"Lend it me, then."

"Are you going shooting?"

"Whilst waiting for Porthos, it is the best thing I can do, I think."

"Take which you like from the trophy."

"Will you not come with me?"

"I would with great pleasure; but, alas! my friend, sporting is
forbidden to bishops."

"Ah!" said D'Artagnan, "I did not know that."

"Besides," continued Aramis, "I shall be busy till mid-day."

"I shall go alone, then?" said D'Artagnan.

"I am sorry to say you must; but come back to dinner."

"_Pardieu!_ the eating at your house is too good to make me think of not
coming back." And thereupon D'Artagnan quitted his host, bowed to the
guests, and took his arquebus; but instead of shooting, went straight to
the little port of Vannes. He looked in vain to observe if anybody saw
him; he could discern neither thing nor person. He engaged a little
fishing boat for twenty-five livres, and set off at half-past eleven,
convinced that he had not been followed; and that was true, he had not
been followed; only a Jesuit brother, placed in the top of the steeple
of his church, had not, since the morning, by the help of an excellent
glass, lost sight of one of his steps. At three quarters past eleven,
Aramis was informed that D'Artagnan was sailing towards Belle-Isle. The
voyage was rapid; a good north north-east wind drove him towards the
isle. As he approached, his eyes were constantly fixed upon the coast.
He looked to see if, upon the shore or upon the fortifications the
brilliant dress and vast stature of Porthos should stand out against
a slightly clouded sky; but his search was in vain. He landed without
having seen anything; and learnt from the first soldier interrogated by
him, that M. du Vallon had not yet returned from Vannes. Then, without
losing an instant, D'Artagnan ordered his little bark to put its head
towards Sarzeau. We know that the wind changes with the different hours
of the day. The breeze had veered from the north north-east to the
south-east; the wind, then, was almost as good for the return to
Sarzeau, as it had been for the voyage to Belle-Isle. In three hours
D'Artagnan had touched the continent; two hours more sufficed for his
ride to Vannes. In spite of the rapidity of his passage, what D'Artagnan
endured of impatience and anger during that short passage, the deck
alone of the vessel, upon which he stamped backwards and forwards for
three hours, could testify. He made but one bound from the quay whereo