“But let us go,” continued De Winter; “let us be off; the boat must be waiting for us and there is our sloop at anchor—do you see it there? I wish I were on board already,” and he looked back again.
“He has seen him,” said Athos, in a low tone, to Aramis.
They had reached the ladder which led to the boat. De Winter made the grooms who carried the arms and the porters with the luggage descend first and was about to follow them.
At this moment Athos perceived a man walking on the seashore parallel to the jetty, and hastening his steps, as if to reach the other side of the port, scarcely twenty steps from the place of embarking. He fancied in the darkness that he recognized the young man who had questioned him. Athos now descended the ladder in his turn, without losing sight of the young man. The latter, to make a short cut, had appeared on a sluice.
“He certainly bodes us no good,” said Athos; “but let us embark; once out at sea, let him come.”
And Athos sprang into the boat, which was immediately pushed off and which soon sped seawards under the efforts of four stalwart rowers.
But the young man had begun to follow, or rather to advance before the boat. She was obliged to pass between the point of the jetty, surmounted by a beacon just lighted, and a rock which jutted out. They saw him in the distance climbing the rock in order to look down upon the boat as it passed.
“Ay, but,” said Aramis, “that young fellow is decidedly a spy.”
“Which is the young man?” asked De Winter, turning around.
“He who followed us and spoke to us awaits us there; behold!”