlemen traveled by byways in order not to encounter the
Mazarinists scattered about the Isle of France, and also to escape the
Frondeurs, who were in possession of Normandy and who never failed
to conduct captives to the Duc de Longueville, in order that he might
ascertain whether they were friends or foes. Having escaped these
dangers, they returned by the main road to Boulogne, at Abbeville, and
followed it step by step, examining every track.

Nevertheless, they were still in a state of uncertainty. Several inns
were visited by them, several innkeepers questioned, without a single
clew being given to guide their inquiries, when at Montreuil Athos felt
upon the table that something rough was touching his delicate fingers.
He turned up the cloth and found these hieroglyphics carved upon the
wood with a knife:

"Port.... D'Art.... 2d February."

"This is capital!" said Athos to Aramis, "we were to have slept
here, but we cannot--we must push on." They rode forward and reached
Abbeville. There the great number of inns puzzled