not divide my troop in two, and act upon two
points, at once, without another self, who--But what is the use of
acting upon two points, as we have only one man to take? What can be the
use of weakening a corps by placing the right here, and the left
there? A single corps--_Mordioux!_ a single one, and that commanded by
D'Artagnan. Very well. But twenty men marching in one band are suspected
by everybody; twenty horsemen must not be seen marching together, or a
company will be detached against them and the password will be required;
the which company, upon seeing them embarrassed to give it, would shoot
M. d'Artagnan and his men like so many rabbits. I reduce myself then to
ten men; in this fashion I shall act simply and with unity; I shall be
forced to be prudent, which is half the success in an affair of the kind
I am undertaking; a greater number might, perhaps, have drawn me into
some folly. Ten horses are not many, either, to buy or take. A capital
idea; what tranquillity it infuses into my mind! no more suspicions--no
passwords--no more dangers! Ten men, they are valets or clerks. Ten
men, leading ten horses laden with merchandise of whatever kind, are
tolerated, well received everywhere. Ten men travel on account of the
house of Planchet & Co., of France,--nothing can be said against that.
These ten men, clothed like manufacturers, have a good cutlass or a good
musket at their saddle-bow, and a good pistol in the holster. They never
allow themselves to be uneasy, because they have no evil designs. They
are, perhaps, in truth, a little disposed to be smugglers, but what
harm is in that? Smuggling is not, like polygamy, a hanging offense. The
worst that can happen to us is the confiscation of our merchandise. Our
merchandise confiscated--a fine affair that! Come, come! it is a superb
plan. Ten men only--ten men, whom I will engage for my service; ten men
who shall be as resolute as forty, who would cost me four times as much,
and to whom, for greater security, I will never open my mouth as to my
designs, and to whom I shall only say 'My friends, there is a blow to be
struck.' Things being after this fashion, Satan will be very malicious
if he plays me one of his tricks. Fifteen thousand livres saved--that's
superb--out of twenty!"

Thus fortified by his laborious calculations, D'Artagnan stopped at this
plan, and determined to change nothing in it. He had already on a list
furnished by his inexhaustible memory, ten m