myself; — yes, but the two others will of themselves
cost almost as much money as all the rest of the troop.
No; positively I must have but one lieutenant.
In that case, then, I should reduce my troop to twenty
men. I know very well that twenty men is but
very little; but since with thirty I was determined
not to seek to come to blows, I should do so more
carefully still with twenty. Twenty — that
is a round number; that, besides, reduces the number
of the horses by ten, which is a consideration; and
then, with a good lieutenant — Mordioux!
what things patience and calculation are! Was
I not going to embark with forty men, and I have now
reduced them to twenty for an equal success?
Ten thousand livres saved at one stroke, and more
safety; that is well! Now, then, let us see;
we have nothing to do but to find this lieutenant —
let him be found, then; and after — That is
not so easy; he must be brave and good, a second myself.
Yes, but a lieutenant must have my secret, and as
that secret is worth a million, and I shall only pay
my man a thousand livres, fifteen hundred at the most,
my man will sell the secret to Monk. Mordioux!
no lieutenant. Besides, this man, were he as
mute as a disciple of Pythagoras, — this man
would be sure to have in the troop some favorite soldier,
whom he would make his sergeant; the sergeant would
penetrate the secret of the lieutenant, in case the
latter should be honest and unwilling to sell it.
Then the sergeant, less honest and less ambitious,
will give up the whole for fifty thousand livres.
Come, come! that is impossible. The lieutenant
is impossible. But then I must have no fractions;
I cannot 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.